Area 11 case study of radionuclide movement by storm channel erosion: A baseline method and initial evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shinn, J.H.; Gouveia, F.J.; Patton, S.E.; Fry, C.O.

1993-04-01

At the Nevada Test Site (NTS), where radionuclide contamination is found in surface soils, there is potential for water erosion to move radionuclides beyond the boundaries of controlled areas and into channels cut by infrequent storms. This loss of control and the increased risk of further movement are issues which require the development of a method for the quantitative monitoring of contamination and calculation of the radionuclide-movement rate. In this report the authors develop a method which is used to measure the amount and rate of movement of americium-241 ( 241 Am) in a storm channel, and which offers special features for establishment of baseline concentrations. This method was applied to the standing problem of the erosion of the plutonium contaminated open-quotes ground zeroclose quotes area of site open-quotes 11Dclose quotes in Area 11 of NTS. By establishing 241 Am concentrations in the storm channel, the concentrations of 239+240 Pu can also be calculated using a previously determined 239+240 Pu/ 241 Am ratio from soil samples collected in Area 11. The method utilizes systematic field surveys with a field instrument for detection of low-energy radiation (FIDLER), and provides a computational method which, when validated, could become a standard procedure for monitoring radionuclide movement in the washes and storm channels throughout the NTS

Studies and Application of Remote Sensing Retrieval Method of Soil Moisture Content in Land Parcel Units in Irrigation Area

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, H.; Zhao, H. L.; Jiang, Y. Z.; Zang, W. B.

2018-05-01

Soil moisture is one of the important hydrological elements. Obtaining soil moisture accurately and effectively is of great significance for water resource management in irrigation area. During the process of soil moisture content retrieval with multiremote sensing data, multi- remote sensing data always brings multi-spatial scale problems which results in inconformity of soil moisture content retrieved by remote sensing in different spatial scale. In addition, agricultural water use management has suitable spatial scale of soil moisture information so as to satisfy the demands of dynamic management of water use and water demand in certain unit. We have proposed to use land parcel unit as the minimum unit to do soil moisture content research in agricultural water using area, according to soil characteristics, vegetation coverage characteristics in underlying layer, and hydrological characteristic into the basis of study unit division. We have proposed division method of land parcel units. Based on multi thermal infrared and near infrared remote sensing data, we calculate the ndvi and tvdi index and make a statistical model between the tvdi index and soil moisture of ground monitoring station. Then we move forward to study soil moisture remote sensing retrieval method on land parcel unit scale. And the method has been applied in Hetao irrigation area. Results show that compared with pixel scale the soil moisture content in land parcel unit scale has displayed stronger correlation with true value. Hence, remote sensing retrieval method of soil moisture content in land parcel unit scale has shown good applicability in Hetao irrigation area. We converted the research unit into the scale of land parcel unit. Using the land parcel units with unified crops and soil attributes as the research units more complies with the characteristics of agricultural water areas, avoids the problems such as decomposition of mixed pixels and excessive dependence on high-resolution data

Developing a Geoinformatic-engineering Stability Modeling Method, using Field Data and GIS Environment: A Case Study from Al Qarara Area in Wadi Musa, Jordan

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Mohammmad Al Farajat

2015-03-01

Full Text Available DOI:10.17014/ijog.2.1.1-21By applying detailed geological field surveys, the spatial factors affecting geo-engineering stability were used to develop a geo-engineering stability modeling method to identify areas under potential threat of landsliding. The factors affecting geo-engineering stability in Al Qarara area in Petra-Jordan were studied and given assumed rates of importance, where optimization process was run by lag iterations; the produced spatial layers of the different factors were gathered and modeled using GIS; a final stability map was produced using an optimized equation. The produced map was validated qualitatively and quantitatively, where a comparison was made between the reality in the field and several maps of different equation. The modeling method which was developed in the context of this study proved to be suitable to produce micro-zonation maps of areas having landslide risk. Further applications on the method in other areas suffering landslides will further improve it.

Assessment Methods of Groundwater Overdraft Area and Its Application

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Yanan; Xing, Liting; Zhang, Xinhui; Cao, Qianqian; Lan, Xiaoxun

2018-05-01

Groundwater is an important source of water, and long-term large demand make groundwater over-exploited. Over-exploitation cause a lot of environmental and geological problems. This paper explores the concept of over-exploitation area, summarizes the natural and social attributes of over-exploitation area, as well as expounds its evaluation methods, including single factor evaluation, multi-factor system analysis and numerical method. At the same time, the different methods are compared and analyzed. And then taking Northern Weifang as an example, this paper introduces the practicality of appraisal method.

An analytical method for computing atomic contact areas in biomolecules.

Science.gov (United States)

Mach, Paul; Koehl, Patrice

2013-01-15

We propose a new analytical method for detecting and computing contacts between atoms in biomolecules. It is based on the alpha shape theory and proceeds in three steps. First, we compute the weighted Delaunay triangulation of the union of spheres representing the molecule. In the second step, the Delaunay complex is filtered to derive the dual complex. Finally, contacts between spheres are collected. In this approach, two atoms i and j are defined to be in contact if their centers are connected by an edge in the dual complex. The contact areas between atom i and its neighbors are computed based on the caps formed by these neighbors on the surface of i; the total area of all these caps is partitioned according to their spherical Laguerre Voronoi diagram on the surface of i. This method is analytical and its implementation in a new program BallContact is fast and robust. We have used BallContact to study contacts in a database of 1551 high resolution protein structures. We show that with this new definition of atomic contacts, we generate realistic representations of the environments of atoms and residues within a protein. In particular, we establish the importance of nonpolar contact areas that complement the information represented by the accessible surface areas. This new method bears similarity to the tessellation methods used to quantify atomic volumes and contacts, with the advantage that it does not require the presence of explicit solvent molecules if the surface of the protein is to be considered. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Preliminary Groundwater Assessment using Electrical Method at Quaternary Deposits Area

Science.gov (United States)

Hazreek, Z. A. M.; Raqib, A. G. A.; Aziman, M.; Azhar, A. T. S.; Khaidir, A. T. M.; Fairus, Y. M.; Rosli, S.; Fakhrurrazi, I. M.; Izzaty, R. A.

2017-08-01

Alternative water sources using groundwater has increasingly demand in recent years. In the past, proper and systematic study of groundwater potential was varies due to several constraints. Conventionally, tube well point was drilled based on subjective judgment of several parties which may lead to the uncertainties of the project success. Hence, this study performed an electrical method to investigate the groundwater potential at quaternary deposits area particularly using resistivity and induced polarization technique. Electrical method was performed using ABEM SAS4000 equipment based on pole dipole array and 2.5 m electrode spacing. Resistivity raw data was analyzed using RES2DINV software. It was found that groundwater was able to be detected based on resistivity and chargeability values which varied at 10 - 100 Ωm and 0 - 1 ms respectively. Moreover, suitable location of tube well was able to be proposed which located at 80 m from the first survey electrode in west direction. Verification of both electrical results with established references has shown some good agreement thus able to convince the result reliability. Hence, the establishment of electrical method in preliminary groundwater assessment was able to assist several parties in term groundwater prospective at study area which efficient in term of cost, time, data coverage and sustainability.

Macro Study of Spatial Development Area on Tourism Village

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Widhianthini Widhianthini

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Macro study is one approach that combines the rational method based on the results of previous studies by the authority with the empirical method utilizing the survey techniques. The purpose of this macro study is to identify and analyze the potentials, problems, and the limiting factors, and the needs of the regency; and to recommend the programs and models required by the community to achieve the sustainable development. This research uses the Participatory Rural Appraisal method, the  interview techniques (Semi Structured Interview, the technique of focused group discussion (FGD, the Rapid District Appraisal (RDA, then it is analyzed by the empirical and dynamical systems. The overview of macro studies is particularly relevant in developing the regions, especially the rural areas, based on the existing advantages, such as in Tabanan Regency. Tabanan Regency is a granary in Bali Province and the zoning of agricultural commodities in quadrant III,which is the rural farming area with combined functions between the cultivated and rural areas supported by the tourism department. The studies of the areas in the form of potential analysis, problem analysis, requirement analysis become the guidelines for preparing the development scenarios and program formats. The studies will then constitute the factors driving the realization of sustainable development of tourism villages in supporting the sustainable agriculture.

Determining surface areas of marine alga cells by acid-base titration method.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, X; Ma, Y; Su, Y

1997-09-01

A new method for determining the surface area of living marine alga cells was described. The method uses acid-base titration to measure the surface acid/base amount on the surface of alga cells and uses the BET (Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller) equation to estimate the maximum surface acid/base amount, assuming that hydrous cell walls have carbohydrates or other structural compounds which can behave like surface Brönsted acid-base sites due to coordination of environmental H2O molecules. The method was applied to 18 diverse alga species (including 7 diatoms, 2 flagellates, 8 green algae and 1 red alga) maintained in seawater cultures. For the species examined, the surface areas of individual cells ranged from 2.8 x 10(-8) m2 for Nannochloropsis oculata to 690 x 10(-8) m2 for Dunaliella viridis, specific surface areas from 1,030 m2.g-1 for Dunaliella salina to 28,900 m2.g-1 for Pyramidomonas sp. Measurement accuracy was 15.2%. Preliminary studies show that the method may be more promising and accurate than light/electron microscopic measurements for coarse estimation of the surface area of living algae.

Evaluating polymer degradation with complex mixtures using a simplified surface area method.

Science.gov (United States)

Steele, Kandace M; Pelham, Todd; Phalen, Robert N

2017-09-01

Chemical-resistant gloves, designed to protect workers from chemical hazards, are made from a variety of polymer materials such as plastic, rubber, and synthetic rubber. One material does not provide protection against all chemicals, thus proper polymer selection is critical. Standardized testing, such as chemical degradation tests, are used to aid in the selection process. The current methods of degradation ratings based on changes in weight or tensile properties can be expensive and data often do not exist for complex chemical mixtures. There are hundreds of thousands of chemical products on the market that do not have chemical resistance data for polymer selection. The method described in this study provides an inexpensive alternative to gravimetric analysis. This method uses surface area change to evaluate degradation of a polymer material. Degradation tests for 5 polymer types against 50 complex mixtures were conducted using both gravimetric and surface area methods. The percent change data were compared between the two methods. The resulting regression line was y = 0.48x + 0.019, in units of percent, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was r = 0.9537 (p ≤ 0.05), which indicated a strong correlation between percent weight change and percent surface area change. On average, the percent change for surface area was about half that of the weight change. Using this information, an equivalent rating system was developed for determining the chemical degradation of polymer gloves using surface area.

Spatial interpolation methods and geostatistics for mapping groundwater contamination in a coastal area.

Science.gov (United States)

Elumalai, Vetrimurugan; Brindha, K; Sithole, Bongani; Lakshmanan, Elango

2017-04-01

Mapping groundwater contaminants and identifying the sources are the initial steps in pollution control and mitigation. Due to the availability of different mapping methods and the large number of emerging pollutants, these methods need to be used together in decision making. The present study aims to map the contaminated areas in Richards Bay, South Africa and compare the results of ordinary kriging (OK) and inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation techniques. Statistical methods were also used for identifying contamination sources. Na-Cl groundwater type was dominant followed by Ca-Mg-Cl. Data analysis indicate that silicate weathering, ion exchange and fresh water-seawater mixing are the major geochemical processes controlling the presence of major ions in groundwater. Factor analysis also helped to confirm the results. Overlay analysis by OK and IDW gave different results. Areas where groundwater was unsuitable as a drinking source were 419 and 116 km 2 for OK and IDW, respectively. Such diverse results make decision making difficult, if only one method was to be used. Three highly contaminated zones within the study area were more accurately identified by OK. If large areas are identified as being contaminated such as by IDW in this study, the mitigation measures will be expensive. If these areas were underestimated, then even though management measures are taken, it will not be effective for a longer time. Use of multiple techniques like this study will help to avoid taking harsh decisions. Overall, the groundwater quality in this area was poor, and it is essential to identify alternate drinking water source or treat the groundwater before ingestion.

Determining the most suitable areas for artificial groundwater recharge via an integrated PROMETHEE II-AHP method in GIS environment (case study: Garabaygan Basin, Iran).

Science.gov (United States)

Nasiri, Hossein; Boloorani, Ali Darvishi; Sabokbar, Hassan Ali Faraji; Jafari, Hamid Reza; Hamzeh, Mohamad; Rafii, Yusef

2013-01-01

Flood spreading is a suitable strategy for controlling and benefiting from floods. Selecting suitable areas for flood spreading and directing the floodwater into permeable formations are amongst the most effective strategies in flood spreading projects. Having combined geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis approaches, the present study sought to locate the most suitable areas for flood spreading operation in the Garabaygan Basin of Iran. To this end, the data layers relating to the eight effective factors were prepared in GIS environment. This stage was followed by elimination of the exclusionary areas for flood spreading while determining the potentially suitable ones. Having closely examined the potentially suitable areas using the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) II and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methods, the land suitability map for flood spreading was produced. The PROMETHEE II and AHP were used for ranking all the alternatives and weighting the criteria involved, respectively. The results of the study showed that most suitable areas for the artificial groundwater recharge are located in Quaternary Q(g) and Q(gsc) geologic units and in geomorphological units of pediment and Alluvial fans with slopes not exceeding 3%. Furthermore, significant correspondence between the produced map and the control areas, where the flood spreading projects were successfully performed, provided further evidence for the acceptable efficiency of the integrated PROMETHEE II-AHP method in locating suitable flood spreading areas.

Delineating Urban Fringe Area by Land Cover Information Entropy—An Empirical Study of Guangzhou-Foshan Metropolitan Area, China

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Junyi Huang

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Rapid urbanization has caused many environmental problems, such as the heat island effect, intensifying air pollution, pollution from runoff, loss of wildlife habitat, etc. Accurate evaluations of these problems demand an accurate delineation of the spatial extent of the urban fringe. Conceptual and analytical ambiguity of the urban fringe and a general lack of consensus among researchers have made its measurement very difficult. This study reports a compound and reliable method to delineate the urban fringe area using a case study. Based on the 'fringe effect' theory in landscape ecology, the existing land cover information entropy model for defining the urban fringe is renewed by incorporating scale theory, cartography and urban geography theory. Results show that the urban fringe area of Guangzhou and Foshan metropolitan area covers an area of 2031 km2, and it occupies over 31% of the total study area. Result evaluation by industry structure data shows satisfactory correspondence with different land cover types. This paper reports the method and outcome of an attempt to provide an objective, repeatable and generally applicable method for mapping its spatial extent from remote sensing imageries, and could be beneficial to relevant urban studies and urban fringe management projects.

Neural network and area method interpretation of pulsed experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dulla, S.; Picca, P.; Ravetto, P. [Politecnico di Torino, Dipartimento di Energetica, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 - 10129 Torino (Italy); Canepa, S. [Lab of Reactor Physics and Systems Behaviour LRS, Paul Scherrer Inst., 5232 Villigen (Switzerland)

2012-07-01

The determination of the subcriticality level is an important issue in accelerator-driven system technology. The area method, originally introduced by N. G. Sjoestrand, is a classical technique to interpret flux measurement for pulsed experiments in order to reconstruct the reactivity value. In recent times other methods have also been developed, to account for spatial and spectral effects, which were not included in the area method, since it is based on the point kinetic model. The artificial neural network approach can be an efficient technique to infer reactivities from pulsed experiments. In the present work, some comparisons between the two methods are carried out and discussed. (authors)

Spatial Accessibility of Primary Care in England: A Cross-Sectional Study Using a Floating Catchment Area Method.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Jan; Müller, Ruth; Brüggmann, Dörthe; Groneberg, David A

2017-07-07

To analyze the general practitioners (GPs) with regard to the degree of urbanization, social deprivation, general health, and disability. Small area population data and GP practice data in England. We used a floating catchment area method to measure spatial GP accessibility with regard to the degree of urbanization, social deprivation, general health, and disability. Data were collected from the Office for National Statistics and the general practice census and analyzed using a geographic information system. In all, 25.8 percent of the population in England lived in areas with a significant low GP accessibility (mean z-score: -4.2); 27.6 percent lived in areas with a significant high GP accessibility (mean z-score: 7.7); 97.8 percent of high GP accessibility areas represented urban areas, and 31.1 percent of low GP accessibility areas represented rural areas (correlation of accessibility and urbanity: r = 0.59; psocial deprivation was present (r = -0.19; paccessibility throughout England. However, socially deprived areas did not have poorer spatial access to GPs. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Specific surface area evaluation method by using scanning electron microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petrescu, Camelia; Petrescu, Cristian; Axinte, Adrian

2000-01-01

Ceramics are among the most interesting materials for a large category of applications, including both industry and health. Among the characteristic of the ceramic materials, the specific surface area is often difficult to evaluate.The paper presents a method of evaluation for the specific surface area of two ceramic powders by means of scanning electron microscopy measurements and an original method of computing the specific surface area.Cumulative curves are used to calculate the specific surface area under assumption that the values of particles diameters follow a normal logarithmic distribution. For two powder types, X7R and NPO the results are the following: - for the density ρ (g/cm 2 ), 5.5 and 6.0, respectively; - for the average diameter D bar (μm), 0.51 and 0.53, respectively; - for σ, 1.465 and 1.385, respectively; - for specific surface area (m 2 /g), 1.248 and 1.330, respectively. The obtained results are in good agreement with the values measured by conventional methods. (authors)

Digital photography and transparency-based methods for measuring wound surface area.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhedi, Amul; Saxena, Atul K; Gadani, Ravi; Patel, Ritesh

2013-04-01

To compare and determine a credible method of measurement of wound surface area by linear, transparency, and photographic methods for monitoring progress of wound healing accurately and ascertaining whether these methods are significantly different. From April 2005 to December 2006, 40 patients (30 men, 5 women, 5 children) admitted to the surgical ward of Shree Sayaji General Hospital, Baroda, had clean as well as infected wound following trauma, debridement, pressure sore, venous ulcer, and incision and drainage. Wound surface areas were measured by these three methods (linear, transparency, and photographic methods) simultaneously on alternate days. The linear method is statistically and significantly different from transparency and photographic methods (P value transparency and photographic methods (P value >0.05). Photographic and transparency methods provided measurements of wound surface area with equivalent result and there was no statistically significant difference between these two methods.

The Methods for Diagnosing the Attractiveness of Ecological Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas

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Shuliak Bogdan V.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The study is aimed at substantiating the methods for diagnosing the attractiveness of ecological entrepreneurship in rural areas. The article defines the objectives of diagnosing the attractiveness of ecological entrepreneurship in rural areas. It is determined that the methods for diagnosing the attractiveness of environmentally oriented entrepreneurial activity should take into account its effectiveness in the context of economic, ecological, and social components; current status, dynamics and tendencies of development of basic indicators of attractiveness; relationship between the actual and target values of such indicators. The system of methods which is expedient for use in the process of diagnosing, has been defined as follows: methods of correlation analysis (substantiation of the purposes of diagnostics; coefficient analysis and fuzzy logic methods (estimation of the actual levels of attractiveness indicators; regression analysis and mathematical-statistical method (estimation of tendencies, building of forecasts; cluster analysis, ranking, rationing, and integral estimation (comparative analysis of the estimation results.

Comparison of diffusion charging and mobility-based methods for measurement of aerosol agglomerate surface area.

Science.gov (United States)

Ku, Bon Ki; Kulkarni, Pramod

2012-05-01

We compare different approaches to measure surface area of aerosol agglomerates. The objective was to compare field methods, such as mobility and diffusion charging based approaches, with laboratory approach, such as Brunauer, Emmett, Teller (BET) method used for bulk powder samples. To allow intercomparison of various surface area measurements, we defined 'geometric surface area' of agglomerates (assuming agglomerates are made up of ideal spheres), and compared various surface area measurements to the geometric surface area. Four different approaches for measuring surface area of agglomerate particles in the size range of 60-350 nm were compared using (i) diffusion charging-based sensors from three different manufacturers, (ii) mobility diameter of an agglomerate, (iii) mobility diameter of an agglomerate assuming a linear chain morphology with uniform primary particle size, and (iv) surface area estimation based on tandem mobility-mass measurement and microscopy. Our results indicate that the tandem mobility-mass measurement, which can be applied directly to airborne particles unlike the BET method, agrees well with the BET method. It was also shown that the three diffusion charging-based surface area measurements of silver agglomerates were similar within a factor of 2 and were lower than those obtained from the tandem mobility-mass and microscopy method by a factor of 3-10 in the size range studied. Surface area estimated using the mobility diameter depended on the structure or morphology of the agglomerate with significant underestimation at high fractal dimensions approaching 3.

The Gas-Absorption/Chemical-Reaction Method for Measuring Air-Water Interfacial Area in Natural Porous Media

Science.gov (United States)

Lyu, Ying; Brusseau, Mark L.; El Ouni, Asma; Araujo, Juliana B.; Su, Xiaosi

2017-11-01

The gas-absorption/chemical-reaction (GACR) method used in chemical engineering to quantify gas-liquid interfacial area in reactor systems is adapted for the first time to measure the effective air-water interfacial area of natural porous media. Experiments were conducted with the GACR method, and two standard methods (X-ray microtomographic imaging and interfacial partitioning tracer tests) for comparison, using model glass beads and a natural sand. The results of a series of experiments conducted under identical conditions demonstrated that the GACR method exhibited excellent repeatability for measurement of interfacial area (Aia). Coefficients of variation for Aia were 3.5% for the glass beads and 11% for the sand. Extrapolated maximum interfacial areas (Am) obtained with the GACR method were statistically identical to independent measures of the specific solid surface areas of the media. For example, the Am for the glass beads is 29 (±1) cm-1, compared to 32 (±3), 30 (±2), and 31 (±2) cm-1 determined from geometric calculation, N2/BET measurement, and microtomographic measurement, respectively. This indicates that the method produced accurate measures of interfacial area. Interfacial areas determined with the GACR method were similar to those obtained with the standard methods. For example, Aias of 47 and 44 cm-1 were measured with the GACR and XMT methods, respectively, for the sand at a water saturation of 0.57. The results of the study indicate that the GACR method is a viable alternative for measuring air-water interfacial areas. The method is relatively quick, inexpensive, and requires no specialized instrumentation compared to the standard methods.

Study of measurement methods of ultrafine aerosols surface-area for characterizing occupational exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bau, S.

2008-12-01

This work aims at improving knowledge on ultrafine aerosols surface-area measurement. Indeed, the development of nano-technologies may lead to occupational exposure to airborne nano-structured particles, which involves a new prevention issue. There is currently no consensus concerning what parameter (mass, surface-area, number) should be measured. However, surface-area could be a relevant metric, since it leads to a satisfying correlation with biological effects when nano-structured particles are inhaled. Hence, an original theoretical work was performed to position the parameter of surface-area in relation to other aerosol characteristics. To investigate measurement techniques of nano-structured aerosols surface-area, the experimental facility CAIMAN (Characterization of Instruments for the Measurement of Aerosols of Nano-particles) was designed and built. Within CAIMAN, it is possible to produce nano-structured aerosols with varying and controlled properties (size, concentration, chemical nature, morphology, state-of-charge), stable and reproducible in time. The generated aerosols were used to experimentally characterize the response of the instruments in study (NSAM and AeroTrak 9000 TSI, LQ1-DC Matter Engineering). The response functions measured with monodisperse aerosols show a good agreement with the corresponding theoretical curves in a large size range, from 15 to 520 nm. Furthermore, hypotheses have been formulated to explain the reasonable biases observed when measuring poly-disperse aerosols. (author)

Hooded seal Cystophora cristata foraging areas in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean-Investigated using three complementary methods.

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Jade Vacquie-Garcia

Full Text Available Identifying environmental characteristics that define the ecological niche of a species is essential to understanding how changes in physical conditions might affect its distribution and other aspects of its ecology. The present study used satellite relay data loggers (SRDLs to study habitat use by Northeast Atlantic hooded seals (N = 20; 9 adult females, 3 adult males, and 8 juveniles. Three different methods were used in combination to achieve maximum insight regarding key foraging areas for hooded seals in this region, which have decline by 85% in recent decades: 1 first passage time (FPT; 2 vertical transit rate and; 3 change in dive drift rate. Generalized additive mixed models (GAMM were applied to each method to determine whether specific habitat characteristics were associated with foraging. Separate models were run for the post-molting and the post-breeding seasons; sex and age classes were included in the GAMMs. All three methods highlighted a few common geographic areas as being important foraging zones; however, there were also some different areas identified by the different methods, which highlights the importance of using multiple indexes when analyzing tracking and diving data to study foraging behavior. Foraging occurred most commonly in relatively shallow areas with high Sea Surface Temperatures (SST, corresponding to continental shelf areas with Atlantic Water masses. All age and sex classes overlapped spatially to some extent, but the different age and sex groups showed differences in the bathymetry of their foraging areas as well as in their vertical use of the water column. When foraging, pups dove in the upper part of the water column in relatively deep areas. Adult females foraged relatively shallowly in deep water areas too, though in shallower areas than pups. Adult males foraged close to the bottom in shallower areas.

The Delphi Method as a Useful Tool to Study Governance and Protected Areas?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mehnen, Nora; Mose, Ingo; Strijker, Dirk

2013-01-01

The Delphi method is a systematic, interactive, written method, which relies on a panel of experts. This paper seeks to discuss whether the Delphi method is an appropriate method for obtaining information about governance. In this study we used the Delphi method to assemble information from 10

Neutron activation, k0-- method, as a tool for Phytoremediation studies and reclamation of degraded areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uemura, George; Menezes, Maria Angela de Barros C.

2007-01-01

Phytoremediation is a technology that can be considered as a relatively recent one, although it is based on knowledge that has been gathered and accumulated for a long time. One advantage of phytoremediation is its relatively low cost, but, as it must rely on plant growth, its results might be quite slow to be achieved, specially in countries with temperate climate, which is not the case of vast areas of Brazilian territory. One of the aims of phytoremediation is the search of plants that are hyperaccumulators, i.e., that are capable of accumulating pollutants and/or contaminants in high concentrations, of which the fern Pteris vittata is a fine example, considering arsenic accumulation. The possibilities of exploring Brazilian native flora for this purpose demand no further comments. The reclamation of degraded areas demands might not necessarily rely only on species and/or varieties that are hyperaccumulators, but also on taxa that are resistant to a given pollutant or a mixture of pollutants. In this case, a precise analysis of the environment is fundamental, specially to ascertain, for sure, that some toxic element is not present. In this work, species known to accumulate arsenic from Brazilian native flora like Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) and Mirabilis jalapa were grown and exposed to arsenic. After that, they were lyophilised and analysed by means of the k 0- standardization method using the TRIGA MARK I IPR-R1 reactor at CDTN/CNEN. Certified reference material were also analysed to verify the accuracy of the method. The advantages of neutron activation, k 0- method, a multi-elemental analysis technique, in phytoremediation and reclamation of degraded areas, are discussed in the present paper. (author)

Pharmaceutical compounds in shallow groundwater in non-agricultural areas of Minnesota: study design, methods, and data, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Sarah M.; Erickson, Melinda L.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, completed a study on the occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds and other contaminants of emerging concern in shallow groundwater in non-agricultural areas of Minnesota during 2013. This report describes the study design and methods for the study on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and other contaminants of emerging concern, and presents the data collected on pharmaceutical compounds. Samples were analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory for 110 pharmaceutical compounds using research method 9017. Samples from 21 of 45 wells had detectable concentrations of at least one of the 110 compounds analyzed. One sample contained detectable concentrations of nine compounds, which was the most detected in a single sample. Fewer than five compounds were detected in most samples. Among all samples, 27 of the 110 compounds were detected in groundwater from at least one well. Desmethyldiltiazem and nicotine were the most frequently detected compounds, each detected in 5 of 46 environmental samples (one well was sampled twice so a total of 46 environmental samples were collected from 45 wells). Caffeine had the highest detectable concentration of all the compounds at 2,060 nanograms per liter.

A Method for Derivation of Areas for Assessment in Marital Relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Broderick, Joan E.

1981-01-01

Expands upon factor-analytic and rational methods and introduces a third method for determining content areas to be assessed in marital relationships. Definitions of a "good marriage" were content analyzed, and a number of areas were added. Demographic subgroup differences were found not to be influential factors. (Author)

Surface area of antimony oxide by isotope exchange and other methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rao, Y.K.; Acharya, B.V.; Rangamannar, B.

1985-06-17

Specific surface areas of antimony oxide samples, one commercial, the other prepared from antimony trichloride were measured by heterogeneous isotope exchange, gas adsorption, air permeability and microscopic methods. Specific surface areas obtained by these four methods for the two samples were compared and the observed differences are explained.

EP BASED PSO METHOD FOR SOLVING PROFIT BASED MULTI AREA UNIT COMMITMENT PROBLEM

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K. VENKATESAN

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new approach to solve the profit based multi area unit commitment problem (PBMAUCP using an evolutionary programming based particle swarm optimization (EPPSO method. The objective of this paper is to maximize the profit of generation companies (GENCOs with considering system social benefit. The proposed method helps GENCOs to make a decision, how much power and reserve should be sold in markets, and how to schedule generators in order to receive the maximum profit. Joint operation of generation resources can result in significant operational cost savings. Power transfer between the areas through the tie lines depends upon the operating cost of generation at each hour and tie line transfer limits. The tie line transfer limits were considered as a set of constraints during optimization process to ensure the system security and reliability. The overall algorithm can be implemented on an IBM PC, which can process a fairly large system in a reasonable period of time. Case study of four areas with different load pattern each containing 7 units (NTPS and 26 units connected via tie lines have been taken for analysis. Numerical results showed comparing the profit of evolutionary programming-based particle swarm optimization method (EPPSO with conventional dynamic programming (DP, evolutionary programming (EP, and particle swarm optimization (PSO method. Experimental results shows that the application of this evolutionary programming based particle swarm optimization method have the potential to solve profit based multi area unit commitment problem with lesser computation time.

Evaluation of four methods for estimating leaf area of isolated trees

Science.gov (United States)

P.J. Peper; E.G. McPherson

2003-01-01

The accurate modeling of the physiological and functional processes of urban forests requires information on the leaf area of urban tree species. Several non-destructive, indirect leaf area sampling methods have shown good performance for homogenous canopies. These methods have not been evaluated for use in urban settings where trees are typically isolated and...

Method for Assessing the Integrated Risk of Soil Pollution in Industrial and Mining Gathering Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Yang; Shao, Chaofeng; Gu, Qingbao; Ju, Meiting; Zhang, Qian

2015-01-01

Industrial and mining activities are recognized as major sources of soil pollution. This study proposes an index system for evaluating the inherent risk level of polluting factories and introduces an integrated risk assessment method based on human health risk. As a case study, the health risk, polluting factories and integrated risks were analyzed in a typical industrial and mining gathering area in China, namely, Binhai New Area. The spatial distribution of the risk level was determined using a Geographic Information System. The results confirmed the following: (1) Human health risk in the study area is moderate to extreme, with heavy metals posing the greatest threat; (2) Polluting factories pose a moderate to extreme inherent risk in the study area. Such factories are concentrated in industrial and urban areas, but are irregularly distributed and also occupy agricultural land, showing a lack of proper planning and management; (3) The integrated risks of soil are moderate to high in the study area. PMID:26580644

Method for Assessing the Integrated Risk of Soil Pollution in Industrial and Mining Gathering Areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Yang; Shao, Chaofeng; Gu, Qingbao; Ju, Meiting; Zhang, Qian

2015-11-13

Industrial and mining activities are recognized as major sources of soil pollution. This study proposes an index system for evaluating the inherent risk level of polluting factories and introduces an integrated risk assessment method based on human health risk. As a case study, the health risk, polluting factories and integrated risks were analyzed in a typical industrial and mining gathering area in China, namely, Binhai New Area. The spatial distribution of the risk level was determined using a Geographic Information System. The results confirmed the following: (1) Human health risk in the study area is moderate to extreme, with heavy metals posing the greatest threat; (2) Polluting factories pose a moderate to extreme inherent risk in the study area. Such factories are concentrated in industrial and urban areas, but are irregularly distributed and also occupy agricultural land, showing a lack of proper planning and management; (3) The integrated risks of soil are moderate to high in the study area.

Apparatus and method for mapping an area of interest

Science.gov (United States)

Staab, Torsten A. Cohen, Daniel L.; Feller, Samuel [Fairfax, VA

2009-12-01

An apparatus and method are provided for mapping an area of interest using polar coordinates or Cartesian coordinates. The apparatus includes a range finder, an azimuth angle measuring device to provide a heading and an inclinometer to provide an angle of inclination of the range finder as it relates to primary reference points and points of interest. A computer is provided to receive signals from the range finder, inclinometer and azimuth angle measurer to record location data and calculate relative locations between one or more points of interest and one or more primary reference points. The method includes mapping of an area of interest to locate points of interest relative to one or more primary reference points and to store the information in the desired manner. The device may optionally also include an illuminator which can be utilized to paint the area of interest to indicate both points of interest and primary points of reference during and/or after data acquisition.

Two methods for isolating the lung area of a CT scan for density information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hedlund, L.W.; Anderson, R.F.; Goulding, P.L.; Beck, J.W.; Effmann, E.L.; Putman, C.E.

1982-01-01

Extracting density information from irregularly shaped tissue areas of CT scans requires automated methods when many scans are involved. We describe two computer methods that automatically isolate the lung area of a CT scan. Each starts from a single, operator specified point in the lung. The first method follows the steep density gradient boundary between lung and adjacent tissues; this tracking method is useful for estimating the overall density and total area of lung in a scan because all pixels within the lung area are available for statistical sampling. The second method finds all contiguous pixels of lung that are within the CT number range of air to water and are not a part of strong density gradient edges; this method is useful for estimating density and area of the lung parenchyma. Structures within the lung area that are surrounded by strong density gradient edges, such as large blood vessels, airways and nodules, are excluded from the lung sample while lung areas with diffuse borders, such as an area of mild or moderate edema, are retained. Both methods were tested on scans from an animal model of pulmonary edema and were found to be effective in isolating normal and diseased lungs. These methods are also suitable for isolating other organ areas of CT scans that are bounded by density gradient edges

Remote-sensing data processing with the multivariate regression analysis method for iron mineral resource potential mapping: a case study in the Sarvian area, central Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Mansouri, Edris; Feizi, Faranak; Jafari Rad, Alireza; Arian, Mehran

2018-03-01

This paper uses multivariate regression to create a mathematical model for iron skarn exploration in the Sarvian area, central Iran, using multivariate regression for mineral prospectivity mapping (MPM). The main target of this paper is to apply multivariate regression analysis (as an MPM method) to map iron outcrops in the northeastern part of the study area in order to discover new iron deposits in other parts of the study area. Two types of multivariate regression models using two linear equations were employed to discover new mineral deposits. This method is one of the reliable methods for processing satellite images. ASTER satellite images (14 bands) were used as unique independent variables (UIVs), and iron outcrops were mapped as dependent variables for MPM. According to the results of the probability value (p value), coefficient of determination value (R2) and adjusted determination coefficient (Radj2), the second regression model (which consistent of multiple UIVs) fitted better than other models. The accuracy of the model was confirmed by iron outcrops map and geological observation. Based on field observation, iron mineralization occurs at the contact of limestone and intrusive rocks (skarn type).

Sedimentation studies at MUDA catchment area, Kedah, Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamarudin Samuding; Juhari Yusuf; Wan Abdul Aziz; Juhari Latiff

2000-01-01

A study on the sediment size distribution and determination of sediment density profile in the selected area of Muda dam catchment area, Kedah is presented. The objective of the study was to establish a base line data of the input sedimentation with regards to the effects of development within the catchment in the future. Three main sampling locations were identified namely at Sungai Teliang, Sungai Muda and Muda reservoir. Measurement of sediment thickness was performed by using nuclear gauges i.e. direct transmission and backscattering methods. Results showed that the grain size distribution of sediment ranges from gravel to clay sizes. In the reservoir and downstream of the river, most of the samples studied consisting of fine sediment i.e silt and clay sizes (<63,um). However, sediment distribution in the upstream section of Sungai Teliang mainly consist of fine to coarse sand. Sediment density profiles in the reservoir showed little changes, whereas bed sediment profiles in the river cross-sectional areas exhibit some changes. The results also showed that thickness of bedload sediment were different from one location to another, in which the thickness may achieve up to 0.75 metre in some areas. Based on the sediment distribution profile analysis, the study site could be divided into two parts comprising of dynamic area (region) covering selected locations along the river and deposited sediment in the reservoir. Basic information derived from this study may provide as one of the important inputs for the MADA reservoir management authority in monitoring, supervising y and identifying rate and source of sediment in the catchment area

Pornographic information of Internet views detection method based on the connected areas

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Huibai; Fan, Ajie

2017-01-01

Nowadays online porn video broadcasting and downloading is very popular. In view of the widespread phenomenon of Internet pornography, this paper proposed a new method of pornographic video detection based on connected areas. Firstly, decode the video into a serious of static images and detect skin color on the extracted key frames. If the area of skin color reaches a certain threshold, use the AdaBoost algorithm to detect the human face. Judge the connectivity of the human face and the large area of skin color to determine whether detect the sensitive area finally. The experimental results show that the method can effectively remove the non-pornographic videos contain human who wear less. This method can improve the efficiency and reduce the workload of detection.

Automatic Extraction of Urban Built-Up Area Based on Object-Oriented Method and Remote Sensing Data

Science.gov (United States)

Li, L.; Zhou, H.; Wen, Q.; Chen, T.; Guan, F.; Ren, B.; Yu, H.; Wang, Z.

2018-04-01

Built-up area marks the use of city construction land in the different periods of the development, the accurate extraction is the key to the studies of the changes of urban expansion. This paper studies the technology of automatic extraction of urban built-up area based on object-oriented method and remote sensing data, and realizes the automatic extraction of the main built-up area of the city, which saves the manpower cost greatly. First, the extraction of construction land based on object-oriented method, the main technical steps include: (1) Multi-resolution segmentation; (2) Feature Construction and Selection; (3) Information Extraction of Construction Land Based on Rule Set, The characteristic parameters used in the rule set mainly include the mean of the red band (Mean R), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Ratio of residential index (RRI), Blue band mean (Mean B), Through the combination of the above characteristic parameters, the construction site information can be extracted. Based on the degree of adaptability, distance and area of the object domain, the urban built-up area can be quickly and accurately defined from the construction land information without depending on other data and expert knowledge to achieve the automatic extraction of the urban built-up area. In this paper, Beijing city as an experimental area for the technical methods of the experiment, the results show that: the city built-up area to achieve automatic extraction, boundary accuracy of 2359.65 m to meet the requirements. The automatic extraction of urban built-up area has strong practicality and can be applied to the monitoring of the change of the main built-up area of city.

PIEDRA WILDERNESS STUDY AREA, COLORADO.

Science.gov (United States)

Condon, Steven M.; Brown, S. Don

1984-01-01

The Pedra Wilderness Study Area, located approximately 30 mi northeast of Durango, Colorado, was evaluated for its mineral-resource potential. Geochemical and geophysical studies indicate little promise for the occurrence of mineral or energy resources in this area. This conclusion is supported by the findings of the earlier study and is suggested by the absence of significant mining activity in the area.

[Using sequential indicator simulation method to define risk areas of soil heavy metals in farmland.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hao; Song, Ying Qiang; Hu, Yue Ming; Chen, Fei Xiang; Zhang, Rui

2018-05-01

The heavy metals in soil have serious impacts on safety, ecological environment and human health due to their toxicity and accumulation. It is necessary to efficiently identify the risk area of heavy metals in farmland soil, which is of important significance for environment protection, pollution warning and farmland risk control. We collected 204 samples and analyzed the contents of seven kinds of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, As, Hg) in Zengcheng District of Guangzhou, China. In order to overcame the problems of the data, including the limitation of abnormal values and skewness distribution and the smooth effect with the traditional kriging methods, we used sequential indicator simulation method (SISIM) to define the spatial distribution of heavy metals, and combined Hakanson index method to identify potential ecological risk area of heavy metals in farmland. The results showed that: (1) Based on the similar accuracy of spatial prediction of soil heavy metals, the SISIM had a better expression of detail rebuild than ordinary kriging in small scale area. Compared to indicator kriging, the SISIM had less error rate (4.9%-17.1%) in uncertainty evaluation of heavy-metal risk identification. The SISIM had less smooth effect and was more applicable to simulate the spatial uncertainty assessment of soil heavy metals and risk identification. (2) There was no pollution in Zengcheng's farmland. Moderate potential ecological risk was found in the southern part of study area due to enterprise production, human activities, and river sediments. This study combined the sequential indicator simulation with Hakanson risk index method, and effectively overcame the outlier information loss and smooth effect of traditional kriging method. It provided a new way to identify the soil heavy metal risk area of farmland in uneven sampling.

Radioecological studies in Goiania urban area: review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rio, Monica Pires do; Amaral, Eliana

1997-01-01

Studies on the behaviour and transport of 137 Cs in urban areas, including, resuspension and deposition experiments, 137 Cs uptake by leafy vegetables and small domestic animals that accidentally ingested contaminated soil, were performed in a house located at 57 t h Street near the main focus of contamination. The resuspension of surface soil did not contribute much to the spreading of the radionuclide in Goiania, but can lead to the local contamination of vegetables, equipment, structures and other environmental surfaces. The mechanism also presented a seasonal effect. The soil is an important medium for the uptake of 137 Cs by small domestic animals. The street dust sampling is a suitable method to assess the dispersion of 137 Cs in urban areas. After 10 years, the radionuclide activity concentration is restricted only to the initially impacted area an it is decreasing with time. (author)

Historical Development of Skiing: Case Study in Durmitor Area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rajko Milašinović

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is the history of skiing, while the main goal will be the historical development of skiing in the mountain Durmitor area in Montenegro. The study consists two goals. The first goal is the emergence of the first ski in the Montenegro and benefits that are brought. The second and the main goal is the occurrence and development of skiing and ski sports in the territory of mountain Durmitor. During the making of this study, the authors used descriptive method with consulting of competent literature. The previous authors’ experience in this field was also so useful. Moreover, the author used the analytic method and parallel method that is the most productive if you make some inferences about some appearance. The main outcome of this study was showing of historical progress of ski sports in the territory of mountain Durmitor from early beginnings to the modern Olympic skiing. Skis and ski sport were early appeared in the region of Mount Durmitor. The mountain and the region around it, are very rich with slopes with Olympic diameter, with plenty of snowfall and long winters. However, lack of financial investment, channeling money to other centers, led to the fact that the skiing in this area is at a low level.

Investigation of soil structure in Uzungöl settlement area by Shallow Seismic Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hakan Karslı

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study was performed to relase the soil structure of Uzungöl district of Trabzon city, a vocational area, where had been formed by a historical landslide and lake deposits and to evaluate its geotechnical characters by using seismic methods which are noninvasive, rapidly applicable and provide substantial information about the structure of investigated ground in a short time. For this purpose, seismic refraction, active-passive surface waves and seismic reflections in 16 profiles were gathered on four sub-areas and and evaluated by current favorable numerical methods. Although it considerably varies between profiles, the depth of basement, depositional base of deposits, was averagely obtained as 13.5-15m at upper elevation and 25-50m at lower elevation of the study area. Dynamic elastic parameters and average shear wave velocity of the upper 30m (VS30 of soil in the area were calculated. The soil classification of study area was interpreted as locally Z1 and Z2 class for TEC, B and C class for EC-8 code, C and D class for NERHP. According to VS30 (394-530m/s, ground amplification and predominant vibration period of the study area are respectively obtained as 1.5-2.1 and 0.23-0.30sec. On the other hand, all deposits are characterized by stiffness-solid soil, excluding arable soil from surface to a few meters depth. In addition, the first meters of bedrock shows weathered character, but deeper parts are very compact and hard. Therefore, a scientific infrastructure has been formed to carry out the engineering projects to be planned for Uzungöl settletment safely and without damaging the environment.

Radiation area monitor device and method

Science.gov (United States)

Vencelj, Matjaz; Stowe, Ashley C.; Petrovic, Toni; Morrell, Jonathan S.; Kosicek, Andrej

2018-01-30

A radiation area monitor device/method, utilizing: a radiation sensor; a rotating radiation shield disposed about the radiation sensor, wherein the rotating radiation shield defines one or more ports that are transparent to radiation; and a processor operable for analyzing and storing a radiation fingerprint acquired by the radiation sensor as the rotating radiation shield is rotated about the radiation sensor. Optionally, the radiation sensor includes a gamma and/or neutron radiation sensor. The device/method selectively operates in: a first supervised mode during which a baseline radiation fingerprint is acquired by the radiation sensor as the rotating radiation shield is rotated about the radiation sensor; and a second unsupervised mode during which a subsequent radiation fingerprint is acquired by the radiation sensor as the rotating radiation shield is rotated about the radiation sensor, wherein the subsequent radiation fingerprint is compared to the baseline radiation fingerprint and, if a predetermined difference threshold is exceeded, an alert is issued.

Neutron activation, k{sub 0-}- method, as a tool for Phytoremediation studies and reclamation of degraded areas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Uemura, George; Menezes, Maria Angela de Barros C. [Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear (CDTN/CNEN-MG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil)]. E-mails: george@cdtn.br; menezes@cdtn.br

2007-07-01

Phytoremediation is a technology that can be considered as a relatively recent one, although it is based on knowledge that has been gathered and accumulated for a long time. One advantage of phytoremediation is its relatively low cost, but, as it must rely on plant growth, its results might be quite slow to be achieved, specially in countries with temperate climate, which is not the case of vast areas of Brazilian territory. One of the aims of phytoremediation is the search of plants that are hyperaccumulators, i.e., that are capable of accumulating pollutants and/or contaminants in high concentrations, of which the fern Pteris vittata is a fine example, considering arsenic accumulation. The possibilities of exploring Brazilian native flora for this purpose demand no further comments. The reclamation of degraded areas demands might not necessarily rely only on species and/or varieties that are hyperaccumulators, but also on taxa that are resistant to a given pollutant or a mixture of pollutants. In this case, a precise analysis of the environment is fundamental, specially to ascertain, for sure, that some toxic element is not present. In this work, species known to accumulate arsenic from Brazilian native flora like Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) and Mirabilis jalapa were grown and exposed to arsenic. After that, they were lyophilised and analysed by means of the k{sub 0-} standardization method using the TRIGA MARK I IPR-R1 reactor at CDTN/CNEN. Certified reference material were also analysed to verify the accuracy of the method. The advantages of neutron activation, k{sub 0-}method, a multi-elemental analysis technique, in phytoremediation and reclamation of degraded areas, are discussed in the present paper. (author)

A Method of Mapping Burned Area Using Chinese FengYun-3 MERSI Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Shan, T.

2017-12-01

Wildfire is a naturally reoccurring global phenomenon which has environmental and ecological consequences such as effects on the global carbon budget, changes to the global carbon cycle and disruption to ecosystem succession. The information of burned area is significant for post disaster assessment, ecosystems protection and restoration. The Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) onboard FENGYUN-3C (FY-3C) has shown good ability for fire detection and monitoring but lacks recognition among researchers. In this study, an automated burned area mapping algorithm was proposed based on FY-3C MERSI data. The algorithm is generally divided into two phases: 1) selection of training pixels based on 1000-m resolution MERSI data, which offers more spectral information through the use of more vegetation indices; and 2) classification: first the region growing method is applied to 1000-m MERSI data to calculate the core burned area and then the same classification method is applied to the 250-m MERSI data set by using the core burned area as a seed to obtain results at a finer spatial resolution. An evaluation of the performance of the algorithm was carried out at two study sites in America and Canada. The accuracy assessment and validation were made by comparing our results with reference results derived from Landsat OLI data. The result has a high kappa coefficient and the lower commission error, indicating that this algorithm can improve the burned area mapping accuracy at the two study sites. It may then be possible to use MERSI and other data to fill the gaps in the imaging of burned areas in the future.

