Digitally Programmable High-Q Voltage Mode Universal Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Singh

2013-12-01

Full Text Available A new low-voltage low-power CMOS current feedback amplifier (CFA is presented in this paper. This is used to realize a novel digitally programmable CFA (DPCFA using transistor arrays and MOS switches. The proposed realizations nearly allow rail-to-rail swing capability at all the ports. Class-AB output stage ensures low power dissipation and high current drive capability. The proposed CFA/ DPCFA operates at supply voltage of ±0.75 V and exhibits bandwidth better than 95 MHz. An application of the DPCFA to realize a novel voltage mode high-Q digitally programmable universal filter (UF is given. Performances of all the proposed circuits are verified by PSPICE simulation using TSMC 0.25μm technology parameters.

Digital synchronization and communication techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsey, William C.

1992-01-01

Information on digital synchronization and communication techniques is given in viewgraph form. Topics covered include phase shift keying, modems, characteristics of open loop digital synchronizers, an open loop phase and frequency estimator, and a digital receiver structure using an open loop estimator in a decision directed architecture.

Principles of digital communication and coding

CERN Document Server

Viterbi, Andrew J

2009-01-01

This classic by two digital communications experts is geared toward students of communications theory and to designers of channels, links, terminals, modems, or networks used to transmit and receive digital messages. 1979 edition.

Digital control programmer for temperature control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajore, S.B.; Kumar, S.V.

1993-01-01

This report describes a PC based digital control programmer for controlling and programming temperature of a high vacuum resistance heating furnace and the software developed to control power using PID algorithm. It also describes the amplifier specially developed to suit the input requirement of the non-standard W5 thermocouple and the software and hardware protections introduced in the system. (author). 5 refs., 8 figs., 1 appendix

Building Digital Economy - The Research Councils Programme and the Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Hand, John

We at the Research Councils believe that there are many aspects of society and business that could be transformed by the innovative design and use of digital technologies. This has led to the Digital Economy Programme. The Digital Economy is an RCUK Cross-Research Council Programme, led by the EPSRC, but working closely with ESRC, MRC, AHRC and TSB. What is Digital Economy? Digital Economy is the novel design or use of information and communication technology to help transform the lives of individuals, society or business. All Digital Economy research involves the user community. This can include industry, government, society, charities or other groups as applicable. The research will understand the technologies and also why change is needed, what the impacts will be and who will benefit. Research in this cross-research council area can be driven by economic, social or technical need. The early involvement of the user community is vital if new technologies are to be integrated successfully into business opportunities, technical solutions or commercial products and processes. Challenges in the Digital Economy will require multi-disciplinary academic input, including, but not limited to, the arts and humanities, economic and social sciences and medical sciences, in addition to engineering and physical sciences.

Field-Programmable Gate Array-based fluxgate magnetometer with digital integration

Science.gov (United States)

Butta, Mattia; Janosek, Michal; Ripka, Pavel

2010-05-01

In this paper, a digital magnetometer based on printed circuit board fluxgate is presented. The fluxgate is pulse excited and the signal is extracted by gate integration. We investigate the possibility to perform integration on very narrow gates (typically 500 ns) by using digital techniques. The magnetometer is based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) card: we will show all the advantages and disadvantages, given by digitalization of fluxgate output voltage by means of analog-to-digital converter on FPGA card, as well as digitalization performed by external digitizer. Due to very narrow gate, it is shown that a magnetometer entirely based on a FPGA card is preferable, because it avoids noise due to trigger instability. Both open loop and feedback operative mode are described and achieved results are presented.

Usage of Commercial Grade Programmable Digital Systems in Safety Related Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mandic, D.

2006-01-01

This paper explains methods and conditions, which if completely and correctly fulfilled, enable an operating NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) licensed and operating in accordance with the US codes and US regulatory requirements to use a commercial grade programmable digital device (PLC - Programmable Digital Controller, digital controller, digital computer or process computer) in a safety related application in a NPP. In mid 80's, when an intensive construction cycle of the new NPPs in the U.S.A. was completed, many equipment manufacturers either disappeared from the market or they abandoned their product lines that were designed and manufactured under 10 CFR Part 50 Appendix B quality assurance program. The quality assurance as defined by 10 CFR Part 50 Appendix B comprises all those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a Structure, System or Component (SSC) will perform satisfactorily in service . The operating NPPs faced the problem related to the availability of qualified equipment, components and spare parts. The US NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) recognized that problem timely (Oct. 1978 revision of 10CFR21) and required a commercial grade item to be dedicated before it could be used as a basic component. A special process named Dedication of CGI - Commercial Grade Items if conducted properly, provides reasonable assurance that a commercial grade item to be used as a basic component will perform its intended safety related function and, in this respect, is deemed equivalent to an item designed and manufactured under 10 CFR Part 50 Appendix B. After that, the Dedication of CGI has been widely used mostly for relatively simple mechanical, electrical, and IandC components and spare parts. In order to provide guidance to the dedication process, EPRI has issued two documents (EPRI NP-5652 and Supplemental Guidance for EPRI NP-5652). All nuclear power plants, which comply with the US nuclear regulatory requirements, hindered as

Field-programmable beam reconfiguring based on digitally-controlled coding metasurface

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Xiang; Qi, Mei Qing; Chen, Tian Yi; Cui, Tie Jun

2016-02-01

Digital phase shifters have been applied in traditional phased array antennas to realize beam steering. However, the phase shifter deals with the phase of the induced current; hence, it has to be in the path of each element of the antenna array, making the phased array antennas very expensive. Metamaterials and/or metasurfaces enable the direct modulation of electromagnetic waves by designing subwavelength structures, which opens a new way to control the beam scanning. Here, we present a direct digital mechanism to control the scattered electromagnetic waves using coding metasurface, in which each unit cell loads a pin diode to produce binary coding states of “1” and “0”. Through data lines, the instant communications are established between the coding metasurface and the internal memory of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA). Thus, we realize the digital modulation of electromagnetic waves, from which we present the field-programmable reflective antenna with good measurement performance. The proposed mechanism and functional device have great application potential in new-concept radar and communication systems.

Preliminary design of an advanced programmable digital filter network for large passive acoustic ASW systems. [Parallel processor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McWilliams, T.; Widdoes, Jr., L. C.; Wood, L.

1976-09-30

The design of an extremely high performance programmable digital filter of novel architecture, the LLL Programmable Digital Filter, is described. The digital filter is a high-performance multiprocessor having general purpose applicability and high programmability; it is extremely cost effective either in a uniprocessor or a multiprocessor configuration. The architecture and instruction set of the individual processor was optimized with regard to the multiple processor configuration. The optimal structure of a parallel processing system was determined for addressing the specific Navy application centering on the advanced digital filtering of passive acoustic ASW data of the type obtained from the SOSUS net. 148 figures. (RWR)

Application of Field programmable Gate Array to Digital Signal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Journal of Research in National Development ... This work shows how one parallel technology Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) can be applied to digital signal processing problem to increase computational speed. ... In this research work FPGA typically exploits parallelism because FPGA is a parallel device. With the ...

Developing a digital learning version of a mentorship training programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, Debbie; Clark, Liz; Gould, Kathryn

2018-01-25

This article describes the experience of one university team in developing, delivering and evaluating an online Nursing and Midwifery Council-approved mentorship programme for nurses and midwives who support pre-registration students in practice. Although the authors are confident of the quality of the educational provision, this article does not discuss this programme as an exemplar of best practice, but aims to share the learning gained from the experience of introducing a digital learning version of a mentorship course.

Enhancing Learning Effectiveness in Digital Design Courses through the Use of Programmable Logic Boards

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Yi; Weng, T.; Cheng, Chung-Kuan

2009-01-01

Incorporating programmable logic devices (PLD) in digital design courses has become increasingly popular. The advantages of using PLDs, such as complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), have been discussed before. However, previous studies have focused on the experiences from the point of view of the…

Optimal Power Allocation for Downstream xDSL With Per-Modem Total Power Constraints: Broadcast Channel Optimal Spectrum Balancing (BC-OSB)

Science.gov (United States)

Le Nir, Vincent; Moonen, Marc; Verlinden, Jan; Guenach, Mamoun

2009-02-01

Recently, the duality between Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Multiple Access Channels (MAC) and MIMO Broadcast Channels (BC) has been established under a total power constraint. The same set of rates for MAC can be achieved in BC exploiting the MAC-BC duality formulas while preserving the total power constraint. In this paper, we describe the BC optimal power allo- cation applying this duality in a downstream x-Digital Subscriber Lines (xDSL) context under a total power constraint for all modems over all tones. Then, a new algorithm called BC-Optimal Spectrum Balancing (BC-OSB) is devised for a more realistic power allocation under per-modem total power constraints. The capacity region of the primal BC problem under per-modem total power constraints is found by the dual optimization problem for the BC under per-modem total power constraints which can be rewritten as a dual optimization problem in the MAC by means of a precoder matrix based on the Lagrange multipliers. We show that the duality gap between the two problems is zero. The multi-user power allocation problem has been solved for interference channels and MAC using the OSB algorithm. In this paper we solve the problem of multi-user power allocation for the BC case using the OSB algorithm as well and we derive a computational efficient algorithm that will be referred to as BC-OSB. Simulation results are provided for two VDSL2 scenarios: the first one with Differential-Mode (DM) transmission only and the second one with both DM and Phantom- Mode (PM) transmissions.

Carbon Nanotubes-Based Digitally Programmable Current Follower

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. K. Tripathi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The physical constraints of ever-shrinking CMOS transistors are rapidly approaching atomistic and quantum mechanical limits. Therefore, research is now directed towards the development of nanoscale devices that could work efficiently in the sub-10 nm regime. This coupled with the fact that recent design trend for analog signal processing applications is moving towards current-mode circuits which offer lower voltage swings, higher bandwidth, and better signal linearity is the motivation for this work. A digitally controlled DVCC has been realized using CNFETs. This work exploited the CNFET’s parameters like chirality, pitch, and numbers of CNTs to perform the digital control operation. The circuit has minimum number of transistors and can control the output current digitally. A similar CMOS circuit with 32 nm CMOS parameters was also simulated and compared. The result shows that CMOS-based circuit requires 418.6 μW while CNFET-based circuit consumes 352.1 μW only. Further, the proposed circuit is used to realize a CNFET-based instrumentation amplifier with digitally programmable gain. The amplifier has a CMRR of 100 dB and ICMR equal to 0.806 V. The 3 dB bandwidth of the amplifier is 11.78 GHz which is suitable for the applications like navigation, radar instrumentation, and high-frequency signal amplification and conditioning.

LTE modem power consumption, SAR and RF signal strength emulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Musiige, Deogratius; Vincent, Laulagnet; Anton, François

2012-01-01

This paper presents a new methodology for emulating the LTE modem power consumption, emitted SAR and RF signal strength when transmitting an LTE signal. The inputs of the methodology are: modem logical/protocol commands, time advance, near-field specifier, and antenna characteristics. The power...... emulation model(s) are computed by a two layer 451 neural network based on physical power measurements. SAR is emulated by polynomial interpolation models based on FDTD simulations. The accuracies of the mathematical function approximations for the emulation models of power and SAR are 5.19% and 3...

The Digital North Denmark Programme -Promoting Regional Change?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard, Christian Richter

2007-01-01

The Digital North Denmark (DDN) was an IT programme running from 2000 to 2003 in the North Jutland County in Denmark with national government support of € 23 million. The Danish government initiated the programme with the aim of further strengthening regions with an already proven ICT capability...... (Dybkjær and Lindegaard, 1999, p.96-100). The declared approach was to build on the existing competencies in industry as well as at universities. The national government chose two regions – Ørestaden, a new concentration of knowledge-based institutions near Copenhagen Airport, and North Jutland......-offers within four themes. The participants - meant to be project consortia of ideally private firms, public or private organisations as well as regional and municipal government bodies - could get a maximum national government support of one third of the total project sum.This chapter investigates how...

Digitally programmable microfluidic automaton for multiscale combinatorial mixing and sample processing†

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Erik C.; Stockton, Amanda M.; Chiesl, Thomas N.; Kim, Jungkyu; Bera, Abhisek; Mathies, Richard A.

2013-01-01

A digitally programmable microfluidic Automaton consisting of a 2-dimensional array of pneumatically actuated microvalves is programmed to perform new multiscale mixing and sample processing operations. Large (µL-scale) volume processing operations are enabled by precise metering of multiple reagents within individual nL-scale valves followed by serial repetitive transfer to programmed locations in the array. A novel process exploiting new combining valve concepts is developed for continuous rapid and complete mixing of reagents in less than 800 ms. Mixing, transfer, storage, and rinsing operations are implemented combinatorially to achieve complex assay automation protocols. The practical utility of this technology is demonstrated by performing automated serial dilution for quantitative analysis as well as the first demonstration of on-chip fluorescent derivatization of biomarker targets (carboxylic acids) for microchip capillary electrophoresis on the Mars Organic Analyzer. A language is developed to describe how unit operations are combined to form a microfluidic program. Finally, this technology is used to develop a novel microfluidic 6-sample processor for combinatorial mixing of large sets (>26 unique combinations) of reagents. The digitally programmable microfluidic Automaton is a versatile programmable sample processor for a wide range of process volumes, for multiple samples, and for different types of analyses. PMID:23172232

Digital Instrumentation and Control working group (DICWG) - MDEP DICWG Programme Plan 2012 2013

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-02-01

The Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP) Digital Instrumentation and Controls Working Group (DICWG) was approved by MDEP's Policy Group in March 2008 and meets approximately 3 times a year. All MDEP members and the IAEA are invited to participate in this working group's activities. The DICWG's main objectives are as follows: - to document common positions in the DI and C safety systems design areas; - to harmonise and converge national codes, standards and regulatory requirements and practices in this area while recognising the sovereign rights and responsibilities of national regulators in carrying out their safety reviews of new reactor designs (see the DICWG programme plan for more details of the group's work). The DICWG interacts regularly with the following organisations: - IEC (International Electro-technical Commission) Subcommittee 45A, Instrumentation and Control of Nuclear Facilities; - IEEE (Institute of Electric and Electronics Engineers); - other organisations involved in the design of digital I and C safety systems for nuclear power plants. The DICWG reports its status to the MDEP Steering Technical Committee at the latter's thrice annual meetings. This document presents the 2012 and 2013 programme plan and its products: the Generic Common Position DICWG-02 on Software Tools; the Generic Common Position DICWG-03 on Verification and Validation throughout the Life Cycle of Safety Systems Using Digital Computers; the Generic Common Position DICWG-04 on Communication Independence; the Generic Common Position DICWG-05 on Treatment of Hardware Description Language (HDL) Programmed Devices for Use in Nuclear Safety Systems; the Generic Common Position DICWG-06 on Simplicity in Design; the Generic Common Position DICWG-08 on Impact of Cyber Security Features on Digital I and C Safety Systems

Digital mammography in a screening programme and its implications for pathology: a comparative study.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Feeley, Linda

2011-03-01

Most studies comparing full-field digital mammography (FFDM) with conventional screen-film mammography (SFM) have been radiology-based. The pathological implications of FFDM have received little attention in the literature, especially in the context of screening programmes. The primary objective of this retrospective study is to compare FFDM with SFM in a population-based screening programme with regard to a number of pathological parameters.

Finnish experiences on licensing and using of programmable digital systems in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haapanen, P.; Maskuniitty, M.; Heimburger, H.; Hall, L.E.; Manninen, T.

1993-01-01

Finnish utility companies, Imatran Voima Oy (IVO) and Teollisuuden Voima (TVO), and the licensing authority, the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (STUK), are preparing for a new nuclear power plant in Finland. Plant vendors are proposing programmable digital automation systems for both the safety-related and the operational I and C (instrumentation and control) systems in this new unit. Also in existing plant units the replacement of certain old analog systems with state-of-the-art digital ones will become necessary in the years to come. Licensing of programmable systems for safety critical applications requires a new approach due to the special properties and failure modes of these systems. The major difficulties seem to be in the assessment and quantification of software reliability. The Technical Research Centre of Finland has in co-operation with the authority and the utilities conducted a project (AJA) to develop domestically applicable licensing requirements, guidelines and practices. International standards, guidelines and licensing practices have been analyzed in order to specify national licensing requirements. The paper describes and discusses the findings and experiences of the AJA project so far. The experience in introducing advanced programmable digital control and computer systems in the operating nuclear power plants will be covered briefly. Although these systems are not safety-related but systems of more general interest regarding nuclear safety, some routines regarding the licensing of safety- related systems have been followed. In these backfitting and replacement projects some experience have been gained in how to license safety-related programmable systems. (Author) 31 refs., 2 figs

Digital front-end module (DFEM) series; Digital front end module (DFEM) series

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-03-01

The digital front-end module (DFEM) is a module in which the processes ranging from the reception of digitally modulated radiofrequencies to the output of digital IF (Intermediate Frequency) signals or data streams are integrated. Beginning with a module for the MCNS (Multimedia Cable Network System) cable modem which was the first module in this business field approved by the Cable Labs, U.S., Toshiba has developed a series of DFEMs for various digital media for satellites, ground waves, and CATV (Cable Television) systems. The series is characterized by (1) the serialization of DFEMs compatible with various digital modulation techniques such as 8 PSK (Phase Shift Keying), OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), and 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), (2) easy connection with digital circuits thanks to the high shielding effect, and (3) the achievement of smaller size, higher performance, and lower power consumption. (translated by NEDO)

Implementation of Adaptive Digital Controllers on Programmable Logic Devices

Science.gov (United States)

Gwaltney, David A.; King, Kenneth D.; Smith, Keary J.; Monenegro, Justino (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Much has been made of the capabilities of FPGA's (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) in the hardware implementation of fast digital signal processing. Such capability also makes an FPGA a suitable platform for the digital implementation of closed loop controllers. Other researchers have implemented a variety of closed-loop digital controllers on FPGA's. Some of these controllers include the widely used proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, state space controllers, neural network and fuzzy logic based controllers. There are myriad advantages to utilizing an FPGA for discrete-time control functions which include the capability for reconfiguration when SRAM-based FPGA's are employed, fast parallel implementation of multiple control loops and implementations that can meet space level radiation tolerance requirements in a compact form-factor. Generally, a software implementation on a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or microcontroller is used to implement digital controllers. At Marshall Space Flight Center, the Control Electronics Group has been studying adaptive discrete-time control of motor driven actuator systems using digital signal processor (DSP) devices. While small form factor, commercial DSP devices are now available with event capture, data conversion, pulse width modulated (PWM) outputs and communication peripherals, these devices are not currently available in designs and packages which meet space level radiation requirements. In general, very few DSP devices are produced that are designed to meet any level of radiation tolerance or hardness. The goal of this effort is to create a fully digital, flight ready controller design that utilizes an FPGA for implementation of signal conditioning for control feedback signals, generation of commands to the controlled system, and hardware insertion of adaptive control algorithm approaches. An alternative is required for compact implementation of such functionality to withstand the harsh environment

The Digital Heart Manual: A pilot study of an innovative cardiac rehabilitation programme developed for and with users.

Science.gov (United States)

Deighan, C; Michalova, L; Pagliari, C; Elliott, J; Taylor, L; Ranaldi, H

2017-08-01

Patients are seeking greater choice and flexibility in how they engage with self-management programmes. While digital innovations offer opportunities to deliver supportive interventions to patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation little is known about how accessible, useful and acceptable they are for this group. This project developed a digital version of a leading evidenced cardiac rehabilitation programme, the Heart Manual (HM). The prototype was developed and evaluated iteratively in collaboration with end users. Using a mixed methods design 28 participants provided feedback using semi-structured questionnaires and telephone interviews. Rich data revealed the perceived user-friendliness of the HM digital format and its effectiveness at communicating the programme's key messages. It flagged areas requiring development, such as more flexible and intuitive navigation pathways. These suggestions informed the refinement of the resource. This evaluation offers support for the new Digital Heart Manual and confirms the value of employing a user-centred approach when developing and improving online interventions. The system is now in use and recommendations from the evaluation are being translated into quality improvements. The Digital Heart Manual is user friendly and accessible to patients and health professionals, regardless of age, presenting a suitable alternative to the paper version. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Third-Order Elliptic Lowpass Filter for Multi-Standard Baseband Chain Using Highly Linear Digitally Programmable OTA

Science.gov (United States)

Elamien, Mohamed B.; Mahmoud, Soliman A.

2018-03-01

In this paper, a third-order elliptic lowpass filter is designed using highly linear digital programmable balanced OTA. The filter exhibits a cutoff frequency tuning range from 2.2 MHz to 7.1 MHz, thus, it covers W-CDMA, UMTS, and DVB-H standards. The programmability concept in the filter is achieved by using digitally programmable operational transconductors amplifier (DPOTA). The DPOTA employs three linearization techniques which are the source degeneration, double differential pair and the adaptive biasing. Two current division networks (CDNs) are used to control the value of the transconductance. For the DPOTA, the third-order harmonic distortion (HD3) remains below -65 dB up to 0.4 V differential input voltage at 1.2 V supply voltage. The DPOTA and the filter are designed and simulated in 90 nm CMOS technology with LTspice simulator.

Programmable electronic system for analog and digital gamma cameras modernization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osorio Deliz, J. F.; Diaz Garcia, A.; Arista Omeu, E. J.

2013-01-01

At present the use of analog and digital gamma cameras is continuously increasing in developing countries. Many of them still largely rely in old hardware electronics, which in many cases limits their use in actual nuclear medicine diagnostic studies. For this reason worldwide there are different medical equipment manufacturing companies engaged into partial or total Gamma Cameras modernization. Nevertheless in several occasions acquisition prices are not affordable for developing countries. This work describes the basic features of a programmable electronic system that allows improving acquisitions functions and processing of analog and digital gamma cameras. This system is based on an electronic board for the acquisition and digitization of nuclear pulses which have been generated by gamma camera detector. It comprises a hardware interface with PC and the associated software to fully signal processing. Signal shaping and image processing are included. The extensive use of reference tables in the processing and signal imaging software allowed the optimization of the processing speed. Time design and system cost were also decreased. (Author)

Broadband Wireline Provider Service: Cable Modem - Other; BBRI_cableOther12

Data.gov (United States)

University of Rhode Island Geospatial Extension Program — This dataset represents the availability of wireline broadband Internet access in Rhode Island via "Cable Modem - Other" technology. Broadband availability is...

Underwater Acoustic Modem Configured for Use in a Local Area Network

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Rice, J

1998-01-01

The U.S. Navy Telesonar RDT&E effort is developing a low cost, non-coherent acoustic modem capable of data transmission under adverse channel conditions at data rates up to 2400 bits per second (bps...

Digital innovations and emerging technologies for enhanced recovery programmes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Michard, F; Gan, T J; Kehlet, H

2017-01-01

Enhanced recovery programmes (ERPs) are increasingly used to improve post-surgical recovery. However, compliance to various components of ERPs-a key determinant of success-remains sub-optimal. Emerging technologies have the potential to help patients and caregivers to improve compliance with ERPs...... of the above-mentioned ERP elements is omitted during the surgical journey.By optimizing compliance to the multiple components of ERPs, digital innovations, non-invasive techniques and wearable sensors have the potential to magnify the clinical and economic benefits of ERPs. Among the growing number...... of technical innovations, studies are needed to clarify which tools and solutions have real clinical value and are cost-effective....

Voice-band Modems: A Device to Transmit Data Over Telephone ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Voice-band Modems: A Device to Transmit Data. Over Telephone Networks. 1. Basic Principles of Data Trans.mission v U Reddy is with the. Electrical Communica- tion Engineering. Department, Indian. Institute of Science. His research areas are adaptive signal process- ing, multirate filtering and wavelets, and multi-.

Effects of electromagnetic waves emitted from 3G+wi-fi modems on human semen analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamali, Koosha; Atarod, Mohammadmehdi; Sarhadi, Saeedeh; Nikbakht, Javad; Emami, Maryam; Maghsoudi, Robab; Salimi, Hormoz; Fallahpour, Bita; Kamali, Negar; Momtazan, Abdolreza; Ameli, Mojtaba

2017-10-25

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of 3G+wifi modems on human sperm quality.A total of 40 semen specimens were gathered between March and September 2015, from healthy adult men. The sperm samples were divided into two groups - 3G+wi-fi exposed and unexposed groups. In the unexposed group, the specimens were shielded by aluminum foil in three layers and put into an incubator at a temperature of 37°C for 50 minutes. The exposed group was positioned in another room in an incubator at a temperature of 37°C for 50 minutes. A 3G+wi-fi modem was put into the same incubator and a laptop computer was connected to the modem and was downloading for the entire 50 minutes.Semen analysis was done for each specimen and comparisons between parameters of the two groups were done by using Kolmogorov-Smirnov study and a paired t-test. Mean percentage of sperm with class A and B motility were not significantly different in two groups (p = 0.22 and 0.54, respectively). In class C, it was significantly lower in the exposed group (p = 0.046), while in class D it was significantly higher (p = 0.022).Velocity curvilinear, velocity straight line, velocity average path, mean angular displacement, lateral displacement and beat cross frequency were significantly higher in the unexposed group. The limitation was the in vitro design. Electromagnetic waves (EMWs) emitted from 3G+wi-fi modems cause a significant decrease in sperm motility and velocity, especially in non-progressive motile sperms. Other parameters of semen analysis did not change significantly.EMWs, which are used in communications worldwide, are a suspected cause of male infertility. Many studies evaluated the effects of cell phones and wi-fi on fertility. To our knowledge, no study has yet been done to show the effects of EMWs emitted from 3G+wi-fi modems on fertility.Our study revealed a significant decrease in the quality of human semen after exposure to EMWs emitted from 3G+wi-fi modems.

Digital Signal Processing Applications and Implementation for Accelerators Digital Notch Filter with Programmable Delay and Betatron Phase Adjustment for the PS, SPS and LHC Transverse Dampers

CERN Document Server

Rossi, V

2002-01-01

In the framework of the LHC project and the modifications of the SPS as its injector, I present the concept of global digital signal processing applied to a particle accelerator, using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. The approach of global digital synthesis implements in numerical form the architecture of a system, from the start up of a project and the very beginning of the signal flow. It takes into account both the known parameters and the future evolution, whenever possible. Due to the increased performance requirements of today's projects, the CAE design methodology becomes more and more necessary to handle successfully the added complexity and speed of modern electronic circuits. Simulation is performed both for behavioural analysis, to ensure conformity to functional requirements, and for time signal analysis (speed requirements). The digital notch filter with programmable delay for the SPS Transverse Damper is now fully operational with fixed target and LHC-type beams circulating in t...

A Digitally Programmable Differential Integrator with Enlarged Time Constant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. K. Debroy

1994-12-01

Full Text Available A new Operational Amplifier (OA-RC integrator network is described. The novelties of the design are used of single grounded capacitor, ideal integration function realization with dual-input capability and design flexibility for extremely large time constant involving an enlargement factor (K using product of resistor ratios. The aspect of the digital control of K through a programmable resistor array (PRA controlled by a microprocessor has also been implemented. The effect of the OA-poles has been analyzed which indicates degradation of the integrator-Q at higher frequencies. An appropriate Q-compensation design scheme exhibiting 1 : |A|2 order of Q-improvement has been proposed with supporting experimental observations.

Verification Results of Safety-grade Optical Modem for Core Protection Calculator (CPC) in Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jangyeol; Son, Kwangseop; Lee, Youngjun; Cheon, Sewoo; Cha, Kyoungho; Lee, Jangsoo; Kwon, Keechoon [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-05-15

We confirmed that the coverage criteria for a safety-grade optical modem of a Core Protection Calculator is satisfactory using a traceability analysis matrix between high-level requirements and lower-level system test case data set. This paper describes the test environment, test components and items, a traceability analysis, and system tests as a result of system verification and validation based on Software Requirement Specifications (SRS) for a safety-grade optical modem of a Core Protection Calculator (CPC) in a Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP), and Software Design Specifications (SDS) for a safety-grade optical modem of a CPC in a KSNP. All tests were performed according to the test plan and test procedures. Functional testing, performance testing, event testing, and scenario based testing for a safety-grade optical modem of a Core Protection Calculator in a Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant as a thirty-party verifier were successfully performed.

Microwave metamaterials—from passive to digital and programmable controls of electromagnetic waves

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Tie Jun

2017-08-01

Since 2004, my group at Southeast University has been carrying out research into microwave metamaterials, which are classified into three catagories: metamaterials based on the effective medium model, plasmonic metamaterials for spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), and coding and programmable metamaterials. For effective-medium metamaterials, we have developed a general theory to accurately describe effective permittivity and permeability in semi-analytical forms, from which we have designed and realized a three dimensional (3D) wideband ground-plane invisibility cloak, a free-space electrostatic invisibility cloak, an electromagnetic black hole, optical/radar illusions, and radially anisotropic zero-index metamaterial for omni-directional radiation and a nearly perfect power combination of source array, etc. We have also considered the engineering applications of microwave metamaterials, such as a broadband and low-loss 3D transformation-optics lens for wide-angle scanning, a 3D planar gradient-index lens for high-gain radiations, and a random metasurface for reducing radar cross sections. In the area of plasmonic metamaterials, we proposed an ultrathin, narrow, and flexible corrugated metallic strip to guide SPPs with a small bending loss and radiation loss, from which we designed and realized a series of SPP passive devices (e.g. power divider, coupler, filter, and resonator) and active devices (e.g. amplifier and duplexer). We also showed a significant feature of the ultrathin SPP waveguide in overcoming the challenge of signal integrity in traditional integrated circuits, which will help build a high-performance SPP wireless communication system. In the area of coding and programmable metamaterials, we proposed a new measure to describe a metamaterial from the viewpoint of information theory. We have illustrated theoretically and experimentally that coding metamaterials composed of digital units can be controlled by coding sequences, leading to different

Software-defined open-architecture modems: Historical review and the NILUS approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dol, H.S.; Casari, P.; Zwan, T. van der

2014-01-01

Flexible/adaptive modems that are reprogramma-ble/reconfigurable at all layers of the communication stack, either by a user or by means of autonomous decisions, are considered as an important enabler for interoperability and cognitive networking in the underwater domain. This paper reviews existing

Development of a fast time-to-digital converter (TDC) using a programmable gate array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mine, Shun-ichi; Tokushuku, Katsuo; Yamada, Sakue.

1994-09-01

A fast time-to-digital converter with a 5 ns step was designed and tested by utilizing a user-programmable gate array. The stabilities against temperature and supply voltage variation were measured. A module was built with this TDC, and was successfully used in the first-level trigger system of the ZEUS detector to reject proton-beam induced background events. (author)

Broadband Wireline Provider Service: Cable Modem - DOCSIS 3.0; BBRI_cableDOCSIS12

Data.gov (United States)

University of Rhode Island Geospatial Extension Program — This dataset represents the availability of wireline broadband Internet access in Rhode Island via "Cable Modem - DOCSIS 3.0" technology. Broadband availability is...

Experience with the european quality assurance guidelines for digital mammography systems in a national screening programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCullagh, J.; Keavey, E.; Egan, G.; Phelan, N.

2013-01-01

The transition to a fully digital breast screening programme, utilising three different full-field digital mammography (FFDM) systems has presented many challenges to the implementation of the European guidelines for physico-technical quality assurance (QA) testing. An analysis of the QA results collected from the FFDM systems in the screening programme over a 2-y period indicates that the three different systems have similar QA performances. Generally, the same tests were failed by all systems and failure rates were low. The findings provide some assurance that the QA guidelines are being correctly implemented. They also suggest that there is more scope for the development of the relevance of the guidelines with respect to modern FFDM systems. This study has also shown that a summary review of the QA data can be achieved by simple organisation of the QA data storage and by automation of data query and retrieval using commonly available software. (authors)

Exacerbation of demyelinating syndrome after exposure to wireless modem with public hotspot.

Science.gov (United States)

Johansson, Olle; Redmayne, Mary

2016-01-01

In August 2003, 48-year-old JS of Colorado, USA, a fitness therapist and sports nutritionist, contracted neuroinvasive West Nile virus which left her with disabilities due to spinal axonal damage.In August 2014, she suddenly developed symptoms very much like her acute West Nile infection 11 years ago, including focal seizures, ataxia, vertigo and headaches. Her blood count looked normal so there was no obvious infection. What struck her as odd was that when she left her apartment for any length of time, the symptoms stopped. She found out that a new type of wireless modem, enabled for both personal use and functioning as a public hotspot designed to reach up to 100 m, had been installed in the flat under hers.Her neighbor replaced the modem with a router without the hotspot feature. After that, the seizures stopped immediately, and the other symptoms faded gradually, after which she was fine and again could sleep well. Later, when another activated hotspot was installed in an adjacent flat, JS once again noticed symptoms.A possible association between electrohypersensitivity, myelin integrity and exposure to low-intensity radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) typical in the modern world has recently been proposed. Since the West Nile virus attacks both the nerve cells and the glial ones, one explanation to the above observed case effects is that the initial virus attack and the wireless modem's RF-EMF affect the nervous system through the very same, or similar, avenues, and maybe both via the oligodendrocytes.

Development and characterisation of FPGA modems using forward error correction for FSOC

Science.gov (United States)

Mudge, Kerry A.; Grant, Kenneth J.; Clare, Bradley A.; Biggs, Colin L.; Cowley, William G.; Manning, Sean; Lechner, Gottfried

2016-05-01

In this paper we report on the performance of a free-space optical communications (FSOC) modem implemented in FPGA, with data rate variable up to 60 Mbps. To combat the effects of atmospheric scintillation, a 7/8 rate low density parity check (LDPC) forward error correction is implemented along with custom bit and frame synchronisation and a variable length interleaver. We report on the systematic performance evaluation of an optical communications link employing the FPGA modems using a laboratory test-bed to simulate the effects of atmospheric turbulence. Log-normal fading is imposed onto the transmitted free-space beam using a custom LabVIEW program and an acoustic-optic modulator. The scintillation index, transmitted optical power and the scintillation bandwidth can all be independently varied allowing testing over a wide range of optical channel conditions. In particular, bit-error-ratio (BER) performance for different interleaver lengths is investigated as a function of the scintillation bandwidth. The laboratory results are compared to field measurements over 1.5km.

Development and Implementation of Augmented Quality Programmable Digital System in NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mandic, D.; Linke, B.; Thomas, M. S.; Boh, F.

2008-01-01

In order to continue meeting safety and reliability requirements and in the same time controlling NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) operating costs, operators of NPPs must be able to replace and upgrade equipment in a cost effective manner. In spite of the fact, that in the last thirty years no other plant technology has passed through so spectacular development process as instrumentation and control (I and C) systems, digital I and C upgrades in NPPs were hindered because of several reasons. Upgrades of I and C systems typically involve replacement of analog devices or old digital ones with programmable digital technology. While planning and implementing design changes and upgrades in an operating NPP, quality and achievement of excellence in the final products as well as in the implemented processes becomes an unavoidable requirement that is larger challenge to be achieved, if it includes programmable digital systems (PDS). The term 'Augmented Quality' describes special quality requirements that were imposed by licensee and it is related to the subset of the Non-Safety Related (NSR) systems, structures and components (SSC) which are very important for plant reliability, operability, and availability, or like in this particular case, the NSR PDS that could have reasonable potential to cause a transient or turbine trip, which could result in a challenge to safeguard systems, functions or equipment, and because of that is identified also as ITS - Important To Safety equipment. Owing to the specifics of the PDS life cycle, they have to be treated in a different way than other plant equipment, related processes and documentation. It is well known fact that the quality of the integrated PDS can not be achieved, verified and validated solely by the post development and post installation system testing. To achieve non compromising quality and excellence as a final goal, specific quality planning requirements have to be built in all processes and products throughout the PDS life

An FPGA-Integrated Time-to-Digital Converter Based on a Ring Oscillator for Programmable Delay Line Resolution Measurement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao Chen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We describe the architecture of a time-to-digital converter (TDC, specially intended to measure the delay resolution of a programmable delay line (PDL. The configuration, which consists of a ring oscillator, a frequency divider (FD, and a period measurement circuit (PMC, is implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA device. The ring oscillator realized in loop containing a PDL and a look-up table (LUT generates periodic oscillatory pulses. The FD amplifies the oscillatory period from nanosecond range to microsecond range. The time-to-digital conversion is based on counting the number of clock cycles between two consecutive pulses of the FD by the PMC. Experiments have been conducted to verify the performance of the TDC. The achieved relative errors for four PDLs are within 0.50%–1.21% and the TDC has an equivalent resolution of about 0.4 ps.

Digital terrain data base - new possibilities of 3D terrain modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mateja Rihtaršič

1992-12-01

Full Text Available GISs has brought new dimensions in the field of digital terrain modelling, too. Modem DTMs must be real (relational databases with high degree of "intelligence". This paper presents some of the demands, ivhich have to be solved in modern digital terrain databases, together with main steps of their's generation. Problems, connected to regional level, multi-pur pose use, new possibilities and direct integration into GIS are presented. The practical model was created across smaller test area, so few lines with practical experiences can be droped, too.

ATM Quality of Service Tests for Digitized Video Using ATM Over Satellite: Laboratory Tests

Science.gov (United States)

Ivancic, William D.; Brooks, David E.; Frantz, Brian D.

1997-01-01

A digitized video application was used to help determine minimum quality of service parameters for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) over satellite. For these tests, binomially distributed and other errors were digitally inserted in an intermediate frequency link via a satellite modem and a commercial gaussian noise generator. In this paper, the relation- ship between the ATM cell error and cell loss parameter specifications is discussed with regard to this application. In addition, the video-encoding algorithms, test configurations, and results are presented in detail.

Digital innovations and emerging technologies for enhanced recovery programmes.

Science.gov (United States)

Michard, F; Gan, T J; Kehlet, H

2017-07-01

Enhanced recovery programmes (ERPs) are increasingly used to improve post-surgical recovery. However, compliance to various components of ERPs-a key determinant of success-remains sub-optimal. Emerging technologies have the potential to help patients and caregivers to improve compliance with ERPs.Preoperative physical condition, a major determinant of postoperative outcome, could be optimized with the use of text messages (SMS) or digital applications (Apps) designed to facilitate smoking cessation, modify physical activity, and better manage hypertension and diabetes. Several non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring techniques and decision support tools are now available to individualize perioperative fluid management, a key component of ERPs. Objective nociceptive assessment may help to rationalize the use of pain medications, including opioids. Wearable sensors designed to monitor cardio-respiratory function may help in the early detection of clinical deterioration during the postoperative recovery and to address 'failure to rescue'. Activity trackers may be useful to monitor early mobilization, another major element of ERPs. Finally, electronic checklists have been developed to ensure that none of the above-mentioned ERP elements is omitted during the surgical journey.By optimizing compliance to the multiple components of ERPs, digital innovations, non-invasive techniques and wearable sensors have the potential to magnify the clinical and economic benefits of ERPs. Among the growing number of technical innovations, studies are needed to clarify which tools and solutions have real clinical value and are cost-effective. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Journal of Anaesthesia. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Modem: data exchange among decision support systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baig, S.; Zaehringer, M.

2003-01-01

The aim of the European Research and Development project MODEM (Monitoring Data and Information Exchange Among Decision Support Systems) is to achieve practical improvements for data exchange among decision support systems (DSS). Hence, the results of model calculations become comparable. This is a precondition for harmonised decision making. Based on the analysis of existing procedures, it was decided to use the PUSH-PULL concept. Notifications are actively and automatically sent by the DSS (PUSH). The data can then be downloaded form an in-formation server (PULL). The format of the data is defined in XML (extended markup language). Participants of the project are the DSS: RODOS, ARGOS and RECASS. First, the data is comprised of the source term and meteorological information. Results of the prognoses and measurement data are also to be exchanged. Exercises testing and improving the pro-cedures form an integral part of the project. (orig.)

Programmable Digital Controller

Science.gov (United States)

Wassick, Gregory J.

2012-01-01

An existing three-channel analog servo loop controller has been redesigned for piezoelectric-transducer-based (PZT-based) etalon control applications to a digital servo loop controller. This change offers several improvements over the previous analog controller, including software control over proportional-integral-derivative (PID) parameters, inclusion of other data of interest such as temperature and pressure in the control laws, improved ability to compensate for PZT hysteresis and mechanical mount fluctuations, ability to provide pre-programmed scanning and stepping routines, improved user interface, expanded data acquisition, and reduced size, weight, and power.

A digital optical phase-locked loop for diode lasers based on field programmable gate array

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Zhouxiang; Zhang, Xian; Huang, Kaikai; Lu, Xuanhui

2012-09-01

We have designed and implemented a highly digital optical phase-locked loop (OPLL) for diode lasers in atom interferometry. The three parts of controlling circuit in this OPLL, including phase and frequency detector (PFD), loop filter and proportional integral derivative (PID) controller, are implemented in a single field programmable gate array chip. A structure type compatible with the model MAX9382/MCH12140 is chosen for PFD and pipeline and parallelism technology have been adapted in PID controller. Especially, high speed clock and twisted ring counter have been integrated in the most crucial part, the loop filter. This OPLL has the narrow beat note line width below 1 Hz, residual mean-square phase error of 0.14 rad2 and transition time of 100 μs under 10 MHz frequency step. A main innovation of this design is the completely digitalization of the whole controlling circuit in OPLL for diode lasers.

Low-voltage current-mode CMOS building blocks for field programmable analog arrays and application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madian, A.H.K.

2007-01-01

The role of analog integrated circuits in modem electronic systems remains important, even though digital circuits dominate the market for VLSI solutions. Analog systems have always played an essential role in interfacing digital electronics to the real world in applications such as analog signal processing and signal conditioning .Industrial process and motion control and biomedical measurements . In addition, analog solutions are becoming increasingly competitive with digital circuits for dense, low-power, high-speed applications in low-precision signal-processing. Because of the wide variety of analog functions required in electronic systems and the complexity of the signals (frequency, time, signal levels, parasitic), analog system design is very specialized and supported by a diverse set of CAD tools that are more difficult to integrate than those required for digital design. The drive towards shorter design cycles for analog integrated circuits has demanded the development of high performance analog circuits that are re configurable and suitable for CAD methodologies. the researcher here try to contribute in this filed

Picosecond resolution programmable delay line

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suchenek, Mariusz

2009-01-01

The note presents implementation of a programmable delay line for digital signals. The tested circuit has a subnanosecond delay range programmable with a resolution of picoseconds. Implementation of the circuit was based on low-cost components, easily available on the market. (technical design note)

Efficient Design of OFDMA-Based Programmable Wireless Radios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shah SFA

2008-01-01

Full Text Available With the increasing demand for efficient spectrum management, programmable wireless radios can potentially play a key role in shaping our future spectrum use. In this paper, we consider the design of low-power programmable wireless radios based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA. To meet the demands of higher data rate communications, we split OFDMA symbols carrying multiuser data across several noncontiguous bands of available spectrum. To relax power consumption in analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, we use a programmable narrowband RF front end comprising of programmable synthesizers and fixed low-pass filters. To perform digital baseband signal processing in an energy efficient manner, we propose efficient designs for the fast Fourier transform (FFT and inverse FFT (IFFT modules. Our designs of the FFT/IFFT modules reduce power consumption and chip area, and are capable of handling the dynamic nature of spectrum in programmable radios. To recover data that falls within the transition band of the filters, we propose a combiner similar to maximal ratio combiner. We also present the complete design of programmable wireless radios in accordance with the IEEE 802.22 (draft standard.

Efficient Design of OFDMA-Based Programmable Wireless Radios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. H. Tewfik

2008-03-01

Full Text Available With the increasing demand for efficient spectrum management, programmable wireless radios can potentially play a key role in shaping our future spectrum use. In this paper, we consider the design of low-power programmable wireless radios based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA. To meet the demands of higher data rate communications, we split OFDMA symbols carrying multiuser data across several noncontiguous bands of available spectrum. To relax power consumption in analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, we use a programmable narrowband RF front end comprising of programmable synthesizers and fixed low-pass filters. To perform digital baseband signal processing in an energy efficient manner, we propose efficient designs for the fast Fourier transform (FFT and inverse FFT (IFFT modules. Our designs of the FFT/IFFT modules reduce power consumption and chip area, and are capable of handling the dynamic nature of spectrum in programmable radios. To recover data that falls within the transition band of the filters, we propose a combiner similar to maximal ratio combiner. We also present the complete design of programmable wireless radios in accordance with the IEEE 802.22 (draft standard.

A digital optical phase-locked loop for diode lasers based on field programmable gate array

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu Zhouxiang; Zhang Xian; Huang Kaikai; Lu Xuanhui [Physics Department, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027 (China)

2012-09-15

We have designed and implemented a highly digital optical phase-locked loop (OPLL) for diode lasers in atom interferometry. The three parts of controlling circuit in this OPLL, including phase and frequency detector (PFD), loop filter and proportional integral derivative (PID) controller, are implemented in a single field programmable gate array chip. A structure type compatible with the model MAX9382/MCH12140 is chosen for PFD and pipeline and parallelism technology have been adapted in PID controller. Especially, high speed clock and twisted ring counter have been integrated in the most crucial part, the loop filter. This OPLL has the narrow beat note line width below 1 Hz, residual mean-square phase error of 0.14 rad{sup 2} and transition time of 100 {mu}s under 10 MHz frequency step. A main innovation of this design is the completely digitalization of the whole controlling circuit in OPLL for diode lasers.

Simulated performance of an acoustic modem using phase-modulated signals in a time-varying, shallow-water environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerrum-Niese, Christian; Jensen, Leif Bjørnø

1996-01-01

and dynamic multipath channel. Multipath arrivals at the receiver cause phase distortion and fading of the signal envelope. Yet, for extreme ratios of range to depth, the delays of multipath arrivals decrease, and the channel impulse response coherently contributes energy to the signal at short delays......Underwater acoustic modems using coherent modulation, such as phase-shift keying, have proven to efficiently exploit the bandlimited underwater acoustical communication channel. However, the performance of an acoustic modem, given as maximum range and data and error rate, is limited in the complex...... relative to the first arrival, while longer delays give rise to intersymbol interference. Following this, the signal-to-multipath ratio (SMR) is introduced. It is claimed that the SMR determines the performance rather than the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Using a ray model including temporal variations...

An automated digital imaging system for environmental monitoring applications

Science.gov (United States)

Bogle, Rian; Velasco, Miguel; Vogel, John

2013-01-01

Recent improvements in the affordability and availability of high-resolution digital cameras, data loggers, embedded computers, and radio/cellular modems have advanced the development of sophisticated automated systems for remote imaging. Researchers have successfully placed and operated automated digital cameras in remote locations and in extremes of temperature and humidity, ranging from the islands of the South Pacific to the Mojave Desert and the Grand Canyon. With the integration of environmental sensors, these automated systems are able to respond to local conditions and modify their imaging regimes as needed. In this report we describe in detail the design of one type of automated imaging system developed by our group. It is easily replicated, low-cost, highly robust, and is a stand-alone automated camera designed to be placed in remote locations, without wireless connectivity.

A fast PID controller Design for Modern PLC for Process Control Application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mirza, A.; Nafis, A.; Anees, R.M.; Idris, S.

2004-01-01

PID is the most widely used control scheme in the process industry. Pill controllers are utilized for the control of such varied parameters as pressure, flow, temperature, etc. One characteristic of these parameters is that they posses slow dynamics. Most of the available digital controllers can manipulate only a single parameter- multiple controllers are required for control of more than one parameter. The Fast PID Controller for Modem PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) developed by the authors, provides control of several parameters at a time (through a single Pill control element), enhanced programmability including variable sampling period, parameter monitoring and data storage, which may be easily implemented in a PLC. (author)

A flexible 32-channel time-to-digital converter implemented in a Xilinx Zynq-7000 field programmable gate array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Yonggang; Kuang, Jie; Liu, Chong; Cao, Qiang; Li, Deng

2017-01-01

A high performance multi-channel time-to-digital converter (TDC) is implemented in a Xilinx Zynq-7000 field programmable gate array (FPGA). It can be flexibly configured as either 32 TDC channels with 9.9 ps time-interval RMS precision, 16 TDC channels with 6.9 ps RMS precision, or 8 TDC channels with 5.8 ps RMS precision. All TDCs have a 380 M Samples/second measurement throughput and a 2.63 ns measurement dead time. The performance consistency and temperature dependence of TDC channels are also evaluated. Because Zynq-7000 FPGA family integrates a feature-rich dual-core ARM based processing system and 28 nm Xilinx programmable logic in a single device, the realization of high performance TDCs on it will make the platform more widely used in time-measuring related applications.

A flexible 32-channel time-to-digital converter implemented in a Xilinx Zynq-7000 field programmable gate array

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Yonggang, E-mail: wangyg@ustc.edu.cn; Kuang, Jie; Liu, Chong; Cao, Qiang; Li, Deng

2017-03-01

A high performance multi-channel time-to-digital converter (TDC) is implemented in a Xilinx Zynq-7000 field programmable gate array (FPGA). It can be flexibly configured as either 32 TDC channels with 9.9 ps time-interval RMS precision, 16 TDC channels with 6.9 ps RMS precision, or 8 TDC channels with 5.8 ps RMS precision. All TDCs have a 380 M Samples/second measurement throughput and a 2.63 ns measurement dead time. The performance consistency and temperature dependence of TDC channels are also evaluated. Because Zynq-7000 FPGA family integrates a feature-rich dual-core ARM based processing system and 28 nm Xilinx programmable logic in a single device, the realization of high performance TDCs on it will make the platform more widely used in time-measuring related applications.

Implementation and Testing of the JANUS Standard with SSC Pacific’s Software-Defined Acoustic Modem

Science.gov (United States)

2017-10-01

JANUS limit) was typed from the keyboard by the user. Next, the transmitter bash script was run and the user typed the ASCII text of choice, or the...FDECO Forward Deployed Energy and Communications Outpost CONOPS concept of operation DSP digital signal processor FPGA field programmable gate array...deployed by U.S. and international military and civilian organizations have for decades operated without any type of widely adopted standards or

CAMAC modular programmable function generator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turner, G.W.; Suehiro, S.; Hendricks, R.W.

