Modelling, Simulation and Testing of a Reconfigurable Cable-Based Parallel Manipulator as Motion Aiding System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianni Castelli

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents results on the modelling, simulation and experimental tests of a cable-based parallel manipulator to be used as an aiding or guiding system for people with motion disabilities. There is a high level of motivation for people with a motion disability or the elderly to perform basic daily-living activities independently. Therefore, it is of great interest to design and implement safe and reliable motion assisting and guiding devices that are able to help end-users. In general, a robot for a medical application should be able to interact with a patient in safety conditions, i.e. it must not damage people or surroundings; it must be designed to guarantee high accuracy and low acceleration during the operation. Furthermore, it should not be too bulky and it should exert limited wrenches after close interaction with people. It can be advisable to have a portable system which can be easily brought into and assembled in a hospital or a domestic environment. Cable-based robotic structures can fulfil those requirements because of their main characteristics that make them light and intrinsically safe. In this paper, a reconfigurable four-cable-based parallel manipulator has been proposed as a motion assisting and guiding device to help people to accomplish a number of tasks, such as an aiding or guiding system to move the upper and lower limbs or the whole body. Modelling and simulation are presented in the ADAMS environment. Moreover, experimental tests are reported as based on an available laboratory prototype.

Análisis Cinemático de un Novedoso Robot Paralelo Reconfigurable

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Róger E. Sánchez-Alonso

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Resumen: Este trabajo presenta el análisis cinemático de un manipulador reconfigurable integrado por dos sub-manipuladores paralelos que comparten una plataforma móvil. Una solución en forma semi-cerrada para el análisis directo de posición del robot es obtenida tomando ventaja de la geometría no plana de la plataforma móvil, mientras que los análisis de velocidad, aceleración y singularidades son desarrollados por medio de teoría de tornillos. Finalmente se propone una aproximación basada en el índice de manipulabilidad de la matriz jacobiana para determinar la configuración geométrica que optimiza el desempeño del manipulador dada una determinada postura de la plataforma móvil. Abstract: This work presents the kinematic analysis of a reconfigurable manipulator composed of two parallel sub-manipulators that share a common moving platform. A semi-closed form solution is easily obtained to solve the forward displacement analysis of the robot taking advantage of the non-planar geometry of the moving platform, while the velocity, acceleration and singularity analyses are developed by resorting to screw theory. Finally a very practical approach based on the manipulability index of the jacobian matrix of the robot is proposed in order to determine the geometric configuration that optimizes the performance of the manipulator given a pose of the moving platform. Palabras clave: Robot paralelo, Reconfiguración, Cinemática, Teoría de tornillos, Matriz jacobiana, Índice de manipulabilidad., Keywords: Parallel robot, Reconfiguration, Kinematics, Screw theory, Jacobian matrix, Manipulability index.

A Web-Based Integration Procedure for the Development of Reconfigurable Robotic Work-Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Ferreira

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Concepts related to the development of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS and methodologies to provide the best practices in the processing industry and factory automation, such as system integration and web-based technology, are major issues in designing next-generation manufacturing systems (NGMS. Adaptable and integrable devices are crucial for the success of NGMS. In robotic cells the integration of manufacturing components is essential to accelerate system adaptability. Sensors, control architectures and communication technologies have contributed to achieving further agility in reconfigurable factories. In this work a web-based robotic cell integration procedure is proposed to aid the identification of reconfigurable issues and requirements. This methodology is applied to an industrial robot manipulator to enhance system flexibility towards the development of a reconfigurable robotic platform.

Go reconfigure: how fish change shape as they swim and evolve.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, John H; Porter, Marianne E; Root, Robert G; Liew, Chun Wai

2010-12-01

The bodies of fish change shape over propulsive, behavioral, developmental, and evolutionary time scales, a general phenomenon that we call "reconfiguration". Undulatory, postural, and form-reconfiguration can be distinguished, studied independently, and examined in terms of mechanical interactions and evolutionary importance. Using a combination of live, swimming fishes and digital robotic fish that are autonomous and self-propelled, we examined the functional relation between undulatory and postural reconfiguration in forward swimming, backward swimming, and yaw turning. To probe how postural and form reconfiguration interact, the yaw turning of leopard sharks was examined using morphometric and kinematic analyses. To test how undulatory reconfiguration might evolve, the digital robotic fish were subjected to selection for enhanced performance in a simulated ecology in which each individual had to detect and move towards a food source. In addition to the general issue of reconfiguration, these investigations are united by the fact that the dynamics of undulatory and postural reconfigurations are predicted to be determined, in part, by the structural stiffness of the fish's body. Our method defines undulatory reconfiguration as the combined, point-by-point periodic motion of the body, leaving postural reconfiguration as the combined deviations from undulatory reconfiguration. While undulatory reconfiguration appears to be the sole or primary propulsive driver, postural reconfiguration may contribute to propulsion in hagfish and it is correlated with differences in forward, and backward, swimming in lamprey. Form reconfigures over developmental time in leopard sharks in a manner that is consistent with an allometric scaling theory in which structural stiffness of the body is held constant. However, correlation of a form proxy for structural stiffness of the body suggests that body stiffness may scale in order to limit maximum postural reconfiguration during routine

Nanopatterned reconfigurable spin-textures for magnonics

Science.gov (United States)

Albisetti, E.; Petti, D.; Pancaldi, M.; Madami, M.; Tacchi, S.; Curtis, J.; King, W. P.; Papp, A.; Csaba, G.; Porod, W.; Vavassori, P.; Riedo, E.; Bertacco, R.

The control of spin-waves holds the promise to enable energy-efficient information transport and wave-based computing. Conventionally, the engineering of spin-waves is achieved via physically patterning magnetic structures such as magnonic crystals and micro-nanowires. We demonstrate a new concept for creating reconfigurable magnonic nanostructures, by crafting at the nanoscale the magnetic anisotropy landscape of a ferromagnet exchange-coupled to an antiferromagnet. By performing a highly localized field cooling with the hot tip of a scanning probe microscope, magnetic structures, with arbitrarily oriented magnetization and tunable unidirectional anisotropy, are patterned without modifying the film chemistry and topography. We demonstrate that, in such structures, the spin-wave excitation and propagation can be spatially controlled at remanence, and can be tuned by external magnetic fields. This opens the way to the use of nanopatterned spin-textures, such as domains and domain walls, for exciting and manipulating magnons in reconfigurable nanocircuits. Partially funded by the EC through project SWING (no. 705326).

Reconfiguring Urban Sustainability Transitions, Analysing Multiplicity

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Mike Hodson

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Cities, and the networked infrastructures that sustain urban life, are seen as crucial sites for creating more sustainable futures. Yet, although there are many plans, the realisation of sustainable urban infrastructures on the ground is uneven. To develop better ways of understanding why this is the case, the paper makes a conceptual contribution by engaging with current understanding of urban sustainability transitions, using urban sustainable mobility as a reference point. It extends these insights to argue that urban transitions are not about technological or social innovation per se, but about how multiple innovations are experimented with, combined and reconfigured in existing urban contexts and how such processes are governed. There are potentially many ways in which urban sustainable mobility can be reconfigured contextually. Innovation is in the particular form of reconfiguration rather than individual technologies. To make analytical sense of this multiplicity, a preliminary framework is developed that offers the potential to think about urban transitions as contextual and reconfigurational. We argue that there is a need to embrace multiplicity and to understand its relationships to forms of reconfiguration, through empirical exploration and further theoretical and conceptual development. The preliminary framework is a contribution to doing so and we set out future directions for research.

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)

Portable reconfigurable detection and assessment system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blattman, D.A.

1991-01-01

Rapidly changing geopolitical issues throughout the world have made the ability to effectively respond to political, military, terrorist and peace-keeping requirements increasingly important. Recent Middle East events indicate a continuing escalation in these activities. These activities are defining the requirements for a rapidly deployable, portable, real-time detection and assessment operational security system that is reconfigurable to site specific threats. This paper describes such a system Mobile Operational Detection and Assessment system (MODAS); a commercially-off-the shelf (COTS) integrated and reconfigurable hardware/software system solution for the ever-changing geopolitical security issues of the Nineties

A reconfigurable frequency-selective surface for dual-mode multi-band filtering applications

Science.gov (United States)

Majidzadeh, Maryam; Ghobadi, Changiz; Nourinia, Javad

2017-03-01

A reconfigurable single-layer frequency-selective surface (FSS) with dual-mode multi-band modes of operation is presented. The proposed structure is printed on a compact 10 × 10 mm2 FR4 substrate with the thickness of 1.6 mm. A simple square loop is printed on the front side while another one along with two defected vertical arms is deployed on the backside. To realise the reconfiguration, two pin diodes are embedded on the backside square loop. Suitable insertion of conductive elements along with pin diodes yields in dual-mode multi-band rejection of applicable in service frequency ranges. The first operating mode due to diodes' 'ON' state provides rejection of 2.4 GHz WLAN in 2-3 GHz, 5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN and X band in 5-12 GHz, and a part of Ku band in 13.9-16 GHz. In diodes 'OFF' state, the FSS blocks WLAN in 4-7.3 GHz, X band in 8-12.7 GHz as well as part of Ku band in 13.7-16.7 GHz. As well, high attenuation of incident waves is observed by a high shielding effectiveness (SE) in the blocked frequency bands. Also, a stable behaviour against different polarisations and angles of incidence is obtained. Comprehensive studies are conducted on a fabricated prototype to assess its performance from which encouraging results are obtained.

Distinguishing Reconfiguration and Compound-cue Retrieval in Task Switching

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Gordon D Logan

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Many researchers claim that task switching requires reconfiguration of the cognitive system. Others claim that task switching involves cue-based memory retrieval processes and not reconfiguration. We evaluate these competing claims by developing both reconfiguration and cue-based memory models in a common theoretical framework and by fitting the models to' target functions', which show how performance on individual target stimuli varies depending on the task subjects perform on the targets. Our analyses show that the process of compound-cue retrieval – using the task cue and the target as joint retrieval cues to select a response from memory – is sufficient to explain target functions for parity and magnitude judgments of digits and that reconfiguration does not seem to add anything to the explanation. We address the generality of this conclusion and speculate about the conditions under which reconfiguration may be necessary for task switching.

Selectively Fortifying Reconfigurable Computing Device to Achieve Higher Error Resilience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingjie Lin

2012-01-01

Full Text Available With the advent of 10 nm CMOS devices and “exotic” nanodevices, the location and occurrence time of hardware defects and design faults become increasingly unpredictable, therefore posing severe challenges to existing techniques for error-resilient computing because most of them statically assign hardware redundancy and do not account for the error tolerance inherently existing in many mission-critical applications. This work proposes a novel approach to selectively fortifying a target reconfigurable computing device in order to achieve hardware-efficient error resilience for a specific target application. We intend to demonstrate that such error resilience can be significantly improved with effective hardware support. The major contributions of this work include (1 the development of a complete methodology to perform sensitivity and criticality analysis of hardware redundancy, (2 a novel problem formulation and an efficient heuristic methodology to selectively allocate hardware redundancy among a target design’s key components in order to maximize its overall error resilience, and (3 an academic prototype of SFC computing device that illustrates a 4 times improvement of error resilience for a H.264 encoder implemented with an FPGA device.

Glancing up or down: Mood management and selective social comparisons on social networking sites.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Johnson, B.K.; Knobloch-Westerwick, S.

2014-01-01

Social networking sites (SNS) provide opportunities for mood management through selective exposure. This study tested the prediction that negative mood fosters self-enhancing social comparisons to SNS profiles. Participants were induced into positive or negative moods and then browsed manipulated

Selective microrobot control using a thermally responsive microclamper for microparticle manipulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Go, Gwangjun; Choi, Hyunchul; Ko, Seong Young; Park, Jong-Oh; Park, Sukho; Jeong, Semi

2016-01-01

Microparticle manipulation using a microrobot in an enclosed environment, such as a lab-on-a-chip, has been actively studied because an electromagnetic actuated microrobot can have accurate motility and wireless controllability. In most studies on electromagnetic actuated microrobots, only a single microrobot has been used to manipulate cells or microparticles. However, the use of a single microrobot can pose several limitations when performing multiple roles in microparticle manipulation. To overcome the limitations associated with using a single microrobot, we propose a new method for the control of multiple microrobots. Multiple microrobots can be controlled independently by an electromagnetic actuation system and multiple microclampers combined with microheaters. To select a specific microrobot among multiple microrobots, we propose a microclamper composed of a clamper structure using thermally responsive hydrogel and a microheater for controlling the microclamper. A fundamental test of the proposed microparticle manipulation system is performed by selecting a specific microrobot among multiple microrobots. Through the independent locomotion of multiple microrobots with U- and V-shaped tips, heterogeneous microparticle manipulation is demonstrated in the creation of a two-dimensional structure. In the future, our proposed multiple-microrobot system can be applied to tasks that are difficult to perform using a single microrobot, such as cell manipulation, cargo delivery, tissue assembly, and cloning. (paper)

Reconfigurable control of a power plant deaerator using learning automata

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, H.E.; Ray, A.; Edwards, R.M.

1991-01-01

A deaerating feedwater heater, equipped with a water level controller and a pressure controller, has been chosen to investigate the feasibility of a reconfigurable control scheme for power plants by incorporating the concept of learning automata. In this paper simulation results based on a model of the Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-II) at the Argonne National Laboratory site in Idaho are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the reconfigurable control scheme

Reconfigurable and writable magnetic charge crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yong-Lei; Xiao, Zhi-Li; Kwok, Wai-Kwong

2017-07-18

Artificial ices enable the study of geometrical frustration by design and through direct observation. It has, however, proven difficult to achieve tailored long-range ordering of their diverse configurations, limiting both fundamental and applied research directions. An artificial spin structure design is described that produces a magnetic charge ice with tunable long-range ordering of eight different configurations. A technique is also developed to precisely manipulate the local magnetic charge states and demonstrate write-read-erase multi-functionality at room temperature. This globally reconfigurable and locally writable magnetic charge ice provides a setting for designing magnetic monopole defects, tailoring magnetics and controlling the properties of other two-dimensional materials.

Active manipulation of the selective alignment by two laser pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeng-Qiang, Yang; Zhi-Rong, Guo; Gui-Xian, Ge

2010-01-01

This paper solves numerically the full time-dependent Schrödinger equation based on the rigid rotor model, and proposes a novel strategy to determine the optimal time delay of the two laser pulses to manipulate the molecular selective alignment. The results illustrate that the molecular alignment generated by the first pulse can be suppressed or enhanced selectively, the relative populations of even and odd rotational states in the final rotational wave packet can be manipulated selectively by precisely inserting the peak of the second laser pulse at the time when the slope for the alignment parameter by the first laser locates a local maximum for the even rotational states and a local minimum for the odds, and vice versa. The selective alignment can be further optimised by selecting the intensity ratio of the two laser pulses on the condition that the total laser intensity and pulse duration are kept constant. (atomic and molecular physics)

Reconfiguration of spectral absorption features using a frequency-chirped laser pulse.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Mingzhen; Chang, Tiejun; Merkel, Kristian D; Babbitt, W Randall

2011-12-20

A technique is proposed to manipulate atomic population in an inhomogeneously broadened medium, which can set an arbitrary absorption spectrum to a uniform transparency (erasure) or to a nearly complete inversion. These reconfigurations of atomic spectral distribution are achieved through excitation of electronic transitions using a laser pulse with chirped frequency, which precisely affects selected spectral regions while leaving the rest of the spectrum unperturbed. An erasure operation sets the final atomic population inversion to zero and the inversion operation flips the population between the ground and the excited states, regardless of the previously existing population distribution. This technique finds important applications both in optical signal processing, where fast, recursive processing and high dynamic range are desirable and in quantum memory and quantum computing, which both require high efficiency and high fidelity in quantum state preparation of atomic ensembles. Proof-of-concept demonstrations were performed in a rare-earth doped crystal.

Preliminary evaluation of the Accident Response Mobile Manipulation System for accident site salvage operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trujillo, J.M.; Morse, W.D.; Jones, D.P.

1994-01-01

This paper describes and evaluates operational experiences with the Accident Response Mobile Manipulation System (ARMMS) during simulated accident site salvage operations which might involve nuclear weapons. The ARMMS is based upon a teleoperated mobility platform with two Schilling Titan 7F Manipulators

Hardware support for software controlled fast reconfiguration of performance counters

Science.gov (United States)

Salapura, Valentina; Wisniewski, Robert W.

2013-06-18

Hardware support for software controlled reconfiguration of performance counters may include a plurality of performance counters collecting one or more counts of one or more selected activities. A storage element stores data value representing a time interval, and a timer element reads the data value and detects expiration of the time interval based on the data value and generates a signal. A plurality of configuration registers stores a set of performance counter configurations. A state machine receives the signal and selects a configuration register from the plurality of configuration registers for reconfiguring the one or more performance counters.

Heat, sight and scent: multiple cues influence foraging site selection by an ambush-foraging snake Hoplocephalus bungaroides (Elapidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weiguo DU, Jonathan K. WEBB, Richard SHINE

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Most mobile organisms respond to multiple cues when selecting habitat types, and laboratory experiments that manipulate only single cues may fail to reveal the true complexity of habitat-selection behaviour. In south-eastern Australia, broad-headed snakes Hoplocephalus bungaroides (Elapidae lie in wait under sun-warmed rocks to ambush velvet geckos Oedura leseuerii (Gekkonidae. Previous laboratory work has shown that both the geckos and the snakes actively select hotter rather than colder rocks, and that the snakes actively select rocks scented by geckos. We manipulated rock temperature and the presence of two types of cues from geckos (chemical and visual information to clarify the causal basis for foraging site selection by the juveniles of this snake. When given a choice between cold lizard-scented rocks and hot unscented rocks, our captive snakes gave a higher priority to lizard scent than to temperature. The snakes also selected shelter-sites that provided visual as well as scent cues from lizards, rather than shelter-sites with scent cues alone. Thus, although broad-headed snakes show a direct preference for hotter rather than colder rocks in the laboratory, their choice of foraging site in the field may also be influenced by the presence of scent cues from prey. Our laboratory results suggest that habitat selection by broad-headed snakes may be more complex than has been suggested by previous single-factor laboratory trials[Current Zoology 55(4: 266–271, 2009].

Site selection handbook: Workshop on site selection for low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-10-01

The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 (LLRWPAA) requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to provide technical assistance to ''...those compact regions, host States and nonmember States determined by the Secretary to require assistance.'' Technical assistance has been defined to include, but not be limited to, ''technical guidelines for site selection.'' This site selection workshop was developed to assist States and Compacts in developing new low-level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal sites in accordance with the requirements of the LLRWPAA. The workshop comprises a series of lectures, discussion topics, and exercises, supported by this Site Selection Workshop Handbook, designed to examine various aspects of a comprehensive site selection program. It is not an exhaustive treatment of all aspects of site selection, nor is it prescriptive. The workshop focuses on the major elements of site selection and the tools that can be used to implement the site selection program

Impact of reconfiguration period and photovoltaic penetration on distribution grid reconfiguration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chittur Ramaswamy, Parvathy; Deconinck, Geert; Pillai, Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna

2014-01-01

of reconfiguration and its impact on network losses in the context of time-varying load. Though reconfiguring a network reduces the losses, this paper calls for a comparison of number of switching vs. the loss reduction in order to decide the period of reconfiguration. This paper considers also the impact of varying...... photovoltaic (PV) penetration on the resulting optimal configuration. It validates the method of using a parameter namely minimum loss reduction parameter to avoid tedious computational efforts in finding the optimal configuration when an infinitesimal change in PV penetration occurs....

Characterization of robotics parallel algorithms and mapping onto a reconfigurable SIMD machine

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, C. S. G.; Lin, C. T.

1989-01-01

The kinematics, dynamics, Jacobian, and their corresponding inverse computations are six essential problems in the control of robot manipulators. Efficient parallel algorithms for these computations are discussed and analyzed. Their characteristics are identified and a scheme on the mapping of these algorithms to a reconfigurable parallel architecture is presented. Based on the characteristics including type of parallelism, degree of parallelism, uniformity of the operations, fundamental operations, data dependencies, and communication requirement, it is shown that most of the algorithms for robotic computations possess highly regular properties and some common structures, especially the linear recursive structure. Moreover, they are well-suited to be implemented on a single-instruction-stream multiple-data-stream (SIMD) computer with reconfigurable interconnection network. The model of a reconfigurable dual network SIMD machine with internal direct feedback is introduced. A systematic procedure internal direct feedback is introduced. A systematic procedure to map these computations to the proposed machine is presented. A new scheduling problem for SIMD machines is investigated and a heuristic algorithm, called neighborhood scheduling, that reorders the processing sequence of subtasks to reduce the communication time is described. Mapping results of a benchmark algorithm are illustrated and discussed.

The site selection process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kittel, J.H.

1989-01-01

One of the most arduous tasks associated with the management of radioactive wastes is the siting of new disposal facilities. Experience has shown that the performance of the disposal facility during and after disposal operations is critically dependent on the characteristics of the site itself. The site selection process consists of defining needs and objectives, identifying geographic regions of interest, screening and selecting candidate sites, collecting data on the candidate sites, and finally selecting the preferred site. Before the site selection procedures can be implemented, however, a formal legal system must be in place that defines broad objectives and, most importantly, clearly establishes responsibilities and accompanying authorities for the decision-making steps in the procedure. Site selection authorities should make every effort to develop trust and credibility with the public, local officials, and the news media. The responsibilities of supporting agencies must also be spelled out. Finally, a stable funding arrangement must be established so that activities such as data collection can proceed without interruption. Several examples, both international and within the US, are given

Classification of Reconfiguration Resources and Lead Time for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ing. Erik Puik; Daniël Telgen; Leo van Moergestel; Darek Ceglarek

2014-01-01

From the article: Manufacturing technology can improve the turnover of a company if it enables fast market introduction for volume production. Reconfigurable equipment is developed to meet the growing demand for more agile production. Modular reconfiguration, defined as changing the structure of

Design of reconfigurable logic controllers

CERN Document Server

Bukowiec, Arkadiusz; Doligalski, Michał; Tkacz, Jacek

2016-01-01

This book presents the original concepts and modern techniques for specification, synthesis, optimisation and implementation of parallel logical control devices. It deals with essential problems of reconfigurable control systems like dependability, modularity and portability. Reconfigurable systems require a wider variety of design and verification options than the application-specific integrated circuits. The book presents a comprehensive selection of possible design techniques. The diversity of the modelling approaches covers Petri nets, state machines and activity diagrams. The preferences of the presented optimization and synthesis methods are not limited to increasing of the efficiency of resource use. One of the biggest advantages of the presented methods is the platform independence, the FPGA devices and single board computers are some of the examples of possible platforms. These issues and problems are illustrated with practical cases of complete control systems. If you expect a new look at the recon...

Reconfigurable engineered motile semiconductor microparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohiri, Ugonna; Shields, C Wyatt; Han, Koohee; Tyler, Talmage; Velev, Orlin D; Jokerst, Nan

2018-05-03

Locally energized particles form the basis for emerging classes of active matter. The design of active particles has led to their controlled locomotion and assembly. The next generation of particles should demonstrate robust control over their active assembly, disassembly, and reconfiguration. Here we introduce a class of semiconductor microparticles that can be comprehensively designed (in size, shape, electric polarizability, and patterned coatings) using standard microfabrication tools. These custom silicon particles draw energy from external electric fields to actively propel, while interacting hydrodynamically, and sequentially assemble and disassemble on demand. We show that a number of electrokinetic effects, such as dielectrophoresis, induced charge electrophoresis, and diode propulsion, can selectively power the microparticle motions and interactions. The ability to achieve on-demand locomotion, tractable fluid flows, synchronized motility, and reversible assembly using engineered silicon microparticles may enable advanced applications that include remotely powered microsensors, artificial muscles, reconfigurable neural networks and computational systems.

Dynamic multi-channel TMS with reconfigurable coil.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Ruoli; Jansen, Ben H; Sheth, Bhavin R; Chen, Ji

2013-05-01

Investigations of the causal involvement of particular brain areas and interconnections in behavior require an external stimulation system with reasonable spatio-temporal resolution. Current transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technology is limited to stimulating a single brain area once in a given trial. Here, we present a feasibility study for a novel TMS system based on multi-channel reconfigurable coils. With this hardware, researchers will be able to stimulate multiple brain sites in any temporal order in a trial. The system employs a wire-mesh coil, constructed using x- and y-directional wires. By varying the current direction and/or strength on each wire, we can configure the proposed mesh-wire coil into a standard loop coil and figure-eight coil of varying size. This provides maximum flexibility to the experimenter in that the location and extent of stimulation on the brain surface can be modified depending on experimental requirement. Moreover, one can dynamically and automatically modify the site(s) of stimulation several times within the span of seconds. By pre-storing various sequences of excitation patterns inside a control unit, one can explore the effect of dynamic TMS on behavior, in associative learning, and as rehabilitative therapy. Here, we present a computer simulation and bench experiments that show the feasibility of the dynamically-reconfigurable coil.

A reconfigurable strategy for distributed digital process control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, H.E.; Ray, A.; Edwards, R.M.

1990-01-01

A reconfigurable control scheme is proposed which, unlike a preprogrammed one, uses stochastic automata to learn the current operating status of the environment (i.e., the plant, controller, and communication network) by dynamically monitoring the system performance and then switching to the appropriate controller on the basis of these observations. The potential applicability of this reconfigurable control scheme to electric power plants is being investigated. The plant under consideration is the Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-II) at the Argonne National Laboratory site in Idaho. The distributed control system is emulated on a ring network where the individual subsystems are hosted as follows: (1) the reconfigurable control modules are located in one of the network modules called Multifunction Controller; (2) the learning modules are resident in a VAX 11/785 mainframe computer; and (3) a detailed model of the plant under control is executed in the same mainframe. This configuration is a true representation of the network-based control system in the sense that it operates in real time and is capable of interacting with the actual plant

Reconfigurable radio-frequency arbitrary waveforms synthesized in a silicon photonic chip.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jian; Shen, Hao; Fan, Li; Wu, Rui; Niu, Ben; Varghese, Leo T; Xuan, Yi; Leaird, Daniel E; Wang, Xi; Gan, Fuwan; Weiner, Andrew M; Qi, Minghao

2015-01-12

Photonic methods of radio-frequency waveform generation and processing can provide performance advantages and flexibility over electronic methods due to the ultrawide bandwidth offered by the optical carriers. However, bulk optics implementations suffer from the lack of integration and slow reconfiguration speed. Here we propose an architecture of integrated photonic radio-frequency generation and processing and implement it on a silicon chip fabricated in a semiconductor manufacturing foundry. Our device can generate programmable radio-frequency bursts or continuous waveforms with only the light source, electrical drives/controls and detectors being off-chip. It modulates an individual pulse in a radio-frequency burst within 4 ns, achieving a reconfiguration speed three orders of magnitude faster than thermal tuning. The on-chip optical delay elements offer an integrated approach to accurately manipulating individual radio-frequency waveform features without constraints set by the speed and timing jitter of electronics, and should find applications ranging from high-speed wireless to defence electronics.

Site specific information in site selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aeikaes, T.; Hautojaervi, A.

1998-01-01

The programme for the siting of a deep repository for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel was started already in 1983 and is carried out today by Posiva Oy which continues the work started by Teollisuuden Voima Oy. The programme aims at site selection by the end of the year 2000. The programme has progressed in successive interim stages with defined goals. After an early phase for site identification, five sites were selected in 1987 for preliminary site characterisation. Three of these were selected and judged to be best suited for the more detailed characterisation in 1992. An additional new site was included into the programme based on a separate feasibility study in the beginning of 1997. Since the year 1983 several safety assessments together with technical plans of the facility have been completed. When approaching the site selection the needs for more detailed consideration of the site specific properties in the safety assessment have been increased. The Finnish regulator STUK has published a proposal for general safety requirements for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel in Finland. This set of requirements has been projected to be used in conjunction of the decision making by the end 2000. Based on the site evaluation all sites can provide a stable environment and there is evidence that the requirements for the longevity of the canister can be fulfilled at each site. In this manner the four candidate sites do not differ too much from each other. The main difference between the sites is in the salinity of the deep groundwater. The significance of differences in the salinity for the long-term safety cannot be defined yet. The differences may contribute to the discussion of the longevity of the bentonite buffer and also to the modelling of the groundwater flow and transport. The use of the geosphere as a transport barrier is basically culminated on the questions about sparse but fast flow routes and 'how bad channeling can be'. To answer these questions

Site selection

CERN Multimedia

CERN PhotoLab

1968-01-01

To help resolve the problem of site selection for the proposed 300 GeV machine, the Council selected "three wise men" (left to right, J H Bannier of the Netherlands, A Chavanne of Switzerland and L K Boggild of Denmark).

Managing collaboration in the nanoManipulator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hudson, Thomas C.; Heiser, Aron T.; Sonnenwald, Diane H.

2003-01-01

We designed, developed, deployed, and evaluated the Collaborative nanoManipulator (CnM), a system supporting remote collaboration between users of the nanoManipulator interface to atomic force microscopes. To be accepted by users, the shared nanoManipulator application had to have the same high...... level of interactivity as the single user system and the application had to support a user's ability to interleave working privately and working collaboratively. This paper briefly describes the entire collaboration system, but focuses on the shared nanoManipulator application. Based on our experience...... developing the CnM, we present: a method of analyzing applications to characterize the requirements for sharing data between collaborating sites, examples of data structures that support collaboration, and guidelines for selecting appropriate synchronization and concurrency control schemes....

Introduction to Reconfigurable Supercomputing

CERN Document Server

Lanzagorta, Marco; Rosenberg, Robert

2010-01-01

This book covers technologies, applications, tools, languages, procedures, advantages, and disadvantages of reconfigurable supercomputing using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The target audience is the community of users of High Performance Computers (HPe who may benefit from porting their applications into a reconfigurable environment. As such, this book is intended to guide the HPC user through the many algorithmic considerations, hardware alternatives, usability issues, programming languages, and design tools that need to be understood before embarking on the creation of reconfigur

Nested Reconfigurable Robots: Theory, Design, and Realization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ning Tan

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Rather than the conventional classification method, we propose to divide modular and reconfigurable robots into intra-, inter-, and nested reconfigurations. We suggest designing the robot with nested reconfigurability, which utilizes individual robots with intra-reconfigurability capable of combining with other homogeneous/heterogeneous robots (inter-reconfigurability. The objective of this approach is to generate more complex morphologies for performing specific tasks that are far from the capabilities of a single module or to respond to programmable assembly requirements. In this paper, we discuss the theory, concept, and initial mechanical design of Hinged-Tetro, a self-reconfigurable module conceived for the study of nested reconfiguration. Hinged-Tetro is a mobile robot that uses the principle of hinged dissection of polyominoes to transform itself into any of the seven one-sided tetrominoes in a straightforward way. The robot can also combine with other modules for shaping complex structures or giving rise to a robot with new capabilities. Finally, the validation experiments verify the nested reconfigurability of Hinged-Tetro. Extensive tests and analyses of intra-reconfiguration are provided in terms of energy and time consumptions. Experiments using two robots validate the inter-reconfigur ability of the proposed module.

A Method for Design of Modular Reconfigurable Machine Tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhengyi Xu

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Presented in this paper is a method for the design of modular reconfigurable machine tools (MRMTs. An MRMT is capable of using a minimal number of modules through reconfiguration to perform the required machining tasks for a family of parts. The proposed method consists of three steps: module identification, module determination, and layout synthesis. In the first step, the module components are collected from a family of general-purpose machines to establish a module library. In the second step, for a given family of parts to be machined, a set of needed modules are selected from the module library to construct a desired reconfigurable machine tool. In the third step, a final machine layout is decided though evaluation by considering a number of performance indices. Based on this method, a software package has been developed that can design an MRMT for a given part family.

Nuclear site selection studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gharib, A.; Zohoorian Izadpanah, A.A.; Iranmanesh, H.

2000-01-01

It is of special importance, especially from the nuclear safety viewpoint, to select suitable sites for different nuclear structures with the considered future activities. Site selection sometimes involves high costs not necessarily for merely selecting of site but for some preliminary measures to be taken so as the site may have the necessary characteristics. The more suitable the natural characteristics of the site for the considered project, the more successful and efficient the project, the lower the project costs and the longer the project operation period. If so, the project will cause the growth of public culture and sustainable socioeconomic development. This paper is the result of the conclusion of numerous massive reports of this activity in the preliminary phase based on theories, practices and the related safety principles on this ground as well as the application of data and information of the past and a glance to the future. The conception of need for a site for medium structures and nuclear research projects and how to perform this process are presented step by step here with a scientific approach to its selection during the investigations. In this study, it is practically described how the site is selected, by determining and defining the characteristics of research and nuclear projects with medium structures and also its fitting to the optimum site. The discovered sites typically involve the best advantages in technical and economic aspects and no particular contrast with the concerned structures

Reconfigurable network processing platforms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kachris, C.

2007-01-01

This dissertation presents our investigation on how to efficiently exploit reconfigurable hardware to design flexible, high performance, and power efficient network devices capable to adapt to varying processing requirements of network applications and traffic. The proposed reconfigurable network

Reconfigurable Computing

CERN Document Server

Cardoso, Joao MP

2011-01-01

As the complexity of modern embedded systems increases, it becomes less practical to design monolithic processing platforms. As a result, reconfigurable computing is being adopted widely for more flexible design. Reconfigurable Computers offer the spatial parallelism and fine-grained customizability of application-specific circuits with the postfabrication programmability of software. To make the most of this unique combination of performance and flexibility, designers need to be aware of both hardware and software issues. FPGA users must think not only about the gates needed to perform a comp

Reconfiguration of distribution nets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latorre Bayona, Gerardo; Angarita Marquez, Jorge Luis

2000-01-01

Starting of the location of the reconfiguration problem inside the context of the operation of distribution nets, of the quality indicators definition and of the presentation of the alternatives more used for reduction of technical losses, they are related diverse reconfiguration methodologies proposed in the technical literature, pointing out their three principals limitations; also are presents the results of lost obtained starting from simulation works carried out in distribution circuits of the ESSA ESP, which permitting to postulate the reconfiguration of nets like an excellent alternative to reduce technical losses

Manipulation of single neutral atoms in optical lattices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Chuanwei; Das Sarma, S.; Rolston, S. L.

2006-01-01

We analyze a scheme to manipulate quantum states of neutral atoms at individual sites of optical lattices using focused laser beams. Spatial distributions of focused laser intensities induce position-dependent energy shifts of hyperfine states, which, combined with microwave radiation, allow selective manipulation of quantum states of individual target atoms. We show that various errors in the manipulation process are suppressed below 10 -4 with properly chosen microwave pulse sequences and laser parameters. A similar idea is also applied to measure quantum states of single atoms in optical lattices

Experimental removal and elevation of sexual selection: does sexual selection generate manipulative males and resistant females?

Science.gov (United States)

Crudgington, Helen S; Beckerman, Andrew P; Brüstle, Lena; Green, Kathleen; Snook, Rhonda R

2005-05-01

Sexual conflict over reproduction can occur between males and females. In several naturally promiscuous insect species, experimental evolution studies that have enforced monogamy found evidence for sexual conflict. Here, we subjected the naturally promiscuous, sperm-heteromorphic fruit fly Drosophila pseudoobscura to enforced monogamy, standard levels of promiscuity, and elevated opportunities for promiscuity in four replicate lines. We examined the effect of male and female selection history and the proximate effect of variation in male density on female fitness parameters. We found that male density rather than male selection history explained a greater degree of female fecundity, egg hatching success, and productivity. Additionally, females selected under elevated promiscuity had greater fecundity and hatching success than did enforced monogamy females. Selection line males do not differ in their capacity to coerce females to remate, suggesting no divergence in precopulatory manipulative ability. However, these males did vary in their ability to suppress female remating, suggesting postcopulatory manipulation. These results indicate that sexual conflict can be manifested through both the proximate effects of male density and the historical levels of sexual selection and that the sexes respond differentially to these factors and further stress the multifarious channels of sexual communication that contribute to fitness.

ASRC Aerospace Corporation Selects Dynamically Reconfigurable Anadigm(Registered Trademark) FPAA For Advanced Data Acquisition System

Science.gov (United States)

Mata, Carlos T.

2003-01-01

Anadigm(registered trademark) today announced that ASRC Aerospace Corporation has designed Anadigm's dynamically reconfigurable Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA) technology into an advanced data acquisition system developed under contract for NASA. ASRC Aerospace designed in the Anadigm(registered trademark) FPAA to provide complex analog signal conditioning in its intelligent, self-calibrating, and self-healing advanced data acquisition system (ADAS). The ADAS has potential applications in industrial, manufacturing, and aerospace markets. This system offers highly reliable operation while reducing the need for user interaction. Anadigm(registered trademark)'s dynamically reconfigurable FPAAs can be reconfigured in-system by the designer or on the fly by a microprocessor. A single device can thus be programmed to implement multiple analog functions and/or to adapt on-the-fly to maintain precision operation despite system degradation and aging. In the case of the ASRC advanced data acquisition system, the FPAA helps ensure that the system will continue to operating at 100% functionality despite changes in the environment, component degradation, and/or component failures.

MEMS-Reconfigurable Metamaterials and Antenna Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomislav Debogovic

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews some of our contributions to reconfigurable metamaterials, where dynamic control is enabled by microelectromechanical systems (MEMS technology. First, we show reconfigurable composite right-/left-handed transmission lines (CRLH-TLs having state of the art phase velocity variation and loss, thereby enabling efficient reconfigurable phase shifters and leaky-wave antennas (LWA. Second, we present very low loss metasurface designs with reconfigurable reflection properties, applicable in reflectarrays and partially reflective surface (PRS antennas. All the presented devices have been fabricated and experimentally validated. They operate in X- and Ku-bands.

Dynamic Reconfiguration in Planetary Exploration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cohn, Marisa

2014-01-01

In taking into account the ways in which material and social realms are constitutively entangled within organizations, it is rhetorically tempting to say that technologies and social structures reconfigure each other. But what does it mean to reconfigure? How does one "figure" the other and how do...... we fully embrace a mutually constitutive relationship when examining fluid relations? This paper delves into these questions by exploring how physical, social, material, technological, and organizational arrangements dynamically reconfigure each other in the duration of organizational practice. Using...... be gained by focusing attention on the dynamic reconfigurations between social and material realms. In so doing, we call attention to the ways in which current sociomaterial perspectives have difficulty articulating the shifting, figural, asymmetric and dynamic negotiations between people, social structures...

Program Execution on Reconfigurable Multicore Architectures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanjiva Prasad

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Based on the two observations that diverse applications perform better on different multicore architectures, and that different phases of an application may have vastly different resource requirements, Pal et al. proposed a novel reconfigurable hardware approach for executing multithreaded programs. Instead of mapping a concurrent program to a fixed architecture, the architecture adaptively reconfigures itself to meet the application's concurrency and communication requirements, yielding significant improvements in performance. Based on our earlier abstract operational framework for multicore execution with hierarchical memory structures, we describe execution of multithreaded programs on reconfigurable architectures that support a variety of clustered configurations. Such reconfiguration may not preserve the semantics of programs due to the possible introduction of race conditions arising from concurrent accesses to shared memory by threads running on the different cores. We present an intuitive partial ordering notion on the cluster configurations, and show that the semantics of multithreaded programs is always preserved for reconfigurations "upward" in that ordering, whereas semantics preservation for arbitrary reconfigurations can be guaranteed for well-synchronised programs. We further show that a simple approximate notion of efficiency of execution on the different configurations can be obtained using the notion of amortised bisimulations, and extend it to dynamic reconfiguration.

Easy Reconfiguration of Modular Industrial Collaborative Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schou, Casper

2016-01-01

the production staff collaborating to perform common tasks. This change of environment imposes a much more dynamic lifecycle for the robot which consequently requires new ways of interacting. This thesis investigates how the changeover to a new task on a collaborative robot can be performed by the shop floor...... operators already working alongside the robot. To effectively perform this changeover, the operator must both reconfigure the hardware of the robot and reprogram the robot to match the new task. To enable shop floor operators to quickly and intuitively program the robot, this thesis proposes the use...... of parametric, task-related robot skills with a manual parameterization method. Reconfiguring the hardware entails adding, removing, or modifying some of the robot’s components. This thesis investigate how software configurator tools can aid the operator in selecting appropriate hardware modules, and how agent...

Controlled manipulation of oxygen vacancies using nanoscale flexoelectricity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Das, Saikat [Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Center for Correlated Electron Systems; Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Wang, Bo [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States).Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Cao, Ye [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Inst. for; Rae Cho, Myung [Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Center for Correlated Electron Systems; Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Jae Shin, Yeong [Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Center for Correlated Electron Systems; Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Mo Yang, Sang [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS); Sookmyung Women' s Univ., Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics; Wang, Lingfei [Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Center for Correlated Electron Systems; Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Kim, Minu [Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Center for Correlated Electron Systems; Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Kalinin, Sergei V. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Inst. for Functional Imaging of Materials; Chen, Long-Qing [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States).Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Noh, Tae Won [Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Center for Correlated Electron Systems; Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

2017-09-20

Oxygen vacancies, especially their distribution, are directly coupled to the electromagnetic properties of oxides and related emergent functionalities that have implications for device applications. Here using a homoepitaxial strontium titanate thin film, we demonstrate a controlled manipulation of the oxygen vacancy distribution using the mechanical force from a scanning probe microscope tip. By combining Kelvin probe force microscopy imaging and phase-field simulations, we show that oxygen vacancies can move under a stress-gradient-induced depolarisation field. When tailored, this nanoscale flexoelectric effect enables a controlled spatial modulation. In motion, the scanning probe tip thereby deterministically reconfigures the spatial distribution of vacancies. Finally, the ability to locally manipulate oxygen vacancies on-demand provides a tool for the exploration of mesoscale quantum phenomena and engineering multifunctional oxide devices.

Accelerating artificial intelligence with reconfigurable computing

Science.gov (United States)

Cieszewski, Radoslaw

Reconfigurable computing is emerging as an important area of research in computer architectures and software systems. Many algorithms can be greatly accelerated by placing the computationally intense portions of an algorithm into reconfigurable hardware. Reconfigurable computing combines many benefits of both software and ASIC implementations. Like software, the mapped circuit is flexible, and can be changed over the lifetime of the system. Similar to an ASIC, reconfigurable systems provide a method to map circuits into hardware. Reconfigurable systems therefore have the potential to achieve far greater performance than software as a result of bypassing the fetch-decode-execute operations of traditional processors, and possibly exploiting a greater level of parallelism. Such a field, where there is many different algorithms which can be accelerated, is an artificial intelligence. This paper presents example hardware implementations of Artificial Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms and Expert Systems.

Implementing Workflow Reconfiguration in WS-BPEL

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mazzara, Manuel; Dragoni, Nicola; Zhou, Mu

2012-01-01

This paper investigates the problem of dynamic reconfiguration by means of a workflow-based case study used for discussion. We state the requirements on a system implementing the workflow and its reconfiguration, and we describe the system’s design in BPMN. WS-BPEL, a language that would not natu......This paper investigates the problem of dynamic reconfiguration by means of a workflow-based case study used for discussion. We state the requirements on a system implementing the workflow and its reconfiguration, and we describe the system’s design in BPMN. WS-BPEL, a language that would...... not naturally support dynamic change, is used as a target for implementation. The WS-BPEL recovery framework is here exploited to implement the reconfiguration using principles derived from previous research in process algebra and two mappings from BPMN to WS-BPEL are presented, one automatic and only mostly...

Variable geometry truss manipulators: A new type of robot for site inspection and remediation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naccarato, F.