Comparison of two down-scaling methods for climate study and climate change on the mountain areas in France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piazza, Marie; Page, Christian; Sanchez-Gomez, Emilia; Terray, Laurent; Deque, Michel

2013-01-01

Mountain regions are highly vulnerable to climate change and are likely to be among the areas most impacted by global warming. But climate projections for the end of the 21. century are developed with general circulation models of climate, which do not present a sufficient horizontal resolution to accurately evaluate the impacts of warming on these regions. Several techniques are then used to perform a spatial down-scaling (on the order of 10 km). There are two categories of down-scaling methods: dynamical methods that require significant computational resources for the achievement of regional climate simulations at high resolution, and statistical methods that require few resources but an observation dataset over a long period and of good quality. In this study, climate simulations of the global atmospheric model ARPEGE projections over France are down-scaled according to a dynamical method, performed with the ALADIN-Climate regional model, and a statistical method performed with the software DSClim developed at CERFACS. The two down-scaling methods are presented and the results on the climate of the French mountains are evaluated for the current climate. Both methods give similar results for average snowfall. However extreme events of total precipitation (droughts, intense precipitation events) are largely underestimated by the statistical method. Then, the results of both methods are compared for two future climate projections, according to the greenhouse gas emissions scenario A1B of IPCC. The two methods agree on fewer frost days, a significant decrease in the amounts of solid precipitation and an average increase in the percentage of dry days of more than 10%. The results obtained on Corsica are more heterogeneous but they are questionable because the reduced spatial domain is probably not very relevant regarding statistical sampling. (authors)

Performance of the lot quality assurance sampling method compared to surveillance for identifying inadequately-performing areas in Matlab, Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhuiya, Abbas; Hanifi, S M A; Roy, Nikhil; Streatfield, P Kim

2007-03-01

This paper compared the performance of the lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) method in identifying inadequately-performing health work-areas with that of using health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) data and examined the feasibility of applying the method by field-level programme supervisors. The study was carried out in Matlab, the field site of ICDDR,B, where a HDSS has been in place for over 30 years. The LQAS method was applied in 57 work-areas of community health workers in ICDDR,B-served areas in Matlab during July-September 2002. The performance of the LQAS method in identifying work-areas with adequate and inadequate coverage of various health services was compared with those of the HDSS. The health service-coverage indicators included coverage of DPT, measles, BCG vaccination, and contraceptive use. It was observed that the difference in the proportion of work-areas identified to be inadequately performing using the LQAS method with less than 30 respondents, and the HDSS was not statistically significant. The consistency between the LQAS method and the HDSS in identifying work-areas was greater for adequately-performing areas than inadequately-performing areas. It was also observed that the field managers could be trained to apply the LQAS method in monitoring their performance in reaching the target population.

Method for predicting future developments of traffic noise in urban areas in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Salomons, E.; Hout, D. van den; Janssen, S.; Kugler, U.; MacA, V.

2010-01-01

Traffic noise in urban areas in Europe is a major environmental stressor. In this study we present a method for predicting how environmental noise can be expected to develop in the future. In the project HEIMTSA scenarios were developed for all relevant environmental stressors to health, for all

Method of Factor Extraction and Simple Structure of Data from Diverse Scientific Areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Thorndike, Robert M.

To study the applicability of simple structure logic for factorial data from scientific disciplines outside psychology, four correlation matrices from each of six scientific areas were factor analyzed by five factoring methods. Resulting factor matrices were compared on two objective criteria of simple structure before and after rotation.…

Experimental study on rapid embankment construction methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirano, Hideaki; Egawa, Kikuji; Hyodo, Kazuya; Kannoto, Yasuo; Sekimoto, Tsuyoshi; Kobayashi, Kokichi.

1982-01-01

In the construction of a thermal or nuclear power plant in a coastal area, shorter embankment construction period has come to be called for recently. This tendency is remarkable where construction period is limited due to meteorological or sea conditions. To meet this requirement, the authors have been conducting basic experimental studies on two methods for the rapid execution of embankment construction, that is, Steel Plate Cellular Bulkhead Embedding Method and Ship Hull Caisson Method. This paper presents an outline of the results of the experimental study on these two methods. (author)

Delineation of wetland areas from high resolution WorldView-2 data by object-based method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassan, N; Hamid, J R A; Adnan, N A; Jaafar, M

2014-01-01

Various classification methods are available that can be used to delineate land cover types. Object-based is one of such methods for delineating the land cover from satellite imageries. This paper focuses on the digital image processing aspects of discriminating wetland areas via object-based method using high resolution satellite multispectral WorldView-2 image data taken over part of Penang Island region. This research is an attempt to improve the wetland area delineation in conjunction with a range of classification techniques which can be applied to satellite data with high spatial and spectral resolution such as World View 2. The intent is to determine a suitable approach to delineate and map these wetland areas more appropriately. There are common parameters to take into account that are pivotal in object-based method which are the spatial resolution and the range of spectral channels of the imaging sensor system. The preliminary results of the study showed object-based analysis is capable of delineating wetland region of interest with an accuracy that is acceptable to the required tolerance for land cover classification

Numerical evaluation for a five-sensor probe method to measure the interfacial area concentration under the bubble fluctuation condition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Euh, D. J.; Yun, B. J.; Song, C. H.

2003-01-01

Interfacial area concentration is an important parameter in the two phase flow models. Currently, two types of probe methods, double-sensor and four-sensor, are widely used to measure the interfacial area concentration. In this study, a configuration of five-sensor probe sensor tips and a measuring method for the interfacial area concentration by using the probe are proposed to improve the performance of the previous probe methods. The five-sensor probe method proposed in this study is essentially based on the four-sensor probe method but improves it by adapting one more sensor. The passing types of the interfaces through the sensors are categorized into four and independent methods are applied to the interfaces belonging to each category. This method has an advantage such that a more systematic approach for missing bubbles can be made when compared with the classical four sensor probe method. To verify the applicability of the five-sensor probe method, numerical tests are performed with consideration of the bubble lateral movement. The effects of bubble size and intensity of the bubble lateral motion on the measurement of the interfacial area concentration are also investigated. The bubble parameters related to the bubble fluctuation and interface geometry are determined by the Monte Carlo approach

Application of subinterval area median contrast filtering method in the recognizing of geochemical anomalies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Ningbo; Fu Jin; Zhang Chuan; Liu Huan

2012-01-01

Traditional geochemical processing method sometimes maybe loses some weak anomalies related to mineralization, the authors can avoid the influence of geology background and can solve the problem of recognizing weak anomalies in the low-background and high-background area with the subinterval area median contrast filtering method. In an area of Jiangxi Province, several new anomalies are identified by this method and uranium mineralized prospects are found among them. (authors)

Using ecological propensity score to adjust for missing confounders in small area studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yingbo; Pirani, Monica; Hansell, Anna L; Richardson, Sylvia; Blangiardo, Marta

2017-11-09

Small area ecological studies are commonly used in epidemiology to assess the impact of area level risk factors on health outcomes when data are only available in an aggregated form. However, the resulting estimates are often biased due to unmeasured confounders, which typically are not available from the standard administrative registries used for these studies. Extra information on confounders can be provided through external data sets such as surveys or cohorts, where the data are available at the individual level rather than at the area level; however, such data typically lack the geographical coverage of administrative registries. We develop a framework of analysis which combines ecological and individual level data from different sources to provide an adjusted estimate of area level risk factors which is less biased. Our method (i) summarizes all available individual level confounders into an area level scalar variable, which we call ecological propensity score (EPS), (ii) implements a hierarchical structured approach to impute the values of EPS whenever they are missing, and (iii) includes the estimated and imputed EPS into the ecological regression linking the risk factors to the health outcome. Through a simulation study, we show that integrating individual level data into small area analyses via EPS is a promising method to reduce the bias intrinsic in ecological studies due to unmeasured confounders; we also apply the method to a real case study to evaluate the effect of air pollution on coronary heart disease hospital admissions in Greater London. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Methods for Finding Legacy Wells in Large Areas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hammack, Richard W. [National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, (United States); Veloski, Garret A. [National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, (United States); Hodges, D. Greg [Fugro Airborne Surveys, Mississauga, ON (Canada); White, Jr., Curt M. [National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, (United States)

2016-06-16

United States. When abandoned, many wells were not adequately sealed and now provide a potential conduit for the vertical movement of liquids and gases. Today, groundwater aquifers can be contaminated by surface pollutants flowing down wells or by deep, saline water diffusing upwards. Likewise, natural gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), or radon can travel upwards via these wells to endanger structures or human health on the surface. Recently, the need to find and plug wells has become critical with the advent of carbon dioxide injection into geologic formations for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or carbon storage. The potential for natural gas or brine leakage through existing wells has also been raised as a concern in regions where shale resources are hydraulically fractured for hydrocarbon recovery. In this study, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) updated existing, effective well finding techniques to be able to survey large areas quickly using helicopter or ground-vehicle-mounted magnetometers, combined with mobile methane detection. For this study, magnetic data were collected using airborne and ground vehicles equipped with two boom-mounted magnetometers, or on foot using a hand-held magnetometer with a single sensor. Data processing techniques were employed to accentuate well-casing-type magnetic signatures. To locate wells with no magnetic signature (wells where the steel well casing had been removed), the team monitored for anomalous concentrations of methane, which could indicate migration of volatile compounds from deeper sedimentary strata along a well or fracture pathway. Methane measurements were obtained using the ALPIS DIfferential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) sensor for helicopter surveys and the Apogee leak detection system (LDS) for ground surveys. These methods were evaluated at a 100-year-old oilfield in Wyoming, where a helicopter magnetic survey accurately located 93% of visible wells. In addition, 20% of the wells found by the survey were

Methods for Finding Legacy Wells in Large Areas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hammack, Richard [National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, (United States); Veloski, Garret [National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, (United States); Hodges, D. Greg [Fugro Airborne Surveys, Mississauga, ON (Canada); White, Jr., Charles E. [National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, (United States)

2016-06-16

More than 10 million wells have been drilled during 150 years of oil and gas production in the United States. When abandoned, many wells were not adequately sealed and now provide a potential conduit for the vertical movement of liquids and gases. Today, groundwater aquifers can be contaminated by surface pollutants flowing down wells or by deep, saline water diffusing upwards. Likewise, natural gas, carbon dioxide (CO₂), or radon can travel upwards via these wells to endanger structures or human health on the surface. Recently, the need to find and plug wells has become critical with the advent of carbon dioxide injection into geologic formations for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or carbon storage. The potential for natural gas or brine leakage through existing wells has also been raised as a concern in regions where shale resources are hydraulically fractured for hydrocarbon recovery. In this study, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) updated existing, effective well finding techniques to be able to survey large areas quickly using helicopter or ground-vehicle-mounted magnetometers, combined with mobile methane detection. For this study, magnetic data were collected using airborne and ground vehicles equipped with two boom-mounted magnetometers, or on foot using a hand-held magnetometer with a single sensor. Data processing techniques were employed to accentuate well-casing-type magnetic signatures. To locate wells with no magnetic signature (wells where the steel well casing had been removed), the team monitored for anomalous concentrations of methane, which could indicate migration of volatile compounds from deeper sedimentary strata along a well or fracture pathway. Methane measurements were obtained using the ALPIS DIfferential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) sensor for helicopter surveys and the Apogee leak detection system (LDS) for ground surveys. These methods were evaluated at a 100-year-old oilfield in Wyoming, where a helicopter magnetic

Monitoring Quarry Area with Landsat Long Time-Series for Socioeconomic Study

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Haoteng Zhao

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Quarry sites result from human activity, which includes the removal of original vegetation and the overlying soil to dig out stones for building use. Therefore, the dynamics of the quarry area provide a unique view of human mining activities. Actually, the topographic changes caused by mining activities are also a result of the development of the local economy. Thus, monitoring the quarry area can provide information about the policies of the economy and environmental protection. In this paper, we developed a combined method of machine learning classification and quarry region analysis to estimate the quarry area in a quarry region near Beijing. A temporal smoothing based on the classification results of all years was applied in post-processing to remove outliers and obtain gently changing sequences along the monitoring term. The method was applied to Landsat images to derive a quarry distribution map and quarry area time series from 1984 to 2017, revealing significant inter-annual variability. The time series revealed a five-stage development of the quarry area with different growth patterns. As the study region lies on two jurisdictions—Tianjin and Hebei—a comparison of the quarry area changes in the two jurisdictions was applied, which revealed that the different policies in the two regions could impose different impacts on the development of a quarry area. An analysis concerning the relationship between quarry area and gross regional product (GRP was performed to explore the potential application on socioeconomic studies, and we found a strong positive correlation between quarry area and GRP in Langfang City, Hebei Province. These results demonstrate the potential benefit of annual monitoring over the long-term for socioeconomic studies, which can be used for mining decision making.

Using the ERT method in tectonically active areas: hints from Southern Apennine (Italy

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A. Giocoli

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT method has been used to study two tectonically active areas of southern Apennine (Caggiano Faults and Ufita Basin. The main aim of this job was to study the structural setting of the investigated areas, i.e. the geometry of the basins at depth, the location of active faults at surface, and their geometrical characterization. The comparison between ERT and trench/drilling data allowed us to evaluate the efficacy of the ERT method in studying active faults and the structural setting of seismogenic areas.

In the Timpa del Vento intermontane basin, high resolution ERT across the Caggiano Fault scarps, with different arrays, electrode spacing (from 1 to 10 m and penetration depth (from about 5 to 40 m was carried out. The obtained resistivity models allowed us to locate the fault planes along the hillslope and to gather information at depth, as later confirmed by paleoseismological trenches excavated across the fault trace.

In the Ufita River Valley a 3560-m-long ERT was carried out across the basin, joining 11 roll-along multi-channel acquisition system with an electrode spacing of 20 m and reaching an investigation depth of about 170 m. The ERT allowed us to reconstruct the geometry and thickness of the Quaternary deposits filling the Ufita Valley. Our reconstruction of the depositional setting is in agreement with an interpretative geological section based on borehole data.

Comparison of determinations of left atrial volume by the biplane area-length and Simpson's methods using 64-slice computed tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takagi, Yasuhiro; Ehara, Shoichi; Okuyama, Takuhiro

2009-01-01

There is increasing evidence that left atrial (LA) size is an important predictor of adverse cardiovascular outcomes such as atrial fibrillation, stroke, and congestive heart failure. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in results of quantification of LA volume by the area-length and Simpson's methods using multislice computed tomography (MSCT). The study population consisted of 51 patients with sinus rhythm (sinus group) and 20 patients with atrial fibrillation (af group) clinically indicated for MSCT angiography for evaluation of coronary arteries. Maximum LA volume, obtained at end-systole from the phase immediately preceding mitral valve opening, was measured using the area-length and Simpson's methods. In the sinus group, the mean LA volumes, indexed to body surface area, were 48.4±17.9 ml/m 2 with the area-length method and 48.3±17.0 ml/m 2 with the Simpson's method. In the af group, the mean indexed LA volumes with the area-length method and the Simposon's method were 91.5±47.5 ml/m 2 and 90.3±45.9 ml/m 2 , respectively. LA volumes calculated by the area-length method exhibited a strong linear relationship and agreement with those calculated using Simpson's method in both the groups (sinus group: r=0.99, P<0.0001, af group: r=0.99, P<0.0001). The area-length method is a simple and reproducible means of assessment of LA volume. Standardization of LA volume assessment using MSCT is important for serial follow-up and meaningful communication of results of testing among institutions and physicians. (author)

Environmental study for radionuclides at Kurun-Uro area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salih, S.M.N.

1993-01-01

This work is aimed to study the environmental distribution of the terrestrial radionuclides and the resultant dose at Nuba mountains ( Kurun-Uro area ). This area has a high background natural radioactivity. More over it contains a rockphosphate zone lying between J. Kurun and J. Uro. Field scanning of gamma ray measurements on BGS- ISL Scintillomter was carried. At the same time different environment samples ( rock, soil, air, water and food ) were collected. These samples were treated then investigated on gamma spectrometry technique to determine radionuclides activity concentrations. X-ray fluorescent technique was used for the determination of P 2 O 5 and other elements. For phosphate determination as P 2 O 5 % the Bennelt Reed chemical method was used. From gamma counts and nuclides activity concentrations in soil samples the external exposure rate and the external Annual Effective Dose Equivalent (AEDE) were estimated. While the internal exposure rate and the internal (AEDE) were estimated from nuclides concentrations in air, water and food. The external (AEDE) were found to be 3.2 mSv at Kurun and 4.15 mSv at Uro. Over J. Kurun it is 20 mSv and 32 mSv over J. Uro. The internal AEDE were found to be 8.5 mSv and 12.9 mSv at Kurun and Uro respectively. The total AEDE is 11.7 mSv for Kurun area and 17 mSv for Uro. the AEDE at this area is seven times higher than the normal areas. The average P 2 O 5 % in the rock samples results using (XRF) and wet chemical method is 25% and 19% for Kurun and Uro respectively, so this area is very promising for fertilizer production, but special care must be taken for radiation impact on the environment. (author).41 refs.,

The comparison of detection methods of asymptomatic malaria in hypoendemic areas

Science.gov (United States)

Siahaan, L.; Panggabean, M.; Panggabean, Y. C.

2018-03-01

Malaria is still a problem that disrupts public health in North Sumatera. Late diagnosis will increase the chances of increased morbidity and mortality due to malaria. The early detection of asymptomatic malaria is one of the best efforts to reduce the transmission of the disease. Early detection is certainly must be done on suspect patients who have no malaria complaints. Passive Case Detection (PCD) methods seem hard to find asymptomatic malaria. This study was conducted to compare ACD (Active Case Detection) and PCD methods in asymptomatic malaria detection in the hypoendemic areas of malaria. ACD method is done by going to the sample based on secondary data. Meanwhile, PCD is done on samples that come to health services. Samples were taken randomly and diagnosis was confirmed by microscopic examination with 3% Giemsa staining, as gold standard of malaria diagnostics. There was a significant difference between ACD and PCD detection methods (p = 0.034), where ACD method was seen superior in detecting malaria patients in all categories, such as: clinical malaria (65.2%), asymptomatic malaria (65.1%) and submicroscopic malaria (58.5%). ACD detection methods are superior in detecting malaria sufferers, especially asymptomatic malaria sufferers.

Method of Monitoring Urban Area Deformation Based on Differential TomoSAR

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WANG Aichun

2016-12-01

Full Text Available While the use of differential TomoSAR based on compressive sensing (CS makes it possible to solve the layover problem and reconstruct the deformation information of an observed urban area scene acquired by moderate-high resolution SAR satellite, the performance of the reconstruction decreases for a sparse and structural observed scene due to ignoring the structural characteristics of the observed scene. To deal with this issue, the method for differential SAR tomography based on Khatri-Rao subspace and block compressive sensing (KRS-BCS is proposed. The proposed method changes the reconstruction of the sparse and structural observed scene into a BCS problem under Khatri-Rao subspace, using the structure information of the observed scene and Khatri-Rao product property of the reconstructed observation matrix for differential TomoSAR, such that the KRS-BCS problem is efficiently solved with a block sparse l1/l2 norm optimization signal model, and the performance of resolution capability and reconstruction estimation is compared and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by the theoretical analysis and the simulation experiments, all of the results show the propose KRS-BCS method practicably overcomes the problems of CS method, as well as, quite maintains the high resolution characteristics, effectively reduces the probability of false scattering target and greatly improves the reconstruction accurate of scattering point. Finally, the application is taking the urban area of the Mobara(in Chiba, Japan as the test area and using 34 ENVISAT-ASAR images, the accuracy is verifying with the reference deformations derived from first level point data and GPS tracking data, the results show the trend is consistent and the overall deviation is small between reconstruction deformations of the propose KRS-BCS method and the reference deformations, and the accuracy is high in the estimation of the urban area deformation.

Comparative study for methods to determine the seismic response of NPP structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Varpasuo, P.

1995-01-01

There are many different important problem areas in evaluating the seismic response of structures. In this study the effort is concentrated on three of these areas. The first task is the mathematical formulation of earthquake excitation. The random vibration theory is taken as the tool in this task. The second area of interest in this study is the soil-structure interaction analysis. The approach of impedance functions is chosen and the focal point of interest is the significance of frequency dependent impedance functions. The third area of interest is the methods to determine the structural response. The following three methods were tested: the mode superposition time history method; the complex frequency response method; the response spectrum method. The comparison was made with the aid of MSC/NASTRAN code. The three methods gave for outer containment building response results which were in good agreement with each other. (author). 4 refs., 5 figs

Development of the interfacial area concentration measurement method using a five sensor conductivity probe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Euh, Dong Jin; Yun, Byong Jo; Song, Chul Hwa; Kwon, Tae Soon; Chung, Moon Ki; Lee, Un Chul

2000-01-01

The interfacial area concentration(IAC) is one of the most important parameters in the two-fluid model for two-phase flow analysis. The IAE can be measured by a local conductivity probe method that uses the difference of conductivity between water and air/steam. The number of sensors in the conductivity probe may be differently chosen by considering the flow regime of two-phase flow. The four sensor conductivity probe method predicts the IAC without any assumptions of the bubble shape. The local IAC can be obtained by measuring the three dimensional velocity vector elements at the measuring point, and the directional cosines of the sensors. The five sensor conductivity probe method proposed in this study is based on the four sensor probe method. With the five sensor probe, the local IAC for a given referred measuring area of the probe can be predicted more exactly than the four sensor prober. In this paper, the mathematical approach of the five sensor probe method for measuring the IAC is described, and a numerical simulation is carried out for ideal cap bubbles of which the sizes and locations are determined by a random number generator

Broca's area network in language function.Broca's area network in language function: A pooling-data connectivity study

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Byron eBernal

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Background and Objective. Modern neuroimaging developments have demonstrated that cognitive functions correlate with brain networks rather than specific areas. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the connectivity of Broca's area based on language tasks. Methods. A connectivity modeling study was performed by pooling data of Broca's activation in language tasks. Fifty-seven papers that included 883 subjects in 84 experiments were analyzed. Analysis of Likelihood Estimates of pooled data was utilized to generate the map; thresholds at p < 0.01 were corrected for multiple comparisons and false discovery rate. Resulting images were co-registered into MNI standard space. Results. A network consisting of 16 clusters of activation was obtained. Main clusters were located in the frontal operculum, left posterior temporal region, supplementary motor area, and the parietal lobe. Less common clusters were seen in the sub-cortical structures including the left thalamus, left putamen, secondary visual areas and the right cerebellum. Conclusions. BA44-related networks involved in language processing were demonstrated utilizing a pooling-data connectivity study. Significance, interpretation and limitations of the results are discussed.

Tsunami risk assessment for facility group over a wide area using inundation assessment method considering energy conservation law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukutani, Yo; Imamura, Fumihiko; Tokunaga, Takeshi; Sato, Ichiro

2015-01-01

We propose a quantitative evaluation method of overall tsunami risk that the entire facility group over a wide area holds. We considerably reduced the calculation cost for tsunami inundation depth by adopting the evaluation method using energy conservation law as compared with the evaluation method using non-linear long wave equation. For financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies with contractors over a wide area and business companies with multiple their assets and facilities in various places, the proposed evaluation method in this study could be a useful approach to implement their risk-based management decisions for tsunami risk. (author)

Modelling catchment areas for secondary care providers: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Simon; Wardlaw, Jessica; Crouch, Susan; Carolan, Michelle

2011-09-01

Hospitals need to understand patient flows in an increasingly competitive health economy. New initiatives like Patient Choice and the Darzi Review further increase this demand. Essential to understanding patient flows are demographic and geographic profiles of health care service providers, known as 'catchment areas' and 'catchment populations'. This information helps Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to review how their populations are accessing services, measure inequalities and commission services; likewise it assists Secondary Care Providers (SCPs) to measure and assess potential gains in market share, redesign services, evaluate admission thresholds and plan financial budgets. Unlike PCTs, SCPs do not operate within fixed geographic boundaries. Traditionally, SCPs have used administrative boundaries or arbitrary drive times to model catchment areas. Neither approach satisfactorily represents current patient flows. Furthermore, these techniques are time-consuming and can be challenging for healthcare managers to exploit. This paper presents three different approaches to define catchment areas, each more detailed than the previous method. The first approach 'First Past the Post' defines catchment areas by allocating a dominant SCP to each Census Output Area (OA). The SCP with the highest proportion of activity within each OA is considered the dominant SCP. The second approach 'Proportional Flow' allocates activity proportionally to each OA. This approach allows for cross-boundary flows to be captured in a catchment area. The third and final approach uses a gravity model to define a catchment area, which incorporates drive or travel time into the analysis. Comparing approaches helps healthcare providers to understand whether using more traditional and simplistic approaches to define catchment areas and populations achieves the same or similar results as complex mathematical modelling. This paper has demonstrated, using a case study of Manchester, that when estimating

Dose per unit area - a study of elicitation of nickel allergy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fischer, Louise Arup; Menné, Torkil; Johansen, Jeanne Duus

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: Experimental sensitization depends upon the amount of allergen per unit skin area and is largely independent of the area size. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at testing if this also applies for elicitation of nickel allergy. PATIENTS/METHODS: 20 nickel allergic individuals were tested...... with a patch test and a repeated open application test (ROAT). Nickel was applied on small and large areas. The varying parameters were area, total dose and dose per unit area. RESULTS: In the patch test, at a low concentration [15 microg nickel (microg Ni)/cm(2)], there were significantly higher scores...... on the large area with the same dose per area as the small area. At higher concentrations of nickel, no significant differences were found. In the ROAT at low concentration (6.64 microg Ni/cm(2)), it was found that the latency period until a reaction appeared was significantly shorter on the large area...

Viticulture – Challenge for Tourism Development (Znojmo Case Study Area

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Miroslav Foret

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article, which deals with the issue whether the viticulture can be the challenge for tourism development, is based on research conducted in Znojmo case study area (the Czech Republic. It starts with general introduction of wine tourism concept based on the selected results of the previous scientific researches. The second part of the article brings description of the methods and brief characterisation of case study area. The third part pays attention to the analyses of the selected statistical data showing importance of viticulture for the case study area. The main fourth part is focused on selected activities which are connected with projects developing wine tourism (especially vineyards and vine festivals, where cooperation of different actors is necessary and continues by analysing of the potential of more intensive development of wine tourism on example of the important actor in case study area – wine producer Znovín Znojmo. The conducted research shows strong local embededness and association of company with the tourism industry. The article concludes with general recommendations, which emphasize the importance of effective partnership of the different actors by successful development of wine tourism.

Asian Studies/Global Studies: Transcending Area Studies and Social Sciences

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John Lie

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The post–World War II growth of area studies, and Asian studies in particular, posed a serious challenge to the mainstream social sciences. Yet the epistemic and institutional foundations of area studies were never well articulated or justified, and the post–Cold War years brought a pervasive sense of crisis to its intellectual mission and justification. In particular, the author focuses on the tensions, if not contradictions, between social science disciplines and area studies. In advocating a more integrated human science, which depends more on mobile networks of scholars than on fixed fields of discipline-bound professors, the author suggests global studies as a fitting field of inquiry in the age of globalization.

Nanocrystalline GaSbO{sub 4} with high surface area prepared via a facile hydrothermal method and its photocatalytic activity study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu Yanghe; Xue Hun; Qin Meng; Liu Ping; Fu Xianzhi [Research Institute of Photocatalysis, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis - State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002 (China); Li Zhaohui, E-mail: zhaohuili1969@yahoo.com [Research Institute of Photocatalysis, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis - State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002 (China)

2012-05-05

Graphical abstract: Nanocrystalline GaSbO{sub 4} prepared via a facile hydrothermal method possesses large specific surface area and exhibits photocatalytic activity for the degradations of salicylic acid and acetone. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Facile hydrothermal method to nanocrystalline GaSbO{sub 4} with large surface area. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer GaSbO{sub 4} shows photocatalytic activity for the degradations of salicylic acid and acetone. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The photocatalytic mechanism of GaSbO{sub 4} was proposed based on the ESR result. - Abstract: Nanocrystalline GaSbO{sub 4} with small particle size and large BET specific area was successfully prepared via a facile hydrothermal method from Sb{sub 2}O{sub 5}. The influence of the reaction pH on the formation of the final product was investigated. The obtained sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N{sub 2}-sorption BET surface area, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The photocatalytic activity for the degradations of salicylic acid and acetone over nanocrystalline GaSbO{sub 4} under UV irradiations was for the first time revealed. Based on the electron spin resonance (ESR) result, the reactive species involved in the photocatalytic reaction over nanocrytalline GaSbO{sub 4} are determined to be HO{center_dot} and O{sub 2}{sup -}{center_dot}. The photocatalytic mechanism of GaSbO{sub 4} was proposed.

A method of surface area measurement of fuel materials by fission gas release at low temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaimal, K.N.G.; Naik, M.C.; Paul, A.R.; Venkateswarlu, K.S.

1989-01-01

The present report deals with the development of a method for surface area measurement of nuclear fuel as well as fissile doped materials by fission gas release study at low temperature. The method is based on the evaluation of knock-out release rate of fission 133 Xe from irradiated fuel after sufficient cooling to decay the short lived activity. The report also describes the fabrication of an ampoule breaker unit for such study. Knock-out release rate of 133 Xe has been studied from UO 2 powders having varying surface area 'S' ranging from 270 cm 2 /gm to 4100 cm 2 /gm at two fissioning rates 10 12 f/cm 3 . sec. and 3.2x10 10 f/cm.sec. A relation between K and A has been established and discussed in this report. (author). 6 refs

Olson method for locating and calculating the extent of transmural ischemic areas at risk of infarction.

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, Charles W; Wagner, Galen S; Terkelsen, Christian Juhl; Stickney, Ronald; Lim, Tobin; Pahlm, Olle; Estes, E Harvey

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to present a new and improved method for translating the electrocardiographic changes of acute myocardial ischemia into a display which reflects the location and extent of the ischemic area and the associated culprit coronary artery. This method could be automated to present a graphic image of the ischemic area in a manner understandable by all levels of caregivers; from emergency transport personnel to the consulting cardiologist. Current methods for the ECG diagnosis of ST elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) are criteria driven, and complex, and beyond the interpretive capability of many caregivers. New methods are needed to accurately diagnose the presence of acute transmural myocardial ischemia in order to accelerate a patient's clinical "door to balloon time." The proposed new method could potentially provide the information needed to accomplish this objective. The new method improves the precision of diagnosis and quantification of ischemia by normalizing the ST segment inputs from the standard 12 lead ECG, transforming these into a three dimensional vector representation of the ischemia at the electrical center of the heart. The myocardial areas likely to be involved in this ischemia are separately analyzed to assess the probability that they contributed to this event. The source of the ischemia is revealed as a specific region of the heart, and the likely location of the associated culprit coronary artery. Seventy 12 lead ECGs from subjects with known single artery occlusion in one of the three main coronary arteries were selected to test this new method. Graphic plots of the distribution of ischemia as indicated by the method are consistent with the known occlusion. The analysis of the distribution of ischemic areas in the myocardium reveals that the relationships between leads with either ST elevation or ST depression, provide critical information improving the current method. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights

Radioecological studies in Goiania urban area: review; Estudos radioecologicos na area urbana de Goiania: revisao

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rio, Monica Pires do; Amaral, Eliana [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

1997-12-31

Studies on the behaviour and transport of {sup 137} Cs in urban areas, including, resuspension and deposition experiments, {sup 137} Cs uptake by leafy vegetables and small domestic animals that accidentally ingested contaminated soil, were performed in a house located at 57{sup t}h Street near the main focus of contamination. The resuspension of surface soil did not contribute much to the spreading of the radionuclide in Goiania, but can lead to the local contamination of vegetables, equipment, structures and other environmental surfaces. The mechanism also presented a seasonal effect. The soil is an important medium for the uptake of {sup 137} Cs by small domestic animals. The street dust sampling is a suitable method to assess the dispersion of {sup 137} Cs in urban areas. After 10 years, the radionuclide activity concentration is restricted only to the initially impacted area an it is decreasing with time. (author) 9 refs., 2 figs, 2 tabs.

Measurement of the specific surface area of loose copper deposit by electrochemical methods

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E. A. Dolmatova

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In the work the surface area of the electrode with dispersed copper deposit obtained within 30 seconds was evaluated by techniques of chronopotentiometry (CPM and impedance spectroscopy. In method CPM the electrode surface available for measurement depends on the value of the polarizing current. At high currents during the transition time there is a change of surface relief that can not determine the full surface of loose deposit. The electrochemical impedance method is devoid of this shortcoming since the measurements are carried out in indifferent electrolyte in the absence of current. The area measured by the impedance is tens of times higher than the value obtained by chronopotentiometry. It is found that from a solution containing sulfuric acid the deposits form with a high specific surface area. Based on these data it was concluded that the method of impedance spectroscopy can be used to measure in situ the surface area of the dispersed copper deposits.

Comparison of 2 root surface area measurement methods: 3-dimensional laser scanning and cone-beam computed tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tasanapanont, Jintana; Apisariyakul, Janya; Wattanachai, Tanapan; Jotikasthira, Dhirawat; Sriwilas, Patiyut; Midtboe, Marit

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare the use of 3-dimensional (3D) laser scanning and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) as methods of root surface measurement. Thirty teeth (15 maxillary first premolars and 15 mandibular first premolars) from 8 patients who required extractions for orthodontic treatment were selected. Before extraction, pre-treatment CBCT images of all the patients were recorded. First, a CBCT image was imported into simulation software (Mimics version 15.01; Materialise, Leuven, Belgium) and the root surface area of each tooth was calculated using 3-Matic (version 7.01, Materialise, Leuven, Belgium). After extraction, all the teeth were scanned and the root surface area of each extracted tooth was calculated. The root surface areas calculated using these 2 measurement methods were analyzed using the paired t-test (P<.05). Correlations between the 2 methods were determined by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess intraobserver reliability. The root surface area measurements (230.11±41.97 mm"2) obtained using CBCT were slightly greater than those (229.31±42.46 mm2) obtained using 3D laser scanning, but not significantly (P=.425). A high Pearson correlation coefficient was found between the CBCT and the 3D laser scanner measurements. The intraobserver ICC was 1.000 for 3D laser scanning and 0.990 for CBCT. This study presents a novel CBCT approach for measuring the root surface area; this technique can be used for estimating the root surface area of non-extracted teeth

Comparison of 2 root surface area measurement methods: 3-dimensional laser scanning and cone-beam computed tomography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tasanapanont, Jintana; Apisariyakul, Janya; Wattanachai, Tanapan; Jotikasthira, Dhirawat [Dept. of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai (Thailand); Sriwilas, Patiyut [Dept. of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok (Thailand); Midtboe, Marit [Dept. of Clinical Dentistry - Orthodontics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen, Bergen (Norway)

2017-06-15

The aim of this study was to compare the use of 3-dimensional (3D) laser scanning and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) as methods of root surface measurement. Thirty teeth (15 maxillary first premolars and 15 mandibular first premolars) from 8 patients who required extractions for orthodontic treatment were selected. Before extraction, pre-treatment CBCT images of all the patients were recorded. First, a CBCT image was imported into simulation software (Mimics version 15.01; Materialise, Leuven, Belgium) and the root surface area of each tooth was calculated using 3-Matic (version 7.01, Materialise, Leuven, Belgium). After extraction, all the teeth were scanned and the root surface area of each extracted tooth was calculated. The root surface areas calculated using these 2 measurement methods were analyzed using the paired t-test (P<.05). Correlations between the 2 methods were determined by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess intraobserver reliability. The root surface area measurements (230.11±41.97 mm{sup 2}) obtained using CBCT were slightly greater than those (229.31±42.46 mm2) obtained using 3D laser scanning, but not significantly (P=.425). A high Pearson correlation coefficient was found between the CBCT and the 3D laser scanner measurements. The intraobserver ICC was 1.000 for 3D laser scanning and 0.990 for CBCT. This study presents a novel CBCT approach for measuring the root surface area; this technique can be used for estimating the root surface area of non-extracted teeth.

Geology, alteration, mineralization and geochemical study in Kalateh Taimour area, NE Iran

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Zahra Alaminia

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The area is located 20 km northwest of Kashmar and about 4 km of Kalateh Taimour in Khorasan Razavi province. The study area is part of Tertiary volcanic-plutonic belt north of Daruneh fault and its situation in tectonic inliers between two important active faults, Doruneh and Taknar. Volcanic rocks are mainly intermediate to acid pyroclastic type. They formed during early Tertiary. The volcanic rocks of the Kalateh Taimour area are predominantly andesitic basalt, andesite, latite, trachyte, dacite and rhyodacite and are observed as lava, tuff, lapilli tuff and agglomerate. Field evidences and study show several subvolcanic bodies including quartz hornblende biotite monzodiorite porphyry, quartz biotite monzodiorite porphyry, quartz diorite porphyry and microdiorite which are intruded sometime in mid-Tertiary. In this belt, new methods of image processing were used for enhancing the alteration zones to help near infra red and short wavelength infrared and bands example band ratios and principle component method. Propylitic, sericitic and argillic are the main alteration types. Minor silicification is found in some areas. Alteration is extent but mineralization is limited. Mineralization is mainly controlled by fault system. Several mineralized faults are being discovered. Open space filling features are abundant. In the study area, disseminate and stock work mineralization are abundant. The amount of sulfide minerals is very small. Ancient mining is present in the area. Stream sediment geochemical study shows a very broad and high level of gold anomaly. Rock geochemical study show very high levels of Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn and Au value is correlative to Cu, Pb, Zn and Ag values. Due to alteration modeling, non uniformity in mineralization and low abundance of sulfide mineralization suggest study in low sulphidation Au-Cu deposit.

Environmental control by means of studying the natural areas with nuclear physics methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyarkina, A.P.; Glukhov, G.G.; Rezchikov, V.I.; Shelud'ko, S.I.

1988-01-01

Element composition of precipitation accumulated in natural areas (snow, peat) is investigated by neutron activation technique using nuclear reactor. Content of microelements (Fe, Co, Sc, Au, Hg, Sb, Br, Na) is determined in both maximal contamination industrial area and at a distance more, than 40 km from the area. Snow cover and peat occurrence are shown to be convenient substrates to investigate contamination of the industrial centre vicinities in space and time. Standard development of MPC (maximum permissible concentration) contents of industrial dust ingredients, especially toxic ones, in these substrates allows to solve quickly many problems raised by environmental monitoring. 10 refs.; 2 tabs

Development of method for evaluating estimated inundation area by using river flood analysis based on multiple flood scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, T.; Takahashi, T.

2017-12-01

Non-structural mitigation measures such as flood hazard map based on estimated inundation area have been more important because heavy rains exceeding the design rainfall frequently occur in recent years. However, conventional method may lead to an underestimation of the area because assumed locations of dike breach in river flood analysis are limited to the cases exceeding the high-water level. The objective of this study is to consider the uncertainty of estimated inundation area with difference of the location of dike breach in river flood analysis. This study proposed multiple flood scenarios which can set automatically multiple locations of dike breach in river flood analysis. The major premise of adopting this method is not to be able to predict the location of dike breach correctly. The proposed method utilized interval of dike breach which is distance of dike breaches placed next to each other. That is, multiple locations of dike breach were set every interval of dike breach. The 2D shallow water equations was adopted as the governing equation of river flood analysis, and the leap-frog scheme with staggered grid was used. The river flood analysis was verified by applying for the 2015 Kinugawa river flooding, and the proposed multiple flood scenarios was applied for the Akutagawa river in Takatsuki city. As the result of computation in the Akutagawa river, a comparison with each computed maximum inundation depth of dike breaches placed next to each other proved that the proposed method enabled to prevent underestimation of estimated inundation area. Further, the analyses on spatial distribution of inundation class and maximum inundation depth in each of the measurement points also proved that the optimum interval of dike breach which can evaluate the maximum inundation area using the minimum assumed locations of dike breach. In brief, this study found the optimum interval of dike breach in the Akutagawa river, which enabled estimated maximum inundation area

Performance of the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling Method Compared to Surveillance for Identifying Inadequately-performing Areas in Matlab, Bangladesh

OpenAIRE

Bhuiya, Abbas; Hanifi, S.M.A.; Roy, Nikhil; Streatfield, P. Kim

2007-01-01

This paper compared the performance of the lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) method in identifying inadequately-performing health work-areas with that of using health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) data and examined the feasibility of applying the method by field-level programme supervisors. The study was carried out in Matlab, the field site of ICDDR,B, where a HDSS has been in place for over 30 years. The LQAS method was applied in 57 work-areas of community health workers i...

The simple method of determination peaks areas in multiplets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loska, L.; Ptasinski, J.

1991-01-01

Semiconductor germanium detectors used in γ-spectrometry give spectra with well-separated peaks. However, in some cases, energies of γ-lines are too near, to produce resolved and undisturbed peaks. Then, there is a necessity to perform a mathematical separation. The method proposed here is based on the assumption, that areas of peaks composing the analysed multiplet are proportional to their heights. The method can be applied for any number of interfering peaks, providing, that the function of the background under the multiplet is accurately determined. The results of testing calculations performed on a simulated spectrum are given. The method works successfully in a computer program used for neutron activation analysis data processing. (author). 9 refs, 1 fig, 1 tab

Ecological studies of small vertebrates in Pu-contaminated study areas of NTS and TTR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bradley, W.G.; Moor, K.S.

1975-01-01

Ecological studies of vertebrates in plutonium-contaminated areas of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) were initiated in March 1972, and have continued to date. In September 1973, standard census methods were also employed to derive a qualitative and quantitative inventory of vertebrate biota of four Nevada Applied Ecology Group (NAEG) study areas of the Tonopah Test Range (TTR). A checklist of vertebrates of NAEG study areas of NTS and TTR is presented. Data are presented on vertebrate composition, relative abundance, and seasonal status in the study areas. Concentrations of 239 Pu and 241 Am were determined in pelt or skin, GI tract, and carcass of 13 lizards and 16 mammals resident on Clean Slate 2, TTR, and Area 11, NTS. A total of 71 animals were collected for radioanalysis. However, the data were not available at the time this report was written. Pu tissue burdens were highest in lizards from Area 11 GZ. Maximum values obtained in nCi/g ash were 30.9, 42.2, and 0.43 for the pelt, GI tract, and carcass, respectively. Maximum 239 Pu values in tissues of small rodents from Area 11 (not from GZ) were 11.4, 6.49, and 0.20 nCi/g ash for pelt, GI tract, and carcass, respectively. Pu/Am ratios were relatively consistent in tissue samples of lizards and small mammals from Area 11 (approximately 6:1, Pu/Am). Pu/Am ratios were not consistent in vertebrates of Clean Slate 2, TTR, and appeared to be lower in carcass (28:1, Pu/Am in mammals) than GI tract (9:1, Pu/Am in mammals). Although this trend was more conspicuous in mammals, it was also evident in reptiles. (auth)

Determination of the interfacial area of a continuous integrated mixer/separator (CINC) using a chemical reaction method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schuur, B.; Jansma, W. J.; Winkelman, J. G. M.; Heeres, H. J.

The effect of the liquid flow rates (18-100 mL/min) and rotor frequency (30-60 Hz) on the interfacial area of a liquid-liquid system in a CINC-V02 continuous integrated mixer/separator have been studied using a chemical reaction method. Topical specific interfacial areas were in the range of 3.2 x

[Downscaling research of spatial distribution of incidence of hand foot and mouth disease based on area-to-area Poisson Kriging method].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, J X; Hu, M G; Yu, S C; Xiao, G X

2017-09-10

Objective: To understand the spatial distribution of incidence of hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) at scale of township and provide evidence for the better prevention and control of HFMD and allocation of medical resources. Methods: The incidence data of HFMD in 108 counties (district) in Shandong province in 2010 were collected. Downscaling interpolation was conducted by using area-to-area Poisson Kriging method. The interpolation results were visualized by using geographic information system (GIS). The county (district) incidence was interpolated into township incidence to get the distribution of spatial distribution of incidence of township. Results: In the downscaling interpolation, the range of the fitting semi-variance equation was 20.38 km. Within the range, the incidence had correlation with each other. The fitting function of scatter diagram of estimated and actual incidence of HFMD at country level was y =1.053 1 x , R (2)=0.99. The incidences at different scale were consistent. Conclusions: The incidence of HFMD had spatial autocorrelation within 20.38 km. When HFMD occurs in one place, it is necessary to strengthen the surveillance and allocation of medical resource in the surrounding area within 20.38 km. Area to area Poisson Kriging method based downscaling research can be used in spatial visualization of HFMD incidence.

A method for reconstructing the development of the sapwood area of balsam fir.

Science.gov (United States)

Coyea, M R; Margolis, H A; Gagnon, R R

1990-09-01

Leaf area is commonly estimated as a function of sapwood area. However, because sapwood changes to heartwood over time, it has not previously been possible to reconstruct either the sapwood area or the leaf area of older trees into the past. In this study, we report a method for reconstructing the development of the sapwood area of dominant and codominant balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.). The technique is based on establishing a species-specific relationship between the number of annual growth rings in the sapwood area and tree age. Because the number of annual growth rings in the sapwood of balsam fir at a given age was found to be independent of site quality and stand density, the number of rings in sapwood (NRS) can be predicted from the age of a tree thus: NRS = 14.818 (1 - e(-0.031 age)), unweighted R(2) = 0.80, and NRS = 2.490 (1 - e(-0.038 age)), unweighted R(2) = 0.64, for measurements at breast height and at the base of the live crown, respectively. These nonlinear asymptotic regression models based only on age, were not improved by adding other tree variables such as diameter at breast height, diameter at the base of the live crown, total tree height or percent live crown.

Characteristics of Women with Unwanted Pregnancies and Reasons for Contraceptive Methods Discontination: Sample of Rural Area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Semra Ay

2012-06-01

Full Text Available AIM: The aim of the study was to explore the prevalence and characteristics of women with unwanted pregnancy in rural area and to examine pregnant women’s contraceptive method preferences, satisfaction with the methods and reason the methods discontinuation. METHOD: This study was carried out in Manisa city rural area between the dates of January and June 2011 in women who agreed to participate in the study. The sample of the research is composed of 239 pregnant women. The research was a descriptive, cross-sectional and field study and the data was collected by using questionnaire which was prepared by researcher. Data was gathered through the face to face interview with the women at their home. Statistical analyses were undertaken using SPSS version 11.5. Descriptive analysis, Pearson’s Chi-square (χ² test, fisher exact test, and t-test were used statistical evaluation. RESULTS: Of the 239 pregnancies, 64 (26.8% were unwanted pregnancies. The mean age of women was respectively 25.0±5.0, and 29.0±5.4 years, for wanted, and unwanted pregnancies. Women with unwanted pregnancies were older, less educated, they had less educated husbands, had low income level, had more pregnancies, deliveries, had less than two years interval between their births. Unwanted pregnancies were observed in women using the coitus interrupts method (%53.1, effective contraceptive methods (%54.3 and not using any method (%16.3 (p<0.05. The most reasons for discontinuation were reported pregnant women as follows: side effects of methods, disapproval for husband, pregnancy occurs using the method, believe for ineffective contraceptive methods. CONCLUSION: In order to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and wanted abortions which reversely affect the women healthy; an appropriate contraception method must be employed. Health care providers should identify women with unwanted pregnancy to understand women's concerns and experiences using contraception. This

Plant management in natural areas: balancing chemical, mechanical, and cultural control methods

Science.gov (United States)

Steven Manning; James. Miller

2011-01-01

After determining the best course of action for control of an invasive plant population, it is important to understand the variety of methods available to the integrated pest management professional. A variety of methods are now widely used in managing invasive plants in natural areas, including chemical, mechanical, and cultural control methods. Once the preferred...

Estimation of debonded area in bearing babbitt metal by C-Scan method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, Gye-jo; Park, Sang-ki [Korea Electric Power Research Inst., Taejeon (Korea); Cha, Seok-ju [Korea South Eastern Power Corp., Seoul (Korea). GEN Sector; Park, Young-woo [Chungnam National Univ., Taejeon (Korea). Mechatronics

2006-07-01

The debonding area which had a complex boundary was imaged with a immersion technique, and the acoustic image was compared with the actual area. The amplitude information from focused transducer can discriminate between a defected boundary area and a sound interface of dissimilar metal. The shape of irregular boundary and area was processed by a histogram equalization, after that, through the clustering and labelling, it makes the defect area cleared. Each pixel has ultrasonic intensity rate and represents a position data. The estimation error in measuring debonding area was within 4% by image processing technique. The validity of this immersion method and image equalizing technique has been done for the inspection of power plant turbine's thrust bearings. (orig.)