1980-12-01

A CAMAC modular programmable function generator has been developed. The device contains a 1024 word by 12-bit memory, a 12-bit digital-to-analog converter with a 600 ns settling time, an 18-bit programmable frequency register, and two programmable trigger output registers. The trigger registers can produce programmed output logic transitions at various (binary) points in the output function curve, and are used to synchronize various other data acquisition devices with the function curve.

CAMAC modular programmable function generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, G.W.; Suehiro, S.; Hendricks, R.W.

1980-12-01

A CAMAC modular programmable function generator has been developed. The device contains a 1024 word by 12-bit memory, a 12-bit digital-to-analog converter with a 600 ns settling time, an 18-bit programmable frequency register, and two programmable trigger output registers. The trigger registers can produce programmed output logic transitions at various (binary) points in the output function curve, and are used to synchronize various other data acquisition devices with the function curve

Fast digitization and digital receiver technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kimball, Ralph C.

2002-01-01

The potentially lucrative wireless market has led to technological advances in mixed signal devices such as high speed, high resolution A/D and D/A converters. This same market has also driven the development of high performance multi-channel digital receiver and digital transmitter ICs. Similarly, advances in semiconductor processes, coupled with the need for reduced time-to-market, has led to the development of large, enhanced performance, in-circuit programmable logic devices. A review of the key characteristics of these mixed-signal, signal processing and programmable logic devices is presented. The application of these devices and technologies to the instrumentation of Accelerators and Storage Rings is discussed and presented by way of examples. Issues relating to the requirements associated with real-time processing, I/O throughput, reconfigurability, reliability, maintainability and packaging requirements are also addressed

A Fastbus module for trigger applications based on a digital signal processor and on programmable gate arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Battaiotto, P.; Colavita, A.; Fratnik, F.; Lanceri, L.; Udine Univ.

1991-01-01

The new generation of DSP microprocessors based on RISC and Harvard-like architectures can conveniently take the place of specially built processors in fast trigger circuits for high-energy physics experiments. Presently available programmable gate arrays are well matched to them in speed and contribute to simplify the design of trigger circuits. Using these components, we designed and constructed a Fastbus module. We describe an application for the total-energy trigger of DELPHI, performing the readout of digitized calorimeter trigger data and some simple computations in less than 3 μs. (orig.)

Demonstration of Multi-Gbps Data Rates at Ka-Band Using Software-Defined Modem and Broadband High Power Amplifier for Space Communications

Science.gov (United States)

Simons, Rainee N.; Wintucky, Edwin G.; Landon, David G.; Sun, Jun Y.; Winn, James S.; Laraway, Stephen; McIntire, William K.; Metz, John L.; Smith, Francis J.

2011-01-01

The paper presents the first ever research and experimental results regarding the combination of a software-defined multi-Gbps modem and a broadband high power space amplifier when tested with an extended form of the industry standard DVB-S2 and LDPC rate 9/10 FEC codec. The modem supports waveforms including QPSK, 8-PSK, 16-APSK, 32-APSK, 64-APSK, and 128-QAM. The broadband high power amplifier is a space qualified traveling-wave tube (TWT), which has a passband greater than 3 GHz at 33 GHz, output power of 200 W and efficiency greater than 60 percent. The modem and the TWTA together enabled an unprecedented data rate at 20 Gbps with low BER of 10(exp -9). The presented results include a plot of the received waveform constellation, BER vs. E(sub b)/N(sub 0) and implementation loss for each of the modulation types tested. The above results when included in an RF link budget analysis show that NASA s payload data rate can be increased by at least an order of magnitude (greater than 10X) over current state-of-practice, limited only by the spacecraft EIRP, ground receiver G/T, range, and available spectrum or bandwidth.

Firmware-only implementation of Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) in Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jinyuan Wu; Zonghan Shi; Irena Y Wang

2003-01-01

A Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) implemented in general purpose field-programmable gate array (FPGA) for the Fermilab CKM experiment will be presented. The TDC uses a delay chain and register array structure to produce lower bits in addition to higher bits from a clock counter. Lacking the direct controls custom chips, the FPGA implementation of the delay chain and register array structure had to address two major problems: (1) the logic elements used for the delay chain and register array structure must be placed and routed by the FPGA compiler in a predictable manner, to assure uniformity of the TDC binning and short-term stability. (2) The delay variation due to temperature and power supply voltage must be compensated for to assure long-term stability. They used the chain structures in the existing FPGAs that the venders designed for general purpose such as carry algorithm or logic expansion to solve the first problem. To compensate for delay variations, they studied several digital compensation strategies that can be implemented in the same FPGA device. Some bench-top test results will also be presented in this document

TECHNICAL DESIGN NOTE: Picosecond resolution programmable delay line

Science.gov (United States)

Suchenek, Mariusz

2009-11-01

The note presents implementation of a programmable delay line for digital signals. The tested circuit has a subnanosecond delay range programmable with a resolution of picoseconds. Implementation of the circuit was based on low-cost components, easily available on the market.

Technology-Enhanced Physics Programme for Community-Based Science Learning: Innovative Design and Programme Evaluation in a Theme Park

Science.gov (United States)

Tho, Siew Wei; Chan, Ka Wing; Yeung, Yau Yuen

2015-01-01

In this study, a new physics education programme is specifically developed for a famous theme park in Hong Kong to provide community-based science learning to her visitors, involving her three newly constructed rides. We make innovative use of digital technologies in this programme and incorporate a rigorous evaluation of the learning…

A multiparametric automatic method to monitor long-term reproducibility in digital mammography: results from a regional screening programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Gennaro, G; Ballaminut, A; Contento, G

2017-09-01

This study aims to illustrate a multiparametric automatic method for monitoring long-term reproducibility of digital mammography systems, and its application on a large scale. Twenty-five digital mammography systems employed within a regional screening programme were controlled weekly using the same type of phantom, whose images were analysed by an automatic software tool. To assess system reproducibility levels, 15 image quality indices (IQIs) were extracted and compared with the corresponding indices previously determined by a baseline procedure. The coefficients of variation (COVs) of the IQIs were used to assess the overall variability. A total of 2553 phantom images were collected from the 25 digital mammography systems from March 2013 to December 2014. Most of the systems showed excellent image quality reproducibility over the surveillance interval, with mean variability below 5%. Variability of each IQI was 5%, with the exception of one index associated with the smallest phantom objects (0.25 mm), which was below 10%. The method applied for reproducibility tests-multi-detail phantoms, cloud automatic software tool to measure multiple image quality indices and statistical process control-was proven to be effective and applicable on a large scale and to any type of digital mammography system. • Reproducibility of mammography image quality should be monitored by appropriate quality controls. • Use of automatic software tools allows image quality evaluation by multiple indices. • System reproducibility can be assessed comparing current index value with baseline data. • Overall system reproducibility of modern digital mammography systems is excellent. • The method proposed and applied is cost-effective and easily scalable.

Pemrograman Antarmuka Modem GSM dengan Pengendali Mikro AVR Menggunakan Bahasa C

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Kartawiguna

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Cell phones are now a cheap means of wide-ranged wireless communication. One feature widely used is the short message service (SMS. The cellular communication system is more appropriate for long-distanced applications than high speed data transfer. This study aims to develop a GSM modem interface with AVR microcontroller using C programming language. The tools controlled by the microcontroller system can gain more benefit if it is linked with GSM mobile communication system. The results of this study can be applied whether in a remote monitoring system, remote control system, or communication between the microcontroller via SMS. Many additional benefits can be obtained for the tools controlled by the microcontroller when connected to a GSM system. 

Organisational aspects of mammography screening in digital settings: First experiences of Luxembourg

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shannoun, F.; Schanck, J. M.; Scharpantgen, A.; Wagnon, M. C.; Ben Daoud, M.; Back, C.

2008-01-01

Luxembourg has been conducting a breast cancer screening programme since 1992, like a large number of other European countries, as early detection and treatment of breast cancer have been proven to reduce mortality. The majority of these screening programmes are based on analogue X-ray technology and have optimised their organisation of transporting, archiving and reading with respect to films. Last decade is marked by enormous developments in digital mammography. Different technologies such as flat panel-, computed radiography- and scanning systems became available. Digital mammography is expected to have a major impact on quality and organisation of breast cancer screening programmes. Screening programmes are now faced with a huge challenge of incorporating the digital technology, including implementation of electronic image exchange, conception of new electronic work-flow, establishing adapted quality assurance programmes and training of radiologists and technical personnel. Initial experiences of the Luxembourg approach in organising digital mammography screening and its quality assurance are reported. (authors)

Digital divide across borders : A cross-national study of adolescents’ use of digital technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Notten, N.; Peter, J.; Kraaykamp, G.; Valkenburg, P.M.

2009-01-01

In this study, we analyse digital divides in terms of social inequality in digital access and use patterns from a hierarchical perspective. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 in 30 nations, we focus on social cleavages in mid-adolescents’ access and use of

Reshaping the DCC Institutional Engagement Programme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Jones

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This paper shares results from the Digital Curation Centre’s programme of Institutional Engagements (IEs, and describes how we continue to provide tailored support on Research Data Management (RDM to the UK higher education sector.Between Spring 2011 and Spring 2013, the DCC ran a series of 21 Institutional Engagements. The engagement programme involved helping institutions to assess their needs, develop policy and strategy, and begin to implement a range of RDM services.We have conducted a synthesis and evaluation of the programme, analysing the types of assistance requested and the impact of our support. The findings and lessons to emerge from these exercises have informed our future strategy and helped reshape the programme.

Digital Library Education: Global Trends and Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Shem, Magaji

2015-01-01

The paper examines trends and issues in digital education programmes globally, drawing examples of developmental growth of Library Information Science (LIS), schools and digital education courses in North America, Britain, and Southern Asia, the slow growth of LIS schools and digital education in Nigeria and some countries in Africa and India. The…

Use of Digital Signal Processors (DSP) in high energy physics experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crosetto, D.

1988-01-01

The FDDP - Fast Digital Data Processor - is a modular system for executing parallel digital processing algorithms to perform programmable trigger decisions or programmable on-line data reduction. Typical application involve zero suppression and pulse shape analysis. The characteristics of the system are: modularity, expandability and flexibility. (author). 4 refs, 5 figs

A 45 ps time digitizer with a two-phase clock and dual-edge two-stage interpolation in a field programmable gate array device

Science.gov (United States)

Szplet, R.; Kalisz, J.; Jachna, Z.

2009-02-01

We present a time digitizer having 45 ps resolution, integrated in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device. The time interval measurement is based on the two-stage interpolation method. A dual-edge two-phase interpolator is driven by the on-chip synthesized 250 MHz clock with precise phase adjustment. An improved dual-edge double synchronizer was developed to control the main counter. The nonlinearity of the digitizer's transfer characteristic is identified and utilized by the dedicated hardware code processor for the on-the-fly correction of the output data. Application of presented ideas has resulted in the measurement uncertainty of the digitizer below 70 ps RMS over the time interval ranging from 0 to 1 s. The use of the two-stage interpolation and a fast FIFO memory has allowed us to obtain the maximum measurement rate of five million measurements per second.

A 45 ps time digitizer with a two-phase clock and dual-edge two-stage interpolation in a field programmable gate array device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szplet, R; Kalisz, J; Jachna, Z

2009-01-01

We present a time digitizer having 45 ps resolution, integrated in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device. The time interval measurement is based on the two-stage interpolation method. A dual-edge two-phase interpolator is driven by the on-chip synthesized 250 MHz clock with precise phase adjustment. An improved dual-edge double synchronizer was developed to control the main counter. The nonlinearity of the digitizer's transfer characteristic is identified and utilized by the dedicated hardware code processor for the on-the-fly correction of the output data. Application of presented ideas has resulted in the measurement uncertainty of the digitizer below 70 ps RMS over the time interval ranging from 0 to 1 s. The use of the two-stage interpolation and a fast FIFO memory has allowed us to obtain the maximum measurement rate of five million measurements per second

Research note: Digital divide across borders: A cross-national study of adolescents' use of digital technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Notten, N.J.W.R.; Peter, J.; Kraaykamp, G.L.M.; Valkenburg, P.M.

2009-01-01

In this study, we analyse digital divides in terms of social inequality in digital access and use patterns from a hierarchical perspective. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 in 30 nations, we focus on social cleavages in mid-adolescents access and use of

Research note: digital divide across borders: a cross-national study of adolescents’ use of digital technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Notten, N.; Peter, J.; Kraaykamp, G.; Valkenburg, P.M.

2009-01-01

In this study, we analyse digital divides in terms of social inequality in digital access and use patterns from a hierarchical perspective. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 in 30 nations, we focus on social cleavages in mid-adolescents’ access and use of

FPGA-based digital convolution for wireless applications

CERN Document Server

Guan, Lei

2017-01-01

This book presents essential perspectives on digital convolutions in wireless communications systems and illustrates their corresponding efficient real-time field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementations. Covering these digital convolutions from basic concept to vivid simulation/illustration, the book is also supplemented with MS PowerPoint presentations to aid in comprehension. FPGAs or generic all programmable devices will soon become widespread, serving as the “brains” of all types of real-time smart signal processing systems, like smart networks, smart homes and smart cities. The book examines digital convolution by bringing together the following main elements: the fundamental theory behind the mathematical formulae together with corresponding physical phenomena; virtualized algorithm simulation together with benchmark real-time FPGA implementations; and detailed, state-of-the-art case studies on wireless applications, including popular linear convolution in digital front ends (DFEs); nonlinear...

Software pi/4 DQPSK Modem: A Student Project Using the TMS320-C6201 EVM Board

OpenAIRE

Weiss, S; Braithwaite, SJ; Stewart, RD

2000-01-01

This paper reports on a student project performed at the University of Southampton jointly by 4th year MEng students within the course "Advanced Radio Communications". The aim was to design a software modem capable of transmitting 16kb/s of data, whereby random number generation, advanced modulation, pulse shaping, synchronisation, and error counting techniques had to be applied. The ultimate aim was the implementation on a Texas Instruments TMS320-C6201 EVM board, which dictated some of the ...

Outlines of RTE's R and D programme for 2017-2020

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-01-01

RTE is publishing the outlines of its R and D programme for the 2017-2020 period. The programme is aimed at strengthening RTE's capacity for anticipating the major disruptive transformations with which it will be confronted. RTE is therefore pursuing the efforts initiated during the first roadmap over the 2013-2016 period and is embarking on new efforts. Thus, RTE's R and D efforts for the 2017-2020 period will be structured into six programmes: - The 'asset management' programme. This programme continues on with activities undertaken to reach the use phase for research initiated during the first roadmap. - The 'grid infrastructure evolution' programme. This programme continues the efforts initiated under the 'Grid of the future' programme with a reinforcement of the equipments' eco-design dimension and increased use of digital technologies to implement the equipments' control systems, protection devices and associated defence plans. - The 'environment and society' programme. This programme will be strengthened in relation to the existing programme, particularly as regards the eco-design and biodiversity dimensions. - The 'power system functioning and operation' programme. Firstly, this programme continues on from a large part of the 'Power system' programme with the dual objective of ensuring that the system remains secure with all the major physical transformations leading to a true power system 2.0 (i.e. based on power electronics) and, secondly, it aims to substantially upgrade the system's operating tools through the integration of big data processing and visualisation capabilities. - The 'optimal grid development for the energy transition' programme. This programme is aimed at rethinking grid development study methods and tools in the context of the energy, societal and digital transitions currently underway, with a view to: better integrating cross-functionality with respect to operation / maintenance and asset management / development, and to proposing the

Multiple channel programmable coincidence counter

Science.gov (United States)

Arnone, Gaetano J.

1990-01-01

A programmable digital coincidence counter having multiple channels and featuring minimal dead time. Neutron detectors supply electrical pulses to a synchronizing circuit which in turn inputs derandomized pulses to an adding circuit. A random access memory circuit connected as a programmable length shift register receives and shifts the sum of the pulses, and outputs to a serializer. A counter is input by the adding circuit and downcounted by the seralizer, one pulse at a time. The decoded contents of the counter after each decrement is output to scalers.

Analog and digital appliance technology for the control and monitoring of space HVAC systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gyoeri, M

1987-01-01

Both analog and digital devices are expected to meet the required control functions. The analog control device meets this function by way of a complicated circuitry and wiring technology of varying sophistication. In the digital control by a preprogrammed microprocessor. Digital technology allows to use the copied programme in different devices. Any change in the control of a system can be implemented and met by a programme change in digital technology. In analog technology, this change involves a change in wiring. (orig./HW).

New Concept of PLC Modems: Multi-Carrier System for Frequency Selective Slow-Fading Channels Based on Layered SCCC Turbocodes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Zavrtalek

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The article introduces a novel concept of a PLC modem as a complement to the existing G3 and PRIME standards for communications using medium- or high-voltage overhead or cable lines. The proposed concept is based on the fact that the levels of impulse noise and frequency selectivity are lower on high-voltage lines than on low-voltage ones. Also, the demands for “cost-effective” circuitry design are not so crucial as in the case of modems for low-voltage level. In contract to these positive conditions, however, there is the need to overcome much longer distances and to take into account low SNR on the receiving side. With respect to the listed reasons, our concept makes use of MCM, instead of OFDM. The assumption of low SNR is compensated through the use of an efficient channel coding based on a serially concatenated turbo code. In addition, MCM offers lower latency and PAPR compared to OFDM. Therefore, when using MCM, it is possible to excite the line with higher power. The proposed concept has been verified during experimental transmission of testing data over a real, 5 km long, 22kV overhead line.

Peak Satellite-to-Earth Data Rates Derived From Measurements of a 20 Gbps Bread-Board Modem

Science.gov (United States)

Landon, David G.; Simons, Rainee N.; Wintucky, Edwin G.; Sun, Jun Y.; Winn, James S.; Laraway, Stephen A.; McIntire, William K.; Metz, John L.; Smith, Francis J.

2011-01-01

A prototype data link using a Ka-band space qualified, high efficiency 200 W TWT amplifier and a bread-board modem emulator were created to explore the feasibility of very high speed communications in satellite-to-earth applications. Experiments were conducted using a DVB-S2-like waveform with modifications to support up to 20 Gbps through the addition of 128-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). Limited by the bandwidth of the amplifier, a constant peak symbol rate of 3.2 Giga-symbols/sec was selected and the modulation order was varied to explore what peak data rate might be supported by an RF link through this amplifier. Using 128-QAM, an implementation loss of 3 dB was observed at 20 Gbps, and the loss decreased as data rate or bandwidth were reduced. Building on this measured data, realistic link budget calculations were completed. Low-Earth orbit (LEO) missions based on this TWTA with reasonable hardware assumptions and antenna sizing are found to be bandwidth-limited, rather than power-limited, making the spectral efficiency of 9/10-rate encoded 128-QAM very attractive. Assuming a bandwidth allocation of 1 GHz, these computations indicate that low-Earth orbit vehicles could achieve data rates up to 5 Gbps-an order of magnitude beyond the current state-of-practice, yet still within the processing power of a current FPGA-based software-defined modem. The measured performance results and a description of the experimental setup are presented to support these conclusions.

Programmable Toys and Free Play in Early Childhood Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Newhouse, Christopher Paul; Cooper, Martin; Cordery, Zina

2017-01-01

This paper reports on a study that investigated the ways that young children interact with discrete programmable digital toys in a free play setting. One intention was to see whether this interaction would address some of the requirements of the Digital Technologies subject in the Australian Curriculum. The study was implemented in two phases in…

The year 2000 (Y2k) Programme at AECL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pauksens, J.; Jung, D.

1998-01-01

In the nuclear industry we make, in total, very extensive use of digital computers and equipment. While use of dates in our application may not be quite so extensive as in other businesses such as banking or insurance, dates are nonetheless employed, and are important in a variety of applications. Furthermore, date-related problems can sometimes propagate into overall system failures or computer crashes. Digital system or digital infrastructure failure can have serious potential consequences in a power plant, utility, or engineering design office. This in turn can have potential impact on public safety or the reliability of power production and delivery of electrical power to the public. A concerted effort is needed, and is underway by nuclear design organizations, and the nuclear utilities in order to identify and fix or avoid the problems in the short time that remains between now and the Year 2000. AECL have a substantial Year 2000 programme underway, addressing both the infrastructure systems at AECL, and AECL's products and services. High priority is placed, in the programme, on assisting AECL's customers with the Year 2000 issue. The programme, and some of the lesson learned to date, are described in this paper. The relationship to equipment vendors' and customers' Year 2000 programs is explained, and the importance of Year 2000 programmes conducted by the customers, to address systems and equipment which are under their control, is highlighted. (authors)

What so What - participatory research of TV2/North-Digital

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørner, Thomas

Abstract: TV2/North-Digital is the first channel that broadcast interactive services on DVB-T in Denmark. There is a predominance of young viewers interested in TV2/North-Digital even though the programmes addressing older viewers. The young viewers are interested in the channel because of the new...... technology and the old viewers are more interested in the programmes but more sceptical of the interactive services. The men in the residence show also much higher enthusiasm about the interactive services than the women. There seems to be different ways of perception when multi tasking between the digital...

Development of a PLC modem for data transmission over a PWM power supply

Science.gov (United States)

Batard, Christophe; Ginot, Nicolas; Mannah, Marc Anthony; Millet, Christophe; Poitiers, Frédéric

2014-04-01

In variable-speed electrical drive and online conditioning monitoring, a feedback loop is required in order to transmit the sensor information from the motor to the controller close to the inverter. Additional cabling is used for signalling. This extra cabling has a significant cost and data transmission may not be reliable. Thus, the use of power line communication (PLC) technology to transmit data in motor drive application is quite interesting. The use of a PLC modem dedicated to the home network in a three-phase inverter-fed motor power cable does not work. Therefore, specific coupling interfaces are developed to transmit data through a pulse-width modulated power supply. Laboratory tests have shown that the couplers are operating properly. They ensure reliable data transmission in a motor drive application.

Tout cela est bien quelque chose: Digital Preservation Today: how European Commission programmes and policy have brought us here: Festschrift for Patricia (Pat Manson

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janet Delve

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Patricia (Pat Manson worked with the European Commission's (EC’s research programmes from the early 1990s, initially as project officer (December 1991-March 2003 and then as Head of Unit (April 2003-2011 for Cultural Heritage and Technology Enhanced Learning which was part of the Directorate General Information Society and Media. The unit focused primarily on research in digital libraries, digital preservation, and in the use of ICTs for improving learning, but was also involved in the development of the i2010 digital libraries policies and actions. Prior to joining the Commission, she worked in the UK providing a national advisory and market watch service to libraries on the use of new technologies. She is now Head of the Inclusion, Skills & Youth Unit of the EC’s Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT, where the unit’s goal is to ensure that citizens, especially youth and those at risk of exclusion, are best able to benefit from the Internet and have the necessary skills so to do. This article sets out Pat’s leadership of EC-funded Digital Preservation, and examines her legacy in terms of lasting best practices, contributions to standardisation activities etc.

Examination of welds by digital radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ekinci, S.

2004-01-01

Industrial radiography is the oldest and most reliable non-destructive test method in the examination and two dimensional evaluation of weld defects. Digital radiographic methods provide more sensitive, faster and more reliable evaluation of defect images. One of the most important factors influencing the contrast and consequently the image quality is the noise on the film caused by scattered radiation. The digital image processing technique can eliminate the noise and improve the image quality. Digital radiography also enables three dimensional evaluation of weld defects. This work describes the use of digital radiography in the evaluation of defects in welds of different configurations by using a laser film digitizing system and an appropriate software programme. Advantages and limitations of the digital technique and conventional film radiography were discussed. (author)

Examination of welds by digital radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ekinci, S.

2004-01-01

Full text: Industrial radiography is the oldest and most reliable non-destructive test method in the examination and two dimensional evaluation of weld defects. Digital radiographic methods provide more sensitive, faster and more reliable evaluation of defect images. One of the most important factors influencing the contrast and consequently the image quality is the noise on the film caused by scattered radiation. The digital image processing technique can eliminate the noise and improve the image quality. Digital radiography also enables three dimensional evaluation of weld defects. This work describes the use of digital radiography in the evaluation of defects in welds of different configurations by using a laser film digitizing system and an appropriate software programme. Advantages and limitations of the digital technique and conventional film radiography were discussed

Implementation of programmable logic controller for proposed new instrumentation and control system of RTP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohd Khairulezwan Abdul Manan; Mohd Idris Taib; Mohd Dzul Aiman Aslan

2010-01-01

Reactor Monitoring System is one of very important part of Reactor Instrumentation and Control system. Current monitoring system is using analog system whereby all circuits are discrete circuit and all displays and indicators are not digitalized. The proposed new system will use using a Commercial Off-The-Shelf, state of the art, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system such as Programmable Logic Controller as well as Computer System. The implementations of Programmable Logic Controller are used for Data Acquisition System and as a sub-system for Computer System where all the activities involved are stored for operation record and report as well as use for research purposes. Programmable Logic Controller receives galvanised or optically isolated signal from Reactor Protection System. Programmable Logic Controller also receives signal from other parameters as a digital and analog input related to reactor system. (author)

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION : HOW APIS DRIVE BUSINESS MODEL CHANGE AND INNOVATION

OpenAIRE

Hellbe, Simon; Leung, Peter

2015-01-01

Over the years, information technology has created opportunities to improve and extend businesses and to start conducting business in new ways. With the evolution of IT, all businesses and industries are becoming increasingly digitized. This process, or coevolution, of IT and business coming together is called digital transformation. One of the recent trends in this digital transformation is the use of application programmable interfaces (APIs). APIs are standardized digital communication int...

Efficacy of the Danish epilepsy surgery programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, E; Foged, M T; Beniczky, S

2018-01-01

lobe after ICR were free of disabling seizures. 12% of MTLE patients developed de novo depression after epilepsy surgery despite good surgical outcome. Three patients required rehabilitation due to post-operative hemiplegia. CONCLUSION: The outcomes of the Danish epilepsy surgery programme align...... epilepsy surgery programme from 2009 to 2014. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 169 consecutive patients, operated at Rigshospitalet, were included. Information was gathered from digital patient records. Before 1-year follow-up, two patients were lost to follow-up and three were referred to new surgery...

Digital Signal Processors

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

modems, audio systems and video game terminals, to cite a few. Their use is growing ... For example, the systems used to reserve railway tickets is on-line as the ... Many scientific instruments today use DSPs to enhance their performance and.

Relevant training issues for introduction of digital radiology: Results of a survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peer, S.; Faulkner, K.; Torbica, P.; Peer, R.; Busch, H. P.; Vetter, S.; Neofotistou, E.; Back, C.; Bosmans, H.; Vano, E.

2005-01-01

Council Directive 97/43/Euratom establishes the need for adequate training of radiology staff. The transition to digital radiology implies changes in various imaging aspects, which are not sufficiently covered by current institutional training programmes. This work aimed to assess how professionals, experienced in digital imaging, acquired their expertise and hence, what form institutional training should take. Within DIMOND III, a survey on training and resources was performed among radiology professionals. A lack of institutional education for digital radiology was found. In the transition to digital radiology, 30-35% train on the job and another 23-28% receive training from digital equipment vendors. A general agreement exists on the need for new quality criteria and strategies for dose management. Issues relevant for conventional/digital transition are only sparsely covered in EC training programmes. Based on these results, a set of training issues was produced, to be included in future European guidelines. (authors)

Multichannel Digital Emulator of Radiation Detection Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abba, A.; Caponio, F.; Geraci, A.

2013-06-01

A digital system for emulating in real time signals from generic setups for radiation detection is presented. The instrument is not a pulse generator of recorded shapes but a synthesizer of random pulses compliant to programmable statistics for energy and occurrence time. Completely programmable procedures for emulation of noise, disturbances and reference level variation can be implemented. The instrument has been realized and fully tested. (authors)

Inselect: Automating the Digitization of Natural History Collections.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lawrence N Hudson

Full Text Available The world's natural history collections constitute an enormous evidence base for scientific research on the natural world. To facilitate these studies and improve access to collections, many organisations are embarking on major programmes of digitization. This requires automated approaches to mass-digitization that support rapid imaging of specimens and associated data capture, in order to process the tens of millions of specimens common to most natural history collections. In this paper we present Inselect-a modular, easy-to-use, cross-platform suite of open-source software tools that supports the semi-automated processing of specimen images generated by natural history digitization programmes. The software is made up of a Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux desktop application, together with command-line tools that are designed for unattended operation on batches of images. Blending image visualisation algorithms that automatically recognise specimens together with workflows to support post-processing tasks such as barcode reading, label transcription and metadata capture, Inselect fills a critical gap to increase the rate of specimen digitization.

Design of digital logic control for accelerator magnet power supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Long Fengli; Hu Wei; Cheng Jian

2008-01-01

For the accelerator magnet power supply, usually the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is used to server as the controller for logic protection and control. Along with the development of modern accelerator technology, it is a trend to use fully-digital control to the magnet power supply. It is possible to integrate the logic control part into the digital control component of the power supply, for example, the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The paper introduces to different methods which are designed for the logic protection and control for accelerator magnet power supplies with the FPGA as the control component. (authors)

A counting-weighted calibration method for a field-programmable-gate-array-based time-to-digital converter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Yuan-Ho

2017-01-01

In this work, we propose a counting-weighted calibration method for field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA)-based time-to-digital converter (TDC) to provide non-linearity calibration for use in positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. To deal with the non-linearity in FPGA, we developed a counting-weighted delay line (CWD) to count the delay time of the delay cells in the TDC in order to reduce the differential non-linearity (DNL) values based on code density counts. The performance of the proposed CWD-TDC with regard to linearity far exceeds that of TDC with a traditional tapped delay line (TDL) architecture, without the need for nonlinearity calibration. When implemented in a Xilinx Vertix-5 FPGA device, the proposed CWD-TDC achieved time resolution of 60 ps with integral non-linearity (INL) and DNL of [−0.54, 0.24] and [−0.66, 0.65] least-significant-bit (LSB), respectively. This is a clear indication of the suitability of the proposed FPGA-based CWD-TDC for use in PET scanners.

A counting-weighted calibration method for a field-programmable-gate-array-based time-to-digital converter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Yuan-Ho, E-mail: chenyh@mail.cgu.edu.tw [Department of Electronic Engineering, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan (China); Department of Radiation Oncology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan (China); Center for Reliability Sciences and Technologies, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan (China)

2017-05-11

In this work, we propose a counting-weighted calibration method for field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA)-based time-to-digital converter (TDC) to provide non-linearity calibration for use in positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. To deal with the non-linearity in FPGA, we developed a counting-weighted delay line (CWD) to count the delay time of the delay cells in the TDC in order to reduce the differential non-linearity (DNL) values based on code density counts. The performance of the proposed CWD-TDC with regard to linearity far exceeds that of TDC with a traditional tapped delay line (TDL) architecture, without the need for nonlinearity calibration. When implemented in a Xilinx Vertix-5 FPGA device, the proposed CWD-TDC achieved time resolution of 60 ps with integral non-linearity (INL) and DNL of [−0.54, 0.24] and [−0.66, 0.65] least-significant-bit (LSB), respectively. This is a clear indication of the suitability of the proposed FPGA-based CWD-TDC for use in PET scanners.

Point Lepreau refurbishment project programmable digital comparator (PDC) replacement for SDS1 and SDS2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichiyen, N.M.; Chan, D.; Thompson, P.D.

2003-01-01

NB Power is tentatively planning to conduct an 18-month maintenance outage of the Point Lepreau Generating Station (PLGS) starting in April 2007. The scope of the outage was determined from the outcome of a two year study (Phase 1) involving a detailed condition assessment of the station which examined issues relating to ageing and obsolescence, along with a detailed review of Safety and Licensing issues associated with extended operation. In order to minimize schedule and regulatory risk for the Refurbishment project, pre-project work was initiated in early 2002. This program is called Phase 2 ESA (Early Start Activities). As part of the Phase 1 assessments it was concluded that replacement of the PDCs (Programmable Digital Comparators) for both shutdown systems was required in order to ensure operation of the plant for a further 25-30 years. Critical tasks were identified related to PDC replacement as part of the Phase 2 ESA program. This paper describes the activities that have taken place in the Phase 2 ESA program as well as the plan for future work for the PDC replacement for SDS 1 (Shutdown System Number One) and SDS2 (Shutdown System Number Two). (author)

Digital Modeling and Shaping of Design Practices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reijonen, Satu

This paper focuses on the role of digital modeling in shaping coordinative practices between architects and energy engineers in construction design. The paper presents a case study of the use of an energy performance calculation programme, a numeric digital modeling tool, that not only enables...... coordination between the two communities but also shapes coordinative practices around the emerging building. The paper draws on two interlinked strands of literature that have engaged in the role of material artefacts in the social: the entanglement of technology in organizing and management (Orlikowski 2000......, 2010), and the socio-material constructivist studies of technology (Akrich 1992, Akrich et al. 2000, Latour 1991). The programme influences the coordinative practices in following ways: it shapes the modus of interaction between energy engineers and architects and enforces particular jurisdictional...

How can the digital library contribute to employability?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Harbo

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The DEFF project, E-learning, Information literacy and Library services, supports the education policy ambition of enhancing links between education and employment. The project consortium includes libraries from all Danish universities, university colleges and one business academy. Timeframe for the project is 2014-16. The project understands employability as: In close cooperation with study programmes libraries will strengthen students’ ability to perform independently and critically in a professional context by being able to identify, collect, evaluate, organize and present information via digital platforms. A partnership is made between the digital library (partner libraries involved and the virtual learning environment (educational institutions, based on the above definition of employability. This is done within the framework of Learning Management Systems (LMS and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs. The libraries and academic programmes will collaborate to create e-learning objects based on the relevant digital library systems and information resources. Departments from three Danish universities will contribute by strengthening the project participants’ skills in e-didactics and the development of e-learning objects (SDUUP, University of Southern Denmark, developing a range of flexible concepts for the integration of the virtual library into learning environments (IVA, Copenhagen University and evaluating the project’s activities (E-Learning Lab, Aalborg University. Sustainable results include the training of library staff to work together with academic programmes via the virtual learning environments, the development of flexible concepts for integrating the virtual library with study environments and knowledge on how inputs, created by the project for each study programme, should function.

CERN Technical Training 2003: Learning for the LHC ! DISP-2003 - Digital Signal Processing

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

DISP-2003 - Digital Signal Processing DISP-2003 is a two-term course given by CERN and University of Lausanne (UNIL) experts within the framework of the Technical Training Programme. The course will review the current techniques dealing with Digital Signal Processing, and it is intended for an audience who work or will work on digital signal processing aspects, and who need an introductory or refresher/update course. The course will be in English, with question and answers also in French. Spring 2 Term: DISP-2003: Advanced Digital Signal Processing 30 April 2003 - 21 May 2003, 4 lectures, Wednesdays afternoon (attendance cost: 40.- CHF, registration required) Lecturers: Léonard Studer, UNIL; Laurent Deniau, AT-MTM; Elena Wildner, AT-MAS Programme: Intelligent signal processing (ISP). Non-linear time series analysis. Image processing. Wavelets. (Basic concepts and definitions have been introduced during the previous Spring 1 Term: DISP-2003: Introduction to Digital Signal Processing). DISP-2003 is open...

Metadata Harvesting in Regional Digital Libraries in the PIONIER Network

Science.gov (United States)

Mazurek, Cezary; Stroinski, Maciej; Werla, Marcin; Weglarz, Jan

2006-01-01

Purpose: The paper aims to present the concept of the functionality of metadata harvesting for regional digital libraries, based on the OAI-PMH protocol. This functionality is a part of regional digital libraries platform created in Poland. The platform was required to reach one of main objectives of the Polish PIONIER Programme--to enrich the…

Unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverage advertising on children's, youth and family free-to-air and digital television programmes in Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaichuen, Nongnuch; Vandevijvere, Stefanie; Kelly, Bridget; Vongmongkol, Vuthiphan; Phulkerd, Sirinya; Tangcharoensathien, Viroj

2018-06-15

Food advertising is a key factor which influences children's food preferences. This study assessed the rates, nutritional quality and contents of food and beverage advertising in children's, youth and family television programmes in Thailand. Free TV was recorded for two weeks in March 2014 from six to ten am and three to eight pm on weekends and three to eight pm on weekdays across all four channels; a total of 344 h recorded. Digital TV was recorded across three channels for one week for 24 h per day in October 2014; a total 504 h recorded. For Free TV, 1359 food advertisements were identified, with on average 2.9 non-core food advertisements per hour per channel. The most frequently advertised food products on free TV were sugar-sweetened drinks. The rates of advertisements containing promotional characters and premium offers were significantly higher for non-core than core foods, 1.2 versus 0.03 and 0.6 versus 0.0 per hour respectively. For Digital TV, 693 food advertisements were identified, with an average of one non-core food advertisement per hour per channel. The most frequently advertised food products on digital TV were baby and toddler milk formulae. Food and beverage advertising on Thai television is predominantly unhealthy. Therefore, the Government and related agencies should introduce and enforce policies to address this issue. Current regulations should be adapted to control both the frequency and nature of unhealthy on-air food marketing to protect the health of Thai children.

Reactor physics in support of the naval nuclear propulsion programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lisley, P.G.; Beeley, P.A.

1994-01-01

Reactor physics is a core component of all courses but in particular two postgraduate courses taught at the department in support of the naval nuclear propulsion programme. All of the courses include the following elements: lectures and problem solving exercises, laboratory work, experiments on the Jason zero power Argonaut reactor, demonstration of PWR behavior on a digital computer simulator and project work. This paper will highlight the emphasis on reactor physics in all elements of the education and training programme. (authors). 9 refs

Point Lepreau Refurbishment Project. Programmable digital comparator (PDC) replacement for SDS1 and SDS2 - update 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fraser, K.G.; Ichiyen, N.M.; Condor, A.E.; Thompson, P.D.

2005-01-01

NB Power is tentatively planning to conduct an 18-month maintenance outage of the Point Lepreau Generating Station starting in April 2008. The scope of the outage was determined from the outcome of a two year study (Phase 1) involving a detailed condition assessment of the station which examined issues relating to ageing and obsolescence, along with a detailed review of Safety and Licensing issues associated with extended operation. In order to minimize schedule and regulatory risk for the Refurbishment project, pre-project work was initiated in early 2002. This program is called Phase 2 ESA (Early Start Activities). As part of the Phase 1 assessments it was concluded that replacement of the Programmable Digital Comparators for both shutdown systems was required in order to ensure operation of the plant for a further 25-30 years. Critical tasks were identified related to PDC replacement as part of the Phase 2 ESA program. This paper describes the progress of the Phase 2 ESA program as well as the planned future (Phase 2) work for the PDC replacement for both shutdown systems. (author)

Digital Signal Processing in Beam Instrumentation Latest Trends and Typical Applications

CERN Document Server

Angoletta, Maria Elena

2003-01-01

The last decade has seen major improvements in digital hardware, algortithms and software, which have trickled down to the Beam Instrumentation (BI) area. An advantageous transition is taking place towards systems with an ever-stronger digital presence. Digital systems are assembled by means of a rather small number of basic building blocks, with improved speed, precision, signal-to-noise ratio, dynamic range, flexibility, and accompanied by a range of powerful and user-friendly development tools. The paper reviews current digital BI trends, including using Digital Signal Processors, Field Programmable Gate Arrays, Digital Receivers and General Purpose Processors as well as some useful processing algorithms. Selected digital applications are illustrated on control/feedback and beam diagnostics.

The DigCurV Curriculum Framework for Digital Curation in the Cultural Heritage Sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Molloy

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In 2013, the DigCurV collaborative network completed development of a Curriculum Framework for digital curation skills in the European cultural heritage sector. DigCurV synthesised a variety of established skills and competence models in the digital curation and LIS sectors with expertise from digital curation professionals, in order to develop a new Curriculum Framework. The resulting Framework provides a common language and helps define the skills, knowledge and abilities that are necessary for the development of digital curation training; for benchmarking existing programmes; and for promoting the continuing production, improvement and refinement of digital curation training programmes. This paper describes the salient points of this work, including how the project team conducted the research necessary to develop the Framework, the structure of the Framework, the processes used to validate the Framework, and three ‘lenses’ onto the Framework. The paper also provides suggestions as to how the Framework might be used, including a description of potential audiences and purposes.

A sophisticated programmable miniaturised pump for insulin delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, J C; Slama, G

1980-09-01

We have conceived a truly pre-programmable infusion system usable for intravenous administration of insulin in diabetic subjects. The original system has been built into a small, commercially available, syringe-pump of which only the case and the mechanical parts have been kept. The computing until has a timer, a programmable memory of 512 words by 8 bits and a digital-to-frequency converter to run the motor which drives the syringe. The memory contains 8 profiles of insulin injections stored in digital form over 64 words. Each profile is selected by the patient before eating according to the carbohydrate content of the planned meal and last about two hours, starting from and returning to the basal rate of insulin, at which it remains until next profile selection. Amount, profiles and duration of insulin injection are either mean values deduced from previous studies with a closed-loop artificial pancreas or personally fitted values; they are stored in an instantly replaceable memory cell. This device allows the patient to choose the time, nature and amount of his food intake.

Diversity and testing requirements of programmable automation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haapanen, P.; Maskuniitty, M.

1993-04-01

In the report programmable digital operation and safety automation systems for nuclear power plants are discussed. The programmable systems deviate by their properties and behaviour from the conventional non-programmable systems in such extent, that their verification and validation for safety critical applications requires new methods and practices. The safety assessment can not be based on conventional probabilistic methods due to the difficulties in the quantification of the reliability of the software and hardware. A safety critical programmable system shall include diverse redundant parts so that no residual program fault can not cause the failure of the intended function of the system. Although complete testing of a programmable system is impossible, different tests have a central role in the production and validation process of the system. Diversity is important also in confidence building measures for the implemented system. Independent analysis and testing of the system should use different methods and tools from those used in the production and validation process by the system vendor. Use of diversity and testing are concluded to be central issues in producing safe programmable system and in proving them to be safe enough. By combining functional and programming diversity in a suitable way one can produce a system that is safe enough without having a non-programmable back-up system. (48 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.)

Programmable pulse generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xue Zhihua; Lou Binqiao; Duan Xiaohui

2002-01-01

The author introduces the design of programmable pulse generator that is based on a micro-controller and controlled by RS232 interface of personal computer. The whole system has good stability. The pulse generator can produce TTL pulse and analog pulse. The pulse frequency can be selected by EPLD. The voltage amplitude and pulse width of analog pulse can be adjusted by analog switches and digitally-controlled potentiometers. The software development tools of computer is National Instruments LabView5.1. The front panel of this virtual instrumentation is intuitive and easy-to-use. Parameters can be selected and changed conveniently by knob and slide

Data Acquisition and Digital Filtering for Infrasonic Records on Active Volcanoes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Chilo

2007-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design of a digital data acquisition system for volcanic infrasound records. The system includes four electret condenser element microphones, a QF4A512 programmable signal converter from Quickfilter Technologies and a MSP430 microcontroller from Texas Instruments. The signal output of every microphone is converted to digital via a 16-bit Analog to Digital Converter (ADC. To prevent errors in the conversion process, Anti-Aliasing Filters are employed prior to the ADC. Digital filtering is performed after the ADC using a Digital Signal Processor, which is implemented on the QF4A512. The four digital signals are summed to get only one signal. Data storing and digital wireless data transmission will be described in a future paper.

CERN Technical Training 2003: Learning for the LHC ! DISP-2003  -  Digital Signal Processing

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

DISP-2003 is a two-term course given by CERN and University of Lausanne (UNIL) experts within the framework of the Technical Training Programme. The course will review the current techniques dealing with Digital Signal Processing. The DISP-2003 lecture series is composed of two Terms, and it is intended for an audience who work or will work on digital signal processing aspects, and who need an introductory or refresher/update course. The course will be in English, with questions and answers also in French. Spring 1 Term: DISP-2003: Introduction to Digital Signal Processing 20 February 2003 - 3 April 2003, 7 lectures, Thursdays (attendance cost: 70.- CHF, registration required) Lecturers: Maria Elena Angoletta, AB-BDI; Guy Baribaud, AB-BDI; Philippe Baudrenghien, AB-RF; Laurent Deniau, AT-MTM Programme: 'Classical' digital signal processing. Fourier analysis. The Laplace transform. The z-transform. Digital filters. Statistics for Signal Processing. Signal Estimation and Spectral Analysis. Spring 2 T...

CERN Technical Training 2003: Learning for the LHC! DISP-2003 - Digital Signal Processing

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

DISP-2003 is a two-term course given by CERN and University of Lausanne (UNIL) experts within the framework of the Technical Training Programme. The course will review the current techniques dealing with Digital Signal Processing, and it is intended for an audience who work or will work on digital signal processing aspects, and who need an introductory or refresher/update course. The course will be in English, with question and answers also in French. Spring 2 Term: DISP-2003: Advanced Digital Signal Processing 30 April 2003 - 21 May 2003, 4 lectures, Wednesdays afternoon. Attendance cost: 40.- CHF, registration required. Lecturers: Léonard Studer, UNIL; Laurent Deniau, AT-MTM; Elena Wildner, AT-MAS. Programme: Intelligent signal processing (ISP). Non-linear time series analysis. Image processing. Wavelets. Basic concepts and definitions have been introduced during the previous Spring 1 Term: DISP-2003: Introduction to Digital Signal Processing. DISP-2003 is open to all people interested, but registrat...

Digital-Analog Hybrid Scheme and Its Application to Chaotic Random Number Generators

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Zeshi; Li, Hongtao; Miao, Yunchi; Hu, Wen; Zhu, Xiaohua

2017-12-01

Practical random number generation (RNG) circuits are typically achieved with analog devices or digital approaches. Digital-based techniques, which use field programmable gate array (FPGA) and graphics processing units (GPU) etc. usually have better performances than analog methods as they are programmable, efficient and robust. However, digital realizations suffer from the effect of finite precision. Accordingly, the generated random numbers (RNs) are actually periodic instead of being real random. To tackle this limitation, in this paper we propose a novel digital-analog hybrid scheme that employs the digital unit as the main body, and minimum analog devices to generate physical RNs. Moreover, the possibility of realizing the proposed scheme with only one memory element is discussed. Without loss of generality, we use the capacitor and the memristor along with FPGA to construct the proposed hybrid system, and a chaotic true random number generator (TRNG) circuit is realized, producing physical RNs at a throughput of Gbit/s scale. These RNs successfully pass all the tests in the NIST SP800-22 package, confirming the significance of the scheme in practical applications. In addition, the use of this new scheme is not restricted to RNGs, and it also provides a strategy to solve the effect of finite precision in other digital systems.

An Embedded Based Digital Controller for Thermal Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Lakshmi Sangeetha

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a low cost virtual instrumentation (VI system to monitor and control the electrically heated water bath temperature. The PIC16F877 based digital microcontroller is used as thermostat which controls and monitors the temperature. The digital controller also allows the user to modify the sensor (PT100 calibration data values if necessary. The developed programmable on/off control function provides on-line display of measuring temperature, set point as well as the control function output plots through the parallel port. This bus interaction is realized in Visual Basic/Assembly Language and uses a 16 bit, 10 ms sampling analog-to-digital converter (ADS 7805 for monitoring and controlling the parameters of the temperature local digital controller.

Precision digital control systems

Science.gov (United States)

Vyskub, V. G.; Rozov, B. S.; Savelev, V. I.

This book is concerned with the characteristics of digital control systems of great accuracy. A classification of such systems is considered along with aspects of stabilization, programmable control applications, digital tracking systems and servomechanisms, and precision systems for the control of a scanning laser beam. Other topics explored are related to systems of proportional control, linear devices and methods for increasing precision, approaches for further decreasing the response time in the case of high-speed operation, possibilities for the implementation of a logical control law, and methods for the study of precision digital control systems. A description is presented of precision automatic control systems which make use of electronic computers, taking into account the existing possibilities for an employment of computers in automatic control systems, approaches and studies required for including a computer in such control systems, and an analysis of the structure of automatic control systems with computers. Attention is also given to functional blocks in the considered systems.

Evaluation of the AccessIT Project and the Distance LearningProgramme on Digitization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bülent Yılmaz

2013-11-01

Full Text Available AccessIT is an EU-funded project under EU’s Education and Culture Program aiming to digitize a certain amount of sources that are part of the cultural heritage, to transfer them to Europeana, and to sustain the education infrastructure to achieve this goal in the partner countries of Greece, Poland, Serbia, Turkey and UK. In this study, in addition to the general evaluation of the AccessIT Project, it is aimed to investigate the awareness of participants in thefield on digitization and digital content management, their self-efficiency perceptions, and to evaluate the education program based on the data acquired from the survey of544participants who were enrolled in the distance education program offered within the scope of the project.It was found out in the study that the AccessIT Project has had an important function in Turkey and the distance education program significantly contributed to participants ’ self-efficiency perceptions about digitization.

Regulatory issues on using programmable logic device in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, G. Y.; Yu, Y. J.; Kim, H. T.; Kwon, Y. I.; Park, H. S.; Jeong, C. H.

2012-01-01

For replacing obsolete analog equipment in nuclear power plant, the Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs) using Hardware Description Language (HDL) have been widely adopted in digitalized Instrumentation and Control (I and C) systems because of its flexibility. For safety reviews on Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs,) qualifying digitalized safety I and C system using PLDs is an important issue. As an effort to provide regulatory position on using PLDs in safety I and C system, there is a research project to provide the regulatory positions against emerging issues involved with digitalisation of I and C system including using PLDs. Therefore, this paper addresses the important considerations for using PLDs in safety I and C systems such as diversity, independence and qualification, etc. In this point, this study focuses on technical reports for Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) from EPRI,. U.S. NRC, and relevant technical standards

Regulatory issues on using programmable logic device in nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, G. Y.; Yu, Y. J.; Kim, H. T.; Kwon, Y. I.; Park, H. S.; Jeong, C. H. [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-10-15

For replacing obsolete analog equipment in nuclear power plant, the Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs) using Hardware Description Language (HDL) have been widely adopted in digitalized Instrumentation and Control (I and C) systems because of its flexibility. For safety reviews on Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs,) qualifying digitalized safety I and C system using PLDs is an important issue. As an effort to provide regulatory position on using PLDs in safety I and C system, there is a research project to provide the regulatory positions against emerging issues involved with digitalisation of I and C system including using PLDs. Therefore, this paper addresses the important considerations for using PLDs in safety I and C systems such as diversity, independence and qualification, etc. In this point, this study focuses on technical reports for Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) from EPRI,. U.S. NRC, and relevant technical standards.