1996-01-01

A new type of robotic manipulator has been developed that offers many potential advantages over conventional robot arms for site inspection and remediation. This new robot is based on the variable geometry truss manipulator (VGTM) concept which combines the structural properties of a truss with the dexterous capabilities of a manipulator. By substituting linear actuators for some of the fixed-length members within a truss, the structure can be made to change its overall shape. By coordinating the motion of these actuators appropriately, a VGTM can perform tasks that are relevant to hazardous waste clean-up, including deployment through curved ducts, probing into crevices and obstacle avoidance. Trussarm trademark, a prototype VGTM with twelve degrees-of-freedom, has been constructed by Dynacon Enterprises Limited

Effect of Sacroiliac Joint Manipulation on Selected Gait Parameters in Healthy Subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Wójtowicz, Sebastian; Sajko, Igor; Hadamus, Anna; Mosiołek, Anna; Białoszewski, Dariusz

2017-08-31

The sacroiliac joints have complicated biomechanics. While the movements in the joints are small, they exert a significant effect on gait. This study aimed to assess how sacroiliac joint manipulation influences selected gait parameters. The study enrolled 57 healthy subjects. The experimental group consisted of 26 participants diagnosed with dysfunction of one sacroiliac joint. The control group was composed of 31 persons. All subjects from the experimental group underwent sacroiliac joint manipulation. The experimental group showed significant lengthening of the step on both sides and the stride length in this group increased as well. Moreover, the duration of the stride increased (p=0.000826). The maximum midfoot pressure was higher and maximum heel pressure decreased. The differences were statistically significant. 1. Subclinical dysfunctions of the sacroiliac joints may cause functional gait disturbance. 2. Manipulation of the iliosacral joint exerts a significant effect on gait parameters, which may lead to improved gait economy and effec-tiveness. 3. Following manipulation of one iliosacral joint, altered gait parameters are noted on both the manipulated side and the contralateral side, which may translate into improved quality of locomotion.

Custom-Designed Molecular Scissors for Site-Specific Manipulation of the Plant and Mammalian Genomes

Science.gov (United States)

Kandavelou, Karthikeyan; Chandrasegaran, Srinivasan

Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are custom-designed molecular scissors, engineered to cut at specific DNA sequences. ZFNs combine the zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) with the nonspecific cleavage domain of the FokI restriction enzyme. The DNA-binding specificity of ZFNs can be easily altered experimentally. This easy manipulation of the ZFN recognition specificity enables one to deliver a targeted double-strand break (DSB) to a genome. The targeted DSB stimulates local gene targeting by several orders of magnitude at that specific cut site via homologous recombination (HR). Thus, ZFNs have become an important experimental tool to make site-specific and permanent alterations to genomes of not only plants and mammals but also of many other organisms. Engineering of custom ZFNs involves many steps. The first step is to identify a ZFN site at or near the chosen chromosomal target within the genome to which ZFNs will bind and cut. The second step is to design and/or select various ZFP combinations that will bind to the chosen target site with high specificity and affinity. The DNA coding sequence for the designed ZFPs are then assembled by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using oligonucleotides. The third step is to fuse the ZFP constructs to the FokI cleavage domain. The ZFNs are then expressed as proteins by using the rabbit reticulocyte in vitro transcription/translation system and the protein products assayed for their DNA cleavage specificity.

Dual-arm manipulation module for use in decontamination and decommissioning operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamel, W.R.; Haley, D.C.; Dixon, W.E.

1994-01-01

A dual-arm manipulation module is under development for application in decontamination and decommissioning (D ampersand D) tasks. The development is led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory with support from Sandia National Laboratories, and with university and industry participation. The project is part of the Robotics Technology Development Program funded by the US Department of Energy, Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Office of Technology Development. The dual-arm module is designed to provide dexterous manipulation capability for remote characterization, decontamination, and dismantlement operations, and the module is reconfigurable to meet various deployment requirements. Remote manipulation capability can benefit D ampersand D activities through reduced worker exposure to both contaminant and industrial hazards. When tasks conditions permit, increased use of robotic features reduce costs by increased efficiency of operation

Trustworthy reconfigurable systems enhancing the security capabilities of reconfigurable hardware architectures

CERN Document Server

Feller, Thomas

2014-01-01

?Thomas Feller sheds some light on trust anchor architectures fortrustworthy reconfigurable systems. He is presenting novel concepts enhancing the security capabilities of reconfigurable hardware.Almost invisible to the user, many computer systems are embedded into everyday artifacts, such as cars, ATMs, and pacemakers. The significant growth of this market segment within the recent years enforced a rethinking with respect to the security properties and the trustworthiness of these systems. The trustworthiness of a system in general equates to the integrity of its system components. Hardware-b

Site selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olsen, C.W.

1983-07-01

The conditions and criteria for selecting a site for a nuclear weapons test at the Nevada Test Site are summarized. Factors considered are: (1) scheduling of drill rigs, (2) scheduling of site preparation (dirt work, auger hole, surface casing, cementing), (3) schedule of event (when are drill hole data needed), (4) depth range of proposed W.P., (5) geologic structure (faults, Pz contact, etc.), (6) stratigraphy (alluvium, location of Grouse Canyon Tuff, etc.), (7) material properties (particularly montmorillonite and CO 2 content), (8) water table depth, (9) potential drilling problems (caving), (10) adjacent collapse craters and chimneys, (11) adjacent expended but uncollapsed sites, (12) adjacent post-shot or other small diameter holes, (13) adjacent stockpile emplacement holes, (14) adjacent planned events (including LANL), (15) projected needs of Test Program for various DOB's and operational separations, and (16) optimal use of NTS real estate

SACFIR: SDN-Based Application-Aware Centralized Adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring Routing Protocol for WSNs.

Science.gov (United States)

Aslam, Muhammad; Hu, Xiaopeng; Wang, Fan

2017-12-13

Smart reconfiguration of a dynamic networking environment is offered by the central control of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Centralized SDN-based management architectures are capable of retrieving global topology intelligence and decoupling the forwarding plane from the control plane. Routing protocols developed for conventional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) utilize limited iterative reconfiguration methods to optimize environmental reporting. However, the challenging networking scenarios of WSNs involve a performance overhead due to constant periodic iterative reconfigurations. In this paper, we propose the SDN-based Application-aware Centralized adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring (SACFIR) routing protocol with the centralized SDN iterative solver controller to maintain the load-balancing between flow reconfigurations and flow allocation cost. The proposed SACFIR's routing protocol offers a unique iterative path-selection algorithm, which initially computes suitable clustering based on residual resources at the control layer and then implements application-aware threshold-based multi-hop report transmissions on the forwarding plane. The operation of the SACFIR algorithm is centrally supervised by the SDN controller residing at the Base Station (BS). This paper extends SACFIR to SDN-based Application-aware Main-value Centralized adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring (SAMCFIR) to establish both proactive and reactive reporting. The SAMCFIR transmission phase enables sensor nodes to trigger direct transmissions for main-value reports, while in the case of SACFIR, all reports follow computed routes. Our SDN-enabled proposed models adjust the reconfiguration period according to the traffic burden on sensor nodes, which results in heterogeneity awareness, load-balancing and application-specific reconfigurations of WSNs. Extensive experimental simulation-based results show that SACFIR and SAMCFIR yield the maximum scalability, network lifetime and stability

SACFIR: SDN-Based Application-Aware Centralized Adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring Routing Protocol for WSNs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Aslam

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Smart reconfiguration of a dynamic networking environment is offered by the central control of Software-Defined Networking (SDN. Centralized SDN-based management architectures are capable of retrieving global topology intelligence and decoupling the forwarding plane from the control plane. Routing protocols developed for conventional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs utilize limited iterative reconfiguration methods to optimize environmental reporting. However, the challenging networking scenarios of WSNs involve a performance overhead due to constant periodic iterative reconfigurations. In this paper, we propose the SDN-based Application-aware Centralized adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring (SACFIR routing protocol with the centralized SDN iterative solver controller to maintain the load-balancing between flow reconfigurations and flow allocation cost. The proposed SACFIR’s routing protocol offers a unique iterative path-selection algorithm, which initially computes suitable clustering based on residual resources at the control layer and then implements application-aware threshold-based multi-hop report transmissions on the forwarding plane. The operation of the SACFIR algorithm is centrally supervised by the SDN controller residing at the Base Station (BS. This paper extends SACFIR to SDN-based Application-aware Main-value Centralized adaptive Flow Iterative Reconfiguring (SAMCFIR to establish both proactive and reactive reporting. The SAMCFIR transmission phase enables sensor nodes to trigger direct transmissions for main-value reports, while in the case of SACFIR, all reports follow computed routes. Our SDN-enabled proposed models adjust the reconfiguration period according to the traffic burden on sensor nodes, which results in heterogeneity awareness, load-balancing and application-specific reconfigurations of WSNs. Extensive experimental simulation-based results show that SACFIR and SAMCFIR yield the maximum scalability, network lifetime

Reconfigurable Autonomy for Future Planetary Rovers

Science.gov (United States)

Burroughes, Guy

Extra-terrestrial Planetary rover systems are uniquely remote, placing constraints in regard to communication, environmental uncertainty, and limited physical resources, and requiring a high level of fault tolerance and resistance to hardware degradation. This thesis presents a novel self-reconfiguring autonomous software architecture designed to meet the needs of extraterrestrial planetary environments. At runtime it can safely reconfigure low-level control systems, high-level decisional autonomy systems, and managed software architecture. The architecture can perform automatic Verification and Validation of self-reconfiguration at run-time, and enables a system to be self-optimising, self-protecting, and self-healing. A novel self-monitoring system, which is non-invasive, efficient, tunable, and autonomously deploying, is also presented. The architecture was validated through the use-case of a highly autonomous extra-terrestrial planetary exploration rover. Three major forms of reconfiguration were demonstrated and tested: first, high level adjustment of system internal architecture and goal; second, software module modification; and third, low level alteration of hardware control in response to degradation of hardware and environmental change. The architecture was demonstrated to be robust and effective in a Mars sample return mission use-case testing the operational aspects of a novel, reconfigurable guidance, navigation, and control system for a planetary rover, all operating in concert through a scenario that required reconfiguration of all elements of the system.

Geologic, geochemical, microbiologic, and hydrologic characterization at the In Situ Redox Manipulation Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vermeul, V.R.; Teel, S.S.; Amonette, J.E.

1995-07-01

This report documents results from characterization activities at the In Situ Redox Manipulation (ISRM) Field Test Site which is located within the 100-HR-3 Operable Unit of the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Hanford Site in Richland, Washington. Information obtained during hydrogeologic characterization of the site included sediment physical properties, geochemical properties, microbiologic population data, and aquifer hydraulic properties. The purpose of obtaining this information was to improve the conceptual understanding of the hydrogeology beneath the ISRM test site and provide detailed, site specific hydrogeologic parameter estimates. The resulting characterization data will be incorporated into a numerical model developed to simulate the physical and chemical processes associated with the field experiment and aid in experiment design and interpretation

Facilitating preemptive hardware system design using partial reconfiguration techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Dondo Gazzano, Julio; Rincon, Fernando; Vaderrama, Carlos; Villanueva, Felix; Caba, Julian; Lopez, Juan Carlos

2014-01-01

In FPGA-based control system design, partial reconfiguration is especially well suited to implement preemptive systems. In real-time systems, the deadline for critical task can compel the preemption of noncritical one. Besides, an asynchronous event can demand immediate attention and, then, force launching a reconfiguration process for high-priority task implementation. If the asynchronous event is previously scheduled, an explicit activation of the reconfiguration process is performed. If the event cannot be previously programmed, such as in dynamically scheduled systems, an implicit activation to the reconfiguration process is demanded. This paper provides a hardware-based approach to explicit and implicit activation of the partial reconfiguration process in dynamically reconfigurable SoCs and includes all the necessary tasks to cope with this issue. Furthermore, the reconfiguration service introduced in this work allows remote invocation of the reconfiguration process and then the remote integration of off-chip components. A model that offers component location transparency is also presented to enhance and facilitate system integration.

CRISPR/Cas9-loxP-Mediated Gene Editing as a Novel Site-Specific Genetic Manipulation Tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Fayu; Liu, Changbao; Chen, Ding; Tu, Mengjun; Xie, Haihua; Sun, Huihui; Ge, Xianglian; Tang, Lianchao; Li, Jin; Zheng, Jiayong; Song, Zongming; Qu, Jia; Gu, Feng

2017-06-16

Cre-loxP, as one of the site-specific genetic manipulation tools, offers a method to study the spatial and temporal regulation of gene expression/inactivation in order to decipher gene function. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted genome engineering technologies are sparking a new revolution in biological research. Whether the traditional site-specific genetic manipulation tool and CRISPR/Cas9 could be combined to create a novel genetic tool for highly specific gene editing is not clear. Here, we successfully generated a CRISPR/Cas9-loxP system to perform gene editing in human cells, providing the proof of principle that these two technologies can be used together for the first time. We also showed that distinct non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) patterns from CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing of the targeting sequence locates at the level of plasmids (episomal) and chromosomes. Specially, the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated NHEJ pattern in the nuclear genome favors deletions (64%-68% at the human AAVS1 locus versus 4%-28% plasmid DNA). CRISPR/Cas9-loxP, a novel site-specific genetic manipulation tool, offers a platform for the dissection of gene function and molecular insights into DNA-repair pathways. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characterization of a piezoelectric MEMS actuator surface toward motion-enabled reconfigurable RF circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Tellers, M. C.; Pulskamp, J. S.; Bedair, S. S.; Rudy, R. Q.; Kierzewski, I. M.; Polcawich, R. G.; Bergbreiter, S. E.

2018-03-01

As an alternative to highly constrained hard-wired reconfigurable RF circuits, a motion-enabled reconfigurable circuit (MERC) offers freedom from transmission line losses and homogeneous materials selection. The creation of a successful MERC requires a precise mechanical mechanism for relocating components. In this work, a piezoelectric MEMS actuator array is modeled and experimentally characterized to assess its viability as a solution to the MERC concept. Actuation and design parameters are evaluated, and the repeatability of high quality on-axis motion at greater than 1 mm s-1 is demonstrated with little positional error. Finally, an initial proof-of-concept circuit reconfiguration has been demonstrated using off-the-shelf RF filter components. Although initial feasibility tests show filter performance degradation with an additional insertion loss of 0.3 dB per contact, out-of-band rejection degradation as high as 10 dB, and ripple performance reduction from 0.25 dB to 1.5 dB, MERC is proven here as an alternative to traditional approaches used in reconfigurable RF circuit applications.

Elements of Autonomous Self-Reconfigurable Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, David Johan

In this thesis, we study several central elements of autonomous self-reconfigurable modular robots. Unlike conventional robots such robots are: i) Modular, since robots are assembled from numerous robotic modules. ii) Reconfigurable, since the modules can be combined in a variety of ways. iii) Self......-reconfigurable, since the modules themselves are able to change how they are combined. iv) Autonomous, since robots control themselves without human guidance. Such robots are attractive to study since they in theory have several desirable characteristics, such as versatility, reliability and cheapness. In practice...... however, it is challenging to realize such characteristics since state-of-the-art systems and solutions suffer from several inherent technical and theoretical problems and limitations. In this thesis, we address these challenges by exploring four central elements of autonomous self-reconfigurable modular...

Wave Manipulation in Metamaterials: A LEGO® Bricks Enabled Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Celli, Paolo; Gonella, Stefano

In this work, we show how simple, reconfigurable arrangements of LEGO® bricks can be turned into the building blocks of an experimental platform for the investigation of wave phenomena in metamaterial architectures. The approach involves the assembly of reconfigurable specimens consisting of patterns of bricks on a baseplate and the use of a 3D laser vibrometer to reconstruct global and local wave features. The ability to seamlessly transition between different topologies makes this an effective approach for rapid experimental verification and proof of concept in the arena of mechanical metamaterials engineering. The intuitive nature of the brick-and-baseplate assembly paradigm can also be leveraged to implement families of intuitive lab demonstrations with significant didactic and scientific outreach potential. The versatility of the platform is tested through a series of experiments that illustrate a variety of wave manipulation effects, such as waveguiding and seismic isolation, both in periodic and disordered topologies. We acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (Grant CMMI-1266089).

Manipulating waves with LEGO® bricks: A versatile experimental platform for metamaterial architectures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Celli, Paolo; Gonella, Stefano

2015-01-01

In this letter, we discuss a versatile, fully reconfigurable experimental platform for the investigation of phononic phenomena in metamaterial architectures. The approach revolves around the use of 3D laser vibrometry to reconstruct global and local wavefield features in specimens obtained through simple arrangements of LEGO ® bricks on a thin baseplate. The agility by which it is possible to reconfigure the brick patterns into a nearly endless spectrum of topologies makes this an effective approach for rapid experimental proof of concept, as well as a powerful didactic tool, in the arena of phononic crystals and metamaterials engineering. We use our platform to provide a compelling visual illustration of important spatial wave manipulation effects (waveguiding and seismic isolation), and to elucidate fundamental dichotomies between Bragg-based and locally resonant bandgap mechanisms

Manipulating waves with LEGO bricks: A versatile experimental platform for metamaterial architectures

Science.gov (United States)

Celli, Paolo; Gonella, Stefano

2015-08-01

In this letter, we discuss a versatile, fully reconfigurable experimental platform for the investigation of phononic phenomena in metamaterial architectures. The approach revolves around the use of 3D laser vibrometry to reconstruct global and local wavefield features in specimens obtained through simple arrangements of LEGO® bricks on a thin baseplate. The agility by which it is possible to reconfigure the brick patterns into a nearly endless spectrum of topologies makes this an effective approach for rapid experimental proof of concept, as well as a powerful didactic tool, in the arena of phononic crystals and metamaterials engineering. We use our platform to provide a compelling visual illustration of important spatial wave manipulation effects (waveguiding and seismic isolation), and to elucidate fundamental dichotomies between Bragg-based and locally resonant bandgap mechanisms.

The impact of search engine selection and sorting criteria on vaccination beliefs and attitudes: two experiments manipulating Google output.

Science.gov (United States)

Allam, Ahmed; Schulz, Peter Johannes; Nakamoto, Kent

2014-04-02

During the past 2 decades, the Internet has evolved to become a necessity in our daily lives. The selection and sorting algorithms of search engines exert tremendous influence over the global spread of information and other communication processes. This study is concerned with demonstrating the influence of selection and sorting/ranking criteria operating in search engines on users' knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of websites about vaccination. In particular, it is to compare the effects of search engines that deliver websites emphasizing on the pro side of vaccination with those focusing on the con side and with normal Google as a control group. We conducted 2 online experiments using manipulated search engines. A pilot study was to verify the existence of dangerous health literacy in connection with searching and using health information on the Internet by exploring the effect of 2 manipulated search engines that yielded either pro or con vaccination sites only, with a group receiving normal Google as control. A pre-post test design was used; participants were American marketing students enrolled in a study-abroad program in Lugano, Switzerland. The second experiment manipulated the search engine by applying different ratios of con versus pro vaccination webpages displayed in the search results. Participants were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform where it was published as a human intelligence task (HIT). Both experiments showed knowledge highest in the group offered only pro vaccination sites (Z=-2.088, P=.03; Kruskal-Wallis H test [H₅]=11.30, P=.04). They acknowledged the importance/benefits (Z=-2.326, P=.02; H5=11.34, P=.04) and effectiveness (Z=-2.230, P=.03) of vaccination more, whereas groups offered antivaccination sites only showed increased concern about effects (Z=-2.582, P=.01; H₅=16.88, P=.005) and harmful health outcomes (Z=-2.200, P=.02) of vaccination. Normal Google users perceived information quality to be positive despite a

Silicon Processors Using Organically Reconfigurable Techniques (SPORT)

Science.gov (United States)

2014-05-19

AFRL-OSR-VA-TR-2014-0132 SILICON PROCESSORS USING ORGANICALLY RECONFIGURABLE TECHNIQUES ( SPORT ) Dennis Prather UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE Final Report 05...5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Silicon Processes for Organically Reconfigurable Techniques ( SPORT ) 5b. GRANT NUMBER FA9550-10-1-0363 5c...Contract: Silicon Processes for Organically Reconfigurable Techniques ( SPORT ) Contract #: FA9550-10-1-0363 Reporting Period: 1 July 2010 – 31 December

ITER site selection studies in Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Medrano, M.; Alejaldre, C.; Doncel, J.; Garcia, A.; Ibarra, A.; Jimenez, J.A.; Sanchez de Mora, M.A.; Alcala, F.; Diez, J.E.; Dominguez, M.; Albisu, F.

2003-01-01

The studies carried out to evaluate and select a candidate site for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) construction in Spain are presented in this paper. The ITER design, completed in July 2001, considered a number of technical requirements that must be fulfilled by the selected site. Several assumptions concerning the ITER site were made in order to carry on the design before final site selection. In the studies undertaken for ITER site selection in Spain, the referred technical requirements and assumptions were applied across the whole of Spain and two areas were identified as being preferential. These areas are on the Mediterranean coast and are situated in the Catalan and Valencian regions. A comparative evaluation based on technical characteristics for the concrete plots, proposed within the preferential areas, has been done. The result of these studies was the selection of a site that was deemed to be the most competitive--Vandellos (Tarragona)--and it was proposed to the European Commission for detailed studies in order to be considered as a possible European site for ITER construction. Another key factor for hosting ITER in Spain, is the licensing process. The present status is summarised in this paper

A reconfigurable hybrid supervisory system for process control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, H.E.; Ray, A.; Edwards, R.M.

1994-01-01

This paper presents a reconfigurable approach to decision and control systems for complex dynamic processes. The proposed supervisory control system is a reconfigurable hybrid architecture structured into three functional levels of hierarchy, namely, execution, supervision, and coordination. While the bottom execution level is constituted by either reconfigurable continuously varying or discrete event systems, the top two levels are necessarily governed by reconfigurable sets of discrete event decision and control systems. Based on the process status, the set of active control and supervisory algorithm is chosen. The reconfigurable hybrid system is briefly described along with a discussion on its implementation at the Experimental Breeder Reactor II of Argonne National Laboratory. A process control application of this hybrid system is presented and evaluated in an in-plant experiment

A reconfigurable hybrid supervisory system for process control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, H.E.; Ray, A.; Edwards, R.M.

1994-01-01

This paper presents a reconfigurable approach to decision and control systems for complex dynamic processes. The proposed supervisory control system is a reconfigurable hybrid architecture structured into three functional levels of hierarchy, namely, execution, supervision, and coordination. While, the bottom execution level is constituted by either reconfigurable continuously varying or discrete event systems, the top two levels are necessarily governed by reconfigurable sets of discrete event decision and control systems. Based on the process status, the set of active control and supervisory algorithm is chosen. The reconfigurable hybrid system is briefly described along with a discussion on its implementation at the Experimental Breeder Reactor 2 of Argonne National Laboratory. A process control application of this hybrid system is presented and evaluated in an in-plant experiment

Reconfigurable magnonic crystal consisting of periodically distributed domain walls in a nanostrip

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Zhi-xiong; Wang, Xi-guang; Wang, Dao-wei; Nie, Yao-zhuang; Tang, Wei; Guo, Guang-hua

2015-01-01

We study spin wave propagation in a new type of magnonic crystal consisting of a series of periodically distributed magnetic domain walls in a nanostrip by micromagnetic simulation. Spin wave bands and bandgaps are observed in frequency spectra and dispersion curves. Some bandgaps are caused by the Bragg reflection of the spin wave modes at the Brillouin zone boundaries, while others originate from the coupling between different incident and reflected spin wave modes. The control of the spin wave band structure by changing the magnetocrystalline anisotropy or applying an external magnetic field is studied. Increasing the magnetocrystalline anisotropy leads to an increase of the bandgaps. The external field applied perpendicular to the nanostrip gives rise to a doubling of the domain-wall magnonic crystal period. As a result, more bandgaps appear on the frequency spectra of propagating spin waves. The results presented here may find their use in the design of reconfigurable magnonic devices. - Highlights: • A reconfigurable magnonic crystal consisting of domain walls in a uniform nanostrip is proposed. • Propagating characteristics of spin waves in such magnonic crystal are studied. • Spin-wave band structures can be effectively manipulated by magnetic anisotropy or magnetic field

Proof of Concept of an Irradiance Estimation System for Reconfigurable Photovoltaic Arrays

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vincenzo Li Vigni

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In order to reduce the mismatch effect caused by non-uniform shadows in PV arrays, reconfigurable interconnections approaches have been recently proposed in the literature. These systems usually require the knowledge of the solar radiation affecting every solar module. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of three irradiance estimation approaches in order to define which can be well suited for reconfigurable PV arrays. It is presented a real-time solar irradiance estimation device (IrradEst, implementing the three different estimation methods. The proposed system is based on mathematical models of PV modules enabling to estimate irradiation values by sensing a combination of temperature, voltage and current of a PV module. Experimental results showed generally good agreement between the estimated irradiances and the measurements performed by a standard pyranometer taken as reference. Finally one of the three methods was selected as possible solution for a reconfigurable PV system.

Distribution grid reconfiguration reduces power losses and helps integrate renewables

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lueken, Colleen; Carvalho, Pedro M.S.; Apt, Jay

2012-01-01

A reconfigurable network can change its topology by opening and closing switches on power lines. We use real wind, solar, load, and cost data and a model of a reconfigurable distribution grid to show that reconfiguration allows a grid operator to reduce operational losses as well as to accept more intermittent renewable generation than a static configuration can. Net present value analysis of automated switch technology shows that the return on investment is negative for this test network when considering only loss reduction, but that the investment is attractive under certain conditions when reconfiguration is used to minimize curtailment. - Highlights: ► Reconfiguration may reduce losses in grids with solar or wind distributed generation. ► Reconfigurable networks can accept more solar or wind DG than static ones. ► Using reconfiguration for loss reduction would not create a positive ROI. ► Using reconfiguration to reduce curtailment usually would create a positive ROI.

[Sheng's acupuncture manipulation at bone-nearby acupoints and the academic thoughts].

Science.gov (United States)

Sheng, Ji-li; Jin, Xiao-qing

2014-11-01

Sheng's acupuncture manipulation at bone-nearby acupoints is a set of needling manipulation of the chief physician of TCM, SHENG Xie-sun, summarized through his over 50 years clinical experiences and on the basis of Internal Classic. Regarding this manipulation, on the premise of acupoint selection based on syndrome differentiation, the acupoints close to bone are possibly selected and punctured, with the needle tip toward bone edge, and followed by the technique to achieve reducing purpose. Clinically, the significant immediate analgesia can be achieved in pain disorders such as headache and toothache. Professor Sheng thought, corresponding to the location of needle insertion and needling depth, the tissue layers of needle tip passing through should be considered specially. The site of needle insertion should be changeable so as to ensure the needle tip reaching the bone. This manipulation for analgesia provides a certain guide for acupuncture study, especially for the mechanism study on acupuncture analgesia.

From stretchable to reconfigurable inorganic electronics

KAUST Repository

Nassar, Joanna M.

2016-05-06

Today’s state-of-the-art electronics are high performing, energy efficient, multi-functional and cost effective. However, they are also typically rigid and brittle. With the emergence of the Internet of Everything, electronic applications are expanding into previously unexplored areas, like healthcare, smart wearable artifacts, and robotics. One major challenge is the physical asymmetry of target application surfaces, which often cause mechanical stretching, contracting, twisting and other deformations to the application. In this review paper, we explore materials, processes, mechanics and devices that enable physically stretchable and reconfigurable electronics. While the concept of stretchable electronics is commonly used in practice, the notion of physically reconfigurable electronics is still in its infancy. Because organic materials are commonly naturally stretchable and physically deformable, we predominantly focus on electronics made from inorganic materials that have the capacity for physical stretching and reconfiguration while retaining their intended attributes. We emphasize how applications of electronics dictate theory to integration strategy for stretchable and reconfigurable inorganic electronics.

Multimode Communication Protocols Enabling Reconfigurable Radios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Berlemann Lars

2005-01-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the realization and application of a generic protocol stack for reconfigurable wireless communication systems. This focus extends the field of software-defined radios which usually concentrates on the physical layer. The generic protocol stack comprises common protocol functionality and behavior which are extended through specific parts of the targeted radio access technology. This paper considers parameterizable modules of basic protocol functions residing in the data link layer of the ISO/OSI model. System-specific functionality of the protocol software is realized through adequate parameterization and composition of the generic modules. The generic protocol stack allows an efficient realization of reconfigurable protocol software and enables a completely reconfigurable wireless communication system. It is a first step from side-by-side realized, preinstalled modes in a terminal towards a dynamic reconfigurable anymode terminal. The presented modules of the generic protocol stack can also be regarded as a toolbox for the accelerated and cost-efficient development of future communication protocols.

W-Band Real-Time Transmission Utilizing a Reconfigurable RAU for NG-PON Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chorchos, Łukasz; Turkiewicz, Jarosław P.; Rommel, Simon

2016-01-01

In this article, we propose and test a reconfigurable Remote Access Unit (RAU) to interface optical and W-band wireless communication links (75–110 GHz), utilizing optical heterodyne signal upconversion. The RAU is composed of a tunable local oscillator, narrow optical filter and a control unit....... The RAU can be software-reconfigured to select a specific dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) channel. Real-time tests with 100 GHz spaced DWDM signals have been performed. Real-time 2.5 Gbit/s error free radio transmission in the 75 GHz to 95 GHz range of the W-band was achieved after 15 km...

Design, Modelling and Analysis of a Workflow Reconfiguration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mazzara, Manuel; Abouzaid, Faisal; Dragoni, Nicola

2011-01-01

This paper describes a case study involving the reconfiguration of an office workflow. We state the requirements on a system implementing the workflow and its reconfiguration, and describe the system’s design in BPMN. We then use an asynchronous pi-calculus and Web.1 to model the design and to ve......This paper describes a case study involving the reconfiguration of an office workflow. We state the requirements on a system implementing the workflow and its reconfiguration, and describe the system’s design in BPMN. We then use an asynchronous pi-calculus and Web.1 to model the design...

Reconfiguring trade mark law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Elsmore, Matthew James

2013-01-01

-border setting, with a particular focus on small business and consumers. The article's overall message is to call for a rethink of received wisdom suggesting that trade marks are effective trade-enabling devices. The case is made for reassessing how we think about European trade mark law.......First, this article argues that trade mark law should be approached in a supplementary way, called reconfiguration. Second, the article investigates such a reconfiguration of trade mark law by exploring the interplay of trade marks and service transactions in the Single Market, in the cross...

Realization of the manipulation of ultracold atoms with a reconfigurable nanomagnetic system of domain walls.

Science.gov (United States)

West, Adam D; Weatherill, Kevin J; Hayward, Thomas J; Fry, Paul W; Schrefl, Thomas; Gibbs, Mike R J; Adams, Charles S; Allwood, Dan A; Hughes, Ifan G

2012-08-08

Planar magnetic nanowires have been vital to the development of spintronic technology. They provide an unparalleled combination of magnetic reconfigurability, controllability, and scalability, which has helped to realize such applications as racetrack memory and novel logic gates. Microfabricated atom optics benefit from all of these properties, and we present the first demonstration of the amalgamation of spintronic technology with ultracold atoms. A magnetic interaction is exhibited through the reflection of a cloud of (87)Rb atoms at a temperature of 10 μK, from a 2 mm × 2 mm array of nanomagnetic domain walls. In turn, the incident atoms approach the array at heights of the order of 100 nm and are thus used to probe magnetic fields at this distance.

Prey and mound disassembly, manipulation and transport by fire ant collectives

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, Bahnisikha; Monaenkova, Daria; Goodisman, Michael A.; Goldman, Daniel

Fire ants inhabit subterranean nests covered by a hemispherical mound of soil permeated by narrow ( 1 body length diameter) tunnels. Fire ants can use their mound for long-term food storage [Gayahan &Tschinkel, J. Insect Sci.,2008]. Since mound tunnels are narrow, we expect that in addition to prey manipulation, mound reconfiguration could also be an important aspect of the food storage strategy. Ant colonies collected from wild were allowed to build nests in containers filled with clay soil in the laboratory. These colonies were offered diverse prey embedded with lead markers, including mealworms, crickets and shrimp. Ant-prey-soil interactions on the nest surface were recorded using overhead video and subsurface using x-ray imaging. Individual ants involved in prey storage exhibited three distinct behaviors: prey maneuvering, prey dissection and mound reconfiguration. Small prey (e.g. mealworms) were collectively carried intact into the mound through a tunnel, and then disassembled within the mound. Larger prey (e.g. shrimp) were dismantled into small pieces above the surface and carried to mound tunnels. The bodies of hard medium-sized prey (e.g. crickets) were buried after limb removal and then disassembled and moved into tunnels. Soil reconfiguration occurred in all cases.

Optimization of metallic microheaters for high-speed reconfigurable silicon photonics.

Science.gov (United States)

Atabaki, A H; Shah Hosseini, E; Eftekhar, A A; Yegnanarayanan, S; Adibi, A

2010-08-16

The strong thermooptic effect in silicon enables low-power and low-loss reconfiguration of large-scale silicon photonics. Thermal reconfiguration through the integration of metallic microheaters has been one of the more widely used reconfiguration techniques in silicon photonics. In this paper, structural and material optimizations are carried out through heat transport modeling to improve the reconfiguration speed of such devices, and the results are experimentally verified. Around 4 micros reconfiguration time are shown for the optimized structures. Moreover, sub-microsecond reconfiguration time is experimentally demonstrated through the pulsed excitation of the microheaters. The limitation of this pulsed excitation scheme is also discussed through an accurate system-level model developed for the microheater response.

Mob/oriT, a mobilizable site-specific recombination system for unmarked genetic manipulation in Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus cereus.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Pengxia; Zhu, Yiguang; Zhang, Yuyang; Zhang, Chunyi; Xu, Jianyi; Deng, Yun; Peng, Donghai; Ruan, Lifang; Sun, Ming

2016-06-10

Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus cereus are two important species in B. cereus group. The intensive study of these strains at the molecular level and construction of genetically modified bacteria requires the development of efficient genetic tools. To insert genes into or delete genes from bacterial chromosomes, marker-less manipulation methods were employed. We present a novel genetic manipulation method for B. thuringiensis and B. cereus strains that does not leave selection markers. Our approach takes advantage of the relaxase Mob02281 encoded by plasmid pBMB0228 from Bacillus thuringiensis. In addition to its mobilization function, this Mob protein can mediate recombination between oriT sites. The Mob02281 mobilization module was associated with a spectinomycin-resistance gene to form a Mob-Spc cassette, which was flanked by the core 24-bp oriT sequences from pBMB0228. A strain in which the wild-type chromosome was replaced with the modified copy containing the Mob-Spc cassette at the target locus was obtained via homologous recombination. Thus, the spectinomycin-resistance gene can be used to screen for Mob-Spc cassette integration mutants. Recombination between the two oriT sequences mediated by Mob02281, encoded by the Mob-Spc cassette, resulted in the excision of the Mob-Spc cassette, producing the desired chromosomal alteration without introducing unwanted selection markers. We used this system to generate an in-frame deletion of a target gene in B. thuringiensis as well as a gene located in an operon of B. cereus. Moreover, we demonstrated that this system can be used to introduce a single gene or an expression cassette of interest in B. thuringiensis. The Mob/oriT recombination system provides an efficient method for unmarked genetic manipulation and for constructing genetically modified bacteria of B. thuringiensis and B. cereus. Our method extends the available genetic tools for B. thuringiensis and B. cereus strains.

Secure computing on reconfigurable systems

OpenAIRE

Fernandes Chaves, R.J.

2007-01-01

This thesis proposes a Secure Computing Module (SCM) for reconfigurable computing systems. SC provides a protected and reliable computational environment, where data security and protection against malicious attacks to the system is assured. SC is strongly based on encryption algorithms and on the attestation of the executed functions. The use of SC on reconfigurable devices has the advantage of being highly adaptable to the application and the user requirements, while providing high performa...

Reconfiguring Maternity Care?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johannsen, Nis

This dissertation constitutes a reflection on two initiatives seeking to reconfigure maternity care. One initiative sought to digitalise maternity records and included a pilot run of an electronic maternity record in a Danish county. The other consisted of a collaboration between a maternity ward...... at a hospital and a group of researchers which included me. Both initiatives involved numerous seemingly different interests that were held together and related to reconfiguring maternity care. None of the initiatives can unequivocally be labelled a success, as neither managed to change maternity care, at least...... experimental designs are constructed. The consequences and the politics of the proposed changes are engaged with in laboratory manner through collaborative development of the designs and through exposing them to members of field of maternity care...

Manipulating waves with LEGO{sup ®} bricks: A versatile experimental platform for metamaterial architectures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Celli, Paolo, E-mail: pcelli@umn.edu; Gonella, Stefano, E-mail: sgonella@umn.edu [Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (United States)

2015-08-24

In this letter, we discuss a versatile, fully reconfigurable experimental platform for the investigation of phononic phenomena in metamaterial architectures. The approach revolves around the use of 3D laser vibrometry to reconstruct global and local wavefield features in specimens obtained through simple arrangements of LEGO{sup ®} bricks on a thin baseplate. The agility by which it is possible to reconfigure the brick patterns into a nearly endless spectrum of topologies makes this an effective approach for rapid experimental proof of concept, as well as a powerful didactic tool, in the arena of phononic crystals and metamaterials engineering. We use our platform to provide a compelling visual illustration of important spatial wave manipulation effects (waveguiding and seismic isolation), and to elucidate fundamental dichotomies between Bragg-based and locally resonant bandgap mechanisms.

Design of reconfigurable antennas using graph models

CERN Document Server

Costantine, Joseph; Christodoulou, Christos G; Christodoulou, Christos G

2013-01-01

This lecture discusses the use of graph models to represent reconfigurable antennas. The rise of antennas that adapt to their environment and change their operation based on the user's request hasn't been met with clear design guidelines. There is a need to propose some rules for the optimization of any reconfigurable antenna design and performance. Since reconfigurable antennas are seen as a collection of self-organizing parts, graph models can be introduced to relate each possible topology to a corresponding electromagnetic performance in terms of achieving a characteristic frequency of oper

Reconfigurable radio systems network architectures and standards

CERN Document Server

Iacobucci, Maria Stella

2013-01-01

This timely book provides a standards-based view of the development, evolution, techniques and potential future scenarios for the deployment of reconfigurable radio systems.  After an introduction to radiomobile and radio systems deployed in the access network, the book describes cognitive radio concepts and capabilities, which are the basis for reconfigurable radio systems.  The self-organizing network features introduced in 3GPP standards are discussed and IEEE 802.22, the first standard based on cognitive radio, is described. Then the ETSI reconfigurable radio systems functional ar

Light-Driven Reconfiguration of a Xanthophyll Violaxanthin in the Photosynthetic Pigment-Protein Complex LHCII: A Resonance Raman Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Grudzinski, Wojciech; Janik, Ewa; Bednarska, Joanna; Welc, Renata; Zubik, Monika; Sowinski, Karol; Luchowski, Rafal; Gruszecki, Wieslaw I

2016-05-19

Resonance Raman analysis of the photosynthetic complex LHCII, immobilized in a polyacrylamide gel, reveals that one of the protein-bound xanthophylls, assigned as violaxanthin, undergoes light-induced molecular reconfiguration. The phototransformation is selectively observed in a trimeric structure of the complex and is associated with a pronounced twisting and a trans-cis molecular configuration change of the polyene chain of the carotenoid. Among several spectral effects accompanying the reconfiguration there are ones indicating a carotenoid triplet state. Possible physiological importance of the light-induced violaxanthin reconfiguration as a mechanism associated with making the pigment available for enzymatic deepoxidation in the xanthophyll cycle is discussed.

Graphene-based Yagi-Uda antenna with reconfigurable radiation patterns

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Yongle, E-mail: wuyongle138@gmail.com; Qu, Meijun; Jiao, Lingxiao; Liu, Yuanan [School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Work Safety Intelligent Monitoring, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, P. O. Box. 282, Beijing, 100876 (China); Ghassemlooy, Zabih [Optical Communications Research Group, NCRLab, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST (United Kingdom)

2016-06-15

This paper presents a radiation pattern reconfigurable Yagi-Uda antenna based on graphene operating at terahertz frequencies. The antenna can be reconfigured to change the main beam pattern into two or four different radiation directions. The proposed antenna consists of a driven dipole radiation conductor, parasitic strips and embedded graphene. The hybrid graphene-metal implementation enables the antenna to have dynamic surface conductivity, which can be tuned by changing the chemical potentials. Therefore, the main beam direction, the resonance frequency, and the front-to-back ratio of the proposed antenna can be controlled by tuning the chemical potentials of the graphene embedded in different positions. The proposed two-beam reconfigurable Yagi-Uda antenna can achieve excellent unidirectional symmetrical radiation pattern with the front-to-back ratio of 11.9 dB and the10-dB impedance bandwidth of 15%. The different radiation directivity of the two-beam reconfigurable antenna can be achieved by controlling the chemical potentials of the graphene embedded in the parasitic stubs. The achievable peak gain of the proposed two-beam reconfigurable antenna is about 7.8 dB. Furthermore, we propose a four-beam reconfigurable Yagi-Uda antenna, which has stable reflection-coefficient performance although four main beams in reconfigurable cases point to four totally different directions. The corresponding peak gain, front-to-back ratio, and 10-dB impedance bandwidth of the four-beam reconfigurable antenna are about 6.4 dB, 12 dB, and 10%, respectively. Therefore, this novel design method of reconfigurable antennas is extremely promising for beam-scanning in terahertz and mid-infrared plasmonic devices and systems.

Integration of reconfigurable potentiometric electrochemical sensors into a digital microfluidic platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Farzbod, Ali; Moon, Hyejin

2018-05-30

This paper presents the demonstration of on-chip fabrication of a potassium-selective sensor array enabled by electrowetting on dielectric digital microfluidics for the first time. This demonstration proves the concept that electrochemical sensors can be seamlessly integrated with sample preparation units in a digital microfluidic platform. More significantly, the successful on-chip fabrication of a sensor array indicates that sensors become reconfigurable and have longer lifetime in a digital microfluidic platform. The on-chip fabrication of ion-selective electrodes includes electroplating Ag followed by forming AgCl layer by chemical oxidation and depositing a thin layer of desired polymer-based ion selective membrane on one of the sensor electrodes. In this study, potassium ionophores work as potassium ion channels and make the membrane selective to potassium ions. This selectiveness results in the voltage difference across the membrane layer, which is correlated with potassium ion concentration. The calibration curve of the fabricated potassium-selective electrode demonstrates the slope of 58 mV/dec for potassium concentration in KCl sample solutions and shows good agreement with the ideal Nernstian response. The proposed sensor platform is an outstanding candidate for a portable home-use for continuous monitoring of ions thanks to its advantages such as easy automation of sample preparation and detection processes, elongated sensor lifetime, minimal membrane and sample consumption, and user-definable/reconfigurable sensor array. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation of the site selection examples adopted local participation. The site selection processes in Belgium, UK and Switzerland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kageyama, Hitoshi; Suzuki, Shinji; Hirose, Ikuro; Yoshioka, Tatsuji

2014-06-01

In late years, local participation policies are being adopted in foreign countries at site selection for the disposal of the radioactive waste. We performed documents investigation about the examples of the site selection processes of Belgium, the U.K., and Switzerland to establish the site selection policy in Japan. In Belgium, after the failure of the site selection for the disposal of short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive waste (LILW) in an early stage, the idea of the local partnership (LP) was developed and three independent LPs were established between the implementing body and each municipality. About 7 years later, one site was decided as the disposal site in the cabinet meeting of the federal government. In the U.K., after the failure of the site selection for the rock characterization facility, the government policy was changed and the consultation process comprised of six phases was started. Though the process had been carried out for over 4 years since one combined partnership was established between the implementing body and the municipalities involved, they had to withdraw from the consulting process because a county council had not accepted that the process would step forward to the 4th phase. In Switzerland, the implementing body selected one site for LILW disposal at an early stage, but the project was denied by the referendum in the Canton having jurisdiction over the site area. After that the Federal Parliament established new Nuclear Energy Act and Nuclear Energy Ordinance precluding the veto of Canton. Now the site selection project is being carried out according to the process comprised of three phases with local participation policy. Reviewing the merits and demerits of each example through this investigation, we confirmed if we are to adopt local participation policy in our country in future, further prudent study would be necessary, considering current and future social conditions in Japan. (author)

Reconfigurable fault tolerant avionics system

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, M. M.; Asami, K.; Cho, Mengu

This paper presents the design of a reconfigurable avionics system based on modern Static Random Access Memory (SRAM)-based Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to be used in future generations of nano satellites. A major concern in satellite systems and especially nano satellites is to build robust systems with low-power consumption profiles. The system is designed to be flexible by providing the capability of reconfiguring itself based on its orbital position. As Single Event Upsets (SEU) do not have the same severity and intensity in all orbital locations, having the maximum at the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) and the polar cusps, the system does not have to be fully protected all the time in its orbit. An acceptable level of protection against high-energy cosmic rays and charged particles roaming in space is provided within the majority of the orbit through software fault tolerance. Check pointing and roll back, besides control flow assertions, is used for that level of protection. In the minority part of the orbit where severe SEUs are expected to exist, a reconfiguration for the system FPGA is initiated where the processor systems are triplicated and protection through Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) with feedback is provided. This technique of reconfiguring the system as per the level of the threat expected from SEU-induced faults helps in reducing the average dynamic power consumption of the system to one-third of its maximum. This technique can be viewed as a smart protection through system reconfiguration. The system is built on the commercial version of the (XC5VLX50) Xilinx Virtex5 FPGA on bulk silicon with 324 IO. Simulations of orbit SEU rates were carried out using the SPENVIS web-based software package.

