Alternative forms of energy transmission from OTEC plants. [Chemical and electrical

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Konopka, A.; Biederman, N.; Talib, A.; Yudow, B.

1977-01-01

The transmission of OTEC-derived chemical and electrical energy is compared. The chemical energy-carriers considered are the following: gaseous and liquid hydrogen, liquid ammonia, methanol, gasoline, hydrazine hydrate, anhydrous hydrazine, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), 1,7-Octadiyne, and tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene. The assessment assumes that each of the above energy carriers were transported by barge and/or pipeline. The delivered costs were then compared with transmission of electricity by submarine cables. Because chemical and electrical energy are not equivalent, however, their comparison can only be done after the outputs are converted to a common form. Thus, in addition to presenting the delivered cost and overall energy efficiency of the chemical energy-carriers, we have provided a discussion of the equipment, costs, and efficiencies of converting the hydrogen and ammonia delivered into electricity, and the electricity delivered into hydrogen and ammonia. A concise technical assessment and economic analysis of components associated with the conversion, storage, transportation, and shore-based receiving facilities for the conversion of OTEC mechanical energy to chemical energy is provided and compared to the conversion and transmission of electrical power. Results concerning the hydrogen and ammonia analysis were determined as part of the OTEC program at IGT from May 1975 through May 1976 under Contract No. NSF-C1008 (AER-75-00033) with the National Science Foundation and ERDA. Information concerning carbonaceous fuels and high-energy fuels production was developed as part of the current IGT OTEC program under Contract No. E(49-18)-2426 with ERDA.

Ocean Thermal Energy Converstion (OTEC) test facilities study program. Final report. Volume II. Part B

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1977-01-17

Results are presented of an 8-month study to develop alternative non-site-specific OTEC facilities/platform requirements for an integrated OTEC test program which may include land and floating test facilities. Volume II--Appendixes is bound in three parts (A, B, and C) which together comprise a compendium of the most significant detailed data developed during the study. Part B provides an annotated test list and describes component tests and system tests.

Staging Rankine Cycles Using Ammonia for OTEC Power Production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bharathan, D.

2011-03-01

Recent focus on renewable power production has renewed interest in looking into ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) systems. Early studies in OTEC applicability indicate that the island of Hawaii offers a potential market for a nominal 40-MWe system. a 40-MWe system represents a large leap in the current state of OTEC technology. Lockheed Martin Inc. is currently pursuing a more realistic goal of developing a 10-MWe system under U.S. Navy funding (Lockheed 2009). It is essential that the potential risks associated with the first-of-its-kind plant should be minimized for the project's success. Every means for reducing costs must also be pursued without increasing risks. With this in mind, the potential for increasing return on the investment is assessed both in terms of effective use of the seawater resource and of reducing equipment costs.

OTEC LSCT study, additional work. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-12-01

In the final stage of the Large Systems Construction Techniques (LSCT) study, work on the elastomer cold water pipe and on the design of power modules for the Sparmod platform concept was performed. Six different configurations of pipe are compared, and the pressure difference between the outside and inside of the pipe is analyzed. Static forces in the membrane are also discussed. Calculation of the strength and stability of concrete rings are done. The forces, membrane materials and connection details of the elastomer membrane of the pipe are discussed. Construction and handling of the pipe and rings are discussed, and a rough breakdown of the costs for a 30 m diameter pipe is given. The consequences of the sparmod principles to the OTEC-plant design are investigated. Conceptual design of a 50 MW power module for the 400 MW sparmod design was done, followed by a construction and installation plan. Conceptual design of a 50 MW and 100 MW Plant based on the sparmod principle is done to investigate the influence of scale. (LEW)

PHYTOPLANKTON AND BIOMASS DISTRIBUTION AT POTENTIAL OTEC SITES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, P.W.; Horne, A.J.

1979-06-01

Net or large phytoplankton species composition and most phytoplankton abundance was measured at three OTEC sites. In the Gulf of Mexico and Hawaii, diatoms dominated while the blue-green algae Trichodesmium was most common at Puerto Rico. The species ratio of diatoms to dinoflagellates was approximately 1:1. The species diversity varied from site to site, Hawaii > Puerto Rico > Gulf of Mexico. Chlorophyll a, which is a measure of the pigment of all algae size ranges, showed a subsurface peak of 0.14-0.4 g per liter at 75 to 125 m. Occasional surface peaks up to 0.4 pg per liter occurred. Further refinement of collection techniques is needed to delineate the subtle environmental effects expected by OTEC plant discharges.

Phytoplankton and biomass distribution at potential OTEC sites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, P.W.; Horne, A.J.

1979-06-01

Net or large phytoplankton species composition and most phytoplankton abundance was measured at three OTEC sites. In the Gulf of Mexico and'Hawaii, diatoms dominated while the blue-green algae Trichodesmium was most common at Puerto Rico. The species ratio of diatoms to dinoflagellates was approximately 1:1. The species diversity varied from site to site, Hawaii > Puerto Rico > Gulf of Mexico. Chlorophyll a, which is a measure of the pigment of all algae size ranges, showed a subsurface peak of 0.14 to 0.4 g per liter at 75 to 125 m. Occasional surface peaks upto 0.4 ..mu..g per liter occurred. Further refinement of collection techniques is needed to delineate the subtle environmental effects expected by OTEC plant discharges.

Study of integration issues to realize OTEC market potential. First quarterly report. [134 references

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1978-12-01

The specific objective of this study is to examine the commercialization of OTEC technology in the electric utility industry in the Gulf region of the United States. To accomplish this, the project staff is identifying the major issues that will arise in the integration of OTEC units into the power delivery systems in the Gulf Region. Among these issues are problems that must be resolved and barriers to be overcome. These are being identified and alternative approaches to resolving or overcoming them will be explored. Their relative importance in the integration will be assessed as well. The alternative approaches to resolving problems and overcoming barriers will be evaluated to determine their relative effectiveness, and the problems and barriers will be conceptually resolved. This evaluation will permit the recommendation of preferred approaches to integration and the preferred approaches will be assembled into a structured strategy for OTEC commercialization. A list of 134 references relevant to OTEC electric power plant integration issues is included.

A Preliminary Investigation of the Effect of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC Effluent Discharge Options on Global OTEC Resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gérard Nihous

2018-03-01

Full Text Available A simple algorithm previously used to evaluate steady-state global Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC resources is extended to probe the effect of various effluent discharge methodologies. It is found that separate evaporator and condenser discharges potentially increase OTEC net power limits by about 60% over a comparable mixed discharge scenario. This stems from a relatively less severe degradation of the thermal resource at given OTEC seawater flow rates, which corresponds to a smaller heat input into the ocean. Next, the most practical case of a mixed discharge into the mixed layer is found to correspond to only 80% of the so-called baseline case (mixed discharge at a water depth of initial neutral buoyancy. In general, locating effluent discharges at initial neutral-buoyancy depths appears to be nearly optimal in terms of OTEC net power production limits. The depth selected for the OTEC condenser effluent discharge, however, has by far the greatest impact. Clearly, these results are preliminary and should be investigated in more complex ocean general circulation models.

Micro- and macrofouling in the OTEC program: an overview

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitchell, R; Benson, P H

1980-06-01

The mechanism of formation and environmental factors affecting marine biofouling are reviewed. Methods of biofouling assessment, known and potential biofouling impacts upon plant performance, and control measures applicable to OTEC are also discussed. Areas of uncertainty and the needs for continuing R and D effort to resolve such issues are indicated.

The Potential Impacts of OTEC Intakes on Aquatic Organisms at an OTEC Site under Development on Kauai, HI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oney, Stephen K. [OTE Corporation; Hogan, Timothy [Alden Research Laboratory; Steinbeck, John [Tenera Environmental

2013-08-31

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a marine renewable energy technology with the potential to contribute significantly to the baseload power needs of tropical island communities and remote U.S. military installations. As with other renewable energy technologies, however, there are potential challenges to its commercialization: technological, financial, social, and environmental. Given the large volumes of seawater required to drive the electricity-producing cycle, there is potential for the intakes to negatively impact the marine resources of the source waterbody through the impingement and entrainment of marine organisms. The goal of this project was to identify feasible warm water intake designs for a land-based OTEC facility proposed for development in Port Allen, Kauai and to characterize the populations of ichthyoplankton near the proposed warm water intake location that could be at risk of entrainment. The specific objectives of this project were to: • Complete a site-specific assessment of available and feasible warm water intake technologies to determine the best intake designs for minimizing impacts to aquatic organisms at the proposed land-based OTEC site in Port Allen, Kauai. • Complete a field sampling program to collect biological data to characterize the baseline populations of ichthyoplankton near the sites being considered for the warm water intake at the proposed land-based OTEC site in Port Allen, Kauai. Various intake design options are presented with the focus on providing adequate environmental protection to the local ichthyoplankton population while providing an economically viable intake option to the OTEC developer. Further definition by NOAA and other environmental regulators is required to further refine the designs presented to meet all US regulations for future OTEC development.

Continued evaluation of compact heat exchangers for OTEC evaluation. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McGowan, J.G.

1979-10-01

The objectives of this work investigating the applicability of compact plate heat type heat exchangers to OTEC power systems were: (1) an analytical and experimental evaluation of the performance characteristics of compact heat exchangers using ammonia as the working fluid operating under the entire range of OTEC system conditions; and (2) an evaluation of the applicable manufacturing processes, maintenance requirements, and arrangement concepts for large-scale compact OTEC heat exchangers with specific emphasis on total economics. The work was carried out to establish the applicability of compact plate type heat exchangers to OTEC power systems and to provide: (1) experimental verification of predicted performance (heat transfer and fluid flow) under OTEC operating conditions (using NH/sub 3/); (2) provide initial performance data for several desirable plate type OTEC heat exchanger panels; (3) provide test apparatus for continued experimental testing of OTEC compact heat exchanger panels; and (4) provide design information on applicable manufacturing processes maintenance requirements and arrangement concepts for plate type heat exchangers.

Increasing efficiency of a 33 MW OTEC in Indonesia using flat-plate solar collector for the seawater heater

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iwan Rohman Setiawan

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a design concept of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC plant built in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, with 33 MWe and 7.1% of the power capacity and efficiency, respectively. The generated electrical power and the efficiency of OTEC plant are enhanced by a simulation of a number of derived formulas. Enhancement of efficiency is performed by increasing the temperature of the warm seawater toward the evaporator from 26˚C up to 33.5˚C using a flat-plate solar collector. The simulation results show that by increasing these a water temperature up to 33.5˚C, the generated power will increase up to 144.155 MWe with the OTEC efficiency up to 9.54%, respectively. The required area of flat-plate solar collector to achieve the results is around 6.023 x 106 m2.

Marine mammal fauna of potential OTEC sites in the Gulf of Mexico and Hawaii

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Payne, S.F.

1979-05-01

Twenty-seven marine mammal species have been recorded for the Gulf of Mexico, including 7 Mysticetes or baleen whales, 17 Odontocetes or toothed whales, 1 Sirenian (manatee), and 1 or 2 Pinnipeds or seals. The most common species in the Gulf is the bottlenosed dolphin, an inshore species. Offshore, the spotted dolphin, is fairly common. Most other species are recorded from very few sightings or strandings. None of the endangered species is common in potential OTEC sites in the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty-two marine mammals may occur in Hawaii; 2 Mystecetes, 19 Odonotocetes, and the endemic monk seal. The monk seal, an endangered species, lives in the extreme northwestern island chain away from potential OTEC sites. Among the most common cetaceans in Hawaii is the endangered humpback whale. The spinner dolphin and the bottlenosed dolphin are also fairly common. The baleen whales feed on zooplankton during the summer in polar waters, and are migratory, while the toothed whales feed mainly on fish and squid, and are found in temperate or tropical regions year-round. The manatee is vegetarian and the pinnipeds are fish- or squid-eaters. Environmental effects of OTEC which may affect mammals are: toxic effects of biocide release or ammonia spill, biostimulating effects of seawater redistribution, oil spills, or effects of the physical presence of OTEC plants.

Baseline design of an OTEC pilot plantship. Volume C. Specifications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Glosten, L. R.; Bringloe, Thomas; Soracco, Dave; Fenstermacher, Earl; Magura, Donald; Sander, Olof; Richards, Dennis; Seward, Jerry

1979-05-01

Volume C is part of a three-volume report that presents a baseline engineering design of an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plantship. This volume provides the specifications for the hull, cold-water pipe, ship outfitting and machinery, OTEC power system, electrical system, and folded-tube heat exchangers.

Direct-contact condensers for open-cycle OTEC applications: Model validation with fresh water experiments for structured packings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bharathan, D.; Parsons, B.K.; Althof, J.A.

1988-10-01

The objective of the reported work was to develop analytical methods for evaluating the design and performance of advanced high-performance heat exchangers for use in open-cycle thermal energy conversion (OC-OTEC) systems. This report describes the progress made on validating a one-dimensional, steady-state analytical computer of fresh water experiments. The condenser model represents the state of the art in direct-contact heat exchange for condensation for OC-OTEC applications. This is expected to provide a basis for optimizing OC-OTEC plant configurations. Using the model, we examined two condenser geometries, a cocurrent and a countercurrent configuration. This report provides detailed validation results for important condenser parameters for cocurrent and countercurrent flows. Based on the comparisons and uncertainty overlap between the experimental data and predictions, the model is shown to predict critical condenser performance parameters with an uncertainty acceptable for general engineering design and performance evaluations. 33 refs., 69 figs., 38 tabs.

THE MARINE MAMMAL FAUNA OF POTENTIAL OTEC SITES IN THE GULF OF MEXICO AND HAWAII

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Payne, S.F.

1979-05-01

Twenty-seven marine mammal species have been recorded for the Gulf of Mexico, including 7 Mysticetes or baleen whales, 17 Odontocetes or toothed whales, 1 Sirenian (manatee), and 1 or 2 Pinnipeds or seals. The most common species in the Gulf is Tursiops truncatus, the bottlenosed dolphin, an inshore species. Offshore, Stenella plagiodon, the spotted dolphin, is fairly common. Most other species are recorded from very few sightings or strandings. None of the endangered species is common in potential OTEC sites in the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty-two marine mammals may occur in Hawaii; 2 Mystecetes, 19 Odonotocetes, and the endemic monk seal. The monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi), an endangered species, lives in the extreme northwestern island chain away from potential OTEC sites. Among the most common cetaceans in Hawaii is the endangered humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). Stenella longirostris, the spinner dolphin; and Tursiops sp., the bottlenosed dolphin are also fairly common. The baleen whales feed on zooplankton during the summer in polar waters, and are migratory, while the toothed whales feed mainly on fish and squid, and are found in temperate or tropical regions year-round. The manatee is vegetarian and the pinnipeds are fish- or squid-eaters. Environmental effects of OTEC which may affect mammals are: toxic effects of biocide release or ammonia spill, biostimulating effects of seawater redistribution, oil spills, or effects of the physical presence of OTEC plants.

Bringing OTEC Environmental Assessments of the 1980s Up To 21st Century Oceanographic Standards (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Sansone, F. J.; Comfort, C. M.; Weng, K. C.

2010-12-01

Although the potential environmental effects of OTEC plant construction and operation were evaluated in the 1980s as part of earlier OTEC development, recent OTEC efforts have led to the re-examination of the issues involved. During the intervening years we have significantly increased our understanding of the oceans, and our ability to observe and model the marine environment has improved markedly. For example, OTEC environmental assessments have traditionally included the effects of discharging deep seawater, with its elevated levels of dissolved inorganic nutrients and dissolved inorganic carbon, and depleted levels of dissolved oxygen, into the upper water column. However, the role of trace elements in controlling marine primary production rates is now widely accepted, and their natural vertical distribution in the ocean needs to be considered. Our expanded understanding of ocean biogeochemistry also makes environmental assessment more complicated. For example, discharges of deep seawater within the photic zone of the ocean, but below the surface mixed layer, should result in photosynthetic production that would remove both dissolved nutrients and dissolved carbon dioxide at approximately the same stoichiometric ratio as they are elevated in deep seawater; thus, the only large-scale related environmental impact would involve the fate of the resulting photosynthetically produced organic matter. Similarly, our improved knowledge of marine physical chemistry allows a better understanding of OTEC’s potential impact on the ocean’s inorganic carbon chemistry. For example, the reduction in pressure of deep seawater as it is brought to the surface, and the increase in temperature due to OTEC heat exchange, will both lead to an increase in the deep water’s pH; opposite effects will occur in the shallow seawater used by OTEC. Determination of the net effect will require modeling using predicted pumping rates for warm and cold seawater, the planned intake and

Thermal efficiencies and OTEC potentials at some offshore sites along the Indian coast

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

RameshBabu, V.; Sathe, P.V.; Varadachari, V.V.R.

The annual variation of thermal efficiency of closed OTEC power cycle at some selected offshore sites along the Indian coast is presented. OTEC potentials at these sites have been evaluated in order to identify promising locations for exploration...

Small-scale uses and costs of hydrogen derived from OTEC ammonia

Science.gov (United States)

Strickland, G.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plantships could produce NH3 from air and water, using energy derived from thermal gradients in tropical oceans. NH3 can serve both as a commodity, for the fertilizer and chemical industries, and as a liquid energy carrier for fuel use. Attention is given to the economic prospects for using OTEC NH3 as a hydrogen transport and storage medium for small users who want to assess the purchase of hydrogen vs. the cost of producing hydrogen at their sites. Hydrogen is readily obtained from NH3 at the point of end use, by dissociation and purification as required, for use as a chemical commodity or fuel. It is shown that high-purity H2 derived from OTEC NH3 might be competitive with H2 made at the point of end use via water electrolysis, or via steam reforming of natural gas.

Results of scoping tests for open-cycle OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion) components operating with seawater

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zangrando, F; Bharathan, D; Green, H J; Link, H F; Parsons, B K; Parsons, J M; Pesaran, A A [Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA); Panchal, C B [Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)

1990-09-01

This report presents comprehensive documentation of the experimental research conducted on open-cycle ocean thermal energy conversion (OC-OTEC) components operating with seawater as a working fluid. The results of this research are presented in the context of previous analysis and fresh-water testing; they provide a basis for understanding and predicting with confidence the performance of all components of an OC-OTEC system except the turbine. Seawater tests have confirmed the results that were obtained in fresh-water tests and predicted by the analytical models of the components. A sound technical basis has been established for the design of larger systems in which net power will be produced for the first time from OC-OTEC technology. Design and operation of a complete OC-OTEC system that produces power will provide sufficient confidence to warrant complete transfer of OC-OTEC technology to the private sector. Each components performance is described in a separate chapter written by the principal investigator responsible for technical aspects of the specific tests. Chapters have been indexed separately for inclusion on the data base.

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). Power system development. Preliminary design report, final

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1978-12-04

The preliminary design of the 10 MWe OTEC power module and the 200 kWe test articles is given in detail. System operation and performance; power system cost estimates; 10 MWe heat exchangers; 200 kWe heat exchanger articles; biofouling control;ammonia leak detection, and leak repair; rotating machinery; support subsystem; instrumentation and control; electrical subsystem; installation approach; net energy and resource analysis; and operability, maintainability, and safety are discussed. The conceptual design of the 40 MWe electrical power system includes four or five 10 MWe modules as designed for the 10 MWe pilot plant. (WHK)

Ecology of Hawaiian marine mammals emphasizing the impact of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) on endangered species

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Payne, S.F.; Hartwig, E.O.

1982-06-01

Twenty-two marine mammal species including 2 baleen whales, 20 toothed whales, and one pinniped occur in Hawaiian waters. Among these are two endangered species, the migratory humpback whale (Megaptera novaengliae) around the main islands, and the non-migratory Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) in the extreme northwestern island chain. The endangered species are among those most commonly sighted, while spinner dolphins (Stenella spp.), bottle-nosed dolphins (Tursiops sp.), and false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) are sighted less frequently. Most Hawaiian cetacean species are Odontoceti, or toothed whales, and feed on fish and squid. The Mysteceti or baleen whales feed on plankton, however the endangered humpback whale, which migrates to Hawaii to breed and calve, presumably does not feed there. The endangered monk seal feeds on cephalopods and fish. The impact of OTEC on endangered and non-endangered marine mammals results from several direct and indirect effects and is discussed in the text. Careful siting of OTEC plants away from humpback breeding areas and monk seal breeding and feeding areas will avoid adverse effects on these populations.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion power system development. Phase I: preliminary design. Final report. [ODSP-3 code; OTEC Steady-State Analysis Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1978-12-04

The following appendices are included; Dynamic Simulation Program (ODSP-3); sample results of dynamic simulation; trip report - NH/sub 3/ safety precautions/accident records; trip report - US Coast Guard Headquarters; OTEC power system development, preliminary design test program report; medium turbine generator inspection point program; net energy analysis; bus bar cost of electricity; OTEC technical specifications; and engineer drawings. (WHK)

Thermal power plant efficiency enhancement with Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soto, Rodrigo; Vergara, Julio

2014-01-01

In addition to greenhouse gas emissions, coastal thermal power plants would gain further opposition due to their heat rejection distressing the local ecosystem. Therefore, these plants need to enhance their thermal efficiency while reducing their environmental offense. In this study, a hybrid plant based on the principle of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion was coupled to a 740 MW coal-fired power plant project located at latitude 28°S where the surface to deepwater temperature difference would not suffice for regular OTEC plants. This paper presents the thermodynamical model to assess the overall efficiency gained by adopting an ammonia Rankine cycle plus a desalinating unit, heated by the power plant condenser discharge and refrigerated by cold deep seawater. The simulation allowed us to optimize a system that would finally enhance the plant power output by 25–37 MW, depending on the season, without added emissions while reducing dramatically the water temperature at discharge and also desalinating up to 5.8 million tons per year. The supplemental equipment was sized and the specific emissions reduction was estimated. We believe that this approach would improve the acceptability of thermal and nuclear power plant projects regardless of the plant location. -- Highlights: • An Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion hybrid plant was designed. • The waste heat of a power plant was delivered as an OTEC heat source. • The effect of size and operating conditions on plant efficiency were studied. • The OTEC implementation in a Chilean thermal power plant was evaluated. • The net efficiency of the thermal power plant was increased by 1.3%

Ocean Thermal Energy Conservation (OTEC) power system development (PDS) II. Preliminary design report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-08-10

This report documents the results and conclusions of the PDS II, Phase I, preliminary design of a 10 MWe OTEC power system, using enhanced plate type heat exchangers, and of representative 0.2 MWe test articles. It further provides the documentation (specifications, drawings, trade studies, etc.) resulting from the design activities. The data and discussions of the technical concepts are organized to respond to the PDS II, Phase II proposal evaluation criteria. This volume, which specifically addresses the three evaluation categories (heat exchangers, rotating machinery, and power system configuration and performance) is an integral part of the Phase II plans (proposal) which describe the technical approach to delivering test articles to OTEC-1. In addition, there is a section which addresses power system cost and net energy analysis and another which discusses the results of stainless steel feasibility studies. Supporting documentation is contained in two appendix volumes.

Qualification of stainless steel for OTEC heat exchanger tubes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

LaQue, F.L.

1979-01-01

The history of the AL-6X alloy is reviewed and its credentials as a candidate for use as tubing in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Heat Exchangers are examined. Qualification is based on results of accelerated tests using ferric chloride for resistance to crevice corrosion and pitting, long-time crevice corrosion and pitting tests in natural sea water and anticipated resistance to attack by ammonia and mixtures of ammonia and sea water. Since the alloy has no natural resistance to fouling by marine organisms, it must be able to accomodate action to prevent fouling by chlorination or to remove it by mechanical cleaning techniques or appropriate chemical cleaning methods. The satisfactory behavior indicated by the various accelerated and long-time corrosion tests has been confirmed by excellent performance of several million feet of tubing in condensers in coastal power plants. Early evaluation tests demonstrated the need for proper heat treatment to avoid the presence of a sigma phase, which promoted severe pitting of some, but not all, specimens in tests in natural sea water. The available data qualify the AL-6X alloy as being a satisfactory alternate to titanium for tubes in OTEC heat exchangers.

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power system development. Preliminary design report, Appendices, Part 1 (Final)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1978-12-04

The objective of this project is the development of a preliminary design for a full-sized, closed cycle, ammonia power system module for the 100 MWe OTEC demonstration plant. In turn, this demonstration plant is to demonstrate, by 1984, the operation and performance of an Ocean Thermal Power Plant having sufficiently advanced heat exchanger design to project economic viability for commercial utilization in the late 1980's and beyond. Included in this power system development are the preliminary designs for a proof-of-concept pilot plant and test article heat exchangers which are scaled in such a manner as to support a logically sequential, relatively low-cost development of the full-scale power system module. The conceptual designs are presented for the demonstration plant power module, the proof-of-concept pilot plant, and for a pair of test article heat exchangers. Costs associated with the design, development, fabrication, checkout, delivery, installation, and operation are included. The accompanying design and producibilty studies on the full-scale power system module project the performance/economics for the commercial plant. This section of the report contains appendices on the developed computer models, water system dynamic studies, miscellaneous performance analysis, materials and processes, detailed equipment lists, turbine design studies, tube cleaner design, ammonia leak detection, and heat exchanger design supporting data. (WHK)

Warm Water Entrainment Impacts and Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of a Proposed Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Pilot Plant Offshore Oahu, Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

Hauer, Whitney Blanchard

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a marine renewable energy technology that uses the temperature difference of large volumes of cold deep and warm surface seawater in tropical regions to generate electricity. One anticipated environmental impact of OTEC operations is the entrainment and subsequent mortality of ichthyoplankton (fish eggs and larvae) from the withdrawal of cold and warm seawater. The potential ichthyoplankton loss from the warm water intake was estimated for a proposed 10 MW OTEC pilot plant offshore Oahu, HI based on ambient vertical distribution data. The estimated losses due to entrainment from the warm water intake were 8.418E+02 larvae/1000 m3, 3.26E+06 larvae/day, and 1.19E+09 larvae/year. The potential entrained larvae/year is 1.86 X greater than at the Kahe Generating Station (Kapolei, HI), a 582 MW oil-fired power plant. Extrapolating to age-1 equivalence (9.2E+02 and 2.9E+02 yellowfin and skipjack tuna, respectively), the estimated yearly losses from warm water entrainment of yellowfin and skipjack tuna fish eggs and larvae represent 0.25-0.26 % and 0.09-0.11 % of Hawaii's commercial yellowfin and skipjack tuna industry in 2011 and 2012. An environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) was developed for the proposed OTEC plant operating for 20 and 40 years with availability factors of 0.85, 0.95, and 1.0 to determine the global warming potential (GWP) and cumulative energy demand (CED) impacts. For a 20 year operational OTEC plant, the GWP, CED, energy return on investment (EROI), and energy payback time (EPBT) ranged from 0.047 to 0.055 kg CO2eq/kWh, 0.678 to 0.798 MJ/kWh, 4.51 to 5.31 (unitless), and 3.77 to 4.43 years, respectively. For a 40 year operational OTEC plant, the GWP, CED, EROI, and EBPT ranged from 0.036 to 0.043 kg CO2eq/kWh, 0.527 to 0.620 MJ/kWh, 5.81 to 6.83 (unitless), and 5.85 to 6.89 years, respectively. The GWP impacts are within the range of renewable energy technologies and less than conventional electricity

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Life Cycle Cost Assessment, Final Technical Report, 30 May 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martel, Laura [Lockheed Martin, Manassas, VA (United States); Smith, Paul [John Halkyard and Associates: Glosten Associates, Houston, TX (United States); Rizea, Steven [Makai Ocean Engineering, Waimanalo, HI (United States); Van Ryzin, Joe [Makai Ocean Engineering, Waimanalo, HI (United States); Morgan, Charles [Planning Solutions, Inc., Vancouver, WA (United States); Noland, Gary [G. Noland and Associates, Inc., Pleasanton, CA (United States); Pavlosky, Rick [Lockheed Martin, Manassas, VA (United States); Thomas, Michael [Lockheed Martin, Manassas, VA (United States); Halkyard, John [John Halkyard and Associates: Glosten Associates, Houston, TX (United States)

2012-05-30

The Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Life Cycle Cost Assessment (OLCCA) is a study performed by members of the Lockheed Martin (LM) OTEC Team under funding from the Department of Energy (DOE), Award No. DE-EE0002663, dated 01/01/2010. OLCCA objectives are to estimate procurement, operations and maintenance, and overhaul costs for two types of OTEC plants: -Plants moored to the sea floor where the electricity produced by the OTEC plant is directly connected to the grid ashore via a marine power cable (Grid Connected OTEC plants) -Open-ocean grazing OTEC plant-ships producing an energy carrier that is transported to designated ports (Energy Carrier OTEC plants) Costs are developed using the concept of levelized cost of energy established by DOE for use in comparing electricity costs from various generating systems. One area of system costs that had not been developed in detail prior to this analysis was the operations and sustainment (O&S) cost for both types of OTEC plants. Procurement costs, generally referred to as capital expense and O&S costs (operations and maintenance (O&M) costs plus overhaul and replacement costs), are assessed over the 30 year operational life of the plants and an annual annuity calculated to achieve a levelized cost (constant across entire plant life). Dividing this levelized cost by the average annual energy production results in a levelized cost of electricity, or LCOE, for the OTEC plants. Technical and production efficiency enhancements that could result in a lower value of the OTEC LCOE were also explored. The thermal OTEC resource for Oahu, Hawaii and projected build out plan were developed. The estimate of the OTEC resource and LCOE values for the planned OTEC systems enable this information to be displayed as energy supplied versus levelized cost of the supplied energy; this curve is referred to as an Energy Supply Curve. The Oahu Energy Supply Curve represents initial OTEC deployment starting in 2018 and demonstrates the

Ocean thermal energy conversion power system development-I. Phase I. Preliminary design report. Volume 1. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1978-12-18

The results of a conceptual and preliminary design study of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) closed loop ammonia power system modules performed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Inc. (LMSC) are presented. This design study is the second of 3 tasks in Phase I of the Power System Development-I Project. The Task 2 objectives were to develop: 1) conceptual designs for a 40 to 50-MW(e) closed cycle ammonia commercial plant size power module whose heat exchangers are immersed in seawater and whose ancillary equipments are in a shirt sleeve environment; preliminary designs for a modular application power system sized at 10-MW(e) whose design, construction and material selection is analogous to the 50 MW(e) module, except that titanium tubes are to be used in the heat exchangers; and 3) preliminary designs for heat exchanger test articles (evaporator and condenser) representative of the 50-MW(e) heat exchangers using aluminum alloy, suitable for seawater service, for testing on OTEC-1. The reference ocean platform was specified by DOE as a surface vessel with the heat exchanger immersed in seawater to a design depth of 0 to 20 ft measured from the top of the heat exchanger. For the 50-MW(e) module, the OTEC 400-MW(e) Plant Ship, defined in the Platform Configuration and Integration study, was used as the reference platform. System design, performance, and cost are presented. (WHK)

Development of a Foam OTEC System. Final technical report for Fiscal Year 1979

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-01-01

Research on Development of a Foam OTEC System, as carried out at Carnegie-Mellon University from October 1, 1978 through September 30, 1979, is described. To a brief section summarizing highlights of research results are appended 12 technical reports which detail specific sections of the program. The work described is continuing and a proposal is currently being submitted to provide support in fiscal 1980.

OTEC to hydrogen fuel cells - A solar energy breakthrough

Science.gov (United States)

Roney, J. R.

Recent advances in fuel cell technology and development are discussed, which will enhance the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)-hydrogen-fuel cell mode of energy utilization. Hydrogen obtained from the ocean solar thermal resources can either be liquified or converted to ammonia, thus providing a convenient mode of transport, similar to that of liquid petroleum. The hydrogen fuel cell can convert hydrogen to electric power at a wide range of scale, feeding either centralized or distributed systems. Although this system of hydrogen energy production and delivery has been examined with respect to the U.S.A., the international market, and especially developing countries, may represent the greatest opportunity for these future generating units.

Electrochemical Power Plant for Terrestrial Flight Platforms, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — An electrochemical power plant is proposed by MicroCell Technologies to provide power to terrestrial flight platforms. Our power plant is based upon a proton...

Modeling the Physical and Biochemical Influence of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant Discharges into their Adjacent Waters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

PAT GRANDELLI, P.E.; GREG ROCHELEAU; JOHN HAMRICK, Ph.D.; MATT CHURCH, Ph.D.; BRIAN POWELL, Ph.D.

2012-09-29

This paper describes the modeling work by Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. to simulate the biochemical effects of of the nutrient-enhanced seawater plumes that are discharged by one or several 100 megawatt OTEC plants. The modeling is needed to properly design OTEC plants that can operate sustainably with acceptably low biological impact. In order to quantify the effect of discharge configuration and phytoplankton response, Makai Ocean Engineering implemented a biological and physical model for the waters surrounding O`ahu, Hawai`i, using the EPA-approved Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC). Each EFDC grid cell was approximately 1 square kilometer by 20 meters deep, and used a time step of three hours. The biological model was set up to simulate the biochemical response for three classes of organisms: Picoplankton (< 2 um) such as prochlorococccus, nanoplankton (2-20 um), and microplankton (> 20 um) e.g., diatoms. The dynamic biological phytoplankton model was calibrated using chemical and biological data collected for the Hawaii Ocean Time Series (HOTS) project. Peer review of the biological modeling was performed. The physical oceanography model uses boundary conditions from a surrounding Hawai'i Regional Ocean Model, (ROM) operated by the University of Hawai`i and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration. The ROM provided tides, basin scale circulation, mesoscale variability, and atmospheric forcing into the edges of the EFDC computational domain. This model is the most accurate and sophisticated Hawai'ian Regional Ocean Model presently available, assimilating real-time oceanographic observations, as well as model calibration based upon temperature, current and salinity data collected during 2010 near the simulated OTEC site. The ROM program manager peer-reviewed Makai's implementation of the ROM output into our EFDC model. The supporting oceanographic data was collected for a Naval Facilities Engineering Command / Makai project

Marine pastures: a by-product of large (100 megawatt or larger) floating ocean-thermal power plants. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laurence, S.; Roels, O.A.

1976-08-31

The potential biological productivity of an open-sea mariculture system utilizing the deep-sea water discharged from an ocean-thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plant was investigated. In a series of land-based studies, surface water was used to inoculate deep water and the primary production of the resultant blooms was investigated. Each cubic meter of deep water can produce approximately 2.34 g of phytoplankton protein, and that an OTEC plant discharging deep water at a rate of 4.5 x 10/sup 4/ m/sup 3/ min/sup -1/ could produce 5.3 x 10/sup 7/ kg of phytoplankton protein per 350-day year. A series of land-based shellfish studies indicated that, when fed at a constant rate of 1.83 x 10/sup -3/ g of protein per second per 70-140 g of whole wet weight, the clam, Tapes japonica, could convert the phytoplankton protein-nitrogen into shellfish meat protein-nitrogen with an efficiency of about 33 per cent. Total potential wet meat weight production from an OTEC plant pumping 4.5 x 10/sup 4/ m/sup 3/ min/sup -1/ is approximately 4.14 x 10/sup 8/ kg for a 350-day year. Various factors affecting the feasibility of open-sea mariculture are discussed. It is recommended that future work concentrate on a technical and economic analysis. (WDM)

A new advanced software platform for nuclear power plant process information systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sorsa, A.

1993-01-01

In the late 80s, ABB Stromberg Power Ltd. started the development of a new generation software platform for the power plant Process Information System (PIS). This development resulted in a software platform called Procontrol PMS. Procontrol PMS is a platform for fully distributed systems which provides the following features: distributed data processing, non-stop architecture, low-cost incremental expansion path, open network architecture, high functionality, effective application development environment, and advanced user interface services. A description of the structure of the Procontrol PMS software is given. ABB has received by May 1992 six orders for nuclear power plant PISs based on Procontrol PMS (4 for PWR plants, 2 for BWRs). The first Procontrol PMS based nuclear power plant PIS was commissioned in 1989 at the Loviisa nuclear power plant and has been running with 100% availability since the commissioning. (Z.S.) 2 figs

System for measuring the effect of fouling and corrosion on heat transfer under simulated OTEC conditions. [HTAU and LABTTF codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fetkovich, J.G.

1976-12-01

A complete system designed to measure, with high precision, changes in heat transfer rates due to fouling and corrosion of simulated heat exchanger tubes, at sea and under OTEC conditions is described. All aspects of the system are described in detail, including theory, mechanical design, electronics design, assembly procedures, test and calibration, operating procedures, laboratory results, field results, and data analysis programs.

Deep Plant Phenomics: A Deep Learning Platform for Complex Plant Phenotyping Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Ubbens, Jordan R.; Stavness, Ian

2017-01-01

Plant phenomics has received increasing interest in recent years in an attempt to bridge the genotype-to-phenotype knowledge gap. There is a need for expanded high-throughput phenotyping capabilities to keep up with an increasing amount of data from high-dimensional imaging sensors and the desire to measure more complex phenotypic traits (Knecht et al., 2016). In this paper, we introduce an open-source deep learning tool called Deep Plant Phenomics. This tool provides pre-trained neural networks for several common plant phenotyping tasks, as well as an easy platform that can be used by plant scientists to train models for their own phenotyping applications. We report performance results on three plant phenotyping benchmarks from the literature, including state of the art performance on leaf counting, as well as the first published results for the mutant classification and age regression tasks for Arabidopsis thaliana. PMID:28736569

In Plant Activation: An Inducible, Hyperexpression Platform for Recombinant Protein Production in Plants[W][OPEN

Science.gov (United States)

Dugdale, Benjamin; Mortimer, Cara L.; Kato, Maiko; James, Tess A.; Harding, Robert M.; Dale, James L.

2013-01-01

In this study, we describe a novel protein production platform that provides both activation and amplification of transgene expression in planta. The In Plant Activation (INPACT) system is based on the replication machinery of tobacco yellow dwarf mastrevirus (TYDV) and is essentially transient gene expression from a stably transformed plant, thus combining the advantages of both means of expression. The INPACT cassette is uniquely arranged such that the gene of interest is split and only reconstituted in the presence of the TYDV-encoded Rep/RepA proteins. Rep/RepA expression is placed under the control of the AlcA:AlcR gene switch, which is responsive to trace levels of ethanol. Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv Samsun) plants containing an INPACT cassette encoding the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter had negligible background expression but accumulated very high GUS levels (up to 10% total soluble protein) throughout the plant, within 3 d of a 1% ethanol application. The GUS reporter was replaced with a gene encoding a lethal ribonuclease, barnase, demonstrating that the INPACT system provides exquisite control of transgene expression and can be adapted to potentially toxic or inhibitory compounds. The INPACT gene expression platform is scalable, not host-limited, and has been used to express both a therapeutic and an industrial protein. PMID:23839786

Ocean thermal energy conversion: Perspective and status

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Anthony; Hillis, David L.

The use of the thermal gradient between the warm surface waters and the deep cold waters of tropical oceans was first proposed by J. A. d'Arsonval in 1881 and tried unsuccessfully by George Claude in 1930. Interest in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) and other renewable energy sources revived in the 1970s as a result of oil embargoes. At that time, the emphasis was on large floating plants miles from shore producing 250 to 400 MW for maintained grids. When the problems of such plants became better understood and the price of oil reversed its upward trend, the emphasis shifted to smaller (10 MW) shore based plants on tropical islands. Such plants would be especially attractive if they produce fresh water as a by-product. During the past 15 years, major progress has been made in converting OTEC unknowns into knowns. Mini-OTEC proved the closed cycle concept. Cost effective heat exchanger concepts were identified. An effective biofouling control technique was discovered. Aluminum was determined to be promising for OTEC heat exchangers. Heat transfer augmentation techniques were identified, which promised a reduction on heat exchanger size and cost. Fresh water was produced by an OTEC open cycle flash evaporator, using the heat energy in the seawater itself. The current R and D emphasis is on the design and construction of a test facility to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the open cycle process. The 10 MW shore-based, closed cycle plant can be built with today's technology; with the incorporation of a flash evaporator, it will produce fresh water as well as electrical power; both valuable commodities on many tropical islands. The open cycle process has unknowns that require solution before the technical feasibility can be demonstrated. The economic viability of either cycle depends on reducing the capital costs of OTEC plants and on future trends in the costs of conventional energy sources.

BreedVision — A Multi-Sensor Platform for Non-Destructive Field-Based Phenotyping in Plant Breeding

Science.gov (United States)

Busemeyer, Lucas; Mentrup, Daniel; Möller, Kim; Wunder, Erik; Alheit, Katharina; Hahn, Volker; Maurer, Hans Peter; Reif, Jochen C.; Würschum, Tobias; Müller, Joachim; Rahe, Florian; Ruckelshausen, Arno

2013-01-01

To achieve the food and energy security of an increasing World population likely to exceed nine billion by 2050 represents a major challenge for plant breeding. Our ability to measure traits under field conditions has improved little over the last decades and currently constitutes a major bottleneck in crop improvement. This work describes the development of a tractor-pulled multi-sensor phenotyping platform for small grain cereals with a focus on the technological development of the system. Various optical sensors like light curtain imaging, 3D Time-of-Flight cameras, laser distance sensors, hyperspectral imaging as well as color imaging are integrated into the system to collect spectral and morphological information of the plants. The study specifies: the mechanical design, the system architecture for data collection and data processing, the phenotyping procedure of the integrated system, results from field trials for data quality evaluation, as well as calibration results for plant height determination as a quantified example for a platform application. Repeated measurements were taken at three developmental stages of the plants in the years 2011 and 2012 employing triticale (×Triticosecale Wittmack L.) as a model species. The technical repeatability of measurement results was high for nearly all different types of sensors which confirmed the high suitability of the platform under field conditions. The developed platform constitutes a robust basis for the development and calibration of further sensor and multi-sensor fusion models to measure various agronomic traits like plant moisture content, lodging, tiller density or biomass yield, and thus, represents a major step towards widening the bottleneck of non-destructive phenotyping for crop improvement and plant genetic studies. PMID:23447014

Design and synthesis of multipurpose batch plant using a robust scheduling platform

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Seid, ER

2013-10-01

Full Text Available & Engineering Chemistry Research October 2012/ Vol. 52(46) Design and Synthesis of Multipurpose Batch Plants Using a Robust Scheduling Platform Esmael R. Seid † and Thokozani Majozi *†‡ † Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria...

Spar-type platform design for the offshore floating nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jurewicz, Jacob; Buongiorno, Jacopo; Todreas, Neil; Golay, Michael

2014-01-01

There exists the potential for substantial gains in safety, physical security, and economics for nuclear electricity supply through the development of an Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant (OFNP). Utilizing the most reliable and efficient construction techniques, this plant can be built from modular components in a shipyard as a partially submerged floating spar platform. The plant can then be floated to a site between 5 and 10 miles off the coast, moored in approximately 100-meter deep water, and connected to the grid via an underwater transmission line. The OFNP is designed to take full advantage of its environment to include passive cooling systems that eliminate the loss of ultimate heat sink accident, thereby decreasing the likelihood of severe accidents. The platform’s structural design, mooring system, and siting protect it against severe weather systems and render it immune to tsunamis and seismic activity. Furthermore, the OFNP containment design and venting procedures effectively eliminate the threat of serious land contamination, should a severe accident actually occur. The OFNP overall design builds on decades of offshore oil drilling experience and is derived from a shortened cylindrical spar platform. The platform has a skirt diameter of 75 m, a waterline diameter of 45 m, an operational draft of 48.5 m, and a total weight of about 38,200 tons when the skirt is empty. The spar design maximizes hydrodynamic stability, has been tested in various locations around the world in oil extraction, and offers significant protection to critical systems from external threats. The reactor containment is located below sea level and centered in a hull surrounded by seawater. This positioning offers both considerable physical security as well as unique opportunities in passive cooling. Watertight levels house safety critical systems (e.g. reactor, spent fuel pool, control room, battery room), the steam cycle, the condensate storage tank, and the desalination plant

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power system development (PSD) II. Preliminary design report. Appendix II: supporting data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-08-10

The trade studies, calculations, and reports which provide the rationale for design conclusions for the 10 MWe OTEC power system are presented in this volume. These appendices include: (1) system design and optimization model; (2) system off-design performance computer model; (3) seawater system dynamics; (4) system mechanical design studies; (5) electrical design studies; (6) structural design studies; (7) tube cleaner design report and proposed brush test program; (8) heat exchangers: mechanical design; (9) heat exchangers: thermal hydraulic computer model; (10) heat exchangers: manufacturing flow plan; (11) heat exchangers: installation and removal procedures; (12) heat exchangers: stainless steel conceptual design; (13) heat exchangers: cost studies; (14)heat exchangers: materials selection and corrosion; and (15) heat exchangers: quality assurance. (WHK)

Automatic refueling platform and CRD remote handling device for BWR plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kato, Hiroaki; Takagi, Kaoru

1978-01-01

In BWR plants, machines for replacing fuel assemblies and control rod drives are usually operated directly by personnel. An automatic refueling platform and a CRD remote handling device aiming at radiation exposure reduction and handling perfectness are described, which are already used in BWR plants. Automation of the former is achieved in transporting fuel assemblies between a reactor pressure vessel and a fuel storage pool, shuffling fuel assemblies in a reactor core and moving fuel assemblies in a fuel storage pool. In the latter, replacement of CRDs is nearly all performed remotely. (Mori, K.)

Ocean energy systems. Quarterly report, October-December 1982

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1982-12-01

Research progress is reported on developing Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems that will provide synthetic fuels (e.g., methanol), energy-intensive products such as ammonia (for fertilizers and chemicals), and aluminum. The work also includes assessment and design concepts for hybrid plants, such as geothermal-OTEC (GEOTEC) plants. Another effort that began in the spring of 1982 is a technical advisory role to DOE with respect to their management of the conceptual design activity of the two industry teams that are designing offshore OTEC pilot plants that could deliver power to Oahu, Hawaii. In addition, a program is underway in which tests of a different kind of ocean-energy device, a turbine that is air-driven as a result of wave action in a chamber, are being planned. This Quarterly Report summarizes the work on the various tasks as of 31 December 1982.

Ocean thermal-energy conversion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ford, G; Niblett, C; Walker, L

1983-03-01

Ocean thermal-energy conversion (OTEC) is a novel 'alternative' energy technology that has created much interest in a number of countries; namely, the USA, Japan, France, Sweden, Holland, India and most recently, the UK. In particular, the first three of these have had programmes to develop the required technology. However, most interest has been centred in the USA, where the current hiatus in Federal funding provides a timely opportunity to assess progress. This paper offers a survey of the prevailing position there; outlining the outstanding technical and associated problems, and likely future developments. Non-USA programmes are only mentioned to contrast them with the American position. At present, it does not appear that OTEC plants will be commercially viable on a widespread basis even in the tropics. This is particularly true of the larger plants (400 MWe, MWe = megawatts of electrical energy, the final output of a power station) towards which the American programme is ultimately geared. There does seem to be a strong possibility that small OTEC plants, around 40 MWe or less, can be commercial in certain circumstances. This would be possible when one or, preferably, more of the following conditions are met: (i) where a land-based rather than 'at sea' plant is possible, (ii) where alternative energy supplies are at a premium, i.e. islands or regions without indigenous energy supplies, and (iii) where conditions are such that an OTEC plant could operate in conjunction with either or both an aquaculture or desalination plant.

Multi-fields' coordination information integrated platform for nuclear power plant operation preparation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan Chang; Li Yong; Ye Zhiqiang

2011-01-01

To realize the coordination in multi-fields' work and information sharing, by applying the method of Enterprise Architecture (EA), the business architecture, functional flow and application architecture of Nuclear Power Plant's operation preparation information integrated platform are designed, which can realize the information sharing and coordination of multi fields. (authors)

Revisit ocean thermal energy conversion system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, J.C.; Krock, H.J.; Oney, S.K.

2003-01-01

The earth, covered more than 70.8% by the ocean, receives most of its energy from the sun. Solar energy is transmitted through the atmosphere and efficiently collected and stored in the surface layer of the ocean, largely in the tropical zone. Some of the energy is re-emitted to the atmosphere to drive the hydrologic cycle and wind. The wind field returns some of the energy to the ocean in the form of waves and currents. The majority of the absorbed solar energy is stored in vertical thermal gradients near the surface layer of the ocean, most of which is in the tropical region. This thermal energy replenished each day by the sun in the tropical ocean represents a tremendous pollution-free energy resource for human civilization. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology refers to a mechanical system that utilizes the natural temperature gradient that exists in the tropical ocean between the warm surface water and the deep cold water, to generate electricity and produce other economically valuable by-products. The science and engineering behind OTEC have been studied in the US since the mid-seventies, supported early by the U.S. Government and later by State and private industries. There are two general types of OTEC designs: closed-cycle plants utilize the evaporation of a working fluid, such as ammonia or propylene, to drive the turbine-generator, and open-cycle plants use steam from evaporated sea water to run the turbine. Another commonly known design, hybrid plants, is a combination of the two. OTEC requires relatively low operation and maintenance costs and no fossil fuel consumption. OTEC system possesses a formidable potential capacity for renewable energy and offers a significant elimination of greenhouse gases in producing power. In addition to electricity and drinking water, an OTEC system can produce many valuable by-products and side-utilizations, such as: hydrogen, air-conditioning, ice, aquaculture, and agriculture, etc. The potential of these

Conceptual design of a 10 MW shore-based OTEC plant

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, H. C.; Genens, L.; Panchal, C. B.