The Application Study in Solar Energy Technology for Highway Service Area: A Case Study of West Lushan Highway Low-Carbon Service Area in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaochun Qin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A lot of research works have been made concerning highway service area or solar technology and acquired great achievements. However, unfortunately, few works have been made combining the two topics together of highway service areas and solar energy saving to make a systemic research on solar technology application for highway service area. In this paper, taking West Lushan highway low-carbon service area in Jiangxi Province of China as the case study, the advantages, technical principles, and application methods of solar energy technology for highway service area including solar photoelectric technology and solar water heating technology were discussed based on the analysis of characteristics of highway low-carbon service area; the system types, operation mode, and installing tilt angle of the two kinds of solar systems suitable for highway service areas were confirmed. It was proved that the reduction of the cost by electricity savings of solar system was huge. Taking the investment of the solar systems into account, the payback period of solar photoelectric systems and solar water heating systems was calculated. The economic effect of the solar systems in West Lushan highway service area during the effective operation periods was also calculated and proved very considerable.

Scalable and reusable micro-bubble removal method to flatten large-area 2D materials

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Phi H. Q.; Quach, Nhi V.; Li, Jinfeng; Burke, Peter J.

2018-04-01

Bubbles generated during electro-delamination and chemical etch during large-area two-dimensional (2D) material transfer has been shown to cause rippling, and consequently, results in tears and wrinkles in the transferred film. Here, we demonstrate a scalable and reusable method to remove surface adhered micro-bubbles by using hydrophobic surfaces modified by self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Bubble removal allows the 2D film to flatten out and prevents the formation of defects. Electrical characterization was used to verify improved transfer quality and was confirmed by increased field-effect mobility and decreased sheet resistance. Raman spectroscopy was also used to validate enhanced electrical quality following transfer. The bubble removal method can be applied to an assortment of 2D materials using diverse hydrophobic SAM variants. Our studies can be integrated into large scale applications and will lead to improved large-area 2D electronics in general.

Application of nuclear-physical methods for studies in the solid state physics area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorlachrv, I.D.; Knyazev, B.B.; Platov, A.B.

2004-01-01

The set of nuclear-physical methods developed on the heavy ion accelerator at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan allows to conduct an examination of elementary content as well as to obtain the elements distribution in a sample in their depth and surface. This information could be very important for study of samples wide range integral parameters and the characteristics of sputtered layers and implanted films. The beam analysis methods, as well as Rutherford backscattering methods (RBS), nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), proton-induced X-ray emission analysis (PIXE) are included in the complex structure. Besides for expand an analyzed elements range and precision increase for quantitative characteristics of elementarily content of samples the X-ray florescent analysis method with isotope excitation (RFA) is using in the capacity complementary PIXE method. Modernization of proton beam transportation system at the heavy ion accelerator allows to develop a new analytical trend - combination of the proton micro-probe with PIXE analysis. In this case the information about examined sample elementary content is within size field ∼10 μm. The beam scanning by the surface is allowing to obtain the elements distribution by the two spatial coordinates connected with the surface. This information may be useful in the case of an existence of a micro-inclusions in the sample

Optimizing malarial epidemiological studies in areas of low transmission

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Amerasinghe, Priyanie H; Alifrangis, Michael; van der Hoek, Wim

2005-01-01

risk factor in this area was the location of houses relative to confirmed vector breeding sites. At the peak of the transmission season, the results pointed in the same direction, irrespective of the diagnostic method used. However, the importance of distance from the breeding site......Malaria risk factor studies have traditionally used microscopy readings of blood slides as the measure of malaria infection in humans, although alternatives are available. There is the need for an assessment of how the use of these alternative diagnostic approaches will influence the efficiency...... and significance of epidemiological studies. In an area of Sri Lanka with known risk factors for malaria, two cross-sectional surveys were done at the start and at the peak of transmission season. Microscopy was compared with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The major...

Multi-area market clearing in wind-integrated interconnected power systems: A fast parallel decentralized method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doostizadeh, Meysam; Aminifar, Farrokh; Lesani, Hamid; Ghasemi, Hassan

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A parallel-decentralized multi-area energy & reserve clearance model is proposed. • A fictitious area and joint variables coordinate & parallelize area market models. • Adjustable intervals of random variables compromise optimality and robustness. • The stochastic nature of problem is tackled in an efficient deterministic manner. • The model is compact and applicable in multi-area real-scale systems. - Abstract: The growing evolution of regional electricity markets and proliferation of wind power penetration underline the prominence of coordinated operation of interconnected regional power systems. This paper develops a parallel decentralized methodology for multi-area energy and reserve clearance under wind power uncertainty. Preserving the independency of regional markets while fully taking the advantages of interconnection is a salient feature of the new model. Additionally, the parallel procedure simultaneously clears regional markets for the sake of acceleration particularly in large-scale systems. In order to achieve the optimal solution in a distributed fashion, the augmented Lagrangian relaxation along with alternative direction method of multipliers are applied. The wind power intermittency and uncertainty are tackled through the interval optimization approach. Opposed to the conventional wisdom, adjustable intervals, as subsets of conventional predefined intervals, are introduced here to compromise the cost and conservatism of the solution. The confidence level approach is employed to accommodate the stochastic nature of wind power in a computationally efficient deterministic manner. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method are evaluated through several case studies on a two-area 6-bus and the modified three-area IEEE 118-bus test systems.

Right ventricular volume estimation with cine MRI; A comparative study between Simpson's rule and a new modified area-length method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sawachika, Takashi (Yamaguchi Univ., Ube (Japan). School of Medicine)

1993-04-01

To quantitate right ventricular (RV) volumes easily using cine MRI, we developed a new method called 'modified area-length method (MOAL method)'. To validate this method, we compared it to the conventional Simpson's rule. Magnetom H15 (Siemens) was used and 6 normal volunteers and 21 patients with various RV sizes were imaged with ECG triggered gradient echo method (FISP, TR 50 ms, TE 12 ms, slice thickness 9 mm). For Simpson's rule transverse images of 12 sequential views which cover whole heart were acquired. For the MOAL method, two orthogonal views were imaged. One was the sagittal view which includes RV outflow tract and the other was the coronal view defined from the sagittal image to cover the whole RV. From these images the area (As, Ac) of RV and the longest distance between RV apex and pulmonary valve (Lmax) were determined. By correlating RV volumes measured by Simpson's rule to As*Ac/Lmax the RV volume could be estimated as follows: V=0.85*As*Ac/Lmax+4.55. Thus the MOAL method demonstrated excellent accuracy to quantitate RV volume and the acquisition time abbreviated to one fifth compared with Simpson's rule. This should be a highly promising method for routine clinical application. (author).

Zoning method for environmental engineering geological patterns in underground coal mining areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shiliang; Li, Wenping; Wang, Qiqing

2018-09-01

Environmental engineering geological patterns (EEGPs) are used to express the trend and intensity of eco-geological environment caused by mining in underground coal mining areas, a complex process controlled by multiple factors. A new zoning method for EEGPs was developed based on the variable-weight theory (VWT), where the weights of factors vary with their value. The method was applied to the Yushenfu mining area, Shaanxi, China. First, the mechanism of the EEGPs caused by mining was elucidated, and four types of EEGPs were proposed. Subsequently, 13 key control factors were selected from mining conditions, lithosphere, hydrosphere, ecosphere, and climatic conditions; their thematic maps were constructed using ArcGIS software and remote-sensing technologies. Then, a stimulation-punishment variable-weight model derived from the partition of basic evaluation unit of study area, construction of partition state-variable-weight vector, and determination of variable-weight interval was built to calculate the variable weights of each factor. On this basis, a zoning mathematical model of EEGPs was established, and the zoning results were analyzed. For comparison, the traditional constant-weight theory (CWT) was also applied to divide the EEGPs. Finally, the zoning results obtained using VWT and CWT were compared. The verification of field investigation indicates that VWT is more accurate and reliable than CWT. The zoning results are consistent with the actual situations and the key of planning design for the rational development of coal resources and protection of eco-geological environment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A channel-by-channel method of reducing the errors associated with peak area integration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luedeke, T.P.; Tripard, G.E.

1996-01-01

A new method of reducing the errors associated with peak area integration has been developed. This method utilizes the signal content of each channel as an estimate of the overall peak area. These individual estimates can then be weighted according to the precision with which each estimate is known, producing an overall area estimate. Experimental measurements were performed on a small peak sitting on a large background, and the results compared to those obtained from a commercial software program. Results showed a marked decrease in the spread of results around the true value (obtained by counting for a long period of time), and a reduction in the statistical uncertainty associated with the peak area. (orig.)

A method of analyzing rectal surface area irradiated and rectal complications in prostate conformal radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Yong; Song, Paul Y.; Li Shidong; Spelbring, Danny R.; Vijayakumar, Srinivasan; Haraf, Daniel J.; Chen, George T.Y.

1995-01-01

Purpose: To develop a method of analyzing rectal surface area irradiated and rectal complications in prostate conformal radiotherapy. Methods and Materials: Dose-surface histograms of the rectum, which state the rectal surface area irradiated to any given dose, were calculated for a group of 27 patients treated with a four-field box technique to a total (tumor minimum) dose ranging from 68 to 70 Gy. Occurrences of rectal toxicities as defined by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) were recorded and examined in terms of dose and rectal surface area irradiated. For a specified end point of rectal complication, the complication probability was analyzed as a function of dose irradiated to a fixed rectal area, and as a function of area receiving a fixed dose. Lyman's model of normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) was used to fit the data. Results: The observed occurrences of rectal complications appear to depend on the rectal surface area irradiated to a given dose level. The patient distribution of each toxicity grade exhibits a maximum as a function of percentage surface area irradiated, and the maximum moves to higher values of percentage surface area as the toxicity grade increases. The dependence of the NTCP for the specified end point on dose and percentage surface area irradiated was fitted to Lyman's NTCP model with a set of parameters. The curvature of the NTCP as a function of the surface area suggests that the rectum is a parallel structured organ. Conclusions: The described method of analyzing rectal surface area irradiated yields interesting insight into understanding rectal complications in prostate conformal radiotherapy. Application of the method to a larger patient data set has the potential to facilitate the construction of a full dose-surface-complication relationship, which would be most useful in guiding clinical practice

Belledune area health study : summary report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-02-01

The Belledune area has been home to various industrial activities such as mining, smelting, fertilizer plants, battery-recycling plants, gypsum plants, sawmills, and a coal-fired electricity generating facility. These industries have had various types and quantities of emissions over the past 4 decades that may have impacted on the health of people in the area. This report provided details of the Belledune Health Area Study. The objective of the study was to ensure that the concerns of residents were addressed and that the historical and human health risks associated with past and current industrial activities were quantified. The current health status of residents in the area was examined with reference to environmental exposures, and recommendations for future studies and research based on the results of the study were presented. Two main components were used: the human health risk assessment (HHRA), and community health status assessment (CHSA). Best estimate calculations for residents in the core communities showed that exposures to cadmium, lead and mercury were predicted to be below toxicity reference values. In Belledune itself, child exposures to cadmium and mercury were above the toxicity reference value. Results indicated that the health status pattern for the study area was different from that found in the surrounding areas. There was a statistically significantly elevated incidence of oral, respiratory, and prostate cancer and elevated incidences of kidney and colorectal cancer. There was a higher mortality rate than expected, and there were more deaths than expected due to circulatory disease, cancer and other causes such as accidents and suicides. An expanded survey of blood lead among child residents and pregnant women was recommended. A program was launched to collect data on metal concentrations in fish from the Baie des Chaleurs and additional data on vegetables from the Greater Belledune area. Future research on some of the factors associated

Belledune area health study : summary report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2005-02-01

The Belledune area has been home to various industrial activities such as mining, smelting, fertilizer plants, battery-recycling plants, gypsum plants, sawmills, and a coal-fired electricity generating facility. These industries have had various types and quantities of emissions over the past 4 decades that may have impacted on the health of people in the area. This report provided details of the Belledune Health Area Study. The objective of the study was to ensure that the concerns of residents were addressed and that the historical and human health risks associated with past and current industrial activities were quantified. The current health status of residents in the area was examined with reference to environmental exposures, and recommendations for future studies and research based on the results of the study were presented. Two main components were used: the human health risk assessment (HHRA), and community health status assessment (CHSA). Best estimate calculations for residents in the core communities showed that exposures to cadmium, lead and mercury were predicted to be below toxicity reference values. In Belledune itself, child exposures to cadmium and mercury were above the toxicity reference value. Results indicated that the health status pattern for the study area was different from that found in the surrounding areas. There was a statistically significantly elevated incidence of oral, respiratory, and prostate cancer and elevated incidences of kidney and colorectal cancer. There was a higher mortality rate than expected, and there were more deaths than expected due to circulatory disease, cancer and other causes such as accidents and suicides. An expanded survey of blood lead among child residents and pregnant women was recommended. A program was launched to collect data on metal concentrations in fish from the Baie des Chaleurs and additional data on vegetables from the Greater Belledune area. Future research on some of the factors associated

A sedimentation study in the Muda catchment area using nuclear techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamarudin Samuding; Wan Zakaria Wan Muhamad Tahir; Roslan Mohd Ali; Juhari Yusuf

2002-01-01

A study on the sediment size distribution and determination of sediment density profile was conducted in a selected area of the Muda Dam catchment area, Kedah. The objective of the study was to establish baseline data of the input sedimentation with regard to the effects of development within the catchment in the future. Three main sampling locations were identified, namely at Sungai Teliang, Sungai Muda and the Muda Reservoir. Results showed that the grain size distribution of sediment generally ranged from clay to gravel size. In the reservoir and downstream the river, most of the samples studied consisted of fine sediment Le, silt and clay (< 63 μm). However, sediment distribution in the upstream section of Sungai Teliang mainly consisted of fine to coarse sand. Based on the sediment distribution profile analysis, the study site could be divided into two parts comprising the dynamic area (region) covering selected locations along the river and the deposited sediment in the reservoir. Measurement of sediment thickness was performed using nuclear gauges, i.e. direct transmission and backscattering methods. The result also showed that the thickness of bed sediment varied from one location to another, whereby the thickness variation could reach up to 0.75 metre in some areas. This study could assist local authorities (AMDA) in identifying the rates and sources of accumulated sediment as well as quality and quantity of water in the study area in order to sustain distribution of good quality water to the farmers. (Author)

Application of gis on determination of flood prone areas and critical arterial road network by using chaid method in bandung area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darwin

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Floods in Bandung area often occur when the rainfall is high then the water volume exceed the capacity of Citarum watershed. Floods cause economic and social losses. The purpose of this research is to get the GIS application model in the estimation of puddle area and road network in Bandung Metropolitan Area has disturbed.Geospatial map preparation methodology used statistical data from 11041 flood points, which divided into two groups, 7729 flood points to estimate the decision tree model and 3312 flood points to validate the model. The process of making flood vulnerability maps is approached by Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID method, and validation using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC method. Validation results in the area under the curve with a value of 93.1% for success rate and 92.7% for the prediction level.Chaid result is class 0 - 0,047 covering 76,68% area; Grades of 0.047-0.307 include 5.37%; Grades 0.307 - 0.599 (Low covering 5.36%; Grades 0.599 to 0.4444 include 5.31% and grade 0.844-1 (high covering 7.27% of the research area. Flood-prone road network is Link from Rancaekek (Area of PT Kahatex, link from Solokan Jeruk (Cicalengka-Majalaya, Link Baleendah, and linkDayeuhkolot (M.Toha - Andir

Diet of paca (Cuniculus paca using indirect methods in an agricultural area in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo Zucaratto

2010-03-01

Full Text Available The paca (Cuniculus paca is a rodent that feeds on fruits according to their availability. This study describes the consumption of fruit by paca in an area of shaded cultivation of cocoa in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The study was carried out by the search for tracks left by these animals, such as marks of incisors found in fruits, in order to recognize the fruits consumed. We recorded 12 species consumed by the pacas, belonging to 10 families and 10 genera. The list included six native species and six exotic species. Some fruits were eaten as a whole, while others had their exocarp or seeds discarded. The indirect methods showed suitability to characterize the diet of this species, and they could complement conventional research methods such as direct sighting and analyses of stomachal or fecal contents. The occurrence of pacas in the agricultural area shows the plasticity of their diet and the possibility of conserving populations of this species in disturbed areas outside nature reserves.

Local Stakeholder Perception on Community Participation in Marine Protected Area Management: A Q-Method Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Megat Jamual Fawaeed, P. S.; Daim, M. S.

2018-02-01

Local stakeholder involvement in Marine Protected Area (MPA) management can bring to a successful MPA. Generally, participatory research in marine protected area management is exploring the relationship between marine protected area management approach adopted by the management agencies and the level of participation of local stakeholder whom reside within the marine protected areas. However, the scenario of local community participation in MPA management in Malaysia seems discouraging and does not align with the International Aichi Biodiversity Target 2020. In order to achieve the International Aichi Biodiversity Target 2020, this paper attempts to explore the methodology on participatory research towards the local stakeholder of Pulau Perhentian Marine Park (PPMP), Terengganu, Malaysia. A Q-methodology is used to investigate the perspective of local stakeholder who represents different stances on the issues, by having participants rank and sort a series of statements by comply quantitative and qualitative method in collecting the data. A structured questionnaire will be employed across this study by means of face-to-face interview. In total, 210 respondents from Kampung Pasir Hantu are randomly selected. Meanwhile, a workshop with the agency (Department of Marine Park) had been held to discuss about the issues faces on behalf of management that manage the PPMP. Using the Q-method, researcher acknowledged wise viewpoints, reflecting how different stakeholders’ perception and opinion about community participation with highlights the current level of community participation in MPA. Thus, this paper describes the phases involved in this study, methodology and analysis used in making a conclusion .

Improving access to high-quality primary care for socioeconomically disadvantaged older people in rural areas: a mixed method study protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, John A; Jones, Andrew P; Wong, Geoff; Clark, Allan B; Porter, Tom; Shakespeare, Tom; Swart, Ann Marie; Steel, Nicholas

2015-09-18

The UK has an ageing population, especially in rural areas, where deprivation is high among older people. Previous research has identified this group as at high risk of poor access to healthcare. The aim of this study is to generate a theory of how socioeconomically disadvantaged older people from rural areas access primary care, to develop an intervention based on this theory and test it in a feasibility trial. On the basis of the MRC Framework for Developing and Evaluating Complex Interventions, three methods will be used to generate the theory. First, a realist review will elucidate the patient pathway based on existing literature. Second, an analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing will be completed using structural equation modelling. Third, 15 semistructured interviews will be undertaken with patients and four focus groups with health professionals. A triangulation protocol will be used to allow each of these methods to inform and be informed by each other, and to integrate data into one overall realist theory. Based on this theory, an intervention will be developed in discussion with stakeholders to ensure that the intervention is feasible and practical. The intervention will be tested within a feasibility trial, the design of which will depend on the intervention. Lessons from the feasibility trial will be used to refine the intervention and gather the information needed for a definitive trial. Ethics approval from the regional ethics committee has been granted for the focus groups with health professionals and interviews with patients. Ethics approval will be sought for the feasibility trial after the intervention has been designed. Findings will be disseminated to the key stakeholders involved in intervention development, to researchers, clinicians and health planners through peer-reviewed journal articles and conference publications, and locally through a dissemination event. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to

Radiation sensitive area detection device and method

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Daniel C. (Inventor); Hecht, Diana L. (Inventor); Witherow, William K. (Inventor)

1991-01-01

A radiation sensitive area detection device for use in conjunction with an X ray, ultraviolet or other radiation source is provided which comprises a phosphor containing film which releases a stored diffraction pattern image in response to incoming light or other electromagnetic wave. A light source such as a helium-neon laser, an optical fiber capable of directing light from the laser source onto the phosphor film and also capable of channelling the fluoresced light from the phosphor film to an integrating sphere which directs the light to a signal processing means including a light receiving means such as a photomultiplier tube. The signal processing means allows translation of the fluoresced light in order to detect the original pattern caused by the diffraction of the radiation by the original sample. The optical fiber is retained directly in front of the phosphor screen by a thin metal holder which moves up and down across the phosphor screen and which features a replaceable pinhole which allows easy adjustment of the resolution of the light projected onto the phosphor film. The device produces near real time images with high spatial resolution and without the distortion that accompanies prior art devices employing photomultiplier tubes. A method is also provided for carrying out radiation area detection using the device of the invention.

A systematic method for identifying vital areas at complex nuclear facilities.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beck, David Franklin; Hockert, John

2005-05-01

Identifying the areas to be protected is an important part of the development of measures for physical protection against sabotage at complex nuclear facilities. In June 1999, the International Atomic Energy Agency published INFCIRC/225/Rev.4, 'The Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities.' This guidance recommends that 'Safety specialists, in close cooperation with physical protection specialists, should evaluate the consequences of malevolent acts, considered in the context of the State's design basis threat, to identify nuclear material, or the minimum complement of equipment, systems or devices to be protected against sabotage.' This report presents a structured, transparent approach for identifying the areas that contain this minimum complement of equipment, systems, and devices to be protected against sabotage that is applicable to complex nuclear facilities. The method builds upon safety analyses to develop sabotage fault trees that reflect sabotage scenarios that could cause unacceptable radiological consequences. The sabotage actions represented in the fault trees are linked to the areas from which they can be accomplished. The fault tree is then transformed (by negation) into its dual, the protection location tree, which reflects the sabotage actions that must be prevented in order to prevent unacceptable radiological consequences. The minimum path sets of this fault tree dual yield, through the area linkage, sets of areas, each of which contains nuclear material, or a minimum complement of equipment, systems or devices that, if protected, will prevent sabotage. This method also provides guidance for the selection of the minimum path set that permits optimization of the trade-offs among physical protection effectiveness, safety impact, cost and operational impact.

A method for managing re-identification risk from small geographic areas in Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neisa Angelica

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A common disclosure control practice for health datasets is to identify small geographic areas and either suppress records from these small areas or aggregate them into larger ones. A recent study provided a method for deciding when an area is too small based on the uniqueness criterion. The uniqueness criterion stipulates that an the area is no longer too small when the proportion of unique individuals on the relevant variables (the quasi-identifiers approaches zero. However, using a uniqueness value of zero is quite a stringent threshold, and is only suitable when the risks from data disclosure are quite high. Other uniqueness thresholds that have been proposed for health data are 5% and 20%. Methods We estimated uniqueness for urban Forward Sortation Areas (FSAs by using the 2001 long form Canadian census data representing 20% of the population. We then constructed two logistic regression models to predict when the uniqueness is greater than the 5% and 20% thresholds, and validated their predictive accuracy using 10-fold cross-validation. Predictor variables included the population size of the FSA and the maximum number of possible values on the quasi-identifiers (the number of equivalence classes. Results All model parameters were significant and the models had very high prediction accuracy, with specificity above 0.9, and sensitivity at 0.87 and 0.74 for the 5% and 20% threshold models respectively. The application of the models was illustrated with an analysis of the Ontario newborn registry and an emergency department dataset. At the higher thresholds considerably fewer records compared to the 0% threshold would be considered to be in small areas and therefore undergo disclosure control actions. We have also included concrete guidance for data custodians in deciding which one of the three uniqueness thresholds to use (0%, 5%, 20%, depending on the mitigating controls that the data recipients have in place, the

AQUAPEAT 95. New methods for purifying the run-offs of peat production areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selin, P.; Marja-aho, J.; Madekivi, O.

1994-01-01

The aim of Aqua Peat 95-project was to develop new methods for purifying the runoff coming from the peat production areas. The national water protection program for the year 1995 (Ympaeristoeministerioe 1988) as well as the level of the requirements and instructions from the authorities will obligate the peat producers to find new and practical methods for water purification. The chemical treatment reduced the load of peat production areas and the quality of treated water was almost equal to the runoffs coming from the natural bog area. The chemicals were the same as used in purifying drinking water. This purifying method is quite expensive and for this reason applicable only in special cases. The transpiration and evaporation and the soil filtering capacity of the forest area was also observed. The purifying capacity was very good, especially for the total nutrients and suspended solids. The changes of the ground water quality were insignificant but the level of the ground water in the field areas was higher than before. The long term changes of the vegetation and the trees could not be seen, yet. The most important water management practice is the detention of the discharge. The capacity of the sedimentation will increase by using the flow regulation in the sedimentation ponds and ditches. The changes in the water biology downstreams the Laeynioensuo peat production area were clearly seen near the main ditch. Because of the suspended solids the bottom sediment changed which lead to impacts to the bottom fauna. The colour of the runoffs as well as the changes in the sediment influenced on the macrophytes

Analysis of Environmental Vulnerability in The Landslide Areas (Case Study: Semarang Regency)

Science.gov (United States)

Hani'ah; Firdaus, H. S.; Nugraha, A. L.

2017-12-01

The Land conversion can increase the risk of landslide disaster in Semarang Regency caused by human activity. Remote sensing and geographic information system to be used in this study to mapping the landslide areas because satellite image data can represent the object on the earth surface in wide area coverage. Satellite image Landsat 8 is used to mapping land cover that processed by supervised classification method. The parameters to mapping landslide areas are based on land cover, rainfall, slope, geological factors and soil types. Semarang Regency have the minimum value of landslide is 1.6 and the maximum value is 4.3, which is dominated by landslide prone areas about 791.27 km2. The calculation of the environmental vulnerability index in the study area is based on Perka BNPB No. 2/2012. Accumulation score of environmental vulnerability index is moderate value, that means environment condition must be considered, such as vegetation as ground cover and many others aspects. The range of NDVI value shows that density level in conservation areas (0.030 - 0.844) and conservation forest (0.045 - 0.849), which rarely until high density level. The results of this study furthermore can be assessed to reduce disaster risks from landslide as an effort of disaster preventive.

Area-to-Area Poisson Kriging and Spatial Bayesian Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Asmarian, Naeimehossadat; Jafari-Koshki, Tohid; Soleimani, Ali; Taghi Ayatollahi, Seyyed Mohammad

2016-10-01

Background: In many countries gastric cancer has the highest incidence among the gastrointestinal cancers and is the second most common cancer in Iran. The aim of this study was to identify and map high risk gastric cancer regions at the county-level in Iran. Methods: In this study we analyzed gastric cancer data for Iran in the years 2003-2010. Areato- area Poisson kriging and Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) spatial models were applied to smoothing the standardized incidence ratios of gastric cancer for the 373 counties surveyed in this study. The two methods were compared in term of accuracy and precision in identifying high risk regions. Result: The highest smoothed standardized incidence rate (SIR) according to area-to-area Poisson kriging was in Meshkinshahr county in Ardabil province in north-western Iran (2.4,SD=0.05), while the highest smoothed standardized incidence rate (SIR) according to the BYM model was in Ardabil, the capital of that province (2.9,SD=0.09). Conclusion: Both methods of mapping, ATA Poisson kriging and BYM, showed the gastric cancer incidence rate to be highest in north and north-west Iran. However, area-to-area Poisson kriging was more precise than the BYM model and required less smoothing. According to the results obtained, preventive measures and treatment programs should be focused on particular counties of Iran. Creative Commons Attribution License

Feasibility study on nuclear methods using 252Cf for the exploration of marine mineral deposits in shelf areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stegmaier, W.; Pepelnik, R.; Suppan, A.

1975-01-01

For the exploration of marine mineral deposits in shelf areas additional systems will be required in order to supplement the results of other methods and determine in a short time the amount and the concentration of the minerals. The neutron induced γ-radiation measurement is an appropriate method for this problem. To obtain high-resolution analysis it is necessary to use Ge(Li)- detectors. The employment of cryostats keeping the diodes at low temperature is only applicable to scientific but not to industrial applications. In this case, cryogenerators will be required. The design of borehole-sondes is influenced by the arrangement of cryogenic apparatus and the technique of lowering the probes into the seafloor. Besides the possibility of probe penetration into the sediment on the bottom of the sea, the sample can also be transferred to the measurement system. (U.S.)

Sub-labial packing: a novel method of stopping epistaxis from Little's area.

Science.gov (United States)

Venettacci, O; Nettlefold, C; Chan, L; Daniel, M; Curotta, J

2013-08-01

Epistaxis is frequently managed both by patients in the community and by health professionals. Many methods have been described in the literature about how to manage this condition. Epistaxis is usually due to anterior circulation bleeding at an area known as Kiesselbach's plexus (Little's area). Five vessels supply Little's area; one of these, the septal branch of the superior labial artery, can be compressed via an easy and novel technique, sub-labial packing. Sub-labial packing is a technique proposed as an adjunct to the standard 15 min ala nasi compression as a simple yet effective technique to stop epistaxis. We hereby report two cases of managing epistaxis from Little's area using sub-labial packing. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incrementally Detecting Change Types of Spatial Area Object: A Hierarchical Matching Method Considering Change Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanhui Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Detecting and extracting the change types of spatial area objects can track area objects’ spatiotemporal change pattern and provide the change backtracking mechanism for incrementally updating spatial datasets. To respond to the problems of high complexity of detection methods, high redundancy rate of detection factors, and the low automation degree during incrementally update process, we take into account the change process of area objects in an integrated way and propose a hierarchical matching method to detect the nine types of changes of area objects, while minimizing the complexity of the algorithm and the redundancy rate of detection factors. We illustrate in details the identification, extraction, and database entry of change types, and how we achieve a close connection and organic coupling of incremental information extraction and object type-of-change detection so as to characterize the whole change process. The experimental results show that this method can successfully detect incremental information about area objects in practical applications, with the overall accuracy reaching above 90%, which is much higher than the existing weighted matching method, making it quite feasible and applicable. It helps establish the corresponding relation between new-version and old-version objects, and facilitate the linked update processing and quality control of spatial data.

Area and Family Effects on the Psychopathology of the Millennium Cohort Study Children and Their Older Siblings

Science.gov (United States)

Flouri, Eirini; Tzavidis, Nikos; Kallis, Constantinos

2010-01-01

Background: To model and compare contextual (area and family) effects on the psychopathology of children nested in families nested in areas. Method: Data from the first two sweeps of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study were used. The final study sample was 9,630 children clustered in 6,052 families clustered in 1,681 Lower-layer Super Output Areas.…

Evaluation of a Cubature Kalman Filtering-Based Phase Unwrapping Method for Differential Interferograms with High Noise in Coal Mining Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wanli Liu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar has been shown to be effective for monitoring subsidence in coal mining areas. Phase unwrapping can have a dramatic influence on the monitoring result. In this paper, a filtering-based phase unwrapping algorithm in combination with path-following is introduced to unwrap differential interferograms with high noise in mining areas. It can perform simultaneous noise filtering and phase unwrapping so that the pre-filtering steps can be omitted, thus usually retaining more details and improving the detectable deformation. For the method, the nonlinear measurement model of phase unwrapping is processed using a simplified Cubature Kalman filtering, which is an effective and efficient tool used in many nonlinear fields. Three case studies are designed to evaluate the performance of the method. In Case 1, two tests are designed to evaluate the performance of the method under different factors including the number of multi-looks and path-guiding indexes. The result demonstrates that the unwrapped results are sensitive to the number of multi-looks and that the Fisher Distance is the most suitable path-guiding index for our study. Two case studies are then designed to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed phase unwrapping method based on Cubature Kalman filtering. The results indicate that, compared with the popular Minimum Cost Flow method, the Cubature Kalman filtering-based phase unwrapping can achieve promising results without pre-filtering and is an appropriate method for coal mining areas with high noise.

Double Separation Method for Translation of the Infrared Information into a Visible Area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivana Žiljak

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Information visualization refers to the wavelength area ranging from 400 to 700 nm. Areas in lower wavelengths ranging from 100 to 400 nm are translated into the visual area with the goal to protect information visible only by applying instruments adapted for the ultraviolet area. Our recent research work refers to the infrared wavelength areas above the visible specter up to 1000 nm. The scientific contribution of this paper is in setting the double separation method for printing with CMYK printing inks with the goal to detect graphic information in the infrared area only. An algorithm has been created for making visual basics in the overall visible specter containing material that responds in the infrared section. This allows planning of areas in all coloring types for one and the same document that contains a secure piece of information. The system is based on double transition transformation of the visible RGB1 information recognition into CMYK2 in the same document. Secure information is recognized with the help of instruments in the set wavelength range. Most of the experiments have been carried out by analyzing the same set of RGB records. Each sample in the set was a test unit coming from another source containing different IR3 components. Thus an innovative method of color mixing has been set where colors appear respectively in daylight and separately according to IR light programming. New IR cryptography is proposed as shown in the experimental work.

[Assessment of ecosystem in giant panda distribution area based on entropy method and coefficient of variation].

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Zhi Gang; Li, Jun Qing

2017-12-01

The areas of the habitat and bamboo forest, and the size of the giant panda wild population have greatly increased, while habitat fragmentation and local population isolation have also intensified in recent years. Accurate evaluation of ecosystem status of the panda in the giant panda distribution area is important for giant panda conservation. The ecosystems of the distribution area and six mountain ranges were subdivided into habitat and population subsystems based on the hie-rarchical system theory. Using the panda distribution area as the study area and the three national surveys as the time node, the evolution laws of ecosystems were studied using the entropy method, coefficient of variation, and correlation analysis. We found that with continuous improvement, some differences existed in the evolution and present situation of the ecosystems of six mountain ranges could be divided into three groups. Ecosystems classified into the same group showed many commonalities, and difference between the groups was considerable. Problems of habitat fragmentation and local population isolation became more serious, resulting in ecosystem degradation. Individuali-zed ecological protection measures should be formulated and implemented in accordance with the conditions in each mountain system to achieve the best results.

Weibull statistics effective area and volume in the ball-on-ring testing method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frandsen, Henrik Lund

2014-01-01

The ball-on-ring method is together with other biaxial bending methods often used for measuring the strength of plates of brittle materials, because machining defects are remote from the high stresses causing the failure of the specimens. In order to scale the measured Weibull strength...... to geometries relevant for the application of the material, the effective area or volume for the test specimen must be evaluated. In this work analytical expressions for the effective area and volume of the ball-on-ring test specimen is derived. In the derivation the multiaxial stress field has been accounted...

Parametric Method to Define Area of Allowable Configurations while Changing Position of Restricted Zones

Science.gov (United States)

Pritykin, F. N.; Nefedov, D. I.; Rogoza, Yu A.; Zinchenko, Yu V.

2018-03-01

The article presents the findings related to the development of the module for automatic collision detection of the manipulator with restricted zones for virtual motion modeling. It proposes the parametric method for specifying the area of allowable joint configurations. The authors study the cases when restricted zones are specified using the horizontal plane or front-projection planes. The joint coordinate space is specified by rectangular axes in the direction of which the angles defining the displacements in turning pairs are laid off. The authors present the results of modeling which enabled to develop a parametric method for specifying a set of cross-sections defining the shape and position of allowable configurations in different positions of a restricted zone. All joint points that define allowable configurations refer to the indicated sections. The area of allowable configurations is specified analytically by using several kinematic surfaces that limit it. A geometric analysis is developed based on the use of the area of allowable configurations characterizing the position of the manipulator and reported restricted zones. The paper presents numerical calculations related to virtual simulation of the manipulator path performed by the mobile robot Varan when using the developed algorithm and restricted zones. The obtained analytical dependencies allow us to define the area of allowable configurations, which is a knowledge pool to ensure the intelligent control of the manipulator path in a predefined environment. The use of the obtained region to synthesize a joint trajectory makes it possible to correct the manipulator path to foresee and eliminate deadlocks when synthesizing motions along the velocity vector.

A quantitative method for zoning of protected areas and its spatial ecological implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Del Carmen Sabatini, María; Verdiell, Adriana; Rodríguez Iglesias, Ricardo M; Vidal, Marta

2007-04-01

Zoning is a key prescriptive tool for administration and management of protected areas. However, the lack of zoning is common for most protected areas in developing countries and, as a consequence, many protected areas are not effective in achieving the goals for which they were created. In this work, we introduce a quantitative method to expeditiously zone protected areas and we evaluate its ecological implications on hypothetical zoning cases. A real-world application is reported for the Talampaya National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Argentina. Our method is a modification of the zoning forest model developed by Bos [Bos, J., 1993. Zoning in forest management: a quadratic assignment problem solved by simulated annealing. Journal of Environmental Management 37, 127-145.]. Main innovations involve a quadratic function of distance between land units, non-reciprocal weights for adjacent land uses (mathematically represented by a non-symmetric matrix), and the possibility of imposing a connectivity constraint. Due to its intrinsic spatial dimension, the zoning problem belongs to the NP-hard class, i.e. a solution can only be obtained in non-polynomial time [Nemhausser, G., Wolsey, L., 1988. Integer and Combinatorial Optimization. John Wiley, New York.]. For that purpose, we applied a simulated annealing heuristic implemented as a FORTRAN language routine. Our innovations were effective in achieving zoning designs more compatible with biological diversity protection. The quadratic distance term facilitated the delineation of core zones for elements of significance; the connectivity constraint minimized fragmentation; non-reciprocal land use weightings contributed to better representing management decisions, and influenced mainly the edge and shape of zones. This quantitative method can assist the zoning process within protected areas by offering many zonation scheme alternatives with minimum cost, time and effort. This ability provides a new tool to

Frequency spectrum method-based stress analysis for oil pipelines in earthquake disaster areas.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaonan Wu

Full Text Available When a long distance oil pipeline crosses an earthquake disaster area, inertial force and strong ground motion can cause the pipeline stress to exceed the failure limit, resulting in bending and deformation failure. To date, researchers have performed limited safety analyses of oil pipelines in earthquake disaster areas that include stress analysis. Therefore, using the spectrum method and theory of one-dimensional beam units, CAESAR II is used to perform a dynamic earthquake analysis for an oil pipeline in the XX earthquake disaster area. This software is used to determine if the displacement and stress of the pipeline meet the standards when subjected to a strong earthquake. After performing the numerical analysis, the primary seismic action axial, longitudinal and horizontal displacement directions and the critical section of the pipeline can be located. Feasible project enhancement suggestions based on the analysis results are proposed. The designer is able to utilize this stress analysis method to perform an ultimate design for an oil pipeline in earthquake disaster areas; therefore, improving the safe operation of the pipeline.

Frequency spectrum method-based stress analysis for oil pipelines in earthquake disaster areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaonan; Lu, Hongfang; Huang, Kun; Wu, Shijuan; Qiao, Weibiao

2015-01-01

When a long distance oil pipeline crosses an earthquake disaster area, inertial force and strong ground motion can cause the pipeline stress to exceed the failure limit, resulting in bending and deformation failure. To date, researchers have performed limited safety analyses of oil pipelines in earthquake disaster areas that include stress analysis. Therefore, using the spectrum method and theory of one-dimensional beam units, CAESAR II is used to perform a dynamic earthquake analysis for an oil pipeline in the XX earthquake disaster area. This software is used to determine if the displacement and stress of the pipeline meet the standards when subjected to a strong earthquake. After performing the numerical analysis, the primary seismic action axial, longitudinal and horizontal displacement directions and the critical section of the pipeline can be located. Feasible project enhancement suggestions based on the analysis results are proposed. The designer is able to utilize this stress analysis method to perform an ultimate design for an oil pipeline in earthquake disaster areas; therefore, improving the safe operation of the pipeline.

Topography and Data Mining Based Methods for Improving Satellite Precipitation in Mountainous Areas of China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ting Xia

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Topography is a significant factor influencing the spatial distribution of precipitation. This study developed a new methodology to evaluate and calibrate the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA products by merging geographic and topographic information. In the proposed method, firstly, the consistency rule was introduced to evaluate the fitness of satellite rainfall with measurements on the grids with and without ground gauges. Secondly, in order to improve the consistency rate of satellite rainfall, genetic programming was introduced to mine the relationship between the gauge rainfall and location, elevation and TMPA rainfall. The proof experiment and analysis for the mean annual satellite precipitation from 2001–2012, 3B43 (V7 of TMPA rainfall product, was carried out in eight mountainous areas of China. The result shows that the proposed method is significant and efficient both for the assessment and improvement of satellite precipitation. It is found that the satellite rainfall consistency rates in the gauged and ungauged grids are different in the study area. In addition, the mined correlation of location-elevation-TMPA rainfall can noticeably improve the satellite precipitation, both in the context of the new criterion of the consistency rate and the existing criteria such as Bias and RMSD. The proposed method is also efficient for correcting the monthly and mean monthly rainfall of 3B43 and 3B42RT.

Detecting biodiversity hotspots by species-area relationships: a case study of Mediterranean beetles.

Science.gov (United States)

Fattorini, Simone

2006-08-01

Any method of identifying hotspots should take into account the effect of area on species richness. I examined the importance of the species-area relationship in determining tenebrionid (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) hotspots on the Aegean Islands (Greece). Thirty-two islands and 170 taxa (species and subspecies) were included in this study. I tested several species-area relationship models with linear and nonlinear regressions, including power exponential, negative exponential, logistic, Gompertz, Weibull, Lomolino, and He-Legendre functions. Islands with positive residuals were identified as hotspots. I also analyzed the values of the C parameter of the power function and the simple species-area ratios. Species richness was significantly correlated with island area for all models. The power function model was the most convenient one. Most functions, however identified certain islands as hotspots. The importance of endemics in insular biotas should be evaluated carefully because they are of high conservation concern. The simple use of the species-area relationship can be problematic when areas with no endemics are included. Therefore the importance of endemics should be evaluated according to different methods, such as percentages, to take into account different levels of endemism and different kinds of "endemics" (e.g., endemic to single islands vs. endemic to the archipelago). Because the species-area relationship is a key pattern in ecology, my findings can be applied at broader scales.

Development of a new method for estimating visceral fat area with multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagai, Masato; Komiya, Hideaki; Mori, Yutaka; Ohta, Teruo; Kasahara, Yasuhiro; Ikeda, Yoshio

2008-01-01

Excessive visceral fat area (VFA) is a major risk factor in such conditions as cardiovascular disease. In assessing VFA, computed tomography (CT) is adopted as the gold standard; however, this method is cost intensive and involves radiation exposure. In contrast, the bioelectrical impedance (BI) method for estimating body composition is simple and noninvasive and thus its potential application in VFA assessment is being studied. To overcome the difference in obtained impedance due to measurement conditions, we developed a more precise estimation method by selecting the optimum body posture, electrode arrangement, and frequency. The subjects were 73 healthy volunteers, 37 men and 36 women, who underwent CT scans to assess VFA and who were measured for anthropometry parameters, subcutaneous fat layer thickness, abdominal tissue area, and impedance. Impedance was measured by the tetrapolar impedance method using multi-frequency BI. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to estimate VFA. The results revealed a strong correlation between VFA observed by CT and VFA estimated by impedance (r=0.920). The regression equation accurately classified VFA≥100 cm 2 in 13 out of 14 men and 1 of 1 woman. Moreover, it classified VFA≥100 cm 2 or 2 in 3 out of 4 men and 1 of 1 woman misclassified by waist circumference (W) which was adopted as a simple index to evaluate VFA. Therefore, using this simple and convenient method for estimating VFA, we obtained an accurate assessment of VFA using the BI method. (author)

PUREX source Aggregate Area management study report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-03-01

This report presents the results of an aggregate area management study (AAMS) for the PUREX Plant Aggregate Area in the 200 Areas of the US Department of Energy (DOE)Hanford Site in Washington State. This scoping level study provides the basis for initiating Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) activities under the comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) or Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigations (RFI) and Corrective Measures Studies (CMS) under RCRA. This report also integrates select RCRA treatment, storage, or disposal (TSD) closure activities with CERCLA and RCRA past-practice investigations

Geotechnical parameters for three deep ocean study areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nicholson, D.P.

1989-01-01

This chapter summarizes the results of geotechnical measurements made on cores taken at the three deep ocean sites that have been studied in detail as part of the international programme assessing the feasibility of deep ocean disposal of heat-generating radioactive waste. The capabilities of existing sampling methods and the adequacy of the available data for providing the geotechnical parameters needed to evaluate the technical feasibility of deep ocean disposal are discussed. It is concluded that, while it has not been possible to obtain core samples of sufficient quality and depth to provide all the parameters needed for the assessment, no fundamental differences between the sediments at the study areas and those found on land or in shallow water have been identified. (author)

[Coupling coordination evaluation method between eco-environment quality and economic development level in contiguous special poverty-stricken areas of China].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yan-hui; Li, Jing-yi

2015-05-01

It is one of the important strategies in the new period of national poverty alleviation and development to maintain the basic balance between the ecological environment and economic development, and to promote the coordinated sustainable development of economy and ecological environment. Taking six contiguous special poverty-stricken areas as the study areas, a coupling coordination evaluation method between eco-environment quality and economic development level in contiguous special poverty-stricken areas was explored in this paper. The region' s ecological poverty index system was proposed based on the natural attribute of ecological environment, and the ecological environment quality evaluation method was built up by using AHP weighting method, followed by the design of the coupling coordination evaluation method between the ecological environment indices and the county economic poverty comprehensive indices. The coupling coordination degrees were calculated and their spatial representation differentiations were analyzed respectively at district, province, city, and county scales. Results showed that approximately half of the counties in the study areas achieved the harmoniously coordinated development. However, the ecological environmental quality and the economic development in most counties could not be synchronized, where mountains, rivers and other geographic features existed roughly as a dividing line of the coordinated development types. The phenomena of dislocation between the ecological environment and economic development in state-level poor counties were more serious than those of local poor counties.

Doppler Spectrum-Based NRCS Estimation Method for Low-Scattering Areas in Ocean SAR Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui Meng

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The image intensities of low-backscattering areas in synthetic aperture radar (SAR images are often seriously contaminated by the system noise floor and azimuthal ambiguity signal from adjacent high-backscattering areas. Hence, the image intensity of low-backscattering areas does not correctly reflect the backscattering intensity, which causes confusion in subsequent image processing or interpretation. In this paper, a method is proposed to estimate the normalized radar cross-section (NRCS of low-backscattering area by utilizing the differences between noise, azimuthal ambiguity, and signal in the Doppler frequency domain of single-look SAR images; the aim is to eliminate the effect of system noise and azimuthal ambiguity. Analysis shows that, for a spaceborne SAR with a noise equivalent sigma zero (NESZ of −25 dB and a single-look pixel of 8 m × 5 m, the NRCS-estimation precision of this method can reach −38 dB at a resolution of 96 m × 100 m. Three examples are given to validate the advantages of this method in estimating the low NRCS and the filtering of the azimuthal ambiguity.

Technical Note: Validation of two methods to determine contact area between breast and compression paddle in mammography

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Branderhorst, Woutjan; de Groot, Jerry E.; van Lier, Monique G. J. T. B.; Highnam, Ralph P.; den Heeten, Gerard J.; Grimbergen, Cornelis A.

2017-01-01

Purpose: To assess the accuracy of two methods of determining the contact area between the compression paddle and the breast in mammography. An accurate method to determine the contact area is essential to accurately calculate the average compression pressure applied by the paddle. Methods: For a

Location estimation method of steam leak in pipeline using leakage area analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Se Oh; Jeon, Hyeong Seop; Son, Ki Sung; Park, Jong Won

2016-01-01

It is important to have a pipeline leak-detection system that determines the presence of a leak and quickly identifies its location. Current leak detection methods use a acoustic emission sensors, microphone arrays, and camera images. Recently, many researchers have been focusing on using cameras for detecting leaks. The advantage of this method is that it can survey a wide area and monitor a pipeline over a long distance. However, conventional methods using camera monitoring are unable to target an exact leak location. In this paper, we propose a method of detecting leak locations using leak-detection results combined with multi-frame analysis. The proposed method is verified by experiment

Location estimation method of steam leak in pipeline using leakage area analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Se Oh; Jeon, Hyeong Seop; Son, Ki Sung [Sae An Engineering Corp., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jong Won [Dept. of Information Communications Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

It is important to have a pipeline leak-detection system that determines the presence of a leak and quickly identifies its location. Current leak detection methods use a acoustic emission sensors, microphone arrays, and camera images. Recently, many researchers have been focusing on using cameras for detecting leaks. The advantage of this method is that it can survey a wide area and monitor a pipeline over a long distance. However, conventional methods using camera monitoring are unable to target an exact leak location. In this paper, we propose a method of detecting leak locations using leak-detection results combined with multi-frame analysis. The proposed method is verified by experiment.