Distributed reconfigurable control strategies for switching topology networked multi-agent systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallehdari, Z; Meskin, N; Khorasani, K

2017-11-01

In this paper, distributed control reconfiguration strategies for directed switching topology networked multi-agent systems are developed and investigated. The proposed control strategies are invoked when the agents are subject to actuator faults and while the available fault detection and isolation (FDI) modules provide inaccurate and unreliable information on the estimation of faults severities. Our proposed strategies will ensure that the agents reach a consensus while an upper bound on the team performance index is ensured and satisfied. Three types of actuator faults are considered, namely: the loss of effectiveness fault, the outage fault, and the stuck fault. By utilizing quadratic and convex hull (composite) Lyapunov functions, two cooperative and distributed recovery strategies are designed and provided to select the gains of the proposed control laws such that the team objectives are guaranteed. Our proposed reconfigurable control laws are applied to a team of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) under directed switching topologies and subject to simultaneous actuator faults. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed distributed reconfiguration control laws in compensating for the effects of sudden actuator faults and subject to fault diagnosis module uncertainties and unreliabilities. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Houdini trademark: Reconfigurable in-tank mobile robot. Final report, June 1995 - January 1997

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, B.; Slifko, A.

1998-01-01

This report details the development of a reconfigurable in-tank robotic cleanup system called Houdini trademark. Driven by the general need to develop equipment for the removal of radioactive waste from hundreds of DOE waste storage tanks and the specific needs of DOE sites such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Fernald, Houdini trademark represents one of the possible tools that can be used to mobilize and retrieve this waste material for complete remediation. Houdini trademark is a hydraulically powered, track driven, mobile work vehicle with a collapsible frame designed to enter underground or above ground waste tanks through existing 24 inch riser openings. After the vehicle has entered the waste tank, it unfolds and lands on the waste surface or tank floor to become a remotely operated mini-bulldozer. Houdini trademark utilizes a vehicle mounted plow blade and 6-DOF manipulator to mobilize waste and carry other tooling such as sluicing pumps, excavation buckets, and hydraulic shears. The complete Houdini trademark system consists of the tracked vehicle and other support equipment (e.g., control console, deployment system, hydraulic power supply, and controller) necessary to deploy and remotely operate this system at any DOE site. Inside the storage tanks, the system is capable of performing heel removal, waste mobilization, waste size reduction, and other tank waste retrieval and decommissioning tasks. The first Houdini trademark system was delivered on September 24, 1996 to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The system acceptance test was successfully performed at a cold test facility at ORNL. After completion of the cold test program and the training of site personnel, ORNL will deploy the system for clean-up and remediation of the Gunite storage tanks

Houdini{trademark}: Reconfigurable in-tank mobile robot. Final report, June 1995--January 1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thompson, B.; Slifko, A.

1998-12-31

This report details the development of a reconfigurable in-tank robotic cleanup system called Houdini{trademark}. Driven by the general need to develop equipment for the removal of radioactive waste from hundreds of DOE waste storage tanks and the specific needs of DOE sites such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Fernald, Houdini{trademark} represents one of the possible tools that can be used to mobilize and retrieve this waste material for complete remediation. Houdini{trademark} is a hydraulically powered, track driven, mobile work vehicle with a collapsible frame designed to enter underground or above ground waste tanks through existing 24 inch riser openings. After the vehicle has entered the waste tank, it unfolds and lands on the waste surface or tank floor to become a remotely operated mini-bulldozer. Houdini{trademark} utilizes a vehicle mounted plow blade and 6-DOF manipulator to mobilize waste and carry other tooling such as sluicing pumps, excavation buckets, and hydraulic shears. The complete Houdini{trademark} system consists of the tracked vehicle and other support equipment (e.g., control console, deployment system, hydraulic power supply, and controller) necessary to deploy and remotely operate this system at any DOE site. Inside the storage tanks, the system is capable of performing heel removal, waste mobilization, waste size reduction, and other tank waste retrieval and decommissioning tasks. The first Houdini{trademark} system was delivered on September 24, 1996 to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The system acceptance test was successfully performed at a cold test facility at ORNL. After completion of the cold test program and the training of site personnel, ORNL will deploy the system for clean-up and remediation of the Gunite storage tanks.

Does the application site of spinal manipulative therapy alter spinal tissues loading?

Science.gov (United States)

Funabashi, Martha; Nougarou, François; Descarreaux, Martin; Prasad, Narasimha; Kawchuk, Gregory N

2018-01-31

Previous studies found that the intervertebral disc (IVD) experiences the greatest loads during spinal manipulation therapy (SMT). Based on that, this study aimed to determine if loads experienced by spinal tissues are significantly altered when the application site of SMT is changed. A biomechanical robotic serial dissection study. Thirteen porcine cadaveric motion segments. Forces experienced by lumbar spinal tissues. A servo-controlled linear actuator provided standardized 300 N SMT simulations to six different cutaneous locations of the porcine lumbar spine: L2-L3 and L3-L4 facet joints (FJ), L3 and L4 transverse processes (TVP), and the space between the FJs and the TVPs (BTW). Vertebral kinematics were tracked optically using indwelling bone pins; the motion segment was removed and mounted in a parallel robot equipped with a six-axis load cell. Movements of each SMT application at each site were replayed by the robot with the intact specimen and following the sequential removal of spinal ligaments, FJs and IVD. Forces induced by SMT were recorded, and specific axes were analyzed using linear mixed models. Analyses yielded a significant difference (p<.05) in spinal structures loads as a function of the application site. Spinal manipulative therapy application at the L3 vertebra caused vertebral movements and forces between L3 and L4 spinal segment in the opposite direction to when SMT was applied at L4 vertebra. Additionally, SMT applications over the soft tissue between adjacent vertebrae significantly decreased spinal structure loads. Applying SMT with a constant force at different spinal levels creates different relative kinetics of the spinal segments and load spinal tissues in significantly different magnitudes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Structure and Dimensional Design of a Reconfigurable PKM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoqiang Tang

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Parallel Kinematic Machines (PKMs have many advantages and have been widely used in the machine industry. Benefitting from its modular structure, a PKM is more reconfigurable than traditional serial machines. In this paper, a new type of driving strut module and innovative joints are designed for the Reconfigurable Parallel Kinematic Machine (RPKM. The new driving strut module can be changed from linear drive mode to telescopic drive mode easily, and the new spherical joint and universal joint are designed to achieve a large rotation angle. The inverse kinematics problems in relation to the 6-DOF RPKM are analysed, and the Workspace Volume Index (WVI and the Global ConditionIndex (GCI are adopted to design the RPKM. According to the WVI and GCI analysis of the selected parameters for two types of 6-DOF PKM, the dimensional parameters of the RPKM are designed. In the end, the new type of RPKM prototype is built, with which a wax pattern is machined.

MT-ADRES: Multithreading on Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architecture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Kehuai; Kanstein, Andreas; Madsen, Jan

2007-01-01

The coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture ADRES (Architecture for Dynamically Reconfigurable Embedded Systems) and its compiler offer high instruction-level parallelism (ILP) to applications by means of a sparsely interconnected array of functional units and register files. As high-ILP archi......The coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture ADRES (Architecture for Dynamically Reconfigurable Embedded Systems) and its compiler offer high instruction-level parallelism (ILP) to applications by means of a sparsely interconnected array of functional units and register files. As high......-ILP architectures achieve only low parallelism when executing partially sequential code segments, which is also known as Amdahl’s law, this paper proposes to extend ADRES to MT-ADRES (Multi-Threaded ADRES) to also exploit thread-level parallelism. On MT-ADRES architectures, the array can be partitioned in multiple...

Lattice Automata for Control of Self-Reconfigurable Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Støy, Kasper

2015-01-01

are extreme versatility and robustness. The organisation of self-reconfigurable robots in a lattice structure and the emphasis on local communication between modules mean that lattice automata are a useful basis for control of self-reconfigurable robots. However, there are significant differences which arise...... mainly from the physical nature of self-reconfigurable robots as opposed to the virtual nature of lattice automata. The problems resulting from these differences are mutual exclusion, handling motion constraints of modules, and unrealistic assumption about global, spatial orientation. Despite...... these problems the self-reconfigurable robot community has successfully applied lattice automata to simple control problems. However, for more complex problems hybrid solutions based on lattice automata and distributed algorithms are used. Hence, lattice automata have shown to have potential for the control...

Reconfigurable OR and XOR logic gates based on dual responsive on-off-on micromotors

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Yonggang; Liu, Mei; Zhang, Hui; Dong, Bin

2016-04-01

In this study, we report a hemisphere-like micromotor. Intriguingly, the micromotor exhibits controllable on-off-on motion, which can be actuated by two different external stimuli (UV and NH3). Moreover, the moving direction of the micromotor can be manipulated by the direction in which UV and NH3 are applied. As a result, the motion accelerates when both stimuli are applied in the same direction and decelerates when the application directions are opposite to each other. More interestingly, the dual stimuli responsive micromotor can be utilized as a reconfigurable logic gate with UV and NH3 as the inputs and the motion of the micromotor as the output. By controlling the direction of the external stimuli, OR and XOR dual logic functions can be realized.In this study, we report a hemisphere-like micromotor. Intriguingly, the micromotor exhibits controllable on-off-on motion, which can be actuated by two different external stimuli (UV and NH3). Moreover, the moving direction of the micromotor can be manipulated by the direction in which UV and NH3 are applied. As a result, the motion accelerates when both stimuli are applied in the same direction and decelerates when the application directions are opposite to each other. More interestingly, the dual stimuli responsive micromotor can be utilized as a reconfigurable logic gate with UV and NH3 as the inputs and the motion of the micromotor as the output. By controlling the direction of the external stimuli, OR and XOR dual logic functions can be realized. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Fig. S1-S6 and Videos S1-S5. See DOI: 10.1039/c6nr00752j

Houdini: Site and locomotion analysis-driven design of an in-tank mobile cleanup robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schempf, H.

1995-10-01

This paper describes design and locomotion analysis efforts to develop a new reconfigurable and collapsible working machine, dubbed Houdini, to remotely clean up hazardous-waste and petroleum storage tanks. The tethered robot system is designed to allow remote entry through man-way openings as small as 0.61 m in diameter, after which it expands its locomotors and opens up its collapsible backhoe/manipulator and plow to subsequently perform waste or material handling operations. The design is optimized to meet stringent site and safety requirements, and represents a viable alternative to (1) the long-reach manipulation systems proposed for hazardous storage tank cleanup, and (2) confined-entry manual cleanup approaches. The system development has been funded to provide waste mobilization and removal solutions for the hazardous waste storage tanks in the Department of Energy (DoE) Fernald and Oak Ridge complexes. Other potential applications areas are the cleanup of heavy-crude petroleum storage tanks. The author has developed a fully operational prototype which is currently undergoing testing

Modular reconfigurable machine tools: design, control and evaluation

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Padayachee, J

2009-11-01

Full Text Available The reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) paradigm encapsulates methodologies that enable manufacturing systems to cope effectively with market and product changes. This research presents the design and evaluation of modular reconfigurable...

Site selection: Past and present

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tilford, N.R.

1994-01-01

Site selection has been going on since the earliest times. The process has evolved through the Industrial Revolution to the present period of exploding population and environmental awareness. Now the work must be done both with increasing sophistication and greater transparency. Modern techniques for site selection have been developed during the last two decades or so, utilizing a teachable body of knowledge and a growing literature. Many firms and individuals have contributed to this growing field. The driving force has been the need for such a process in siting and licensing of critical facilities such as nuclear power plants. A list of crucial, documented steps for identifying social impacts and acceptability are provided. A recent innovation is the self-selection method developed by government. The Superconducting Supercollider serves as an example of this approach. Geological or geologically dependent factors often dominate the process. The role as engineering and environmental geoscientists is to provide responsible leadership, consultation, and communication to the effort

Site Selection for Surplus Plutonium Disposition Facilities at the Savannah River Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wike, L.D.

2000-01-01

A site selection study was conducted to evaluate locations for the proposed Surplus Plutonium Disposition Facilities. Facilities to be located include the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility, the Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility (PDCF), and the Plutonium Immobilization Project (PIP) facility. Objectives of the study include: (1) Confirm that the Department of Energy (DOE) selected locations for the MOX and PDCF were suitable based on selected siting criteria, (2) Recommend a site in the vicinity of F Area that is suitable for the PIP, and (3) Identify alternative suitable sites for one or more of these facilities in the event that further geotechnical characterization or other considerations result in disqualification of a currently proposed site

3rd IEEE/IFToMM International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots

CERN Document Server

Kong, Xianwen; Dai, Jian; ReMAR 2015; Advances in Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots II

2016-01-01

This book presents the most recent advances in the research and applications of reconfigurable mechanisms and robots. It collects 93 independently reviewed papers presented at the Third ASME/IFToMM International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (ReMAR 2015) held in Beijing, China, 20-22 July 2015. The conference papers are organized into seven parts to cover the reconfiguration theory, topology, kinematics and design of reconfigurable mechanisms including reconfigurable parallel mechanisms. The most recent results on reconfigurable robots are presented including their analysis, design, simulation and control. Bio-inspired mechanisms are also explored in the challenging fields of rehabilitation and minimally invasive surgery. This book further addresses deployable mechanisms and origami-inspired mechanisms and showcases a wide range of successful applications of reconfigurable mechanisms and robots. Advances in Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots II should be of interest for researchers, eng...

Improving Reliability, Security, and Efficiency of Reconfigurable Hardware Systems (Habilitation)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ziener, Daniel

2017-01-01

In this treatise,  my research on methods to improve efficiency, reliability, and security of reconfigurable hardware systems, i.e., FPGAs, through partial dynamic reconfiguration is outlined. The efficiency of reconfigurable systems can be improved by loading optimized data paths on-the-fly on an

Design Tools for Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit (RHinO)

Science.gov (United States)

French, Mathew; Graham, Paul; Wirthlin, Michael; Larchev, Gregory; Bellows, Peter; Schott, Brian

2004-01-01

The Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit (RHinO) project is focused on creating a set of design tools that facilitate and automate design techniques for reconfigurable computing in space, using SRAM-based field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA) technology. These tools leverage an established FPGA design environment and focus primarily on space effects mitigation and power optimization. The project is creating software to automatically test and evaluate the single-event-upsets (SEUs) sensitivities of an FPGA design and insert mitigation techniques. Extensions into the tool suite will also allow evolvable algorithm techniques to reconfigure around single-event-latchup (SEL) events. In the power domain, tools are being created for dynamic power visualiization and optimization. Thus, this technology seeks to enable the use of Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit, via an integrated design tool-suite aiming to reduce risk, cost, and design time of multimission reconfigurable space processors using SRAM-based FPGAs.

Reconfigurable layout problem

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meng, G.; Heragu, S.S.; Heragu, S.S.; Zijm, Willem H.M.

2004-01-01

This paper addresses the reconfigurable layout problem, which differs from traditional, robust and dynamic layout problems mainly in two aspects: first, it assumes that production data are available only for the current and upcoming production period. Second, it considers queuing performance

Integrated reconfigurable multiple-input–multiple-output antenna system with an ultra-wideband sensing antenna for cognitive radio platforms

KAUST Repository

Hussain, Rifaqat

2015-06-18

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015. A compact, novel multi-mode, multi-band frequency reconfigurable multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system, integrated with ultra-wideband (UWB) sensing antenna, is presented. The developed model can be used as a complete antenna platform for cognitive radio applications. The antenna system is developed on a single substrate area of dimensions 65 × 120 mm². The proposed sensing antenna is used to cover a wide range of frequency bands from 710 to 3600 MHz. The frequency reconfigurable dual-element MIMO antenna is integrated with P-type, intrinsic, N-type (PIN) diodes for frequency agility. Different modes of selection are used for the MIMO antenna system reconfigurability to support different wireless system standards. The proposed MIMO antenna configuration is used to cover various frequency bands from 755 to 3450 MHz. The complete system comprising the multi-band reconfigurable MIMO antennas and UWB sensing antenna for cognitive radio applications is proposed with a compact form factor.

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Siting Guide, Site selection and evaluation criteria for an early site permit application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

In August 1991, the Joint Contractors came to agreement with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Department of Energy (DOE) on a workscope for the cost-shared Early Site Permit Demonstration Program. One task within the scope was the development of a guide for site selection criteria and procedures. A generic Siting Guide his been prepared that is a roadmap and tool for applicants to use developing detailed siting plans for their specific region of the country. The guide presents three fundamental principles that, if used, ensure a high degree of success for an ESP applicant. First, the site selection process should take into consideration environmentally diverse site locations within a given region of interest. Second, the process should contain appropriate opportunities for input from the public. Third, the process should be applied so that it is clearly reasonable to an impartial observer, based on appropriately selected criteria, including criteria which demonstrate that the site can host an advanced light water reactor (ALWR). The Siting Guide provides for a systematic, comprehensive site selection process in which three basic types of criteria (exclusionary, avoidance, and suitability) are presented via a four-step procedure. It provides a check list of the criteria for each one of these steps. Criteria are applied qualitatively, as well as presented numerically, within the guide. The applicant should use the generic guide as an exhaustive checklist, customizing the guide to his individual situation

Perceptual load manipulation reveals sensitivity of the face-selective N170 to attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohamed, Tarik N; Neumann, Markus F; Schweinberger, Stefan R

2009-05-27

It has been controversial whether the face-sensitive N170 is affected by selective attention. We manipulated attention sensu Lavie's perceptual load theory to short (200 ms) presentations of task-irrelevant unfamiliar faces or houses, while participants identified superimposed target letters 'X' versus 'N'. These targets were strings of either six identical (low load) or six different letters (high load). Under low load, we found a prominent face-selective N170 response. Under high load, however, we not only observed a dramatic reduction of the face N170 but also an unexpected enhancement of the house N170, such that face selectivity was almost completely lost. We conclude that the early stages of face processing indexed by the N170 strongly depend on selective attention.

Site selection for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ehjchkholz, D.

1980-01-01

Problem of NPP site selection in the USA including engineering factors, radiation and environmental protection factors is stated in detail. Floating and underground sites are considered especially. The attention in paid to waste storage and risk criterium in siting [ru

Experimental Results of Novel DoA Estimation Algorithms for Compact Reconfigurable Antennas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henna Paaso

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Reconfigurable antenna systems have gained much attention for potential use in the next generation wireless systems. However, conventional direction-of-arrival (DoA estimation algorithms for antenna arrays cannot be used directly in reconfigurable antennas due to different design of the antennas. In this paper, we present an adjacent pattern power ratio (APPR algorithm for two-port composite right/left-handed (CRLH reconfigurable leaky-wave antennas (LWAs. Additionally, we compare the performances of the APPR algorithm and LWA-based MUSIC algorithms. We study how the computational complexity and the performance of the algorithms depend on number of selected radiation patterns. In addition, we evaluate the performance of the APPR and MUSIC algorithms with numerical simulations as well as with real world indoor measurements having both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight components. Our performance evaluations show that the DoA estimates are in a considerably good agreement with the real DoAs, especially with the APPR algorithm. In summary, the APPR and MUSIC algorithms for DoA estimation along with the planar and compact LWA layout can be a valuable solution to enhance the performance of the wireless communication in the next generation systems.

An FPGA-based reconfigurable DDC algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Juszczyk, B.; Kasprowicz, G.

2016-09-01

This paper describes implementation of reconfigurable digital down converter in an FPGA structure. System is designed to work with quadrature signals. One of the main criteria of the project was to provied wide range of reconfiguration in order to fulfill various application rage. Potential applications include: software defined radio receiver, passive noise radars and measurement data compression. This document contains general system overview, short description of hardware used in the project and gateware implementation.

Value Assessment of Distribution Network Reconfiguration: A Danish Case Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vaskantiras, Georgios; You, Shi

2016-01-01

. This paper presents a case study-based analysis to explore the potential value of reconfiguration in detail. The study is performed using a 10kV distribution grid of Denmark, while reconfiguration is applied to minimize the energy losses under both normal and post-fault conditions. The results show......Distribution network reconfiguration is a mechanism that can improve the distribution system performance from multiple perspectives. In the context of smart grid wherein the degrees of automation and intelligence are high, the potential value of network reconfiguration can be significant...

Reconfigurable Mobile Multimedia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria; Bos, M.; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Smit, Jaap

1999-01-01

This paper discusses reconfigurability issues in lowpower hand-held multimedia systems, with particular emphasis on energy conservation. We claim that a radical new approach has to be taken in order to fulfill the requirements - in terms of processing power and energy consumption - of future mobile

Reconfiguring The Supply Chain For Complex Engineered Products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wæhrens, Brian Vejrum; Asmussen, Jesper Normann

2016-01-01

of the SC, the product and market requirements. This paper seeks to investigate the factors which create a need for supply chain reconfiguration in the context of the Complex Product Systems, together with the enablers and barriers for successfully realizing supply chain improvements through reconfiguration....

MT-ADRES: multi-threading on coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Kehuai; Kanstein, Andreas; Madsen, Jan

2008-01-01

The coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture ADRES (architecture for dynamically reconfigurable embedded systems) and its compiler offer high instruction-level parallelism (ILP) to applications by means of a sparsely interconnected array of functional units and register files. As high-ILP archi......The coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture ADRES (architecture for dynamically reconfigurable embedded systems) and its compiler offer high instruction-level parallelism (ILP) to applications by means of a sparsely interconnected array of functional units and register files. As high......-ILP architectures achieve only low parallelism when executing partially sequential code segments, which is also known as Amdahl's law, this article proposes to extend ADRES to MT-ADRES (multi-threaded ADRES) to also exploit thread-level parallelism. On MT-ADRES architectures, the array can be partitioned...

Operating System Concepts for Reconfigurable Computing: Review and Survey

OpenAIRE

Marcel Eckert; Dominik Meyer; Jan Haase; Bernd Klauer

2016-01-01

One of the key future challenges for reconfigurable computing is to enable higher design productivity and a more easy way to use reconfigurable computing systems for users that are unfamiliar with the underlying concepts. One way of doing this is to provide standardization and abstraction, usually supported and enforced by an operating system. This article gives historical review and a summary on ideas and key concepts to include reconfigurable computing aspects in operating systems. The arti...

A fuzzy genetic approach for network reconfiguration to enhance voltage stability in radial distribution systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahoo, N.C.; Prasad, K.

2006-01-01

This paper presents a fuzzy genetic approach for reconfiguration of radial distribution systems (RDS) so as to maximize the voltage stability of the network for a specific set of loads. The network reconfiguration involves a mechanism for selection of the best set of branches to be opened, one from each loop, such that the reconfigured RDS possesses desired performance characteristics. This discrete solution space is better handled by the proposed scheme, which maximizes a suitable optimizing function (computed using two different approaches). In the first approach, this function is chosen as the average of a voltage stability index of all the buses in the RDS, while in the second approach, the complete RDS is reduced to a two bus equivalent system and the optimizing function is the voltage stability index of this reduced two bus system. The fuzzy genetic algorithm uses a suitable coding and decoding scheme for maintaining the radial nature of the network at every stage of genetic evolution, and it also uses a fuzzy rule based mutation controller for efficient search of the solution space. This method, tested on 69 bus and 33 bus RDSs, shows promising results for the both approaches. It is also observed that the network losses are reduced when the voltage stability is enhanced by the network reconfiguration

Nuclear Power Plant project site selection geotechnical considerations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katti, V.J.; Banerjee, D.C.

1997-01-01

During the selection of a site for Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and Radioactive Waste Plant (RWP), geotechnical investigations play a significant role in deciding merits and demerits of the sites. Any accidents in these units can play havoc on mankind and may leave bitter imprints on generations to come. Hence proper care has to be taken at the early stage for selecting the sites. Site selection procedure is a complicated one, because it involves experts from various disciplines like geology, geophysics, civil, mechanical electrical engineering, health-physics and other fields

Reconfigurability of behavioural specifications for manufacturing systems

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Klaus Werner

2017-12-01

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) support flexibility in the product variety and the configuration of the manufacturing system itself in order to enable quick adjustments to new products and production requirements. As a consequence, an essential feature of RMS is their ability to rapidly modify the control strategy during run-time. In this paper, the particular problem of changing the specified operation of a RMS, whose logical behaviour is modelled as a finite state automaton, is addressed. The notion of reconfigurability of specifications (RoS) is introduced and it is shown that the stated reconfiguration problem can be formulated as a controlled language convergence problem. In addition, algorithms for the verification of RoS and the construction of a reconfiguration supervisor are proposed. The supervisor is realised in a modular way which facilitates the extension by new configurations. Finally, it is shown that a supremal nonblocking and controllable strict subautomaton of the plant automaton that fulfils RoS exists in case RoS is violated for the plant automaton itself and an algorithm for the computation of this strict subautomaton is presented. The developed concepts and results are illustrated by a manufacturing cell example.

Public participation in the process of decision making related to site selection of low and intermediate radioactive waste repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cerskov Klika, M.

1994-01-01

This paper presents the work with public related to the acceptance of low and intermediate radioactive waste disposal facility in the Republic of Croatia. Activities performing in the field of public relations in the Hazardous Waste Management Agency - APO have been described. The fact that all the important decisions on site selections and constructions of different facilities, frequently controversial, were made in the former system without involvement of the public, makes them more significant. Therefore, the public is afraid of being cheated and manipulated again. In order to represent APO not only as the expert ecologically interested actor in the decision-making process on site selection, the study on forming the ecological image of the agency, has been done. In accordance with the results of the study, the activities related to the permanent informing and educating of the public, are being performed. In the end, it has been concluded that it is not enough to inform the public properly, accurately and timely, but it is necessary to educate the public too, because only in the way the public can be thoroughly involved in the decision-making process on site selection of radioactive waste disposal

Using Manipulatives in Math Instruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Marzola, Eileen S.

1987-01-01

Guidelines for teachers to better use manipulatives in the teaching of mathematics to learning disabled learners are offered including a rationale for manipulatives, selection crteria, principles underlying productive use of manipulatives, and making the transition from the concrete to the symbolic. Suggested materials and distributors are listed.…

Adaptive laser link reconfiguration using constraint propagation

Science.gov (United States)

Crone, M. S.; Julich, P. M.; Cook, L. M.

1993-01-01

This paper describes Harris AI research performed on the Adaptive Link Reconfiguration (ALR) study for Rome Lab, and focuses on the application of constraint propagation to the problem of link reconfiguration for the proposed space based Strategic Defense System (SDS) Brilliant Pebbles (BP) communications system. According to the concept of operations at the time of the study, laser communications will exist between BP's and to ground entry points. Long-term links typical of RF transmission will not exist. This study addressed an initial implementation of BP's based on the Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS) SDI mission. The number of satellites and rings studied was representative of this problem. An orbital dynamics program was used to generate line-of-site data for the modeled architecture. This was input into a discrete event simulation implemented in the Harris developed COnstraint Propagation Expert System (COPES) Shell, developed initially on the Rome Lab BM/C3 study. Using a model of the network and several heuristics, the COPES shell was used to develop the Heuristic Adaptive Link Ordering (HALO) Algorithm to rank and order potential laser links according to probability of communication. A reduced set of links based on this ranking would then be used by a routing algorithm to select the next hop. This paper includes an overview of Constraint Propagation as an Artificial Intelligence technique and its embodiment in the COPES shell. It describes the design and implementation of both the simulation of the GPALS BP network and the HALO algorithm in COPES. This is described using a 59 Data Flow Diagram, State Transition Diagrams, and Structured English PDL. It describes a laser communications model and the heuristics involved in rank-ordering the potential communication links. The generation of simulation data is described along with its interface via COPES to the Harris developed View Net graphical tool for visual analysis of communications

Design Flow Instantiation for Run-Time Reconfigurable Systems: A Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Qu

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Reconfigurable system is a promising alternative to deliver both flexibility and performance at the same time. New reconfigurable technologies and technology-dependent tools have been developed, but a complete overview of the whole design flow for run-time reconfigurable systems is missing. In this work, we present a design flow instantiation for such systems using a real-life application. The design flow is roughly divided into two parts: system level and implementation. At system level, our supports for hardware resource estimation and performance evaluation are applied. At implementation level, technology-dependent tools are used to realize the run-time reconfiguration. The design case is part of a WCDMA decoder on a commercially available reconfigurable platform. The results show that using run-time reconfiguration can save over 40% area when compared to a functionally equivalent fixed system and achieve 30 times speedup in processing time when compared to a functionally equivalent pure software design.

Operating System Concepts for Reconfigurable Computing: Review and Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcel Eckert

2016-01-01

Full Text Available One of the key future challenges for reconfigurable computing is to enable higher design productivity and a more easy way to use reconfigurable computing systems for users that are unfamiliar with the underlying concepts. One way of doing this is to provide standardization and abstraction, usually supported and enforced by an operating system. This article gives historical review and a summary on ideas and key concepts to include reconfigurable computing aspects in operating systems. The article also presents an overview on published and available operating systems targeting the area of reconfigurable computing. The purpose of this article is to identify and summarize common patterns among those systems that can be seen as de facto standard. Furthermore, open problems, not covered by these already available systems, are identified.

An evolutionary resolution of manipulation conflict.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Forero, Mauricio

2014-07-01

Individuals can manipulate the behavior of social partners. However, manipulation may conflict with the fitness interests of the manipulated individuals. Manipulated individuals can then be favored to resist manipulation, possibly reducing or eliminating the manipulated behavior in the long run. I use a mathematical model to show that conflicts where manipulation and resistance coevolve can disappear as a result of the coevolutionary process. I find that while manipulated individuals are selected to resist, they can simultaneously be favored to express the manipulated behavior at higher efficiency (i.e., providing increasing fitness effects to recipients of the manipulated behavior). Efficiency can increase to a point at which selection for resistance disappears. This process yields an efficient social behavior that is induced by social partners, and over which the inducing and induced individuals are no longer in conflict. A necessary factor is costly inefficiency. I develop the model to address the evolution of advanced eusociality via maternal manipulation (AEMM). The model predicts AEMM to be particularly likely in taxa with ancestrally imperfect resistance to maternal manipulation. Costly inefficiency occurs if the cost of delayed dispersal is larger than the benefit of exploiting the maternal patch. I discuss broader implications of the process. © 2014 The Author(s). Evolution © 2014 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Hierarchically assembled DNA origami tubules with reconfigurable chirality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Haorong; Cha, Tae-Gon; Pan, Jing; Choi, Jong Hyun

2013-01-01

The dynamic reconfiguration of a hierarchically assembled tubular structure is demonstrated using the DNA origami technique. Short cylindrical DNA origami monomers are synthesized and linked into elongated tubules, which can then be disassembled via toehold-mediated strand displacement. The disassembled subunits are subsequently linked into tubules of a different chirality. The reconfiguration is performed with the subunits carrying dumbbell hairpin DNA oligonucleotides or gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The reconfiguration of higher order origami structures presented here is useful for constructing dynamic nanostructures that exceed the size limit of single DNA origami and may facilitate the study of molecular or particle interactions by tuning their relative distance and organization. (paper)

Pass-band reconfigurable spoof surface plasmon polaritons

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hao Chi; He, Pei Hang; Gao, Xinxin; Tang, Wen Xuan; Cui, Tie Jun

2018-04-01

In this paper, we introduce a new scheme to construct the band-pass tunable filter based on the band-pass reconfigurable spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), whose cut-off frequencies at both sides of the passband can be tuned through changing the direct current (DC) bias of varactors. Compared to traditional technology (e.g. microstrip filters), the spoof SPP structure can provide more tight field confinement and more significant field enhancement, which is extremely valuable for many system applications. In order to achieve this scheme, we proposed a specially designed SPP filter integrated with varactors and DC bias feeding structure to support the spoof SPP passband reconfiguration. Furthermore, the full-wave simulated result verifies the outstanding performance on both efficiency and reconfiguration, which has the potential to be widely used in advanced intelligent systems.

Scenario analysis to account for photovoltaic generation uncertainty in distribution grid reconfiguration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chittur Ramaswamy, Parvathy; Deconinck, Geert; Pillai, Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna

2013-01-01

This paper considers hourly reconfiguration of a low voltage distribution network with the objectives of minimizing power loss and voltage deviation. The uncertainty in photovoltaic (PV) generation which in turn will affect the optimum configuration is tackled with the help of scenario analysis. ......-dominated solutions, demonstrating their trade-offs. Finally, the best compromise solution can be selected depending on the decision maker's requirement....

Vegetation in group selection openings: ecology and manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Philip M. McDonald; Gary O. Fiddler

1991-01-01

Group selection openings ranging from 0.1 to 2.0 acres in mixed conifer stands in northern and central California were evaluated for effect of site preparation, opening size, kind and amount of vegetation, and release treatment. Small openings, in general, are characterized by less sunlight and lower temperature extremes than clearcuttings. Roots from border trees...

Short-Term Load Forecasting-Based Automatic Distribution Network Reconfiguration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang, Huaiguang [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ding, Fei [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Zhang, Yingchen [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-08-23

In a traditional dynamic network reconfiguration study, the optimal topology is determined at every scheduled time point by using the real load data measured at that time. The development of the load forecasting technique can provide an accurate prediction of the load power that will happen in a future time and provide more information about load changes. With the inclusion of load forecasting, the optimal topology can be determined based on the predicted load conditions during a longer time period instead of using a snapshot of the load at the time when the reconfiguration happens; thus, the distribution system operator can use this information to better operate the system reconfiguration and achieve optimal solutions. This paper proposes a short-term load forecasting approach to automatically reconfigure distribution systems in a dynamic and pre-event manner. Specifically, a short-term and high-resolution distribution system load forecasting approach is proposed with a forecaster based on support vector regression and parallel parameters optimization. The network reconfiguration problem is solved by using the forecasted load continuously to determine the optimal network topology with the minimum amount of loss at the future time. The simulation results validate and evaluate the proposed approach.

Reconfigurable Sensor Monitoring System

Science.gov (United States)

Alhorn, Dean C. (Inventor); Dutton, Kenneth R. (Inventor); Howard, David E. (Inventor); Smith, Dennis A. (Inventor)

2017-01-01

A reconfigurable sensor monitoring system includes software tunable filters, each of which is programmable to condition one type of analog signal. A processor coupled to the software tunable filters receives each type of analog signal so-conditioned.

A dynamic plasmonic manipulation technique assisted by phase modulation of an incident optical vortex beam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan, G H; Wang, Q; Tan, P S; Lin, J; Yuan, X-C

2012-01-01

A novel phase modulation method for dynamic manipulation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) with a phase engineered optical vortex (OV) beam illuminating on nanoslits is experimentally demonstrated. Because of the unique helical phase carried by an OV beam, dynamic control of SPP multiple focusing and standing wave generation is realized by changing the OV beam’s topological charge constituent with the help of a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. Measurement of SPP distributions with near-field scanning optical microscopy showed an excellent agreement with numerical predictions. The proposed phase modulation technique for manipulating SPPs features has seemingly dynamic and reconfigurable advantages, with profound potential for development of SPP coupling, routing, multiplexing and high-resolution imaging devices on plasmonic chips. (paper)

Dynamic Reconfiguration in Real-Time Systems Energy, Performance, and Thermal Perspectives

CERN Document Server

Wang, Weixun; Ranka, Sanjay

2013-01-01

Given the widespread use of real-time multitasking systems, there are tremendous optimization opportunities if reconfigurable computing can be effectively incorporated while maintaining performance and other design constraints of typical applications. The focus of this book is to describe the dynamic reconfiguration techniques that can be safely used in real-time systems. This book provides comprehensive approaches by considering synergistic effects of computation, communication as well as storage together to significantly improve overall performance, power, energy and temperature.  Provides a comprehensive introduction to optimization and dynamic reconfiguration techniques in real-time embedded systems; Covers state-of-the-art techniques and ongoing research in reconfigurable architectures; Focuses on algorithms tuned for dynamic reconfiguration techniques in real-time systems;  Provides reference for anyone designing low-power systems, energy-/temperature-constrained devices, and power-performance efficie...

Glenn Reconfigurable User-interface and Virtual reality Exploration (GURVE) Laboratory

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The GRUVE (Glenn Reconfigurable User-interface and Virtual reality Exploration) Lab is a reconfigurable, large screen display facility at Nasa Glenn Research Center....

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Siting Guide, Site selection and evaluation criteria for an early site permit application. Revision 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-03-24

In August 1991, the Joint Contractors came to agreement with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Department of Energy (DOE) on a workscope for the cost-shared Early Site Permit Demonstration Program. One task within the scope was the development of a guide for site selection criteria and procedures. A generic Siting Guide his been prepared that is a roadmap and tool for applicants to use developing detailed siting plans for their specific region of the country. The guide presents three fundamental principles that, if used, ensure a high degree of success for an ESP applicant. First, the site selection process should take into consideration environmentally diverse site locations within a given region of interest. Second, the process should contain appropriate opportunities for input from the public. Third, the process should be applied so that it is clearly reasonable to an impartial observer, based on appropriately selected criteria, including criteria which demonstrate that the site can host an advanced light water reactor (ALWR). The Siting Guide provides for a systematic, comprehensive site selection process in which three basic types of criteria (exclusionary, avoidance, and suitability) are presented via a four-step procedure. It provides a check list of the criteria for each one of these steps. Criteria are applied qualitatively, as well as presented numerically, within the guide. The applicant should use the generic guide as an exhaustive checklist, customizing the guide to his individual situation.

Reconfigurable Model Execution in the OpenMDAO Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, John T.

2017-01-01

NASA's OpenMDAO framework facilitates constructing complex models and computing their derivatives for multidisciplinary design optimization. Decomposing a model into components that follow a prescribed interface enables OpenMDAO to assemble multidisciplinary derivatives from the component derivatives using what amounts to the adjoint method, direct method, chain rule, global sensitivity equations, or any combination thereof, using the MAUD architecture. OpenMDAO also handles the distribution of processors among the disciplines by hierarchically grouping the components, and it automates the data transfer between components that are on different processors. These features have made OpenMDAO useful for applications in aircraft design, satellite design, wind turbine design, and aircraft engine design, among others. This paper presents new algorithms for OpenMDAO that enable reconfigurable model execution. This concept refers to dynamically changing, during execution, one or more of: the variable sizes, solution algorithm, parallel load balancing, or set of variables-i.e., adding and removing components, perhaps to switch to a higher-fidelity sub-model. Any component can reconfigure at any point, even when running in parallel with other components, and the reconfiguration algorithm presented here performs the synchronized updates to all other components that are affected. A reconfigurable software framework for multidisciplinary design optimization enables new adaptive solvers, adaptive parallelization, and new applications such as gradient-based optimization with overset flow solvers and adaptive mesh refinement. Benchmarking results demonstrate the time savings for reconfiguration compared to setting up the model again from scratch, which can be significant in large-scale problems. Additionally, the new reconfigurability feature is applied to a mission profile optimization problem for commercial aircraft where both the parametrization of the mission profile and the

Loop overhead reduction techniques for coarse grained reconfigurable architectures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vadivel, K.; Wijtvliet, M.; Jordans, R.; Corporaal, H.

2017-01-01

Due to their flexibility and high performance, Coarse Grained Reconfigurable Array (CGRA) are a topic of increasing research interest. However, CGRAs also have the potential to achieve very high energy efficiency in comparison to other reconfigurable architectures when hardware optimizations are

Thin-film-transistor array: an exploratory attempt for high throughput cell manipulation using electrowetting principle

Science.gov (United States)

Shaik, F. Azam; Cathcart, G.; Ihida, S.; Lereau-Bernier, M.; Leclerc, E.; Sakai, Y.; Toshiyoshi, H.; Tixier-Mita, A.

2017-05-01

In lab-on-a-chip (LoC) devices, microfluidic displacement of liquids is a key component. electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) is a technique to move fluids, with the advantage of not requiring channels, pumps or valves. Fluids are discretized into droplets on microelectrodes and moved by applying an electric field via the electrodes to manipulate the contact angle. Micro-objects, such as biological cells, can be transported inside of these droplets. However, the design of conventional microelectrodes, made by standard micro-fabrication techniques, fixes the path of the droplets, and limits the reconfigurability of paths and thus limits the parallel processing of droplets. In that respect, thin film transistor (TFT) technology presents a great opportunity as it allows infinitely reconfigurable paths, with high parallelizability. We propose here to investigate the possibility of using TFT array devices for high throughput cell manipulation using EWOD. A COMSOL based 2D simulation coupled with a MATLAB algorithm was used to simulate the contact angle modulation, displacement and mixing of droplets. These simulations were confirmed by experimental results. The EWOD technique was applied to a droplet of culture medium containing HepG2 carcinoma cells and demonstrated no negative effects on the viability of the cells. This confirms the possibility of applying EWOD techniques to cellular applications, such as parallel cell analysis.

Thin-film-transistor array: an exploratory attempt for high throughput cell manipulation using electrowetting principle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaik, F Azam; Cathcart, G; Toshiyoshi, H; Tixier-Mita, A; Ihida, S; Sakai, Y; Lereau-Bernier, M; Leclerc, E

2017-01-01

In lab-on-a-chip (LoC) devices, microfluidic displacement of liquids is a key component. electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) is a technique to move fluids, with the advantage of not requiring channels, pumps or valves. Fluids are discretized into droplets on microelectrodes and moved by applying an electric field via the electrodes to manipulate the contact angle. Micro-objects, such as biological cells, can be transported inside of these droplets. However, the design of conventional microelectrodes, made by standard micro-fabrication techniques, fixes the path of the droplets, and limits the reconfigurability of paths and thus limits the parallel processing of droplets. In that respect, thin film transistor (TFT) technology presents a great opportunity as it allows infinitely reconfigurable paths, with high parallelizability. We propose here to investigate the possibility of using TFT array devices for high throughput cell manipulation using EWOD. A COMSOL based 2D simulation coupled with a MATLAB algorithm was used to simulate the contact angle modulation, displacement and mixing of droplets. These simulations were confirmed by experimental results. The EWOD technique was applied to a droplet of culture medium containing HepG2 carcinoma cells and demonstrated no negative effects on the viability of the cells. This confirms the possibility of applying EWOD techniques to cellular applications, such as parallel cell analysis. (paper)

Participation of concerned citizens in site selection decisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Appel, D.

2003-01-01

The contribution presents preliminary results of two international projects aimed at integrating the general public, or parts thereof, in the decision process of selecting ultimate storage sites. The author participated in these projects and is a former member of the task group for selection of ultimate storage sites (Arbeitskreis Auswahlverfahren Endlagerstandorte - AkEnd). The two projects are: Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) OECD, Project 'COWAM' (Community Waste Management) of the European Commission. The participants, goals and methods of the two projects were different, but they both presented concrete methods of selecting ultimate storage sites from the view of different actors in the form of case studies. The focus was on the participation of the public and its importance for success. Apart from meeting technical requirements the selection process should also take account of the requirements of democracy and citizens' participation in order to gain wide acceptance for its results. Deficiencies and advantages of the proposed selection processes are analyzed, and general requirements on the decision process in site selection are derived. (orig.) [de

Site Selection for the Salt Disposition Facility at the Savannah River Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gladden, J.B.; Rueter, K.J.; Morin, J.P.