1984-09-01

A 1982 study of a 10 MWe shore-based closed-cycle ocean thermal energy conversion (OTFC) plant at Keahole Point, Hawaii, is updated to reflect advances in technology that have occurred over the past two years. Design options that show promise for reducing the capital cost of the plant are presented. The options studied include the heat exchangers, the number and size of the cold-water pipes (CWP), the materials and method of construction of the CWP, deployment technique. In all cases, the new options are within modest extrapolations of the current state of the art. Thermal-hydraulic optimization codes were developed and used to upgrade and improve the design, and to focus on those components where significant cost reductions are possible. The power system was improved with more cost-effective heat exchangers and a more water-efficient design. An advanced cold-water pipe option was selected that uses compact, brazed-aluminum heat exchangers. Options for parallel or bundled pipes of smaller (2 meter) diameter were reviewed. It was found that the smaller diameters present fewer fabrication problems, and potentially simpler deployment methods. Also studied were various options for CWP materials and construction.

Exergy destruction and losses on four North Sea offshore platforms: A comparative study of the oil and gas processing plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Voldsund, Mari; Nguyen, Tuong-Van; Elmegaard, Brian

2014-01-01

The oil and gas processing plants of four North Sea offshore platforms are analysed and compared, based on the exergy analysis method. Sources of exergy destruction and losses are identified and the findings for the different platforms are compared. Different platforms have different working...... conditions, which implies that some platforms need less heat and power than others. Reservoir properties and composition vary over the lifetime of an oil field, and therefore maintaining a high efficiency of the processing plant is challenging. The results of the analysis show that 27%-57% of the exergy...... destruction take place in the gas treatment sections, 13%-29% take place in the gas recompression sections and 10%-24% occur in the production manifolds. The exergy losses with flared gas are significant for two of the platforms. The exact potential for energy savings and for enhancing system performances...

CRISPR/Cas9 Platforms for Genome Editing in Plants: Developments and Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Xingliang; Zhu, Qinlong; Chen, Yuanling; Liu, Yao-Guang

2016-07-06

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-associated protein9 (Cas9) genome editing system (CRISPR/Cas9) is adapted from the prokaryotic type II adaptive immunity system. The CRISPR/Cas9 tool surpasses other programmable nucleases, such as ZFNs and TALENs, for its simplicity and high efficiency. Various plant-specific CRISPR/Cas9 vector systems have been established for adaption of this technology to many plant species. In this review, we present an overview of current advances on applications of this technology in plants, emphasizing general considerations for establishment of CRISPR/Cas9 vector platforms, strategies for multiplex editing, methods for analyzing the induced mutations, factors affecting editing efficiency and specificity, and features of the induced mutations and applications of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in plants. In addition, we provide a perspective on the challenges of CRISPR/Cas9 technology and its significance for basic plant research and crop genetic improvement. Copyright © 2016 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of a scalable plant transient gene expression platform for malaria vaccine development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Holger eSpiegel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Despite decades of intensive research efforts there is currently no vaccine that provides sustained sterile immunity against malaria. In this context, a large number of targets from the different stages of the Plasmodium falciparum life cycle have been evaluated as vaccine candidates. None of these candidates has fulfilled expectations, and as long as we lack a single target that induces strain-transcending protective immune responses, combining key antigens from different life cycle stages seems to be the most promising route towards the development of efficacious malaria vaccines. After the identification of potential targets using approaches such as omics-based technology and reverse immunology, the rapid expression, purification and characterization of these proteins, as well as the generation and analysis of fusion constructs combining different promising antigens or antigen domains before committing to expensive and time consuming clinical development, represents one of the bottlenecks in the vaccine development pipeline. The production of recombinant proteins by transient gene expression in plants is a robust and versatile alternative to cell-based microbial and eukaryotic production platforms. The transfection of plant tissues and/or whole plants using Agrobacterium tumefaciens offers a low technical entry barrier, low costs and a high degree of flexibility embedded within a rapid and scalable workflow. Recombinant proteins can easily be targeted to different subcellular compartments according to their physicochemical requirements, including post-translational modifications, to ensure optimal yields of high quality product, and to support simple and economical downstream processing. Here we demonstrate the use of a plant transient expression platform based on transfection with A. tumefaciens as essential component of a malaria vaccine development workflow involving screens for expression, solubility and stability using fluorescent fusion

Techno-economic analysis of a transient plant-based platform for monoclonal antibody production

Science.gov (United States)

Nandi, Somen; Kwong, Aaron T.; Holtz, Barry R.; Erwin, Robert L.; Marcel, Sylvain; McDonald, Karen A.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Plant-based biomanufacturing of therapeutic proteins is a relatively new platform with a small number of commercial-scale facilities, but offers advantages of linear scalability, reduced upstream complexity, reduced time to market, and potentially lower capital and operating costs. In this study we present a detailed process simulation model for a large-scale new “greenfield” biomanufacturing facility that uses transient agroinfiltration of Nicotiana benthamiana plants grown hydroponically indoors under light-emitting diode lighting for the production of a monoclonal antibody. The model was used to evaluate the total capital investment, annual operating cost, and cost of goods sold as a function of mAb expression level in the plant (g mAb/kg fresh weight of the plant) and production capacity (kg mAb/year). For the Base Case design scenario (300 kg mAb/year, 1 g mAb/kg fresh weight, and 65% recovery in downstream processing), the model predicts a total capital investment of $122 million dollars and cost of goods sold of $121/g including depreciation. Compared with traditional biomanufacturing platforms that use mammalian cells grown in bioreactors, the model predicts significant reductions in capital investment and >50% reduction in cost of goods compared with published values at similar production scales. The simulation model can be modified or adapted by others to assess the profitability of alternative designs, implement different process assumptions, and help guide process development and optimization. PMID:27559626

Techno-economic analysis of a transient plant-based platform for monoclonal antibody production.

Science.gov (United States)

Nandi, Somen; Kwong, Aaron T; Holtz, Barry R; Erwin, Robert L; Marcel, Sylvain; McDonald, Karen A

Plant-based biomanufacturing of therapeutic proteins is a relatively new platform with a small number of commercial-scale facilities, but offers advantages of linear scalability, reduced upstream complexity, reduced time to market, and potentially lower capital and operating costs. In this study we present a detailed process simulation model for a large-scale new "greenfield" biomanufacturing facility that uses transient agroinfiltration of Nicotiana benthamiana plants grown hydroponically indoors under light-emitting diode lighting for the production of a monoclonal antibody. The model was used to evaluate the total capital investment, annual operating cost, and cost of goods sold as a function of mAb expression level in the plant (g mAb/kg fresh weight of the plant) and production capacity (kg mAb/year). For the Base Case design scenario (300 kg mAb/year, 1 g mAb/kg fresh weight, and 65% recovery in downstream processing), the model predicts a total capital investment of $122 million dollars and cost of goods sold of $121/g including depreciation. Compared with traditional biomanufacturing platforms that use mammalian cells grown in bioreactors, the model predicts significant reductions in capital investment and >50% reduction in cost of goods compared with published values at similar production scales. The simulation model can be modified or adapted by others to assess the profitability of alternative designs, implement different process assumptions, and help guide process development and optimization.

Thapsia garganica L. in vitro plants as a new production platform of thapsigargins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Quinonero Lopez, Carmen

Thapsigargin and nortrilobolide are sesquiterpene lactones found in the Mediterranean plant Thapsia garganica L. Thapsigargin is a potent inhibitor of the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) pump, inducing apoptosis in mammalian cells. Due to its ability to induce apoptosis...... cultures. In this chapter has been described, from the regeneration of in vitro plants of T. garganica, to the establishment and enhancement of thapsigargins production in temporary immersion bioreactors. A part from an alternative production platform for thapsigargins, in vitro plant tissue cultures...... techniques have been described for this medicinal species, which can be used for plant genetic conservation and biodiversity. In the chapters II, III and IV, I present studies on the expression levels of the two biosynthetic genes described in the thapsigargin biosynthesis, TgTPS2 and TgCYP76AE2...

Beyond electricity: The potential of ocean thermal energy and ocean technology ecoparks in small tropical islands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osorio, Andrés F.; Arias-Gaviria, Jessica; Devis-Morales, Andrea; Acevedo, Diego; Velasquez, Héctor Iván; Arango-Aramburo, Santiago

2016-01-01

Small islands face difficult challenges to guarantee energy, freshwater and food supply, and sustainable development. The urge to meet their needs, together with the mitigation and adaptation plans to address climate change, have led them to develop renewable energy systems, with a special interest in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) in tropical islands. Deep Ocean Water (DOW) is a resource that can provide electricity (through OTEC in combination with warm surface water), low temperatures for refrigeration, and nutrients for food production. In this paper we propose an Ocean Technology Ecopark (OTEP) as an integral solution for small islands that consists of an OTEC plant, other alternative uses of DOW, and a Research and Development (R&D) center. We present an application of OTEP to San Andres, a Colombian island that meets all the necessary conditions for the implementation of OTEC technology, water desalinization, and a business model for DOW. We present the main entrance barriers and a four-stage roadmap for the consolidation and sustainability of the OTEP. - Highlights: • Small islands face problems such as development, energy, freshwater and food supply. • Tropical islands with access to deep ocean water can use OTEC all year round. • An Ocean Ecopark is proposed as an integral solution for San Andrés Island, Colombia. • The Ecopark consists of OTEC, desalinization, SWAC, greenhouses, and R&D activities. • This article discusses entrance barriers and presents a four-stage roadmap

SPRYSEC effectors: a versatile protein-binding platform to disrupt plant innate immunity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amalia Diaz-Granados

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Persistent infections by sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes are a major threat to important food crops all over the world. These round worms manipulate host plant cell morphology and physiology to establish sophisticated feeding structures. Key modifications to plant cells during their transition into feeding structures are largely attributed to the activity of effectors secreted by the nematodes. The SPRYSEC effectors were initially identified in the potato cyst nematodes Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida, and are characterized by a single SPRY domain, a non-catalytic domain present in modular proteins with different functions. The SPRY domain is wide-spread among eukaryotes and thought to be involved in mediating protein-protein interactions. Thus far, the SPRY domain is only reported as a functional domain in effectors of plant-parasitic nematodes, but not of other plant pathogens. SPRYSEC effectors have been implicated in both suppression and activation of plant immunity, but other possible roles in nematode virulence remain undefined. Here, we review the latest reports on the structure, function, and sequence diversity of SPRYSEC effectors, which provide support for a model featuring these effectors as a versatile protein-binding platform for the nematodes to target a wide range of host proteins during parasitism.

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) nuclear power plant training simulation platform design and validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rankin, D.J. [Univ. of Western Ontario, Control and Instrumentation (CIES) Research Group, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, London, Ontario (Canada)

2008-07-01

The design, development and validation of a hardware-in- the-loop (HIL) simulation platform are presented. An Invensys Triconex Tricon v9 safety PLC is interfaced to a nuclear power plant (NPP) simulation suite, replicating the operation of Darlington NPP. Communication between the simulator and external hardware is supported by a National Instruments (NI) data acquisition system (DAQ) and a customized virtual instrument (VI). Event timings within the control loop are thoroughly investigated and an acceptable method for HIL platform communication is developed. A sample application (primary shutdown system (SDS1)) is implemented and evaluated. SDS1 evaluation is performed with focus on steam generator (SG) level low trip scenarios. For this purpose, a design basis accident (DBA) associated with SDS1 regulatory standards is applied to the HIL simulation environment and compared with simulated expected plant operation. Further, the role of the Tricon v9 system within the HIL loop is investigated to establish a basis for the future integration of the entire SDS1 control logic. (author)

The pathogen-actin connection: A platform for defense signaling in plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Day, B; Henty, Jessica L; Porter, K J; Staiger, Chris J

2011-09-08

The cytoskeleton, a dynamic network of cytoplasmic polymers, plays a central role in numerous fundamental processes, such as development, reproduction, and cellular responses to biotic and abiotic stimuli. As a platform for innate immune responses in mammalian cells, the actin cytoskeleton is a central component in the organization and activation of host defenses, including signaling and cellular repair. In plants, our understanding of the genetic and biochemical responses in both pathogen and host that are required for virulence and resistance has grown enormously. Additional advances in live-cell imaging of cytoskeletal dynamics have markedly altered our view of actin turnover in plants. In this review, we outline current knowledge of host resistance following pathogen perception, both in terms of the genetic interactions that mediate defense signaling, as well as the biochemical and cellular processes that are required for defense signaling.

Synthetic strategies for plant signalling studies: molecular toolbox and orthogonal platforms

KAUST Repository

Braguy, Justine

2016-05-26

Plants deploy a wide array of signalling networks integrating environmental cues with growth, defence and developmental responses. The high level of complexity, redundancy and connection between several pathways hampers a comprehensive understanding of involved functional and regulatory mechanisms. The implementation of synthetic biology approaches is revolutionizing experimental biology in prokaryotes, yeasts and animal systems and can likewise contribute to a new era in plant biology. This review gives an overview on synthetic biology approaches for the development and implementation of synthetic molecular tools and techniques to interrogate, understand and control signalling events in plants, ranging from strategies for the targeted manipulation of plant genomes up to the spatiotemporally resolved control of gene expression using optogenetic approaches. We also describe strategies based on the partial reconstruction of signalling pathways in orthogonal platforms, like yeast, animal and in vitro systems. This allows a targeted analysis of individual signalling hubs devoid of inter-connectivity with endogenous interacting components. Implementation of the interdisciplinary synthetic biology tools and strategies is not exempt of challenges and hardships but simultaneously most rewarding in terms of the advances in basic and applied research. As witnessed in other areas, these original theoretical-experimental avenues will lead to a breakthrough in the ability to study and comprehend plant signalling networks. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Development of Testing Platform for Digital I and C System in Nuclear Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, G. Y.; Kim, Y. M.; Jeong, C. H. [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-10-15

According to digitalization of the NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) I and C (Instrumentation and Control) system, cyber threats against I and C system are increased. Moreover, the complexity of I and C system are increased due to adopt the up-to-date technologies (i. e., smart sensor, wireless network, and Field Programmable Gate Array / Complex Programmable Logic Device) into NPP's I and C system. For example, new issues such as cyber threat are introduced from digitalized I and C systems and components to replace obsolete analog equipment in existing NPPs. Furthermore, use of wireless communication, FPGA/CPLD, and smart sensor could introduce new considerations such as Defense-in-Depth and Diversity. Therefore, the proof testing for digital I and C system is required to verify the adverse effect from use of up-to-date digital technologies and identify the criteria to resolve and mitigate (or prevent) the (possibility of) effects. The objective of this study is developing the Testing Platform for the proof testing. The digital I and C System Test Platform is implemented using test platform hardware, component software, and architectural design. The digital I and C testing platform includes the safety-related PLC and relevant ladder logics, Windows-based C++ codes for host PC. For software, there are seven spike models to confirm the each module's functionality and generate/monitor the signals to/from PLCs. For future work, digital I and C System Test Platform architecture will be implemented using spike models. And a set of acceptance test against cyber security, smart sensor, wireless network, and FPGA/CPLD will be conducted using digital I and C System Test Platform.

Development of Testing Platform for Digital I and C System in Nuclear Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, G. Y.; Kim, Y. M.; Jeong, C. H.

2013-01-01

According to digitalization of the NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) I and C (Instrumentation and Control) system, cyber threats against I and C system are increased. Moreover, the complexity of I and C system are increased due to adopt the up-to-date technologies (i. e., smart sensor, wireless network, and Field Programmable Gate Array / Complex Programmable Logic Device) into NPP's I and C system. For example, new issues such as cyber threat are introduced from digitalized I and C systems and components to replace obsolete analog equipment in existing NPPs. Furthermore, use of wireless communication, FPGA/CPLD, and smart sensor could introduce new considerations such as Defense-in-Depth and Diversity. Therefore, the proof testing for digital I and C system is required to verify the adverse effect from use of up-to-date digital technologies and identify the criteria to resolve and mitigate (or prevent) the (possibility of) effects. The objective of this study is developing the Testing Platform for the proof testing. The digital I and C System Test Platform is implemented using test platform hardware, component software, and architectural design. The digital I and C testing platform includes the safety-related PLC and relevant ladder logics, Windows-based C++ codes for host PC. For software, there are seven spike models to confirm the each module's functionality and generate/monitor the signals to/from PLCs. For future work, digital I and C System Test Platform architecture will be implemented using spike models. And a set of acceptance test against cyber security, smart sensor, wireless network, and FPGA/CPLD will be conducted using digital I and C System Test Platform

Cotton phenotyping with lidar from a track-mounted platform

Science.gov (United States)

French, Andrew N.; Gore, Michael A.; Thompson, Alison

2016-05-01

High-Throughput Phenotyping (HTP) is a discipline for rapidly identifying plant architectural and physiological responses to environmental factors such as heat and water stress. Experiments conducted since 2010 at Maricopa, Arizona with a three-fold sensor group, including thermal infrared radiometers, active visible/near infrared reflectance sensors, and acoustic plant height sensors, have shown the validity of HTP with a tractor-based system. However, results from these experiments also show that accuracy of plant phenotyping is limited by the system's inability to discriminate plant components and their local environmental conditions. This limitation may be overcome with plant imaging and laser scanning which can help map details in plant architecture and sunlit/shaded leaves. To test the capability for mapping cotton plants with a laser system, a track-mounted platform was deployed in 2015 over a full canopy and defoliated cotton crop consisting of a scanning LIDAR driven by Arduinocontrolled stepper motors. Using custom Python and Tkinter code, the platform moved autonomously along a pipe-track at 0.1 m/s while collecting LIDAR scans at 25 Hz (0.1667 deg. beam). These tests showed that an autonomous LIDAR platform can reduce HTP logistical problems and provide the capability to accurately map cotton plants and cotton bolls. A prototype track-mounted platform was developed to test the use of LIDAR scanning for High- Throughput Phenotyping (HTP). The platform was deployed in 2015 at Maricopa, Arizona over a senescent cotton crop. Using custom Python and Tkinter code, the platform moved autonomously along a pipe-track at cotton bolls.

Arsenic removal from contaminated groundwater by membrane-integrated hybrid plant: optimization and control using Visual Basic platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Chakrabortty, S; Sen, M; Pal, P

2014-03-01

A simulation software (ARRPA) has been developed in Microsoft Visual Basic platform for optimization and control of a novel membrane-integrated arsenic separation plant in the backdrop of absence of such software. The user-friendly, menu-driven software is based on a dynamic linearized mathematical model, developed for the hybrid treatment scheme. The model captures the chemical kinetics in the pre-treating chemical reactor and the separation and transport phenomena involved in nanofiltration. The software has been validated through extensive experimental investigations. The agreement between the outputs from computer simulation program and the experimental findings are excellent and consistent under varying operating conditions reflecting high degree of accuracy and reliability of the software. High values of the overall correlation coefficient (R (2) = 0.989) and Willmott d-index (0.989) are indicators of the capability of the software in analyzing performance of the plant. The software permits pre-analysis, manipulation of input data, helps in optimization and exhibits performance of an integrated plant visually on a graphical platform. Performance analysis of the whole system as well as the individual units is possible using the tool. The software first of its kind in its domain and in the well-known Microsoft Excel environment is likely to be very useful in successful design, optimization and operation of an advanced hybrid treatment plant for removal of arsenic from contaminated groundwater.

A Study on SE Methodology for Design of Big Data Pilot Platform to Improve Nuclear Power Plant Safety

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shin, Junguk; Cha, Jae-Min; Kim, Jun-Young; Park, Sung-Ho; Yeom, Choong-Sub [Institute for Advanced Engineering (IAE), Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

A big data concept is expected to have a large impact on the safety of the nuclear power plant (NPP) from the beginning of the big data era. Though there are high interests on the NPP safety with the big data, almost no studies on the logical and physical structures and the systematic design methods of the big data platform for the NPP safety have been conducted. For the current study, a new big data pilot platform for the NPP safety is designed with the main focus on the health monitoring and early warning systems, and a tailored design process based on the systems engineering approaches is proposed to manage inherent high complexity of the platform design. The big data concept is expected to have a large impact on the safety of the NPP. So, in this study, the big data pilot platform for the health monitoring and early warning of the NPP is designed. For this, the development process based on the SE approach for the pilot platform is proposed and the design results along with the proposed process are also presented. Implementation of the individual modules and integrations of those are in currently progress.

A Study on SE Methodology for Design of Big Data Pilot Platform to Improve Nuclear Power Plant Safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Junguk; Cha, Jae-Min; Kim, Jun-Young; Park, Sung-Ho; Yeom, Choong-Sub

2016-01-01

A big data concept is expected to have a large impact on the safety of the nuclear power plant (NPP) from the beginning of the big data era. Though there are high interests on the NPP safety with the big data, almost no studies on the logical and physical structures and the systematic design methods of the big data platform for the NPP safety have been conducted. For the current study, a new big data pilot platform for the NPP safety is designed with the main focus on the health monitoring and early warning systems, and a tailored design process based on the systems engineering approaches is proposed to manage inherent high complexity of the platform design. The big data concept is expected to have a large impact on the safety of the NPP. So, in this study, the big data pilot platform for the health monitoring and early warning of the NPP is designed. For this, the development process based on the SE approach for the pilot platform is proposed and the design results along with the proposed process are also presented. Implementation of the individual modules and integrations of those are in currently progress

Fresh water generators onboard a floating platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tewari, P.K.; Verma, R.K.; Misra, B.M.; Sadhulkan, H.K.

1997-01-01

A dependable supply of fresh water is essential for any ocean going vessel. The operating and maintenance personnel on offshore platforms and marine structures also require a constant and regular supply of fresh water to meet their essential daily needs. A seawater thermal desalination unit onboard delivers good quality fresh water from seawater. The desalination units developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) suitable for ocean going vessels and offshore platforms have been discussed. Design considerations of such units with reference to floating platforms and corrosive environments have been presented. The feasibility of coupling a low temperature vacuum evaporation (LTVE) desalination plant suitable for an onboard floating platform to a PHWR nuclear power plant has also been discussed. (author). 1 ref., 3 figs, 2 tabs

NAVFAC Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Project; OTEC System Design Report

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-16

1-12. 37. Hoepner, Thomas, and Sabine Lattemann. “Chemical impacts from seawater desalination plants- a case study of the northern Red Sea... Jaime Echeverria. "Managing Water for People and Nature." Science 292 (2001): 1071-072. 46. Kalogirou, Soteris A. "Seawater desalination using...Lattemann Sabine . “Protecting the Marine Environment.” Seawater Desalination (2009): 273-299. 55. Lattemann, Sabine , and Thomas Hopner. "Environmental

Genomic prediction unifies animal and plant breeding programs to form platforms for biological discovery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hickey, John M.; Chiurugwi, Tinashe; Mackay, Ian

2017-01-01

The rate of annual yield increases for major staple crops must more than double relative to current levels in order to feed a predicted global population of 9 billion by 2050. Controlled hybridization and selective breeding have been used for centuries to adapt plant and animal species for human...... that unifies breeding approaches, biological discovery, and tools and methods. Here we compare and contrast some animal and plant breeding approaches to make a case for bringing the two together through the application of genomic selection. We propose a strategy for the use of genomic selection as a unifying...... use. However, achieving higher, sustainable rates of improvement in yields in various species will require renewed genetic interventions and dramatic improvement of agricultural practices. Genomic prediction of breeding values has the potential to improve selection, reduce costs and provide a platform...

Image Harvest: an open-source platform for high-throughput plant image processing and analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Knecht, Avi C.; Campbell, Malachy T.; Caprez, Adam; Swanson, David R.; Walia, Harkamal

2016-01-01

High-throughput plant phenotyping is an effective approach to bridge the genotype-to-phenotype gap in crops. Phenomics experiments typically result in large-scale image datasets, which are not amenable for processing on desktop computers, thus creating a bottleneck in the image-analysis pipeline. Here, we present an open-source, flexible image-analysis framework, called Image Harvest (IH), for processing images originating from high-throughput plant phenotyping platforms. Image Harvest is developed to perform parallel processing on computing grids and provides an integrated feature for metadata extraction from large-scale file organization. Moreover, the integration of IH with the Open Science Grid provides academic researchers with the computational resources required for processing large image datasets at no cost. Image Harvest also offers functionalities to extract digital traits from images to interpret plant architecture-related characteristics. To demonstrate the applications of these digital traits, a rice (Oryza sativa) diversity panel was phenotyped and genome-wide association mapping was performed using digital traits that are used to describe different plant ideotypes. Three major quantitative trait loci were identified on rice chromosomes 4 and 6, which co-localize with quantitative trait loci known to regulate agronomically important traits in rice. Image Harvest is an open-source software for high-throughput image processing that requires a minimal learning curve for plant biologists to analyzephenomics datasets. PMID:27141917

Siting study for small platform-mounted industrial energy reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1975-07-01

Utilizing an existing 313 MW(t) ship propulsion reactor design, a concept has been formulated for a floating platform-mounted nuclear plant and an evaluation has been made to determine reductions in construction time and cost achievable by repetitive platform construction in a shipyard. Concepts and estimates are presented for siting platform-mounted nuclear plants at the location of industrial facilities where the nuclear plants would furnish industrial process heat and/or electrical power. The representative industrial site designated for this study is considered typical of sites that might be used along the extensive network of navigable canals adjacent to the ocean and is similar to potential sites along the inland waterways of the United States

Ocean energy conversion - A reality

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Sarkar, A.

-depth analysis of application and achievements of OTEC, tidal energy, impact of astronomical forces on tide, prospects of tidal power plants, wave energy conversion and its mathematical approach for both linear and non-linear waves, economic viability, problems...

Image Harvest: an open-source platform for high-throughput plant image processing and analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Knecht, Avi C; Campbell, Malachy T; Caprez, Adam; Swanson, David R; Walia, Harkamal

2016-05-01

High-throughput plant phenotyping is an effective approach to bridge the genotype-to-phenotype gap in crops. Phenomics experiments typically result in large-scale image datasets, which are not amenable for processing on desktop computers, thus creating a bottleneck in the image-analysis pipeline. Here, we present an open-source, flexible image-analysis framework, called Image Harvest (IH), for processing images originating from high-throughput plant phenotyping platforms. Image Harvest is developed to perform parallel processing on computing grids and provides an integrated feature for metadata extraction from large-scale file organization. Moreover, the integration of IH with the Open Science Grid provides academic researchers with the computational resources required for processing large image datasets at no cost. Image Harvest also offers functionalities to extract digital traits from images to interpret plant architecture-related characteristics. To demonstrate the applications of these digital traits, a rice (Oryza sativa) diversity panel was phenotyped and genome-wide association mapping was performed using digital traits that are used to describe different plant ideotypes. Three major quantitative trait loci were identified on rice chromosomes 4 and 6, which co-localize with quantitative trait loci known to regulate agronomically important traits in rice. Image Harvest is an open-source software for high-throughput image processing that requires a minimal learning curve for plant biologists to analyzephenomics datasets. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

Genomic prediction unifies animal and plant breeding programs to form platforms for biological discovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Hickey, John M; Chiurugwi, Tinashe; Mackay, Ian; Powell, Wayne

2017-08-30

The rate of annual yield increases for major staple crops must more than double relative to current levels in order to feed a predicted global population of 9 billion by 2050. Controlled hybridization and selective breeding have been used for centuries to adapt plant and animal species for human use. However, achieving higher, sustainable rates of improvement in yields in various species will require renewed genetic interventions and dramatic improvement of agricultural practices. Genomic prediction of breeding values has the potential to improve selection, reduce costs and provide a platform that unifies breeding approaches, biological discovery, and tools and methods. Here we compare and contrast some animal and plant breeding approaches to make a case for bringing the two together through the application of genomic selection. We propose a strategy for the use of genomic selection as a unifying approach to deliver innovative 'step changes' in the rate of genetic gain at scale.

Ocean energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Charlier, R.H.; Justus, J.R.

1993-01-01

This timely volume provides a comprehensive review of current technology for all ocean energies. It opens with an analysis of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), with and without the use of an intermediate fluid. The historical and economic background is reviewed, and the geographical areas in which this energy could be utilized are pinpointed. The production of hydrogen as a side product, and environmental consequences of OTEC plants are considered. The competitiveness of OTEC with conventional sources of energy is analysed. Optimisation, current research and development potential are also examined. Separate chapters provide a detailed examination of other ocean energy sources. The possible harnessing of solar ponds, ocean currents, and power derived from salinity differences is considered. There is a fascinating study of marine winds, and the question of using the ocean tides as a source of energy is examined, focussing on a number of tidal power plant projects, including data gathered from China, Australia, Great Britain, Korea and the USSR. Wave energy extraction has excited recent interest and activity, with a number of experimental pilot plants being built in northern Europe. This topic is discussed at length in view of its greater chance of implementation. Finally, geothermal and biomass energy are considered, and an assessment of their future is given. The authors also distinguished between energy schemes which might be valuable in less-industrialized regions of the world, but uneconomical in the developed countries. A large number of illustrations support the text. This book will be of particular interest to energy economists, engineers, geologists and oceanographers, and to environmentalists and environmental engineers

Development of the operational information processing platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Hyun Kook; Park, Jeong Seok; Baek, Seung Min; Kim, Young Jin; Joo, Jae Yoon; Lee, Sang Mok; Jeong, Young Woo; Seo, Ho Jun; Kim, Do Youn; Lee, Tae Hoon

1996-02-01

The Operational Information Processing Platform(OIPP) is platform system which was designed to provide the development and operation environments for plant operation and plant monitoring. It is based on the Plant Computer Systems (PCS) of Yonggwang 3 and 4, Ulchin 3 and 4, and Yonggwang 5 and 6 Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). The UNIX based workstation, real time kernel and graphics design tool are selected and installed through the reviewing the function of PCS. In order to construct the development environment for open system architecture and distributed computer system, open computer system architecture was adapted both in hardware and software. For verification of system design and evaluation of technical methodologies, the PCS running under the OIPP is being designed and implemented. In this system, the man-machine interface and system functions are being designed and implemented to evaluate the differences between the UCN 3, 4 PCS and OIPP. 15 tabs., 32 figs., 11 refs. (Author)

Ocean thermal energy conversion power system development-I. Preliminary design report. Volume 3. Appendixes D, E, and F. Phase I. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1978-12-18

The conceptual design of a 40 to 50 MW closed cycle ammonia OTEC commercial plant, the preliminary design of a 10 MW OTEC module analogous to the 50 MW module, and the preliminary design of heat exchanger test articles (evaporator and condenser) representative of the 50 MW heat exchangers for testing in OTEC-1 are presented. This volume includes the appendices: D) system equipment (hardware breakdown structure; 10-MW hardware listing; list of support and maintenance equipment, tools and spare parts; sacrificial anodes; M.A.N. brush; and Alclad 3004 data); E) heat exchanger supporting data (analyses/configuration, contract tooling, manufacturing plan, specification, and evaporator ammonia liquid distribution system); and F) rotating machinery (performance characteristics, radial inflow turbine; item descriptions; weight calculation-rotor; producibility analysis; long lead-time items; spares; support equipment; non recurring costs; performance characteristics-axial flow turbine; Worthington pump data; and American M.A.N. Corporation data). Also included is attachment 1 to the phase I final report which presents details of the system modeling; design, materials considerations, and systems analysis of the baseline module; system cost analysis; and supporting data. (WHK)

Development of a hardware-in- loop simulation platform for NPP main control systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Pengfei

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The simulation technology of the nuclear power plant are gradually applying to the nuclear power industry. However, most of the research on nuclear power plant simulation system only focus on pure computerized simulation at present, and it is difficult to fully display the characteristics of the simulating objects. In order to simulate the response characteristics of control system more really, a hardware-in-loop simulation platform of main control systems in the nuclear power plant has been developed in this paper. This simulation platform consists of thermal-hydraulic model, control and protection system model, physical DCS system and real-time interactive database. A physical industrial DCS system has been coupled to this platform to simulate the main control systems in the NPP, which makes the simulation result much closer to the actual control systems. The devoloped simulation platform has been validated by some steady and transient cases in this paper. This hardware-in-loop simulation platform can be used in the simulation and optimal design of NPP control systems. Furthermore, it can be used in the failure mode and effect analysis of the instrumentation and control systems in the nuclear power plant.

Maize rayado fino virus virus-like particles expressed in tobacco plants: A new platform for cysteine selective bioconjugation peptide display.

Science.gov (United States)

Natilla, Angela; Hammond, Rosemarie W

2011-12-01

Maize rayado fino virus (MRFV) virus-like-particles (VLPs) produced in tobacco plants were examined for their ability to serve as a novel platform to which a variety of peptides can be covalently displayed when expressed through a Potato virus X (PVX)-based vector. To provide an anchor for chemical modifications, three Cys-MRFV-VLPs mutants were created by substituting several of the amino acids present on the shell of the wild-type MRFV-VLPs with cysteine residues. The mutant designated Cys 2-VLPs exhibited, under native conditions, cysteine thiol reactivity in bioconjugation reactions with a fluorescent dye. In addition, this Cys 2-VLPs was cross-linked by NHS-PEG4-Maleimide to 17 (F) and 8 (HN) amino acid long peptides, corresponding to neutralizing epitopes of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). The resulting Cys 2-VLPs-F and Cys 2-VLPs-HN were recognized in Western blots by antibodies to MRFV as well as to F and HN. The results demonstrated that plant-produced MRFV-VLPs have the ability to function as a novel platform for the multivalent display of surface ligands. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Microphenotron: a robotic miniaturized plant phenotyping platform with diverse applications in chemical biology

KAUST Repository

Burrell, Thomas

2017-03-01

Background Chemical genetics provides a powerful alternative to conventional genetics for understanding gene function. However, its application to plants has been limited by the lack of a technology that allows detailed phenotyping of whole-seedling development in the context of a high-throughput chemical screen. We have therefore sought to develop an automated micro-phenotyping platform that would allow both root and shoot development to be monitored under conditions where the phenotypic effects of large numbers of small molecules can be assessed. Results The ‘Microphenotron’ platform uses 96-well microtitre plates to deliver chemical treatments to seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana L. and is based around four components: (a) the ‘Phytostrip’, a novel seedling growth device that enables chemical treatments to be combined with the automated capture of images of developing roots and shoots; (b) an illuminated robotic platform that uses a commercially available robotic manipulator to capture images of developing shoots and roots; (c) software to control the sequence of robotic movements and integrate these with the image capture process; (d) purpose-made image analysis software for automated extraction of quantitative phenotypic data. Imaging of each plate (representing 80 separate assays) takes 4 min and can easily be performed daily for time-course studies. As currently configured, the Microphenotron has a capacity of 54 microtitre plates in a growth room footprint of 2.1 m2, giving a potential throughput of up to 4320 chemical treatments in a typical 10 days experiment. The Microphenotron has been validated by using it to screen a collection of 800 natural compounds for qualitative effects on root development and to perform a quantitative analysis of the effects of a range of concentrations of nitrate and ammonium on seedling development. Conclusions The Microphenotron is an automated screening platform that for the first time is able to combine large

AutoCAD platform customization VBA

CERN Document Server

Ambrosius, Lee

2015-01-01

Boost productivity and streamline your workflow with expert AutoCAD: VBA programming instruction AutoCAD Platform Customization: VBA is the definitive guide to personalizing AutoCAD and the various programs that run on the AutoCAD platform, including AutoCAD Architecture, Civil 3D, Plant 3D, and more. Written by an Autodesk insider with years of customization and programming experience, this book features detailed discussions backed by real-world examples and easy-to-follow tutorials that illustrate each step in the personalization process. Readers gain expert guidance toward managing layout

Methodology for development of risk indicators for offshore platforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oeien, K.; Sklet, S.

1999-01-01

This paper presents a generic methodology for development of risk indicators for petroleum installations and a specific set of risk indicators established for one offshore platform. The risk indicators should be used to control the risk during operation of platforms. The methodology is purely risk-based and the basis for development of risk indicators is the platform specific quantitative risk analysis (QRA). In order to identify high risk contributing factors, platform personnel are asked to assess whether and how much the risk influencing factors will change. A brief comparison of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) for nuclear power plants and quantitative risk analysis (QRA) for petroleum platforms is also given. (au)

AutoCAD platform customization autolisp

CERN Document Server

Ambrosius, Lee

2014-01-01

Customize and personalize programs built on the AutoCAD platform AutoLISP is the key to unlocking the secrets of a more streamlined experience using industry leading software programs like AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Plant 3D, and more. AutoCAD Platform Customization: AutoLISP provides real-world examples that show you how to do everything from modifying graphical objects and reading and setting system variables to communicating with external programs. It also features a resources appendix and downloadable datasets and customization examples-tools that ensure swift and easy adoption. Find out how to r

Study on concept of web-based reactor piping design data platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yu; Zhou Yu; Dong Jianling; Meng Yang

2005-01-01

For solving the piping design problems such as design data deficiency, designer communication inconvenience and design project inconsistence, Reactor Piping Design Database Platform, which is the main part of the Integrated Nuclear Project Research Platform, is proposed by analyzing the nuclear piping designs in detail. The functions and system structures of the platform are described in the paper for the sake of the realization of the Reactor Piping Design Database Platform. The platform is constituted by web-based management interface, AutoPlant selected as CAD software, and relation database management system (DBMS). (authors)

Genoproteomics-assisted improvement of Andrographis paniculata: toward a promising molecular and conventional breeding platform for autogamous plants affecting the pharmaceutical industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Valdiani, Alireza; Talei, Daryush; Lattoo, Surrinder K; Ortiz, Rodomiro; Rasmussen, Søren Kjærsgaard; Batley, Jacqueline; Rafii, Mohd Yusop; Maziah, Mahmood; Sabu, Kallevettankuzhy K; Abiri, Rambod; Sakuanrungsirikul, Suchirat; Tan, Soon Guan

2017-09-01

Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Wall. ex Nees. (AP) is a hermaphroditic, self-compatible, and habitual inbreeding plant. Its main bioactive component is andrographolide, which is capable of inducing autophagic cell death in some human cancer cells and helps fight HIV/AIDS. Increasing the andrographolide content by investigating the genetic mechanisms controlling its biosynthesis in order to improve and develop high-yielding cultivars are the main breeding targets for AP. However, there might exist some limitations or barriers for crossability within AP accessions. Recently, this problem was addressed in AP by using a combination of crossbreeding and biotechnology-aided genetic methods. This review emphasizes that development of a breeding platform in a hard-to-breed plant, such as AP, requires the involvement of a broad range of methods from classical genetics to molecular breeding. To this end, a phenological stage (for example, flowering and stigma development) can be simplified to a quantitative morphological trait (for example, bud or stigma length) to be used as an index to express the highest level of receptivity in order to manage outcrossing. The outcomes of the basic crossability research can be then employed in diallel mating and crossbreeding. This review explains how genomic data could produce useful information regarding genetic distance and its influence on the crossability of AP accessions. Our review indicates that co-dominant DNA markers, such as microsatellites, are also capable of resolving the evolutionary pathway and cryptic features of plant populations and such information can be used to select the best breeding strategy. This review also highlights the importance of proteomic analysis as a breeding tool. In this regard, protein diversification, as well as the impact of normal and stress-responsive proteins on morphometric and physiological behaviors, could be used in breeding programs. These findings have immense potential for improving

Direct chloroplast sequencing: comparison of sequencing platforms and analysis tools for whole chloroplast barcoding.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Brozynska

Full Text Available Direct sequencing of total plant DNA using next generation sequencing technologies generates a whole chloroplast genome sequence that has the potential to provide a barcode for use in plant and food identification. Advances in DNA sequencing platforms may make this an attractive approach for routine plant identification. The HiSeq (Illumina and Ion Torrent (Life Technology sequencing platforms were used to sequence total DNA from rice to identify polymorphisms in the whole chloroplast genome sequence of a wild rice plant relative to cultivated rice (cv. Nipponbare. Consensus chloroplast sequences were produced by mapping sequence reads to the reference rice chloroplast genome or by de novo assembly and mapping of the resulting contigs to the reference sequence. A total of 122 polymorphisms (SNPs and indels between the wild and cultivated rice chloroplasts were predicted by these different sequencing and analysis methods. Of these, a total of 102 polymorphisms including 90 SNPs were predicted by both platforms. Indels were more variable with different sequencing methods, with almost all discrepancies found in homopolymers. The Ion Torrent platform gave no apparent false SNP but was less reliable for indels. The methods should be suitable for routine barcoding using appropriate combinations of sequencing platform and data analysis.

Phytozome Comparative Plant Genomics Portal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goodstein, David; Batra, Sajeev; Carlson, Joseph; Hayes, Richard; Phillips, Jeremy; Shu, Shengqiang; Schmutz, Jeremy; Rokhsar, Daniel

2014-09-09

The Dept. of Energy Joint Genome Institute is a genomics user facility supporting DOE mission science in the areas of Bioenergy, Carbon Cycling, and Biogeochemistry. The Plant Program at the JGI applies genomic, analytical, computational and informatics platforms and methods to: 1. Understand and accelerate the improvement (domestication) of bioenergy crops 2. Characterize and moderate plant response to climate change 3. Use comparative genomics to identify constrained elements and infer gene function 4. Build high quality genomic resource platforms of JGI Plant Flagship genomes for functional and experimental work 5. Expand functional genomic resources for Plant Flagship genomes

Application of the Aero-Hydro-Elastic Model, HAWC2-WAMIT, to Offshore Data from Floating Power Plants Hybrid Wind- and Wave-Energy Test Platform, P37

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bellew, Sarah; Yde, Anders; Verelst, David Robert

2014-01-01

numerical models, which can combine the aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, structural exibility and mooring components. Very little oshore data exists, however, in order to validate these numerical models. Floating Power Plant are the developers of a oating, hybrid wind- and wave-energy device. The device uses...... the pitching wave energy devices, not only to increase and smooth the power output from the platform, but also to take the energy from the waves in a controlled manner, resulting in a stable platform for the wind turbine and a safe harbour for O&M. They are currently developing the nal design for their rst...... full-scale prototype, the P80, which has a width of 80 m. As part of the development, Floating Power Plant have completed 4 oshore test-phases (totalling over 2 years oshore operation) on a 37 m wide scaled test device, the P37. This paper focuses on the comparison of one of the leading numerical...

Advances in the development of the Mexican platform for analysis and design of nuclear reactors: AZTLAN Platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomez T, A. M.; Puente E, F.; Del Valle G, E.; Francois L, J. L.; Espinosa P, G.

2017-09-01

The AZTLAN platform project: development of a Mexican platform for the analysis and design of nuclear reactors, financed by the SENER-CONACYT Energy Sustain ability Fund, was approved in early 2014 and formally began at the end of that year. It is a national project led by the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (ININ) and with the collaboration of Instituto Politecnico Nacional (IPN), the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM) and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) as part of the development team and with the participation of the Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant, the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards, the Ministry of Energy and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Kit, Germany) as part of the user group. The general objective of the project is to modernize, improve and integrate the neutronic, thermo-hydraulic and thermo-mechanical codes, developed in Mexican institutions, in an integrated platform, developed and maintained by Mexican experts for the benefit of Mexican institutions. Two years into the process, important steps have been taken that have consolidated the platform. The main results of these first two years have been presented in different national and international forums. In this congress, some of the most recent results that have been implemented in the platform codes are shown in more detail. The current status of the platform from a more executive view point is summarized in this paper. (Author)

A Versatile Phenotyping System and Analytics Platform Reveals Diverse Temporal Responses to Water Availability in Setaria.

Science.gov (United States)

Fahlgren, Noah; Feldman, Maximilian; Gehan, Malia A; Wilson, Melinda S; Shyu, Christine; Bryant, Douglas W; Hill, Steven T; McEntee, Colton J; Warnasooriya, Sankalpi N; Kumar, Indrajit; Ficor, Tracy; Turnipseed, Stephanie; Gilbert, Kerrigan B; Brutnell, Thomas P; Carrington, James C; Mockler, Todd C; Baxter, Ivan

2015-10-05

Phenotyping has become the rate-limiting step in using large-scale genomic data to understand and improve agricultural crops. Here, the Bellwether Phenotyping Platform for controlled-environment plant growth and automated multimodal phenotyping is described. The system has capacity for 1140 plants, which pass daily through stations to record fluorescence, near-infrared, and visible images. Plant Computer Vision (PlantCV) was developed as open-source, hardware platform-independent software for quantitative image analysis. In a 4-week experiment, wild Setaria viridis and domesticated Setaria italica had fundamentally different temporal responses to water availability. While both lines produced similar levels of biomass under limited water conditions, Setaria viridis maintained the same water-use efficiency under water replete conditions, while Setaria italica shifted to less efficient growth. Overall, the Bellwether Phenotyping Platform and PlantCV software detected significant effects of genotype and environment on height, biomass, water-use efficiency, color, plant architecture, and tissue water status traits. All ∼ 79,000 images acquired during the course of the experiment are publicly available. Copyright © 2015 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Novel platforms for essential biomolecules: expression of antibodies in plants

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Chikwamba, Rachel K

2006-02-28

Full Text Available fermentation and mammalian cell culture-based platforms. The products are expensive, not readily accessible to developing countries and, in mammalian cell culture products, also carry the risk of infection from contaminating mammalian pathogens. Clearly...

Development of test platform for digital I and C system evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Young Mi; Kwon, Yong Il

2012-01-01

Nuclear I and C (Instrument and Control) systems which need safety critical function have adopted various control units and communication protocols. These trends have been enlarged new nuclear plants design and upgrading of operating plants. Applying to these digital technologies to nuclear power plants has many good advantages, such as upgrade of functionality and performance and improvement of efficiency and economics. But, it also has several flaws. System designs have been more complicated and software reliability analysis and risk analysis have been more difficult. Also, cyber security problems came to the fore as I and C systems are connected through networks. The vulnerabilities of computer systems are vital to nuclear safety. Coping with the new IT technology of new and operating power plants, it is necessary to analyze verification technology and obtain regulatory technology through establishment of test platform. This paper presents test platform for digital I and C system evaluation of NPP

Development of test platform for digital I and C system evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Young Mi; Kwon, Yong Il [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-10-15

Nuclear I and C (Instrument and Control) systems which need safety critical function have adopted various control units and communication protocols. These trends have been enlarged new nuclear plants design and upgrading of operating plants. Applying to these digital technologies to nuclear power plants has many good advantages, such as upgrade of functionality and performance and improvement of efficiency and economics. But, it also has several flaws. System designs have been more complicated and software reliability analysis and risk analysis have been more difficult. Also, cyber security problems came to the fore as I and C systems are connected through networks. The vulnerabilities of computer systems are vital to nuclear safety. Coping with the new IT technology of new and operating power plants, it is necessary to analyze verification technology and obtain regulatory technology through establishment of test platform. This paper presents test platform for digital I and C system evaluation of NPP.

Hydrogen fuel - Universal energy

Science.gov (United States)

Prince, A. G.; Burg, J. A.

The technology for the production, storage, transmission, and consumption of hydrogen as a fuel is surveyed, with the physical and chemical properties of hydrogen examined as they affect its use as a fuel. Sources of hydrogen production are described including synthesis from coal or natural gas, biomass conversion, thermochemical decomposition of water, and electrolysis of water, of these only electrolysis is considered economicially and technologically feasible in the near future. Methods of production of the large quantities of electricity required for the electrolysis of sea water are explored: fossil fuels, hydroelectric plants, nuclear fission, solar energy, wind power, geothermal energy, tidal power, wave motion, electrochemical concentration cells, and finally ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). The wind power and OTEC are considered in detail as the most feasible approaches. Techniques for transmission (by railcar or pipeline), storage (as liquid in underwater or underground tanks, as granular metal hydride, or as cryogenic liquid), and consumption (in fuel cells in conventional power plants, for home usage, for industrial furnaces, and for cars and aircraft) are analyzed. The safety problems of hydrogen as a universal fuel are discussed, noting that they are no greater than those for conventional fuels.

A gimbal platform stabilization for topographic applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Michele, Mangiameli, E-mail: michele.mangiameli@dica.unict.it; Giuseppe, Mussumeci [Dept. of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, Catania (Italy)

2015-03-10

The aim of this work is the stabilization of a Gimbal platform for optical sensors acquisitions in topographic applications using mobile vehicles. The stabilization of the line of sight (LOS) consists in tracking the command velocity in presence of nonlinear noise due to the external environment. The hardware architecture is characterized by an Ardupilot platform that allows the control of both the mobile device and the Gimbal. Here we developed a new approach to stabilize the Gimbal platform, which is based on neural network. For the control system, we considered a plant that represents the transfer function of the servo system control model for an inertial stabilized Gimbal platform. The transductor used in the feed-back line control is characterized by the Rate Gyro transfer function installed onboard of Ardupilot. For the simulation and investigation of the system performance, we used the Simulink tool of Matlab. Results show that the hardware/software approach is efficient, reliable and cheap for direct photogrammetry, as well as for general purpose applications using mobile vehicles.

mirEX: a platform for comparative exploration of plant pri-miRNA expression data.