Optical Doppler tomography based on a field programmable gate array

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Henning Engelbrecht; Nilsson, Ronnie Thorup; Thrane, Lars

2008-01-01

We report the design of and results obtained by using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to digitally process optical Doppler tomography signals. The processor fits into the analog signal path in an existing optical coherence tomography setup. We demonstrate both Doppler frequency and envelope...... extraction using the Hilbert transform, all in a single FPGA. An FPGA implementation has certain advantages over general purpose digital signal processor (DSP) due to the fact that the processing elements operate in parallel as opposed to the DSP. which is primarily a sequential processor....

Configuration and debug of field programmable gate arrays using MATLAB[reg)/SIMULINK[reg

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grout, I; Ryan, J; O'Shea, T

2005-01-01

Increasingly, the need to seamlessly link high-level behavioural descriptions of electronic hardware for modelling and simulation purposes to the final application hardware highlights the gap between the high-level behavioural descriptions of the required circuit functionality (considering here digital logic) in commonly used mathematical modelling tools, and the hardware description languages such as VHDL and Verilog-HDL. In this paper, the linking of a MATLAB[reg] model for digital algorithm for implementation on a programmable logic device for design synthesis from the MATLAB[reg] model into VHDL is discussed. This VHDL model is itself synthesised and downloaded to the target Field Programmable Gate Array, for normal operation and also for design debug purposes. To demonstrate this, a circuit architecture mapped from a SIMULINK[reg] model is presented. The rationale is for a seamless interface between the initial algorithm development and the target hardware, enabling the hardware to be debugged and compared to the simulated model from a single interface for use with by a non-expert in the programmable logic and hardware description language use

development of microcontroller based binaural digital hearing aids

African Journals Online (AJOL)

HOD

but only a small portion of human population seek help and use them [3], though the ... stigma of putting on of digital hearing aid will no longer be there as before. ... 36, No. 3, July 2017 911 aids including the programmability, self-monitoring,.

Authoring of digital games via card games

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valente, Andrea; Marchetti, Emanuela

2014-01-01

Literature and previous studies show that creative play is easy to emerge when children interact with tangible, low-tech toys and games than with digital games. This paradoxical situation is linked to the long-standing problem of end-users (or players) authoring of digital contents and systems. We...... are to show how card games can represent digital games, how playful play can emerge in card games and digital games, and to begin defining a new way to express game behavior without the use of universal programming languages....... propose a new scenario in which trading card games help making sense and re-design computer games, to support players express themselves aesthetically and in a highly creative way. Our aim is to look for a middle ground between players becoming programmers and simply editing levels. The main contributions...

Digital intermediate frequency QAM modulator using parallel processing

Science.gov (United States)

Pao, Hsueh-Yuan [Livermore, CA; Tran, Binh-Nien [San Ramon, CA

2008-05-27

The digital Intermediate Frequency (IF) modulator applies to various modulation types and offers a simple and low cost method to implement a high-speed digital IF modulator using field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The architecture eliminates multipliers and sequential processing by storing the pre-computed modulated cosine and sine carriers in ROM look-up-tables (LUTs). The high-speed input data stream is parallel processed using the corresponding LUTs, which reduces the main processing speed, allowing the use of low cost FPGAs.

FERMI: a digital Front End and Readout MIcrosystem for high resolution calorimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alexanian, H.; Appelquist, G.; Bailly, P.

1995-01-01

We present a digital solution for the front-end electronics of high resolution calorimeters at future colliders. It is based on analogue signal compression, high speed A/D converters, a fully programmable pipeline and a digital signal processing (DSP) chain with local intelligence and system supervision. This digital solution is aimed at providing maximal front-end processing power by performing waveform analysis using DSP methods. For the system integration of the multichannel device a multi-chip, silicon-on-silicon multi-chip module (MCM) has been adopted. This solution allows a high level of integration of complex analogue and digital functions, with excellent flexibility in mixing technologies for the different functional blocks. This type of multichip integration provides a high degree of reliability and programmability at both the function and the system level, with the additional possibility of customising the microsystem to detector-specific requirements. For enhanced reliability in high radiation environments, fault tolerance strategies, i.e. redundancy, reconfigurability, majority voting and coding for error detection and correction, are integrated into the design. ((orig.))

High Performance Low Cost Digitally Controlled Power Conversion Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Lars Tønnes

2008-01-01

in order to reduce the power consumption of servers and datacenters. The work presented in this thesis includes digital control methods for switch-mode converters implemented in microcontrollers, digital signal controllers and field programmable gate arrays. Microcontrollers are cheap devices that can...... be used for real-time control of switch-mode converters. Software design in the assembly language of the microcontroller is important because of the limited resources of the microcontroller. Microcontrollers are best suited for power electronics applications with low bandwidth requirements because...... the execution time of the software algorithm that realises the digital control law will constitute a considerable delay in the control loop. Digital signal controllers are powerful devices capable of performing arithmetic functions much faster than a microcontroller can. Digital signal controllers are well...

Applications of custom scripting in digital micrograph: general image manipulation and utilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitchell, D.R.G.

2002-01-01

Full text: The Gatan Imaging Filter (GIF) uses a charge coupled device (CCD) camera to capture images and spectra. Image capture and manipulation is achieved through Gatan's Digital Micrograph software. This has many capabilities built-in, and can be further extended through installation of custom scripts. These are typically short programs written in a powerful scripting language, which permits many aspects of image acquisition and subsequent manipulation to be controlled by the user. Custom scripts can be added to the normal pull down menus, producing a very flexible and easy to use environment. The scripts described here demonstrate how custom scripting can enhance the functionality of a modem analytical TEM equipped with, in this instance, a GIF. However, scripting will enhance any TEM using a CCD camera controlled through Digital Micrograph. The examples shown here include: a) a script to rotationally average a selected area diffraction pattern and produce a calibrated radial intensity profile, b) a utility script which monitors and graphically displays the CCD temperature as a function of time and c) a simple script to propagate image spatial calibrations to uncalibrated images, such as EFTEM images. Other scripts by the author along with some scripting resources are also discussed. Copyright (2002) Australian Society for Electron Microscopy Inc

Digital BPM Systems for Hadron Accelerators

CERN Document Server

Belleman, J; Kasprowicz, G; Raich, U

2009-01-01

The CERN Proton Synchrotron has been fitted with a new trajectory measurement system (TMS). Analogue signals from forty beam position monitors are digitized at 125MS/s, and then further treated entirely in the digital domain to derive the positions of all individual particle bunches on the fly. Large FPGAs handle all digital processing. The system fits in fourteen plug-in modules distributed over three half-width cPCI crates. Data are stored in circular buffers of large enough size to keep a fewseconds-worth of position data. Multiple clients can then request selected portions of the data, possibly representing many thousands of consecutive turns, for display on operator consoles. The system uses digital phase-locked loops to derive its beamlocked timing reference. Programmable state machines, driven by accelerator timing pulses and information from the accelerator control system, direct the order of operations. The cPCI crates are connected to a standard Linux computer by means of a private Gigabit Ethernet ...

A High-Speed High-Frequency Broadband Acoustic Modem for Short-to-Medium Range Data Transmission in Ports, Very Shallow Waters and Deep Waters Using Spread-Spectrum Modulation and Decision Feedback Equalizing

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Beaujean, Pierre-Philippe; Spruance, John; Kriel, Dion

2006-01-01

...: The long-term objective is the commercialization of a high-speed high-frequency acoustic modem transmitting data at true rates of up to 105,000 bps, at a maximum range of 500 m and operate between 240 kHz and 380 kHz...

Introduction to embedded system design using field programmable gate arrays

CERN Document Server

Dubey, Rahul

2009-01-01

Offers information on the use of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) in the design of embedded systems. This text considers a hypothetical robot controller as an embedded application and weaves around it related concepts of FPGA-based digital design. It is suitable for both students and designers who have worked with microprocessors.

78 FR 59844 - Operation in the 57-64 GHz Band

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-30

... digital systems in the 60 GHz band without increasing the potential for harmful interference, the... replace digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable modem broadband services, because the high cost of the point-to- point devices would preclude their off-the-shelf retail marketing to consumers. Therefore, out...

Early Learnings from the National Library of New Zealand's National Digital Heritage Archive Project

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Steve

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief description of the digital preservation programme at the National Library of New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach: Following a description of the legislative and strategic context for digital preservation in New Zealand, details are provided of the system for the National Digital…

A digital imaging teaching file by using the internet, HTML and personal computers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chun, Tong Jin; Jeon, Eun Ju; Baek, Ho Gil; Kang, Eun Joo; Baik, Seung Kug; Choi, Han Yong; Kim, Bong Ki

1996-01-01

A film-based teaching file takes up space and the need to search through such a file places limits on the extent to which it is likely to be used. Furthermore it is not easy for doctors in a medium-sized hospital to experience a variety of cases, and so for these reasons we created an easy-to-use digital imaging teaching file with HTML(Hypertext Markup Language) and downloaded images via World Wide Web(WWW) services on the Internet. This was suitable for use by computer novices. We used WWW internet services as a resource for various images and three different IMB-PC compatible computers(386DX, 486DX-II, and Pentium) in downloading the images and in developing a digitalized teaching file. These computers were connected with the Internet through a high speed dial-up modem(28.8Kbps) and to navigate the Internet. Twinsock and Netscape were used. 3.0, Korean word processing software, was used to create HTML(Hypertext Markup Language) files and the downloaded images were linked to the HTML files. In this way, a digital imaging teaching file program was created. Access to a Web service via the Internet required a high speed computer(at least 486DX II with 8MB RAM) for comfortabel use; this also ensured that the quality of downloaded images was not degraded during downloading and that these were good enough to use as a teaching file. The time needed to retrieve the text and related images depends on the size of the file, the speed of the network, and the network traffic at the time of connection. For computer novices, a digital image teaching file using HTML is easy to use. Our method of creating a digital imaging teaching file by using Internet and HTML would be easy to create and radiologists with little computer experience who want to study various digital radiologic imaging cases would find it easy to use

Examining effectiveness of tailorable computer-assisted therapy programmes for substance misuse: Programme usage and clinical outcomes data from Breaking Free Online.

Science.gov (United States)

Elison, Sarah; Jones, Andrew; Ward, Jonathan; Davies, Glyn; Dugdale, Stephanie

2017-11-01

When evaluating complex, tailorable digital behavioural interventions, additional approaches may be required alongside established methodologies such as randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Research evaluating a computer-assisted therapy (CAT) programme for substance misuse, Breaking Free Online (BFO), is informed by Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance recommending examination of 'mechanisms of action' of individual intervention strategies, which is relevant when evaluating digital interventions with content that may evolve over time. To report findings from examination of mechanisms of action of tailoring advice within the BFO programme and outcomes from specific intervention strategies. Analysis of covariance and linear regressions were used to assess intervention completion data, and psychometric and clinical outcomes, for 2311 service users accessing drug and alcohol treatment services across the UK. Tailoring advice provided to users appeared to prompt them to prioritise completion of intervention strategies associated with their areas of highest biopsychosocial impairment. Completion of specific intervention strategies within BFO were associated with specific clinical outcomes, with a dose response also being found. Mechanisms of action analyses revealed the primacy of cognitions, with cognitive restructuring strategies being associated with improvements in mental health, severity of substance dependence, quality of life and global biopsychosocial functioning. The MRC framework provides an evolved research paradigm within the field of digital behavioural change. By assessing baseline profiles of need, BFO can target the most appropriate clinical content for individual users. Mechanisms of action research can be used to inform modifications to BFO to continually update clinical content and the technology platform. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Survey of Recent Advances in Optical and Multimedia Information Technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Jessop, Deborah

1997-01-01

Examines developments in multimedia technologies and in the World Wide Web. Discusses CD-recordable, CD-rewritable, cable modems, personal digital assistants, digital video discs, interactivity and virtual worlds, advertising on the Web, and Intranets and CD-ROM networks. Eight tables and figures show costs, download time, estimated sales, storage…

Implementing a model and processes for mapping digital literacy in the curriculum (online badges)

OpenAIRE

Evangelinous, G.; Holley, Debbie; Kerrigan, M.

2016-01-01

Digital literacy has been identified as an essential part of a number of other skills and competences that should be developed and are collectively known as 21st Century Skills (The Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015; United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation, 2008). The increasing demand for the workforce to become digitally competent compels educational institutions to review their programmes and ensure that digital skills become embedded as a graduate attribute...

Consequences of digital mammography in population-based breast cancer screening: initial changes and long-term impact on referral rates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bluekens, Adriana M.J. [National Expert and Training Centre for Breast Cancer Screening, Nijmegen (Netherlands); St. Elisabeth Hospital, Department of Radiology, Tilburg (Netherlands); Karssemeijer, Nico [Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Department of Radiology, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Beijerinck, David; Deurenberg, Jan J.M. [Preventicon Screening Centre/Mid-West, Utrecht (Netherlands); Engen, Ruben E. van [National Expert and Training Centre for Breast Cancer Screening, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Broeders, Mireille J.M. [National Expert and Training Centre for Breast Cancer Screening, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and HTA, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Heeten, Gerard J. den [National Expert and Training Centre for Breast Cancer Screening, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Academic Medical Centre (AMC), Department of Radiology, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2010-09-15

To investigate the referral pattern after the transition to full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in a population-based breast cancer screening programme. Preceding the nationwide digitalisation of the Dutch screening programme, an FFDM feasibility study was conducted. Detection and referral rates for FFDM and screen-film mammography (SFM) were compared for first and subsequent screens. Furthermore, radiological characteristics of referrals in digital screening were assessed. A total of 312,414 screening mammograms were performed (43,913 digital and 268,501 conventional), with 4,473 consecutive referrals (966 following FFDM). Initially the FFDM referral rate peaked, and many false-positive results were noted as a consequence of pseudolesions and increased detection of (benign) microcalcifications. A higher overall referral rate was observed in FFDM screening in both first and subsequent examinations (p <.001), with a significant increase in cancer detection (p =.010). As a result of initial inexperience with digital screening images implementing FFDM in a population-based breast cancer screening programme may lead to a strong, but temporary increase in referral. Dedicated training in digital screening for radiographers and screening radiologists is therefore recommended. Referral rates decrease and stabilise (learning curve effect) at a higher level than in conventional screening, yet with significantly enhanced cancer detection. (orig.)

Consequences of digital mammography in population-based breast cancer screening: initial changes and long-term impact on referral rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Bluekens, Adriana M J; Karssemeijer, Nico; Beijerinck, David; Deurenberg, Jan J M; van Engen, Ruben E; Broeders, Mireille J M; den Heeten, Gerard J

2010-09-01

To investigate the referral pattern after the transition to full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in a population-based breast cancer screening programme. Preceding the nationwide digitalisation of the Dutch screening programme, an FFDM feasibility study was conducted. Detection and referral rates for FFDM and screen-film mammography (SFM) were compared for first and subsequent screens. Furthermore, radiological characteristics of referrals in digital screening were assessed. A total of 312,414 screening mammograms were performed (43,913 digital and 268,501 conventional), with 4,473 consecutive referrals (966 following FFDM). Initially the FFDM referral rate peaked, and many false-positive results were noted as a consequence of pseudolesions and increased detection of (benign) microcalcifications. A higher overall referral rate was observed in FFDM screening in both first and subsequent examinations (p < .001), with a significant increase in cancer detection (p = .010). As a result of initial inexperience with digital screening images implementing FFDM in a population-based breast cancer screening programme may lead to a strong, but temporary increase in referral. Dedicated training in digital screening for radiographers and screening radiologists is therefore recommended. Referral rates decrease and stabilise (learning curve effect) at a higher level than in conventional screening, yet with significantly enhanced cancer detection.

Consequences of digital mammography in population-based breast cancer screening: initial changes and long-term impact on referral rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bluekens, Adriana M.J.; Karssemeijer, Nico; Beijerinck, David; Deurenberg, Jan J.M.; Engen, Ruben E. van; Broeders, Mireille J.M.; Heeten, Gerard J. den

2010-01-01

To investigate the referral pattern after the transition to full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in a population-based breast cancer screening programme. Preceding the nationwide digitalisation of the Dutch screening programme, an FFDM feasibility study was conducted. Detection and referral rates for FFDM and screen-film mammography (SFM) were compared for first and subsequent screens. Furthermore, radiological characteristics of referrals in digital screening were assessed. A total of 312,414 screening mammograms were performed (43,913 digital and 268,501 conventional), with 4,473 consecutive referrals (966 following FFDM). Initially the FFDM referral rate peaked, and many false-positive results were noted as a consequence of pseudolesions and increased detection of (benign) microcalcifications. A higher overall referral rate was observed in FFDM screening in both first and subsequent examinations (p <.001), with a significant increase in cancer detection (p =.010). As a result of initial inexperience with digital screening images implementing FFDM in a population-based breast cancer screening programme may lead to a strong, but temporary increase in referral. Dedicated training in digital screening for radiographers and screening radiologists is therefore recommended. Referral rates decrease and stabilise (learning curve effect) at a higher level than in conventional screening, yet with significantly enhanced cancer detection. (orig.)

Digital Beamforming Scatterometer

Science.gov (United States)

Rincon, Rafael F.; Vega, Manuel; Kman, Luko; Buenfil, Manuel; Geist, Alessandro; Hillard, Larry; Racette, Paul

2009-01-01

This paper discusses scatterometer measurements collected with multi-mode Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar (DBSAR) during the SMAP-VEX 2008 campaign. The 2008 SMAP Validation Experiment was conducted to address a number of specific questions related to the soil moisture retrieval algorithms. SMAP-VEX 2008 consisted on a series of aircraft-based.flights conducted on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware in the fall of 2008. Several other instruments participated in the campaign including the Passive Active L-Band System (PALS), the Marshall Airborne Polarimetric Imaging Radiometer (MAPIR), and the Global Positioning System Reflectometer (GPSR). This campaign was the first SMAP Validation Experiment. DBSAR is a multimode radar system developed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center that combines state-of-the-art radar technologies, on-board processing, and advances in signal processing techniques in order to enable new remote sensing capabilities applicable to Earth science and planetary applications [l]. The instrument can be configured to operate in scatterometer, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), or altimeter mode. The system builds upon the L-band Imaging Scatterometer (LIS) developed as part of the RadSTAR program. The radar is a phased array system designed to fly on the NASA P3 aircraft. The instrument consists of a programmable waveform generator, eight transmit/receive (T/R) channels, a microstrip antenna, and a reconfigurable data acquisition and processor system. Each transmit channel incorporates a digital attenuator, and digital phase shifter that enables amplitude and phase modulation on transmit. The attenuators, phase shifters, and calibration switches are digitally controlled by the radar control card (RCC) on a pulse by pulse basis. The antenna is a corporate fed microstrip patch-array centered at 1.26 GHz with a 20 MHz bandwidth. Although only one feed is used with the present configuration, a provision was made for separate corporate

Involving a young person in the development of a digital resource in nurse education.

Science.gov (United States)

Fenton, Gaynor

2014-01-01

Health policies across western societies have embedded the need for service user and carer perspectives in service design and delivery of educational programmes. There is a growing recognition of the need to include the perspectives of children and young people as service users in the design and delivery of child focused educational programmes. Digital storytelling provides a strategy for student nurses to gain insight into the lived experiences of children and young people. Engaging with these stories enables students to develop an understanding of a young persons' experience of healthcare. This paper outlines a project that developed a digital learning object based upon a young person's experience of cancer and student evaluations of the digital learning object as a teaching and learning strategy. Over 80% of students rated the digital learning object as interesting and were motivated to explore its content. In addition, the evaluation highlighted that listening to the young person's experiences of her treatment regimes was informative and assisted understanding of a patients' perspective of care delivery. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reconfigurable digital receiver design and application for instantaneous polarimetric measurement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, Z.; Krasnov, O.A.; Babur, G.P.; Ligthart, L.P.; Van der Zwan, F.

2011-01-01

This paper presents the development of a reconfigurable receiver to undertake challenging signal processing tasks for a novel polarimetric radar system. The field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)-based digital receiver samples incoming signals at intermediate frequency (IF) and processes signals

Digital implementation of the preloaded filter pulse processor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Westphal, G.P.; Cadek, G.R.; Keroe, N.; Sauter, TH.; Thorwartl, P.C.

1995-01-01

Adapting it's processing time to the respective pulse intervals, the Preloaded Filter (PLF) pulse processor offers optimum resolution together with highest possible throughput rates. The PLF algorithm could be formulated in a recursive manner which made possible it's implementation by means of a large field-programmable gate array, as a fast, pipe-lined digital processor with 10 MHz maximum throughput rate. While pre-filter digitization by an ADC with 12 bit resolution and 10M Hz sampling rate resulted in a poorer resolution than that of an analog filter, a digital PLF based on an ADC with 14 bit resolution and 10 MHz sampling rate, surpassed high-quality analog filters in resolution, throughput rate and long-term stability. (author) 6 refs.; 7 figs

Digital optical computer II

Science.gov (United States)

Guilfoyle, Peter S.; Stone, Richard V.

1991-12-01

OptiComp is currently completing a 32-bit, fully programmable digital optical computer (DOC II) that is designed to operate in a UNIX environment running RISC microcode. OptiComp's DOC II architecture is focused toward parallel microcode implementation where data is input in a dual rail format. By exploiting the physical principals inherent to optics (speed and low power consumption), an architectural balance of optical interconnects and software code efficiency can be achieved including high fan-in and fan-out. OptiComp's DOC II program is jointly sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Strategic Defense Initiative Office (SDIO), NASA space station group and Rome Laboratory (USAF). This paper not only describes the motivational basis behind DOC II but also provides an optical overview and architectural summary of the device that allows the emulation of any digital instruction set.

Network-Embedded Management and Applications Understanding Programmable Networking Infrastructure

CERN Document Server

Wolter, Ralf

2013-01-01

Despite the explosion of networking services and applications in the past decades, the basic technological underpinnings of the Internet have remained largely unchanged. At its heart are special-purpose appliances that connect us to the digital world, commonly known as switches and routers. Now, however, the traditional framework is being increasingly challenged by new methods that are jostling for a position in the next-generation Internet. The concept of a network that is becoming more programmable is one of the aspects that are taking center stage. This opens new possibilities to embed software applications inside the network itself and to manage networks and communications services with unprecedented ease and efficiency. In this edited volume, distinguished experts take the reader on a tour of different facets of programmable network infrastructure and application exploit it. Presenting the state of the art in network embedded management and applications and programmable network infrastructure, the book c...

Digital Inclusion & Health Communication: A Rapid Review of Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Borg, Kim; Boulet, Mark; Smith, Liam; Bragge, Peter

2018-06-11

Information and communication technologies can be a valuable tool for enhancing health communication. However, not everyone is utilising the wide suite of digital opportunities. This disparity has the potential to exacerbate existing social and health inequalities, particularly among vulnerable groups such as those who are in poor health and the elderly. This review aimed to systematically identify the common barriers to, and facilitators of, digital inclusion. A comprehensive database search yielded 969 citations. Following screening, seven systematic reviews and three non-systematic reviews were identified. Collectively, the reviews found that physical access continues to be a barrier to digital inclusion. However, provision of access alone is insufficient, as digital ability and attitude were also potential barriers. Social support, direct user experience and collaborative learning/design were identified as key strategies to improve inclusion. These review findings provide guidance for health communication practitioners in designing and implementing effective programmes in the digital environment.

The impact of digital imaging on patient doses during barium studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broadhead, D.A.; Chapple, C.-L.; Faulkner, K.

1995-01-01

Barium studies performed on 10 digital and four non-digital fluoroscopic systems were monitored with dose-area product meters as part of a Regional Patient Dosimetry Audit programme. The data have been collected using a computer to read and reset the dose-area product meter and also to collect patient and examination details. A comparison of dose-area product measurements from digital and non-digital fluoroscopy units on over 10 000 barium studies is presented. The data have been corrected according to patient size. The mean size corrected dose-area product for a barium meal examination was found to be 7.62 Gy cm -2 for a digital set compared with 15.45 Gy cm -2 for a non-digital set with 2462 and 1308 patients included in each measurement series, respectively. Dose-area products were also a factor of approximately two lower for barium enema, barium swallow and barium follow-through examinations performed on digital systems. (author)

Syrians' Acceptance of Digital Lectures: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ramadan, Reem

2016-01-01

Technology-based learning modules are mostly challenged by their acceptance. A single-case study and mixed research method are used to explore a unique situation of applying digital lectures at the postgraduate Programmes at the Faculty of Tourism at Damascus University as a solution for brain drain in the Syrian higher education system. Results…

Introducing Programmable Logic to Undergraduate Engineering Students in a Digital Electronics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Todorovich, E.; Marone, J. A.; Vazquez, M.

2012-01-01

Due to significant technological advances and industry requirements, many universities have introduced programmable logic and hardware description languages into undergraduate engineering curricula. This has led to a number of logistical and didactical challenges, in particular for computer science students. In this paper, the integration of some…

Multinational Design Evaluation Programme. Annual Report - April 2014-April 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-06-01

The Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP) is a multinational initiative to leverage the resources and knowledge of national regulatory authorities who are, or will shortly be, undertaking the review of new reactor power plant designs. MDEP incorporates a broad range of activities including enhancing multilateral co-operation within existing regulatory frameworks, and increasing multinational convergence of codes, standards, guides and safety goals. A key concept throughout the work of MDEP is that national regulators retain sovereign authority for all licensing and regulatory decisions. Working groups are implementing the activities in accordance with programme plans with specific activities and goals, and have established the necessary interfaces both within and outside of MDEP. This report provides a status of the programme after its seventh year of implementation. Content: Executive summary; 1. Introduction; 2. Programme goals and outcomes; 3. Programme implementation (Membership, Organisational structure, MDEP Library, Common positions); 4. Interactions with other organisations; 5. Current activities (EPR Working Group (EPRWG), AP1000 Working Group (AP1000WG), APR1400 Working Group (APR1400WG), VVER Working Group (VVERWG), AVBWR Working Group (ABWRWG), Vendor Inspection Co-operation Working Group (VICWG), Codes and Standards Working Group (CSWG), Digital Instrumentation and Controls Working Group (DICWG)); 6. Interim results; 7. Next steps - Future of the programme; Appendix 1 - List of abbreviations and acronyms; Appendix 2 - Revised documents and publications; Appendix 3 - Photographs of reactors considered within MDEP

Multinational design evaluation programme - Annual report March 2013-March 2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-04-01

The Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP) is a multinational initiative to leverage the resources and knowledge of national regulatory authorities who are, or will shortly be, undertaking the review of new reactor power plant designs. MDEP incorporates a broad range of activities including enhancing multilateral cooperation within existing regulatory frameworks, and increasing multinational convergence of codes, standards, guides, and safety goals. A key concept throughout the work of MDEP is that national regulators retain sovereign authority for all licensing and regulatory decisions. Working groups are implementing the activities in accordance with programme plans with specific activities and goals, and have established the necessary interfaces both within and outside of the MDEP members. In the past year, MDEP has expanded to include cooperation on the VVER and ABWR designs and additional members have begun participating in the programme to share their experiences on these design reviews. This report provides the current status of the programme. Significant progress is being made on the overall MDEP goals of increased cooperation and enhanced convergence of requirements and practices. In addition, the lessons learnt from the 11 March 2011, events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are being incorporated into MDEP activities through the programme plans of design-specific working groups (DSWG). On this topic, the EPR Working Group has issued a common position which will be supplemented by five technical appendices by the end of 2014. Other DSWG are in the process of drafting such common positions. Several DSWGs' are facilitating the MDEP programme goal of enhanced cooperation: the EPRWG, the Vendor Inspection Cooperation Working Group (VICWG), the Digital Instrumentation and Controls Working Group (DICWG), the Codes and Standards Working Group (CSWG). Accomplishments to date provide confidence that the MDEP membership, structure and processes

Cryocooled wideband digital channelizing radio-frequency receiver based on low-pass ADC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vernik, Igor V; Kirichenko, Dmitri E; Dotsenko, Vladimir V; Miller, Robert; Webber, Robert J; Shevchenko, Pavel; Talalaevskii, Andrei; Gupta, Deepnarayan; Mukhanov, Oleg A

2007-01-01

We have demonstrated a digital receiver performing direct digitization of radio-frequency signals over a wide frequency range from kilohertz to gigahertz. The complete system, consisting of a cryopackaged superconductor all-digital receiver (ADR) chip followed by room-temperature interface electronics and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based post-processing module, has been developed. The ADR chip comprises a low-pass analog-to-digital converter (ADC) delta modulator with phase modulation-demodulation architecture together with digital in-phase and quadrature mixer and a pair of digital decimation filters. The chip is fabricated using a 4.5 kA cm -2 process and is cryopackaged using a commercial-off-the-shelf cryocooler. Experimental results in HF, VHF, UHF and L bands and their analysis, proving consistent operation of the cryopackaged ADR chip up to 24.32 GHz clock frequency, are presented and discussed

A digital instantaneous frequency measurement technique utilising high speed analogue to digital converters and field programmable gate arrays

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Herselman, PLR

2007-09-01

Full Text Available In modern information and sensor systems, the timely estimation of the carrier frequency of received signals is of critical importance. This paper presents a digital instantaneous frequency measurement (DIFM) technique, which can measure the carrier...

Technical quality control - constancy controls for digital mammography systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pedersen, K.; Landmark, I.D.; Bredholt, K.; Hauge, I.H.R.

2009-04-01

To ensure the quality of mammographic images, so-called constancy control tests are performed frequently. The report contains a programme for constancy control of digital mammography systems, encompassing the mammography unit, computed radiography (CR) systems, viewing conditions and displays, printers, and procedures for data collection for patient dose calculations. (Author)

Sound card based digital correlation detection of weak photoelectrical signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang Guanghui; Wang Jiangcheng

2005-01-01

A simple and low-cost digital correlation method is proposed to investigate weak photoelectrical signals, using a high-speed photodiode as detector, which is directly connected to a programmably triggered sound card analogue-to-digital converter and a personal computer. Two testing experiments, autocorrelation detection of weak flickering signals from a computer monitor under background of noisy outdoor stray light and cross-correlation measurement of the surface velocity of a motional tape, are performed, showing that the results are reliable and the method is easy to implement

A GPS-free passive acoustic localization scheme for underwater wireless sensor networks

KAUST Repository

Mirza, Mohammed; Shakir, Muhammad; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2011-01-01

Seaweb is an acoustic communication technology that enables communication between sensor nodes. Seaweb interconnects the underwater nodes through digital signal processing (DSP)-based modem by using acoustic links between the neighbouring sensors

Transforming 'Female' Programmes: Don’t Tell the Bride from International TV to Italian Digital Channels for Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cecilia Penati

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Contemporary Italian digital channels explicitly targeting women (such as Real Time, Lei, Fox Life, La5, and La7d represent a privileged observatory for some general trends in the international circulation of content and incorporation of foreign formats into national television (TV. In fact, their schedules rely heavily on the genre of factual entertainment, which was first devised and used in international contexts, such as the UK and the US, and only in the second phase was imported into other national TV environments.After introducing this scenario and the main issues connected to the circulation of international content on these channels, the article will focus on the BBC docu-reality Don’t Tell the Bride. The show was extensively circulated (UK and US versions in the circuit of Italian women channels before a national version was produced by the pay-TV brand Lei. The article will reflect on how the national version Non ditelo alla sposa added further shades to the original meaning of the format. While the international version only allowed the Italian audience to engage with the programme through a romantic and escapist approach, the local adaptation inserted practical advice in the storytelling on how to arrange a low budget yet traditional wedding day, coupled with the sarcastic and ironic points of view of the characters involved.

Modeling And Simulation Of Electrical Prevenion System Using Arduino Uno,Gsm Modem, And Acs712 Current Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Khair, Ummul; Jabbar Lubis, Abdul; Agustha, Indra; Dharmawati; Zulfin, M.

2017-12-01

The current electricity needs is very primary, all objects including electronics require power, it encourages people not to be able to save electricity so the theft of electric power would be done. The use of ACS712 current sensor as the sensor with arduino uno would find out the power consumption continuously and prevent the theft of electricity because of the use of electricity which has been determined by PLN and the people fetl that it is not enough for every house, so the author made a tool for prevention of theft of electric power by using the arduino uno, buzzer, ACS712 current sensor, lcd, and relay then the power usage can be controlled according to the use to prevent the occurrence of theft of electricity so the use can be seen directly on the lcd 16x2and GSM modem to give information to employees of PLN so that it can reduceelectrical theft by the public.

General method of synthesis by PLIC/FPGA digital devices to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A general method is proposed to synthesize digital devices in order to perform discrete orthogonal transformations (DOT) on programmable logic integrated circuits (PLIC) of FPGA class. The basic and the most "slow" operation during DOT performance is the operation of multiplying by a constant factor (constant) - OMC.

A Digital Phase Lock Loop for an External Cavity Diode Laser

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiao-Long; Tao, Tian-Jiong; Cheng, Bing; Wu, Bin; Xu, Yun-Fei; Wang, Zhao-Ying; Lin, Qiang

2011-08-01

A digital optical phase lock loop (OPLL) is implemented to synchronize the frequency and phase between two external cavity diode lasers (ECDL), generating Raman pulses for atom interferometry. The setup involves all-digital phase detection and a programmable digital proportional-integral-derivative (PID) loop in locking. The lock generates a narrow beat-note linewidth below 1 Hz and low phase-noise of 0.03rad2 between the master and slave ECDLs. The lock proves to be stable and robust, and all the locking parameters can be set and optimized on a computer interface with convenience, making the lock adaptable to various setups of laser systems.

Performance Comparison of BPL, EtherLoop and SHDSL technology performance on existing pilot cable circuits under the presence of induced voltage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Che, Y X; Ong, H S; Lai, L C; Ong, X J; Do, N Q; Karuppiah, S

2013-01-01

Pilot cable is originally used for utility protection. Then, pilot cable is further utilized for SCADA communication with low frequency PSK modem in the early 1990. However, the quality of pilot cable communication drops recently. Pilot cable starts to deteriorate due to aging and other unknown factors. It is also believed that the presence of induced voltage causes interference to existing modem communication which operates at low frequency channel. Therefore, BPL (Broadband Power Line), EtherLoop and SHDSL (Symmetrical High-speed Digital Subscriber Line) modem technology are proposed as alternative communication solutions for pilot cable communication. The performance of the 3 selected technologies on existing pilot cable circuits under the presence of induced voltage are measured and compared. Total of 11 pilot circuits with different length and level of induced voltage influence are selected for modem testing. The performance of BPL, EtherLoop and SHDSL modem technology are measured by the delay, bandwidth, packet loss and the long term usability SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) application. The testing results are presented and discussed in this paper. The results show that the 3 selected technologies are dependent on distance and independent on the level of induced voltage.

Inverter-based successive approximation capacitance-to-digital converter

KAUST Repository

Omran, Hesham

2017-03-23

An energy-efficient capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC) is provided that utilizes a capacitance-domain successive approximation (SAR) technique. Unlike SAR analog- to-digital converters (ADCs), analysis shows that for SAR CDCs, the comparator offset voltage will result in signal-dependent and parasitic-dependent conversion errors, which necessitates an op-amp-based implementation. The inverter-based SAR CDC contemplated herein provides robust, energy-efficient, and fast operation. The inverter- based SAR CDC may include a hybrid coarse-fine programmable capacitor array. The design of example embodiments is insensitive to analog references, and thus achieves very low temperature sensitivity without the need for calibration. Moreover, this design achieves improved energy efficiency.

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

A high performance cost-effective digital complex correlator for an X-band polarimetry survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergano, Miguel; Rocha, Armando; Cupido, Luís; Barbosa, Domingos; Villela, Thyrso; Boas, José Vilas; Rocha, Graça; Smoot, George F

2016-01-01

The detailed knowledge of the Milky Way radio emission is important to characterize galactic foregrounds masking extragalactic and cosmological signals. The update of the global sky models describing radio emissions over a very large spectral band requires high sensitivity experiments capable of observing large sky areas with long integration times. Here, we present the design of a new 10 GHz (X-band) polarimeter digital back-end to map the polarization components of the galactic synchrotron radiation field of the Northern Hemisphere sky. The design follows the digital processing trends in radio astronomy and implements a large bandwidth (1 GHz) digital complex cross-correlator to extract the Stokes parameters of the incoming synchrotron radiation field. The hardware constraints cover the implemented VLSI hardware description language code and the preliminary results. The implementation is based on the simultaneous digitized acquisition of the Cartesian components of the two linear receiver polarization channels. The design strategy involves a double data rate acquisition of the ADC interleaved parallel bus, and field programmable gate array device programming at the register transfer mode. The digital core of the back-end is capable of processing 32 Gbps and is built around an Altera field programmable gate array clocked at 250 MHz, 1 GSps analog to digital converters and a clock generator. The control of the field programmable gate array internal signal delays and a convenient use of its phase locked loops provide the timing requirements to achieve the target bandwidths and sensitivity. This solution is convenient for radio astronomy experiments requiring large bandwidth, high functionality, high volume availability and low cost. Of particular interest, this correlator was developed for the Galactic Emission Mapping project and is suitable for large sky area polarization continuum surveys. The solutions may also be adapted to be used at signal processing

A Dual Digital Signal Processor VME Board for Instrumentation and Control Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

H. Dong; R. Flood; C. Hovater; J. Musson

2001-01-01

A Dual Digital Signal Processing VME Board is being developed for the CEBAF Beam Current Monitor system at Jefferson Lab. It is a versatile general-purpose digital signal processing board using an open architecture, which allows for adaptation to various applications. The base design uses two independent Texas Instrument (TI) TMS320C6711, which are 900 MFLOPS floating-point digital signal processors (DSP). Applications that require a fixed point DSP can be implemented by replacing the baseline DSP with the pin-for-pin compatible TMS320C6211. Both parallel and serial protocols have been implemented for communicating with off board devices. The initial implementation makes use of TI Multi-channel Serial protocol and VME bus protocol. Other communication protocols can be implemented by reprogramming the FPGA. Each DSP is equipped with FLASH PROM and SDRAM for program and data storage. Additionally, each DSP has 16 bits of digital I/O, two digital analog converters, and two analog to digital converters. Dual 160 pins mezzanine connectors provide expansion capability without design modifications. The mezzanine interface conforms to the TI Expansion Daughter Card Interface standard. The design can be manufactured with a reduced chip set without redesigning the printed circuit board. For example, it can be implemented as a single-channel DSP with no analog I/O. The board supports JTAG 1149 boundary scan to facilitate testing, debugging, and programming. It is fully programmable using software development tools such as TI Code Composer Studio and a JTAG emulator such as Spectrum Digital DS510PP-PLUS. Using these tools allows one program the flash memory and FPGA through the JTAG ports, thus eliminating the need for a separate ROM/FPGA programmer. This work supported by U.S. DOE Contract No. DE-AC05-84ER40150

Development of FPGA-based digital signal processing system for radiation spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Pil Soo; Lee, Chun Sik; Lee, Ju Hahn

2013-01-01

We have developed an FPGA-based digital signal processing system that performs both online digital signal filtering and pulse-shape analysis for both particle and gamma-ray spectroscopy. Such functionalities were made possible by a state-of-the-art programmable logic device and system architectures employed. The system performance as measured, for example, in the system dead time and accuracy for pulse-height and rise-time determination, was evaluated with standard alpha- and gamma-ray sources using a CsI(Tl) scintillation detector. It is resulted that the present system has shown its potential application to various radiation-related fields such as particle identification, radiography, and radiation imaging. - Highlights: ► An FPGA-based digital processing system was developed for radiation spectroscopy. ► Our digital system has a 14-bit resolution and a 100-MHz sampling rate. ► The FPGA implements the online digital filtering and pulse-shape analysis. ► The pileup rejection is implemented in trigger logic before digital filtering process. ► Our digital system was verified in alpha-gamma measurements using a CsI detector

Method and apparatus for digitally based high speed x-ray spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warburton, W.K.; Hubbard, B.

1997-01-01

A high speed, digitally based, signal processing system which accepts input data from a detector-preamplifier and produces a spectral analysis of the x-rays illuminating the detector. The system achieves high throughputs at low cost by dividing the required digital processing steps between a ''hardwired'' processor implemented in combinatorial digital logic, which detects the presence of the x-ray signals in the digitized data stream and extracts filtered estimates of their amplitudes, and a programmable digital signal processing computer, which refines the filtered amplitude estimates and bins them to produce the desired spectral analysis. One set of algorithms allow this hybrid system to match the resolution of analog systems while operating at much higher data rates. A second set of algorithms implemented in the processor allow the system to be self calibrating as well. The same processor also handles the interface to an external control computer. 19 figs

Multinational design evaluation programme. Annual Report April 2015-April 2016

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-05-01

The Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP) is a multinational initiative to leverage the resources and knowledge of national regulatory authorities that are, or will shortly be, undertaking the review of new reactor power plant designs. MDEP incorporates a broad range of activities including enhancing multilateral co-operation within existing regulatory frameworks, and increasing multinational convergence of codes, standards, guides, and safety goals. A key concept throughout the work of MDEP is that national regulators retain sovereign authority for all licensing and regulatory decisions. Working groups are implementing the activities in accordance with programme plans with specific activities and goals, and have established the necessary interfaces both within and outside of MDEP. This report provides a status of the programme after its eighth year of implementation. Content: Executive Summary; 1 - Introduction; 2 - Programme goals and outcomes; 3 - Programme implementation (Membership, Organizational structure, MDEP Library, Common positions); 4 - Interactions with other organizations; 5 - Current activities (EPR Working Group (EPRWG), AP1000 Working Group (AP1000WG), APR1400 Design-specific Working Group (APR1400WG), VVER Working Group (VVERWG), ABWR Working Group (ABWRWG), Vendor Inspection Co-operation Working Group (VICWG), Codes and Standards Working Group (CSWG), Digital Instrumentation and Controls Working Group (DICWG); 6 - Interim results; 7 - Next steps - future of the programme; appendix 1: List of abbreviations and acronyms; Appendix 2: Revised documents and publications; Appendix 3: Photographs of reactors considered within MDEP

A Programmable, Scalable-Throughput Interleaver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. J. C. Rijshouwer

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The interleaver stages of digital communication standards show a surprisingly large variation in throughput, state sizes, and permutation functions. Furthermore, data rates for 4G standards such as LTE-Advanced will exceed typical baseband clock frequencies of handheld devices. Multistream operation for Software Defined Radio and iterative decoding algorithms will call for ever higher interleave data rates. Our interleave machine is built around 8 single-port SRAM banks and can be programmed to generate up to 8 addresses every clock cycle. The scalable architecture combines SIMD and VLIW concepts with an efficient resolution of bank conflicts. A wide range of cellular, connectivity, and broadcast interleavers have been mapped on this machine, with throughputs up to more than 0.5 Gsymbol/second. Although it was designed for channel interleaving, the application domain of the interleaver extends also to Turbo interleaving. The presented configuration of the architecture is designed as a part of a programmable outer receiver on a prototype board. It offers (near universal programmability to enable the implementation of new interleavers. The interleaver measures 2.09 mm2 in 65 nm CMOS (including memories and proves functional on silicon.

A Programmable, Scalable-Throughput Interleaver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rijshouwer EJC

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The interleaver stages of digital communication standards show a surprisingly large variation in throughput, state sizes, and permutation functions. Furthermore, data rates for 4G standards such as LTE-Advanced will exceed typical baseband clock frequencies of handheld devices. Multistream operation for Software Defined Radio and iterative decoding algorithms will call for ever higher interleave data rates. Our interleave machine is built around 8 single-port SRAM banks and can be programmed to generate up to 8 addresses every clock cycle. The scalable architecture combines SIMD and VLIW concepts with an efficient resolution of bank conflicts. A wide range of cellular, connectivity, and broadcast interleavers have been mapped on this machine, with throughputs up to more than 0.5 Gsymbol/second. Although it was designed for channel interleaving, the application domain of the interleaver extends also to Turbo interleaving. The presented configuration of the architecture is designed as a part of a programmable outer receiver on a prototype board. It offers (near universal programmability to enable the implementation of new interleavers. The interleaver measures 2.09 m in 65 nm CMOS (including memories and proves functional on silicon.

A digital squarer system for positive mass identification on the ARL ion microprobe mass analyser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woods, K.N.; Grant, L.D.V.; Rawsthorne, E.D.; Strydom, H.J.; Gries, W.H.

1984-01-01

The original analogue squarer for mass scale linearisation in the Ion Microprobe Mass Analyser (IMMA) has been replaced by a programmable digital squarer system which permits reliable mass number identification throughout the tested range 1 to 240. The digital squarer provides signals to both a digital direct reading mass number display and to an X-Y recorder where it provides a linear mass scale correct to within 0,3 mass units. An additional output to a computer can provide binary or BCD mass number data

Digital acquisition and wavelength control of seed laser for space-based Lidar applications, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This SBIR Phase I proposes to establish the feasibility of using a space qualifiable Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based digital controller to autonomously...

Impact of the digital divide on information literacy training in a higher education context

OpenAIRE

Segarani Naidoo; Jaya Raju

2012-01-01

This paper reports on a master’s study undertaken to investigate the impact of the digital divide on information literacy(IL) training of Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP) students at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). Since1994 the demographics of higher education institutions in South Africa have changed. Today these institutions compriseheterogeneous groups of students, by race, economic background, digital background, etc. and consequently with differentlevels of literacy, infor...

A Digital Phase Lock Loop for an External Cavity Diode Laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Xiao-Long; Tao Tian-Jiong; Cheng Bing; Wu Bin; Xu Yun-Fei; Wang Zhao-Ying; Lin Qiang

2011-01-01

A digital optical phase lock loop (OPLL) is implemented to synchronize the frequency and phase between two external cavity diode lasers (ECDL), generating Raman pulses for atom interferometry. The setup involves all-digital phase detection and a programmable digital proportional-integral-derivative (PID) loop in locking. The lock generates a narrow beat-note linewidth below 1 Hz and low phase-noise of 0.03rad 2 between the master and slave ECDLs. The lock proves to be stable and robust, and all the locking parameters can be set and optimized on a computer interface with convenience, making the lock adaptable to various setups of laser systems. (fundamental areas of phenomenology(including applications))

A longitudinal multi-bunch feedback system using parallel digital signal processors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sapozhnikov, L.; Fox, J.D.; Olsen, J.J.; Oxoby, G.; Linscott, I.; Drago, A.; Serio, M.

1994-01-01

A programmable longitudinal feedback system based on four AT ampersand T 1610 digital signal processors has been developed as a component of the PEP-II R ampersand D program. This longitudinal quick prototype is a proof of concept for the PEP-II system and implements full-speed bunch-by-bunch signal processing for storage rings with bunch spacings of 4 ns. The design incorporates a phase-detector-based front end that digitizes the oscillation phases of bunches at the 250 MHz crossing rate, four programmable signal processors that compute correction signals, and a 250-MHz hold buffer/kicker driver stage that applies correction signals back on the beam. The design implements a general-purpose, table-driven downsampler that allows the system to be operated at several accelerator facilities. The hardware architecture of the signal processing is described, and the software algorithms used in the feedback signal computation are discussed. The system configuration used for tests at the LBL Advanced Light Source is presented

A digital pixel cell for address event representation image convolution processing

Science.gov (United States)

Camunas-Mesa, Luis; Acosta-Jimenez, Antonio; Serrano-Gotarredona, Teresa; Linares-Barranco, Bernabe

2005-06-01

Address Event Representation (AER) is an emergent neuromorphic interchip communication protocol that allows for real-time virtual massive connectivity between huge number of neurons located on different chips. By exploiting high speed digital communication circuits (with nano-seconds timings), synaptic neural connections can be time multiplexed, while neural activity signals (with mili-seconds timings) are sampled at low frequencies. Also, neurons generate events according to their information levels. Neurons with more information (activity, derivative of activities, contrast, motion, edges,...) generate more events per unit time, and access the interchip communication channel more frequently, while neurons with low activity consume less communication bandwidth. AER technology has been used and reported for the implementation of various type of image sensors or retinae: luminance with local agc, contrast retinae, motion retinae,... Also, there has been a proposal for realizing programmable kernel image convolution chips. Such convolution chips would contain an array of pixels that perform weighted addition of events. Once a pixel has added sufficient event contributions to reach a fixed threshold, the pixel fires an event, which is then routed out of the chip for further processing. Such convolution chips have been proposed to be implemented using pulsed current mode mixed analog and digital circuit techniques. In this paper we present a fully digital pixel implementation to perform the weighted additions and fire the events. This way, for a given technology, there is a fully digital implementation reference against which compare the mixed signal implementations. We have designed, implemented and tested a fully digital AER convolution pixel. This pixel will be used to implement a full AER convolution chip for programmable kernel image convolution processing.

A digital Front-End and Readout MIcrosystem for calorimetry at LHC

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

% RD-16 A Digital Front-End and Readout Microsystem for Calorimetry at LHC \\\\ \\\\Front-end signal processing for calorimetric detectors is essential in order to achieve adequate selectivity in the trigger function of an LHC experiment, with data identification and compaction before readout being required in the harsh, high rate environment of a high luminosity hadron machine. Other crucial considerations are the extremely wide dynamic range and bandwidth requirements, as well as the volume of data to be transferred to following stages of the trigger and readout system. These requirements are best met by an early digitalization of the detector information, followed by integrated digital signal processing and buffering functions covering the trigger latencies.\\\\ \\\\The FERMI (Front-End Readout MIcrosystem) is a digital implementation of the front-end and readout electronic chain for calorimeters. It is based on dynamic range compression, high speed A to D converters, a fully programmable pipeline/digital filter c...