2000-01-01

A site selection study was conducted to identify a suitable location for the construction and operation of a new Salt Disposition Facility (SDF) at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The facility to be sited is a single processing facility and support buildings that could house either of three technology alternatives being developed by the High Level Waste Systems Engineering Team: Small Tank Tetraphenylborate Precipitation, Crystalline Silicotitanate Non-Elutable Ion Exchange or Caustic Side Solvent Extraction. A fourth alternative, Direct Disposal in grout, is not part of the site selection study because a location has been identified that is unique to this technology (i.e., Z-Area). Facility site selection at SRS is a formal, documented process that seeks to optimize siting of new facilities with respect to facility-specific engineering requirements, sensitive environmental resources, and applicable regulatory requirements. In this manner, the prime objectives of cost minimization, environmental protection, and regulatory compliance are achieved. The results from this geotechnical characterization indicated that continued consideration be given to Site B for the proposed SDF. Suitable topography, the lack of surface hydrology and floodplain issues, no significant groundwater contamination, the presence of minor soft zones along the northeast portion of footprint, and no apparent geological structure in the Gordon Aquitard support this recommendation

A fuzzy genetic approach for network reconfiguration to enhance voltage stability in radial distribution systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sahoo, N.C. [Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Multimedia University, Jalan Ayer Keroh Lama, Bukit Beruang, 75450 Melaka (Malaysia); Prasad, K. [Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Multimedia University, Jalan Ayer Keroh Lama, Bukit Beruang, 75450 Melaka (Malaysia)

2006-11-15

This paper presents a fuzzy genetic approach for reconfiguration of radial distribution systems (RDS) so as to maximize the voltage stability of the network for a specific set of loads. The network reconfiguration involves a mechanism for selection of the best set of branches to be opened, one from each loop, such that the reconfigured RDS possesses desired performance characteristics. This discrete solution space is better handled by the proposed scheme, which maximizes a suitable optimizing function (computed using two different approaches). In the first approach, this function is chosen as the average of a voltage stability index of all the buses in the RDS, while in the second approach, the complete RDS is reduced to a two bus equivalent system and the optimizing function is the voltage stability index of this reduced two bus system. The fuzzy genetic algorithm uses a suitable coding and decoding scheme for maintaining the radial nature of the network at every stage of genetic evolution, and it also uses a fuzzy rule based mutation controller for efficient search of the solution space. This method, tested on 69 bus and 33 bus RDSs, shows promising results for the both approaches. It is also observed that the network losses are reduced when the voltage stability is enhanced by the network reconfiguration. (author)

Site selection for new nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rizzo, Paul C.; Dubinsky, Melissa; Tastan, Erdem Onur, E-mail: paul.rizzo@rizzoassoc.com, E-mail: melissa.dubinsky@rizzoassoc.com, E-mail: onur.tastan@rizzoassoc.com [RIZZO Associates Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Miano, Sandra C., E-mail: scm27@psu.edu [Eletrobras Termonuclear S.A. (ELETRONUCLEAR), RJ (Brazil); Pennsylvania State University, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, State College, PA (United States)

2015-07-01

The current methodology for selecting the most advantageous site(s) for nuclear power plant (NPP) development is based on the latest evolution of protocols originally established in the 1990's by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and others for programs in the USA, and more recently by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), among others. The methodology includes protocols that account for lessons learned from both the Gen III projects and the catastrophic event at Fukushima, Japan. In general, the approach requires consideration of Exclusionary or 'fatal flaw' Criteria first, based on safety as well as significant impact to the environment or human health. Sites must meet all of these Exclusionary Criteria to be considered for NPP development. Next, the remaining sites are evaluated for Avoidance Criteria that affect primarily ease of construction and operations, which allow a ranking of sites best suited for NPP development. Finally, Suitability Criteria are applied to the potential sites to better differentiate between closely ranked sites. Generally, final selection of a Preferred and an Alternate Site will require balancing of factors, expert judgment, and client input, as sites being compared will differ in their scores associated with different Avoidance Criteria and Suitability Criteria. RIZZO Associates (RIZZO) offers in this paper a modification to this methodology for selecting the site for NPP development, which accords to the categories of Exclusionary, Avoidance and Suitability Criteria strict definitions which can be considered as Absolute Factors, Critical Factors, and Economic Factors for a more focused approach to site selection. Absolute Factors include all of the safety-related Exclusionary Criteria. Critical Factors are those that are difficult to overcome unless extraordinary mitigation measures are implemented; they have a significant impact on the ability of the project to be successful and may cause the

Site selection for new nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rizzo, Paul C.; Dubinsky, Melissa; Tastan, Erdem Onur; Miano, Sandra C.

2015-01-01

The current methodology for selecting the most advantageous site(s) for nuclear power plant (NPP) development is based on the latest evolution of protocols originally established in the 1990's by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and others for programs in the USA, and more recently by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), among others. The methodology includes protocols that account for lessons learned from both the Gen III projects and the catastrophic event at Fukushima, Japan. In general, the approach requires consideration of Exclusionary or 'fatal flaw' Criteria first, based on safety as well as significant impact to the environment or human health. Sites must meet all of these Exclusionary Criteria to be considered for NPP development. Next, the remaining sites are evaluated for Avoidance Criteria that affect primarily ease of construction and operations, which allow a ranking of sites best suited for NPP development. Finally, Suitability Criteria are applied to the potential sites to better differentiate between closely ranked sites. Generally, final selection of a Preferred and an Alternate Site will require balancing of factors, expert judgment, and client input, as sites being compared will differ in their scores associated with different Avoidance Criteria and Suitability Criteria. RIZZO Associates (RIZZO) offers in this paper a modification to this methodology for selecting the site for NPP development, which accords to the categories of Exclusionary, Avoidance and Suitability Criteria strict definitions which can be considered as Absolute Factors, Critical Factors, and Economic Factors for a more focused approach to site selection. Absolute Factors include all of the safety-related Exclusionary Criteria. Critical Factors are those that are difficult to overcome unless extraordinary mitigation measures are implemented; they have a significant impact on the ability of the project to be successful and may cause the

HoneyComb: An Application-Driven Online Adaptive Reconfigurable Hardware Architecture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Thomas

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Since the introduction of the first reconfigurable devices in 1985 the field of reconfigurable computing developed a broad variety of architectures from fine-grained to coarse-grained types. However, the main disadvantages of the reconfigurable approaches, the costs in area, and power consumption, are still present. This contribution presents a solution for application-driven adaptation of our reconfigurable architecture at register transfer level (RTL to reduce the resource requirements and power consumption while keeping the flexibility and performance for a predefined set of applications. Furthermore, implemented runtime adaptive features like online routing and configuration sequencing will be presented and discussed. A presentation of the prototype chip of this architecture designed in 90 nm standard cell technology manufactured by TSMC will conclude this contribution.

The role of NEPA in agency decision-making: Department of Energy reconfiguration programmatic environmental impact statement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webb, M.D.

1992-01-01

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was drafted as a decision-making tool to ensure that Federal agencies make open, informed decisions. Equally effective as planning tool, NEPA can be applied to support an agency's planning process while providing requisite environmental analysis of specific proposals. The Department of Energy (DOE) Weapons Complex Reconfiguration Office is preparing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) as a means to assist in its long-range planning for the future of the Nation's nuclear weapons complex. The Secretary of Energy has proposed to reconfigure the weapons complex to be smaller, less diverse and more efficient to operate. The Reconfiguration PEIS will analyze the potential environmental impacts of alternative configurations, involving 13 sites in 12 states, and compare these to the current configuration. The Council on Environmental Quality regulations implementing NEPA [40 CFR 1500] provide for Federal agencies to prepare PEISs for broad agency actions, including generically connected actions. Planning for the future weapons complex falls into such a category, involving complex-wide decisions to be made at a national level. DOE's long-range decisions regarding the future of the weapons complex will be based upon environmental considerations as well as other factors such as cost and technical feasibility. The NEPA process will serve to document the identification and analysis of the environmental impacts. In addition, the PEIS will be a key component in developing the Department's Reconfiguration Plan, which will guide the Department in preparing for the future complex. The Reconfiguration Plan will identify follow-on projects needed to implement the programmatic decisions and provide specific guidance for subsequence 'tiered' NEPA analyses

Site selection under the underground geologic store plan. Procedures of selecting underground geologic stores as disputed by society, science, and politics. Site selection rules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aebersold, M.

2008-01-01

The new Nuclear Power Act and the Nuclear Power Ordinance of 2005 are used in Switzerland to select a site of an underground geologic store for radioactive waste in a substantive planning procedure. The ''Underground Geologic Store Substantive Plan'' is to ensure the possibility to build underground geologic stores in an independent, transparent and fair procedure. The Federal Office for Energy (BFE) is the agency responsible for this procedure. The ''Underground Geologic Store'' Substantive Plan comprises these principles: - The long term protection of people and the environment enjoys priority. Aspects of regional planning, economics and society are of secondary importance. - Site selection is based on the waste volumes arising from the five nuclear power plants currently existing in Switzerland. The Substantive Plan is no precedent for or against future nuclear power plants. - A transparent and fair procedure is an indispensable prerequisite for achieving the objectives of a Substantive Plan, i.e., finding accepted sites for underground geologic stores. The Underground Geologic Stores Substantive Plan is arranged in two parts, a conceptual part defining the rules of the selection process, and an implementation part documenting the selection process step by step and, in the end, naming specific sites of underground geologic stores in Switzerland. The objective is to be able to commission underground geologic stores in 25 or 35 years' time. In principle, 2 sites are envisaged, one for low and intermediate level waste, and one for high level waste. The Swiss Federal Council approved the conceptual part on April 2, 2008. This marks the beginning of the implementation phase and the site selection process proper. (orig.)

Site selection - siting of the final repository for spent nuclear fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-03-01

SKB has selected Forsmark as the site for the final repository for spent nuclear fuel. The site selection is the end result of an extensive siting process that began in the early 1990s. The strategy and plan for the work was based on experience from investigations and development work over a period of more than ten years prior to then. This document describes the siting work and SKB's choice of site for the final repository. It also presents the information on which the choice was based and the reasons for the decisions made along the way. The document comprises Appendix PV to applications under the Nuclear Activities Act and the Environmental Code for licences to build and operate an encapsulation plant adjacent to the central interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Oskarshamn, and to build and operate a final repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark in Oesthammar Municipality

Site selection - siting of the final repository for spent nuclear fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2011-03-15

SKB has selected Forsmark as the site for the final repository for spent nuclear fuel. The site selection is the end result of an extensive siting process that began in the early 1990s. The strategy and plan for the work was based on experience from investigations and development work over a period of more than ten years prior to then. This document describes the siting work and SKB's choice of site for the final repository. It also presents the information on which the choice was based and the reasons for the decisions made along the way. The document comprises Appendix PV to applications under the Nuclear Activities Act and the Environmental Code for licences to build and operate an encapsulation plant adjacent to the central interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Oskarshamn, and to build and operate a final repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark in Oesthammar Municipality

Optically controlled reconfigurable antenna for 5G future broadband cellular communication networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Costa, I.F. da; Spadoti, D. H.; Cerqueira Sodre Jr., Arismar

2017-01-01

This paper presents an optically controlled reconfigurable antenna for millimetre-wave frequency range. Silicon switches are used to control the optical reconfiguration, modifying the frequency response and radiation pattern of the antenna design. Therefore, the system can switch between the ligh......This paper presents an optically controlled reconfigurable antenna for millimetre-wave frequency range. Silicon switches are used to control the optical reconfiguration, modifying the frequency response and radiation pattern of the antenna design. Therefore, the system can switch between...

Reconfiguration of Brain Network Architectures between Resting-State and Complexity-Dependent Cognitive Reasoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Hearne, Luke J; Cocchi, Luca; Zalesky, Andrew; Mattingley, Jason B

2017-08-30

Our capacity for higher cognitive reasoning has a measurable limit. This limit is thought to arise from the brain's capacity to flexibly reconfigure interactions between spatially distributed networks. Recent work, however, has suggested that reconfigurations of task-related networks are modest when compared with intrinsic "resting-state" network architecture. Here we combined resting-state and task-driven functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine how flexible, task-specific reconfigurations associated with increasing reasoning demands are integrated within a stable intrinsic brain topology. Human participants (21 males and 28 females) underwent an initial resting-state scan, followed by a cognitive reasoning task involving different levels of complexity, followed by a second resting-state scan. The reasoning task required participants to deduce the identity of a missing element in a 4 × 4 matrix, and item difficulty was scaled parametrically as determined by relational complexity theory. Analyses revealed that external task engagement was characterized by a significant change in functional brain modules. Specifically, resting-state and null-task demand conditions were associated with more segregated brain-network topology, whereas increases in reasoning complexity resulted in merging of resting-state modules. Further increments in task complexity did not change the established modular architecture, but affected selective patterns of connectivity between frontoparietal, subcortical, cingulo-opercular, and default-mode networks. Larger increases in network efficiency within the newly established task modules were associated with higher reasoning accuracy. Our results shed light on the network architectures that underlie external task engagement, and highlight selective changes in brain connectivity supporting increases in task complexity. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans have clear limits in their ability to solve complex reasoning problems. It is thought that

Reconfigurable antennas radiations using plasma Faraday cage

OpenAIRE

Barro , Oumar Alassane; Himdi , Mohamed; Lafond , Olivier

2015-01-01

International audience; This letter presents a new reconfigurable plasma antenna associated with a Faraday cage. The Faraday cage is realized using a fluorescent lamp. A patch antenna with a broadside radiation pattern or a monopole antenna with an end-fire radiation pattern , operating at 2.45 GHz, is placed inside Faraday cage. The performance of the reconfigurable system is observed in terms of input reflection coefficient, gain and radiation pattern via simulation and measurement. It is s...

A new approach to the LILW repository site selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mele, I.; Zeleznik, N.

1998-01-01

After the failure of site selection, which was performed between 1990-1993, the Agency for Radwaste Management was urged to start a new site selection process for low and intermediate level waste (LILW). Since this is the most sensitive and delicate phase of the whole disposal project extensive analyses of foreign and domestic experiences in siting were performed. Three different models were studied and discussed at a workshop on preparation of the siting procedure for LILW repository. The participants invited to the workshop supported the combined approach, to the site selection, which is presented in this paper.(author)

Terrain Adaptive Reconfiguration of Mobility

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Develop an algorithm (and software) to automatically adapt a reconfigurable robot to different types of terrains for improved mobility, that compared to SOA:...

Nuclear power plant site selection: a case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lugasi, Y.; Mehrez, A.; Sinuany-Stern, Z.

1985-01-01

Selecting the site for a nuclear power plant involves the evaluation of numerous criteria and the professional judgment of various experts. The Israel Atomic Energy Commission has been concerned with the problem of selecting a site for a nuclear power station. Previous studies have been performed by the commission to identify potential sites. There were initial screenings where potential sites were chosen according to various minimal criteria and international standards. Only sites that met all the criteria were chosen. A study was made to find the most preferred site among the potential sites that met all the criteria. Two mathematical approaches were used: Keeney's multiattribute utility function and Saaty's eigenvalue prioritization technique. Both models ranked the same site as the most desirable; however, the models differed in their ranking of the other sites

ETSI-Standard Reconfigurable Mobile Device for Supporting the Licensed Shared Access

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyunghoon Kim

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In order for a Mobile Device (MD to support the Licensed Shared Access (LSA, the MD should be reconfigurable, meaning that the configuration of a MD must be adaptively changed in accordance with the communication standard adopted in a given LSA system. Based on the standard architecture for reconfigurable MD defined in Working Group (WG 2 of the Technical Committee (TC Reconfigurable Radio System (RRS of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI, this paper presents a procedure to transfer control signals among the software entities of a reconfigurable MD required for implementing the LSA. This paper also presents an implementation of a reconfigurable MD prototype that realizes the proposed procedure. The modem and Radio Frequency (RF part of the prototype MD are implemented with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan Graphic Processing Unit (GPU and the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP N210, respectively. With a preset scenario that consists of five time slots from different signal environments, we demonstrate superb performance of the reconfigurable MD in comparison to the conventional nonreconfigurable MD in terms of the data receiving rate available in the LSA band at 2.3–2.4 GHz.

Species-specific spatial characteristics in reserve site selection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groeneveld, R.A.

2010-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of selecting reserve sites cost-effectively, taking into account the mobility and habitat area requirements of each species. Many reserve site selection problems are analyzed in mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) models due to the mathematical solvers available

Site specific health and safety plan for drilling in support of in situ redox manipulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tuttle, B.G.

1997-02-01

This document contains the Site Specific Health and Safety Plan for Drilling in support of the In Situ REDOX Manipulation in the 100-HR-3 Operable Unit. Approximately eight wells will be drilled in the 100-D/DR Area using rotary, sonic, or cable tool drilling methods. Split-spoon sampling will be done in conjunction with the drilling. The drilling may be spread out over several months. Included in this document are checklists for health and safety procedures

Desenvolvimento de hardware reconfigurável de criptografia assimétrica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Otávio Souza Martins Gomes

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Este artigo apresenta o resultado parcial do desenvolvimento de uma interface de hardware reconfigurável para criptografia assimétrica que permite a troca segura de dados. Hardwares reconfiguráveis permitem o desenvolvimento deste tipo de dispositivo com segurança e flexibilidade e possibilitam a mudança de características no projeto com baixo custo e de forma rápida.Palavras-chave: Criptografia. Hardware. ElGamal. FPGA. Segurança. Development of an asymmetric cryptography reconfigurable harwadre ABSTRACTThis paper presents some conclusions and choices about the development of an asymmetric cryptography reconfigurable hardware interface to allow a safe data communication. Reconfigurable hardwares allows the development of this kind of device with safety and flexibility, and offer the possibility to change some features with low cost and in a fast way.Keywords: Cryptography. Hardware. ElGamal. FPGAs. Security.

The VIPER project (Visualization Integration Platform for Exploration Research): a biologically inspired autonomous reconfigurable robotic platform for diverse unstructured environments

Science.gov (United States)

Schubert, Oliver J.; Tolle, Charles R.

2004-09-01

Over the last decade the world has seen numerous autonomous vehicle programs. Wheels and track designs are the basis for many of these vehicles. This is primarily due to four main reasons: a vast preexisting knowledge base for these designs, energy efficiency of power sources, scalability of actuators, and the lack of control systems technologies for handling alternate highly complex distributed systems. Though large efforts seek to improve the mobility of these vehicles, many limitations still exist for these systems within unstructured environments, e.g. limited mobility within industrial and nuclear accident sites where existing plant configurations have been extensively changed. These unstructured operational environments include missions for exploration, reconnaissance, and emergency recovery of objects within reconfigured or collapsed structures, e.g. bombed buildings. More importantly, these environments present a clear and present danger for direct human interactions during the initial phases of recovery operations. Clearly, the current classes of autonomous vehicles are incapable of performing in these environments. Thus the next generation of designs must include highly reconfigurable and flexible autonomous robotic platforms. This new breed of autonomous vehicles will be both highly flexible and environmentally adaptable. Presented in this paper is one of the most successful designs from nature, the snake-eel-worm (SEW). This design implements shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators which allow for scaling of the robotic SEW designs from sub-micron scale to heavy industrial implementations without major conceptual redesigns as required in traditional hydraulic, pneumatic, or motor driven systems. Autonomous vehicles based on the SEW design posses the ability to easily move between air based environments and fluid based environments with limited or no reconfiguration. Under a SEW designed vehicle, one not only achieves vastly improved maneuverability within a

A random-access microarray for programmable droplet storage, retrieval and manipulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tseng, Yi-Ming; Wang, Jhih-Jhe; Su, Yu-Chuan

2012-01-01

This article presents an integrated microfluidic system that is capable of programmably metering, entrapping, coalescing, addressably storing, retrieving and manipulating emulsion droplets. A multilayer, flexible PDMS chip with specially designed fluidic channels dynamically reconfigured by pneumatically actuated diaphragms is utilized to integrate a variety of droplet manipulation schemes. Once droplets are formed, their motions are coordinated by a 2D multiplexing scheme, which exploits the bidirectional movement of diaphragms to implement a random-access microarray. In the prototype demonstration, a PDMS molding and bonding process is used to fabricate the proposed microfluidic system. Emulsion droplets with desired volumes and compositions are produced, addressably stored, manipulated and retrieved from a 4 × 4 array, which employs just 4 (= 2 × log 2 4) control inputs for the operation. It has been demonstrated that (1) the integration of droplet manipulation and 2D multiplexing schemes can be achieved readily using bidirectional diaphragm valves, (2) multiplexing of an N × N array could be realized utilizing only 2 × log 2 N control inputs and (3) a multifunctional, random-access microarray can be accomplished employing a multilayer PDMS chip. As such, the demonstrated random-access microarray could potentially serve as a platform for continuous tracking and multistep processing of emulsion droplets, which is desired for various biological and chemical applications. (paper)

PV Reconfiguration Systems: a Technical and Economic Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caruso M.

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Dynamical electrical array reconfiguration strategies for grid-connected PV systems have been proposed as solution to improve energy production due to the mismatch effect of PV plants during partial shading conditions. Strategies are based on the use of dynamic connections between PV panels given by the employment of switches that allow for each panel the series, parallel or exclusion connections, physically changing the electrical connections between the related PV modules, consequentially modifying the layout of the plant. Usually the cost of the dynamic matrix is not taken into account. This novel work evaluates the economic advantages obtained by the use of reconfiguration strategies in PV systems, by taking into consideration the price of energy due to incentives in different European and non-European countries and correlates it with the employment of two types of reconfigurators, with different internal structures. For each of the incentives proposed by the different Countries, the main strength and weakness points of the possible investment are highlighted and critically analyzed. From this analysis, it can be stated that the adoption of reconfiguration systems, in certain cases, can be a very convenient solution.

Site Selection for Hvdc Ground Electrodes

Science.gov (United States)

Freire, P. F.; Pereira, S. Y.

2014-12-01

High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission systems are composed of a bipole transmission line with a converter substation at each end. Each substation may be equipped with a HVDC ground electrode, which is a wide area (up to 1 km Ø) and deep (from 3 to 100m) electrical grounding. When in normal operation, the ground electrode will dissipate in the soil the unbalance of the bipole (~1.5% of the rated current). When in monopolar operation with ground return, the HVDC electrode will inject in the soil the nominal pole continuous current, of about 2000 to 3000 Amperes, continuously for a period up to a few hours. HVDC ground electrodes site selection is a work based on extensive geophysical and geological surveys, in order to attend the desired design requirements established for the electrodes, considering both its operational conditions (maximum soil temperature, working life, local soil voltage gradients etc.) and the interference effects on the installations located up to 50 km away. This poster presents the geophysical investigations conducted primarily for the electrodes site selection, and subsequently for the development of the crust resistivity model, which will be used for the interference studies. A preliminary site selection is conducted, based on general geographical and geological criteria. Subsequently, the geology of each chosen area is surveyed in detail, by means of electromagnetic/electrical geophysical techniques, such as magnetotelluric (deep), TDEM (near-surface) and electroresistivity (shallow). Other complementary geologic and geotechnical surveys are conducted, such as wells drilling (for geotechnical characterization, measurement of the water table depth and water flow, and electromagnetic profiling), and soil and water sampling (for measurement of thermal parameters and evaluation of electrosmosis risk). The site evaluation is a dynamic process along the surveys, and some sites will be discarded. For the two or three final sites, the

Evaluation of fall chinook salmon spawning adjacent to the In-Situ Redox Manipulation treatability test site, Hanford Site, Washington

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, R.P.; Geist, D.R.

1998-10-01

The In Situ Redox Manipulation (ISRM) experiment is being evaluated as a potential method to remove contaminants from groundwater adjacent to the Columbia River near the 100-D Area. The ISRM experiment involves using sodium dithionate (Na 2 O 6 S 2 ) to precipitate chromate from the groundwater. The treatment will likely create anoxic conditions in the groundwater down-gradient of the ISRM treatability test site; however, the spatial extent of this anoxic plume is not exactly known. Surveys were conducted in November 1997, following the peak spawning of fall chinook salmon. Aerial surveys documented 210 redds (spawning nests) near the downstream island in locations consistent with previous surveys. Neither aerial nor underwater surveys documented fall chinook spawning in the vicinity of the ISRM treatability test site. Based on measurements of depth, velocity, and substrate, less than 1% of the study area contained suitable fall chinook salmon spawning habitat, indicating low potential for fall chinook salmon to spawn in the vicinity of the ISRM experiment

Factors of site selection for nuclear power plants in selected industrial states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffmann, L.; Obermair, G.; Ringler, W.; Romahn, B.; Sanders, H.

1978-01-01

The range of the tasks within the project consists of working out an optimal catalogue of criteria for the site selection for nuclear power plants; establishing a structured documentation system for the criteria and licensing procedures used by selected industrial countries when selecting sites for nuclear power plants; analyzing and evaluating the documented material with the aim of supplying the basis for decisions concerning land use. The tasks are being realized within a technological ring of data (for the period until 1990, reactor types, cooling, power-heat coupling, special sites, block sizes, local concentration) and a set politico-economical ring of data for the following countries: F.R. Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, France, Netherlands, USA, Japan, Yougoslavia. (HP) [de

32 CFR 644.22 - Site selection.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... and site boards should be informed of any available lands, including marginal lands in civil works... HANDBOOK Project Planning Military (army and Air Force) and Other Federal Agencies § 644.22 Site selection... Engineer to prepare a Real Estate Planning Report or Real Estate Summary, making reference to the prior...

Rational design of reconfigurable prismatic architected materials

Science.gov (United States)

Overvelde, Johannes T. B.; Weaver, James C.; Hoberman, Chuck; Bertoldi, Katia

2017-01-01

Advances in fabrication technologies are enabling the production of architected materials with unprecedented properties. Most such materials are characterized by a fixed geometry, but in the design of some materials it is possible to incorporate internal mechanisms capable of reconfiguring their spatial architecture, and in this way to enable tunable functionality. Inspired by the structural diversity and foldability of the prismatic geometries that can be constructed using the snapology origami technique, here we introduce a robust design strategy based on space-filling tessellations of polyhedra to create three-dimensional reconfigurable materials comprising a periodic assembly of rigid plates and elastic hinges. Guided by numerical analysis and physical prototypes, we systematically explore the mobility of the designed structures and identify a wide range of qualitatively different deformations and internal rearrangements. Given that the underlying principles are scale-independent, our strategy can be applied to the design of the next generation of reconfigurable structures and materials, ranging from metre-scale transformable architectures to nanometre-scale tunable photonic systems.

The alternative site selection procedure as covered in the report by the Repository Site Selection Procedures Working Group

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brenner, M.

2005-01-01

The 2002 Act on the Regulated Termination of the Use of Nuclear Power for Industrial Electricity Generation declared Germany's opting out of the peaceful uses of nuclear power. The problem of the permanent management of radioactive residues is becoming more and more important also in the light of that political decision. At the present time, there are no repositories offering the waste management capacities required. Such facilities need to be created. At the present stage, eligible repository sites are the Konrad mine, a former iron ore mine near Salzgitter, and the Gorleben salt dome. While the fate of the Konrad mine as a repository for waste generating negligible amounts of heat continues to be uncertain, despite a plan approval decision of June 2002, the Gorleben repository is still in the planning phase, at present in a dormant state, so to speak. The federal government expressed doubt about the suitability of the Gorleben site. Against this backdrop, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety in February 1999 established AkEnd, the Working Group on Repository Site Selection Procedures. The Group was charged with developing, based on sound scientific criteria, a transparent site selection procedure in order to facilitate the search for repository sites. The Working Group presented its final report in December 2002 after approximately four years of work. The Group's proposals about alternative site selection procedures are explained in detail and, above all, reviewed critically. (orig.)

An adaptive cryptographic accelerator for network storage security on dynamically reconfigurable platform

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Li; Liu, Jing-Ning; Feng, Dan; Tong, Wei

2008-12-01

Existing security solutions in network storage environment perform poorly because cryptographic operations (encryption and decryption) implemented in software can dramatically reduce system performance. In this paper we propose a cryptographic hardware accelerator on dynamically reconfigurable platform for the security of high performance network storage system. We employ a dynamic reconfigurable platform based on a FPGA to implement a PowerPCbased embedded system, which executes cryptographic algorithms. To reduce the reconfiguration latency, we apply prefetch scheduling. Moreover, the processing elements could be dynamically configured to support different cryptographic algorithms according to the request received by the accelerator. In the experiment, we have implemented AES (Rijndael) and 3DES cryptographic algorithms in the reconfigurable accelerator. Our proposed reconfigurable cryptographic accelerator could dramatically increase the performance comparing with the traditional software-based network storage systems.

Trajectory Generation and Stability Analysis for Reconfigurable Klann Mechanism Based Walking Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaichandar Kulandaidaasan Sheba

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Reconfigurable legged robots based on one degree of freedom are highly desired because they are effective on rough and irregular terrains and they provide mobility in such terrain with simple control schemes. It is necessary that reconfigurable legged robots should maintain stability during rest and motion, with a minimum number of legs while maintaining their full range of walking patterns resulting from different gait configuration. In this paper we present a method to generate input trajectory for reconfigurable quadruped robots based on Klann mechanism to properly synchronize movement. Six useful gait cycles based on this reconfigurable Klann mechanism for quadruped robots has been clearly shown here. The platform stability for these six useful gait cycles are validated through simulated results which clearly shows the capabilities of reconfigurable design.

Reconfiguration of distribution networks to minimize loss and disruption costs using genetic algorithms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cebrian, Juan Carlos; Kagan, Nelson [Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Escola Politecnica, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, travessa 3 n 380 - CEP - 05508-970 - Sao Paulo (Brazil)

2010-01-15

In this paper a computational implementation of an evolutionary algorithm (EA) is shown in order to tackle the problem of reconfiguring radial distribution systems. The developed module considers power quality indices such as long duration interruptions and customer process disruptions due to voltage sags, by using the Monte Carlo simulation method. Power quality costs are modeled into the mathematical problem formulation, which are added to the cost of network losses. As for the EA codification proposed, a decimal representation is used. The EA operators, namely selection, recombination and mutation, which are considered for the reconfiguration algorithm, are herein analyzed. A number of selection procedures are analyzed, namely tournament, elitism and a mixed technique using both elitism and tournament. The recombination operator was developed by considering a chromosome structure representation that maps the network branches and system radiality, and another structure that takes into account the network topology and feasibility of network operation to exchange genetic material. The topologies regarding the initial population are randomly produced so as radial configurations are produced through the Prim and Kruskal algorithms that rapidly build minimum spanning trees. (author)

Efficient integration of plug-in electric vehicles via reconfigurable microgrids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kavousi-Fard, Abdollah; Khodaei, Amin

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the viability of the reconfigurable microgrids (RMGs) in facilitating the integration of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The reconfiguration ability of microgrids, which is enabled by the use of remotely controlled switches (RCSs), will support the high penetration of PEVs and renewable distributed generators (DGs) while reducing the total operation cost and potentially enhance microgrid reliability. The objective of the proposed optimal scheduling problem is to minimize the total cost of power supply by distributed energy resources (DERs) and upstream network energy exchange, battery degradation cost in PEVs, cost of switching during the reconfiguration, and expected customer interruption costs as a reliability index. To address the high level of the uncertainties in the problem, a scenario-based stochastic framework is devised to capture the uncertainties associated with the charging and discharging values of PEVs, number of PEVs in each fleet, time of the daily trips for PEVs, hourly load consumption, hourly output power of renewable DGs, and hourly market price. The satisfying performance and merits of the proposed model are examined on a test microgrid. - Highlights: • Introduction of reconfigurable microgrids for providing flexible structure to manage electric loads. • Assessing the effects of the reconfiguration on the integration of PEVs. • Introduction of a stochastic framework for reducing operation and reliability costs in microgrids. • Introduction of a smart charge/discharge scheme for PEVs based on V2G during the reconfiguration.

Reconfiguring Cooperative Work by Visualizing EPR on Large Projected Screens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simonsen, Jesper

Simonsen, J. (2006): Reconfiguring Cooperative Work by Visualizing EPR on Large Projected Screens, Paper presented at the PDC 2006 workshop on: Reconfiguring Healthcare: Issues in Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Healthcare Environments. Participatory Design Conference, Trento, Italy, August...

Short-Term Load Forecasting Based Automatic Distribution Network Reconfiguration: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang, Huaiguang [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ding, Fei [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Zhang, Yingchen [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Jiang, Huaiguang [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ding, Fei [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Zhang, Yingchen [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-07-26

In the traditional dynamic network reconfiguration study, the optimal topology is determined at every scheduled time point by using the real load data measured at that time. The development of load forecasting technique can provide accurate prediction of load power that will happen in future time and provide more information about load changes. With the inclusion of load forecasting, the optimal topology can be determined based on the predicted load conditions during the longer time period instead of using the snapshot of load at the time when the reconfiguration happens, and thus it can provide information to the distribution system operator (DSO) to better operate the system reconfiguration to achieve optimal solutions. Thus, this paper proposes a short-term load forecasting based approach for automatically reconfiguring distribution systems in a dynamic and pre-event manner. Specifically, a short-term and high-resolution distribution system load forecasting approach is proposed with support vector regression (SVR) based forecaster and parallel parameters optimization. And the network reconfiguration problem is solved by using the forecasted load continuously to determine the optimal network topology with the minimum loss at the future time. The simulation results validate and evaluate the proposed approach.

Radioactive waste repository site selection in the Republic of Slovenia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeran, M.

1992-01-01

The report shows the procedure for the low and intermediate level radwaste (LLW and ILW) repository site selection and the work performed up to the present. The procedure for the repository site selection is divided into four steps. In the first step the unsuitable areas are excluded by taking into consideration the rough exclusion criteria. In the second step, the remaining suitable areas are screened to identify the potential sites with respect to preference criteria. In the third step three to five candidate sites will be assessed and selected among the potential sites. In the final, the fourth step, detailed site investigation and confirmation of one or two most suitable sites will follow. In Slovenia the 1st and the 2nd step of site selection have been completed, while step 3 is now in its final stage. (author) [sl

Reconfigurable Integrated Optoelectronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard Soref

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Integrated optics today is based upon chips of Si and InP. The future of this chip industry is probably contained in the thrust towards optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs and photonic integrated circuits (PICs manufactured in a high-volume foundry. We believe that reconfigurable OEICs and PICs, known as ROEICs and RPICs, constitute the ultimate embodiment of integrated photonics. This paper shows that any ROEIC-on-a-chip can be decomposed into photonic modules, some of them fixed and some of them changeable in function. Reconfiguration is provided by electrical control signals to the electro-optical building blocks. We illustrate these modules in detail and discuss 3D ROEIC chips for the highest-performance signal processing. We present examples of our module theory for RPIC optical lattice filters already constructed, and we propose new ROEICs for directed optical logic, large-scale matrix switching, and 2D beamsteering of a phased-array microwave antenna. In general, large-scale-integrated ROEICs will enable significant applications in computing, quantum computing, communications, learning, imaging, telepresence, sensing, RF/microwave photonics, information storage, cryptography, and data mining.

The Complete Reconfiguration of Dendritic Gold

Science.gov (United States)

Paneru, Govind; Flanders, Bret

2014-03-01

Reconfigurability-by-design is an important strategy in modern materials science, as materials with this capability could potentially be used to confer hydrophobic, lipophobic, or anti-corrosive character to substrates in a regenerative manner. The present work extends the directed electrochemical nanowire assembly (DENA) methodology, which is a technique that employs alternating voltages to grow single crystalline metallic nanowires and nano-dendrites from simple salt solutions, to enable the complete dissolution of macroscopic arrays of metallic dendrites following their growth. Our main finding is that structural reconfiguration of dendritic gold is induced by changes in the MHz-level frequencies of voltages that are applied to the dendrites. Cyclic voltammetry and micro-Raman spectroscopy have been used to show that dendritic gold grows and dissolves by the same chemical mechanisms as bulk gold. Hence, the redox chemistry that occurs at the crystal-solution interface is no different than the established electrochemistry of gold. What differs in this process and allows for reconfiguration to occur is the diffusive behavior of the gold chloride molecules in the solution adjacent to the interface. We will present a simple model that captures the physics of this behavior.

Enabling Self-Organization in Embedded Systems with Reconfigurable Hardware

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christophe Bobda

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We present a methodology based on self-organization to manage resources in networked embedded systems based on reconfigurable hardware. Two points are detailed in this paper, the monitoring system used to analyse the system and the Local Marketplaces Global Symbiosis (LMGS concept defined for self-organization of dynamically reconfigurable nodes.

Reconfigurable computing the theory and practice of FPGA-based computation

CERN Document Server

Hauck, Scott

2010-01-01

Reconfigurable Computing marks a revolutionary and hot topic that bridges the gap between the separate worlds of hardware and software design- the key feature of reconfigurable computing is its groundbreaking ability to perform computations in hardware to increase performance while retaining the flexibility of a software solution. Reconfigurable computers serve as affordable, fast, and accurate tools for developing designs ranging from single chip architectures to multi-chip and embedded systems. Scott Hauck and Andre DeHon have assembled a group of the key experts in the fields of both hardwa

Use of DOE site selection criteria for screening low-level waste disposal sites on the Oak Ridge Reservation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, D.W.; Ketelle, R.H.; Stinton, L.H.

1983-09-01

The proposed Department of Energy (DOE) site selection criteria were applied to the Oak Ridge Reservation, and the application was evaluated to determine the criteria's usefulness in the selection of a low-level waste disposal site. The application of the criteria required the development of a methodology to provide a framework for evaluation. The methodology is composed of site screening and site characterization stages. The site screening stage relies on reconnaissance data to identify a preferred site capable of satisfying the site selection criteria. The site characterization stage relies on a detailed site investigation to determine site acceptability. The site selection criteria were applied to the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation through the site screening stage. Results of this application were similar to those of a previous siting study on the Oak Ridge Reservation. The DOE site selection criteria when coupled with the methodology that was developed were easily applied and would be adaptable to any region of interest

Multilevel Simulation of Heterogeneous Reconfigurable Platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Damien Picard

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a general system-level simulation and testing methodology for reconfigurable System-on-Chips, starting from behavioral specifications of system activities to multilevel simulations of accelerated tasks running on the reconfigurable circuit. The system is based on a common objectoriented environment that offers valuable debugging and probing facilities as well as integrated testing features. Our system brings these benefits to the hardware simulation, while enforcing validation through characterization tests and interoperability through on-demand mainstream tools connections. This framework has been partially developed in the scope of the EU Morpheus project and is used to validate our contribution to the spatial design task.

The viking landing sites: selection and certification.

Science.gov (United States)

Masursky, H; Crabill, N L

1976-08-27

During the past several years the Viking project developed plans to use Viking orbiter instruments and Earth-based radar to certify the suitability of the landing sites selected as the safest and most scientifically rewarding using Mariner 9 data. During June and July 1976, the Earth-based radar and orbital spacecraft observations of some of the prime and backup sites were completed. The results of these combined observations indicated that the Viking 1 prime landing area in the Chryse region of Mars is geologically varied and possibly more hazardous than expected, and was not certifiable as a site for the Viking 1 landing. Consequently, the site certification effort had to be drastically modified and lengthened to search for a site that might be safe enough to attempt to land. The selected site considered at 47.5 degrees W, 22.4 degrees N represented a compromise between desirable characteristics observed with visual images and those inferred from Earth-based radar. It lies in the Chryse region about 900 kilometers northwest of the original site. Viking 1 landed successfully at this site on 20 July 1976.

Reconfigurable, Cognitive Software-Defined Radio

Science.gov (United States)

Bhat, Arvind

2015-01-01

Software-defined radio (SDR) technology allows radios to be reconfigured to perform different communication functions without using multiple radios to accomplish each task. Intelligent Automation, Inc., has developed SDR platforms that switch adaptively between different operation modes. The innovation works by modifying both transmit waveforms and receiver signal processing tasks. In Phase I of the project, the company developed SDR cognitive capabilities, including adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), automatic modulation recognition (AMR), and spectrum sensing. In Phase II, these capabilities were integrated into SDR platforms. The reconfigurable transceiver design employs high-speed field-programmable gate arrays, enabling multimode operation and scalable architecture. Designs are based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and are modular in nature, making it easier to upgrade individual components rather than redesigning the entire SDR platform as technology advances.

Selection of the Mars Science Laboratory landing site

Science.gov (United States)

Golombek, M.; Grant, J.; Kipp, D.; Vasavada, A.; Kirk, Randolph L.; Fergason, Robin L.; Bellutta, P.; Calef, F.; Larsen, K.; Katayama, Y.; Huertas, A.; Beyer, R.; Chen, A.; Parker, T.; Pollard, B.; Lee, S.; Hoover, R.; Sladek, H.; Grotzinger, J.; Welch, R.; Dobrea, E. Noe; Michalski, J.; Watkins, M.

2012-01-01

The selection of Gale crater as the Mars Science Laboratory landing site took over five years, involved broad participation of the science community via five open workshops, and narrowed an initial >50 sites (25 by 20 km) to four finalists (Eberswalde, Gale, Holden and Mawrth) based on science and safety. Engineering constraints important to the selection included: (1) latitude (±30°) for thermal management of the rover and instruments, (2) elevation (surface that is safe for landing and roving and not dominated by fine-grained dust. Science criteria important for the selection include the ability to assess past habitable environments, which include diversity, context, and biosignature (including organics) preservation. Sites were evaluated in detail using targeted data from instruments on all active orbiters, and especially Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. All of the final four sites have layered sedimentary rocks with spectral evidence for phyllosilicates that clearly address the science objectives of the mission. Sophisticated entry, descent and landing simulations that include detailed information on all of the engineering constraints indicate all of the final four sites are safe for landing. Evaluation of the traversabilty of the landing sites and target “go to” areas outside of the ellipse using slope and material properties information indicates that all are trafficable and “go to” sites can be accessed within the lifetime of the mission. In the final selection, Gale crater was favored over Eberswalde based on its greater diversity and potential habitability.

El Diseño Modular en el contexto del desarrollo de Máquinas Herramienta Reconfigurables. // Modular Design in the development of reconfigurable Machine Tools´ context.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Pérez Rodríguez

2005-05-01

Full Text Available Las tendencias actuales en los procesos de manufactura reflejan los cambios en las demandas de los clientes. En nuestrosdías, el mercado requiere inexorablemente de productos cada vez más personalizados, por lo que se tiende de unaproducción masiva hacia un tipo específico de producción, en menos tiempo y con menos costos de producción. Enrespuesta a esta necesidad, la nueva generación de máquinas herramienta debe de ser reconfigurable e inteligente. Lascaracterísticas principales de las Máquinas Reconfigurables e Inteligentes son la modularidad, convertibilidad, flexibilidady efectividad en los costos. Este artículo presenta un enfoque para el diseño modular de máquinas herramienta, basado en elportafolio de productos del constructor de máquinas. La metodología parte de un conjunto de requerimientos funcionalesdefinidos por el constructor de máquinas y ofrece una descripción de los posibles módulos que pueden ser desarrolladospara una determinada máquina herramienta reconfigurable.Palabras claves: Diseño modular, máquinas herramienta, reconfigurable, inteligente.___________________________________________________________________________Abstract.The manufacturing tendencies reflect the changes on the customer demands. Nowadays, the market is constantly requiringmore customized products, moving from mass production to “one-of-a-kind production” in less time with lower productioncosts. In response to this need, the next generation of machine tools should be reconfigurable and intelligent.Reconfigurability allows for the reduction of machine design lead time, machine set-up and ramp-up time. The principalcharacteristics of the Reconfigurable and Intelligent Machines are modularity, convertibility, flexibility and costeffectiveness.This paper presents an approach for the design of machine tools modules, based on the product portfolio ofthe machine tool builder. The methodology takes as input a set of functional requirements

Influence of Spinal Manipulative Therapy Force Magnitude and Application Site on Spinal Tissue Loading: A Biomechanical Robotic Serial Dissection Study in Porcine Motion Segments.