Science.gov (United States)

Bielewicz, Dawid; Dolata, Jakub; Zielezinski, Andrzej; Alaba, Sylwia; Szarzynska, Bogna; Szczesniak, Michal W; Jarmolowski, Artur; Szweykowska-Kulinska, Zofia; Karlowski, Wojciech M

2012-01-01

mirEX is a comprehensive platform for comparative analysis of primary microRNA expression data. RT-qPCR-based gene expression profiles are stored in a universal and expandable database scheme and wrapped by an intuitive user-friendly interface. A new way of accessing gene expression data in mirEX includes a simple mouse operated querying system and dynamic graphs for data mining analyses. In contrast to other publicly available databases, the mirEX interface allows a simultaneous comparison of expression levels between various microRNA genes in diverse organs and developmental stages. Currently, mirEX integrates information about the expression profile of 190 Arabidopsis thaliana pri-miRNAs in seven different developmental stages: seeds, seedlings and various organs of mature plants. Additionally, by providing RNA structural models, publicly available deep sequencing results, experimental procedure details and careful selection of auxiliary data in the form of web links, mirEX can function as a one-stop solution for Arabidopsis microRNA information. A web-based mirEX interface can be accessed at http://bioinfo.amu.edu.pl/mirex.

Aero-hydro-elastic simulation platform for wave energy systems and floating wind turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kallesoee, B.S.

2011-01-15

This report present results from the PSO project 2008-1-10092 entitled Aero-Hydro-Elastic Simulation Platform for Wave Energy Systems and floating Wind Turbines that deals with measurements, modelling and simulations of the world's first combined wave and wind energy platform. The floating energy conversion platform, Poseidon, is owned and operated by Floating Power Plant A/S. The platform has been operating for two test periods; one period where it was operating as a wave energy conversion platform only and one period where the three turbines was mounted and the platform operated as a combined wind and wave energy platform. The PSO project has equipped the platform with comprehensive measurements equipment for measuring platform motion, wave and wind conditions and turbine loads. Data from the first test period has been used for determine if the turbine could be mounted on the platform. Preliminary analysis of data from the second test period indicates that the platform is suitable as wind turbine foundation and that the turbines reduce the platform motion. (Author)

Overview of Plant-Made Vaccine Antigens against Malaria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marina Clemente

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is an overview of vaccine antigens against malaria produced in plants. Plant-based expression systems represent an interesting production platform due to their reduced manufacturing costs and high scalability. At present, different Plasmodium antigens and expression strategies have been optimized in plants. Furthermore, malaria antigens are one of the few examples of eukaryotic proteins with vaccine value expressed in plants, making plant-derived malaria antigens an interesting model to analyze. Up to now, malaria antigen expression in plants has allowed the complete synthesis of these vaccine antigens, which have been able to induce an active immune response in mice. Therefore, plant production platforms offer wonderful prospects for improving the access to malaria vaccines.

Introducing WISDEM:An Integrated System Modeling for Wind Turbines and Plant (Presentation)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dykes, K.; Graf, P.; Scott, G.; Ning, A.; King, R.; Guo, Y.; Parsons, T.; Damiani, R.; Felker, F.; Veers, P.

2015-01-01

The National Wind Technology Center wind energy systems engineering initiative has developed an analysis platform to leverage its research capabilities toward integrating wind energy engineering and cost models across wind plants. This Wind-Plant Integrated System Design & Engineering Model (WISDEM) platform captures the important interactions between various subsystems to achieve a better National Wind Technology Center wind energy systems engineering initiative has developed an analysis platform to leverage its research capabilities toward integrating wind energy engineering and cost models across wind plants. This Wind-Plant Integrated System Design & Engineering Model (WISDEM) platform captures the important interactions between various subsystems to achieve a better understanding of how to improve system-level performance and achieve system-level cost reductions. This work illustrates a few case studies with WISDEM that focus on the design and analysis of wind turbines and plants at different system levels.

New renewable energy sources; Nye fornybare energikilder

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-07-01

This booklet describes in simple terms the so-called new renewable energy sources: solar energy, biomass, wind power and wave power. In addition, there are brief discussions on hydrogen, ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), tidal power, geothermal energy, small hydropower plants and energy from salt gradients. The concept of new renewable energy sources is used to exclude large hydropower plants as these are considered conventional energy sources. The booklet also discusses the present energy use, the external frames for new renewable energy sources, and prospects for the future energy supply.

Phytochemica: a platform to explore phytochemicals of medicinal plants

Science.gov (United States)

Pathania, Shivalika; Ramakrishnan, Sai Mukund; Bagler, Ganesh

2015-01-01

Plant-derived molecules (PDMs) are known to be a rich source of diverse scaffolds that could serve as the basis for rational drug design. Structured compilation of phytochemicals from traditional medicinal plants can facilitate prospection for novel PDMs and their analogs as therapeutic agents. Atropa belladonna, Catharanthus roseus, Heliotropium indicum, Picrorhiza kurroa and Podophyllum hexandrum are important Himalayan medicinal plants, reported to have immense therapeutic properties against various diseases. We present Phytochemica, a structured compilation of 963 PDMs from these plants, inclusive of their plant part source, chemical classification, IUPAC names, SMILES notations, physicochemical properties and 3-dimensional structures with associated references. Phytochemica is an exhaustive resource of natural molecules facilitating prospection for therapeutic molecules from medicinally important plants. It also offers refined search option to explore the neighbourhood of chemical space against ZINC database to identify analogs of natural molecules at user-defined cut-off. Availability of phytochemical structured dataset may enable their direct use in in silico drug discovery which will hasten the process of lead identification from natural products under proposed hypothesis, and may overcome urgent need for phytomedicines. Compilation and accessibility of indigenous phytochemicals and their derivatives can be a source of considerable advantage to research institutes as well as industries. Database URL: home.iitj.ac.in/∼bagler/webservers/Phytochemica PMID:26255307

Phytochemica: a platform to explore phytochemicals of medicinal plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Pathania, Shivalika; Ramakrishnan, Sai Mukund; Bagler, Ganesh

2015-01-01

Plant-derived molecules (PDMs) are known to be a rich source of diverse scaffolds that could serve as the basis for rational drug design. Structured compilation of phytochemicals from traditional medicinal plants can facilitate prospection for novel PDMs and their analogs as therapeutic agents. Atropa belladonna, Catharanthus roseus, Heliotropium indicum, Picrorhiza kurroa and Podophyllum hexandrum are important Himalayan medicinal plants, reported to have immense therapeutic properties against various diseases. We present Phytochemica, a structured compilation of 963 PDMs from these plants, inclusive of their plant part source, chemical classification, IUPAC names, SMILES notations, physicochemical properties and 3-dimensional structures with associated references. Phytochemica is an exhaustive resource of natural molecules facilitating prospection for therapeutic molecules from medicinally important plants. It also offers refined search option to explore the neighbourhood of chemical space against ZINC database to identify analogs of natural molecules at user-defined cut-off. Availability of phytochemical structured dataset may enable their direct use in in silico drug discovery which will hasten the process of lead identification from natural products under proposed hypothesis, and may overcome urgent need for phytomedicines. Compilation and accessibility of indigenous phytochemicals and their derivatives can be a source of considerable advantage to research institutes as well as industries. home.iitj.ac.in/∼bagler/webservers/Phytochemica. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Advances in the development of the Mexican platform for analysis and design of nuclear reactors: AZTLAN Platform; Avances en el desarrollo de la plataforma mexicana para analisis y diseno de reactores nucleares: AZTLAN Platform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gomez T, A. M.; Puente E, F. [ININ, Carretera Mexico-Toluca s/n, 52750 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico); Del Valle G, E. [IPN, Escuela Superior de Fisica y Matematicas, Av. IPN s/n, 07738 Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico); Francois L, J. L. [UNAM, Facultad de Ingenieria, Departamento de Sistemas Energeticos, Paseo Cuauhnahuac 8532, Col. Progreso, 62550 Jiutepec, Morelos (Mexico); Espinosa P, G., E-mail: armando.gomez@inin.gob.mx [Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Unidad Iztapalapa, Av. San Rafael Atlixco 186, Col. Vicentina, 09340 Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico)

2017-09-15

The AZTLAN platform project: development of a Mexican platform for the analysis and design of nuclear reactors, financed by the SENER-CONACYT Energy Sustain ability Fund, was approved in early 2014 and formally began at the end of that year. It is a national project led by the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (ININ) and with the collaboration of Instituto Politecnico Nacional (IPN), the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM) and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) as part of the development team and with the participation of the Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant, the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards, the Ministry of Energy and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Kit, Germany) as part of the user group. The general objective of the project is to modernize, improve and integrate the neutronic, thermo-hydraulic and thermo-mechanical codes, developed in Mexican institutions, in an integrated platform, developed and maintained by Mexican experts for the benefit of Mexican institutions. Two years into the process, important steps have been taken that have consolidated the platform. The main results of these first two years have been presented in different national and international forums. In this congress, some of the most recent results that have been implemented in the platform codes are shown in more detail. The current status of the platform from a more executive view point is summarized in this paper. (Author)

Digital imaging of root traits (DIRT): a high-throughput computing and collaboration platform for field-based root phenomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Abhiram; Schneider, Hannah; Burridge, James; Ascanio, Ana Karine Martinez; Wojciechowski, Tobias; Topp, Christopher N; Lynch, Jonathan P; Weitz, Joshua S; Bucksch, Alexander

2015-01-01

Plant root systems are key drivers of plant function and yield. They are also under-explored targets to meet global food and energy demands. Many new technologies have been developed to characterize crop root system architecture (CRSA). These technologies have the potential to accelerate the progress in understanding the genetic control and environmental response of CRSA. Putting this potential into practice requires new methods and algorithms to analyze CRSA in digital images. Most prior approaches have solely focused on the estimation of root traits from images, yet no integrated platform exists that allows easy and intuitive access to trait extraction and analysis methods from images combined with storage solutions linked to metadata. Automated high-throughput phenotyping methods are increasingly used in laboratory-based efforts to link plant genotype with phenotype, whereas similar field-based studies remain predominantly manual low-throughput. Here, we present an open-source phenomics platform "DIRT", as a means to integrate scalable supercomputing architectures into field experiments and analysis pipelines. DIRT is an online platform that enables researchers to store images of plant roots, measure dicot and monocot root traits under field conditions, and share data and results within collaborative teams and the broader community. The DIRT platform seamlessly connects end-users with large-scale compute "commons" enabling the estimation and analysis of root phenotypes from field experiments of unprecedented size. DIRT is an automated high-throughput computing and collaboration platform for field based crop root phenomics. The platform is accessible at http://www.dirt.iplantcollaborative.org/ and hosted on the iPlant cyber-infrastructure using high-throughput grid computing resources of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). DIRT is a high volume central depository and high-throughput RSA trait computation platform for plant scientists working on crop roots

Close-range hyperspectral image analysis for the early detection of stress responses in individual plants in a high-throughput phenotyping platform

Science.gov (United States)

Mohd Asaari, Mohd Shahrimie; Mishra, Puneet; Mertens, Stien; Dhondt, Stijn; Inzé, Dirk; Wuyts, Nathalie; Scheunders, Paul

2018-04-01

The potential of close-range hyperspectral imaging (HSI) as a tool for detecting early drought stress responses in plants grown in a high-throughput plant phenotyping platform (HTPPP) was explored. Reflectance spectra from leaves in close-range imaging are highly influenced by plant geometry and its specific alignment towards the imaging system. This induces high uninformative variability in the recorded signals, whereas the spectral signature informing on plant biological traits remains undisclosed. A linear reflectance model that describes the effect of the distance and orientation of each pixel of a plant with respect to the imaging system was applied. By solving this model for the linear coefficients, the spectra were corrected for the uninformative illumination effects. This approach, however, was constrained by the requirement of a reference spectrum, which was difficult to obtain. As an alternative, the standard normal variate (SNV) normalisation method was applied to reduce this uninformative variability. Once the envisioned illumination effects were eliminated, the remaining differences in plant spectra were assumed to be related to changes in plant traits. To distinguish the stress-related phenomena from regular growth dynamics, a spectral analysis procedure was developed based on clustering, a supervised band selection, and a direct calculation of a spectral similarity measure against a reference. To test the significance of the discrimination between healthy and stressed plants, a statistical test was conducted using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. The proposed analysis techniques was validated with HSI data of maize plants (Zea mays L.) acquired in a HTPPP for early detection of drought stress in maize plant. Results showed that the pre-processing of reflectance spectra with the SNV effectively reduces the variability due to the expected illumination effects. The proposed spectral analysis method on the normalized spectra successfully

Crop 3D-a LiDAR based platform for 3D high-throughput crop phenotyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Qinghua; Wu, Fangfang; Pang, Shuxin; Zhao, Xiaoqian; Chen, Linhai; Liu, Jin; Xue, Baolin; Xu, Guangcai; Li, Le; Jing, Haichun; Chu, Chengcai

2018-03-01

With the growing population and the reducing arable land, breeding has been considered as an effective way to solve the food crisis. As an important part in breeding, high-throughput phenotyping can accelerate the breeding process effectively. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is an active remote sensing technology that is capable of acquiring three-dimensional (3D) data accurately, and has a great potential in crop phenotyping. Given that crop phenotyping based on LiDAR technology is not common in China, we developed a high-throughput crop phenotyping platform, named Crop 3D, which integrated LiDAR sensor, high-resolution camera, thermal camera and hyperspectral imager. Compared with traditional crop phenotyping techniques, Crop 3D can acquire multi-source phenotypic data in the whole crop growing period and extract plant height, plant width, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, leaf inclination angle and other parameters for plant biology and genomics analysis. In this paper, we described the designs, functions and testing results of the Crop 3D platform, and briefly discussed the potential applications and future development of the platform in phenotyping. We concluded that platforms integrating LiDAR and traditional remote sensing techniques might be the future trend of crop high-throughput phenotyping.

Computer-operated analytical platform for the determination of nutrients in hydroponic systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Rius-Ruiz, F Xavier; Andrade, Francisco J; Riu, Jordi; Rius, F Xavier

2014-03-15

Hydroponics is a water, energy, space, and cost efficient system for growing plants in constrained spaces or land exhausted areas. Precise control of hydroponic nutrients is essential for growing healthy plants and producing high yields. In this article we report for the first time on a new computer-operated analytical platform which can be readily used for the determination of essential nutrients in hydroponic growing systems. The liquid-handling system uses inexpensive components (i.e., peristaltic pump and solenoid valves), which are discretely computer-operated to automatically condition, calibrate and clean a multi-probe of solid-contact ion-selective electrodes (ISEs). These ISEs, which are based on carbon nanotubes, offer high portability, robustness and easy maintenance and storage. With this new computer-operated analytical platform we performed automatic measurements of K(+), Ca(2+), NO3(-) and Cl(-) during tomato plants growth in order to assure optimal nutritional uptake and tomato production. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Platform for high temperature materials (PHiTEM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baluc, N.; Hoffelner, W.; Michler, J.

2007-01-01

Advanced energy power systems like Generation IV fission reactors, thermonuclear fusion reactors, solar thermal/solar chemical reactors, gas turbines and coal gasification systems require materials that can operate at high temperatures in extreme environments: irradiation, corrosion, unidirectional and cyclic loads. On the path to development of new and adequate high temperature materials, understanding of damage formation and evolution and of damage effects is indispensable. Damage of materials in components takes place on different time and length scales. Component failure is usually a macroscopic event. Macroscopic material properties and their changes with time (e.g., hardening, creep embrittlement, corrosion) are determined by the micro- to nano-properties of the material. The multi scale is an ambitious and challenging attempt to take these facts into consideration by developing an unified model of the material behaviour. This requires, however, dedicated tools to test and analyse materials on different scales. The platform for high temperatures materials is being set up within the framework of collaboration between the EPFL, the PSI and the EMPA. It has three main goals: 1) Establish a platform that allows the multi scale characterization of relationships between microstructure and mechanical properties of advanced, high temperature materials, with a focus on irradiated, i.e. radioactive, materials, by combining the use of a focused ion beam and a nano indentation device with multi scale modelling and simulations. 2) Use the methods developed and the results gained for existing materials for developing improved high temperature materials to be used in advanced and sustainable future energy power plants. 3) Become an attractive partner for industry by providing a wide knowledge base, flexibility in answering technical questions and skills to better understand damage in already existing plants and to support development of new products at the industrial scale

Payment Platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjelholt, Morten; Damsgaard, Jan

2012-01-01

thoroughly and substitute current payment standards in the decades to come. This paper portrays how digital payment platforms evolve in socio-technical niches and how various technological platforms aim for institutional attention in their attempt to challenge earlier platforms and standards. The paper...... applies a co-evolutionary multilevel perspective to model the interplay and processes between technology and society wherein digital payment platforms potentially will substitute other payment platforms just like the credit card negated the check. On this basis this paper formulate a multilevel conceptual...

The Plant Genome Integrative Explorer Resource: PlantGenIE.org.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundell, David; Mannapperuma, Chanaka; Netotea, Sergiu; Delhomme, Nicolas; Lin, Yao-Cheng; Sjödin, Andreas; Van de Peer, Yves; Jansson, Stefan; Hvidsten, Torgeir R; Street, Nathaniel R

2015-12-01

Accessing and exploring large-scale genomics data sets remains a significant challenge to researchers without specialist bioinformatics training. We present the integrated PlantGenIE.org platform for exploration of Populus, conifer and Arabidopsis genomics data, which includes expression networks and associated visualization tools. Standard features of a model organism database are provided, including genome browsers, gene list annotation, Blast homology searches and gene information pages. Community annotation updating is supported via integration of WebApollo. We have produced an RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) expression atlas for Populus tremula and have integrated these data within the expression tools. An updated version of the ComPlEx resource for performing comparative plant expression analyses of gene coexpression network conservation between species has also been integrated. The PlantGenIE.org platform provides intuitive access to large-scale and genome-wide genomics data from model forest tree species, facilitating both community contributions to annotation improvement and tools supporting use of the included data resources to inform biological insight. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

Application of a Smartphone Metabolomics Platform to the Authentication of Schisandra sinensis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Hyuk Nam; Phan, Hong-Duc; Xu, Wen Jun; Ko, Yoon-Joo; Park, Sunghyouk

2016-05-01

Herbal medicines have been used for a long time all around the world. Since the quality of herbal preparations depends on the source of herbal materials, there has been a strong need to develop methods to correctly identify the origin of materials. To develop a smartphone metabolomics platform as a simpler and low-cost alternative for the identification of herbal material source. Schisandra sinensis extracts from Korea and China were prepared. The visible spectra of all samples were measured by a smartphone spectrometer platform. This platform included all the necessary measures built-in for the metabolomics research: data acquisition, processing, chemometric analysis and visualisation of the results. The result of the smartphone metabolomics platform was compared to that of NMR-based metabolomics, suggesting the feasibility of smartphone platform in metabolomics research. The smartphone metabolomics platform gave similar results to the NMR method, showing good separation between Korean and Chinese materials and correct predictability for all test samples. With its accuracy and advantages of affordability, user-friendliness, and portability, the smartphone metabolomics platform could be applied to the authentication of other medicinal plants. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Transgenic Plants as Low-Cost Platform for Chemotherapeutic Drugs Screening

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniele Vergara

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this work we explored the possibility of using genetically modified Arabidopsis thaliana plants as a rapid and low-cost screening tool for evaluating human anticancer drugs action and efficacy. Here, four different inhibitors with a validated anticancer effect in humans and distinct mechanism of action were screened in the plant model for their ability to interfere with the cytoskeletal and endomembrane networks. We used plants expressing a green fluorescent protein (GFP tagged microtubule-protein (TUA6-GFP, and three soluble GFPs differently sorted to reside in the endoplasmic reticulum (GFPKDEL or to accumulate in the vacuole through a COPII dependent (AleuGFP or independent (GFPChi mechanism. Our results demonstrated that drugs tested alone or in combination differentially influenced the monitored cellular processes including cytoskeletal organization and endomembrane trafficking. In conclusion, we demonstrated that A. thaliana plants are sensitive to the action of human chemotherapeutics and can be used for preliminary screening of drugs efficacy. The cost-effective subcellular imaging in plant cell may contribute to better clarify drugs subcellular targets and their anticancer effects.

Development of distributed plant monitoring and diagnosis system at Monju

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okusa, Kyoichi; Tamayama, Kiyoshi; Kitamura, Tomomi

2003-01-01

In a nuclear plant, it is required to detect an anomaly as early as possible and to inhibit adverse consequences. This requirement is especially important for a prototype Fast Breeder Reactor Monju. Therefore, a monitoring and diagnosis system is required to be developed for Monju plant equipments. In these days, such a monitoring and diagnosis system can be realized using Web technology with rationalized system resources due to the remarkable progress of computer network technology. Then, we developed a Web based platform for the monitoring and diagnosis system of Monju. Distributed architecture, standardization and highly flexible system structure have been taken account of in the development. This newly developed platform and prototype monitoring and diagnosis systems have been validated. Prototype monitoring and diagnosis systems on the platform acquire Monju plant data and display the data on client computers using Monju intranet with acceptable delay times. The prototype monitoring and diagnosis systems for Monju have been developed on the platform and the whole system has been validated. (author)

Digital Information Platform Design of Fuel Element Engineering For High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du Yuwei

2014-01-01

This product line provide fuel element for high temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power plant which is being constructed in Shidao bay in Shandong province. Its annual productive capacity is thirty ten thousands fuel elements whose shape is spherical . Compared with pressurized water fuel , this line has the feature of high radiation .In order to reduce harm to operators, the comprehensive information platform is designed , which can realize integration of automation and management for plant. This platform include two nets, automation net using field bus technique and information net using Ethernet technique ,which realize collection ,control, storage and publish of information.By means of construction, automatization and informatization of product line can reach high level. (author)

Production of Plant Phthalate and its Hydrogenated Derivative from Bio-Based Platform Chemicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Rui; Lu, Fang; Si, Xiaoqin; Jiang, Huifang; Huang, Qianqian; Yu, Weiqiang; Kong, Xiangtao; Xu, Jie

2018-04-06

Direct transformation of bio-based platform chemicals into aromatic dicarboxylic acids and their derivatives, which are widely used for the manufacture of polymers, is of significant importance for the sustainable development of the plastics industry. However, limited successful chemical processes have been reported. This study concerns a sustainable route for the production of phthalate and its hydrogenated derivative from bio-based malic acid and erythritol. The key Diels-Alder reaction is applied to build a substituted cyclohexene structure. The dehydration reaction of malic acid affords fumaric acid with 96.6 % yield, which could be used as the dienophile, and 1,3-butadiene generated in situ through erythritol deoxydehydration serves as the diene. Starting from erythritol and dibutyl fumarate, a 74.3 % yield of dibutyl trans-4-cyclohexene-1,2-dicarboxylate is obtained. The palladium-catalyzed dehydrogenation of the cycloadduct gives a 77.8 % yield of dibutyl phthalate. Dibutyl trans-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate could be formed in nearly 100 % yield under mild conditions by hydrogenation of the cycloadduct. Furthermore, fumaric acid and fumarate, with trans configurations, were found to be better dienophiles for this Diels-Alder reaction than maleic acid and maleate, with cis configuration, based on the experimental and computational results. This new route will pave the way for the production of environmental friendly plastic materials from plants. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Targeted viral-mediated plant genome editing using crispr/cas9

KAUST Repository

Mahfouz, Magdy M.; Ali, Zahir

2015-01-01

The present disclosure provides a viral-mediated genome-editing platform that facilitates multiplexing, obviates stable transformation, and is applicable across plant species. The RNA2 genome of the tobacco rattle virus (TRV) was engineered to carry and systemically deliver a guide RNA molecules into plants overexpressing Cas9 endonuclease. High genomic modification frequencies were observed in inoculated as well as systemic leaves including the plant growing points. This system facilitates multiplexing and can lead to germinal transmission of the genomic modifications in the progeny, thereby obviating the requirements of repeated transformations and tissue culture. The editing platform of the disclosure is useful in plant genome engineering and applicable across plant species amenable to viral infections for agricultural biotechnology applications.

Targeted viral-mediated plant genome editing using crispr/cas9

KAUST Repository

Mahfouz, Magdy M.

2015-12-17

The present disclosure provides a viral-mediated genome-editing platform that facilitates multiplexing, obviates stable transformation, and is applicable across plant species. The RNA2 genome of the tobacco rattle virus (TRV) was engineered to carry and systemically deliver a guide RNA molecules into plants overexpressing Cas9 endonuclease. High genomic modification frequencies were observed in inoculated as well as systemic leaves including the plant growing points. This system facilitates multiplexing and can lead to germinal transmission of the genomic modifications in the progeny, thereby obviating the requirements of repeated transformations and tissue culture. The editing platform of the disclosure is useful in plant genome engineering and applicable across plant species amenable to viral infections for agricultural biotechnology applications.

Product Platform Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Munk, Lone

The aim of this research is to improve understanding of platform-based product development by studying platform performance in relation to internal effects in companies. Platform-based product development makes it possible to deliver product variety and at the same time reduce the needed resources...... engaging in platform-based product development. Similarly platform assessment criteria lack empirical verification regarding relevance and sufficiency. The thesis focuses on • the process of identifying and estimating internal effects, • verification of performance of product platforms, (i...... experienced representatives from the different life systems phase systems of the platform products. The effects are estimated and modeled within different scenarios, taking into account financial and real option aspects. The model illustrates and supports estimation and quantification of internal platform...

The Platformization of the Web: Making Web Data Platform Ready

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Helmond, A.

2015-01-01

In this article, I inquire into Facebook’s development as a platform by situating it within the transformation of social network sites into social media platforms. I explore this shift with a historical perspective on, what I refer to as, platformization, or the rise of the platform as the dominant

Plant Habitat (PH)

Science.gov (United States)

Onate, Bryan

2016-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) will soon have a platform for conducting fundamental research of Large Plants. Plant Habitat (PH) is designed to be a fully controllable environment for high-quality plant physiological research. PH will control light quality, level, and timing, temperature, CO2, relative humidity, and irrigation, while scrubbing ethylene. Additional capabilities include leaf temperature and root zone moisture and oxygen sensing. The light cap will have red (630 nm), blue (450 nm), green (525 nm), far red (730 nm) and broad spectrum white LEDs. There will be several internal cameras (visible and IR) to monitor and record plant growth and operations.

Plant Transporter Identification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Bo

Membrane transport proteins (transporters) play a critical role for numerous biological processes, by controlling the movements of ions and molecules in and out of cells. In plants, transporters thus function as gatekeepers between the plant and its surrounding environment and between organs......, tissues, cells and intracellular compartments. Since plants are highly compartmentalized organisms with complex transportation infrastructures, they consequently have many transporters. However, the vast majority of predicted transporters have not yet been experimentally verified to have transport...... activity. This project contains a review of the implemented methods, which have led to plant transporter identification, and present our progress on creating a high-throughput functional genomics transporter identification platform....

Energetic aspects and opportunities for reusing water on offshore platforms in Campos Basin, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Magalhães Duarte

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In the drilling and production of oil at sea, a large quantity of potable water used is most commonly transported to oil platforms using offshore supply vessels (OSVs. Sea water desalination is used as well, but only in a few oil platforms. To minimize energy consumption, water supply options were studied. The desalination of seawater and the reusing of streams of grey water and black water were evaluated and compared with the characteristics of the current supply via OSVs. In both desalination and OSV water supply options an electrolytic wastewater treatment plant is used. The objective of this study was to analyze the current situation regarding water supply on offshore platforms located in the Campos Basin, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and to propose measures to take advantage of opportunities to reuse water and reduce energy expenditure. Two alternative scenarios were developed that involved the reuse of water that comes from the effluent of a biological wastewater treatment plant (WWTP. Information on the logistics of supplying water to platforms was obtained through direct consultation with companies and sources in the literature. The results show that annual energy consumption (uptake, treatment, transportation, use and waste water treatment of water on offshore platforms is currently 1.89 GWh, and that a reduction of 1.8 GWh of the energy consumed can be achieved using advanced reuse treatments. Energy consumption in the water reuse treatment is more competitive than those of transport by OSVs or seawater desalination.

Using decommissioned offshore oil/gas platforms for nuclear/RO desalination: the ONDP (Offshore Nuclear Desalination Platform)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagar, Ankesh

2010-01-01

shore by cables alongside the pipeline as additional bounty. The nuclear submarines and ships have been sailing the oceans of the world with these reactors and have proven safe. The other non-conventional energy sources like windmills and wave energy generation have also been tried on oil platforms but the magnitude of energy generation and desalination is incomparable with nuclear energy. The KLT 40S reactors are compact easy to transport and ship, built with excellent safety mechanisms, efficient and are made with 'plug and play' philosophy. The use of non weapon grade uranium makes them ideal for installing them offshore with existing security. They have a proven safety record as well and are cost effective in long run. These 'to be decommissioned' oil platforms are also ideal for DEMWAX (Reverse Osmosis) plants which instead of floats can be anchored at the base of the platform where they meet the required gravity, current and pressure. The location of oil platforms minimizes biofouling and reduces power requirement. Brine plume is also taken care with the available wide ocean floor and strong currents. The challenge is to integrate ready oil platform infrastructure with proven safe nuclear technology and water-management measures, to put them to practice with modification in an Offshore Nuclear Desalination Platform (ONDP). (author)

Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of a Combined Floating Wave and Wind Energy Conversion Platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yde, Anders; Pedersen, Mads Mølgaard; Bellew, Sarah Bellew

This report presents results from the PSO project 2011-1-10668 entitled Poseidon 2. The project is a continuation of the previous PSO project entitled Aero-Hydro-Elastic Simulation Platform for Wave Energy Systems and floating Wind Turbines. Floating Power Plant has developed the technology...... for a novel, floating, wave- and wind-energy hybrid device. To test the technology they have scaled the design to P37, a 37 m wide test platform that has been undergoing offshore testing for four complete test phases (totaling more than 2 years). The test platform provides electricity to the grid from both...... wind and wave energy, however its purpose is purely for research and development. The PSO project has equipped the platform with comprehensive measurements equipment for measuring platform motion, wave and wind conditions and turbine loads. Data from the test periods has been used for evaluating...

AutoCAD platform customization user interface, AutoLISP, VBA, and beyond

CERN Document Server

Ambrosius, Lee

2015-01-01

Take control of AutoCAD to boost the speed, quality, and precision of your work Senior drafters and savvy users are increasingly taking AutoCAD customization out of the hands of system administrators, and taking control of their own workflow. In AutoCAD Platform Customization, Autodesk customization guru Lee Ambrosius walks you through a multitude of customization options using detailed tutorials and real-world examples applicable to AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, Civil 3D, Plant 3D, and other programs built on the AutoCAD platform. By unleashing the full power of the software, you'll simplify and str

Metabolic engineering with plants for a sustainable biobased economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Jong Moon; Zhao, Le; Shanks, Jacqueline V

2013-01-01

Plants are bona fide sustainable organisms because they accumulate carbon and synthesize beneficial metabolites from photosynthesis. To meet the challenges to food security and health threatened by increasing population growth and depletion of nonrenewable natural resources, recent metabolic engineering efforts have shifted from single pathways to holistic approaches with multiple genes owing to integration of omics technologies. Successful engineering of plants results in the high yield of biomass components for primary food sources and biofuel feedstocks, pharmaceuticals, and platform chemicals through synthetic biology and systems biology strategies. Further discovery of undefined biosynthesis pathways in plants, integrative analysis of discrete omics data, and diversified process developments for production of platform chemicals are essential to overcome the hurdles for sustainable production of value-added biomolecules from plants.

Natural transformation in plant breeding - a biotechnological platform for quality improvement of ornamental, agricultural and medicinal plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lütken, Henrik Vlk; Hegelund, Josefine Nymark; Himmelboe, Martin

2015-01-01

Compactness is a desirable trait in ornamental plant breeding because it is preferred by producers, distributors and consumers. Presently, in ornamental plant production growth of many potted plants is regulated by application of chemical growth retardants, several of which are harmful to both...... (rol)-genes rolA, rolB, rolC and rolD among 18 ORFs, into the plant genome. Infection of plants by A. rhizogenes induces hairy roots, from which shoots containing rol-genes can be regenerated. Natural transformation with A. rhizogenes reveals very promising results in several plant species and can...... be useful in a broader range of application than ornamental breeding. One important aspect of this technology is that the hairy roots can be used directly in the selection proceß as a primary indicator of a succeßful transformation. Thus the technology avoids use of undesired antibiotic resistance marker...

Proteomic platform for the identification of proteins in olive (Olea europaea) pulp.

Science.gov (United States)

Capriotti, Anna Laura; Cavaliere, Chiara; Foglia, Patrizia; Piovesana, Susy; Samperi, Roberto; Stampachiacchiere, Serena; Laganà, Aldo

2013-10-24

The nutritional and cancer-protective properties of the oil extracted mechanically from the ripe fruits of Olea europaea trees are attracting constantly more attention worldwide. The preparation of high-quality protein samples from plant tissues for proteomic analysis poses many challenging problems. In this study we employed a proteomic platform based on two different extraction methods, SDS and CHAPS based protocols, followed by two precipitation protocols, TCA/acetone and MeOH precipitation, in order to increase the final number of identified proteins. The use of advanced MS techniques in combination with the Swissprot and NCBI Viridiplantae databases and TAIR10 Arabidopsis database allowed us to identify 1265 proteins, of which 22 belong to O. europaea. The application of this proteomic platform for protein extraction and identification will be useful also for other proteomic studies on recalcitrant plant/fruit tissues. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Cross-Platform Technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Cristina ENACHE

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Cross-platform - a concept becoming increasingly used in recent years especially in the development of mobile apps, but this consistently over time and in the development of conventional desktop applications. The notion of cross-platform software (multi-platform or platform-independent refers to a software application that can run on more than one operating system or computing architecture. Thus, a cross-platform application can operate independent of software or hardware platform on which it is execute. As a generic definition presents a wide range of meanings for purposes of this paper we individualize this definition as follows: we will reduce the horizon of meaning and we use functionally following definition: a cross-platform application is a software application that can run on more than one operating system (desktop or mobile identical or in a similar way.

Platform Performance and Challenges - using Platforms in Lego Company

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Munk, Lone; Mortensen, Niels Henrik

2009-01-01

needs focus on the incentive of using the platform. This problem lacks attention in literature, as well as industry, where assessment criteria do not cover this aspect. Therefore, we recommend including user incentive in platform assessment criteria to these challenges. Concrete solution elements...... ensuring user incentive in platforms is an object for future research...

Platform Constellations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Staykova, Kalina Stefanova; Damsgaard, Jan

2016-01-01

This research paper presents an initial attempt to introduce and explain the emergence of new phenomenon, which we refer to as platform constellations. Functioning as highly modular systems, the platform constellations are collections of highly connected platforms which co-exist in parallel and a......’ acquisition and users’ engagement rates as well as unlock new sources of value creation and diversify revenue streams....

N-Glycosylation of Plant-produced Recombinant Proteins

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosch, H.J.; Castilho, A.; Loos, A.; Schots, A.; Steinkeller, H.

2013-01-01

Plants are gaining increasingly acceptance as a production platform for recombinant proteins. One reason for this is their ability to carry out posttranslational protein modifications in a similar if not identical way as mammalian cells. The capability of plants to carry out human-like complex

Continuous Platform Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Ole Fiil

low risks and investments but also with relatively fuzzy results. When looking for new platform projects, it is important to make sure that the company and market is ready for the introduction of platforms, and to make sure that people from marketing and sales, product development, and downstream......, but continuous product family evolution challenges this strategy. The concept of continuous platform development is based on the fact that platform development should not be a one-time experience but rather an ongoing process of developing new platforms and updating existing ones, so that product family...

Energy efficiency measures for offshore oil and gas platforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van; Voldsund, Mari; Breuhaus, Peter; Elmegaard, Brian

2016-01-01

Oil and gas platforms are energy-intensive systems – each facility uses from a few to several hundreds MW of energy, depending on the petroleum properties, export specifications and field lifetime. Several technologies for increasing the energy efficiency of these plants are investigated in this work. They include: (i) the installation of multiple pressure levels in production manifolds, (ii) the implementation of multiphase expanders, (iii) the promotion of energy and process integration, (iv) the limitation of gas recirculation around the compressors, (v) the exploitation of low-temperature heat from the gas cooling steps, (vi) the downsizing or replacement of the existing gas turbines, and (vii) the use of the waste heat from the power plant. The present study builds on four actual cases located in the North and Norwegian Seas, which differ by the type of oil processed, operating conditions and strategies. The benefits and practical limitations of each measure are discussed based on thermodynamic, economic and environmental factors. Significant energy savings and reductions in CO_2-emissions are depicted, reaching up to 15–20%. However, they strongly differ from one facility to another, which suggests that generic improvements can hardly be proposed, and that thorough techno-economic analyses should be conducted for each plant. - Highlights: • Energy efficiency measures for offshore platforms are assessed. • Energy savings and reductions in CO_2-emissions can reach up to 15-20%. • They differ strongly depending on the oil type, operating conditions and strategies.

MATLAB/SIMULINK platform for simulation of CANDU reactor control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Javidnia, H.; Jiang, J.

2007-01-01

In this paper a simulation platform for CANDU reactors' control system is presented. The platform is built on MATLAB/SIMULINK interactive graphical interface. Since MATLAB/SIMULINK are powerful tools to describe systems mathematically, all the subsystems in a CANDU reactor are represented in MATLAB's language and are implemented in SIMULINK graphical representation. The focus of the paper is on the flux control loop of CANDU reactors. However, the ideas can be extended to include other parts in CANDU power plants and the same technique can be applied to other types of nuclear reactors and their control systems. The CANDU reactor model and xenon feedback model are also discussed in this paper. (author)

Manufacture of Platform Prototype for Digital Safety System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, S. Y.; Kim, J. S.; Kim, J. M.

2010-01-01

Unit controller is a basic unit of digital safety system platform prototype. The typical unit controller is comprised of CPB(CPU board), CMB(communication board), AIB(Analog input board), AOB(Analog output board), CIB(contact input board), COB(contact output board), and a subrack. It is developed according to H/W development procedure and S/W development life cycle. A digital safety system(for example, plant protection system) is the assemblies of unit controllers. CPB performs the function of each system. DSP(digital signal processor) is built in CPB. CMB is responsible for communication between unit controllers. NSD(Network Switching Device) exchanges data between the unit controllers. Each unit controller of the platform are connected to NSD through CMB. Reliability analyses on unit controller and NSD are performed. These reliability data are used as input of technical validation

High-throughput phenotyping of plant resistance to aphids by automated video tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Kloth, Karen J; Ten Broeke, Cindy Jm; Thoen, Manus Pm; Hanhart-van den Brink, Marianne; Wiegers, Gerrie L; Krips, Olga E; Noldus, Lucas Pjj; Dicke, Marcel; Jongsma, Maarten A

2015-01-01

Piercing-sucking insects are major vectors of plant viruses causing significant yield losses in crops. Functional genomics of plant resistance to these insects would greatly benefit from the availability of high-throughput, quantitative phenotyping methods. We have developed an automated video tracking platform that quantifies aphid feeding behaviour on leaf discs to assess the level of plant resistance. Through the analysis of aphid movement, the start and duration of plant penetrations by aphids were estimated. As a case study, video tracking confirmed the near-complete resistance of lettuce cultivar 'Corbana' against Nasonovia ribisnigri (Mosely), biotype Nr:0, and revealed quantitative resistance in Arabidopsis accession Co-2 against Myzus persicae (Sulzer). The video tracking platform was benchmarked against Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) recordings and aphid population development assays. The use of leaf discs instead of intact plants reduced the intensity of the resistance effect in video tracking, but sufficiently replicated experiments resulted in similar conclusions as EPG recordings and aphid population assays. One video tracking platform could screen 100 samples in parallel. Automated video tracking can be used to screen large plant populations for resistance to aphids and other piercing-sucking insects.

[Development of Plant Metabolomics and Medicinal Plant Genomics].

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, Kazuki

2018-01-01

 A variety of chemicals produced by plants, often referred to as 'phytochemicals', have been used as medicines, food, fuels and industrial raw materials. Recent advances in the study of genomics and metabolomics in plant science have accelerated our understanding of the mechanisms, regulation and evolution of the biosynthesis of specialized plant products. We can now address such questions as how the metabolomic diversity of plants is originated at the levels of genome, and how we should apply this knowledge to drug discovery, industry and agriculture. Our research group has focused on metabolomics-based functional genomics over the last 15 years and we have developed a new research area called 'Phytochemical Genomics'. In this review, the development of a research platform for plant metabolomics is discussed first, to provide a better understanding of the chemical diversity of plants. Then, representative applications of metabolomics to functional genomics in a model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, are described. The extension of integrated multi-omics analyses to non-model specialized plants, e.g., medicinal plants, is presented, including the identification of novel genes, metabolites and networks for the biosynthesis of flavonoids, alkaloids, sulfur-containing metabolites and terpenoids. Further, functional genomics studies on a variety of medicinal plants is presented. I also discuss future trends in pharmacognosy and related sciences.

A plant-based chemical genomics screen for the identification of flowering inducers.

Science.gov (United States)

Fiers, Martijn; Hoogenboom, Jorin; Brunazzi, Alice; Wennekes, Tom; Angenent, Gerco C; Immink, Richard G H

2017-01-01

Floral timing is a carefully regulated process, in which the plant determines the optimal moment to switch from the vegetative to reproductive phase. While there are numerous genes known that control flowering time, little information is available on chemical compounds that are able to influence this process. We aimed to discover novel compounds that are able to induce flowering in the model plant Arabidopsis. For this purpose we developed a plant-based screening platform that can be used in a chemical genomics study. Here we describe the set-up of the screening platform and various issues and pitfalls that need to be addressed in order to perform a chemical genomics screening on Arabidopsis plantlets. We describe the choice for a molecular marker, in combination with a sensitive reporter that's active in plants and is sufficiently sensitive for detection. In this particular screen, the firefly Luciferase marker was used, fused to the regulatory sequences of the floral meristem identity gene APETALA1 (AP1) , which is an early marker for flowering. Using this screening platform almost 9000 compounds were screened, in triplicate, in 96-well plates at a concentration of 25 µM. One of the identified potential flowering inducing compounds was studied in more detail and named Flowering1 (F1). F1 turned out to be an analogue of the plant hormone Salicylic acid (SA) and appeared to be more potent than SA in the induction of flowering. The effect could be confirmed by watering Arabidopsis plants with SA or F1, in which F1 gave a significant reduction in time to flowering in comparison to SA treatment or the control. In this study a chemical genomics screening platform was developed to discover compounds that can induce flowering in Arabidopsis. This platform was used successfully, to identify a compound that can speed-up flowering in Arabidopsis.

SignalPlant: an open signal processing software platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Plesinger, F; Jurco, J; Halamek, J; Jurak, P

2016-07-01

The growing technical standard of acquisition systems allows the acquisition of large records, often reaching gigabytes or more in size as is the case with whole-day electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings, for example. Although current 64-bit software for signal processing is able to process (e.g. filter, analyze, etc) such data, visual inspection and labeling will probably suffer from rather long latency during the rendering of large portions of recorded signals. For this reason, we have developed SignalPlant-a stand-alone application for signal inspection, labeling and processing. The main motivation was to supply investigators with a tool allowing fast and interactive work with large multichannel records produced by EEG, electrocardiograph and similar devices. The rendering latency was compared with EEGLAB and proves significantly faster when displaying an image from a large number of samples (e.g. 163-times faster for 75  ×  10(6) samples). The presented SignalPlant software is available free and does not depend on any other computation software. Furthermore, it can be extended with plugins by third parties ensuring its adaptability to future research tasks and new data formats.

Stem heat balance method to estimate transpiration of young orange and mango plants

OpenAIRE

Vellame,Lucas M.; Coelho Filho,Maurício A.; Paz,Vital P. S.; Coelho,Eugênio F.

2010-01-01

The present study had as its main objective the evaluation of the heat balance method in young orange and mango plants under protected environment. The work was carried out at Embrapa Cassava and Tropical Fruits, Cruz das Almas, BA. Later on, estimates of sap flow were conducted for two mango plants cultivated in pots of 15 and 50 L installed on weighting platforms of 45 and 140 kg; sap flow was determined in three orange plants, two of which were also installed on weighing platforms. The val...

PlantSize Offers an Affordable, Non-destructive Method to Measure Plant Size and Color in Vitro

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dóra Faragó

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Plant size, shape and color are important parameters of plants, which have traditionally been measured by destructive and time-consuming methods. Non-destructive image analysis is an increasingly popular technology to characterize plant development in time. High throughput automatic phenotyping platforms can simultaneously analyze multiple morphological and physiological parameters of hundreds or thousands of plants. Such platforms are, however, expensive and are not affordable for many laboratories. Moreover, determination of basic parameters is sufficient for most studies. Here we describe a non-invasive method, which simultaneously measures basic morphological and physiological parameters of in vitro cultured plants. Changes of plant size, shape and color is monitored by repeated photography with a commercial digital camera using neutral white background. Images are analyzed with the MatLab-based computer application PlantSize, which simultaneously calculates several parameters including rosette size, convex area, convex ratio, chlorophyll and anthocyanin contents of all plants identified on the image. Numerical data are exported in MS Excel-compatible format. Subsequent data processing provides information on growth rates, chlorophyll and anthocyanin contents. Proof-of-concept validation of the imaging technology was demonstrated by revealing small but significant differences between wild type and transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the HSFA4A transcription factor or the hsfa4a knockout mutant, subjected to different stress conditions. While HSFA4A overexpression was associated with better growth, higher chlorophyll and lower anthocyanin content in saline conditions, the knockout hsfa4a mutant showed hypersensitivity to various stresses. Morphological differences were revealed by comparing rosette size, shape and color of wild type plants with phytochrome B (phyB-9 mutant. While the technology was developed with Arabidopsis plants

Mobile platform security

CERN Document Server

Asokan, N; Dmitrienko, Alexandra

2013-01-01

Recently, mobile security has garnered considerable interest in both the research community and industry due to the popularity of smartphones. The current smartphone platforms are open systems that allow application development, also for malicious parties. To protect the mobile device, its user, and other mobile ecosystem stakeholders such as network operators, application execution is controlled by a platform security architecture. This book explores how such mobile platform security architectures work. We present a generic model for mobile platform security architectures: the model illustrat

Plant synthetic biology: a new platform for industrial biotechnology.

Science.gov (United States)

Fesenko, Elena; Edwards, Robert

2014-05-01

Thirty years after the production of the first generation of genetically modified plants we are now set to move into a new era of recombinant crop technology through the application of synthetic biology to engineer new and complex input and output traits. The use of synthetic biology technologies will represent more than incremental additions of transgenes, but rather the directed design of completely new metabolic pathways, physiological traits, and developmental control strategies. The need to enhance our ability to improve crops through new engineering capability is now increasingly pressing as we turn to plants not just for food, but as a source of renewable feedstocks for industry. These accelerating and diversifying demands for new output traits coincide with a need to reduce inputs and improve agricultural sustainability. Faced with such challenges, existing technologies will need to be supplemented with new and far-more-directed approaches to turn valuable resources more efficiently into usable agricultural products. While these objectives are challenging enough, the use of synthetic biology in crop improvement will face public acceptance issues as a legacy of genetically modified technologies in many countries. Here we review some of the potential benefits of adopting synthetic biology approaches in improving plant input and output traits for their use as industrial chemical feedstocks, as linked to the rapidly developing biorefining industry. Several promising technologies and biotechnological targets are identified along with some of the key regulatory and societal challenges in the safe and acceptable introduction of such technology.