The design of programme-controlled gain and linear pulse amplifier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guan Xuemei; Chen Chunkai; Northeast Normal Univ., Changchun; Qiao Shuang; Zhou Chuansheng

2006-01-01

The authors have designed a kind of new-style programme-controlled gain and linear pulse amplifier with accurate gausses of CR-RC-CR shaping circuit structure. The use of non-volatile digital electric potential device and accurate operational amplifier makes the circuit structure simple greatly, makes the ability stronger that resists assault. It can realize multistage gain in succession and make the drift of temperature low and make the linearity of pulse well. (authors)

Software V ampersand V methods for digital plant protection system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hung-Jun; Han, Jai-Bok; Chun, Chong-Son; Kim, Sung; Kim, Kern-Joong.

1997-01-01

Careful thought must be given to software design in the development of digital based systems that play a critical role in the successful operation of nuclear power plants. To evaluate the software verification and validation methods as well as to verify its system performance capabilities for the upgrade instrumentation and control system in the Korean future nuclear power plants, the prototype Digital Plant, Protection System (DPPS) based on the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) has been constructed. The system design description and features are briefly presented, and the software design and software verification and validation methods are focused. 6 refs., 2 figs

Programmable temperature regulator of VAO-1 furnace

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zahalka, F.

1979-01-01

A programmable temperature controller is described for a furnace for high-level waste processing. Furnace temperature is controlled by a program compiled from a combination of 3 parts with different linear increments or decrements of time dependent temperature and 2 parts with isothermal control for over a preset period. The equipment consists essentially of a programming unit, a programmed digital-to-analog converter and a power unit. The design is described in detail and its specifications are given. The maximum operating temperature of 1500 degC may be reached in the furnace charge section. (B.S.)

Diversity and testing requirements of programmable automation systems; Ohjelmoitavan automaation diversiteetti- ja testausvaatimukset

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haapanen, P.; Maskuniitty, M.

1993-04-01

In the report programmable digital operation and safety automation systems for nuclear power plants are discussed. The programmable systems deviate by their properties and behaviour from the conventional non-programmable systems in such extent, that their verification and validation for safety critical applications requires new methods and practices. The safety assessment can not be based on conventional probabilistic methods due to the difficulties in the quantification of the reliability of the software and hardware. A safety critical programmable system shall include diverse redundant parts so that no residual program fault can not cause the failure of the intended function of the system. Although complete testing of a programmable system is impossible, different tests have a central role in the production and validation process of the system. Diversity is important also in confidence building measures for the implemented system. Independent analysis and testing of the system should use different methods and tools from those used in the production and validation process by the system vendor. Use of diversity and testing are concluded to be central issues in producing safe programmable system and in proving them to be safe enough. By combining functional and programming diversity in a suitable way one can produce a system that is safe enough without having a non-programmable back-up system. (48 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.).

Validation of programmable industrial automation systems for safety critical applications in NPP's; dynamic testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haapanen, P.; Korhonen, J.

1995-01-01

The safety assessment of programmable automation systems cannot be totally be based on conventional probabilistic methods because of the difficulties in quantification of the reliability of the software as well as the hardware. Additional means shall therefore be used to gain more confidence on the system dependability. One central confidence building measure is the independent dynamic testing of the completed system. An automated test harness is needed to run the required large amount of test cases in a restricted time span. This paper describes a prototype dynamic testing harness for programmable digital systems developed at VTT. (author). 12 refs, 2 figs, 2 tabs

Field-Programmable Logic Devices with Optical Input Output

Science.gov (United States)

Szymanski, Ted H.; Saint-Laurent, Martin; Tyan, Victor; Au, Albert; Supmonchai, Boonchuay

2000-02-01

A field-programmable logic device (FPLD) with optical I O is described. FPLD s with optical I O can have their functionality specified in the field by means of downloading a control-bit stream and can be used in a wide range of applications, such as optical signal processing, optical image processing, and optical interconnects. Our device implements six state-of-the-art dynamically programmable logic arrays (PLA s) on a 2 mm 2 mm die. The devices were fabricated through the Lucent Technologies Advanced Research Projects Agency Consortium for Optical and Optoelectronic Technologies in Computing (Lucent ARPA COOP) workshop by use of 0.5- m complementary metal-oxide semiconductor self-electro-optic device technology and were delivered in 1998. All devices are fully functional: The electronic data paths have been verified at 200 MHz, and optical tests are pending. The device has been programmed to implement a two-stage optical switching network with six 4 4 crossbar switches, which can realize more than 190 10 6 unique programmable input output permutations. The same device scaled to a 2 cm 2 cm substrate could support as many as 4000 optical I O and 1 Tbit s of optical I O bandwidth and offer fully programmable digital functionality with approximately 110,000 programmable logic gates. The proposed optoelectronic FPLD is also ideally suited to realizing dense, statically reconfigurable crossbar switches. We describe an attractive application area for such devices: a rearrangeable three-stage optical switch for a wide-area-network backbone, switching 1000 traffic streams at the OC-48 data rate and supporting several terabits of traffic.

Multiple constant multiplication optimizations for field programmable gate arrays

CERN Document Server

Kumm, Martin

2016-01-01

This work covers field programmable gate array (FPGA)-specific optimizations of circuits computing the multiplication of a variable by several constants, commonly denoted as multiple constant multiplication (MCM). These optimizations focus on low resource usage but high performance. They comprise the use of fast carry-chains in adder-based constant multiplications including ternary (3-input) adders as well as the integration of look-up table-based constant multipliers and embedded multipliers to get the optimal mapping to modern FPGAs. The proposed methods can be used for the efficient implementation of digital filters, discrete transforms and many other circuits in the domain of digital signal processing, communication and image processing. Contents Heuristic and ILP-Based Optimal Solutions for the Pipelined Multiple Constant Multiplication Problem Methods to Integrate Embedded Multipliers, LUT-Based Constant Multipliers and Ternary (3-Input) Adders An Optimized Multiple Constant Multiplication Architecture ...

A high-speed bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy system based on the digital auto-balancing bridge method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Nan; Xu, Hui; Zhou, Zhou; Wang, Wei; Qiao, Guofeng; Li, David D-U

2013-01-01

A novel bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy system based on the digital auto-balancing bridge method improved from the conventional analogue auto-balancing method is presented for bioelectrical impedance measurements. The hardware of the proposed system consists of a reference source, a null detector, a variable source, a field programmable gate array, a clock generator, a flash and a USB controller. Software implemented in the field programmable gate array includes three major blocks: clock management, peripheral control and digital signal processing. The principle and realization of the least-mean-squares-based digital auto-balancing algorithm is introduced in detail. The performances of our system were examined by comparing with a commercial impedance analyzer. The results reveal that the proposed system has high speed (less than 3.5 ms per measurement) and high accuracy in the frequency range of 1 kHz–10 MHz. Compared with the commercial instrument based on the traditional analogue auto-balancing method, our system shows advantages in measurement speed, compactness and flexibility, making it suitable for various bioelectrical impedance measurement applications. (paper)

Keeping Research Data from the Continental Deep Drilling Programme (KTB) Accessible and Taking First Steps Towards Digital Preservation

Science.gov (United States)

Klump, J. F.; Ulbricht, D.; Conze, R.

2014-12-01

The Continental Deep Drilling Programme (KTB) was a scientific drilling project from 1987 to 1995 near Windischeschenbach, Bavaria. The main super-deep borehole reached a depth of 9,101 meters into the Earth's continental crust. The project used the most current equipment for data capture and processing. After the end of the project key data were disseminated through the web portal of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). The scientific reports were published as printed volumes. As similar projects have also experienced, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a data portal over a long time. Changes in software and underlying hardware make a migration of the entire system inevitable. Around 2009 the data presented on the ICDP web portal were migrated to the Scientific Drilling Database (SDDB) and published through DataCite using Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) as persistent identifiers. The SDDB portal used a relational database with a complex data model to store data and metadata. A PHP-based Content Management System with custom modifications made it possible to navigate and browse datasets using the metadata and then download datasets. The data repository software eSciDoc allows storing self-contained packages consistent with the OAIS reference model. Each package consists of binary data files and XML-metadata. Using a REST-API the packages can be stored in the eSciDoc repository and can be searched using the XML-metadata. During the last maintenance cycle of the SDDB the data and metadata were migrated into the eSciDoc repository. Discovery metadata was generated following the GCMD-DIF, ISO19115 and DataCite schemas. The eSciDoc repository allows to store an arbitrary number of XML-metadata records with each data object. In addition to descriptive metadata each data object may contain pointers to related materials, such as IGSN-metadata to link datasets to physical specimens, or identifiers of literature interpreting the data

Digital low level rf control system with four different intermediate frequencies for the International Linear Collider

Science.gov (United States)

Wibowo, Sigit Basuki; Matsumoto, Toshihiro; Michizono, Shinichiro; Miura, Takako; Qiu, Feng; Liu, Na

2017-09-01

A field programmable gate array-based digital low level rf (LLRF) control system will be used in the International Linear Collider (ILC) in order to satisfy the rf stability requirements. The digital LLRF control system with four different intermediate frequencies has been developed to decrease the required number of analog-to-digital converters in this system. The proof of concept of this technique was demonstrated at the Superconducting RF Test Facility in the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Japan. The amplitude and phase stability has fulfilled the ILC requirements.

An overview of review guidelines for HDL programmable devices in nuclear safety systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komanduri, Raghavan; Srivani, L.; Thirugnana Murthy, D.

2013-01-01

HDL programmable devices viz. CPLDs and FPGAs are increasingly being used to implement digital designs in the I and C systems performing safety functions of nuclear power plants. Synthesizable RTL descriptions manually written in HDLs are the first step in developing industry standard large scale digital designs. The reliability of the implementation is determined by the methodologies followed by the designer during development. Very few guidelines on HPD design practices, specific to nuclear industry are available. This paper presents an overview of the existing guidelines such as IEC 62566 and U.S. NRC's 'Review guidelines for FPGAs in nuclear power plant safety systems'. (author)

Research plan on programmable automation systems in nuclear power plants (OHA) in 1995-1998

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haapanen, P.; Pulkkinen, U.; Korhonen, J.

1995-05-01

The main purpose of nuclear energy research is to ensure the safety and continued development of Finnish nuclear power plants - a task which places high demands on expertise needed to support the work of public authorities and power companies. A factor necessarily influencing the orientation of the research is the Parliament's decision of late 1993 against further nuclear capacity in the country. Therefore the main emphasis of research shall be directed towards the ensuring the safety of existing plants and the continuous development of their safety along the progress of the science and technology. Anyhow, the preparedness for constructing new plants shall also be preserved. The utilization of programmable digital automation technology for the safety critical functions is the most significant change in the new plants, but also in existing plants this technology will be used for replacing and complementing the ageing automation systems. The safety evaluation of programmable digital systems can not be based on methods applied to conventional analog systems but new evaluation methods and tools must be developed for the assessing of their acceptability. (5 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.)

Design improvement of FPGA and CPU based digital circuit cards to solve timing issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Dongil; Lee, Jaeki; Lee, Kwang-Hyun

2016-01-01

The digital circuit cards installed at NPPs (Nuclear Power Plant) are mostly composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a PLD (Programmable Logic Device; these include a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device)). This type of structure is typical and is maintained using digital circuit cards. There are no big problems with this device as a structure. In particular, signal delay causes a lot of problems when various IC (Integrated Circuit) and several circuit cards are connected to the BUS of the backplane in the BUS design. This paper suggests a structure to improve the BUS signal timing problems in a circuit card consisting of CPU and FPGA. Nowadays, as the structure of circuit cards has become complex and mass data at high speed is communicated through the BUS, data integrity is the most important issue. The conventional design does not consider delay and the synchronicity of signal and this causes many problems in data processing. In order to solve these problems, it is important to isolate the BUS controller from the CPU and maintain constancy of the signal delay by using a PLD

Design improvement of FPGA and CPU based digital circuit cards to solve timing issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Dongil; Lee, Jaeki; Lee, Kwang-Hyun [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

The digital circuit cards installed at NPPs (Nuclear Power Plant) are mostly composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a PLD (Programmable Logic Device; these include a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) and a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device)). This type of structure is typical and is maintained using digital circuit cards. There are no big problems with this device as a structure. In particular, signal delay causes a lot of problems when various IC (Integrated Circuit) and several circuit cards are connected to the BUS of the backplane in the BUS design. This paper suggests a structure to improve the BUS signal timing problems in a circuit card consisting of CPU and FPGA. Nowadays, as the structure of circuit cards has become complex and mass data at high speed is communicated through the BUS, data integrity is the most important issue. The conventional design does not consider delay and the synchronicity of signal and this causes many problems in data processing. In order to solve these problems, it is important to isolate the BUS controller from the CPU and maintain constancy of the signal delay by using a PLD.

How can the digital library contribute to employability?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harbo, Karen; Jensen, Thomas Skov

2016-01-01

platforms. A partnership is made between the digital library (partner libraries involved) and the virtual learning environment (educational institutions), based on the above definition of employability. This is done within the framework of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Massive Open Online Courses......The DEFF project, E-learning, Information literacy and Library services, supports the education policy ambition of enhancing links between education and employment. The project consortium includes libraries from all Danish universities, university colleges and one business academy. Timeframe...... for the project is 2014-16. The project understands employability as: In close cooperation with study programmes libraries will strengthen students’ ability to perform independently and critically in a professional context by being able to identify, collect, evaluate, organize and present information via digital...

How can the digital library contribute to employability?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harbo, Karen; Jensen, Thomas Skov

2016-01-01

The DEFF project, E-learning, Information literacy and Library services, supports the education policy ambition of enhancing links between education and employment. The project consortium includes libraries from all Danish universities, university colleges and one business academy. Timeframe...... for the project is 2014-16. The project understands employability as: In close cooperation with study programmes libraries will strengthen students’ ability to perform independently and critically in a professional context by being able to identify, collect, evaluate, organize and present information via digital...... platforms. A partnership is made between the digital library (partner libraries involved) and the virtual learning environment (educational institutions), based on the above definition of employability. This is done within the framework of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Massive Open Online Courses...

Outreach programmes to attract girls into computing: how the best laid plans can sometimes fail

Science.gov (United States)

Lang, Catherine; Fisher, Julie; Craig, Annemieke; Forgasz, Helen

2015-07-01

This article presents a reflective analysis of an outreach programme called the Digital Divas Club. This curriculum-based programme was delivered in Australian schools with the aim of stimulating junior and middle school girls' interest in computing courses and careers. We believed that we had developed a strong intervention programme based on previous literature and our collective knowledge and experiences. While it was coordinated by university academics, the programme content was jointly created and modified by practicing school teachers. After four years, when the final data were compiled, it showed that our programme produced significant change to student confidence in computing, but the ability to influence a desire to pursue a career path in computing did not fully eventuate. To gain a deeper insight in to why this may be the case, data collected from two of the schools are interrogated in more detail as described in this article. These schools were at the end of the expected programme outcomes. We found that despite designing a programme that delivered a multi-layered positive computing experience, factors beyond our control such as school culture and teacher technical self-efficacy help account for the unanticipated results. Despite our best laid plans, the expectations that this semester long programme would influence students' longer term career outcomes may have been aspirational at best.

Computer programmes for the control and data manipulation of a sequential x-ray-fluorescence spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spimpolo, G.F.

1984-01-01

Two computer programmes have been written for use on a fully automated Siemens SRS200 sequential X-ray-fluorescence spectrometer. The first of these is used to control the spectrometer via an LC200 logic controller using a Data General Nova IV minicomputer; the second is used for the on-line evaluation of the intensity results and the printout of the analytical results. This system is an alternative to the systems offered by Siemens Ltd, which consist of a Process PR310 or Digital DEC PDP1103 computer and the Siemens Spectra 310 software package. The multibatch capabilities of the programmes, with the option of measuring one sample or a tray of samples before the results are calculated, give the new programmes a major advantage over the dedicated software and, together with the elimination of human error in calculation, have resulted in increased efficiency and quality in routine analyses. A description is given of the two programmes, as well as instruction and guidelines to the user

Technical self reliance of digital safety systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwon, Kee Choon; Lee, Dong Young [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Kook Hun [Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, Changwon (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Seung Gap [POSCON, Pohang (Korea, Republic of)

2009-04-15

This paper summarizes the development results of the Korea Nuclear Instrumentation and Control System (KNICS) project sponsored by the Korean government. In this project, Man Machine Interface System (MMIS) architecture, two digital platforms, and several control systems are developed. One platform is a programmable Logic Controller (PLC) for a safety system and another platform is a Distributed Control System (DCS) for a non safety system. With the POSAFE Q PLC, a Reactor Protection System (RPS) and an Engineered Safety Feature Component Control System (ESF CCS) are developed. A Power Control System (PCS) is developed based on the DCS. The safety grade platform and the digital safety systems obtained approval for the Topical Report from the Korean regulatory body in February of 2009. Also a Korean utility and a vendor company determined KNICS results to apply them to the planned Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in March 2009. This paper introduces the technical self reliance experiences of the safety grade platform and the digital safety systems developed in the KNICS R and D project.

Customizable Digital Receivers for Radar

Science.gov (United States)

Moller, Delwyn; Heavey, Brandon; Sadowy, Gregory

2008-01-01

Compact, highly customizable digital receivers are being developed for the system described in 'Radar Interferometer for Topographic Mapping of Glaciers and Ice Sheets' (NPO-43962), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 31, No. 7 (August 2007), page 72. The receivers are required to operate in unison, sampling radar returns received by the antenna elements in a digital beam-forming (DBF) mode. The design of these receivers could also be adapted to commercial radar systems. At the time of reporting the information for this article, there were no commercially available digital receivers capable of satisfying all of the operational requirements and compact enough to be mounted directly on the antenna elements. A provided figure depicts the overall system of which the digital receivers are parts. Each digital receiver includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a demultiplexer (DMUX), and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The ADC effects 10-bit band-pass sampling of input signals having frequencies up to 3.5 GHz. The input samples are demultiplexed at a user-selectable rate of 1:2 or 1:4, then buffered in part of the FPGA that functions as a first-in/first-out (FIFO) memory. Another part of the FPGA serves as a controller for the ADC, DMUX, and FIFO memory and as an interface between (1) the rest of the receiver and (2) a front-panel data port (FPDP) bus, which is an industry-standard parallel data bus that has a high data-rate capability and multichannel configuration suitable for DBF. Still other parts of the FPGA in each receiver perform signal-processing functions. The digital receivers can be configured to operate in a stand-alone mode, or in a multichannel mode as needed for DBF. The customizability of the receiver makes it applicable to a broad range of system architectures. The capability for operation of receivers in either a stand-alone or a DBF mode enables the use of the receivers in an unprecedentedly wide variety of radar systems.

Synchronization method of digital pulse power supply for heavy ions accelerator in Lanzhou

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Rongkun; Zhao Jiang; Wu Fengjun; Zhang Huajian; Chen Youxin; Huang Yuzhen; Gao Daqing; Zhou Zhongzu; Yan Huaihai; Yan Hongbin

2013-01-01

The performance of the synchrotron depends on its synchronization. A kind of synchronization method of digital pulse power supply in Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou-Cooler Storage Ring (HIRFL-CSR) was presented in detail, which is a kind of system on a programmable chip (SOPC) based on optical fiber and optical-custom component. The test of the digital power supply was performed and the current wave forms of pulse mode were given. The results show that all targets can meet the design requirements. (authors)

Validation of programmable industrial automation systems for safety critical applications in NPP's dynamic testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haapanen, P.; Korhonen, J.

1995-01-01

The safety assessment of programmable automation systems can not totally be based on conventional probabilistic methods because of the difficulties in quantification of the reliability of the software as well as the hardware. Additional means shall therefore be used to gain more confidence on the system dependability. One central confidence building measure is the independent dynamic testing of the completed system. An automated test harness is needed to run the required large amount of test cases in a restricted time span. The prototype dynamic testing harness for programmable digital systems developed at the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) is described in the presentation. (12 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.)

Miniaturized digital fluxgate magnetometer for small spacecraft applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forslund, Åke; Ivchenko, Nickolay; Olsson, Göran; Edberg, Terry; Belyayev, Serhiy; Marusenkov, Andriy

2008-01-01

A novel design of an Earth field digital fluxgate magnetometer is presented, the small magnetometer in low-mass experiment (SMILE). The combination of a number of new techniques results in significant miniaturization of both sensor and electronics. The design uses a sensor with volume compensation, combining three dual rod cores in a Macor® cube with the side dimension of 20 mm. Use of volume compensation provides high geometrical stability of the axes and improved performance compared to component compensated sensors. The sensor is operated at an excitation frequency of 8 kHz. Most of the instrument functionality is combined in a digital signal processing core, implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The pick-up signal is digitized after amplification and filtering, and values of compensation currents for each of the axes are determined by a digital correlation algorithm, equivalent to a matched filter, and are fed to a hybrid pulse-width modulation/delta-sigma digital-to-analogue converter driving the currents through the compensation coils. Using digital design makes the instrument very flexible, reduces power consumption and opens possibilities for the customization of the operation modes. The current implementation of the design is based on commercial off-the-shelf components. A calibration of the SMILE instrument was carried out at the Nurmijärvi Geophysical Observatory, showing high linearity (within 6 nT on the whole ±50 µT scale), good orthogonality (22 arcmin) and very good temperature stability of the axes

Final Report and Documentation for the PLD11 Multipurpose Programmable Logic VME Board Design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hutchinson, Robert L.; Pierson, Lyndon G.; Robertson, Perry J.; Tarman, Thomas D.; Witzke, Edward L.

1999-01-01

The PLD11 board is a 9U VME board containing 11 Altera 10K100 Programmable Logic Devices, controlled impedance clock tree, VME interface, programming inteface, 0C3 (155 Mbps) interface and serial port. The 11 Altera 10K100 Programmable Logic Devices arranged to provide four 96 bit wide buses for a total of 384 parallel digital data lines in and out of the board that can operate up to 100 Mhz for a aggrigate throughput of 38.4 Gpbs. The 14.44'' X 15.75'' board has over 1.1 million programmable gates that can be programmed through a serial interace. The board contains a clock reference and 50 ohm clock distribution tree that can drive each of the eleven 10K100 devices with two critically timed clock references. Five external clock references can be used to drive five additional PLD 11 boards for a total of six boards operating all from the same synchronous clock reference. A system of six boards provides just under 7 million programmable gates

PS BOOSTER BEAM TESTS OF THE NEW DIGITAL BEAM CONTROL SYSTEM FOR LEIR

CERN Document Server

Angoletta, Maria Elena; Bento, J; De Long, J H; Findlay, A; Matuszkiewicz, P; Pedersen, F; Salom-Sarasqueta, A; CERN. Geneva. AB Department

2005-01-01

We have been developing a scaled-down prototype of the new digital beam control and cavity servoing system for CERN’s Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) slated for commissioning in 2005. The system’s hardware and software, developed as part of a CERN-BNL collaboration, are based on new all-digital technology already deployed at BNL's AGS Booster. The system relies on VME modules, carrying Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) as well as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and daughter cards. New concepts deployed include software implementation, through DSPs & FPGAs, of functions traditionally executed by analogue hardware, such as reference-functions and timings generation. Additionally, a user-selectable digital data acquisition functionality provides diagnostic and troubleshoot access points, a new feature which is very useful in a digital system. The scaled-down prototype implements frequency program, radial steering, phase and radial loops capabilities and it has been tested in CERN's PS Booster (PSB) dur...

Enhancement of the use of digital mock-ups in the verification and validation process for ITER remote handling systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sibois, R., E-mail: romain.sibois@vtt.fi [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1300, 33101 Tampere (Finland); Salminen, K.; Siuko, M. [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1300, 33101 Tampere (Finland); Mattila, J. [Tampere University of Technology, Korkeakoulunkatu 6, 33720 Tampere (Finland); Määttä, T. [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1300, 33101 Tampere (Finland)

2013-10-15

Highlights: • Verification and validation process for ITER remote handling system. • Verification and validation framework for complex engineering systems. • Verification and validation roadmap for digital modelling phase. • Importance of the product life-cycle management in the verification and validation framework. -- Abstract: The paper is part of the EFDA's programme of European Goal Oriented Training programme on remote handling (RH) “GOT-RH”. The programme aims to train engineers for activities supporting the ITER project and the long-term fusion programme. This paper is written based on the results of a project “verification and validation (V and V) of ITER RH system using digital mock-ups (DMUs)”. The purpose of this project is to study efficient approach of using DMU for the V and V of the ITER RH system design utilizing a system engineering (SE) framework. This paper reviews the definitions of DMU and virtual prototype and overviews the current trends of using virtual prototyping in the industry during the early design phase. Based on the survey of best industrial practices, this paper proposes ways to improve the V and V process for ITER RH system utilizing DMUs.

The analysis of education and functional professional training in Slovenian librarianship

OpenAIRE

Jelka Gazvoda

1998-01-01

The article brings a critical analyis of educational possibilities, offered on one side by the graduate study of librarianship at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Ljubljana, and on the otherby non-formal functional professional trainingcarried out by NUK and IZUM. Educational programmes are analysed from the point of modem trends in developing library professions and possiblities for the development of human resources. The results of the analysis have revealed that the programme of gradu...

Influence of Signal Stationarity on Digital Stochastic Measurement Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Župunski

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the influence of signal stationarity on digital stochastic measurement method implementation. The implementation method is based on stochastic voltage generators, analog adders, low resolution A/D converter, and multipliers and accumulators implemented by Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA. The characteristic of first implementations of digital stochastic measurement was the measurement of stationary signal harmonics over the constant measurement period. Later, digital stochastic measurement was extended and used also when it was necessary to measure timeseries of non-stationary signal over the variable measurement time. The result of measurement is the set of harmonics, which is, in the case of non-stationary signals, the input for calculating digital values of signal in time domain. A theoretical approach to determine measurement uncertainty is presented and the accuracy trends with varying signal-to-noise ratio (SNR are analyzed. Noisy brain potentials (spontaneous and nonspontaneous are selected as an example of real non-stationary signal and its digital stochastic measurement is tested by simulations and experiments. Tests were performed without noise and with adding noise with SNR values of 10dB, 0dB and - 10dB. The results of simulations and experiments are compared versus theory calculations, and comparasion confirms the theory.

Local and Remote Laboratory User Experimentation Access using Digital Programmable Logic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian A Grout

2005-06-01

Full Text Available This paper will discuss the structure and operation of a programmable logic based experimentation arrangement that is suitable for both local and remote teaching and learning scenarios targeting electronic and microelectronic circuit design and test principles. With this experimentation arrangement, the ability to provide both local and Internet based “remote” access for the student and the teacher can provide a number of advantages where physical laboratory accessibility is limited and/or the learning experience must be undertaken with one or more of the parties remotely based. The paper concentrates on the design and example use of a system developed within the University of Limerick.

Latin American image quality survey in digital mammography studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mora, Patricia; Khoury, Helen; Bitelli, Regina; Quintero, Ana Rosa; Garay, Fernando; Garcia Aguilar, Juan; Gamarra, Mirtha; Ubeda, Carlos

2017-01-01

Under International Atomic Energy Agency regional programme TSA3 Radiological Protection of Patients in Medical Exposures, Latin American countries evaluated the image quality and glandular doses for digital mammography equipment with the purpose of seeing the performance and compliance with international recommendations. Totally, 24 institutions participated from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela. Signal difference noise ratio results showed for CR poor compliance with tolerances; better results were obtained for full-field digital mammography equipment. Mean glandular dose results showed that the majority of units have values below the acceptable dose levels. This joint Latin American project identified common problems: difficulty in working with digital images and lack of specific training by medical physicists from the region. Image quality is a main issue not being satisfied in accordance with international recommendations; optimisation processes in which the doses are increased should be very carefully done in order to improve early detection of any cancer signs. (authors)

Automatic analysis of digitized TV-images by a computer-driven optical microscope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosa, G.; Di Bartolomeo, A.; Grella, G.; Romano, G.

1997-01-01

New methods of image analysis and three-dimensional pattern recognition were developed in order to perform the automatic scan of nuclear emulsion pellicles. An optical microscope, with a motorized stage, was equipped with a CCD camera and an image digitizer, and interfaced to a personal computer. Selected software routines inspired the design of a dedicated hardware processor. Fast operation, high efficiency and accuracy were achieved. First applications to high-energy physics experiments are reported. Further improvements are in progress, based on a high-resolution fast CCD camera and on programmable digital signal processors. Applications to other research fields are envisaged. (orig.)

Implementing digital skills training in care homes: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Wild, Deidre; Kydd, Angela; Szczepura, Ala

2016-05-01

This article is the first of a two-part series that informs and describes digital skills training using a dedicated console computer provided for staff and residents in a care home setting. This was part of a programme of culture change in a large care home with nursing in Glasgow, Scotland. The literature review shows that over the past decade there has been a gradual increase in the use of digital technology by staff and older people in community settings including care homes. Policy from the European Commission presents a persuasive argument for the advancement of technology-enabled care to counter the future impact of an increased number of people of advanced age on finite health and social care resources. The psychosocial and environmental issues that inhibit or enhance the acquisition of digital skills in care homes are considered and include the identification of exemplar schemes and the support involved.

Use of computers and the Internet by residents in US family medicine programmes.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Richard V; Murphy-Cullen, Cassie L; Mayo, Helen G; Marcee, Alice K; Schneider, Gregory W

2007-06-01

Computers, personal digital assistants (PDA), and the Internet are widely used as resources in medical education and clinical care. Educators who intend to incorporate these resources effectively into residency education programmes can benefit from understanding how residents currently use these tools, their skills, and their preferences. The researchers sent questionnaires to 306 US family medicine residency programmes for all of their residents to complete. Respondents were 1177 residents from 125 (41%) programmes. Access to a computer was reported by 95% of respondents. Of these, 97% of desktop and 89% of laptop computers could access the Internet. Residents accessed various educational and clinical resources. Half felt they had 'intermediate' skills at Web searches, 23% had 'some skills,' and 27% were 'quite skilled.' Those under 30 years of age reported higher skill levels. Those who experienced a Web-based curriculum in medical school reported higher search skills and greater success in finding clinical information. Respondents preferred to use technology to supplement the didactic sessions offered in resident teaching conferences. Favourable conditions exist in family medicine residency programmes to implement a blend of traditional and technology-based learning experiences. These conditions include residents' experience, skills, and preferences.

Digital literacy matters. Increasing workforce productivity through blended English language programmes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kshema Jose

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The three Rs, the ability to read, write and do basic arithmetic have traditionally been measured as indicators of knowledge and ability to communicate, and in turn, a predictor of success at workplace. However, survey any place of work today, and we see that the traditionally held literacy skills do not suffice; newer forms of literacies that go beyond the ability to decode print, like the skill to communicate, interact, solve complex problems, analyse, judge, evaluate, collaborate, construct, create, and to use information technology/ digital tools, are now considered essential contributors to enhanced employability opportunities as well as workplace success.

Digital signal processing theory and practice

CERN Document Server

Rao, K Deergha

2018-01-01

The book provides a comprehensive exposition of all major topics in digital signal processing (DSP). With numerous illustrative examples for easy understanding of the topics, it also includes MATLAB-based examples with codes in order to encourage the readers to become more confident of the fundamentals and to gain insights into DSP. Further, it presents real-world signal processing design problems using MATLAB and programmable DSP processors. In addition to problems that require analytical solutions, it discusses problems that require solutions using MATLAB at the end of each chapter. Divided into 13 chapters, it addresses many emerging topics, which are not typically found in advanced texts on DSP. It includes a chapter on adaptive digital filters used in the signal processing problems for faster acceptable results in the presence of changing environments and changing system requirements. Moreover, it offers an overview of wavelets, enabling readers to easily understand the basics and applications of this po...

Digital implementation of a neural network for imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Richard; McGlashan, Alex; Yatulis, Jay; Mascher, Peter; Bruce, Ian

2012-10-01

This paper outlines the design and testing of a digital imaging system that utilizes an artificial neural network with unsupervised and supervised learning to convert streaming input (real time) image space into parameter space. The primary objective of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of using a neural network to significantly reduce the information density of streaming images so that objects can be readily identified by a limited set of primary parameters and act as an enhanced human machine interface (HMI). Many applications are envisioned including use in biomedical imaging, anomaly detection and as an assistive device for the visually impaired. A digital circuit was designed and tested using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and an off the shelf digital camera. Our results indicate that the networks can be readily trained when subject to limited sets of objects such as the alphabet. We can also separate limited object sets with rotational and positional invariance. The results also show that limited visual fields form with only local connectivity.

'A bridge to the hospice': the impact of a Community Volunteer Programme in Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Jack, Barbara A; Kirton, J; Birakurataki, J; Merriman, A

2011-10-01

In Africa, the need for palliative care provision is escalating with an increasing number of people living with HIV/AIDS, coupled with rising cancer and AIDS-related cancer diagnoses. In Uganda there is a shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas. To address this Hospice Africa Uganda developed a Community Volunteer Programme to train volunteers to help by providing support to patients in their own homes. The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate the impact of the Community Volunteer Programme. Sixty-four interviews, with patients (21), community volunteer workers (CVWs) (32), and the hospice clinical teams (11) were conducted, using semi-structured digitally recorded individual, group and focus group interviews, at the Hospice Africa Uganda sites. The results reported the value of the Community Volunteer Programme, including the impact on patients and families, and how the CVWs acted as a 'bridge to the hospice' in identifying patients. Developing financial challenges that are emerging which could potentially impact on the programme were reported. The Community Volunteer Programme appears to be having a positive impact on patients, families and the hospice team, and is a model worthy of consideration by other developing countries to allow the expansion of palliative care.

Reliability evaluation programmable logic devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srivani, L.; Murali, N.; Thirugnana Murthy, D.; Satya Murty, S.A.V.

2014-01-01

Programmable Logic Devices (PLD) are widely used as basic building modules in high integrity systems, considering their robust features such as gate density, performance, speed etc. PLDs are used to implement digital design such as bus interface logic, control logic, sequencing logic, glue logic etc. Due to semiconductor evolution, new PLDs with state-of-the-art features are arriving to the market. Since these devices are reliable as per the manufacturer's specification, they were used in the design of safety systems. But due to their reduced market life, the availability of performance data is limited. So evaluating the PLD before deploying in a safety system is very important. This paper presents a survey on the use of PLDs in the nuclear domain and the steps involved in the evaluation of PLD using Quantitative Accelerated Life Testing. (author)

Design and implementation of a reconfigurable mixed-signal SoC based on field programmable analog arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lintao; Gao, Yuhan; Deng, Jun

2017-11-01

This work presents a reconfigurable mixed-signal system-on-chip (SoC), which integrates switched-capacitor-based field programmable analog arrays (FPAA), analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter, digital down converter , digital up converter, 32-bit reduced instruction-set computer central processing unit (CPU) and other digital IPs on a single chip with 0.18 μm CMOS technology. The FPAA intellectual property could be reconfigured as different function circuits, such as gain amplifier, divider, sine generator, and so on. This single-chip integrated mixed-signal system is a complete modern signal processing system, occupying a die area of 7 × 8 mm 2 and consuming 719 mW with a clock frequency of 150 MHz for CPU and 200 MHz for ADC/DAC. This SoC chip can help customers to shorten design cycles, save board area, reduce the system power consumption and depress the system integration risk, which would afford a big prospect of application for wireless communication. Project supported by the National High Technology and Development Program of China (No. 2012AA012303).

G20 action on the digital economy: Addressing market failures to improve the health of the digital infrastructure

OpenAIRE

Twomey, Paul

2017-01-01

Market failures are resulting in network operators and device manufacturers not being incentivized to ensure improved cyber security practices in their operations. The result is a large global base of vulnerable computers, modems/routers and Internet of Things devices which can be manipulated by Cyber criminals. Practical recommendations are made as to how governments could address these market failures (with low-cost to government) and significantly improve the health of the cyber ecosystem.

Photon level chemical classification using digital compressive detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilcox, David S.; Buzzard, Gregery T.; Lucier, Bradley J.; Wang Ping; Ben-Amotz, Dor

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A new digital compressive detection strategy is developed. ► Chemical classification demonstrated using as few as ∼10 photons. ► Binary filters are optimal when taking few measurements. - Abstract: A key bottleneck to high-speed chemical analysis, including hyperspectral imaging and monitoring of dynamic chemical processes, is the time required to collect and analyze hyperspectral data. Here we describe, both theoretically and experimentally, a means of greatly speeding up the collection of such data using a new digital compressive detection strategy. Our results demonstrate that detecting as few as ∼10 Raman scattered photons (in as little time as ∼30 μs) can be sufficient to positively distinguish chemical species. This is achieved by measuring the Raman scattered light intensity transmitted through programmable binary optical filters designed to minimize the error in the chemical classification (or concentration) variables of interest. The theoretical results are implemented and validated using a digital compressive detection instrument that incorporates a 785 nm diode excitation laser, digital micromirror spatial light modulator, and photon counting photodiode detector. Samples consisting of pairs of liquids with different degrees of spectral overlap (including benzene/acetone and n-heptane/n-octane) are used to illustrate how the accuracy of the present digital compressive detection method depends on the correlation coefficients of the corresponding spectra. Comparisons of measured and predicted chemical classification score plots, as well as linear and non-linear discriminant analyses, demonstrate that this digital compressive detection strategy is Poisson photon noise limited and outperforms total least squares-based compressive detection with analog filters.

Impacts of a farmers' market incentive programme on fruit and vegetable access, purchase and consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsho, Lauren Ew; Payne, Gayle Holmes; Walker, Deborah Klein; Baronberg, Sabrina; Jernigan, Jan; Abrami, Alyson

2015-10-01

The present study examines the impact of Health Bucks, a farmers' market incentive programme, on awareness of and access to farmers' markets, and fruit and vegetable purchase and consumption in low-income New York City neighbourhoods. The evaluation used two primary data collection methods: (i) an on-site point-of-purchase survey of farmers' market shoppers; and (ii) a random-digit-dial telephone survey of residents in neighbourhoods where the programme operates. Additionally, we conducted a quasi-experimental analysis examining differential time trends in consumption before and after programme introduction using secondary Community Health Survey (CHS) data. New York City farmers' markets and communities. Farmers' market shoppers (n 2287) completing point-of-purchase surveys in a representative sample of New York City farmers' markets in 2010; residents (n 1025) completing random-digit-dial telephone survey interviews in 2010; and respondents (n 35 606) completing CHS interviews in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2009. Greater Health Bucks exposure was associated with: (i) greater awareness of farmers' markets; (ii) increased frequency and amount of farmers' market purchases; and (iii) greater likelihood of a self-reported year-over-year increase in fruit and vegetable consumption. However, our CHS analysis did not detect impacts on consumption. While our study provides promising evidence that use of farmers' market incentives is associated with increased awareness and use of farmers' markets, additional research is needed to better understand impacts on fruit and vegetable consumption.

Programmable cellular arrays. Faults testing and correcting in cellular arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cercel, L.

1978-03-01

A review of some recent researches about programmable cellular arrays in computing and digital processing of information systems is presented, and includes both combinational and sequential arrays, with full arbitrary behaviour, or which can realize better implementations of specialized blocks as: arithmetic units, counters, comparators, control systems, memory blocks, etc. Also, the paper presents applications of cellular arrays in microprogramming, in implementing of a specialized computer for matrix operations, in modeling of universal computing systems. The last section deals with problems of fault testing and correcting in cellular arrays. (author)

Assessing Impact of Technology Based Digital Equalizer Programme on Improving Student Learning Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkar, Subrata; Mohapatra, Sanjay; Sundarakrishnan, J.

2017-01-01

The objective of this research was to assess the impact of the Digital Equalizer program (DE Program) in terms of student learning outcomes of students in subjects like science, mathematics and geography after 8 months of implementing the DE program in 283 schools across 30 districts of Odisha, India. This study was a inter group and intra group…

Global Networking.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, Clifford

1997-01-01

Discusses the state of the Internet. Highlights include the magnitude of the infrastructure, costs, its increasing pace, constraints in international links, provision of network capacity to homes and small businesses, cable television modems, political and cultural problems, the digital library concept, search engines, the failure of personal…

The reactor power control system based on digital control in nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Chong; Zhou Jianliang; Tan Ping

2010-01-01

The PLC (Programmable Logical Controller), digital communication and redundant techniques are applied in the rod control and position indication system(namely the reactor power control system) to perform the power control in the 300 MW reactor automatically and integrally in Qinshan Phase I project. This paper introduces the features, digital design methods of hardware of the instrumentation and control system (I and C) in the reactor power control. It is more convenient for the information exchange by human-machine interface (HMI), operation and maintenance, and the system reliability has been greatly improved after the project being reconstructed. (authors)

Failure mode taxonomy for assessing the reliability of Field Programmable Gate Array based Instrumentation and Control systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McNelles, Phillip; Zeng, Zhao Chang; Renganathan, Guna; Chirila, Marius; Lu, Lixuan

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The use FPGAs in I&C systems in Nuclear Power Plants is an important issue (IAEA). • OECD-NEA published a failure mode taxonomy for software-based digital I&C systems. • This paper extends the OECD-NEA taxonomy to model FPGA-based systems. • FPGA failure modes, failure effects, uncovering methods are categorized/described. • Provides an example of modelling an FPGA-Based RTS/ESFAS using the FPGA taxonomy. - Abstract: Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are a form of programmable digital hardware configured to perform digital logic functions. This configuration (programming) is performed using Hardware Description Language (HDL), making FPGAs a form of HDL Programmed Device (HPD). In the nuclear field, FPGAs have seen use in upgrades and replacements of obsolete Instrumentation and Control (I&C) systems. This paper expands upon previous work that resulted in extensive FPGA failure mode data, to allow for the application of the OECD-NEA failure modes taxonomy. The OECD-NEA taxonomy presented a method to model digital (software-based) I&C systems, based on the hardware and software failure modes, failure uncovering effects and levels of abstraction, using a Reactor Trip System/Engineering Safety Feature Actuation System (RTS/ESFAS) as an example system. To create the FPGA taxonomy, this paper presents an additional “sub-component” level of abstraction, to demonstrate the effect of the FPGA failure modes and failure categories on an FPGA-based system. The proposed FPGA taxonomy is based on the FPGA failure modes, failure categories, failure effects and uncovering situations. The FPGA taxonomy is applied to the RTS/ESFAS test system, to demonstrate the effects of the anticipated FPGA failure modes on a digital I&C system, and to provide a modelling example for this proposed taxonomy.

FPGA-Based Real Time, Multichannel Emulated-Digital Retina Model Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zsolt Vörösházi

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The function of the low-level image processing that takes place in the biological retina is to compress only the relevant visual information to a manageable size. The behavior of the layers and different channels of the neuromorphic retina has been successfully modeled by cellular neural/nonlinear networks (CNNs. In this paper, we present an extended, application-specific emulated-digital CNN-universal machine (UM architecture to compute the complex dynamic of this mammalian retina in video real time. The proposed emulated-digital implementation of multichannel retina model is compared to the previously developed models from three key aspects, which are processing speed, number of physical cells, and accuracy. Our primary aim was to build up a simple, real-time test environment with camera input and display output in order to mimic the behavior of retina model implementation on emulated digital CNN by using low-cost, moderate-sized field-programmable gate array (FPGA architectures.

Modelling of critical functions of nuclear reactors using Fild Programmable Gate Array; Modelagem de funcoes criticas de reatores nucleares utilizando Fild Programmable Gate Array

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teixeira, Pamela Iara Nolasco

2016-07-01

This paper proposes the development of a method using FPGA for critical security functions of a nuclear reactor. It was implemented two critical safety functions in VHDL, which is a way to describe, through a program, the behavior of a circuit or digital component. Two critical security functions, FCS Core Cooling, responsible for cooling the reactor core in the charts of the plant and also in the event of accidents involving loss of coolant and FCS Heat Transfer, responsible for cooling the reactor core in the event an accident with loss of coolant were implemented. In this Dissertation it was chosen the use of FPGA, because - due to the effects of aging, obsolescence issues, environmental degradation and mechanical failures - nuclear power plants need to replace their older systems by new ones based on digital technology. The technologies obtained using a system described in hardware language can be implemented in a programmable device, having the advantage of changing the code at any time. (author)

Subcutaneous ICD screening with the Boston Scientific ZOOM programmer versus a 12-lead ECG machine.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Shu C; Patton, Kristen K; Robinson, Melissa R; Poole, Jeanne E; Prutkin, Jordan M

2018-02-24

The subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (S-ICD) requires preimplant screening to ensure appropriate sensing and reduce risk of inappropriate shocks. Screening can be performed using either an ICD programmer or a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) machine. It is unclear whether differences in signal filtering and digital sampling change the screening success rate. Subjects were recruited if they had a transvenous single-lead ICD without pacing requirements or were candidates for a new ICD. Screening was performed using both a Boston Scientific ZOOM programmer (Marlborough, MA, USA) and General Electric MAC 5000 ECG machine (Fairfield, CT, USA). A pass was defined as having at least one lead that fit within the screening template in both supine and sitting positions. A total of 69 subjects were included and 27 sets of ECG leads had differing screening results between the two machines (7%). Of these sets, 22 (81%) passed using the ECG machine but failed using the programmer and five (19%) passed using the ECG machine but failed using the programmer (P machine but failed using the programmer. No subject passed screening with the programmer but failed with the ECG machine. There can be occasional disagreement in S-ICD patient screening between an ICD programmer and ECG machine, all of whom passed with the ECG machine but failed using the programmer. On a per lead basis, the ECG machine passes more subjects. It is unknown what the inappropriate shock rate would be if an S-ICD was implanted. Clinical judgment should be used in borderline cases. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Programme

OpenAIRE

Hobday, E, fl. 1905, artist

2003-01-01

A photograph of an illustrated programme listing dances. The illustration shows a snake charmer playing to a snake while another man watches. Buildings and trees can be seen behind a wall in the distance. In the lower right-hand corner of the programme is the signature 'E. Hobday'. The programme is almost certainly related to the Punjab Ball, Lahore. It is placed next to the Punjab Ball Menu in the album and the Menu is also illustrated by 'E. Hobday'.

Digital control in Finnish power industry applications and some research and development activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haapanen, P.; Winter, M.

1986-01-01

First applications of digital control systems in Finnish power plants stem from a few years time. There are at present in operation two conventional peat fuelled district heating power plants and two others are under construction. In existing nuclear power plants digital control systems are not used. Feasibility studies of a new fifth nuclear power plant have been carried out and also preliminary design exercises on its control systems has been done. It seems that the use of a digital control system in this plant is an alternative worthy of consideration. The existing digital control applications and future plans for their use in the Finnish power industry are described. The rest of the paper is devoted to the reliability questions. Software reliability is a new problem area emanating from the use of programmable digital systems. A description of a cooperative project on these questions between VTT and OECD Halden Project is given. VTT has also developed an interactive computer program, RELVEC, for plant and control system reliability analysis. The structure and use of this system is described

Arbitrary digital pulse sequence generator with delay-loop timing

Science.gov (United States)

Hošák, Radim; Ježek, Miroslav

2018-04-01

We propose an idea of an electronic multi-channel arbitrary digital sequence generator with temporal granularity equal to two clock cycles. We implement the generator with 32 channels using a low-cost ARM microcontroller and demonstrate its capability to produce temporal delays ranging from tens of nanoseconds to hundreds of seconds, with 24 ns timing granularity and linear scaling of delay with respect to the number of delay loop iterations. The generator is optionally synchronized with an external clock source to provide 100 ps jitter and overall sequence repeatability within the whole temporal range. The generator is fully programmable and able to produce digital sequences of high complexity. The concept of the generator can be implemented using different microcontrollers and applied for controlling of various optical, atomic, and nuclear physics measurement setups.

The UK's National Programme for IT: Why was it dismantled?

Science.gov (United States)

Justinia, Taghreed

2017-02-01

This paper discusses the UK's National Programme for IT (NPfIT), which was an ambitious programme launched in 2002 with an initial budget of some £6.2 billion. It attempted to implement a top-down digitization of healthcare in England's National Health Service (NHS). The core aim of the NPfIT was to bring the NHS' use of information technology into the 21st century, through the introduction of an integrated electronic patient record systems, and reforming the way that the NHS uses information, and hence to improve services and the quality of patient care. The initiative was not trusted by doctors and appeared to have no impact on patient safety. The project was marred by resistance due to the inappropriateness of a centralized authority making top-down decisions on behalf of local organizations. The NPfIT was officially dismantled in September 2011. Deemed the world's largest civil IT programme, its failure and ultimate demise sparked a lot of interest as to the reasons why. This paper summarises the underlying causes that lead to dismantling the NPfIT. At the forefront of those circumstances were the lack of adequate end user engagement, the absence of a phased change management approach, and underestimating the scale of the project.

Rights Information Infrastructures and Voluntary Stakeholders Agreements in Digital Library Programmes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piero Attanasio

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Rights management for digital library programs is affected by high transaction costs and this calls for new schemes of collective management. Voluntary Stakeholders Agreements (VSA is proposed as a solution. However, there is a need to reshape the way of defining the scope of such agreements. In the past, the scope was set by limiting the type of uses licensed in the collective agreement, while other uses, pertaining the primary exploitation of works, remain in the sphere of direct management by the rightholder. In the agreements under discussion in several countries in relation to digital library initiatives, the scope is rather defined through limiting the type of works included in the agreement, while the licensed use is broad, including full making available in the Internet. A key distinction is the commercial status of a work, if it is in-print or out-of-print.Such new VSAs require innovative forms of managing of rights information, i.e. set of metadata referred to rights management. A significant part of transaction costs derives from the search of rightholders, and thus there is a trend to call for reducing or even abolishing the need for this search. However, the identification of the right status (public domain vs. in-copyright and the commercial status (in print vs. out of print requires a title by title management of information, which is inevitable because of the characteristics of the emerging VSAs. The proper rightholder search cost should be assessed as an additional cost to something that is in the nature of the agreements. The paper tries to set the terms and conditions to achieve this assessment, and to figure out practical solutions to the problem.