Science.gov (United States)

Funabashi, Martha; Nougarou, François; Descarreaux, Martin; Prasad, Narasimha; Kawchuk, Greg

In order to define the relation between spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) input parameters and the distribution of load within spinal tissues, the aim of this study was to determine the influence of force magnitude and application site when SMT is applied to cadaveric spines. In 10 porcine cadavers, a servo-controlled linear actuator motor provided a standardized SMT simulation using 3 different force magnitudes (100N, 300N, and 500N) to 2 different cutaneous locations: L3/L4 facet joint (FJ), and L4 transverse processes (TVP). Vertebral kinematics were tracked optically using indwelling bone pins, the motion segment removed and mounted in a parallel robot equipped with a 6-axis load cell. The kinematics of each SMT application were replicated robotically. Serial dissection of spinal structures was conducted to quantify loading characteristics of discrete spinal tissues. Forces experienced by the L3/L4 segment and spinal structures during SMT replication were recorded and analyzed. Spinal manipulative therapy force magnitude and application site parameters influenced spinal tissues loading. A significant main effect (P < .05) of force magnitude was observed on the loads experienced by the intact specimen and supra- and interspinous ligaments. The main effect of application site was also significant (P < .05), influencing the loading of the intact specimen and facet joints, capsules, and ligamentum flavum (P < .05). Spinal manipulative therapy input parameters of force magnitude and application site significantly influence the distribution of forces within spinal tissues. By controlling these SMT parameters, clinical outcomes may potentially be manipulated. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Flexible Frequency Discrimination Subsystems for Reconfigurable Radio Front Ends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carey-Smith Bruce E

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The required flexibility of the software-defined radio front end may currently be met with better overall performance by employing tunable narrowband circuits rather than pursuing a truly wideband approach. A key component of narrowband transceivers is appropriate filtering to reduce spurious spectral content in the transmitter and limit out-of-band interference in the receiver. In this paper, recent advances in flexible, frequency-selective, circuit components applicable to reconfigurable SDR front ends are reviewed. The paper contains discussion regarding the filtering requirements in the SDR context and the use of intelligent, adaptive control to provide environment-aware frequency discrimination. Wide tuning-range frequency-selective circuit elements are surveyed including bandpass and bandstop filters and narrowband tunable antennas. The suitability of these elements to the mobile wireless SDR environment is discussed.

Architecture for dynamically reconfigurable real-time lossless compression

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Alison J.; Audsley, Neil C.

2004-05-01

Image compression is a computationally intensive task, which can be undertaken most efficiently by dedicated hardware. If a portable device is to carry out real-time compression on a variety of image types, then it may be useful to reconfigure the circuitry dynamically. Using commercial off-the shelf (COTS) chips, reconfiguration is usually implemented by a complete re-load from memory, but it is also possible to perform a partial reconfiguration. This work studies the use of programmable hardware devices to implement the lossless JPEG compression algorithm in real-time on a stream of independent image frames. The data rate is faster than can be compressed serially in hardware by a single processor, so the operation is split amongst several processors. These are implemented as programmable circuits, together with necessary buffering of input and output data. The timing of input and output, bearing in mind the different, and context-dependent amounts of data due to Huffman coding, is analyzed using storage-timing graphs. Because there may be differing parameters from one frame to the next, several different configurations are prepared and stored, ready to load as required. The scheduling of these reconfigurations, and the distribution/recombination of data streams is studied, giving an analysis of the real-time performance.

Manipulator comparative testing program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Draper, J.V.; Handel, S.J.; Sundstrom, E.; Herndon, J.N.; Fujita, Y.; Maeda, M.

1986-01-01

The Manipulator Comparative Testing Program examined differences among manipulator systems from the United States and Japan. The manipulator systems included the Meidensha BILARM 83A, the Model M-2 of Central Research Laboratories Division of Sargent Industries (CRL), and the GCA Corporation PaR Systems Model 6000. The site of testing was the Remote Operations Maintenance Demonstration (ROMD) facility, operated by the Fuel Recycle Division in the Consolidated Fuel Reprocessing Program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In all stages of testing, operators using the CRL Model M-2 manipulator had consistently lower times to completion and error rates than they did using other machines. Performance was second best with the Meidensha BILARM 83A in master-slave mode. Performance with the BILARM in switchbox mode and the PaR 6000 manipulator was approximately equivalent in terms of criteria recorded in testing. These data show no impact of force reflection on task performance

Turbidity monitoring at select MDOT construction sites.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

The objective of this project was to establish baseline turbidity conditions at select construction : sites by establishing a water quality monitoring program and documenting MDOT approved : BMPs on site. In 2009 the United States Environmental Prote...

Configuration Method Design for Reconfigurable Manufacturing System with the aid of Plant Simulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Yang; Zhang, Shuai; Bilberg, Arne

2014-01-01

A new Reconfigurable Manufacturing System structure has been recently designed by a large consumer goods manufacturer in Europe, aiming to balance the performance of productivity and flexibility. This article shows an exploratory research on the (re)configuration procedure of the new RMS structure....... Following the procedure which is designed in this paper, the (re)configuration of RMS can be managed as part of the daily operation with the help of computer simulation. Keywords: Plant Simulation, Tecnomatix, Reconfigurable Manufacturing System, modular manufacturing....

Centralised versus Decentralised Control Reconfiguration for Collaborating Underwater Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Furno, Lidia; Nielsen, Mikkel Cornelius; Blanke, Mogens

2015-01-01

The present paper introduces an approach to fault-tolerant reconfiguration for collaborating underwater robots. Fault-tolerant reconfiguration is obtained using the virtual actuator approach, Steen (2005). The paper investigates properties of a centralised versus a decentralised implementation an...... an underwater drill needs to be transported and positioned by three collaborating robots as part of an underwater autonomous operation....

Site-selective 13C labeling of proteins using erythrose

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weininger, Ulrich

2017-01-01

NMR-spectroscopy enables unique experimental studies on protein dynamics at atomic resolution. In order to obtain a full atom view on protein dynamics, and to study specific local processes like ring-flips, proton-transfer, or tautomerization, one has to perform studies on amino-acid side chains. A key requirement for these studies is site-selective labeling with 13 C and/or 1 H, which is achieved in the most general way by using site-selectively 13 C-enriched glucose (1- and 2- 13 C) as the carbon source in bacterial expression systems. Using this strategy, multiple sites in side chains, including aromatics, become site-selectively labeled and suitable for relaxation studies. Here we systematically investigate the use of site-selectively 13 C-enriched erythrose (1-, 2-, 3- and 4- 13 C) as a suitable precursor for 13 C labeled aromatic side chains. We quantify 13 C incorporation in nearly all sites in all 20 amino acids and compare the results to glucose based labeling. In general the erythrose approach results in more selective labeling. While there is only a minor gain for phenylalanine and tyrosine side-chains, the 13 C incorporation level for tryptophan is at least doubled. Additionally, the Phe ζ and Trp η2 positions become labeled. In the aliphatic side chains, labeling using erythrose yields isolated 13 C labels for certain positions, like Ile β and His β, making these sites suitable for dynamics studies. Using erythrose instead of glucose as a source for site-selective 13 C labeling enables unique or superior labeling for certain positions and is thereby expanding the toolbox for customized isotope labeling of amino-acid side-chains.

Site selection report basalt waste isolation program near-surface test facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharpe, S.D.

1978-01-01

A site selection committee was established to review the information gathered on potential sites and to select a site for the Near-Surface Test Facility Phase I. A decision was made to use a site on the north face of Gable Mountain located on the Hanford Site. This site provided convenient access to the Pomona Basalt Flow. This flow was selected for use at this site because it exhibited the characteristics established in the primary criteria. These criteria were: the flows thickness; its dryness; its nearness to the surface; and, its similarities to basalt units which are candidates for the repository. After the selection of the Near-Surface Test Facility Phase I Site, the need arose for an additional facility to demonstrate safe handling, storage techniques, and the physical effects of radioactive materials on an in situ basalt formation. The committee reviewed the sites selected for Phase I and chose the same site for locating Phase II of the Near-Surface Test Facility

Rapidly Re-Configurable Flight Simulator Tools for Crew Vehicle Integration Research and Design

Science.gov (United States)

Pritchett, Amy R.

2002-01-01

While simulation is a valuable research and design tool, the time and difficulty required to create new simulations (or re-use existing simulations) often limits their application. This report describes the design of the software architecture for the Reconfigurable Flight Simulator (RFS), which provides a robust simulation framework that allows the simulator to fulfill multiple research and development goals. The core of the architecture provides the interface standards for simulation components, registers and initializes components, and handles the communication between simulation components. The simulation components are each a pre-compiled library 'plugin' module. This modularity allows independent development and sharing of individual simulation components. Additional interfaces can be provided through the use of Object Data/Method Extensions (OD/ME). RFS provides a programmable run-time environment for real-time access and manipulation, and has networking capabilities using the High Level Architecture (HLA).

Quality of data used in site selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delvin, W.L.

1986-01-01

The selection of sites for nuclear waste repositories requires an investigative effort to characterize potential sites with regard to geologic properties and environmental considerations. Such investigations generate scientific and engineering data through the experimental testing and evaluation of geologic and environmental materials and through sampling and analysis of those materials. Data generated for site selection must be correct, defendable, and suitable for their intended use; they must have quality. Five quality characteristics are defined and practices followed by scientists and engineers producing data have been grouped into seven categories called quality guides. These are presented in the paper and the relationship between the guides (practices) and the five quality characteristics is shown

A Reconfigurable System Approach to the Direct Kinematics of a 5 D.o.f Robotic Manipulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diego F. Sánchez

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Hardware acceleration in high performance computer systems has a particular interest for many engineering and scientific applications in which a large number of arithmetic operations and transcendental functions must be computed. In this paper a hardware architecture for computing direct kinematics of robot manipulators with 5 degrees of freedom (5 D.o.f using floating-point arithmetic is presented for 32, 43, and 64 bit-width representations and it is implemented in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs. The proposed architecture has been developed using several floating-point libraries for arithmetic and transcendental functions operators, allowing the designer to select (pre-synthesis a suitable bit-width representation according to the accuracy and dynamic range, as well as the area, elapsed time and power consumption requirements of the application. Synthesis results demonstrate the effectiveness and high performance of the implemented cores on commercial FPGAs. Simulation results have been addressed in order to compute the Mean Square Error (MSE, using the Matlab as statistical estimator, validating the correct behavior of the implemented cores. Additionally, the processing time of the hardware architecture was compared with the same formulation implemented in software, using the PowerPC (FPGA embedded processor, demonstrating that the hardware architecture speeds-up by factor of 1298 the software implementation.

Reconfiguration of Cortical Networks in MDD Uncovered by Multiscale Community Detection with fMRI.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Ye; Lim, Sol; Fortunato, Santo; Sporns, Olaf; Zhang, Lei; Qiu, Jiang; Xie, Peng; Zuo, Xi-Nian

2018-04-01

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is known to be associated with altered interactions between distributed brain regions. How these regional changes relate to the reorganization of cortical functional systems, and their modulation by antidepressant medication, is relatively unexplored. To identify changes in the community structure of cortical functional networks in MDD, we performed a multiscale community detection algorithm on resting-state functional connectivity networks of unmedicated MDD (uMDD) patients (n = 46), medicated MDD (mMDD) patients (n = 38), and healthy controls (n = 50), which yielded a spectrum of multiscale community partitions. we selected an optimal resolution level by identifying the most stable community partition for each group. uMDD and mMDD groups exhibited a similar reconfiguration of the community structure of the visual association and the default mode systems but showed different reconfiguration profiles in the frontoparietal control (FPC) subsystems. Furthermore, the central system (somatomotor/salience) and 3 frontoparietal subsystems showed strengthened connectivity with other communities in uMDD but, with the exception of 1 frontoparietal subsystem, returned to control levels in mMDD. These findings provide evidence for reconfiguration of specific cortical functional systems associated with MDD, as well as potential effects of medication in restoring disease-related network alterations, especially those of the FPC system.

Manipulation of EphB2 regulatory motifs and SH2 binding sites switches MAPK signaling and biological activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Jiefei; Elowe, Sabine; Nash, Piers; Pawson, Tony

2003-02-21

Signaling by the Eph family of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) is complex, because they can interact with a variety of intracellular targets, and can potentially induce distinct responses in different cell types. In NG108 neuronal cells, activated EphB2 recruits p120RasGAP, in a fashion that is associated with down-regulation of the Ras-Erk mitogen-activated kinase (MAPK) pathway and neurite retraction. To pursue the role of the Ras-MAPK pathway in EphB2-mediated growth cone collapse, and to explore the biochemical and biological functions of Eph receptors, we sought to re-engineer the signaling properties of EphB2 by manipulating its regulatory motifs and SH2 binding sites. An EphB2 mutant that retained juxtamembrane (JM) RasGAP binding sites but incorporated a Grb2 binding motif at an alternate RasGAP binding site within the kinase domain had little effect on basal Erk MAPK activation. In contrast, elimination of all RasGAP binding sites, accompanied by the addition of a Grb2 binding site within the kinase domain, led to an increase in phospho-Erk levels in NG108 cells following ephrin-B1 stimulation. Functional assays indicated a correlation between neurite retraction and the ability of the EphB2 mutants to down-regulate Ras-Erk MAPK signaling. These data suggest that EphB2 can be designed to repress, stabilize, or activate the Ras-Erk MAPK pathway by the manipulation of RasGAP and Grb2 SH2 domain binding sites and support the notion that Erk MAPK regulation plays a significant role in axon guidance. The behavior of EphB2 variants with mutations in the JM region and kinase domains suggests an intricate pattern of regulation and target recognition by Eph receptors.

Compact, Frequency Reconfigurable, Printed Monopole Antenna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Gonçalves

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a possible implementation of a compact printed monopole antenna, useful to operate in UMTS and WLAN bands. In order to accomplish that, a miniaturization technique based on the application of chip inductors is used in conjunction with frequency reconfiguration capability. The chip inductors change the impedance response of the monopole, allowing to reduce the resonant frequency. In order to be able to operate the antenna in these two different frequencies, an antenna reconfiguration technique based on PIN diodes is applied. This procedure allows the change of the active form of the antenna leading to a shift in the resonant frequency. The prototype measurements show good agreement with the simulation results.

Site-Selection in Single-Molecule Junction for Highly Reproducible Molecular Electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaneko, Satoshi; Murai, Daigo; Marqués-González, Santiago; Nakamura, Hisao; Komoto, Yuki; Fujii, Shintaro; Nishino, Tomoaki; Ikeda, Katsuyoshi; Tsukagoshi, Kazuhito; Kiguchi, Manabu

2016-02-03

Adsorption sites of molecules critically determine the electric/photonic properties and the stability of heterogeneous molecule-metal interfaces. Then, selectivity of adsorption site is essential for development of the fields including organic electronics, catalysis, and biology. However, due to current technical limitations, site-selectivity, i.e., precise determination of the molecular adsorption site, remains a major challenge because of difficulty in precise selection of meaningful one among the sites. We have succeeded the single site-selection at a single-molecule junction by performing newly developed hybrid technique: simultaneous characterization of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The I-V response of 1,4-benzenedithiol junctions reveals the existence of three metastable states arising from different adsorption sites. Notably, correlated SERS measurements show selectivity toward one of the adsorption sites: "bridge sites". This site-selectivity represents an essential step toward the reliable integration of individual molecules on metallic surfaces. Furthermore, the hybrid spectro-electric technique reveals the dependence of the SERS intensity on the strength of the molecule-metal interaction, showing the interdependence between the optical and electronic properties in single-molecule junctions.

Using instability to reconfigure smart structures in a spring-mass model

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jiaying; McInnes, Colin R.

2017-07-01

Multistable phenomenon have long been used in mechanism design. In this paper a subset of unstable configurations of a smart structure model will be used to develop energy-efficient schemes to reconfigure the structure. This new concept for reconfiguration uses heteroclinic connections to transition the structure between different unstable equal-energy states. In an ideal structure model zero net energy input is required for the reconfiguration, compared to transitions between stable equilibria across a potential barrier. A simple smart structure model is firstly used to identify sets of equal-energy unstable configurations using dynamical systems theory. Dissipation is then added to be more representative of a practical structure. A range of strategies are then used to reconfigure the smart structure using heteroclinic connections with different approaches to handle dissipation.

Autonomous Reconfiguration Procedures for EJB-based Enterprise Applications

OpenAIRE

Vogel, Thomas; Bruhn, Jens; Wirtz, Guido

2018-01-01

Enterprise Applications (EA) are complex software systems for supporting the business of companies. Evolution of an EA should not affect its availability, e.g., because of a temporal shutdown, business operations may be affected. One possibility to address this problem is the seamless reconfiguration of the affected EA, i.e., applying the relevant changes while the system is running. Our approach to seamless reconfiguration focuses on component-oriented EAs. It is based on the Autonomic Compu...

Dynamic Reconfiguration in Mobile Systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria; Glesner, Manfred; Zipf, Peter; Smit, L.T.; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Heysters, P.M.; Renovell, Michel; Rosien, M.A.J.

Dynamically reconfigurable systems have the potential of realising efficient systems as well as providing adaptability to changing system requirements. Such systems are suitable for future mobile multimedia systems that have limited battery resources, must handle diverse data types, and must operate

Reconfiguration in Mobile Multimedia Systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Bos, M.; Smit, L.T.; Heysters, P.M.

2000-01-01

Dynamically reconfigurable systems offer the potential for realising efficient systems as well as providing adaptability to changing system requirements. Such systems are suitable for future mobile multimedia systems that have limited battery resources, must handle diverse data types, and must

A Novel Reconfigurable Robot for Urban Search and Rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Houxiang Zhang

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel mobile robot for urban search and rescue based on reconfiguration. The system consists of three identical modules; actually each module is an entire robotic system that can perform distributed activities. To achieve highly adaptive locomotion capabilities, the robot's serial and parallel mechanisms form an active joint, enabling it to change its shape in three dimensions. A docking mechanism enables adjacent modules to connect or disconnect flexibly and automatically. This mechanical structure and the control system are introduced in detail, followed by a description of the locomotion capabilities. In the end, the successful on-site tests confirm the principles described above and the robot's ability.

A Novel Reconfigurable Robot for Urban Search and Rescue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhicheng Deng

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel mobile robot for urban search and rescue based on reconfiguration. The system consists of three identical modules; actually each module is an entire robotic system that can perform distributed activities. To achieve highly adaptive locomotion capabilities, the robot's serial and parallel mechanisms form an active joint, enabling it to change its shape in three dimensions. A docking mechanism enables adjacent modules to connect or disconnect flexibly and automatically. This mechanical structure and the control system are introduced in detail, followed by a description of the locomotion capabilities. In the end, the successful on-site tests confirm the principles described above and the robot's ability.

A Taxonomy of Reconfigurable Single-/Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Göhringer

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Runtime adaptivity of hardware in processor architectures is a novel trend, which is under investigation in a variety of research labs all over the world. The runtime exchange of modules, implemented on a reconfigurable hardware, affects the instruction flow (e.g., in reconfigurable instruction set processors or the data flow, which has a strong impact on the performance of an application. Furthermore, the choice of a certain processor architecture related to the class of target applications is a crucial point in application development. A simple example is the domain of high-performance computing applications found in meteorology or high-energy physics, where vector processors are the optimal choice. A classification scheme for computer systems was provided in 1966 by Flynn where single/multiple data and instruction streams were combined to four types of architectures. This classification is now used as a foundation for an extended classification scheme including runtime adaptivity as further degree of freedom for processor architecture design. The developed scheme is validated by a multiprocessor system implemented on reconfigurable hardware as well as by a classification of existing static and reconfigurable processor systems.

Lightweight submersed 'Walking' NDE manipulators for PWR and BWR vessel weld inspection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saernmark, Ivan; Lenz, Herbert

2008-01-01

Three new manipulators developed by WesDyne TRC in Sweden have under the year 2007 performed three very successful inspections in the PWR reactor Ringhals 3 and the BWR reactors Ringhals 1 and Oskarshamn 1. The manipulator systems can be used to perform inspection of circumferential and vertical welds on the reactor pressure vessel, the core shroud, core shroud support in BWR reactors or vessel and core barrel welds in PWR reactors. Most other flat or curved surfaces can be inspected using the new concept through relatively simple mechanical reconfigurations of system modules. The first inspection was performed on the R3 PWR core barrel in June 2007 with a very good result. This Manipulator is designed for access in very narrow gaps and for the type of core barrels with a shield covering the whole area of the perimeter. The manipulator is attached to the inspection area by means of a new unique suction cup system. The current manipulators consist of a curved horizontal beam, with radius similar to the reactor vessel, and a straight vertical beam, forming a T-shaped structure. By alternating the application of suction cup pairs on the horizontal beam and the vertical beam and by driving the scanning motors, the manipulator performs an incremental translational movement upwards/downwards or from side to side. The principles of this system give a well defined and stable platform for global and local positioning accuracy. A combination of advanced sensor solutions provides accurate position information in the absence of other physical reference objects. The system is controlled by the new WesDyne TRC Motor Control Panel and software, the MCP is specifically designed for remote control of submersed manipulators using techniques for cable reduction

URBAN RAIN GAUGE SITING SELECTION BASED ON GIS-MULTICRITERIA ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Fu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available With the increasingly rapid growth of urbanization and climate change, urban rainfall monitoring as well as urban waterlogging has widely been paid attention. In the light of conventional siting selection methods do not take into consideration of geographic surroundings and spatial-temporal scale for the urban rain gauge site selection, this paper primarily aims at finding the appropriate siting selection rules and methods for rain gauge in urban area. Additionally, for optimization gauge location, a spatial decision support system (DSS aided by geographical information system (GIS has been developed. In terms of a series of criteria, the rain gauge optimal site-search problem can be addressed by a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA. A series of spatial analytical techniques are required for MCDA to identify the prospective sites. With the platform of GIS, using spatial kernel density analysis can reflect the population density; GIS buffer analysis is used to optimize the location with the rain gauge signal transmission character. Experiment results show that the rules and the proposed method are proper for the rain gauge site selection in urban areas, which is significant for the siting selection of urban hydrological facilities and infrastructure, such as water gauge.

Reconfigurable manufacturing execution system for pipe cutting

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Y. H.; Xie, J. Y.

2011-08-01

This article presents a reconfigurable manufacturing execution system (RMES) filling the gap between enterprise resource planning and resource layer for pipe-cutting production with mass customisation and rapid adaptation to dynamic market, which consists of planning and scheduling layer and executive control layer. Starting from customer's task and process requirements, the cutting trajectories are planned under generalised mathematical model able to reconfigure in accordance with various intersecting types' joint, and all tasks are scheduled by nesting algorithm to maximise the utilisation rate of rough material. This RMES for pipe cutting has been effectively implemented in more than 100 companies.

Reconfigurable Robust Routing for Mobile Outreach Network

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Ching-Fang

2010-01-01

The Reconfigurable Robust Routing for Mobile Outreach Network (R3MOO N) provides advanced communications networking technologies suitable for the lunar surface environment and applications. The R3MOON techn ology is based on a detailed concept of operations tailored for luna r surface networks, and includes intelligent routing algorithms and wireless mesh network implementation on AGNC's Coremicro Robots. The product's features include an integrated communication solution inco rporating energy efficiency and disruption-tolerance in a mobile ad h oc network, and a real-time control module to provide researchers an d engineers a convenient tool for reconfiguration, investigation, an d management.

Rough terrain motion planning for actively reconfigurable mobile robots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brunner, Michael

2015-01-01

In the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake and the nuclear meltdown at the power plant of Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, reconfigurable robots like the iRobot Packbot were deployed. Instead of humans, the robots were used to investigate contaminated areas. Other incidents are the two major earthquakes in Northern Italy in May 2012. Besides many casualties, a large number of historical buildings was severely damaged. Due to the imminent danger of collapse, it was too dangerous for rescue personnel to enter many of the buildings. Therefore, the sites were inspected by reconfigurable robots, which are able to traverse the rubble and debris of the partially destroyed buildings. This thesis develops a navigation system enabling wheeled and tracked robots to safely traverse rough terrain and challenging structures. It consists of a planning mechanism and a controller. The focus of this thesis, however, is on the contribution to motion planning. The planning scheme employs a hierarchical approach to motion planning for actively reconfigurable robots in rough environments. Using a map of the environment the algorithm estimates the traversability under the consideration of uncertainties. Based on this analysis, an initial path search determines an approximate solution with respect to the robot's operating limits.Subsequently, a detailed planning step refines the initial path where it is required. The refinement step considers the robot's actuators and stability in addition to the quantities of the first search. Determining the robot-terrain interaction is very important in rough terrain. This thesis presents two path refinement approaches: a deterministic and a randomized approach. The experimental evaluation investigates the separate components of the planning scheme, the robot-terrain interaction for instance.In simulation as well as in real world experiments the evaluation demonstrates the necessity of such a planning algorithm in rough terrain and it provides

Rough terrain motion planning for actively reconfigurable mobile robots

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brunner, Michael

2015-02-05

In the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake and the nuclear meltdown at the power plant of Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, reconfigurable robots like the iRobot Packbot were deployed. Instead of humans, the robots were used to investigate contaminated areas. Other incidents are the two major earthquakes in Northern Italy in May 2012. Besides many casualties, a large number of historical buildings was severely damaged. Due to the imminent danger of collapse, it was too dangerous for rescue personnel to enter many of the buildings. Therefore, the sites were inspected by reconfigurable robots, which are able to traverse the rubble and debris of the partially destroyed buildings. This thesis develops a navigation system enabling wheeled and tracked robots to safely traverse rough terrain and challenging structures. It consists of a planning mechanism and a controller. The focus of this thesis, however, is on the contribution to motion planning. The planning scheme employs a hierarchical approach to motion planning for actively reconfigurable robots in rough environments. Using a map of the environment the algorithm estimates the traversability under the consideration of uncertainties. Based on this analysis, an initial path search determines an approximate solution with respect to the robot's operating limits.Subsequently, a detailed planning step refines the initial path where it is required. The refinement step considers the robot's actuators and stability in addition to the quantities of the first search. Determining the robot-terrain interaction is very important in rough terrain. This thesis presents two path refinement approaches: a deterministic and a randomized approach. The experimental evaluation investigates the separate components of the planning scheme, the robot-terrain interaction for instance.In simulation as well as in real world experiments the evaluation demonstrates the necessity of such a planning algorithm in rough terrain and it provides

A Novel Design of Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna for UWB Application

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaolin; Yu, Ziliang; Wu, Zheng; Shen, Huajiao

2016-09-01

In this paper, we present a novel frequency reconfigurable antenna which could be easily operate in a single notched-band (WiMAX (3.3-3.6 GHz)) UWB frequency band, another single notched-band (WLAN (5-6 GHz)) UWB frequency band and the dual band-notched UWB frequency band (the stopband covers the WiMAX (3.3-3.6 GHz) and WLAN (5-6 GHz)). The reconfigurability is achieved by changing the states of PIN diodes. The simulated results are in agreement well with the measured results. And the measured patterns are slightly changed with antenna reconfiguration. The proposed antenna is a good candidate for various UWB applications.

The direct manipulation shell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, M.E.; Christiansen, M.

1992-01-01

Accelerator controls systems provide parameter display pages which allow the operator to monitor and manipulate selected control points in the system. Display pages are generally implemented as either hand-crafted, purpose-built programs; or by using a specialized display page layout tool. These two methods of display page development exhibit the classic trade-off between functionality vs. ease of implementation. In the Direct Manipulation Shell we approach the process of developing a display page in a manifestly object-oriented manner. This is done by providing a general framework for interactively instantiating and manipulating display objects. (author)

Modular, Reconfigurable, High-Energy Technology Development

Science.gov (United States)

Carrington, Connie; Howell, Joe

2006-01-01

The Modular, Reconfigurable High-Energy (MRHE) Technology Demonstrator project was to have been a series of ground-based demonstrations to mature critical technologies needed for in-space assembly of a highpower high-voltage modular spacecraft in low Earth orbit, enabling the development of future modular solar-powered exploration cargo-transport vehicles and infrastructure. MRHE was a project in the High Energy Space Systems (HESS) Program, within NASA's Exploration Systems Research and Technology (ESR&T) Program. NASA participants included Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Glenn Research Center (GRC). Contractor participants were the Boeing Phantom Works in Huntsville, AL, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, CA, ENTECH, Inc. in Keller, TX, and the University of AL Huntsville (UAH). MRHE's technical objectives were to mature: (a) lightweight, efficient, high-voltage, radiation-resistant solar power generation (SPG) technologies; (b) innovative, lightweight, efficient thermal management systems; (c) efficient, 100kW-class, high-voltage power delivery systems from an SPG to an electric thruster system; (d) autonomous rendezvous and docking technology for in-space assembly of modular, reconfigurable spacecraft; (e) robotic assembly of modular space systems; and (f) modular, reconfigurable distributed avionics technologies. Maturation of these technologies was to be implemented through a series of increasingly-inclusive laboratory demonstrations that would have integrated and demonstrated two systems-of-systems: (a) the autonomous rendezvous and docking of modular spacecraft with deployable structures, robotic assembly, reconfiguration both during assembly and (b) the development and integration of an advanced thermal heat pipe and a high-voltage power delivery system with a representative lightweight high-voltage SPG array. In addition, an integrated simulation testbed would have been developed

Machine Learning Control For Highly Reconfigurable High-Order Systems

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-02

calibration and applications,” Mechatronics and Embedded Systems and Applications (MESA), 2010 IEEE/ASME International Conference on, IEEE, 2010, pp. 38–43...AFRL-OSR-VA-TR-2015-0012 MACHINE LEARNING CONTROL FOR HIGHLY RECONFIGURABLE HIGH-ORDER SYSTEMS John Valasek TEXAS ENGINEERING EXPERIMENT STATION...DIMENSIONAL RECONFIGURABLE SYSTEMS FA9550-11-1-0302 Period of Performance 1 July 2011 – 29 September 2014 John Valasek Aerospace Engineering

Block RAM-based architecture for real-time reconfiguration using Xilinx® FPGAs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rikus le Roux

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Despite the advantages dynamic reconfiguration adds to a system, it only improves system performance if the execution time exceeds the configuration time. As a result, dynamic reconfiguration is only capable of improving the performance of quasi-static applications. In order to improve the performance of dynamic applications, researchers focus on improving the reconfiguration throughput. These approaches are mostly limited by the bus commonly used to connect the configuration controller to the memory, which contributes to the configuration time. A method proposed to ameliorate this overhead is an architecture utilizing localised block RAM (BRAM connected to the configuration controller to store the configuration bitstream. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the advantages of the proposed architecture, especially for reconfiguring real-time applications. This is done by validating the throughput of the architecture and comparing this to the maximum theoretical throughput of the internal configuration access port (ICAP. It was found that the proposed architecture is capable of reconfiguring an application within a time-frame suitable for real-time reconfiguration. The drawback of this method is that the BRAM is extremely limited and only a discrete set of configurations can be stored. This paper also proposes a method on how this can be mitigated without affecting the throughput.

Design and Evaluation of a Reconfigurable Manufacturing System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Shuai; Li, Yang; Bilberg, Arne

2014-01-01

In modern manufacturing industry, reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is a promising concept in the research arena. A new RMS system structure has been recently designed by a large consumer goods manufacturer in Europe, aiming to improve its production efficiency. This article shows...... implemented in this consumer goods manufacturer can be effectively (re)configured as part of the daily operations, and the configuration is analyzed by computer simulation before release. Flexibility can be increased considerably meanwhile the system can maintain an acceptable productivity....

A Framework for Hardware-Accelerated Services Using Partially Reconfigurable SoCs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MACHIDON, O. M.

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The current trend towards ?Everything as a Service? fosters a new approach on reconfigurable hardware resources. This innovative, service-oriented approach has the potential of bringing a series of benefits for both reconfigurable and distributed computing fields by favoring a hardware-based acceleration of web services and increasing service performance. This paper proposes a framework for accelerating web services by offloading the compute-intensive tasks to reconfigurable System-on-Chip (SoC devices, as integrated IP (Intellectual Property cores. The framework provides a scalable, dynamic management of the tasks and hardware processing cores, based on dynamic partial reconfiguration of the SoC. We have enhanced security of the entire system by making use of the built-in detection features of the hardware device and also by implementing active counter-measures that protect the sensitive data.

The role of safety analyses in site selection. Some personal observations based on the experience from the Swiss site selection process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zuidema, Piet [Nagra, Wettingen (Switzerland)

2015-07-01

In Switzerland, the site selection process according to the ''Sectoral Plan for Deep Geological Repositories'' (BFE 2008) is underway since 2008. This process takes place in three stages. In stage 1 geological siting regions (six for the L/ILW repository and three for the HLW repository) have been identified, in stage 2 sites for the surface facilities have been identified for all siting regions in close co-operation with the sting regions and a narrowing down of the number of siting regions based on geological criteria will take place. In stage 3 the sites for a general license application are selected and the general license applications will be submitted which eventually will lead to the siting decision for both repository types. In the Swiss site selection process, safety has the highest priority. Many factors affect safety and thus a whole range of safety-related issues are considered in the identification and screening of siting possibilities. Besides dose calculations a range of quantitative and qualitative issues are considered. Dose calculations are performed in all three stages of the site selection process. In stage 1 generic safety calculations were made to develop criteria to be used for the identification of potential siting regions. In stage 2, dose calculations are made for comparing the different siting regions according to a procedure prescribed in detail by the regulator. Combined with qualitative evaluations this will lead to a narrowing down of the number of siting regions to at least two siting regions for each repository type. In stage 3 full safety cases will be prepared as part of the documentation for the general license applications. Besides the dose calculations, many other issues related to safety are analyzed in a quantitative and qualitative manner. These consider the 13 criteria defined in the Sectoral Plan and the corresponding indicators. The features analyzed cover the following broad themes: efficiency of

The role of safety analyses in site selection. Some personal observations based on the experience from the Swiss site selection process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zuidema, Piet

2015-01-01

In Switzerland, the site selection process according to the ''Sectoral Plan for Deep Geological Repositories'' (BFE 2008) is underway since 2008. This process takes place in three stages. In stage 1 geological siting regions (six for the L/ILW repository and three for the HLW repository) have been identified, in stage 2 sites for the surface facilities have been identified for all siting regions in close co-operation with the sting regions and a narrowing down of the number of siting regions based on geological criteria will take place. In stage 3 the sites for a general license application are selected and the general license applications will be submitted which eventually will lead to the siting decision for both repository types. In the Swiss site selection process, safety has the highest priority. Many factors affect safety and thus a whole range of safety-related issues are considered in the identification and screening of siting possibilities. Besides dose calculations a range of quantitative and qualitative issues are considered. Dose calculations are performed in all three stages of the site selection process. In stage 1 generic safety calculations were made to develop criteria to be used for the identification of potential siting regions. In stage 2, dose calculations are made for comparing the different siting regions according to a procedure prescribed in detail by the regulator. Combined with qualitative evaluations this will lead to a narrowing down of the number of siting regions to at least two siting regions for each repository type. In stage 3 full safety cases will be prepared as part of the documentation for the general license applications. Besides the dose calculations, many other issues related to safety are analyzed in a quantitative and qualitative manner. These consider the 13 criteria defined in the Sectoral Plan and the corresponding indicators. The features analyzed cover the following broad themes: efficiency of

Site selection for controversial projects: reflections on the MRS experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sigmon, E.B.; Marland, G.

1987-01-01

Projects for waste management, power production, and a host of other socially useful functions frequently falter because of local opposition. Students of the siting dilemma have prescribed accommodation of local interests through negotiation and compensation, but they offer little advice on the site selection itself. The negotiated compensation approach to siting frequently fails because localities refuse to negotiate. The authors argue that methods of site selection and developers' initial stance toward local communities affect communities' propensity to negotiate. Site selection strategies and their influence on project acceptability are examined, using the Department of Energy's Monitored Retrievable Storage proposal as a point of departure. 14 refs

Functional verification of dynamically reconfigurable FPGA-based systems

CERN Document Server

Gong, Lingkan

2015-01-01

This book analyzes the challenges in verifying Dynamically Reconfigurable Systems (DRS) with respect to the user design and the physical implementation of such systems. The authors describe the use of a simulation-only layer to emulate the behavior of target FPGAs and accurately model the characteristic features of reconfiguration. Readers are enabled with this simulation-only layer to maintain verification productivity by abstracting away the physical details of the FPGA fabric.  Two implementations of the simulation-only layer are included: Extended ReChannel is a SystemC library that can be used to check DRS designs at a high level; ReSim is a library to support RTL simulation of a DRS reconfiguring both its logic and state. Through a number of case studies, the authors demonstrate how their approach integrates seamlessly with existing, mainstream DRS design flows and with well-established verification methodologies such as top-down modeling and coverage-driven verification. Provides researchers with an i...

Selection of suitable sites for NPP in Slovenia (stage 3)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grgic, M.; Fabjan, L.; Premru, U.

1977-01-01

Selection of suitable sites for nuclear power plants in Slovenia is considered. This includes the studies of available data on regional and local characteristics specified in general site suitability criteria for NPP. The most suitable selected sites will be included into land use urbanistic planning of Slovenia

New approaches to manipulating the epigenome.

Science.gov (United States)

Day, Jeremy J

2014-09-01

Cellular processes that control transcription of genetic information are critical for cellular function, and are often implicated in psychiatric and neurological disease states. Among the most critical of these processes are epigenetic mechanisms, which serve to link the cellular environment with genomic material. Until recently our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms has been limited by the lack of tools that can selectively manipulate the epigenome with genetic, cellular, and temporal precision, which in turn diminishes the potential impact of epigenetic processes as therapeutic targets. This review highlights an emerging suite of tools that enable robust yet selective interrogation of the epigenome. In addition to allowing site-specific epigenetic editing, these tools can be paired with optogenetic approaches to provide temporal control over epigenetic processes, allowing unparalleled insight into the function of these mechanisms. This improved control promises to revolutionize our understanding of epigenetic modifications in human health and disease states.

Seismic qualification of existing safety class manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Ting-shu; Moran, T.J.

1992-01-01

There are two bridge type electromechanical manipulators within a nuclear fuel handling facility which were constructed over twenty-five years ago. At that time, there were only minimal seismic considerations. These manipulators together with the facility are being reactivated. Detailed analyses have shown that the manipulators will satisfy the requirements of ANSI/AISC N690-1984 when they are subjected to loadings including the site specific design basis earthquake. 4 refs

Replacement Power Facility site selection report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wike, L.D.; Toole, G.L.; Specht, W.L.

1992-06-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed the construction and operation of a Replacement Power Facility (RPF) for supplementing and replacing existing sources of steam and possibly electricity at the Savannah River Site (SRS). DOE is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for this project As part of the impact analysis of the proposed action, the EIS will include a detailed description of the environment where the RPF will be constructed. This description must be specific to the recommended site at SRS, which contains more than 300 square miles of land including streams, lakes, impoundments, wetlands, and upland areas. A formal site-selection process was designed and implemented to identify the preferred RPF site.

The fiber-optic imaging and manipulation of neural activity during animal behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyamoto, Daisuke; Murayama, Masanori

2016-02-01

Recent progress with optogenetic probes for imaging and manipulating neural activity has further increased the relevance of fiber-optic systems for neural circuitry research. Optical fibers, which bi-directionally transmit light between separate sites (even at a distance of several meters), can be used for either optical imaging or manipulating neural activity relevant to behavioral circuitry mechanisms. The method's flexibility and the specifications of the light structure are well suited for following the behavior of freely moving animals. Furthermore, thin optical fibers allow researchers to monitor neural activity from not only the cortical surface but also deep brain regions, including the hippocampus and amygdala. Such regions are difficult to target with two-photon microscopes. Optogenetic manipulation of neural activity with an optical fiber has the advantage of being selective for both cell-types and projections as compared to conventional electrophysiological brain tissue stimulation. It is difficult to extract any data regarding changes in neural activity solely from a fiber-optic manipulation device; however, the readout of data is made possible by combining manipulation with electrophysiological recording, or the simultaneous application of optical imaging and manipulation using a bundle-fiber. The present review introduces recent progress in fiber-optic imaging and manipulation methods, while also discussing fiber-optic system designs that are suitable for a given experimental protocol. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

URBAN RAIN GAUGE SITING SELECTION BASED ON GIS-MULTICRITERIA ANALYSIS

OpenAIRE

Y. Fu; C. Jing; M. Du

2016-01-01

With the increasingly rapid growth of urbanization and climate change, urban rainfall monitoring as well as urban waterlogging has widely been paid attention. In the light of conventional siting selection methods do not take into consideration of geographic surroundings and spatial-temporal scale for the urban rain gauge site selection, this paper primarily aims at finding the appropriate siting selection rules and methods for rain gauge in urban area. Additionally, for optimization gauge loc...

Selection of candidate sites for a LLRW disposal facility in Connecticut

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gingerich, Ronald E.; Holeman, George R.; Hileman, James A.

1992-01-01

Connecticut, one of the two members of the Northeast Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Compact, has been directed by the Compact Commission to site a facility to manage the low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) generated in Connecticut. The Connecticut Hazardous Waste Management Service (CHWMS) has been given the responsibility to identify a site in the state for a LLRW disposal facility. The CHWMS has decided to plan for a site with an operating life of 50 years. A site of at least 160 acres will be needed to accommodate (he expected volume of LLRW and meet state and federal site requirements. A Site Selection Plan establishing the process and criteria to be used in siting a facility was adopted by the CHWMS in November 1990. The Plan calls for a stepwise screening of the state using published data to identify three candidate sites. A preferred site will be selected from among the candidate sites using onsite testing. The site selection criteria, which closely follow state and federal statutory and regulatory requirements, are divided into three types: exclusionary, avoidance and preference. Battelle Memorial Institute was selected as the contractor to assist the CHWMS in site screening. With guidance from the CHWMS, Battelle undertook screening of the state by applying the exclusionary, avoidance and preference criteria in three steps to identify from eight to twelve potential sites. The CHWMS Board of Directors bad decided that it wanted to be closely involved in the selection of the three candidate sites and to do so in a way that precluded the political and parochial pressures that are inevitably associated with a siting process. To meet these two goals a geographically neutral approach was devised for candidate site selection. In June, 1991 the CHWMS, with assistance from Battelle, conducted a three day workshop, open to the public, in which eight sites were presented to the Board. Data on the sites were presented in a way that did not disclose

Reconfigurable Wave Velocity Transmission Lines for Phased Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Host, Nick; Chen, Chi-Chih; Volakis, John L.; Miranda, Felix

2013-01-01

Phased array antennas showcase many advantages over mechanically steered systems. However, they are also more complex, heavy and most importantly costly. This presentation paper presents a concept which overcomes these detrimental attributes by eliminating all of the phase array backend (including phase shifters). Instead, a wave velocity reconfigurable transmission line is used in a series fed array arrangement to allow phase shifting with one small (100mil) mechanical motion. Different configurations of the reconfigurable wave velocity transmission line are discussed and simulated and experimental results are presented.

Design of low-power coarse-grained reconfigurable architectures

CERN Document Server

Kim, Yoonjin

2010-01-01

Coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture (CGRA) has emerged as a solution for flexible, application-specific optimization of embedded systems. Helping you understand the issues involved in designing and constructing embedded systems, Design of Low-Power Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architectures offers new frameworks for optimizing the architecture of components in embedded systems in order to decrease area and save power. Real application benchmarks and gate-level simulations substantiate these frameworks.The first half of the book explains how to reduce power in the configuration cache. T

Distributed sensor and actuator reconfiguration for fault-tolerant networked control systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herdeiro Teixeira, A.M.; Araujo, Jose; Sandberg, Henrik; Johansson, Karl H.

2017-01-01

In this paper, we address the problem of distributed reconfiguration of networked control systems upon the removal of misbehaving sensors and actuators. In particular, we consider systems with redundant sensors and actuators cooperating to recover from faults. Reconfiguration is performed while

20 CFR 638.303 - Site selection and facilities management.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Site selection and facilities management. 638... Facilities Management § 638.303 Site selection and facilities management. (a) The Job Corps Director shall... center, facilities engineering and real estate management will be conducted by the Job Corps Director or...