Feasibility study on floating nuclear power plant (1). Conceptual design study of FNPP. Contract research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yabuuchi, Noriaki; Shimazaki, Junya; Ochiai, Masaaki; Takahashi, Masao; Nakazawa, Toshio

2001-02-01

Offshore siting methods for a nuclear power plant are classified into three types as a floating type, a settled type and a land reclamation type. The floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) has a number of advantages, such as seismic isolation, standardization of design and manufacturing, and reduction of construction period. It is, however, required for FNPP to establish the safety standards, which are different from ones for land based nuclear power plant. Investigations for this subject have not been conducted sufficiently. In this report, design study on a concept for FNPP and a review on stability evaluation for the floating platform, which were performed in order to study the safety concept of the FNPP are described. The basic concept of the FNPP are described. The basic concept for FNPP is as follows: The FNPP is sited approximately 1 - 2km off the sea coast on the open sea with water depth of about 20m and it is moored of protected sea by the breakwater, it provide a floating platform for a 1,100MWe class PWR plant. The results of design study show that the floating platform for 1,100MWe class PWR plant of 300m (L) x 80m (W) x 35m (H), and displacement of approximately 300,000 ton can be constructed in a dockyard. This floating platform guarded by the breakwater is found to be stable enough to install the nuclear power plant from the analysis simulating the movement of the platform due to sea wave or wind. (author)

Feasibility study on floating nuclear power plant (1). Conceptual design study of FNPP. Construct research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yabuuchi, Noriaki; Shimazaki, Junya; Ochiai, Masaaki [Department of Nuclear Energy System, Tokai Research Establishment, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan); Takahashi, Masao [Niigata Engineering Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan); Nakazawa, Toshio [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Oarai, Ibaraki (Japan). Oarai Research Establishment; Sato, Kazuo [Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

2001-02-01

Offshore siting methods for a nuclear power plant are classified into three types as a floating type, a settled type and a land reclamation type. The floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) has a number of advantages, such as seismic isolation, standardization of design and manufacturing, and reduction of construction period. It is, however, required for FNPP to establish the safety standards, which are different from ones for land based nuclear power plant. Investigations for this subject have not been conducted sufficiently. In this report, design study on a concept for FNPP and a review on stability evaluation for the floating platform, which were performed in order to study the safety concept of the FNPP are described. The basic concept of the FNPP are described. The basic concept for FNPP is as follows: The FNPP is sited approximately 1 - 2km off the sea coast on the open sea with water depth of about 20m and it is moored of protected sea by the breakwater, it provide a floating platform for a 1,100MWe class PWR plant. The results of design study show that the floating platform for 1,100MWe class PWR plant of 300m (L) x 80m (W) x 35m (H), and displacement of approximately 300,000 ton can be constructed in a dockyard. This floating platform guarded by the breakwater is found to be stable enough to install the nuclear power plant from the analysis simulating the movement of the platform due to sea wave or wind. (author)

Exergetic assessment of energy systems on North Sea oil and gas platforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van; Pierobon, Leonardo; Elmegaard, Brian; Haglind, Fredrik; Breuhaus, Peter; Voldsund, Mari

2013-01-01

Oil and gas platforms in the North Sea region are associated with high power consumption and large CO 2 -emissions, as the processing and utility plants suffer from significant changes in production rates and performance losses over the field lifespan. In this paper, a generic model of the overall offshore system is described: its thermodynamic performance is assessed by performing an exergy accounting and rules of thumb for oil and gas platforms are derived. Simulations are built and conducted with the tools Aspen Plus ® , Dynamic Network Analysis and Aspen HYSYS ® . 62–65% of the total exergy destruction of an offshore platform is attributable to the power generation and waste heat recovery system, and 35–38% to the oil and gas processing. The variability of the feed composition has little effect on the split of the thermodynamic irreversibilities between both plants. The rejection of high-temperature gases from the utility and flaring systems is the major contributor to the exergy losses. These findings suggest to focus efforts on a better use of the waste heat contained in the exhaust gases and on the ways in which the gas compression performance can be improved. - Highlights: • North Sea oil and gas platforms are investigated and a generic model is developed. • Exergy analysis of these offshore facilities is performed. • Most of the total exergy destruction is attributable to the utility systems producing the electrical power required onsite. • Rejection of the exhaust gases from the utility systems is the major exergy loss of this system. • The highest thermodynamic performance is reached with low well-fluid content of water and gas

Exergetic assessment of energy systems on North Sea oil and gas platforms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van [Section of Thermal Energy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 403, Nils Koppels Allé, 2800 Kongens Lyngby (Denmark); Pierobon, Leonardo; Elmegaard, Brian; Haglind, Fredrik [Section of Thermal Energy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 403, Nils Koppels Allé, 2800 Kongens Lyngby (Denmark); Breuhaus, Peter [Department of Energy, International Research Institute of Stavanger, Professor Olav Hanssens vei 15, 4021 Stavanger (Norway); Voldsund, Mari [Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim (Norway)

2013-12-01

Oil and gas platforms in the North Sea region are associated with high power consumption and large CO{sub 2}-emissions, as the processing and utility plants suffer from significant changes in production rates and performance losses over the field lifespan. In this paper, a generic model of the overall offshore system is described: its thermodynamic performance is assessed by performing an exergy accounting and rules of thumb for oil and gas platforms are derived. Simulations are built and conducted with the tools Aspen Plus{sup ®}, Dynamic Network Analysis and Aspen HYSYS{sup ®}. 62–65% of the total exergy destruction of an offshore platform is attributable to the power generation and waste heat recovery system, and 35–38% to the oil and gas processing. The variability of the feed composition has little effect on the split of the thermodynamic irreversibilities between both plants. The rejection of high-temperature gases from the utility and flaring systems is the major contributor to the exergy losses. These findings suggest to focus efforts on a better use of the waste heat contained in the exhaust gases and on the ways in which the gas compression performance can be improved. - Highlights: • North Sea oil and gas platforms are investigated and a generic model is developed. • Exergy analysis of these offshore facilities is performed. • Most of the total exergy destruction is attributable to the utility systems producing the electrical power required onsite. • Rejection of the exhaust gases from the utility systems is the major exergy loss of this system. • The highest thermodynamic performance is reached with low well-fluid content of water and gas.

Cyanobacteria as Cell Factories to Produce Plant Secondary Metabolites

OpenAIRE

Xue, Yong; He, Qingfang

2015-01-01

Cyanobacteria represent a promising platform for the production of plant secondary metabolites. Their capacity to express plant P450 proteins, which have essential functions in the biosynthesis of many plant secondary metabolites, makes cyanobacteria ideal for this purpose, and their photosynthetic capability allows cyanobacteria to grow with simple nutrient inputs. This review summarizes the advantages of using cyanobacteria to transgenically produce plant secondary metabolites. Some techniq...

Platform-based production development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bossen, Jacob; Brunoe, Thomas Ditlev; Nielsen, Kjeld

2015-01-01

Platforms as a means for applying modular thinking in product development is relatively well studied, but platforms in the production system has until now not been given much attention. With the emerging concept of platform-based co-development the importance of production platforms is though...

Omnidirectional holonomic platforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pin, F.G.; Killough, S.M.

1994-01-01

This paper presents the concepts for a new family of wheeled platforms which feature full omnidirectionality with simultaneous and independently controlled rotational and translational motion capabilities. The authors first present the orthogonal-wheels concept and the two major wheel assemblies on which these platforms are based. They then describe how a combination of these assemblies with appropriate control can be used to generate an omnidirectional capability for mobile robot platforms. The design and control of two prototype platforms are then presented and their respective characteristics with respect to rotational and translational motion control are discussed

Platform decommissioning costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodger, David

1998-01-01

There are over 6500 platforms worldwide contributing to the offshore oil and gas production industry. In the North Sea there are around 500 platforms in place. There are many factors to be considered in planning for platform decommissioning and the evaluation of options for removal and disposal. The environmental impact, technical feasibility, safety and cost factors all have to be considered. This presentation considers what information is available about the overall decommissioning costs for the North Sea and the costs of different removal and disposal options for individual platforms. 2 figs., 1 tab

Opportunities in plant synthetic biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Charis; Martin, Lisa; Bastow, Ruth

2014-05-01

Synthetic biology is an emerging field uniting scientists from all disciplines with the aim of designing or re-designing biological processes. Initially, synthetic biology breakthroughs came from microbiology, chemistry, physics, computer science, materials science, mathematics, and engineering disciplines. A transition to multicellular systems is the next logical step for synthetic biologists and plants will provide an ideal platform for this new phase of research. This meeting report highlights some of the exciting plant synthetic biology projects, and tools and resources, presented and discussed at the 2013 GARNet workshop on plant synthetic biology.

System evaluation of offshore platforms with gas liquefaction processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van; de Oliveira Júnior, Silvio

2018-01-01

Abstract Floating, production, storage and offloading plants are facilities used for offshore processing of hydrocarbons in remote locations. At present, the produced gas is injected back into the reservoir instead of being exported. The implementation of refrigeration processes offshore for liqu......Abstract Floating, production, storage and offloading plants are facilities used for offshore processing of hydrocarbons in remote locations. At present, the produced gas is injected back into the reservoir instead of being exported. The implementation of refrigeration processes offshore...... improvements are discussed based on an energy and exergy analysis. Compared to a standard platform where gas is directly injected into the reservoir, the total power consumption increases by up to 50%, and the exergy destruction within the processing plant doubles when a liquefaction system is installed....... It is therefore essential to conduct a careful analysis of the trade-off between the capital costs and operating revenues for such options....

Product Platform Replacements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sköld, Martin; Karlsson, Christer

2012-01-01

. To shed light on this unexplored and growing managerial concern, the purpose of this explorative study is to identify operational challenges to management when product platforms are replaced. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a longitudinal field-study approach. Two companies, Gamma and Omega...... replacement was chosen in each company. Findings – The study shows that platform replacements primarily challenge managers' existing knowledge about platform architectures. A distinction can be made between “width” and “height” in platform replacements, and it is crucial that managers observe this in order...... to challenge their existing knowledge about platform architectures. Issues on technologies, architectures, components and processes as well as on segments, applications and functions are identified. Practical implications – Practical implications are summarized and discussed in relation to a framework...

Ecological Research Division, Marine Research Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-05-01

This report presents program summaries of the various projects sponsored during 1979 by the Marine Research Program of the Ecological Research Division. Program areas include the effects of petroleum hydrocarbons on the marine environment; a study of the baseline ecology of a proposed OTEC site near Puerto Rico; the environmental impact of offshore geothermal energy development; the movement of radionuclides through the marine environment; the environmental aspects of power plant cooling systems; and studies of the physical and biological oceangraphy of the continental shelves bordering the United States.

Ecological Research Division, Marine Research Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-05-01

This report presents program summaries of the various projects sponsored during 1979 by the Marine Research Program of the Ecological Research Division. Program areas include the effects of petroleum hydrocarbons on the marine environment; a study of the baseline ecology of a proposed OTEC site near Puerto Rico; the environmental impact of offshore geothermal energy development; the movement of radionuclides through the marine environment; the environmental aspects of power plant cooling systems; and studies of the physical and biological oceangraphy of the continental shelves bordering the United States

Advanced maintenance strategies for power plant operators--introducing inter-plant life cycle management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graeber, Ulrich

2004-01-01

One of the most important goals of competing power plant operators is to ensure safe operation of their plants, characterized by maximum availability throughout the entire life cycle and minimized specific generating costs. One parameter crucial to the total price of electricity--and one that can be actively influenced by the power plant operators--is maintenance. Up to 30% of all electricity generating costs accrue from maintenance. In the past years maintenance measures have been optimized particularly by the application and continuing development of testing and diagnostic techniques, by the increased level of system and component automation as well as more efficient organization structures. Despite the considerable success of these efforts, the potential for further cost reductions is still far from exhausted. But the risks connected to reliability, availability and safety need to be analyzed in greater detail in order to ensure the sustainability of the savings already achieved as well as those yet to be realized. The systematic application of condition-based maintenance and the implementation of structured life cycle management are essential requirements. An inter-plant approach is recommended to make a quick implementation of maintenance optimization potentials possible. Plant-specific improvement potentials can be established with the help of a best-practice comparison, and measures and priorities can be defined for realizing them. Creating an inter-plant database will allow experience and findings to be analyzed quickly and efficiently by experts and made available to all participants on a neutral platform. Despite--or maybe owing to--the increasingly competitive marketplace, a sustained reduction in the maintenance costs of power plant operators can only be achieved through a structured, inter-plant exchange of experience. The ZES offers the industry a suitable platform for cooperation with its 'Condition-Based Maintenance' research focus. The introduction

Underwater nuclear power plant structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Severs, S.; Toll, H.V.

1982-01-01

A structure for an underwater nuclear power generating plant comprising a triangular platform formed of tubular leg and truss members upon which are attached one or more large spherical pressure vessels and one or more small cylindrical auxiliary pressure vessels. (author)

Product Platform Modeling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Rasmus

for customisation of products. In many companies these changes in the business environment have created a controversy between the need for a wide variety of products offered to the marketplace and a desire to reduce variation within the company in order to increase efficiency. Many companies use the concept...... other. These groups can be varied and combined to form different product variants without increasing the internal variety in the company. Based on the Theory of Domains, the concept of encapsulation in the organ domain is introduced, and organs are formulated as platform elements. Included......This PhD thesis has the title Product Platform Modelling. The thesis is about product platforms and visual product platform modelling. Product platforms have gained an increasing attention in industry and academia in the past decade. The reasons are many, yet the increasing globalisation...

Introducing Platform Interactions Model for Studying Multi-Sided Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Staykova, Kalina; Damsgaard, Jan

2018-01-01

Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) function as socio-technical entities that facilitate direct interactions between various affiliated to them constituencies through developing and managing IT architecture. In this paper, we aim to explain the nature of the platform interactions as key characteristic o...

Novel Low Cost 3D Surface Model Reconstruction System for Plant Phenotyping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suxing Liu

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Accurate high-resolution three-dimensional (3D models are essential for a non-invasive analysis of phenotypic characteristics of plants. Previous limitations in 3D computer vision algorithms have led to a reliance on volumetric methods or expensive hardware to record plant structure. We present an image-based 3D plant reconstruction system that can be achieved by using a single camera and a rotation stand. Our method is based on the structure from motion method, with a SIFT image feature descriptor. In order to improve the quality of the 3D models, we segmented the plant objects based on the PlantCV platform. We also deducted the optimal number of images needed for reconstructing a high-quality model. Experiments showed that an accurate 3D model of the plant was successfully could be reconstructed by our approach. This 3D surface model reconstruction system provides a simple and accurate computational platform for non-destructive, plant phenotyping.

Targeted enrichment strategies for next-generation plant biology

Science.gov (United States)

Richard Cronn; Brian J. Knaus; Aaron Liston; Peter J. Maughan; Matthew Parks; John V. Syring; Joshua. Udall

2012-01-01

The dramatic advances offered by modem DNA sequencers continue to redefine the limits of what can be accomplished in comparative plant biology. Even with recent achievements, however, plant genomes present obstacles that can make it difficult to execute large-scale population and phylogenetic studies on next-generation sequencing platforms. Factors like large genome...

Manufacturing economics of plant-made biologics: case studies in therapeutic and industrial enzymes.

Science.gov (United States)

Tusé, Daniel; Tu, Tiffany; McDonald, Karen A

2014-01-01

Production of recombinant biologics in plants has received considerable attention as an alternative platform to traditional microbial and animal cell culture. Industrially relevant features of plant systems include proper eukaryotic protein processing, inherent safety due to lack of adventitious agents, more facile scalability, faster production (transient systems), and potentially lower costs. Lower manufacturing cost has been widely claimed as an intuitive feature of the platform by the plant-made biologics community, even though cost information resides within a few private companies and studies accurately documenting such an advantage have been lacking. We present two technoeconomic case studies representing plant-made enzymes for diverse applications: human butyrylcholinesterase produced indoors for use as a medical countermeasure and cellulases produced in the field for the conversion of cellulosic biomass into ethanol as a fuel extender. Production economics were modeled based on results reported with the latest-generation expression technologies on Nicotiana host plants. We evaluated process unit operations and calculated bulk active and per-dose or per-unit costs using SuperPro Designer modeling software. Our analyses indicate that substantial cost advantages over alternative platforms can be achieved with plant systems, but these advantages are molecule/product-specific and depend on the relative cost-efficiencies of alternative sources of the same product.

Manufacturing Economics of Plant-Made Biologics: Case Studies in Therapeutic and Industrial Enzymes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Tusé

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Production of recombinant biologics in plants has received considerable attention as an alternative platform to traditional microbial and animal cell culture. Industrially relevant features of plant systems include proper eukaryotic protein processing, inherent safety due to lack of adventitious agents, more facile scalability, faster production (transient systems, and potentially lower costs. Lower manufacturing cost has been widely claimed as an intuitive feature of the platform by the plant-made biologics community, even though cost information resides within a few private companies and studies accurately documenting such an advantage have been lacking. We present two technoeconomic case studies representing plant-made enzymes for diverse applications: human butyrylcholinesterase produced indoors for use as a medical countermeasure and cellulases produced in the field for the conversion of cellulosic biomass into ethanol as a fuel extender. Production economics were modeled based on results reported with the latest-generation expression technologies on Nicotiana host plants. We evaluated process unit operations and calculated bulk active and per-dose or per-unit costs using SuperPro Designer modeling software. Our analyses indicate that substantial cost advantages over alternative platforms can be achieved with plant systems, but these advantages are molecule/product-specific and depend on the relative cost-efficiencies of alternative sources of the same product.

Reconceptualizing cancer immunotherapy based on plant production systems

OpenAIRE

Hefferon, Kathleen

2017-01-01

Plants can be used as inexpensive and facile production platforms for vaccines and other biopharmaceuticals. More recently, plant-based biologics have expanded to include cancer immunotherapy agents. The following review describes the current state of the art for plant-derived strategies to prevent or reduce cancers. The review discusses avenues taken to prevent infection by oncogenic viruses, solid tumors and lymphomas. Strategies including cancer vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and virus na...

Posting Traditional Ecological Knowledge on Open Access Biodiversity Platforms: Implications for Learning Design

Science.gov (United States)

Funk, Johanna; Guthadjaka, Kathy; Kong, Gary

2015-01-01

BowerBird is an open platform biodiversity website (http://www.BowerBird.org.au) and a nationally funded project under management of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and Museum Victoria. Members post sightings and information about local species of plants and animals, and record other features of ecosystems. Charles Darwin University's Northern…

Oil and gas platforms with steam bottoming cycles: System integration and thermoenvironomic evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van; Tock, Laurence; Breuhaus, Peter

2014-01-01

The integration of steam bottoming cycles on oil and gas platforms is currently regarded as the most promising option for improving the performance of these energy-intensive systems. In this paper, a North Sea platform is taken as case study, and a systematic analysis of its energy requirements...... cooling utility, and (iv) the weight limitations on the platform are quantitatively assessed. The results illustrate the benefits of converting the gas turbine process into a combined cycle, since the fuel gas consumption and the total CO2-emissions can be reduced by more than 15 %. Using the cooling...... water from the processing plant reveals to be more profitable than using seawater, as the additional pumping power outweighs the benefit of using a cooling medium at a temperature of about 8 °C lower. This study highlights thereby the importance of analysing energy savings and recovery options...

ADMS Evaluation Platform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2018-01-23

Deploying an ADMS or looking to optimize its value? NREL offers a low-cost, low-risk evaluation platform for assessing ADMS performance. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a vendor-neutral advanced distribution management system (ADMS) evaluation platform and is expanding its capabilities. The platform uses actual grid-scale hardware, large-scale distribution system models, and advanced visualization to simulate realworld conditions for the most accurate ADMS evaluation and experimentation.

Screening for triterpenoid saponins in plants using hyphenated analytical platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khakimov, Bekzod; Tseng, Li Hong; Godejohann, Markus

2016-01-01

of saponin profiles from intact plant extracts as well as saponin aglycone profiles from hydrolysed samples. Continuously measured 1D proton NMR data during LC separation along with mass spectrometry data revealed significant differences, including contents of saponins, types of aglycones and numbers......Recently the number of studies investigating triterpenoid saponins has drastically increased due to their diverse and potentially attractive biological activities. Currently the literature contains chemical structures of few hundreds of triterpenoid saponins of plant and animal origin. Triterpenoid...... saponins consist of a triterpene aglycone with one or more sugar moieties attached to it. However, due to similar physico-chemical properties, isolation and identification of a large diversity of triterpenoid saponins remain challenging. This study demonstrates a methodology to screen saponins using...

A Virtual Commissioning Learning Platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Steffen; Madsen, Ole

2018-01-01

The introduction of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS), Industry 4.0 and the associated technologies requires the establishment of new competencies. Towards that goal, Aalborg University (AAU) has developed an Industry 4.0 learning factory, the AAU Smart Production Lab. The AAU Smart...... Production Lab integrates a number of Industry 4.0 technologies for learning and research purposes. One of the many techniques is virtual commissioning. Virtual commissioning uses a virtual plant model and real controllers (PLCs) enabling a full emulation of the manufacturing system for verification. Virtual...... commissioning can lower the commissioning time up to 63%, allowing faster time to market. However, virtual commission is still missing industrial impact one of the reasons being lack of competencies and integration experiences. The paper presents the setup of the virtual commissioning learning platform...

Power plant at sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roggen, M.

2000-01-01

Drilling platforms are rather inefficient when it comes to their own power supply. In view of ecotax and their environmental image, the offshore industry particularly the Norwegians is highly committed to changing this situation. An efficient power plant, specially designed for the offshore industry, might just prove to be the answer to their prayers

Data Platforms and Cities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blok, Anders; Courmont, Antoine; Hoyng, Rolien

2017-01-01

This section offers a series of joint reflections on (open) data platform from a variety of cases, from cycling, traffic and mapping to activism, environment and data brokering. Data platforms play a key role in contemporary urban governance. Linked to open data initiatives, such platforms are of...

Mobile Platforms and Development Environments

CERN Document Server

Helal, Sumi; Li, Wengdong

2012-01-01

Mobile platform development has lately become a technological war zone with extremely dynamic and fluid movement, especially in the smart phone and tablet market space. This Synthesis lecture is a guide to the latest developments of the key mobile platforms that are shaping the mobile platform industry. The book covers the three currently dominant native platforms -- iOS, Android and Windows Phone -- along with the device-agnostic HTML5 mobile web platform. The lecture also covers location-based services (LBS) which can be considered as a platform in its own right. The lecture utilizes a sampl

Big Data in Plant Science: Resources and Data Mining Tools for Plant Genomics and Proteomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Popescu, George V; Noutsos, Christos; Popescu, Sorina C

2016-01-01

In modern plant biology, progress is increasingly defined by the scientists' ability to gather and analyze data sets of high volume and complexity, otherwise known as "big data". Arguably, the largest increase in the volume of plant data sets over the last decade is a consequence of the application of the next-generation sequencing and mass-spectrometry technologies to the study of experimental model and crop plants. The increase in quantity and complexity of biological data brings challenges, mostly associated with data acquisition, processing, and sharing within the scientific community. Nonetheless, big data in plant science create unique opportunities in advancing our understanding of complex biological processes at a level of accuracy without precedence, and establish a base for the plant systems biology. In this chapter, we summarize the major drivers of big data in plant science and big data initiatives in life sciences with a focus on the scope and impact of iPlant, a representative cyberinfrastructure platform for plant science.

ITS Platform North Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lahrmann, Harry; Agerholm, Niels; Juhl, Jens

2012-01-01

This paper presents the project entitled “ITS Platform North Denmark” which is used as a test platform for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) solutions. The platform consists of a newly developed GNSS/GPRS On Board Unit (OBU) to be installed in 500 cars, a backend server and a specially...

Platform development supportedby gaming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkola, Juliana Hsuan; Hansen, Poul H. Kyvsgård

2007-01-01

The challenge of implementing industrial platforms in practice can be described as a configuration problem caused by high number of variables, which often have contradictory influences on the total performance of the firm. Consequently, the specific platform decisions become extremely complex......, possibly increasing the strategic risks for the firm. This paper reports preliminary findings on platform management process at LEGO, a Danish toy company.  Specifically, we report the process of applying games combined with simulations and workshops in the platform development. We also propose a framework...

Reconceptualizing cancer immunotherapy based on plant production systems

Science.gov (United States)

Hefferon, Kathleen

2017-01-01

Plants can be used as inexpensive and facile production platforms for vaccines and other biopharmaceuticals. More recently, plant-based biologics have expanded to include cancer immunotherapy agents. The following review describes the current state of the art for plant-derived strategies to prevent or reduce cancers. The review discusses avenues taken to prevent infection by oncogenic viruses, solid tumors and lymphomas. Strategies including cancer vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and virus nanoparticles are described, and examples are provided. The review ends with a discussion of the implications of plant-based cancer immunotherapy for developing countries. PMID:28884013

VGB Congress 'Power Plants 2006'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2006-01-01

The VGB Congress 'Power Plants' took place in Dresden, 27 th to 29 th September 2006 under the auspices of the Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, Michael Glos. The motto of this year's Congress was 'Future becomes Reality - Investments in New Power Plants'. More than 1,200 participants from Germany and abroad attended the plenary and technical lectures on the topics 'Market and Competition' as well as 'Technology, Operation and Environment' for information and discussion. Special papers were dealing with further issues like 'Generation Market in Europe', 'Clean Power Technology Platform', French policy for new power plants as well as potentials and technology of renewables. (orig.)

Automatic fuel charging machine for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neda, Toshikazu; Aoki, Shigeo.

1978-01-01

Purpose: To enable smooth, safety and rapid refueling by automatically conducting a series of fuel exchange steps through the combination of calculations for fuel control and refueling works. Constitution: Processing operations are conducted based on various data from the memory unit of a computer that processes and stores various data inputted from a nuclear power plant, calculation systems stored in the memory unit of another computer, peripheral units such as typewriters and process input units. A refueling platform is operated by way of a platform control device and a platform driving device, and fuel exchange is conducted by the operation of a channel mounting and demounting device. (Yoshino, Y.)

Analysis of Plant Breeding on Hadoop and Spark

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuangxi Chen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Analysis of crop breeding technology is one of the important means of computer-assisted breeding techniques which have huge data, high dimensions, and a lot of unstructured data. We propose a crop breeding data analysis platform on Spark. The platform consists of Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS and cluster based on memory iterative components. With this cluster, we achieve crop breeding large data analysis tasks in parallel through API provided by Spark. By experiments and tests of Indica and Japonica rice traits, plant breeding analysis platform can significantly improve the breeding of big data analysis speed, reducing the workload of concurrent programming.

expVIP: a Customizable RNA-seq Data Analysis and Visualization Platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Borrill, Philippa; Ramirez-Gonzalez, Ricardo; Uauy, Cristobal

2016-04-01

The majority of transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) expression studies in plants remain underutilized and inaccessible due to the use of disparate transcriptome references and the lack of skills and resources to analyze and visualize these data. We have developed expVIP, an expression visualization and integration platform, which allows easy analysis of RNA-seq data combined with an intuitive and interactive interface. Users can analyze public and user-specified data sets with minimal bioinformatics knowledge using the expVIP virtual machine. This generates a custom Web browser to visualize, sort, and filter the RNA-seq data and provides outputs for differential gene expression analysis. We demonstrate expVIP's suitability for polyploid crops and evaluate its performance across a range of biologically relevant scenarios. To exemplify its use in crop research, we developed a flexible wheat (Triticum aestivum) expression browser (www.wheat-expression.com) that can be expanded with user-generated data in a local virtual machine environment. The open-access expVIP platform will facilitate the analysis of gene expression data from a wide variety of species by enabling the easy integration, visualization, and comparison of RNA-seq data across experiments. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

Process Testing Results and Scaling for the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Pretreatment Engineering Platform - 10173

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurath, Dean E.; Daniel, Richard C.; Baldwin, David L.; Rapko, Brian M.; Barnes, Steven M.; Gilbert, Robert A.; Mahoney, Lenna A.; Huckaby, James L.

2010-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy-Office of River Protections Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) is being designed and built to pretreat and then vitrify a large portion of the wastes in Hanfords 177 underground waste storage tanks at Richland, Washington. In support of this effort, engineering-scale tests at the Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) have been completed to confirm the process design and provide improved projections of system capacity. The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale facility designed, constructed, and operated to test the integrated leaching and ultrafiltration processes being deployed at the WTP. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes with prototypic equipment and control strategies and non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing. The testing approach used a nonradioactive aqueous slurry simulant to demonstrate the unit operations of caustic and oxidative leaching, cross-flow ultrafiltration solids concentration, and solids washing. Parallel tests conducted at the laboratory scale with identical simulants provided results that allow scale-up factors to be developed between the laboratory and PEP performance. This paper presents the scale-up factors determined between the laboratory and engineering-scale results and presents arguments that extend these results to the full-scale process.

Korea's choice of a new generation of nuclear plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Redding, J.R.

1994-01-01

The ABWR and SBWR design, both under development at GE, provide the best platform for developing the next generation advanced plants. The ABWR, which is rapidly setting the standard for new nuclear reactor plants, is clearly the best choice to meet the present energy needs of Korea. And through a GE/Korea partnership to develop the plant of the next century, Korea will establish itself as a leader in innovative reactor technology

Design of XML-based plant data model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nair, Preetha M.; Padmini, S.; Gaur, Swati; Diwakar, M.P.

2013-01-01

XML has emerged as an open standard for exchanging structured data on various platforms to handle rich, nested, complex data structures. XML with its flexible tree-like data structure allows a more natural representation as compared to traditional databases. In this paper we present data model for plant data acquisition systems captured using XML technologies. Plant data acquisition systems in a typical Nuclear Power Plant consists of embedded nodes at the first tier and operator consoles at the second tier for operator operation, interaction and display of Plant parameters. This paper discusses a generic data model that was designed to capture process, network architecture, communication/interface protocol and diagnostics aspects required for a Nuclear Power Plant. (author)

Platform Expansion Design as Strategic Choice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Staykova, Kalina S.; Damsgaard, Jan

2016-01-01

In this paper, we address how the strategic choice of platform expansion design impacts the subse-quent platform strategy. We identify two distinct approaches to platform expansion – platform bun-dling and platform constellations, which currently co-exist. The purpose of this paper is to outline...

A Typology of Multi-sided Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Staykova, Kalina Stefanova; Damsgaard, Jan

2015-01-01

In this paper we address how the composition of a platform impacts the platform’s business model. By platform’s business model we mean platform features, platform architecture and platform governance. To this end, we construct the Platform Business Model Framework. We apply the framework to three...

Dynamic Gaming Platform (DGP)

Science.gov (United States)

2009-04-01

GAMING PLATFORM (DGP) Lockheed Martin Corporation...YYYY) APR 09 2. REPORT TYPE Final 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) Jul 07 – Mar 09 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE DYNAMIC GAMING PLATFORM (DGP) 5a...CMU Carnegie Mellon University DGP Dynamic Gaming Platform GA Genetic Algorithm IARPA Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity LM ATL Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories PAINT ProActive INTelligence

EURESCOM Services Platform

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nieuwenhuis, Lambertus Johannes Maria; van Halteren, Aart

1999-01-01

This paper presents the results of the EURESCOM Project 715. In February 1999, a large team of researchers from six European public network operators completed a two year period of cooperative experiments on a TINA-based environment, called the EURESCOM Services Platform (ESP). This platform

Vaccine manufacturing and technology: from biotechnological platforms to syntethic epitopes, current viepoint.

Science.gov (United States)

Ignateva, G A

2016-01-01

The Purposes: the review take into account short history of vaccination practice and development of vaccine technology. In the review we include data from several monographs about manufacturing of vaccines published by authors from such companies as Merck & Co; Sanofi Pasteur; Dynavax Europe/Rhein Biotech GmbH; Latham Biopharm Group; Aridis Pharmaceuticals LLC; Genentech; Amgen; Shamir Biologics LLC; Biopharm Services US; Novartis Pharma AG, аnd several research centers: Laboratory of Bacterial Polysaccharides, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research; Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, US; Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Univ. Of Kansas; Max Planck Institute for dynamics of Complex Technical Systems; Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology; US Dep. of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, etc. In historic literature there are data about inoculation practices in antique China, Persia, India, Byzantium, native Americans, some African population. In modern immunology since the end of XIX century the vaccines were produced at the in vivo platforms - in animals (rabbits, mice, cows). Since 1931 due to E. Goodpasture' elaboration most virus vaccines were and are produced at the in ovo platform. In 1949 J.F. Enders elaborated large-scale polio virus production in the primary culture of monkey kidney cells in vitro. Up to day primary culture of chiken embrio fibroblasts are used to large-scale production of vaccine viruses of measles, mumps, rabies. Since 2000-th in Western countries most part of virus vaccines were began to produced via a cultivation in continuous tumor cell lines. The last technology is the most low cost for large-scale production of vaccines. We review several new biotechnological platforms for the production of the recombinant protein or virus-like particles as subunit vaccines: plant system, algae, mushrooms, insect cells, etc. Beside of good purpose of vaccination - prophylactic of several infectious

Towards a Disruptive Digital Platform Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol

that digital platforms leverage on three strategic design elements (i.e., business, architecture, and technology design) to create supportive conditions for facilitating disruption. To shed light on disruptive digital platforms, I opted for payment platforms as my empirical context and unit of analysis......Digital platforms are layered modular information technology architectures that support disruption. Digital platforms are particularly disruptive, as they facilitate the quick release of digital innovations that may replace established innovations. Yet, despite their support for disruption, we have...... not fully understood how such digital platforms can be strategically designed and configured to facilitate disruption. To that end, this thesis endeavors to unravel disruptive digital platforms from the supply perspective that are grounded on strategic digital platform design elements. I suggest...

Engineering Plants for Geminivirus Resistance with CRISPR/Cas9 System

KAUST Repository

Zaidi, Syed Shan-e-Ali; Mansoor, Shahid; Ali, Zahir; Tashkandi, Manal; Mahfouz, Magdy M.

2016-01-01

The CRISPR/Cas9 system is an efficient genome-editing platform for diverse eukaryotic species, including plants. Recent work harnessed CRISPR/Cas9 technology to engineer resistance to geminiviruses. Here, we discuss opportunities, emerging developments, and potential pitfalls for using this technology to engineer resistance against single and multiple geminivirus infections in plants.

Engineering Plants for Geminivirus Resistance with CRISPR/Cas9 System

KAUST Repository

Zaidi, Syed Shan-e-Ali

2016-02-14

The CRISPR/Cas9 system is an efficient genome-editing platform for diverse eukaryotic species, including plants. Recent work harnessed CRISPR/Cas9 technology to engineer resistance to geminiviruses. Here, we discuss opportunities, emerging developments, and potential pitfalls for using this technology to engineer resistance against single and multiple geminivirus infections in plants.

Groundwater Assessment Platform

OpenAIRE

Podgorski, Joel; Berg, Michael

2018-01-01

The Groundwater Assessment Platform is a free, interactive online GIS platform for the mapping, sharing and statistical modeling of groundwater quality data. The modeling allows users to take advantage of publicly available global datasets of various environmental parameters to produce prediction maps of their contaminant of interest.

Preparing for a Product Platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fiil-Nielsen, Ole; Munk, Lone; Mortensen, Niels Henrik

2005-01-01

on commonalities and similarities in the product family, and variance should be based on customer demands. To relate these terms and to improve the basis on which decisions are made, we need a way of visualizing the hierarchy of the product family as well as the commonality and variance. This visualization method...... of the platform or ensuring that the platform can meet future demands will be very useful in the preparation process of a platform synthesis as well as in the updating or reengineering of an existing product development platform.......Experience in the industry as well as recent related scientific publications show the benefits of product development platforms. Companies use platforms to develop not a single but multiple products (i.e. a product family) simultaneously. When these product development projects are coordinated...

Rapid Control Prototyping Plataform for Didactic Plant Motor DC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristian Bazán-Orobio

2013-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper a design, implementation and validation of a Rapid Control Prototype platform for a plant based on a DC motor is proposed. This low-cost prototype provides of an electronic card (with a motor DC and sensors manipulated by PC with free software tools using Linux, Scilab / Scicos and RTAI-Lab. This RCP System allows developing speed -position control trainings by using different types of PID industrial controllers with anti – wind up and bump less transfer schemes. We develop a speed control application structured in four steps: identification, controller design, simulation and real time control, where there are pedagogical advantages of a platform that not only allows simulation but also real-time control of a plant.

GSHR, a Web-Based Platform Provides Gene Set-Level Analyses of Hormone Responses in Arabidopsis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaojuan Ran

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Phytohormones regulate diverse aspects of plant growth and environmental responses. Recent high-throughput technologies have promoted a more comprehensive profiling of genes regulated by different hormones. However, these omics data generally result in large gene lists that make it challenging to interpret the data and extract insights into biological significance. With the rapid accumulation of theses large-scale experiments, especially the transcriptomic data available in public databases, a means of using this information to explore the transcriptional networks is needed. Different platforms have different architectures and designs, and even similar studies using the same platform may obtain data with large variances because of the highly dynamic and flexible effects of plant hormones; this makes it difficult to make comparisons across different studies and platforms. Here, we present a web server providing gene set-level analyses of Arabidopsis thaliana hormone responses. GSHR collected 333 RNA-seq and 1,205 microarray datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus, characterizing transcriptomic changes in Arabidopsis in response to phytohormones including abscisic acid, auxin, brassinosteroids, cytokinins, ethylene, gibberellins, jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and strigolactones. These data were further processed and organized into 1,368 gene sets regulated by different hormones or hormone-related factors. By comparing input gene lists to these gene sets, GSHR helped to identify gene sets from the input gene list regulated by different phytohormones or related factors. Together, GSHR links prior information regarding transcriptomic changes induced by hormones and related factors to newly generated data and facilities cross-study and cross-platform comparisons; this helps facilitate the mining of biologically significant information from large-scale datasets. The GSHR is freely available at http://bioinfo.sibs.ac.cn/GSHR/.

The Logic of Digital Platform Disruption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric T. K.

Digital platforms are disruptive IT artifacts, because they facilitate the quick release of innovative platform derivatives from third parties (e.g., apps). This study endeavours to unravel the disruptive potential, caused by distinct designs and configurations of digital platforms on market...... environments. We postulate that the disruptive potential of digital platforms is determined by the degree of alignment among the business, technology and platform profiles. Furthermore, we argue that the design and configuration of the aforementioned three elements dictates the extent to which open innovation...... is permitted. To shed light on the disruptive potential of digital platforms, we opted for payment platforms as our unit of analysis. Through interviews with experts and payment providers, we seek to gain an in-depth appreciation of how contemporary digital payment platforms are designed and configured...

Data mining with iPlant: a meeting report from the 2013 GARNet workshop, Data mining with iPlant.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Lisa; Cook, Charis; Matasci, Naim; Williams, Jason; Bastow, Ruth

2015-01-01

High-throughput sequencing technologies have rapidly moved from large international sequencing centres to individual laboratory benchtops. These changes have driven the 'data deluge' of modern biology. Submissions of nucleotide sequences to GenBank, for example, have doubled in size every year since 1982, and individual data sets now frequently reach terabytes in size. While 'big data' present exciting opportunities for scientific discovery, data analysis skills are not part of the typical wet bench biologist's experience. Knowing what to do with data, how to visualize and analyse them, make predictions, and test hypotheses are important barriers to success. Many researchers also lack adequate capacity to store and share these data, creating further bottlenecks to effective collaboration between groups and institutes. The US National Science Foundation-funded iPlant Collaborative was established in 2008 to form part of the data collection and analysis pipeline and help alleviate the bottlenecks associated with the big data challenge in plant science. Leveraging the power of high-performance computing facilities, iPlant provides free-to-use cyberinfrastructure to enable terabytes of data storage, improve analysis, and facilitate collaborations. To help train UK plant science researchers to use the iPlant platform and understand how it can be exploited to further research, GARNet organized a four-day Data mining with iPlant workshop at Warwick University in September 2013. This report provides an overview of the workshop, and highlights the power of the iPlant environment for lowering barriers to using complex bioinformatics resources, furthering discoveries in plant science research and providing a platform for education and outreach programmes. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Transactional Network Platform: Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Katipamula, Srinivas; Lutes, Robert G.; Ngo, Hung; Underhill, Ronald M.

2013-10-31

In FY13, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with funding from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technologies Office (BTO) designed, prototyped and tested a transactional network platform to support energy, operational and financial transactions between any networked entities (equipment, organizations, buildings, grid, etc.). Initially, in FY13, the concept demonstrated transactions between packaged rooftop air conditioners and heat pump units (RTUs) and the electric grid using applications or "agents" that reside on the platform, on the equipment, on a local building controller or in the Cloud. The transactional network project is a multi-lab effort with Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) also contributing to the effort. PNNL coordinated the project and also was responsible for the development of the transactional network (TN) platform and three different applications associated with RTUs. This document describes two applications or "agents" in details, and also summarizes the platform. The TN platform details are described in another companion document.

Vertical Relationships within Platform Marketplaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark J. Tremblay

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In two-sided markets a platform allows consumers and sellers to interact by creating sub-markets within the platform marketplace. For example, Amazon has sub-markets for all of the different product categories available on its site, and smartphones have sub-markets for different types of applications (gaming apps, weather apps, map apps, ridesharing apps, etc.. The network benefits between consumers and sellers depend on the mode of competition within the sub-markets: more competition between sellers lowers product prices, increases the surplus consumers receive from a sub-market, and makes platform membership more desirable for consumers. However, more competition also lowers profits for a seller which makes platform membership less desirable for a seller and reduces seller entry and the number of sub-markets available on the platform marketplace. This dynamic between seller competition within a sub-market and agents’ network benefits leads to platform pricing strategies, participation decisions by consumers and sellers, and welfare results that depend on the mode of competition. Thus, the sub-market structure is important when investigating platform marketplaces.

The vacuum platform

Science.gov (United States)

McNab, A.

2017-10-01

This paper describes GridPP’s Vacuum Platform for managing virtual machines (VMs), which has been used to run production workloads for WLCG and other HEP experiments. The platform provides a uniform interface between VMs and the sites they run at, whether the site is organised as an Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud system such as OpenStack, or an Infrastructure-as-a-Client system such as Vac. The paper describes our experience in using this platform, in developing and operating VM lifecycle managers Vac and Vcycle, and in interacting with VMs provided by LHCb, ATLAS, ALICE, CMS, and the GridPP DIRAC service to run production workloads.

Tectonic resemblance of the Indian Platform, Pakistan with the Moesian Platform, Romania and strategy for exploration of hydrocarbons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Memon, A.D.

1994-01-01

There is a remarkable tectonic resemblance between the indian Platform (Pakistan) and the Moesian Platform (Romania). As viewed in global tectonic perspective Moeslan and Indian Plates have played important role in Alpine Himalayan Orogeny; Moesian and Indian Platforms are extension of these respective plates. Characteristics features of both the platforms are block faulting which has effected not only the general tectonic framework but has also played important role in oil accumulation. Main producing rocks in the Moesian platform are Jurassic sandstones and cretaceous limestones while in the indian platform cretaceous sandstones are important reservoirs. The average geothermal gradient in the indian platform is 2.45 C/100m with the higher gradients in the central gas producing region. Geothermal gradients in the Moesian platform have an average value of 3 C/100m with higher gradients in the northern in the northern part. Some of the producing structures in both the platforms are remarkably similar, traps associated with normal faults are very important. Extensive exploration carried in the Moesian Platform makes it very important oil producing region of Romania. After the discovery of oil lower Sindh, serious exploration is being carried in the Indian platform. The paper deals with the similarities between these two important platforms. In the light of the studies of the Moesian platform, strategies or exploration of oil and gas in the Indian Platform are suggested. (author)

Utilizing platforms in industrialized construction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bonev, Martin; Wörösch, Michael; Hvam, Lars

2015-01-01

platform strategies, this researchhighlights key aspects of adapting platform-based developed theory to industrialised construction.Building projects use different layers of product, process and logistics platforms to form the right cost– value ratio for the target market application, while modelling...

Modeling Operating Modes during Plant Life Cycle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Sten Bay; Lind, Morten

2012-01-01

Modelling process plants during normal operation requires a set a basic assumptions to define the desired functionalities which lead to fullfillment of the operational goal(-s) for the plant. However during during start-up and shut down as well as during batch operation an ensemble of interrelated...... modes are required to cover the whole operational window of a processs plant including intermediary operating modes. Development of such an model ensemble for a plant would constitute a systematic way of defining the possible plant operating modes and thus provide a platform for also defining a set...... of candidate control structures. The present contribution focuses on development of a model ensemble for a plant with an illustartive example for a bioreactor. Starting from a functional model a process plant may be conceptually designed and qualitative operating models may be developed to cover the different...

Stratospheric Platforms for Monitoring Purposes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Konigorski, D.; Gratzel, U.; Obersteiner, M.; Schneidereit, M.

2010-01-01

Stratospheric platforms are emerging systems based on challenging technology. Goal is to create a platform, payload, and mission design which is able to complement satellite services on a local scale. Applications are close to traditional satellite business in telecommunication, navigation, science, and earth observation and include for example mobile telecommunications, navigation augmentation, atmospheric research, or border control. Stratospheric platforms could potentially support monitoring activities related to safeguards, e.g. by imagery of surfaces, operational conditions of nuclear facilities, and search for undeclared nuclear activities. Stratospheric platforms are intended to be flown in an altitude band between 16 and 30 km, above 16-20 km to take advantage of usually lower winds facilitating station keeping, below 30 km to limit the challenges to achieve a reasonable payload at acceptable platform sizes. Stratospheric platforms could substitute satellites which are expensive and lack upgrade capabilities for new equipment. Furthermore they have practically an unlimited time over an area of interest. It is intended to keep the platforms operational and maintenance free on a 24/7 basis with an average deployment time of 3 years. Geostationary satellites lack resolution. Potential customers like Armed Forces, National Agencies and commercial customers have indicated interest in the use of stratospheric platforms. Governmental entities are looking for cheaper alternatives to communications and surveillance satellites and stratospheric platforms could offer the following potential advantages: Lower operational cost than satellite or UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) constellation (fleet required); Faster deployment than satellite constellation; Repositioning capability and ability to loiter as required; Persistent long-term real-time services over a fairly large regional spot; Surge capability: Able to extend capability (either monitoring or communications

ITER Fast Plant System Controller prototype based on PXIe platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruiz, M.; Vega, J.; Castro, R.; Sanz, D.; López, J.M.; Arcas, G. de; Barrera, E.; Nieto, J.; Gonçalves, B.; Sousa, J.; Carvalho, B.; Utzel, N.; Makijarvi, P.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Implementation of Fast Plant System Controller (FPSC) for ITER CODAC. ► Efficient data acquisition and data movement using EPICS. ► Performance of PCIe technologies in the implementation of FPSC. - Abstract: The ITER Fast Plant System Controller (FPSC) is based on embedded technologies. The FPSC will be devoted to both data acquisition tasks (sampling rates higher than 1 kHz) and control purposes (feedback loop actuators). Some of the essential requirements of these systems are: (a) data acquisition and data preprocessing; (b) interfacing with different networks and high speed links (Plant Operation Network, timing network based on IEEE1588, synchronous data transference and streaming/archiving networks); and (c) system setup and operation using EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) process variables. CIEMAT and UPM have implemented a prototype of FPSC using a PXIe (PCI eXtension for Instrumentation) form factor in a R and D project developed in two phases. The paper presents the main features of the two prototypes developed that have been named alpha and beta. The former was implemented using LabVIEW development tools as it was focused on modeling the FPSC software modules, using the graphical features of LabVIEW applications, and measuring the basic performance in the system. The alpha version prototype implements data acquisition with time-stamping, EPICS monitoring using waveform process variables (PVs), and archiving. The beta version prototype is a complete IOC implemented using EPICS with different software functional blocks. These functional blocks are integrated and managed using an ASYN driver solution and provide the basic functionalities required by ITER FPSC such as data acquisition, data archiving, data pre-processing (using both CPU and GPU) and streaming.

Adoption of Mobile Payment Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Staykova, Kalina Stefanova; Damsgaard, Jan

2016-01-01

Numerous mobile payment solutions, which rely on new disruptive technologies, have been launched on the payment market in recent years. But despite the growing number of mobile payment apps, very few solutions have turned to be successful as the majority of them fail to gain a critical mass...... of users. In this paper, we investigate successful platform adoption strategies by using the Reach and Range Framework for Multi-Sided Platforms as a strategic tool to which mobile payment providers can adhere in order to tackle some of the main challenges they face throughout the evolution...... of their platforms. The analysis indicates that successful mobile payment solutions tend to be launched as one-sided platforms and then gradually be expanded into being two-sided. Our study showcases that the success of mobile payment platforms lies with the ability of the platform to balance the reach (number...

Automated Work Package: Initial Wireless Communication Platform Design, Development, and Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Al Rashdan, Ahmad Yahya Mohammad [Idaho National Laboratory; Agarwal, Vivek [Idaho National Laboratory

2016-03-01

The Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program is developing the scientific basis to ensure long-term reliability, productivity, safety, and security of the nuclear power industry in the United States. The Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II&C) pathway of the program aims to increase the role of advanced II&C technologies to achieve this objective. One of the pathway efforts at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is to improve the work packages execution process by replacing the expensive, inefficient, bulky, complex, and error-prone paper-based work orders with automated work packages (AWPs). An AWP is an automated and dynamic presentation of the work package designed to guide the user through the work process. It is loaded on a mobile device, such as a tablet, and is capable of communicating with plant equipment and systems to acquire plant and procedure states. The AWP replaces those functions where a computer is more efficient and reliable than a human. To enable the automatic acquisition of plant data, it is necessary to design and develop a prototype platform for data exchange between the field instruments and the AWP mobile devices. The development of the platform aims to reveal issues and solutions generalizable to large-scale implementation of a similar system. Topics such as bandwidth, robustness, response time, interference, and security are usually associated with wireless communication. These concerns, along with other requirements, are listed in an earlier INL report. Specifically, the targeted issues and performance aspects in this work are relevant to the communication infrastructure from the perspective of promptness, robustness, expandability, and interoperability with different technologies.

The Dynamics of Digital Platform Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eaton, Ben

2016-01-01

Curated platforms provide an architectural basis for third parties to develop platform complements and for platform owners to control their implementation as a form of open innovation. The refusal to implement complements as innovations can cause tension between platform owners and developers. Th...

{cross-disciplinary} Data CyberInfrastructure: A Different Approach to Developing Collaborative Earth and Environmental Science Research Platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Lenhardt, W. C.; Krishnamurthy, A.; Blanton, B.; Conway, M.; Coposky, J.; Castillo, C.; Idaszak, R.