Flash flood warning in mountainaious areas: using damages reports to evaluate the method at small ungauged catchments

Science.gov (United States)

Defrance, Dimitri; Javelle, Pierre; Ecrepont, Stéphane; Andreassian, Vazken

2013-04-01

In Europe, flash floods mainly occur in the Mediterranean area on small catchments with a short concentration time. Anticipating this kind of events is a major issue in order to reduce the resulting damages. But for many of the impacted catchments, no data are available to calibrate and evaluate hydrological models. In this context, the aims of this study is to develop and evaluate a warning method for the Southern French Alps. This area is of particular interest, because it regroups different hydrological regimes, from purely Mediterranean to purely Alpine influences. Two main issues should be addressed: - How to define the hydrological model and its parameterization for an application in an ungauged context? - How to evaluate the final results on 'real' ungauged catchments? The first issue is a classic one. Using a 'observed' data set (154 streamflow stations with catchment areas ranging from 5 to 1000 km² and distributed rainfall available on the 1997-2006 period), we developed a regional model specifically for the studied area. For this purpose, the AIGA method, initially developed for Mediterranean catchments was adapted, in order to take into account snowmelt and to produce baseflows. Then, different parameterizations were tested, derived from different simple regionalisation techniques: - the same parameters set for the whole area defined as the median of the local calibrated parameters; - the same technique as the previous case, but by considering different sub-areas, defined as "hydro-climatically" homogeneous by previous studies; - and finally the neighbour's method. The second issue is more original. Indeed, in most studies the final evaluation is done using gauged stations as they were 'ungauged', ie keeping the at-site discharge data only for validation ant not for calibration. The main disadvantage of this approach is that the evaluation is made at the scale of the gauged catchments, which are in general greater than the catchments impacted by flash

Baseline non-traditional resource use in the Aurora Mine EIA local study area and the Syncrude/Suncor regional study area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

As part of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the regional and local study area of Syncrude's proposed Aurora Mine, the use of natural resources by non-aboriginal residents and non-residents in the area was documented. The objective of the study was to determine what specific resources are being used, how much, when, where and why. The topics included hunting, fishing, camping and canoeing. Public opinion regarding opportunities for resource use was also documented. The report focused on the dynamic nature of resource use, secondary economies (tourist accommodations) and quality of life. A telephone survey was conducted in which 17 respondents from recreational organizations answered a resource use questionnaire which contained 38 questions on consumptive and non-consumptive uses of wildlife, fish, berries, timber, non-resident use and resource management policies. The three environmentally significant areas of the local study area included the Muskeg River, Kearl Lake and East Jackpine Creek. The regional study are contained the Horse River Diversity area, La Saline Natural area, Schultz's Bog Diversity area, Athabasca Tar Sands Reach, Clearwater River, McClelland Lake Patterned Fens, McClelland Lake, and the Fort Hills. Agriculture in both areas is limited because of unfavourable climate and generally low-quality soil. 13 refs., 7 tabs., 6 figs

Baseline non-traditional resource use in the Aurora Mine EIA local study area and the Syncrude/Suncor regional study area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-12-31

As part of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the regional and local study area of Syncrude`s proposed Aurora Mine, the use of natural resources by non-aboriginal residents and non-residents in the area was documented. The objective of the study was to determine what specific resources are being used, how much, when, where and why. The topics included hunting, fishing, camping and canoeing. Public opinion regarding opportunities for resource use was also documented. The report focused on the dynamic nature of resource use, secondary economies (tourist accommodations) and quality of life. A telephone survey was conducted in which 17 respondents from recreational organizations answered a resource use questionnaire which contained 38 questions on consumptive and non-consumptive uses of wildlife, fish, berries, timber, non-resident use and resource management policies. The three environmentally significant areas of the local study area included the Muskeg River, Kearl Lake and East Jackpine Creek. The regional study are contained the Horse River Diversity area, La Saline Natural area, Schultz`s Bog Diversity area, Athabasca Tar Sands Reach, Clearwater River, McClelland Lake Patterned Fens, McClelland Lake, and the Fort Hills. Agriculture in both areas is limited because of unfavourable climate and generally low-quality soil. 13 refs., 7 tabs., 6 figs.

Identifying sensitive areas on intercultural contacts: An exploratory study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ignacio Ramos-Vidal

2011-06-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the negative influence that cultural friction areas can promote on intercultural contacts. First, we expose the critical incident method like cross-cultural training model (Arthur, 2001. Then we show the negative effects that sensitive cultural zones can exert on the formation of prejudices and stereotypes about culturally diverse groups, analyzing 77 critical incidents collected in two different formative contexts. The main cultural shock areas detected are a intercultural communication barriers, b gender roles, and c the cultural expressions statement. Strategies to improve the method validity are proposed.

Development and implementation of a geographical area categorisation method with targeted performance indicators for nationwide EMS in Finland.

Science.gov (United States)

Pappinen, Jukka; Laukkanen-Nevala, Päivi; Mäntyselkä, Pekka; Kurola, Jouni

2018-05-15

In Finland, hospital districts (HD) are required by law to determine the level and availability of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for each 1-km 2 sized area (cell) within their administrative area. The cells are currently categorised into five risk categories based on the predicted number of missions. Methodological defects and insufficient instructions have led to incomparability between EMS services. The aim of this study was to describe a new, nationwide method for categorising the cells, analyse EMS response time data and describe possible differences in mission profiles between the new risk category areas. National databases of EMS missions, population and buildings were combined with an existing nationwide 1-km 2 hexagon-shaped cell grid. The cells were categorised into four groups, based on the Finnish Environment Institute's (FEI) national definition of urban and rural areas, population and historical EMS mission density within each cell. The EMS mission profiles of the cell categories were compared using risk ratios with confidence intervals in 12 mission groups. In total, 87.3% of the population lives and 87.5% of missions took place in core or other urban areas, which covered only 4.7% of the HDs' surface area. Trauma mission incidence per 1000 inhabitants was higher in core urban areas (42.2) than in other urban (24.2) or dispersed settlement areas (24.6). The results were similar for non-trauma missions (134.8, 93.2 and 92.2, respectively). Each cell category had a characteristic mission profile. High-energy trauma missions and cardiac problems were more common in rural and uninhabited cells, while violence, intoxication and non-specific problems dominated in urban areas. The proposed area categories and grid-based data collection appear to be a useful method for evaluating EMS demand and availability in different parts of the country for statistical purposes. Due to a similar rural/urban area definition, the method might also be usable for

SPANISH PEAKS WILDERNESS STUDY AREA, COLORADO.

Science.gov (United States)

Budding, Karin E.; Kluender, Steven E.

1984-01-01

A geologic and geochemical investigation and a survey of mines and prospects were conducted to evaluate the mineral-resource potential of the Spanish Peaks Wilderness Study Area, Huerfano and Las Animas Counties, in south-central Colorado. Anomalous gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc concentrations in rocks and in stream sediments from drainage basins in the vicinity of the old mines and prospects on West Spanish Peak indicate a substantiated mineral-resource potential for base and precious metals in the area surrounding this peak; however, the mineralized veins are sparse, small in size, and generally low in grade. There is a possibility that coal may underlie the study area, but it would be at great depth and it is unlikely that it would have survived the intense igneous activity in the area. There is little likelihood for the occurrence of oil and gas because of the lack of structural traps and the igneous activity.

Comparison of quantitatively analyzed dynamic area-detector CT using various mathematic methods with FDG PET/CT in management of solitary pulmonary nodules.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohno, Yoshiharu; Nishio, Mizuho; Koyama, Hisanobu; Fujisawa, Yasuko; Yoshikawa, Takeshi; Matsumoto, Sumiaki; Sugimura, Kazuro

2013-06-01

The objective of our study was to prospectively compare the capability of dynamic area-detector CT analyzed with different mathematic methods and PET/CT in the management of pulmonary nodules. Fifty-two consecutive patients with 96 pulmonary nodules underwent dynamic area-detector CT, PET/CT, and microbacterial or pathologic examinations. All nodules were classified into the following groups: malignant nodules (n = 57), benign nodules with low biologic activity (n = 15), and benign nodules with high biologic activity (n = 24). On dynamic area-detector CT, the total, pulmonary arterial, and systemic arterial perfusions were calculated using the dual-input maximum slope method; perfusion was calculated using the single-input maximum slope method; and extraction fraction and blood volume (BV) were calculated using the Patlak plot method. All indexes were statistically compared among the three nodule groups. Then, receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to compare the diagnostic capabilities of the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and each perfusion parameter having a significant difference between malignant and benign nodules. Finally, the diagnostic performances of the indexes were compared by means of the McNemar test. No adverse effects were observed in this study. All indexes except extraction fraction and BV, both of which were calculated using the Patlak plot method, showed significant differences among the three groups (p method, pulmonary arterial perfusion calculated using the dual-input method, and perfusion calculated using the single-input method were significantly larger than that of SUVmax (p method (69.8%, p method has better potential for the diagnosis of pulmonary nodules than dynamic area-detector CT analyzed using other methods and than PET/CT.

B Plant source aggregate area management study report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-03-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington state is organized into numerically designated operational areas including the 100, 200, 300, 400, 600, and 100 Areas (Figure 1--1). The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in November 1989, included the 200 Areas of the Hanford KLSite on the National Priorities List (NPL), included the 200 Areas of the Hanford Site on the National Priorities List (NPL) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of Feasibility Study (FS) process for characterizing the nature and extent of contamination, assessing risks to human health and the environment, and selection of remedial actions. This report presents the results of an aggregate area management study (AIMS) for the B Plant Aggregate Area located in the 200 Areas. The study provides the basis for initiating RI/FS under CERCLA or under the Resource which contain reactor fuel processing and waste management Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigations (RFI) and Corrective Measures Studies (CMS). This report also integrates RCRA treatment, storage or disposal (TSD) closure activities with CERCLA and RCRA past-practice investigations

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Location studies for potential disposal areas. Report no. 1. Data, maps, models and methods used for selection of potential areas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Schack Pedersen, S.A.; Binderup, M.

2011-07-01

The low and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings plus different types of material from the research periods) and radioactive waste from hospitals and research institutes have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. The Minister for Health and Prevention presented the background and decision plan for the Danish Parliament in January 2009. All political parties agreed on the plan. The investigation of geological deposits as potential waste disposals for high radioactive waste from nuclear power plants has earlier focused on deep seated salt deposits and basement rocks. Nevertheless, the Tertiary clays were mapped as well. In the present study, the salt diapirs and the salt deposits are not included. The present report briefly describes the existing data collections (including databases, maps and models), that are used during the work of selection of ca. 20 potentially suitable areas. Most of the information is stored in GEUS databases: Location of boreholes, borehole data, rock sediment and ground water compounds, maps, geophysical data and much more, but information is also collected from other institutions. The methods are described in more details (chapter 6) and this description is the direct background for the selection process, the characterisation of the 20 areas and for the final selection of the 2 or 3 most potential sites. (LN)

Low- and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe, Denmark. Location studies for potential disposal areas. Report no. 1. Data, maps, models and methods used for selection of potential areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gravesen, P.; Nilsson, B.; Schack Pedersen, S.A.; Binderup, M.

2011-01-01

The low and intermediate level radioactive waste from Risoe (the nuclear reactor buildings plus different types of material from the research periods) and radioactive waste from hospitals and research institutes have to be stored in a final disposal in Denmark for at least 300 years. The Minister for Health and Prevention presented the background and decision plan for the Danish Parliament in January 2009. All political parties agreed on the plan. The investigation of geological deposits as potential waste disposals for high radioactive waste from nuclear power plants has earlier focused on deep seated salt deposits and basement rocks. Nevertheless, the Tertiary clays were mapped as well. In the present study, the salt diapirs and the salt deposits are not included. The present report briefly describes the existing data collections (including databases, maps and models), that are used during the work of selection of ca. 20 potentially suitable areas. Most of the information is stored in GEUS databases: Location of boreholes, borehole data, rock sediment and ground water compounds, maps, geophysical data and much more, but information is also collected from other institutions. The methods are described in more details (chapter 6) and this description is the direct background for the selection process, the characterisation of the 20 areas and for the final selection of the 2 or 3 most potential sites. (LN)

A simple method for determining the activity of large-area beta sources constructed from anodized aluminum foils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stanga, D.

2014-01-01

A simple method has been developed for determining the activity of large-area beta reference sources in anodized aluminum foils. It is based on the modeling of the transmission of beta rays through thin foils in planar geometry using Monte Carlo simulation. The method was checked experimentally and measurement results show that the activity of large-area beta reference sources in anodized aluminum foils can be measured with standard uncertainties smaller than the limit of 10% required by ISO 8769. - Highlights: • A method for determining the activity of large-area beta sources is presented. • The method is based on a model of electron transport in planar geometry. • The method makes use of linear programming for determining the activity. • The uncertainty of the method is smaller than 10%

Environmental pollution study around a large industrial area near Cairo, Egypt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Halim, A.S.

2003-01-01

Neutron activation analysis is one of the most extensively used methods for environmental studies due to its high sensitivity, precision, versatility and multielemental character. Cement factories at Helwan, south of Cairo, contribute substantially to environmental pollution. Determination of minor and trace-elements in dust particulates from the cement industrial areas has been performed to assess the air quality from an environmental and human health point of view. Soil-7 standard reference material from IAEA and SRM-1571 from NBS were used for quality assurance testing. The data obtained indicate there is an indication that the pollution could be hazardous to people living in and around the area surveyed. (author)

Uranium in the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative study area, southwestern Wyoming

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Anna B.

2015-10-20

Wyoming has led the nation as the producer of uranium ore since 1995 and contains the largest reserves of any state. Approximately one third of Wyoming’s total production came from deposits in, or immediately adjacent to, the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) study area in the southwestern corner of the state including all of Carbon, Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater, Uinta, and parts of southern Fremont Counties. Conventional open-pit and underground mining methods were employed in the study area until the early 1990s. Since the early 1990s, all uranium mining has been by in-situ recovery (also called in-situ leach). It is estimated that statewide remaining resources of 141,000 tonnes of uranium are about twice the 84,000 tonnes of uranium that the state has already produced.

Z Plant source aggregate area management study report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-10-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington State is or into numerically designated operational areas including the 100, 200, 300, 400, 600, and 1100 Areas. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in November 1989, included the 200 Areas of the Hanford Site on the National Priorities List (NPL) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980. Inclusion on the NPL initiates the Remedial Investigation (RI) and Feasibility Study (FS) process for characterizing the nature and extent of contamination, assessing risks to human health and the environment, and selection of remedial actions. This report presents the insults of an aggregate area management study (AAMS) for the Z Plant Aggregate Area located m the 200 Areas. The study provides the basis for initiating RIIFS under CERCLA or under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigations (RFI) and Corrective Measures Studies (CMS). This report also integrates RCRA treatment, storage, or disposed (TSD) closure activities with CERCLA and RCRA past-practice investigations

The problem with areas: Asia and Area studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor T. King

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Review of:Goh Beng Lan (ed., Decentring & diversifying Southeast Asian Studies: Perspectives from the region. Singapore: ISEAS, 2011, xiii + 304 pp. ISBN 9789814311564, price: USD 34.90 (paperback; 9789814311571, USD 45.90 (hardback.Terence Wesley-Smith and Jon Goss (eds, Remaking Area studies: Teaching and learning across Asia and the Pacific. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2010, xxvii + 243 pp. ISBN 9780824833213. Price: USD 45.00 (hardback.Jacob Edmond, Henry Johnson and Jacqueline Leckie (eds, Recentring Asia: Histories, encounters, identities, xv + 339 pp. Leiden/Boston: Brill, Global Oriental: 2011. ISBN 9781906876258. Price: EUR 80.00 (hardback.

Area Studies and Eastern Europe: How Eastern Europe Collapsed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirjana Kasapović

2007-01-01

Full Text Available In the first part, the author outlines the development of area studies in contemporary comparative politics, and points to their importance for the development of political science. In the second part, she examines the methodology – research design and methods – of regional comparatistics, paying particular attention to the problem of defining the region as a central category in this field of comparative politics. The third and central part is focused on the emergence of Eastern Europe as a historical-political and socio-cultural region in the course of history, especially after World War II, and on its dissolution in the processes of democratic transformation of communist regimes in the last two decades. The dissolution of Eastern Europe has resulted in restoration of a tripartite political geography in the area which it used to take up, made up of Central Europe, Southeast Europe and the proper Eastern Europe.

Isotopes based assessment of groundwater renewal and related anthropogenic effects in water scarce areas: Sand dunes study in Qasim area, Saudi Arabia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Sagaby, A.; Moallim, A.

2001-01-01

The investigation of recharge in the sand dune, Qasim, Saudi Arabia, with the help of chloride concentration and isotope content has revealed inconsistent pattern and less homogeneity. Monotonic chloride concentration and isotope content was the result of seasonal recharge occurrence in the study area. In addition, applying chloride mass-balance method, recharge rate calculation in the sand dune site, Qasim, Saudi Arabia, was made. The results (1.80 and 1.84mmy -1 - dune site) estimated during this project using this method was a long way below the recharge rates (30mmy -1 , 13.4mmy -1 in the dune site and 5mmy -1 in the swale site) obtained with the application of tritium method in the previous years (1994 and 1996). 1.80 and 1.84mmy -1 was for CRP-Saud-9405 project and was calculated 1997 and 1998 respectively. The reason for the lower recharge rate with the application of chloride mass-balance method could be the source of chloride input and high evaporation, which causes accumulation of chloride salts in the area. (author)

Comparing Methods for Prioritising Protected Areas for Investment: A Case Study Using Madagascar's Dry Forest Reptiles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlie J Gardner

Full Text Available There are insufficient resources available to manage the world's existing protected area portfolio effectively, so the most important sites should be prioritised in investment decision-making. Sophisticated conservation planning and assessment tools developed to identify locations for new protected areas can provide an evidence base for such prioritisations, yet decision-makers in many countries lack the institutional support and necessary capacity to use the associated software. As such, simple heuristic approaches such as species richness or number of threatened species are generally adopted to inform prioritisation decisions. However, their performance has never been tested. Using the reptile fauna of Madagascar's dry forests as a case study, we evaluate the performance of four site prioritisation protocols used to rank the conservation value of 22 established and candidate protected areas. We compare the results to a benchmark produced by the widely-used systematic conservation planning software Zonation. The four indices scored sites on the basis of: i species richness; ii an index based on species' Red List status; iii irreplaceability (a key metric in systematic conservation planning; and, iv a novel Conservation Value Index (CVI, which incorporates species-level information on endemism, representation in the protected area system, tolerance of habitat degradation and hunting/collection pressure. Rankings produced by the four protocols were positively correlated to the results of Zonation, particularly amongst high-scoring sites, but CVI and Irreplaceability performed better than Species Richness and the Red List Index. Given the technological capacity constraints experienced by decision-makers in the developing world, our findings suggest that heuristic metrics can represent a useful alternative to more sophisticated analyses, especially when they integrate species-specific information related to extinction risk. However, this can

Comparing Methods for Prioritising Protected Areas for Investment: A Case Study Using Madagascar's Dry Forest Reptiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Charlie J; Raxworthy, Christopher J; Metcalfe, Kristian; Raselimanana, Achille P; Smith, Robert J; Davies, Zoe G

2015-01-01

There are insufficient resources available to manage the world's existing protected area portfolio effectively, so the most important sites should be prioritised in investment decision-making. Sophisticated conservation planning and assessment tools developed to identify locations for new protected areas can provide an evidence base for such prioritisations, yet decision-makers in many countries lack the institutional support and necessary capacity to use the associated software. As such, simple heuristic approaches such as species richness or number of threatened species are generally adopted to inform prioritisation decisions. However, their performance has never been tested. Using the reptile fauna of Madagascar's dry forests as a case study, we evaluate the performance of four site prioritisation protocols used to rank the conservation value of 22 established and candidate protected areas. We compare the results to a benchmark produced by the widely-used systematic conservation planning software Zonation. The four indices scored sites on the basis of: i) species richness; ii) an index based on species' Red List status; iii) irreplaceability (a key metric in systematic conservation planning); and, iv) a novel Conservation Value Index (CVI), which incorporates species-level information on endemism, representation in the protected area system, tolerance of habitat degradation and hunting/collection pressure. Rankings produced by the four protocols were positively correlated to the results of Zonation, particularly amongst high-scoring sites, but CVI and Irreplaceability performed better than Species Richness and the Red List Index. Given the technological capacity constraints experienced by decision-makers in the developing world, our findings suggest that heuristic metrics can represent a useful alternative to more sophisticated analyses, especially when they integrate species-specific information related to extinction risk. However, this can require access to

Earthquake hypocenter relocation using double difference method in East Java and surrounding areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

C, Aprilia Puspita; Nugraha, Andri Dian; Puspito, Nanang T

2015-01-01

Determination of precise hypocenter location is very important in order to provide information about subsurface fault plane and for seismic hazard analysis. In this study, we have relocated hypocenter earthquakes in Eastern part of Java and surrounding areas from local earthquake data catalog compiled by Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia (MCGA) in time period 2009-2012 by using the double-difference method. The results show that after relocation processes, there are significantly changes in position and orientation of earthquake hypocenter which is correlated with the geological setting in this region. We observed indication of double seismic zone at depths of 70-120 km within the subducting slab in south of eastern part of Java region. Our results will provide useful information for advance seismological studies and seismic hazard analysis in this study

Earthquake hypocenter relocation using double difference method in East Java and surrounding areas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

C, Aprilia Puspita [Geophysical Engineering Program, Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Institute of Technology Bandung (Indonesia); Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (MCGA) of Indonesian, Jakarta (Indonesia); Nugraha, Andri Dian, E-mail: nugraha@gf.itb.ac.id [Geophysical Engineering Program, Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Institute of Technology Bandung (Indonesia); Puspito, Nanang T [Global Geophysical Research Group, Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Institute of Technology Bandung (Indonesia)

2015-04-24

Determination of precise hypocenter location is very important in order to provide information about subsurface fault plane and for seismic hazard analysis. In this study, we have relocated hypocenter earthquakes in Eastern part of Java and surrounding areas from local earthquake data catalog compiled by Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia (MCGA) in time period 2009-2012 by using the double-difference method. The results show that after relocation processes, there are significantly changes in position and orientation of earthquake hypocenter which is correlated with the geological setting in this region. We observed indication of double seismic zone at depths of 70-120 km within the subducting slab in south of eastern part of Java region. Our results will provide useful information for advance seismological studies and seismic hazard analysis in this study.

Realism and Pragmatism in a mixed methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Allmark, Peter; Machaczek, Katarzyna

2018-06-01

A discussion of how adopting a Realist rather than Pragmatist methodology affects the conduct of mixed methods research. Mixed methods approaches are now extensively employed in nursing and other healthcare research. At the same time, realist methodology is increasingly used as philosophical underpinning of research in these areas. However, the standard philosophical underpinning of mixed methods research is Pragmatism, which is generally considered incompatible or at least at odds with Realism. This paper argues that Realism can be used as the basis of mixed methods research and that doing so carries advantages over using Pragmatism. A mixed method study into patient handover reports is used to illustrate how Realism affected its design and how it would have differed had a Pragmatist approach been taken. Discussion Paper. Philosophers Index; Google Scholar. Those undertaking mixed methods research should consider the use of Realist methodology with the addition of some insights from Pragmatism to do with the start and end points of enquiry. Realism is a plausible alternative methodology for those undertaking mixed methods studies. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Growth studies on Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus (L., in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent Atlantic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chryssi Mytilineou

1998-12-01

Full Text Available A comparative study of the growth of Nephrops norvegicus among different areas in the Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent Atlantic was conducted. MIX and Bhattacharya´s length-based methods were used for age determination. Both methods were used for all the studied areas. For the estimation of the growth parameters two non-linear methods, based on the results of the length frequency analysis, were used; the Gauss-Newton method, implemented by the SAS program, was applied using the results of the MIX and the FISHPARM program using the results of the Bhattacharya´s method. The identification of the age groups and their mean lengths-at-age as well as the estimation of the growth parameters proved to be difficult. A question regarding the adequacy of the von Bertalanffy model was also posed. Remarkable differences were obvious between sexes in the number of identified age groups and their mean lengths-at-age as well as in their growth parameters in all areas. The comparison of the results obtained for the studied areas showed differences, which could not be considered very important except in the case of the Nephrops population of the Alboran Sea, which was characterised by a high growth rate. All other areas seemed to be close; among them the populations from Euboikos Gulf and Catalan Sea being the most different.

Synthetic hydrogeological study on Beishan preselected area for high-level radioactive waste repository in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Yonghai; Su Rui; Ji Ruili; Wang Hailong; Liu Shufen; Zong Zihua; Dong Jiannan; Zhang Ming

2014-01-01

On the basis of large scale field hydrogeological investigation, synthetic hydrogeological studies related to groundwater system characteristics, permeability of rock bodies, groundwater dynamic, hydrogeochemistry, isotopic hydrology, CFC's of groundwater and groundwater flow field simulation were carried out for Beishan area, Gansu province. According to analysis on a large amount of hydrogeological data, the characteristics of groundwater circulation, groundwater hydrodynamics and hydrgeochemistry were described and the suitability of Beishan area as the potential area of high-level radioactive waste disposal was evaluated in the paper. Through this study, the hydrogeological study and evaluation methods in the siting of China's high level radioactive waste repository were set up. Furthermore, the important hydrogeological scientific evidence was provided for optimal site filtration of China's high-level radioactive waste repository in Beishan area. (authors)

Comparison between motorcyclist’ violation behavior and accidents in urban and rural area in Indonesia: A comparative study

Science.gov (United States)

Rahmawati, N.; Widyanti, A.

2017-12-01

Some studies stated that the main factor related to the accident was driving behavior. This study aims to explore the differences between motorcyclist” behaviour and repetitive violation behaviour in two different area, urban and rural area in Indonesia. Respondents were selected based on convenience sampling method in Bandung as a representative of urban area and Kulon Progo as a representative of rural area. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire about driving behaviour, consists of 10 dimensions or 51 questions with Likert scales ranging from 1 (very often) to 6 (never). The results of this study shows that the motorcyclists’ behavior differ significantly between rural and urban area. Motorcyclists in the urban area (Bandung) are more committed to violations than in rural area (Kulon Progo). This result is not in line with previous studies in Australia and United States which stated that motorcyclists in rural area more frequently speeding than in urban area. Implications of the result are discussed.

U Plant source aggregate area management study report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-09-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington State is organized into numerically designated operational areas including the 100, 200, 300, 400, 600, and 1100 Areas. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in November 1989, included the 200 Areas of the Hanford Site on the National Priorities List (NPL) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980. Inclusion on the NPL initiates the Remedial Investigation (RI) and Feasibility Study (FS) process for characterizing the nature and extent of contamination, assessing risks to human health and the environment, and selection of remedial actions. This report presents the results of an aggregate area management study (AAMS) for the U Plant Aggregate Area located in the 200 Areas. The study provides the basis for initiating RI/FS under CERCLA or under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigations (RFI) and Corrective Measures Studies (CMS). This report also integrates RCRA treatment, storage, or disposal (TSD) closure activities with CERCLA and RCRA past-practice investigations

T Plant source aggregate area management study report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-11-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington State is organized into numerically designated operational areas including the 100, 200, 300, 400, 600, and 1100 Areas. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in November 1989, included the 200 Areas of the Hanford Site on the National Priorities List (NPL) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980. Inclusion on the NPL initiates the Remedial Investigation (RI) and Feasibility Study (FS) process for characterizing the nature and extent of contamination, assessing risks to human health and the environment, and selection of remedial actions. This report presents the results of an aggregate area management study (AAMS) for the T Plant Aggregate Area located in the 200 Areas. The study provides the basis for initiating RI/FS under CERCLA or under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigations (RFI) and Corrective Measures Studies (CMS). This report also integrates RCRA treatment, storage, or disposal (TSD) closure activities with CERCLA and RCRA past-practice investigations

Generating local scale land use/cover change scenarios: case studies of high-risk mountain areas

Science.gov (United States)

Malek, Žiga; Glade, Thomas; Boerboom, Luc

2014-05-01

The relationship between land use/cover changes and consequences to human well-being is well acknowledged and has led to higher interest of both researchers and decision makers in driving forces and consequences of such changes. For example, removal of natural vegetation cover or urban expansion resulting in new elements at risk can increase hydro-meteorological risk. This is why it is necessary to study how the land use/cover could evolve in the future. Emphasis should especially be given to areas experiencing, or expecting, high rates of socio-economic change. A suitable approach to address these changes is scenario development; it offers exploring possible futures and the corresponding environmental consequences, and aids decision-making, as it enables to analyse possible options. Scenarios provide a creative methodology to depict possible futures, resulting from existing decisions, based on different assumptions of future socio-economic development. They have been used in various disciplines and on various scales, such as flood risk and soil erosion. Several studies have simulated future scenarios of land use/cover changes at a very high success rate, however usually these approaches are tailor made for specific case study areas and fit to available data. This study presents a multi-step scenario generation framework, which can be transferable to other local scale case study areas, taking into account the case study specific consequences of land use/cover changes. Through the use of experts' and decision-makers' knowledge, we aimed to develop a framework with the following characteristics: (1) it enables development of scenarios that are plausible, (2) it can overcome data inaccessibility, (3) it can address intangible and external driving forces of land use/cover change, and (4) it ensures transferability to other local scale case study areas with different land use/cover change processes and consequences. To achieve this, a set of different methods is applied

Research on Methods of High Coherent Target Extraction in Urban Area Based on Psinsar Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Li, N.; Wu, J.

2018-04-01

PSInSAR technology has been widely applied in ground deformation monitoring. Accurate identification of Persistent Scatterers (PS) is key to the success of PSInSAR data processing. In this paper, the theoretic models and specific algorithms of PS point extraction methods are summarized and the characteristics and applicable conditions of each method, such as Coherence Coefficient Threshold method, Amplitude Threshold method, Dispersion of Amplitude method, Dispersion of Intensity method, are analyzed. Based on the merits and demerits of different methods, an improved method for PS point extraction in urban area is proposed, that uses simultaneously backscattering characteristic, amplitude and phase stability to find PS point in all pixels. Shanghai city is chosen as an example area for checking the improvements of the new method. The results show that the PS points extracted by the new method have high quality, high stability and meet the strong scattering characteristics. Based on these high quality PS points, the deformation rate along the line-of-sight (LOS) in the central urban area of Shanghai is obtained by using 35 COSMO-SkyMed X-band SAR images acquired from 2008 to 2010 and it varies from -14.6 mm/year to 4.9 mm/year. There is a large sedimentation funnel in the cross boundary of Hongkou and Yangpu district with a maximum sedimentation rate of more than 14 mm per year. The obtained ground subsidence rates are also compared with the result of spirit leveling and show good consistent. Our new method for PS point extraction is more reasonable, and can improve the accuracy of the obtained deformation results.

Development of the method of aggregation to determine the current storage area using computer vision and radiofrequency identification

Science.gov (United States)

Astafiev, A.; Orlov, A.; Privezencev, D.

2018-01-01

The article is devoted to the development of technology and software for the construction of positioning and control systems in industrial plants based on aggregation to determine the current storage area using computer vision and radiofrequency identification. It describes the developed of the project of hardware for industrial products positioning system in the territory of a plant on the basis of radio-frequency grid. It describes the development of the project of hardware for industrial products positioning system in the plant on the basis of computer vision methods. It describes the development of the method of aggregation to determine the current storage area using computer vision and radiofrequency identification. Experimental studies in laboratory and production conditions have been conducted and described in the article.

Can citizen science contribute to fish assemblages monitoring in understudied areas? The case study of Tunisian marine protected areas

Science.gov (United States)

Ben Lamine, Emna; Di Franco, Antonio; Romdhane, Mohamed Salah; Francour, Patrice

2018-01-01

Resource monitoring is a key issue in ecosystem management especially for marine protected areas (MPAs), where information on the composition and structure of fish assemblages is crucial to design a sound management plan. Data on fish assemblage are usually collected using Underwater Visual Censuses (UVC). However, fish assemblages monitoring in MPAs usually calls for considerable resources in terms of costs, time and technical/scientific skills. Financial resources and trained scientific divers may, however, not be available in certain geographical areas, that are thus understudied. Therefore, involving citizen volunteer divers in fish assemblage monitoring and adopting easy-to-use underwater visual census methods could be an effective way to collect crucial data. Citizen science can be used only if it can provide information that is consistent with that collected using standard scientific monitoring. Here, we aim to: 1) compare the consistency of results from a Standard scientific UVC (S-UVC) and an Easy-to-use UVC (E-UVC) method in assessing fish assemblage spatial variability, and 2) test the consistency of data collected by Scientific Divers (SD) and Scientifically-Trained Volunteer divers (STV), using E-UVC. We used, in two consecutive years, three Tunisian future Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and adjacent areas as case studies. E-UVC and S-UVC data were consistent in highlighting the same spatial patterns for the three MPAs (between MPAs and, inside and outside each one). No significant difference was recorded between data collected by SD or STV. Our results suggest that E-UVC can provide information representing simplified proxies for describing fish assemblages and can therefore be a valuable tool for fish monitoring by citizen divers in understudied areas. This evidence could foster citizen science as an effective tool to raise environmental awareness and involve stakeholders in resource management.

Regional hydrogeological study in the Tono area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogata, Nobuhisa; Ota, Kunio; Hama, Katsuhiro; Tsubota, Kouji

1998-01-01

Regional hydrogeological studies have been carried out since fiscal 1992 to determine the regional groundwater flow in the Tono area of Japan. The following items have been investigated: 1) Understanding the geological structure, groundwater flow and groundwater chemistry of the deep geological environment in the Tono area. 2) Constructing conceptual models of the geological structure, groundwater flow and groundwater chemistry. 3) Developing appropriate techniques to investigate the geological structure, groundwater flow and groundwater chemistry of the deep geological environment. This report presents the results of the last six years of the study in the Tono area. (author)

Extraction of Greenhouse Areas with Image Processing Methods in Karabuk Province

Science.gov (United States)

Yildirima, M. Z.; Ozcan, C.

2017-11-01

Greenhouses provide the environmental conditions to be controlled and regulated as desired while allowing agricultural products to be produced without being affected by external environmental conditions. High quality and a wide variety of agricultural products can be produced throughout the year. In addition, mapping and detection of these areas has great importance in terms of factors such as yield analysis, natural resource management and environmental impact. Various remote sensing techniques are currently available for extraction of greenhouse areas. These techniques are based on the automatic detection and interpretation of objects on remotely sensed images. In this study, greenhouse areas were determined from optical images obtained from Landsat. The study was carried out in the greenhouse areas in Karabuk province. The obtained results are presented with figures and tables.

Method for determining the footprint area of air temperature and relative humidity - doi: 10.4025/actascitechnol.v35i2.11791

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elis Dener Lima Alves

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Despite the numerous studies in the area of urban climatology, there is still a relevant gap in this area corresponding to the demarcation of the footprint area on a variable. Various authors arbitrarily delimit this area without a prior study, which leads to significant errors in the results. In recent years, a variety of models to estimate the footprint area was presented mainly with stochastic and analytical approaches, usually expensive. Thus this article aimed to develop a methodology based on geostatistics for inference of the footprint area for temperature and relative humidity. By using geostatistics it was possible to observe that the radius of footprint had a temporal variation (between times and days and spatial variation (between points, pointing out the great importance in assessing the footprint area. However, for a better analysis of this method we suggest to model the anisotropy in future studies, because the footprint area behaves like an ellipse with different radii at different directions. And for this, it is necessary to collect data with a regular distribution within a mesh.  

Optimal generation and reserve dispatch in a multi-area competitive market using a hybrid direct search method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chun Lung Chen

2005-01-01

With restructuring of the power industry, competitive bidding for energy and ancillary services are increasingly recognized as an important part of electricity markets. It is desirable to optimize not only the generator's bid prices for energy and for providing minimized ancillary services but also the transmission congestion costs. In this paper, a hybrid approach of combining sequential dispatch with a direct search method is developed to deal with the multi-product and multi-area electricity market dispatch problem. The hybrid direct search method (HDSM) incorporates sequential dispatch into the direct search method to facilitate economic sharing of generation and reserve across areas and to minimize the total market cost in a multi-area competitive electricity market. The effects of tie line congestion and area spinning reserve requirement are also consistently reflected in the marginal price in each area. Numerical experiments are included to understand the various constraints in the market cost analysis and to provide valuable information for market participants in a pool oriented electricity market. (author)

Optimal generation and reserve dispatch in a multi-area competitive market using a hybrid direct search method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, C.-L.

2005-01-01

With restructuring of the power industry, competitive bidding for energy and ancillary services are increasingly recognized as an important part of electricity markets. It is desirable to optimize not only the generator's bid prices for energy and for providing minimized ancillary services but also the transmission congestion costs. In this paper, a hybrid approach of combining sequential dispatch with a direct search method is developed to deal with the multi-product and multi-area electricity market dispatch problem. The hybrid direct search method (HDSM) incorporates sequential dispatch into the direct search method to facilitate economic sharing of generation and reserve across areas and to minimize the total market cost in a multi-area competitive electricity market. The effects of tie line congestion and area spinning reserve requirement are also consistently reflected in the marginal price in each area. Numerical experiments are included to understand the various constraints in the market cost analysis and to provide valuable information for market participants in a pool oriented electricity market

Household energy studies: the gap between theory and method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crosbie, T.

2006-09-15

At the level of theory it is now widely accepted that energy consumption patterns are a complex technical and socio-cultural phenomenon and to understand this phenomenon, it must be viewed from both engineering and social science perspectives. However, the methodological approaches taken in household energy studies lag behind the theoretical advances made in the last ten or fifteen years. The quantitative research methods traditionally used within the fields of building science, economics, and psychology continue to dominate household energy studies, while the qualitative ethnographic approaches to examining social and cultural phenomena traditionally used within anthropology and sociology are most frequently overlooked. This paper offers a critical review of the research methods used in household energy studies which illustrates the scope and limitations of both qualitative and quantitative research methods in this area of study. In doing so it demonstrates that qualitative research methods are essential to designing effective energy efficiency interventions. [Author].

Method of manufacturing a large-area segmented photovoltaic module

Science.gov (United States)

Lenox, Carl

2013-11-05

One embodiment of the invention relates to a segmented photovoltaic (PV) module which is manufactured from laminate segments. The segmented PV module includes rectangular-shaped laminate segments formed from rectangular-shaped PV laminates and further includes non-rectangular-shaped laminate segments formed from rectangular-shaped and approximately-triangular-shaped PV laminates. The laminate segments are mechanically joined and electrically interconnected to form the segmented module. Another embodiment relates to a method of manufacturing a large-area segmented photovoltaic module from laminate segments of various shapes. Other embodiments relate to processes for providing a photovoltaic array for installation at a site. Other embodiments and features are also disclosed.

Cutaneous blood flow. A comparative study between the thermal recovery method and the radioxenon clearance method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tavares, C M; Ferreira, J M; Fernandes, F V

1975-01-01

Since 1968 a thermal recovery method to study the cutaneous circulation has been utilized in the detection of skin circulation changes caused by certain pharmacological agents or by some pathological conditions. This method is based in the determination of the thermal recuperation of a small area of the skin previously cooled. In this work, we want to present the results of a comparative analysis between the thermal recovery method and the clearance of the radioactive xenon injected intracutaneously. The study was performed in the distal extremity of the lower limbs in 16 normal subjects, 16 hyperthyroid patients with increased cutaneous temperature and 11 patients with presumably low cutaneous blood flow (3 patients with hypothyroidism and 8 with obstructive arteriosclerosis).

Groundwater and quaternary geological studies of potential peat production areas - useful tool for sustainable peat production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valpola, S.E.; Paalijaervi, M. (Geological Survey of Finland, Kokkola (Finland)), Email: samu.valpola@gtk.fi, Email: miikka.paalijarvi@gtk.fi

2009-07-01

Potential peat production areas in Finland are often situated in vicinity of eskers or other quaternary (glaciofluvial) formations. Frequently these formations are also important groundwater resources and it is essential for sustainable peat production to assure that these resources will not be endangered. The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) has concluded several quaternary geological studies on potential peat production areas, which are connected to locally important groundwater areas. These studies have been made using mainly ground penetrating radar (GPR) and light drilling equipment. The main objective of these studies has been to establish the local groundwater flow directions and the quality and extent of quaternary deposits. The increasing need of peat production areas has created an evident demand of cost-effective and fast research methods which can be used for providing reliable information for planning of new production areas. (orig.)

A Robust Method for Detecting Parking Areas in Both Indoor and Outdoor Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenhao Zong

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Although an automatic parking system has been installed in many vehicles recently, it is still hard for the system to confirm by itself whether a vacant parking area truly exists or not. In this paper, we introduced a robust vision-based vacancy parking area detecting method for both indoor and outdoor environments. The main contribution of this paper is given as follows. First, an automatic image stitching method is proposed. Secondly, the problem of environment illuminating change and line color difference is considered and solved. Thirdly, the proposed algorithm is insensitive to the shadow and scene diversity, which means the detecting result satisfies most of the environment. Finally, a vehicle model is considered for tracking and reconfirming the detecting results to eliminate most of the false positives.

200 West Groundwater Aggregate Area management study report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

This report presents the results of an aggregate area management study (AAMS) for the 200 West Groundwater Aggregate Area in the 200 Areas of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington State. This scoping level study provides the basis for initiating Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) activities under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) or Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Facility Investigations (Rlq) and Corrective Measures Studies (CMS) under RCRA. This report also integrates select RCRA treatment, storage or disposal (TSD) closure activities with CERCLA and RCRA past practice investigations

Numerical evaluation of the five sensor probe method for measurement of local interfacial area concentration of cap bubbles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Euh, D.J.; Yun, B.J.; Song, C.H.; Kwon, T.S.; Chung, M.K.; Lee, U.C.

2000-01-01

The interfacial area concentration (IAC) is one of the most important parameters in the two-fluid model for two-phase flow analysis. The IAC can be measured by a local conductivity probe method that uses the difference of conductivity between water and air/steam. The number of sensors in the conductivity probe may be differently chosen by considering the flow regime of two-phase flow. The four sensor conductivity probe method predicts the IAC without any assumptions of the bubble shape. The local IAC can be obtained by measuring the three dimensional velocity vector elements at the measuring point, and the directional cosines of the sensors. The five sensor conductivity probe method proposed in this study is based on the four sensor probe method. With the five sensor probe, the local IAC for a given referred measuring area of the probe can be predicted more exactly. In this paper, the mathematical approach of the five sensor probe method for measuring the IAC is described, and a numerical simulation is carried out for ideal cap bubbles of which the sizes and locations are determined by a random number generator. (author)

Beams configuration design in target area with successive quadratic programming method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi Zhiquan; Tan Jichun; Wei Xiaofeng; Man Jongzai; Zhang Xiaomin; Yuan Jing; Yuan Xiaodong

1998-01-01

The author describes the application of successive quadratic programming method (SQP) to design laser beam configuration in target area. Based on the requirement of ICF experiment physics, a math model of indirect-driver beam geometry is given. A 3D wire-frame is plotted, in which support lines represent 60 laser entireties and 240 turning points of support lines' segments stand for the spatial positions of reflectors

Steroidal hormones and other endocrine active compounds in shallow groundwater in nonagricultural areas of Minnesota—Study design, methods, and data, 2009–10

Science.gov (United States)

Erickson, Melinda L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, completed a study on the occurrence of steroidal hormones and other endocrine active compounds in shallow groundwater in nonagricultural areas of Minnesota during 2009–10. This report describes the study design and methods, and presents the data collected on steroidal hormones and other related compounds. Environmental and quality-control samples were collected from 40 wells as part of this study. Samples were analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory for 16 steroidal hormones and 4 other related compounds, of which all but 2 compounds are endocrine active compounds. Most of the water samples did not contain detectable concentrations of any of the 20 compounds analyzed. Water samples from three wells had detectable concentrations of one or more compounds. Bisphenol A was detected in samples from three wells, and trans-diethylstilbestrol was detected in one of the samples in which bisphenol A also was detected.

Systematic method for resource rating with two applications to potential wilderness areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voelker, A.H.; Wedow, H.; Oakes, E.; Scheffler, P.K.

1979-09-01

A versatile method was developed to rate the energy- and mineral-resource potentials of areas in which land-management and resource-development decisions must be reached with a minimum expenditure of money and time. The method surveys published and personal information on resources in the region being assessed, selects the most appropriate information, synthesizes the information into map overlays and tract descriptions, rates the potential of tracts for particular resources, rates the overall importance of each tract for resource development, and documents the ratings and their significance. Basic criteria considered by the assessment team include the favorability and certainty ratings, the overall availability of each rated resource within this country, the size of a given tract, economic factors, and the number of resources in a tract. The method was applied to two separate but roughly similar geologic regions, the Idaho-Wyoming-Utah thrust belt and the central Appalachians. Undeveloped tracts of national forestland in these regions that are being considered for possible designation under the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) planning process were rated for their resource value. Results support earlier indications that the 63 tracts comprising the western thrust belt possess a high potential for future resource development. Nearly one-half of these tracts were rated either 3 or 4. However, the wide spread of the importance ratings between 1 and 4 suggests that some tracts or portions of tracts can be added to the National Wilderness System without compromising resource development. The 72 eastern thrust belt tracts were given lower ratings, which indicates the reduced significance of the few remaining roadless areas in this region in satisfying the nation's near-term resource needs

Optimal operation method coping with uncertainty in multi-area small power systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shota Tobaru

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Japan contains a vast number of isolated islands. Majority of these islands are poweredby diesel generators (DGs, which are operationally not economical. Therefore, the introduction of renewableenergy systems (RESs into these area is very much vital. However, the variability of RESs asa result of weather condition as well as load demand , battery energy storage system (BESS is broughtinto play. Demand response (DR programs have also been so attractive in the energy management systemsfor the past decades. Among them, the real-time pricing (RTP has been one of the most effectivedemand response program being utilized. This program encourages the customer to increase or reducethe load consumption by varying the electricity price. Also, due to the increase in power transactionmarket, Japan electric power exchange (JEPX has established spot (day-ahead, intraday hour-ahead,and forward market programs. This paper utilizes day-ahead and hour-ahead markets, since these marketscan make it possible to deal with uncertainty related to generated power fluctuations. Therefore,this paper presents the optimal operation method coping with the uncertainties of RESs in multi-areasmall power systems. The proposed method enables flexibility to correspond to the forecasting error byproviding two kinds of power markets among multi-area small power systems and trading the shortageand surplus powers. Furthermore, it accomplishes a stable power supply and demand by RTP. Thus, theproposed method was able to reduce operational cost for multi-area small power systems. The processof creating operational plan for RTP, power trading at the markets and the unit commitment of DGs arealso presented in this paper. Simulation results corroborate the merit of the proposed program.

Informing Healthcare Waiting Area Design Using Transparency Attributes: A Comparative Preference Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Shan; Powers, Matthew; Allison, David; Vincent, Ellen

2017-07-01

This study aimed to explore people's visual preference for waiting areas in general hospital environments designed with transparency attributes that fully integrate nature. Waiting can be a tedious and frustrating experience among people seeking healthcare treatments and negatively affect their perception of the quality of care. Positive distractions and supportive designs have gained increasing attraction to improve people's waiting experience. Nature, which has shown therapeutic effects according to a growing amount of evidence, could be a distinguished positive distraction in waiting areas. Additionally, the theory of transparency was operationalized to indicate a spatial continuity between the external nature and the built interiors in general healthcare waiting area design. A survey method was adopted in the study. Twenty-one images of general healthcare waiting areas depicting three design typologies were preselected following a strict procedure, including designs with (a) no window views, (b) limited window views to nature, and (c) transparent spaces with maximum natural views. Ninety-five student participants rated the images based on their visual preference using a Likert-type scale. The results showed that transparent waiting areas were significantly preferred. A significant positive relationship existed between the level of transparency and people's preference scores. The factor analysis indicated additional supportive features that may affect people's preferences, including daylight, perceived warmth, noninstitutional furniture arrangement, visual orientation, and the use of natural materials for interior design. However, these tentative results need to be furthered tested with the real patient population as the next step of this study.