Acting on Media: Influencing, Shaping and (ReConfiguring the Fabric of Everyday Life

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sigrid Kannengießer

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Computerization, digitalization and datafication are by far no neutral or self-dependent occurrences. They are, to a large degree, co-determined by heterogeneous actors who reflect about, construct, configure, manipulate or even control media. The contributors to this issue put the spotlight on these actors and investigate how they influence, shape and (reconfigure broader social constellations. Instead of exploring what people do with media, the articles focus on the many ways individuals, civil society initiatives, corporations and social movements act on media. The notion of acting on media denotes the efforts of a wide range of actors to take an active part in the molding of media organizations, infrastructures and technologies that are part of the fabric of everyday life. Therefore, by conceptualizing acting on media as a form of political action, the issue aims to contribute to ongoing discussions on the media practice paradigm.

Reconfigurable vision system for real-time applications

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Huitzil, Cesar; Arias-Estrada, Miguel

2002-03-01

Recently, a growing community of researchers has used reconfigurable systems to solve computationally intensive problems. Reconfigurability provides optimized processors for systems on chip designs, and makes easy to import technology to a new system through reusable modules. The main objective of this work is the investigation of a reconfigurable computer system targeted for computer vision and real-time applications. The system is intended to circumvent the inherent computational load of most window-based computer vision algorithms. It aims to build a system for such tasks by providing an FPGA-based hardware architecture for task specific vision applications with enough processing power, using the minimum amount of hardware resources as possible, and a mechanism for building systems using this architecture. Regarding the software part of the system, a library of pre-designed and general-purpose modules that implement common window-based computer vision operations is being investigated. A common generic interface is established for these modules in order to define hardware/software components. These components can be interconnected to develop more complex applications, providing an efficient mechanism for transferring image and result data among modules. Some preliminary results are presented and discussed.

Optical Manipulation of Shape-Morphing Elastomeric Liquid Crystal Microparticles Doped with Gold Nanocrystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun, Y. R.; Evans, J. S.; Lee, T.; Senyuk, B.; Keller, P.; He, S. L.; Smalyukh, I. I.

2012-06-11

We demonstrate facile optical manipulation of shape of birefringent colloidal microparticles made from liquid crystal elastomers. Using soft lithography and polymerization, we fabricate elastomeric microcylinders with weakly undulating director oriented on average along their long axes. These particles are infiltrated with gold nanospheres acting as heat transducers that allow for an efficient localized transfer of heat from a focused infrared laser beam to a submicrometer region within a microparticle. Photothermal control of ordering in the liquid crystal elastomer using scanned beams allows for a robust control of colloidal particles, enabling both reversible and irreversible changes of shape. Possible applications include optomechanics, microfluidics, and reconfigurable colloidal composites with shape-dependent self-assembly.

A novel approach to gait synchronization and transition for reconfigurable walking platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shunsuke Nansai

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Legged robots based on one degree-of-freedom reconfigurable planar leg mechanisms, that are capable of generating multiple useful gaits, are highly desired due to the possibility of handling environments and tasks of high complexity while maintaining simple control schemes. An essential consideration in these reconfigurable legged robots is to attain stability in motion, at rest as well as while transforming from one configuration to another with the minimum number of legs as long as the full range of their walking patterns, resulting from the different gait cycles of their legs, is achieved. To this end, in this paper, we present a method for the generation of input joint trajectories to properly synchronize the movement of quadruped robots with reconfigurable legs. The approach is exemplified in a four-legged robot with reconfigurable Jansen legs capable of generating up to six useful different gait cycles. The proposed technique is validated through simulated results that show the platform׳s stability across its six feasible walking patterns and during gait transition phases, thus considerably extending the capabilities of the non-reconfigurable design.

Reconfigurable dual-band metamaterial antenna based on liquid crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Che, Bang-Jun; Meng, Fan-Yi; Lyu, Yue-Long; Wu, Qun

2018-05-01

In this paper, a novel reconfigurable dual-band metamaterial antenna with a continuous beam that is electrically steered in backward to forward directions is first proposed by employing a liquid crystal (LC)-loaded tunable extended composite right-/left-handed (E-CRLH) transmission line (TL). The frequency-dependent property of the E-CRLH TL is analyzed and a compact unit cell based on the nematic LC is proposed to realize the tunable dual band characteristics. The phase constant of the proposed unit cell can be dynamically continuously tuned from negative to positive values in two operating bands by changing the bias voltage of the loaded LC material. A resulting dual band fixed-frequency beam steering property has been predicted by numerical simulations and experimentally verified. The measured results show that the fabricated reconfigurable antenna features an electrically controlled continuous beam steering from backward  ‑16° to forward  +13° at 7.2 GHz and backward  ‑9° to forward  +17° at 9.4 GHz, respectively. This electrically controlled beam steering range turns out to be competitive with the previously reported single band reconfigurable antennas. Besides, the measured and simulated results of the proposed reconfigurable dual-band metamaterial antenna are in good agreement.

Site-directed alkylation of multiple opioid receptors. I. Binding selectivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

James, I.F.; Goldstein, A.

1984-01-01

A method for measuring and expressing the binding selectivity of ligands for mu, delta, and kappa opioid binding sites is reported. Radioligands are used that are partially selective for these sites in combination with membrane preparations enriched in each site. Enrichment was obtained by treatment of membranes with the alkylating agent beta-chlornaltrexamine in the presence of appropriate protecting ligands. After enrichment for mu receptors, [ 3 H] dihydromorphine bound to a single type of site as judged by the slope of competition binding curves. After enrichment for delta or kappa receptors, binding sites for [ 3 H] [D-Ala2, D-Leu5]enkephalin and [3H]ethylketocyclazocine, respectively, were still not homogeneous. There were residual mu sites in delta-enriched membranes but no evidence for residual mu or delta sites in kappa-enriched membranes were found. This method was used to identify ligands that are highly selective for each of the three types of sites

Reconfigurable Radio Access Unit for DWDM to W-Band Wireless Conversion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chorchos, Łukasz; Rommel, Simon; Turkiewicz, Jarosław P.

2017-01-01

In this letter a reconfigurable Remote Access Unit (RAU) is proposed and demonstrated, interfacing dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) optical and W-band wireless links. The RAU is composed of a tunable local oscillator, a narrow optical filter and a control unit, making it reconfigurable...

A Novel Docking System for Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tan Zhang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Existing self-reconfigurable robots achieve connections and disconnections by a separate drive of the docking system. In this paper, we present a new docking system with which the connections and disconnections are driven by locomotion actuators, without the need for a separate drive, which reduces the weight and the complexity of the modules. This self-reconfigurable robot consists of two types of fundamental modules, i.e., active and passive modules. By the docking system, two types of connections are formed with the fundamental modules, and the docking and undocking actions are achieved through simple control with less sensory feedback. This paper describes the design of the robotic modules, the docking system, the docking process, and the docking force analysis. An experiment is performed to demonstrate the self-reconfigurable robot with the docking system.

Experiencing a Problem-Based Learning Approach for Teaching Reconfigurable Architecture Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erwan Fabiani

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the “reconfigurable computing” teaching part of a computer science master course (first year on parallel architectures. The practical work sessions of this course rely on active pedagogy using problem-based learning, focused on designing a reconfigurable architecture for the implementation of an application class of image processing algorithms. We show how the successive steps of this project permit the student to experiment with several fundamental concepts of reconfigurable computing at different levels. Specific experiments include exploitation of architectural parallelism, dataflow and communicating component-based design, and configurability-specificity tradeoffs.

Novel Cross-Type Network for Wide-Tuning-Range Reconfigurable Multiband Antennas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chieh-Sen Lee

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a cross-type network design with a novel reconfigurable functionality to realize a tunable multiband antenna. By attaching a reconfigurable network at the feeding port of a broadband antenna, multi-input impedance adjustment enables the production of multimatching operating bands. Each band can be independently controlled by a single component with a considerably wide tuning range and high selectivity. The experiments in this study involved using an ultra-wideband (UWB antenna connected to the proposed cross-type network. The tunable antenna operates in a dual band of fL (1.39 to 2.34 GHz and fH (2.1 to 3.6 GHz with tunable frequency ratios of 168% and 132%, respectively. The average bandwidths at fL and fH are approximately 50 MHz and 148 MHz, respectively, implying narrowband operation. The measured radiation pattern revealed that the tunable antenna exhibits a nearly omnidirectional radiation pattern at both 1.8 and 3.5 GHz. The network circuit architecture can be extended to the multiband function type by adopting this matching approach. The amount of shunt matches determines the number of operation bands.

An Embedded Reconfigurable Logic Module

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Jerry H.; Klenke, Robert H.; Shams, Qamar A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A Miniature Embedded Reconfigurable Computer and Logic (MERCAL) module has been developed and verified. MERCAL was designed to be a general-purpose, universal module that that can provide significant hardware and software resources to meet the requirements of many of today's complex embedded applications. This is accomplished in the MERCAL module by combining a sub credit card size PC in a DIMM form factor with a XILINX Spartan I1 FPGA. The PC has the ability to download program files to the FPGA to configure it for different hardware functions and to transfer data to and from the FPGA via the PC's ISA bus during run time. The MERCAL module combines, in a compact package, the computational power of a 133 MHz PC with up to 150,000 gate equivalents of digital logic that can be reconfigured by software. The general architecture and functionality of the MERCAL hardware and system software are described.

Final disposal of spent nuclear fuel - basis for site selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anttila, P.

1995-05-01

International organizations, e.g. IAEA, have published several recommendations and guides for the safe disposal of radioactive waste. There are three major groups of issues affecting the site selection process, i.e. geological, environmental and socioeconomic. The first step of the site selection process is an inventory of potential host rock formations. After that, potential study areas are screened to identify sites for detailed investigations, prior to geological conditions and overall suitability for the safe disposal. This kind of stepwise site selection procedure has been used in Finland and in Sweden. A similar approach has been proposed in Canada, too. In accordance with the amendment to the Nuclear Energy Act, that entered into force in the beginning of 1995, Imatran Voima Oy has to make preparations for the final disposal of spent fuel in the Finnish bedrock. Relating to the possible site selection, the following geological factors, as internationally recommended and used in the Nordic countries, should be taken into account: topography, stability of bedrock, brokenness and fracturing of bedrock, size of bedrock block, rock type, predictability and natural resources. The bedrock of the Loviisa NPP site is a part of the Vyborg rapakivi massif. As a whole the rapakivi granite area forms a potential target area, although other rock types or areas cannot be excluded from possible site selection studies. (25 refs., 7 figs.)

Reconfigurable remote access unit for W-band Radio-over-Fiber transmission

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chorchos, Łukasz; Rommel, Simon; Turkiewicz, Jarosław P.

2016-01-01

There is a growing demand for cost-effective radio over fibre transmission techniques. In this paper, we propose and realize the reconfigurable remote access unit for radio-over-fiber transmission. The reconfigurable unit is build from the tunable filter and laser as well as remote controller...

Materials challenges for repeatable RF wireless device reconfiguration with microfluidic channels

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, Anthony S.; Sottos, Nancy R.; White, Scott R.

2018-03-01

Recently, adaptive wireless devices have utilized displacement of EGaIn within microchannels as an electrical switching mechanism to enable reconfigurable electronics. Device reconfiguration using EGaIn in microchannels overcomes many challenges encountered by more traditional reconfiguration mechanisms such as diodes and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Reconfiguration using EGaIn is severely limited by undesired permanent shorting due to retention of the liquid in microchannels caused by wetting and rapid oxide skin formation. Here, we investigate the conditions which prevent repeatable electrical switching using EGaIn in microchannels. Initial contact angle tests of EGaIn on epoxy surfaces demonstrate the wettability of EGaIn on flat surfaces. SEM cross-sections of microchannels reveal adhesion of EGaIn residue to channel walls. Micro-computed tomography (microCT) scans of provide volumetric measurements of EGaIn remaining inside channels after flow cycling. Non-wetting coatings are proposed as materials based strategy to overcome these issues in future work.

Reconfigurable multiport EPON repeater

Science.gov (United States)

Oishi, Masayuki; Inohara, Ryo; Agata, Akira; Horiuchi, Yukio

2009-11-01

An extended reach EPON repeater is one of the solutions to effectively expand FTTH service areas. In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable multi-port EPON repeater for effective accommodation of multiple ODNs with a single OLT line card. The proposed repeater, which has multi-ports in both OLT and ODN sides, consists of TRs, BTRs with the CDR function and a reconfigurable electrical matrix switch, can accommodate multiple ODNs to a single OLT line card by controlling the connection of the matrix switch. Although conventional EPON repeaters require full OLT line cards to accommodate subscribers from the initial installation stage, the proposed repeater can dramatically reduce the number of required line cards especially when the number of subscribers is less than a half of the maximum registerable users per OLT. Numerical calculation results show that the extended reach EPON system with the proposed EPON repeater can save 17.5% of the initial installation cost compared with a conventional repeater, and can be less expensive than conventional systems up to the maximum subscribers especially when the percentage of ODNs in lightly-populated areas is higher.

Communication activities for NUMO's site selection process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeuchi, Mitsuo; Okuyama, Shigeru; Kitayama, Kazumi; Kuba, Michiyoshi

2004-01-01

A siting program for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in Japan has just started and is moving into a new stage of communication with the public. A final repository site will be selected via a stepwise process, as stipulated in the Specified Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Act promulgated in June 2000. Based on the Act, the site selection process of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO, established in October 2000) will be carried out in the three steps: selection of Preliminary Investigation Areas (PIAs), selection of Detailed Investigation Areas (DIAs) and selection of the Repository Site. The Act also defines NUMO's responsibilities in terms of implementing the HLW disposal program in an open and transparent manner. NUMO fully understands the importance of public participation in its activities and is aiming to promote public involvement in the process of site selection based on a fundamental policy, which consists of 'adopting a stepwise approach', 'respecting the initiative of municipalities' and 'ensuring transparency in information disclosure'. This policy is clearly reflected in the adoption of an open solicitation approach for volunteer municipalities for Preliminary Investigation Areas (PIAs). NUMO made the official announcement of the start of its open solicitation program on 19 December 2002. This paper outlines how NUMO's activities are currently carried out with a view to encouraging municipalities to volunteer as PIAs and how public awareness of the safety of the HLW disposal is evaluated at this stage

Optically intraconnected computer employing dynamically reconfigurable holographic optical element

Science.gov (United States)

Bergman, Larry A. (Inventor)

1992-01-01

An optically intraconnected computer and a reconfigurable holographic optical element employed therein. The basic computer comprises a memory for holding a sequence of instructions to be executed; logic for accessing the instructions in sequence; logic for determining for each the instruction the function to be performed and the effective address thereof; a plurality of individual elements on a common support substrate optimized to perform certain logical sequences employed in executing the instructions; and, element selection logic connected to the logic determining the function to be performed for each the instruction for determining the class of each function and for causing the instruction to be executed by those the elements which perform those associated the logical sequences affecting the instruction execution in an optimum manner. In the optically intraconnected version, the element selection logic is adapted for transmitting and switching signals to the elements optically.

A game-theoretic formulation of the homogeneous self-reconfiguration problem

KAUST Repository

Pickem, Daniel; Egerstedt, Magnus; Shamma, Jeff S.

2015-01-01

In this paper we formulate the homogeneous two- and three-dimensional self-reconfiguration problem over discrete grids as a constrained potential game. We develop a game-theoretic learning algorithm based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm that solves the self-reconfiguration problem in a globally optimal fashion. Both a centralized and a fully decentralized algorithm are presented and we show that the only stochastically stable state is the potential function maximizer, i.e. the desired target configuration. These algorithms compute transition probabilities in such a way that even though each agent acts in a self-interested way, the overall collective goal of self-reconfiguration is achieved. Simulation results confirm the feasibility of our approach and show convergence to desired target configurations.

A game-theoretic formulation of the homogeneous self-reconfiguration problem

KAUST Repository

Pickem, Daniel

2015-12-15

In this paper we formulate the homogeneous two- and three-dimensional self-reconfiguration problem over discrete grids as a constrained potential game. We develop a game-theoretic learning algorithm based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm that solves the self-reconfiguration problem in a globally optimal fashion. Both a centralized and a fully decentralized algorithm are presented and we show that the only stochastically stable state is the potential function maximizer, i.e. the desired target configuration. These algorithms compute transition probabilities in such a way that even though each agent acts in a self-interested way, the overall collective goal of self-reconfiguration is achieved. Simulation results confirm the feasibility of our approach and show convergence to desired target configurations.

Design and Fabrication of a Reconfigurable MEMS-Based Antenna

KAUST Repository

Martinez, Miguel Angel Galicia

2011-06-22

This thesis presents the design and fabrication of a customized in house Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) process based on-chip antenna that is both frequency and polarization reconfigurable. It is designed to work at both 60 GHz and 77 GHz through MEMS switches. This antenna can also work in both horizontal and vertical linear polarizations by utilizing a moveable plate. The design is intended for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) and automotive radar applications. Typical on-chip antennas are inefficient and difficult to reconfigure. Therefore, the focus of this work is to develop an efficient on-chip antenna solution, which is reconfigurable in frequency and in polarization. A fractal bowtie antenna is employed for this thesis, which achieves frequency reconfigurability through MEMS switches. The design is simulated in industry standard Electromagnetic (EM) simulator Ansoft HFSS. A novel concept for horizontal to vertical linear polarization agility is introduced which incorporates a moveable polymer plate. For this work, a microprobe is used to move the plate from the horizontal to vertical position. For testing purposes, a novel mechanism has been designed in order to feed the antenna with RF-probes in both horizontal and vertical positions. A simulated gain of approximately 0 dB is achieved at both target frequencies (60 and 77 GHz), in both horizontal and vertical positions. In all the cases mentioned above (both frequencies and positions), the antenna is well matched (< -10 dB) to the 50 Ω system impedance. Similarly, the radiation nulls are successfully shifted by changing the position of the antenna from horizontal to vertical. The complete design and fabrication of the reconfigurable MEMS antenna has been done at KAUST facilities. Some challenges have been encountered during its realization due to the immaturity of the customized MEMS fabrication process. Nonetheless, a first fabrication attempt has highlighted such shortcomings. According

Regulatory requirements for nuclear power plant site selection in Malaysia-a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Basri, N A; Hashim, S; Ramli, A T; Bradley, D A; Hamzah, K

2016-12-01

Malaysia has initiated a range of pre-project activities in preparation for its planned nuclear power programme. Clearly one of the first steps is the selection of sites that are deemed suitable for the construction and operation of a nuclear power plant. Here we outline the Malaysian regulatory requirements for nuclear power plant site selection, emphasizing details of the selection procedures and site characteristics needed, with a clear focus on radiation safety and radiation protection in respect of the site surroundings. The Malaysia Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) site selection guidelines are in accord with those provided in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and United Stated Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) documents. To enhance the suitability criteria during selection, as well as to assist in the final decision making process, possible assessments using the site selection characteristics and information are proposed.

Automated training site selection for large-area remote-sensing image analysis

Science.gov (United States)

McCaffrey, Thomas M.; Franklin, Steven E.

1993-11-01

A computer program is presented to select training sites automatically from remotely sensed digital imagery. The basic ideas are to guide the image analyst through the process of selecting typical and representative areas for large-area image classifications by minimizing bias, and to provide an initial list of potential classes for which training sites are required to develop a classification scheme or to verify classification accuracy. Reducing subjectivity in training site selection is achieved by using a purely statistical selection of homogeneous sites which then can be compared to field knowledge, aerial photography, or other remote-sensing imagery and ancillary data to arrive at a final selection of sites to be used to train the classification decision rules. The selection of the homogeneous sites uses simple tests based on the coefficient of variance, the F-statistic, and the Student's i-statistic. Comparisons of site means are conducted with a linear growing list of previously located homogeneous pixels. The program supports a common pixel-interleaved digital image format and has been tested on aerial and satellite optical imagery. The program is coded efficiently in the C programming language and was developed under AIX-Unix on an IBM RISC 6000 24-bit color workstation.

Analysis of Reconfigured Control Loop with a Virtual Actuator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Filasova

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Control reconfiguration changes the control structure in response to a fault detected in the plant. This becomes necessary, because a major fault like loss of an actuator breaks the corresponding control loop and therefore renders the whole system inoperable.  An important aim of control reconfiguration is to change the control structure as little as possible, since every change bears the potential of practical problems. The proposed solution is to keep the original controller in the loop and to add an extension called virtual actuator that implements the necessary changes of the control structure. The virtual actuator translates between the signals of the nominal controller and the signal of the faulty plants. This paper is concerned with the analysis of reconfigured loop with a virtual actuator for the system with the faulty actuator. The proposed analysis is illustrated on numerical example.

Selection of sites for nuclear power plants in The Netherlands. Pt. A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

In this report a policy proposal is presented concerning the selection of location sites for new nuclear power plants in the Netherlands. Firstly it is investigated which of the 29 already selected location sites are not to be taken into further account because of obvious obstructions (close vicinity of a big city etc.). The remaining sites are judged on the base of local population magnitude. The sites that pass the last criteria are relatively compared from a large number of viewpoints. To round off the selection procedure the government will explain why they consider the finally selected sites to be suitable for location of new nuclear power plants. Steps are indicated to prevent the decrease of planologic suitability of the selected location sites. (Auth.)

ALI (Autonomous Lunar Investigator): Revolutionary Approach to Exploring the Moon with Addressable Reconfigurable Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, P. E.; Curtis, S. A.; Rilee, M. L.; Floyd, S. R.

2005-01-01

Addressable Reconfigurable Technology (ART) based structures: Mission Concepts based on Addressable Reconfigurable Technology (ART), originally studied for future ANTS (Autonomous Nanotechnology Swarm) Space Architectures, are now being developed as rovers for nearer term use in lunar and planetary surface exploration. The architecture is based on the reconfigurable tetrahedron as a building block. Tetrahedra are combined to form space-filling networks, shaped for the required function. Basic structural components are highly modular, addressable arrays of robust nodes (tetrahedral apices) from which highly reconfigurable struts (tetrahedral edges), acting as supports or tethers, are efficiently reversibly deployed/stowed, transforming and reshaping the structures as required.

Multi-mode sensor processing on a dynamically reconfigurable massively parallel processor array

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Paul; Butts, Mike; Budlong, Brad; Wasson, Paul

2008-04-01

This paper introduces a novel computing architecture that can be reconfigured in real time to adapt on demand to multi-mode sensor platforms' dynamic computational and functional requirements. This 1 teraOPS reconfigurable Massively Parallel Processor Array (MPPA) has 336 32-bit processors. The programmable 32-bit communication fabric provides streamlined inter-processor connections with deterministically high performance. Software programmability, scalability, ease of use, and fast reconfiguration time (ranging from microseconds to milliseconds) are the most significant advantages over FPGAs and DSPs. This paper introduces the MPPA architecture, its programming model, and methods of reconfigurability. An MPPA platform for reconfigurable computing is based on a structural object programming model. Objects are software programs running concurrently on hundreds of 32-bit RISC processors and memories. They exchange data and control through a network of self-synchronizing channels. A common application design pattern on this platform, called a work farm, is a parallel set of worker objects, with one input and one output stream. Statically configured work farms with homogeneous and heterogeneous sets of workers have been used in video compression and decompression, network processing, and graphics applications.

Femtosecond optical injection of intact plant cells using a reconfigurable platform

Science.gov (United States)

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

2014-03-01

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

Reconfiguration in FPGA-Based Multi-Core Platforms for Hard Real-Time Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pezzarossa, Luca; Schoeberl, Martin; Sparsø, Jens

2016-01-01

-case execution-time of tasks of an application that determines the systems ability to respond in time. To support this focus, the platform must provide service guarantees for both communication and computation resources. In addition, many hard real-time applications have multiple modes of operation, and each......In general-purpose computing multi-core platforms, hardware accelerators and reconfiguration are means to improve performance; i.e., the average-case execution time of a software application. In hard real-time systems, such average-case speed-up is not in itself relevant - it is the worst...... mode has specific requirements. An interesting perspective on reconfigurable computing is to exploit run-time reconfiguration to support mode changes. In this paper we explore approaches to reconfiguration of communication and computation resources in the T-CREST hard real-time multi-core platform...

A Controller for Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration in FPGA-Based Real-Time Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pezzarossa, Luca; Schoeberl, Martin; Sparsø, Jens

2017-01-01

-source DPR controller specially developed for hard real-time systems and prototyped in connection with the open-source multi-core platform for real-time applications T-CREST. The controller enables a processor to perform reconfiguration in a time-predictable manner and supports different operating modes......In real-time systems, the use of hardware accelerators can lead to a worst-case execution-time speed-up, to a simplification of its analysis, and to a reduction of its pessimism. When using FPGA technology, dynamic partial reconfiguration (DPR) can be used to minimize the area, by only loading....... The paper also presents a software tool for bitstream conversion, compression, and for reconfiguration time analysis. The DPR controller is evaluated in terms of hardware cost, operating frequency, speed, and bitstream compression ratio vs. reconfiguration time trade-off. A simple application example...

Site selection criteria for shallow land burial of low-level radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Falconer, K.L.; Hull, L.C.; Mizell, S.A.

1982-01-01

Twelve site selection criteria are presented. These are: (1) site shall be of sufficient area and depth to accommodate the projected volume of waste and a three dimensional buffer zone; (2) site should allow waste to be buried either completely above or below the transition zone between the unsaturated and saturated zones; (3) site should be located where flooding will not jeopardize performance; (4) site should be located where erosion will not jeopardize performance; (5) site should be located in areas where hydrogeologic conditions allow reliable performance prediction; (6) site should be located where geologic hazards will not jeopardize performance; (7) site should be selected with considerations given to those characteristics of earth materials and water chemistry that favor increased residence times and/or attenuation of radionuclide concentrations within site boundaries; (8) site should be selected with consideration given to current and projected population distributions; (9) site should be selected with consideration given to current and projected land use and resource development; (10) site should be selected with consideration given to location of waste generation, access to all-weather highway and rail routes, and access utilities; (11) site should be selected consistent with federal laws and regulations; (12) site should not be located within areas that are protected from such use by federal laws and regulations. These criteria are considered preliminary and do not necessarily represent the position of the Department of Energy's Low-Level Waste Management Program

Site-selective {sup 13}C labeling of proteins using erythrose

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weininger, Ulrich, E-mail: ulrich.weininger@physik.uni-halle.de [Lund University, Department of Biophysical Chemistry, Center for Molecular Protein Science (Sweden)

2017-03-15

NMR-spectroscopy enables unique experimental studies on protein dynamics at atomic resolution. In order to obtain a full atom view on protein dynamics, and to study specific local processes like ring-flips, proton-transfer, or tautomerization, one has to perform studies on amino-acid side chains. A key requirement for these studies is site-selective labeling with {sup 13}C and/or {sup 1}H, which is achieved in the most general way by using site-selectively {sup 13}C-enriched glucose (1- and 2-{sup 13}C) as the carbon source in bacterial expression systems. Using this strategy, multiple sites in side chains, including aromatics, become site-selectively labeled and suitable for relaxation studies. Here we systematically investigate the use of site-selectively {sup 13}C-enriched erythrose (1-, 2-, 3- and 4-{sup 13}C) as a suitable precursor for {sup 13}C labeled aromatic side chains. We quantify {sup 13}C incorporation in nearly all sites in all 20 amino acids and compare the results to glucose based labeling. In general the erythrose approach results in more selective labeling. While there is only a minor gain for phenylalanine and tyrosine side-chains, the {sup 13}C incorporation level for tryptophan is at least doubled. Additionally, the Phe ζ and Trp η2 positions become labeled. In the aliphatic side chains, labeling using erythrose yields isolated {sup 13}C labels for certain positions, like Ile β and His β, making these sites suitable for dynamics studies. Using erythrose instead of glucose as a source for site-selective {sup 13}C labeling enables unique or superior labeling for certain positions and is thereby expanding the toolbox for customized isotope labeling of amino-acid side-chains.

Origami tubes with reconfigurable polygonal cross-sections.

Science.gov (United States)

Filipov, E T; Paulino, G H; Tachi, T

2016-01-01

Thin sheets can be assembled into origami tubes to create a variety of deployable, reconfigurable and mechanistically unique three-dimensional structures. We introduce and explore origami tubes with polygonal, translational symmetric cross-sections that can reconfigure into numerous geometries. The tubular structures satisfy the mathematical definitions for flat and rigid foldability, meaning that they can fully unfold from a flattened state with deformations occurring only at the fold lines. The tubes do not need to be straight and can be constructed to follow a non-linear curved line when deployed. The cross-section and kinematics of the tubular structures can be reprogrammed by changing the direction of folding at some folds. We discuss the variety of tubular structures that can be conceived and we show limitations that govern the geometric design. We quantify the global stiffness of the origami tubes through eigenvalue and structural analyses and highlight the mechanical characteristics of these systems. The two-scale nature of this work indicates that, from a local viewpoint, the cross-sections of the polygonal tubes are reconfigurable while, from a global viewpoint, deployable tubes of desired shapes are achieved. This class of tubes has potential applications ranging from pipes and micro-robotics to deployable architecture in buildings.

Origami tubes with reconfigurable polygonal cross-sections

Science.gov (United States)

Filipov, E. T.; Paulino, G. H.; Tachi, T.

2016-01-01

Thin sheets can be assembled into origami tubes to create a variety of deployable, reconfigurable and mechanistically unique three-dimensional structures. We introduce and explore origami tubes with polygonal, translational symmetric cross-sections that can reconfigure into numerous geometries. The tubular structures satisfy the mathematical definitions for flat and rigid foldability, meaning that they can fully unfold from a flattened state with deformations occurring only at the fold lines. The tubes do not need to be straight and can be constructed to follow a non-linear curved line when deployed. The cross-section and kinematics of the tubular structures can be reprogrammed by changing the direction of folding at some folds. We discuss the variety of tubular structures that can be conceived and we show limitations that govern the geometric design. We quantify the global stiffness of the origami tubes through eigenvalue and structural analyses and highlight the mechanical characteristics of these systems. The two-scale nature of this work indicates that, from a local viewpoint, the cross-sections of the polygonal tubes are reconfigurable while, from a global viewpoint, deployable tubes of desired shapes are achieved. This class of tubes has potential applications ranging from pipes and micro-robotics to deployable architecture in buildings. PMID:26997894

Liquid metal-based reconfigurable and stretchable photolithography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Daeyoung; Yoo, Jun Hyeon; Lee, Jeong-Bong

2016-01-01

Conventional ultraviolet (UV) lithography typically uses a photomask made of a fused silica plate covered with a layer of UV opaque material such as chromium. The photomask has passive binary patterns of UV opaque and UV transparent regions and the pattern is unalterable. We report a novel real-time dynamically reconfigurable photomask technology using a liquid metal (as a UV opaque material) filled in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, as a UV transparent material) microfluidic channels. We found that the gallium-based liquid metal (e.g. Galinstan ® ) is opaque in broad spectrum of light in the wavelength from 325 nm to 850 nm while the PDMS is highly transparent in this wide range of spectrum. We made both bright field and dark field microfluidic photomasks and transferred various patterns onto a positive photoresist. A 7-segment display microfluidic channel photomask was also fabricated and decimal numerals (from ‘0’ to ‘9’) were patterned with one photomask by dynamically reconfiguring decimal numeral shapes with on-demand injection and withdrawal of the liquid metal in specific segment microfluidic channels in the photomask. In addition, utilizing mechanical flexibility of the PDMS and the liquid metal, reconfiguration of the patterns in a microfluidic photomask under stretching was successfully tested. (paper)

Repetition or Reconfiguration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Kristina Vaarst

, the cognitive quality of knowledge held by individual professionals is the key microfoundation for project level performance. This paper empirically tests effects of project participants with and without knowledge diversity for project level performance for projects aiming for varying degrees of repetition...... and reconfiguration. The results indicate that project performance benefits form contributions from individuals holding diverse knowledge only when projects aim for high differentiation levels. This positive association is not just moderated, it may even be reversed in the case of professionals participating in low...

Multi-criteria grey relational approach to evaluating reconfigurable manufacturing configurations

OpenAIRE

Rehman, A. U.

2017-01-01

In response to highly dynamic markets, manufacturing industries need alternative feasible manufacturing strategies. The strategy currently adopted is to reconfigure the existing manufacturing system. The conditions to reconfigure existing configurations change from time to time. An attempt is made to identify and apply an approach to evaluate these configurations. The paper proposes a grey relational decision-making approach. The approach takes into account multiple performance measures. The ...

Siting guidelines and their role in repository site selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanlon, C.L.

1985-01-01

The first requirement of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was for the Secretary of Energy to issue general guidelines for siting repositories. The guidelines were to specify detailed geologic considerations that would be the primary criteria for the selection of sites in various host rocks, as well as factors that would qualify or disqualify any site from development as a repository. These guidelines were clearly intended to provide not only the framework for the siting program but also the stimulus for establishing effective communication and consultation among the parties involved in the program. The Act further required that the guidelines be a factor in the development of all future decision documents of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, including the environmental assessments that would accompany the nomination of sites for characterization, the site-characterization plans that are to be prepared before the sinking of exploratory shafts at any candidate site, and the environmental impact statement that is to support the recommendation of a site for development as a repository. More than two years after its passage, the intention of the Act for the guidelines has been realized. Concurred in by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 22, 1984, and issued by the Department in November 1984, the guidelines include postclosure technical guidelines that apply to conditions governing the long-term performance of the repository system; preclosure technical guidelines that apply to conditions governing the siting, construction, operation, and closure of the repository; and system guidelines whose objective is to ensure that the regulatory requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are met

Reconfigurable Manufacturing System Design and Implementation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hadar, Ronen; Bilberg, Arne

2013-01-01

is meant primarily to show the physical feasibility of the system and provide a first-look into a real production application of the RMS ideas. The purpose of this paper is to present the design of the manufacturer’s RMS proof of concept, its implementation, and evaluation results.......Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) have been an increasing area of interest in the research arena. However, it seems that current literature is lacking application and implementation cases where RMS are simulated, tested, and evaluated as a feasible manufacturing concept. A Manufacturer...... of Consumer Goods identified the potential of the RMS concept and decided to investigate the concept in a real production installation. The result of this development is a proof of concept of a changeable and reconfigurable assembly and decoration system based on the principles of RMS. This proof of concept...

Hierarchical Robot Control System and Method for Controlling Select Degrees of Freedom of an Object Using Multiple Manipulators

Science.gov (United States)

Abdallah, Muhammad E. (Inventor); Platt, Robert (Inventor); Wampler, II, Charles W. (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A robotic system includes a robot having manipulators for grasping an object using one of a plurality of grasp types during a primary task, and a controller. The controller controls the manipulators during the primary task using a multiple-task control hierarchy, and automatically parameterizes the internal forces of the system for each grasp type in response to an input signal. The primary task is defined at an object-level of control, e.g., using a closed-chain transformation, such that only select degrees of freedom are commanded for the object. A control system for the robotic system has a host machine and algorithm for controlling the manipulators using the above hierarchy. A method for controlling the system includes receiving and processing the input signal using the host machine, including defining the primary task at the object-level of control, e.g., using a closed-chain definition, and parameterizing the internal forces for each of grasp type.

Reconfigurable Patch Antenna Radiations Using Plasma Faraday Shield Effect

OpenAIRE

Barro , Oumar Alassane; Himdi , Mohamed; Lafond , Olivier

2016-01-01

International audience; This letter presents a new reconfigurable antenna associated with a plasma Faraday shield effect. The Faraday shield effect is realized by using a fluorescent lamp. A patch antenna operating at 2.45 GHz is placed inside the lamp. The performance of the reconfigurable system is observed in terms of S11, gain and radiation patterns by simulation and measurement. It is shown that by switching ON the fluorescent lamp, the gain of the antenna decreases and the antenna syste...

Development of the NUMO pre-selection, site-specific safety case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujiyama, Tetsuo; Suzuki, Satoru; Deguchi, Akira; Umeki, Hiroyuki

2016-01-01

Key conclusions: ◆ “The NUMO pre-selection, site-specific safety case” provides the basic structure for subsequent safety cases that will be applied to any selected site, emphasising practical approaches and methodology which will be applicable for the conditions/constraints during an actual siting process. ◆ The preliminary results of the design and safety assessment would underpin the feasibility and safety of geological disposal in Japan.

Radiation-hardened optically reconfigurable gate array exploiting holographic memory characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Seto, Daisaku; Watanabe, Minoru

2015-09-01

In this paper, we present a proposal for a radiation-hardened optically reconfigurable gate array (ORGA). The ORGA is a type of field programmable gate array (FPGA). The ORGA configuration can be executed by the exploitation of holographic memory characteristics even if 20% of the configuration data are damaged. Moreover, the optoelectronic technology enables the high-speed reconfiguration of the programmable gate array. Such a high-speed reconfiguration can increase the radiation tolerance of its programmable gate array to 9.3 × 104 times higher than that of current FPGAs. Through experimentation, this study clarified the configuration dependability using the impulse-noise emulation and high-speed configuration capabilities of the ORGA with corrupt configuration contexts. Moreover, the radiation tolerance of the programmable gate array was confirmed theoretically through probabilistic calculation.

An integrated approach to site selection for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassan, E.M.A.

1975-01-01

A method of analysing and evaluating the large number of factors influencing site selection is proposed, which can interrelate these factors and associated problems in an integrated way and at the same time establish a technique for site evaluation. The objective is to develop an integrated programme that illustrates the complexity and dynamic interrelationships of the various factors to develop an improved understanding of the functions and objectives of siting nuclear power plants and would aim finally at the development of an effective procedure and technique for site evaluation and/or comparative evaluation for making rational site-selection decisions. (author)

Lightweight submersed 'Walking' NDE manipulators for PWR and BWR vessel weld inspection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saernmark, Ivan; Lenz, Herbert [WesDyne TRC AB, Stockholm (Sweden)

2008-04-15

Three new manipulators developed by WesDyne TRC in Sweden have under the year 2007 performed three very successful inspections in the PWR reactor Ringhals 3 and the BWR reactors Ringhals 1 and Oskarshamn 1. The manipulator systems can be used to perform inspection of circumferential and vertical welds on the reactor pressure vessel, the core shroud, core shroud support in BWR reactors or vessel and core barrel welds in PWR reactors. Most other flat or curved surfaces can be inspected using the new concept through relatively simple mechanical reconfigurations of system modules. The first inspection was performed on the R3 PWR core barrel in June 2007 with a very good result. This Manipulator is designed for access in very narrow gaps and for the type of core barrels with a shield covering the whole area of the perimeter. The manipulator is attached to the inspection area by means of a new unique suction cup system. The current manipulators consist of a curved horizontal beam, with radius similar to the reactor vessel, and a straight vertical beam, forming a T-shaped structure. By alternating the application of suction cup pairs on the horizontal beam and the vertical beam and by driving the scanning motors, the manipulator performs an incremental translational movement upwards/downwards or from side to side. The principles of this system give a well defined and stable platform for global and local positioning accuracy. A combination of advanced sensor solutions provides accurate position information in the absence of other physical reference objects. The system is controlled by the new WesDyne TRC Motor Control Panel and software, the MCP is specifically designed for remote control of submersed manipulators using techniques for cable reduction.

Low-level waste disposal site selection demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogers, V.C.

1984-01-01

This paper discusses the results of recent studies undertaken at EPRI related to low-level waste disposal technology. The initial work provided an overview of the state of the art including an assessment of its influence upon transportation costs and waste form requirements. The paper discusses work done on the overall system design aspects and computer modeling of disposal site performance characteristics. The results of this analysis are presented and provide a relative ranking of the importance of disposal parameters. This allows trade-off evaluations to be made of factors important in the design of a shallow land burial facility. To help minimize the impact of a shortage of low-level radioactive waste disposal sites, EPRI is closely observing the development of bellweather projects for developing new sites. The purpose of this activity is to provide information about lessons learned in those projects in order to expedite the development of additional disposal facilities. This paper describes most of the major stems in selecting a low-level radioactive waste disposal site in Texas. It shows how the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority started with a wide range of potential siting areas in Texas and narrowed its attention down to a few preferred sites. The parameters used to discriminate between large areas of Texas and, eventually, 50 candidate disposal sites are described, along with the steps in the process. The Texas process is compared to those described in DOE and EPRI handbooks on site selection and to pertinent NRC requirements. The paper also describes how an inventory of low-level waste specific to Texas was developed and applied in preliminary performance assessments of two candidate sites. Finally, generic closure requirements and closure operations for low-level waste facilities in arid regions are given

Conflict between public perceptions and technical processes in site selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avant, R.V. Jr.; Jacobi, L.R.

1985-01-01

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations and guidance on site selection are based on sound technical reasoning. Geology, hydrology, flora and fauna, transportation, demographics, and sociopolitical concerns, to name a few, have been factored into the process. Regardless of the technical objectivity of a site selection process, local opposition groups will challenge technical decisions using technical, nontechnical, and emotional arguments. This paper explores the many conflicts between public perceptions, technical requirements designed to protect the general public, and common arguments against site selection. Ways to deal with opposition are also discussed with emphasis placed on developing effective community relations

Selection of den sites by black bears in the southern Appalachians

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds-Hogland, M. J.; Mitchell, M.S.; Powell, R.A.; Brown, D.C.

2007-01-01

We evaluated selection of den sites by American black bears (Ursus americanus) in the Pisgah Bear Sanctuary, western North Carolina, by comparing characteristics of dens at 53 den sites with availability of habitat characteristics in annual home ranges of bears and in the study area. We also tested whether den-site selection differed by sex, age, and reproductive status of bears. In addition, we evaluated whether the den component of an existing habitat model for black bears predicted where bears would select den sites. We found bears selected den sites far from gravel roads, on steep slopes, and at high elevations relative to what was available in both annual home ranges and in the study area. Den-site selection did not differ by sex or age, but it differed by reproductive status. Adult females with cubs preferred to den in areas that were relatively far from gravel roads, but adult females without cubs did not. The habitat model overestimated the value of areas near gravel roads, underestimated the value of moderately steep areas, and did not include elevation as a predictor variable. Our results highlight the importance of evaluating den selection in terms of both use and availability of den characteristics. ?? 2007 American Society of Mammalogists.

Effects of intraguild predators on nest-site selection by prey.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Wen-San; Pike, David A

2012-01-01

Nest-site selection involves tradeoffs between the risk of predation (on females and/or nests) and nest-site quality (microenvironment), and consequently suitable nesting sites are often in limited supply. Interactions with "classical" predators (e.g., those not competing for shared resources) can strongly influence nest-site selection, but whether intraguild predation also influences this behavior is unknown. We tested whether risk of predation from an intraguild predator [the diurnal scincid lizard Eutropis (Mabuya) longicaudata] influences nest-site selection by its prey (the nocturnal gecko Gekko hokouensis) on Orchid Island, Taiwan. These two species putatively compete for shared resources, including invertebrate prey and nesting microhabitat, but the larger E. longicaudata also predates G. hokouensis (but not its hard-shelled eggs). Both species nested within a concrete wall containing a series of drainage holes that have either one ("closed-in") or two openings ("open"). In allopatry, E. longicaudata preferred to nest within holes that were plugged by debris (thereby protecting eggs from water intrusion), whereas G. hokouensis selected holes that were open at both ends (facilitating escape from predators). When we experimentally excluded E. longicaudata from its preferred nesting area, G. hokouensis not only nested in higher abundances, but also modified its nest-site selection, such that communal nesting was more prevalent and both open and closed-in holes were used equally. Egg viability was unaffected by the choice of hole type, but was reduced slightly (by 7%) in the predator exclusion area (presumably due to higher local incubation temperatures). Our field experiment demonstrates that intraguild predators can directly influence the nest density of prey by altering maternal nest-site selection behavior, even when the predator and prey are active at different times of day and the eggs are not at risk of predation.