2017-12-01

An integrated science cyberinfrastructure platform is fast becoming a norm in science, particularly where access to distributed resources, access to compute, data management tools, and collaboration tools are accessible to the end-user scientist without the need to spin up these services on their own. There platforms have various types of labels ranging from data commons to science-as-a-service. They tend to share common features, as outlined above. What tends to distinguish these platforms, however, is their affinity for particular domains, NanoHub - nanomaterials, iPlant - plant biology, Hydroshare - hydrology, and so on. The challenge still remains how to enable these platforms to be more easily adopted for use by other domains. This paper will provide an overview of RENCI's approach to creating a science platform that can be more easily adopted by new communities while also endeavoring to accelerate their research. At RENCI, we started with Hydroshare, but have now worked to generalize the methodology for application to other domains. This new effort is called xDCi, or {cross-disciplinary} Data CyberInfrastructure. We have adopted a broader approach to the challenge of domain adoption and includes two key elements in addition to the technology component. The first of these is how development is operationalized. RENCI implements a DevOps model of continuous development and deployment. This greatly increases the speed by which a new platform can come online and be refined to meet domain needs. DevOps also allows for migration over time, i.e. sustainability. The second element is a concierge model. In addition to the technical elements, and the more responsive development process, RENCI also supports domain adoption of the platform by providing a concierge service— dedicated expertise- in the following areas, Information Technology, Sustainable Software, Data Science, and Sustainability. The success of the RENCI methodology is illustrated by the adoption of the

Cross-platform learning: on the nature of children's learning from multiple media platforms.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisch, Shalom M

2013-01-01

It is increasingly common for an educational media project to span several media platforms (e.g., TV, Web, hands-on materials), assuming that the benefits of learning from multiple media extend beyond those gained from one medium alone. Yet research typically has investigated learning from a single medium in isolation. This paper reviews several recent studies to explore cross-platform learning (i.e., learning from combined use of multiple media platforms) and how such learning compares to learning from one medium. The paper discusses unique benefits of cross-platform learning, a theoretical mechanism to explain how these benefits might arise, and questions for future research in this emerging field. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company.

Using game technologies to improve the safety of construction plant operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Hongling; Li, Heng; Chan, Greg; Skitmore, Martin

2012-09-01

Many accidents occur world-wide in the use of construction plant and equipment, and safety training is considered by many to be one of the best approaches to their prevention. However, current safety training methods/tools are unable to provide trainees with the hands-on practice needed. Game technology-based safety training platforms have the potential to overcome this problem in a virtual environment. One such platform is described in this paper - its characteristics are analysed and its possible contribution to safety training identified. This is developed and tested by means of a case study involving three major pieces of construction plant, which successfully demonstrates that the platform can improve the process and performance of the safety training involved in their operation. This research not only presents a new and useful solution to the safety training of construction operations, but illustrates the potential use of advanced technologies in solving construction industry problems in general. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The European Photovoltaic Technology Platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nowak, S.; Aulich, H.; Bal, J.L.; Dimmler, B.; Garnier, A.; Jongerden, G.; Luther, J.; Luque, A.; Milner, A.; Nelson, D.; Pataki, I.; Pearsall, N.; Perezagua, E.; Pietruszko, S.; Rehak, J.; Schellekens, E.; Shanker, A.; Silvestrini, G.; Sinke, W.; Willemsen, H.

2006-05-01

The European Photovoltaic Technology Platform is one of the European Technology Platforms, a new instrument proposed by the European Commission. European Technology Platforms (ETPs) are a mechanism to bring together all interested stakeholders to develop a long-term vision to address a specific challenge, create a coherent, dynamic strategy to achieve that vision and steer the implementation of an action plan to deliver agreed programmes of activities and optimise the benefits for all parties. The European Photovoltaic Technology Platform has recently been established to define, support and accompany the implementation of a coherent and comprehensive strategic plan for photovoltaics. The platform will mobilise all stakeholders sharing a long-term European vision for PV, helping to ensure that Europe maintains and improves its industrial position. The platform will realise a European Strategic Research Agenda for PV for the next decade(s). Guided by a Steering Committee of 20 high level decision-makers representing all relevant European PV Stakeholders, the European PV Technology Platform comprises 4 Working Groups dealing with the subjects policy and instruments; market deployment; science, technology and applications as well as developing countries and is supported by a secretariat

Dental Implant Surrounding Marginal Bone Level Evaluation: Platform Switching versus Platform Matching—One-Year Retrospective Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eisner Salamanca

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The benefits and feasibility of platform switching have been discussed in several studies, reporting lesser crestal bone loss in platform-switched implants than in platform-matched implants. Objective. The aim of the present study was to observe the changes in vertical and horizontal marginal bone levels in platform-switched and platform-matched dental implants. Materials and Methods. 51 patients received 60 dental implants in the present study over a 1-year period. Measurement was performed between the implant shoulder and the most apical and horizontal marginal defect by periapical radiographs to examine the changes of peri-implant alveolar bone before and 12 months after prosthodontic restoration delivery. Results. These marginal bone measurements showed a bone gain of 0.23±0.58 mm in the vertical gap and 0.22±0.53 mm in the horizontal gap of platform matching, while in platform switching a bone gain of 0.93±1 mm (P<0.05 in the vertical gap and 0.50±0.56 mm in the horizontal gap was found. The average vertical gap reduction from the baseline until 12 months was 0.92±1.11 mm in platform switching and 0.29±0.85 mm in platform matching (P<0.05. Conclusions. Within the limitations of the present study, platform switching seemed to be more effective for a better peri-implant alveolar bone vertical and horizontal gap reduction at 1 year.

Nitroaromatic detection and infrared communication from wild-type plants using plant nanobionics

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Min Hao; Giraldo, Juan P.; Kwak, Seon-Yeong; Koman, Volodymyr B.; Sinclair, Rosalie; Lew, Tedrick Thomas Salim; Bisker, Gili; Liu, Pingwei; Strano, Michael S.

2017-02-01

Plant nanobionics aims to embed non-native functions to plants by interfacing them with specifically designed nanoparticles. Here, we demonstrate that living spinach plants (Spinacia oleracea) can be engineered to serve as self-powered pre-concentrators and autosamplers of analytes in ambient groundwater and as infrared communication platforms that can send information to a smartphone. The plants employ a pair of near-infrared fluorescent nanosensors--single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) conjugated to the peptide Bombolitin II to recognize nitroaromatics via infrared fluorescent emission, and polyvinyl-alcohol functionalized SWCNTs that act as an invariant reference signal--embedded within the plant leaf mesophyll. As contaminant nitroaromatics are transported up the roots and stem into leaf tissues, they accumulate in the mesophyll, resulting in relative changes in emission intensity. The real-time monitoring of embedded SWCNT sensors also allows residence times in the roots, stems and leaves to be estimated, calculated to be 8.3 min (combined residence times of root and stem) and 1.9 min mm-1 leaf, respectively. These results demonstrate the ability of living, wild-type plants to function as chemical monitors of groundwater and communication devices to external electronics at standoff distances.

The Educational Platform: Constructing Conceptual Frameworks.

Science.gov (United States)

Peca, Kathy; Isham, Mark

2001-01-01

The education faculty at Eastern New Mexico University used educational platforms as a means of developing the unit's conceptual framework. Faculty members developed personal platforms, then synthesized them into one curricular area platform. The resultant unit educational platform became the basis for the unit's conceptual framework, which…

National Community Solar Platform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rupert, Bart [Clean Energy Collective, Louisville, CO (United States)

2016-06-30

This project was created to provide a National Community Solar Platform (NCSP) portal known as Community Solar Hub, that is available to any entity or individual who wants to develop community solar. This has been done by providing a comprehensive portal to make CEC’s solutions, and other proven community solar solutions, externally available for everyone to access – making the process easy through proven platforms to protect subscribers, developers and utilities. The successful completion of this project provides these tools via a web platform and integration APIs, a wide spectrum of community solar projects included in the platform, multiple groups of customers (utilities, EPCs, and advocates) using the platform to develop community solar, and open access to anyone interested in community solar. CEC’s Incubator project includes web-based informational resources, integrated systems for project information and billing systems, and engagement with customers and users by community solar experts. The combined effort externalizes much of Clean Energy Collective’s industry-leading expertise, allowing third parties to develop community solar without duplicating expensive start-up efforts. The availability of this platform creates community solar projects that are cheaper to build and cheaper to participate in, furthering the goals of DOE’s SunShot Initiative. Final SF 425 Final SF 428 Final DOE F 2050.11 Final Report Narrative

Introduction of tri-antennary N-glycans in Arabidopsis thaliana plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagels, Bieke; Van Damme, Els J M; Callewaert, Nico; Weterings, Koen

2012-04-01

Because the pathway for protein synthesis is largely conserved between plants and animals, plants provide an attractive platform for the cost effective and flexible production of biopharmaceuticals. However, there are some differences in glycosylation between plants and humans that need to be considered before plants can be used as an efficient expression platform. In the presented research the human genes encoding α1,3-mannosyl-β1,4-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (GnT-IV) and α1,6-mannosyl-β1,6-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (GnT-V) were introduced in the fast cycling model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to synthesize tri-antennary N-glycans. The GnT-IV and -V enzymes were targeted to the Golgi apparatus with plant-specific localization signals. The experiments were performed both in a wild type background, as well as in plants lacking β1,2-xylosyltransferase (XylT) and α1,3-fucosyltransferase (FucT) activity. Glycan analysis of endogenous proteins in the transgenic lines using CE-LIF showed that tri-antennary N-glycans could be produced in the XylT/FucT deficient line, while these structures were not found in the wild type background. Since β-N-acetylhexosaminidases, that remove terminal GlcNAcs, are active in A. thaliana plants, the specificity of these enzymes for different GlcNAc linkages was tested. The results showed that there is no pronounced preference of the A. thaliana hexosaminidases for human-type GlcNAc-linkages. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Flexible experimental FPGA based platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Karsten Holm; Nymand, Morten

2016-01-01

This paper presents an experimental flexible Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based platform for testing and verifying digital controlled dc-dc converters. The platform supports different types of control strategies, dc-dc converter topologies and switching frequencies. The controller platform...... interface supporting configuration and reading of setup parameters, controller status and the acquisition memory in a simple way. The FPGA based platform, provides an easy way within education or research to use different digital control strategies and different converter topologies controlled by an FPGA...

Product Platform Screening at LEGO

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Niels Henrik; Steen Jensen, Thomas; Nielsen, Ole Fiil

2012-01-01

Product platforms offer great benefits to companies developing new products in highly competitive markets. Literature describes how a single platform can be designed from a technical point of view, but rarely mentions how the process begins. How do companies identify possible platform candidates...... after a few changes had been applied to the initial process layout. This case study shows how companies must focus on a limited selection of simultaneous projects in order to keep focus. Primary stakeholders must be involved from the very beginning, and short presentations of the platform concepts...

Current meter and other data from FIXED PLATFORMS from the Gulf of Mexico and other locations as part of the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) and other projects from 24 October 1964 to 01 November 1977 (NODC Accession 7800586)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Current meter data were collected from FIXED PLATFORMS from the Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida. Data were submitted by the Atlantic Oceanographic and...

Synthetic strategies for plant signalling studies: molecular toolbox and orthogonal platforms

KAUST Repository

Braguy, Justine; Zurbriggen, Matias D.

2016-01-01

of involved functional and regulatory mechanisms. The implementation of synthetic biology approaches is revolutionizing experimental biology in prokaryotes, yeasts and animal systems and can likewise contribute to a new era in plant biology. This review gives

Reusable platform concepts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gudmestad, O.T.; Sparby, B.K.; Stead, B.L.

1993-01-01

There is an increasing need to reduce costs of offshore production facilities in order to make development of offshore fields profitable. For small fields with short production time there is in particular a need to investigate ways to reduce costs. The idea of platform reuse is for such fields particularly attractive. This paper will review reusable platform concepts and will discuss their range of application. Particular emphasis will be placed on technical limitations. Traditional concepts as jackups and floating production facilities will be discussed by major attention will be given to newly developed ideas for reuse of steel jackets and concrete structures. It will be shown how the operator for several fields can obtain considerable savings by applying such reusable platform concepts

Disentangling Competition Among Platform Driven Strategic Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric

2015-01-01

In platform-driven markets, competitive advantage is derived from superior platform design and configurations. For this reason, platform owners strive to create unique and inimitable platform configurals to maintain and extend their competitiveness within network economies. To disentangle firm...... competition within platform-driven markets, we opted for the UK mobile payment market as our empirical setting. By embracing the theoretical lens of strategic groups and digital platforms, this study supplements prior research by deriving a taxonomy of platform-driven strategic groups that is grounded...

Platform development: implications for portfolio management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hsuan, Juliana; Hansen, Poul H. Kyvsgård

2007-01-01

" The challenge of implementing industrial platforms in practice can be described as a configuration problem caused by a considerable number of variables, which often have contradictory influences on the total performance of the firm. Consequently, the specific platform decisions become extremely...... complex, possibly increasing the strategic risks for the firm. This paper reports preliminary findings on platform management process at LEGO, a Danish toy company. Specifically, we report the process of applying games combined with simulations and workshops in the platform development. We also propose...... a framework, based on the portfolio management thinking to evaluate the degree of modularity embedded in a given platform and to which extent it is aligned with other platforms."...

Stratifying the Develoment of Product Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sköld, Martin; Karlsson, Christer

2013-01-01

companies develop platforms for different aims, purposes, and product scopes. Following on from this, the requirements for platform development resources, the ways of organizing platform development, and the implications for management styles have not been explored and are presumably varying. To start...... influencing the project length, requirements for platform development resources, principles for organizing, and implications for management styles....

Plant-based solutions for veterinary immunotherapeutics and prophylactics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kolotilin, Igor; Topp, Ed; Cox, Eric; Devriendt, Bert; Conrad, Udo; Joensuu, Jussi; Stöger, Eva; Warzecha, Heribert; McAllister, Tim; Potter, Andrew; McLean, Michael D; Hall, J Christopher; Menassa, Rima

2014-12-31

An alarming increase in emergence of antibiotic resistance among pathogens worldwide has become a serious threat to our ability to treat infectious diseases according to the World Health Organization. Extensive use of antibiotics by livestock producers promotes the spread of new resistant strains, some of zoonotic concern, which increases food-borne illness in humans and causes significant economic burden on healthcare systems. Furthermore, consumer preferences for meat/poultry/fish produced without the use of antibiotics shape today's market demand. So, it is viewed as inevitable by the One Health Initiative that humans need to reduce the use of antibiotics and turn to alternative, improved means to control disease: vaccination and prophylactics. Besides the intense research focused on novel therapeutic molecules, both these strategies rely heavily on the availability of cost-effective, efficient and scalable production platforms which will allow large-volume manufacturing for vaccines, antibodies and other biopharmaceuticals. Within this context, plant-based platforms for production of recombinant therapeutic proteins offer significant advantages over conventional expression systems, including lack of animal pathogens, low production costs, fast turnaround and response times and rapid, nearly-unlimited scalability. Also, because dried leaves and seeds can be stored at room temperature for lengthy periods without loss of recombinant proteins, plant expression systems have the potential to offer lucrative benefits from the development of edible vaccines and prophylactics, as these would not require "cold chain" storage and transportation, and could be administered in mass volumes with minimal processing. Several biotechnology companies currently have developed and adopted plant-based platforms for commercial production of recombinant protein therapeutics. In this manuscript, we outline the challenges in the process of livestock immunization as well as the current

The COMET Sleep Research Platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, Deborah A; DeSalvo, Steven; Miller, Richard A; Jónsson, Darrell; Griffin, Kara S; Hyde, Pamela R; Walsh, James K; Kushida, Clete A

2014-01-01

The Comparative Outcomes Management with Electronic Data Technology (COMET) platform is extensible and designed for facilitating multicenter electronic clinical research. Our research goals were the following: (1) to conduct a comparative effectiveness trial (CET) for two obstructive sleep apnea treatments-positive airway pressure versus oral appliance therapy; and (2) to establish a new electronic network infrastructure that would support this study and other clinical research studies. The COMET platform was created to satisfy the needs of CET with a focus on creating a platform that provides comprehensive toolsets, multisite collaboration, and end-to-end data management. The platform also provides medical researchers the ability to visualize and interpret data using business intelligence (BI) tools. COMET is a research platform that is scalable and extensible, and which, in a future version, can accommodate big data sets and enable efficient and effective research across multiple studies and medical specialties. The COMET platform components were designed for an eventual move to a cloud computing infrastructure that enhances sustainability, overall cost effectiveness, and return on investment.

Identification of platform levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Niels Henrik

2005-01-01

reduction, ability to launch a wider product portfolio without increasing resources and reduction of complexity within the whole company. To support the multiple product development process, platform based product development has in many companies such as Philips, VW, Ford etc. proven to be a very effective...... product development in one step and therefore the objective of this paper is to identify levels of platform based product development. The structure of this paper is as follows. First the applied terminology for platforms will be briefly explained and then characteristics between single and multi product...... development will be examined. Based on the identification of the above characteristics five platform levels are described. The research presented in this paper is a result of MSc, Ph.D projects at the Technical University of Denmark and consultancy projects within the organisation of Institute of Product...

PDTCM: a systems pharmacology platform of traditional Chinese medicine for psoriasis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dongmei; Gu, Jiangyong; Zhu, Wei; Luo, Fang; Chen, Lirong; Xu, Xiaojie; Lu, Chuanjian

2017-12-01

Psoriasis is a refractory skin disorder, and usually requires a lifetime control. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is effective and safe for this disease. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of TCM remedies for psoriasis are still not fully understood. TCM contains numerous natural products. Natural products have historically been invaluable as a resource of therapeutic agents. Yet, there is no integrated information about active compounds of TCM for psoriasis. We use systems pharmacology methods to develop the Psoriasis Database of Traditional Chinese Medicine (PDTCM). The database covered a number of psoriasis-related information (formulas, TCM, compounds, target proteins, diseases and biomarkers). With these data information, an online platform was constructed Results: PDTCM comprises 38 empirical therapeutic formulas, 34373 compounds from 1424 medicinal plants, 44 psoriasis-related proteins and 76 biomarkers from 111 related diseases. On this platform, users can screen active compounds for a psoriasis-related target and explore molecular mechanisms of TCM. Accordingly, users can also download the retrieved structures and data information with a defined value set. In addition, it helps to get a better understanding of Chinese prescriptions in disease treatment. With the systems pharmacology-based data, PDTCM would become a valuable resource for TCM in psoriasis-related research. Key messages PDTCM platform comprises a great deal of data on TCM and psoriasis. On this platform, users can retrieve and get needed information with systems pharmacology methods, such as active compounds screening, target prediction and molecular mechanisms exploration. It is a tool for psoriasis-related research on natural drugs systematically.

A review on plant importance, biotechnological aspects, and cultivation challenges of jojoba plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Obaidi, Jameel R; Halabi, Mohammed Farouq; AlKhalifah, Nasser S; Asanar, Shanavaskhan; Al-Soqeer, Abdulrahman A; Attia, M F

2017-08-24

Jojoba is considered a promising oil crop and is cultivated for diverse purposes in many countries. The jojoba seed produces unique high-quality oil with a wide range of applications such as medical and industrial-related products. The plant also has potential value in combatting desertification and land degradation in dry and semi-dry areas. Although the plant is known for its high-temperature and high-salinity tolerance growth ability, issues such as its male-biased ratio, relatively late flowering and seed production time hamper the cultivation of this plant. The development of efficient biotechnological platforms for better cultivation and an improved production cycle is a necessity for farmers cultivating the plant. In the last 20 years, many efforts have been made for in vitro cultivation of jojoba by applying different molecular biology techniques. However, there is a lot of work to be done in order to reach satisfactory results that help to overcome cultivation problems. This review presents a historical overview, the medical and industrial importance of the jojoba plant, agronomy aspects and nutrient requirements for the plant's cultivation, and the role of recent biotechnology and molecular biology findings in jojoba research.

Nitroaromatic detection and infrared communication from wild-type plants using plant nanobionics.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Min Hao; Giraldo, Juan P; Kwak, Seon-Yeong; Koman, Volodymyr B; Sinclair, Rosalie; Lew, Tedrick Thomas Salim; Bisker, Gili; Liu, Pingwei; Strano, Michael S

2017-02-01

Plant nanobionics aims to embed non-native functions to plants by interfacing them with specifically designed nanoparticles. Here, we demonstrate that living spinach plants (Spinacia oleracea) can be engineered to serve as self-powered pre-concentrators and autosamplers of analytes in ambient groundwater and as infrared communication platforms that can send information to a smartphone. The plants employ a pair of near-infrared fluorescent nanosensors-single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) conjugated to the peptide Bombolitin II to recognize nitroaromatics via infrared fluorescent emission, and polyvinyl-alcohol functionalized SWCNTs that act as an invariant reference signal-embedded within the plant leaf mesophyll. As contaminant nitroaromatics are transported up the roots and stem into leaf tissues, they accumulate in the mesophyll, resulting in relative changes in emission intensity. The real-time monitoring of embedded SWCNT sensors also allows residence times in the roots, stems and leaves to be estimated, calculated to be 8.3 min (combined residence times of root and stem) and 1.9 min mm -1 leaf, respectively. These results demonstrate the ability of living, wild-type plants to function as chemical monitors of groundwater and communication devices to external electronics at standoff distances.

High-throughput detection of ethanol-producing cyanobacteria in a microdroplet platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Abalde-Cela, Sara; Gould, Anna; Liu, Xin; Kazamia, Elena; Smith, Alison G; Abell, Chris

2015-05-06

Ethanol production by microorganisms is an important renewable energy source. Most processes involve fermentation of sugars from plant feedstock, but there is increasing interest in direct ethanol production by photosynthetic organisms. To facilitate this, a high-throughput screening technique for the detection of ethanol is required. Here, a method for the quantitative detection of ethanol in a microdroplet-based platform is described that can be used for screening cyanobacterial strains to identify those with the highest ethanol productivity levels. The detection of ethanol by enzymatic assay was optimized both in bulk and in microdroplets. In parallel, the encapsulation of engineered ethanol-producing cyanobacteria in microdroplets and their growth dynamics in microdroplet reservoirs were demonstrated. The combination of modular microdroplet operations including droplet generation for cyanobacteria encapsulation, droplet re-injection and pico-injection, and laser-induced fluorescence, were used to create this new platform to screen genetically engineered strains of cyanobacteria with different levels of ethanol production.

Turbine engine airfoil and platform assembly

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Christian X [Oviedo, FL; James, Allister W [Chuluota, FL; Morrison, Jay A [Oviedo, FL

2012-07-31

A turbine airfoil (22A) is formed by a first process using a first material. A platform (30A) is formed by a second process using a second material that may be different from the first material. The platform (30A) is assembled around a shank (23A) of the airfoil. One or more pins (36A) extend from the platform into holes (28) in the shank (23A). The platform may be formed in two portions (32A, 34A) and placed around the shank, enclosing it. The two platform portions may be bonded to each other. Alternately, the platform (30B) may be cast around the shank (23B) using a metal alloy with better castability than that of the blade and shank, which may be specialized for thermal tolerance. The pins (36A-36D) or holes for them do not extend to an outer surface (31) of the platform, avoiding stress concentrations.

The Innovative Capabilities Of Digital Payment Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol

2015-01-01

This study presents a model for studying the innovative capabilities of digital payment platforms in regards to open innovation integration and commercialization. We perceive digital platforms as layered modular IT artifacts, where platform governance and the configuration of platform layers impact...... the support for open innovation. The proposed model has been employed in a comparative case study between two digital payment platforms: Apple Pay and Google Wallet. The findings suggest that digital payment platforms make use of boundary resources to be highly integrative or integratable, which supports...... the intended conjoint commercialization efforts. Furthermore, the architectural design of digital platforms impacts the access to commercialization, resulting to an exclusion or inclusion strategy in accessing value opportunities. Our findings contribute to the open innovation and digital platform literature...

PR-PR: cross-platform laboratory automation system.

Science.gov (United States)

Linshiz, Gregory; Stawski, Nina; Goyal, Garima; Bi, Changhao; Poust, Sean; Sharma, Monica; Mutalik, Vivek; Keasling, Jay D; Hillson, Nathan J

2014-08-15

To enable protocol standardization, sharing, and efficient implementation across laboratory automation platforms, we have further developed the PR-PR open-source high-level biology-friendly robot programming language as a cross-platform laboratory automation system. Beyond liquid-handling robotics, PR-PR now supports microfluidic and microscopy platforms, as well as protocol translation into human languages, such as English. While the same set of basic PR-PR commands and features are available for each supported platform, the underlying optimization and translation modules vary from platform to platform. Here, we describe these further developments to PR-PR, and demonstrate the experimental implementation and validation of PR-PR protocols for combinatorial modified Golden Gate DNA assembly across liquid-handling robotic, microfluidic, and manual platforms. To further test PR-PR cross-platform performance, we then implement and assess PR-PR protocols for Kunkel DNA mutagenesis and hierarchical Gibson DNA assembly for microfluidic and manual platforms.

Performance Measurement of Complex Event Platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Zámečníková

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to find and compare existing solutions of complex event processing platforms (CEP. CEP platforms generally serve for processing and/or predicting of high frequency data. We intend to use CEP platform for processing of complex time series and integrate a solution for newly proposed method of decision making. The decision making process will be described by formal grammar. As there are lots of CEP solutions we will take the following characteristics under consideration - the processing in real time, possibility of processing of high volume data from multiple sources, platform independence, platform allowing integration with user solution and open license. At first we will talk about existing CEP tools and their specific way of use in praxis. Then we will mention the design of method for formalization of business rules used for decision making. Afterwards, we focus on two platforms which seem to be the best fit for integration of our solution and we will list the main pros and cons of each approach. Next part is devoted to benchmark platforms for CEP. Final part is devoted to experimental measurements of platform with integrated method for decision support.

Growth Chambers on the International Space Station for Large Plants

Science.gov (United States)

Massa, Gioia D.; Wheeler, Raymond M.; Morrow, Robert C.; Levine, Howard G.

2016-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) now has platforms for conducting research on horticultural plant species under LED (Light Emitting Diodes) lighting, and those capabilities continue to expand. The Veggie vegetable production system was deployed to the ISS as an applied research platform for food production in space. Veggie is capable of growing a wide array of horticultural crops. It was designed for low power usage, low launch mass and stowage volume, and minimal crew time requirements. The Veggie flight hardware consists of a light cap containing red (630 nanometers), blue, (455 nanometers) and green (530 nanometers) LEDs. Interfacing with the light cap is an extendable bellowsbaseplate for enclosing the plant canopy. A second large plant growth chamber, the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), is will fly to the ISS in 2017. APH will be a fully controllable environment for high-quality plant physiological research. APH will control light (quality, level, and timing), temperature, CO2, relative humidity, and irrigation, while scrubbing any cabin or plant-derived ethylene and other volatile organic compounds. Additional capabilities include sensing of leaf temperature and root zone moisture, root zone temperature, and oxygen concentration. The light cap will have red (630 nm), blue (450 nm), green (525 nm), far red (730 nm) and broad spectrum white LEDs (4100K). There will be several internal cameras (visible and IR) to monitor and record plant growth and operations. Veggie and APH are available for research proposals.

Cretaceous tropical carbonate platform changes used as paleoclimatic and paleoceanic indicators: the three lower Cretaceous platform crises

Science.gov (United States)

Arnaud-Vanneau, A.; Vrielynck, B.

2009-04-01

Carbonate platform sediments are of biogenic origin. More commonly the bioclasts are fragments of shells and skeletons. The bioclastic composition of a limestone may reflect the nature of biota inhabiting the area and a carbonate platform can be estimated as a living factory, which reflects the prevailing ecological factors. The rate of carbonate production is highest in the tropics, in oligotrophic environments, and in the photic zone. The rate of carbonate production varies greatly with temperature and nutrient input. Three types of biotic carbonate platform can be distinguished. The highest carbonate production is linked to oligotrophic carbonate platform characterized by the presence of assemblages with hermatypic corals. This type of platform is developed in shallow marine environment, nutrient poor water and warm tropical sea. A less efficient production of carbonate platform is related to mesotrophic environments in cooler and/or deeper water and associated to nutrient flux with, sometime, detrital input. The biota includes red algae, solitary coral and branching ahermatypic corals, common bryozoans, crinoids and echinoids. The less productive carbonate platform is the eutrophic muddy platform where the mud is due to the intense bacterial activity, probably related to strong nutrient flux. All changes of type of carbonate platform can be related to climatic and oceanic changes. Three platform crises occurred during lower Cretaceous time. They are followed by important turnover of microfauna (large benthic foraminifers) and microflora (marine algae). They start with the demise of the previous oligotrophic platform, they continue with oceanic perturbations, expression of which was the widespread deposition of organic-rich sediments, well expressed during Late Aptian/Albian and Cenomanian Turonian boundary and the replacement of previous oligotrophic platforms by mesotrophic to eutrophic platforms. The first crisis occurred during Valanginian and Hauterivian

Helicopter flight simulation motion platform requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Jeffery Allyn

Flight simulators attempt to reproduce in-flight pilot-vehicle behavior on the ground. This reproduction is challenging for helicopter simulators, as the pilot is often inextricably dependent on external cues for pilot-vehicle stabilization. One important simulator cue is platform motion; however, its required fidelity is unknown. To determine the required motion fidelity, several unique experiments were performed. A large displacement motion platform was used that allowed pilots to fly tasks with matched motion and visual cues. Then, the platform motion was modified to give cues varying from full motion to no motion. Several key results were found. First, lateral and vertical translational platform cues had significant effects on fidelity. Their presence improved performance and reduced pilot workload. Second, yaw and roll rotational platform cues were not as important as the translational platform cues. In particular, the yaw rotational motion platform cue did not appear at all useful in improving performance or reducing workload. Third, when the lateral translational platform cue was combined with visual yaw rotational cues, pilots believed the platform was rotating when it was not. Thus, simulator systems can be made more efficient by proper combination of platform and visual cues. Fourth, motion fidelity specifications were revised that now provide simulator users with a better prediction of motion fidelity based upon the frequency responses of their motion control laws. Fifth, vertical platform motion affected pilot estimates of steady-state altitude during altitude repositionings. This refutes the view that pilots estimate altitude and altitude rate in simulation solely from visual cues. Finally, the combined results led to a general method for configuring helicopter motion systems and for developing simulator tasks that more likely represent actual flight. The overall results can serve as a guide to future simulator designers and to today's operators.

Distributed Fracturing Affecting the Isolated Carbonate Platforms, the Latemar Platform (Dolomites, North Italy).

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boro, H.; Bertotti, G.V.; Hardebol, N.J.

2012-01-01

Isolated carbonate platforms are highly heterogeneous bodies and are typically composed of laterally juxtaposed first order domains with different sedimentological composition and organization, i.e. a well-stratified platform interior, a massive margin and a slope with steeply dipping and poorly

Supporting plant operation through computer-based procedures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez, Victor; Medrano, Javier; Mendez, Julio

2014-01-01

Digital Systems are becoming more important in controlling and monitoring nuclear power plant operations. The capabilities of these systems provide additional functions as well as support operators in making decisions and avoiding errors. Regarding Operation Support Systems, an important way of taking advantage of these features is using computer-based procedures (CBPs) tools that enhance the plant operation. Integrating digital systems in analogue controls at nuclear power plants in operation becomes an extra challenge, in contrast to the integration of Digital Control Systems in new nuclear power plants. Considering the potential advantages of using this technology, Tecnatom has designed and developed a CBP platform taking currently operating nuclear power plants as its design basis. The result is a powerful tool which combines the advantages of CBPs and the conventional analogue control systems minimizing negative effects during plant operation and integrating operation aid-systems to support operators. (authors)

Design and Realization of Geographic Information System for Plant Specimens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhenran Gao

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The thesis research work is based on adopting the combination of theory and technology research. For the unique characteristics of bambusoideae in yunnan province, analyses the characteristics, value and the present situation of resources of bambusoideae plant resources in yunnan province. According to the system requirements of the specimen of bambusoideae in Yunnan province, by Microsoft. Net framework platform, a collection of Web services and ASP.NET technology, based on the data of Microsoft SQL Server2008 and ADO.NET technology support, selecting desktop GIS Arc GIS platform (Arc GIS Desktop and server (Arc GIS Server as a system of GIS secondary development of GIS, and using developed tools of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Visual, Finally, the information system of plant specimen which based on GIS integration development of bambusoideae is finished .

Reliability research to nuclear power plant operators based on several methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang Xiang; Li Fu; Zhao Bingquan

2009-01-01

The paper utilizes many kinds of international reliability research methods, and summarizes the review of reliability research of Chinese nuclear power plant operators in past over ten years based on the simulator platform of nuclear power plant. The paper shows the necessity and feasibility of the research to nuclear power plant operators from many angles including human cognition reliability, fuzzy mathematics model and psychological research model, etc. It will be good to the safe operation of nuclear power plant based on many kinds of research methods to the reliability research of nuclear power plant operators. (authors)

Analysis of human plasma metabolites across different liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry platforms: Cross-platform transferable chemical signatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Telu, Kelly H; Yan, Xinjian; Wallace, William E; Stein, Stephen E; Simón-Manso, Yamil

2016-03-15

The metabolite profiling of a NIST plasma Standard Reference Material (SRM 1950) on different liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) platforms showed significant differences. Although these findings suggest caution when interpreting metabolomics results, the degree of overlap of both profiles allowed us to use tandem mass spectral libraries of recurrent spectra to evaluate to what extent these results are transferable across platforms and to develop cross-platform chemical signatures. Non-targeted global metabolite profiles of SRM 1950 were obtained on different LC/MS platforms using reversed-phase chromatography and different chromatographic scales (conventional HPLC, UHPLC and nanoLC). The data processing and the metabolite differential analysis were carried out using publically available (XCMS), proprietary (Mass Profiler Professional) and in-house software (NIST pipeline). Repeatability and intermediate precision showed that the non-targeted SRM 1950 profiling was highly reproducible when working on the same platform (relative standard deviation (RSD) HPLC, UHPLC and nanoLC) on the same platform. A substantial degree of overlap (common molecular features) was also found. A procedure to generate consistent chemical signatures using tandem mass spectral libraries of recurrent spectra is proposed. Different platforms rendered significantly different metabolite profiles, but the results were highly reproducible when working within one platform. Tandem mass spectral libraries of recurrent spectra are proposed to evaluate the degree of transferability of chemical signatures generated on different platforms. Chemical signatures based on our procedure are most likely cross-platform transferable. Published in 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Morphological indicators of growth stages in carbonates platform evolution: comparison between present-day and Miocene platforms of Northern Borneo, Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pierson, B.; Menier, D.; Ting, K. K.; Chalabi, A.

2012-04-01

Satellite images of present-day reefs and carbonate platforms of the Celebes Sea, east of Sabah, Malaysia, exhibit large-scale features indicative of the recent evolution of the platforms. These include: (1) multiple, sub-parallel reef rims at the windward margin, suggestive of back-stepping of the platform margin; (2) contraction of the platform, possibly as a result of recent sea level fluctuations; (3) colonization of the internal lagoons by polygonal reef structures and (4) fragmentation of the platforms and creation of deep channels separating platforms that used to be part of a single entity. These features are analogue to what has been observed on seismic attribute maps of Miocene carbonate platforms of Sarawak. An analysis of several growth stages of a large Miocene platform, referred to as the Megaplatform, shows that the platform evolves in function of syn-depositional tectonic movements and sea level fluctuations that result in back-stepping of the margin, illustrated by multiple reef rims, contraction of the platform, the development of polygonal structures currently interpreted as karstic in origin and fragmentation of the megaplatform in 3 sub-entities separated by deep channels that precedes the final demise of the whole platform. Comparing similar features on present-day to platforms and Miocene platforms leads to a better understanding of the growth history of Miocene platforms and to a refined predictability of reservoir and non-reservoir facies distribution.

Commercial-scale biotherapeutics manufacturing facility for plant-made pharmaceuticals.

Science.gov (United States)

Holtz, Barry R; Berquist, Brian R; Bennett, Lindsay D; Kommineni, Vally J M; Munigunti, Ranjith K; White, Earl L; Wilkerson, Don C; Wong, Kah-Yat I; Ly, Lan H; Marcel, Sylvain

2015-10-01

Rapid, large-scale manufacture of medical countermeasures can be uniquely met by the plant-made-pharmaceutical platform technology. As a participant in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Blue Angel project, the Caliber Biotherapeutics facility was designed, constructed, commissioned and released a therapeutic target (H1N1 influenza subunit vaccine) in manufacturing facilities, with the capacity to process over 3500 kg of plant biomass per week in an automated multilevel growing environment using proprietary LED lighting. The facility can commission additional plant grow rooms that are already built to double this capacity. In addition to the commercial-scale manufacturing facility, a pilot production facility was designed based on the large-scale manufacturing specifications as a way to integrate product development and technology transfer. The primary research, development and manufacturing system employs vacuum-infiltrated Nicotiana benthamiana plants grown in a fully contained, hydroponic system for transient expression of recombinant proteins. This expression platform has been linked to a downstream process system, analytical characterization, and assessment of biological activity. This integrated approach has demonstrated rapid, high-quality production of therapeutic monoclonal antibody targets, including a panel of rituximab biosimilar/biobetter molecules and antiviral antibodies against influenza and dengue fever. © 2015 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Towards a Framework of Digital Platform Disruption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric T. K.

2014-01-01

Digital platforms are disruptive information technology (IT) artifacts that erode conventional business logic associated with traditional market structures. This paper presents a framework for examining the disruptive potential of digital platforms whereby we postulate that the strategic interplay...... digital platforms purposely decouple platform layers, to foster open innovation and accelerate market disruption. This paper therefore represents a first concrete step aimed at unravelling the disruptive potential of digital platforms....... of governance regimes and platform layers is deterministic of whether disruptive derivatives are permitted to flourish. This framework has been employed in a comparative case study between centralized (i.e., PayPal) and decentralized (i.e., Coinkite) digital payment platforms to illustrate its applicability...

Tyrosine biosynthesis, metabolism, and catabolism in plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Schenck, Craig A; Maeda, Hiroshi A

2018-05-01

L-Tyrosine (Tyr) is an aromatic amino acid (AAA) required for protein synthesis in all organisms, but synthesized de novo only in plants and microorganisms. In plants, Tyr also serves as a precursor of numerous specialized metabolites that have diverse physiological roles as electron carriers, antioxidants, attractants, and defense compounds. Some of these Tyr-derived plant natural products are also used in human medicine and nutrition (e.g. morphine and vitamin E). While the Tyr biosynthesis and catabolic pathways have been extensively studied in microbes and animals, respectively, those of plants have received much less attention until recently. Accumulating evidence suggest that the Tyr biosynthetic pathways differ between microbes and plants and even within the plant kingdom, likely to support the production of lineage-specific plant specialized metabolites derived from Tyr. The interspecies variations of plant Tyr pathway enzymes can now be used to enhance the production of Tyr and Tyr-derived compounds in plants and other synthetic biology platforms. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CO₂ Capture Membrane Process for Power Plant Flue Gas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toy, Lora [Research Triangle Inst. International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States); Kataria, Atish [Research Triangle Inst. International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States); Gupta, Raghubir [Research Triangle Inst. International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)

2012-04-01

Because the fleet of coal-fired power plants is of such importance to the nation's energy production while also being the single largest emitter of CO₂, the development of retrofit, post-combustion CO₂ capture technologies for existing and new, upcoming coal power plants will allow coal to remain a major component of the U.S. energy mix while mitigating global warming. Post-combustion carbon capture technologies are an attractive option for coal-fired power plants as they do not require modification of major power-plant infrastructures, such as fuel processing, boiler, and steam-turbine subsystems. In this project, the overall objective was to develop an advanced, hollow-fiber, polymeric membrane process that could be cost-effectively retrofitted into current pulverized coal-fired power plants to capture at least 90% of the CO₂ from plant flue gas with 95% captured CO₂ purity. The approach for this project tackled the technology development on three different fronts in parallel: membrane materials R&D, hollow-fiber membrane module development, and process development and engineering. The project team consisted of RTI (prime) and two industrial partners, Arkema, Inc. and Generon IGS, Inc. Two CO₂-selective membrane polymer platforms were targeted for development in this project. For the near term, a next-generation, high-flux polycarbonate membrane platform was spun into hollow-fiber membranes that were fabricated into both lab-scale and larger prototype (~2,200 ft²) membrane modules. For the long term, a new fluoropolymer membrane platform based on poly(vinylidene fluoride) [PVDF] chemistry was developed using a copolymer approach as improved capture membrane materials with superior chemical resistance to flue-gas contaminants (moisture, SO₂, NO_x, etc.). Specific objectives were: - Development of new, highly chemically resistant, fluorinated polymers as membrane materials with minimum selectivity of 30 for CO₂ over N₂ and CO�

Product Platform Development in Industrial Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karlsson, Christer; Skold, Martin

2011-01-01

The article examines the strategic issues involved in the deployment of product platform development in an industrial network. The move entails identifying the types and characteristics of generically different product platform strategies and clarifying strategic motives and differences. Number o...... of platforms and product brands serve as the key dimensions when distinguishing the different strategies. Each strategy has its own challenges and raises various issues to deal with.......The article examines the strategic issues involved in the deployment of product platform development in an industrial network. The move entails identifying the types and characteristics of generically different product platform strategies and clarifying strategic motives and differences. Number...

The universal modular platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

North, R.B.

1995-01-01

A new and patented design for offshore wellhead platforms has been developed to meet a 'fast track' requirement for increased offshore production, from field locations not yet identified. The new design uses modular construction to allow for radical changes in the water depth of the final location and assembly line efficiency in fabrication. By utilizing high strength steels and structural support from the well conductors the new design accommodates all planned production requirements on a support structure significantly lighter and less expensive than the conventional design it replaces. Twenty two platforms based on the new design were ready for installation within 18 months of the project start. Installation of the new platforms began in 1992 for drilling support and 1993 for production support. The new design has become the Company standard for all future production platforms. Large saving and construction costs have been realized through its light weight, flexibility in both positioning and water depth, and its modular construction

Engineering plant membranes using droplet interface bilayers.

Science.gov (United States)

Barlow, N E; Smpokou, E; Friddin, M S; Macey, R; Gould, I R; Turnbull, C; Flemming, A J; Brooks, N J; Ces, O; Barter, L M C

2017-03-01

Droplet interface bilayers (DIBs) have become widely recognised as a robust platform for constructing model membranes and are emerging as a key technology for the bottom-up assembly of synthetic cell-like and tissue-like structures. DIBs are formed when lipid-monolayer coated water droplets are brought together inside a well of oil, which is excluded from the interface as the DIB forms. The unique features of the system, compared to traditional approaches (e.g., supported lipid bilayers, black lipid membranes, and liposomes), is the ability to engineer multi-layered bilayer networks by connecting multiple droplets together in 3D, and the capability to impart bilayer asymmetry freely within these droplet architectures by supplying droplets with different lipids. Yet despite these achievements, one potential limitation of the technology is that DIBs formed from biologically relevant components have not been well studied. This could limit the reach of the platform to biological systems where bilayer composition and asymmetry are understood to play a key role. Herein, we address this issue by reporting the assembly of asymmetric DIBs designed to replicate the plasma membrane compositions of three different plant species; Arabidopsis thaliana , tobacco, and oats, by engineering vesicles with different amounts of plant phospholipids, sterols and cerebrosides for the first time. We show that vesicles made from our plant lipid formulations are stable and can be used to assemble asymmetric plant DIBs. We verify this using a bilayer permeation assay, from which we extract values for absolute effective bilayer permeation and bilayer stability. Our results confirm that stable DIBs can be assembled from our plant membrane mimics and could lead to new approaches for assembling model systems to study membrane translocation and to screen new agrochemicals in plants.

New offshore platform in the Mexican Gulf

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beisel, T.

1982-04-01

After a construction period of only 10 months, the second steel Offshore platform was recently completed in the Mexican Gulf. The pattern for this structure was the Cognac platform. The erection of the new platform, called the 'Cerveza' platform, is described in the article.

Sinking offshore platform. Nedsenkbar fralandsplatform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Einstabland, T.B.; Olsen, O.

1988-12-19

The invention deals with a sinking offshore platform of the gravitational type designed for being installed on the sea bed on great depths. The platform consists of at least three inclining pillars placed on a foundation unit. The pillars are at the upper end connected to a tower structure by means of a rigid construction. The tower supports the platform deck. The rigid construction comprises a centre-positioned cylinder connected to the foundation. 11 figs.

Understanding Platform-Based Digital Currencies

OpenAIRE

Ben Fung; Hanna Halaburda

2014-01-01

Given technological advances and the widespread use of the Internet, various digital currencies have emerged. In most cases, Internet platforms such as Facebook and Amazon restrict the functionality of their digital currencies to enhance the business model and maximize their profits. While platform-based digital currencies could increase the efficiency of retail payments, they could also raise some important policy issues if they were to become widely used outside of the platform. Thus, it is...

Evolutionary space platform concept study. Volume 2, part B: Manned space platform concepts

Science.gov (United States)

1982-01-01

Logical, cost-effective steps in the evolution of manned space platforms are investigated and assessed. Tasks included the analysis of requirements for a manned space platform, identifying alternative concepts, performing system analysis and definition of the concepts, comparing the concepts and performing programmatic analysis for a reference concept.

Polymer-based platform for microfluidic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Benett, William [Livermore, CA; Krulevitch, Peter [Pleasanton, CA; Maghribi, Mariam [Livermore, CA; Hamilton, Julie [Tracy, CA; Rose, Klint [Boston, MA; Wang, Amy W [Oakland, CA

2009-10-13

A method of forming a polymer-based microfluidic system platform using network building blocks selected from a set of interconnectable network building blocks, such as wire, pins, blocks, and interconnects. The selected building blocks are interconnectably assembled and fixedly positioned in precise positions in a mold cavity of a mold frame to construct a three-dimensional model construction of a microfluidic flow path network preferably having meso-scale dimensions. A hardenable liquid, such as poly (dimethylsiloxane) is then introduced into the mold cavity and hardened to form a platform structure as well as to mold the microfluidic flow path network having channels, reservoirs and ports. Pre-fabricated elbows, T's and other joints are used to interconnect various building block elements together. After hardening the liquid the building blocks are removed from the platform structure to make available the channels, cavities and ports within the platform structure. Microdevices may be embedded within the cast polymer-based platform, or bonded to the platform structure subsequent to molding, to create an integrated microfluidic system. In this manner, the new microfluidic platform is versatile and capable of quickly generating prototype systems, and could easily be adapted to a manufacturing setting.

Offshore Minerals Management Platforms for the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Geographic NAD83, MMS (2006) [platforms_mms_2006

Data.gov (United States)

Louisiana Geographic Information Center — Offshore Minerals Management Platforms for the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Identifies the location of platforms in GOM. All platforms existing in the database are included.

A review on plant importance, biotechnological aspects, and cultivation challenges of jojoba plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jameel R. Al-Obaidi

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Jojoba is considered a promising oil crop and is cultivated for diverse purposes in many countries. The jojoba seed produces unique high-quality oil with a wide range of applications such as medical and industrial-related products. The plant also has potential value in combatting desertification and land degradation in dry and semi-dry areas. Although the plant is known for its high-temperature and high-salinity tolerance growth ability, issues such as its male-biased ratio, relatively late flowering and seed production time hamper the cultivation of this plant. The development of efficient biotechnological platforms for better cultivation and an improved production cycle is a necessity for farmers cultivating the plant. In the last 20 years, many efforts have been made for in vitro cultivation of jojoba by applying different molecular biology techniques. However, there is a lot of work to be done in order to reach satisfactory results that help to overcome cultivation problems. This review presents a historical overview, the medical and industrial importance of the jojoba plant, agronomy aspects and nutrient requirements for the plant’s cultivation, and the role of recent biotechnology and molecular biology findings in jojoba research.

Platforms.

Science.gov (United States)

Josko, Deborah

2014-01-01

The advent of DNA sequencing technologies and the various applications that can be performed will have a dramatic effect on medicine and healthcare in the near future. There are several DNA sequencing platforms available on the market for research and clinical use. Based on the medical laboratory scientist or researcher's needs and taking into consideration laboratory space and budget, one can chose which platform will be beneficial to their institution and their patient population. Although some of the instrument costs seem high, diagnosing a patient quickly and accurately will save hospitals money with fewer hospital stays and targeted treatment based on an individual's genetic make-up. By determining the type of disease an individual has, based on the mutations present or having the ability to prescribe the appropriate antimicrobials based on the knowledge of the organism's resistance patterns, the clinician will be better able to treat and diagnose a patient which ultimately will improve patient outcomes and prognosis.