Scaling Flux Tower Observations of Sensible Heat Flux Using Weighted Area-to-Area Regression Kriging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maogui Hu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Sensible heat flux (H plays an important role in characterizations of land surface water and heat balance. There are various types of H measurement methods that depend on observation scale, from local-area-scale eddy covariance (EC to regional-scale large aperture scintillometer (LAS and remote sensing (RS products. However, methods of converting one H scale to another to validate RS products are still open for question. A previous area-to-area regression kriging-based scaling method performed well in converting EC-scale H to LAS-scale H. However, the method does not consider the path-weighting function in the EC- to LAS-scale kriging with the regression residue, which inevitably brought about a bias estimation. In this study, a weighted area-to-area regression kriging (WATA RK model is proposed to convert EC-scale H to LAS-scale H. It involves path-weighting functions of EC and LAS source areas in both regression and area kriging stages. Results show that WATA RK outperforms traditional methods in most cases, improving estimation accuracy. The method is considered to provide an efficient validation of RS H flux products.

Comparison of a Label-Free Quantitative Proteomic Method Based on Peptide Ion Current Area to the Isotope Coded Affinity Tag Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Young Ah Goo

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, several research groups have published methods for the determination of proteomic expression profiling by mass spectrometry without the use of exogenously added stable isotopes or stable isotope dilution theory. These so-called label-free, methods have the advantage of allowing data on each sample to be acquired independently from all other samples to which they can later be compared in silico for the purpose of measuring changes in protein expression between various biological states. We developed label free software based on direct measurement of peptide ion current area (PICA and compared it to two other methods, a simpler label free method known as spectral counting and the isotope coded affinity tag (ICAT method. Data analysis by these methods of a standard mixture containing proteins of known, but varying, concentrations showed that they performed similarly with a mean squared error of 0.09. Additionally, complex bacterial protein mixtures spiked with known concentrations of standard proteins were analyzed using the PICA label-free method. These results indicated that the PICA method detected all levels of standard spiked proteins at the 90% confidence level in this complex biological sample. This finding confirms that label-free methods, based on direct measurement of the area under a single ion current trace, performed as well as the standard ICAT method. Given the fact that the label-free methods provide ease in experimental design well beyond pair-wise comparison, label-free methods such as our PICA method are well suited for proteomic expression profiling of large numbers of samples as is needed in clinical analysis.

Complementarity and Area-Efficiency in the Prioritization of the Global Protected Area Network.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Kullberg

Full Text Available Complementarity and cost-efficiency are widely used principles for protected area network design. Despite the wide use and robust theoretical underpinnings, their effects on the performance and patterns of priority areas are rarely studied in detail. Here we compare two approaches for identifying the management priority areas inside the global protected area network: 1 a scoring-based approach, used in recently published analysis and 2 a spatial prioritization method, which accounts for complementarity and area-efficiency. Using the same IUCN species distribution data the complementarity method found an equal-area set of priority areas with double the mean species ranges covered compared to the scoring-based approach. The complementarity set also had 72% more species with full ranges covered, and lacked any coverage only for half of the species compared to the scoring approach. Protected areas in our complementarity-based solution were on average smaller and geographically more scattered. The large difference between the two solutions highlights the need for critical thinking about the selected prioritization method. According to our analysis, accounting for complementarity and area-efficiency can lead to considerable improvements when setting management priorities for the global protected area network.

Complementarity and Area-Efficiency in the Prioritization of the Global Protected Area Network.

Science.gov (United States)

Kullberg, Peter; Toivonen, Tuuli; Montesino Pouzols, Federico; Lehtomäki, Joona; Di Minin, Enrico; Moilanen, Atte

2015-01-01

Complementarity and cost-efficiency are widely used principles for protected area network design. Despite the wide use and robust theoretical underpinnings, their effects on the performance and patterns of priority areas are rarely studied in detail. Here we compare two approaches for identifying the management priority areas inside the global protected area network: 1) a scoring-based approach, used in recently published analysis and 2) a spatial prioritization method, which accounts for complementarity and area-efficiency. Using the same IUCN species distribution data the complementarity method found an equal-area set of priority areas with double the mean species ranges covered compared to the scoring-based approach. The complementarity set also had 72% more species with full ranges covered, and lacked any coverage only for half of the species compared to the scoring approach. Protected areas in our complementarity-based solution were on average smaller and geographically more scattered. The large difference between the two solutions highlights the need for critical thinking about the selected prioritization method. According to our analysis, accounting for complementarity and area-efficiency can lead to considerable improvements when setting management priorities for the global protected area network.

Landslide prediction using combined deterministic and probabilistic methods in hilly area of Mt. Medvednica in Zagreb City, Croatia

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chunxiang; Watanabe, Naoki; Marui, Hideaki

2013-04-01

The hilly slopes of Mt. Medvednica are stretched in the northwestern part of Zagreb City, Croatia, and extend to approximately 180km2. In this area, landslides, e.g. Kostanjek landslide and Črešnjevec landslide, have brought damage to many houses, roads, farmlands, grassland and etc. Therefore, it is necessary to predict the potential landslides and to enhance landslide inventory for hazard mitigation and security management of local society in this area. We combined deterministic method and probabilistic method to assess potential landslides including their locations, size and sliding surfaces. Firstly, this study area is divided into several slope units that have similar topographic and geological characteristics using the hydrology analysis tool in ArcGIS. Then, a GIS-based modified three-dimensional Hovland's method for slope stability analysis system is developed to identify the sliding surface and corresponding three-dimensional safety factor for each slope unit. Each sliding surface is assumed to be the lower part of each ellipsoid. The direction of inclination of the ellipsoid is considered to be the same as the main dip direction of the slope unit. The center point of the ellipsoid is randomly set to the center point of a grid cell in the slope unit. The minimum three-dimensional safety factor and corresponding critical sliding surface are also obtained for each slope unit. Thirdly, since a single value of safety factor is insufficient to evaluate the slope stability of a slope unit, the ratio of the number of calculation cases in which the three-dimensional safety factor values less than 1.0 to the total number of trial calculation is defined as the failure probability of the slope unit. If the failure probability is more than 80%, the slope unit is distinguished as 'unstable' from other slope units and the landslide hazard can be mapped for the whole study area.

Online Voltage Stability Assessment for Load Areas Based on the Holomorphic Embedding Method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Chengxi; Wang, Bin; Hu, Fengkai

2018-01-01

This paper proposes an online steady-state voltage stability assessment scheme to evaluate the proximity to voltage collapse at each bus of a load area. Using a non-iterative holomorphic embedding method (HEM) with a proposed physical germ solution, an accurate loading limit at each load bus can...... be calculated based on online state estimation on the entire load area and a measurement-based equivalent for the external system. The HEM employs a power series to calculate an accurate Power-Voltage (P-V) curve at each load bus and accordingly evaluates the voltage stability margin considering load variations...... and then demonstrated on a load area of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) 48-generator, 140-bus power system....

Application of stereological methods to estimate post-mortem brain surface area using 3T MRI

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Furlong, Carolyn; García-Fiñana, Marta; Puddephat, Michael

2013-01-01

The Cavalieri and Vertical Sections methods of design based stereology were applied in combination with 3 tesla (i.e. 3T) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to estimate cortical and subcortical volume, area of the pial surface, area of the grey-white matter boundary, and thickness of the cerebral...

Using Space Syntax to Assess Safety in Public Areas - Case Study of Tarbiat Pedestrian Area, Tabriz-Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Cihangir Çamur, Kübra; Roshani, Mehdi; Pirouzi, Sania

2017-10-01

In studying the urban complex issues, simulation and modelling of public space use considerably helps in determining and measuring factors such as urban safety. Depth map software for determining parameters of the spatial layout techniques; and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software for analysing and evaluating the views of the pedestrians on public safety were used in this study. Connectivity, integration, and depth of the area in the Tarbiat city blocks were measured using the Space Syntax Method, and these parameters are presented as graphical and mathematical data. The combination of the results obtained from the questionnaire and statistical analysis with the results of spatial arrangement technique represents the appropriate and inappropriate spaces for pedestrians. This method provides a useful and effective instrument for decision makers, planners, urban designers and programmers in order to evaluate public spaces in the city. Prior to physical modification of urban public spaces, space syntax simulates the pedestrian safety to be used as an analytical tool by the city management. Finally, regarding the modelled parameters and identification of different characteristics of the case, this study represents the strategies and policies in order to increase the safety of the pedestrians of Tarbiat in Tabriz.

Landslide susceptibility modeling applying machine learning methods: A case study from Longju in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Chao; Yin, Kunlong; Cao, Ying; Ahmed, Bayes; Li, Yuanyao; Catani, Filippo; Pourghasemi, Hamid Reza

2018-03-01

Landslide is a common natural hazard and responsible for extensive damage and losses in mountainous areas. In this study, Longju in the Three Gorges Reservoir area in China was taken as a case study for landslide susceptibility assessment in order to develop effective risk prevention and mitigation strategies. To begin, 202 landslides were identified, including 95 colluvial landslides and 107 rockfalls. Twelve landslide causal factor maps were prepared initially, and the relationship between these factors and each landslide type was analyzed using the information value model. Later, the unimportant factors were selected and eliminated using the information gain ratio technique. The landslide locations were randomly divided into two groups: 70% for training and 30% for verifying. Two machine learning models: the support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN), and a multivariate statistical model: the logistic regression (LR), were applied for landslide susceptibility modeling (LSM) for each type. The LSM index maps, obtained from combining the assessment results of the two landslide types, were classified into five levels. The performance of the LSMs was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristics curve and Friedman test. Results show that the elimination of noise-generating factors and the separated modeling of each landslide type have significantly increased the prediction accuracy. The machine learning models outperformed the multivariate statistical model and SVM model was found ideal for the case study area.

Assessment of Three Flood Hazard Mapping Methods: A Case Study of Perlis

Science.gov (United States)

Azizat, Nazirah; Omar, Wan Mohd Sabki Wan

2018-03-01

Flood is a common natural disaster and also affect the all state in Malaysia. Regarding to Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) in 2007, about 29, 270 km2 or 9 percent of region of the country is prone to flooding. Flood can be such devastating catastrophic which can effected to people, economy and environment. Flood hazard mapping can be used is an important part in flood assessment to define those high risk area prone to flooding. The purposes of this study are to prepare a flood hazard mapping in Perlis and to evaluate flood hazard using frequency ratio, statistical index and Poisson method. The six factors affecting the occurrence of flood including elevation, distance from the drainage network, rainfall, soil texture, geology and erosion were created using ArcGIS 10.1 software. Flood location map in this study has been generated based on flooded area in year 2010 from DID. These parameters and flood location map were analysed to prepare flood hazard mapping in representing the probability of flood area. The results of the analysis were verified using flood location data in year 2013, 2014, 2015. The comparison result showed statistical index method is better in prediction of flood area rather than frequency ratio and Poisson method.

Selection of mining method for No.3 uranium ore body in the independent mining area at a uranium mine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding Fulong; Ding Dexin; Ye Yongjun

2010-01-01

Mining operation in the existed mining area at a uranium mine is near completion and it is necessary to mine the No.3 uranium ore body in another mining area at the mine. This paper, based on the geological conditions, used analogical method for analyzing the feasible methods and the low cost and high efficiency mining method was suggested for the No.3 ore body in the independent mining area at the uranium mine. (authors)

Easy Leaf Area: Automated Digital Image Analysis for Rapid and Accurate Measurement of Leaf Area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsien Ming Easlon

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Premise of the study: Measurement of leaf areas from digital photographs has traditionally required significant user input unless backgrounds are carefully masked. Easy Leaf Area was developed to batch process hundreds of Arabidopsis rosette images in minutes, removing background artifacts and saving results to a spreadsheet-ready CSV file. Methods and Results: Easy Leaf Area uses the color ratios of each pixel to distinguish leaves and calibration areas from their background and compares leaf pixel counts to a red calibration area to eliminate the need for camera distance calculations or manual ruler scale measurement that other software methods typically require. Leaf areas estimated by this software from images taken with a camera phone were more accurate than ImageJ estimates from flatbed scanner images. Conclusions: Easy Leaf Area provides an easy-to-use method for rapid measurement of leaf area and nondestructive estimation of canopy area from digital images.

Study on Geology and Uranium Mineralization at Mentawa Area The Central Kalimantan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bambang-Soetopo

2004-01-01

In Mentawa Area, It was found that mineralization of U is associated with tourmaline, quartz, sulfide filling in opened fracture that parallel with schistocity WNW-ESE in direction, mm to cm in thickness, the value of radiometric is in the range of 500-11.000 e/s SPP 2 NF and maximum grade of U is 9.759,25 ppm. Goal of the study mineralogy and geology is to know about character, genesis and para genesis of the U mineralization. The method of this study is microscopic observation and microscopic study from the result of obtained by previous researchers. U mineralization is uraninite associated with molybdenite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, rutile, ilmenite and tourmaline. Based on mineral association, it was indicated that U mineralization occurred as pegmatitic pneumatholitic process. Based on those relation and mineral association it was found that Mentawa Area has occurred 4 period para genesis phase. (author)

Fundamental study on interfacial area transport model (I) (contract research)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mishima, Kaichiro; Nakamura, Hideo

2001-03-01

Recently, improvement in the best-estimate (BE) code predictive capability is attempted by incorporating the interfacial area transport model (IATM) into a one-dimensional two-fluid model to represent gas-liquid two-phase flows in detail with less uncertainty in the flow predictions. Internationally, the nuclear regulatory commission (NRC) and Purdue University in the U.S.A. and CEA in France have promoted the renewal of their BE codes such as TRAC, RELAP5 and CATHARE, by introducing the IATM in cooperative manner. In Japan, JAERI is underway to develop a one-dimensional code based primarily on the IATM against the licensing procedures of next-generation nuclear reactors. The IATM has a possibility to correctly predict flow transient along flow path for such flows as developing flows, multi-dimensional flows, transitional flows, boiling flows, which are difficult to accurately predict by the two-fluid models employed in the current BE codes. The newly developed code with the IATM would dramatically improve the accuracy in the flow prediction. The model, however, is under development and needs great effort to overcome many difficulties with plenty of theoretical considerations based on much of data bases to be acquired further. This study attempts to measure interfacial area in air-water two-phase flows in a large-diameter tube to understand the characteristic of multi-dimensional flows that usually appear in large-diameter tube flows, and provide data bases, to contribute the development of the IATM. The results obtained by such institutes as Purdue University and CEA France were reviewed first. Clarified are the current status and problems of the IATM, basics and practical methods to measure the interfacial area using multi-sensor miniature local probes; metal needle electro-resistance probe and fiber-optic probe. It was found that the applicability of the IATM is limited mostly to a one-dimensional bubbly flow, and is far from satisfactory for multi

DEVELOPMENT OF CROSS-BORDER AREAS. STUDY CASES REVIEW

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Marcela\tȘLUSARCIUC

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The paper aims to review study cases found in the scientific literature concerning the development of cross- border areas in European Union and its neighbourhood. The introductory part of the paper is drawing few considerations about the cross-border areas. Further we identified in the specific literature relevant study cases that provide lessons learned, tools and models that can contribute to the development of the cross-border areas. The last part of the paper is focusing on an inquiry about how this lessons, learned, tools and models may be adapted in case of cross-border areas along the Romanian border with the EU Eastern Neighbourhood.

A Cross Sectional Study of Behavior Disorders In 6-15 Years Age Group in Rural Area

OpenAIRE

Kirti C Rasote, Alka D Gore, Usha Ranganathan

2015-01-01

"Background: Child & adolescent psychiatric disorders and behavioral disorders are not given adequate attention. Such studies are either school based or hospital based. Methods: To study the prevalence and pattern of behavior disorders among children from the community a cross sectional study was conducted in rural area with 600 children of 6-15 years age group by the ‘Purposive Sampling’ method. Percentages & chi square test was used. Results: Response rate was 94%. Out o...

Method for 3D noncontact measurements of cut trees package area

Science.gov (United States)

Knyaz, Vladimir A.; Vizilter, Yuri V.

2001-02-01

Progress in imaging sensors and computers create the background for numerous 3D imaging application for wide variety of manufacturing activity. Many demands for automated precise measurements are in wood branch of industry. One of them is the accurate volume definition for cut trees carried on the truck. The key point for volume estimation is determination of the front area of the cut tree package. To eliminate slow and inaccurate manual measurements being now in practice the experimental system for automated non-contact wood measurements is developed. The system includes two non-metric CCD video cameras, PC as central processing unit, frame grabbers and original software for image processing and 3D measurements. The proposed method of measurement is based on capturing the stereo pair of front of trees package and performing the image orthotranformation into the front plane. This technique allows to process transformed image for circle shapes recognition and calculating their area. The metric characteristics of the system are provided by special camera calibration procedure. The paper presents the developed method of 3D measurements, describes the hardware used for image acquisition and the software realized the developed algorithms, gives the productivity and precision characteristics of the system.

A study of infant deaths in tribal area of Andhra Pradesh, India

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Ushashree Garikipati

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives This study aimed to determine the prevalence of neonatal deaths and its underlying correlates in tribal area of Andhra Pradesh, India Methods We conducted a two phase cross-sectional study (N=230. Semi- structured questionnaire schedules (in the vernacular-Telugu were used in the initial qualitative phase, to obtain specific information from mothers who delivered in a one year period prior to the study. Information from the analysed qualitative data was used to construct a questionnaire-schedule for the 2nd phase which used quantitative survey techniques. Results It was observed that Infant Mortality ratio (IMR in Vizianagaram district was 239 per 1000 live births in the tribal areas under study. This was ten times higher than that reported by the district (22/1000 and 4-5 times higher than SRS data of 2011 for AP. It was observed that 28% of infants died within first day, 68% within first week (including the first day and 81% within first month. Conclusions The high IMR observed in the within first month of life in tribal areas, interventions to tackle them should be prioritized in this ‘golden period’. The health workers should be re-trained to identify and manage the early warning signs of neonatal complications.

A study of infant deaths in tribal area of Andhra Pradesh, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ushashree Garikipati

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Objectives This study aimed to determine the prevalence of neonatal deaths and its underlying correlates in tribal area of Andhra Pradesh, India Methods We conducted a two phase cross-sectional study (N=230. Semi-structured questionnaire schedules (in the vernacular-Telugu were used in the initial qualitative phase, to obtain specific information from mothers who delivered in a one year period prior to the study. Information from the analysed qualitative data was used to construct a questionnaire-schedule for the 2nd phase which used quantitative survey techniques. Results It was observed that Infant Mortality ratio (IMR in Vizianagaram district was 239 per 1000 live births in the tribal areas under study. This was ten times higher than that reported by the district (22/1000 and 4-5 times higher than SRS data of 2011 for AP. It was observed that 28% of infants died within first day, 68% within first week (including the first day and 81% within first month. Conclusions The high IMR observed in the within first month of life in tribal areas, interventions to tackle them should be prioritized in this ‘golden period’. The health workers should be re-trained to identify and manage the early warning signs of neonatal complications.

Application of Remote Sensing in Geological Mapping, Case Study al Maghrabah Area - Hajjah Region, Yemen

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Nahmi, F.; Saddiqi, O.; Hilali, A.; Rhinane, H.; Baidder, L.; El arabi, H.; Khanbari, K.

2017-11-01

Remote sensing technology plays an important role today in the geological survey, mapping, analysis and interpretation, which provides a unique opportunity to investigate the geological characteristics of the remote areas of the earth's surface without the need to gain access to an area on the ground. The aim of this study is achievement a geological map of the study area. The data utilizes is Sentinel-2 imagery, the processes used in this study, the OIF Optimum Index Factor is a statistic value that can be used to select the optimum combination of three bands in a satellite image. It's based on the total variance within bands and correlation coefficient between bands, ICA Independent component analysis (3, 4, 6) is a statistical and computational technique for revealing hidden factors that underlie sets of random variables, measurements, or signals, MNF Minimum Noise Fraction (1, 2, 3) is used to determine the inherent dimensionality of image data to segregate noise in the data and to reduce the computational requirements for subsequent processing, Optimum Index Factor is a good method for choosing the best band for lithological mapping. ICA, MNF, also a practical way to extract the structural geology maps. The results in this paper indicate that, the studied area can be divided into four main geological units: Basement rocks (Meta volcanic, Meta sediments), Sedimentary rocks, Intrusive rocks, volcanic rocks. The method used in this study offers great potential for lithological mapping, by using Sentinel-2 imagery, the results were compared with existing geologic maps and were superior and could be used to update the existing maps.

Evaluation and Planning of Urban Green Space Distribution Based on Mobile Phone Data and Two-Step Floating Catchment Area Method

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Hao Wu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Urban green space is closely related to the quality of life of residents. However, the traditional approach to its planning often fails to address its actual service capacity and users’ demand. In this study, facilitated by mobile phone location data, more specific features of the spatial distribution of urban residents are identified. Further, population distribution in relation to traffic analysis zones is mapped. On this basis, the two-step floating catchment area method (2SFCA is adopted in combination with urban green space planning to evaluate the per capita area of green space and its accessibility in practice. Subsequently, classification of per capita area and spatial distribution of green spaces within the study area are obtained; thus, urban districts currently with low accessibility to green areas are identified and can be deemed as key areas for the planning of green areas in the future. The study concludes that mobile phone data can be used to more accurately map the spatial distribution of residents; while, the 2SFCA offers a more comprehensive quantitative measuring of the supply and demand of green spaces. The two combined can be used as an important basis for decision-making in the planning of urban green spaces. Since urban green space can be regarded as a kind of public facility, the methodology of the present study is also believed to be applicable in studies of other types of urban facilities.

Calculation method of rate and area of sedimentation, by non-conventional mathematical process of data treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cota, P.L.

1987-01-01

The used methods for calculating the rate and area of sedimentation are based in techniques of graphical resolution. The solution of the problem by a mathematical resolution, using computational methods, is more fast and more accuracy. The comparison between the results from this methods and the conventional method is shown. (E.G.) [pt

Semiworks source aggregate area management study report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-05-01

This report presents the results of an aggregate area management study (AAMS) for the Semi-Works Aggregate Area in the 200 Areas of the US Department of Energy (DOE) . Hanford Site in Washington State. This scoping level study provides the basis for initiating Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) activities under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) or Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigations WD and Corrective Measures Studies (CMS) under RCRA. This report also integrates select RCRA treatment storage, or disposal (TSD) closure activities with CERCLA and RCRA past-practice investigations. This approach is described and justified in The Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order Change Package. This strategy provides new concepts for: accelerating decision-malting by maximizing the use of existing data consistent with data quality objectives (DQOs); and undertaking expedited response actions (ERAS) and/or interim remedial measures (IRMs), as appropriate, to either remove threats to human health and welfare and the environment, or to reduce risk by reducing toxicity, mobility, or volume of contaminants

Albedo and land surface temperature shift in hydrocarbon seepage potential area, case study in Miri Sarawak Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suherman, A; Rahman, M Z A; Busu, I

2014-01-01

The presence of hydrocarbon seepage is generally associated with rock or mineral alteration product exposures, and changes of soil properties which manifest with bare development and stress vegetation. This alters the surface thermodynamic properties, changes the energy balance related to the surface reflection, absorption and emission, and leads to shift in albedo and LST. Those phenomena may provide a guide for seepage detection which can be recognized inexpensively by remote sensing method. District of Miri is used for study area. Available topographic maps of Miri and LANDSAT ETM+ were used for boundary construction and determination albedo and LST. Three land use classification methods, namely fixed, supervised and NDVI base classifications were employed for this study. By the intensive land use classification and corresponding statistical comparison was found a clearly shift on albedo and land surface temperature between internal and external seepage potential area. The shift shows a regular pattern related to vegetation density or NDVI value. In the low vegetation density or low NDVI value, albedo of internal area turned to lower value than external area. Conversely in the high vegetation density or high NDVI value, albedo of internal area turned to higher value than external area. Land surface temperature of internal seepage potential was generally shifted to higher value than external area in all of land use classes. In dense vegetation area tend to shift the temperature more than poor vegetation area

Albedo and land surface temperature shift in hydrocarbon seepage potential area, case study in Miri Sarawak Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Suherman, A.; Rahman, M. Z. A.; Busu, I.

2014-02-01

The presence of hydrocarbon seepage is generally associated with rock or mineral alteration product exposures, and changes of soil properties which manifest with bare development and stress vegetation. This alters the surface thermodynamic properties, changes the energy balance related to the surface reflection, absorption and emission, and leads to shift in albedo and LST. Those phenomena may provide a guide for seepage detection which can be recognized inexpensively by remote sensing method. District of Miri is used for study area. Available topographic maps of Miri and LANDSAT ETM+ were used for boundary construction and determination albedo and LST. Three land use classification methods, namely fixed, supervised and NDVI base classifications were employed for this study. By the intensive land use classification and corresponding statistical comparison was found a clearly shift on albedo and land surface temperature between internal and external seepage potential area. The shift shows a regular pattern related to vegetation density or NDVI value. In the low vegetation density or low NDVI value, albedo of internal area turned to lower value than external area. Conversely in the high vegetation density or high NDVI value, albedo of internal area turned to higher value than external area. Land surface temperature of internal seepage potential was generally shifted to higher value than external area in all of land use classes. In dense vegetation area tend to shift the temperature more than poor vegetation area.

Quarternary Sediment Characteristics of Floodplain area: Study Case at Kampar River, Rumbio Area and Surroundings, Riau Province

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Yuniarti Yuskar

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The study area is located in some floodplains of meandering river environment along the Kampar River, Rumbio. Typical morphology of meandering river that found in this area can be classified as stream channel, floodplain, abandoned channel, and sand bars deposit. Meandering river system carries sediment supply by suspended and bed - load (mixed load in conjunction with low energy into a particular characteristic on sediment deposition. This study aims to determine the characteristics of the sediments, changes in vertical and lateral spread of sediment deposition on the floodplain environment. This study conducted by field survey using a hand auger of 1.5m - 4m depth and trenching which is a layer that has been exposed of 1-2 meters depth. Further analysis had been carried out using granulometri method and core data analysis to determine the characteristics and depositional facies. Sediment deposit that formed along the Kampar River is the result of the main channel migration of Kampar River. The characteristic of quaternary sediment facies is coarse to gravelly sand on the bottom followed by fine to very fine sand with pattern fining upwards and silt to clay and abundant terrestrial organic matter at the uppermost layer. Depositional facies are determined based on the characteristics of sediment facies which can be grouped into a stream channel, oblique accretion deposits, sand bars and overbank deposits.

Analysis of Land Deformation on Slope Area using PS InSAR. Case Study: Malang Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudiana, Dodi; Rizkinia, Mia; Arief, Rahmat; Rokhmatuloh; Ardiansyah; Setiadi, Bambang; Bayuaji, Luhur; Sri Sumantyo, Josaphat Tetuko

2014-01-01

The geographical position of Indonesia located between two continents and oceans is strategic, but at large risk of experiencing various disasters. Climate change and vulnerable location (surrounded by plates and geological faults in the Earth's crust) creates an earthquake-prone region and causes land/mudslides. In this paper, PS InSAR method (Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) is implemented to Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data to study the potential damage caused by the earthquake or volcanic eruption in Malang vicinity. By comparing the amplitude images periodically, shifting soil can be determined using precise orbital information. The analysis showed a significant decrease of land deformation on slope area in Klojen district in Malang city, reached up to −7.128 mm/year

A simple method for quantitative evaluation of the missing area of the anterior glenoid in anterior instability of the glenohumeral joint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barchilon, Vidal S. [Sapir Medical Center, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Shoulder Service, Kfar-Saba (Israel); Kotz, Eugene [Sapir Medical Center, Department of Imaging, Kfar-Saba (Israel); Barchilon Ben-Av, Mercedes [Achva College of Education, Department of Mathematics, MP Shikmim (Israel); Glazer, Ernesto [Rabin Medical Center, Department of Imaging, Petah Tikva (Israel); Nyska, Meir [Sapir Medical Center, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Kfar-Saba (Israel)

2008-08-15

The objective of this study was to describe and validate a simple method to quantitatively calculate the missing area of the anterior part of the glenoid in anterior glenohumeral instability. The calculations were developed from three-dimensional (3D)-reconstructed computerized tomography en face images of the glenoid with 'subtraction' of the humeral head in 13 consecutive cases with known anterior glenohumeral joint instability diagnosed by history and clinical examination. The inferior portion of the glenoid was approximated to a true circle whose center was determined by means of a femoral head gauge. The eroded anterior area was calculated as the ratio between the depth (a perpendicular line from the center of the circle to the eroded edge of the anterior glenoid) and the radius of the inferior glenoid circle. This data was then compared to the results obtained by two additional different methods: direct computerized measurements of the missing area and direct computerized measurement of the ratio between the radius and depth, on two dimensional computed tomography (CT) en face view reconstructions of the glenoid. We provide a function that correlates the ratio between depth and radius of the inferior glenoid circle and the area of the missing anterior glenoid. The results obtained by three different methods were comparable. Simple trigonometric calculations showed that a 5% area defect corresponds to 0.8 (12.5%) of the radius of the inferior glenoid, while a 20% area defect corresponds to 0.5 (50%) of the same radius. Using this simple method and the function provided, the eroded area of the anterior part of the glenoid in anterior glenohumeral instability can be calculated preoperatively using a 3D CT reconstruction of the glenoid with 'subtraction' of the humeral head, obviating the need for sophisticated software to obtain this critical information for preoperative decision making. (orig.)

A new herbarium-based method for reconstructing the phenology of plant species across large areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavoie, Claude; Lachance, Daniel

2006-04-01

Phenological data have recently emerged as particularly effective tools for studying the impact of climate change on plants, but long phenological records are rare. The lack of phenological observations can nevertheless be filled by herbarium specimens as long as some correction procedures are applied to take into account the different climatic conditions associated with sampling locations. In this study, we propose a new herbarium-based method for reconstructing the flowering dates of plant species that have been collected across large areas. Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara L.) specimens from southern Quebec were used to test the method. Flowering dates for coltsfoot herbarium specimens were adjusted according to the date of disappearance of snow cover in the region where they were collected and compared using a reference point (the date of earliest snowmelt). In southern Quebec, coltsfoot blooms earlier at present (15-31 d) than during the first part of the 20th century. This phenomenon is likely associated with the climate warming trends recorded in this region in the last century, especially during the last three decades when the month of April became warmer, thereby favoring very early-flowering cases. The earlier flowering of coltsfoot is, however, only noticeable in large urban areas (Montreal, Quebec City), suggesting a strong urban heat island effect on the flowering of this plant. Herbarium specimens are useful phenological indicators; however, the databases should be carefully examined prior to analysis to detect biases or trends associated with sampling locations.

Spatial analysis methods and land-use planning models for rural areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrizia Tassinari

2009-10-01

Full Text Available The work presents a brief report of the main results of a study carried out by the Spatial Engineering Division of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Engineering of the University of Bologna, within a broader PRIN 2005 research project concerning landscape and economic analysis, planning and programming. In particular, the study focuses on the design of spatial analysis methods aimed at building knowledge frameworks of the various natural and anthropic resources of rural areas. The goal is to increase the level of spatial and information detail of common databases, thus allowing higher accuracy and effectiveness of the analyses needed to achieve the goals of new generation spatial and agriculture planning. Specific in-depth analyses allowed to define techniques useful in order to reduce the increase in survey costs. Moreover, the work reports the main results regarding a multicriteria model for the analysis of the countryside defined by the research. Such model is aimed to assess the various agricultural, environmental and landscape features, vocations, expressions and attitudes, and support the definition and implementation of specific and targeted planning and programming policies.

Keyhole imaging method for dynamic objects behind the occlusion area

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Conghui; Chen, Xi; Dong, Liquan; Zhao, Yuejin; Liu, Ming; Kong, Lingqin; Hui, Mei; Liu, Xiaohua; Wu, Hong

2018-01-01

A method of keyhole imaging based on camera array is realized to obtain the video image behind a keyhole in shielded space at a relatively long distance. We get the multi-angle video images by using a 2×2 CCD camera array to take the images behind the keyhole in four directions. The multi-angle video images are saved in the form of frame sequences. This paper presents a method of video frame alignment. In order to remove the non-target area outside the aperture, we use the canny operator and morphological method to realize the edge detection of images and fill the images. The image stitching of four images is accomplished on the basis of the image stitching algorithm of two images. In the image stitching algorithm of two images, the SIFT method is adopted to accomplish the initial matching of images, and then the RANSAC algorithm is applied to eliminate the wrong matching points and to obtain a homography matrix. A method of optimizing transformation matrix is proposed in this paper. Finally, the video image with larger field of view behind the keyhole can be synthesized with image frame sequence in which every single frame is stitched. The results show that the screen of the video is clear and natural, the brightness transition is smooth. There is no obvious artificial stitching marks in the video, and it can be applied in different engineering environment .

Technical note: comparison of 3 methods for analyzing areas under the curve for glucose and nonesterified fatty acids concentrations following epinephrine challenge in dairy cows.

Science.gov (United States)

Cardoso, F C; Sears, W; LeBlanc, S J; Drackley, J K

2011-12-01

The objective of the study was to compare 3 methods for calculating the area under the curve (AUC) for plasma glucose and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) after an intravenous epinephrine (EPI) challenge in dairy cows. Cows were assigned to 1 of 6 dietary niacin treatments in a completely randomized 6 × 6 Latin square with an extra period to measure carryover effects. Periods consisted of a 7-d (d 1 to 7) adaptation period followed by a 7-d (d 8 to 14) measurement period. On d 12, cows received an i.v. infusion of EPI (1.4 μg/kg of BW). Blood was sampled at -45, -30, -20, -10, and -5 min before EPI infusion and 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min after. The AUC was calculated by incremental area, positive incremental area, and total area using the trapezoidal rule. The 3 methods resulted in different statistical inferences. When comparing the 3 methods for NEFA and glucose response, no significant differences among treatments and no interactions between treatment and AUC method were observed. For glucose and NEFA response, the method was statistically significant. Our results suggest that the positive incremental method and the total area method gave similar results and interpretation but differed from the incremental area method. Furthermore, the 3 methods evaluated can lead to different results and statistical inferences for glucose and NEFA AUC after an EPI challenge. Copyright © 2011 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Methods for quantitative measurement of tooth wear using the area and volume of virtual model cusps.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Soo-Hyun; Park, Young-Seok; Kim, Min-Kyoung; Kim, Sulhee; Lee, Seung-Pyo

2018-04-01

Clinicians must examine tooth wear to make a proper diagnosis. However, qualitative methods of measuring tooth wear have many disadvantages. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and evaluate quantitative parameters using the cusp area and volume of virtual dental models. The subjects of this study were the same virtual models that were used in our former study. The same age group classification and new tooth wear index (NTWI) scoring system were also reused. A virtual occlusal plane was generated with the highest cusp points and lowered vertically from 0.2 to 0.8 mm to create offset planes. The area and volume of each cusp was then measured and added together. In addition to the former analysis, the differential features of each cusp were analyzed. The scores of the new parameters differentiated the age and NTWI groups better than those analyzed in the former study. The Spearman ρ coefficients between the total area and the area of each cusp also showed higher scores at the levels of 0.6 mm (0.6A) and 0.8A. The mesiolingual cusp (MLC) showed a statistically significant difference ( P <0.01) from the other cusps in the paired t -test. Additionally, the MLC exhibited the highest percentage of change at 0.6A in some age and NTWI groups. Regarding the age groups, the MLC showed the highest score in groups 1 and 2. For the NTWI groups, the MLC was not significantly different in groups 3 and 4. These results support the proposal that the lingual cusp exhibits rapid wear because it serves as a functional cusp. Although this study has limitations due to its cross-sectional nature, it suggests better quantitative parameters and analytical tools for the characteristics of cusp wear.

GROUND WATER ASSESSMENT IN AGRICULTURAL AREA, CASE STUDY FROM MACHANG-MALAYSIA (Penilaian Air Tanah di Daerah Pertanian, Studi Kasus di Machang Malaysia

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Nur Islami

2010-11-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT The study area is located in Machang, North Kelantan - Malaysia. The North Kelantan plain is covered with Quaternary sediments overlying granite bedrock. The drainage system is dendritic with the main river flowing into the South China Sea. Hydrogeochemical method was used to study groundwater of shallow aquifer characters within the area. Based on water samples analysis collected from the study area, it can be deduced that the cations and anions concentration are good for domestic use except in the southern region which the nitrate concentration is higher (more than 20 mg/l compared to the northern region (relatively zero. The areas that possibly possess nitrate-contaminated groundwater have been mapped along with groundwater flow patterns. The southern and middle part of the study area has an east to west groundwater flow pattern, making it impossible for contaminated water from the southern region to enter the northern area, despite in the northern area has lower elevation. ABSTRAK Lokasi area studi adalah berada di Machang, Kelantan Utara – Malaysia. Dataran tanah wilayah Kelantan Utara dilapisi oleh batuan Sedimen Kuarter yang mana batuan granit sebagai batuan dasar. Sistem pengairan adalah berbentuk jaringan dendritik dengan sungai utama mengalir ke Laut Cina Selatan. Metoda hydrogeochemical digunakan untuk mempelajari karakter air tanah dari akuifer dangkal untuk keseluruhan area studi. Berdasarkan pada analisa air yang diperoleh dari area studi, dapat disimpulkan bahwa konsentrasi kation dan anion baik digunakan untuk kehidupan sehari hari kecuali air tanah di area sebelah selatan yang mana kandungan nitratnya tinggi (lebih dari 20 mg/l dibandingkan di area sebelah utara (hampir tidak ada kandungan nitrat. Area yang memungkinkan memiliki konsentrasi nitrat pada air tanah dipetakan dengan kombinasi pola aliran air tanah. Pola aliran air tanah di area belahan selatan dan bagian tengah adalah dari timur ke barat yang mana tidak

Comparison of saturated areas mapping methods in the Jizera Mountains, Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kulasová, A.; Beven, K. J.; Blažková, Š. D.; Řezáčová, Daniela; Cajthaml, J.

2014-01-01

Roč. 62, č. 2 (2014), s. 160-168 ISSN 0042-790X R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP209/11/2045 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : mapping variable source areas * boot method * piezometers * vegetation mapping Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 1.486, year: 2014 http://147.213.145.2/vc_articles/2014_62_2_Kulasova_160.pdf

Application of fractal modeling and PCA method for hydrothermal alteration mapping in the Saveh area (Central Iran) based on ASTER multispectral data

OpenAIRE

Mirko Ahmadfaraj; Mirsaleh Mirmohammadi; Peyman Afzal

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is determination and separation of alteration zones using Concentration-Area (C-A) fractal model based on remote sensing data which has been extracted from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images. The studied area is on the SW part of Saveh, 1:250,000 geological map, which is located in Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic belt, Central Iran. The pixel values were computed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method used to determine phyllic, a...

Estimating Steatosis Prevalence in Overweight and Obese Children: Comparison of Bayesian Small Area and Direct Methods

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Hamid Reza Khalkhali

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Background Often, there is no access to sufficient sample size to estimate the prevalence using the method of direct estimator in all areas. The aim of this study was to compare small area’s Bayesian method and direct method in estimating the prevalence of steatosis in obese and overweight children. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, was conducted on 150 overweight and obese children aged 2 to 15 years referred to the Children's digestive clinic of Urmia University of Medical Sciences- Iran, in 2013. After Body mass index (BMI calculation, children with overweight and obese were assessed in terms of primary tests of obesity screening. Then children with steatosis confirmed by abdominal Ultrasonography, were referred to the laboratory for doing further tests. Steatosis prevalence was estimated by direct and Bayesian method and their efficiency were evaluated using mean-square error Jackknife method. The study data was analyzed using the open BUGS3.1.2 and R2.15.2 software. Results: The findings indicated that estimation of steatosis prevalence in children using Bayesian and direct methods were between 0.3098 to 0.493, and 0.355 to 0.560 respectively, in Health Districts; 0.3098 to 0.502, and 0.355 to 0.550 in Education Districts; 0.321 to 0.582, and 0.357 to 0.615 in age groups; 0.313 to 0.429, and 0.383 to 0.536 in sex groups. In general, according to the results, mean-square error of Bayesian estimation was smaller than direct estimation (P

A real-time regional adaptive exposure method for saving dose-area product in x-ray fluoroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burion, Steve; Funk, Tobias; Speidel, Michael A.

2013-01-01

Purpose: Reduction of radiation dose in x-ray imaging has been recognized as a high priority in the medical community. Here the authors show that a regional adaptive exposure method can reduce dose-area product (DAP) in x-ray fluoroscopy. The authors' method is particularly geared toward providing dose savings for the pediatric population. Methods: The scanning beam digital x-ray system uses a large-area x-ray source with 8000 focal spots in combination with a small photon-counting detector. An imaging frame is obtained by acquiring and reconstructing up to 8000 detector images, each viewing only a small portion of the patient. Regional adaptive exposure was implemented by varying the exposure of the detector images depending on the local opacity of the object. A family of phantoms ranging in size from infant to obese adult was imaged in anteroposterior view with and without adaptive exposure. The DAP delivered to each phantom was measured in each case, and noise performance was compared by generating noise arrays to represent regional noise in the images. These noise arrays were generated by dividing the image into regions of about 6 mm 2 , calculating the relative noise in each region, and placing the relative noise value of each region in a one-dimensional array (noise array) sorted from highest to lowest. Dose-area product savings were calculated as the difference between the ratio of DAP with adaptive exposure to DAP without adaptive exposure. The authors modified this value by a correction factor that matches the noise arrays where relative noise is the highest to report a final dose-area product savings. Results: The average dose-area product saving across the phantom family was (42 ± 8)% with the highest dose-area product saving in the child-sized phantom (50%) and the lowest in the phantom mimicking an obese adult (23%). Conclusions: Phantom measurements indicate that a regional adaptive exposure method can produce large DAP savings without compromising

The stable isotopes in the hydrology studies at Raureni-Valcea area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costinel, D.; Vremera, R.; Faurescu, I.; Grecu, V. V.; Cuna, S.

2009-01-01

At present the hydrology and the climate studies are will continue to be joined to human activities. Observing differences of the stable isotopic concentration ratios informs us about certain geochemical or hydrological processes that took place. The isotopic composition of oxygen and hydrogen in rainwater varies with latitude, altitude, climate and time of the year. This methodology is an important tool in studying groundwater movement or freshwater origin. This study demonstrated the utility of the Continuous Flow - Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry method for measuring natural variation of the occurring isotopes of hydrogen ( 2 H) and oxygen ( 18 O) in meteoric waters. We continue until now (September 2009) the last work in which we measured the variation of δ 18 O and δ 2 D values from precipitation fallen in Raureni-Valcea area between May-December 2007 and September 2008-March, together with the δ 18 O and δ 2 D values from the Bistrita river. For this area the local Meteoric Water Line was reported and the variation of δ 18 O and δ 2 D values was correlated with the temperature and humidity in the same period. (authors)

Evaluation of the utility value of three diagnostic methods in the detection of malaria parasites in endemic area.

Science.gov (United States)

Ugah, Uchenna Iyioku; Alo, Moses Nnaemeka; Owolabi, Jacob Oluwabusuyi; Okata-Nwali, Oluchi DivineGift; Ekejindu, Ifeoma Mercy; Ibeh, Nancy; Elom, Michael Okpara

2017-05-06

Malaria is a debilitating disease with high morbidity and mortality in Africa, commonly caused by different species of the genus Plasmodium in humans. Misdiagnosis is a major challenge in endemic areas because of other disease complications and technical expertise of the medical laboratory staff. Microscopic method using Giemsa-stained blood film has been the mainstay of diagnosis of malaria. However, since 1993 when rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits were introduced, they have proved to be effective in the diagnosis of malaria. This study was aimed at comparing the accuracy of microscopy and RDTs in the diagnosis of malaria using nested PCR as the reference standard. Four hundred and twenty (420) venous blood specimens were collected from patients attending different General Hospitals in Ebonyi State with clinical symptoms of malaria. The samples were tested with Giemsa-stained microscopy and three RDTs. Fifty specimens were randomly selected for molecular analysis. Using different diagnostic methods, the prevalence of malaria among the subjects studied was 25.95% as detected by microscopy, prevalence found among the RDTs was 22.90, 15.20 and 54.80% for Carestart, SD Bioline PF and SD Bioline PF/PV, respectively. Molecular assay yielded a prevalence of 32%. The major specie identified was Plasmodium falciparum; there was co-infection of P. falciparum with Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale. The sensitivity and specificity of microscopy was 50.00 and 70.59% while that of the RDTs were (25.00 and 85.29%), (25.00 and 94.12%) and (68.75 and 52.94%) for Carestart, SD Bioline PF and SD Bioline PF/PV, respectively. Cohen's kappa coefficient was used to measure the level of agreement of the methods with nested PCR. Microscopy showed a moderate measure of agreement (k = 0.491), Carestart showed a good measure of agreement (k = 0.611), SD Bioline PF showed a fair measure of agreement (k = 0.226) while SD Bioline PF/PV showed a poor measure of agreement (k = 0

Assessing the composition of fragmented agglutinated foraminiferal assemblages in ancient sediments: comparison of counting and area-based methods in Famennian samples (Late Devonian)

Science.gov (United States)

Girard, Catherine; Dufour, Anne-Béatrice; Charruault, Anne-Lise; Renaud, Sabrina

2018-01-01

Benthic foraminifera have been used as proxies for various paleoenvironmental variables such as food availability, carbon flux from surface waters, microhabitats, and indirectly water depth. Estimating assemblage composition based on morphotypes, as opposed to genus- or species-level identification, potentially loses important ecological information but opens the way to the study of ancient time periods. However, the ability to accurately constrain benthic foraminiferal assemblages has been questioned when the most abundant foraminifera are fragile agglutinated forms, particularly prone to fragmentation. Here we test an alternate method for accurately estimating the composition of fragmented assemblages. The cumulated area per morphotype method is assessed, i.e., the sum of the area of all tests or fragments of a given morphotype in a sample. The percentage of each morphotype is calculated as a portion of the total cumulated area. Percentages of different morphotypes based on counting and cumulated area methods are compared one by one and analyzed using principal component analyses, a co-inertia analysis, and Shannon diversity indices. Morphotype percentages are further compared to an estimate of water depth based on microfacies description. Percentages of the morphotypes are not related to water depth. In all cases, counting and cumulated area methods deliver highly similar results, suggesting that the less time-consuming traditional counting method may provide robust estimates of assemblages. The size of each morphotype may deliver paleobiological information, for instance regarding biomass, but should be considered carefully due to the pervasive issue of fragmentation.

Rurality study of restricted areas

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Sergio Rivaroli

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Two main perspectives of investigation emerge from the study of a territory’s rurality: a geographical approach and a sociological approach. The research examines the sub-regional study case of ‘Nuovo circondario imolese’. The analysis shows that the combination of traditional institutional criteria with detailed informations about the territory, generates more accurate results which determine a better comprehension of the characteristics of restricted areas’ rurality. Over the period 1991-2001, the study highlights an increase in rural areas. This result could be interpreted as an effect of urban sprawl’s intensification, that increases the competition between non-farm residences and agricultural activities.

Non Machinable Volume Calculation Method for 5-Axis Roughing Based on Faceted Models through Closed Bounded Area Evaluation

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Kiswanto Gandjar

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The increase in the volume of rough machining on the CBV area is one of the indicators of increased efficiencyof machining process. Normally, this area is not subject to the rough machining process, so that the volume of the rest of the material is still big. With the addition of CC point and tool orientation to CBV area on a complex surface, the finishing will be faster because the volume of the excess material on this process will be reduced. This paper presents a method for volume calculation of the parts which do not allow further occurrence of the machining process, particulary for rough machining on a complex object. By comparing the total volume of raw materials and machining area volume, the volume of residual material,on which machining process cannot be done,can be determined. The volume of the total machining area has been taken into account for machiningof the CBV and non CBV areas. By using delaunay triangulation for the triangle which includes the machining and CBV areas. The volume will be calculated using Divergence(Gaussian theorem by focusing on the direction of the normal vector on each triangle. This method can be used as an alternative to selecting tothe rough machining methods which select minimum value of nonmachinable volume so that effectiveness can be achieved in the machining process.