A Modular Re-configurable Rover System

Science.gov (United States)

Bouloubasis, A.; McKee, G.; Active Robotics Lab

In this paper we present the novel concepts incorporated in a planetary surface exploration rover design that is currently under development. The Multitasking Rover (MTR) aims to demonstrate functionality that will cover many of the current and future needs such as rough-terrain mobility, modularity and upgradeability [1]. The rover system has enhanced mobility characteristics. It operates in conjunction with Science Packs (SPs) and Tool Packs (TPs) - modules attached to the main frame of the rover, which are either special tools or science instruments and alter the operation capabilities of the system. To date, each rover system design is very much task driven for example, the scenario of cooperative transportation of extended payloads [2], comprises two rovers each equipped with a manipulator dedicated to the task [3]. The MTR approach focuses mostly on modularity and upgradeability presenting at the same time a fair amount of internal re-configurability for the sake of rough terrain stability. The rover itself does not carry any scientific instruments or tools. To carry out the scenario mentioned above, the MTR would have to locate and pick-up a TP with the associated manipulator. After the completion of the task the TP could be put away to a storage location enabling the rover to utilize a different Pack. The rover will not only offer mobility to these modules, but also use them as tools, transforming its role and functionality. The advantage of this approach is that instead of sending a large number of rovers to perform a variety of tasks, a smaller number of MTRs could be deployed with a large number of SPs/TPs, offering multiples of the functionality at a reduced payload. Two SPs or TPs (or a combination of) can be carried and deployed. One of the key elements in the design of the four wheeled rover, lies within its suspension system. It comprises a linear actuator located within each leg and also an active differential linking the two shoulders. This novel

Reconfigurable Multicore Architectures for Streaming Applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria; Kokkeler, Andre B.J.; Rauwerda, G.K.; Jacobs, J.W.M.; Nicolescu, G.; Mosterman, P.J.

2009-01-01

This chapter addresses reconfigurable heterogenous and homogeneous multicore system-on-chip (SoC) platforms for streaming digital signal processing applications, also called DSP applications. In streaming DSP applications, computations can be specified as a data flow graph with streams of data items

Communication-Oriented Design Space Exploration for Reconfigurable Architectures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gogniat Guy

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Many academic works in computer engineering focus on reconfigurable architectures and associated tools. Fine-grain architectures, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs, are the most well-known structures of reconfigurable hardware. Dedicated tools (generic or specific allow for the exploration of their design space to choose the best architecture characteristics and/or to explore the application characteristics. The aim is to increase the synergy between the application and the architecture in order to get the best performance. However, there is no generic tool to perform such an exploration for coarse-grain or heterogeneous-grain architectures, just a small number of very specific tools are able to explore a limited set of architectures. To address this major lack, in this paper we propose a new design space exploration approach adapted to fine- and coarse-grain granularities. Our approach combines algorithmic and architecture explorations. It relies on an automatic estimation tool which computes the communication hierarchical distribution and the architectural processing resources use rate for the architecture under exploration. Such an approach forwards the rapid definition of efficient reconfigurable architectures dedicated to one or several applications.

Reconfigurable Three-Dimensional Gold Nanorod Plasmonic Nanostructures Organized on DNA Origami Tripod.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhan, Pengfei; Dutta, Palash K; Wang, Pengfei; Song, Gang; Dai, Mingjie; Zhao, Shu-Xia; Wang, Zhen-Gang; Yin, Peng; Zhang, Wei; Ding, Baoquan; Ke, Yonggang

2017-02-28

Distinct electromagnetic properties can emerge from the three-dimensional (3D) configuration of a plasmonic nanostructure. Furthermore, the reconfiguration of a dynamic plasmonic nanostructure, driven by physical or chemical stimuli, may generate a tailored plasmonic response. In this work, we constructed a 3D reconfigurable plasmonic nanostructure with controllable, reversible conformational transformation using bottom-up DNA self-assembly. Three gold nanorods (AuNRs) were positioned onto a reconfigurable DNA origami tripod. The internanorod angle and distance were precisely tuned through operating the origami tripod by toehold-mediated strand displacement. The transduction of conformational change manifested into a controlled shift of the plasmonic resonance peak, which was studied by dark-field microscopy, and agrees well with electrodynamic calculations. This new 3D plasmonic nanostructure not only provides a method to study the plasmonic resonance of AuNRs at prescribed 3D conformations but also demonstrates that DNA origami can serve as a general self-assembly platform for constructing various 3D reconfigurable plasmonic nanostructures with customized optical properties.

A Modular, Reconfigurable Mold for a Soft Robotic Gripper Design Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiawei Zhang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Soft robotics is an emerging field with strong potential to serve as an educational tool due to its advantages such as low costs and shallow learning curves. In this paper, we introduce a modular and reconfigurable mold for flexible design of pneumatic soft robotic grippers. By using simple assembly kits, students at all levels are able to design and construct soft robotic grippers that vary in function and performance. The process of constructing the modular mold enables students to understand how design choices impact system performance. Our unique modular mold allows students to select the number and length of fingers in a gripper, as well as to adjust the internal geometry of the pneumatic actuator cavity, which dictates how and where bending of a finger occurs. In addition, the mold may be deconstructed and reconfigured, which allows for fast iterative design and lowers material costs (since a new mold does not need to be made to implement a design change. We further demonstrate the feasibility of the modular mold by implementing it in a soft robot design activity in classrooms and showing a sufficiently high rate of student success in designing and constructing a functional soft robotic gripper.

Site selection of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schnappauf, W.

1982-01-01

A stock report of the development of the extent as well as the fundamentals of the conflict about nuclear energy shows that the effective law is both another cause and a mirror of the discussions about it. In total the investigation shows that the planning of site selection suffers from a number of legal problems. They are mainly of structural kind and are concerned with the issues of citizens' participation and graduation of procedures which are central for the management of the conflict. Therefore the present set of instruments is hardly able to contribute to increasing the acceptancy. The kind and extent of issues on one hand as well as the dimension of the conflict on the other make clear that the executive power itself is overtaxed. In this situation the legislative authorities are called up to take responsibility upon themselves. There are no objections from the constitutional or other aspects to legal site selection. (orig./HSCH) [de

Site selection criteria for the shallow land burial of low-level radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Falconer, K.L.; Hull, L.C.; Mizell, S.A.

The shallow land burial of low-level waste must be accomplished in a manner that ensures the public and biosphere are protected from harmful amounts of radiation. This can be attained by selecting, designing, operating and closing sites such that contaminants never leave the site boundary in levels above regulatory limits. Site design, operation and closure are all functions of the characteristics of the site selected. As a result, the site selection process offers the most effective means for optimizing safe, efficient and economical low-level waste burial practices. The purpose of this document is to set forth criteria for the selection of shallow land burial sites. Criteria are standard rules, by which the ability of a site to meet waste management goals can be judged. They are comprehensive, universal, and qualitative and are applicable in any geologic environment. Site selection criteria provide the framework for the siting process

A Three-Step Resolution-Reconfigurable Hazardous Multi-Gas Sensor Interface for Wireless Air-Quality Monitoring Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Subin; Park, Kyeonghwan; Lee, Seungwook; Lim, Yeongjin; Oh, Byungjoo; Chae, Hee Young; Park, Chan Sam; Shin, Heugjoo; Kim, Jae Joon

2018-03-02

This paper presents a resolution-reconfigurable wide-range resistive sensor readout interface for wireless multi-gas monitoring applications that displays results on a smartphone. Three types of sensing resolutions were selected to minimize processing power consumption, and a dual-mode front-end structure was proposed to support the detection of a variety of hazardous gases with wide range of characteristic resistance. The readout integrated circuit (ROIC) was fabricated in a 0.18 μm CMOS process to provide three reconfigurable data conversions that correspond to a low-power resistance-to-digital converter (RDC), a 12-bit successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a 16-bit delta-sigma modulator. For functional feasibility, a wireless sensor system prototype that included in-house microelectromechanical (MEMS) sensing devices and commercial device products was manufactured and experimentally verified to detect a variety of hazardous gases.

Robust Throughput Boosting for Low Latency Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nannarelli, Alberto; Re, M.; Cardarilli, Gian Carlo

2017-01-01

Reducing the configuration time of portions of an FPGA at run time is crucial in contemporary FPGA-based accelerators. In this work, we propose a method to increase the throughput for FPGA dynamic partial reconfiguration by using standard IP blocks. The throughput is increased by over-clocking th......Reducing the configuration time of portions of an FPGA at run time is crucial in contemporary FPGA-based accelerators. In this work, we propose a method to increase the throughput for FPGA dynamic partial reconfiguration by using standard IP blocks. The throughput is increased by over...

A Domain-Specific Language for Programming Self-Reconfigurable Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Christensen, David Johan; Støy, Kasper

2007-01-01

. Programming a modular, self-reconfigurable robot is however a complicated task: the robot is essentially a real-time, distributed embedded system, where control and communication paths often are tightly coupled to the current physical configuration of the robot. To facilitate the task of programming modular......, self-reconfigurable robots, we have developed a declarative, role-based language that allows the programmer to define roles and behavior independently of the concrete physical structure of the robot. Roles are compiled to mobile code fragments that distribute themselves over the physical structure...

Heuristic and probabilistic wind power availability estimation procedures: Improved tools for technology and site selection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nigim, K.A. [University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont. (Canada). Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Parker, Paul [University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont. (Canada). Department of Geography, Environmental Studies

2007-04-15

The paper describes two investigative procedures to estimate wind power from measured wind velocities. Wind velocity data are manipulated to visualize the site potential by investigating the probable wind power availability and its capacity to meet a targeted demand. The first procedure is an availability procedure that looks at the wind characteristics and its probable energy capturing profile. This profile of wind enables the probable maximum operating wind velocity profile for a selected wind turbine design to be predicted. The structured procedures allow for a consequent adjustment, sorting and grouping of the measured wind velocity data taken at different time intervals and hub heights. The second procedure is the adequacy procedure that investigates the probable degree of availability and the application consequences. Both procedures are programmed using MathCAD symbolic mathematical software. The math tool is used to generate a visual interpolation of the data as well as numerical results from extensive data sets that exceed the capacity of conventional spreadsheet tools. Two sites located in Southern Ontario, Canada are investigated using the procedures. Successful implementation of the procedures supports informed decision making where a hill site is shown to have much higher wind potential than that measured at the local airport. The process is suitable for a wide spectrum of users who are considering the energy potential for either a grid-tied or off-grid wind energy system. (author)

Directing reaction pathways by catalyst active-site selection using self-assembled monolayers.

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Simon H; Schoenbaum, Carolyn A; Schwartz, Daniel K; Medlin, J Will

2013-01-01

One key route for controlling reaction selectivity in heterogeneous catalysis is to prepare catalysts that exhibit only specific types of sites required for desired product formation. Here we show that alkanethiolate self-assembled monolayers with varying surface densities can be used to tune selectivity to desired hydrogenation and hydrodeoxygenation products during the reaction of furfural on supported palladium catalysts. Vibrational spectroscopic studies demonstrate that the selectivity improvement is achieved by controlling the availability of specific sites for the hydrogenation of furfural on supported palladium catalysts through the selection of an appropriate alkanethiolate. Increasing self-assembled monolayer density by controlling the steric bulk of the organic tail ligand restricts adsorption on terrace sites and dramatically increases selectivity to desired products furfuryl alcohol and methylfuran. This technique of active-site selection simultaneously serves both to enhance selectivity and provide insight into the reaction mechanism.

A Case Study in the Mars Landing Site Selection for Science Objects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haingja Seo

2012-12-01

Full Text Available It is a crucial matter to select a landing site for landers or rovers in planning the Mars exploration. The landing site must have not only a scientific value as a landing site, but also geographical features to lead a safe landing for Mars probes. In this regard, this study analyzed landing site of Mars probes and rovers in previous studies and discussed the adequacy of the landing site to scientific missions. Moreover, this study also examined domestic studies on the Mars. The frameworks of these studies will guide the selection of exploration sites and a landing site when sending Mars probe to the Mars through our own efforts. Additionally, this paper will be used as the preliminary data for selection of exploration site and a landing site.

The Effects of Interference Suppression by a Reconfigurable Structure at DSSS-DPSK Receiver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Dimitrijevic

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper we show the performances of DSSS-DPSK receiver where the interference rejection circuit is reconfigurable and is using ksi-structure. The results will be shown for the case of packet, as well as for the continuous QPSK interference. The results show that the proposed reconfiguration circuit, in case of packet QPSK interference, significantly decreases the error probability, compared to the system using only ksi-structure. Also, in case of continuous interference, the reconfigurable structure has equally good performance, regardless of interference power and its bitrate.

Design of a real-time open architecture controller for a reconfigurable machine tool

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Masekamela, I

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the design and the development of a real-time, open architecture controller that is used for control of reconfigurable manufacturing tools (RMTs) in reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). The controller that is presented can...

Site-selective spectroscopy of Er in GaN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dierolf, V.; Sandmann, C.; Zavada, J.; Chow, P.; Hertog, B.

2004-01-01

We investigated different Er 3+ defect sites found in Er-doped GaN layers by site-selective combined excitation-emission spectroscopy and studied the role of these sites in different direct and multistep excitation schemes. The layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy and were 200 nm thick. Two majority sites were found along with several minority sites. The sites strongly differ in excitation and energy transfer efficiencies as well as branching ratios during relaxation. For this reason, relative emission intensities from these sites depend strongly on emission and excitation. The sites were identified for several transitions and a comprehensive list of energy levels has been compiled. One of the minority sites appears strongly under ultraviolet excitation above the GaN band gap suggesting that this site is an excellent trap for excitation energy of electron-hole pairs

Using maximum entropy modeling for optimal selection of sampling sites for monitoring networks

Science.gov (United States)

Stohlgren, Thomas J.; Kumar, Sunil; Barnett, David T.; Evangelista, Paul H.

2011-01-01

Environmental monitoring programs must efficiently describe state shifts. We propose using maximum entropy modeling to select dissimilar sampling sites to capture environmental variability at low cost, and demonstrate a specific application: sample site selection for the Central Plains domain (453,490 km2) of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). We relied on four environmental factors: mean annual temperature and precipitation, elevation, and vegetation type. A “sample site” was defined as a 20 km × 20 km area (equal to NEON’s airborne observation platform [AOP] footprint), within which each 1 km2 cell was evaluated for each environmental factor. After each model run, the most environmentally dissimilar site was selected from all potential sample sites. The iterative selection of eight sites captured approximately 80% of the environmental envelope of the domain, an improvement over stratified random sampling and simple random designs for sample site selection. This approach can be widely used for cost-efficient selection of survey and monitoring sites.

A Network Reconfiguration Method Considering Data Uncertainties in Smart Distribution Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ke-yan Liu

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This work presents a method for distribution network reconfiguration with the simultaneous consideration of distributed generation (DG allocation. The uncertainties of load fluctuation before the network reconfiguration are also considered. Three optimal objectives, including minimal line loss cost, minimum Expected Energy Not Supplied, and minimum switch operation cost, are investigated. The multi-objective optimization problem is further transformed into a single-objective optimization problem by utilizing weighting factors. The proposed network reconfiguration method includes two periods. The first period is to create a feasible topology network by using binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO. Then the DG allocation problem is solved by utilizing sensitivity analysis and a Harmony Search algorithm (HSA. In the meanwhile, interval analysis is applied to deal with the uncertainties of load and devices parameters. Test cases are studied using the standard IEEE 33-bus and PG&E 69-bus systems. Different scenarios and comparisons are analyzed in the experiments. The results show the applicability of the proposed method. The performance analysis of the proposed method is also investigated. The computational results indicate that the proposed network reconfiguration algorithm is feasible.

A Reconfigurable Metal-Plasma Yagi-Yuda Antenna for Microwave Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giulia Mansutti

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper is an extension of the work originally presented at the European Microwave Conference (EuMC about a reconfigurable hybrid metal-plasma Yagi-Uda antenna operating at 1.55 GHz: this antenna consists of metallic reflector and active element and two plasma directors. The conference work showed through full-wave numerical simulations (CST Microwave Studio how it is possible to achieve reconfigurability with respect to the gain by turning on/off the plasma discharges. However the model that was used to represent the plasma discharges was quite ideal, so one comment that was provided questioned the actual possibility of achieving reconfigurability in a real system. Consequently we performed extensive measurements of different plasma discharges and thanks to the collected data, we noticed some important differences between the full-wave numerical model of the plasma that we used in the conference paper and the actual plasma discharges that were generated in the experimental setup: the dielectric vessel and the metallic electrodes used respectively to confine and generate the plasma have an influence on the radiation pattern of the antenna and so they must be included in the design procedure; the cylindrical plasma discharge is much easier to realize when the cylinder diameter is at least 3mm; and finally the collision frequency of the plasma in realistic cases is pretty higher than the one adopted in our previous work. Therefore this work presents a feasibility study of a more detailed and realistic model of our antenna with respect to the plasma discharges. We will show that reconfigurability can still be achieved through a proper design of the overall antenna, thus paving the way to an actual realization of the proposed reconfigurable Yagi-Uda.

Diagnosis and Reconfiguration using Bayesian Networks: An Electrical Power System Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Knox, W. Bradley; Mengshoel, Ole

2009-01-01

Automated diagnosis and reconfiguration are important computational techniques that aim to minimize human intervention in autonomous systems. In this paper, we develop novel techniques and models in the context of diagnosis and reconfiguration reasoning using causal Bayesian networks (BNs). We take as starting point a successful diagnostic approach, using a static BN developed for a real-world electrical power system. We discuss in this paper the extension of this diagnostic approach along two dimensions, namely: (i) from a static BN to a dynamic BN; and (ii) from a diagnostic task to a reconfiguration task. More specifically, we discuss the auto-generation of a dynamic Bayesian network from a static Bayesian network. In addition, we discuss subtle, but important, differences between Bayesian networks when used for diagnosis versus reconfiguration. We discuss a novel reconfiguration agent, which models a system causally, including effects of actions through time, using a dynamic Bayesian network. Though the techniques we discuss are general, we demonstrate them in the context of electrical power systems (EPSs) for aircraft and spacecraft. EPSs are vital subsystems on-board aircraft and spacecraft, and many incidents and accidents of these vehicles have been attributed to EPS failures. We discuss a case study that provides initial but promising results for our approach in the setting of electrical power systems.

Diet and density dependent competition affect larval performance and oviposition site selection in the mosquito species Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoshioka Miho

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Oviposition-site choice is an essential component of the life history of all mosquito species. According to the oviposition-preference offspring-performance (P-P hypothesis, if optimizing offspring performance and fitness ensures high overall reproductive fitness for a given species, the female should accurately assess details of the heterogeneous environment and lay her eggs preferentially in sites with conditions more suitable to offspring. Methods We empirically tested the P-P hypothesis using the mosquito species Aedes albopictus by artificially manipulating two habitat conditions: diet (measured as mg of food added to a container and conspecific density (CD; number of pre-existing larvae of the same species. Immature development (larval mortality, development time to pupation and time to emergence and fitness (measured as wing length were monitored from first instar through adult emergence using a factorial experimental design over two ascending gradients of diet (2.0, 3.6, 7.2 and 20 mg food/300 ml water and CD (0, 20, 40 and 80 larvae/300 ml water. Treatments that exerted the most contrasting values of larval performance were recreated in a second experiment consisting of single-female oviposition site selection assay. Results Development time decreased as food concentration increased, except from 7.2 mg to 20.0 mg (Two-Way CR ANOVA Post-Hoc test, P > 0.1. Development time decreased also as conspecific density increased from zero to 80 larvae (Two-Way CR ANOVA Post-Hoc test, P . Combined, these results support the role of density-dependent competition for resources as a limiting factor for mosquito larval performance. Oviposition assays indicated that female mosquitoes select for larval habitats with conspecifics and that larval density was more important than diet in driving selection for oviposition sites. Conclusions This study supports predictions of the P-P hypothesis and provides a mechanistic understanding

Site selection for Canada's national repository for used nuclear fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ben Belfadhel, M.; Watts, B.; Facella, J.

2015-01-01

In 2007, the Government of Canada selected Adaptive Phased Management as Canada's plan for the long-term management of Canada's used nuclear fuel. The approach provides for containment and isolation of the material in a deep geological repository at a safe site with an informed and willing host. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is tasked through federal legislation with selecting the site and developing and managing all aspects of the plan. In May 2010, the organization published and initiated the site selection process that serves as a road map for decision making on the location for the deep geological repository. It continues to lead the site selection process for the repository and an associated Centre of Expertise. The screening process is advancing and, from an initial starting point of 22 communities expressing interest in learning about the project; as of September 2015, 9 communities are the focus of more detailed technical and community well-being studies. Preliminary Assessments, the third step in the 9-step site selection process are underway in these communities. The Assessments involve preliminary technical and social desktop and field assessments, engagement activities within and beyond each interested community, and involvement of Indigenous peoples and nearby municipalities in the planning and conduct of the work. This paper provides an update on the advancement of the site selection process. It describes the nature of the technical and social studies being conducted at this phase of work, including the progressively more detailed field studies that are the focus of technical work at the current stage, the approach to engagement and collaboration with communities to direct these studies, and the work underway to ensure the framework used for this assessment and engagement includes the range of priorities and perspectives of First Nations and Metis peoples and communities in the broader area. (author)

The Gospel of Matthew: Reconfigured Torah

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Richard B. Hays

2005-10-01

Full Text Available This essay surveys the evangelist Matthew’s reading of Israel’s Scripture. Rather than focusing only on Matthew’s distinctive formula quotations, we must observe the subtler ways that Matthew evokes scriptural images and patterns. The essay highlights four major aspects of Matthew’s reading of Scripture. (1 Matthew reads Israel’s Scripture as a story that highlights election, kingship, exile, and messianic salvation as the end of exile. (2 Matthew reconfigures Torah into a call for radical transformation of the heart. (3 Matthew highlights Scripture’s call for mercy, particularly by emphasizing Hosea 6:6 as the hermeneutical key to Torah. (4 Matthew interprets the mission to the Gentiles as the fulfilment of Israel’s destiny and the active embodiment of the authority of the Son of Man (Dn 7:13-14 over the whole world. Jointly taken, these strategies of interpretation produce a striking reconfiguration of Israel’s Torah.

Implementation of the Two-Point Angular Correlation Function on a High-Performance Reconfigurable Computer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Volodymyr V. Kindratenko

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We present a parallel implementation of an algorithm for calculating the two-point angular correlation function as applied in the field of computational cosmology. The algorithm has been specifically developed for a reconfigurable computer. Our implementation utilizes a microprocessor and two reconfigurable processors on a dual-MAP SRC-6 system. The two reconfigurable processors are used as two application-specific co-processors. Two independent computational kernels are simultaneously executed on the reconfigurable processors while data pre-fetching from disk and initial data pre-processing are executed on the microprocessor. The overall end-to-end algorithm execution speedup achieved by this implementation is over 90× as compared to a sequential implementation of the algorithm executed on a single 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon microprocessor.

Multi-objective optimal operation of smart reconfigurable distribution grids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdollah Kavousi-Fard

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Reconfiguration is a valuable technique that can support the distribution grid from different aspects such as operation cost and loss reduction, reliability improvement, and voltage stability enhancement. An intelligent and efficient optimization framework, however, is required to reach the desired efficiency through the reconfiguration strategy. This paper proposes a new multi-objective optimization model to make use of the reconfiguration strategy for minimizing the power losses, improving the voltage profile, and enhancing the load balance in distribution grids. The proposed model employs the min-max fuzzy approach to find the most satisfying solution from a set of nondominated solutions in the problem space. Due to the high complexity and the discrete nature of the proposed model, a new optimization method based on harmony search (HS algorithm is further proposed. Moreover, a new modification method is suggested to increase the harmony memory diversity in the improvisation stage and increase the convergence ability of the algorithm. The feasibility and satisfying performance of the proposed model are examined on the IEEE 32-bus distribution system.

Controlling site selectivity in Pd-catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling reactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyons, Thomas W; Hull, Kami L; Sanford, Melanie S

2011-03-30

This paper presents a detailed investigation of the factors controlling site selectivity in the Pd-mediated oxidative coupling of 1,3-disubstituted and 1,2,3-trisubstituted arenes (aryl-H) with cyclometalating substrates (L~C-H). The influence of both the concentration and the steric/electronic properties of the quinone promoter are studied in detail. In addition, the effect of steric/electronic modulation of the carboxylate ligand is discussed. Finally, we demonstrate that substitution of the carboxylate for a carbonate X-type ligand leads to a complete reversal in site selectivity for many arene substrates. The origins of these trends in site selectivity are discussed in the context of the mechanism of Pd-catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling.

Patterns of mutation and selection at synonymous sites in Drosophila

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Singh, Nadia D; Bauer DuMont, Vanessa L; Hubisz, Melissa J

2007-01-01

, when applied to 18 coding sequences in 3 species of Drosophila, confirmed an earlier report that the Notch gene in Drosophila melanogaster was evolving under selection in favor of those codons defined as unpreferred in this species. This finding opened the possibility that synonymous sites may...... be subject to a variety of selective pressures beyond weak selection for increased frequencies of the codons currently defined as "preferred" in D. melanogaster. To further explore patterns of synonymous site evolution in Drosophila in a lineage-specific manner, we expanded the application of the maximum...... likelihood framework to 8,452 protein coding sequences with well-defined orthology in D. melanogaster, Drosophila sechellia, and Drosophila yakuba. Our analyses reveal intragenomic and interspecific variation in mutational patterns as well as in patterns and intensity of selection on synonymous sites. In D...

Electron beam effects on VLSI MOS conditions for testing and reconfiguration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Girard, P.; Roche, F.M.; Pistoulet, B.

1986-01-01

Wafer scale integrated-MOS circuits problems related to test and reconfiguration by electron beams are analyzed. First of all the alterations in characteristics of MOS circuits submitted to an electron beam testing are considered. Then the capabilities of reconfiguration by an electron beam bombardment are discussed. The various phenomena involved are reviewed. Experimental data are reported and discussed on the light of data of the literature. (Auth.)

Design of a High Power Robotic Manipulator for Emergency Response to the Nuclear Accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Jongwon; Bae, Yeong-Geol; Kim, Myoung Ho; Choi, Young Soo

2016-01-01

An accident in a nuclear facility causes a great social cost. To prevent an unexpected nuclear accident from spreading to the catastrophic disaster, emergency response action in early stage is required. However, high radiation environment has been proved as a challenging obstacle for human workers to access to the accident site and take an action in previous accident cases. Therefore, emergency response robotic technology to be used in a nuclear accident site instead of human workers are actively conducted in domestically and internationally. Robots in an accident situation are required to carry out a variety of tasks depend on the types and patterns of accidents. An emergency response usually includes removing of debris, make an access road to a certain place and handling valves. These tasks normally involve high payload handling. A small sized high power robotic manipulator can be an appropriate candidate to deal with a wide spectrum of tasks in an emergency situation. In this paper, we discuss about the design of a high power robotic manipulator, which is capable of handling high payloads for an initial response action to the nuclear facility accident. In this paper, we presented a small sized high power robotic manipulator design. Actuator types of manipulator was selected and mechanical structure was discussed. In the future, the servo valve and hydraulic pump systems will be determined. Furthermore, control algorithms and test bed experiments will be also conducted

Design of a High Power Robotic Manipulator for Emergency Response to the Nuclear Accidents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Jongwon; Bae, Yeong-Geol; Kim, Myoung Ho; Choi, Young Soo [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

An accident in a nuclear facility causes a great social cost. To prevent an unexpected nuclear accident from spreading to the catastrophic disaster, emergency response action in early stage is required. However, high radiation environment has been proved as a challenging obstacle for human workers to access to the accident site and take an action in previous accident cases. Therefore, emergency response robotic technology to be used in a nuclear accident site instead of human workers are actively conducted in domestically and internationally. Robots in an accident situation are required to carry out a variety of tasks depend on the types and patterns of accidents. An emergency response usually includes removing of debris, make an access road to a certain place and handling valves. These tasks normally involve high payload handling. A small sized high power robotic manipulator can be an appropriate candidate to deal with a wide spectrum of tasks in an emergency situation. In this paper, we discuss about the design of a high power robotic manipulator, which is capable of handling high payloads for an initial response action to the nuclear facility accident. In this paper, we presented a small sized high power robotic manipulator design. Actuator types of manipulator was selected and mechanical structure was discussed. In the future, the servo valve and hydraulic pump systems will be determined. Furthermore, control algorithms and test bed experiments will be also conducted.

Switchable reconfiguration of nucleic acid nanostructures by stimuli-responsive DNA machines.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiaoqing; Lu, Chun-Hua; Willner, Itamar

2014-06-17

CONSPECTUS: The base sequence in DNA dictates structural and reactivity features of the biopolymer. These properties are implemented to use DNA as a unique material for developing the area of DNA nanotechnology. The design of DNA machines represents a rapidly developing research field in the area of DNA nanotechnology. The present Account discusses the switchable reconfiguration of nucleic acid nanostructures by stimuli-responsive DNA machines, and it highlights potential applications and future perspectives of the area. Programmed switchable DNA machines driven by various fuels and antifuels, such as pH, Hg(2+) ions/cysteine, or nucleic acid strands/antistrands, are described. These include the assembly of DNA tweezers, walkers, a rotor, a pendulum, and more. Using a pH-oscillatory system, the oscillatory mechanical operation of a DNA pendulum is presented. Specifically, the synthesis and "mechanical" properties of interlocked DNA rings are described. This is exemplified with the preparation of interlocked DNA catenanes and a DNA rotaxane. The dynamic fuel-driven reconfiguration of the catenane/rotaxane structures is followed by fluorescence spectroscopy. The use of DNA machines as functional scaffolds to reconfigurate Au nanoparticle assemblies and to switch the fluorescence features within fluorophore/Au nanoparticle conjugates between quenching and surface-enhanced fluorescence states are addressed. Specifically, the fluorescence features of the different DNA machines are characterized as a function of the spatial separation between the fluorophore and Au nanoparticles. The experimental results are supported by theoretical calculations. The future development of reconfigurable stimuli-responsive DNA machines involves fundamental challenges, such as the synthesis of molecular devices exhibiting enhanced complexities, the introduction of new fuels and antifuels, and the integration of new payloads being reconfigured by the molecular devices, such as enzymes or

Transformational electronics are now reconfiguring

KAUST Repository

Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto

2015-05-22

Current developments on enhancing our smart living experience are leveraging the increased interest for novel systems that can be compatible with foldable, wrinkled, wavy and complex geometries and surfaces, and thus become truly ubiquitous and easy to deploy. Therefore, relying on innovative structural designs we have been able to reconfigure the physical form of various materials, to achieve remarkable mechanical flexibility and stretchability, which provides us with the perfect platform to develop enhanced electronic systems for application in entertainment, healthcare, fitness and wellness, military and manufacturing industry. Based on these novel structural designs we have developed a siliconbased network of hexagonal islands connected through double-spiral springs, forming an ultra-stretchable (~1000%) array for full compliance to highly asymmetric shapes and surfaces, as well as a serpentine design used to show an ultrastretchable (~800%) and flexible, spatially reconfigurable, mobile, metallic thin film copper (Cu)-based, body-integrated and non-invasive thermal heater with wireless controlling capability, reusability, heating-adaptability and affordability due to low-cost complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible integration. © (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Study on site selection of cold chain logistics in northwest territories

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yubin; Ren, Zongwei

2017-08-01

In this research, we mainly studied the Site selection problem of cold chain logistics in northwest of China. In the first place, we counted the demands of cold chain products in northwest territories, and then classified it into the Site selection problem in five provinces in northwest territories(Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi); Next, we used the Center of gravity Method to select initial location; Finally, we established the location of distribution by using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. Comparing with the traditional method, this method not only considered the cost of transportation and distance, but also deliberated the physical condition, social environment and economics condition which associated with Site selection problem.

Argentinian experience in selecting sites for nuclear power stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Csik, B.J.

1975-01-01

One nuclear power station is in operation in the Republic of Argentina, a second is under construction, and the decision to build a third has been taken. According to existing plans, about ten nuclear power stations should go into operation during the next decade. The present paper analyses the experience acquired in selecting sites for the first units, commenting on the criteria and methods applied, the studies that were carried out, the specific problems encountered and the solutions adopted, as well as on the question of acceptance of the chosen sites by the public. It goes on to describe the current programme of selection and study of sites for future nuclear power stations

Ultra Low Energy FDSOI Asynchronous Reconfiguration Network for Adaptive Circuits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soundous Chairat

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces a plug-and-play on-chip asynchronous communication network aimed at the dynamic reconfiguration of a low-power adaptive circuit such as an internet of things (IoT system. By using a separate communication network, we can address both digital and analog blocks at a lower configuration cost, increasing the overall system power efficiency. As reconfiguration only occurs according to specific events and has to be automatically in stand-by most of the time, our design is fully asynchronous using handshake protocols. The paper presents the circuit’s architecture, performance results, and an example of the reconfiguration of frequency locked loops (FLL to validate our work. We obtain an overall energy per bit of 0.07 pJ/bit for one stage, in a 28 nm Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator (FDSOI technology at 0.6 V and a 1.1 ns/bit latency per stage.

Reconfigurable Signal Processing and Hardware Architecture for Broadband Wireless Communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liang Ying-Chang

2005-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a broadband wireless transceiver which can be reconfigured to any type of cyclic-prefix (CP -based communication systems, including orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM, single-carrier cyclic-prefix (SCCP system, multicarrier (MC code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA, MC direct-sequence CDMA (MC-DS-CDMA, CP-based CDMA (CP-CDMA, and CP-based direct-sequence CDMA (CP-DS-CDMA. A hardware platform is proposed and the reusable common blocks in such a transceiver are identified. The emphasis is on the equalizer design for mobile receivers. It is found that after block despreading operation, MC-DS-CDMA and CP-DS-CDMA have the same equalization blocks as OFDM and SCCP systems, respectively, therefore hardware and software sharing is possible for these systems. An attempt has also been made to map the functional reconfigurable transceiver onto the proposed hardware platform. The different functional entities which will be required to perform the reconfiguration and realize the transceiver are explained.

Market-based multiagent system for reconfiguration of shipboard power systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Kai; Srivastava, Sanjeev K.; Cartes, David A.; Sun, Li-Hsiang

2009-01-01

On ships, the electric shipboard power system (SPS) supplies electrical power to critical functions such as navigation, communication, emergency systems, and in the case of warships, weapon systems. During ship operation, some parts of the SPS may become unavailable due to damage, fault, or maintenance. For the survivability and reliability of ships, it is desired to make the SPS highly reconfigurable. This paper presents a market-based multiagent system (MAS) for the reconfiguration of radial SPS. Radial SPSs are found on majority of ships. In the proposed MAS, each agent only communicates with its neighbor agents to make the system work in a fully decentralized manner. The MAS is implemented using Java Agent Development Framework (JADE), which is fully implemented in Java and compliant with Foundation of Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA). An SPS with two generators and four loads is used for testing the proposed MAS. The results show the proposed MAS can successfully reconfigure a radial SPS. (author)

Implementation of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems, the Case of The LEGO Group

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Ying; Bilberg, Arne; Hadar, Ronen

of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). A literature review is made to describe the advantages and core characteristics of RMS. Based on the theory, a conceptual model is developed to analyze where RMS would be most suitable and have most benefits in The LEGO Group. Finally, the conclusion is drawn based...... on the analysis through the model. Keywords: Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems, Conceptual Model of RMS, Production of The LEGO Group...

Reconfigurable Computing for Dynamically Reprogrammable Communications, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This project addresses the need for a framework and domain architecture suitable for reconfigurable transceivers and associated component technologies. The goal of...

High precision redundant robotic manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Young, K.K.D.

1998-01-01

A high precision redundant robotic manipulator for overcoming contents imposed by obstacles or imposed by a highly congested work space is disclosed. One embodiment of the manipulator has four degrees of freedom and another embodiment has seven degrees of freedom. Each of the embodiments utilize a first selective compliant assembly robot arm (SCARA) configuration to provide high stiffness in the vertical plane, a second SCARA configuration to provide high stiffness in the horizontal plane. The seven degree of freedom embodiment also utilizes kinematic redundancy to provide the capability of avoiding obstacles that lie between the base of the manipulator and the end effector or link of the manipulator. These additional three degrees of freedom are added at the wrist link of the manipulator to provide pitch, yaw and roll. The seven degrees of freedom embodiment uses one revolute point per degree of freedom. For each of the revolute joints, a harmonic gear coupled to an electric motor is introduced, and together with properly designed based servo controllers provide an end point repeatability of less than 10 microns. 3 figs

Topological Magnonics: A Paradigm for Spin-Wave Manipulation and Device Design

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, X. S.; Zhang, H. W.; Wang, X. R.

2018-02-01

Conventional magnonic devices use magnetostatic waves whose properties are sensitive to device geometry and the details of magnetization structure, so the design and the scalability of the device or circuitry are difficult. We propose topological magnonics, in which topological exchange spin waves are used as information carriers, that do not suffer from conventional problems of magnonic devices with additional nice features of nanoscale wavelength and high frequency. We show that a perpendicularly magnetized ferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice is generically a topological magnetic material in the sense that topologically protected chiral edge spin waves exist in the band gap as long as a spin-orbit-induced nearest-neighbor pseudodipolar interaction (and/or a next-nearest-neighbor Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction) is present. The edge spin waves propagate unidirectionally along sample edges and domain walls regardless of the system geometry and defects. As a proof of concept, spin-wave diodes, spin-wave beam splitters, and spin-wave interferometers are designed by using sample edges and domain walls to manipulate the propagation of topologically protected chiral spin waves. Since magnetic domain walls can be controlled by magnetic fields or electric current or fields, one can essentially draw, erase, and redraw different spin-wave devices and circuitry on the same magnetic plate so that the proposed devices are reconfigurable and tunable. The topological magnonics opens up an alternative direction towards a robust, reconfigurable and scalable spin-wave circuitry.

Validation of multi-body modelling methodology for reconfigurable underwater robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, M.C.; Eidsvik, O. A.; Blanke, Mogens

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the problem of employing reconfigurable robots in an underwater setting. The main results presented is the experimental validation of a modelling methodology for a system consisting of N dynamically connected robots with heterogeneous dynamics. Two distinct types...... of experiments are performed, a series of hydrostatic free-decay tests and a series of open-loop trajectory tests. The results are compared to a simulation based on the modelling methodology. The modelling methodology shows promising results for usage with systems composed of reconfigurable underwater modules...

Reliable Refuge: Two Sky Island Scorpion Species Select Larger, Thermally Stable Retreat Sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Jamie E; Brown, Christopher A

2016-01-01

Sky island scorpions shelter under rocks and other surface debris, but, as with other scorpions, it is unclear whether these species select retreat sites randomly. Furthermore, little is known about the thermal preferences of scorpions, and no research has been done to identify whether reproductive condition might influence retreat site selection. The objectives were to (1) identify physical or thermal characteristics for retreat sites occupied by two sky island scorpions (Vaejovis cashi Graham 2007 and V. electrum Hughes 2011) and those not occupied; (2) determine whether retreat site selection differs between the two study species; and (3) identify whether thermal selection differs between species and between gravid and non-gravid females of the same species. Within each scorpion's habitat, maximum dimensions of rocks along a transect line were measured and compared to occupied rocks to determine whether retreat site selection occurred randomly. Temperature loggers were placed under a subset of occupied and unoccupied rocks for 48 hours to compare the thermal characteristics of these rocks. Thermal gradient trials were conducted before parturition and after dispersal of young in order to identify whether gravidity influences thermal preference. Vaejovis cashi and V. electrum both selected larger retreat sites that had more stable thermal profiles. Neither species appeared to have thermal preferences influenced by reproductive condition. However, while thermal selection did not differ among non-gravid individuals, gravid V. electrum selected warmer temperatures than its gravid congener. Sky island scorpions appear to select large retreat sites to maintain thermal stability, although biotic factors (e.g., competition) could also be involved in this choice. Future studies should focus on identifying the various biotic or abiotic factors that could influence retreat site selection in scorpions, as well as determining whether reproductive condition affects thermal

Polarization selective phase-change nanomodulator.

Science.gov (United States)

Appavoo, Kannatassen; Haglund, Richard F

2014-10-27

Manipulating optical signals below the diffraction limit is crucial for next-generation data-storage and telecommunication technologies. Although controlling the flow of light around nanoscale waveguides was achieved over a decade ago, modulating optical signals at terahertz frequencies within nanoscale volumes remains a challenge. Since the physics underlying any modulator relies on changes in dielectric properties, the incorporation of strongly electron-correlated materials (SECMs) has been proposed because they can exhibit orders of magnitude changes in electrical and optical properties with modest thermal, electrical or optical trigger signals. Here we demonstrate a hybrid nanomodulator of deep sub-wavelength dimensions with an active volume of only 0.002 µm(3) by spatially confining light on the nanometre length scale using a plasmonic nanostructure while simultaneously controlling the reactive near-field environment at its optical focus with a single, precisely positioned SECM nanostructure. Since the nanomodulator functionality hinges on this near-field electromagnetic interaction, the modulation is also selectively responsive to polarization. This architecture suggests one path for designing reconfigurable optoelectronic building blocks with responses that can be tailored with exquisite precision by varying size, geometry, and the intrinsic materials properties of the hybrid elements.

SaRDIn - A Safe Reconfigurable Distributed Interlocking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fantechi, Alessandro; Gnesi, S.; Haxthausen, Anne Elisabeth

2016-01-01

Current computer-based interlocking systems most often have a centralized design, with all logic residing in a single computer. Centralized interlockings are complex to design. Following the general trend in Cyber-Physical Systems, the SaRDIn (Safe Reconfigurable Distributed Interlockings) concept...

Homogeneous and single-side-operational connector mechanism for self-reconfigurable, self-assembly and self-healing systems

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Wei-Min (Inventor); Kovac, Robert M. (Inventor)

2012-01-01

Designs of single-end-operative reconfigurable genderless connectors that include a base, a plurality of movable jaws that are formed on the base and can engage to the jaws of another connector, and an actuator that is mounted on the base and can engage and move the jaws of the reconfigurable connector to connect the reconfigurable connector with another connector.

A reconfigurable all-optical VPN based on XGM effect of SOA in WDM PON

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xiaofeng; Zhang, Liang; Cao, Pan; Wang, Tao; Su, Yikai

2010-12-01

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a reconfigurable all-optical VPN scheme enabling intercommunications among different ONUs in a WDM PON. Reconfiguration is realized by dynamically setting wavelength conversion of optical VPN signal using a SOA in the OLT.

Site selection procedure for high level radioactive waste disposal in Bulgaria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evstatiev, D.; Vachev, B.

1993-01-01

A combined site selection approach is implemented. Bulgaria's territory has been classified in three categories, presented on a 1:500000 scale map. The number of suitable sites has been reduced to 20 using the method of successive screening. The formulated site selection problem is a typical discrete multi-criteria decision making problem under uncertainty. A 5-level procedure using Expert Choice Rating and relative models is created. It is a part of a common procedure for evaluation and choice of variants for high level radwaste disposal construction. On this basis 7-8 more preferable sites are demonstrated. A new knowledge and information about the relative importance of the criteria and their subsets, about the level of criteria uncertainty and the reliability are gained. It is very useful for planning and managing of the next final stages of the site selection procedure. 7 figs., 8 refs., 4 suppls. (author)

Dynamic reconfiguration of human brain functional networks through neurofeedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Haller, Sven; Kopel, Rotem; Jhooti, Permi; Haas, Tanja; Scharnowski, Frank; Lovblad, Karl-Olof; Scheffler, Klaus; Van De Ville, Dimitri

2013-11-01

Recent fMRI studies demonstrated that functional connectivity is altered following cognitive tasks (e.g., learning) or due to various neurological disorders. We tested whether real-time fMRI-based neurofeedback can be a tool to voluntarily reconfigure brain network interactions. To disentangle learning-related from regulation-related effects, we first trained participants to voluntarily regulate activity in the auditory cortex (training phase) and subsequently asked participants to exert learned voluntary self-regulation in the absence of feedback (transfer phase without learning). Using independent component analysis (ICA), we found network reconfigurations (increases in functional network connectivity) during the neurofeedback training phase between the auditory target region and (1) the auditory pathway; (2) visual regions related to visual feedback processing; (3) insula related to introspection and self-regulation and (4) working memory and high-level visual attention areas related to cognitive effort. Interestingly, the auditory target region was identified as the hub of the reconfigured functional networks without a-priori assumptions. During the transfer phase, we again found specific functional connectivity reconfiguration between auditory and attention network confirming the specific effect of self-regulation on functional connectivity. Functional connectivity to working memory related networks was no longer altered consistent with the absent demand on working memory. We demonstrate that neurofeedback learning is mediated by widespread changes in functional connectivity. In contrast, applying learned self-regulation involves more limited and specific network changes in an auditory setup intended as a model for tinnitus. Hence, neurofeedback training might be used to promote recovery from neurological disorders that are linked to abnormal patterns of brain connectivity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Artificial Cavities and Nest Site Selection by Puerto Rican Parrots: a Multiscale Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas H. White, Jr.