Femtosecond optical injection of intact plant cells using a reconfigurable platform

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Claire A.; Kalies, Stefan; Cizmar, Tomas; Bellini, Nicola; Kubasik-Thayil, Anisha; Heisterkamp, Alexander; Torrance, Lesley; Roberts, Alison G.; Gunn-Moore, Frank J.; Dholakia, Kishan

2014-03-01

The use of ultrashort-pulsed lasers for molecule delivery and transfection has proved to be a non-invasive and highly efficient technique for a wide range of mammalian cells. This present study investigates the effectiveness of femtosecond photoporation in plant cells, a hard-to-manipulate yet agriculturally relevant cell type, specifically suspension tobacco BY-2 cells. Both spatial and temporal shaping of the light field is employed to optimise the delivery of membrane impermeable molecules into plant cells using a reconfigurable optical system designed to be able to switch easily between different spatial modes and pulse durations. The use of a propagation invariant Bessel beam was found to increase the number of cells that could be viably optoinjected, when compared to the use of a Gaussian beam. Photoporation with a laser producing sub-12 fs pulses, coupled with a dispersion compensation system to retain the pulse duration at focus, reduced the power required for efficient optical injection by 1.5-1.8 times when compared to a photoporation with a 140 fs laser output.

Hazard Analysis for the Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sullivan, Robin S.; Geeting, John GH; Lawrence, Wesley E.; Young, Jonathan

2008-07-10

The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) is designed to perform a demonstration on an engineering scale to confirm the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Pretreatment Facility (PTF) leaching and filtration process equipment design and sludge treatment process. The system will use scaled prototypic equipment to demonstrate sludge water wash, caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, and filtration. Unit operations to be tested include pumping, solids washing, chemical reagent addition and blending, heating, cooling, leaching, filtration, and filter cleaning. In addition, the PEP will evaluate potential design changes to the ultrafiltration process system equipment to potentially enhance leaching and filtration performance as well as overall pretreatment throughput. The skid-mounted system will be installed and operated in the Processing Development Laboratory-West at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington.

Towards a Framework of Digital Platform Competition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric T. K.

2016-01-01

between monopolistic (i.e., Pingit) and federated (i.e., Paym) mobile payment platforms to illustrate its applicability and yield principles on the nature and impact of competition among platform-driven ubiquitous systems. Preliminary findings indicate that monopolistic mobile digital platforms attempt...... to create unique configurals to obtain monopolistic power by tightly coupling platform layers, which are difficult to replicate. Conversely, federated digital platforms compete by dispersing the service layer to harness the collective resources from individual firms. Furthermore, the interaction...

PRGdb 3.0: a comprehensive platform for prediction and analysis of plant disease resistance genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Osuna-Cruz, Cristina M; Paytuvi-Gallart, Andreu; Di Donato, Antimo; Sundesha, Vicky; Andolfo, Giuseppe; Aiese Cigliano, Riccardo; Sanseverino, Walter; Ercolano, Maria R

2018-01-04

The Plant Resistance Genes database (PRGdb; http://prgdb.org) has been redesigned with a new user interface, new sections, new tools and new data for genetic improvement, allowing easy access not only to the plant science research community but also to breeders who want to improve plant disease resistance. The home page offers an overview of easy-to-read search boxes that streamline data queries and directly show plant species for which data from candidate or cloned genes have been collected. Bulk data files and curated resistance gene annotations are made available for each plant species hosted. The new Gene Model view offers detailed information on each cloned resistance gene structure to highlight shared attributes with other genes. PRGdb 3.0 offers 153 reference resistance genes and 177 072 annotated candidate Pathogen Receptor Genes (PRGs). Compared to the previous release, the number of putative genes has been increased from 106 to 177 K from 76 sequenced Viridiplantae and algae genomes. The DRAGO 2 tool, which automatically annotates and predicts (PRGs) from DNA and amino acid with high accuracy and sensitivity, has been added. BLAST search has been implemented to offer users the opportunity to annotate and compare their own sequences. The improved section on plant diseases displays useful information linked to genes and genomes to connect complementary data and better address specific needs. Through, a revised and enlarged collection of data, the development of new tools and a renewed portal, PRGdb 3.0 engages the plant science community in developing a consensus plan to improve knowledge and strategies to fight diseases that afflict main crops and other plants. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Distributed control system for CANDU 9 nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harber, J.E.; Kattan, M.K.; Macbeth, M.J.

1996-01-01

Canadian designed CANDU pressurized heavy water nuclear reactors have been world leaders in electrical power generation. The CANDU 9 project is AECL's next reactor design. The CANDU 9 plant monitoring, annunciation, and control functions are implemented in two evolutionary systems; the distributed control system (DCS) and the plant display system (PDS). The CDS implements most of the plant control functions in a single hardware platform. The DCS communicates with the PDS to provide the main operator interface and annunciation capabilities of the previous control computer designs along with human interface enhancements required in a modern control system. (author)

Assembly procedure for Shot Loading Platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Routh, R.D.

1995-01-01

This supporting document describes the assembly procedure for the Shot Loading Platform. The Shot Loading Platform is used by multiple equipment removal projects to load shielding shot in the annular spaces of the equipment storage containers. The platform height is adjustable to accommodate different sizes of storage containers and transport assemblies

Antimicrobial peptide production and plant-based expression systems for medical and agricultural biotechnology.

Science.gov (United States)

Holaskova, Edita; Galuszka, Petr; Frebort, Ivo; Oz, M Tufan

2015-11-01

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are vital components of the innate immune system of nearly all living organisms. They generally act in the first line of defense against various pathogenic bacteria, parasites, enveloped viruses and fungi. These low molecular mass peptides are considered prospective therapeutic agents due to their broad-spectrum rapid activity, low cytotoxicity to mammalian cells and unique mode of action which hinders emergence of pathogen resistance. In addition to medical use, AMPs can also be employed for development of innovative approaches for plant protection in agriculture. Conferred disease resistance by AMPs might help us surmount losses in yield, quality and safety of agricultural products due to plant pathogens. Heterologous expression in plant-based systems, also called plant molecular farming, offers cost-effective large-scale production which is regarded as one of the most important factors for clinical or agricultural use of AMPs. This review presents various types of AMPs as well as plant-based platforms ranging from cell suspensions to whole plants employed for peptide production. Although AMP production in plants holds great promises for medicine and agriculture, specific technical limitations regarding product yield, function and stability still remain. Additionally, establishment of particular stable expression systems employing plants or plant tissues generally requires extended time scale for platform development compared to certain other heterologous systems. Therefore, fast and promising tools for evaluation of plant-based expression strategies and assessment of function and stability of the heterologously produced AMPs are critical for molecular farming and plant protection. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rolls-Royce successful modernization of safety-critical Instrumentation and Control (I and C) equipment at the Dukovany VVER 440/213 Nuclear Power Plant, based on SPINLINE 3 platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rebreyend, P.; Burel, J.P.; Spoc, J.; Karasek, A.

2010-01-01

Rolls-Royce has provided on-time delivery of a substantial safety-critical I and C overhaul for four Nuclear reactors operated by Czech Republic utility, CEZ a.s. This nine-year project is considered to be one of the largest I and C modernization projects in the world. The Dukovany VVER 440 I and C modernization project and its key success factors are profiled in this paper. The project is in the final stages with the last unit to be completed in 2009. Beginning in September 2000, the project is in compliance with the initial schedule. Rolls-Royce has been designing and manufacturing I and C solutions dedicated to the implementation of safety and safety-related functions in nuclear power plants (NPPs) for more than 30 years. Though the early solutions were non-software-based, since 1984 software-based solutions for safety I and C functions have been deployed in operating NPPs across France and 15 other countries. The Rolls-Royce platform is suitable for implementation of safety I and C functions in new NPPs, as well as in the modernization of safety equipment in existing plants. CEZ a.s. is a major electricity supplier for the national grid. At Dukovany, CEZ a.s. operates four units of VVER-440/213-type reactors producing one quarter of CEZ a.s. electricity production. The first of these units was connected to the grid in 1985. Since the year 2000, the nine-year modernization program has been underway at Dukovany, at a cost of more than 200 million Euros. The equipment replacement was implemented during regular, planned outages of the original equipment and systems. After an international bidding phase, CEZ a.s. awarded a contract to Skoda JS for general engineering and project management. Individual subcontracts were then signed between Skoda JS and a consortium between Rolls-Royce and Areva for modernization of the safety systems, including the Reactor Protection System (RPS), the Reactor Control System (RCS), and the Post-Accident Monitoring System (PAMS). Two

Upgrading Planning and Executive Strategy for Reactor Protection System and Relative Equipment in Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang Zuyue

2010-01-01

Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (QNPP) is the first nuclear power plant in China which completed the reactor protection system (RPS) upgrading with new digital safety instrumentation and control (I and C) platform instead of original analog system. At the same time,the nuclear instrumentation system (NIS) was upgraded with the same digital I and C platform. For adapting QNPP's actual engineering situation,the upgrading planning was taken by comprehensively investigating current development and application of digital safety I and C platform in the worldwide scope and by reviewing plant's original systems operation history. The project executive strategy-QNPP's leading role with necessary overseas cooperation and internal technical supports as great as possible, was determined. Some significant factors might influence and restrict the RPS and relative equipment upgrading executive actions in an operating NPP were analyzed.Finally, the engineering feasibility was briefly assessed to recognize the anticipated issues and difficulties and to prepare the relative solutions in advance for the purpose of ensuring the RPS upgrading objectives completely realized. (authors)

Platform decisions supported by gaming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Poul H. Kyvsgård; Mikkola, Juliana Hsuan

2007-01-01

Platform is an ambiguous multidisciplinary concept. The philosophy behind it is easy to communicate and makes intuitively sense. However, the ease in communication does overshadow the high complexity when the concept is implemented. The practical industrial platform implementation challenge can...... be described as being a configuration problem with a high number of variables. These variables are different in nature; they have contradictory influence on the total performance, and, their importance change over time. Consequently, the specific platform decisions become highly complex and the consequences...

Digital platforms as enablers for digital transformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hossain, Mokter; Lassen, Astrid Heidemann

transformation is crucial. This study aims at exploring how organizations are driven towards transformation in various ways to embrace digital platforms for ideas, technologies, and knowledge. It shows the opportunities and challenges digital platforms bring in organizations. It also highlights underlying......Digital platforms offer new ways for organizations to collaborate with the external environment for ideas, technologies, and knowledge. They provide new possibilities and competence but they also bring new challenges for organizations. Understanding the role of these platforms in digital...... mechanisms and potential outcomes of various digital platforms. The contribution of the submission is valuable for scholars to understand and further explore this area. It provides insight for practitioners to capture value through digital platforms and accelerate the pace of organizations’ digital...

[Orange Platform].

Science.gov (United States)

Toba, Kenji

2017-07-01

The Organized Registration for the Assessment of dementia on Nationwide General consortium toward Effective treatment in Japan (ORANGE platform) is a recently established nationwide clinical registry for dementia. This platform consists of multiple registries of patients with dementia stratified by the following clinical stages: preclinical, mild cognitive impairment, early-stage, and advanced-stage dementia. Patients will be examined in a super-longitudinal fashion, and their lifestyle, social background, genetic risk factors, and required care process will be assessed. This project is also notable because the care registry includes information on the successful, comprehensive management of patients with dementia. Therefore, this multicenter prospective cohort study will contribute participants to all clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease as well as improve the understanding of individuals with dementia.

Windows Azure Platform

CERN Document Server

Redkar, Tejaswi

2011-01-01

The Windows Azure Platform has rapidly established itself as one of the most sophisticated cloud computing platforms available. With Microsoft working to continually update their product and keep it at the cutting edge, the future looks bright - if you have the skills to harness it. In particular, new features such as remote desktop access, dynamic content caching and secure content delivery using SSL make the latest version of Azure a more powerful solution than ever before. It's widely agreed that cloud computing has produced a paradigm shift in traditional architectural concepts by providin

Radiographic inspection on offshore platforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soares, Sergio Damasceno; Sperandio, Augusto Gasparoni

1994-01-01

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

Peer-to-Peer Service Sharing Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersson, Magnus; Hjalmarsson, Anders; Avital, Michel

2013-01-01

The sharing economy has been growing continuously in the last decade thanks to the proliferation of internet-based platforms that allow people to disintermediate the traditional commercial channels and to share excess resources and trade with one another effectively at a reasonably low transaction...... cost. Whereas early peer-to-peer platforms were designed to enable file sharing and goods trading, we recently witness the emergence of a new breed of peer-to-peer platforms that are designed for ordinary service sharing. Ordinary services entail intangible provisions and are defined as an economic...... activity that generates immaterial benefits and does not result in ownership of material goods. Based on a structured analysis of 41 internet-based rideshare platforms, we explore and layout the unique characteristics of peer-to-peer service sharing platforms based on three distinct temporal patterns...

Towards A Research Agenda on Digital Platform Disruption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric T. K.

Digital platforms are disruptive IT artifacts, because they facilitate the quick release of innovative platform derivatives from third parties. This study endeavors to unravel the disruptive potential, caused by distinct designs and configurations of digital platforms on market environments. We...... postulate that the disruptive potential of digital platforms is determined by the degree of alignment among the business, technology and platform profiles. Furthermore, we argue that the design and configuration of the aforementioned three elements dictates the extent to which open innovation is permitted....... To shed light on the disruptive potential of digital platforms, we opted for digital payment platforms as our unit of analysis. Through interviews with experts and payment providers, we seek to gain an in-depth appreciation of how contemporary digital payment platforms are designed and configured...

A case study in the use of cancelled plant equipment in nuclear plant modifications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anders, D.A.

1986-01-01

The nuclear industry has suffered several blows in the recent past in the form of generating plant cancellations. Upon cancellation, the utility must find a way of minimizing its loss on investment already incurred - consisting of purchased property, partially completed plant, and unused equipment. In many cases, the utility has no practical choice but to dispose of its unused equipment at extremely low prices. While this certainly represents an unfortunate situation for the seller, it does present a significant opportunity for other utilities to procure equipment to use in modifications to their own plants. This paper presents a case study in the use of such cancelled plant equipment in modifications at two nuclear generating facilities. In particular, modifications to replace the refueling platforms at each of the two units at Philadelphia Electric Company's (PECo) Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and Installation of additional Standby Liquid Control equipment at Limerick Generating Station will be examined. The purpose of the paper is to show the applicability of this information to other utilities

The Definitive Guide to NetBeans Platform

CERN Document Server

Bock, Heiko

2009-01-01

The Definitive Guide to NetBeans(t) Platform is a thorough and definitive introduction to the NetBeans Platform, covering all its major APIs in detail, with relevant code examples used throughout. The original German book on which this title is based was well received. The NetBeans Platform Community has put together this English translation, which author Heiko Bock updated to cover the latest NetBeans Platform 6.5 APIs. With an introduction by known NetBeans Platform experts Jaroslav Tulach, Tim Boudreau, and Geertjan Wielenga, this is the most up-to-date book on this topic at the moment. All

A practice scaffolding interactive platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bundsgaard, Jeppe

2009-01-01

A Practice Scaffolding Interactive Platform (PracSIP) is a social learning platform which supports students in collaborative project based learning by simulating a professional practice. A PracSIP puts the core tools of the simulated practice at the students' disposal, it organizes collaboration...

Development of a Modular Robotic Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudiu Ioan Cirebea

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper a modular robotic platform is presented, for students and researchers laboratory work based on the Matlab-Simulink and dSpace real time control platform. The goal of this combination is to stimulate and to experiment with real time hardware and software in courses where mobile robotics is adopted as a motivating platform to introduce mechatronics competencies. Its many possibilities for modifications and extensions make experiments very easy. We used, for example, an omnidirectional mobile robot configuration with three Swedish wheels, whose kinematic model was simulated using Simulink. For real-time control, of the robot, the developed model has been implemented using DSpace platform DS1103.

Platform economy in Denmark – precarious employment?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Stine; Madsen, Per Kongshøj

limited. Nevertheless the labour offered through the platforms has a precarious character for instance in terms of lower wages and poorer rights and protection compared to the labour at the traditional, offline labour market. One important issue here is also the confusion as to whether the worker......This paper takes a labour market perspective on the emerging concept of the 'sharing economy' or 'platform economy', which we use as a more appropriate term for the phenomenon. Platform economy is in the article understood as those business models that have emerged since the millennium, where...... digital platforms serve as the link between persons wanting to make use of certain activities, services etc. and those owning them and we only have an interest in the work-related platforms. That means platforms, where paid work is offered and demanded. International examples of this new phenomenon...

Pretreatment Engineering Platform Phase 1 Final Test Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kurath, Dean E.; Hanson, Brady D.; Minette, Michael J.; Baldwin, David L.; Rapko, Brian M.; Mahoney, Lenna A.; Schonewill, Philip P.; Daniel, Richard C.; Eslinger, Paul W.; Huckaby, James L.; Billing, Justin M.; Sundar, Parameshwaran S.; Josephson, Gary B.; Toth, James J.; Yokuda, Satoru T.; Baer, Ellen BK; Barnes, Steven M.; Golovich, Elizabeth C.; Rassat, Scot D.; Brown, Christopher F.; Geeting, John GH; Sevigny, Gary J.; Casella, Amanda J.; Bontha, Jagannadha R.; Aaberg, Rosanne L.; Aker, Pamela M.; Guzman-Leong, Consuelo E.; Kimura, Marcia L.; Sundaram, S. K.; Pires, Richard P.; Wells, Beric E.; Bredt, Ofelia P.

2009-12-23

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project, Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to conduct testing to demonstrate the performance of the WTP Pretreatment Facility (PTF) leaching and ultrafiltration processes at an engineering-scale. In addition to the demonstration, the testing was to address specific technical issues identified in Issue Response Plan for Implementation of External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) Recommendations - M12, Undemonstrated Leaching Processes.( ) Testing was conducted in a 1/4.5-scale mock-up of the PTF ultrafiltration system, the Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP). Parallel laboratory testing was conducted in various PNNL laboratories to allow direct comparison of process performance at an engineering-scale and a laboratory-scale. This report presents and discusses the results of those tests.

Pretreatment Engineering Platform Phase 1 Final Test Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurath, Dean E.; Hanson, Brady D.; Minette, Michael J.; Baldwin, David L.; Rapko, Brian M.; Mahoney, Lenna A.; Schonewill, Philip P.; Daniel, Richard C.; Eslinger, Paul W.; Huckaby, James L.; Billing, Justin M.; Sundar, Parameshwaran S.; Josephson, Gary B.; Toth, James J.; Yokuda, Satoru T.; Baer, Ellen B.K.; Barnes, Steven M.; Golovich, Elizabeth C.; Rassat, Scot D.; Brown, Christopher F.; Geeting, John G.H.; Sevigny, Gary J.; Casella, Amanda J.; Bontha, Jagannadha R.; Aaberg, Rosanne L.; Aker, Pamela M.; Guzman-Leong, Consuelo E.; Kimura, Marcia L.; Sundaram, S.K.; Pires, Richard P.; Wells, Beric E.; Bredt, Ofelia P.

2009-01-01

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project, Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to conduct testing to demonstrate the performance of the WTP Pretreatment Facility (PTF) leaching and ultrafiltration processes at an engineering-scale. In addition to the demonstration, the testing was to address specific technical issues identified in Issue Response Plan for Implementation of External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) Recommendations - M12, Undemonstrated Leaching Processes. Testing was conducted in a 1/4.5-scale mock-up of the PTF ultrafiltration system, the Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP). Parallel laboratory testing was conducted in various PNNL laboratories to allow direct comparison of process performance at an engineering-scale and a laboratory-scale. This report presents and discusses the results of those tests.

NAVFAC Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Project; OTEC Technology Development Report

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-01

INSIDE FACE OF THE PLATE MUST BE SMOOTH AND FREE FROM WELD SLAG . 9255 WELLINGTON ROAD MANASSAS, VA 20110-4121LOCKHEED MARTIN NAVAL FACILITIES...document by their basic designation number shown below: A. A36 Structural Steel American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM): A123 Zinc (Hot...Galvanized) Coatings on Iron and Steel Products A153 Zinc Coating (Hot Dip) On Iron and Steel Hardware A307 Specification for Carbon Steel Bolts and

Software Development Process Improvement in Datacom Platform

OpenAIRE

Trabelsi, Walid

2008-01-01

Masteroppgave i Informasjons- og Kommunikasjonsteknologi 2008, Universitetet i Agder, Grimstad Ericsson Mobile Platform (EMP) is responsible of the development of a software platform and also to some extend responsible for related hardware parts. EMP is developing the data communication parts of the platform which is used by EMP customers. The platform development is done in large development programs and each program span over a quite a long time period. However, as we see eve...

Wireless sensor platform

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Pooran C.; Killough, Stephen M.; Kuruganti, Phani Teja

2017-08-08

A wireless sensor platform and methods of manufacture are provided. The platform involves providing a plurality of wireless sensors, where each of the sensors is fabricated on flexible substrates using printing techniques and low temperature curing. Each of the sensors can include planar sensor elements and planar antennas defined using the printing and curing. Further, each of the sensors can include a communications system configured to encode the data from the sensors into a spread spectrum code sequence that is transmitted to a central computer(s) for use in monitoring an area associated with the sensors.

Windows Azure Platform

CERN Document Server

Redkar, Tejaswi

2010-01-01

The Azure Services Platform is a brand-new cloud-computing technology from Microsoft. It is composed of four core components-Windows Azure, .NET Services, SQL Services, and Live Services-each with a unique role in the functioning of your cloud service. It is the goal of this book to show you how to use these components, both separately and together, to build flawless cloud services. At its heart Windows Azure Platform is a down-to-earth, code-centric book. This book aims to show you precisely how the components are employed and to demonstrate the techniques and best practices you need to know

Demand Heterogeneity and the Adoption of Platform Complements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G.J. Rietveld (Joost); J.P. Eggers

2016-01-01

textabstractThis paper offers a demand-based theory of how platform maturity affects the adoption of platform complements. We argue that differences between early and late adopters of the platform include willingness to pay for the platform-and-complement bundle, risk preferences, preference for

Enabling IoT ecosystems through platform interoperability

OpenAIRE

Bröring, Arne; Schmid, Stefan; Schindhelm, Corina-Kim; Khelil, Abdelmajid; Kabisch, Sebastian; Kramer, Denis; Le Phuoc, Danh; Mitic, Jelena; Anicic, Darko; Teniente López, Ernest

2017-01-01

Today, the Internet of Things (IoT) comprises vertically oriented platforms for things. Developers who want to use them need to negotiate access individually and adapt to the platform-specific API and information models. Having to perform these actions for each platform often outweighs the possible gains from adapting applications to multiple platforms. This fragmentation of the IoT and the missing interoperability result in high entry barriers for developers and prevent the emergence of broa...

Demand forecasting and information platform in tourism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Yue

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Information asymmetry and the bullwhip effect have been serious problems in the tourism supply chain. Based on platform theory, this paper established a mathematical model to explore the inner mechanism of a platform’s influence on stakeholders’ ability to forecast demand in tourism. Results showed that the variance of stakeholders’ demand predictions with a platform was smaller than the variance without a platform, which meant that a platform would improve predictions of demand for stakeholders. The higher information-processing ability of the platform also had other effects on demand forecasting. Research on the inner logic of the platform’s influence on stakeholders has important theoretical and realistic value. This area is worthy of further study.

Practice and exploration: build nuclear science and technology information resources management system based on the TRS platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Jing; Meng Xu

2010-01-01

Nuclear science and technology information has played a very important role in the development of Chinese nuclear industry. In information explosion and information technology swift development's today, how to use information technology method to management and shared the nuclear information of nuclear research institutes, nuclear power plants and other nuclear-related units, become an important subject of nuclear information work. TRS information resource management platform provide a doable solution to manage and share the nuclear science and technology information. Nuclear Power Institute of China has built a nuclear science and technology information resources management system based on the TRS platform, through some steps just like system design, re-development and resource building. This management system has served for the research, testing, production and operation. (authors)

The VISPA Internet Platform for Students

Science.gov (United States)

Asseldonk, D. v.; Erdmann, M.; Fischer, R.; Glaser, C.; Müller, G.; Quast, T.; Rieger, M.; Urban, M.

2016-04-01

The VISPA internet platform enables users to remotely run Python scripts and view resulting plots or inspect their output data. With a standard web browser as the only user requirement on the client-side, the system becomes suitable for blended learning approaches for university physics students. VISPA was used in two consecutive years each by approx. 100 third year physics students at the RWTH Aachen University for their homework assignments. For example, in one exercise students gained a deeper understanding of Einsteins mass-energy relation by analyzing experimental data of electron-positron pairs revealing J / Ψ and Z particles. Because the students were free to choose their working hours, only few users accessed the platform simultaneously. The positive feedback from students and the stability of the platform lead to further development of the concept. This year, students accessed the platform in parallel while they analyzed the data recorded by demonstrated experiments live in the lecture hall. The platform is based on experience in the development of professional analysis tools. It combines core technologies from previous projects: an object-oriented C++ library, a modular data-driven analysis flow, and visual analysis steering. We present the platform and discuss its benefits in the context of teaching based on surveys that are conducted each semester.

Using peer-to-peer energy-trading platforms to incentivize prosumers to form federated power plants

Science.gov (United States)

Morstyn, Thomas; Farrell, Niall; Darby, Sarah J.; McCulloch, Malcolm D.

2018-02-01

Power networks are undergoing a fundamental transition, with traditionally passive consumers becoming `prosumers' — proactive consumers with distributed energy resources, actively managing their consumption, production and storage of energy. A key question that remains unresolved is: how can we incentivize coordination between vast numbers of distributed energy resources, each with different owners and characteristics? Virtual power plants and peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading offer different sources of value to prosumers and the power network, and have been proposed as different potential structures for future prosumer electricity markets. In this Perspective, we argue they can be combined to capture the benefits of both. We thus propose the concept of the federated power plant, a virtual power plant formed through P2P transactions between self-organizing prosumers. This addresses social, institutional and economic issues faced by top-down strategies for coordinating virtual power plants, while unlocking additional value for P2P energy trading.

Towards a Market Entry Framework for Digital Payment Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Damsgaard, Jan

2016-01-01

This study presents a framework to understand and explain the design and configuration of digital payment platforms and how these platforms create conditions for market entries. By embracing the theoretical lens of platform envelopment, we employed a multiple and comparative-case study...... in a European setting by using our framework as an analytical lens to assess market-entry conditions. We found that digital payment platforms have acquired market entry capabilities, which is achieved through strategic platform design (i.e., platform development and service distribution) and technology design...... (i.e., issuing evolutionary and revolutionary payment instruments). The studied cases reveal that digital platforms leverage payment services as a mean to bridge and converge core and adjacent platform markets. In so doing, platform envelopment strengthens firms’ market position in their respective...

Launching platforms for user-generated content

OpenAIRE

Batista, Guilherme Luís Caroço

2015-01-01

Field lab: Entrepreneurial and innovative ventures This paper intends to discuss and absorb the Best Practices employed by successful User- Generated Content (UGC)1 platforms and constitute a guide on how to launch a platform without having a cyclical lack of content and users. Research shows that companies have resorted to integration with mature UGC platforms, and providing content by themselves, in an initial state. I conclude that integration possibilities should be explore...

Integrated Spintronic Platforms for Biomolecular Recognition Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Martins, V. C.; Cardoso, F. A.; Loureiro, J.; Mercier, M.; Germano, J.; Cardoso, S.; Ferreira, R.; Fonseca, L. P.; Sousa, L.; Piedade, M. S.; Freitas, P. P.

2008-06-01

This paper covers recent developments in magnetoresistive based biochip platforms fabricated at INESC-MN, and their application to the detection and quantification of pathogenic waterborn microorganisms in water samples for human consumption. Such platforms are intended to give response to the increasing concern related to microbial contaminated water sources. The presented results concern the development of biological active DNA chips and protein chips and the demonstration of the detection capability of the present platforms. Two platforms are described, one including spintronic sensors only (spin-valve based or magnetic tunnel junction based), and the other, a fully scalable platform where each probe site consists of a MTJ in series with a thin film diode (TFD). Two microfluidic systems are described, for cell separation and concentration, and finally, the read out and control integrated electronics are described, allowing the realization of bioassays with a portable point of care unit. The present platforms already allow the detection of complementary biomolecular target recognition with 1 pM concentration.

Compact PCI/Linux platform in FTU slow control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iannone, F.; Centioli, C.; Panella, M.; Mazza, G.; Vitale, V.; Wang, L.

2004-01-01

In large fusion experiments, such as tokamak devices, there is a common trend for slow control systems. Because of complexity of the plants, the so-called 'Standard Model' (SM) in slow control has been adopted on several tokamak machines. This model is based on a three-level hierarchical control: 1) High-Level Control (HLC) with a supervisory function; 2) Medium-Level Control (MLC) to interface and concentrate I/O field equipment; 3) Low-Level Control (LLC) with hard real-time I/O function, often managed by PLCs. FTU (Frascati Tokamak Upgrade) control system designed with SM concepts has underwent several stages of developments in its fifteen years duration of runs. The latest evolution was inevitable, due to the obsolescence of the MLC CPUs, based on VME-MOTOROLA 68030 with OS9 operating system. A large amount of C code was developed for that platform to route the data flow from LLC, which is constituted by 24 Westinghouse Numalogic PC-700 PLCs with about 8000 field-points, to HLC, based on a commercial Object-Oriented Real-Time database on Alpha/CompaqTru64 platform. Therefore, authors have to look for cost-effective solutions and finally a CompactPCI-Intel x86 platform with Linux operating system was chosen. A software porting has been done, taking into account the differences between OS9 and Linux operating system in terms of Inter/Network Processes Communications and I/O multi-ports serial driver. This paper describes the hardware/software architecture of the new MLC system, emphasizing the reliability and the low costs of the open source solutions. Moreover, a huge amount of software packages available in open source environment will assure a less painful maintenance, and will open the way to further improvements of the system itself. (authors)

Microneedle Platforms for Cell Analysis

KAUST Repository

Kavaldzhiev, Mincho

2017-11-01

Micro-needle platforms are the core components of many recent drug delivery and gene-editing techniques, which allow for intracellular access, controlled cell membrane stress or mechanical trapping of the nucleus. This dissertation work is devoted to the development of micro-needle platforms that offer customized fabrication and new capabilities for enhanced cell analyses. The highest degree of geometrical flexibility is achieved with 3D printed micro-needles, which enable optimizing the topographical stress environment for cells and cell populations of any size. A fabrication process for 3D-printed micro-needles has been developed as well as a metal coating technique based on standard sputter deposition. This extends the functionalities of the platforms by electrical as well as magnetic features. The micro-needles have been tested on human colon cancer cells (HCT116), showing a high degree of biocompatibility of the platform. Moreover, the capabilities of the 3D-printed micro-needles have been explored for drug delivery via the well-established electroporation technique, by coating the micro-needles with gold. Antibodies and fluorescent dyes have been delivered to HCT116 cells and human embryonic kidney cells with a very high transfection rate up to 90%. In addition, the 3D-printed electroporation platform enables delivery of molecules to suspended cells or adherent cells, with or without electroporation buffer solution, and at ultra-low voltages of 2V. In order to provide a micro-needle platform that exploits existing methods for mass fabrication a custom designed template-based process has been developed. It has been used for the production of gold, iron, nickel and poly-pyrrole micro-needles on silicon and glass substrates. A novel delivery method is introduced that activates the micro-needles by electromagnetic induction, which enables to wirelessly gain intracellular access. The method has been successfully tested on HCT116 cells in culture, where a time

Disentangling Competition Among Platform Driven Strategic Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric T. K.

2018-01-01

for the mobile payment market in the United Kingdom as our empirical setting. By conceptualizing digital platforms as layered modular architectures and embracing the theoretical lens of strategic groups, this study supplements prior research by deriving a taxonomy of platform profiles that is grounded...... delivery architecture. The preceding attributes of value creation architecture and value delivery architecture aided us in identifying six profiles associated with mobile payment platforms, which in turn led us to advance three competitive strategies that could be pursued by digital platforms in network...

Platform computing

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

"Platform Computing releases first grid-enabled workload management solution for IBM eServer Intel and UNIX high performance computing clusters. This Out-of-the-box solution maximizes the performance and capability of applications on IBM HPC clusters" (1/2 page) .

Safety I and C system platforms - State-of-the-art and long-term available - A contradiction in terms?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richter, Steffen; Martin, Michael

2006-01-01

Automation systems, particularly in the field of safety I and C, are subject to conflict between three challenges. Customers' requests for state-of-the-art technology, ever shorter innovation cycles in the electronics industry and computer business and the requirement for long-term spare parts supply demand thorough and sustainable concepts from the supply market. The TELEPERM XS digital safety I and C platform has been applied successfully since 1998 for the modernization of safety I and C systems in over 30 NPP units from different reactor suppliers as well as for new plant construction. The platform is subject to a forward-looking life cycle management program combining an evolutionary and future-oriented approach to platform development with measures for ensuring the long-term support of the installed base. Driven by ever shorter innovation cycles in the electronics and automation industry, the platform is continuously evolved with state-of-the-art technology and enhanced safety features. The continuous innovation process is combined with maximum compatibility of the I and C components that make up the TELEPERM XS system platform. This makes the system future-oriented and simultaneously assures long-term availability of replacement parts. In this way TELEPERM XS meets the customer requirements for up-to-date but proven technology suitable to ensure an operating life of safety I and C equipment spanning several decades. As a matter of course, the platform and component development adheres to the robust and proven architecture of TELEPERM XS, thereby limiting risks for equipment qualification and project licensing to a minimum. (authors)

Safety I and C system platforms - State-of-the-art and long-term available - A contradiction in terms?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Richter, Steffen; Martin, Michael [Framatome ANP GmbH, P.O. Box 3220, Freyeslebenstrasse 1, D-91050 Erlangen (Germany)

2006-07-01

Automation systems, particularly in the field of safety I and C, are subject to conflict between three challenges. Customers' requests for state-of-the-art technology, ever shorter innovation cycles in the electronics industry and computer business and the requirement for long-term spare parts supply demand thorough and sustainable concepts from the supply market. The TELEPERM XS digital safety I and C platform has been applied successfully since 1998 for the modernization of safety I and C systems in over 30 NPP units from different reactor suppliers as well as for new plant construction. The platform is subject to a forward-looking life cycle management program combining an evolutionary and future-oriented approach to platform development with measures for ensuring the long-term support of the installed base. Driven by ever shorter innovation cycles in the electronics and automation industry, the platform is continuously evolved with state-of-the-art technology and enhanced safety features. The continuous innovation process is combined with maximum compatibility of the I and C components that make up the TELEPERM XS system platform. This makes the system future-oriented and simultaneously assures long-term availability of replacement parts. In this way TELEPERM XS meets the customer requirements for up-to-date but proven technology suitable to ensure an operating life of safety I and C equipment spanning several decades. As a matter of course, the platform and component development adheres to the robust and proven architecture of TELEPERM XS, thereby limiting risks for equipment qualification and project licensing to a minimum. (authors)

Analysis of offshore platforms lifting with fixed pile structure type (fixed platform) based on ASD89

Science.gov (United States)

Sugianto, Agus; Indriani, Andi Marini

2017-11-01

Platform construction GTS (Gathering Testing Sattelite) is offshore construction platform with fix pile structure type/fixed platform functioning to support the mining of petroleum exploitation. After construction fabrication process platform was moved to barges, then shipped to the installation site. Moving process is generally done by pull or push based on construction design determined when planning. But at the time of lifting equipment/cranes available in the work area then the moving process can be done by lifting so that moving activity can be implemented more quickly of work. This analysis moving process of GTS platform in a different way that is generally done to GTS platform types by lifting using problem is construction reinforcement required, so the construction can be moved by lifting with analyzing and checking structure working stress that occurs due to construction moving process by lifting AISC code standard and analysis using the SAP2000 structure analysis program. The analysis result showed that existing condition cannot be moved by lifting because stress ratio is above maximum allowable value that is 0.950 (AISC-ASD89). Overstress occurs on the member 295 and 324 with stress ratio value 0.97 and 0.95 so that it is required structural reinforcement. Box plate aplication at both members so that it produces stress ratio values 0.78 at the member 295 and stress ratio of 0.77 at the member 324. These results indicate that the construction have qualified structural reinforcement for being moved by lifting.

Modularization Technology in Power Plant Construction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kenji Akagi; Kouichi Murayama; Miki Yoshida; Junichi Kawahata

2002-01-01

Since the early 1980's, Hitachi has been developing and applying modularization technology to domestic nuclear power plant construction, and has achieved great rationalization. Modularization is one of the plant construction techniques which enables us to reduce site labor by pre-assembling components like equipment, pipes, valves and platforms in congested areas and installing them using large capacity cranes for cost reduction, better quality, safety improvement and shortening of construction time. In this paper, Hitachi's modularization technologies are described especially from with respect to their sophisticated design capabilities. The application of 3D-CAD at the detailed layout design stage, concurrent design environment achieved by the computer network, module design quantity control and the management system are described. (authors)

21 CFR 890.3940 - Wheelchair platform scale.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Wheelchair platform scale. 890.3940 Section 890.3940 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED... platform scale. (a) Identification. A wheelchair platform scale is a device with a base designed to...

Assessments of high-consequence platforms: Issues and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Digre, K.A.; Craig, M.J.K.

1994-01-01

An API task group has developed a process for the assessment of existing platforms to determine their fitness for purpose. This has been released as a draft supplement to API RP 2A-WSD, 20th edition. Details and the background of this work are described in a companion paper. The assessment of a platform's fitness for purpose involves firstly a definition of the platform's exposure; and secondly, an evaluation of the platform's predicted performance relative to the assessment criteria associated with that exposure. This paper deals with platforms in the high exposure category. That is, platforms whose potential failure consequences, in terms of potential life loss and environmental damage, are significant. The criteria for placement of a platform in a high exposure category are explained, as are the performance criteria demanded of these high exposure platforms. In the companion paper, the metocean assessment process and associated API-developed acceptance criteria are highlighted. This paper addresses primarily ice and seismic loading assessments and associated API-developed criteria, which are based on over thirty years of successful offshore operation and field experience, as well as extrapolation of land-based performance criteria. Three West Coast, USA production platforms are used for illustration

Development of a multi-functional platform to perform the I and C system test, diagnosis and training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ren Chunxiang; Guan Yunquan; Wang Xingye

2014-01-01

The Safety I and C system of Tianwan Nuclear Power Station (TNPS) is implemented with the Class lE digital I and C platform TELEPERM XS (TXS). To satisfy the requirements of TXS system fault diagnosis, spare parts performance test as well as the staff maintenance skill training, through the study of operating environment and configuration characteristics of the online TXS system, and adequately absorb the experiences of the digital control device test systems which are applied in both domestic and abroad, developed and established a set of TXS system multifunctional platform which performs the TXS software/hardware testing, fault diagnosis and staff maintenance skill training. Practice has proved that the platform running well to perform the test of the TXS system hardware and software, fault diagnosis and the training tasks to ensure the reliable operation of the online safety I and C system, and shorten the maintenance cycle of online TXS system, improved the technical level of the Operation and maintenance personnel, it provides a reference for similar I and C systems of other nuclear power plants. (authors)

Agrobacterium rhizogenes-Mediated Transformation – a Non-GMO Platform For Developing Compact Ornamentals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lütken, Henrik Vlk; Hegelund, Josefine Nymark; Lauridsen, Uffe Bjerre

of these compounds are potentially harmful to both the environment and human health. A new non-GMO molecular breeding strategy, as opposed to both the application of chemical growth retardants and conventional molecular breeding is Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation. In this method, the soil borne...... for transformations, plants produced via this approach are not considered as GMOs in the European Union and Japan. We have developed an optimised Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation platform useful for a wide range of ornamentals. Kalanchoë was the starting point and the effect of the rol-genes has now...

Experience using EPICS on PC platforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, J.O.; Kasemire, K.U.

1997-03-01

The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) has been widely adopted in the accelerator community. Although EPICS is available on many platforms, the majority of implementations have used UNIX workstations as clients, and VME- or VXI-based processors for distributed input output controllers. Recently, a significant portion of EPICS has been ported to personal computer (PC) hardware platforms running Microsoft's operating systems, and also Wind River System's real time vxWorks operating system. This development should significantly reduce the cost of deploying EPICS systems, and the prospect of using EPICS together with the many high quality commercial components available for PC platforms is also encouraging. A hybrid system using both PC and traditional platforms is currently being implemented at LANL for LEDA, the low energy demonstration accelerator under construction as part of the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) project. To illustrate these developments the authors compare their recent experience deploying a PC-based EPICS system with experience deploying similar systems based on traditional (UNIX-hosted) EPICS hardware and software platforms

Results obtained by Trillo Nuclear Power Plant in 2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solar, V.

2002-01-01

Unification of the Almaraz and Trillo plant managements was given a strong boost with unification of the central offices and management computer platforms (economic and technical) and with signature of an agreement with Madrid's trade unions providing for appropriate management of surpluses and the transfer of knowledge between people leaving the company and those taking their place. The operating results have been maintained at a high level although they were lower than last year, which was exceptional. The plant was on line for 7,979 hours, most of them at full load. (Author)

Developments of integrity evaluation technology for pressurized components in nuclear power plant and IT based integrity evaluation system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Young Jin; Choi, Jae Boong; Shim, Do Jun [Sungkyunkwan Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)] (and others)

2003-03-15

The objective of this research is to develop an efficient evaluation technology and to investigate applicability of newly-developed technology, such as internet-based cyber platform, to operating power plants. Development of efficient evaluation systems for Nuclear Power Plant components, based on structural integrity assessment techniques, are increasingly demanded for safe operation with the increasing operating period of Nuclear Power Plants. The following five topics are covered in this project: development of assessment method for wall-thinned nuclear piping based on pipe test; development of structural integrity program for steam generator tubes with cracks of various shape; development of fatigue life evaluation system for mam components of NPP; development of internet-based cyber platform and integrity program for primary components of NPP; effect of aging on strength of dissimilar welds.

Genesis and Evolution of Digital Payment Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjelholt, Morten; Damsgaard, Jan

2012-01-01

Payment transactions through the use of physical coins, bank notes or credit cards have for centuries been the standard formats of exchanging money. Recently online and mobile digital payment platforms has entered the stage as contenders to this position and possibly could penetrate societies...... thoroughly and substitute current payment standards in the decades to come. This paper portrays how digital payment paltforms evolve in socio-technical niches and how various technological platforms aim for institutional attention in their attempt to challenge earlier platforms and standards. The paper...... applies a co-evolutionary multilevel perspective to model the interplay and processes between technology and society wherein digital payment platforms potentially will substitute other payment platforms just like the credit card negated the check. On this basis this paper formulate a multilevel conceptual...

Computing platforms for software-defined radio

CERN Document Server

Nurmi, Jari; Isoaho, Jouni; Garzia, Fabio

2017-01-01

This book addresses Software-Defined Radio (SDR) baseband processing from the computer architecture point of view, providing a detailed exploration of different computing platforms by classifying different approaches, highlighting the common features related to SDR requirements and by showing pros and cons of the proposed solutions. Coverage includes architectures exploiting parallelism by extending single-processor environment (such as VLIW, SIMD, TTA approaches), multi-core platforms distributing the computation to either a homogeneous array or a set of specialized heterogeneous processors, and architectures exploiting fine-grained, coarse-grained, or hybrid reconfigurability. Describes a computer engineering approach to SDR baseband processing hardware; Discusses implementation of numerous compute-intensive signal processing algorithms on single and multicore platforms; Enables deep understanding of optimization techniques related to power and energy consumption of multicore platforms using several basic a...

A survey on platforms for big data analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Dilpreet; Reddy, Chandan K

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of different platforms available for performing big data analytics. This paper surveys different hardware platforms available for big data analytics and assesses the advantages and drawbacks of each of these platforms based on various metrics such as scalability, data I/O rate, fault tolerance, real-time processing, data size supported and iterative task support. In addition to the hardware, a detailed description of the software frameworks used within each of these platforms is also discussed along with their strengths and drawbacks. Some of the critical characteristics described here can potentially aid the readers in making an informed decision about the right choice of platforms depending on their computational needs. Using a star ratings table, a rigorous qualitative comparison between different platforms is also discussed for each of the six characteristics that are critical for the algorithms of big data analytics. In order to provide more insights into the effectiveness of each of the platform in the context of big data analytics, specific implementation level details of the widely used k-means clustering algorithm on various platforms are also described in the form pseudocode.

Feasibility study on floating nuclear power plant (2). Safety design study of FNPP. Contract research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yabuuchi, Noriaki; Shimazaki, Junya; Ochiai, Masaaki [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Takahashi, Masao [Niigata Engineering Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan); Nakazawa, Toshio [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Oarai, Ibaraki (Japan). Oarai Research Establishment; Sato, Kazuo [Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

2001-02-01

In the previous report of 'Conceptual Design Study of FNPP (Floating Nuclear Power Plant)', a design study on a concept for FNPP, which is sited off the sea coast on the open sea with water depth of 20m and it is moored on protected sea by the breakwater was conducted and the floating platform guarded by the breakwater was found to be stable enough to install the nuclear power plant from analysis simulating the movement of the platform due to sea wave or wind. In this report, studies on a basic safety design concept of the FNPP, setting natural phenomena for design condition, required safety functions and a review on dynamic analysis of the large floating structure are presented. The studies revealed that the stability of the floating platform is an essential issue for the FNPP soundness, and the design base natural phenomena such as S1 and S2-class storm including S1 and S2-class earthquake should be considered in evaluation of the stability of the floating platform, and it is one of key technical subjects how to set the magnitude of these storm in application of design evaluation on each FNPP case. (J.P.N.)

Antibodies from plants for bionanomaterials.

Science.gov (United States)

Edgue, Gueven; Twyman, Richard M; Beiss, Veronique; Fischer, Rainer; Sack, Markus

2017-11-01

Antibodies are produced as part of the vertebrate adaptive immune response and are not naturally made by plants. However, antibody DNA sequences can be introduced into plants, and together with laboratory technologies that allow the design of antibodies recognizing any conceivable molecular structure, plants can be used as 'green factories' to produce any antibody at all. The advent of plant-based transient expression systems in particular allows the rapid, convenient, and safe production of antibodies, ranging from laboratory-scale expression to industrial-scale manufacturing. The key features of plant-based production include safety, speed, low cost, and convenience, allowing newcomers to rapidly master the technology and use it to its full advantage. Manufacturing in plants has recently achieved significant milestones and offers more than just an alternative to established microbial and mammalian cell platforms. The use of plants for product development in particular offers the power and flexibility to easily coexpress many different genes, allowing the plug-and-play construction of novel bionanomaterials, perfectly complementing existing approaches based on plant virus-like particles. As well as producing single antibodies for applications in medicine, agriculture, and industry, plants can be used to produce antibody-based supramolecular structures and scaffolds as a new generation of green bionanomaterials that promise a bright future based on clean and renewable nanotechnology applications. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2017, 9:e1462. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1462 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. © 2017 The Authors. WIREs Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Reverse engineering of the robot base platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anwar A Rahman; Azizul Rahman A Aziz; Mohd Arif Hamzah; Muhd Nor Atan; Fadil Ismail; Rosli Darmawan

2009-01-01

The robot base platform used to place the robotic arm version 2 was imported through a local company. The robot base platform is used as a reference for reverse egineering development for a smaller size robot. The paper will discuss the reverse engineering design process and parameters involved in the development of the robot base platform. (Author)

'Good' platform-political reasons for 'bad' platform-data. Zur sozio-technischen Geschichte der Plattformaktivitäten Fav, Retweet und Like

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Paßmann, J.; Gerlitz, C.

2014-01-01

In this article, we explore the relation between platform activities and their usage practices. Taking departure from predefined activities offered by social media platforms, this paper inquires into what may happen if platform features cater to opposing user practices. The paper investigates

Investment in plant research and development bears fruit in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Chong, Kang; Xu, Zhihong

2014-04-01

Recent rapid progress in plant science and biotechnology in China demonstrates that China's stronger support for funding in plant research and development (R&D) has borne fruit. Chinese groups have contributed major advances in a range of fields, such as rice biology, plant hormone and developmental biology, genomics and evolution, plant genetics and epigenetics, as well as plant biotechnology. Strigolactone studies including those identifying its receptor and dissecting its complex structure and signaling are representative of the recent researches from China at the forefront of the field. These advances are attributable in large part to interdisciplinary studies among scientists from plant science, chemistry, bioinformatics, structural biology, and agronomy. The platforms provided by national facilities facilitate this collaboration. As well, efficient restructuring of the top-down organization of state programs and free exploration of scientists' interests have accelerated achievements by Chinese researchers. Here, we provide a general outline of China's progress in plant R&D to highlight fields in which Chinese research has made significant contributions.

VOLTTRON Lite: Integration Platform for the Transactional Network

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haack, Jereme N.; Katipamula, Srinivas; Akyol, Bora A.; Lutes, Robert G.

2013-10-31

In FY13, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with funding from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technologies Office (BTO) designed, prototyped and tested a transactional network platform. The platform is intended to support energy, operational and financial transactions between any networked entities (equipment, organizations, buildings, grid, etc.). Initially, in FY13, the concept demonstrated transactions between packaged rooftop units (RTUs) and the electric grid using applications or “agents” that reside on the platform, on the equipment, on local building controller or in the Cloud. This document describes the core of the transactional network platform, the Volttron Lite™ software and associated services hosted on the platform. Future enhancements are also discussed. The appendix of the document provides examples of how to use the various services hosted on the platform.