Study of seismicity around Toba area based on relocation hypocenter result from BMKG catalogue

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ramdhan, Mohamad [Indonesia' s Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) Jl. Angkasa 1 No. 2 Kemayoran, Jakarta Pusat, 10720 (Indonesia); Nugraha, Andri Dian [Global Geophysics Research Group, Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia, Jl. Ganesa 10, Bandung, 40132 (Indonesia)

2013-09-09

Toba area has complex tectonic setting attracting many earth scientists to study and understand tectonic and geological process or setting. The area is affected by oblique subduction zone, Renun Sumatran fault sub segment and some volcanoes that are near it. The earthquake catalogue provided by BMKG from April, 2009 to December, 2011 must be relocated firstly to get the precise hypocenter. We used catalogue data of P and S phase or P phase only and double-difference method to relocate the earthquakes. The results show hypocenter position enhancement that can be interpreted tectonically. The earthquakes after relocation relating to the Sumatran fault, subduction zone, volcanoes and seismic activities beneath Toba caldera can be mapped clearly. The relocated hypocenters in this study are very important to provide information for seismic hazard assessment and disaster mitigation study.

CENTENNIAL MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS STUDY AREA, MONTANA AND IDAHO.

Science.gov (United States)

Witkind, Irving J.; Ridenour, James

1984-01-01

A mineral survey conducted within the Centennial Mountains Wilderness study area in Montana and Idaho showed large areas of probable and substantiated resource potential for phosphate. Byproducts that may be derived from processing the phosphate include vanadium, chromium, uranium, silver, fluorine, and the rare earths, lanthanum and yttrium. Results of a geochemical sampling program suggest that there is little promise for the occurrence of base and precious metals in the area. Although the area contains other nonmetallic deposits, such as coal, building stone, and pumiceous ash they are not considered as mineral resources. There is a probable resource potential for oil and gas and significant amounts may underlie the area around the Peet Creek and Odell Creek anticlines.

Idaho Batholith Study Area Density Grid

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A 2 kilometer terrace-density grid for the Idaho batholith study area. Number of columns is 331 and number of rows is 285. The order of the data is from the lower...

Use of complex electronic equipment within radiative areas of PWR power plants: feability study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fremont, P.; Carquet, M.

1988-01-01

EDF has undertaken a study in order to evaluate the technical and economical feasibility of using complex electronic equipment within radiative areas of PWR power plants. This study lies on tests of VLSI components (Random Access Memories) under gamma rays irradiations, which aims are to evaluate the radiation dose that they can withstand and to develop a selection method. 125 rad/h and 16 rad/h tests results are given [fr

Modeling the Distributions of Brightness Temperatures of a Cropland Study Area Using a Model that Combines Fast Radiosity and Energy Budget Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zunjian Bian

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Land surface temperatures (LSTs obtained from remote sensing data are crucial in monitoring the conditions of crops and urban heat islands. However, since retrieved LSTs represent only the average temperature states of pixels, the distributions of temperatures within individual pixels remain unknown. Such data cannot satisfy the requirements of applications such as precision agriculture. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a model that combines a fast radiosity model, the Radiosity Applicable to Porous IndiviDual Objects (RAPID model, and energy budget methods to dynamically simulate brightness temperatures (BTs over complex surfaces. This model represents a model-based tool that can be used to estimate temperature distributions using fine-scale visible as well as near-infrared (VNIR data and temporal variations in meteorological conditions. The proposed model is tested over a study area in an artificial oasis in Northwestern China. The simulated BTs agree well with those measured with the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER. The results reflect root mean squared errors (RMSEs less than 1.6 °C and coefficients of determination (R2 greater than 0.7. In addition, compared to the leaf area index (LAI, this model displays high sensitivity to wind speed during validation. Although simplifications may be adopted for use in specific simulations, this proposed model can be used to support in situ measurements and to provide reference data over heterogeneous vegetation surfaces.

Multiscale Spatial Assessment of Determinant Factors of Land Use Change: Study at Urban Area of Yogyakarta

Science.gov (United States)

Susilo, Bowo

2017-12-01

Studies of land use change have been undertaken by different researchers using various methods. Among those methods, modelling is widely utilized. Modelling land use change required several components remarked as model variables. Those represent any conditions or factors which considered relevant or have some degree of correlation to the changes of land use. Variables which have significant correlation to land use change are referred as determinant factors or driving forces. Those factors as well as changes of land use are distributed across space and therefore referred as spatial determinant factors. The main objective of the research was to examine land use change and its determinant factors. Area and location of land use change were analysed based on three different years of land use maps, which are 1993, 2000 and 2007. Spatial and temporal analysis were performed which emphasize to the influence of scale to both of analysis’s. Urban area of Yogyakarta was selected as study area. Study area covered three different districts (kabupaten), involving 20 sub districts and totally consists of 74 villages. Result of this study shows that during 14 years periods (1993 to 2007), there were about 1,460 hectares of land use change had been taken place. Dominant type of land use change is agricultural to residential. The uses of different spatial and temporal scale in analysis were able to reveal different factors related to land use change. In general, factors influencing the quantities of land use change in the study area were population growth and the availability of land. The use of data with different spatial resolution can reveal the presence of various factors associated with the location of the change. Locations of land use change were influenced or determined by accessibility factors.

Research on the Method of Setting Waiting Area for Non-motor Vehicle at Signal Control Intersection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Yun Xia

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Electric bicycle has become an indispensable important component of the transportation system. The fact is that traffic organization and channelizing design of signal control intersection is not intensive, which cannot adapt to the current traffic demand of non-motor vehicle, such as unclear traffic rules and poor visibility, thus the traffic safety of non-motor vehicle is not optimistic. Therefore, it is necessary to study on traffic organization method based on the demand of non-motor vehicle, which can provide certain theoretical basis for traffic administrative department to make policy and traffic design. This article focuses on the method of setting waiting area for non-motor vehicle at signal control intersection, including the advantages, disadvantages and the applicable conditions.

Degreasing method for the seborrheic areas with respect to regaining sebum excretion rate to casual level.

Science.gov (United States)

Rode, Birgitte; Ivens, Ulla; Serup, Jørgen

2000-05-01

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Sebum excreted from the seborrheic glands keeps the skin surface subtle and moist. Before determining the activity of seborrheic glands, the skin surface must be degreased to remove contamination but without provoking sebum excretion. The purpose of this study was to set up a standardised degreasing procedure for various seborrheic areas in different skin types. The method will take day-to-day variations into account with respect to the kinetics of refatting. METHODS: The Sebumeter(R) from Courage+Khazaka is used to quantify the sebum excretion. Day-to-day variations were measured on the forehead in groups of 12 volunteers on 2 consecutive days. The degreasing procedure was investigated by individual cleaning with alcohol compared to washing with a mild detergent followed by wipes with alcohol on the forehead. The degree of refatting was monitored until 3 h after defatting on seborrheic areas: the forehead, cheek, nose, chin and upper back. RESULTS: There was no statistical significant difference in the variation from day to day (Pskin types was observed. An individual difference in the number of alcoholic wipes needed to degrease the forehead was seen. Washing followed by several repetitions of alcoholic wipes was not sufficient for the forehead, chin and nose (P>0.05). For the cheek and upper back, it was sufficient to wash with soap (Pskin until the sebum output reached the casual level was 2 h (P>0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) indicates that individual skin types return to casual level after defatting. CONCLUSION: There was no statistically significant day-to-day variation using the Sebumeter(R). We ended up with different degreasing procedures in different seborrheic areas. Washing gently with a detergent solution and then performing three wipes with alcohol was optimal for degreasing the forehead, nose and chin. For the cheek and upper back, it was sufficient to use a mild soap. Casual level was reached after 2 h in all seborrheic

Optimization of Archeological Anomalies using GIS method for Magnetic and Resistivity Study at Sungai Batu, Lembah Bujang, Kedah (Malaysia)

Science.gov (United States)

Yusoh, R.; Saad, R.; Saidin, M.; Anda, S. T.; Muhammad, S. B.; Ashraf, M. I. M.; Hazreek, Z. A. M.

2018-04-01

Magnetic and resistivity method has become a reliable option in archeological exploration. The use of both method has become popular these day. However, both method gives different type of sensing in detecting anomalies and direct interpret from the anomalies will result large coverage area for excavation. Therefore, to overcome this issue, both anomalies can be extracted using ArcGIS software to reduce excavated coverage area. The case study located at Sungai Batu, Lembah Bujang near SB2ZZ lot expected buried clay brick monument which will be a perfect case to apply this technique. Magnetic and resistivity method was implemented at the study area where the anomalies coverage area for magnetic and resistivity is 531.5 m2 and 636 m2 respectively which total area of both anomalies was 764 m2. By applying combine technique, the anomalies area reduce to 403.7 m2 which reduce the suspected anomalies by 47.16 %. The unsuspected clay brick monument area was increase from 15.86% to 55.54% which improve the cost and labor work for excavation.

Slope Stability Assessment Using Trigger Parameters and SINMAP Methods on Tamblingan-Buyan Ancient Mountain Area in Buleleng Regency, Bali

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I Nengah Sinarta

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The mapping of soil movement was examined by comparing an extension of the deterministic Soil Stability Index Mapping (SINMAP method, and an overlay method with trigger parameters of soil movement. The SINMAP model used soil parameters in the form of the cohesion value (c, internal friction angle (φ, and hydraulic conductivity (ks for the prediction of soil movement based on the factor of safety (FS, while the indirect method used a literature review and field observations. The weightings of soil movement trigger parameters in assessments were based on natural physical aspects: (1 slope inclination = 30%; (2 rock weathering = 15%; (3 geological structure = 20%; (4 rainfall = 15%; (5 groundwater potential = 7%; (6 seismicity = 3%; and (7 vegetation = 10%. The research area was located in the Buleleng district, in particular in the ancient mountain area of Buyan-Tamblingan, in the Sukasada sub-district. The hazard mapping gave a high and very high hazard scale. The SINMAP model gave a validation accuracy of 14.29%, while the overlay method with seven trigger parameters produced an accuracy of 71.43%. Based on the analysis of the very high and high hazard class and the validation of the landslide occurrence points, the deterministic method using soil parameters and water absorption gave a much lower accuracy than the overlay method with a study of soil motion trigger parameters.

STUDY OF INK LAYER BY METHOD OF ATTENUATED TOTAL REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY

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D. G. Fatkhullina

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Subject of Research. Researchresults of thickness distribution of an ink layer smearedon a glass surface are presented. The orange ink which is used as a coloring pigment in writing instrument (highlighter is selectedasan object of study. Method. Researches were carried out by the method of attenuated total reflectance(ATR spectroscopy. The spectral setup fitted up on the basis of monochromator MDR-204 was usedin the experiment. The peculiarity of the measurement scheme is the applicationofhigh-resolution camera as a radiation detector and information storage as an images package. Researches allowed receivingexperimental data in the form of ink ATR spectra arrayfor studied areas of layer surface in a given spectral range. Main Results. The estimation of ink layer thickness was done, that gives the possibilityto visualize its distribution over the surface using three-dimensional modeling capabilities. The thickness of the ink layer is not more than 0.12 microns and arithmetic mean of the thickness is0.06 microns. The local areas are observed in an ink distribution, they have a maximum layer thickness (0.07-0.12 microns or areas with the ink thickness less then 0.03 microns. Variation of the ink layer thicknessbetween the local areas is smooth. Practical Relevance. The proposed measuring scheme, the sequence of registration and processing of experimental data can be used to studyink distribution within the thickness of a surface layer of other materials,for example, in analysis of signs performed by an ink on paper medium in order to identify them in such areas of science as forensic science andstudy of art.

Evaluation for computerized axial tomography to three anthropomorphic methods to estimate the thigh muscle area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez Vieitez, Jorge Alberto; Alvarez Cuesta, Jose Alberto; Williams Wilson, Luis

2001-01-01

Three anthropometric methods to estimate the thigh muscle area (TMA, cm) were evaluated. Seventeen young males were taken as a sample. The TMA was estimated by using the formulas of Gurney-Jellife, Jones-Pearson, Housh, and others. In the same place where the measurements of circumferences and skinfolds were made, the TAM was determined by computerized axial tomography. It was used as a reference criterion with which the anthropometric values were compared. The methods of Gurney-Jellife and Jones-Pearson significantly overestimated the TAM obtained by CAT (9.0 + - 12.8 cm 2 [4.4 %]; p = 0.01 and 22.0 + - 14.9 cm 2 [10.9 %]; p = 1.6 . 10-5, respectively), whereas that of Housh and others underestimated the values of CAT (-48.8 + - 11.7 cm 2 [24.1 %]; p = 9.4 . 10-12). The Gurney-Jellife equation was the only one that proved to be interchangeable with CAT, on obtaining a coefficient of correlation (r) and a slope of regression (b) for the difference and the average between both methods that were not statistically significant (r 0,421; b = 0,21 + - 0.12, p = 0.09). It was concluded that of the 3 studied anthropometric methods, the Gurney-Jellife method offers the most accurate TAM values

An implementation and test platform for wide area stability assessment methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wittrock, Martin Lindholm; Jóhannsson, Hjörtur

2013-01-01

Units (PMU) can be very time consuming, especially if the testing procedure is not carried out in a systematic and automatic manner. The test platform overcomes this problem by automatically importing system model parameters, topology and simulation output from a time domain simulation of an instability...... scenario and automatically generating synthetic PMU snapshots of the system conditions. To demonstrate the platform’s potential for supporting research and development of wide area algorithms, a method to detect voltage instability is implemented and tested, giving results consistent with results from...

A study on landscape and the historical geography of two areas - Oskarshamn and Forsmark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jansson, Ulf; Berg, Johan; Bjoerklund, Annika [Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Human Geography

2004-06-01

The aim of this project is to investigate the land-use; the settlement and the way people have used and affected the landscape in two areas, Forsmark and Simpevarp. This preliminary report aim mainly at describing the sources and methods used in the project. Some analyses are undertaken, but a more complete interpretation will take place in the final report of Phase two. This is a project that forms a part of the environmental impact assessment work that is done for examining potential locations for a plant for a deep repository for spent nuclear fuel. Both areas are located on the East Coast of Sweden. A number of scientific studies are carried out in this project. Fields that are included studies for the EIA and the safety assessment include geology, quaternary geology, limnology, biology and other natural sciences that focus on vegetation and the terrestrial as well as the aquatic environment.The study that is carried out at the Department of Human geography at Stockholm university is basically a study of the historical land-use, the changes in settlement and how people have been working and using the landscape over the last centuries.The methods used include historical maps, cadastral material and in a later phase interviews and fieldwork. In the first phase that ends the summer 2004 the bulk of the historical material is probed and analysed. A big effort is put into the creation of GIS-data sets that can be used for further analyses. The work during spring 2004 resulted in this preliminary report that deal with historical land-use, population, settlement from medieval times to the present and both detailed and general descriptions and investigations of the historical geography of the areas.Both the investigated areas are located by the Baltic, but are very different both physically, especially with the land upheaval in the north, and historically with a different land-use system, ownership structure and distribution of settlement. The results of this study

A study on landscape and the historical geography of two areas - Oskarshamn and Forsmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jansson, Ulf; Berg, Johan; Bjoerklund, Annika

2004-06-01

The aim of this project is to investigate the land-use; the settlement and the way people have used and affected the landscape in two areas, Forsmark and Simpevarp. This preliminary report aim mainly at describing the sources and methods used in the project. Some analyses are undertaken, but a more complete interpretation will take place in the final report of Phase two. This is a project that forms a part of the environmental impact assessment work that is done for examining potential locations for a plant for a deep repository for spent nuclear fuel. Both areas are located on the East Coast of Sweden. A number of scientific studies are carried out in this project. Fields that are included studies for the EIA and the safety assessment include geology, quaternary geology, limnology, biology and other natural sciences that focus on vegetation and the terrestrial as well as the aquatic environment.The study that is carried out at the Department of Human geography at Stockholm university is basically a study of the historical land-use, the changes in settlement and how people have been working and using the landscape over the last centuries.The methods used include historical maps, cadastral material and in a later phase interviews and fieldwork. In the first phase that ends the summer 2004 the bulk of the historical material is probed and analysed. A big effort is put into the creation of GIS-data sets that can be used for further analyses. The work during spring 2004 resulted in this preliminary report that deal with historical land-use, population, settlement from medieval times to the present and both detailed and general descriptions and investigations of the historical geography of the areas.Both the investigated areas are located by the Baltic, but are very different both physically, especially with the land upheaval in the north, and historically with a different land-use system, ownership structure and distribution of settlement. The results of this study

A computer simulation approach to quantify the true area and true area compressibility modulus of biological membranes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chacón, Enrique; Tarazona, Pedro; Bresme, Fernando

2015-01-01

We present a new computational approach to quantify the area per lipid and the area compressibility modulus of biological membranes. Our method relies on the analysis of the membrane fluctuations using our recently introduced coupled undulatory (CU) mode [Tarazona et al., J. Chem. Phys. 139, 094902 (2013)], which provides excellent estimates of the bending modulus of model membranes. Unlike the projected area, widely used in computer simulations of membranes, the CU area is thermodynamically consistent. This new area definition makes it possible to accurately estimate the area of the undulating bilayer, and the area per lipid, by excluding any contributions related to the phospholipid protrusions. We find that the area per phospholipid and the area compressibility modulus features a negligible dependence with system size, making possible their computation using truly small bilayers, involving a few hundred lipids. The area compressibility modulus obtained from the analysis of the CU area fluctuations is fully consistent with the Hooke’s law route. Unlike existing methods, our approach relies on a single simulation, and no a priori knowledge of the bending modulus is required. We illustrate our method by analyzing 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine bilayers using the coarse grained MARTINI force-field. The area per lipid and area compressibility modulus obtained with our method and the MARTINI forcefield are consistent with previous studies of these bilayers

CAB-Align: A Flexible Protein Structure Alignment Method Based on the Residue-Residue Contact Area.

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Genki Terashi

Full Text Available Proteins are flexible, and this flexibility has an essential functional role. Flexibility can be observed in loop regions, rearrangements between secondary structure elements, and conformational changes between entire domains. However, most protein structure alignment methods treat protein structures as rigid bodies. Thus, these methods fail to identify the equivalences of residue pairs in regions with flexibility. In this study, we considered that the evolutionary relationship between proteins corresponds directly to the residue-residue physical contacts rather than the three-dimensional (3D coordinates of proteins. Thus, we developed a new protein structure alignment method, contact area-based alignment (CAB-align, which uses the residue-residue contact area to identify regions of similarity. The main purpose of CAB-align is to identify homologous relationships at the residue level between related protein structures. The CAB-align procedure comprises two main steps: First, a rigid-body alignment method based on local and global 3D structure superposition is employed to generate a sufficient number of initial alignments. Then, iterative dynamic programming is executed to find the optimal alignment. We evaluated the performance and advantages of CAB-align based on four main points: (1 agreement with the gold standard alignment, (2 alignment quality based on an evolutionary relationship without 3D coordinate superposition, (3 consistency of the multiple alignments, and (4 classification agreement with the gold standard classification. Comparisons of CAB-align with other state-of-the-art protein structure alignment methods (TM-align, FATCAT, and DaliLite using our benchmark dataset showed that CAB-align performed robustly in obtaining high-quality alignments and generating consistent multiple alignments with high coverage and accuracy rates, and it performed extremely well when discriminating between homologous and nonhomologous pairs of proteins

CAB-Align: A Flexible Protein Structure Alignment Method Based on the Residue-Residue Contact Area.

Science.gov (United States)

Terashi, Genki; Takeda-Shitaka, Mayuko

2015-01-01

Proteins are flexible, and this flexibility has an essential functional role. Flexibility can be observed in loop regions, rearrangements between secondary structure elements, and conformational changes between entire domains. However, most protein structure alignment methods treat protein structures as rigid bodies. Thus, these methods fail to identify the equivalences of residue pairs in regions with flexibility. In this study, we considered that the evolutionary relationship between proteins corresponds directly to the residue-residue physical contacts rather than the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of proteins. Thus, we developed a new protein structure alignment method, contact area-based alignment (CAB-align), which uses the residue-residue contact area to identify regions of similarity. The main purpose of CAB-align is to identify homologous relationships at the residue level between related protein structures. The CAB-align procedure comprises two main steps: First, a rigid-body alignment method based on local and global 3D structure superposition is employed to generate a sufficient number of initial alignments. Then, iterative dynamic programming is executed to find the optimal alignment. We evaluated the performance and advantages of CAB-align based on four main points: (1) agreement with the gold standard alignment, (2) alignment quality based on an evolutionary relationship without 3D coordinate superposition, (3) consistency of the multiple alignments, and (4) classification agreement with the gold standard classification. Comparisons of CAB-align with other state-of-the-art protein structure alignment methods (TM-align, FATCAT, and DaliLite) using our benchmark dataset showed that CAB-align performed robustly in obtaining high-quality alignments and generating consistent multiple alignments with high coverage and accuracy rates, and it performed extremely well when discriminating between homologous and nonhomologous pairs of proteins in both

A Residential Area Extraction Method for High Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery by Using Visual Saliency and Perceptual Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHEN Yixiang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Inspired by human visual cognitive mechanism,a method of residential area extraction from high-resolution remote sensing images was proposed based on visual saliency and perceptual organization. Firstly,the data field theory of cognitive physics was introduced to model the visual saliency and the candidate residential areas were produced by adaptive thresholding. Then,the exact residential areas were obtained and refined by perceptual organization based on the high-frequency features of multi-scale wavelet transform. Finally,the validity of the proposed method was verified by experiments conducted on ZY-3 and Quickbird image data sets.

Leaf Area Prediction Using Three Alternative Sampling Methods for Seven Sierra Nevada Conifer Species

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Dryw A. Jones

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Prediction of projected tree leaf area using allometric relationships with sapwood cross-sectional area is common in tree- and stand-level production studies. Measuring sapwood is difficult and often requires destructive sampling. This study tested multiple leaf area prediction models across seven diverse conifer species in the Sierra Nevada of California. The best-fit whole tree leaf area prediction model for overall simplicity, accuracy, and utility for all seven species was a nonlinear model with basal area as the primary covariate. A new non-destructive procedure was introduced to extend the branch summation approach to leaf area data collection on trees that cannot be destructively sampled. There were no significant differences between fixed effects assigned to sampling procedures, indicating that data from the tested sampling procedures can be combined for whole tree leaf area modeling purposes. These results indicate that, for the species sampled, accurate leaf area estimates can be obtained through partially-destructive sampling and using common forest inventory data.

A GIS-based method for household recruitment in a prospective pesticide exposure study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Phillips Michael J

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent advances in GIS technology and remote sensing have provided new opportunities to collect ecologic data on agricultural pesticide exposure. Many pesticide studies have used historical or records-based data on crops and their associated pesticide applications to estimate exposure by measuring residential proximity to agricultural fields. Very few of these studies collected environmental and biological samples from study participants. One of the reasons for this is the cost of identifying participants who reside near study fields and analyzing samples obtained from them. In this paper, we present a cost-effective, GIS-based method for crop field selection and household recruitment in a prospective pesticide exposure study in a remote location. For the most part, our multi-phased approach was carried out in a research facility, but involved two brief episodes of fieldwork for ground truthing purposes. This method was developed for a larger study designed to examine the validity of indirect pesticide exposure estimates by comparing measured exposures in household dust, water and urine with records-based estimates that use crop location, residential proximity and pesticide application data. The study focused on the pesticide atrazine, a broadleaf herbicide used in corn production and one of the most widely-used pesticides in the U.S. Results We successfully used a combination of remotely-sensed data, GIS-based methods and fieldwork to select study fields and recruit participants in Illinois, a state with high corn production and heavy atrazine use. Our several-step process consisted of the identification of potential study fields and residential areas using aerial photography; verification of crop patterns and land use via site visits; development of a GIS-based algorithm to define recruitment areas around crop fields; acquisition of geocoded household-level data within each recruitment area from a commercial vendor; and

Validation and scale dependencies of the triangle method for the evaporative fraction estimation over heterogeneous areas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

de Tomás, Alberto; Nieto, Héctor; Guzinski, Radoslaw

2014-01-01

Remote sensing has proved to be a consistent tool for monitoring water fluxes at regional scales. The triangle method, in particular, estimates the evaporative fraction (EF), defined as the ratio of latent heat flux (LE) to available energy, based on the relationship between satellite observations...... of land surface temperature and a vegetation index. Among other methodologies, this approach has been commonly used as an approximation to estimate LE, mainly over large semi-arid areas with uniform landscape features. In this study, an interpretation of the triangular space has been applied over...

[The strategic research areas of a University Hospital: proposal of a quali-quantitative method.

Science.gov (United States)

Iezzi, Elisa; Ardissino, Diego; Ferrari, Carlo; Vitale, Marco; Caminiti, Caterina

2018-02-01

This work aimed to objectively identify the main research areas at the University Hospital of Parma. To this end, a multidisciplinary working group, comprising clinicians, researchers, and hospital management, was formed to develop a shared quali-quantitative method. Easily retrievable performance indicators were selected from the literature (concerning bibliometric data and grant acquisition), and a scoring system developed to assign weights to each indicator. Subsequently, Research Team Leaders were identified from the hospital's "Research Plan", a document produced every three years which contains information on the main research themes carried out at each Department, involved staff and available resources, provided by health care professionals themselves. The selected performance indicators were measured for each Team Leader, and scores assigned, thus creating a ranking list. Through the analyses of the research themes of top Team Leaders, the Working Group identified the following five strategic research areas: (a) personalized treatment in oncology and hematology; (b) chronicization mechanisms in immunomediate diseases; (c) old and new risk factors for cardiovascular diseases; (d) nutritional disorders, metabolic and chronic-degenerative diseases; (e) molecular diagnostic and predictive markers. We have developed an objective method to identify a hospital's main research areas. Its application can guide resource allocation and can offer ways to value the work of professionals involved in research.

Contribution to the study of techniques of measurement of interface surface area in bubble flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veteau, Jean-Michel

1981-01-01

This research thesis addresses problems raised by the measurement of the interface area per volume unit in duct bubble flows. The author first reports a literature survey of existing methods (photographic, chemical and optical methods) which give access to the value of the parameter which is commonly named 'specific surface area'. He analyses under which conditions these methods lead to a rigorous determination of the SVIM (mean integral volume surface). The author highlights the theoretical contributions of models related to each of these methods which are indeed global methods as they allow the interface surface area to be directly obtained in a given volume of a two-phase mixture. Then, the author reports the development of an original technique based on the use of phase detecting local probes. In the next part, the author compares photographic and optical methods, on the one hand, and optical and local methods, on the other hand. Recommendations are made for the development of local methods [fr

WHAT ARE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS PH.D. STUDENTS LEARNING ABOUT AGRIBUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS AND SUBJECT AREAS?

OpenAIRE

House, Lisa; Sterns, James A.

2002-01-01

This document contains the PowerPoint presentation given by the authors at the 2002 WCC-72 meetings, regarding what agricultural economics Ph.D students are learning about agribusiness research methods and subject areas.

An AHP-derived method for mapping the physical vulnerability of coastal areas at regional scales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Le Cozannet

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Assessing coastal vulnerability to climate change at regional scales is now mandatory in France since the adoption of recent laws to support adaptation to climate change. However, there is presently no commonly recognised method to assess accurately how sea level rise will modify coastal processes in the coming decades. Therefore, many assessments of the physical component of coastal vulnerability are presently based on a combined use of data (e.g. digital elevation models, historical shoreline and coastal geomorphology datasets, simple models and expert opinion. In this study, we assess the applicability and usefulness of a multi-criteria decision-mapping method (the analytical hierarchy process, AHP to map physical coastal vulnerability to erosion and flooding in a structured way. We apply the method in two regions of France: the coastal zones of Languedoc-Roussillon (north-western Mediterranean, France and the island of La Réunion (south-western Indian Ocean, notably using the regional geological maps. As expected, the results show not only the greater vulnerability of sand spits, estuaries and low-lying areas near to coastal lagoons in both regions, but also that of a thin strip of erodible cliffs exposed to waves in La Réunion. Despite gaps in knowledge and data, the method is found to provide a flexible and transportable framework to represent and aggregate existing knowledge and to support long-term coastal zone planning through the integration of such studies into existing adaptation schemes.

Study on the change law of soil in subsidence area of horizontal coal seam

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Pengfeng; Wang, Shugang; Liu, Wei

2017-11-01

In order to provide theoretical basis for land reclamation in subsidence area, the mining subsidence area is divided into three areas: zone I (stretching zone), zone II (compression zone) and zone III (neutral zone). On this basis, the change characteristics of the soil in the three areas of the horizontal coal seam mining subsidence area are studied. The results show that: due to stretching, soil of zone I cracks was developed, the soil continuity damage, poor integrity, serious leakage of soil Water Leakage fertilizer, the area shows the soil water holding capacity decreased, the decline of soil fertility, soil coarsening and barren trend. The soil mass in zone II is compressed and the soil structure is relatively complete, but the soil bulk density increases correspondingly, while the soil porosity decreases gradually and the permeability decreases. The main soil layer in the zone III is vertical deformation, and the soil integrity is better. But the influence of mined out area leads to the movement of water and nutrients to the lower part of the soil. This paper suggests that in the land reclamation process should adopt corresponding reclamation method based on the variation law of the three soil area of reclamation area of mining subsidence, for improving soil physicochemical properties, so as to achieve the purpose of effective reclamation.

State of the art and trends of radiometric methods for measuring the mass per unit area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernhardt, R.

1984-01-01

The determination of the mass per unit area by means of transmission or backscattering methods is one of the traditional radioisotope applications. Microelectronics have essentially contributed to the noticeable progress achieved in the development of radiometric instruments for mass per unit area measurements. The use of microcomputers led to both a reliable solution of the main problem of processing the measured data - the correlation of the mass per unit area value with the detector signal under nonlinear calibration conditions - and a considerable increase in the efficiency of the measuring equipment

Bayesian hierarchical models for smoothing in two-phase studies, with application to small area estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Michelle; Wakefield, Jon

2015-10-01

Two-phase study designs are appealing since they allow for the oversampling of rare sub-populations which improves efficiency. In this paper we describe a Bayesian hierarchical model for the analysis of two-phase data. Such a model is particularly appealing in a spatial setting in which random effects are introduced to model between-area variability. In such a situation, one may be interested in estimating regression coefficients or, in the context of small area estimation, in reconstructing the population totals by strata. The efficiency gains of the two-phase sampling scheme are compared to standard approaches using 2011 birth data from the research triangle area of North Carolina. We show that the proposed method can overcome small sample difficulties and improve on existing techniques. We conclude that the two-phase design is an attractive approach for small area estimation.

Evaluation and parameterization of ATCOR3 topographic correction method for forest cover mapping in mountain areas

Science.gov (United States)

Balthazar, Vincent; Vanacker, Veerle; Lambin, Eric F.

2012-08-01

A topographic correction of optical remote sensing data is necessary to improve the quality of quantitative forest cover change analyses in mountainous terrain. The implementation of semi-empirical correction methods requires the calibration of model parameters that are empirically defined. This study develops a method to improve the performance of topographic corrections for forest cover change detection in mountainous terrain through an iterative tuning method of model parameters based on a systematic evaluation of the performance of the correction. The latter was based on: (i) the general matching of reflectances between sunlit and shaded slopes and (ii) the occurrence of abnormal reflectance values, qualified as statistical outliers, in very low illuminated areas. The method was tested on Landsat ETM+ data for rough (Ecuadorian Andes) and very rough mountainous terrain (Bhutan Himalayas). Compared to a reference level (no topographic correction), the ATCOR3 semi-empirical correction method resulted in a considerable reduction of dissimilarities between reflectance values of forested sites in different topographic orientations. Our results indicate that optimal parameter combinations are depending on the site, sun elevation and azimuth and spectral conditions. We demonstrate that the results of relatively simple topographic correction methods can be greatly improved through a feedback loop between parameter tuning and evaluation of the performance of the correction model.

Diagnosis of Giardia infections by PCR-based methods in children of an endemic area

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EB David

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The present study was designed to estimate the prevalence of Giardia infection in preschool- and school-aged children living in an endemic area. Fecal samples from 573 children were processed by zinc sulfate centrifugal flotation, centrifugal sedimentation (using a commercial device for fecal concentration - TF-Test kit® and polymerase chain reaction (PCR-based methods. Of the stool samples assessed, 277 (48.3% were positive for intestinal parasites and/or commensal protozoa. Centrifugal flotation presented the highest diagnostic sensitivity for Giardia infections. The kappa index revealed that both coproparasitological techniques closely agreed on the Giardia diagnosis (86% versus satisfactory (72% and poor (35% concordances for commensal protozoan and helminth infections, respectively. Concerning Giardia molecular diagnosis, from the 71 microscopy-positive samples, specific amplification of gdh and tpi fragments was noted in 68 (95.7% and 64 (90% samples, respectively. Amplification of gdh and tpi genes was observed, respectively, in 95.7% and 90% of microscopy-positive Giardia samples. For 144 microscopy-negative samples, gdh and tpi gene amplification products were obtained from 8.3% and 35.9% samples, respectively. The agreement between these genes was about 40%. The centrifuge-flotation based method was the most suitable means of Giardia diagnosis assessed in the present study by combining accuracy and low cost.

Study on the Orion spiral arm structure by the statistical modelling method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basharina, T.S.; Pavlovskaya, E.D.; Filippova, A.A.

1980-01-01

A method of investigation of the spiral structure based on the statistical modelling methods is suggested. This method is used for the study of the Orion spiral arm. The maxima of density and the widths of the Orion arm in the direction of the areas considered for the longitude interval 55 deg - 187 deg are defined under the assumption of normal distribution of stars across the arm. The Sun is shown to be at the inner edge of the arm [ru

Methods of Measuring and Mapping of Landslide Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Skrzypczak, Izabela; Kokoszka, Wanda; Kogut, Janusz; Oleniacz, Grzegorz

2017-12-01

The problem of attracting new investment areas and the inability of current zoning areas, allows us to understand why it is impossible to completely rule out building on landslide areas. Therefore, it becomes important issue of monitoring areas at risk of landslides. Only through appropriate monitoring and proper development of measurements resulting as maps of areas at risk of landslides enables us to estimate the risk and the relevant economic calculation for the realization of the anticipated investment in such areas. The results of monitoring of the surface and in-depth of the landslides are supplemented with constant observation of precipitation. The previous analyses and monitoring of landslides show that some of them are continuously active. GPS measurements, especially with laser scanning provide a unique activity data acquired on the surface of each individual landslide. The development of high resolution numerical models of terrain and the creation of differential models based on subsequent measurements, informs us about the size of deformation, both in units of distance (displacements) and volume. The compatibility of the data with information from in-depth monitoring allows the generation of a very reliable in-depth model of landslide, and as a result proper calculation of the volume of colluvium. Programs presented in the article are a very effective tool to generate in-depth model of landslide. In Poland, the steps taken under the SOPO project i.e. the monitoring and description of landslides are absolutely necessary for social and economic reasons and they may have a significant impact on the economy and finances of individual municipalities and also a whole country economy.

Mineral Resources of the Morey and Fandango Wilderness Study Areas, Nye County, Nevada

Science.gov (United States)

John, David A.; Nash, J. Thomas; Plouff, Donald; McDonnell, John R.

1987-01-01

The Morey (NV-060-191) and Fandango (NV-060-190) Wilderness Study Areas are located in the northern Hot Creek Range about 25 mi north of Warm Springs, Nev. At the request of the Bureau of Land Management, 46,300 acres of the Morey and Fandango Wilderness Study Areas were studied. In this report, the area studied is referred to as 'the wilderness study area', or simply 'the study area'. Geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral surveys were conducted by the USGS and the USBM in 1984 to appraise the identified mineral resources and to assess the mineral resource potential of the study areas. These studies indicate that there are small identified resources of zinc, lead, and silver at the Lead Pipe property in the Fandango Wilderness Study Area, several areas of high potential for the occurrence of gold resources in the Fandango study area, small areas of low and moderate potential for the occurrence of silver, lead, and zinc resources in the Fandango study area, areas of moderate and high potential for the occurrence of silver, lead, and zinc resources in the Morey study area, and an area of low potential for copper, molybdenum, and tin in the Morey study area. Both study areas have low resource potential for petroleum, natural gas, uranium, and geothermal energy.

Geologic and radiometric study in the Picacho, Arizpe's Municipality, Sorora (Mexico) area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia y Barragan, J.C.

1975-01-01

This research work was aimed chiefly at studying the geology and radiometry of the El Picacho area in order to establish its uranium mineralization potential. Another purpose was to ascertain the factors favouring deposition of radioactive material in areas bordering on the Sierra del Manzanal, where the work was carried out. Detailed geological-radiometric surveys were made, both inside the El Picacho mine and at the surface. The geological surveys were carried out by means of compass bearings and stadia, while scintillometers and spectrometers were used for the radiometric studies. The work was supported by a general geological exploration of the central part of the Serra del Manzanal. To ascertain the radiometric anomalies, the distribution of the population of values was determined by statistical methods, the frequency, cumulative frequency and frequency percentage being evaluated for that purpose. The geological survey at the El Picacho mine revealed a group of fractures enclosing the following minerals: torbernite, iriginite and autunite. These fractures are no thicker than 5 cm and tend to wedge out after 3 meters. Primary uraniferous ore is likely to be found in this zone, so surveys based on (a) radon gas emanometry and (b) sediment geochemistry in the Siera del Manzanal are recommended. The basic data relating to this area could be supplemented by mineragraphic and X-ray studies, which would provide a fuller picture of the class of mineralogical species and of the paragenesis of radioactive material presnent in the zone. (author)

Study on fractal characteristics of remote sensing image in the typical volcanic uranium metallogenic areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pan Wei; Ni Guoqiang; Li Hanbo

2010-01-01

Computing Methods of fractal dimension and multifractal spectrum about the remote sensing image are briefly introduced. The fractal method is used to study the characteristics of remote sensing images in Xiangshan and Yuhuashan volcanic uranium metallogenic areas in southern China. The research results indicate that the Xiangshan basin in which lots of volcanic uranium deposits occur,is of bigger fractal dimension based on remote sensing image texture than that of the Yuhuashan basin in which two uranium ore occurrences exist, and the multifractal spectrum in the Xiangshan basin obviously leans to less singularity index than in the Yuhuashan basin. The relation of the fractal dimension and multifractal singularity of remote sensing image to uranium metallogeny are discussed. The fractal dimension and multifractal singularity index of remote sensing image may be used to predict the volcanic uranium metallogenic areas. (authors)

Study on Runoff Debit in the Catchment Area of Waduk Gajah Mungkur Wonogiri

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alif Noor Anna

2004-01-01

Water resource is one of natural resources, that is very vital. It needed to be used and to be kept throughly. For those purposes need good and directed plan, in which one of the basic component of it plan have to be supported by available a complete hydrological data and it analysis. One of hydrological data analysis is to estimate runoff of catchement area, which can be used for planning the hydrologi construction. This research aim: 1 to calculate the run off discharge by thornwaite Mather Method, monthly, annualy, and the average on the catchment through a sample of Keduang, Temon, Alang, and Wuryantoro areas; 2 to analyze the difference of the run off discharge (at no. 1 by observation resulted from trend analysis. Based on the calculation, it appears, thornwaite-mather method showed that high discharge (moreover limit 0 in dry month. From the research result, it appears, that calculation discharge graphic had lower differentation than observation discharge graphic. From sample of catchment areas that have been investigated, from the highest to the lowest deviation was Wuryantoro catchment area (78,8%, Temon catchment area (47,38%, Alang catchment area (46,45%, and Keduang catchment area (24,98% respectively. The condition like above caused by intervation of man. Not only did he influence vegetatively, but he influenced technically as well. From these conservation, technical conservation (flood and construction and reservoir was the highest influence to run off discharge calculation. The run off discharge that was calculated by thornthwite-Mather Method based on air temperate, rainy, altitude, and water holding capacity only, but groundwater supply didn’t be calculated.

Slope-Area Computation Program Graphical User Interface 1.0—A Preprocessing and Postprocessing Tool for Estimating Peak Flood Discharge Using the Slope-Area Method

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, D. Nathan

2012-01-01

The slope-area method is a technique for estimating the peak discharge of a flood after the water has receded (Dalrymple and Benson, 1967). This type of discharge estimate is called an “indirect measurement” because it relies on evidence left behind by the flood, such as high-water marks (HWMs) on trees or buildings. These indicators of flood stage are combined with measurements of the cross-sectional geometry of the stream, estimates of channel roughness, and a mathematical model that balances the total energy of the flow between cross sections. This is in contrast to a “direct” measurement of discharge during the flood where cross-sectional area is measured and a current meter or acoustic equipment is used to measure the water velocity. When a direct discharge measurement cannot be made at a gage during high flows because of logistics or safety reasons, an indirect measurement of a peak discharge is useful for defining the high-flow section of the stage-discharge relation (rating curve) at the stream gage, resulting in more accurate computation of high flows. The Slope-Area Computation program (SAC; Fulford, 1994) is an implementation of the slope-area method that computes a peak-discharge estimate from inputs of water-surface slope (from surveyed HWMs), channel geometry, and estimated channel roughness. SAC is a command line program written in Fortran that reads input data from a formatted text file and prints results to another formatted text file. Preparing the input file can be time-consuming and prone to errors. This document describes the SAC graphical user interface (GUI), a crossplatform “wrapper” application that prepares the SAC input file, executes the program, and helps the user interpret the output. The SAC GUI is an update and enhancement of the slope-area method (SAM; Hortness, 2004; Berenbrock, 1996), an earlier spreadsheet tool used to aid field personnel in the completion of a slope-area measurement. The SAC GUI reads survey data

Elk and Deer Study, Material Disposal Area G, Technical Area 54: Source document

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferenbaugh, J.K.; Fresquez, P.R.; Ebinger, M.H.; Gonzales, G.J.; Jordan, P.A.

1999-01-01

As nuclear research has become more prevalent, environmental contamination from the disposal of radioactive waste has become a prominent issue. At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico, radioactive contamination from disposal operations has raised some very specific concerns. Material Disposal Area G (Area G) is the primary low-level radioactive waste disposal site at LANL and occupies an area adjacent to land belonging to the Native American community of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso. Analyses of soil and vegetation collected from the perimeter of Area G have shown concentrations of radionuclides greater than background concentrations established for northern New Mexico. As a result, Pueblo residents had become concerned that contaminants from Area G could enter tribal lands through various ecological pathways. The residents specifically questioned the safety of consuming meat from elk and deer that forage near Area G and then migrate onto tribal lands. Consequently, this study addresses the uptake of 3 H, 90 Sr, tot U, 238 Pu, 239 Pu, 241 Am, and 137 Cs by elk (Cervus elaphus) and deer (Odocoileus hemionus) that forage around the perimeter of Area G and the associated doses to the animals and to humans who consume these animals. Radionuclide uptake by and internal dose to animals was estimated using equations modified from National Council on Radiological Protection Report 76. The Residual Radiation computer code was used to estimate the external dose to animals and the dose to humans consuming meat. Soil and water concentrations from the perimeter of Area G and from background regions in northern New Mexico were averaged over 4 years (1993--1996) and used as input data for the models. Concentration estimates generated by the model correspond to the concentration range measured in actual tissue samples from elk and deer collected at LANL. The highest dose estimates for both animals (0.028 mrad/d) and humans (0.072 mrem/y) were well below

Application of isotopic and chemical methods to the study of hydrological problems in Brazilian northeastern areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ponte, J.H.

1979-01-01

Hydrological studies are reported with samples of ground water from several region of northern - and northeastern Brazil: Marajo Island (State of Para), State of Piaui, Ceara and Rio Grande do Norte. A description is given of the utilization of chemical and isotopic methods, in particular measurements of tritium concentration and 14 C- counting techniques for the determination of the origin and residence time of water. (I.C.R.) [pt

[A study of infant mortality rate in Korean rural areas].

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Y H

1981-10-31

This study was undertaken in an attempt to identify the level of birth and infant death in the KHDI demonstration areas. The objectives of this study were to collect available information on birth and infant death in the KHDI demonstration areas, and estimate actual levels of birth and infant mortality in these areas. Within these areas, events of birth and death are continuously recorded by the field health workers, such as the Family Folder, maternal health service card, and the infant-child health service card. Study areas included all the KHDI demonstration areas (Hongchon, Okgu, Gunee). However, 2 myons in the Okgu area were excluded from the study areas since there was no community health practitioner assigned there. The data were collected by 24 community health practitioners and 80 community health aides in the 3 demonstration areas, according to the survey format. These health workers examined and searched existing records. After filling out the survey questionnaires, these health workers made contact with village health workers, "Li" chiefs, mother's club chiefs, or Saemaul leaders at the village level in order that they might gather additional information on possible items which were omitted. Afterwards, health workers made home visits to selected households which were known to have had births or deaths during the 1 year period between January-December 1979. A review of the activities of the health workers during this study indicated that professional survey workers were needed. In addition, 8 surveyors were employed and trained by KHDI to strengthen field survey efforts; they were dispatched to Hongchon and Okgu for 17 days. A total number of 3302 live births and 120 infant deaths were recorded during 1979. All data collected were tabulated by manual counting in the KHDI office. Infant mortality was estimated to be 36.34/1000 births in the demonstration areas during 1979 (rate in Hongchon Gun was 34.5, 31.0 in Okgu Gun, and 46.2 in Gunee Gun). (author's)

Groundwater vulnerability assessment for the Banyas Catchment of the Syrian coastal area using GIS and the RISKE method.

Science.gov (United States)

Kattaa, Bassam; Al-Fares, Walid; Al Charideh, Abdul Rahman

2010-05-01

Vulnerability assessment to delineate areas that are more susceptible to contamination from anthropogenic sources has become an important element for sensible resource management and landuse planning. This contribution aims at estimating aquifer vulnerability by applying the RISKE model in Banyas Catchment Area (BCA), Tartous Prefecture, west Syria. An additional objective is to demonstrate the combined use of the RISKE model and a geographical information system (GIS) as an effective method for groundwater pollution risk assessment. The RISKE model uses five environmental parameters (Rock of aquifer media, Infiltration, Soil media, Karst, and Epikarst) to characterize the hydro-geological setting and evaluate aquifer vulnerability. The elevated eastern and low western part of the study area was dominated by high vulnerability classes, while the middle part was characterized by moderate vulnerability classes. Based on the vulnerability analysis, it was found that 2% and 39% of BCA is under low and high vulnerability to groundwater contamination, respectively, while more than 52% and 5% of the area of BCA can be designated as an area of moderate and very high vulnerability to groundwater contamination, respectively. The GIS technique has provided an efficient environment for analyses and high capabilities of handling a large amount of spatial data. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Re-Defining Traditional Bazaar Areas and Shade Structures Via Parametric Design Methods

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Ahmet Emre Dinçer

2017-12-01

Full Text Available For the continuation of life, people created various equipment and goods. To create mutual benefits, they’ve exchanged the overpruduced items with different products. This has begun the shopping act. By the increased amount of transactions, a need of defined area for shopping have arisen.  For a temporary time, trading areas have been developed at different locations at a certain period. In the course of time, beside trading, these areas served as socio-cultural spaces where the human relations were established. Moreover, demand of being able to immediately access to needed goods have emerged. This situation made having a permanent trading area essential. Therefore, enclosed and permanent trade areas from bazaar, inn, bedesten, arasta to shopping malls have emerged. Next to all these trading areas, traditional bazaar areas keep being established. Nowadays, there is a need of providing some determined comfort conditions to the users for these street alley bazaars. Decreasing the effect of unfavorable weather conditions and providing supportive certain services and units (like WCs, security, cleanliness, etc. are some of them. As a fundamental solution, without disengaging the user relations with the outside, shade structures are generally provided. Shade structures can support cleaning and similar jobs by gathering and using rainwater besides its purpose of protecting the user from bad weather conditions. Application examples of these systems are gradually increasing. However, it is necessary to develop new approaches, in order to stop these proposed shade structures, become prototypes and to adapt the proposal to its environment and to increase diversity. In this study, a convenient shade structure and its alternatives, which are adapted to environmental conditions, were designed to create a sample model for other bazaar areas. In models, basically, folding design approaches were pursued. For production of these shade structure models

Preliminary Study of Ground Movement in Prone Landslide Area by Means of MAI InSAR A Case Study: Ciloto, West Java, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Hayati, Noorlaila; Riedel, Björn; Niemeier, Wolfgang

2016-04-01

Ciloto is one of the most prone landslide hazard areas in Indonesia. Several landslides in 2012 and 2013 had been recorded in Ciloto and damaged infrastructure around the area. Investigating the history of ground movement along slope area before the landslide happened could support the hazard mitigation in the future. Considering to an efficient surveying method, space-borne SAR processing is the one appropriate way to monitor the phenomenon in past years. The purpose of this study is detecting ground movement using multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar images. We use 13 ALOS PALSAR images from 2007 to 2009 with combination Fine Beam Single (FBS) and Fine Beam Double (FBD) polarization to investigate the slow movement on slope topography. MAI (Multiple Aperture Interferometry) InSAR method is used to analyze the ground movement from both line-of-sight and along-track direction. We split the synthetic aperture into two-looking aperture so that along-track displacement could be created by the difference of forward-backward looking interferograms. With integration of both methods, we could more precisely detect the movement in prone landslide area and achieve two measurements produced by the same interferogram. However, InSAR requires smaller baseline and good temporal baseline between master and slave images to avoid decorellation. There are only several pairs that meet the condition of proper length and temporal baseline indeed the location is also on the agriculture area where is mostly covered by vegetation. The result for two years observation shows that there is insignificant slow movement along slope surface in Ciloto with -2 - -7 cm in range looks or line of sight and 9-40 cm in along track direction. Based on geometry SAR , the most visible detecting of displacement is on the north-west area due to utilization of ascending SAR images.