A robust parasitic-insensitive successive approximation capacitance-to-digital converter

KAUST Repository

Omran, Hesham

2014-09-01

In this paper, we present a capacitive sensor digital interface circuit using true capacitance-domain successive approximation that is independent of supply voltage. Robust operation is achieved by using a charge amplifier stage and multiple comparison technique. The interface circuit is insensitive to parasitic capacitances, offset voltages, and charge injection, and is not prone to noise coupling. The proposed design achieves very low temperature sensitivity of 25ppm/oC. A coarse-fine programmable capacitance array allows digitizing a wide capacitance range of 16pF with 12.5-bit quantization limited resolution in a compact area of 0.07mm2. The fabricated prototype is experimentally verified using on-chip sensor and off-chip MEMS capacitive pressure sensor. © 2014 IEEE.

A robust parasitic-insensitive successive approximation capacitance-to-digital converter

KAUST Repository

Omran, Hesham; Arsalan, Muhammad; Salama, Khaled N.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we present a capacitive sensor digital interface circuit using true capacitance-domain successive approximation that is independent of supply voltage. Robust operation is achieved by using a charge amplifier stage and multiple comparison technique. The interface circuit is insensitive to parasitic capacitances, offset voltages, and charge injection, and is not prone to noise coupling. The proposed design achieves very low temperature sensitivity of 25ppm/oC. A coarse-fine programmable capacitance array allows digitizing a wide capacitance range of 16pF with 12.5-bit quantization limited resolution in a compact area of 0.07mm2. The fabricated prototype is experimentally verified using on-chip sensor and off-chip MEMS capacitive pressure sensor. © 2014 IEEE.

Interference Rejection in Receivers by Frequency Translated Low‿Pass Filtering and Digitally Enhanced Harmonic‿Rejection Mixing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klumperink, Eric A.M.; Ru, Z.; Moseley, N.A.; Nauta, Bram

2011-01-01

Software-Defined Radio (SDR) and Cognitive Radio (CR) concepts have recently drawn considerable interest. These radio concepts built on digital signal processing to realize flexibly programmable radio transceivers, which can adapt in a smart way to their environment. As CMOS is the mainstream IC

Crispv programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marinkovicj, N.

CRISPV (Criticality and Spectrum code) is a multigroup neutron spectrum code for homogeneous reactor cores and is actually a somewhat modified version of the original CRISP programme. It is a combination of DATAPREP-II and BIGG-II programmes. It is assumed that the reactor cell is a cylindrical fuel rod in the light or heavy water moderator. DATEPREP-II CODE forms the multigroup data for homogeneous reactor and prepares the input parameters for the BIGG-II code. It has its own nuclear data library on a separate tape in binary mode. BIGG-II code is a multigroup neutron spectrum and criticality code for a homogenized medium. It has as well its own separate data library. In the CRISPV programme the overlay structure enables automatic handling of data calculated in the DATAPREP-II programme and needed in the BIGG-II core. Both programmes are written in FORTRAN for CDC 3600. Using the programme is very efficient and simple

National programme: Finland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forsten, J.

1986-01-01

Finland's programmes in the field of reactor pressure components are presented in this paper. The following information on each of these programmes is given: the brief description of the programme; the programme's schedule and duration; the name of the project manager

Digital Culture and Digital Library

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yalçın Yalçınkaya

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In this study; digital culture and digital library which have a vital connection with each other are examined together. The content of the research consists of the interaction of culture, information, digital culture, intellectual technologies, and digital library concepts. The study is an entry work to integrity of digital culture and digital library theories and aims to expand the symmetry. The purpose of the study is to emphasize the relation between the digital culture and digital library theories acting intersection of the subjects that are examined. Also the perspective of the study is based on examining the literature and analytical evaluation in both studies (digital culture and digital library. Within this context, the methodology of the study is essentially descriptive and has an attribute for the transmission and synthesis of distributed findings produced in the field of the research. According to the findings of the study results, digital culture is an inclusive term that describes the effects of intellectual technologies in the field of information and communication. Information becomes energy and the spectrum of the information is expanding in the vertical rise through the digital culture. In this context, the digital library appears as a new living space of a new environment. In essence, the digital library is information-oriented; has intellectual technology support and digital platform; is in a digital format; combines information resources and tools in relationship/communication/cooperation by connectedness, and also it is the dynamic face of the digital culture in time and space independence. Resolved with the study is that the digital libraries are active and effective in the formation of global knowing and/or mass wisdom in the process of digital culture.

Design and testing of a 750 MHz CW-EPR digital console for small animal imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Sato-Akaba, Hideo; Emoto, Miho C.; Hirata, Hiroshi; Fujii, Hirotada G.

2017-11-01

This paper describes the development of a digital console for three-dimensional (3D) continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (CW-EPR) imaging of a small animal to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and lower the cost of the EPR imaging system. A RF generation board, an RF acquisition board and a digital signal processing (DSP) & control board were built for the digital EPR detection. Direct sampling of the reflected RF signal from a resonator (approximately 750 MHz), which contains the EPR signal, was carried out using a band-pass subsampling method. A direct automatic control system to reduce the reflection from the resonator was proposed and implemented in the digital EPR detection scheme. All DSP tasks were carried out in field programmable gate array ICs. In vivo 3D imaging of nitroxyl radicals in a mouse's head was successfully performed.

Improving Access to European E-theses: the DART-Europe Programme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Moyle

2008-11-01

Full Text Available DART-Europe (Digital Access to Research Theses - Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses. The Programme is endorsed by LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche as part of the work of the LIBER Access Division, and it is the European Working Group of the NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. DART-Europe serves as a European networking forum on issues relating to electronic theses. The DART-Europe partners share an enthusiasm for open access to research theses, and they have helped to provide researchers with the DART-Europe E-theses Portal, a service which enables the discovery of the open access research-level e-theses offered by institutions and consortia from a growing number of European countries. This article gives an overview of DART-Europe, its progress and its future plans, with particular reference to the DART-Europe E-theses Portal.

Co-producing a digital educational programme for registered children's nurses to improve care of children and young people admitted with self-harm.

Science.gov (United States)

Latif, Asam; Carter, Timothy; Rychwalska-Brown, Lucy; Wharrad, Heather; Manning, Joseph

2017-06-01

Despite the increasing prevalence of hospital admissions for self-harm in children and young people (CYP), there is paucity of registered children's nurse (rCN) training or involvement of children to improve care for this often stigmatized patient group. This article describes a participatory approach towards using co-production with CYP and rCN to develop a digital educational programme to improve nurses' knowledge, attitudes and confidence in caring for CYP with self-harm injuries. A priority-setting workshop with rCNs was used to establish consensus of information needs. This was followed by an e-learning content development workshop undertaken with CYP whom had previously experienced hospital admissions for self-harm injuries. Findings from the nurse priority-setting workshop identified three educational priorities: (1) knowledge of self-harm, (2) effective communication and (3) risk management. The CYP subsequently developed these topic areas to ensure the contents and design of the e-learning resource had fidelity by reflecting the experiences of CYP and needs when cared for in hospital. This article illustrates that involving service users to co-develop educational materials is a feasible and important step in designing educational resources and ensures the content is relevant, appropriate and sensitive to both the recipient of care and those responsible for its delivery.

4 Channel Digital Down Converter – DDC (EDA-00991)

CERN Document Server

BLAS, A; DELONG, J (BNL)

2012-01-01

A novel rf beam control architecture has been successfully tested in the LEIR synchrotron. The design is based on a VME 64X carrier board, including a DSP (digital signal processor), into which different daughter cards can be plugged in. The DDC (Digital Down Converter) is one of them. Hardware wise it has the features of a four-channel ADC (analogue-to-digital converter) which outputs drive a powerful FPGA (field programmable logic array); the latter is connected to the DSP on the carrier board via high-speed connectors. Mainly, this unit will acquire rf signals to analyze their phase and amplitude at a specified harmonic of the revolution. The main sampling clock feeding the mezzanine board is at a high harmonic of the particle’s revolution frequency. In the PSB, this frequency is varying along the accelerating cycle and this choice allows analyzing the rf signals from the cavities or from the beam without changing any parameter along the cycle. The sampling clock is tagged at the revolution rate allowing...

Digital chaotic sequence generator based on coupled chaotic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shu-Bo, Liu; Jing, Sun; Jin-Shuo, Liu; Zheng-Quan, Xu

2009-01-01

Chaotic systems perform well as a new rich source of cryptography and pseudo-random coding. Unfortunately their digital dynamical properties would degrade due to the finite computing precision. Proposed in this paper is a modified digital chaotic sequence generator based on chaotic logistic systems with a coupling structure where one chaotic subsystem generates perturbation signals to disturb the control parameter of the other one. The numerical simulations show that the length of chaotic orbits, the output distribution of chaotic system, and the security of chaotic sequences have been greatly improved. Moreover the chaotic sequence period can be extended at least by one order of magnitude longer than that of the uncoupled logistic system and the difficulty in decrypting increases 2 128 *2 128 times indicating that the dynamical degradation of digital chaos is effectively improved. A field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation of an algorithm is given and the corresponding experiment shows that the output speed of the generated chaotic sequences can reach 571.4 Mbps indicating that the designed generator can be applied to the real-time video image encryption. (general)

Tailor-made training for digital library software

CERN Multimedia

Joannah Caborn Wengler

2012-01-01

Six librarians and IT engineers from Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Morocco are currently spending several weeks at CERN as a follow-up to the 5-day CERN-UNESCO Digital Libraries School held in Dakar, Senegal, last year. During their stay, they are honing their mastery of CERN’s Invenio digital library management platform in order to put it to a variety of uses once they return home.   From left to right: Essaid Ait Allal (Morocco), Guillaume Nikiema (Burkina Faso), Eric Guedegbe (Senegal), Fama Diagne Sene Ndiaye (Senegal), Abdrahamane Anne (Mali) and Jens VIGEN (CERN).  Cécile Coulibaly (Ivory Coast), who was also taking part in the training programme, is not in the picture. “We plan to use Invenio to build a portal for all African university dissertations to make them accessible to the global academic community. We need a system which can harvest data from various existing platforms, then convert the bibliographic records and make them...

Digital Declarations: The Provision of Site Maps under INFCIRC/540 Article 2.a.(iii)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rutkowski, J.; Keskinen, A.; Steinmaus, K.; Rialhe, A.; Idinger, J.; Balter, E.; Nussbaum, S.

2015-01-01

The modernization of information technology for safeguards is necessary to increase both the availability and the security of safeguards information, a vital asset for Safeguards implementation. The Safeguards Information Management Division's State Infrastructure Analysis Section has initiated several new Member State Support Programme tasks to test and demonstrate how site maps attached to Additional Protocol declarations provided under Article 2.a.(iii) might be submitted to the IAEA in a digital format. This would allow the IAEA to automatically ingest site maps into its Geospatial Exploitation System which would save time and resources as well as result in better, more accurate site maps for the IAEA. The benefits to States include a more well-defined, standardized approach to submitting 2.a.(iii) information. This could mean more consistency across all sites within a country and a simplified annual update process. In addition, creating digital site maps using industry-standard geographically-aware information systems provide tools for data management and data visualization, including temporal changes. The overall verification process would be enhanced since the digital site maps can be easily compared to other data sources, thus enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of verification. Germany, Canada, Finland and Japan have accepted support programme tasks on this subject and agreed to evaluate the provision of digital declaration data on selected nuclear sites. The IAEA will use this opportunity to work with site operators to evaluate what this means to current practices. The IAEA will use the results of these tasks as lessons-learned to evolve and to optimize the process to the benefit of all. A complementary E-poster within this panel section will demonstrate new, more standardized templates and recommended workflows for submission of digital declaration data. (author)

Parameters-adjustable front-end controller in digital nuclear measurement system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hao Dejian; Zhang Ruanyu; Yan Yangyang; Wang Peng; Tang Changjian

2013-01-01

Background: One digitizer is used to implement a digital nuclear measurement for the acquisition of nuclear information. Purpose: A principle and method of a parameter-adjustable front-end controller is presented for the sake of reducing the quantitative errors while getting the maximum ENOB (effective number of bits) of ADC (analog-to-digital converter) during waveform digitizing, as well as reducing the losing counts. Methods: First of all, the quantitative relationship among the radiation count rate (n), the amplitude of input signal (V in ), the conversion scale of ADC (±V) and the amplification factor (A) was derived. Secondly, the hardware and software of the front-end controller were designed to fulfill matching the output of different detectors, adjusting the amplification linearly through the control of channel switching, and setting of digital potentiometer by CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device). Results: (1) Through the measurement of γ-ray of Am-241 under our digital nuclear measurement set-up with CZT detector, it was validated that the amplitude of output signal of detectors of RC feedback type could be amplified linearly with adjustable amplification by the front-end controller. (2) Through the measurement of X-ray spectrum of Fe-5.5 under our digital nuclear measurement set-up with Si-PIN detector, it was validated that the front-end controller was suitable for the switch resetting type detectors, by which high precision measurement under various count rates could be fulfilled. Conclusion: The principle and method of the parameter-adjustable front-end controller presented in this paper is correct and feasible. (authors)

Possible radiation dose reduction by using digital X-ray equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horvathova, M.; Nikodemova, D.; Prikazska, M.

2001-01-01

The radiation load of population all over the world from medical examinations clearly demonstrates the importance of the introduction of the quality assurance and quality control programmes into the activities of radiology departments. The basic aim of quality assurance program is to ensure that the radiation dose is kept as low as reasonably practicable while still providing an adequate image quality. As many other fields, the rapid development of techniques brought change-over from the conventional analogue technique to the digital technique. In this process, the conventional X-ray film is being abandoned and images are being viewed on either laser film or monitor. The main advantages of using digital equipment lay in improved image quality and diagnostic accuracy through digital image processing, reduction in patients exposure, cost reduction by reduction of the film usage, more efficient storage and retrieval of radiographic images through picture archiving. Several studies that have been conducted for comparison of various diagnostic examinations show , that there is potential for dose saving in the digital image intensifier technique. The aim of this study was to compare measured values of dose-area product for colon investigations using different X-ray equipment types, two digital and two analogue. Our material consisted of 169 randomly selected patients, 115 of them were examined with digital equipment and 54 patients with the analogue equipment. The obtained results have confirmed the dose reduction and increase of diagnostic accuracy when using the digital equipment, with the added benefit of a good image quality. (authors)

Digital and social media opportunities for dietary behaviour change.

Science.gov (United States)

McGloin, Aileen F; Eslami, Sara

2015-05-01

The way that people communicate, consume media and seek and receive information is changing. Forty per cent of the world's population now has an internet connection, the average global social media penetration is 39% and 1·5 billion people have internet access via mobile phone. This large-scale move in population use of digital, social and mobile media presents an unprecedented opportunity to connect with individuals on issues concerning health. The present paper aims to investigate these opportunities in relation to dietary behaviour change. Several aspects of the digital environment could support behaviour change efforts, including reach, engagement, research, segmentation, accessibility and potential to build credibility, trust, collaboration and advocacy. There are opportunities to influence behaviour online using similar techniques to traditional health promotion programmes; to positively affect health-related knowledge, skills and self-efficacy. The abundance of data on citizens' digital behaviours, whether through search behaviour, global positioning system tracking, or via demographics and interests captured through social media profiles, offer exciting opportunities for effectively targeting relevant health messages. The digital environment presents great possibilities but also great challenges. Digital communication is uncontrolled, multi-way and co-created and concerns remain in relation to inequalities, privacy, misinformation and lack of evaluation. Although web-based, social-media-based and mobile-based studies tend to show positive results for dietary behaviour change, methodologies have yet to be developed that go beyond basic evaluation criteria and move towards true measures of behaviour change. Novel approaches are necessary both in the digital promotion of behaviour change and in its measurement.

High-Resolution Digital-to-Time Converter Implemented in an FPGA Chip

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hai Wang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design and implementation of a new digital-to-time converter (DTC. The obtained resolution is 1.02 ps, and the dynamic range is about 590 ns. The experimental results indicate that the measured differential nonlinearity (DNL and integral nonlinearity (INL are −0.17~+0.13 LSB and −0.35~+0.62 LSB, respectively. This DTC builds coarse and fine Vernier delay lines constructed by programmable delay lines (PDLs to ensure high performance delay. Benefited by the close-loop feedback mechanism of the PDLs’ control module, the presented DTC has excellent voltage and temperature stability. What is more, the proposed DTC can be implemented in a single field programmable gate array (FPGA chip.

Digital Collections, Digital Libraries & the Digitization of Cultural Heritage Information.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, Clifford

2002-01-01

Discusses digital collections and digital libraries. Topics include broadband availability; digital rights protection; content, both non-profit and commercial; digitization of cultural content; sustainability; metadata harvesting protocol; infrastructure; authorship; linking multiple resources; data mining; digitization of reference works;…

Digital feed back control for radial beam position

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mestha, L.K.

1989-09-01

In the development of wide spread large scale distributed digital control systems, there is a requirement to automate small processes like radial beam control which will not only improve the beam quality but will also add local intelligence. Hence use is made here of digital control principles for such applications. The work concerned with the radial beam control discussed in this report has been developed for ISIS at RAL. The structure of the report is hence inclined more towards the local hardware system. The general feed back loop techniques can also be implemented for other control purpose. For instance, the author has successfully tested similar techniques to minimise the RF cavity tuning error, where the improvement in performance could not be matched by the analogue loop. A description of the RF cavity tuning programme and the associated experimental results will be published as a local paper for ISIS division. (author)

H. Sapiens Digital: From Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom

Science.gov (United States)

Prensky, Marc

2009-01-01

As we move further into the 21st century, the digital native/digital immigrant paradigm created by Marc Prensky in 2001 is becoming less relevant. In this article, Prensky suggests that we should focus instead on the development of what he calls "digital wisdom." Arguing that digital technology can make us not just smarter but truly wiser, Prensky…

Programmable Power Supply for AC Switching Magnet of Proton Accelerator

CERN Document Server

Jeong, Seong-Hun; Kang Heung Sik; Lee, Chi-Hwan; Lee, Hong-Gi; Park, Ki-Hyeon; Ryu, Chun-Kil; Sik Han, Hong; Suck Suh, Hyung

2005-01-01

The 100-MeV PEFP proton linac has two proton beam extraction lines for user' experiment. Each extraction line has 5 beamlines and has 5 Hz operating frequency. An AC switching magnet is used to distribute the proton beam to the 5 beamlines, An AC switching magnet is powered by PWM-controlled bipolar switching-mode converters. This converter is designed to operate at ±350A, 5 Hz programmable step output. The power supply is employed IGBT module and has controlled by a DSP (Digital Signal Process). This paper describes the design and test results of the power supply.

PC (programmable controller) 'HISEC 04-M/D, DG for industrial plant control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takakura, Mitsuro; Tennichi, Yasuhiro; Kato, Takayoshi; Yamaoka, Hiromasa

1986-01-01

While the decentralization and total digitization of control system have advanced, programmable controllers that electric control engineers can easily handle have developed in their function and performance. Besides, recent control system became large scale and complex, on the other hand, the needs of improving product quality and productivity increased, accordingly, the programmable controllers which can meet higher function and rapid control and realize the minimum interface in both hardware and software have been demanded. Hitachi Ltd. has completed the programmable controller ''HISEC 04-M/OG'', in which the heightening of performance was planned, the multiple controller system having process input and output equipments in common can be made, and the economical efficiency was pursued by adopting optical multiple transmission system, so as to be able to build up an optimum decentralized system. In this report, the outline of HISEC 04-M/D, DG and the function, a typical system constitution, and the function of a programming and debugging tool are described. When high reliability is required, a tripled system is offered. In this case, a multiport process input/output equipment is connected to three CPUs. (Kako, I.)

Digital Collections, Digital Libraries and the Digitization of Cultural Heritage Information.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, Clifford

2002-01-01

Discusses the development of digital collections and digital libraries. Topics include digitization of cultural heritage information; broadband issues; lack of compelling content; training issues; types of materials being digitized; sustainability; digital preservation; infrastructure; digital images; data mining; and future possibilities for…

Beam Tests of a New Digital Beam Control System for the CERN LEIR Accelerator

CERN Document Server

Angoletta, Maria Elena; Blas, Alfred; De Long, Joseph; Findlay, Alan; Matuszkiewicz, Pawel; Pedersen, Flemming; Salom-Sarasqueta, Angela

2005-01-01

The Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) is a major component in the Large Hadron Collider ion injector chain. We have been developing an all-digital beam control and cavity servo system for the RF acceleration in LEIR. The system is housed by VME motherboards that may hold various daughter boards. Fast tasks are executed in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), slower tasks and communication with the software layer above are achieved in Digital Signal Processors (DSPs). We describe a simplified system prototype, which we tested with low intensity beams on the CERN PS Booster (PSB). The aim was to verify the combined DSP+FPGA architecture and the feedback loop dynamics. An additional goal was to deploy and validate novel software concepts, such as reference-functions and timings generation, and user-selectable digital data acquisition.

Free Software Beyond Radical Politics: Negotiations of Creative and Craft Autonomy in Digital Visual Media Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia Velkova

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Free software development and the technological practices of hackers have been broadly recognised as fundamental for the formation of political cultures that foster democracy in the digital mediascape. This article explores the role of free software in the practices of digital artists, animators and technicians who work in various roles for the contemporary digital visual media industries. Rather than discussing it as a model of organising work, the study conceives free software as a production tool and shows how it becomes a locus of politics about finding material security in flexible capitalism. This politics is ultimately contradictory in that it extends creative and craft autonomy of digital artists but does not mobilise a critical project. Instead, it nurtures further precarious labour. Empirically, the article draws on ethnographically collected material from the media practices of digital artists and programmers who engage with two popular free software production tools, Blender and Synfig.

The performance and limitations of FPGA-based digital servos for atomic, molecular, and optical physics experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Shi Jing; Fajeau, Emma; Liu, Lin Qiao; Jones, David J; Madison, Kirk W

2018-02-01

In this work, we address the advantages, limitations, and technical subtleties of employing field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based digital servos for high-bandwidth feedback control of lasers in atomic, molecular, and optical physics experiments. Specifically, we provide the results of benchmark performance tests in experimental setups including noise, bandwidth, and dynamic range for two digital servos built with low and mid-range priced FPGA development platforms. The digital servo results are compared to results obtained from a commercially available state-of-the-art analog servo using the same plant for control (intensity stabilization). The digital servos have feedback bandwidths of 2.5 MHz, limited by the total signal latency, and we demonstrate improvements beyond the transfer function offered by the analog servo including a three-pole filter and a two-pole filter with phase compensation to suppress resonances. We also discuss limitations of our FPGA-servo implementation and general considerations when designing and using digital servos.

The performance and limitations of FPGA-based digital servos for atomic, molecular, and optical physics experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Shi Jing; Fajeau, Emma; Liu, Lin Qiao; Jones, David J.; Madison, Kirk W.

2018-02-01

In this work, we address the advantages, limitations, and technical subtleties of employing field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based digital servos for high-bandwidth feedback control of lasers in atomic, molecular, and optical physics experiments. Specifically, we provide the results of benchmark performance tests in experimental setups including noise, bandwidth, and dynamic range for two digital servos built with low and mid-range priced FPGA development platforms. The digital servo results are compared to results obtained from a commercially available state-of-the-art analog servo using the same plant for control (intensity stabilization). The digital servos have feedback bandwidths of 2.5 MHz, limited by the total signal latency, and we demonstrate improvements beyond the transfer function offered by the analog servo including a three-pole filter and a two-pole filter with phase compensation to suppress resonances. We also discuss limitations of our FPGA-servo implementation and general considerations when designing and using digital servos.

A programmable finite state module for use with the Fermilab Tevatron Clock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beechy, D.

1987-10-01

A VME module has been designed which implements several programmable finite state machines that use the Tevatron Clock signal as inputs. In addition to normal finite state machine type outputs, the module, called the VME Finite State Machine, or VFSM, records a history of changes of state so that the exact path through the state diagram can be determined. There is also provision for triggering and recording from an external digitizer so that samples can be taken and recorded under very precisely defined circumstances

Design and testing of a 750MHz CW-EPR digital console for small animal imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Sato-Akaba, Hideo; Emoto, Miho C; Hirata, Hiroshi; Fujii, Hirotada G

2017-11-01

This paper describes the development of a digital console for three-dimensional (3D) continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (CW-EPR) imaging of a small animal to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and lower the cost of the EPR imaging system. A RF generation board, an RF acquisition board and a digital signal processing (DSP) & control board were built for the digital EPR detection. Direct sampling of the reflected RF signal from a resonator (approximately 750MHz), which contains the EPR signal, was carried out using a band-pass subsampling method. A direct automatic control system to reduce the reflection from the resonator was proposed and implemented in the digital EPR detection scheme. All DSP tasks were carried out in field programmable gate array ICs. In vivo 3D imaging of nitroxyl radicals in a mouse's head was successfully performed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

improvement of digital image watermarking techniques based on FPGA implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

EL-Hadedy, M.E

2006-01-01

digital watermarking provides the ownership of a piece of digital data by marking the considered data invisibly or visibly. this can be used to protect several types of multimedia objects such as audio, text, image and video. this thesis demonstrates the different types of watermarking techniques such as (discrete cosine transform (DCT) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and their characteristics. then, it classifies these techniques declaring their advantages and disadvantages. an improved technique with distinguished features, such as peak signal to noise ratio ( PSNR) and similarity ratio (SR) has been introduced. the modified technique has been compared with the other techniques by measuring heir robustness against differ attacks. finally, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) based implementation and comparison, for the proposed watermarking technique have been presented and discussed

Mejoramiento de procesos constructivos a partir de un módulo programable para captura de imágenes y simulación digital Improvement of constructive processes based on a programmable unit for images capture and digital simulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriana Gómez Cabrera

2012-08-01

modelo de simulación digital del proceso constructivo. Los resultados obtenidos, permiten reducir tiempos de ciclo y dar un mejor uso a los recursos, representando ahorro de recursos para el proyecto.Civil projects executors are constantly dealing with the challenge of increasing productivity through resources optimization and their interaction; this has been addressed from different points of view using computational tools and manual tools. This challenge demands also, the implementation of new information technologies and digital tools as an effective strategy to capture reliable data that could contribute to improve the productivity quality and security indicators. This work presents a value generation in construction projects, through the use of new technologies to capture digital information that allows a construction process re-engineering using Lean Construction philosophy and digital simulation. At first, the design and development of an autonomous and programmable module is presented, powered with solar energy, used to capture digital images of construction processes. This system includes hardware and electronic components such as cameras, video cameras, electronic cards, computers, solar panels, web platform and communication systems; all controlled by a specially designed software which simplifies the control of the equipment and its components. This system simplifies the decision-making process regarding the construction methods and the resources involved, in order to minimize the costs and to increase the performance. The results obtained in the implementation of the module in a construction project in Bogota, Colombia, are presented in the second part of this paper. The analysis of the results, the constructive process characterization using Time-Lapse videos and a digital simulation model of the construction process are presented. These results allow reducing cycle times and using better the resources, which is translated into resources savings for the

Memory-based frame synchronizer. [for digital communication systems

Science.gov (United States)

Stattel, R. J.; Niswander, J. K. (Inventor)

1981-01-01

A frame synchronizer for use in digital communications systems wherein data formats can be easily and dynamically changed is described. The use of memory array elements provide increased flexibility in format selection and sync word selection in addition to real time reconfiguration ability. The frame synchronizer comprises a serial-to-parallel converter which converts a serial input data stream to a constantly changing parallel data output. This parallel data output is supplied to programmable sync word recognizers each consisting of a multiplexer and a random access memory (RAM). The multiplexer is connected to both the parallel data output and an address bus which may be connected to a microprocessor or computer for purposes of programming the sync word recognizer. The RAM is used as an associative memory or decorder and is programmed to identify a specific sync word. Additional programmable RAMs are used as counter decoders to define word bit length, frame word length, and paragraph frame length.

Note concerning the Ecasac programme; Note sur le programme ecasac

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bras, D [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1969-07-01

The analytical programme developed by the firm I.B.M. for ECAP electronic circuits, operated initially on the IBM 1620 computer with a certain limitation on the size of the network studied, but already equipped from the conversational angle (type-writer). The IBM 360 computers made it possible to increase the size of the network treated to 50 nodes and 200 branches, but the conversational aspect was suppressed in the ECAP 360 version. With a view to making use of the possibilities of hybrid computers, we have adapted this latter version to the EAI 8400 computer. Without diminishing it in any way, we have modified it so as to provide it with conversational characteristics by using the computers control panel; to give it still further flexibility we have made it possible to record curves during the calculation operation, and to obtain a division of the printed results. To obtain the curves, use was made of analog digital converters of the interface of the hybrid unit EAI 8900 of which the EAI 8400 computer represents the numerical section. The modifications made concern in particular the A.C. analysis and the transient analysis. They facilitate and complete the input of the data; they allow modifications to be made for the calculation of these analyses; they also improve the presentation of the results and facilitate their interpretation. They constitute finally the version ECASAC, i.e. the programme ECAP 360 made conversational by use of a type-writer, with automatic output of the curves. (author) [French] Le programme d'analyse de circuits electroniques ECAP, mis au point par la firme I.B.M., a d'abord fonctionne sur ordinateur IBM 1620 avec une certaine limitation pour la taille du reseau etudie, mais deja une optique conversationnelle (machine a ecrire). Les ordinateurs IBM 360 ont permis d'accroitre la taille du reseau permis a 50 noeuds et 200 branches, mais par contre l'optique conversationnelle fut supprimee dans la version ECAP 360. Dans le but d

Digital Humanities and networked digital media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Finnemann, Niels Ole

2014-01-01

This article discusses digital humanities and the growing diversity of digital media, digital materials and digital methods. The first section describes the humanities computing tradition formed around the interpretation of computation as a rule-based process connected to a concept of digital...... materials centred on the digitisation of non-digital, finite works, corpora and oeuvres. The second section discusses “the big tent” of contemporary digital humanities. It is argued that there can be no unifying interpretation of digital humanities above the level of studying digital materials with the help...... of software-supported methods. This is so, in part, because of the complexity of the world and, in part, because digital media remain open to the projection of new epistemologies onto the functional architecture of these media. The third section discusses the heterogeneous character of digital materials...

4 Channel Slave Direct-Digital-Synthesizer – SDDS (EDA-00992)

CERN Document Server

BLAS, A; DELONG, J

2011-01-01

A novel rf beam control architecture has been successfully tested in the LEIR synchrotron. The design is based on a VME 64X carrier board, including a DSP (digital signal processor), into which different daughter cards can be plugged in. The SDDS (Slave Direct Digital Synthesizer) is one of them. Hardware wise it has the features of a four-channel DAC (digital-to-analogue converter) which inputs are driven by a powerful FPGA (field programmable logic array); the latter is connected to the DSP on the carrier board via high-speed connectors. Mainly, this unit will supply the rf signals driving the cavities at a specified harmonic of the revolution. The main sampling clock feeding the mezzanine board is at a high harmonic of the particle’s revolution frequency. In the PSB, this frequency is varying along the accelerating cycle and this choice allows creating the rf signal feeding the accelerating cavities without changing any parameter along the cycle. The sampling clock is tagged at the revolution rate allowi...

Perceptions of Library Staff Regarding Challenges of Developing Digital Libraries: The Case of an Iranian University

Science.gov (United States)

Mohsenzadeh, Faranak; Isfandyari-Moghaddam, Alireza

2011-01-01

Purpose: The present research aims to identify the difficulties and obstacles for developing digital libraries in the seven regional branches of Islamic Azad University (IAU), Iran, and to study the status of librarians' skills and education programmes at these institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The 40 individuals working in the regional…

Bipolar programmable current supply for superconducting nuclear magnetic resonance magnets

Science.gov (United States)

Koivuniemi, Jaakko; Luusalo, Reeta; Hakonen, Pertti

1998-09-01

In high resolution continuous-wave nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) work well-reproducible, linear sweeps of current are needed. We have developed a microcontroller based programmable current supply, tested with superconducting magnets with inductance of 10 mH and 10 H. We achieved a resolution and noise of 4 ppm. The supply has an internal sweep with programmable ramping rate and a possibility for remote operation from a computer with either GPIB or RS232 interface. It is based on an 18-bit D/A converter. The maximum output current is ±10 A, the sweep rate can be set between 1 μA/s-140 mA/s, and the maximum output voltage is ±2.5 V. In work at ultralow temperatures, especially in superconducting quantum interference device NMR, all rf interference to the experiment should be avoided. One of the sources of this kind of unwanted input is the digital switching noise of fast logic devices. We discuss this problem in the context of our design.

Programmable Input Mode Instrumentation Amplifier Using Multiple Output Current Conveyors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pankiewicz Bogdan

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper a programmable input mode instrumentation amplifier (IA utilising second generation, multiple output current conveyors and transmission gates is presented. Its main advantage is the ability to choose a voltage or current mode of inputs by setting the voltage of two configuration nodes. The presented IA is prepared as an integrated circuit block to be used alone or as a sub-block in a microcontroller or in a field programmable gate array (FPGA, which shall condition analogue signals to be next converted by an analogue-to-digital converter (ADC. IA is designed in AMS 0.35 µm CMOS technology and the power supply is 3.3 V; the power consumption is approximately 9.1 mW. A linear input range in the voltage mode reaches ± 1.68 V or ± 250 µA in current mode. A passband of the IA is above 11 MHz. The amplifier works in class A, so its current supply is almost constant and does not cause noise disturbing nearby working precision analogue circuits.

A digital correlator upgrade for the Arcminute MicroKelvin Imager

Science.gov (United States)

Hickish, Jack; Razavi-Ghods, Nima; Perrott, Yvette C.; Titterington, David J.; Carey, Steve H.; Scott, Paul F.; Grainge, Keith J. B.; Scaife, Anna M. M.; Alexander, Paul; Saunders, Richard D. E.; Crofts, Mike; Javid, Kamran; Rumsey, Clare; Jin, Terry Z.; Ely, John A.; Shaw, Clive; Northrop, Ian G.; Pooley, Guy; D'Alessandro, Robert; Doherty, Peter; Willatt, Greg P.

2018-04-01

The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) telescopes located at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory near Cambridge have been significantly enhanced by the implementation of a new digital correlator with 1.2 MHz spectral resolution. This system has replaced a 750-MHz resolution analogue lag-based correlator, and was designed to mitigate the effects of radio frequency interference, particularly that from geostationary satellites which are visible from the AMI site when observing at low declinations. The upgraded instrument consists of 18 ROACH2 Field Programmable Gate Array platforms used to implement a pair of real-time FX correlators - one for each of AMI's two arrays. The new system separates the down-converted RF baseband signal from each AMI receiver into two sub-bands, each of which are filtered to a width of 2.3 GHz and digitized at 5-Gsps with 8 bits of precision. These digital data streams are filtered into 2048 frequency channels and cross-correlated using FPGA hardware, with a commercial 10 Gb Ethernet switch providing high-speed data interconnect. Images formed using data from the new digital correlator show over an order of magnitude improvement in dynamic range over the previous system. The ability to observe at low declinations has also been significantly improved.

An FPGA based backup version of the TileCal digitizer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eriksson, D; Muschter, S; Bohm, C

2010-01-01

The ATLAS Tile Calorimeter front end digitization and readout system comprises about 1800 digitizer boards with two TileDMU ASICs on each board. The TileDMUs are responsible for storing, derandomising and reading out digitized data from twelve ADCs. An ample number of board spares are available. However, a backup solution is desirable in the event of unexpected failure modes. The original version contains both outdated and custom made circuits that are difficult or impossible to find in sufficient numbers. We have developed a new version using inexpensive off the shelf FPGAs (Spartan 6). The FPGAs have all the necessary functionality to emulate the TileDMU and will be readily available for a considerable time. The new board is functionally compatible with the current version and to a large extent uses the same code. The design goal was to leave the digitizer design as intact as possible since it is well tested and performs well. As radiation tolerance is an issue we have implemented triple mode redundancy in the FPGA. To further improve the system we added in system programmability via TTCrx for both the FPGA and the configuration memory using one way JTAG. This provides a way to recover from radiation damage to the configuration PROM or to remotely upgrade system firmware.

An FPGA based backup version of the TileCal digitizer.

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksson, D.; Muschter, S.; Bohm, C.

2010-11-01

The ATLAS Tile Calorimeter front end digitization and readout system comprises about 1800 digitizer boards with two TileDMU ASICs on each board. The TileDMUs are responsible for storing, derandomising and reading out digitized data from twelve ADCs. An ample number of board spares are available. However, a backup solution is desirable in the event of unexpected failure modes. The original version contains both outdated and custom made circuits that are difficult or impossible to find in sufficient numbers. We have developed a new version using inexpensive off the shelf FPGAs (Spartan 6). The FPGAs have all the necessary functionality to emulate the TileDMU and will be readily available for a considerable time. The new board is functionally compatible with the current version and to a large extent uses the same code. The design goal was to leave the digitizer design as intact as possible since it is well tested and performs well. As radiation tolerance is an issue we have implemented triple mode redundancy in the FPGA. To further improve the system we added in system programmability via TTCrx for both the FPGA and the configuration memory using one way JTAG. This provides a way to recover from radiation damage to the configuration PROM or to remotely upgrade system firmware.

Note concerning the Ecasac programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bras, D.

1969-01-01

The analytical programme developed by the firm I.B.M. for ECAP electronic circuits, operated initially on the IBM 1620 computer with a certain limitation on the size of the network studied, but already equipped from the conversational angle (type-writer). The IBM 360 computers made it possible to increase the size of the network treated to 50 nodes and 200 branches, but the conversational aspect was suppressed in the ECAP 360 version. With a view to making use of the possibilities of hybrid computers, we have adapted this latter version to the EAI 8400 computer. Without diminishing it in any way, we have modified it so as to provide it with conversational characteristics by using the computers control panel; to give it still further flexibility we have made it possible to record curves during the calculation operation, and to obtain a division of the printed results. To obtain the curves, use was made of analog digital converters of the interface of the hybrid unit EAI 8900 of which the EAI 8400 computer represents the numerical section. The modifications made concern in particular the A.C. analysis and the transient analysis. They facilitate and complete the input of the data; they allow modifications to be made for the calculation of these analyses; they also improve the presentation of the results and facilitate their interpretation. They constitute finally the version ECASAC, i.e. the programme ECAP 360 made conversational by use of a type-writer, with automatic output of the curves. (author) [fr

The need for theory evaluation in global citizenship programmes: The case of the GCSA programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodier, Sarah; Field, Carren; Goodman, Suki

2018-02-01

Many education programmes lack a documented programme theory. This is a problem for programme planners and evaluators as the ability to measure programme success is grounded in the plausibility of the programme's underlying causal logic. Where the programme theory has not been documented, conducting a theory evaluation offers a foundational evaluation step as it gives an indication of whether the theory behind a programme is sound. This paper presents a case of a theory evaluation of a Global Citizenship programme at a top-ranking university in South Africa, subsequently called the GCSA Programme. This evaluation highlights the need for documented programme theory in global citizenship-type programmes for future programme development. An articulated programme theory produced for the GCSA Programme, analysed against the available social science literature, indicated it is comparable to other such programmes in terms of its overarching framework. What the research found is that most other global citizenship programmes do not have an articulated programme theory. These programmes also do not explicitly link their specific activities to their intended outcomes, making demonstrating impact impossible. In conclusion, we argue that taking a theory-based approach can strengthen and enable outcome evaluations in global citizenship programmes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Adaption of the Quality Criteria Concept to Digital Radiology (invited paper)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busch, H.P.; Jaschke, W.

1998-01-01

In recent years conventional film-screen radiography has been more and more replaced by digital techniques like 'Digital Image Intensifier Radiography' and 'Digital Storage Phosphor (Selen) Radiography'. These new digital imaging methods can be used for all areas of radiography except mammography. Digital radiography offers the advantage of additional diagnostic information, digital image format, lower radiation risk to the patient and a favourable cost/benefit relation. With digital techniques, dose can be varied over a wide range without losing diagnostic information. Thus, dose can be reduced in comparison to film-screen radiography. Inadequate technique can, in certain applications, however, lead to a significant increase of dose. Therefore, special reference dose values have to be established and controlled continuously. Different possibilities of pre- and post-processing make the evaluation of image quality of digital technique more complex compared with conventional film-screen radiography. New parameters like signal to noise ratio are more appropriate in assessing image quality. However, in daily routine well known parameters like spatial resolution, contrast detectability and dose can be more easily used for the assessment of image quality of the whole imaging chain including image processing and documentation. Special guidelines for digital radiography are necessary to guarantee high image quality and to avoid overexposure and misdiagnoses. These guidelines should be based on the Quality Criteria Concept of the EC. They should include criteria for the detectability of specific anatomic details, technical parameters for good radiographic technique and imaging performance and reference dose values. Assessment of image quality by suitable phantoms and constancy testing are prerequisites for quality assurance. The activities of an European quality criteria working group in the 'Concerted Action Programme' are focused on these subjects. (author)

Feasibility tests of a new all-digital beam control scheme for LEIR

CERN Document Server

Angoletta, Maria Elena; Findlay, A; Pedersen, F; CERN. Geneva. AB Department

2004-01-01

The new Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR), to be commissioned at CERN in early 2005, will be a very important element of the LHC lead ions injection chain and will require a new beam control and cavity servoing system. Current plans call for a new all-digital beam control system based on the same technology deployed at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the to control the AGS Booster beam. That beam control system, now under development, relies on VME modules and daughter boards based on Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The DSP provides high throughput processing capabilities and ease of connection with the software layer immediately above, while the daughter boards implement master clock, digital receiver and modulator capabilities. The resulting system is very flexible because is configurable via software and offers multi-processing capabilities and high bandwidth data paths, features that make it very attractive for a beam control implementation. For application t...

Teaching syllabus for radiological aspects of breast cancer screening with digital mammography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Ongeval, C.; Van Steen, A.; Bosmans, H.

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study is to discuss the content of our new accreditation programme for radiologists' reading digital mammograms in a screening setting and to report our first experience with the new course. The course consisted of a theoretical part, given by the medical physicist, and a practical part given by the radiologist. The practical session is closely linked with the theoretical part and a reading session. The material is fully digital and can be presented on different platforms. In practice, the need for parallel soft-copy reading sessions on high-end workstations limits the number of participants. A high level of interactivity was noted between teacher and participant, with a thorough discussion of different digital mammography systems during a single teaching course. The main challenge for the teacher turned out to be the collection of representative material and the continuous updating of the material: new systems, processing techniques and artefacts need to be included regularly. (authors)

Programme documentation to control programme for Solar-tracker; Programdokumentation til styringsprogram til Solar-tracker

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rudbeck, C.

1995-07-01

The report contains the programme documentation partly for a programme to control of a tracking system and partly a programme, which uses this programme to make measurements of transmittance for covering layer. Both the transmittance measurement programme and the programme is built in Borland Pascal v7.0, and is compiled in Real mode for the use on a processor of the 80X86-family. The source code for the programme for transmittance measurements and the programmes (the positioning routines) are described in Appendix B. (EHS)

Double versus single reading of mammograms in a breast cancer screening programme: a cost-consequence analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Posso, Margarita C; Puig, Teresa; Quintana, Ma Jesus; Solà-Roca, Judit; Bonfill, Xavier

2016-09-01

To assess the costs and health-related outcomes of double versus single reading of digital mammograms in a breast cancer screening programme. Based on data from 57,157 digital screening mammograms from women aged 50-69 years, we compared costs, false-positive results, positive predictive value and cancer detection rate using four reading strategies: double reading with and without consensus and arbitration, and single reading with first reader only and second reader only. Four highly trained radiologists read the mammograms. Double reading with consensus and arbitration was 15 % (Euro 334,341) more expensive than single reading with first reader only. False-positive results were more frequent at double reading with consensus and arbitration than at single reading with first reader only (4.5 % and 4.2 %, respectively; p cancer detection rate were similar for both reading strategies (4.6 and 4.2 per 1000 screens; p = 0.283). Our results suggest that changing to single reading of mammograms could produce savings in breast cancer screening. Single reading could reduce the frequency of false-positive results without changing the cancer detection rate. These results are not conclusive and cannot be generalized to other contexts with less trained radiologists. • Double reading of digital mammograms is more expensive than single reading. • Compared to single reading, double reading yields a higher proportion of false-positive results. • The cancer detection rate was similar for double and single readings. • Single reading may be a cost-effective strategy in breast cancer screening programmes.

Girls, identities and agency in adolescents' digital literacy practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vassiliki Adampa

2012-03-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the ways girls use digital environments, like Word, PowerPoint and chatting programmes, for writing and communication purposes. By combining quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis and by adopting a critical discourse framework, we will explore the relationship between girls and new media, especially the ones related to digital writing, in terms of three interconnected variables. The first one is related to the role of the two most important socialisation institutions, home and school, at the present historical juncture, characterised by intense mobility and an expansion of traditional forms of literacy. The strategic choices of the girls' families and their schools' teaching practices contributed significantly to the formulation of their digital writing practices. The second variable is gender. Our data clearly show that a substantial number of girls were more inclined than their male peers to use word-processing and presentation software, performing, thus, the school discourses of 'diligent students'. The third key variable concerns the personality of the girls who filtered in their own unique ways their social experiences, overcame limitations, took initiatives and appropriated technologically-mediated writing media for personally meaningful ends that enhanced their school and/or entertainment Discourses.

Testing digital recursive filtering method for radiation measurement channel using pin diode detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Talpalariu, C. M.; Talpalariu, J.; Popescu, O.; Mocanasu, M.; Lita, I.; Visan, D. A.

2016-01-01

In this work we have studied a software filtering method implemented in a pulse counting computerized measuring channel using PIN diode radiation detector. In case our interest was focalized for low rate decay radiation measurement accuracies improvement and response time optimization. During works for digital mathematical algorithm development, we used a hardware radiation measurement channel configuration based on PIN diode BPW34 detector, preamplifier, filter and programmable counter, computer connected. We report measurement results using two digital recursive methods in statically and dynamically field evolution. Software for graphical input/output real time diagram representation was designed and implemented, facilitating performances evaluation between the response of fixed configuration software recursive filter and dynamically adaptive configuration recursive filter. (authors)

Programmable Ultra-Lightweight System Adaptable Radio Satellite Base Station

Science.gov (United States)

Varnavas, Kosta; Sims, Herb

2015-01-01

With the explosion of the CubeSat, small sat, and nanosat markets, the need for a robust, highly capable, yet affordable satellite base station, capable of telemetry capture and relay, is significant. The Programmable Ultra-Lightweight System Adaptable Radio (PULSAR) is NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC's) software-defined digital radio, developed with previous Technology Investment Programs and Technology Transfer Office resources. The current PULSAR will have achieved a Technology Readiness Level-6 by the end of FY 2014. The extensibility of the PULSAR will allow it to be adapted to perform the tasks of a mobile base station capable of commanding, receiving, and processing satellite, rover, or planetary probe data streams with an appropriate antenna.

INCORRECT PRESERVATION OF AMPUTATED DIGITS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uroš Ahčan

2004-09-01

completely amputated finger or fingers; the occurence was at its highest in 1998 (28 cases and at its lowest (23 in the years 2000 and 2002 (at an average of 24.8 annually. The number of attempted replantations has been demonstrated to be on the rise (28.8% of all severed fingers replanted in 1998; and 47.9% in 2002. The success rate throughout the 5 year period was 81%. The type of injury under investigation is most frequent in population of the age group 30 to 50.The presented cases clearly indicate that the incorrect, hypothermic treatment of the amputated extremity has a demonstrable negative effect on the result of the replantation.Conclusions. It is obvious that the knowledge on the treatment of severed digits is lacking in both lay and professional public. The most common error in the preservation of the severed digit is dangerously low temperature during transport. Optimal conditions of hypothermic preservation are, however, difficult to maintain in the field. A more engaged education would greatly improve the conditions of transport, and increase the success rate of replantations. Adequate educational programmes; instructions to both lay persons and professionals; and devising a transport bag for hypothermic preservation of severed digits are urgently called for.