Business and IT Capabilities for Cloud Platform Success

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hahn, Christopher; Huntgeburth, Jan; Winkler, Till J.

2016-01-01

The growing proliferation of cloud platform ecosystems demands a deeper understanding of the capabilities that help existing and emerging platform providers to be successful by creating and appropriating value. This multiple case study of four cloud platform providers (three large, one SME......) instantiates Rai and Tang’s (2014) framework of dyadic IT and network IT capabilities for a cloud platform context and extends it by exploring previously undertheorized cloud platform business capabilities. We further build on this extended framework by employing a configurational perspective to elucidate...... the complementary role of the three proposed business capabilities (incentives and rules, ecosystem marketing and sales, partner development and support) for relevant value creation and appropriation mechanisms. In addition to providing a capability framework catered to the cloud platform context, our findings...

Experiment research on cognition reliability model of nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Bingquan; Fang Xiang

1999-01-01

The objective of the paper is to improve the reliability of operation on real nuclear power plant of operators through the simulation research to the cognition reliability of nuclear power plant operators. The research method of the paper is to make use of simulator of nuclear power plant as research platform, to take present international research model of reliability of human cognition based on three-parameter Weibull distribution for reference, to develop and get the research model of Chinese nuclear power plant operators based on two-parameter Weibull distribution. By making use of two-parameter Weibull distribution research model of cognition reliability, the experiments about the cognition reliability of nuclear power plant operators have been done. Compared with the results of other countries such USA and Hungary, the same results can be obtained, which can do good to the safety operation of nuclear power plant

Cyanobacteria as an Experimental Platform for Modifying Bacterial and Plant Photosynthesis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jensen, Poul Erik [Copenhagen Plant Science Center (CPSC), Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (Denmark); Leister, Dario, E-mail: leister@lmu.de [Copenhagen Plant Science Center (CPSC), Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (Denmark); Plant Molecular Biology (Botany), Department of Biology I, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich (Germany)

2014-04-21

One of the fascinating characteristics of photosynthesis is its capacity for repair, self-renewal, and energy storage within chemical bonds. Given the evolutionary history of plant photosynthesis and the patchwork nature of many of its components, it is safe to assume that the light reactions of plant photosynthesis can be improved by genetic engineering (Leister, 2012). The evolutionary precursor of chloroplasts was a microorganism whose biochemistry was very similar to that of present-day cyanobacteria. Many cyanobacterial species are easy to manipulate genetically and grow robustly in liquid cultures that can be easily scaled up into photobioreactors. Therefore, cyanobacteria such as Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (hereafter “Synechocystis”) have widely been used for decades as model systems to study the principles of photosynthesis (Table 1). Indeed, genetic engineering based on homologous recombination is well-established in Synechocystis. Moreover, new genetic engineering toolkits, including marker-less gene deletion and replacement strategies needing only a single transformation step (Viola et al., 2014) and novel approaches for chromosomal integration and expression of synthetic gene operons (Bentley et al., 2014), allow for large-scale replacement and/or integration of dozens of genes in reasonable time frames. This makes Synechocystis a very attractive basis for the experimental modification of important processes like photosynthesis, and it also suggests innovative ways of improving modules of related eukaryotic pathways, among them the combination of cyanobacterial and eukaryotic elements using the tools of synthetic biology.

Cyanobacteria as an Experimental Platform for Modifying Bacterial and Plant Photosynthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jensen, Poul Erik; Leister, Dario

2014-01-01

One of the fascinating characteristics of photosynthesis is its capacity for repair, self-renewal, and energy storage within chemical bonds. Given the evolutionary history of plant photosynthesis and the patchwork nature of many of its components, it is safe to assume that the light reactions of plant photosynthesis can be improved by genetic engineering (Leister, 2012). The evolutionary precursor of chloroplasts was a microorganism whose biochemistry was very similar to that of present-day cyanobacteria. Many cyanobacterial species are easy to manipulate genetically and grow robustly in liquid cultures that can be easily scaled up into photobioreactors. Therefore, cyanobacteria such as Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (hereafter “Synechocystis”) have widely been used for decades as model systems to study the principles of photosynthesis (Table 1). Indeed, genetic engineering based on homologous recombination is well-established in Synechocystis. Moreover, new genetic engineering toolkits, including marker-less gene deletion and replacement strategies needing only a single transformation step (Viola et al., 2014) and novel approaches for chromosomal integration and expression of synthetic gene operons (Bentley et al., 2014), allow for large-scale replacement and/or integration of dozens of genes in reasonable time frames. This makes Synechocystis a very attractive basis for the experimental modification of important processes like photosynthesis, and it also suggests innovative ways of improving modules of related eukaryotic pathways, among them the combination of cyanobacterial and eukaryotic elements using the tools of synthetic biology.

Plan to extend Arctic's drilling season with new platforms upsets ecologists

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon

2003-03-01

Plans to extend the drilling season in Arctic Alaska beyond the traditional winter months has environmentalists worried about the impact on wildlife and the likelihood that oil and gas production will spread more quickly to remote areas. In the past, drilling was confined to the winter only and the thickness of the ice protected the tundra from damage by the heavy drilling equipment. The recent appearance of lightweight drilling equipment, comprised of components that fit together like Lego pieces, can be transported across the tundra beyond the traditional winter months, with promise of minimal damage, combined with significant savings in time and money. Andarko Petroleum Corporation, the company whose planned extended drilling operations are the cause of ecological concern, also claims increased facility to hunt for energy beyond Prudhoe Bay, Alaska's unofficial hub, in places where ice road construction is difficult. Andarko claims that its patented platform design doubles as a production unit and stands about four metres above the tundra, eliminating the need to build permanent production facilities on top of widely used gravel pads, which can leave long-lasting scars on the land and are expensive to clean up. Besides reducing expenses, the arctic platform is claimed to enable exploratory drilling to occur nearly year around. Environmentalists counter by saying that the Andarko plan will increase noise and air pollution, risks greater damage to the ecosystem in the event of a spill, and represents further intrusion upon plants and animals, including caribou, grizzly bears and migratory birds. They are also concerned that the arctic platform concept will help spread industrial activity on Alaska's North Slope. The first arctic platform is expected to be erected 130 km south of Prudhoe Bay as part of a federally sponsored research project to study the feasibility of extracting gas from ice. Specialists at the Alaska Department of Natural Resources

Hierarchical DSE for multi-ASIP platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Micconi, Laura; Corvino, Rosilde; Gangadharan, Deepak

2013-01-01

This work proposes a hierarchical Design Space Exploration (DSE) for the design of multi-processor platforms targeted to specific applications with strict timing and area constraints. In particular, it considers platforms integrating multiple Application Specific Instruction Set Processors (ASIPs...

FleetPower: Creating Virtual Power Plants in Sustainable Smart Electricity Markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.T. Kahlen (Micha); W. Ketter (Wolfgang); A. Gupta (Alok)

2017-01-01

textabstractElectric vehicles have the potential to be used as virtual power plants to provide reliable back-up power. This generates additional profits for carsharing rental firms, who rent vehicles by the minute. We show this by developing a discrete event simulation platform based on real-time

PROBA-V Mission Exploitation Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erwin Goor

2016-07-01

Full Text Available As an extension of the PROBA-Vegetation (PROBA-V user segment, the European Space Agency (ESA, de Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO, and partners TRASYS and Spacebel developed an operational Mission Exploitation Platform (MEP to drastically improve the exploitation of the PROBA-V Earth Observation (EO data archive, the archive from the historical SPOT-VEGETATION mission, and derived products by researchers, service providers, and thematic users. The analysis of the time series of data (petabyte range is addressed, as well as the large scale on-demand processing of the complete archive, including near real-time data. The platform consists of a private cloud environment, a Hadoop-based processing environment and a data manager. Several applications are released to the users, e.g., a full resolution viewing service, a time series viewer, pre-defined on-demand processing chains, and virtual machines with powerful tools and access to the data. After an initial release in January 2016 a research platform was deployed gradually, allowing users to design, debug, and test applications on the platform. From the PROBA-V MEP, access to, e.g., Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 data will be addressed as well.

Cloud Based Earth Observation Data Exploitation Platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Romeo, A.; Pinto, S.; Loekken, S.; Marin, A.

2017-12-01

In the last few years data produced daily by several private and public Earth Observation (EO) satellites reached the order of tens of Terabytes, representing for scientists and commercial application developers both a big opportunity for their exploitation and a challenge for their management. New IT technologies, such as Big Data and cloud computing, enable the creation of web-accessible data exploitation platforms, which offer to scientists and application developers the means to access and use EO data in a quick and cost effective way. RHEA Group is particularly active in this sector, supporting the European Space Agency (ESA) in the Exploitation Platforms (EP) initiative, developing technology to build multi cloud platforms for the processing and analysis of Earth Observation data, and collaborating with larger European initiatives such as the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). An EP is a virtual workspace, providing a user community with access to (i) large volume of data, (ii) algorithm development and integration environment, (iii) processing software and services (e.g. toolboxes, visualization routines), (iv) computing resources, (v) collaboration tools (e.g. forums, wiki, etc.). When an EP is dedicated to a specific Theme, it becomes a Thematic Exploitation Platform (TEP). Currently, ESA has seven TEPs in a pre-operational phase dedicated to geo-hazards monitoring and prevention, costal zones, forestry areas, hydrology, polar regions, urban areas and food security. On the technology development side, solutions like the multi cloud EO data processing platform provides the technology to integrate ICT resources and EO data from different vendors in a single platform. In particular it offers (i) Multi-cloud data discovery, (ii) Multi-cloud data management and access and (iii) Multi-cloud application deployment. This platform has been demonstrated with the EGI Federated Cloud, Innovation Platform Testbed Poland

Available: motorised platform

CERN Multimedia

The COMPASS collaboration

2014-01-01

The COMPASS collaboration would like to offer to a new owner the following useful and fully operational piece of equipment, which is due to be replaced with better adapted equipment.   Please contact Erwin Bielert (erwin.bielert@cern.ch or 160539) for further information.  Motorized platform (FOR FREE):   Fabricated by ACL (Alfredo Cardoso & Cia Ltd) in Portugal. The model number is MeXs 5-­‐30.  Specifications: 5 m wide, 1 m deep, adjustable height (1.5 m if folded). Maximum working floor height: 4 m. conforms to CERN regulations, number LV158. Type LD500, capacity 500 kg and weight 2000 kg.  If no interested party is found before December 2014, the platform will be thrown away.

Impact of digital information and control system platform selection on nuclear power generating plant operating costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bogard, T.; Radomski, S.; Sterdis, B.; Marta, H.; Bond, V.; Richardson, J.; Ramon, G.; Edvinsson, H.

1998-01-01

Information is presented on the benefits of a well-planned information and control systems (I and CS) replacement approach for aging nuclear power generating plants' I and CS. Replacement of an aging I and CS is accompanied by increases in plant profitability. Implementing a structured I and CS replacement with current technology allows improved plant electrical production in parallel with reduced I and CS operations and maintenance cost. Qualitative, quantitative, and enterprise management methods for cost benefit justification are shown to justify a comprehensive approach to I and CS replacement. In addition to the advantages of standard I and CS technologies, examples of new I and CS technologies are shown to add substantial cost benefit justification for I and CS replacements. Focus is upon I and CS replacements at nuclear power plants, however the information is applicable to other types of power generating facilities. (author)

Novel vaccination approach for dengue infection based on recombinant immune complex universal platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Mi-Young; Reljic, Rajko; Kilbourne, Jacquelyn; Ceballos-Olvera, Ivonne; Yang, Moon-Sik; Reyes-del Valle, Jorge; Mason, Hugh S

2015-04-08

Dengue infection is on the rise in many endemic areas of the tropics. Vaccination remains the most realistic strategy for prevention of this potentially fatal viral disease but there is currently no effective vaccine that could protect against all four known serotypes of the dengue virus. This study describes the generation and testing of a novel vaccination approach against dengue based on recombinant immune complexes (RIC). We modelled the dengue RIC on the existing Ebola RIC (Phoolcharoen, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2011;108(Dec (51)):20695) but with a key modification that allowed formation of a universal RIC platform that can be easily adapted for use for other pathogens. This was achieved by retaining only the binding epitope of the 6D8 ant-Ebola mAb, which was then fused to the consensus dengue E3 domain (cEDIII), resulting in a hybrid dengue-Ebola RIC (DERIC). We expressed human and mouse versions of these molecules in tobacco plants using a geminivirus-based expression system. Following purification from the plant extracts by protein G affinity chromatography, DERIC bound to C1q component of complement, thus confirming functionality. Importantly, following immunization of mice, DERIC induced a potent, virus-neutralizing anti-cEDIII humoral immune response without exogenous adjuvants. We conclude that these self-adjuvanting immunogens have the potential to be developed as a novel vaccine candidate for dengue infection, and provide the basis for a universal RIC platform for use with other antigens. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technical Basis of Scaling Relationships for the Pretreatment Engineering Platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuhn, William L.; Arm, Stuart T.; Huckaby, James L.; Kurath, Dean E.; Rassat, Scot D.

2008-01-01

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Waste Treatment Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities. The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) is being designed and constructed as part of a plan to respond to an issue raised by the WTP External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) entitled 'Undemonstrated Leaching Processes' and numbered M12. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching process using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The approach for scaling PEP performance data to predict WTP performance is critical to the successful resolution of the EFRT issue. This report describes the recommended PEP scaling approach, PEP data interpretation and provides recommendations on test conduct and data requirements

Technical Basis of Scaling Relationships for the Pretreatment Engineering Platform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuhn, William L.; Arm, Stuart T.; Huckaby, James L.; Kurath, Dean E.; Rassat, Scot D.

2008-07-15

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Waste Treatment Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities. The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) is being designed and constructed as part of a plan to respond to an issue raised by the WTP External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) entitled “Undemonstrated Leaching Processes” and numbered M12. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching process using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The approach for scaling PEP performance data to predict WTP performance is critical to the successful resolution of the EFRT issue. This report describes the recommended PEP scaling approach, PEP data interpretation and provides recommendations on test conduct and data requirements.

Thermodynamic analysis of an upstream petroleum plant operated on a mature field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van [Section of Thermal Energy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 403, Nils Koppels Allé, 2800 Kongens Lyngby (Denmark); Jacyno, Tomasz [Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Wrocław University of Technology, Building A-1, ul. Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław (Poland); Breuhaus, Peter [Department of Energy, International Research Institute of Stavanger, Professor Olav Hanssens vei 15, 4021 Stavanger (Norway); Voldsund, Mari [Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim (Norway); Elmegaard, Brian [Section of Thermal Energy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 403, Nils Koppels Allé, 2800 Kongens Lyngby (Denmark)

2014-04-01

Oil and gas processing on offshore platforms operates under changing boundary conditions over a field lifespan, as the hydrocarbon production declines and the water extraction increases. In this paper, the processing plant of the Draugen platform is evaluated by performing an energy and exergy analysis. This facility exploits an end-life oilfield and runs at conditions deviating significantly from its optimal operating specifications. Two different operating modes were assessed, and process models were developed using the simulation tools Aspen Plus{sup ®} and Aspen HYSYS{sup ®}, based on measured and reconciliated process data. The total energy demand is moderately sensitive to daily and monthly variations: it ranges between 22 and 30 MW, of which 18–26 MW and about 3–4 MW are in electrical and thermal energy forms. The greatest exergy destruction takes place in the gas treatment (51%), recompression (12%) and production manifold (10%) modules. The separation work performed on this platform is greater than in similar facilities because of higher propane and water fractions of the well-streams. These findings emphasise the differences between peak and end-life productions: they suggest (i) to set focus on processes including gas expansion and compression, (ii) to investigate possibilities for an improved energy integration, and (iii) to consider and evaluate alternative system designs. - Highlights: • The thermodynamic performance of an upstream oil and gas processing plant is assessed. • Energy and exergy analyses are performed, and the plant inefficiencies are depicted. • The effects of end-life field conditions are evaluated.

Thermodynamic analysis of an upstream petroleum plant operated on a mature field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van; Jacyno, Tomasz; Breuhaus, Peter; Voldsund, Mari; Elmegaard, Brian

2014-01-01

Oil and gas processing on offshore platforms operates under changing boundary conditions over a field lifespan, as the hydrocarbon production declines and the water extraction increases. In this paper, the processing plant of the Draugen platform is evaluated by performing an energy and exergy analysis. This facility exploits an end-life oilfield and runs at conditions deviating significantly from its optimal operating specifications. Two different operating modes were assessed, and process models were developed using the simulation tools Aspen Plus ® and Aspen HYSYS ® , based on measured and reconciliated process data. The total energy demand is moderately sensitive to daily and monthly variations: it ranges between 22 and 30 MW, of which 18–26 MW and about 3–4 MW are in electrical and thermal energy forms. The greatest exergy destruction takes place in the gas treatment (51%), recompression (12%) and production manifold (10%) modules. The separation work performed on this platform is greater than in similar facilities because of higher propane and water fractions of the well-streams. These findings emphasise the differences between peak and end-life productions: they suggest (i) to set focus on processes including gas expansion and compression, (ii) to investigate possibilities for an improved energy integration, and (iii) to consider and evaluate alternative system designs. - Highlights: • The thermodynamic performance of an upstream oil and gas processing plant is assessed. • Energy and exergy analyses are performed, and the plant inefficiencies are depicted. • The effects of end-life field conditions are evaluated

Recent patents in plant biotechnology: impact on global health.

Science.gov (United States)

Hefferon, Kathleen L

2012-08-01

Agricultural biotechnology offers a robust series of tools by which to address global concerns such as food security, crop protection, and fuel/energy requirements. A number of advances made recently in plant molecular biology also have resulted in applications which largely focus on improving global human health. This review describes some of the recent innovations in plant biotechnology that have come to the forefront over the past year. Included are novel techniques by which plants can be improved as platforms for biopharmaceutical protein production, a growing field also referred to as 'molecular pharming'. The metabolic engineering of plants to produce compounds which have additional nutritional benefits is also outlined. The review concludes with a discussion of the future impact that these innovations may have both on global health and on the development of our future intellectual property landscape.

Delivering on Industry Equipment Reliability Goals By Leveraging an Integration Platform and Decision Support Environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coveney, Maureen K.; Bailey, W. Henry; Parkinson, William

2004-01-01

Utilities have invested in many costly enterprise systems - computerized maintenance management systems, document management systems, enterprise grade portals, to name but a few - and often very specialized systems, like data historians, high end diagnostic systems, and other focused and point solutions. From recent industry reports, we now know that the average nuclear power utilizes on average 1900 systems to perform daily work, of which 250 might facilitate the equipment reliability decision-making process. The time has come to leverage the investment in these systems by providing a common platform for integration and decision-making that will further the collective industry aim of enhancing the reliability of our nuclear generation assets to maintain high plant availability and to deliver on plant life extension goals without requiring additional large scale investment in IT infrastructure. (authors)

University technology platform of anticipatory learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonid Davidovich Gitelman

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The innovative development sets large-scale and challenging tasks, which need to be addressed in the lack-of-knowledge conditions and require the coordination and integration of numerous expert structures, which are scattered around the world and have different status and competencies. One of the mechanisms of integrating the partners’ intellectual and financial resources is provided by the technology platforms. The article discusses the nature and functions of technology platforms and analyzes the experience of their application in different countries with a special emphasis on universities. The article gives an overview of the various interpretations of technology platform concepts. It also describes the development and implementation of the technological platform at the Ural Federal University (research and education centre ‘ENGEC’, which was targeted at organizing anticipatory learning in the sphere of energy engineering and high-tech industries; its mechanism and role in improving different university activities and processes are shown. This platform is based on the original methodology ‘Integrated System of Consulting, Training, and Transformation’ (ISCT, which includes authentic methods and technologies, which are used in the educational process. A significant advantage of this methodology is that it can be applied in university education as well as in corporate training integrated with innovative activities.

Implementation of Online Veterinary Hospital on Cloud Platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Tzer-Shyong; Chen, Tzer-Long; Chung, Yu-Fang; Huang, Yao-Min; Chen, Tao-Chieh; Wang, Huihui; Wei, Wei

2016-06-01

Pet markets involve in great commercial possibilities, which boost thriving development of veterinary hospital businesses. The service tends to intensive competition and diversified channel environment. Information technology is integrated for developing the veterinary hospital cloud service platform. The platform contains not only pet medical services but veterinary hospital management and services. In the study, QR Code andcloud technology are applied to establish the veterinary hospital cloud service platform for pet search by labeling a pet's identification with QR Code. This technology can break the restriction on veterinary hospital inspection in different areas and allows veterinary hospitals receiving the medical records and information through the exclusive QR Code for more effective inspection. As an interactive platform, the veterinary hospital cloud service platform allows pet owners gaining the knowledge of pet diseases and healthcare. Moreover, pet owners can enquire and communicate with veterinarians through the platform. Also, veterinary hospitals can periodically send reminders of relevant points and introduce exclusive marketing information with the platform for promoting the service items and establishing individualized marketing. Consequently, veterinary hospitals can increase the profits by information share and create the best solution in such a competitive veterinary market with industry alliance.

The development of an open platform to test ITS solutions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lahrmann, Harry; Agerholm, Niels; Juhl, Jens

2013-01-01

This paper presents the ITS Platform Northern Denmark, which is an open platform to test ITS solutions. The platform consists of a new developed GNSS/GPRS On Board Unit installed in nearly 500 cars, a backend server and a specially designed digital road map for ITS applications. The platform is o...... is open for third part application. This paper presents the platform’s potentials and explains a series of test applications, which are developed on the plat- form. Moreover, a number of new projects, which are planned for ITS Platform is introduced.......This paper presents the ITS Platform Northern Denmark, which is an open platform to test ITS solutions. The platform consists of a new developed GNSS/GPRS On Board Unit installed in nearly 500 cars, a backend server and a specially designed digital road map for ITS applications. The platform...

Dynamic performance of a combined gas turbine and air bottoming cycle plant for off-shore applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Benato, Alberto; Pierobon, Leonardo; Haglind, Fredrik

2014-01-01

and a combined gas turbine coupled with an air bottoming cycle plant. The case study is the Draugen off-shore oil and gas platform, located in the North Sea, Norway. The normal electricity demand is 19 MW, currently covered by two gas turbines generating each 50% of the power demand, while the third turbine......When the Norwegian government introduced the CO2 tax for hydrocarbon fuels, the challenge became to improve the performance of off-shore power systems. An oil and gas platform typically operates on an island (stand-alone system) and the power demand is covered by two or more gas turbines. In order...... to improve the plant performance, a bottoming cycle unit can be added to the gas turbine topping module, thus constituting a combined cycle plant. This paper aims at developing and testing the numerical model simulating the part-load and dynamic behavior of a novel power system, composed of two gas turbines...

Droplet microfluidic platform for cell electrofusion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schoeman, R.M.

2015-01-01

In this thesis a lab on a chip platform is described which is capable of electrofusing cells in a picoliter droplet. The platform consist out of glass part containing recessed platinum electrodes plasma bonded to a PDMS slab containing microchannels. First the two cell populations are introduced

Snap: an integrated SNP annotation platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Shengting; Ma, Lijia; Li, Heng

2007-01-01

Snap (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Annotation Platform) is a server designed to comprehensively analyze single genes and relationships between genes basing on SNPs in the human genome. The aim of the platform is to facilitate the study of SNP finding and analysis within the framework of medical...

A microfluidic platform for the investigation of elongation growth in pollen tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agudelo, C G; Sanati, A; Ghanbari, M; Packirisamy, M; Geitmann, A

2012-01-01

Pollen tubes are an excellent model for the investigation of plant cell growth: they elongate at very high rates and are easily cultured in vitro. One major constraint in the study of pollen tube growth has been the difficulty in providing an in vitro testing environment that physically resembles the in vivo conditions. This work presents the development of a microfluidic platform for the study and manipulation of individual pollen tubes. The platform is fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane using a Silicon/SU-8 mold and makes use of microfluidics to distribute pollen grains to serially arranged microchannels into which the tubes grow to allow for individual testing. A 2D finite element fluid analysis is done to assist optimization of the architectural design. Validation of the device is carried out by growing Camellia japonica pollen. Results show that pollen tube germination and growth rate within the microfluidic network are similar to those obtained in conventional plate or batch assays. The microfluidic network allows for specific testing of a variety of structural features as demonstrated with a simple collision test, and it permits the straightforward integration of further single-cell test assays. (paper)

Cyclic platform dolomites and platform-to-basin transition of Jefferson Formation (Frasnian), southwest Montana and east-central Idaho

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dorobek, S.L.

1987-08-01

The Jefferson Formation (Frasnian) in southwestern Montana consists of cyclic sequences of shallow marine platformal dolomites that grade westward into slope/basinal facies in east-central Idaho. Regional sedimentologic characteristics of slope facies in Idaho indicate that the Jefferson platform resembled a distally steepened ramp. Slope facies consist of slope laminites with local small scale slumps and slope breccias. Shallow water platform-derived clasts are lacking in the slope breccias. Individual shallowing upward platform cycles are 25 m to < 1 m thick and consists of, in descending order: local solution-collapse breccia caps; cryptalgal dolomudstone; rare ooid dolograinstone; thin-bedded Amphipora dolowackestone; coarsely crystalline dolostones with abundant lenticular to domal stromatoporoids; and basal thin-bedded, fine-grained, shale dolostones with closely spaced hard-grounds that grade upward into burrow-homogenized, irregularly bedded dolostones.

Gravimetric phenotyping of whole plant transpiration responses to atmospheric vapour pressure deficit identifies genotypic variation in water use efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Annette C; Dodd, Ian C; Rothwell, Shane A; Jones, Ros; Tardieu, Francois; Draye, Xavier; Davies, William J

2016-10-01

There is increasing interest in rapidly identifying genotypes with improved water use efficiency, exemplified by the development of whole plant phenotyping platforms that automatically measure plant growth and water use. Transpirational responses to atmospheric vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and whole plant water use efficiency (WUE, defined as the accumulation of above ground biomass per unit of water used) were measured in 100 maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes. Using a glasshouse based phenotyping platform with naturally varying VPD (1.5-3.8kPa), a 2-fold variation in WUE was identified in well-watered plants. Regression analysis of transpiration versus VPD under these conditions, and subsequent whole plant gas exchange at imposed VPDs (0.8-3.4kPa) showed identical responses in specific genotypes. Genotype response of transpiration versus VPD fell into two categories: 1) a linear increase in transpiration rate with VPD with low (high WUE) or high (low WUE) transpiration rate at all VPDs, 2) a non-linear response with a pronounced change point at low VPD (high WUE) or high VPD (low WUE). In the latter group, high WUE genotypes required a significantly lower VPD before transpiration was restricted, and had a significantly lower rate of transpiration in response to VPD after this point, when compared to low WUE genotypes. Change point values were significantly positively correlated with stomatal sensitivity to VPD. A change point in stomatal response to VPD may explain why some genotypes show contradictory WUE rankings according to whether they are measured under glasshouse or field conditions. Furthermore, this novel use of a high throughput phenotyping platform successfully reproduced the gas exchange responses of individuals measured in whole plant chambers, accelerating the identification of plants with high WUE. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

NEOTEC: Negative-CO2-Emissions Marine Energy With Direct Mitigation of Global Warming, Sea-Level Rise and Ocean Acidification

Science.gov (United States)

Rau, G. H.; Baird, J.; Noland, G.

2016-12-01

The vertical thermal energy potential in the ocean is a massive renewable energy resource that is growing due to anthropogenic warming of the surface and near-surface ocean. The conversion of this thermal energy to useful forms via Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) has been demonstrated over the past century, albeit at small scales. Because OTEC removes heat from the surface ocean, this could help directly counter ongoing, deleterious ocean/atmosphere warming. The only other climate intervention that could do this is solar radiation "geoengineering". Conventional OTEC requires energy intensive, vertical movement of seawater resulting in ocean and atmospheric chemistry alteration, but this can be avoided via more energy efficient, vertical closed-cycle heating and cooling of working fluid like CO2 or NH3. An energy carrier such as H2 is required to transport energy optimally extracted far offshore, and methods of electrochemically generating H2 while also consuming CO2 and converting it to ocean alkalinity have been demonstrated. The addition of such alkalinity to the ocean would provide vast, stable, carbon storage, while also helping chemically counter the effects of ocean acidification. The process might currently be profitable given the >$100/tonne CO2 credit offered by California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard for transportation fuels like H2. Negative-Emissions OTEC, NEOTEC, thus can potentially provide constant, cost effective, high capacity, negative-emissions energy while: a) reducing surface ocean heat load, b) reducing thermal ocean expansion and sea-level rise, c) utilizing a very large, natural marine carbon storage reservoir, and d) helping mitigate ocean acidification. The technology also avoids the biophysical and land use limitations posed by negative emissions methods that rely on terrestrial biology, such as afforestation and BECCS. NEOTEC and other marine-based, renewable energy and CO2 removal approaches could therefore greatly increase the

Gas turbine bucket with impingement cooled platform

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Raphael Durand

2002-01-01

In a turbine bucket having an airfoil portion and a root portion, with a substantially planar platform at an interface between the airfoil portion and root portion, a platform cooling arrangement including at least one bore in the root portion and at least one impingement cooling tube seated in the bore, the tube extending beyond the bore with an outlet in close proximity to a targeted area on an underside of the platform.

Oil and Gas Producing Platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, Geographic NAD83, MMS (1998)[platforms_MMS_1998

Data.gov (United States)

Louisiana Geographic Information Center — This is a point data set for the location of over 4300 MMS administered platform structures used for oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. Groups of platform...

High throughput in vivo protease inhibitor selection platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

The invention relates to a recombinant microbial cell comprising a selection platform for screening for a protease inhibitor, wherein the platform comprises transgenes encoding a protease having selective peptide bond cleavage activity at a recognition site amino acid sequence; and transgenes...... platform for screening for a protease inhibitor....

Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV), a versatile platform for polyvalent display of antigenic epitopes and vaccine design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, Shantanu; Ochoa, Wendy; Singh, Pratik; Hsu, Catherine; Schneemann, Anette; Manchester, Marianne; Olson, Mark; Reddy, Vijay

2009-01-01

Viruses-like particles (VLPs) are frequently being used as platforms for polyvalent display of foreign epitopes of interest on their capsid surface to improve their presentation enhancing the antigenicity and host immune response. In the present study, we used the VLPs of Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV), an icosahedral plant virus, as a platform to display 180 copies of 16 amino acid epitopes of ricin toxin fused to the C-terminal end of a modified TBSV capsid protein (NΔ52). Expression of the chimeric recombinant protein in insect cells resulted in spontaneous assembly of VLPs displaying the ricin epitope. Cryo-electron microscopy and image reconstruction of the chimeric VLPs at 22 A resolution revealed the locations and orientation of the ricin epitope exposed on the TBSV capsid surface. Furthermore, injection of chimeric VLPs into mice generated antisera that detected the native ricin toxin. The ease of fusing of short peptides of 15-20 residues and their ability to form two kinds (T = 1, T = 3) of bio-nanoparticles that result in the display of 60 or 180 copies of less constrained and highly exposed antigenic epitopes makes TBSV an attractive and versatile display platform for vaccine design.

German crowd-investing platforms: Literature review and survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Grundy

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents a comprehensive overview of the current German crowd-investing market drawing on a data-set of 31 crowd-investing platforms including the analysis of 265 completed projects. While crowd-investing market still only represents a niche in the German venture capital market, there is potential for an increase in both market volume and in average project investment. The market share is distributed among a few crowd-investing platforms with high entry barriers for new platforms although platforms that specialise in certain sectors have managed to successfully enter the market. German crowd-investing platforms are found to promote mainly internet-based enterprises (36% followed by projects in real estate (24% and green projects (19%, with the median money raised 100,000 euro.

Evaluation of E-learning Platforms: a Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina POP

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In the recent past, a great number of e-learning platforms have been introduced on the market showing different characteristics and services. These platforms can be evaluated using multiple criteria and methods. This paper proposes a list of selected quality criteria for describing, characterizing and selecting e-learning platform. These criteria were designed based on e-learning standards. I also propose a mathematical model to determine the probability that a student uses an e-learning platform based on the factors (criteria that determine the quality of the platform and the socio-demographic variables of the student. The case study presented is an application of the model and the input data, intermediate calculations and final results were processed using SAS (Statistical Analysis Software.

Geysers advanced direct contact condenser research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Henderson, J.; Bahning, T.; Bharathan, D.

1997-12-31

The first geothermal application of the Advanced Direct Contact Condenser (ADCC) technology developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is now operational and is being tested at The Geysers Power Plant Unit 11. This major research effort is being supported through the combined efforts of NREL, The Department of Energy (DOE), and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). NREL and PG&E have entered into a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) for a project to improve the direct-contact condenser performance at The Geysers Power Plant. This project is the first geothermal adaptation of an advanced condenser design developed for the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems. PG&E expects this technology to improve power plant performance and to help extend the life of the steam field by using steam more efficiently. In accordance with the CRADA, no money is transferred between the contracting parties. In this case the Department of Energy is funding NREL for their efforts in this project and PG&E is contributing funds in kind. Successful application of this technology at The Geysers will provide a basis for NREL to continue to develop this technology for other geothermal and fossil power plant systems.

Platforms for Persistent Communications, Surveillance and Reconnaissance

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Campbell, William; Vehlow, Chuck; Wartell, Mike; Adler, Allen; Swan, Pete; Wynn, Bob; Beriwaln, Madhu; Collier, Darrell; Gallagher, Herb; Glaser, Gary; Scalera, Steve; Puthoff, Jolene

2008-01-01

...). The Army Science Board investigated capabilities of platforms deployed in space near space and lower altitudes and assessed tradeoffs among benefits weaknesses costs and logistics burdens associated with platform types...

Urban search mobile platform modeling in hindered access conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Barankova, I. I.; Mikhailova, U. V.; Kalugina, O. B.; Barankov, V. V.

2018-05-01

The article explores the control system simulation and the design of the experimental model of the rescue robot mobile platform. The functional interface, a structural functional diagram of the mobile platform control unit, and a functional control scheme for the mobile platform of secure robot were modeled. The task of design a mobile platform for urban searching in hindered access conditions is realized through the use of a mechanical basis with a chassis and crawler drive, a warning device, human heat sensors and a microcontroller based on Arduino platforms.

An Investigation of Digital Payment Platform Designs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Damsgaard, Jan

2014-01-01

This paper focuses on the triumph march of mobile phones that currently are annexing music players, navigation devices, and cameras as separate physical objects. The next target is set on payment. Through synthesizing available literature, we construct a framework for studying digital payment...... platforms that combines platform, technology and business design aspects. The framework is applied to conduct a comparative case study of digital payment platforms. Four types of market actors are considered: banks, mobile network operators, merchants, and startups, which are incumbents and disrupters....... By hosting third-party services, payment instruments are evolving from single-purpose to multi-functional ones. Our research extends existing payment literature from the MSP perspective to emphasize certain digital payment platform components, which impact strategies and complementary products....

Theory model and experiment research about the cognition reliability of nuclear power plant operators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang Xiang; Zhao Bingquan

2000-01-01

In order to improve the reliability of NPP operation, the simulation research on the reliability of nuclear power plant operators is needed. Making use of simulator of nuclear power plant as research platform, and taking the present international reliability research model-human cognition reliability for reference, the part of the model is modified according to the actual status of Chinese nuclear power plant operators and the research model of Chinese nuclear power plant operators obtained based on two-parameter Weibull distribution. Experiments about the reliability of nuclear power plant operators are carried out using the two-parameter Weibull distribution research model. Compared with those in the world, the same results are achieved. The research would be beneficial to the operation safety of nuclear power plant

Formation and emission of fine particles from two coal-fired power plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, M.T.; Livbjerg, H.; Fogh, C.L.

2002-01-01

, before the desulfurisation plant, and in the stack. The following sampling techniques are used: scanning mobility particle sizer, low pressure cascade impactor, dichotomous PM2.5 sampler, and total particle filter. The so-called multi-platform method used in this work Proves useful for gaining insight...

Fault Transient Analysis and Protection Performance Evaluation within a Large-scale PV Power Plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen Jinghua

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a short-circuit test within a large-scale PV power plant with a total capacity of 850MWp is discussed. The fault currents supplied by the PV generation units are presented and analysed. According to the fault behaviour, the existing protection coordination principles with the plant are considered and their performances are evaluated. Moreover, these protections are examined in simulation platform under different operating situations. A simple measure with communication system is proposed to deal with the foreseeable problem about the current protection scheme in the PV power plant.

Carbonate platform growth and demise offshore Central Vietnam

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fyhn, Michael B.W.; Boldreel, Lars Ole; Nielsen, Lars H.

2013-01-01

Fault Zone, the Tuy Hoa Carbonate Platform fringes the continental margin between Da Nang and Nha Trang. Here, platform growth initiated during the Early Miocene and continued until Middle Miocene time when regional uplift led to subaerial exposure, termination of platform growth and karstification...... continues on isolated platforms hosting the Paracel Islands farther seawards. The onset of widespread carbonate deposition largely reflects the Early Miocene transgression of the area linked with early post-rift subsidence and the opening of the South China Sea. The mid-Neogene shift in carbonate deposition...

How Export and Import Platforms Drive Industry Upgrading

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ishida, Masami; Machikita, Tomohiro; Ueki, Yasushi

2013-01-01

to extend the geographic scope of their foreign platforms if they run both exporting and importing; (2) firm size and R&D sales ration play a role of foreign platforms in ASEAN, Europe, and the USA, but these have no effects on foreign platforms in east Asia; (3) emerging multinationals do not achieve...

Thermodynamic analysis of an upstream petroleum plant operated on a mature field

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van; Jacyno, Tomasz; Breuhaus, Peter

2014-01-01

Oil and gas processing on offshore platforms operates under changing boundary conditions over a field lifespan, as the hydrocarbon production declines and the water extraction increases. In this paper, the processing plant of the Draugen platform is evaluated by performing an energy and exergy...... and reconciliated process data. The total energy demand is moderately sensitive to daily and monthly variations: it ranges between 22 and 30 MW, of which 18-26 MW and about 3-4 MW are in electrical and thermal energy forms. The greatest exergy destruction takes place in the gas treatment (51%), recompression (12...

Rigid multipodal platforms for metal surfaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal Valášek

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this review the recent progress in molecular platforms that form rigid and well-defined contact to a metal surface are discussed. Most of the presented examples have at least three anchoring units in order to control the spatial arrangement of the protruding molecular subunit. Another interesting feature is the lateral orientation of these foot structures which, depending on the particular application, is equally important as the spatial arrangement of the molecules. The numerous approaches towards assembling and organizing functional molecules into specific architectures on metal substrates are reviewed here. Particular attention is paid to variations of both, the core structures and the anchoring groups. Furthermore, the analytical methods enabling the investigation of individual molecules as well as monomolecular layers of ordered platform structures are summarized. The presented multipodal platforms bearing several anchoring groups form considerably more stable molecule–metal contacts than corresponding monopodal analogues and exhibit an enlarged separation of the functional molecules due to the increased footprint, as well as restrict tilting of the functional termini with respect to the metal surface. These platforms are thus ideally suited to tune important properties of the molecule–metal interface. On a single-molecule level, several of these platforms enable the control over the arrangement of the protruding rod-type molecular structures (e.g., molecular wires, switches, rotors, sensors with respect to the surface of the substrate.

A Cross-Platform Tactile Capabilities Interface for Humanoid Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie eMa

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This article presents the core elements of a cross-platform tactile capabilities interface (TCI for humanoid arms. The aim of the interface is to reduce the cost of developing humanoid robot capabilities by supporting reuse through cross-platform deployment. The article presents a comparative analysis of existing robot middleware frameworks, as well as the technical details of the TCI framework that builds on the the existing YARP platform. The TCI framework currently includes robot arm actuators with robot skin sensors. It presents such hardware in a platform independent manner, making it possible to write robot control software that can be executed on different robots through the TCI frameworks. The TCI framework supports multiple humanoid platforms and this article also presents a case study of a cross-platform implementation of a set of tactile protective withdrawal reflexes that have been realised on both the Nao and iCub humanoid robot platforms using the same high-level source code.

Medium-size nuclear plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogelweith, L.; Lavergne, J.C.; Martinot, G.; Weiss, A.

1977-01-01

CEA (TECHNICATOME) has developed a range of pressurized water reactors of the type ''CAS compact'' which are adapted to civil ship propulsion, or to electric power production, combined possibly with heat production, up to outputs equivalent to 125 MWe. Nuclear plants equipped with these reactors are suitable to medium-size electric networks. Among the possible realizations, two types of plants are mentioned as examples: 1) Floating electron-nuclear plants; and 2) Combined electric power and desalting plants. The report describes the design characteristics of the different parts of a 125 MWe unit floating electro-nuclear plant: nuclear steam system CAS 3 G, power generating plant, floating platform for the whole plant. The report gives attention to the different possibilities according to site conditions (the plant can be kept floating, in a natural or artificial basin, it can be put aground, ...) and to safety and environment factors. Such unit can be used in places where there is a growing demand in electric power and fresh water. The report describes how the reactor, the power generating plant and multiflash distillation units of an electric power-desalting plant can be combined: choice of the ratio water output/electric power output, thermal cycle combination, choice of the gain ratio, according to economic considerations, and to desired goal of water output. The report analyses also some technical options, such as: choice of the extraction point of steam used as heat supply of the desalting station (bleeding a condensation turbine, or recovering steam at the exhaust of a backpressure turbine), design making the system safe. Lastly, economic considerations are dealt with: combining the production of fresh water and electric power provides usually a much better energy balance and a lower cost for both products. Examples are given of some types of installations which combine medium-size reactors with fresh water stations yielding from 10000 to 120000 m 3 per day

eTRIKS platform: Conception and operation of a highly scalable cloud-based platform for translational research and applications development.

Science.gov (United States)

Bussery, Justin; Denis, Leslie-Alexandre; Guillon, Benjamin; Liu, Pengfeï; Marchetti, Gino; Rahal, Ghita

2018-04-01

We describe the genesis, design and evolution of a computing platform designed and built to improve the success rate of biomedical translational research. The eTRIKS project platform was developed with the aim of building a platform that can securely host heterogeneous types of data and provide an optimal environment to run tranSMART analytical applications. Many types of data can now be hosted, including multi-OMICS data, preclinical laboratory data and clinical information, including longitudinal data sets. During the last two years, the platform has matured into a robust translational research knowledge management system that is able to host other data mining applications and support the development of new analytical tools. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ginseng Genome Database: an open-access platform for genomics of Panax ginseng.

Science.gov (United States)

Jayakodi, Murukarthick; Choi, Beom-Soon; Lee, Sang-Choon; Kim, Nam-Hoon; Park, Jee Young; Jang, Woojong; Lakshmanan, Meiyappan; Mohan, Shobhana V G; Lee, Dong-Yup; Yang, Tae-Jin

2018-04-12

The ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is a perennial herbaceous plant that has been used in traditional oriental medicine for thousands of years. Ginsenosides, which have significant pharmacological effects on human health, are the foremost bioactive constituents in this plant. Having realized the importance of this plant to humans, an integrated omics resource becomes indispensable to facilitate genomic research, molecular breeding and pharmacological study of this herb. The first draft genome sequences of P. ginseng cultivar "Chunpoong" were reported recently. Here, using the draft genome, transcriptome, and functional annotation datasets of P. ginseng, we have constructed the Ginseng Genome Database http://ginsengdb.snu.ac.kr /, the first open-access platform to provide comprehensive genomic resources of P. ginseng. The current version of this database provides the most up-to-date draft genome sequence (of approximately 3000 Mbp of scaffold sequences) along with the structural and functional annotations for 59,352 genes and digital expression of genes based on transcriptome data from different tissues, growth stages and treatments. In addition, tools for visualization and the genomic data from various analyses are provided. All data in the database were manually curated and integrated within a user-friendly query page. This database provides valuable resources for a range of research fields related to P. ginseng and other species belonging to the Apiales order as well as for plant research communities in general. Ginseng genome database can be accessed at http://ginsengdb.snu.ac.kr /.

Circular Bioassay Platforms for Applications in Microwave-Accelerated Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammed, Muzaffer; Clement, Travis C; Aslan, Kadir

2014-12-02

In this paper, we present the design of four different circular bioassay platforms, which are suitable for homogeneous microwave heating, using theoretical calculations (i.e., COMSOL™ multiphysics software). Circular bioassay platforms are constructed from poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) for optical transparency between 400-800 nm, has multiple sample capacity (12, 16, 19 and 21 wells) and modified with silver nanoparticle films (SNFs) to be used in microwave-accelerated bioassays (MABs). In addition, a small monomode microwave cavity, which can be operated with an external microwave generator (100 W), for use with the bioassay platforms in MABs is also developed. Our design parameters for the circular bioassay platforms and monomode microwave cavity during microwave heating were: (i) temperature profiles, (ii) electric field distributions, (iii) location of the circular bioassay platforms inside the microwave cavity, and (iv) design and number of wells on the circular bioassay platforms. We have also carried out additional simulations to assess the use of circular bioassay platforms in a conventional kitchen microwave oven (e.g., 900 W). Our results show that the location of the circular bioassay platforms in the microwave cavity was predicted to have a significant effect on the homogeneous heating of these platforms. The 21-well circular bioassay platform design in our monomode microwave cavity was predicted to offer a homogeneous heating pattern, where inter-well temperature was observed to be in between 23.72-24.13°C and intra-well temperature difference was less than 0.21°C for 60 seconds of microwave heating, which was also verified experimentally.

Applied architecture patterns on the Microsoft platform

CERN Document Server

Dovgal, Andre; Noriskin, Gregor

2014-01-01

Presented in a scenario-driven tutorial way, we lead you through fictitious example problems and present you with the best solutions. This book is intended for architects, developers, and managers who need to improve their knowledge of the Microsoft application platform. This book will appeal to anyone, especially consultants, who want to get up to speed on selecting the most appropriate platform for a particular problem. A good understanding of the general Windows platform and development technologies would be helpful.

Proof-of-Concept Prototyping for Observis Platform

OpenAIRE

Ekimov, Victor

2012-01-01

Observis Oy is a start-up company first appeared in January 2011. The company is building up a measurement platform that is open and easy to connect. It helps measurement device suppliers, system and service providers, and analyzing services to found and combine each other’s products to create more value to the end customers. Observis Oy intends to develop a platform for integration with other services in order to provide management functionality in environmental field of business. Platform i...

Unsupervised detection of salt marsh platforms: a topographic method

Science.gov (United States)

Goodwin, Guillaume C. H.; Mudd, Simon M.; Clubb, Fiona J.

2018-03-01

Salt marshes filter pollutants, protect coastlines against storm surges, and sequester carbon, yet are under threat from sea level rise and anthropogenic modification. The sustained existence of the salt marsh ecosystem depends on the topographic evolution of marsh platforms. Quantifying marsh platform topography is vital for improving the management of these valuable landscapes. The determination of platform boundaries currently relies on supervised classification methods requiring near-infrared data to detect vegetation, or demands labour-intensive field surveys and digitisation. We propose a novel, unsupervised method to reproducibly isolate salt marsh scarps and platforms from a digital elevation model (DEM), referred to as Topographic Identification of Platforms (TIP). Field observations and numerical models show that salt marshes mature into subhorizontal platforms delineated by subvertical scarps. Based on this premise, we identify scarps as lines of local maxima on a slope raster, then fill landmasses from the scarps upward, thus isolating mature marsh platforms. We test the TIP method using lidar-derived DEMs from six salt marshes in England with varying tidal ranges and geometries, for which topographic platforms were manually isolated from tidal flats. Agreement between manual and unsupervised classification exceeds 94 % for DEM resolutions of 1 m, with all but one site maintaining an accuracy superior to 90 % for resolutions up to 3 m. For resolutions of 1 m, platforms detected with the TIP method are comparable in surface area to digitised platforms and have similar elevation distributions. We also find that our method allows for the accurate detection of local block failures as small as 3 times the DEM resolution. Detailed inspection reveals that although tidal creeks were digitised as part of the marsh platform, unsupervised classification categorises them as part of the tidal flat, causing an increase in false negatives and overall platform

Unsupervised detection of salt marsh platforms: a topographic method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. C. H. Goodwin

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Salt marshes filter pollutants, protect coastlines against storm surges, and sequester carbon, yet are under threat from sea level rise and anthropogenic modification. The sustained existence of the salt marsh ecosystem depends on the topographic evolution of marsh platforms. Quantifying marsh platform topography is vital for improving the management of these valuable landscapes. The determination of platform boundaries currently relies on supervised classification methods requiring near-infrared data to detect vegetation, or demands labour-intensive field surveys and digitisation. We propose a novel, unsupervised method to reproducibly isolate salt marsh scarps and platforms from a digital elevation model (DEM, referred to as Topographic Identification of Platforms (TIP. Field observations and numerical models show that salt marshes mature into subhorizontal platforms delineated by subvertical scarps. Based on this premise, we identify scarps as lines of local maxima on a slope raster, then fill landmasses from the scarps upward, thus isolating mature marsh platforms. We test the TIP method using lidar-derived DEMs from six salt marshes in England with varying tidal ranges and geometries, for which topographic platforms were manually isolated from tidal flats. Agreement between manual and unsupervised classification exceeds 94 % for DEM resolutions of 1 m, with all but one site maintaining an accuracy superior to 90 % for resolutions up to 3 m. For resolutions of 1 m, platforms detected with the TIP method are comparable in surface area to digitised platforms and have similar elevation distributions. We also find that our method allows for the accurate detection of local block failures as small as 3 times the DEM resolution. Detailed inspection reveals that although tidal creeks were digitised as part of the marsh platform, unsupervised classification categorises them as part of the tidal flat, causing an increase in false negatives

Measurement of baseline and orientation between distributed aerospace platforms.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wen-Qin

2013-01-01

Distributed platforms play an important role in aerospace remote sensing, radar navigation, and wireless communication applications. However, besides the requirement of high accurate time and frequency synchronization for coherent signal processing, the baseline between the transmitting platform and receiving platform and the orientation of platform towards each other during data recording must be measured in real time. In this paper, we propose an improved pulsed duplex microwave ranging approach, which allows determining the spatial baseline and orientation between distributed aerospace platforms by the proposed high-precision time-interval estimation method. This approach is novel in the sense that it cancels the effect of oscillator frequency synchronization errors due to separate oscillators that are used in the platforms. Several performance specifications are also discussed. The effectiveness of the approach is verified by simulation results.