Synchrotron x-ray methods in studies of thin organic film structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gentle, I.

2002-01-01

Full text: In recent years, the study of the structures of organic films as thin as a single monolayer has been revolutionized by methods that take advantage of the characteristics of synchrotron radiation. In particular, the methods of grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) and X-ray reflectivity have led to a number of valuable insights into structural aspects of thin films at molecular resolution. Our group has been studying films formed at the air/water interface as insoluble monolayers and subsequently transferred to solid substrates using either the vertical (Langmuir-Blodgett) or horizontal (Langmuir-Schaeffer) methods. The main aim of these experiments is to exert control over film structure in the direction parallel to the substrate surface. This is highly desirable in order to design devices that exploit the optical and electrooptical properties of functional materials, but is difficult to do. By varying the chemical structure of the film materials and controlling deposition conditions a degree of control is possible, but only using synchrotron methods can it be easily verified. We have also developed a novel method of rapidly collecting data from GIXD measurements by the application of area detection (imaging plates), which has made possible measurements of dynamic processes such as in-situ annealing. Such measurements are not possible using traditional scanning methods. One area of current interest is films composed of porphyrins as functional materials, either alone or as mixed films with fatty acids. We have been investigating ways of assembling porphyrins in such a way as to overcome the tendency to aggregate, and to produce patterning and ordered structures in the plane of the interface. Examples will be given of how film composition and deposition method affects the final structure, and of how X-ray methods can be used to elucidate both the structures and the mechanisms. Copyright (2002) Australian X-ray Analytical Association Inc

Comparative study on γ-ray spectrum by several filtering method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan Xinyu; Liu Liangjun; Zhou Jianliang

2011-01-01

Comparative study was conducted on results of gamma-ray spectrum by using a majority of active smoothing method, which were used to show filtering effect. The results showed that peak was widened and overlap peaks increased with energy domain filter in γ-ray spectrum. Filter and its parameters should be seriously taken into consideration in frequency domain. Wavelet transformation can keep signal in high frequency region well. Improved threshold method showed the advantages of hard and soft threshold method at the same time by comparison, which was suitable for weak peaks detection. A new filter was put forward to eke out gravity model approach, whose denoise level was detected by standard deviation. This method not only kept signal and net area of peak well,but also attained better result and had simple computer program. (authors)

A multiscale method for assessing vegetation baseline of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in protected areas of Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Anibal Pauchard; Eduardo Ugarte; Jaime Millan

2000-01-01

The exponential growth of recreation and tourism or ecotourism activities is affecting ecological processes in protected areas of Chile. In order to protect protected areas integrity, all projects inside their boundaries must pass through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The purpose of this research was to design a multiscale method to assess vegetation for...

Uncertainties associated to the representation of surface processes in impact studies. A study in the Mediterranean area.

Science.gov (United States)

Quéguiner, Solen; Martin, Eric; Lafont, Sébastien; Calvet, Jean-Christophe; Faroux, Stéphanie

2010-05-01

In the framework of the assessment of the impact of climate change, the uncertainty associated to the direct effect of CO2 on plant physiology was seldom addressed, while some other sources of uncertainties have been more studied, such as those related to climate modeling or the downscaling method. A few studies are available at global or continental scale. The purpose of this study is to quantify this effect in a regional study focussed on the Mediterranean area of France. The Safran-Isba-Modcou chain was used. This chain is composed of a meteorological analysis system (SAFRAN), a land surface model describing the exchange with the atmosphere (ISBA) and a hydrogeological model (MODCOU), and has already been used in many studies in France. The present study focuses on the uncertainties related to the representation of carbon cycle and the photosynthesis in the surface model. Two versions of ISBA were used and compared. The standard version simulates the mass and energy exchanges between the continental surface (including vegetation and snow) and the atmosphere. In this version, the LAI (Leaf Area Index) is provided by the ECOCLIMAP2 database and the vegetation is divided into 12 types. The A-gs version accounts for the process of photosynthesis taking into account the vegetation assimilation of atmospheric CO2 concentration, and simulates the evolution of the biomass and the LAI. The domain studied is the French mediterranean basin, in which a sub domain was defined (latitude < 45 °N et height < 1000m) in order to identify the low land area pertaining to a Mediterranean climate. The study focuses on the impact of the climate change on the surface variables (LAI, water balance) and the discharges. The periods chosen to compare the changes are the end of the 20th century (1995-2005) and the end of the 21st century (2090-2099). A first comparison is made for the present climate between the versions of model and the observations of discharges, using two type of

Forced Ignition Study Based On Wavelet Method

Science.gov (United States)

Martelli, E.; Valorani, M.; Paolucci, S.; Zikoski, Z.

2011-05-01

The control of ignition in a rocket engine is a critical problem for combustion chamber design. Therefore it is essential to fully understand the mechanism of ignition during its earliest stages. In this paper the characteristics of flame kernel formation and initial propagation in a hydrogen-argon-oxygen mixing layer are studied using 2D direct numerical simulations with detailed chemistry and transport properties. The flame kernel is initiated by adding an energy deposition source term in the energy equation. The effect of unsteady strain rate is studied by imposing a 2D turbulence velocity field, which is initialized by means of a synthetic field. An adaptive wavelet method, based on interpolating wavelets is used in this study to solve the compressible reactive Navier- Stokes equations. This method provides an alternative means to refine the computational grid points according to local demands of the physical solution. The present simulations show that in the very early instants the kernel perturbed by the turbulent field is characterized by an increased burning area and a slightly increased rad- ical formation. In addition, the calculations show that the wavelet technique yields a significant reduction in the number of degrees of freedom necessary to achieve a pre- scribed solution accuracy.

Presenting a mapping method based on fuzzy Logic and TOPSIS multi criteria decision-making methods to detect promising porphyry copper mineralization areas in the east of the Sarcheshmeh copper metallogenic district

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shokouh Riahi

2017-11-01

criteria decision-making method. Among these favorable prospects, the one with the highest coefficient close to the ideal solution of 0.796 was found to be coincident with the Darehzar area that is a well known porphyry copper deposit 12 kilometers south of the Sarcheshmeh deposit. The favorable areas numbered 5 and 8 that correspond to well known porphyry copper mineralization prospects called Sereydoon and North Sereydoon were ranked as the second and third priorities with scores of 0.721 and 0.604, respectively. Other favorable areas ranked by the TOPSIS method were also prioritized and presented for further follow up explorations. To assess the sensitivity of the results obtained by the TOPSIS method, an amount of 10% of the values of each of the criteria were added and the outputted ranking results were compared to that of the original TOPSIS results. It was concluded that a slight change in the values of the criteria would not have significant impact on the results. However, 10 percent change of each criteria weight would greatly affect the prospects priorities obtained by re-applying the TOPSIS method. References Ataei, M., 2010. Multi Criteria Decision Making. Shahrood University Publications, Shahrood, 333 pp Bonham–Carter, G.F., 1994. Geographic information system for geoscientists-molding with GIS. Geological Survey of Canada, Ontario, Canada, 398 pp. Hwang, C.L. and Yoon, K., 1981; Multiple Attribute Decision Making: Methods and Applications, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 228 pp. Malkzewski, J., 1999, GIS and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis. John Whily and Sons, Canada, 387 pp. Pazand, K., Hezarkhani, A. and Ataei, M., 2012. Using TOPSIS approaches for predictive porphyry Cu potential mapping: A case study in Ahar-Arasbaran area (NW, Iran. Computers & Geosciences, 49(1: 62-71.

Multicriteria method to evaluate the operation of technologies of renewable energy in rural areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cherni, Judilh

2003-01-01

This paper evaluates the problem of the selection of renewable energy alternatives in rural regions in the developing world. We discuss a multicriteria method, map result, for assessing the effectiveness and sustainability of the energy systems that have been installed in rural areas. The purpose is to improve the effectiveness of energization policies

Mineral resources of the Turtle Mountains Wilderness Study Area, San Bernardino County, California

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, Keith A.; Nielson, Jane E.; Simpson, Robert W.; Hazlett, Richard W.; Alminas, Henry V.; Nakata, John K.; McDonnell, John R.

1988-01-01

At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, approximately 105,200 acres of the Turtle Mountains Wilderness Study Area (CDCA-307) were evaluated for mineral resources (known) and resource potential (undiscovered). In this report, the area studied is referred to as "the wilderness study area" or simply "the study area"; any reference to the Turtle Mountain Wilderness Study Area refers only to that part of the wilderness study area for which a mineral survey was requested by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.The wilderness study area is in southeastern San Bernardino County, Calif. Gold, silver, copper, and lead have been mined within and adjacent to the study area. Copper-zinc-silver-gold mineral occurrences are found in the southern part and gold-silver mineral occurrences are found in the northern part of the study area; identified low- to moderate-grade gold-silver resources occur adjacent to the study area along the western boundary. Six areas in the south-central and northwestern parts of the study area have high resource potential, two broad areas have moderate resource potential, and part of the southwest corner has low resource potential for lode gold, silver, and associated copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and tungsten. Alluvium locally within one of these areas has moderate resource potential for placer gold and silver, and the entire area has low resource potential for placer gold and silver. There is low resource potential for perlite, ornamental stone (onyx marble and opal), manganese, uranium and thorium, pegmatite minerals, and oil and gas within the study area. Sand and gravel are abundant but are readily available outside the wilderness study area.

Distribution network connection pricing framework and methodology: identification of areas of improvement for Sarawak Energy Berhad Connection Charges Guidelines through modified delphi method

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, J. K.; Abas, N.

2017-07-01

Complaints on issues and matters related to connection charges have been very common for electricity supply utility companies around the world including Sarawak Energy Berhad. In order to identify the areas that can be improved, a mixed method of exploratory research involving qualitative and quantitative methods have been designed and undertaken rather than a single method of survey. This will ensure a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the issues from various target groups. The method is designed under three phases, employing Modified Delphi Technique for phase 1 through a series of stake holder engagements, online and offline survey questionnaires to be filled by internal wiring contractors for phase 2 whilst under phase 3, case studies shall be carried out on the issues identified from phase 1 and phase 2 of the study. This paper presented the findings from the Modified Delphi Technique. The findings revealed that there are areas of improvement for Sarawak Energy Berhad connection guidelines in term of differentiation of dedicated and shared assets which leads to unfairness to the connecting customers, inconsistency and non-transparent in charging. The findings of Modified Delphi Technique shall be used for implementation of phase 2 and phase 3 of the study.

The Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma (URECA birth cohort study: design, methods, and study population

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Sandel Megan T

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The incidence and morbidity of wheezing illnesses and childhood asthma is especially high in poor urban areas. This paper describes the study design, methods, and population of the Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma (URECA study, which was established to investigate the immunologic causes of asthma among inner-city children. Methods and Results URECA is an observational prospective study that enrolled pregnant women in central urban areas of Baltimore, Boston, New York City, and St. Louis and is following their offspring from birth through age 7 years. The birth cohort consists of 560 inner-city children who have at least one parent with an allergic disease or asthma, and all families live in areas in which at least 20% of the population has incomes below the poverty line. In addition, 49 inner-city children with no parental history of allergies or asthma were enrolled. The primary hypothesis is that specific urban exposures in early life promote a unique pattern of immune development (impaired antiviral and increased Th2 responses that increases the risk of recurrent wheezing and allergic sensitization in early childhood, and of asthma by age 7 years. To track immune development, cytokine responses of blood mononuclear cells stimulated ex vivo are measured at birth and then annually. Environmental assessments include allergen and endotoxin levels in house dust, pre- and postnatal maternal stress, and indoor air nicotine and nitrogen dioxide. Nasal mucous samples are collected from the children during respiratory illnesses and analyzed for respiratory viruses. The complex interactions between environmental exposures and immune development will be assessed with respect to recurrent wheeze at age 3 years and asthma at age 7 years. Conclusion The overall goal of the URECA study is to develop a better understanding of how specific urban exposures affect immune development to promote wheezing illnesses and asthma.

Investigation of a Novel Common Subexpression Elimination Method for Low Power and Area Efficient DCT Architecture

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M. F. Siddiqui

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A wide interest has been observed to find a low power and area efficient hardware design of discrete cosine transform (DCT algorithm. This research work proposed a novel Common Subexpression Elimination (CSE based pipelined architecture for DCT, aimed at reproducing the cost metrics of power and area while maintaining high speed and accuracy in DCT applications. The proposed design combines the techniques of Canonical Signed Digit (CSD representation and CSE to implement the multiplier-less method for fixed constant multiplication of DCT coefficients. Furthermore, symmetry in the DCT coefficient matrix is used with CSE to further decrease the number of arithmetic operations. This architecture needs a single-port memory to feed the inputs instead of multiport memory, which leads to reduction of the hardware cost and area. From the analysis of experimental results and performance comparisons, it is observed that the proposed scheme uses minimum logic utilizing mere 340 slices and 22 adders. Moreover, this design meets the real time constraints of different video/image coders and peak-signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR requirements. Furthermore, the proposed technique has significant advantages over recent well-known methods along with accuracy in terms of power reduction, silicon area usage, and maximum operating frequency by 41%, 15%, and 15%, respectively.

Investigation of a novel common subexpression elimination method for low power and area efficient DCT architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Siddiqui, M F; Reza, A W; Kanesan, J; Ramiah, H

2014-01-01

A wide interest has been observed to find a low power and area efficient hardware design of discrete cosine transform (DCT) algorithm. This research work proposed a novel Common Subexpression Elimination (CSE) based pipelined architecture for DCT, aimed at reproducing the cost metrics of power and area while maintaining high speed and accuracy in DCT applications. The proposed design combines the techniques of Canonical Signed Digit (CSD) representation and CSE to implement the multiplier-less method for fixed constant multiplication of DCT coefficients. Furthermore, symmetry in the DCT coefficient matrix is used with CSE to further decrease the number of arithmetic operations. This architecture needs a single-port memory to feed the inputs instead of multiport memory, which leads to reduction of the hardware cost and area. From the analysis of experimental results and performance comparisons, it is observed that the proposed scheme uses minimum logic utilizing mere 340 slices and 22 adders. Moreover, this design meets the real time constraints of different video/image coders and peak-signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR) requirements. Furthermore, the proposed technique has significant advantages over recent well-known methods along with accuracy in terms of power reduction, silicon area usage, and maximum operating frequency by 41%, 15%, and 15%, respectively.

The two-phase flow IPTT method for measurement of nonwetting-wetting liquid interfacial areas at higher nonwetting saturations in natural porous media.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Hua; Ouni, Asma El; Lin, Dan; Wang, Bingguo; Brusseau, Mark L

2016-07-01

Interfacial areas between nonwetting-wetting (NW-W) liquids in natural porous media were measured using a modified version of the interfacial partitioning tracer test (IPTT) method that employed simultaneous two-phase flow conditions, which allowed measurement at NW saturations higher than trapped residual saturation. Measurements were conducted over a range of saturations for a well-sorted quartz sand under three wetting scenarios of primary drainage (PD), secondary imbibition (SI), and secondary drainage (SD). Limited sets of experiments were also conducted for a model glass-bead medium and for a soil. The measured interfacial areas were compared to interfacial areas measured using the standard IPTT method for liquid-liquid systems, which employs residual NW saturations. In addition, the theoretical maximum interfacial areas estimated from the measured data are compared to specific solid surface areas measured with the N 2 /BET method and estimated based on geometrical calculations for smooth spheres. Interfacial areas increase linearly with decreasing water saturation over the range of saturations employed. The maximum interfacial areas determined for the glass beads, which have no surface roughness, are 32±4 and 36±5 cm -1 for PD and SI cycles, respectively. The values are similar to the geometric specific solid surface area (31±2 cm -1 ) and the N 2 /BET solid surface area (28±2 cm -1 ). The maximum interfacial areas are 274±38, 235±27, and 581±160 cm -1 for the sand for PD, SI, and SD cycles, respectively, and ~7625 cm -1 for the soil for PD and SI. The maximum interfacial areas for the sand and soil are significantly larger than the estimated smooth-sphere specific solid surface areas (107±8 cm -1 and 152±8 cm -1 , respectively), but much smaller than the N 2 /BET solid surface area (1387±92 cm -1 and 55224 cm -1 , respectively). The NW-W interfacial areas measured with the two-phase flow method compare well to values measured using the standard

Production of Landsat ETM+ reference imagery of burned areas within Southern African savannahs: comparison of methods and application to MODIS

Science.gov (United States)

A. M. S. Smith; N. A. Drake; M. J. Wooster; A. T. Hudak; Z. A. Holden; C. J. Gibbons

2007-01-01

Accurate production of regional burned area maps are necessary to reduce uncertainty in emission estimates from African savannah fires. Numerous methods have been developed that map burned and unburned surfaces. These methods are typically applied to coarse spatial resolution (1 km) data to produce regional estimates of the area burned, while higher spatial resolution...

Environmental impact of industrial wastes on marine area, case study: Port Sudan coastal area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdalrahman, E. A. H.

2004-05-01

This study was carried out to determine the effect of the industrial wastes on marine environment in Port Sudan area. A very intensive study has been made to identify types of pollutions drained in seawater at study area of Red Sea coast. Samples were taken from three stations (1, 2 and 3) at study area and the following analysis were made: Temperature, salinity, hydrogen ion concentration, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, nutrient, oil and grease. The laboratory results revealed that wastes pollute the marine environment as the cooling water from studied industries which is drain into the seawater increases the degree of temperature approximately from 6 to 12 C degree above the allowed rate, the matter which was adverse effect on the environment and living marine creatures due to the sudden change of temperature degree. Also, it was found that the great amount of oil spills discharged into seawater due to many factors such as: cooling water, oil spills from ships and loading and discharging operations of crude oil ships. Accordingly these oils spills might have a deadly effect on living marine creatures, which have been mention in details through out this research. Hence, and to minimize this adverse effect of industrial wastes and others on the marine environment, may recommend to the following: Pretreatment to the industrial wastes should be taking before its draining into the Red Sea coastal area. Surveillance all ships into the port and observing loading and discharging operations as well as those ships in the regional waters and implementing the international maritime laws. Enlightenment the industrial administrators and manpower working with them about the severity which will definitely cause the marine environmental deterioration as a result of industrial wastes. To punish every one who violates the laws of environment protection. Thus, can be safeguarding the environment from pollutions and consequently develop the natural resources and proceed

Efficiency of two-phase methods with focus on a planned population-based case-control study on air pollution and stroke

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Strömberg Ulf

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We plan to conduct a case-control study to investigate whether exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2 increases the risk of stroke. In case-control studies, selective participation can lead to bias and loss of efficiency. A two-phase design can reduce bias and improve efficiency by combining information on the non-participating subjects with information from the participating subjects. In our planned study, we will have access to individual disease status and data on NO2 exposure on group (area level for a large population sample of Scania, southern Sweden. A smaller sub-sample will be selected to the second phase for individual-level assessment on exposure and covariables. In this paper, we simulate a case-control study based on our planned study. We develop a two-phase method for this study and compare the performance of our method with the performance of other two-phase methods. Methods A two-phase case-control study was simulated with a varying number of first- and second-phase subjects. Estimation methods: Method 1: Effect estimation with second-phase data only. Method 2: Effect estimation by adjusting the first-phase estimate with the difference between the adjusted and unadjusted second-phase estimate. The first-phase estimate is based on individual disease status and residential address for all study subjects that are linked to register data on NO2-exposure for each geographical area. Method 3: Effect estimation by using the expectation-maximization (EM algorithm without taking area-level register data on exposure into account. Method 4: Effect estimation by using the EM algorithm and incorporating group-level register data on NO2-exposure. Results The simulated scenarios were such that, unbiased or marginally biased ( Conclusion In the setting described here, method 4 had the best performance in order to improve efficiency, while adjusting for varying participation rates across areas.

Consumer behaviour in the waiting area

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mobach, M.P.

Objective of the study: To determine consumer behaviour in the pharmacy waiting area. Method: The applied methods for data-collection were direct observations. Three Dutch community pharmacies were selected for the study. The topics in the observation list were based on available services at each

A New Automatic Method of Urban Areas Mapping in East Asia from LANDSAT Data

Science.gov (United States)

XU, R.; Jia, G.

2012-12-01

Cities, as places where human activities are concentrated, account for a small percent of global land cover but are frequently cited as the chief causes of, and solutions to, climate, biogeochemistry, and hydrology processes at local, regional, and global scales. Accompanying with uncontrolled economic growth, urban sprawl has been attributed to the accelerating integration of East Asia into the world economy and involved dramatic changes in its urban form and land use. To understand the impact of urban extent on biogeophysical processes, reliable mapping of built-up areas is particularly essential in eastern cities as a result of their characteristics of smaller patches, more fragile, and a lower fraction of the urban landscape which does not have natural than in the West. Segmentation of urban land from other land-cover types using remote sensing imagery can be done by standard classification processes as well as a logic rule calculation based on spectral indices and their derivations. Efforts to establish such a logic rule with no threshold for automatically mapping are highly worthwhile. Existing automatic methods are reviewed, and then a proposed approach is introduced including the calculation of the new index and the improved logic rule. Following this, existing automatic methods as well as the proposed approach are compared in a common context. Afterwards, the proposed approach is tested separately in cities of large, medium, and small scale in East Asia selected from different LANDSAT images. The results are promising as the approach can efficiently segment urban areas, even in the presence of more complex eastern cities. Key words: Urban extraction; Automatic Method; Logic Rule; LANDSAT images; East AisaThe Proposed Approach of Extraction of Urban Built-up Areas in Guangzhou, China

Evaluation of a Three-Dimensional Stereophotogrammetric Method to Identify and Measure the Palatal Surface Area in Children With Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate.

Science.gov (United States)

De Menezes, Marcio; Cerón-Zapata, Ana Maria; López-Palacio, Ana Maria; Mapelli, Andrea; Pisoni, Luca; Sforza, Chiarella

2016-01-01

To assess a three-dimensional (3D) stereophotogrammetric method for area delimitation and evaluation of the dental arches of children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP). Obtained data were also used to assess the 3D changes occurring in the maxillary arch with the use of orthopedic therapy prior to rhinocheiloplasty and before the first year of life. Within the collaboration between the Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy) and the University CES of Medellin (Colombia), 96 palatal cast models obtained from neonatal patients with UCLP were analyzed using a 3D stereophotogrammetric imaging system. The area of the minor and greater cleft segments on the digital dental cast surface were delineated by the visualization tool of the stereophotogrammetric software and then examined. "Trueness" of the measurements, as well as systematic and random errors between operators' tracings ("precision") were calculated. The method gave area measurements close to true values (errors lower than 2%), without systematic measurement errors for tracings by both interoperators and intraoperators (P > .05). Statistically significant differences (P digital dental casts and area measurements by the 3D stereophotogrammetric system revealed an accurate (true and precise) method for evaluating the stone casts of newborn patients with UCLP.

Study on the estimation method of uplift during the late Quaternary by using river terraces (3). Tectonic movement described by last 100,000 years uplift distribution in an inland area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hataya, Ryuta

2006-01-01

Uplift for the last 100,000 years, which is estimated in both side of the Ayashi fault in Miyagi prefecture and the Sekiya fault in Tochigi Prefecture by using the relative height of river terraces is almost equal to vertical displacements of these faults for the last 100,000 years. Hence, the method using fluvial terraces is available for estimating the uplift for the last 100,000 years in an inland area quantatively. Furthermore, significance of the uplift obtained by the proposed methodology in this study is emphasized. It is possible to find the geotectonic feature that were so far overlooked as deformed zones along active fault, tectonic style of uplift and subsidence by obtaining the 3-dimensional distribution of uplift in last 100,000 years. Methodology and concept proposed in this study give practical survey method of late Quaternary 3-dimensional uplift characteristics for the long-term safety of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. By applying this method to Quaternary research, new insights on the Quaternary tectonic movement may be given. (author)

Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Study Areas

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — This dataset is meant to depict Wilderness Study Areas (WSA's), within the state of New Mexico, identified by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as having...

Case-control study of cancer deaths in high background radiation areas of China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tao Zufan; Cha Yongru; Zhou Shunyuan

1989-01-01

This paper presents the results of a case-control study of deaths from liver, stomach and lung cancers in the high background radiation areas (HBRA) in Yangjiang County and neighboring control areas (CA). The purpose of this study was to explore the probable relationship between the cancer deaths and the environmental mutation-related factors in the two areas, so that the role of elevated natural radiation in cancer mortality could be properly ascertained. The studied numbers of cases of liver, stomach and lung cancers were 64, 28 and 17 in HBRA, and 75, 36 and 13 in CA, respectively. The proportion of the number of cases to that of the controls was 1:1 for liver cancer and 1:2 for cancers of stomach and lung. The factors studied included pesticide, smoking, alcohol consumption, medical X-ray exposure, diet, and the socioeconomic status, such as occupation, education, economic income, living space etc. The data for this study were collected through interviewing. The data collected were analysed by methods of matched and unmatched studies. The results expressed by odds ratio (OR) show that there is no significant between most factors studied and cancer deaths, although the associations of desths from stomach cancer with drinking water of nonwell source and of lung cancer with alcohol consumption in HBRA, and the associations of liver cancer deaths with occupations involving poisonous and noxious substances, pesticide and alcohol, and of lung cancer with pesticide and lower family income in CA can be found. This study has provided some clues for explaining the difference in cancer mortalities between HBRA and CA

A magnetotelluric study of the sensitivity of an area to seismoelectric signals

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G. Balasis

2005-01-01

Full Text Available During recent years, efforts at better understanding the physical properties of precursory ultra-low frequency pre-seismic electric signals (SES have been intensified. Experiments show that SES cannot be observed at all points of the Earth's surface but only at certain so-called sensitive sites. Moreover, a sensitive site is capable of collecting SES from only a restricted number of seismic areas (selectivity effect. Therefore the installation of a permanent station appropriate for SES collection should necessarily be preceded by a pilot study over a broad area and for a long duration. In short, a number of temporary stations are installed and, after the occurrence of several significant earthquakes (EQs from a given seismic area, the most appropriate (if any of these temporary stations, in the sense that they happen to collect SES, can be selected as permanent. Such a long experiment constitutes a serious disadvantage in identifying a site as SES sensitive. However, the SES sensitivity of a site should be related to the geoelectric structure of the area that hosts the site as well as the regional geoelectric structure between the station and the seismic focal area. Thus, knowledge of the local and regional geoelectric structure can dramatically reduce the time involved in identifying SES sites. In this paper the magnetotelluric method is used to investigate the conductivity structure of an area where a permanent SES station is in operation. Although general conclusions cannot be drawn, the area surrounding an SES site near Ioannina, Greece is characterized by: (1 major faults in the vicinity; (2 highly resistive structure flanked by abrupt conductivity contrasts associated with large-scale geologic contacts, and (3 local inhomogeneities in conductivity structure. The above results are consistent with the fact that electric field amplitudes from remotely-generated signals should be appreciably stronger at such sites when compared to neighboring

Flash Flood Hazard Susceptibility Mapping Using Frequency Ratio and Statistical Index Methods in Coalmine Subsidence Areas

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Chen Cao

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study focused on producing flash flood hazard susceptibility maps (FFHSM using frequency ratio (FR and statistical index (SI models in the Xiqu Gully (XQG of Beijing, China. First, a total of 85 flash flood hazard locations (n = 85 were surveyed in the field and plotted using geographic information system (GIS software. Based on the flash flood hazard locations, a flood hazard inventory map was built. Seventy percent (n = 60 of the flooding hazard locations were randomly selected for building the models. The remaining 30% (n = 25 of the flooded hazard locations were used for validation. Considering that the XQG used to be a coal mining area, coalmine caves and subsidence caused by coal mining exist in this catchment, as well as many ground fissures. Thus, this study took the subsidence risk level into consideration for FFHSM. The ten conditioning parameters were elevation, slope, curvature, land use, geology, soil texture, subsidence risk area, stream power index (SPI, topographic wetness index (TWI, and short-term heavy rain. This study also tested different classification schemes for the values for each conditional parameter and checked their impacts on the results. The accuracy of the FFHSM was validated using area under the curve (AUC analysis. Classification accuracies were 86.61%, 83.35%, and 78.52% using frequency ratio (FR-natural breaks, statistical index (SI-natural breaks and FR-manual classification schemes, respectively. Associated prediction accuracies were 83.69%, 81.22%, and 74.23%, respectively. It was found that FR modeling using a natural breaks classification method was more appropriate for generating FFHSM for the Xiqu Gully.

Modeling geomorphic changes in sedimentary rock areas. A case study in the Boso Peninsula area, Central Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanatani, Ikuo; Munakata, Masahiro; Kimura, Hideo; Sanga, Tomoji

2011-01-01

For the long-term safety of geological disposal of high-level radioactive wastes, evaluation of the radionuclide migration toward the human environment associated with groundwater flow is an issue of utmost importance. Therefore, we are carrying out a program for developing methods for assessing long-term groundwater flow in regional scales. As a part of the above program, we constructed models depicting the influences of geomorphological evolution on long-term groundwater flow. This was done by reconstructing the processes of river deepening with historical simulation of the profiles of four rivers in the Boso Peninsula. This area was selected because the sedimentary rocks are widely distributed with uncomplicated topography and geological structure which enabled the acquisition of a large amount of relevant geological information. The study resulted in the sum of erosion during the past 125,000 years which is the equivalent of one glacial to interglacial cycle. Consequently, the profiles of four rivers during the last glacial age to the present were successfully reconstructed using similar parameters. Also it was found that, in this area, the profiles were sculpted in accordance with the uplifting rates with very little influence of initial topography owing to the relatively soft and easily dissected characteristics of the geological units. However, detailed investigation revealed that the effects of geomorphological evolution differ between the rivers emptying into the inner bay and the rivers emptying into the open sea. In the case of the former two rivers, the river-bed elevation hardly changed during the 125,000 years and shows an extensive concave profile including the marine area. In the latter case, the elevation changed within the range of 20-30 m during the period and a convex profile appears in the marine area where the present water depth is over 30 m. Additionally the estimates of total amount of erosion during 125,000 years in the former group were

Estimating surface area in early hominins.

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Alan Cross

Full Text Available Height and weight-based methods of estimating surface area have played an important role in the development of the current consensus regarding the role of thermoregulation in human evolution. However, such methods may not be reliable when applied to early hominins because their limb proportions differ markedly from those of humans. Here, we report a study in which this possibility was evaluated by comparing surface area estimates generated with the best-known height and weight-based method to estimates generated with a method that is sensitive to proportional differences. We found that the two methods yield indistinguishable estimates when applied to taxa whose limb proportions are similar to those of humans, but significantly different results when applied to taxa whose proportions differ from those of humans. We also found that the discrepancy between the estimates generated by the two methods is almost entirely attributable to inter-taxa differences in limb proportions. One corollary of these findings is that we need to reassess hypotheses about the role of thermoregulation in human evolution that have been developed with the aid of height and weight-based methods of estimating body surface area. Another is that we need to use other methods in future work on fossil hominin body surface areas.

High school and college introductory science education experiences: A study regarding perceptions of university students persisting in science as a major area of study

Science.gov (United States)

Fredrick, L. Denise

The focus of this study was to investigate college students' perception of high school and college introductory science learning experiences related to persistence in science as a major area of study in college. The study included students' perceptions of the following areas of science education: (1) teacher interpersonal relationship with students, (2) teacher personality styles, (3) teacher knowledge of the content, (4) instructional methods, and (5) science course content. A survey research design was employed in the investigative study to collect and analyze data. One hundred ninety two students participated in the research study. A survey instrument entitled Science Education Perception Survey was used to collect data. The researcher sought to reject or support three null hypotheses as related to participants' perceptions of high school and college introductory science education experiences. Using binomial regression analysis, this study analyzed differences between students persisting in science and students not persisting in science as a major. The quantitative research indicated that significant differences exist between persistence in science as a major and high school science teacher traits and college introductory science instructional methods. Although these variables were found to be significant predictors, the percent variance was low and should be considered closely before concluded these as strong predictors of persistence. Major findings of the qualitative component indicated that students perceived that: (a) interest in high school science course content and high school science teacher personality and interpersonal relationships had the greatest effect on students' choice of major area of study; (b) interest in college introductory science course content had the greatest effect on students' choice of major area of study; (c) students recalled laboratory activities and overall good teaching as most meaningful to their high school science

An Adaptive Model Predictive Load Frequency Control Method for Multi-Area Interconnected Power Systems with Photovoltaic Generations

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Guo-Qiang Zeng

2017-11-01

Full Text Available As the penetration level of renewable distributed generations such as wind turbine generator and photovoltaic stations increases, the load frequency control issue of a multi-area interconnected power system becomes more challenging. This paper presents an adaptive model predictive load frequency control method for a multi-area interconnected power system with photovoltaic generation by considering some nonlinear features such as a dead band for governor and generation rate constraint for steam turbine. The dynamic characteristic of this system is formulated as a discrete-time state space model firstly. Then, the predictive dynamic model is obtained by introducing an expanded state vector, and rolling optimization of control signal is implemented based on a cost function by minimizing the weighted sum of square predicted errors and square future control values. The simulation results on a typical two-area power system consisting of photovoltaic and thermal generator have demonstrated the superiority of the proposed model predictive control method to these state-of-the-art control techniques such as firefly algorithm, genetic algorithm, and population extremal optimization-based proportional-integral control methods in cases of normal conditions, load disturbance and parameters uncertainty.

Maternal common mental disorders and associated factors: a cross-sectional study in an urban slum area of Dhaka, Bangladesh

OpenAIRE

Khan, Ahad Mahmud; Flora, Meerjady Sabrina

2017-01-01

Background Poor maternal mental health has a negative impact on child growth and development. The objective of the study was to find out the associated factors of maternal common mental disorders (CMD) in an urban slum area of Bangladesh. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out from September to November 2013 among conveniently selected 264 mothers having under-five children at Kamrangirchar area of Dhaka. A structured questionnaire based on Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20)...

Elk and Deer Study, Material Disposal Area G, Technical Area 54: Source document

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. K. Ferenbaugh; P. R. Fresquez; M. H. Ebinger; G. J. Gonzales; P. A. Jordan

1999-09-01

As nuclear research has become more prevalent, environmental contamination from the disposal of radioactive waste has become a prominent issue. At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico, radioactive contamination from disposal operations has raised some very specific concerns. Material Disposal Area G (Area G) is the primary low-level radioactive waste disposal site at LANL and occupies an area adjacent to land belonging to the Native American community of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso. Analyses of soil and vegetation collected from the perimeter of Area G have shown concentrations of radionuclides greater than background concentrations established for northern New Mexico. As a result, Pueblo residents had become concerned that contaminants from Area G could enter tribal lands through various ecological pathways. The residents specifically questioned the safety of consuming meat from elk and deer that forage near Area G and then migrate onto tribal lands. Consequently, this study addresses the uptake of {sup 3}H, {sup 90}Sr, {sup tot}U, {sup 238}Pu, {sup 239}Pu, {sup 241}Am, and {sup 137}Cs by elk (Cervus elaphus) and deer (Odocoileus hemionus) that forage around the perimeter of Area G and the associated doses to the animals and to humans who consume these animals. Radionuclide uptake by and internal dose to animals was estimated using equations modified from National Council on Radiological Protection Report 76. The Residual Radiation computer code was used to estimate the external dose to animals and the dose to humans consuming meat. Soil and water concentrations from the perimeter of Area G and from background regions in northern New Mexico were averaged over 4 years (1993--1996) and used as input data for the models. Concentration estimates generated by the model correspond to the concentration range measured in actual tissue samples from elk and deer collected at LANL. The highest dose estimates for both animals (0.028 mrad/d) and humans

Estimation of conservation value of myrtle (Myrtus communis using a contingent valuation method: a case study in a Dooreh forest area, Lorestan Province, Iran

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Neda Amiri

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Around 2000 plant species occur naturally in Lorestan Province of which 250 species are medicinal and myrtle is one of them. Myrtle is a shrub whose leaves and fruits have medicinal value and thus, if managed and harvested properly, could produce sustained economic benefits. In recent years, however, over half of the myrtle site areas was destroyed, due to inappropriate management and excessive harvesting practices. Thus, coming up with a practical harvesting approach along with identifying those factors damaging the sites, seems to be very crucial. Methods: In our investigation, we calculated the conservation value per hectare of myrtle in the Dooreh forest area in Lorestan Province. Using the Contingent Valuation (CV and Double Bounded Dichotomous Choice (DBDC methods, we determined the willingness to pay (WTP for myrtle conservation. The WTP was estimated with a logit model for which indices were obtained based on a maximum precision criterion. Results: The results showed that 86.67 per cent of people were willing to pay for the conservation of these myrtle sites. Average monthly WTP per family was calculated as $0.79. The annual conservation value in terms of WTP for the preservation of the myrtle sites in Dooreh was estimated as $102,525. Among the variables of the model presented, education had a positive impact, while the amount proposed for payment and family size had a negative impact on the WTP. Conclusions: Our estimate of the value of myrtle conservation should provide justification for policy makers and decision making bodies of natural resources to implement policies in order to conserve the natural sites of this species more effectively. Keywords: Conservation value, Myrtle, Contingent valuation method, Double Bounded Dichotomous method, Logit model

Technical Note: Validation of two methods to determine contact area between breast and compression paddle in mammography.

Science.gov (United States)

Branderhorst, Woutjan; de Groot, Jerry E; van Lier, Monique G J T B; Highnam, Ralph P; den Heeten, Gerard J; Grimbergen, Cornelis A

2017-08-01

To assess the accuracy of two methods of determining the contact area between the compression paddle and the breast in mammography. An accurate method to determine the contact area is essential to accurately calculate the average compression pressure applied by the paddle. For a set of 300 breast compressions, we measured the contact areas between breast and paddle, both capacitively using a transparent foil with indium-tin-oxide (ITO) coating attached to the paddle, and retrospectively from the obtained mammograms using image processing software (Volpara Enterprise, algorithm version 1.5.2). A gold standard was obtained from video images of the compressed breast. During each compression, the breast was illuminated from the sides in order to create a dark shadow on the video image where the breast was in contact with the compression paddle. We manually segmented the shadows captured at the time of x-ray exposure and measured their areas. We found a strong correlation between the manual segmentations and the capacitive measurements [r = 0.989, 95% CI (0.987, 0.992)] and between the manual segmentations and the image processing software [r = 0.978, 95% CI (0.972, 0.982)]. Bland-Altman analysis showed a bias of -0.0038 dm 2 for the capacitive measurement (SD 0.0658, 95% limits of agreement [-0.1329, 0.1252]) and -0.0035 dm 2 for the image processing software [SD 0.0962, 95% limits of agreement (-0.1921, 0.1850)]. The size of the contact area between the paddle and the breast can be determined accurately and precisely, both in real-time using the capacitive method, and retrospectively using image processing software. This result is beneficial for scientific research, data analysis and quality control systems that depend on one of these two methods for determining the average pressure on the breast during mammographic compression. © 2017 Sigmascreening B.V. Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Latin America and Beyond: The Case for Comparative Area Studies

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Bert Hoffmann

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Comparative Area Studies (CAS emerges as a new approach in which scholars of Latin American Studies engage systematically with scholars working on other world regions. Adopting a focus on intra-, inter- and cross area comparisons, CAS builds on the traditional strengths of area studies. At the same time it enables scholars to have a stronger impact on overarching conceptual debates and it may provide new bridges between area studies scholars and the academic communities in the regions studied. However, a comparative area studies approach requires systematic cooperation among scholars of different world regions, and adequate organizational and institutional structures to support them. Resumen: Latinoamérica y más allá: El caso de los estudios regionales comparativos Los Estudios Regionales Comparativos (Comparative Area Studies – CAS surgen como un enfoque nuevo dentro del cual académicos de Estudios Latinoamericanos colaboran sistemáticamente con académicos que investigan sobre otras regiones del mundo. Tomando como punto de partida comparaciones intrarregionales, interregionales y transregionales, los ERC se basan en los puntos fuertes tradicionales de los estudios regionales. Al mismo tiempo, este enfoque permite a los académicos tener un impacto mayor en los debates conceptuales más amplios y puede tender nuevos puentes entre los académicos de estudios regionales y las comunidades académicas de las regiones estudiadas. Sin embargo, un enfoque de estudios regionales comparativos exige una cooperación sistemática entre académicos de distintas regiones del mundo y unas estructuras organizativas e institucionales adecuadas para apoyarles.

Method of making large area conformable shape structures for detector/sensor applications using glass drawing technique and postprocessing

Science.gov (United States)

Ivanov, Ilia N [Knoxville, TN; Simpson, John T [Clinton, IN

2012-01-24

A method of making a large area conformable shape structure comprises drawing a plurality of tubes to form a plurality of drawn tubes, and cutting the plurality of drawn tubes into cut drawn tubes of a predetermined shape. The cut drawn tubes have a first end and a second end along the longitudinal direction of the cut drawn tubes. The method further comprises conforming the first end of the cut drawn tubes into a predetermined curve to form the large area conformable shape structure, wherein the cut drawn tubes contain a material.

Idaho Batholith Study Area Isostatic Gravity Grid

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A 2 kilometer isostatic gravity grid for the Idaho batholith study area. Number of columns is 331 and number of rows is 285. The order of the data is from the lower...

Idaho Batholith Study Area Bouguer Gravity Grid

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A 2 kilometer Bouguer gravity anomaly grid for the Idaho batholith study area. Number of columns is 331 and number of rows is 285. The order of the data is from the...

Study of Social and Cultural Characteristics of Drug Offenders in Ahwaz Municipal Areas Using Geographic Information System (GIS

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Somayyeh Fathtabar

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: This study examines the social and cultural structure of drug offenses in Ahwaz municipal areas using GIS. Method: The population of the study consisted of drug offenders in Correction and Rehabilitation Center of Ahwaz in 2013. Statistical tests and graphs, including Mean Center test, Standard Deviation Ellipse, Kernel Density Estimation were used in this study. Results: The most important centers of drug crime are in the same border with informal settlement areas, such as Kut Abdullah, Lashkar Abad, and Khashayar (urban areas 5 and 6 of Ahwaz city. In addition, there is a direct relationship between illiteracy rate & population density and crime rate. Discussion and Conclusion: Spatial analysis of geographic crime and punishment can act as a means for security and safety policy making in the fight against drugs.

The Application Study in Solar Energy Technology for Highway Service Area: A Case Study of West Lushan Highway Low-Carbon Service Area in China

OpenAIRE

Qin, Xiaochun; Shen, Yi; Shao, Shegang

2015-01-01

A lot of research works have been made concerning highway service area or solar technology and acquired great achievements. However, unfortunately, few works have been made combining the two topics together of highway service areas and solar energy saving to make a systemic research on solar technology application for highway service area. In this paper, taking West Lushan highway low-carbon service area in Jiangxi Province of China as the case study, the advantages, technical principles, and...

An empirical method for estimating surface area of aggregates in hot mix asphalt

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R.P. Panda

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Bitumen requirement in hot mix asphalt (HMA is directly dependent on the surface area of the aggregates in the mix, which in turn has effect on the asphalt film thickness and the flow characteristics. The surface area of aggregate blend in HMA is calculated using the specific surface area factors assigned to percentage passing through some specific standard sieve sizes and the imaging techniques. The first process is less capital intensive, but purely manual and labour intensive and prone to human errors. Imaging techniques though eliminating the human errors, still have limited use due to capital intensiveness and requirement of well-established laboratories with qualified technicians. Most of the developing countries like India are shortage of well-equipped laboratories and qualified technicians. To overcome these difficulties, the present mathematical model has been developed to estimate the surface area of aggregate blend of HMA from physical properties of aggregates evaluated using simple laboratory equipment. This model has been validated compared with the existing established methods of calculations and can be used as one of the tools in different developing and under developed countries for proper design of HMA.

[Determination of joint contact area using MRI].

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Hidenori; Kobayashi, Koichi; Sakamoto, Makoto; Tanabe, Yuji

2009-10-20

Elevated contact stress on the articular joints has been hypothesized to contribute to articular cartilage wear and joint pain. However, given the limitations of using contact stress and areas from human cadaver specimens to estimate articular joint stress, there is need for an in vivo method to obtain such data. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been shown to be a valid method of quantifying the human joint contact area, indicating the potential for in vivo assessment. The purpose of this study was to describe a method of quantifying the tibiofemoral joint contact area using MRI. The validity of this technique was established in porcine cadaver specimens by comparing the contact area obtained from MRI with the contact area obtained using pressure-sensitive film (PSF). In particular, we assessed the actual condition of contact by using the ratio of signal intensity of MR images of cartilage surfaces. Two fresh porcine cadaver knees were used. A custom loading apparatus was designed to apply a compressive load to the tibiofemoral joint. We measured the contact area by using MRI and PSF methods. When the ratio of signal intensity of the cartilage surface was 0.9, the error of the contact area between the MR image and PSF was about 6%. These results suggest that this MRI method may be a valuable tool in quantifying joint contact area in vivo.

Determination of joint contact area using MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Hidenori; Kobayashi, Koichi; Sakamoto, Makoto; Tanabe, Yuji

2009-01-01

Elevated contact stress on the articular joints has been hypothesized to contribute to articular cartilage wear and joint pain. However, given the limitations of using contact stress and areas from human cadaver specimens to estimate articular joint stress, there is need for an in vivo method to obtain such data. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been shown to be a valid method of quantifying the human joint contact area, indicating the potential for in vivo assessment. The purpose of this study was to describe a method of quantifying the tibiofemoral joint contact area using MRI. The validity of this technique was established in porcine cadaver specimens by comparing the contact area obtained from MRI with the contact area obtained using pressure-sensitive film (PSF). In particular, we assessed the actual condition of contact by using the ratio of signal intensity of MR images of cartilage surfaces. Two fresh porcine cadaver knees were used. A custom loading apparatus was designed to apply a compressive load to the tibiofemoral joint. We measured the contact area by using MRI and PSF methods. When the ratio of signal intensity of the cartilage surface was 0.9, the error of the contact area between the MR image and PSF was about 6%. These results suggest that this MRI method may be a valuable tool in quantifying joint contact area in vivo. (author)

Mineral resources of the Muggins Mountains Wilderness Study Area, Yuma County, Arizona

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, D.B.; Tosdal, R.M.; Pitkin, J.A.; Kleinkopf, M.D.; Wood, R.H.

1989-01-01

The Muggins Mountains Wilderness Study Area covers approximately 8,855 acres immediately south of the Yuma Proving Ground. This study area contains sand and gravel, and it has a moderate potential for gold in placer deposits. One small drainage basin along the southeast boundary of this study area has a moderate potential for uranium. This study area has a low potential for geothermal energy and for oil and gas resources

Improved methods for irrigation and planting of major crops in waterlogged areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahlown, M.A.; Iqbal, M.; Raoof, A.