Digital proportional-integral-derivative velocity controller of a Mössbauer spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pechousek, J; Prochazka, R; Mashlan, M; Jancik, D; Frydrych, J

2009-01-01

The digital proportional-integral-derivative (PID) velocity controller used in the Mössbauer spectrometer implemented in field programmable gate array (FPGA) is based on the National Instruments CompactRIO embedded system and LabVIEW graphical programming tools. The system works as a remote system accessible via the Ethernet. The digital controller operates in real-time conditions, and the maximum sampling frequency is approximately 227 kS s −1 . The system was tested with standard sample measurements of α-Fe and α- 57 Fe 2 O 3 on two different electromechanical velocity transducers. The nonlinearities of the velocity scales in the relative form are better than 0.2%. The replacement of the standard analog PID controller by the new system brings the possibility of optimizing the control process more precisely. (technical design note)

Sustainable Digital Environments: What Major Challenges Is Humankind Facing?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roland W. Scholz

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper identifies and discusses the benefits, threats, and vulnerabilities related to the digital revolution. It aims to motivate research and its funding regarding digital threats and vulnerabilities related, in particular, to anticipating unintended, undesirable rebound effects, tipping points, critically fast evolutionary change rates, trade-offs, etc. A brief analysis of the history of the mind and technology reveals slow technological development over tens of thousands of years (including the invention of a place-value digital number system. Then, a small series of groundbreaking ideas (e.g., binary logic, Shannon’s symbolic analysis of relay and switching circuits, architectures of computing enabled the industry-driven invention of programmable computing machines. Ultimately, the mastery of electron and semiconductor physics allowed for economical and seemingly unlimited storage capacity that made digital tools available to all domains of society. Based on the historical analysis, a coupled human-environment systems perspective (that includes a hierarchy assumption ranging from the human cell to the human species enables the identification of several potential challenges to society and science. First, digital nano-engineering promotes genetic modifications (i.e., directed evolution, and synthetic biology enables a new level of the appropriation of nature. The understanding of cell-based biocomputers may call for new forms of logic. These and other challenges require thorough sustainability research in order to anticipate major changes on all levels of human systems. Second, the human individual is exposed to new forms of vulnerability. In particular, the potential epigenetic effects resulting from the excessive use of digital information of historically unknown speed, density, and contents and the loss of (the Western common-law right to privacy resulting from big data (whose ownership is often unknown should become subjects of

Digital I and C for nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gemst, P. van

1993-01-01

A summary is given of the past experience (process I and C, digital controllers, Power Range Monitoring system) and future plans (integrated plant I and C, control room) of ABB Atom for programmable I and C at nuclear power plants. ABB Atom has designed and supplied an appreciable quantity of software based equipment for nuclear power plants. These have been supplied for both new plants as well as for backfitting. The well proven ABB Master system has been used for the supply of I and C equipment for these projects and will continue to be used in the future. (Z.S.) 1 fig

VINSON/AUTOVON Interface Applique for the Modem, Digital Data, AN/GSC-38

Science.gov (United States)

1980-11-01

assignment system for the RED audio cables. A subscriber handset is used at the VINSON CABINET for crypto key changes through an auxillary cable, but...go" decision regarding each test performed in Section 3 of ATP 13044. The numbering following 4.2 directly corresponds to the step in Section 3 in...which the data is collected. A.1 Test and Auxillary Equipment Required or Tested A.1.1 Test Equipment Manufacturer Model Nomenclature Serial Number

"I'm* Two Rabbits" / "J'ai un Rouge Pullover*". How Corrective Feedback Is Handled in Collaborative Exchange Programmes between Early Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Choffat-Durr, Anne; Macaire, Dominique

2012-01-01

This article presents how, in the social dynamics of two classrooms involved in an exchange programme, young learners provide their peers with asynchronous feedback taking place in the digital medium. Within two Call Triangles that interact thanks to Computer Mediated Communication tools, teachers sharing the same methodological precept on…

Event management for large scale event-driven digital hardware spiking neural networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Caron, Louis-Charles; D'Haene, Michiel; Mailhot, Frédéric; Schrauwen, Benjamin; Rouat, Jean

2013-09-01

The interest in brain-like computation has led to the design of a plethora of innovative neuromorphic systems. Individually, spiking neural networks (SNNs), event-driven simulation and digital hardware neuromorphic systems get a lot of attention. Despite the popularity of event-driven SNNs in software, very few digital hardware architectures are found. This is because existing hardware solutions for event management scale badly with the number of events. This paper introduces the structured heap queue, a pipelined digital hardware data structure, and demonstrates its suitability for event management. The structured heap queue scales gracefully with the number of events, allowing the efficient implementation of large scale digital hardware event-driven SNNs. The scaling is linear for memory, logarithmic for logic resources and constant for processing time. The use of the structured heap queue is demonstrated on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with an image segmentation experiment and a SNN of 65,536 neurons and 513,184 synapses. Events can be processed at the rate of 1 every 7 clock cycles and a 406×158 pixel image is segmented in 200 ms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digital broadcasting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Ji Hyeong

1999-06-01

This book contains twelve chapters, which deals with digitization of broadcast signal such as digital open, digitization of video signal and sound signal digitization of broadcasting equipment like DTPP and digital VTR, digitization of equipment to transmit such as digital STL, digital FPU and digital SNG, digitization of transmit about digital TV transmit and radio transmit, digital broadcasting system on necessity and advantage, digital broadcasting system abroad and Korea, digital broadcasting of outline, advantage of digital TV, ripple effect of digital broadcasting and consideration of digital broadcasting, ground wave digital broadcasting of DVB-T in Europe DTV in U.S.A and ISDB-T in Japan, HDTV broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, digital TV broadcasting in Korea, digital radio broadcasting and new broadcasting service.

Technology Transfer Programme In Reactor Digital Instrumentation And Control System (REDICS) Project: Knowledge, Experiences And Future Expectations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nurfarhana Ayuni Joha; Mohamad Puad Abu; Izhar Abu Hussin; Ridzuan Abdul Mutalib; Zareen Khan Abdul Jalil Khan; Mohd Khairulezwan Abdul Manan; Mohd Sabri Minhat; Mohd Idris Taib

2013-01-01

The PUSPATI TRIGA MARK II research reactor in Malaysia was commissioned in 1982. After 31 years of operation, Nuclear Malaysia is taking an approach for a better research and development in nuclear radiations as well as the technical services that provided. Reactor TRIGA PUSPATI (RTP) is currently upgrading its control console from analogue to digital system. The Reactor Digital Instrumentation and Control System (ReDICS) project is done on cooperation with Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Korea including the technical part from the design stage until commissioning as well as the Technology Transfer Program (TTP). TTP in this ReDICS project is a part of Human Resource and System Development Program. It was carried out from the design stage until the commissioning of the system. It covers all subjects related to the design on the digital system and the requirements for the operation of RTP. The objective of this paper is to share the knowledge and experiences gained through this ReDICS project. This paper will also discuss the future expectations from this ReDICS project for Nuclear Malaysia and its personnel, as well as to the country. (author)

ATCA digital controller hardware for vertical stabilization of plasmas in tokamaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batista, A. J. N.; Sousa, J.; Varandas, C. A. F.

2006-01-01

The efficient vertical stabilization (VS) of plasmas in tokamaks requires a fast reaction of the VS controller, for example, after detection of edge localized modes (ELM). For controlling the effects of very large ELMs a new digital control hardware, based on the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture trade mark sign (ATCA), is being developed aiming to reduce the VS digital control loop cycle (down to an optimal value of 10 μs) and improve the algorithm performance. The system has 1 ATCA trade mark sign processor module and up to 12 ATCA trade mark sign control modules, each one with 32 analog input channels (12 bit resolution), 4 analog output channels (12 bit resolution), and 8 digital input/output channels. The Aurora trade mark sign and PCI Express trade mark sign communication protocols will be used for data transport, between modules, with expected latencies below 2 μs. Control algorithms are implemented on a ix86 based processor with 6 Gflops and on field programmable gate arrays with 80 GMACS, interconnected by serial gigabit links in a full mesh topology

Safety analysis for the use of new digital safety I and C systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buehler, Cornelia

2012-01-01

Age-induced replacement or modernization of safety I and C systems by digital equipment technology has been one of the topical subjects in nuclear technology for more than a decade. Digital equipment technology in this case means microcontroller- or microprocessor-based systems which implement I and C functions in software (SW) and, on the other hand, systems with programmed hardware (HW) components, such as Application-specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) or Programmable Logic Devices (PLS), which can be developed only by means of sophisticated SW development environments. The switch to digital equipment technology is more than a mere change in equipment technology even though the I and C functions remain almost identical in most cases. The switch not only leads to a different approach in equipment qualification, but also requires new focal points in plant design when it comes to assessing plant design, and needs new or adapted methods of analysis and evaluation. The main reason lies in the greater possibilities of systematic errors caused mainly by software-based development, manufacture and maintenance. New and adapted methods of analysis and evaluation for I and C systems are presented and explained. It is safe to say that safety I and C technology in the highest category of requirements necessitates a very far reaching realignment in design and evaluation as well as the use of new analytical techniques. This meets the claim of an I and C technology fit for use, reliable and comparable to the technology it replaces. (orig.)

Design of anti-theft/cable cut real time alert system for copper cable using microcontroller and GSM technology

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, E. K.; Norizan, M. N.; Mohamad, I. S.; Yasin, M. N. M.; Murad, S. A. Z.; Baharum, N. A.; Jamalullail, N.

2017-09-01

This paper presents the design of anti-theft/cable cut real time alert system using microcontroller and GSM technology. The detection part is using the electrical circuit wire connection in detecting the voltage drop of the cable inside the microcontroller digital input port. The GSM wireless modem is used to send the location of cable cut directly to the authority mobile phone. Microcontroller SK40C with Microchip PIC16F887 is used as a controller to control the wireless modem and also the detection device. The device is able to detect and display the location of the cable cut on the LCD display besides of and sending out the location of the cable break to the authority mobile phone wirelessly via SMS.

Programmable pseudo-random detector-pulse-pattern generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Putten, R. van der; Nationaal Inst. voor Kernfysica en Hoge-Energiefysica

1990-01-01

This report discusses the design and realization of the digital part of the programmable pseudo-random detector pulse-pattern generator. For the design and realization use has been made of F-TTL and high speed special purpose ic's, in particular FAL's (15 ns). The design possibilities offered by the software for pro-gramming of the FAL's have been utilized as much as possible. In this way counters, registers and a state machine with extended control possibilities have been designed and an advanced 8 channel pulse generator has been developed which is controlled via the VME system bus. the generator possesses an internal clock oscillator of 16 MHZ. The moment when a pulse is generated can be adjusted with a step size of 250 ps. 2000 different periods (time windows) can be stored for generating a pattern. (author). 37 refs.; 6 figs

Signal noise/interferer combiner unit programmable (SINCUP)

Science.gov (United States)

Martinezdepison, Emilio

1988-12-01

The Signal Noise Interferer Combiner Unit Programmable (SINCUP) has been developed to facilitate laboratory performance testing of Very Low Frequency (VLF/Low Frequency (LF) receivers. To accomplish this, the unit allows the combining in controlled amounts of various real-world environmental and manmade interference with an information carrying signal. The externally modulated signal is combined with internally/externally generated Gaussian noise and/or with an internally/externally generated interferer. In order to test modern digital processing techniques, such as Adaptive Null Steering, Eigenvector Sorting, and Widrow-Hoff adaptive filters, SINCUP is capable of generating and meeting much higher signal-to-noise plus interference ratios than earlier channel simulators. The present software has been written to accommodate a dynamic signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) range from -60 to +60 dB. Higher dynamic range units could be implemented.

Modelling of critical functions of nuclear reactors using Fild Programmable Gate Array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teixeira, Pamela Iara Nolasco

2016-01-01

This paper proposes the development of a method using FPGA for critical security functions of a nuclear reactor. It was implemented two critical safety functions in VHDL, which is a way to describe, through a program, the behavior of a circuit or digital component. Two critical security functions, FCS Core Cooling, responsible for cooling the reactor core in the charts of the plant and also in the event of accidents involving loss of coolant and FCS Heat Transfer, responsible for cooling the reactor core in the event an accident with loss of coolant were implemented. In this Dissertation it was chosen the use of FPGA, because - due to the effects of aging, obsolescence issues, environmental degradation and mechanical failures - nuclear power plants need to replace their older systems by new ones based on digital technology. The technologies obtained using a system described in hardware language can be implemented in a programmable device, having the advantage of changing the code at any time. (author)

Multirate Digital Filters Based on FPGA and Its Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharaf El-Din, R.M.A.

2013-01-01

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is one of the fastest growing techniques in the electronics industry. It is used in a wide range of application fields such as, telecommunications, data communications, image enhancement and processing, video signals, digital TV broadcasting, and voice synthesis and recognition. Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) offers good solution for addressing the needs of high performance DSP systems. The focus of this thesis is on one of the basic DSP functions, namely filtering signals to remove unwanted frequency bands. Multi rate Digital Filters (MDFs) are the main theme here. Theory and implementation of MDF, as a special class of digital filters, will be discussed. Multi rate digital filters represent a class of digital filters having a number of attractive features like, low requirements for the coefficient word lengths, significant saving in computation and storage requirements results in a significant reduction in its dynamic power consumption. This thesis introduces an efficient FPGA realization of a multi rate decimation filter with narrow pass-band and narrow transition band to reduce the frequency sample rate by factor of 64 for noise thermometer applications. The proposed multi rate decimation filter is composed of three stages; the first stage is a Cascaded Integrator Comb (CIC) decimation filter, the second stage is a two-coefficient Half-Band (HB) filter and the last stage is a sharper transition HB filter. The frequency responses of individual stages as well as the overall filter response have been demonstrated with full simulation using MATLAB. The design and implementation of the proposed MDF on FPGA (XILINX Virtex XCV800 BG432-4), using VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL), has been introduced. The implementation areas of the proposed filter stages are compared. Using CIC-HB technique saves 18% of the design area, compared to using six stages HB decimation filters.

Prototype Digital Beam Position and Phase Monitor for the 100-MeV Proton Linac of PEFP

CERN Document Server

Yu In Ha; Kim, Sung-Chul; Park, In-Soo; Park, Sung-Ju; Tae Kim, Do

2005-01-01

The PEFP (Proton Engineering Frontier Project) at the KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) is building a high-power proton linear accelerator aiming to generate 100-MeV proton beams with 20-mA peak current (pulse width and max. repetition rate of 1 ms and 120 Hz respectively). We are developing a prototype digital BPPM (Beam Position and Phase Monitor) for the PEFP linac utilizing the digital technology with field programmable gate array (FPGA). The RF input signals are down converted to 10 MHz and sampled at 40 MHz with 14-bit ADC to produce I and Q data streams. The system is designed to provide a position and phase resolution of 0.1% and 0.1? RMS respectively. The fast digital processing is networked to the EPICS-based control system with an embedded processor (Blackfin). In this paper, the detailed description of the prototype digital beam position and phase monitor will be described with the performance test results.

Auditing emergency management programmes: Measuring leading indicators of programme performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomsic, Heather

Emergency Management Programmes benefit from review and measurement against established criteria. By measuring current vs required programme elements for their actual currency, completeness and effectiveness, the resulting timely reports of achievements and documentation of identified gaps can effectively be used to rationally support prioritised improvement. Audits, with their detailed, triangulated and objectively weighted processes, are the ultimate approach in terms of programme content measurement. Although Emergency Management is often presented as a wholly separate operational mechanism, distinct and functionally different from the organisation's usual management structure, this characterisation is only completely accurate while managing an emergency itself. Otherwise, an organisation's Emergency Management Programme is embedded within that organisation and dependent upon it. Therefore, the organisation's culture and structure of management, accountability and measurement must be engaged for the programme to exist, much less improve. A wise and successful Emergency Management Coordinator does not let the separate and distinct nature of managing an emergency obscure their realisation of the need for an organisation to understand and manage all of the other programme components as part of its regular business practices. This includes its measurement. Not all organisations are sufficiently large or capable of supporting the use of an audit. This paper proposes that alternate, less formal, yet effective mechanisms can be explored, as long as they reflect and support organisational management norms, including a process of relatively informal measurement focused on the organisation's own perception of key Emergency Management Programme performance indicators.

Versions in the lifecycle of academic papers user requirements and guidelins fo digital repositories

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2005-01-01

An academic research paper evolves through various stages during its lifecycle, for example from early conference presentation through working paper to final published refereed journal article. Different versions can co-exist in publicly available electronic form. Finding out researchers’ attitudes towards storing, labelling and making accessible these different versions, both of their own and of their peers’ work is at the heart of the VERSIONS Project, funded by the JISC under the Digital Repositories Programme. The project addresses the issues and uncertainties relating to versions of academic papers in digital repositories. By including a user requirements study, the project will clarify the needs of researchers and other stakeholders for deposit, storage and accessibility of different versions in the lifecycle of a digital resource. In addition to looking at user needs, the project will analyse researchers’ current practice in terms of retention of author copies of their own material. This investig...

An integrated energy-efficient capacitive sensor digital interface circuit

KAUST Repository

Omran, Hesham

2014-06-19

In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient 13-bit capacitive sensor interface circuit. The proposed design fully relies on successive approximation algorithm, which eliminates the need for oversampling and digital decimation filtering, and thus low-power consumption is achieved. The proposed architecture employs a charge amplifier stage to acheive parasitic insensitive operation and fine absolute resolution. Moreover, the output code is not affected by offset voltages or charge injection. The successive approximation algorithm is implemented in the capacitance-domain using a coarse-fine programmable capacitor array, which allows digitizing wide capacitance range in compact area. Analysis for the maximum achievable resolution due to mismatch is provided. The proposed design is insensitive to any reference voltage or current which translates to low temperature sensitivity. The operation of a prototype fabricated in a standard CMOS technology is experimentally verified using both on-chip and off-chip capacitive sensors. Compared to similar prior work, the fabricated prototype achieves and excellent energy efficiency of 34 pJ/step.

Direct digital control of furnaces irradiated in nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joumard, R.

1969-01-01

An experimental direct digital control system has been realised in the 'C.E.N.G.', in order to verify that a computer makes easier the control of the experiments done in the nuclear reactors and to solve the theoretical and technical difficulties. The regulation is applied to thermal processes. The sampled data systems theory permits to choose the type of an efficient and simple digital compensator, and to establish a diagram which gives the values of the correcting parameters (obtained by minimizing the difference between the output and the input when perturbations occur). The programme execute, in simultaneity, supervision and regulation. Complex possibilities of printing out measures and alarms existed. The computer works out an incremental correction which makes step motors to turn. These motors act on the heating organs. The theoretical values and answers have been confirmed. The accuracy was limited essentially by the input quantification (1/1000 th). The comfort of such a system has been noticeable. (author) [fr

CAS - CERN Accelerator School: Course on Digital Signal Processing

CERN Document Server

Digital Signal Processing; CAS 2007

2008-01-01

These proceedings present the lectures given at the twenty-first specialized course organized by the CERN Accelerator School (CAS), the topic being Digital Signal Processing. The course was held in Sigtuna, Sweden, from 31 May–9 June 2007. This is the first time this topic has been selected for a specialized course. Taking into account the number of related applications currently in use in accelerators around the world, it was recognized that such a topic should definitively be incorporated into the CAS series of specialized courses. The specific aim of the course was to introduce the participants to the use and programming of Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) evaluation boards. The course consisted of lectures in the mornings covering fundamental background knowledge in mathematics, controls theory, design tools, programming hardware platforms, and implementation details. In the afternoons the students split into two groups with people working in pairs. One group w...

CERN PSB Beam Tests of CNAO Synchrotron's Digital LLRF

CERN Document Server

Angoletta, M E; De Martinis, C; Falbo, L; Findlay, A; Foglio, R; Hunt, S; Tourres, D; Vescovi, C

2008-01-01

The Italian National Centre for Oncological hAdrontherapy (CNAO), in its final construction phase, uses proton and carbon ion beams to treat patients affected by solid tumours. At the heart of CNAO is a 78- meter circumference synchrotron that accelerates particles to up to 400 MeV/u. The synchrotron relies on a digital LLRF system based upon Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This system implements cavity servoing and beam control capabilities, such as phase and radial loops. Beam tests of the CNAO synchrotron LLRF system were carried out at CERN's Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) in autumn 2007, to verify the combined DSP/FPGA architecture and the beam control capabilities. For this, a prototype version of CNAO's LLRF system was adapted to the PSB requirements. This paper outlines the prototype system layout and describes the tests carried out and their results. In particular, system architecture and beam control capabilities were successfully proven by comparison wit...

Versatile Stimulation Back-End With Programmable Exponential Current Pulse Shapes for a Retinal Visual Prosthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Maghami, Mohammad Hossein; Sodagar, Amir M; Sawan, Mohamad

2016-11-01

This paper reports on the design, implementation, and test of a stimulation back-end, for an implantable retinal prosthesis. In addition to traditional rectangular pulse shapes, the circuit features biphasic stimulation pulses with both rising and falling exponential shapes, whose time constants are digitally programmable. A class-B second generation current conveyor is used as a wide-swing, high-output-resistance stimulation current driver, delivering stimulation current pulses of up to ±96 μA to the target tissue. Duration of the generated current pulses is programmable within the range of 100 μs to 3 ms. Current-mode digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are used to program the amplitudes of the stimulation pulses. Fabricated using the IBM 130 nm process, the circuit consumes 1.5×1.5 mm 2 of silicon area. According to the measurements, the DACs exhibit DNL and INL of 0.23 LSB and 0.364 LSB, respectively. Experimental results indicate that the stimuli generator meets expected requirements when connected to electrode-tissue impedance of as high as 25 k Ω. Maximum power consumption of the proposed design is 3.4 mW when delivering biphasic rectangular pulses to the target load. A charge pump block is in charge of the upconversion of the standard 1.2-V supply voltage to ±3.3V.

PERSEPSI GURU TENTANG DIGITAL NATIVES, SUMBER BELAJAR DIGITAL DAN MOTIVASI MEMANFAATKAN SUMBER BELAJAR DIGITAL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferdinandus Bate Dopo

2016-06-01

TEACHER’S PERCEPTION OF DIGITAL NATIVES, DIGITAL LEARNING RESOURCES AND MOTIVATION TO UTILIZE DIGITAL LEARNING RESOURCES Abstract This study aims to reveal (1 the influence of teacher's perception of digital natives toward teacher’s motivation to utilize digital learning resources. (2 the influence of teacher's perception of digital learning resources toward teacher’s motivation to utilize digital learning resources and (3 the influence both of teacher's perception of digital natives and digital learning resources toward teacher’s motivation to utilize digital learning resources. This study used the descriptive-correlational quantitative approach. The Population and sample were high school teachers of Regina Pacis Bajawa, SMA Seminari Mataloko and SMA Negeri 1 Golewa. Sampling technique in this research was proportional random sampling. A questionnaire was used to obtain the data. The data were analyzed using the Likert scale. The instrument was developed based on lattice theory of assessment instruments relevant to the study variables. The analysis technique used is a regression followed by statistic technique of t test and F test with the significance level of 0.05. The results are as follows. (1 There is a positive and significant influence of teacher's perception of digital natives toward teacher’s motivation to utilize digital learning resources. (2 There is a positive and significant influence of teacher's perception of digital learning resources and teacher’s motivation to utilize digital learning resources. (3 There is a positive and significant influence both of teacher's perception of digital learning resources and teacher’s motivation to utilize digital learning resources. Keywords: perception, digital natives, digital learning resources, motivation

Programmable electronics for low-cost small animal PET/SPECT imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerra, Pedro; Rubio, Jose L.; Kontaxakis, Georgios; Ortuno, Juan E.; Ledesma, Maria J.; Santos, Andres

2006-01-01

This work describes and characterizes the detector module of a novel positron/single photon emission (PET/SPECT) scanner for small animals. This detector consists of a YAP/LSO phoswich, a photomultiplier and acquisition front-end, and will be used as building block of a low-cost hybrid tomograph. The front-end processes data sampled at a fixed frequency, where a state-of-the-art programmable device estimates scintillation pulse parameters by means of digital algorithms. Finally, the estimated properties of the proposed detector module are used to model a rotating four-head scanner. The performance of the proposed PET/SPECT scanner is estimated and first results are promising in both modalities, deserving further research and optimization

Development and application of digital safety system in NPPs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, Keechoon; Kim, Changhwoi; Lee, Dongyoung

2012-01-01

This paper describes the development of digital safety system in NPPs based on safety- grade programmable logic controller (PLC) platform and its application to real NPP construction. The digital safety system consists of a reactor protection system and an engineered safety feature-component control system. The safety-grade PLC platform was developed so that it meets the requirements of the regulation. The PLC consists of various modules such as a power module, a processor module, communication modules, digital input/output modules, analog input/output modules, a LOCA bus extension module, and a high-speed pulse counter module. The reactor protection system is designed with a redundant 4-channel architecture, and every channel is implemented with the same architecture. A single channel consists of a redundant bi-stable processor, a redundant coincidence processor, an automatic test and interface processor, and a cabinet operator module. The engineered safety feature-component control system is designed with four redundant divisions, and implemented with the PLC platform. The principal components of an individual division are fault tolerant group controllers, loop controllers, a test and interface processor, a cabinet operator module and a control channel gateway. The topical report is submitted to the regulatory body, and got safety evaluation report from the regulatory body. Also, the developed system is tested in the integrated performance validation facility. It is decided that the digital safety system applied to Shin-Uljin unit 1 and 2 after a topical report approval and validation test. Design changes occur in the digital safety system that is applied to an actual nuclear power plant construction, and the PLC has also been upgraded

Development and application of digital safety system in NPPs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kwon, Keechoon; Kim, Changhwoi; Lee, Dongyoung [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-03-15

This paper describes the development of digital safety system in NPPs based on safety- grade programmable logic controller (PLC) platform and its application to real NPP construction. The digital safety system consists of a reactor protection system and an engineered safety feature-component control system. The safety-grade PLC platform was developed so that it meets the requirements of the regulation. The PLC consists of various modules such as a power module, a processor module, communication modules, digital input/output modules, analog input/output modules, a LOCA bus extension module, and a high-speed pulse counter module. The reactor protection system is designed with a redundant 4-channel architecture, and every channel is implemented with the same architecture. A single channel consists of a redundant bi-stable processor, a redundant coincidence processor, an automatic test and interface processor, and a cabinet operator module. The engineered safety feature-component control system is designed with four redundant divisions, and implemented with the PLC platform. The principal components of an individual division are fault tolerant group controllers, loop controllers, a test and interface processor, a cabinet operator module and a control channel gateway. The topical report is submitted to the regulatory body, and got safety evaluation report from the regulatory body. Also, the developed system is tested in the integrated performance validation facility. It is decided that the digital safety system applied to Shin-Uljin unit 1 and 2 after a topical report approval and validation test. Design changes occur in the digital safety system that is applied to an actual nuclear power plant construction, and the PLC has also been upgraded.

Metamorfoze, the National Preservation Programme for Libraries in the Netherlands: Results and Pespectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis Schouten

2001-07-01

Full Text Available Metamorphosis: a word that means change but it also means keeping something from the original. Maybe even keeping the essence of that original. You can find metamorphosis in the classics, in literature, in art and, of course, in life itself: the changing of a caterpillar into a butterfly. In the Dutch language the word is spelled „Metamorfose”. The most famous late-nineteenth century author of the Netherlands, Louis Couperus, used an onorthodox way of spelling. His semi-autobiographical novel „Metamorfoze” with a „Z” which deals with the changes in an artist’s life was published in 1897. br> Exactly one hundred years later the Dutch National Preservation Programme was launched. And we decided to name it after this novel. The programme is all about change: from acid paper to microfilm or digital image, but it is also about keeping things from the past, preserving them. So the title of this nineteenth century novel seemed appropriate. And the Z could serve as an eyecatcher. This paper presents an overview of the programme, focusing on the following issues: • selection and setting priorities • method • approach • accomplishments (and setbacks 1997-2000 • the second phase 2001-2004

PV-Diesel Hybrid SCADA Experiment Network Design

Science.gov (United States)

Kalu, Alex; Durand, S.; Emrich, Carol; Ventre, G.; Wilson, W.; Acosta, R.

1999-01-01

The essential features of an experimental network for renewable power system satellite based supervisory, control and data acquisition (SCADA) are communication links, controllers, diagnostic equipment and a hybrid power system. Required components for implementing the network consist of two satellite ground stations, to satellite modems, two 486 PCs, two telephone receivers, two telephone modems, two analog telephone lines, one digital telephone line, a hybrid-power system equipped with controller and a satellite spacecraft. In the technology verification experiment (TVE) conducted by Savannah State University and Florida Solar Energy Center, the renewable energy hybrid system is the Apex-1000 Mini-Hybrid which is equipped with NGC3188 for user interface and remote control and the NGC2010 for monitoring and basic control tasks. This power system is connected to a satellite modem via a smart interface, RS232. Commands are sent to the power system control unit through a control PC designed as PC1. PC1 is thus connected to a satellite model through RS232. A second PC, designated PC2, the diagnostic PC is connected to both satellite modems via separate analog telephone lines for checking modems'health. PC2 is also connected to PC1 via a telephone line. Due to the unavailability of a second ground station for the ACTS, one ground station is used to serve both the sending and receiving functions in this experiment. Signal is sent from the control PC to the Hybrid system at a frequency f(sub 1), different from f(sub 2), the signal from the hybrid system to the control PC. f(sub l) and f(sub 2) are sufficiently separated to avoid interference.

Storytelling and professional learning: a phenomenographic study of students' experience of patient digital stories in nurse education.

Science.gov (United States)

Christiansen, Angela

2011-04-01

This paper reports the findings of a phenomenographic study which sought to identify the different ways in which patient digital stories influence students' professional learning. Patient digital stories are short multimedia presentations that combine personal narratives, images and music to create a unique and often emotional story of a patients' experience of health care. While these are increasingly used in professional education little is known about how and what students learn through engagement with patient digital stories. Drawing upon interviews with 20 students within a pre-registration nursing programme in the UK, the study identifies four qualitatively different ways in which students approach and make sense of patient digital stories with implications for learning and professional identity development. Through an identification of the critical aspects of this variation valuable insights are generated into the pedagogic principles likely to engender transformational learning and patient centred practice. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The novel programmable riometer for in-depth ionospheric and magnetospheric observations (PRIAMOS) using direct sampling DSP techniques

OpenAIRE

Dekoulis, G.; Honary, F.

2005-01-01

This paper describes the feasibility study and simulation results for the unique multi-frequency, multi-bandwidth, Programmable Riometer for in-depth Ionospheric And Magnetospheric ObservationS (PRIAMOS) based on direct sampling digital signal processing (DSP) techniques. This novel architecture is based on sampling the cosmic noise wavefront at the antenna. It eliminates the usage of any intermediate frequency (IF) mixer stages (-6 dB) and the noise balancing technique (-3 dB), providing a m...

Anti-Hassle Chip

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

With assistance from NASA's Ames Research Center, the iTV Corporation has developed a full custom microprocessor that enables access to the Internet through a $49 device. The microprocessor is supported with a compliment of design tools for customization and adaptation as either a licensable core or as a complete microprocessor. Other uses include cell phones, DVD (digital versatile disk) players, cable modems, video conferencing equipment, digital cameras, wireless LANs (Local Area Network) and WANs (Wide Area Network). iTV continues to design new, low-cost consumer products.

Fusion technology programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finken, D.

1984-04-01

KfK participates to the Fusion Technology Programme of the European Community. Most of the work in progress addresses the Next European Torus (NET) and the long term technology aspects as defined in the 82/86 programme. A minor part serves to preparation of future contributions and to design studies on fusion concepts in a wider perspective. The Fusion Technology Programme of Euratom covers mainly aspects of nuclear engineering. Plasma engineering, heating, refueling and vacuum technology are at present part of the Physics Programme. In view of NET, integration of the different areas of work will be mandatory. KfK is therefore prepared to address technical aspects beyond the actual scope of the physics experiments. The technology tasks are reported project wise under title and code of the Euratom programme. Most of the projects described here are shared with other European fusion laboratories as indicated in the table annexed to this report. (orig./GG)

Description and characterization of the ACRR's programmable transient rod withdrawal mode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boldt, K.R.; Sullivan, W.H.; Kefauver, H.L.

1980-01-01

To satisfy experiment needs for Sandia's Advanced Reactor Safety Program, a programmable Transient Rod Withdrawal (TRW) mode has been developed for the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR). The programmable mode is a modification of the existing continuous-withdrawal TRW mode and permits speed and direction changes during the pulse sequence. Basically, a TRW operation is similar to a routine pulse operation except that transient rods are mechanically withdrawn rather than pneumatically fired. Being a pulse-type operation, the TRW mode complies with pulse-mode safety system settings. Control system interlocks prevent the pneumatic firing of rods in the TRW mode. The hardware for the programmable TRW mode includes three ACRR transient rods, the ACRR timer, two rod programmers, a minicomputer and a summing circuit for position indication. Each ACRR transient rod is mechanically driven by a stepping motor (rated torque at 4.24 joules) and is capable of a maximum TRW speed of 26.7 centimeters/ second. The maximum reactivity insertion rate is $2.45/second with a transient rod bank worth of $3.00 and $3.47/second with a bank worth of $4.25, which is expected to be installed soon. The ACRR timer is a multifunctional timer used in all operating modes of the reactor. In the programmable TRW mode, the timer starts the rod programmers and drops regulating rods to terminate the operation. Programmed withdrawal capability is provided by one of two rod programmers (a hardwire-based unit and a microprocessor-based unit). The hardwire unit has eight intervals in which speed, direction and distance are selected by switches on the front panel. The microprocessor-based unit has the capability of 64 intervals in which speed, direction, and distance or time can be specified. Programming this unit is accomplished from the front panel or by inputting data from an HP-9845. minicomputer via a digital I/O interface. Self-test programs in the software provide a continual check of an operating

Finnish bioenergy research programme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Asplund, D. [VTT Energy, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

1996-12-31

Finland is a leading country in the use of biofuels and has excellent opportunities to increase the use of biofuels by up to 25-30 %. The Finnish Government has set an objective for the promotion of bioenergy. The aim is to increase the use of bioenergy by about 25 % from the present level by 2005, and the increment corresponds to 1.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) per year. The R and D work has been considered as an important factor to achieve this ambitious goal. Energy research was organised into a series of research programmes in 1988 in accordance with the proposal of Finnish Energy Research Committee. The object of the research programmes is to enhance research activities and to bundle individual projects together into larger research packages. The common target of the Finnish energy research programmes is to proceed from basic and applied research to product development and pilot operation, and after that to the first commercial applications, e.g. demonstrations. As the organisation of energy research to programmes has led to good results, the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry decided to go on with this practice by launching new six-year programmes in 1993-1998. One of these programmes is the Bioenergy Research Programme and the co-ordination of this programme is carried out by VTT Energy. Besides VTT Energy the Finnish Forest Research Institute, Work Efficiency Institute, Metsaeteho and University of Joensuu are participating in the programme 7 refs.

Finnish bioenergy research programme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Asplund, D [VTT Energy, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

1997-12-31

Finland is a leading country in the use of biofuels and has excellent opportunities to increase the use of biofuels by up to 25-30 %. The Finnish Government has set an objective for the promotion of bioenergy. The aim is to increase the use of bioenergy by about 25 % from the present level by 2005, and the increment corresponds to 1.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) per year. The R and D work has been considered as an important factor to achieve this ambitious goal. Energy research was organised into a series of research programmes in 1988 in accordance with the proposal of Finnish Energy Research Committee. The object of the research programmes is to enhance research activities and to bundle individual projects together into larger research packages. The common target of the Finnish energy research programmes is to proceed from basic and applied research to product development and pilot operation, and after that to the first commercial applications, e.g. demonstrations. As the organisation of energy research to programmes has led to good results, the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry decided to go on with this practice by launching new six-year programmes in 1993-1998. One of these programmes is the Bioenergy Research Programme and the co-ordination of this programme is carried out by VTT Energy. Besides VTT Energy the Finnish Forest Research Institute, Work Efficiency Institute, Metsaeteho and University of Joensuu are participating in the programme 7 refs.

Increasing children's lunchtime consumption of fruit and vegetables: an evaluation of the Food Dudes programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Upton, Dominic; Upton, Penney; Taylor, Charlotte

2013-06-01

Although previous research has shown that the Food Dudes programme increases children's fruit and vegetable consumption at school, there has been limited evaluation of the extent to which changes are maintained in the long term. Furthermore, despite knowledge that the nutritional content of home-supplied meals is lower than that of school-supplied meals, little consideration has been given to the programme's impact on meals provided from home. The present study therefore assessed the long-term effectiveness of the Food Dudes programme for both school- and home-supplied lunches. Two cohorts of children participated, one receiving the Food Dudes intervention and a matched control group who did not receive any intervention. Consumption of fruit and vegetables was assessed pre-intervention, then at 3 and 12 months post-intervention. Consumption was measured across five consecutive days in each school using weighed intake (school-provided meals) and digital photography (home-provided meals). Fifteen primary schools, six intervention (n 1282) and seven control schools (n 1151). Participants were children aged 4-11 years. A significant increase in the consumption of fruit and vegetables was found at 3 months for children in the intervention schools, but only for those eating school-supplied lunches. However, increases were not maintained at 12 months. The Food Dudes programme has a limited effect in producing even short-term changes in children's fruit and vegetable consumption at lunchtime. Further development work is required to ensure the short- and long-term effectiveness of interventions promoting fruit and vegetable consumption in children such as the Food Dudes programme.

A learning design methodology for developing short learning programmes in further and continuing education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buus, Lillian; Georgsen, Marianne

2017-01-01

Over the past 5 years, teaching staff at the School of Continuing Education, VIA University College, Denmark, has been designing digitally supported teaching within diploma programmes and tailor-made courses in the fields of health, education, social sciences and management. More and more...... throughout the course or program; a higher degree of exposure as the teacher often becomes the sole point of contact in online environments; communication skills needed to facilitate dialogue and collaboration in an online environment; etc. Furthermore, involvement of teaching staff in co-creation of new...

Digital Natives or Digital Tribes?

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Ian Robert

2013-01-01

This research builds upon the discourse surrounding digital natives. A literature review into the digital native phenomena was undertaken and found that researchers are beginning to identify the digital native as not one cohesive group but of individuals influenced by other factors. Primary research by means of questionnaire survey of technologies…

Differences in radiological patterns, tumour characteristics and diagnostic precision between digital mammography and screen-film mammography in four breast cancer screening programmes in Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Domingo, Laia; Sala, Maria; Romero, Anabel; Belvis, Francesc; Macia, Francesc; Castells, Xavier; Sanchez, Mar; Ferrer, Joana; Salas, Dolores; Ibanez, Josefa; Vega, Alfonso; Ferrer, Francesc; Laso, M.S.

2011-01-01

To compare tumour characteristics between cancers detected with screen-film mammography (SFM) and digital mammography (DM) and to evaluate changes in positive predictive values (PPVs) for further assessments, for invasive procedures and for distinct radiological patterns in recalled women. 242,838 screening mammograms (171,191 SFM and 71,647 DM) from 103,613 women aged 45-69 years, performed in four population-based breast cancer screening programmes in Spain, were included. The tumour characteristics and PPVs of each group were compared. Radiological patterns (masses, calcifications, distortions and asymmetries) among recalled women were described and PPVs were evaluated. The percentages of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) were higher in DM than in SFM both in the first [18.5% vs. 15.8%(p = 0.580)] and in successive screenings [23.2% vs. 15.7%(p = 0.115)]. PPVs for masses, asymmetries and calcifications were higher in DM, being statistically significant in masses (5.3% vs. 3.9%; proportion ratio: 1.37 95%CI: 1.08-1.72). Among cancers detected by calcifications, the percentage of DCIS was higher in DM (60.3% vs. 46.4%, p = 0.060). PPVs were higher when DM was used, both for further assessments and for invasive procedures, with similar cancer detection rates and no statistically significant differences in tumour characteristics. The greatest improvements in PPVs were found for masses. (orig.)

Differences in radiological patterns, tumour characteristics and diagnostic precision between digital mammography and screen-film mammography in four breast cancer screening programmes in Spain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Domingo, Laia; Sala, Maria [IMIM-Hospital del Mar, Department of Epidemiology and Evaluation, Barcelona (Spain); CIBER de Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP), Barcelona (Spain); Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), EHEA Doctoral Program in Public Health. Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Barcelona (Spain); Romero, Anabel; Belvis, Francesc; Macia, Francesc; Castells, Xavier [IMIM-Hospital del Mar, Department of Epidemiology and Evaluation, Barcelona (Spain); CIBER de Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP), Barcelona (Spain); Sanchez, Mar [Government of Cantabria, General Directorate of Public Health, Department of Health, Santander (Spain); Ferrer, Joana [Radiology Unit. Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona (Spain); Salas, Dolores; Ibanez, Josefa [General Directorate Public Health and Centre for Public Health Research (CSISP), Valencia (Spain); Vega, Alfonso [Hospital Universitario Marques de Valdecilla, Radiology Unit, Santander (Spain); Ferrer, Francesc [Hospital del Mar, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Service, Barcelona (Spain); Laso, M.S. [Breast Cancer Screening Unit Burjassot, Valencia (Spain)

2011-09-15

To compare tumour characteristics between cancers detected with screen-film mammography (SFM) and digital mammography (DM) and to evaluate changes in positive predictive values (PPVs) for further assessments, for invasive procedures and for distinct radiological patterns in recalled women. 242,838 screening mammograms (171,191 SFM and 71,647 DM) from 103,613 women aged 45-69 years, performed in four population-based breast cancer screening programmes in Spain, were included. The tumour characteristics and PPVs of each group were compared. Radiological patterns (masses, calcifications, distortions and asymmetries) among recalled women were described and PPVs were evaluated. The percentages of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) were higher in DM than in SFM both in the first [18.5% vs. 15.8%(p = 0.580)] and in successive screenings [23.2% vs. 15.7%(p = 0.115)]. PPVs for masses, asymmetries and calcifications were higher in DM, being statistically significant in masses (5.3% vs. 3.9%; proportion ratio: 1.37 95%CI: 1.08-1.72). Among cancers detected by calcifications, the percentage of DCIS was higher in DM (60.3% vs. 46.4%, p = 0.060). PPVs were higher when DM was used, both for further assessments and for invasive procedures, with similar cancer detection rates and no statistically significant differences in tumour characteristics. The greatest improvements in PPVs were found for masses. (orig.)

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...

Bolsa Família (Family Grant Programme: an analysis of Brazilian income transfer programme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciana Mourão

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Income transfer programmes are common in various countries and play an important role in combating poverty. This article presents a review of the results of the Bolsa Família (Family Grant Programme, implemented in Brazil by the government of Lula da Silva in 2004. Over the last seven years many evaluations of the programme have been conducted, allowing an overview of its results and its strong and weak points to be mapped. Five central aspects relating to the programme are discussed in article five: (1 programme access, (2 hunger fighting results, (3 programme financial impacts, (4 conditioning factors of education and health, (5 supplementary programs and social mobility. The results of scientific research were presented for each of these aspects, and any of these believed to be convergent or divergent were discussed. As a general result it was concluded that the programme has generated significant results for the country, but there are still some issues that need to be reviewed, such as conditioning factors and the integrated management of the programme.

Software Defined Radio (SDR) and Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) for NMR/MRI Instruments at Low-Field

Science.gov (United States)

Asfour, Aktham; Raoof, Kosai; Yonnet, Jean-Paul

2013-01-01

A proof-of-concept of the use of a fully digital radiofrequency (RF) electronics for the design of dedicated Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) systems at low-field (0.1 T) is presented. This digital electronics is based on the use of three key elements: a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) for pulse generation, a Software Defined Radio (SDR) for a digital receiving of NMR signals and a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for system control and for the generation of the gradient signals (pulse programmer). The SDR includes a direct analog-to-digital conversion and a Digital Down Conversion (digital quadrature demodulation, decimation filtering, processing gain…). The various aspects of the concept and of the realization are addressed with some details. These include both hardware design and software considerations. One of the underlying ideas is to enable such NMR systems to “enjoy” from existing advanced technology that have been realized in other research areas, especially in telecommunication domain. Another goal is to make these systems easy to build and replicate so as to help research groups in realizing dedicated NMR desktops for a large palette of new applications. We also would like to give readers an idea of the current trends in this field. The performances of the developed electronics are discussed throughout the paper. First FID (Free Induction Decay) signals are also presented. Some development perspectives of our work in the area of low-field NMR/MRI will be finally addressed. PMID:24287540

Software Defined Radio (SDR and Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS for NMR/MRI Instruments at Low-Field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aktham Asfour

2013-11-01

Full Text Available A proof-of-concept of the use of a fully digital radiofrequency (RF electronics for the design of dedicated Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR systems at low-field (0.1 T is presented. This digital electronics is based on the use of three key elements: a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS for pulse generation, a Software Defined Radio (SDR for a digital receiving of NMR signals and a Digital Signal Processor (DSP for system control and for the generation of the gradient signals (pulse programmer. The SDR includes a direct analog-to-digital conversion and a Digital Down Conversion (digital quadrature demodulation, decimation filtering, processing gain…. The various aspects of the concept and of the realization are addressed with some details. These include both hardware design and software considerations. One of the underlying ideas is to enable such NMR systems to “enjoy” from existing advanced technology that have been realized in other research areas, especially in telecommunication domain. Another goal is to make these systems easy to build and replicate so as to help research groups in realizing dedicated NMR desktops for a large palette of new applications. We also would like to give readers an idea of the current trends in this field. The performances of the developed electronics are discussed throughout the paper. First FID (Free Induction Decay signals are also presented. Some development perspectives of our work in the area of low-field NMR/MRI will be finally addressed.

The Winfrith DSN programme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francescon, S [General Reactor Physics Division, Atomic Energy Establishment, Winfrith, Dorchester, Dorset (United Kingdom)

1963-05-15

The programme, which is written in the Fortran language, solves the Carlson discrete S{sub n} approximation to the Boltzmann transport equation in cylindrical geometry. This report describes the input and output facilities of the WINFRITH DSN programme and the associated editing programme WED. (author)

The Winfrith DSN programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Francescon, S.

1963-05-01

The programme, which is written in the Fortran language, solves the Carlson discrete S n approximation to the Boltzmann transport equation in cylindrical geometry. This report describes the input and output facilities of the WINFRITH DSN programme and the associated editing programme WED. (author)

UNESCO's Ethics Education Programme.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Have, H.A.M.J. ten

2008-01-01

Unesco initiated the Ethics Education Programme in 2004 at the request of member states to reinforce and increase the capacities in the area of ethics teaching. The programme is focused on providing detailed information about existing teaching programmes. It also develops and promotes teaching

Digital citizens Digital nations: the next agenda

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A.W. (Bert) Mulder; M.W. (Martijn) Hartog

2015-01-01

DIGITAL CITIZENS CREATE A DIGITAL NATION Citizens will play the lead role as they – in the next phase of the information society – collectively create a digital nation. Personal adoption of information and communication technology will create a digital infrastructure that supports individual and

Reflection on key competencies for lifelong learning: A structural analysis of teachers' study programmes in the Republic of Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matilda Karamatić Brčić

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Educating teachers on the initial level of the teachers' studies programmes' compulsory and elective courses allows these educators to acquire the competencies they need to transmit and teach the same information to children. In the realm of contemporary educational practices, acquiring competency in teaching work is part of a process of lifelong learning. This paper will analyse the structure of Croatian teachers' studies programmes, focusing on the name of the course and the teaching workload of the same, with an emphasis on the concept of key competencies for lifelong learning according to the European Framework of Reference. In this paper, compulsory and elective courses were classified according to the following competencies for lifelong learning: communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, mathematical competencies, basic competencies in science and technology, and digital competency. The results reveal that there are no statistically significant differences among Croatian teachers' studies programmes in terms of teaching workload, taking into account how competent the teacher is considered to be; there are statistically significant differences among the Croatian teachers' studies programmes in the possible teaching workload for elective courses because of teacher's perceived competency level. Despite the fact that all of the teachers' studies programmes bestow the same title upon graduates, the analysis of access to teacher studies in the  Republic of Croatia shows that the screening criteria are different in study programmes at different universities.

The INTEGRAL Core Observing Programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Winkler, C.; Gehrels, N.; Lund, Niels

1999-01-01

The Core Programme of the INTEGRAL mission is defined as the portion of the scientific programme covering the guaranteed time observations for the INTEGRAL Science Working Team. This paper describes the current status of the Core Programme preparations and summarizes the key elements...... of the observing programme....

An EBSPK-/MPPSK-Modem Based Transceiver for Radar-Communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Yao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A joint communication and ranging system would constitute a unique platform for future weapon platform or intelligent transportation system to affect the essential tasks of Identification Friend or Foe (IFF system and location sharing services, in terms of both spectrum efficiency and cost effectiveness. In this paper, the design of efficient modulation system which is suitable for simultaneously performing both data transmission and range measurement is proposed. The approach is based on extended binary phase shift keying (EBPSK or M-ary Position Phase Shift Keying (MPPSK modulated waveforms utilized in digital communication. In particular, requirements that allow for employing such signals for range measurements are investigated. Also, Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR target detection performances of the new proposed system are discussed when target velocity and time delay take different values. Moreover, Doppler tolerance range of impacting filter for demodulating EBPSK/MPPSK pulse signal at 10 GHz is considered. In addition to theoretical considerations, the paper presents simulations and measurement results of the new systems, demonstrating the high spectral utilization of integrated communication and ranging applications.

Latin American dose survey results in mammography studies under IAEA programme: radiological protection of patients in medical exposures (TSA3).

Science.gov (United States)

Mora, Patricia; Blanco, Susana; Khoury, Helen; Leyton, Fernando; Cárdenas, Juan; Defaz, María Yolanda; Garay, Fernando; Telón, Flaviano; Aguilar, Juan Garcia; Roas, Norma; Gamarra, Mirtha; Blanco, Daniel; Quintero, Ana Rosa; Nader, Alejandro

2015-03-01

Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) working under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Cooperation Programme: TSA3 Radiological Protection of Patients in Medical Exposures have joined efforts in the optimisation of radiation protection in mammography practice. Through surveys of patient doses, the region has a unique database of diagnostic reference levels for analogue and digital equipment that will direct future optimisation activities towards the early detection of breast cancer among asymptomatic women. During RLA9/057 (2007-09) 24 institutions participated with analogue equipment in a dose survey. Regional training on methodology and measurement equipment was addressed in May 2007. The mean glandular dose (DG) was estimated using the incident kerma in air and relevant conversion coefficients for both projections craneo caudal and mediolateral oblique (CC and MLO). For Phase 2, RLA9/067 (2010-11), it was decided to include also digital systems in order to see their impact in future dose optimisation activities. Any new country that joined the project received training in the activities through IAEA expert missions. Twenty-nine new institutions participated (9 analogue and 20 digital equipment). A total of 2262 patient doses were collected during this study and from them D(G) (mGy) for both projections were estimated for each institution and country. Regional results (75 percentile in mGy) show for CC and MLO views, respectively: RLA9/057 (analogue) 2.63 and 3.17; RLA/067: 2.57 and 3.15 (analogue) and 2.69 and 2.90 (digital). Regarding only digital equipment for CC and MLO, respectively, computed radiography systems showed 2.59 and 2.78 and direct digital radiography (DDR) systems 2.78 and 3.04. Based on the IAEA Basic Safety Standard (BSS) reference dose (3 mGy), it can be observed that there is enough room to start

Latin American dose survey results in mammography studies under IAEA programme: radiological protection of patients in medical exposures (TSA3)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mora, Patricia; Blanco, Susana; Khoury, Helen; Leyton, Fernando; Cardenas, Juan; Defaz, Maria Yolanda; Garay, Fernando; Telon, Flaviano; Garcia Aguilar, Juan; Roas, Norma; Gamarra, Mirtha; Blanco, Daniel; Quintero, Ana Rosa; Nader, Alejandro

2015-01-01

Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) working under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Cooperation Programme: TSA3 Radiological Protection of Patients in Medical Exposures have joined efforts in the optimisation of radiation protection in mammography practice. Through surveys of patient doses, the region has a unique database of diagnostic reference levels for analogue and digital equipment that will direct future optimisation activities towards the early detection of breast cancer among asymptomatic women. During RLA9/057 (2007-09) 24 institutions participated with analogue equipment in a dose survey. Regional training on methodology and measurement equipment was addressed in May 2007. The mean glandular dose (DG) was estimated using the incident kerma in air and relevant conversion coefficients for both projections craneo caudal and mediolateral oblique (CC and MLO). For Phase 2, RLA9/067 (2010-11), it was decided to include also digital systems in order to see their impact in future dose optimisation activities. Any new country that joined the project received training in the activities through IAEA expert missions. Twenty-nine new institutions participated (9 analogue and 20 digital equipment). A total of 2262 patient doses were collected during this study and from them D G (mGy) for both projections were estimated for each institution and country. Regional results (75 percentile in mGy) show for CC and MLO views, respectively: RLA9/057 (analogue) 2.63 and 3.17; RLA/067: 2.57 and 3.15 (analogue) and 2.69 and 2.90 (digital). Regarding only digital equipment for CC and MLO, respectively, computed radiography systems showed 2.59 and 2.78 and direct digital radiography (DDR) systems 2.78 and 3.04. Based on the IAEA Basic Safety Standard (BSS) reference dose (3 mGy), it can be observed that there is enough room to start

Broader utilization of programmable automation equipment in French nuclear power plants: Reflections on the choices made by Electricite de France and French designers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baudry, Y.; Varaldi, G.