High throughput field plant phenotyping facility at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the first year experience

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Y.; Bai, G.; Irmak, S.; Awada, T.; Stoerger, V.; Graef, G.; Scoby, D.; Schnable, J.

2017-12-01

University of Nebraska - Lincoln's high throughput field plant phenotyping facility is a cable robot based system built on a 1-ac field. The sensor platform is tethered with eight cables via four poles at the corners of the field for its precise control and positioning. The sensor modules on the platform include a 4-band RGB-NIR camera, a thermal infrared camera, a 3D LiDAR, VNIR spectrometers, and environmental sensors. These sensors are used to collect multifaceted physiological, structural and chemical properties of plants from the field plots. A subsurface drip irrigation system is established in this field which allows a controlled amount of water and fertilizers to be delivered to individual plots. An extensive soil moisture sensor network is also established to monitor soil water status, and serve as a feedback loop for irrigation scheduling. In the first year of operation, the field is planted maize and soybean. Weekly ground truth data were collected from the plots to validate image and sensor data from the phenotyping system. This presentation will provide an overview of this state-of-the-art field plant phenotyping facility, and present preliminary data from the first year operation of the system.

A commercial real-time manufacturing integration platform for the new control system on FTU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panella, M.; Bertocchi, A.; Bozzolan, V.; Buceti, G.; Centioli, C.; Imparato, A.; Mazza, G.; Torelli, C.; Vitale, V.

1999-01-01

In 1994 a working group was set up in Frascati to investigate how to build up a new control system for FTU (Frascati tokamak upgrade) considering the evolution in the information technology. Strong emphasis was placed on the use of standard solutions (be they de-facto or de-jure) and commercial platforms where-ever possible. This paper describes our operational experience with the new control system based on the commercial DEC BASEstar family of products. BASEstar is based on client/server computing technologies, providing an environment to collect, process, manage, distribute and integrate real time manufacturing data. UNIX, VMS, PC Win, OS-9 are integrated to handle hosts, PC, VME CPUs. A 4 GL programming language, CIMfast, has been used to handle via automatic procedures the tokamak discharge. X11 standard based mimics are available to display the plants status. A real flexibility of the whole system has been experience and the further use of the this system has been planned for the ITER DTP (divertor test platform). (orig.)

Analysis of high-throughput plant image data with the information system IAP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klukas Christian

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This work presents a sophisticated information system, the Integrated Analysis Platform (IAP, an approach supporting large-scale image analysis for different species and imaging systems. In its current form, IAP supports the investigation of Maize, Barley and Arabidopsis plants based on images obtained in different spectra.

Cyanobacteria as a Platform for the High-Value Chemicals Production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wlodarczyk, Artur Jacek

and cheap fertilizer as a medium for the cultivation of engineered cyanobacterial strains is shown. Alternative strategy to engineer Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 as a universal platform for the sustainable production of diverse range high-value phenylpropanoids which find use as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics......Emerging problems like increasing global warming and depletion of fossil fuels bring serious concerns regarding production of food and various chemicals in the future. Clearly, there is a need for finding alternative and more sustainable ways of producing chemicals in order to satisfy increasing...... consumer demands of an ever growing population. Considering the ability to convert solar energy and carbon dioxide into biomass, cyanobacteria and microalgae have potential for becoming such alternative in the future. Biosynthesis of a great number of plant high-value secondary metabolites requires...

Nuclear plant's virtual simulation for on-line radioactive environment monitoring and dose assessment for personnel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mol, Antonio Carlos A.; Jorge, Carlos Alexandre F.; Lapa, Celso Marcelo F.

2009-01-01

This paper reports the use of nuclear plant's simulation for online dose rate monitoring and dose assessment for personnel, using virtual reality technology. The platform used for virtual simulation was adapted from a low cost game engine, taking advantage of all its image rendering capabilities, as well as the physics for movement and collision, and networking capabilities for multi-user interactive navigation. A real nuclear plant was virtually modeled and simulated, so that a number of users can navigate simultaneously in this virtual environment in first or third person view, each one receiving visual information about both the radiation dose rate in each actual position, and the radiation dose received. Currently, this research and development activity has been extended to consider also on-line measurements collected from radiation monitors installed in the real plant that feed the simulation platform with dose rate data, through a TCP/IP network. Results are shown and commented, and other improvements are discussed, as the execution of a more detailed dose rate mapping campaign.

Ways to integrate document management systems with industrial plant configuration management systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munoz, M.

1995-01-01

Based on experience gained from tasks carried out for Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant, this paper describes computer platforms used both at the power plant and in the main offices of the engineering company. Subsequently, a description is given of the procedure followed for the continuous up-dating of plant documentation, in order to maintain consistency with other information stored in data bases in the Operation Management System, Maintenance System, Modification Management System, etc. The work method used for the unitary updating of all information (document images and attributes corresponding to the different data bases), following refuelling procedures is also described. Lastly, the paper describes the functions and the user interface of the system used in the power plant for document management. (Author)

Biotechnological aspects of cytoskeletal regulation in plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Komis, George; Luptovciak, Ivan; Doskocilova, Anna; Samaj, Jozef

2015-11-01

The cytoskeleton is a protein-based intracellular superstructure that evolved early after the appearance of bacterial prokaryotes. Eventually cytoskeletal proteins and their macromolecular assemblies were established in eukaryotes and assumed critical roles in cell movements, intracellular organization, cell division and cell differentiation. In biomedicine the small-molecules targeting cytoskeletal elements are in the frontline of anticancer research with plant-derived cytoskeletal drugs such as Vinca alkaloids and toxoids, being routinely used in the clinical practice. Moreover, plants are also major material, food and energy resources for human activities ranging from agriculture, textile industry, carpentry, energy production and new material development to name some few. Most of these inheritable traits are associated with cell wall synthesis and chemical modification during primary and secondary plant growth and inevitably are associated with the dynamics, organization and interactions of the plant cytoskeleton. Taking into account the vast intracellular spread of microtubules and actin microfilaments the cytoskeleton collectively assumed central roles in plant growth and development, in determining the physical stance of plants against the forces of nature and becoming a battleground between pathogenic invaders and the defense mechanisms of plant cells. This review aims to address the role of the plant cytoskeleton in manageable features of plants including cellulose biosynthesis with implications in wood and fiber properties, in biofuel production and the contribution of plant cytoskeletal elements in plant defense responses against pathogens or detrimental environmental conditions. Ultimately the present work surveys the potential of cytoskeletal proteins as platforms of plant genetic engineering, nominating certain cytoskeletal proteins as vectors of favorable traits in crops and other economically important plants. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All

Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) Integrated Test B Run Report--Caustic and Oxidative Leaching in UFP-VSL-T02A

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geeting, John GH; Bredt, Ofelia P.; Burns, Carolyn A.; Golovich, Elizabeth C.; Guzman-Leong, Consuelo E.; Josephson, Gary B.; Kurath, Dean E.; Sevigny, Gary J.; Aaberg, Rosanne L.

2009-12-10

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed, constructed and operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, “Undemonstrated Leaching Processes” of the External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) issue response plan.( ) The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The PEP also includes non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing.

Cloud Computing with iPlant Atmosphere.

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, Sheldon J; Skidmore, Edwin J; LaRose, Christopher J; Mercer, Andre W; Noutsos, Christos

2013-10-15

Cloud Computing refers to distributed computing platforms that use virtualization software to provide easy access to physical computing infrastructure and data storage, typically administered through a Web interface. Cloud-based computing provides access to powerful servers, with specific software and virtual hardware configurations, while eliminating the initial capital cost of expensive computers and reducing the ongoing operating costs of system administration, maintenance contracts, power consumption, and cooling. This eliminates a significant barrier to entry into bioinformatics and high-performance computing for many researchers. This is especially true of free or modestly priced cloud computing services. The iPlant Collaborative offers a free cloud computing service, Atmosphere, which allows users to easily create and use instances on virtual servers preconfigured for their analytical needs. Atmosphere is a self-service, on-demand platform for scientific computing. This unit demonstrates how to set up, access and use cloud computing in Atmosphere. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Fundamental plant biology enabled by the space shuttle.

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, Anna-Lisa; Wheeler, Ray M; Levine, Howard G; Ferl, Robert J

2013-01-01

The relationship between fundamental plant biology and space biology was especially synergistic in the era of the Space Shuttle. While all terrestrial organisms are influenced by gravity, the impact of gravity as a tropic stimulus in plants has been a topic of formal study for more than a century. And while plants were parts of early space biology payloads, it was not until the advent of the Space Shuttle that the science of plant space biology enjoyed expansion that truly enabled controlled, fundamental experiments that removed gravity from the equation. The Space Shuttle presented a science platform that provided regular science flights with dedicated plant growth hardware and crew trained in inflight plant manipulations. Part of the impetus for plant biology experiments in space was the realization that plants could be important parts of bioregenerative life support on long missions, recycling water, air, and nutrients for the human crew. However, a large part of the impetus was that the Space Shuttle enabled fundamental plant science essentially in a microgravity environment. Experiments during the Space Shuttle era produced key science insights on biological adaptation to spaceflight and especially plant growth and tropisms. In this review, we present an overview of plant science in the Space Shuttle era with an emphasis on experiments dealing with fundamental plant growth in microgravity. This review discusses general conclusions from the study of plant spaceflight biology enabled by the Space Shuttle by providing historical context and reviews of select experiments that exemplify plant space biology science.

Benchmarking computer platforms for lattice QCD applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasenbusch, M.; Jansen, K.; Pleiter, D.; Stueben, H.; Wegner, P.; Wettig, T.; Wittig, H.

2004-01-01

We define a benchmark suite for lattice QCD and report on benchmark results from several computer platforms. The platforms considered are apeNEXT, CRAY T3E; Hitachi SR8000, IBM p690, PC-Clusters, and QCDOC

The Creative Platform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Byrge, Christian; Hansen, Søren

whether you consider thirdgrade teaching, human-resource development, or radical new thinking in product development in a company. The Creative Platform was developed at Aalborg University through a series of research-and-development activities in collaboration with educational institutions and private...

The Construction of Platform Imperialism in the Globalization Era

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dal Yong Jin

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In the early 21st century, platforms, known as digital media intermediaries, have greatly influenced people’s daily lives. Due to the importance of platforms for the digital economy and culture, including intellectual property and participatory culture, several countries have developed their own social network sites and Web portals. Nonetheless, a handful of Western countries, primarily the U.S., have dominated the global platform market and society. This paper aims to historicize the concept of imperialism in the globalized 21st century. It investigates whether the recent growth of American-based platforms has resulted in a change to the fundamental idea of the imperialism thesis by analyzing the evolutionary nature of imperialism towards platform imperialism. It then addresses whether we are experiencing a new notion of imperialism by mapping out several core characteristics that define platform imperialism, including the swift growth and global dominance of SNSs and smartphones. It pays close attention to the capitalization of platforms and their global expansion, including the major role of intellectual property rights as the most significant form of capital accumulation in the digital age. It eventually endeavors to make a contribution to the platform imperialism discourse as a form of new imperialism, focusing on the nexus of great powers.

Impacts from Partial Removal of Decommissioned Oil and Gas Platforms on Fish Biomass and Production on the Remaining Platform Structure and Surrounding Shell Mounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Claisse, Jeremy T; Pondella, Daniel J; Love, Milton; Zahn, Laurel A; Williams, Chelsea M; Bull, Ann S

2015-01-01

When oil and gas platforms become obsolete they go through a decommissioning process. This may include partial removal (from the surface to 26 m depth) or complete removal of the platform structure. While complete removal would likely eliminate most of the existing fish biomass and associated secondary production, we find that the potential impacts of partial removal would likely be limited on all but one platform off the coast of California. On average 80% of fish biomass and 86% of secondary fish production would be retained after partial removal, with above 90% retention expected for both metrics on many platforms. Partial removal would likely result in the loss of fish biomass and production for species typically found residing in the shallow portions of the platform structure. However, these fishes generally represent a small proportion of the fishes associated with these platforms. More characteristic of platform fauna are the primarily deeper-dwelling rockfishes (genus Sebastes). "Shell mounds" are biogenic reefs that surround some of these platforms resulting from an accumulation of mollusk shells that have fallen from the shallow areas of the platforms mostly above the depth of partial removal. We found that shell mounds are moderately productive fish habitats, similar to or greater than natural rocky reefs in the region at comparable depths. The complexity and areal extent of these biogenic habitats, and the associated fish biomass and production, will likely be reduced after either partial or complete platform removal. Habitat augmentation by placing the partially removed platform superstructure or some other additional habitat enrichment material (e.g., rock boulders) on the seafloor adjacent to the base of partially removed platforms provides additional options to enhance fish production, potentially mitigating reductions in shell mound habitat.

Impacts from Partial Removal of Decommissioned Oil and Gas Platforms on Fish Biomass and Production on the Remaining Platform Structure and Surrounding Shell Mounds.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeremy T Claisse

Full Text Available When oil and gas platforms become obsolete they go through a decommissioning process. This may include partial removal (from the surface to 26 m depth or complete removal of the platform structure. While complete removal would likely eliminate most of the existing fish biomass and associated secondary production, we find that the potential impacts of partial removal would likely be limited on all but one platform off the coast of California. On average 80% of fish biomass and 86% of secondary fish production would be retained after partial removal, with above 90% retention expected for both metrics on many platforms. Partial removal would likely result in the loss of fish biomass and production for species typically found residing in the shallow portions of the platform structure. However, these fishes generally represent a small proportion of the fishes associated with these platforms. More characteristic of platform fauna are the primarily deeper-dwelling rockfishes (genus Sebastes. "Shell mounds" are biogenic reefs that surround some of these platforms resulting from an accumulation of mollusk shells that have fallen from the shallow areas of the platforms mostly above the depth of partial removal. We found that shell mounds are moderately productive fish habitats, similar to or greater than natural rocky reefs in the region at comparable depths. The complexity and areal extent of these biogenic habitats, and the associated fish biomass and production, will likely be reduced after either partial or complete platform removal. Habitat augmentation by placing the partially removed platform superstructure or some other additional habitat enrichment material (e.g., rock boulders on the seafloor adjacent to the base of partially removed platforms provides additional options to enhance fish production, potentially mitigating reductions in shell mound habitat.

A novel rotating experimental platform in a superconducting magnet.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Da; Cao, Hui-Ling; Ye, Ya-Jing; Dong, Chen; Liu, Yong-Ming; Shang, Peng; Yin, Da-Chuan

2016-08-01

This paper introduces a novel platform designed to be used in a strong static magnetic field (in a superconducting magnet). The platform is a sample holder that rotates in the strong magnetic field. Any samples placed in the platform will rotate due to the rotation of the sample holder. With this platform, a number of experiments such as material processing, culture of biological systems, chemical reactions, or other processes can be carried out. In this report, we present some preliminary experiments (protein crystallization, cell culture, and seed germination) conducted using this platform. The experimental results showed that the platform can affect the processes, indicating that it provides a novel environment that has not been investigated before and that the effects of such an environment on many different physical, chemical, or biological processes can be potentially useful for applications in many fields.

Progress and challenges for abiotic stress proteomics of crop plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Barkla, Bronwyn J; Vera-Estrella, Rosario; Pantoja, Omar

2013-06-01

Plants are continually challenged to recognize and respond to adverse changes in their environment to avoid detrimental effects on growth and development. Understanding the mechanisms that crop plants employ to resist and tolerate abiotic stress is of considerable interest for designing agriculture breeding strategies to ensure sustainable productivity. The application of proteomics technologies to advance our knowledge in crop plant abiotic stress tolerance has increased dramatically in the past few years as evidenced by the large amount of publications in this area. This is attributed to advances in various technology platforms associated with MS-based techniques as well as the accessibility of proteomics units to a wider plant research community. This review summarizes the work which has been reported for major crop plants and evaluates the findings in context of the approaches that are widely employed with the aim to encourage broadening the strategies used to increase coverage of the proteome. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Embedded Linux platform for data acquisition systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patel, Jigneshkumar J.; Reddy, Nagaraj; Kumari, Praveena; Rajpal, Rachana; Pujara, Harshad; Jha, R.; Kalappurakkal, Praveen

2014-01-01

Highlights: • The design and the development of data acquisition system on FPGA based reconfigurable hardware platform. • Embedded Linux configuration and compilation for FPGA based systems. • Hardware logic IP core and its Linux device driver development for the external peripheral to interface it with the FPGA based system. - Abstract: This scalable hardware–software system is designed and developed to explore the emerging open standards for data acquisition requirement of Tokamak experiments. To address the future need for a scalable data acquisition and control system for fusion experiments, we have explored the capability of software platform using Open Source Embedded Linux Operating System on a programmable hardware platform such as FPGA. The idea was to identify the platform which can be customizable, flexible and scalable to support the data acquisition system requirements. To do this, we have selected FPGA based reconfigurable and scalable hardware platform to design the system with Embedded Linux based operating system for flexibility in software development and Gigabit Ethernet interface for high speed data transactions. The proposed hardware–software platform using FPGA and Embedded Linux OS offers a single chip solution with processor, peripherals such ADC interface controller, Gigabit Ethernet controller, memory controller amongst other peripherals. The Embedded Linux platform for data acquisition is implemented and tested on a Virtex-5 FXT FPGA ML507 which has PowerPC 440 (PPC440) [2] hard block on FPGA. For this work, we have used the Linux Kernel version 2.6.34 with BSP support for the ML507 platform. It is downloaded from the Xilinx [1] GIT server. Cross-compiler tool chain is created using the Buildroot scripts. The Linux Kernel and Root File System are configured and compiled using the cross-tools to support the hardware platform. The Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) IO module is designed and interfaced with the ML507 through Xilinx

Embedded Linux platform for data acquisition systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patel, Jigneshkumar J., E-mail: jjp@ipr.res.in [Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India); Reddy, Nagaraj, E-mail: nagaraj.reddy@coreel.com [Sandeepani School of Embedded System Design, Bangalore, Karnataka (India); Kumari, Praveena, E-mail: praveena@ipr.res.in [Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India); Rajpal, Rachana, E-mail: rachana@ipr.res.in [Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India); Pujara, Harshad, E-mail: pujara@ipr.res.in [Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India); Jha, R., E-mail: rjha@ipr.res.in [Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India); Kalappurakkal, Praveen, E-mail: praveen.k@coreel.com [Sandeepani School of Embedded System Design, Bangalore, Karnataka (India)

2014-05-15

Highlights: • The design and the development of data acquisition system on FPGA based reconfigurable hardware platform. • Embedded Linux configuration and compilation for FPGA based systems. • Hardware logic IP core and its Linux device driver development for the external peripheral to interface it with the FPGA based system. - Abstract: This scalable hardware–software system is designed and developed to explore the emerging open standards for data acquisition requirement of Tokamak experiments. To address the future need for a scalable data acquisition and control system for fusion experiments, we have explored the capability of software platform using Open Source Embedded Linux Operating System on a programmable hardware platform such as FPGA. The idea was to identify the platform which can be customizable, flexible and scalable to support the data acquisition system requirements. To do this, we have selected FPGA based reconfigurable and scalable hardware platform to design the system with Embedded Linux based operating system for flexibility in software development and Gigabit Ethernet interface for high speed data transactions. The proposed hardware–software platform using FPGA and Embedded Linux OS offers a single chip solution with processor, peripherals such ADC interface controller, Gigabit Ethernet controller, memory controller amongst other peripherals. The Embedded Linux platform for data acquisition is implemented and tested on a Virtex-5 FXT FPGA ML507 which has PowerPC 440 (PPC440) [2] hard block on FPGA. For this work, we have used the Linux Kernel version 2.6.34 with BSP support for the ML507 platform. It is downloaded from the Xilinx [1] GIT server. Cross-compiler tool chain is created using the Buildroot scripts. The Linux Kernel and Root File System are configured and compiled using the cross-tools to support the hardware platform. The Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) IO module is designed and interfaced with the ML507 through Xilinx

Exploring Plant Co-Expression and Gene-Gene Interactions with CORNET 3.0.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Bel, Michiel; Coppens, Frederik

2017-01-01

Selecting and filtering a reference expression and interaction dataset when studying specific pathways and regulatory interactions can be a very time-consuming and error-prone task. In order to reduce the duplicated efforts required to amass such datasets, we have created the CORNET (CORrelation NETworks) platform which allows for easy access to a wide variety of data types: coexpression data, protein-protein interactions, regulatory interactions, and functional annotations. The CORNET platform outputs its results in either text format or through the Cytoscape framework, which is automatically launched by the CORNET website.CORNET 3.0 is the third iteration of the web platform designed for the user exploration of the coexpression space of plant genomes, with a focus on the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we describe the platform: the tools, data, and best practices when using the platform. We indicate how the platform can be used to infer networks from a set of input genes, such as upregulated genes from an expression experiment. By exploring the network, new target and regulator genes can be discovered, allowing for follow-up experiments and more in-depth study. We also indicate how to avoid common pitfalls when evaluating the networks and how to avoid over interpretation of the results.All CORNET versions are available at http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/cornet/ .

Bioma platform advancements during 2017

OpenAIRE

FUMAGALLI DAVIDE; NIEMEYER STEFAN

2017-01-01

In this report we describe the advancements on the Bioma Framework developed during year 2017. Given that the Bioma platform is quite mature, its core was not recently changed. So that the majority of changes concerns the implementation of the models developed in the platform. Moreover, during 2017 we also set up an alternative version of the framework itself, based on a new developing framework called .NET Core, with the purpose of being able to create a version of Bioma runnable on Linux. ...

Stargate-based Acoustic Sensor Platform

OpenAIRE

Hanbiao Wang; Kung Yao; Deborah Estrin

2004-01-01

To facilitate the study of the wireless sensor network for demanding acoustic monitoring of long distance sources, we recently have also started working on the development of a new generation of wireless acoustic sensor network platform using the Stargate nodes. The 400 MHz PXA-255 XScale processor and the 64 MB SDRAM provide the Stargate platform a decent processing capability. The VX Pocket 440 sound card with four external microphones are attached to each Stargate node through the PCMCIA s...

The Power Plant Mapping Student Project: Bringing Citizen Science to Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Tayne, K.; Oda, T.; Gurney, K. R.; O'Keeffe, D.; Petron, G.; Tans, P. P.; Frost, G. J.

2014-12-01

An emission inventory (EI) is a conventional tool to quantify and monitor anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants into the atmosphere. Gridded EI can visually show geographical patterns of emissions and their changes over time. These patterns, when available, are often determined using location data collected by regional governments, industries, and researchers. Datasets such as Carbon Monitoring and Action (CARMA, www.carma.org) are particularly useful for mapping emissions from large point sources and have been widely used in the EI community. The EI community is aware of potentially significant errors in the geographical locations of point sources, including power plants. The big challenge, however, is to review tens of thousands of power plant locations around the world and correct them where needed. The Power Plant Mapping Student Project (PPMSP) is a platform designed for students in 4th through 12th grade to improve the geographical location of power plants indicated in existing datasets to benefit international EI research. In PPMSP, we use VENTUS, a web-based platform (http://ventus.project.asu.edu/) that invites citizens to contribute power plant location data. Using VENTUS, students view scenes in the vicinity of reported power plant coordinates on Google Maps. Students either verify the location of a power plant or search for it within a designated radius using various indicators, an e-guide, and a power plant photo gallery for assistance. If the power plant cannot be found, students mark the plant as unverified. To assure quality for research use, the project contains multiple checkpoints and levels of review. While participating in meaningful research that directly benefits the EI research community, students are engaged in relevant science curricula designed to meet each grade level's Next Generation Science Standards. Students study energy, climate change, the atmosphere, and geographical information systems. The curricula is

Benchmarking computer platforms for lattice QCD applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasenbusch, M.; Jansen, K.; Pleiter, D.; Wegner, P.; Wettig, T.

2003-09-01

We define a benchmark suite for lattice QCD and report on benchmark results from several computer platforms. The platforms considered are apeNEXT, CRAY T3E, Hitachi SR8000, IBM p690, PC-Clusters, and QCDOC. (orig.)

Software development on the SAP HANA platform

CERN Document Server

Walker, Mark

2013-01-01

Software Development on the SAP HANA Platform is a general tutorial guide to SAP HANA.This book is written for beginners to the SAP HANA platform. No knowledge of SAP HANA is necessary to start using this book.

Complementors as Connectors: Open Innovation in Digital Product Platforms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hilbolling, Susan; Berends, Hans; Deken, F.; Tuertscher, Philipp

2018-01-01

Through open, standardized interfaces, autonomous third parties can develop complementary products and services for digital product platforms, but, at the same time, these third parties also establish connections that span multiple platforms - beyond the control of the platform owner. This paper

The modernization of the process computer of the Trillo Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin Aparicio, J.; Atanasio, J.

2011-01-01

The paper describes the modernization of the Process computer of the Trillo Nuclear Power Plant. The process computer functions, have been incorporated in the non Safety I and C platform selected in Trillo NPP: the Siemens SPPA-T2000 OM690 (formerly known as Teleperm XP). The upgrade of the Human Machine Interface of the control room has been included in the project. The modernization project has followed the same development process used in the upgrade of the process computer of PWR German nuclear power plants. (Author)

Embedded mobile farm robot for identification of diseased plants

Science.gov (United States)

Sadistap, S. S.; Botre, B. A.; Pandit, Harshavardhan; Chandrasekhar; Rao, Adesh

2013-07-01

This paper presents the development of a mobile robot used in farms for identification of diseased plants. It puts forth two of the major aspects of robotics namely automated navigation and image processing. The robot navigates on the basis of the GPS (Global Positioning System) location and data obtained from IR (Infrared) sensors to avoid any obstacles in its path. It uses an image processing algorithm to differentiate between diseased and non-diseased plants. A robotic platform consisting of an ARM9 processor, motor drivers, robot mechanical assembly, camera and infrared sensors has been used. Mini2440 microcontroller has been used wherein Embedded linux OS (Operating System) is implemented.

Reconfigurable, Intelligently-Adaptive, Communication System, an SDR Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Roche, Rigoberto J.; Shalkhauser, Mary Jo; Hickey, Joseph P.; Briones, Janette C.

2016-01-01

The Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) provides a common, consistent framework to abstract the application software from the radio platform hardware. STRS aims to reduce the cost and risk of using complex, configurable and reprogrammable radio systems across NASA missions. The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) team made a software defined radio (SDR) platform STRS compliant by adding an STRS operating environment and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) wrapper, capable of implementing each of the platforms interfaces, as well as a test waveform to exercise those interfaces. This effort serves to provide a framework toward waveform development onto an STRS compliant platform to support future space communication systems for advanced exploration missions. The use of validated STRS compliant applications provides tested code with extensive documentation to potentially reduce risk, cost and e ort in development of space-deployable SDRs. This paper discusses the advantages of STRS, the integration of STRS onto a Reconfigurable, Intelligently-Adaptive, Communication System (RIACS) SDR platform, and the test waveform and wrapper development e orts. The paper emphasizes the infusion of the STRS Architecture onto the RIACS platform for potential use in next generation flight system SDRs for advanced exploration missions.

Secure smart embedded devices, platforms and applications

CERN Document Server

Markantonakis, Konstantinos

2013-01-01

New generations of IT users are increasingly abstracted from the underlying devices and platforms that provide and safeguard their services. As a result they may have little awareness that they are critically dependent on the embedded security devices that are becoming pervasive in daily modern life. Secure Smart Embedded Devices, Platforms and Applications provides a broad overview of the many security and practical issues of embedded devices, tokens, and their operation systems, platforms and main applications. It also addresses a diverse range of industry/government initiatives and consider

Research and application of mobile teaching platform

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Ping; Xue, Hongjiao

2017-08-01

The application of mobile technology in university digital campus is ripe. This article mainly introduced the necessity of teaching platform based on mobile Internet in the teaching of higher vocational education, and the key to the construction of the feasibility of mobile learning platform, which is a feasible and effective teaching model under the new situation, worthy of promotion. The design and application of teaching platform based on mobile Internet is the change of educational ideas and working methods, and is the new starting point of Higher Vocational education.

Competitive Positioning of Complementors on Digital Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wessel, Michael; Thies, Ferdinand; Benlian, Alexander

2017-01-01

markets. With increasing numbers of products and services offered via the platforms, signals such as popularity and reputation have become critical market mechanisms that affect the decision-making processes of end-users. In this paper, we examine the positioning strategies of new hosts on Airbnb......, a platform focused on accommodation sharing, to understand how they attempt to cope with the inherent lack of credible quality signals as they join the platform. By analyzing close to 47,000 listings, we find that new hosts follow a cost-leadership strategy rather than trying to differentiate their offerings...

CopperCore, an Open Source IMS Learning Design Engine

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vogten, Hubert

2004-01-01

The presentation gives an overview of the approach of the development programme of the OTEC department towards the development of Open Source. The CopperCore IMS Learning Design engine is described as an example of this approach.

Java-based mobile agent platforms for wireless sensor networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aiello, F.; Carbone, A.; Fortino, G.; Galzarano, S.; Ganzha, M.; Paprzycki, M.

2010-01-01

This paper proposes an overview and comparison of mobile agent platforms for the development of wireless sensor network applications. In particular, the architecture, programming model and basic performance of two Java-based agent platforms, Mobile Agent Platform for Sun SPOT (MAPS) and Agent

Ronald Fisher, otec biostatistiky

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kalina, Jan

2012-01-01

Roč. 57, č. 3 (2012), s. 186-190 ISSN 0032-2423 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1M06014 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : dějiny matematiky * dějiny genetiky * Hardyovo-Weinbergovo ekvilibrium * klasifikační analýza Subject RIV: AB - History http://dml.cz/handle/10338.dmlcz/143200

Platform for Modeling and Simulation of Photovoltaic Generation Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anny A. Arroyave-Berrio

2013-11-01

Full Text Available A platform for modeling and simulation using Matlab is presented. The platform has four models of photovoltaic panels. It identifies the parameters of each one, for a given solar panel, based on experimental data of voltage, current and environmental conditions. Also the platform generates four blocks, for using in Matlab-Simulink and Psim simulation tools. The experimental validation of the platform was made using the PV panels of the Metropolitan Technological Institute (ITM Lab.

Antibody Production in Plants and Green Algae.

Science.gov (United States)

Yusibov, Vidadi; Kushnir, Natasha; Streatfield, Stephen J

2016-04-29

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have a wide range of modern applications, including research, diagnostic, therapeutic, and industrial uses. Market demand for mAbs is high and continues to grow. Although mammalian systems, which currently dominate the biomanufacturing industry, produce effective and safe recombinant mAbs, they have a limited manufacturing capacity and high costs. Bacteria, yeast, and insect cell systems are highly scalable and cost effective but vary in their ability to produce appropriate posttranslationally modified mAbs. Plants and green algae are emerging as promising production platforms because of their time and cost efficiencies, scalability, lack of mammalian pathogens, and eukaryotic posttranslational protein modification machinery. So far, plant- and algae-derived mAbs have been produced predominantly as candidate therapeutics for infectious diseases and cancer. These candidates have been extensively evaluated in animal models, and some have shown efficacy in clinical trials. Here, we review ongoing efforts to advance the production of mAbs in plants and algae.

Construct ability Improvement for Nuclear Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Dae Soo; Lee, Jong Rim; Kim, Jong Ku [Korea Electric Power Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1997-12-31

The purpose of this study was to identify methods for improving the construct ability of nuclear power plants. This study reviewed several references of current construction practices of domestic and overseas nuclear plants in order to identify potential methods for improving construct ability. The identified methods for improving construct ability were then evaluated based on the applicability to domestic nuclear plant construction. The selected methods are expected to reduce the construction period, improve the quality of construction, cost, safety, and productivity. Selection of which methods should be implemented will require further evaluation of construction modifications, design changes, contract revisions. Among construction methods studied, platform construction methods can be applied through construction sequence modification without significant design changes, and Over the Top construction method of the NSSS, automatic welding of RCL pipes, CLP modularization, etc., are considered to be applied after design modification and adjustment of material lead time. (author). 49 refs., figs., tabs.

Online stock trading platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ion LUNGU

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The Internet is the perfect tool that can assure the market’s transparency for any user who wants to trade on the stock market. The investor can have access to the market news, financial calendar or the press releases of the issuers. A good online trading platform also provides real-time intraday quotes, trading history and technical analysis giving the investor a clearer view of the supply and demand in the market. All this information provides the investor a good image of the market and encourages him to trade. This paper wishes to draft the pieces of an online trading platform and to analyze the impact of developing and implementing one in a brokerage firm.

Common tester platform concept.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hurst, Michael James

2008-05-01

This report summarizes the results of a case study on the doctrine of a common tester platform, a concept of a standardized platform that can be applicable across the broad spectrum of testing requirements throughout the various stages of a weapons program, as well as across the various weapons programs. The common tester concept strives to define an affordable, next-generation design that will meet testing requirements with the flexibility to grow and expand; supporting the initial development stages of a weapons program through to the final production and surveillance stages. This report discusses a concept investing key leveraging technologies and operational concepts combined with prototype tester-development experiences and practical lessons learned gleaned from past weapons programs.

On the notion of abstract platform in MDA development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Andrade Almeida, João; Dijkman, R.M.; van Sinderen, Marten J.; Ferreira Pires, Luis

2004-01-01

Although platform-independence is a central property in MDA models, the study of platform-independence has been largely overlooked in MDA. As a consequence, there is a lack of guidelines to select abstraction criteria and modelling concepts for platform-independent design. In addition, there is

Graphalytics: A Big Data Benchmark for Graph-Processing Platforms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Capotă (Mihai); T. Hegeman (Tim); A. Iosup (Alexandru); A. Prat; O. Erling (Orri); P.A. Boncz (Peter)

2015-01-01

htmlabstractGraphs are increasingly used in industry, governance, and science. This has stimulated the appearance of many and diverse graph-processing platforms. Although platform diversity is beneficial, it also makes it very challenging to select the best platform for an application domain or one

A body sensor platform for concurrent applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bui, T.V.; Verhoeven, R.; Lukkien, J.J.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a Body Sensor Platform supporting concurrent applications that share resources and data. Concerns are application isolation, data privacy and platform trustworthiness in view of dynamic loading of applications. A prototype has been built on commercial-off-the-shelf hardware. The

NASA Space Biology Plant Research for 2010-2020

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, H. G.; Tomko, D. L.; Porterfield, D. M.

2012-01-01

The U.S. National Research Council (NRC) recently published "Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era" (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record id=13048), and NASA completed a Space Biology Science Plan to develop a strategy for implementing its recommendations ( http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/library/esmd documents.html). The most important recommendations of the NRC report on plant biology in space were that NASA should: (1) investigate the roles of microbial-plant systems in long-term bioregenerative life support systems, and (2) establish a robust spaceflight program of research analyzing plant growth and physiological responses to the multiple stimuli encountered in spaceflight environments. These efforts should take advantage of recently emerged analytical technologies (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) and apply modern cellular and molecular approaches in the development of a vigorous flight-based and ground-based research program. This talk will describe NASA's strategy and plans for implementing these NRC Plant Space Biology recommendations. New research capabilities for Plant Biology, optimized by providing state-of-the-art automated technology and analytical techniques to maximize scientific return, will be described. Flight experiments will use the most appropriate platform to achieve science results (e.g., ISS, free flyers, sub-orbital flights) and NASA will work closely with its international partners and other U.S. agencies to achieve its objectives. One of NASA's highest priorities in Space Biology is the development research capabilities for use on the International Space Station and other flight platforms for studying multiple generations of large plants. NASA will issue recurring NASA Research Announcements (NRAs) that include a rapid turn-around model to more fully engage the biology community in designing experiments to respond to the NRC recommendations. In doing so, NASA

Designing platform independent mobile apps and services

CERN Document Server

Heckman, Rocky

2016-01-01

This book explains how to help create an innovative and future proof architecture for mobile apps by introducing practical approaches to increase the value and flexibility of their service layers and reduce their delivery time. Designing Platform Independent Mobile Apps and Services begins by describing the mobile computing landscape and previous attempts at cross platform development. Platform independent mobile technologies and development strategies are described in chapter two and three. Communication protocols, details of a recommended five layer architecture, service layers, and the data abstraction layer are also introduced in these chapters. Cross platform languages and multi-client development tools for the User Interface (UI) layer, as well as message processing patterns and message routing of the Service Int rface (SI) layer are explained in chapter four and five. Ways to design the service layer for mobile computing, using Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) and the Data Abstraction La...

Mobile Prototyping Platforms for Remote Engineering Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karsten Henke

2009-08-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a low-cost mobile communication platform as a universal rapid-prototyping system, which is based on the Quadrocopter concept. At the Integrated Hardware and Software Systems Group at the Ilmenau University of Technology these mobile platforms are used to motivate bachelor and master students to study Computer Engineering sciences. This could be done by increasing their interest in technical issues, using this platform as integral part of a new ad-hoc lab to demonstrate different aspects in the area of Mobile Communication as well as universal rapid prototyping nodes to investigate different mechanisms for self-organized mobile communication systems within the International Graduate School on Mobile Communications. Beside the three fields of application, the paper describes the current architecture concept of the mobile prototyping platform as well as the chosen control mechanism and the assigned sensor systems to fulfill all the required tasks.

Design for game based learning platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Birgitte Holm; Meyer, Bente

2010-01-01

This paper focuses on the challenges related to the design of game based learning platforms for formal learning contexts that are inspired by the pupil's leisure time related use of web 2.0. The paper is based on the project Serious Games on a Global Market Place (2007-2011) founded by the Danish...... of web 2.0 and integrates theories of learning, didactics, games, play, communication, multimodality and different pedagogical approaches. In relation to the introduced model the teacher role is discussed.......This paper focuses on the challenges related to the design of game based learning platforms for formal learning contexts that are inspired by the pupil's leisure time related use of web 2.0. The paper is based on the project Serious Games on a Global Market Place (2007-2011) founded by the Danish...... Council for Strategic Research, in which an online game-based platform for English as a foreign language in primary school is studied. The paper presents a model for designing for game based learning platforms. This design is based on cultural and ethnographic based research on children's leisure time use...

ALICE Connex : Mobile Volunteer Computing and Edutainment Platform

CERN Document Server

Chalumporn, Gantaphon

2016-01-01

Mobile devices are very powerful and trend to be developed. They have functions that are used in everyday life. One of their main tasks is to be an entertainment devices or gaming platform. A lot of technologies are now accepted and adopted to improve the potential of education. Edutainment is a combination of entertainment and education media together to make use of both benefits. In this work, we introduce a design of edutainment platform which is a part of mobile volunteer computing and edutainment platform called ‘ALICE Connex’ for ALICE at CERN. The edutainment platform focuses to deliver enjoyment and education, while promotes ALICE and Volunteer Computing platform to general public. The design in this work describes the functionality to build an effective edutainment with real-time multiplayer interaction on round-based gameplay, while integrates seamless edutainment with basic particle physic content though game mechanism and items design. For the assessment method we will observe the enjoyment o...

The iPlant Collaborative: Cyberinfrastructure for Enabling Data to Discovery for the Life Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Merchant, Nirav; Lyons, Eric; Goff, Stephen; Vaughn, Matthew; Ware, Doreen; Micklos, David; Antin, Parker

2016-01-01

The iPlant Collaborative provides life science research communities access to comprehensive, scalable, and cohesive computational infrastructure for data management; identity management; collaboration tools; and cloud, high-performance, high-throughput computing. iPlant provides training, learning material, and best practice resources to help all researchers make the best use of their data, expand their computational skill set, and effectively manage their data and computation when working as distributed teams. iPlant's platform permits researchers to easily deposit and share their data and deploy new computational tools and analysis workflows, allowing the broader community to easily use and reuse those data and computational analyses.

Making Spatial Statistics Service Accessible On Cloud Platform

OpenAIRE

Mu, X.; Wu, J.; Li, T; Zhong, Y.; Gao, X.

2014-01-01

Web service can bring together applications running on diverse platforms, users can access and share various data, information and models more effectively and conveniently from certain web service platform. Cloud computing emerges as a paradigm of Internet computing in which dynamical, scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as services. With the rampant growth of massive data and restriction of net, traditional web services platforms have some prominent problems existi...

Platform for the acceleration of energy liberalization (PVE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

The title platform was founded to support a smooth transition to a liberalized energy market. Representatives of the Dutch government, the energy sector, business and industry and other relevant parties are members of the platform. The platform was officially initiated June 22, 2000. The site contains many documents from the PVE working groups on the liberalization process of the energy market in the Netherlands and Europe in pdf-format [nl

Biosensors for plant pathogen detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Khater, Mohga; de la Escosura-Muñiz, Alfredo; Merkoçi, Arben

2017-07-15

Infectious plant diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, viroids, phytoplasma and nematodes. Worldwide, plant pathogen infections are among main factors limiting crop productivity and increasing economic losses. Plant pathogen detection is important as first step to manage a plant disease in greenhouses, field conditions and at the country boarders. Current immunological techniques used to detect pathogens in plant include enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and direct tissue blot immunoassays (DTBIA). DNA-based techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real time PCR (RT-PCR) and dot blot hybridization have also been proposed for pathogen identification and detection. However these methodologies are time-consuming and require complex instruments, being not suitable for in-situ analysis. Consequently, there is strong interest for developing new biosensing systems for early detection of plant diseases with high sensitivity and specificity at the point-of-care. In this context, we revise here the recent advancement in the development of advantageous biosensing systems for plant pathogen detection based on both antibody and DNA receptors. The use of different nanomaterials such as nanochannels and metallic nanoparticles for the development of innovative and sensitive biosensing systems for the detection of pathogens (i.e. bacteria and viruses) at the point-of-care is also shown. Plastic and paper-based platforms have been used for this purpose, offering cheap and easy-to-use really integrated sensing systems for rapid on-site detection. Beside devices developed at research and development level a brief revision of commercially available kits is also included in this review. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multi-function microfluidic platform for sensor integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandes, Ana C; Semenova, Daria; Panjan, Peter; Sesay, Adama M; Gernaey, Krist V; Krühne, Ulrich

2018-03-06

The limited availability of metabolite-specific sensors for continuous sampling and monitoring is one of the main bottlenecks contributing to failures in bioprocess development. Furthermore, only a limited number of approaches exist to connect currently available measurement systems with high throughput reactor units. This is especially relevant in the biocatalyst screening and characterization stage of process development. In this work, a strategy for sensor integration in microfluidic platforms is demonstrated, to address the need for rapid, cost-effective and high-throughput screening in bioprocesses. This platform is compatible with different sensor formats by enabling their replacement and was built in order to be highly flexible and thus suitable for a wide range of applications. Moreover, this re-usable platform can easily be connected to analytical equipment, such as HPLC, laboratory scale reactors or other microfluidic chips through the use of standardized fittings. In addition, the developed platform includes a two-sensor system interspersed with a mixing channel, which allows the detection of samples that might be outside the first sensor's range of detection, through dilution of the sample solution up to 10 times. In order to highlight the features of the proposed platform, inline monitoring of glucose levels is presented and discussed. Glucose was chosen due to its importance in biotechnology as a relevant substrate. The platform demonstrated continuous measurement of substrate solutions for up to 12 h. Furthermore, the influence of the fluid velocity on substrate diffusion was observed, indicating the need for in-flow calibration to achieve a good quantitative output. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Graphalytics : A big data benchmark for graph-processing platforms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Capota, Mihai; Hegeman, Tim; Iosup, Alexandru; Prat-Pérez, Arnau; Erling, Orri; Boncz, Peter

2015-01-01

Graphs are increasingly used in industry, governance, and science. This has stimulated the appearance of many and diverse graph-processing platforms. Although platform di- versity is beneficial, it also makes it very challenging to select the best platform for an application domain or one of its im-

Front-end development and multi-language implementation on Magento Platform

OpenAIRE

Lai, Chenjia

2015-01-01

Magento is a smart platform for E-commerce solutions. Aseanic Trading Oy plans to develop a website based on the Magento platform. The purpose of this project is to develop an E-commerce platform for middle and small companies, to improve product management, and to increase a company’s profit. This project is developed based on the Magento platform. The backend of the Magento platform uses PHP language, while the frontend uses DIV, CSS and jQuery. Also, MySQL is used as the database suppo...

Flexible Communication Platform for Crisis Management

OpenAIRE

Jiří Barta; Tomáš Ludík; Jiří Urbánek

2013-01-01

Topics Disaster and Emergency Management are highly debated among experts. Fast communication will help to deal with emergencies. Problem is with the network connection and data exchange. The paper suggests a solution, which allows possibilities and perspectives of new flexible communication platform to the protection of communication systems for crisis management. This platform is used for everyday communication and communication in crisis situations too.

Flexibility in the context of intelligent plant's development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Augusto Pereira

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Globalization and competition among companies bring changes in the product development, reducing increasingly its life's cycle. Corporations are opting to world-wide products platforms, with global strategies. Besides the wider vision about corporative strategies, dynamic markets and strong competition are impacting in the medium and short term companies' demands. All these characteristics create turbulences in the organizations, but they can also convey opportunities. In order to take strategic advantage in this process, companies ought to innovate, changing the manner of planning and operating its plants. One possibility to achieve these goals is using flexibility in the manufacture. In this paper, flexibility aspects will be addressed in context of band, reply and dimension, and, how companies can apply this benefit to get better design in their plants and manufacture process, and eliminate waste. Key-words: Flexibility, Toyota Production System, Lean Manufacturing, Intelligent Plants, Wastes’ elimination.

Fluidics platform and method for sample preparation

Science.gov (United States)

Benner, Henry W.; Dzenitis, John M.

2016-06-21

Provided herein are fluidics platforms and related methods for performing integrated sample collection and solid-phase extraction of a target component of the sample all in one tube. The fluidics platform comprises a pump, particles for solid-phase extraction and a particle-holding means. The method comprises contacting the sample with one or more reagents in a pump, coupling a particle-holding means to the pump and expelling the waste out of the pump while the particle-holding means retains the particles inside the pump. The fluidics platform and methods herein described allow solid-phase extraction without pipetting and centrifugation.

New Digital Metal-Oxide (MOx Sensor Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Rüffer

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The application of metal oxide gas sensors in Internet of Things (IoT devices and mobile platforms like wearables and mobile phones offers new opportunities for sensing applications. Metal-oxide (MOx sensors are promising candidates for such applications, thanks to the scientific progresses achieved in recent years. For the widespread application of MOx sensors, viable commercial offerings are required. In this publication, the authors show that with the new Sensirion Gas Platform (SGP a milestone in the commercial application of MOx technology has been reached. The architecture of the new platform and its performance in selected applications are presented.

Launching a Two-sided Platform

OpenAIRE

Solheim, Magnus Tovsen; Tovsen, Ole Kristoffer Solheim

2017-01-01

Two-sided platforms, such as Airbnb, Uber and eBay, have all revolutionized their industries. Despite having colossal potential, they are very difficult to launch. This is due to what s referred to as network effects, which imply that the value of the platform becomes larger as more people use it. Network effects lead to a chicken-or-egg-problem , where it is difficult to convince sellers to join if there are no buyers and vice versa, in addition to the need to reach a critical mass of users...

Risk Management of P2P Internet Financing Service Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Yalei, Li

2017-09-01

Since 2005, the world’s first P2P Internet financing service platform Zopa in UK was introduced, in the development of “Internet +” trend, P2P Internet financing service platform has been developed rapidly. In 2007, China’s first P2P platform “filming loan” was established, marking the P2P Internet financing service platform to enter China and the rapid development. At the same time, China’s P2P Internet financing service platform also appeared in different forms of risk. This paper focuses on the analysis of the causes of risk of P2P Internet financing service platform and the performance of risk management process. It provides a solution to the Internet risk management plan, and explains the risk management system of the whole P2P Internet financing service platform and the future development direction.