2002-01-01

The improved irrigation methods for wheat and cotton were evaluated in the fordwah Eastern Sadigia (South) Irrigation and Drainage Project area, during 1996-97 and 1997-98 cropping seasons, under three water table depths. Irrigation methods for wheat included 70, 95 and 120 cm Beds, with Flat Basin, as a check for comparative evaluation. Cotton had Ridge-planting on the top and side, Bed and Furrow, and Flat Basin as control. These irrigation methods were compared at water table depths of < 1 m, 1-2 and 2-3 m. The wheat variety inqalab-91, and cotton cultivar, CIM-109, were planted during the 3rd week of November and May every year. All the inputs and management practices, such as seed-rate, fertilizer, seeding method, weed control, plant-protection measures, etc. were kept common. The results on cotton indicated maximum water-use efficiency with the Bed and Furrow Method of irrigation Followed by ridge planting. The traditional Flat-planting had the lowest yield and the highest water-consumption, resulting in the minimum water-use efficiency. In harmony with cotton, the Flat Method of planting had maximum water-consumption. For wheat crop, the water-use efficiency was in descending order, with 120, 95 and 70 cm for Bed and Flat Methods. Bed planting of 95 cm had a fairly high water-use efficiency and yields were more were more comparable than Flat planting. This method had a high level of adaptabilities, especially when the groundwater was close to the root-zone and higher possibilities, especially when the groundwater was close to the root-zone and higher possibility of crop-submergence are existent during rainy spells. The results of the investigation strongly favoured the Bed and furrow methods to irrigate cotton and wheat. However, under well-drained soil conditions, Bed planting of wheat is not recommended. (author)

Hydrogeologic study of Cafam area. Melgar (Tolima)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angel M, Carlos E; Perez C, Rosalbina

1989-06-01

The hydrogeologic study covers an area of 50 km 2 with the objectives of to determine the possibility of use of the underground waters and to locate places to carry out exploratory perforations in lands of Cafam, equally the elaboration of a hydrogeologic map of the region; for the effect it was carried out cartography geologic scale 1:10.000, inventory and sampling of water point, geoelectric prospecting and some permeability tests. In the area the exploitation of underground water is incipient, alone there are 20 points of water, of which none produce more than 1L/seg. The water has in general good physical chemistry quality for the human consumption. Geologically was recognized the groups Guadalupe and Gualanday, also some quaternary deposits; the previous ones were subdivided in 11 geological units for its composition and morphology, which are framed structurally in the E flank of the synclinal of Carmen de Apicala and displaced by traverse faults with address E-W and N-W. From the point of hydrogeologic view the units were grouped in 8 aquifer systems, of which four are considered of hydrogeologic importance for the area; the sector with better possibilities to capture these aquifer systems is the W of the area (in the terraces area) that extends to the Sumapaz River. For the Cafam sector a place was selected to build an exploratory well of 200 mts. of depth that would capture an aquifer of low transmissivity, corresponding to the Unit T3

A small-area study of environmental risk assessment of outdoor falls.

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Poh-Chin; Wong, Wing-Cheung; Low, Chien-Tat; Wong, Martin; Chan, Ming-Houng

2011-12-01

Falls in public places are an issue of great health concern especially for the elderly. Falls among the elderly is also a major health burden in many countries. This study describes a spatial approach to assess environmental causes of outdoor falls using a small urban community in Hong Kong as an example. The method involves collecting data on fall occurrences and mapping their geographic positions to examine circumstances and environmental evidence that contribute to falls. High risk locations or hot spots of falls are identified on the bases of spatial proximity and concentration of falls within a threshold distance by means of kernel smoothing and standard deviational ellipses. This method of geographic aggregation of individual fall incidents for a small-area study yields hot spots of manageable sizes. The spatial clustering approach is effective in two ways. Firstly, it allows visualisation and isolation of fall hot spots to draw focus. Secondly and especially under conditions of resource decline, policy makers are able to target specific locations to examine the underlying causal mechanisms and strategise effective response and preventive measures based on the types of environmental risk factors identified.

Fast and low-cost method for VBES bathymetry generation in coastal areas

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez-Carnero, N.; Aceña, S.; Rodríguez-Pérez, D.; Couñago, E.; Fraile, P.; Freire, J.

2012-12-01

Sea floor topography is key information in coastal area management. Nowadays, LiDAR and multibeam technologies provide accurate bathymetries in those areas; however these methodologies are yet too expensive for small customers (fishermen associations, small research groups) willing to keep a periodic surveillance of environmental resources. In this paper, we analyse a simple methodology for vertical beam echosounder (VBES) bathymetric data acquisition and postprocessing, using low-cost means and free customizable tools such as ECOSONS and gvSIG (that is compared with industry standard ArcGIS). Echosounder data was filtered, resampled and, interpolated (using kriging or radial basis functions). Moreover, the presented methodology includes two data correction processes: Monte Carlo simulation, used to reduce GPS errors, and manually applied bathymetric line transformations, both improving the obtained results. As an example, we present the bathymetry of the Ría de Cedeira (Galicia, NW Spain), a good testbed area for coastal bathymetry methodologies given its extension and rich topography. The statistical analysis, performed by direct ground-truthing, rendered an upper bound of 1.7 m error, at 95% confidence level, and 0.7 m r.m.s. (cross-validation provided 30 cm and 25 cm, respectively). The methodology presented is fast and easy to implement, accurate outside transects (accuracy can be estimated), and can be used as a low-cost periodical monitoring method.

Groundwater vulnerability assessment: from overlay methods to statistical methods in the Lombardy Plain area

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Stefania Stevenazzi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Groundwater is among the most important freshwater resources. Worldwide, aquifers are experiencing an increasing threat of pollution from urbanization, industrial development, agricultural activities and mining enterprise. Thus, practical actions, strategies and solutions to protect groundwater from these anthropogenic sources are widely required. The most efficient tool, which helps supporting land use planning, while protecting groundwater from contamination, is represented by groundwater vulnerability assessment. Over the years, several methods assessing groundwater vulnerability have been developed: overlay and index methods, statistical and process-based methods. All methods are means to synthesize complex hydrogeological information into a unique document, which is a groundwater vulnerability map, useable by planners, decision and policy makers, geoscientists and the public. Although it is not possible to identify an approach which could be the best one for all situations, the final product should always be scientific defensible, meaningful and reliable. Nevertheless, various methods may produce very different results at any given site. Thus, reasons for similarities and differences need to be deeply investigated. This study demonstrates the reliability and flexibility of a spatial statistical method to assess groundwater vulnerability to contamination at a regional scale. The Lombardy Plain case study is particularly interesting for its long history of groundwater monitoring (quality and quantity, availability of hydrogeological data, and combined presence of various anthropogenic sources of contamination. Recent updates of the regional water protection plan have raised the necessity of realizing more flexible, reliable and accurate groundwater vulnerability maps. A comparison of groundwater vulnerability maps obtained through different approaches and developed in a time span of several years has demonstrated the relevance of the

Comparative study of gamma-ray logging and radiometric core assay of boreholes in block-I of Tummalapalle area, Cuddapah District, Andhra Pradesh using statistical methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sreenivasa Reddy, M.; Mandal, G.; Bhaumik, B.K.

2012-01-01

A comparative study has been carried out between gamma-ray logging and radiometric core assay data of boreholes in Block-I of Tummalapalle area, South Cuddapah Basin, Andhra Pradesh using statistical methods. The product of average grade (in %eU 3 O 8 ) and thickness (in m) of uranium mineralization has been used for this purpose. The outcome of statistical analysis revealed a strong relation between gamma-ray logging and radiometric core assay data. Slope of the line is close to 1.0 and intercept is not different from 0.0. It ensures homogeneity of uranium ore distribution in the host rock. The calculated value from t-test is well within the limit and ensures the negligibility in the difference of means. This indicates that either of the data can be used for ore reserve calculation. (author)

A comparative study of collagen dressing versus petrolatum gauze dressing in reducing pain at the donor area

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B A Ramesh

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Skin graft is one of the commonly done procedures by plastic surgeons, dermato surgeons and general surgeons. Pain at the donor area is a common complaint by the patient. The skin graft donor site area is usually covered with petrolatum dressing dermatosurgeons. Aim: This study was done to compare collagen dressing with petroleum gauze dressing in control of post-operative pain on skin graft donor area. Materials and Methods: The study was done on forty patients, twenty as study group who received collagen dressing and twenty as control group who received petroleum gauze dressing. The procedure was randomly selected by permutated block size of four. The post-operative pain was assessed with numerical pain rating scale 0 to 10. Nursing staff did the recording of pain scale. The nursing staff was not aware whether patient had collagen or petroleum gauze dressing. Statistics: Statistical analysis used was independent 't'-test (two-sample test and Levene's test. Results: Statistics proved that study group (collagen dressing had lesser pain than control group (petroleum gauze dressing. Conclusion: The collagen sheet dressing on skin graft donor area reduces pain in post-operative period.

Analysis on Residents’ Travel Activity Pattern in Historic Urban Areas: A Case Study of Historic Urban Area of Yangzhou, China

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Mao Ye

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Travel behaviors and activity patterns in the historic urban area of a city are expected to be different from the overall situations in the city area. The primary objective of this study is to analyze the residents’ travel activity patterns in historic urban area. Based on survey data conducted in the historic urban area of Yangzhou, the travel activities of local residents in a whole day were classified into five types of patterns. The multinomial logit (MNL model was developed to evaluate the impacts of explanatory variables on the choices of activity patterns. The results showed that the choice of activity pattern was significantly impacted by five contributing factors including the gender, age, occupation, car ownership, and number of electric bikes in household. The other variables, which were the family population, preschoolers, number of conventional bikes in household, motorcycle ownership, and income, were found to be not significantly related to the choice of activities. The results of this study from historic urban area were compared to findings of previous studies from overall urban area. The comparison showed that the impacts of factors on activity pattern in the historic urban area were different from those in the overall area. Findings of this study provide important suggestions for the policy makings to improve the traffic situations in historic urban areas of cities.

Comparison of the current state of non-forest woody vegetation in two contrasted case study areas in Central Europe

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Demková Katarína

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Non-forest woody vegetation (NFWV, as a part of green infrastructure, has gained a great deal of attention in recent years. Despite its importance in many productive and non-productive functions, an inventory (collection of quantitative and qualitative data on a national or even on a local level is not available in many European countries. The main aim of this study is to carry out a comparison of two study areas (lowland and upland from the perspective of the current state of NFWV. We investigate qualitative attributes of NFWV, its relation to environmental conditions and its spatial pattern. After manual vectorization of orthophotos, qualitative data were collected in the field. Using statistical and landscape-ecological methods, the relation between NFWV and environmental conditions, as well as its spatial pattern were assessed. Substantial differences in character and in the spatial pattern of NFWV were identified between the study areas. NFWV in the upland area has a higher proportion (2.6% than in lowland study area (1.5%, and it also has a more heterogeneous spatial structure. Statistical analysis points to a significant relation between the NFWV and land cover types in both study areas. A significant relation between NFWV and soil types was identified only in the upland area, however, while an association with potential natural vegetation was found in the lowland study area.

Ethnomathematics study: uncovering units of length, area, and volume in Kampung Naga Society

Science.gov (United States)

Septianawati, T.; Turmudi; Puspita, E.

2017-02-01

During this time, mathematics is considered as something neutral and not associated with culture. It can be seen from mathematics learning in the school which adopt many of foreign mathematics learning are considered more advanced (western). In fact, Indonesia is a rich country in cultural diversity. In the cultural activities, there are mathematical ideas that were considered a important thing in the mathematics learning. A study that examines the idea or mathematical practices in a variety of cultural activities are known as ethnomathematics. In Indonesia, there are some ethnic maintain their ancestral traditions, one of them is Kampung Naga. Therefore, this study was conducted in Kampung Naga. This study aims to uncover units of length, area, and volume used by Kampung Naga society. This study used a qualitative approach and ethnography methods. In this research, data collection is done through the principles of ethnography such as observation, interviews, documentation, and field notes. The results of this study are units of length, area, and volume used by Kampung Naga society and its conversion into standard units. This research is expected to give information to the public that mathematics has a relationship with culture and become recommendation to mathematics curriculum in Indonesia.

Experimental Study on RFID Antenna Reading Areas in a Tunnel System

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Kai Kordelin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We study optimized antenna reading area mappings for a radiofrequency identification- (RFID- based access monitoring system, used in an underground nuclear waste storage facility. We shortly introduce the access monitoring system developed for the ONKALO tunnel in Finland and describe the antenna mounting points as well as the research area. Finally, we study the measurement results of the antenna reading areas and factors that affect the reading area size. Based on our results, in addition to antenna location and direction, absorption to obstacles, reflections, diffraction, scattering, and refraction affect the antenna reading area.

Determining the area of influence of depression cone in the vicinity of lignite mine by means of triangle method and LANDSAT TM/ETM+ satellite images.

Science.gov (United States)

Zawadzki, Jarosław; Przeździecki, Karol; Miatkowski, Zygmunt

2016-01-15

, and allows for systematic monitoring of the vast area in the vicinity of Belchatow lignite mine. Besides, this method could be useful as a helper in in-situ measurement allowing a significant reduction of the number of in-situ measurements by performing them only within problematic areas. Hence, the triangle method can be used as an effective supplement to field measurements. Although the research area is located in Poland, in the vicinity of lignite mine, the method of observation of depression cones provided in this study is universal and effective, and therefore could also be useful to an international audience. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Catchment conceptualisation for examining applicability of chloride mass balance method in an area with historical forest clearance

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H. Guan

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Of the various approaches for estimating groundwater recharge, the chloride mass balance (CMB method is one of the most frequently used, especially for arid and semiarid regions. Widespread native vegetation clearance, common in many areas globally, has changed the land surface boundary condition, posing the question as to whether the current system has reached new chloride equilibrium, required for a CMB application. Although a one-dimensional CMB can be applied at a point where the water and chloride fluxes are locally in steady state, the CMB method is usually applied at a catchment scale owing to significant lateral flows in mountains. The applicability of the CMB method to several conceptual catchment types of various chloride equilibrium conditions is examined. The conceptualisation, combined with some local climate conditions, is shown to be useful in assessing whether or not a catchment has reached new chloride equilibrium. The six conceptual catchment types are tested with eleven selected catchments in the Mount Lofty Ranges (MLR, a coastal hilly area in South Australia having experienced widespread historical forest clearance. The results show that six of the eleven catchments match a type VI chloride balance condition (chloride non-equilibrium with a gaining stream, with the ratios of stream chloride output (O over atmospheric chloride input (I, or catchment chloride O/I ratios, ranging from 2 to 4. Two catchments match a type V chloride balance condition (chloride non-equilibrium with a losing stream, with catchment chloride O/I ratios about 0.5. For these type V and type VI catchments, the CMB method is not applicable. The results also suggest that neither a chloride O/I ratio less than one nor a low seasonal fluctuation of streamflow chloride concentration (a factor below 4 guarantees a chloride equilibrium condition in the study area. A large chloride O/I value (above one and a large fluctuation of streamflow chloride

A limited area model intercomparison on the 'Montserrat-2000' flash-flood event using statistical and deterministic methods

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S. Mariani

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In the scope of the European project Hydroptimet, INTERREG IIIB-MEDOCC programme, limited area model (LAM intercomparison of intense events that produced many damages to people and territory is performed. As the comparison is limited to single case studies, the work is not meant to provide a measure of the different models' skill, but to identify the key model factors useful to give a good forecast on such a kind of meteorological phenomena. This work focuses on the Spanish flash-flood event, also known as 'Montserrat-2000' event. The study is performed using forecast data from seven operational LAMs, placed at partners' disposal via the Hydroptimet ftp site, and observed data from Catalonia rain gauge network. To improve the event analysis, satellite rainfall estimates have been also considered. For statistical evaluation of quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPFs, several non-parametric skill scores based on contingency tables have been used. Furthermore, for each model run it has been possible to identify Catalonia regions affected by misses and false alarms using contingency table elements. Moreover, the standard 'eyeball' analysis of forecast and observed precipitation fields has been supported by the use of a state-of-the-art diagnostic method, the contiguous rain area (CRA analysis. This method allows to quantify the spatial shift forecast error and to identify the error sources that affected each model forecasts. High-resolution modelling and domain size seem to have a key role for providing a skillful forecast. Further work is needed to support this statement, including verification using a wider observational data set.

Comparative study of Wenner and Schlumberger electrical resistivity method for groundwater investigation: a case study from Dhule district (M.S.), India

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Vasantrao, Baride Mukund; Bhaskarrao, Patil Jitendra; Mukund, Baride Aarti; Baburao, Golekar Rushikesh; Narayan, Patil Sanjaykumar

2017-12-01

The area chosen for the present study is Dhule district, which belongs to the drought prone area of Maharashtra State, India. Dhule district suffers from water problem, and therefore, there is no extra water available to supply for the agricultural and industrial growth. To understand the lithological characters in terms of its hydro-geological conditions, it is necessary to understand the geology of the area. It is now established fact that the geophysical method gives a better information of subsurface geology. Geophysical electrical surveys with four electrodes configuration, i.e., Wenner and Schlumberger method, were carried out at the same selected sites to observe the similarity and compared both the applications in terms of its use and handling in the field. A total 54 VES soundings were carried out spread over the Dhule district and representing different lithological units. The VES curves are drawn using inverse slope method for Wenner configuration, IPI2 win Software, and curve matching techniques were used for Schlumberger configuration. Regionwise lithologs are prepared based on the obtained resistivity and thickness for Wenner method. Regionwise curves were prepared based on resistivity layers for Schlumberger method. Comparing the two methods, it is observed that Wenner and Schlumberger methods have merits or demerits. Considering merits and demerits from the field point of view, it is suggested that Wenner inverse slope method is more handy for calculation and interpretation, but requires lateral length which is a constrain. Similarly, Schlumberger method is easy in application but unwieldy for their interpretation. The work amply proves the applicability of geophysical techniques in the water resource evaluation procedure. This technique is found to be suitable for the areas with similar geological setup elsewhere.

NATO Advanced Study Institute on Methods in Computational Molecular Physics

CERN Document Server

Diercksen, Geerd

1992-01-01

This volume records the lectures given at a NATO Advanced Study Institute on Methods in Computational Molecular Physics held in Bad Windsheim, Germany, from 22nd July until 2nd. August, 1991. This NATO Advanced Study Institute sought to bridge the quite considerable gap which exist between the presentation of molecular electronic structure theory found in contemporary monographs such as, for example, McWeeny's Methods 0/ Molecular Quantum Mechanics (Academic Press, London, 1989) or Wilson's Electron correlation in moleeules (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1984) and the realization of the sophisticated computational algorithms required for their practical application. It sought to underline the relation between the electronic structure problem and the study of nuc1ear motion. Software for performing molecular electronic structure calculations is now being applied in an increasingly wide range of fields in both the academic and the commercial sectors. Numerous applications are reported in areas as diverse as catalysi...

Automated immunohistochemical method to analyze large areas of the human cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbass, Mohamad; Trought, Kathleen; Long, David; Semechko, Anton; Wong, Albert H C

2018-01-15

There have been inconsistencies in the histological abnormalities found in the cerebral cortex from patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. Discrepancies in previously published reports may arise from small sample sizes, inconsistent methodology and biased cell counting. We applied automated quantification of neuron density, neuron size and cortical layer thickness in large regions of the cerebral cortex in psychiatric patients. This method accurately segments DAPI positive cells that are also stained with CUX2 and FEZF2. Cortical layer thickness, neuron density and neuron size were automatically computed for each cortical layer in numerous Brodmann areas. We did not find pronounced cytoarchitectural abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortex or orbitofrontal cortex in patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder. There were no significant differences in layer thickness measured in immunohistochemically stained slides compared with traditional Nissl stained slides. Automated cell counts were correlated, reliable and consistent with manual counts, while being much less time-consuming. We demonstrate the validity of using a novel automated analysis approach to post-mortem brain tissue. We were able to analyze large cortical areas and quantify specific cell populations using immunohistochemical markers. Future analyses could benefit from efficient automated analysis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of mineral chemistry, thermobarometry and petrogenesis of migmatitic rocks of Hamedan area

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Ali Asghar Sepahi Gerow

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In the Hamedan region, migmatitic rocks occur with various structures. In the Simin area (South Hamedan stromatic and in the Darreh-Omar (Toyserkan area ophtalmitic structures are abundant. Migmatites have been developed in a poly-metamorphic region. At least one regional metamorphism and two contact metamorphism by mafic and felsic intrusions occurred in the area. It seems that in the Darreh-Omar area contact metamorphism of mafic body leading to migmatization, But in the Simin area previous regional metamorphism and development of shear zones followed by contact metamorphism by felsic body. Therefore, in some areas, such as the Simin area, the migmatization may have occurred in more than one stage. These are consistent with recent geochronological studies of the Alvand plutonic body and surrounding metamorphic rocks. Index minerals of metapelites such as garnet (almandine, biotite (siderophyllite, staurolite, andalusite, sillimanite, kyanite, fibrolite, cordierite, plagioclase (andesine and spinel (hercynite are existing in these rocks. Field geology, petrographic and geochemical evidences suggest that different generations of staurolite, biotite and cordierite exist in metamorphic rocks of different grades in the Hamadan area. These minerals sometimes have been formed by progressive reactions and some other times from retrogressive reactions. A number of these phases have been formed at the peak of metamorphism and some others in later time. Based on thermometric cation-exchange method of garnet-biotite pair, using different calibrations, the obtained temperature using first-generation of biotites is 655 °C and temperature range of 529 °C for second-generation biotites. Cordierite-garnet thermometry indicates a temperature of 637 °C for related migmatitic rocks. In barometry with GPBQ system, calculated pressure for first-generation biotite is estimated to be about 3.9 kbar and for the second-generation biotite around 3.6 kbar.

A Mathematical Method to Calculate Tumor Contact Surface Area: An Effective Parameter to Predict Renal Function after Partial Nephrectomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Po-Fan; Wang, Yu-De; Huang, Chi-Ping; Wu, Hsi-Chin; Yang, Che-Rei; Chen, Guang-Heng; Chang, Chao-Hsiang

2016-07-01

We proposed a mathematical formula to calculate contact surface area between a tumor and renal parenchyma. We examined the applicability of using contact surface area to predict renal function after partial nephrectomy. We performed this retrospective study in patients who underwent partial nephrectomy between January 2012 and December 2014. Based on abdominopelvic computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, we calculated the contact surface area using the formula (2*π*radius*depth) developed by integral calculus. We then evaluated the correlation between contact surface area and perioperative parameters, and compared contact surface area and R.E.N.A.L. (Radius/Exophytic/endophytic/Nearness to collecting system/Anterior/Location) score in predicting a reduction in renal function. Overall 35, 26 and 45 patients underwent partial nephrectomy with open, laparoscopic and robotic approaches, respectively. Mean ± SD contact surface area was 30.7±26.1 cm(2) and median (IQR) R.E.N.A.L. score was 7 (2.25). Spearman correlation analysis showed that contact surface area was significantly associated with estimated blood loss (p=0.04), operative time (p=0.04) and percent change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (p contact surface area and R.E.N.A.L. score independently affected percent change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (p contact surface area was a better independent predictor of a greater than 10% change in estimated glomerular filtration rate compared to R.E.N.A.L. score (AUC 0.86 vs 0.69). Using this simple mathematical method, contact surface area was associated with surgical outcomes. Compared to R.E.N.A.L. score, contact surface area was a better predictor of functional change after partial nephrectomy. Copyright © 2016 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mineral resources of the Hawk Mountain Wilderness Study Area, Honey County, Oregon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turrin, B.D.; Conrad, J.E.; Plouff, D.; King, H.D.; Swischer, C.C.; Mayerle, R.T.; Rains, R.L.

1989-01-01

The Hawk Mountain Wildeness Study Area in south-central Oregon is underlain by Miocene age basalt, welded tuff, and interbedded sedimentary rock. The western part of this study area has a low mineral resource potential for gold. There is a low mineral resource potential for small deposits of uranium in the sedimentary rocks. This entire study area has a low potential for geothermal and oil and gas resources. There are no mineral claims or identified resources in this study area

Design study on dose evaluation method for employees at severe accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Yoshitaka; Irie, Takashi; Kohriyama, Tamio; Kudo, Seiichi; Nishimura, Kazuya

2002-01-01

If a severe accident occurs in a pressurized water reactor plant, it is required to estimate dose values of operators engaged in emergency such as accident management, repair of failed parts. However, it might be difficult to measure radiation dose rate during the progress of an accident, because radiation monitors are not always installed in areas where the emergency activities are required. In this study, we analyzed the transport of radioactive materials in case of a severe accident, investigated a method to obtain radiation dose rate in the plant from estimated radioactive sources, made up a prototype analyzing system from this design study, and then evaluated its availability. As a result, we obtained the following: (1) A new dose evaluation method was established to predict the radiation dose rate at any point in the plant during a severe accident scenario. (2) This evaluation of total dose including access route and time for emergency activities is useful for estimating radiation dose limit for these employee actions. (3) The radiation dose rate map is effective for identifying high radiation areas and for choosing a route with lower radiation dose rate. (author)

A method exploiting direct communication between phasor measurement units for power system wide-area protection and control algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Almas, Muhammad Shoaib; Vanfretti, Luigi

2017-01-01

Synchrophasor measurements from Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) are the primary sensors used to deploy Wide-Area Monitoring, Protection and Control (WAMPAC) systems. PMUs stream out synchrophasor measurements through the IEEE C37.118.2 protocol using TCP/IP or UDP/IP. The proposed method establishes a direct communication between two PMUs, thus eliminating the requirement of an intermediate phasor data concentrator, data mediator and/or protocol parser and thereby ensuring minimum communication latency without considering communication link delays. This method allows utilizing synchrophasor measurements internally in a PMU to deploy custom protection and control algorithms. These algorithms are deployed using protection logic equations which are supported by all the PMU vendors. Moreover, this method reduces overall equipment cost as the algorithms execute internally in a PMU and therefore does not require any additional controller for their deployment. The proposed method can be utilized for fast prototyping of wide-area measurements based protection and control applications. The proposed method is tested by coupling commercial PMUs as Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) with Opal-RT's eMEGAsim Real-Time Simulator (RTS). As illustrative example, anti-islanding protection application is deployed using proposed method and its performance is assessed. The essential points in the method are: •Bypassing intermediate phasor data concentrator or protocol parsers as the synchrophasors are communicated directly between the PMUs (minimizes communication delays).•Wide Area Protection and Control Algorithm is deployed using logic equations in the client PMU, therefore eliminating the requirement for an external hardware controller (cost curtailment)•Effortless means to exploit PMU measurements in an environment familiar to protection engineers.

Study of airborne particles by emission spectrographic method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chao, C N; Lee, S L; Tsai, H T; Wu, S C

1975-03-01

A rapid spectrographic method was developed to analyze cadmium, lead, nickel, zinc, tin, titanium, and vanadium collected in glass fiber air filters. A direct excitation method is used for volatile elements, while graphite powder is added for determining involatile elements, such as Ti and V in a dc arc source. Limits of detection for analyzed elements are between 0.01-0.1 micrograms. This simple and sensitive method was used to analyze samples from 15 air sampling stations in different areas of Taiwan.

Hydrogeochemical studies of historical mining areas in the Humboldt River basin and adjacent areas, northern Nevada

Science.gov (United States)

Nash, J. Thomas

2005-01-01

The study area comprises the Humboldt River Basin and adjacent areas, with emphasis on mining areas relatively close to the Humboldt River. The basin comprises about 16,840 mi2 or 10,800,000 acres. The mineral resources of the Humboldt Basin have been investigated by many scientists over the past 100 years, but only recently has our knowledge of regional geology and mine geology been applied to the understanding and evaluation of mining effects on water and environmental quality. The investigations reported here apply some of the techniques and perspectives developed in the Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative (AMLI) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a program of integrated geological-hydrological-biological-chemical studies underway in the Upper Animas River watershed in Colorado and the Boulder River watershed in, Montana. The goal of my studies of sites and districts is to determine the character of mining-related contamination that is actively or potentially a threat to water quality and to estimate the potential for natural attenuation of that contamination. These geology-based studies and recommendations differ in matters of emphasis and data collection from the biology-based assessments that are the cornerstone of environmental regulations.

Measurement of interfacial areas with the chemical method for a system with alternating dispersed phases

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Woezik, B.A.A.; Westerterp, K.R.

2000-01-01

The interfacial area for a liquid–liquid system has been determined by the chemical reaction method. The saponification of butyl formate ester with 8 M sodium hydroxide has been used to this end. A correlation has been derived to describe the mole flux of ester through the interface and the kinetic

Investigation of methods for physical characteristics of atmospheric aerosols and ground dust fractions on radioactive contaminated areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Artem'ev, O.I.; Osintsev, A.Yu.; Gaziev, Ya.I.; Gordeev, S.K.

2005-01-01

The paper presents data about current situation and trends to develop investigation methods for physical characteristics of atmospheric aerosols and ground dust fractions that are observed on the former Semipalatinsk Test Site area and adjacent regions. It was considered one of the options for comprehensive collection of radioactive aerosols as fallout within control area of atmospheric contamination and underlying surface with aerosol products of the man-caused dusting on the former STS area to determine rates of 'dry' deposition and ground-based activity concentration contained in these products of radionuclides at different distances from place of dusting. (author)

A comparison of selected parametric and non-parametric imputation methods for estimating forest biomass and basal area

Science.gov (United States)

Donald Gagliasso; Susan Hummel; Hailemariam. Temesgen

2014-01-01

Various methods have been used to estimate the amount of above ground forest biomass across landscapes and to create biomass maps for specific stands or pixels across ownership or project areas. Without an accurate estimation method, land managers might end up with incorrect biomass estimate maps, which could lead them to make poorer decisions in their future...

Hip fractures and area level socioeconomic conditions: a population-based study

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Rapp Kilian

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Only a limited number of studies have analyzed the association between hip fracture incidence and socioeconomic conditions. Most, but not all found an association, and results are in part conflicting. The aim of our study was to evaluate the association between hip fractures and socioeconomic conditions in Germany, from 1995 to 2004, on a census tract area level. Methods We used data from the national hospital discharge diagnosis register and data on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of 131 census tracts from official statistics. Associations between the hip fracture incidence and socioeconomic conditions were analyzed by multiple Poisson regression models, taking overdispersion into account. Results The risk of hip fracture decreased by 4% with a 7% increase (about one interquartile range of non-German nationals. It decreased by 10% with a 6% increased rate of unemployment, increased by 7% with a 2% increase of the proportion of welfare recipients, and also increased by 3% with an increase of the proportion of single parent families of 1.9%. Conclusion Our results showed weak associations between indicators of socioeconomic conditions at area level and hip fracture risk; the varied by type of indicator. We conclude that hip fracture incidence might be influenced by the socioeconomic context of a region, but further analysis using more specific markers for deprivation on a smaller scale and individual-level data are needed.

Wide area tracking method for augmented reality supporting nuclear power plant maintenance work

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishii, Hirotake; Yan, Weida; Yang, Shou-feng; Shimoda, Hiroshi; Izumi, Masanori

2010-01-01

A new fiducial marker for augmented reality was designed along with a method that recognizes the markers captured by a camera and calculates the relative position and orientation between the markers and the camera. These markers can be used at both long and short distances without increasing their number in the environment. Results of the experimental evaluation show that the new marker can be used in a larger area than legacy markers such as square markers and circular markers. (author)

Development of wide area tracking method for augmented reality using multi-range fiducials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishii, Hirotake; Fujino, Hidenori; Yan, Weida; Yang, Shoufeng; Shimoda, Hiroshi; Izumi, Masanori

2009-01-01

A new fiducial marker for augmented reality was designed along with a method that recognizes the markers captured by a camera and calculates the relative position and orientation between the markers and the camera. These markers can be used at both long and short distances without increasing the number of markers pasted in the environment. Results of the experimental evaluation show that the new marker can be used in a larger area than circular markers and more stably than square markers. (author)

EC multicentre study on small area variations in air quality and health (SAVIAH)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lebret, E. [National Inst. of Public Health and Environmental Protection (Netherlands); Elliott, P. [London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom); Briggs, D. [Huddersfield Univ. (United Kingdom). Inst. of Environmental and Policy Analysis; Gorynski, P. [National Inst. of Hygiene, Warsaw (Poland); Kriz, B. [National Inst. of Public Health, Prague (Czech Republic)

1995-12-31

SAVIAH is an EC-funded methodological study coordinated by Dr. Paul Elliott at the LSHTM (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). The project aims to apply, test and evaluate new and emerging methodologies in the fields of epidemiology, geography, air pollution modelling and small area health statistics, and to bring the data together in a consistent geographic framework. The study was carried out in the U.K., The Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic, using the example of childhood wheeze and outdoor air pollution. Specific aims of the study were, in each centre, (1) to carry out a questionnaire survey among parents of guardians of around 4000 to 5000 children aged between 7 and 11, (2) to carry out a series of air pollution surveys for NO{sub 2} as a proxy for the complex of traffic-related pollutants, and SO{sub 2} (PL), using a dense network of passive samplers, (3) to build up a detailed Geographical Information System (GIS) for each of the study areas; (4) to construct an air pollution `map` based on the NO{sub 2} and SO{sub 2} measurements and a health `map` based on `map smoothing` techniques and (5) to explore methods to examine relationships between health, pollution, socio-economic and other data. (author)

EC multicentre study on small area variations in air quality and health (SAVIAH)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lebret, E [National Inst. of Public Health and Environmental Protection (Netherlands); Elliott, P [London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom); Briggs, D [Huddersfield Univ. (United Kingdom). Inst. of Environmental and Policy Analysis; Gorynski, P [National Inst. of Hygiene, Warsaw (Poland); Kriz, B [National Inst. of Public Health, Prague (Czech Republic)

1996-12-31

SAVIAH is an EC-funded methodological study coordinated by Dr. Paul Elliott at the LSHTM (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). The project aims to apply, test and evaluate new and emerging methodologies in the fields of epidemiology, geography, air pollution modelling and small area health statistics, and to bring the data together in a consistent geographic framework. The study was carried out in the U.K., The Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic, using the example of childhood wheeze and outdoor air pollution. Specific aims of the study were, in each centre, (1) to carry out a questionnaire survey among parents of guardians of around 4000 to 5000 children aged between 7 and 11, (2) to carry out a series of air pollution surveys for NO{sub 2} as a proxy for the complex of traffic-related pollutants, and SO{sub 2} (PL), using a dense network of passive samplers, (3) to build up a detailed Geographical Information System (GIS) for each of the study areas; (4) to construct an air pollution `map` based on the NO{sub 2} and SO{sub 2} measurements and a health `map` based on `map smoothing` techniques and (5) to explore methods to examine relationships between health, pollution, socio-economic and other data. (author)

A comparative study on plant diversity in alder (Alnus subcordata stands of natural and plantation areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SEYED ALIAKBAR REZAEI TALESHI

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Rezaei-Taleshi SA. 2014. A comparative study on plant diversity in alder (Alnus subcordata stands of natural and plantation areas. Biodiversitas 15: 37-45. Diversity index is the useful criteria for evaluating sustainability of forest ecosystems. Current study carried out in Alder (Alnus subcordata C.A. Meyer stands that located in north forests of Iran. The aim of the study is express the plant diversity indices and positive role of the trees both natural and plantation forms. Data of Alder trees and associated species were recorded in sample plots which lay down in study area randomly. The abundance, density, percentage of frequency of each species was calculated by standard methods. The results of analysis revealed that, 47 species (21 trees and shrubs species and 26 herbaceous species were abundant in 80 sample plots both in natural and plantations Alder stands. Whilst the results showed that the number of species in natural area (44 species was more than plantation stands (37 species. Comparison of species distribution in different physiographical situation showed that some species such as Alnus subcordata, Parrotia persica, Rubus hyrcanus and Prunus sp. recorded in spread rang of physiographic variables as elevation, slopes and aspects. The biodiversity criteria as Shannon H’ and Simpsons D and 1/D indexes showed that they were more in natural stands than plantation areas.

Ende Diabetes Study: diabetes and its characteristics in rural area of East Nusa Tenggara

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarwono Waspadji

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Background: There are only few studies about diabetes in rural area in Indonesia. Epidemiological study are needed to formulate health policy of disease management in specific area. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of diabetes and knowledge of diabetes among the community in Nangapanda Village, Ende District, East Nusa Tenggara.Methods: A cross-sectional study “Ende Diabetes Study” was conducted in Nangapanda Village. This study use cluster random sampling method to a total number of 19756 residents in Nangapanda village. From the sampling frame of 1800 adult subjects who underwent screening with glucometer in 2008 and 2009, 125 subjects have been diagnosed as diabetes or impaired fasting glucose (IFG. All of the subjects who were diagnosed as diabetes or IFG from the previous screening and 218 subjects from control (normal subjects in the 2008 and 2009 screening were included in the present study. Each subject underwent general anamnesis, nutritional interview, complete physical examinations, and laboratory test (blood and urine. The data were analyzed using SPSS 13.0.Ressult: There were 343 subjects in this study. The prevalence of diabetes in Nangapanda using blood glucose criteria (using fasting and post-glucose load values was 2%; using post glucose load criteria, the prevalence of DM was 1.56%; while with HbA1c criteria, the prevalence was 2.83%. The prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT was 2.2%, and IFG was 6.2%. A number of 71.1% Nangapanda residents have sufficient knowledge about diabetes.Conclusion: Prevalence of diabetes in Nangapanda (using fasting and post-glucose load criteria was 2% and 1.56% (using post-glucose load values. As much as 71.1% of Nangapanda residents have sufficient knowledge about diabetes. (Med J Indones. 2013;22:30-8Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Ende Diabetes Study, prevalence, rural Indonesia

Estimating Unbiased Land Cover Change Areas In The Colombian Amazon Using Landsat Time Series And Statistical Inference Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Arevalo, P. A.; Olofsson, P.; Woodcock, C. E.

2017-12-01

Unbiased estimation of the areas of conversion between land categories ("activity data") and their uncertainty is crucial for providing more robust calculations of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, as well as their removals. This is particularly important for the REDD+ mechanism of UNFCCC where an economic compensation is tied to the magnitude and direction of such fluxes. Dense time series of Landsat data and statistical protocols are becoming an integral part of forest monitoring efforts, but there are relatively few studies in the tropics focused on using these methods to advance operational MRV systems (Monitoring, Reporting and Verification). We present the results of a prototype methodology for continuous monitoring and unbiased estimation of activity data that is compliant with the IPCC Approach 3 for representation of land. We used a break detection algorithm (Continuous Change Detection and Classification, CCDC) to fit pixel-level temporal segments to time series of Landsat data in the Colombian Amazon. The segments were classified using a Random Forest classifier to obtain annual maps of land categories between 2001 and 2016. Using these maps, a biannual stratified sampling approach was implemented and unbiased stratified estimators constructed to calculate area estimates with confidence intervals for each of the stable and change classes. Our results provide evidence of a decrease in primary forest as a result of conversion to pastures, as well as increase in secondary forest as pastures are abandoned and the forest allowed to regenerate. Estimating areas of other land transitions proved challenging because of their very small mapped areas compared to stable classes like forest, which corresponds to almost 90% of the study area. Implications on remote sensing data processing, sample allocation and uncertainty reduction are also discussed.

A Mixed WLS Power System State Estimation Method Integrating a Wide-Area Measurement System and SCADA Technology

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Tao Jin

2018-02-01

Full Text Available To address the issue that the phasor measurement units (PMUs of wide area measurement system (WAMS are not sufficient for static state estimation in most existing power systems, this paper proposes a mixed power system weighted least squares (WLS state estimation method integrating a wide-area measurement system and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA technology. The hybrid calculation model is established by incorporating phasor measurements (including the node voltage phasors and branch current phasors and the results of the traditional state estimator in a post-processing estimator. The performance assessment is discussed through setting up mathematical models of the distribution network. Based on PMU placement optimization and bias analysis, the effectiveness of the proposed method was proved to be accurate and reliable by simulations of different cases. Furthermore, emulating calculation shows this method greatly improves the accuracy and stability of the state estimation solution, compared with the traditional WLS state estimation.

Evaluation of cropping pattern in rainfed areas based on studies of pranata mangsa and weather dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Zaki, M. K.; Furi, N. T.; Syamsiyah, Jauhari; Sumani

2018-03-01

Weather dynamics such as the fifth time of the rainy season and drought are becoming more frequent. These conditions pose a significant impact on the strategies of cultivation such as cropping pattern and crop yields, especially in rainfed areas. One of the steps that can be taken is to return to local wisdom, such as pranata mangsa. This study aimed at analyzing the relationship of the variability of precipitation in rainfed areas with pranata mangsa and then to evaluate cropping patterns based on the result of the analysis. The study was conducted in rainfed areas of the District of Jumantono, Karanganyar Regency; and District of Teras and District of Ampel, Boyolali Regency in June until December 2014. The research method is a descriptive exploratory survey with purposive sampling based on moderate altitude (200-700 masl). The types of data that are used are primary and secondary. Data analysis was used correlation test. The results showed that precipitation in rainfed areas has a close relationship with paranata mangsa. These results explain that pranata mangsa still relevant to be used even though it has happened weather dynamics.

Application of spatial methods to identify areas with lime requirement in eastern Croatia

Science.gov (United States)

Bogunović, Igor; Kisic, Ivica; Mesic, Milan; Zgorelec, Zeljka; Percin, Aleksandra; Pereira, Paulo

2016-04-01

With more than 50% of acid soils in all agricultural land in Croatia, soil acidity is recognized as a big problem. Low soil pH leads to a series of negative phenomena in plant production and therefore as a compulsory measure for reclamation of acid soils is liming, recommended on the base of soil analysis. The need for liming is often erroneously determined only on the basis of the soil pH, because the determination of cation exchange capacity, the hydrolytic acidity and base saturation is a major cost to producers. Therefore, in Croatia, as well as some other countries, the amount of liming material needed to ameliorate acid soils is calculated by considering their hydrolytic acidity. For this research, several interpolation methods were tested to identify the best spatial predictor of hidrolitic acidity. The purpose of this study was to: test several interpolation methods to identify the best spatial predictor of hidrolitic acidity; and to determine the possibility of using multivariate geostatistics in order to reduce the number of needed samples for determination the hydrolytic acidity, all with an aim that the accuracy of the spatial distribution of liming requirement is not significantly reduced. Soil pH (in KCl) and hydrolytic acidity (Y1) is determined in the 1004 samples (from 0-30 cm) randomized collected in agricultural fields near Orahovica in eastern Croatia. This study tested 14 univariate interpolation models (part of ArcGIS software package) in order to provide most accurate spatial map of hydrolytic acidity on a base of: all samples (Y1 100%), and the datasets with 15% (Y1 85%), 30% (Y1 70%) and 50% fewer samples (Y1 50%). Parallel to univariate interpolation methods, the precision of the spatial distribution of the Y1 was tested by the co-kriging method with exchangeable acidity (pH in KCl) as a covariate. The soils at studied area had an average pH (KCl) 4,81, while the average Y1 10,52 cmol+ kg-1. These data suggest that liming is necessary

The radiological study of areas gastricae in chronic gastritis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baik, D. I.; Jaun, W. K.; Lee, S. W.; Han, C. Y.

1980-01-01

A chronic gastritis is common and clinically significant, but specific findings were rarely described in UGIS. And the authors attempted to clarify the area gastrica of the stomach related to the chronic gastritis. The authors reviewed 'Areae gastricae' micromucosal patterns of stomach, retrospectively with double contrast barium meal study in 16 cases, histologically proven cases of chronic gastritis by endoscopic biopsy from January 1, 1980 to June 30, 1980. Here the commonest site of chronic gastritis is evident in 12 cases in pyloric gland area, and a sixe of area gastrica shows above 2.5mm in longest diameter with combinding morphology, regular to irregular, 3 to 1 and coarse barium accumulations of intervening sulci. The chronic gastritis could be suggested with this better technique of UGIS

Ethnic minority suicide : a small area geographical study in south London

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Neeleman, J; Wessely, S

Background. The relationship between ethnicity and suicide risk is ill-understood. It is unclear whether, and if so, how, the ethnic mix of local areas affects risk in local individuals. Methods. Coroners' records of 329 suicides were used to obtain ethnic (White, Afro-Caribbean, Asian) suicide

Chemicals of emerging concern in water and bottom sediment in Great Lakes areas of concern, 2010 to 2011-Collection methods, analyses methods, quality assurance, and data

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kathy E.; Langer, Susan K.; Menheer, Michael A.; Foreman, William T.; Furlong, Edward T.; Smith, Steven G.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) cooperated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a study to identify the occurrence of chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) in water and bottom-sediment samples collected during 2010–11 at sites in seven areas of concern (AOCs) throughout the Great Lakes. Study sites include tributaries to the Great Lakes in AOCs located near Duluth, Minn.; Green Bay, Wis.; Roches­ter, N.Y.; Detroit, Mich.; Toledo, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wis.; and Ashtabula, Ohio. This report documents the collection meth­ods, analyses methods, quality-assurance data and analyses, and provides the data for this study. Water and bottom-sediment samples were analyzed at the USGS National Water Quality Laboratory in Denver, Colo., for a broad suite of CECs. During this study, 135 environmental and 23 field dupli­cate samples of surface water and wastewater effluent, 10 field blank water samples, and 11 field spike water samples were collected and analyzed. Sixty-one of the 69 wastewater indicator chemicals (laboratory method 4433) analyzed were detected at concentrations ranging from 0.002 to 11.2 micrograms per liter. Twenty-eight of the 48 pharmaceuticals (research method 8244) analyzed were detected at concentrations ranging from 0.0029 to 22.0 micro­grams per liter. Ten of the 20 steroid hormones and sterols analyzed (research method 4434) were detected at concentrations ranging from 0.16 to 10,000 nanograms per liter. During this study, 75 environmental, 13 field duplicate samples, and 9 field spike samples of bottom sediment were collected and analyzed for a wide variety of CECs. Forty-seven of the 57 wastewater indicator chemicals (laboratory method 5433) analyzed were detected at concentrations ranging from 0.921 to 25,800 nanograms per gram. Seventeen of the 20 steroid hormones and sterols (research method 6434) analyzed were detected at concentrations ranging from 0.006 to 8,921 nanograms per gram. Twelve of

Comorbid mental disorders in substance users from a single catchment area - a clinical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malt Ulrik F

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The optimal treatment of patients with substance use disorders (SUDs requires an awareness of their comorbid mental disorders and vice versa. The prevalence of comorbidity in first-time-admitted SUD patients has been insufficiently studied. Diagnosing comorbidity in substance users is complicated by symptom overlap, symptom fluctuations, and the limitations of the assessment methods. The aim of this study was to diagnose all mental disorders in substance users living in a single catchment area, without any history of treatment for addiction or psychiatric disorders, admitted consecutively to the specialist health services. The prevalence of substance-induced versus substance-independent disorders according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV, in SUD patients will be described. Methods First-time consecutively admitted patients from a single catchment area, aged 16 years or older, admitted to addiction clinics or departments of psychiatry as outpatients or inpatients will be screened for substance-related problems using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test and the Drug Use Disorder Identification Test. All patients with scores above the cutoff value will be asked to participate in the study. The patients included will be diagnosed for SUD and other axis I disorders by a psychiatrist using the Psychiatric Research Interview for Substance and Mental Disorders. This interview was designed for the diagnosis of primary and substance-induced disorders in substance users. Personality disorders will be assessed according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis II disorders. The Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms, the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale, the Young Mania Rating Scale, and the Angst Hypomania Check List will be used for additional diagnostic assessments. The sociodemographic data will be recorded with the Stanley

Radon and radon progeny in 70 houses in the Tennessee Valley area: study design and measurement methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dudney, C.S.; Hawthorne, A.R.; Monar, K.P.; Quillen, J.L.; Clark, C. Jr.; Doane, R.W.; Wallace, R.G.; Reed, R.P.

1986-01-01

Levels of radon and its short-lived airborne progeny are being measured in a year-long study of 70 houses in four states in the Tennessee Valley. Various methods were used to solicit volunteers with differing degrees of success. Criteria for selection of houses in the study included presence of a lower level with cement floor and one or more block walls in contact with the soil, absence of obvious indications of technologically enhanced sources of radium, and proximity to one of four cities (Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham, or Florence). By design, most houses in the study are in the same neighborhood as at least one other house in the study. Houses range in age from newly constructed to about 40 years old. Most of the houses have more than 2000 square feet of finished floor space. The lower level encompasses a garage in most cases. More complete information pertaining to house characteristics will be gathered in the course of the study. 19 refs., 1 fig

The study of remote sensing dynamic monitoring for coalfield fire area in Shuixigou, Xinjiang