1983-01-01

More than 1000 microprocessors and more than 10,000 data memories in each of the twenty or so 1300 MW units in the French nuclear programme: that was the decision taken by Electricite de France (EDF) in conjunction with the designers in 1974, with the intention of introducing programmable automata on a wide scale in French nuclear power plants. This programme was carried out with the assistance of advanced research services such as the universities, the Commissariat a l'energie atomique (CEA), EDF's design and research service and the designers, most of whom were already EDF suppliers for the 900 MW range. Having used computers for linking sequences (themselves carried out with electromagnetic technology) for its latest natural-uranium gas-cooled graphite-moderated power plants, EDF decided to call a temporary halt, in the case of its 900 MW light-water range, to the use of digital techniques for the control and automation of power plants although it continued to employ such techniques widely in data processing. Thus, the widespread introduction of programmable automata, which was decided upon in 1974/75 at a time when no equivalent existed at the international level, led EDF and French designers to undertake a major development effort in order to meet the requirements - particularly safety and reliability requirements - for such automata to be incorporated into the nuclear field. How does this choice fit in with the logical evolution of the digitalization of French nuclear power plants. What problems has it caused for EDF and French industry. How have these problems been tackled. How have they been overcome. These are the questions dealt with in this paper. (author)

Increasing clinical relevance in oral radiology: Benefits and challenges when implementing digital assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

de Lange, T; Møystad, A; Torgersen, G R

2018-02-13

The aims of the study were to investigate benefits and challenges in implementing a digital examination and study the clinical relevance of the digital examination in relation to clinical training and practice. The study was based on semi-structured focus-group interviews from two distinct student populations (2016 and 2017) in a bachelor programme in dental hygiene. In addition, conversational data from a plenary discussion from the whole second student population (2017) were collected and analysed. The data were approached on basis of content analysis. A benefit experienced in the digital examination was the ease in typing and editing answers on the computer. This suggests an increased effectiveness in computer-based compared to analogue examinations. An additional advantage was the experienced relevance of the examination related to the clinic. This finding refers not only to the digital presentations of images, but also to the entire setting in the clinic and dental practice. The limitations reported by the students were non-optimal viewing conditions for presenting radiographic images and difficulties in obtaining an overview of the assignments compared to paper-based examinations due to the linear digital examination format. The last finding on lacking overview revealed an influence on student performances which should be taken seriously in designing digital examinations. In conclusion, the digital layout increases efficiency and clinical relevance of examinations to a certain extent. Obstacles were found in limitations related to image presentation and lack of overview of the examination. The latter challenge raises questions related to developing suitable assessment software. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Wind Energy programme - SFOE Research Programme 2000 - 2003; Programm Wind. Konzept BFE-Forschungsprogramm 'Wind' 2000 - 2003

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horbaty, R.

2001-07-01

This document, issued by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) describes the concept behind the Swiss wind energy programme. The first part of the report discusses the origins and development of the wind energy programme in Switzerland, discussing the importance of wind energy and policy matters associated with its promotion. The experience gained during the previous research programmes is reviewed. The degree to which targets were reached, promotional activities, the central government's own wind energy activities and the results of a programme evaluation are discussed. Lists of projects that have been realised and activities that have been carried out are presented and positive and negative influences on development are noted. A second part is dedicated to the goals of the wind energy programme in terms of target figures for the year 2010 and the strategies chosen to reach these goals, including pilot and demonstration projects (P and D) and promotional activities. Details of the P and D programme including lists of wind-power projects to be supported, the priorities that have been set and information and further education that is to be provided, are given. New activities in the wind power area such as the development of new type of wind turbine especially suited to alpine conditions are discussed. The role of the Swiss Association for Wind Energy 'Suisse Eole' as a network-partner in the wind energy programme is discussed. An appendix provides details of wind energy projects in Switzerland, market partners and customers. The results of a survey made of wind energy activities at Swiss institutes of higher education are presented.

Digital gamma-ray spectroscopy based on FPGA technology

CERN Document Server

Bolic, M

2002-01-01

A digital pulse processing system convenient for high rate gamma-ray spectroscopy with NaI(Tl) detectors has been designed. The new programmable logic device has been used for implementation of dedicated high-speed pulse processor, as the central part of the system. The processor is capable to operate at the speed of fast ADC, preserving maximum throughput of the system. Special care has been taken to reduce the distortion of energy spectrum caused by pile-up at high-count rates. The developed system is highly flexible, and the parameters of its operation can be changed in software. The performance of the system was tested for high counting rate of 400000 s sup - sup 1.

Digital forensics digital evidence in criminal investigations

CERN Document Server

Marshall, Angus McKenzie

2009-01-01

The vast majority of modern criminal investigations involve some element of digital evidence, from mobile phones, computers, CCTV and other devices. Digital Forensics: Digital Evidence in Criminal Investigations provides the reader with a better understanding of how digital evidence complements "traditional" scientific evidence and examines how it can be used more effectively and efficiently in a range of investigations. Taking a new approach to the topic, this book presents digital evidence as an adjunct to other types of evidence and discusses how it can be deployed effectively in s

Design of a saturated analogue and digital current transducer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pross, Alexander

2002-01-01

This project describes the development of a new analogue and digital current transducer, providing a range of new theoretical design methods for these novel devices. The main control feature is the limit cycling operation, and the novel use of the embedded sigma-delta modulator sensor structure to derive a low component count digital sensor. The research programme was initiated into the design, development and evaluation of a novel non-Hall sensing analogue and digital current transducer. These transducers are used for measurement of high currents in power systems applications. The investigation is concerned with a new design which uses a magnetic ferrite core without an air gap for current measurement. The motivation for this work was to design a new control circuit which provides a low component count, and utilises the non-linear properties of the magnetic ferrite core to transmit direct current. The use of a limit cycle control circuit was believed to be particularly suitable for the analogue and digital transducers, for two main reasons: the low component count, and the output signal is directly digital. In line with the motivations outlined above, the outcome of the research has witnessed the design, development and evaluation of a practically realisable analogue and digital current transducer. The design procedure, which is documented in this thesis, is considered to be a major contribution to the field of transducers design and development using a control systems approach. Mathematical models for both analogue and digital transducers were developed and the resulting model based predictions were found to be in good agreement with measured results. Simplification of the new model sensing device was achieved by approximating the non-linear ferrite core using FFT analysis. This is also considered to be a significant contribution. The development analogue and digital current censors employed a sampled data control systems design and utilised limit cycling

DIGITAL DATA PROTECTION USING STEGANOGRAPHY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Rejani

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In today’s digital world applications from a computer or a mobile device consistently used to get every kind of work done for professional as well as entertainment purpose. However, one of the major issue that a software publisher will face is the issue of piracy. Throughout the last couple of decades, almost all-major or minor software has been pirated and freely circulated across the internet. The impact of the rampant software piracy has been huge and runs into billions of dollars every year. For an independent developer or a programmer, the impact of piracy will be huge. Huge companies that make specialized software often employ complex hardware methods such as usage of dongles to avoid software piracy. However, this is not possible to do for a normal independent programmer of a small company. As part of the research, a new method of software protection that does not need proprietary hardware and other complex methods are proposed in this paper. This method uses a combination of inbuilt hardware features as well as steganography and encryption to protect the software against piracy. The properties or methods used include uniqueness of hardware, steganography, strong encryption like AES and geographic location. To avoid hacking the proposed framework also makes use of self-checks in a random manner. The process is quite simple to implement for any developer and is usable on both traditional PCs as well as mobile environments.

A fortran programme for determining frequency responses for linear systems with time delays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milsom, P.R.

1966-11-01

In this report a digital computer programme for evaluating frequency responses is described. In its standard form the programme is capable of determining the gain and phase of up to 35 variables over a range of up to 30 frequencies for a system described by up to 65 equations. The equations must be either first order differential or algebraic and either type may include time delayed terms. Up to 50 such terms are permissible throughout the equation set. Provision is made for up to 10 inputs and up to 50 differentiated input terms are permitted throughout the equation set. However, it is possible for the user to increase a maximum dimension, albeit at the expense of another array dimension. In punching the data from the equations the user has no sorting or arranging of coefficients to do, and the equations may be in any order. The specifying of other input information, such as frequency range, the inputs to be perturbed and the variables for which frequency responses are required, is also very straightforward. (author)

Digital radiology and digitally formatted image management systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cox, G.G.; Dwyer, S.J. III; Templeton, A.W.

1987-01-01

The number of diagnostic examinations performed with digitally formatted imaging equipment is increasing. Digital general-purpose and fluoroscopic radiology systems are being clinically evaluated. Digitizing conventional x-ray films, such as mammograms, frequently improves the diagnostic quality of the images. The digitizing process with laser has also afforded the opportunity to document required spatial resolution for digital imaging and network systems. The use of digitally formatted image instrumentation imposes new requirements on the acquisition, display and manipulation, transmission, hard copy image recording, and archiving of diagnostic data. Networking of digitally formatted image data offers many advantages for managing digital information. This paper identifies and describes digital radiographic systems. Parameters required for designing and implementing a digital image management system are outlined. Spatial and contrast resolution requirements are identified. The key parameters include the amount of image data generated each working day, the retrieval rate of the generated data, the display hardware and software needed for interactive diagnosis display stations, the requirements for analog hard copy generation, and on-line and long-term archiving requirements. These image management systems are often called PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems)

Ghana's nuclear programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahafia, Albert K.

1988-01-01

The Paper gives the purpose of Ghana's Nuclear Programme and describes some specific research activities and peaceful applications of atomic energy in agriculture, medicine and industry. A discussion of some of the problem facing the programme concludes the Paper. (author)

Rapid prototyping and evaluation of programmable SIMD SDR processors in LISA

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ting; Liu, Hengzhu; Zhang, Botao; Liu, Dongpei

2013-03-01

With the development of international wireless communication standards, there is an increase in computational requirement for baseband signal processors. Time-to-market pressure makes it impossible to completely redesign new processors for the evolving standards. Due to its high flexibility and low power, software defined radio (SDR) digital signal processors have been proposed as promising technology to replace traditional ASIC and FPGA fashions. In addition, there are large numbers of parallel data processed in computation-intensive functions, which fosters the development of single instruction multiple data (SIMD) architecture in SDR platform. So a new way must be found to prototype the SDR processors efficiently. In this paper we present a bit-and-cycle accurate model of programmable SIMD SDR processors in a machine description language LISA. LISA is a language for instruction set architecture which can gain rapid model at architectural level. In order to evaluate the availability of our proposed processor, three common baseband functions, FFT, FIR digital filter and matrix multiplication have been mapped on the SDR platform. Analytical results showed that the SDR processor achieved the maximum of 47.1% performance boost relative to the opponent processor.

Future Skills Requirements of the International Digital Media Industry: Implications for Ireland, July 2006

OpenAIRE

2006-01-01

This report profiles the skill requirements of some of the world’s leading Digital Media firms. It details the skills required in key occupational roles across seven sub-sectors of the industry. These findings will help education and training providers in Ireland keep their curricula and programmes up-to-date with developments in the industry and thereby maximise employment opportunities for their graduates. This report will also serve as a resource for Irish firms in the industry. By identif...

TECHNICAL DESIGN NOTE: Digital proportional-integral-derivative velocity controller of a Mössbauer spectrometer

Science.gov (United States)

Pechousek, J.; Prochazka, R.; Mashlan, M.; Jancik, D.; Frydrych, J.

2009-01-01

The digital proportional-integral-derivative (PID) velocity controller used in the Mössbauer spectrometer implemented in field programmable gate array (FPGA) is based on the National Instruments CompactRIO embedded system and LabVIEW graphical programming tools. The system works as a remote system accessible via the Ethernet. The digital controller operates in real-time conditions, and the maximum sampling frequency is approximately 227 kS s-1. The system was tested with standard sample measurements of α-Fe and α-57Fe2O3 on two different electromechanical velocity transducers. The nonlinearities of the velocity scales in the relative form are better than 0.2%. The replacement of the standard analog PID controller by the new system brings the possibility of optimizing the control process more precisely.

Communication in Pipes Using Acoustic Modems that Provide Minimal Obstruction to Fluid Flow

Science.gov (United States)

Bar-Cohen, Yoseph (Inventor); Archer, Eric D. (Inventor); Bao, Xiaoqi (Inventor); Sherrit, Stewart (Inventor)

2016-01-01

A plurality of phased array acoustic communication devices are used to communicate data along a tubulation, such as a well. The phased array acoustic communication devices employ phased arrays of acoustic transducers, such as piezoelectric transducers, to direct acoustic energy in desired directions along the tubulation. The system is controlled by a computer-based controller. Information, including data and commands, is communicated using digital signaling.

Automated Software Acceleration in Programmable Logic for an Efficient NFFT Algorithm Implementation: A Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez, Manuel; Magdaleno, Eduardo; Pérez, Fernando; García, Cristhian

2017-03-28

Non-equispaced Fast Fourier transform (NFFT) is a very important algorithm in several technological and scientific areas such as synthetic aperture radar, computational photography, medical imaging, telecommunications, seismic analysis and so on. However, its computation complexity is high. In this paper, we describe an efficient NFFT implementation with a hardware coprocessor using an All-Programmable System-on-Chip (APSoC). This is a hybrid device that employs an Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) as Processing System with Programmable Logic for high-performance digital signal processing through parallelism and pipeline techniques. The algorithm has been coded in C language with pragma directives to optimize the architecture of the system. We have used the very novel Software Develop System-on-Chip (SDSoC) evelopment tool that simplifies the interface and partitioning between hardware and software. This provides shorter development cycles and iterative improvements by exploring several architectures of the global system. The computational results shows that hardware acceleration significantly outperformed the software based implementation.

Development of a PZT-based wireless digital monitor for composite impact monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Peipei; Yuan, Shenfang; Qiu, Lei

2012-01-01

One of the major concerns in the whole lifetime of composite materials in aircraft is their susceptibility to impact damage. And there has existed a need in recent years to develop an online structural health monitoring (SHM) system for impact monitoring. This paper proposes a new PZT-based wireless digital impact monitoring system development method aimed at giving a localized area for further inspection. Based on this method, a PZT-based wireless digital impact monitor (WDIM) with advantages of compactness, light weight, low power consumption and high efficiency is developed. Differently from conventional SHM systems, the complex analog circuits are removed and the whole process is achieved in a digital way by turning the output of the PZT sensor directly into a digital queue through a comparator. A simple but efficient sub-region location method is implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) as the processing core of the WDIM to detect and record the impact events. In addition, wireless communication technology is used in the WDIM to transmit data and form a monitoring network. To illustrate the capability of the WDIM, a complete process dealing with an impact event is investigated and the stability of the WDIM is also evaluated in this paper. The WDIM shows its potential for real online applications in aircraft. (paper)

Development of reconfigurable analog and digital circuits for plasma diagnostics measurement systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srivastava, Amit Kumar; Sharma, Atish; Raval, Tushar

2009-01-01

In long pulse discharge tokamak, a large number of diagnostic channels are being used to understand the complex behavior of plasma. Different diagnostics demand different types of analog and digital processing for plasma parameters measurement. This leads to variable requirements of signal processing for diagnostic measurement. For such types of requirements, we have developed hardware with reconfigurable electronic devices, which provide flexible solution for rapid development of measurement system. Here the analog processing is achieved by Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA) integrated circuit while reconfigurable digital devices (CPLD/FPGA) achieve digital processing. FPAA's provide an ideal integrated platform for implementing low to medium complexity analog signal processing. With dynamic reconfigurability, the functionality of the FPAA can be reconfigured in-system by the designer or on the fly by a microprocessor. This feature is quite useful to manipulate the tuning or the construction of any part of the analog circuit without interrupting operation of the FPAA, thus maintaining system integrity. The hardware operation control logic circuits are configured in the reconfigurable digital devices (CPLD/FPGA) to control proper hardware functioning. These reconfigurable devices provide the design flexibility and save the component space on the board. It also provides the flexibility for various setting through software. The circuit controlling commands are either issued by computer/processor or generated by circuit itself. (author)

Transforming 'Female' Programmes: Don’t Tell the Bride from International TV to Italian Digital Channels for Women

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Penati, Cecilia

2016-01-01

textabstractContemporary Italian digital channels explicitly targeting women (such as Real Time, Lei, Fox Life, La5, and La7d) represent a privileged observatory for some general trends in the international circulation of content and incorporation of foreign formats into national television (TV). In

Interprofessional Participation and Reflection in a Digital Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ragnhild Nilsen

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Interdisciplinary professional education (IPE contributes to the formation of effective collaboration in the field of practice. Education needs to be organised so that health science students can learn with, from, and about each other. This article explores how web-based collaboration contributes to this, by describing how it promotes reflection and professional understanding among health science students. Our data analysis is based on focus group interviews and online student discussions. The findings show that the flexibility of digital network, which represents both collaboration triggered by videos and online communication, is important for the students: they develop their argumentation together in reflective tranquillity. It is important to practise reflection since a choice of actions is an integral part of healthcare work, work which depends upon judgement exercised by the individual healthcare worker. The digital network allows students from different health science programmes to draw on each other’s knowledge and expertise. The findings are relevant for the development of reflection and professional understanding among health science students, as they show how students discuss and seek solutions to complex challenges in the practice.

Digital citizenship and neoliberalization: governing digital citizens in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schou, Jannick; Hjelholt, Morten

2018-01-01

Digital citizenship is becoming increasingly normalized within advanced democratic states. As society and governmental institutions become reliant on digital technologies, citizens are expected to be and act digitally. This article examines the governance of digital citizens through a case study...... this case study, the article contributes to current critical perspectives on the digital citizen as a new political figure. It adds new insights into digital citizenship by connecting this figure to wider processes of neoliberalization and state restructuring, pushing for a more pronounced focus...... of digitalization efforts in Denmark. Drawing on multiple forms of data, the article showcases how digital citizens are governed through a combination of discursive, legal and institutional means. The article highlights the political, but also institutional work that goes into making citizens digital. Providing...

Digital breast tomosynthesis plus synthesised images versus standard full-field digital mammography in population-based screening (TOSYMA): protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Weigel, Stefanie; Gerss, Joachim; Hense, Hans-Werner; Krischke, Miriam; Sommer, Alexander; Czwoydzinski, Jörg; Lenzen, Horst; Kerschke, Laura; Spieker, Karin; Dickmaenken, Stefanie; Baier, Sonja; Urban, Marc; Hecht, Gerold; Heidinger, Oliver; Kieschke, Joachim; Heindel, Walter

2018-05-14

Development of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) provides a technology that generates three-dimensional data sets, thus reducing the pitfalls of overlapping breast tissue. Observational studies suggest that the combination of two-dimensional (2D) digital mammography and DBT increases diagnostic accuracy. However, because of duplicate exposure, this comes at the cost of an augmented radiation dose. This undesired adverse impact can be avoided by using synthesised 2D images reconstructed from the DBT data (s2D).We designed a diagnostic superiority trial on a high level of evidence with the aim of providing a comparison of screening efficacy parameters resulting from DBT+s2D versus the current screening standard 2D full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in a multicentre and multivendor setting on the basis of the quality-controlled, population-based, biennial mammography screening programme in Germany. 80 000 women in the eligible age 50-69 years attending the routine mammography screening programme and willing to participate in the TOSYMA trial will be assigned by 1:1 randomisation to either the intervention arm (DBT+s2D) or the control arm (FFDM) during a 12-month recruitment period in screening units of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. State cancer registries will provide the follow-up of interval cancers.Primary endpoints are the detection rate of invasive breast cancers at screening examination and the cumulative incidence of interval cancers in the 2 years after a negative examination. Secondary endpoints are the detection rate of ductal carcinoma in situ and of tumour size T1, the recall rate for assessment, the positive predictive value of recall and the cumulative 12-month incidence of interval cancers. An adaptive statistical design with one interim analysis provides the option to modify the design. This protocol has been approved by the local medical ethical committee (2016-132-f-S). Results will be submitted to international peer

FUSION technology programme 2003-2006

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karttunen, S.; Rantamaeki, K.

2007-01-01

This report summarises the results of the FUSION technology programme during the period between 2003-2006. FUSION is a continuation of the previous FFusion and FFusion2 technology programmes that took place from 1993 to 2002. The FUSION technology programme was fully integrated into the European Fusion Programme in the sixth Framework Programme (Euratom), through the bilateral Contract of Association between Euratom and Tekes and the multilateral European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA). The Association Euratom-Tekes was established in 1995. At the moment, there are 26 Euratom Fusion associations working together as an European Research Area. There are four research areas in the FUSION technology programme: (1) fusion physics and plasma engineering, (2) vessel/in-vessel materials, joints and components, (3) in-vessel remote handling systems, and (4) system studies. The FUSION team consists of research groups from the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), the Helsinki, Tampere and Lappeenranta Universities of Technology and the University of Helsinki. The co-ordinating unit is VTT. A key element of the FUSION programme is the close collaboration between VTT, the universities and the industry, which has resulted in dynamic and sufficiently large research teams to tackle challenging research and development projects. The distribution of work between research institutes and industry has also been clear. Industrial activities related to the FUSION programme are co-ordinated through the 'Big Science' Project by Finpro and Prizztech. The total expenditure of the FUSION technology programme for 2003-2006 amounted to euro 14,9 million in research work at VTT and the universities with an additional euro 3,5 million for projects by the Finnish companies including the industry co-ordination. The funding of the FUSION programme and related industrial projects was mainly provided by Tekes (37%), Euratom (38%) and the participating institutes and industry (24%). The

KPiX, An Array of Self Triggered Charge Sensitive Cells Generating Digital Time and Amplitude Information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freytag, D.

2008-01-01

The Silicon Detector proposed for the International Linear Collider (ILC) requires electronic read-out that can be tightly coupled to the silicon detectors envisioned for the tracker and the electromagnetic calorimeter. The KPiX is a 1024-channel read-out chip that bump-bonds to the detector and communicates through a few digital signals, power, and detector bias. The KPiX front-end is a low-noise dual-range charge-amplifier with a dynamic range of 17 bit, achieved by autonomous switching of the feedback capacitor. The device takes advantage of the ILC duty cycle of 1 ms trains at 5 Hz rate by lowering the supply current after the data acquisition cycle for an average power consumption of <20 (micro)W/channel. During the 1 ms train, up to four events exceeding a programmable threshold can be stored, the amplitude as a voltage on a capacitor for subsequent digitization, the event time in digital format. The chip can be configured for other than ILC applications

Overmathematisation in game theory : pitting the Nash Equilibrium Refinement Programme against the Epistemic Programme

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Bruin, Boudewijn

The paper argues that the Nash Equilibrium Refinement Programme was less successful than its competitor, the Epistemic Programme (Interactive Epistemology). The prime criterion of success is the extent to which the programmes were able to reach the key objective guiding non-cooperative game theory

Digital radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brody, W.R.

1984-01-01

Digital Radiography begins with an orderly introduction to the fundamental concepts of digital imaging. The entire X-ray digital imagining system is described, from an overall characterization of image quality to specific components required for a digital radiographic system. Because subtraction is central to digital radiographic systems, the author details the use of various subtraction methods for image enhancement. Complex concepts are illustrated with numerous examples and presented in terms that can readily be understood by physicians without an advanced mathematics background. The second part of the book discusses implementations and applications of digital imagining systems based on area and scanned detector technologies. This section includes thorough coverage of digital fluoroscopy, scanned projection radiography, and film-based digital imaging systems, and features a state-of-the-art synopsis of the applications of digital subtraction angiography. The book concludes with a timely assessment of anticipated technological advances

Experimental demonstration of a real-time high-throughput digital DC blocker for compensating ADC imperfections in optical fast-OFDM receivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lu; Ouyang, Xing; Shao, Xiaopeng; Zhao, Jian

2016-06-27

Performance degradation induced by the DC components at the output of real-time analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) is experimentally investigated for optical fast-OFDM receiver. To compensate this degradation, register transfer level (RTL) circuits for real-time digital DC blocker with 20GS/s throughput are proposed and implemented in field programmable gate array (FPGA). The performance of the proposed real-time digital DC blocker is experimentally investigated in a 15Gb/s optical fast-OFDM system with intensity modulation and direct detection over 40 km standard single-mode fibre. The results show that the fixed-point DC blocker has negligible performance penalty compared to the offline floating point one, and can overcome the error floor of the fast OFDM receiver caused by the DC components from the real-time ADC output.

FFUSION research programme 1993-1998. Final report of the Finnish fusion research programme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karttunen, S.; Heikkinen, J.; Korhonen, R. [VTT Energy, Espoo (Finland)] [and others

1998-12-31

This report summarizes the results of the Fusion Energy Research Programme, FFUSION, during the period 1993-1998. After the planning phase the programme started in 1994, and later in March 1995 the FFUSION Programme was integrated into the EU Fusion Programme and the Association Euratom-Tekes was established. Research areas in the FFUSION Programme are (1) fusion physics and plasma engineering, (2) fusion reactor materials and (3) remote handling systems. In all research areas industry is involved. Recently, a project on environmental aspects of fusion and other future energy systems started as a part of the socio-economic research (SERF) in the Euratom Fusion Programme. A crucial component of the FFUSION programme is the close collaboration between VTT Research Institutes, universities and Finnish industry. This collaboration has guaranteed dynamic and versatile research teams, which are large enough to tackle challenging research and development projects. Regarding industrial fusion R and D activities, the major step was the membership of Imatran Voima Oy in the EFET Consortium (European Fusion Engineering and Technology), which further strengthened the position of industry in the engineering design activities of ITER. The number of FFUSION research projects was 66. In addition, there were 32 industrial R and D projects. The total cost of the FFUSION Programme in 1993-1998 amounted to FIM 54 million in research at VTT and universities and an additional FIM 21 million for R and D in Finnish industry. The main part of the funding was provided by Tekes, 36%. Since 1995, yearly Euratom funding has exceeded 25%. The FFUSION research teams have played an active role in the European Programme, receiving excellent recognition from the European partners. Theoretical and computational fusion physics has been at a high scientific level and the group collaborates with the leading experimental laboratories in Europe. Fusion technology is focused on reactor materials, joining

FFUSION research programme 1993-1998. Final report of the Finnish fusion research programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karttunen, S.; Heikkinen, J.; Korhonen, R.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes the results of the Fusion Energy Research Programme, FFUSION, during the period 1993-1998. After the planning phase the programme started in 1994, and later in March 1995 the FFUSION Programme was integrated into the EU Fusion Programme and the Association Euratom-Tekes was established. Research areas in the FFUSION Programme are (1) fusion physics and plasma engineering, (2) fusion reactor materials and (3) remote handling systems. In all research areas industry is involved. Recently, a project on environmental aspects of fusion and other future energy systems started as a part of the socio-economic research (SERF) in the Euratom Fusion Programme. A crucial component of the FFUSION programme is the close collaboration between VTT Research Institutes, universities and Finnish industry. This collaboration has guaranteed dynamic and versatile research teams, which are large enough to tackle challenging research and development projects. Regarding industrial fusion R and D activities, the major step was the membership of Imatran Voima Oy in the EFET Consortium (European Fusion Engineering and Technology), which further strengthened the position of industry in the engineering design activities of ITER. The number of FFUSION research projects was 66. In addition, there were 32 industrial R and D projects. The total cost of the FFUSION Programme in 1993-1998 amounted to FIM 54 million in research at VTT and universities and an additional FIM 21 million for R and D in Finnish industry. The main part of the funding was provided by Tekes, 36%. Since 1995, yearly Euratom funding has exceeded 25%. The FFUSION research teams have played an active role in the European Programme, receiving excellent recognition from the European partners. Theoretical and computational fusion physics has been at a high scientific level and the group collaborates with the leading experimental laboratories in Europe. Fusion technology is focused on reactor materials, joining

LHCb: Radiation hard programmable delay line for LHCb Calorimeter Upgrade

CERN Multimedia

Mauricio Ferre, J; Vilasís Cardona, X; Picatoste Olloqui, E; Machefert, F; Lefrançois, J; Duarte, O

2013-01-01

This poster describes the implementation of a SPI-programmable clock delay chip based on a Delay Locked Loop (DLL) in order to shift the phase of the LHC clock (25 ns) in steps of 1ns, with a 4ps jitter and 18ps of DNL. The delay lines will be integrated into ICECAL, the LHCb calorimeter front-end ASIC in the near future. The stringent noise requirements on the ASIC imply minimizing the noise contribution of digital components. This is accomplished by implementing the DLL in differential mode. To achieve the required radiation tolerance several techniques are applied: double guard rings between PMOS and NMOS transistors as well as glitch suppressors and TMR Registers. This 5.7 mm2 chip has been implemented in CMOS 0.35um technology.

Screening for diabetic retinopathy in rural area using single-field, digital fundus images.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruamviboonsuk, Paisan; Wongcumchang, Nattapon; Surawongsin, Pattamaporn; Panyawatananukul, Ekchai; Tiensuwan, Montip

2005-02-01

To evaluate the practicability of using single-field, 2.3 million-pixel, digital fundus images for screening of diabetic retinopathy in rural areas. All diabetic patients who regularly attended the diabetic clinic at Kabcheang Community Hospital, located at 15 kilometers from the Thailand-Cambodia border, were appointed to the hospital for a 3-day diabetic retinopathy screening programme. The fundi of all patients were captured in single-field, 45 degrees, 2.3 million-pixel images using nonmydriatic digital fundus camera and then sent to a reading center in Bangkok. The fundi were also examined through dilated pupils by a retinal specialist at this hospital. The grading of diabetic retinopathy from two methods was compared for an exact agreement. The average duration of single digital fundus image capture was 2 minutes. The average file size of each image was 750 kilobytes. The average duration of single image transmission to a reading center in Bangkok via satellite was 3 minutes; via a conventional telephone line was 8 minutes. Of all 150 patients, 130 were assessed for an agreement between dilated fundus examination and digital fundus images in diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy. The exact agreement was 0.87, the weighted kappa statistics was 0.74. The sensitivity of digital fundus images in detecting diabetic retinopathy was 80%, the specificity was 96%. For diabetic macular edema the exact agreement was 0.97, the weighted kappa was 0.43, the sensitivity was 43%, and the specificity was 100%. The image capture of the nonmydriatic digital fundus camera is suitable for screening of diabetic retinopathy and single-field digital fundus images are potentially acceptable tools for the screening. The real-time image transmission via telephone lines to remote reading center, however, may not be practical for routine diabetic retinopathy screening in rural areas.

Developments of FPGA-based digital back-ends for low frequency antenna arrays at Medicina radio telescopes

Science.gov (United States)

Naldi, G.; Bartolini, M.; Mattana, A.; Pupillo, G.; Hickish, J.; Foster, G.; Bianchi, G.; Lingua, A.; Monari, J.; Montebugnoli, S.; Perini, F.; Rusticelli, S.; Schiaffino, M.; Virone, G.; Zarb Adami, K.

In radio astronomy Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology is largely used for the implementation of digital signal processing techniques applied to antenna arrays. This is mainly due to the good trade-off among computing resources, power consumption and cost offered by FPGA chip compared to other technologies like ASIC, GPU and CPU. In the last years several digital backend systems based on such devices have been developed at the Medicina radio astronomical station (INAF-IRA, Bologna, Italy). Instruments like FX correlator, direct imager, beamformer, multi-beam system have been successfully designed and realized on CASPER (Collaboration for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research, https://casper.berkeley.edu) processing boards. In this paper we present the gained experience in this kind of applications.

Teaching in English-medium programmes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Karen M.; Cozart, Stacey Marie

in such a way that they take into account their students’ diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and use them as a strength in the classroom; and they should be able to engage all students in joint learning activities so that both the Danish and the international students benefit from the programme......This contribution describes and discusses the module Teaching in English-medium programmes, an elective module offered as part of the teacher training programme for assistant professors (“adjunktpædagogikum”) at Aarhus University. In order to complete the whole programme, assistant professors must...... have at least one such elective module (http://upnet.au.dk/adjunktkursus/). Aarhus University offers the teacher training programme in Danish and in English for international faculty. Teaching in English-medium programmes is part of the Danish track, but taught through English. Building...

Postgraduate programme in tissue banking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yongyudh Vajaradul

1999-01-01

In 1992 in the Project Formulation Meeting of IAEA, the masters degree programme was proposed by Dr. Youngyudh Vajaradul, Thailand to upgrade the personnel of tissue bank and the person who had been working and involving in tissue banking. After The Bangkok Biomaterial Center proposed the degree programme and presented to Mahidol University, this programme was accepted by Ministry of University Affairs in 1998 and the masters degree programme under the name of 'Masters of Science in Biomaterial for Implantation' will be started in April 1999. IAEA will support the fellowship candidates from the region to study in masters degree programme. The programme includes 6 months of course work in Bangkok that is 12 credits and 24 is for the dissertation work which would be done in any country. The time of validity is 5 years

Digitization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Finnemann, Niels Ole

2014-01-01

what a concept of digital media might add to the understanding of processes of mediatization and what the concept of mediatization might add to the understanding of digital media. It is argued that digital media open an array of new trajectories in human communication, trajectories which were...

Training in remote monitoring technology. Digital camera module-14(DCM-14)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caskey, Susan

2006-01-01

The DCM-14 (Digital Camera Module) is the backbone of current IAEA remote monitoring surveillance systems. The control module is programmable with features for encryption, authentication, image compression and scene change detection. It can take periodic or triggered images under a variety of time sequences. This training session covered the DCM-14 features and related programming in DCMSET. It also described the processes for receiving, archiving and backing up the camera images using DCMPOLL and GEMINI software. Setting up a DCM-14 camera controller in the configuration of the remote monitoring system at Joyo formed an exercise. (author)

Impact of the digital divide on information literacy training in a higher education context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Segarani Naidoo

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on a master’s study undertaken to investigate the impact of the digital divide on information literacy(IL training of Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP students at the Durban University of Technology (DUT. Since1994 the demographics of higher education institutions in South Africa have changed. Today these institutions compriseheterogeneous groups of students, by race, economic background, digital background, etc. and consequently with differentlevels of literacy, information and otherwise. The problem that this study addressed was the impact of having both digitallyadvantaged and digitally disadvantaged students in the same information literacy classroom, expecting them to reachlearning outcomes without frustrating students from either group. The objective of the study was to investigate the impactof the digital divide on IL training of ECP students at the DUT and to recommend guidelines for teaching and learning of ILthat would accommodate both digitally advantaged and digitally disadvantaged students. The study employed a mixedmethod approach in its research design. Data was collected from ECP students (of 2010 by means of a questionnaire; aninterview schedule was used to collect data from Subject Librarians involved in teaching the IL module to ECP students; aseparate interview schedule was used to collect data from the ECP Coordinator. Qualitative and quantitative datacollected were prepared for analysis by means of content analysis and numerical coding, respectively and then subjectedto statistical analysis via SPSS, which produced percentage and frequency distributions to ascertain findings. The findingsof the study revealed that the digital divide does impact on IL training in ways such as: slowing down the progress of ILlessons; basic computer skills need to be taught in the IL classroom; and that digitally disadvantaged students find itdifficult to follow online lessons while advantaged students already have the

The New Digital Divide For Digital BioMarkers.

Science.gov (United States)

Torous, John; Rodriguez, Jorge; Powell, Adam

2017-09-01

As smartphone and sensors continue to become more ubiquitous across the world, digital biomarkers have emerged as a scalable and practical tool to explore disease states and advance health. But as the digital divide of access and ownership begins to fade, a new digital divide is emerging. Who are the types of people that own smartphones or smart watches, who are the types of people that download health apps or partake in digital biomarker studies, and who are the types of people that are actually active with digital biomarkers apps and sensors - the people providing the high quality and longitudinal data that this field is being founded upon? Understanding the people behind digital biomarkers, the very people this emerging field aims to help, may actually be the real challenge as well as opportunity for digital biomarkers.

The French energy programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bohnen, U.

1980-01-01

The challenge of the oil crisis made French energy policy react chiefly by means of a programme for the rapid expansion of nuclear energy which has become unparalleled because of its systematic realization. The following article gives a survey of this programme and its political preconditions. The French energy programme deserves special attention as the utilization of nuclear energy in France including all related activities has reached a more advanced stage than in most other countries. The effects and requirements connected with such an extensive programme which can therefore be investigated with the help of the French example migth be of importance also for other countries in a similar way. (orig./UA) [de

Optical programmable metamaterials

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Cheng; Zhang, Nan; Dai, Zijie; Liu, Weiwei

2018-02-01

We suggest and demonstrate the concept of optical programmable metamaterials which can configure the device's electromagnetic parameters by the programmable optical stimuli. In such metamaterials, the optical stimuli produced by a FPGA controlled light emitting diode array can switch or combine the resonance modes which are coupled in. As an example, an optical programmable metamaterial terahertz absorber is proposed. Each cell of the absorber integrates four meta-rings (asymmetric 1/4 rings) with photo-resistors connecting the critical gaps. The principle and design of the metamaterials are illustrated and the simulation results demonstrate the functionalities for programming the metamaterial absorber to change its bandwidth and resonance frequency.

Digitization errors using digital charge division positionsensitive detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berliner, R.; Mildner, D.F.R.; Pringle, O.A.

1981-01-01

The data acquisition speed and electronic stability of a charge division position-sensitive detector may be improved by using digital signal processing with a table look-up high speed multiply to form the charge division quotient. This digitization process introduces a positional quantization difficulty which reduces the detector position sensitivity. The degree of the digitization error is dependent on the pulse height spectrum of the detector and on the resolution or dynamic range of the system analog-to-digital converters. The effects have been investigated analytically and by computer simulation. The optimum algorithm for position sensing determination using 8-bit digitization and arithmetic has a digitization error of less than 1%. (orig.)

A simple method to estimate the episode and programme sensitivity of breast cancer screening programmes.

Science.gov (United States)

Zorzi, Manuel; Guzzinati, Stefano; Puliti, Donella; Paci, Eugenio

2010-01-01

The estimation of breast cancer screening sensitivity is a major aim in the quality assessment of screening programmes. The proportional incidence method for the estimation of the sensitivity of breast cancer screening programmes is rarely used to estimate the underlying incidence rates. We present a method to estimate episode and programme sensitivity of screening programmes, based solely on cancers detected within screening cycles (excluding breast cancer cases at prevalent screening round) and on the number of incident cases in the total target population (steady state). The assumptions, strengths and limitations of the method are discussed. An example of calculation of episode and programme sensitivities is given, on the basis of the data from the IMPACT study, a large observational study of breast cancer screening programmes in Italy. The programme sensitivity from the fifth year of screening onwards ranged between 41% and 48% of the total number of cases in the target population. At steady state episode sensitivity was 0.70, with a trend across age groups, with lowest values in women aged 50-54 years (0.52) and highest in those 65-69 (0.77). The method is a very serviceable tool for estimating sensitivity in service screening programmes, and the results are comparable with those of other methods of estimation.

Dermoscopy, Digital Dermoscopy and Other Diagnostic Tools in the Early Detection of Melanoma and Follow-up of High-risk Skin Cancer Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Luc; Puig, Susana

2017-07-05

Early detection is a key strategy for reducing the mortality and economic burden associated with melanoma. Dermoscopy is a non-invasive and cost-effective tool for melanoma diagnosis, which has been shown to be a reliable and sensitive method for detecting early-stage skin cancer and reducing the number of unnecessary excisions. Patients at high risk of developing melanoma require long-term surveillance. Use of digital dermoscopy follow-up of these patients has led to improved outcomes. Combined follow-up programmes using total-body photography and digital dermoscopy have led to further improvements in early diagnosis and diagnostic accuracy. Dermoscopy is now widely used by dermatologists, but the public health impact of this tool is yet to be evaluated. Despite the clear advantages of dermoscopy and digital follow-up meth-ods, dermoscopy training and access to digital dermoscopy among dermatologists and general practitioners needs to be improved.

Efficient Phase Unwrapping Architecture for Digital Holographic Microscopy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Jyi Hwang

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel phase unwrapping architecture for accelerating the computational speed of digital holographic microscopy (DHM. A fast Fourier transform (FFT based phase unwrapping algorithm providing a minimum squared error solution is adopted for hardware implementation because of its simplicity and robustness to noise. The proposed architecture is realized in a pipeline fashion to maximize through put of thecomputation. Moreover, the number of hardware multipliers and dividers are minimized to reduce the hardware costs. The proposed architecture is used as a custom user logic in a system on programmable chip (SOPC for physical performance measurement. Experimental results reveal that the proposed architecture is effective for expediting the computational speed while consuming low hardware resources for designing an embedded DHM system.

Research on Digital Product Modeling Key Technologies of Digital Manufacturing

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

DING Guoping; ZHOU Zude; HU Yefa; ZHAO Liang

2006-01-01

With the globalization and diversification of the market and the rapid development of Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the digital revolution of manufacturing is coming. One of the key technologies in digital manufacturing is product digital modeling. This paper firstly analyzes the information and features of the product digital model during each stage in the product whole lifecycle, then researches on the three critical technologies of digital modeling in digital manufacturing-product modeling, standard for the exchange of product model data and digital product data management. And the potential signification of the product digital model during the process of digital manufacturing is concluded-product digital model integrates primary features of each stage during the product whole lifecycle based on graphic features, applies STEP as data exchange mechanism, and establishes PDM system to manage the large amount, complicated and dynamic product data to implement the product digital model data exchange, sharing and integration.

Programmable pH buffers

Science.gov (United States)

Gough, Dara Van; Huber, Dale L.; Bunker, Bruce C.; Roberts, Mark E.

2017-01-24

A programmable pH buffer comprises a copolymer that changes pK.sub.a at a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) in water. The copolymer comprises a thermally programmable polymer that undergoes a hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic phase change at the LCST and an electrolytic polymer that exhibits acid-base properties that are responsive to the phase change. The programmable pH buffer can be used to sequester CO.sub.2 into water.

Your fate is in your hands? Handedness, digit ratio (2D:4D), and selection to a national talent development system.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Joseph; Kungl, Ann-Marie; Pabst, Jan; Strauß, Bernd; Büsch, Dirk; Schorer, Jörg

2013-01-01

Over the past decade a small evidence base has highlighted the potential importance of seemingly innocuous variables related to one's hands, such as hand dominance and the relative length of the second and fourth digits (2D:4D ratio), to success in sport. This study compared 2D:4D digit ratio and handedness among handball players selected to advance in a national talent development system with those not selected. Participants included 480 youth handball players (240 females and 240 males) being considered as part of the talent selection programme for the German Youth National team. Hand dominance and digit ratio were compared to age-matched control data using standard t-tests. There was a greater proportion of left-handers compared to the normal population in males but not in females. There was also a lower digit ratio in both females and males. However, there were no differences between those selected for the next stage of talent development and those not selected on either handedness or digit ratio. These results add support for general effects for both digit ratio and handedness in elite handball; however, these factors seem inadequate to explain talent selection decisions at this level.

Digital Pulser for Characterization and Diagnostic of Digital Spectrometers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jordanov, V.T.

2013-01-01

The concept and the realization of the digital pulser are presented. The digital pulser is implemented as a functional block of a digital spectrometer. The digital pulser provides noise free and distortion free measurement of the inherent electronic noise of the entire spectroscopy system. The digital pulser is introduced at the end of the signal processing chain and allows separate evaluation of the individual spectroscopy blocks. It offers the ability to characterize and diagnose problems of the digital pulse height analysers by grounding their inputs. The digital pulser does not interfere with the processing of the detector signals and does not contribute to the dead time and the pulse pile-up of the system. The digital pulser peaks are not affected by the presence of detector pulses and are stored in a separate histogram memory leaving the detector spectrum undistorted. (author)

Digital Ethics/Going Digital.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Bradley

1996-01-01

Finds that the recent National Press Photographers Association code of ethics can serve as a model for any photography staff. Discusses how digital imaging is becoming commonplace in classrooms, due to decreasing costs and easier software. Explains digital terminology. Concludes that time saved in the darkroom and at the printer is now spent on…

Digitalizing upgrade of the power supplies for the extraction septum magnets in HIRFL-CSR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Jiang; Zhang Huajian; Wu Fengjun; Yuan Zhendong; Chen Youxin; Huang Yuzhen; Gao Daqing

2014-01-01

This paper introduces the working principle of the power supplies for the septum magnets in HIRFL-CSR and presents a feasible scheme of digitalizing these power supplies. The scheme employed the SOPC (system-on-a-programmable-chip) technology based on FPGA, the software framework of NIOSII and the polycyclic adjustment algorithm realized by the hardware description language. Then, several key problems that could be encountered in realizing the power supply control algorithm on FPGA were discussed. After the power supplies were upgraded, the beam of HIRFL-CSR was extracted more reliably and the stability of beam spot position at the experimental terminals has been obviously improved. This work would provide a valuable reference for the engineers of digitalizing other magnetic power supplies in HIRFL-CSR and of developing magnetic power supplies for heavy ion cancer therapy. (authors)

Can We Teach Digital Natives Digital Literacy?

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Wan

2012-01-01

In recent years, there has been much debate about the concept of digital natives, in particular the differences between the digital natives' knowledge and adoption of digital technologies in informal versus formal educational contexts. This paper investigates the knowledge about educational technologies of a group of undergraduate students…

The French nuclear programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bacher, Pierre

1987-01-01

France has a civil nuclear power generation programme second only to the USA with 49 nuclear units in operation and 13 under construction. The units in service are described. These include 33 PWR 900 MW and 9 PWR 1300 MW units. The electricity consumption and generation in France is illustrated. The absence of a powerful anti-nuclear lobby and two main technical options have contributed to the success of the French nuclear programme. These are the PWR design and the plant standardization policy which allows the setting up of an effective industrial complex (eg for analysis of operating conditions and of safety and reliability information). The programme and the reasons for its success are reviewed. Research programmes and future plans are also discussed. (UK)

Policy programmes only for a few? Participation in labour market programmes among Swedish disabled workers

OpenAIRE

Melkersson, Maria

1999-01-01

In a large sample of Swedish unemployed disabled workers, the workers participate in between zero and ten policy programmes during their unemployment spell. Clustering of programmes to about half of the sample is prominent. The number of programmes is modelled as a standard count data model, as a zero-inflated model and as a hurdle model. The most important question is whether disadvantaged workers are more or less probable to participate in programmes. The empirical analysis shows that part...

A digital receiver module with direct data acquisition for magnetic resonance imaging systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Weinan; Sun, Hongyu; Wang, Weimin

2012-10-01

A digital receiver module for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with detailed hardware implementations is presented. The module is based on a direct sampling scheme using the latest mixed-signal circuit design techniques. A single field-programmable gate array chip is employed to perform software-based digital down conversion for radio frequency signals. The modular architecture of the receiver allows multiple acquisition channels to be implemented on a highly integrated printed circuit board. To maintain the phase coherence of the receiver and the exciter in the context of direct sampling, an effective phase synchronization method was proposed to achieve a phase deviation as small as 0.09°. The performance of the described receiver module was verified in the experiments for both low- and high-field (0.5 T and 1.5 T) MRI scanners and was compared to a modern commercial MRI receiver system.

Introducing new diagnostics into STI control programmes: the importance of programme science.

Science.gov (United States)

Peeling, Rosanna W; Mabey, David; Ballard, Ronald C

2013-03-01

Many innovative diagnostic technologies will become commercially available over the next 5-10 years. These tests can potentially transform the diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections but their introduction into control programmes can be hampered by health system constraints, and political, cultural, socioeconomic and behavioural factors. We used the introduction of syphilis rapid tests to illustrate the importance of programme science to address the gap between accruing evidence of acceptable test performance and the complexity of programme design, implementation and evaluation of test deployment to address public health needs and improve patient-important outcomes.

Finnish energy technology programmes 1998

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-12-01

The Finnish Technology Development Centre (Tekes) is responsible for the financing of research and development in the field of energy production technology. A considerable part of the financing goes to technology programmes. Each technology programme involves major Finnish institutions - companies, research institutes, universities and other relevant interests. Many of the energy technology programmes running in 1998 were launched collectively in 1993 and will be completed at the end of 1998. They are complemented by a number of other energy-related technology programmes, each with a timetable of its own. Because energy production technology is horizontal by nature, it is closely connected with research and development in other fields, too, and is an important aspect in several other Tekes technology programmes. For this reason this brochure also presents technology programmes where energy is only one of the aspects considered but which nevertheless contribute considerably to research and development in the energy production sector

Fusion technology programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finken, D.

1985-10-01

KfK is involved in the European Fusion Programme predominantly in the NET and Fusion Technology part. The following fields of activity are covered: Studies for NET, alternative confinement concepts, and needs and issues of integral testing. Research on structural materials. Development of superconducting magnets. Gyrotron development (part of the Physics Programme). Nuclear technology (breeding materials, blanket design, tritium technology, safety and environmental aspects of fusion, remote maintenance). Reported here are status and results of work under contracts with the CEC within the NET and Technology Programme. The aim of the major part of this R and D work is the support of NET, some areas (e.g. materials, safety and environmental impact, blanket design) have a wider scope and address problems of a demonstration reactor. In the current working period, several new proposals have been elaborated to be implemented into the 85/89 Euratom Fusion Programme. New KfK contributions relate to materials research (dual beam and fast reactor irradiations, ferritic steels), to blanket engineering (MHD-effects) and to safety studies (e.g. magnet safety). (orig./GG)

A novel digital pulse processing architecture for nuclear instrumentation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moline, Yoann; Thevenin, Mathieu; Corre, Gwenole [CEA, LIST - Laboratoire Capteurs et Architectures electroniques, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, (France); Paindavoine, Michel [CNRS, Universite de Bourgogne - Laboratoire d' Etude de l' Apprentissage et du Developpement, 21000 DIJON, (France)

2015-07-01

The field of nuclear instrumentation covers a wide range of applications, including counting, spectrometry, pulse shape discrimination and multi-channel coincidence. These applications are the topic of many researches, new algorithms and implementations are constantly proposed thanks to advances in digital signal processing. However, these improvements are not yet implemented in instrumentation devices. This is especially true for neutron-gamma discrimination applications which traditionally use charge comparison method while literature proposes other algorithms based on frequency domain or wavelet theory which show better performances. Another example is pileups which are generally rejected while pileup correction algorithms also exist. These processes are traditionally performed offline due to two issues. The first is the Poissonian characteristic of the signal, composed of random arrival pulses which requires to current architectures to work in data flow. The second is the real-time requirement, which implies losing pulses when the pulse rate is too high. Despite the possibility of treating the pulses independently from each other, current architectures paralyze the acquisition of the signal during the processing of a pulse. This loss is called dead-time. These two issues have led current architectures to use dedicated solutions based on re-configurable components like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to overcome the need of performance necessary to deal with dead-time. However, dedicated hardware algorithm implementations on re-configurable technologies are complex and time-consuming. For all these reasons, a programmable Digital pulse Processing (DPP) architecture in a high level language such as Cor C++ which can reduce dead-time would be worthwhile for nuclear instrumentation. This would reduce prototyping and test duration by reducing the level of hardware expertise to implement new algorithms. However, today's programmable solutions do not meet

A novel digital pulse processing architecture for nuclear instrumentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moline, Yoann; Thevenin, Mathieu; Corre, Gwenole; Paindavoine, Michel

2015-01-01

The field of nuclear instrumentation covers a wide range of applications, including counting, spectrometry, pulse shape discrimination and multi-channel coincidence. These applications are the topic of many researches, new algorithms and implementations are constantly proposed thanks to advances in digital signal processing. However, these improvements are not yet implemented in instrumentation devices. This is especially true for neutron-gamma discrimination applications which traditionally use charge comparison method while literature proposes other algorithms based on frequency domain or wavelet theory which show better performances. Another example is pileups which are generally rejected while pileup correction algorithms also exist. These processes are traditionally performed offline due to two issues. The first is the Poissonian characteristic of the signal, composed of random arrival pulses which requires to current architectures to work in data flow. The second is the real-time requirement, which implies losing pulses when the pulse rate is too high. Despite the possibility of treating the pulses independently from each other, current architectures paralyze the acquisition of the signal during the processing of a pulse. This loss is called dead-time. These two issues have led current architectures to use dedicated solutions based on re-configurable components like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to overcome the need of performance necessary to deal with dead-time. However, dedicated hardware algorithm implementations on re-configurable technologies are complex and time-consuming. For all these reasons, a programmable Digital pulse Processing (DPP) architecture in a high level language such as Cor C++ which can reduce dead-time would be worthwhile for nuclear instrumentation. This would reduce prototyping and test duration by reducing the level of hardware expertise to implement new algorithms. However, today's programmable solutions do not meet

Mixed-signal early vision chip with embedded image and programming memories and digital I/O

Science.gov (United States)

Linan-Cembrano, Gustavo; Rodriguez-Vazquez, Angel; Dominguez-Castro, Rafael; Espejo, Servando

2003-04-01

From a system level perspective, this paper presents a 128x128 flexible and reconfigurable Focal-Plane Analog Programmable Array Processor, which has been designed as a single chip in a 0.35μm standard digital 1P-5M CMOS technology. The core processing array has been designed to achieve high-speed of operation and large-enough accuracy (~7bit) with low power consumption. The chip includes on-chip program memory to allow for the execution of complex, sequential and/or bifurcation flow image processing algorithms. It also includes the structures and circuits needed to guarantee its embedding into conventional digital hosting systems: external data interchange and control are completely digital. The chip contains close to four million transistors, 90% of them working in analog mode. The chip features up to 330GOPs (Giga Operations per second), and uses the power supply (180GOP/Joule) and the silicon area (3.8 GOPS/mm2) efficiently, as it is able to maintain VGA processing throughputs of 100Frames/s with about 15 basic image processing tasks on each frame.

FPGAs Emulate Microprocessors-A Successful Case for HFC NPP Digital I and C Upgrade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsu, Allen; Crow, Ivan; Reese, Carl; Kim, Jong; Yang, Steve

2014-01-01

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), as programmable logic devices (PLDs) have gained a great deal of interests for implementing safety I and C applications in nuclear power plants (NPPs) largely owing to the FPGAs'potential advantage over the currently more common microprocessor-based digital I and C applications. First of all, FPGAs have adequate capabilities for most digital I and C applications in NPPs. Secondly, FPGAs provide products with longer lifetime, improve testability, and reduce the drift which occurs in analog-based systems, from hardware perspective. Thirdly, FPGAs, from software perspective, can be made simpler, less reliant on complex software such as operating systems, which should make FPGAs easier to qualify for nuclear safety applications. Fourthly, FPGAs are less vulnerable to cyber attacks when FPGAs implement the I and C systems that do not contain high-level, general purpose software that may be easily subjected to malicious modifications. Finally, FPGAs can bring cost reduction in an I and C digital upgrade because FPGAs can provide simpler licensing process than microprocessor-based digital I and C, and FPGAs can be implemented more efficiently. This paper will present one successful case for YGN Unit I and C upgrade using FPGA-based components to replace the obsolete Intel 8085 Microprocessor-based controllers. In this case, FPGAs emulated the process of the existing microprocessors and interpreted the execution of CPU processing. More than 160 of the FPGA-based SBC-01 controllers replacing the Intel 8085 Microprocessor-based Printed Circuit Boards have been installed and running successfully for safety I and C applications over the last five years. In this upgrade, the new FPGA-based controller board SBC-01 emulated the functions of Intel 8085 microprocessor correctly. It is a successful and cost-effective upgrade.vIn this paper, lifecycle design and implementation process and rigorous V and V activities that were used in the

FPGAs Emulate Microprocessors-A Successful Case for HFC NPP Digital I and C Upgrade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hsu, Allen; Crow, Ivan; Reese, Carl; Kim, Jong; Yang, Steve [Doosan HF Controls Corp, Carrollton (United States)

2014-08-15

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), as programmable logic devices (PLDs) have gained a great deal of interests for implementing safety I and C applications in nuclear power plants (NPPs) largely owing to the FPGAs'potential advantage over the currently more common microprocessor-based digital I and C applications. First of all, FPGAs have adequate capabilities for most digital I and C applications in NPPs. Secondly, FPGAs provide products with longer lifetime, improve testability, and reduce the drift which occurs in analog-based systems, from hardware perspective. Thirdly, FPGAs, from software perspective, can be made simpler, less reliant on complex software such as operating systems, which should make FPGAs easier to qualify for nuclear safety applications. Fourthly, FPGAs are less vulnerable to cyber attacks when FPGAs implement the I and C systems that do not contain high-level, general purpose software that may be easily subjected to malicious modifications. Finally, FPGAs can bring cost reduction in an I and C digital upgrade because FPGAs can provide simpler licensing process than microprocessor-based digital I and C, and FPGAs can be implemented more efficiently. This paper will present one successful case for YGN Unit I and C upgrade using FPGA-based components to replace the obsolete Intel 8085 Microprocessor-based controllers. In this case, FPGAs emulated the process of the existing microprocessors and interpreted the execution of CPU processing. More than 160 of the FPGA-based SBC-01 controllers replacing the Intel 8085 Microprocessor-based Printed Circuit Boards have been installed and running successfully for safety I and C applications over the last five years. In this upgrade, the new FPGA-based controller board SBC-01 emulated the functions of Intel 8085 microprocessor correctly. It is a successful and cost-effective upgrade.vIn this paper, lifecycle design and implementation process and rigorous V and V activities that were used in the

STREAMS - Technology Programme. Yearbook 2003

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-01-01

The STREAMS Technology Programme addresses municipal waste. Municipal waste is composed of waste from households and small businesses. The programme focuses on five areas Waste prevention, Collection, transportation, and management of waste streams, Waste treatment technologies, Waste recycling into raw materials and new products, Landfill technologies. The development projects of the STREAMS Programme utilize a number of different technologies, such as biotechnology, information technology, materials technology, measurement and analysis, and automation technology. Finnish expertise in materials recycling technologies and related electronics and information technology is extremely high on a worldwide scale even though the companies represent SMEs. Started in 2001, the STREAMS programme has a total volume of 27 million euros, half of which is funded by Tekes. The programme runs through the end of 2004. (author)

A theory evaluation of an induction programme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenrick Hendricks

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Orientation: An induction programme is commonly used to help new employees understand their job within the organisation. Research purpose: The main aim of this study was to examine whether or not the programme theory of an induction programme was plausible and would lead to the intended outcomes as described by the programme manager. Motivation for the study: Induction training is one of the most common training programmes in an organisation. However, there is little research to evaluate whether or not the activities of an induction programme will lead to the intended outcomes of such a programme. Research design, approach and method: This theory evaluation used a descriptive design. One hundred and thirteen employees of a media company completed a ten-item, five-point Likert scale which measured their perceptions of the programme’s outcome, identification with the organisation and intentions to stay with the organisation. Main findings: From this theory evaluation it was apparent that an induction programme based on an implausible programme theory could be problematic. An implausible programme theory affects the design of the programme activities and unsuitable activities may not deliver the desired outcomes. Practical/managerial implications: The intention of the evaluation is to guide human resource managers through a process of replacing an implausible programme theory with one that is plausible, and which ensures better alignment of programme activities and outcomes. Contribution/value-add: The evaluators showed how a plausible programme theory could improve programme design. This redesigned induction programme may lead to benefits, such as staff retention and company identification, rather than the vague assumption that it has been conforming to a legal obligation.

Multinational design evaluation programme - 2009 annual report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-06-01

conference in 2009 to communicate its work with various stakeholders. The MDEP also issues press releases that cover the programme's major events and milestones. However, individual regulators retain sole responsibility for communication on specific new reactor issues. In accordance with the terms of reference, the MDEP carries out its work through design-specific and issue-specific working groups. Working groups for each new reactor design will share information and co-operate on specific reactor design evaluations and construction. Participants in these working groups will include countries actively reviewing, preparing to review or constructing the specific reactor design. Design-specific working groups will be formed when three or more countries express an interest in working together. - EPR working group: established to conduct the activities previously carried out by the US, Finland and France to share information on the EPR safety review. Additional included members were the UK, India and the People's Republic of China. - AP1000 working group: established to share information on the AP1000 safety review. Current members are the US, Canada, the UK and the People's Republic of China. Working groups have been established for selected technical and regulatory process areas within the MDEP's Programme of work. These currently include: - Vendor Inspection Co-operation Working Group (VICWG); Codes and Standards Working Group (CSWG); Digital Instrumentation and Controls Working Group (DICWG)

arXiv A Programmable Delay Design for the sTGC Detector at the Upgraded New Small Wheel of the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer

CERN Document Server

INSPIRE-00225390; Guan, Liang; Chapman, John W; Zhou, Bing; Zhu, Junjie

2017-11-01

We present a programmable time alignment scheme used in an ASIC for the ATLAS forward muon trigger development. The scheme utilizes regenerated clocks with programmable phases to compensate for the timing offsets introduced by different detector trace lengths. Each ASIC used in the design has 104 input channels with delay compensation circuitry providing steps of ∼ 3 ns and a full range of 25 ns for each channel. Detailed implementation of the scheme including majority logic to suppress single-event effects is presented. The scheme is flexible and fully synthesizable. The approach is adaptable to other applications with similar phase shifting requirements. In addition, the design is resource efficient and is suitable for cost-effective digital implementation with a large number of channels.

Making Distance Visible: Assembling Nearness in an Online Distance Learning Programme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jen Ross

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Online distance learners are in a particularly complex relationship with the educational institutions they belong to (Bayne, Gallagher, & Lamb, 2012. For part-time distance students, arrivals and departures can be multiple and invisible as students take courses, take breaks, move into independent study phases of a programme, find work or family commitments overtaking their study time, experience personal upheaval or loss, and find alignments between their professional and academic work. These comings and goings indicate a fluid and temporary assemblage of engagement, not a permanent or stable state of either “presence” or “distance”. This paper draws from interview data from the “New Geographies of Learning” project, a research project exploring the notions of space and institution for the MSc in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh, and from literature on distance learning and online community. The concept of nearness emerged from the data analyzing the comings and goings of students on a fully online programme. It proposes that “nearness” to a distance programme is a temporary assemblage of people, circumstances, and technologies. This state is difficult to establish and impossible to sustain in an uninterrupted way over the long period of time that many are engaged in part-time study. Interruptions and subsequent returns should therefore be seen as normal in the practice of studying as an online distance learner, and teachers and institutions should work to help students develop resilience in negotiating various states of nearness. Four strategies for increasing this resilience are proposed: recognising nearness as effortful; identifying affinities; valuing perspective shifts; and designing openings.

Digitization and digital archiving a practical guide for librarians

CERN Document Server

Leggett, Elizabeth R

2014-01-01

Modern library patrons are embracing the ease with which information can be accessed digitally, and so many librarians are currently working toward making information available electronically. Digitization and Digital Archiving: A Practical Guide for Librarians is a comprehensive guide with step-by-step instructions for forming digital archives.

Digital disruption ?syndromes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, Clair; Staib, Andrew

2017-05-18

The digital transformation of hospitals in Australia is occurring rapidly in order to facilitate innovation and improve efficiency. Rapid transformation can cause temporary disruption of hospital workflows and staff as processes are adapted to the new digital workflows. The aim of this paper is to outline various types of digital disruption and some strategies for effective management. A large tertiary university hospital recently underwent a rapid, successful roll-out of an integrated electronic medical record (EMR). We observed this transformation and propose several digital disruption "syndromes" to assist with understanding and management during digital transformation: digital deceleration, digital transparency, digital hypervigilance, data discordance, digital churn and post-digital 'depression'. These 'syndromes' are defined and discussed in detail. Successful management of this temporary digital disruption is important to ensure a successful transition to a digital platform. What is known about this topic? Digital disruption is defined as the changes facilitated by digital technologies that occur at a pace and magnitude that disrupt established ways of value creation, social interactions, doing business and more generally our thinking. Increasing numbers of Australian hospitals are implementing digital solutions to replace traditional paper-based systems for patient care in order to create opportunities for improved care and efficiencies. Such large scale change has the potential to create transient disruption to workflows and staff. Managing this temporary disruption effectively is an important factor in the successful implementation of an EMR. What does this paper add? A large tertiary university hospital recently underwent a successful rapid roll-out of an integrated electronic medical record (EMR) to become Australia's largest digital hospital over a 3-week period. We observed and assisted with the management of several cultural, behavioural and

Digital Natives and Digital Divide: Analysing Perspective for Emerging Pedagogy

Science.gov (United States)

Onye, Uriel U.; Du, Yunfei

2016-01-01

This paper addresses the concepts of digital natives and digital divide from the perspective of the digital outsiders (part of digital natives). It takes a critical look at the implications of available ICT in both developed and underdeveloped countries in the fight against digital divide. The major contribution to literature is by drawing…

Digital subtraktion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mussmann, Bo Redder

2004-01-01

Digital subtraktion er en metode til at fjerne uønskede oplysninger i et røntgenbillede. Subtraktionsteknikken bruges primært i forbindelse med angiografi hvor man kun er interesseret i at se selve karret. Derfor er digital subtraktion i daglig tale synonymt med DSA eller DVI – hhv. Digital...... Subtraction Angiography eller Digital Vascular Imaging. Benævnelserne er to røntgenfirmaers navn for den samme teknik. Digital subtraktion kræver speciel software, samt at apparaturet kan eksponere i serier....

Finnish Research Programme on Nuclear Waste Management (KYT). Framework Programme for 2002-2005

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasilainen, K.

2002-12-01

The new Finnish research programme on nuclear waste management (KYT) will be conducted in 2002 - 2005. This framework programme describes the starting point, the basic aims and the organisation of the research programme. The starting point of the KYT programme is derived from the present state and future challenges of Finnish nuclear waste management. The research programme is funded mainly by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (KTM), the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Posiva Oy, Fortum Oyj, Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO), and the National Technology Agency (Tekes). As both regulators and implementors are involved, the research programme concentrates on neutral research topics that must be studied in any case. Methods and tools for experimental and theoretical studies fall in this category. State of the art -reviews on relevant topics also create national know-how. Topics that directly belong to licensing activities of nuclear waste management are excluded from the research programme. KYT carries out technical studies that increase national know-how in the area of nuclear waste management. The aim is to maintain and develop basic expertise needed in the operations derived from the national nuclear waste management plan. The studies have been divided into strategic studies and studies enhancing the long-term safety of spent nuclear fuel disposal. Strategic studies support the overall feasibility of Finnish nuclear waste management. These studies include basic options and overall safety principles related to nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear waste management. In addition, general cost estimates as well as general safety considerations related to transportations, low- and medium level wastes, and decommissioning are included in strategic studies. Studies supporting the long-term safety of spent fuel disposal include issues related to performance assessment methodology, release of radionuclides from the repository, behaviour of bedrock and groundwater

Operation and performance of a longitudinal feedback system using digital signal processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teytelman, D.; Fox, J.; Hindi, H.

1994-01-01

A programmable longitudinal feedback system using a parallel array of AT ampersand T 1610 digital signal processors has been developed as a component of the PEP-II R ampersand D program. This system has been installed at the Advanced Light Source (LBL) and implements full speed bunch by bunch signal processing for storage rings with bunch spacing of 4ns. Open and closed loop results showing the action of the feedback system are presented, and the system is shown to damp coupled-bunch instabilities in the ALS. A unified PC-based software environment for the feedback system operation is also described

Parallel processing method for high-speed real time digital pulse processing for gamma-ray spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandes, A.M.; Pereira, R.C.; Sousa, J.; Neto, A.; Carvalho, P.; Batista, A.J.N.; Carvalho, B.B.; Varandas, C.A.F.; Tardocchi, M.; Gorini, G.

2010-01-01

A new data acquisition (DAQ) system was developed to fulfil the requirements of the gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) JET-EP2 (joint European Torus enhancement project 2), providing high-resolution spectroscopy at very high-count rate (up to few MHz). The system is based on the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture TM (ATCA TM ) and includes a transient record (TR) module with 8 channels of 14 bits resolution at 400 MSamples/s (MSPS) sampling rate, 4 GB of local memory, and 2 field programmable gate array (FPGA) able to perform real time algorithms for data reduction and digital pulse processing. Although at 400 MSPS only fast programmable devices such as FPGAs can be used either for data processing and data transfer, FPGA resources also present speed limitation at some specific tasks, leading to an unavoidable data lost when demanding algorithms are applied. To overcome this problem and foreseeing an increase of the algorithm complexity, a new digital parallel filter was developed, aiming to perform real time pulse processing in the FPGAs of the TR module at the presented sampling rate. The filter is based on the conventional digital time-invariant trapezoidal shaper operating with parallelized data while performing pulse height analysis (PHA) and pile up rejection (PUR). The incoming sampled data is successively parallelized and fed into the processing algorithm block at one fourth of the sampling rate. The following data processing and data transfer is also performed at one fourth of the sampling rate. The algorithm based on data parallelization technique was implemented and tested at JET facilities, where a spectrum was obtained. Attending to the observed results, the PHA algorithm will be improved by implementing the pulse pile up discrimination.

The ACIGA data analysis programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, Susan M; Searle, Antony C; Cusack, Benedict J; McClelland, David E

2004-01-01

The data analysis programme of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA) was set up in 1998 by Scott to complement the then existing ACIGA programmes working on suspension systems, lasers and optics and detector configurations. The ACIGA data analysis programme continues to contribute significantly in the field; we present an overview of our activities

Digital Citizenship Means Character Education for the Digital Age

Science.gov (United States)

Ohler, Jason

2012-01-01

The reality of students' cyber lives has thrust upon educators a new approach: creating character education programs tuned to digital youth that are proactive and aggressive. This will help integrate students' digital activities within the context of the communities in which they live, both local and digital. The digital age beckons a new era of…

HIGH RESOLUTION ANALOG / DIGITAL POWER SUPPLY CONTROLLER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Medvedko, Evgeny A

2003-01-01

Corrector magnets for the SPEAR-3 synchrotron radiation source require precision, high-speed control for use with beam-based orbit feedback. A new Controller Analog/Digital Interface card (CANDI) has been developed for these purposes. The CANDI has a 24-bit DAC for current control and three 24-bit Δ-Σ ADCs to monitor current and voltages. The ADCs can be read and the DAC updated at the 4 kHz rate needed for feedback control. A precision 16-bit DAC provides on-board calibration. Programmable multiplexers control internal signal routing for calibration, testing, and measurement. Feedback can be closed internally on current setpoint, externally on supply current, or beam position. Prototype and production tests are reported in this paper. Noise is better than 17 effective bits in a 10 mHz to 2 kHz bandwidth. Linearity and temperature stability are excellent

Digital Insights

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Gry Høngsmark

, by incorporating media as both channel, frame, and apparatus for advertising response, the dissertation brings into attention that more aspects than the text-reader relationship influence ad response. Finally, the dissertation proposes the assemblage approach for exploring big data in consumer culture research...... and practices with digital media, when they meet and interpret advertising. Through studies of advertising response on YouTube and experiments with consumers’ response to digitally manipulated images, the dissertation shows how digital media practices facilitate polysemic and socially embedded advertising......This dissertation forwards the theory of digital consumer-response as a perspective to examine how digital media practices influence consumers’ response to advertising. Digital consumer-response is a development of advertising theory that encompasses how consumers employ their knowledge...

Digital information culture the individual and society in the digital age

CERN Document Server

Tredinnick, Luke

2008-01-01

Digital Information Culture is an introduction to the cultural, social and political impact of digital information and digital resources. The book is organised around themes, rather than theories and is arranged into three sections: culture, society and the individual. Each explores key elements of the social, cultural and political impact of digital information. The culture section outlines the origins of cyber culture in fifties pulp-fiction through to the modern day. It explores the issues of information overload, the threat of a digital dark age, and the criminal underbelly of digital culture. Section two, society, explores the economic and social impact of digital information, outlining key theories of the Information Age. Section three explores the impact of digital information and digital resources on the individual, exploring the changing nature of identity in a digital world. Written by a leading author in the field Focuses on digital information and its social, cultural and political impact is uniqu...

Enlargement of the External Mobility Programme

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2008-01-01

The External Mobility Programme was launched at the end of September 2007. Initially, the programme was aimed at staff members on limited-duration contracts, having received formal notification of the termination of their employment contract at CERN, to help them towards their next employment. The programme provides a privileged, fast-track entry into the recruitment process of partner companies. Despite the short time since its inception, the programme has already delivered some encouraging and concrete results in terms of interviews granted to participating staff. The Programme has raised considerable interest from both CERN personnel as well as from several major European companies. CERN Management has decided to broaden the scope of the External Mobility Programme. The Programme is now open to: All staff members whose limited duration contract will end in less than one year, as well as all those with indefinite contracts. All fellows who have been employed by CERN fo...

Enlargement of the External Mobility Programme

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2008-01-01

The External Mobility Programme was launched at the end of September 2007. Initially, the programme was aimed at staff members on limited-duration contracts having received formal notification of the termination of their employment contract at CERN, to help them towards their next employment. The programme provides a privileged, fast-track entry into the recruitment process of partner companies. Despite the short time since its inception, the programme has already delivered some encouraging and concrete results in terms of interviews granted to participating staff. The Programme has attracted considerable interest from both CERN personnel as well as from several major European companies. The CERN Management has decided to broaden the scope of the External Mobility Programme. The Programme is now open to: All staff members whose limited duration contract will end in less than one year, as well as all those with indefinite contracts. All fellows who have been employed by CE...

The European Framework Programme under way

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

The new European Framework Programme - FP7 - has recently started and will offer various possibilities for CERN to participate in EU co-funded projects for research and technological development. In December 2006, the Council of the European Union (EU) formally adopted the 7th European Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration activities (FP7). FP7 started on 1 January 2007 and will cover the period 2007 to 2013. With a total budget of 50.5 B-Euros, FP7 is the largest Framework Programme in the history of the EU. FP7 consists of four major sub-programmes, referred to as 'Specific Programmes'. 'Cooperation' is focused on collaborative research and is divided into 10 research themes. 'Ideas' is a new EU programme for funding of frontier research in all fields of science. 'Capacities' aims at strengthening the research capacities in Europe. Finally, 'People' succeeds the previous Marie Curie Programmes and targets the development of Europe's human potential. On 22 December...

The European Framework Programme under way

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

The new European Framework Programme - FP7 - has recently started and will offer various possibilities for CERN to participate in EU co-funded projects for research and technological development. In December 2006, the Council of the European Union (EU) formally adopted the 7th European Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration activities (FP7). FP7 started on 1st January 2007 and will cover the period 2007 to 2013. With a total budget of 50.5 billion euros, FP7 is the largest Framework Programme in the history of the EU. FP7 consists of four major sub-programmes, referred to as 'Specific Programmes'. 'Cooperation' is focused on collaborative research and is divided into 10 research themes. 'Ideas' is a new EU programme for funding frontier research in all fields of science. 'Capacities' aims at strengthening the research capacities in Europe. Finally, 'People' succeeds the previous Marie Curie Programmes and targets the development of Europe's human potential. On 22 Decem...

Digital health for the End TB Strategy: developing priority products and making them work.

Science.gov (United States)

Falzon, Dennis; Timimi, Hazim; Kurosinski, Pascal; Migliori, Giovanni Battista; Van Gemert, Wayne; Denkinger, Claudia; Isaacs, Chris; Story, Alistair; Garfein, Richard S; do Valle Bastos, Luis Gustavo; Yassin, Mohammed A; Rusovich, Valiantsin; Skrahina, Alena; Van Hoi, Le; Broger, Tobias; Abubakar, Ibrahim; Hayward, Andrew; Thomas, Bruce V; Temesgen, Zelalem; Quraishi, Subhi; von Delft, Dalene; Jaramillo, Ernesto; Weyer, Karin; Raviglione, Mario C

2016-07-01

In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the End TB Strategy in response to a World Health Assembly Resolution requesting Member States to end the worldwide epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) by 2035. For the strategy's objectives to be realised, the next 20 years will need novel solutions to address the challenges posed by TB to health professionals, and to affected people and communities. Information and communication technology presents opportunities for innovative approaches to support TB efforts in patient care, surveillance, programme management and electronic learning. The effective application of digital health products at a large scale and their continued development need the engagement of TB patients and their caregivers, innovators, funders, policy-makers, advocacy groups, and affected communities.In April 2015, WHO established its Global Task Force on Digital Health for TB to advocate and support the development of digital health innovations in global efforts to improve TB care and prevention. We outline the group's approach to stewarding this process in alignment with the three pillars of the End TB Strategy. The supplementary material of this article includes target product profiles, as developed by early 2016, defining nine priority digital health concepts and products that are strategically positioned to enhance TB action at the country level. The content of this work is ©the authors or their employers. Design and branding are ©ERS 2016.

Development of digital plant protection system for Korean Next Generation Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suk-Joon Park

1998-01-01

A Digital Plant Protection System (DPPS) for Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR) is being developed using the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) technology. For the design verification, the development of the DPPS prototype is progressing at this time. The prototype hardware equipment is installed and software coding is started. DPPS software is being coded by strict software V and V activities and function block language that uses simple graphical symbols. By adopting the PLC technology, the design of DPPS is possible to take full advantages in areas such as automatic testing, simplified calibration, improved isolation between redundant channels, reduced internal and external wiring and increased plant availability. (author)

Creating Ambassadors Through Digital Media: reflections from the Sandby borg project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In 2010, five caches of top quality Migration-period jewellery were found at the Iron Age ring fort of Sandby borg, on the island of Öland, Sweden. When subsequent archaeological investigations revealed evidence of a violent massacre in the late 5th century, which left the victims lying on the spot where they had fallen, media and public interest increased rapidly. Since the local community raised concerns about the fast-growing interest in the project and the sensitive status of the ring fort, digital media was used as an important tool to communicate and work with different stakeholders. In this article, we present some experiences and insights from two separate projects with the aim of involving the public; a public outreach programme, Culture for Children, conducted in 2014-2015 and supported by the Swedish Arts Council, and a crowdfunding project launched at Kickstarter in December 2014, which enabled one season of fieldwork in 2015. The article concludes with a brief reflection on the topic of digital engagement in public archaeology.

Digital printing

Science.gov (United States)

Sobotka, Werner K.

1997-02-01

Digital printing is described as a tool to replace conventional printing machines completely. Still this goal was not reached until now with any of the digital printing technologies to be described in the paper. Productivity and costs are still the main parameters and are not really solved until now. Quality in digital printing is no problem anymore. Definition of digital printing is to transfer digital datas directly on the paper surface. This step can be carried out directly or with the use of an intermediate image carrier. Keywords in digital printing are: computer- to-press; erasable image carrier; image carrier with memory. Digital printing is also the logical development of the new digital area as it is pointed out in Nicholas Negropotes book 'Being Digital' and also the answer to networking and Internet technologies. Creating images text and color in one country and publishing the datas in another country or continent is the main advantage. Printing on demand another big advantage and last but not least personalization the last big advantage. Costs and being able to coop with this new world of prepress technology is the biggest disadvantage. Therefore the very optimistic growth rates for the next few years are really nonexistent. The development of complete new markets is too slow and the replacing of old markets is too small.

Patients' experiences of a multidisciplinary team-led community case management programme: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gowing, Alice; Dickinson, Claire; Gorman, Tom; Robinson, Louise; Duncan, Rachel

2016-09-09

To explore the views and experiences of patients on the care they have received while enrolled on the Northumberland High Risk Patient Programme (NHRPP). This programme involved case finding of frail patients using a multidisciplinary team (MDT)-led community case management programme, and support of patients through care planning and regular reviews using primary, community, secondary and social care professionals. A qualitative study using semistructured interviews, which were digitally recorded, transcribed and subject to thematic analysis. Community patients receiving primary care in the county of Northumberland, England. 23 participants took part, of which 16 were patients enrolled on the NHRPP, and 7 carers. GP practices were selected purposively by size, deprivation and location, and patients identified and invited by General Practitioners to participate. 4 main themes emerged from the data: awareness and understanding of the NHRPP, confidence in the primary healthcare team, limitations of home care and the active role of being a patient. Despite having a low level of awareness of the details of the NHRPP, participants did think that its broad aim made sense. Participants discussed their high level of satisfaction with their care and access to team members. However, some limitations of alternatives to hospital care were identified, including the need to consider psychological as well as medical needs, the importance of overnight care and the needs of those without informal carers. Finally, participants discussed the active nature of being a patient under the NHRPP if they were to contribute fully to planning and managing their own care. This study has identified that a programme of MDT-led case management was generally very well received by patients and their families. However, a number of factors were identified that could improve the implementation of the programme and further research needs to be undertaken to address these. Published by the BMJ

Digital squares

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Forchhammer, Søren; Kim, Chul E

1988-01-01

Digital squares are defined and their geometric properties characterized. A linear time algorithm is presented that considers a convex digital region and determines whether or not it is a digital square. The algorithm also determines the range of the values of the parameter set of its preimages....... The analysis involves transforming the boundary of a digital region into parameter space of slope and y-intercept...

Digital skrivedidaktik

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Digital skrivedidaktik består af to dele. Første del præsenterer teori om skrivekompetence og digital skrivning. Digital skrivning er karakteriseret ved at tekster skrives på computer og med digitale værktøjer, hvilket ændrer skrivningens traditionelle praksis, produkt og processer. Hvad er digital...... om elevens skriveproces) og Blogskrivning (der styrker eleverne i at bruge blogs i undervisningen)....

Cost Model for Digital Curation: Cost of Digital Migration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kejser, Ulla Bøgvad; Nielsen, Anders Bo; Thirifays, Alex

2009-01-01

The Danish Ministry of Culture is currently funding a project to set up a model for costing preservation of digital materials held by national cultural heritage institutions. The overall objective of the project is to provide a basis for comparing and estimating future financial requirements...... for digital preservation and to increase cost effectiveness of digital preservation activities. In this study we describe an activity based costing methodology for digital preservation based on the OAIS Reference Model. In order to estimate the cost of digital migrations we have identified cost critical...

Digitally switchable multi-focal lens using freeform optics.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xuan; Qin, Yi; Hua, Hong; Lee, Yun-Han; Wu, Shin-Tson

2018-04-16

Optical technologies offering electrically tunable optical power have found a broad range of applications, from head-mounted displays for virtual and augmented reality applications to microscopy. In this paper, we present a novel design and prototype of a digitally switchable multi-focal lens (MFL) that offers the capability of rapidly switching the optical power of the system among multiple foci. It consists of a freeform singlet and a customized programmable optical shutter array (POSA). Time-multiplexed multiple foci can be obtained by electrically controlling the POSA to switch the light path through different segments of the freeform singlet rapidly. While this method can be applied to a broad range of imaging and display systems, we experimentally demonstrate a proof-of-concept prototype for a multi-foci imaging system.

Environmental and climate research programme 1988/89

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-01-01

The Study Group of the Large-scale Research Institutes (AGF) has been reporting on these projects since 1972, in its programme for 'Environmental and Climate Research'. The programme, which is worked out by the AGF's Coordination Office for Environmental Research, is closely connected with the programmes of the Federal Government; it is revised and updated periodically by the AGF's Coordination Committees for 'Environmental Research' and 'Climate Research'. The 1988/89 programme gives an up-to-date overview of research projects in the field of 'Research and Technology for Health, Nutrition and the Environment' financed with the AGF programme budget of 1988. At the same time, however, it also documents projects of other areas of the programme concerned with environmental issues. Development trends are also discernible in the specification of the goals for 1989. The figures mentioned in the present programme are not comparable with those of earlier programmes, owing to inclusion of the programme section concerned with issues of climate, and to structural changes. (orig./KW) [de

Digital preservation

CERN Document Server

Deegan, Marilyn

2013-01-01

Digital preservation is an issue of huge importance to the library and information profession right now. With the widescale adoption of the internet and the rise of the world wide web, the world has been overwhelmed by digital information. Digital data is being produced on a massive scale by individuals and institutions: some of it is born, lives and dies only in digital form, and it is the potential death of this data, with its impact on the preservation of culture, that is the concern of this book. So how can information professionals try to remedy this? Digital preservation is a complex iss

Finnish Fusion Research Programme Yearbook 1993-1994

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karttunen, S.; Paettikangas, T.

1995-05-01

Finnish Fusion Research Programme (FFUSION) is one of the national energy research programmes funded by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and from 1995 by TEKES. National organization for fusion research is necessary for efficient and successful participation in international fusion programmes. FFUSION programme serves well for this purpose and it made possible to establish relations and the dialogue with the European Fusion Programme. The process led to the Finnish Association Euratom-TEKES in early 1995. The first period of the FFUSION programme (1993-1994) was preparation for the association to the Community Programme. The strategy was to emphasize fusion technology parallel with the basic fusion and plasma physics and to activate the related Finnish industry to collaborate and participate in the FFUSION programme and later in the European Fusion Programme. The key element in the strategy is the focusing our fairly small R and D effort to a few topics, which increases possibilities to be competitive in Europe. The physics programme in FFUSION deals mainly with theoretical and computational studies of radio-frequency heating in tokamak plasmas. Technology programme started with prestudies in 1993 and it concentrates into two areas: fusion reactor materials and remote handling systems. (8 figs., 3 tabs.)

Environmental Assessment of R&D Programmes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lyhne, Ivar; Byriel, Inger Pihl

2013-01-01

cause severe negative environmental impacts. This paper presents an innovative environmental assessment practice on R&D programmes in Denmark. It reports on the challenges and experiences of assessing the Danish R&D programme ForskEL, which promotes R&D projects within the electricity sector......Despite their important role in shaping the technologies of the future, public research and development (R&D) programmes are rarely based on systematic assessments of the environmental effects. R&D programmes thus allocate a huge amount of financial resources to projects, which potentially may....... The programme is characterised by uncertainty about impacts and incomparable project types and technologies. A methodology for dealing with these challenges is presented, and experiences from a testing of the methodology on the 2012 programme are reflected upon. Finally the assessment is discussed in terms...

Developing an appropriate digital hearing aid for low-resource countries: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Israsena, P; Isaradisaikul, S; Noymai, A; Boonyanukul, S; Hemakom, A; Chinnarat, C; Navacharoen, N; Lekagul, S

2013-01-01

This paper reviews the development process and discusses the key findings which resulted from our multidisciplinary research team's effort to develop an alternative digital hearing suitable for low-resource countries such as Thailand. A cost-effective, fully programmable digital hearing aid, with its specifications benchmarking against WHO's recommendations, was systematically designed, engineered, and tested. Clinically it had undergone a full clinical trial that employed the outcome measurement protocol adopted from the APHAB, the first time implemented in Thai language. Results indicated that using the hearing aid improves user's satisfaction in terms of ease of communication, background noises, and reverberation, with clear benefit after 3 and 6 months, confirming its efficacy. In terms of engineering, the hearing aid also proved to be robust, passing all the designated tests. As the technology has successfully been transferred to a local company for the production phase, we also discuss other challenges that may arise before the device can be introduced into the market.

South African southern ocean research programme

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

SASCAR

1987-01-01

Full Text Available This document describes the South African National Antarctic Research Programme's (SANARP) physical, chemical and biological Southern Ocean research programme. The programme has three main components: ecological studies of the Prince Edward Islands...

Field-programmable lab-on-a-chip based on microelectrode dot array architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gary; Teng, Daniel; Lai, Yi-Tse; Lu, Yi-Wen; Ho, Yingchieh; Lee, Chen-Yi

2014-09-01

The fundamentals of electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) digital microfluidics are very strong: advantageous capability in the manipulation of fluids, small test volumes, precise dynamic control and detection, and microscale systems. These advantages are very important for future biochip developments, but the development of EWOD microfluidics has been hindered by the absence of: integrated detector technology, standard commercial components, on-chip sample preparation, standard manufacturing technology and end-to-end system integration. A field-programmable lab-on-a-chip (FPLOC) system based on microelectrode dot array (MEDA) architecture is presented in this research. The MEDA architecture proposes a standard EWOD microfluidic component called 'microelectrode cell', which can be dynamically configured into microfluidic components to perform microfluidic operations of the biochip. A proof-of-concept prototype FPLOC, containing a 30 × 30 MEDA, was developed by using generic integrated circuits computer aided design tools, and it was manufactured with standard low-voltage complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, which allows smooth on-chip integration of microfluidics and microelectronics. By integrating 900 droplet detection circuits into microelectrode cells, the FPLOC has achieved large-scale integration of microfluidics and microelectronics. Compared to the full-custom and bottom-up design methods, the FPLOC provides hierarchical top-down design approach, field-programmability and dynamic manipulations of droplets for advanced microfluidic operations.

Effective Remote Control of Several Outdoor Security Lights by SMS and Wifi Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. F. Akorede

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to design and develop a control system using Short Message Service (SMS and wireless networking (WiFi technology to remotely control outdoor security lights in large organisations. The device comprises four main units, namely: the mobile phone or a computer system, the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM modem, the switching unit and the WiFi module. One feature that makes the developed system better than other related existing works is its ability to use two means of control. It makes use of WiFi when the operator is within the coverage area of the network of about 100 m to the device, at no cost, otherwise it uses SMS containing certain codes to control the lights. A Subscriber Identity Module (SIM card is placed in the GSM modem and SMS from the transmitter are sent to that mobile number. The module is also constantly checked by the microcontroller unit, processes the information, extracts the message and command from the GSM modem and WiFi module respectively and then acts accordingly. Owing to its simplicity, C programming is used to programme the microcontroller. The developed device when tested with three lighting points operating on 230V power supply, gives an impressive performance in terms of accuracy and promptness with both SMS and WiFi technology.

Digital academia: How higher education is affected by digital technology

OpenAIRE

Eriksmo, Anton; Sundberg, Johan

2016-01-01

Digital technology in higher education is constantly evolving. Understanding the effects of digital technology is important for higher education institutions in order to make good investments of digital technology. Previous research has focused on learning, teaching or the organization and the relation between one of these aspects and digital technology, thereby missing a broader understanding of how materiality in digital technology affects higher education. In this study themed interviews w...

Digital rights management for digital cinema

Science.gov (United States)

Kirovski, Darko; Peinado, Marcus; Petitcolas, Fabien A. P.

2001-12-01

There is a wide consensus among the feature film production studios that the Internet era brings a new paradigm for film distribution to cinemas worldwide. The benefits of digital cinema to both producers and cinemas are numerous: significantly lower distribution and maintenance costs, immediate access to film libraries, higher presentation quality, and strong potential for developing new business models. Despite these advantages, the studios are still reluctant to jump into the digital age. The main showstopper for digital cinema is the danger of widespread piracy. Piracy already costs Hollywood an estimated two billion dollars annually and digital cinema without proper copyright enforcement could increase this number. In this paper, we present a copyright management system that aims at providing the set of necessary security tools: standard cryptographic primitives and copyright protection mechanisms that enable a reliable and secure feature film delivery system.

Iran's nuclear power programme revisited

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mossavar-Rahmani, B.

1980-01-01

Iran's new government has not yet made a final decision about the fate of that country's once ambitious nuclear power programme. If the programme is kept alive, it will be limited to the completion of at most one or two of the reactors that were already well underway when the revolution broke out. The author traces the origins and growth of the Iranian nuclear power programme between 1974 and 1978, summarizes the principal economic, infrastructural, and political criticisms of the programme as originally planned, discusses the potential for greater use of natural gas as an alternative and, finally, recommends a long, detailed reassessment of Iran's energy options. (author)

Cognitive Hacking and Digital Government: Digital Identity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul Thompson

2004-04-01

Full Text Available Recently the National Center for Digital Government held a workshop on "The Virtual Citizen: Identity, Autonomy, and Accountability: A Civic Scenario Exploration of the Role of Identity in On-Line. Discussions at the workshop focused on five scenarios for future authentication policies with respect to digital identity. The underlying technologies considered for authentication were: biometrics: cryptography, with a focus on digital signatures; secure processing/computation; and reputation systems. Most discussion at the workshop focused on issues related to authentication of users of digital government, but, as implied by the inclusion of a scenario related to ubiquitous identity theft, there was also discussion of problems related to misinformation, including cognitive hacking. Cognitive hacking refers to a computer or information system attack that relies on changing human users' perceptions and corresponding behaviors in order to succeed. This paper describes cognitive hacking, suggests countermeasures, and discusses the implications of cognitive hacking for identity in digital government. In particular, spoofing of government websites and insider misuse are considered.

Technological policies for education and digital literacy: the governmental program ‘e.escolinha’

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara Pereira

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In 2008, the Portuguese government announced the initiative ’e.escolinha’ which included the distribution of computers ‘Magalhães’ to students of the 1st cycle of basic education for three consecutive school years. Currently suspended, the programme was a flagship of the XVII Constitutional Government, led by José Sócrates, but it was also subject of controversy from the opposition parties and from the school community, especially due to the apparent emphasis on access to technology rather than a greater concern with the training and pedagogical practices. Under the Technological Plan for Education, the ’e.escolinha’ initiative was part of a broader policy for the development of a competitive and dynamic economy, responding to the goals set by the EU in the Lisbon Strategy 2000. The initiative was presented to the country with ambitious goals regarding the expected changes to teachers’ pedagogical practices, the process of children’s learning and school success in general. However, the most visible face of the policy, although it may comprise other nuances, may have been reduced to the question of access, investing little in other dimensions of digital literacy. Based on interviews with key actors involved in the conception and implementation of the ’e.escolinha’ initiative, and on official programme documents, this paper intends to discuss how policy makers and companies set out and evaluate the objectives of this initiative. It is intended, in particular, to understand if they share the idea that this governmental measure follows a technological drift or if they discern any digital literacy objectives in it. This piece of work is part of a research project titled "Navigating with Magellan: Study on the Impact of Digital Media on Schoolchildren," that is being carried out at the Communication and Society Research Centre at the University of Minho, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology ((PTDC

Cognitive Hacking and Digital Government: Digital Identity

OpenAIRE

Paul Thompson

2004-01-01

Recently the National Center for Digital Government held a workshop on "The Virtual Citizen: Identity, Autonomy, and Accountability: A Civic Scenario Exploration of the Role of Identity in On-Line. Discussions at the workshop focused on five scenarios for future authentication policies with respect to digital identity. The underlying technologies considered for authentication were: biometrics: cryptography, with a focus on digital signatures; secure processing/computation; and reputation syst...

Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants: Teaching with Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Ellen Marie Peterson

2011-01-01

Education is witnessing an increasing demand for technology use in the classroom. At the same time, new teachers are entering the profession in high numbers, some being labeled as "Digital Natives" while others are labeled "Digital Immigrants". This qualitative case study investigated the technology practices of Digital Native and Digital…

[Constructing 3-dimensional colorized digital dental model assisted by digital photography].

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Hong-qiang; Liu, Yu-shu; Liu, Yun-song; Ning, Jing; Zhao, Yi-jiao; Zhou, Yong-sheng

2016-02-18

To explore a method of constructing universal 3-dimensional (3D) colorized digital dental model which can be displayed and edited in common 3D software (such as Geomagic series), in order to improve the visual effect of digital dental model in 3D software. The morphological data of teeth and gingivae were obtained by intra-oral scanning system (3Shape TRIOS), constructing 3D digital dental models. The 3D digital dental models were exported as STL files. Meanwhile, referring to the accredited photography guide of American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD), five selected digital photographs of patients'teeth and gingivae were taken by digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR) with the same exposure parameters (except occlusal views) to capture the color data. In Geomagic Studio 2013, after STL file of 3D digital dental model being imported, digital photographs were projected on 3D digital dental model with corresponding position and angle. The junctions of different photos were carefully trimmed to get continuous and natural color transitions. Then the 3D colorized digital dental model was constructed, which was exported as OBJ file or WRP file which was a special file for software of Geomagic series. For the purpose of evaluating the visual effect of the 3D colorized digital model, a rating scale on color simulation effect in views of patients'evaluation was used. Sixteen patients were recruited and their scores on colored and non-colored digital dental models were recorded. The data were analyzed using McNemar-Bowker test in SPSS 20. Universal 3D colorized digital dental model with better color simulation was constructed based on intra-oral scanning and digital photography. For clinical application, the 3D colorized digital dental models, combined with 3D face images, were introduced into 3D smile design of aesthetic rehabilitation, which could improve the patients' cognition for the esthetic digital design and virtual prosthetic effect. Universal 3D colorized

Image quality analysis of digital mammographic equipments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mayo, P.; Pascual, A.; Verdu, G. [Valencia Univ. Politecnica, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Dept. (Spain); Rodenas, F. [Valencia Univ. Politecnica, Applied Mathematical Dept. (Spain); Campayo, J.M. [Valencia Univ. Hospital Clinico, Servicio de Radiofisica y Proteccion Radiologica (Spain); Villaescusa, J.I. [Hospital Clinico La Fe, Servicio de Proteccion Radiologica, Valencia (Spain)

2006-07-01

The image quality assessment of a radiographic phantom image is one of the fundamental points in a complete quality control programme. The good functioning result of all the process must be an image with an appropriate quality to carry out a suitable diagnostic. Nowadays, the digital radiographic equipments are replacing the traditional film-screen equipments and it is necessary to update the parameters to guarantee the quality of the process. Contrast-detail phantoms are applied to digital radiography to study the threshold contrast detail sensitivity at operation conditions of the equipment. The phantom that is studied in this work is C.D.M.A.M. 3.4, which facilitates the evaluation of image contrast and detail resolution. One of the most extended indexes to measure the image quality in an objective way is the Image Quality Figure (I.Q.F.). This parameter is useful to calculate the image quality taking into account the contrast and detail resolution of the image analysed. The contrast-detail curve is useful as a measure of the image quality too, because it is a graphical representation in which the hole thickness and diameter are plotted for each contrast-detail combination detected in the radiographic image of the phantom. It is useful for the comparison of the functioning of different radiographic image systems, for phantom images under the same exposition conditions. The aim of this work is to study the image quality of different images contrast-detail phantom C.D.M.A.M. 3.4, carrying out the automatic detection of the contrast-detail combination and to establish a parameter which characterize in an objective way the mammographic image quality. This is useful to compare images obtained at different digital mammographic equipments to study the functioning of the equipments. (authors)

Image quality analysis of digital mammographic equipments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)