2006-12-01

Full Text Available We examined nest site selection by Puerto Rican Parrots, a secondary cavity nester, at several spatial scales using the nest entrance as the central focal point relative to 20 habitat and spatial variables. The Puerto Rican Parrot is unique in that, since 2001, all known nesting in the wild has occurred in artificial cavities, which also provided us with an opportunity to evaluate nest site selection without confounding effects of the actual nest cavity characteristics. Because of the data limitations imposed by the small population size of this critically endangered endemic species, we employed a distribution-free statistical simulation approach to assess site selection relative to characteristics of used and unused nesting sites. Nest sites selected by Puerto Rican Parrots were characterized by greater horizontal and vertical visibility from the nest entrance, greater density of mature sierra palms, and a more westerly and leeward orientation of nest entrances than unused sites. Our results suggest that nest site selection in this species is an adaptive response to predation pressure, to which the parrots respond by selecting nest sites offering advantages in predator detection and avoidance at all stages of the nesting cycle. We conclude that identifying and replicating the “nest gestalt” of successful nesting sites may facilitate conservation efforts for this and other endangered avian species.

Supplementary Report on the Regulation of Site Selection and Preparation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webster, Philip

2014-01-01

The Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA), based on the regulatory actions underway or being considered in different members countries concerning the design and construction of advanced nuclear power plants, established a working group responsible of the regulatory issues of siting, licensing and regulatory oversight of generation III+ and generation IV nuclear reactors. The Working Group on the Regulation of New Reactors (WGRNR) main purposes are to improve regulatory reviews by comparing practices in member countries; improve the licensing process of new reactors by learning from best practices in member countries; ensure that construction inspection issues and construction experience is shared; promote cooperation among member countries to improve safety; and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the regulatory process. The WGRNR has established a programme of work which includes: the collection of construction experience and the assessing of the information collected in order to share lessons learned and good practices; the review of regulatory practices concerning the regulation of nuclear sites selection and preparation; and the review of recent regulatory experience concerning the licensing structure of regulatory staff and regulatory licensing process. The WGRNR began in May 2008 a task of examining and documenting the various practices used by regulatory authorities in the regulation of nuclear power plant siting. The purpose of the task was to provide the member countries with practical information that would be helpful in assessing and potentially improving their regulatory practices and requirements on the regulation of sites. The task considered also regulatory practices on sites where a mixture of activities are taking place (e.g. operating units, new construction, and decommissioning, etc.). This work led to the publication in 2010 of the Report on the Survey on Regulation of Site Selection and Preparation NEA/CNRA/R(2010)3. This

Radioactive waste disposal: Recommendations for a repository site selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cadelli, N.; Orlowski, S.

1992-01-01

This report is a guidebook on recommendations for site selection of radioactive waste repository, based on a consensus in european community. This report describes particularly selection criteria and recommendations for radioactive waste disposal in underground or ground repositories. 14 refs

Supramolecular Recognition Allows Remote, Site-Selective C-H Oxidation of Methylenic Sites in Linear Amines.

Science.gov (United States)

Olivo, Giorgio; Farinelli, Giulio; Barbieri, Alessia; Lanzalunga, Osvaldo; Di Stefano, Stefano; Costas, Miquel

2017-12-18

Site-selective C-H functionalization of aliphatic alkyl chains is a longstanding challenge in oxidation catalysis, given the comparable relative reactivity of the different methylenes. A supramolecular, bioinspired approach is described to address this challenge. A Mn complex able to catalyze C(sp 3 )-H hydroxylation with H 2 O 2 is equipped with 18-benzocrown-6 ether receptors that bind ammonium substrates via hydrogen bonding. Reversible pre-association of protonated primary aliphatic amines with the crown ether selectively exposes remote positions (C8 and C9) to the oxidizing unit, resulting in a site-selective oxidation. Remarkably, such control of selectivity retains its efficiency for a whole series of linear amines, overriding the intrinsic reactivity of C-H bonds, no matter the chain length. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Geochemical site-selection criteria for HLW repositories in Europe and North America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Savage, David; Arthur, Randolph C.; Sasamoto, Hiroshi; Shibata, Masahiro; Yui, Mikazu

2000-01-01

Geochemical as well as socio-economic issues associated with the selection of potential sites to host a high-level nuclear waste repository have received considerable attention in repository programs in Europe (Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.) and North America (Canada and the United States). The objective of the present study is to summarize this international experience with particular emphasis on geochemical properties that factor into the adopted site-selection strategies. Results indicate that the geochemical properties of a site play a subordinate role, at best, to other geotechnical properties in the international site-selection approaches. In countries where geochemical properties are acknowledged in the site-selection approach, requirements are stated qualitatively and tend to focus on associated impacts on the stability of the engineered barrier system and on radionuclide transport. Site geochemical properties that are likely to control the long-term stability of geochemical conditions and radionuclide migration behavior are unspecified, however. This non-prescriptive approach may be reasonable for purposes of screening among potential sites, but a better understanding of site properties that are most important in controlling the long-term geochemical evolution of the site over a range of possible scenarios would enable the potential sites to be ranked in terms of their suitability to host a repository. (author)

Field site selection: getting it right first time around

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Malcolm, Colin A.; El Sayed, Badria; Babiker, Ahmed; Girod, Romain; Fontenille, Didier; Knols, Bart G. J.; Nugud, Abdel Hameed; Benedict, Mark Q.

2009-01-01

The selection of suitable field sites for integrated control of Anopheles mosquitoes using the sterile insect technique (SIT) requires consideration of the full gamut of factors facing most proposed control strategies, but four criteria identify an ideal site: 1) a single malaria vector, 2) an

Competing land use in the reserve site selection problem

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Langevelde, van F.; Schotman, A.; Claassen, G.D.H.; Sparenburg, G.A.

2000-01-01

The objective of this paper is to present an approach that addresses competing land uses in the reserve site selection problem. This approach is implemented in a spatial optimization model for conservation planning in human-dominated landscapes: MENTOR. This model allocates new sites as stepping

Reconfiguration de visualisations du CRDI

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Office 2004 Test Drive User

Dans chaque reconfiguration, j'ai essayé de demeu- rer raisonnablement fidèle à l'original. Par exemple, la taille globale des éléments sta- tiques n'a pas changé. Dans trois des quatre cas, j'ai conservé la typographie et la palette de couleurs de l'original. En outre, j'ai supposé que la visualisation (l'image) était destinée à.

Multi-criteria grey relational approach to evaluating reconfigurable manufacturing configurations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rehman, A. U.

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In response to highly dynamic markets, manufacturing industries need alternative feasible manufacturing strategies. The strategy currently adopted is to reconfigure the existing manufacturing system. The conditions to reconfigure existing configurations change from time to time. An attempt is made to identify and apply an approach to evaluate these configurations. The paper proposes a grey relational decision-making approach. The approach takes into account multiple performance measures. The ProModel 6.2 simulation platform is adopted to examine the performance of each feasible alternative manufacturing configuration.

Tunnel-Site Selection by Remote Sensing Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

A study of the role of remote sensing for geologic reconnaissance for tunnel-site selection was commenced. For this study, remote sensing was defined...conventional remote sensing . Future research directions are suggested, and the extension of remote sensing to include airborne passive microwave

Periodical cicadas use light for oviposition site selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Louie H

2006-12-07

Organisms use incomplete information from local experience to assess the suitability of potential habitat sites over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Although ecologists have long recognized the importance of spatial scales in habitat selection, few studies have investigated the temporal scales of habitat selection. In particular, cues in the immediate environment may commonly provide indirect information about future habitat quality. In periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.), oviposition site selection represents a very long-term habitat choice. Adult female cicadas insert eggs into tree branches during a few weeks in the summer of emergence, but their oviposition choices determine the underground habitats of root-feeding nymphs over the following 13 or 17 years. Here, field experiments are used to show that female cicadas use the local light environment of host trees during the summer of emergence to select long-term host trees. Light environments may also influence oviposition microsite selection within hosts, suggesting a potential behavioural mechanism for associating solar cues with host trees. In contrast, experimental nutrient enrichment of host trees did not influence cicada oviposition densities. These findings suggest that the light environments around host trees may provide a robust predictor of host tree quality in the near future. This habitat selection may influence the spatial distribution of several cicada-mediated ecological processes in eastern North American forests.

Schematic Approach to Information Services Reconfiguration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabah Al-Fedaghi

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Information system change is concerned with deliberate modifications to an organization’s technical and organiza‐ tional subsystems that deal with information. Changes result in adjustments being made to the configuration of information systems that could have an impact on the operations of those systems. This paper examines the problem of interference between old configuration activi‐ ties, new configuration activities and reconfiguration activities that occur due to overlapping modes. The paper proposes a novel form of depicting and solving the problem based on a flow-based conceptualization in which a configuration can be viewed as a system of flow systems organized architecturally, described by their internal flows, and connected by external flows and triggering. This method of diagramming is applied to a complex case study involving the reconfiguration of an office workflow for order processing described in BPMN. The diagrams resulting from this method and the BPMN diagrams are then examined side by side. Accordingly, the conclusion is that a new high-level representation seems more system‐ atic as a foundation for building a conceptual schema of business processes.

Universal Reconfigurable Translator Module (URTM) Final Report

Science.gov (United States)

Leventhal, Edward; Machan, Roman; Jones, Rob

2009-01-01

This report describes the Universal Reconfigurable Translation Module, or URTM. The URTM was developed by Sigma Space Corporation for NASA in order to translate specific serial protocols, both logically and physically. At present, the prototype configuration has targeted MIL-STD-1553B (RT and BC), IEEE 1394b (Firewire), and ECSS-E-50-12A (SpaceWire). The objectives of this program were to study the feasibility of a configurable URTM to translate serial link data as might be used in a space-flight mission and to design, develop, document, and deliver an engineering prototype model of the URTM with a path to spaceflight. By simply connecting two of the three Physical Interface Modules (PIM) on either end of the RPTM (Reconfigurable Protocol Translator Module), the URTM then self configures via a library of interface translation functions, thereby allowing the two data links to communicate seamlessly.

SmartCell: An Energy Efficient Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architecture for Stream-Based Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liang Cao

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents SmartCell, a novel coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture, which tiles a large number of processor elements with reconfigurable interconnection fabrics on a single chip. SmartCell is able to provide high performance and energy efficient processing for stream-based applications. It can be configured to operate in various modes, such as SIMD, MIMD, and systolic array. This paper describes the SmartCell architecture design, including processing element, reconfigurable interconnection fabrics, instruction and control process, and configuration scheme. The SmartCell prototype with 64 PEs is implemented using 0.13  m CMOS standard cell technology. The core area is about 8.5  , and the power consumption is about 1.6 mW/MHz. The performance is evaluated through a set of benchmark applications, and then compared with FPGA, ASIC, and two well-known reconfigurable architectures including RaPiD and Montium. The results show that the SmartCell can bridge the performance and flexibility gap between ASIC and FPGA. It is also about 8% and 69% more energy efficient than Montium and RaPiD systems for evaluated benchmarks. Meanwhile, SmartCell can achieve 4 and 2 times more throughput gains when comparing with Montium and RaPiD, respectively. It is concluded that SmartCell system is a promising reconfigurable and energy efficient architecture for stream processing.

SAR Subsets for Selected Field Sites, 2007-2010

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — ABSTRACT: This data set provides Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images for 42 selected sites from various terrestrial ecology and meteorological monitoring networks...

SAR Subsets for Selected Field Sites, 2007-2010

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set provides Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images for 42 selected sites from various terrestrial ecology and meteorological monitoring networks including...

Optimal energy management strategy for self-reconfigurable batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bouchhima, Nejmeddine; Schnierle, Marc; Schulte, Sascha; Birke, Kai Peter

2017-01-01

This paper proposes a novel energy management strategy for multi-cell high voltage batteries where the current through each cell can be controlled, called self-reconfigurable batteries. An optimized control strategy further enhances the energy efficiency gained by the hardware architecture of those batteries. Currently, achieving cell equalization by using the active balancing circuits is considered as the best way to optimize the energy efficiency of the battery pack. This study demonstrates that optimizing the energy efficiency of self-reconfigurable batteries is no more strongly correlated to the cell balancing. According to the features of this novel battery architecture, the energy management strategy is formulated as nonlinear dynamic optimization problem. To solve this optimal control, an optimization algorithm that generates the optimal discharge policy for a given driving cycle is developed based on dynamic programming and code vectorization. The simulation results show that the designed energy management strategy maximizes the system efficiency across the battery lifetime over conventional approaches. Furthermore, the present energy management strategy can be implemented online due to the reduced complexity of the optimization algorithm. - Highlights: • The energy efficiency of self-reconfigurable batteries is maximized. • The energy management strategy for the battery is formulated as optimal control problem. • Developing an optimization algorithm using dynamic programming techniques and code vectorization. • Simulation studies are conducted to validate the proposed optimal strategy.

Manipulating the kinetics of seeded growth for edge-selective metal deposition and the formation of concave au nanocrystals.

Science.gov (United States)

Laskar, Moitree; Zhong, Xiaolan; Li, Zhi-Yuan; Skrabalak, Sara E

2013-10-01

By manipulating the kinetics of seeded growth through judicious control of reaction conditions, edge-selective metal deposition can be achieved to synthesize new Au nanostructures with face-centered concavities, referred to herein as Au overgrown trisoctahedra. These nanostructures display higher sensitivity to changes in refractive index compared to both Au traditional trisoctahedra and the Au nanocube seeds from which they are grown. Often, concave nanostructures are achieved by selective etching processes or corner-selective overgrowth and adopt a stellated profile rather than a profile with face-centered concavities. The presented results illustrate another strategy toward concave nanostructures and can facilitate the synthesis of new concave nanostructures for applications in catalysis and chemical sensing. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The site selection process for a spent fuel repository in Finland. Summary report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McEwen, T. [EnvirosQuantiSci (United Kingdom); Aeikaes, T. [Posiva Oy, Helsinki (Finland)

2000-12-01

This Summary Report describes the Finnish programme for the selection and characterisation of potential sites for the deep disposal of spent nuclear fuel and explains the process by which Olkiluoto has been selected as the single site proposed for the development of a spent fuel disposal facility. Its aim is to provide an overview of this process, initiated almost twenty years ago, which has entered its final phase. It provides information in three areas: a review of the early site selection criteria, a description of the site selection process, including all the associated site characterisation work, up to the point at which a single site was selected and an outline of the proposed work, in particular that proposed underground, to characterise further the Olkiluoto site. In 1983 the Finnish Government made a policy decision on the management of nuclear waste in which the main goals and milestones for the site selection programme for the deep disposal of spent fuel were presented. According to this decision several site candidates, whose selection was to be based on careful studies of the whole country, should be characterised and the site for the repository selected by the end of the year 2000. This report describes the process by which this policy decision has been achieved. The report begins with a discussion of the definition of the geological and environmental site selection criteria and how they were applied in order to select a small number of sites, five in all, that were to be the subject of the preliminary investigations. The methods used to investigate these sites and the results of these investigations are described, as is the evaluation of the results of these investigations and the process used to discard two of the sites and continue more detailed investigations at the remaining three. The detailed site investigations that commenced in 1993 are described with respect to the overall strategy followed and the investigation techniques applied. The

Electrically Reconfigurable Liquid Crystalline Mirrors (Postprint)

Science.gov (United States)

2018-04-24

focus on dynamic reconfiguration of the reflection band gap of polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals (PSCLCs). Recent research has reported the...public release: distribution unlimited. © 2018 AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (STINFO COPY) AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING...MONITORING AGENCY ACRONYM(S) Air Force Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH

Importance analysis for reconfigurable systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Si, Shubin; Levitin, Gregory; Dui, Hongyan; Sun, Shudong

2014-01-01

Importance measures are used in reliability engineering to rank the system components according to their contributions to proper functioning of the entire system and to find the most effective ways of reliability enhancement. Traditionally, the importance measures do not consider the possible change of system structure with the improvement of specific component reliability. However, if a component's reliability changes, the optimal system structure/configuration may also change and the importance of the corresponding component will depend on the chosen structure. When the most promising component reliability improvement is determined, the component importance should be taken into account with respect to the possible structure changes. This paper studies the component reliability importance indices with respect to the changes of the optimal component sequencing. This importance measure indicates the critical components in providing the system reliability enhancement by both enhancing the component's reliability and reconfiguring the system. Examples of linear consecutive-k-out-of-n: F and G systems are considered to demonstrate the change of the component Birnbaum importance with the optimal system reconfiguration. The results show that the change of the importance index corresponds to the change of the system optimal configuration and the importance index can change not monotonically with the variation of the component reliability

Enabling Interoperable and Selective Data Sharing among Social Networking Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Dongwan; Lopes, Rodrigo

With the widespread use of social networking (SN) sites and even introduction of a social component in non-social oriented services, there is a growing concern over user privacy in general, how to handle and share user profiles across SN sites in particular. Although there have been several proprietary or open source-based approaches to unifying the creation of third party applications, the availability and retrieval of user profile information are still limited to the site where the third party application is run, mostly devoid of the support for data interoperability. In this paper we propose an approach to enabling interopearable and selective data sharing among SN sites. To support selective data sharing, we discuss an authenticated dictionary (ADT)-based credential which enables a user to share only a subset of her information certified by external SN sites with applications running on an SN site. For interoperable data sharing, we propose an extension to the OpenSocial API so that it can provide an open source-based framework for allowing the ADT-based credential to be used seamlessly among different SN sites.

Wideband Monolithic Tile for Reconfigurable Phased Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-01

interference and jamming. Previous reconfigurable architectures [1] were limited in bandwidth and performance by the use of discrete SMT components with...Settings Figure 7 shows the feed point and segment activation with control settings optimized for Gain, Horizontal Polarization, Steered at Phi = 15°, 6

Control Reconfigurability of Bilinear Hydraulic Drive Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shaker, Hamid Reza; Tahavori, Maryamsadat

2011-01-01

The objective of the methods within the framework of the plug and play process control and particularly fault tolerant control is to establish control techniques which guarantee a certain performance through control reconfiguration at the occurrence of the faults or changes. These methods cannot ...

Selection of radioactive waste disposal site considering natural processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakamura, H.

1991-01-01

To dispose the radioactive waste, it is necessary to consider the transfer of material in natural environment. The points of consideration are 1) Long residence time of water 2) Independence of biosphere from the compartment containing the disposal site in the natural hydrologic cycle 3) Dilution with the natural inactive isotope or the same group of elements. Isotope dilution for 129 I and 14 C can be expected by proper selection of the site. 241 Am and 239 Pu will be homogenized into soil or sediment with insoluble elements such as iron and aluminium. For 237 Np and 99 Tc anionic condition is important for the selection. From the point of view of hydrologic cycle, anoxic dead water zone avoiding beneath mountain area is preferable for the disposal site. (author)

Artificial Intelligence Support for Landing Site Selection on Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Rongier, G.; Pankratius, V.

2017-12-01

Mars is a key target for planetary exploration; a better understanding of its evolution and habitability requires roving in situ. Landing site selection is becoming more challenging for scientists as new instruments generate higher data volumes. The involved engineering and scientific constraints make site selection and the anticipation of possible onsite actions into a complex optimization problem: there may be multiple acceptable solutions depending on various goals and assumptions. Solutions must also account for missing data, errors, and potential biases. To address these problems, we propose an AI-informed decision support system that allows scientists, mission designers, engineers, and committees to explore alternative site selection choices based on data. In particular, we demonstrate first results of an exploratory case study using fuzzy logic and a simulation of a rover's mobility map based on the fast marching algorithm. Our system computes favorability maps of the entire planet to facilitate landing site selection and allows a definition of different configurations for rovers, science target priorities, landing ellipses, and other constraints. For a rover similar to NASA's Mars 2020 rover, we present results in form of a site favorability map as well as four derived exploration scenarios that depend on different prioritized scientific targets, all visualizing inherent tradeoffs. Our method uses the NASA PDS Geosciences Node and the NASA/ICA Integrated Database of Planetary Features. Under common assumptions, the data products reveal Eastern Margaritifer Terra and Meridiani Planum to be the most favorable sites due to a high concentration of scientific targets and a flat, easily navigable surface. Our method also allows mission designers to investigate which constraints have the highest impact on the mission exploration potential and to change parameter ranges. Increasing the elevation limit for landing, for example, provides access to many additional

A methodological approach for designing and sequencing product families in Reconfigurable Disassembly Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ignacio Eguia

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: A Reconfigurable Disassembly System (RDS represents a new paradigm of automated disassembly system that uses reconfigurable manufacturing technology for fast adaptation to changes in the quantity and mix of products to disassemble. This paper deals with a methodology for designing and sequencing product families in RDS. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology is developed in a two-phase approach, where products are first grouped into families and then families are sequenced through the RDS, computing the required machines and modules configuration for each family. Products are grouped into families based on their common features using a Hierarchical Clustering Algorithm. The optimal sequence of the product families is calculated using a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model minimizing reconfigurability and operational costs. Findings: This paper is focused to enable reconfigurable manufacturing technologies to attain some degree of adaptability during disassembly automation design using modular machine tools. Research limitations/implications: The MILP model proposed for the second phase is similar to the well-known Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP and therefore its complexity grows exponentially with the number of products to disassemble. In real-world problems, which a higher number of products, it may be advisable to solve the model approximately with heuristics. Practical implications: The importance of industrial recycling and remanufacturing is growing due to increasing environmental and economic pressures. Disassembly is an important part of remanufacturing systems for reuse and recycling purposes. Automatic disassembly techniques have a growing number of applications in the area of electronics, aerospace, construction and industrial equipment. In this paper, a design and scheduling approach is proposed to apply in this area. Originality/value: This paper presents a new concept called Reconfigurable Disassembly System

Towards Python-based Domain-specific Languages for Self-reconfigurable Modular Robotics Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moghadam, Mikael; Johan Christensen, David; Brandt, David

2013-01-01

This paper explores the role of operating system and high-level languages in the development of software and domain-specific languages (DSLs) for self-reconfigurable robotics. We review some of the current trends in self-reconfigurable robotics and describe the development of a software system...... for ATRON II which utilizes Linux and Python to significantly improve software abstraction and portability while providing some basic features which could prove useful when using Python, either stand-alone or via a DSL, on a self-reconfigurable robot system. These features include transparent socket...... communication, module identification, easy software transfer and reliable module-to-module communication. The end result is a software platform for modular robots that where appropriate builds on existing work in operating systems, virtual machines, middleware and high-level languages....

Heterogeneous reconfigurable processors for real-time baseband processing from algorithm to architecture

CERN Document Server

Zhang, Chenxin; Öwall, Viktor

2016-01-01

This book focuses on domain-specific heterogeneous reconfigurable architectures, demonstrating for readers a computing platform which is flexible enough to support multiple standards, multiple modes, and multiple algorithms. The content is multi-disciplinary, covering areas of wireless communication, computing architecture, and circuit design. The platform described provides real-time processing capability with reasonable implementation cost, achieving balanced trade-offs among flexibility, performance, and hardware costs. The authors discuss efficient design methods for wireless communication processing platforms, from both an algorithm and architecture design perspective. Coverage also includes computing platforms for different wireless technologies and standards, including MIMO, OFDM, Massive MIMO, DVB, WLAN, LTE/LTE-A, and 5G. •Discusses reconfigurable architectures, including hardware building blocks such as processing elements, memory sub-systems, Network-on-Chip (NoC), and dynamic hardware reconfigur...

An Overview of Reconfigurable Hardware in Embedded Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenyin Fu

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Over the past few years, the realm of embedded systems has expanded to include a wide variety of products, ranging from digital cameras, to sensor networks, to medical imaging systems. Consequently, engineers strive to create ever smaller and faster products, many of which have stringent power requirements. Coupled with increasing pressure to decrease costs and time-to-market, the design constraints of embedded systems pose a serious challenge to embedded systems designers. Reconfigurable hardware can provide a flexible and efficient platform for satisfying the area, performance, cost, and power requirements of many embedded systems. This article presents an overview of reconfigurable computing in embedded systems, in terms of benefits it can provide, how it has already been used, design issues, and hurdles that have slowed its adoption.

Selection Methodology Approach to Preferable and Alternative Sites for the First NPP Project in Yemen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kassim, Moath [Kyunghe Univ., Yongin (Korea, Republic of); Kessel, David S. [KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School, Ulsan (Korea, Republic of)

2015-05-15

The purpose of this paper is to briefly present the methodology and results of the first siting study for the first nuclear power plant (NPP) in Yemen. In this study it has been demonstrated that there are suitable sites for specific unit/units power of 1000 MWt (about 300 MWe) nuclear power plant. To perform the site selection, a systematic selection method was developed. The method uses site-specific data gathered by literature review and expert judgement to identify the most important site selection criteria. A two-step site selection process was used. Candidate sites were chosen that meet a subset of the selection criteria that form the most important system constraints. These candidate sites were then evaluated against the full set of selection criteria using the Analytical Hierarchy Process Method (AHP). Candidate sites underwent a set of more specific siting criteria weighted by expert judgment to select preferable sites and alternatives using AHP method again. Expert Judgment method was used to rank and weight the importance of each criteria, then AHP method used to evaluate and weight the relation between criterion to criterion and between all criteria against the global weight. Then logical decision software was used to rank sites upon their weighting value.

Selection Methodology Approach to Preferable and Alternative Sites for the First NPP Project in Yemen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kassim, Moath; Kessel, David S.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to briefly present the methodology and results of the first siting study for the first nuclear power plant (NPP) in Yemen. In this study it has been demonstrated that there are suitable sites for specific unit/units power of 1000 MWt (about 300 MWe) nuclear power plant. To perform the site selection, a systematic selection method was developed. The method uses site-specific data gathered by literature review and expert judgement to identify the most important site selection criteria. A two-step site selection process was used. Candidate sites were chosen that meet a subset of the selection criteria that form the most important system constraints. These candidate sites were then evaluated against the full set of selection criteria using the Analytical Hierarchy Process Method (AHP). Candidate sites underwent a set of more specific siting criteria weighted by expert judgment to select preferable sites and alternatives using AHP method again. Expert Judgment method was used to rank and weight the importance of each criteria, then AHP method used to evaluate and weight the relation between criterion to criterion and between all criteria against the global weight. Then logical decision software was used to rank sites upon their weighting value

Joint NetWork Reconfiguration and Capacitor Placement by Bactrial Foraging Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Ali Mohammadnia

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Power system engineers are forced to place more emphasis on reducing losses at the distribution level. From an economic perspective, Joint network reconfiguration and capacitor placement is one of the best ways to save energy. Application of heuristic technique is unavoidable, because of expansion of distribution networks and becoming more complex connections in these grids. In view of this, for the first this paper investigates the ability of Bacterial Foraging Algorithm (BFA for Joint network reconfiguration and capacitor placement.

Robust reconfigurable control for parametric and additive faults with FDI uncertainties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stoustrup, Jakob; Yang, Zhenyu

2000-01-01

From the system recoverable point of view, this paper discusses robust reconfigurable control synthesis for LTI systems and a class of nonlinear control systems with parametric and additive faults as well as derivations generated by FDI algorithms. By following the model-matching strategy......, an augmented optimal control problem is constructed based on the considered faulty and fictitious nominal systems, such that the robust control design techniques, such as H-infinity control and mu synthesis, can be employed for the reconfigurable control design....

Technical Assessment Of Selection Of A Waste Disposal Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Bong Hun

1992-04-01

This book gives overall descriptions of technical assessment of selection of a waste disposal site, which deals with standard of selection on incinerator of city waste, the method over assessment of selection of incinerator in city waste, prerequisite of technical assessment for selection of incinerator, waste incinerator and related equipment such as form, structure, quality of material, ventilation device, plumbing system and electrical installation, and total plan like plan of construction and a measure taken against environmental pollution.

Efficient Modelling Methodology for Reconfigurable Underwater Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Mikkel Cornelius; Blanke, Mogens; Schjølberg, Ingrid

2016-01-01

This paper considers the challenge of applying reconfigurable robots in an underwater environment. The main result presented is the development of a model for a system comprised of N, possibly heterogeneous, robots dynamically connected to each other and moving with 6 Degrees of Freedom (DOF). Th...

In vitro site selection of a consensus binding site for the Drosophila melanogaster Tbx20 homolog midline.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nima Najand

Full Text Available We employed in vitro site selection to identify a consensus binding sequence for the Drosophila melanogaster Tbx20 T-box transcription factor homolog Midline. We purified a bacterially expressed T-box DNA binding domain of Midline, and used it in four rounds of precipitation and polymerase-chain-reaction based amplification. We cloned and sequenced 54 random oligonucleotides selected by Midline. Electromobility shift-assays confirmed that 27 of these could bind the Midline T-box. Sequence alignment of these 27 clones suggests that Midline binds as a monomer to a consensus sequence that contains an AGGTGT core. Thus, the Midline consensus binding site we define in this study is similar to that defined for vertebrate Tbx20, but differs from a previously reported Midline binding sequence derived through site selection.

Modular reconfigurable machines incorporating modular open architecture control

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Padayachee, J

2008-01-01

Full Text Available degrees of freedom on a single platform. A corresponding modular Open Architecture Control (OAC) system is presented. OAC overcomes the inflexibility of fixed proprietary automation, ensuring that MRMs provide the reconfigurability and extensibility...

RECONFIGURABLE PRODUCT ROUTING AND CONTROL FOR MASS CUSTOMISATION MANUFACTURING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. J. Walker

2012-01-01

Full Text Available

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Reconfigurable control of flexible manufacturing systems can allow for the efficient and responsive production of customised product instances. This can aid in providing make-to-order business models for various small- to medium-sized enterprises in South Africa, and provide competitive advantage in a dynamic global marketplace. Reconfigurable control application requires an understanding of the modes of production variability in mass customisation manufacturing. Temporally uncorrelated workflow routings are considered as one of these production variability modes. In this light, this paper addresses the flexible material payload routing problem, and presents a mobile robot platform that has been developed to research and design reconfigurable routing systems.

AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:Verstelbare beheer van aanpasbare vervaardigingstelsels kan die doeltreffende en reaktiewe produksie van doelgemaakte produkeksemplare toelaat. Hierdie beheer kan assisteer in die voorsiening van vervaardig-na-bestellingbesigheidsmodelle aan ’n aantal klein- tot medium-grootte ondernemings in Suid-Afrika, en aan hulle ’n kompeterende voorsprong bied in ’n dinamiese globale mark. Die instelling van verstelbare beheer vereis dat die modi van produkveranderlikheid in massa verbruikersaanpassingsvervaardiging verstaan word. Hierdie artikel spreek die probleem van aanpasbare roetebepaling van materiaalvragte in massa verbruikersaanpassingsvervaardiging aan. ’n Mobiele robot-platform, ontwikkel vir navorsing in verstelbare roetebepalingstelsels, word ook voorgelê.

Territory and nest site selection patterns by Grasshopper Sparrows in southeastern Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Ruth, Janet M.; Skagen, Susan K.

2017-01-01

Grassland bird populations are showing some of the greatest rates of decline of any North American birds, prompting measures to protect and improve important habitat. We assessed how vegetation structure and composition, habitat features often targeted for management, affected territory and nest site selection by Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum ammolegus) in southeastern Arizona. To identify features important to males establishing territories, we compared vegetation characteristics of known territories and random samples on 2 sites over 5 years. We examined habitat selection patterns of females by comparing characteristics of nest sites with territories over 3 years. Males selected territories in areas of sparser vegetation structure and more tall shrubs (>2 m) than random plots on the site with low shrub densities. Males did not select territories based on the proportion of exotic grasses. Females generally located nest sites in areas with lower small shrub (1–2 m tall) densities than territories overall when possible and preferentially selected native grasses for nest construction. Whether habitat selection was apparent depended upon the range of vegetation structure that was available. We identified an upper threshold above which grass structure seemed to be too high and dense for Grasshopper Sparrows. Our results suggest that some management that reduces vegetative structure may benefit this species in desert grasslands at the nest and territory scale. However, we did not assess initial male habitat selection at a broader landscape scale where their selection patterns may be different and could be influenced by vegetation density and structure outside the range of values sampled in this study.

Growing risk avoidance in Asian oncology site selection: how trends in site selection are limiting growth of the Asia cancer trial landscape

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Horsburgh D

2013-12-01

Full Text Available David Horsburgh,1 Yi-Chen Josey Lee,2 Elvira Zenaida Lansang,1 Ken J Lee,3 Malcolm Ogg,4 Karen Wai1 1Feasibility and Site Identification Asia, Quintiles East Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore; 2Feasibility and Site Identification Asia, Quintiles East Asia Pte Ltd, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Site Services Asia, Quintiles East Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore; 4Global Integrated Site Services, Quintiles, Green Park, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom Background: Asia-Pacific represents the fastest-growing region for clinical trials, with growth in oncology studies being a strong contributor. Such demand has seen a rapid change in Asia's total site pool and the number of experienced and inexperienced, or naïve, sites being activated. Given the perceived risks involved with naïve sites, this study aims to investigate changes in the rate of naïve site selection and how this risk management may influence future growth within the region. Methods: Rates of total naïve and experienced sites initiated per year, per protocol, and the relative contribution of each to the yearly site total were analyzed. Data was collected from Quintiles internal metrics as well as from the publicly available ClinicalTrials.gov database and was filtered to include oncology studies involving at least one Asian country, between the years 2000 and 2012. Results and discussion: Despite a general increase in the number of sites activated overall, the contribution of naïve sites to the yearly total fell to 20% in 2012. Experienced sites were heavily favored, with reliance on the existing site network preferred to expansion through naïve sites. This is likely a result of the perceived challenges with using inexperienced sites and the industry desire to avoid this risk. However, fluctuations in naïve sites activation suggest that the limited level of growth in the site pool may not be enough to sustain demand, with sudden outreaches to naïve sites necessary as current site pool capacity is occasionally

Investigation of control law reconfigurations to accommodate a control element failure on a commercial airplane

Science.gov (United States)

Ostroff, A. J.; Hueschen, R. M.

1984-01-01

The ability of a pilot to reconfigure the control surfaces on an airplane after a failure, allowing the airplane to recover to a safe condition, becomes more difficult with increasing airplane complexity. Techniques are needed to stabilize and control the airplane immediately after a failure, allowing the pilot more time to make longer range decisions. This paper presents a baseline design of a discrete multivariable control law using four controls for the longitudinal channel of a B-737. Non-reconfigured and reconfigured control laws are then evaluated, both analytically and by means of a digital airplane simulation, for three individual control element failures (stabilizer, elevator, spoilers). The simulation results are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the control reconfiguration on tracking ability during the approach and landing phase of flight with severe windshear and turbulence disturbing the airplane dynamics.

Novel wideband microwave polarization network using a fully-reconfigurable photonic waveguide interleaver with a two-ring resonator-assisted asymmetric Mach-Zehnder structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuang, Leimeng; Beeker, Willem; Leinse, Arne; Heideman, René; van Dijk, Paulus; Roeloffzen, Chris

2013-02-11

We propose and demonstrate a novel wideband microwave photonic polarization network for dual linear-polarized antennas. The polarization network is based on a waveguide-implemented fully-reconfigurable optical interleaver using a two-ring resonator-assisted asymmetric Mach-Zehnder structure. For microwave photonic signal processing, this structure is able to serve as a wideband 2 × 2 RF coupler with reconfigurable complex coefficients, and therefore can be used as a polarization network for wideband antennas. Such a device can equip the antennas with not only the polarization rotation capability for linear-polarization signals but also the capability to operate with and tune between two opposite circular polarizations. Operating together with a particular modulation scheme, the device is also able to serve for simultaneous feeding of dual-polarization signals. These photonic-implemented RF functionalities can be applied to wideband antenna systems to perform agile polarization manipulations and tracking operations. An example of such a interleaver has been realized in TriPleX waveguide technology, which was designed with a free spectral range of 20 GHz and a mask footprint of smaller than 1 × 1 cm. Using the realized device, the reconfigurable complex coefficients of the polarization network were demonstrated with a continuous bandwidth from 2 to 8 GHz and an in-band phase ripple of smaller than 5 degree. The waveguide structure of the device allows it to be further integrated with other functional building blocks of a photonic integrated circuit to realize on-chip, complex microwave photonic processors. Of particular interest, it can be included in an optical beamformer for phased array antennas, so that simultaneous wideband beam and polarization trackings can be achieved photonically. To our knowledge, this is the first-time on-chip demonstration of an integrated microwave photonic polarization network for dual linear-polarized antennas.

Improvement of the M/S manipulator maintenance at OSL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuwana, Koichi; Ouchi, Hiroshi; Ito, Yutaka; Sato, Yoshihiro; Midorikawa, Mituhiro; Hayakawa, Tuyoshi

2010-01-01

The safeguards inspection samples from the JNFL Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (RRP) are received and analyzed at the On Site Laboratory (OSL). Since the samples from the input accountancy tank of the RRP contain a lot of fission products, they are treated in a hot-cell line with a M/S (Master /Slave) manipulator. Special equipment and tools were used for the maintenance of the M/S manipulator, especially for the exchange of the M/S manipulator. However, the manipulator exchange work was not easy due to the limitation of the space in the OSL. For solution to this problem, a monorail and monorail hoist equipment was installed onto wall surface of analytical room close to each M/S manipulator, and then it made the exchange of M/S manipulator easy without special equipment and tools. Additionally, operator was freed from the burden of working space arranging for the exchange of M/S manipulator such as removing of analytical equipments. This report represents the improvement of operation for the exchange of M/S manipulator with installation of monorail and hoist equipment. (author)

Approaches to LLW disposal site selection and current progress of host states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walsh, J.J.; Kerr, T.A.

1990-11-01

In accordance with the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 and under the guidance of 10 CFR 61, States have begun entering into compacts to establish and operate regional disposal facilities for low-level radioactive waste. The progress a state makes in implementing a process to identify a specific location for a disposal site is one indication of the level of a state's commitment to meeting its responsibilities under Federal law and interstate compact agreements. During the past few years, several States have been engaged in site selection processes. The purpose of this report is to summarize the site selection approaches of some of the Host States (California, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Illinois), and their progress to date. An additional purpose of the report is to discern whether the Host States's site selection processes were heavily influenced by any common factors. One factor each state held in common was that political and public processes exerted a powerful influence on the site selection process at virtually every stage. 1 ref

Self-Assembling Wireless Autonomous Reconfigurable Modules (SWARM), Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Payload Systems Inc. and the MIT Space Systems Laboratory propose Self-assembling, Wireless, Autonomous, Reconfigurable Modules (SWARM) as an innovative approach to...

24 CFR 983.57 - Site selection standards.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

...; (vi) If the poverty rate in the area where the proposed PBV development will be located is greater... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Site selection standards. 983.57 Section 983.57 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban Development...

Towards micro-assembly of hybrid MOEMS components on a reconfigurable silicon free-space micro-optical bench

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bargiel, S; Gorecki, C; Rabenorosoa, K; Clévy, C; Lutz, P

2010-01-01

The 3D integration of hybrid chips is a viable approach for the micro-optical technologies to reduce the costs of assembly and packaging. In this paper a technology platform for the hybrid integration of MOEMS components on a reconfigurable silicon free-space micro-optical bench (FS-MOB) is presented. In this approach a desired optical component (e.g. micromirror, microlens) is integrated with a removable and adjustable silicon holder which can be manipulated, aligned and fixed in the precisely etched rail of the silicon baseplate by use of a robotic micro-assembly station. An active-based gripping system allows modification of the holder position on the baseplate with nanometre precision. The fabrication processes of the micromachined parts of the micro-optical bench, based on bulk micromachining of standard silicon wafer and SOI wafer, are described. The successful assembly of the holders, equipped with a micromirror and a refractive glass ball microlens, on the baseplate rail is demonstrated.

Physical security technologies for weapons complex reconfiguration facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaeger, C.D.

1994-01-01

Sandia National Laboratories was a member of the Weapons Complex Reconfiguration (WCR) Safeguards and Security (S ampersand S) team providing assistance to the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Weapons Complex Reconfiguration. The physical security systems in the new and upgraded facilities being considered for the WCR had to meet DOE orders and other requirements set forth in the WCR Programmatic Design Criteria (PDC), incorporate the latest physical security technologies using proven state-of-the-art systems and meet fundamental security principles. The outcome was to avoid costly retrofits and provide effective and comprehensive protection against current and projected threats with minimal impact on operations, costs and schedule. Physical security requirements for WCR facilities include: (1) reducing S ampersand S life-cycle costs, (2) where feasible automating S ampersand S functions to minimize operational costs, access to critical assets and exposure of people to hazardous environments, (3) increasing the amount of delay to outsider adversary attack, (4) compartmentalizing the facility to minimize the number of personnel requiring access to critical areas and (5) having reliable and maintainable systems. To be most effective against threats physical security must be integrated with facility operations, safety and other S ampersand S activities, such as material control and accountability, nuclear measurements and computer and information security. This paper will discuss the S ampersand S issues, requirements, technology opportunities and needs. Physical security technologies and systems considered in the design effort of the Weapons Complex Reconfiguration facilities will be reviewed

Site selection and general layout of heap leaching uranium mill

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Chunmao; Rongfeng

2011-01-01

The site selection and general layout of uranium mill is an important work in the design and consultation stage of uranium mining and metallurgy's engineering construction. Based on the design practices, the principles and methods for the site selection and general layout of heap leaching uranium mill are analyzed and studied. Some problems which should be paid much attention to in the design are discussed in hopes of providing a useful reference for the design and consultation of similar projects. (authors)

A 16-channel reconfigurable OCDMA/DWDM system using continuous phase-shift SSFBGs

OpenAIRE

Chun, Tian; Zhang, Zhaowei; Ibsen, M.; Petropoulos, P.; Richardson, D.J.

2007-01-01

We demonstrate a reconfigurable 16-channel optical code-division multiple access (OCDMA)/dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system (4 OCDMA times 4 DWDM times 625 Mb/s) based on novel 31-chip, 40 Gchip/s quaternary phase coding gratings operating at a channel spacing of just 50 GHz. The system performance is studied for cases of both fixed and code-reconfigurable decoders. Error-free performance is achieved in both cases and for all 16 channels.

Optimal reconfiguration-based dynamic tariff for congestion management and line loss reduction in distribution networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Shaojun; Wu, Qiuwei; Cheng, Lin

2016-01-01

This paper presents an optimal reconfiguration-based dynamic tariff (DT) method for congestion management and line loss reduction in distribution networks with high penetration of electric vehicles. In the proposed DT concept, feeder reconfiguration (FR) is employed through mixed integer programm...

A study on dynamically reconfigurable robotic systems, 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukuda, Toshio; Kawauchi, Yoshio; Buss, M.; Asama, Hajime.

1990-01-01

The dynamically reconfigurable robotic system (DRRS) is a new kind of robotic system which is able to reconfigurate itself to an optimal structure depending on the purpose and exvironment. To realize this concept, we proposed the CEBOT (cell-structured robot). Communication is needed in the CEBOT system as follows. When cells are separated, a communication master cell needs to know the other cell's function and position and determine the target cell for docking. Mobile cells should be able to coordinate with other mobile cell. When cells are docked, forming a cell structure/module, a master cell should control the bending joint cell and know which cells the construction is composed of. In this paper, we propose a communication protocol for both cases with optical sensor applicable to CEBOT. Some experimental results are shown by realizing the proposed communication method between cells. (author)

76 FR 1660 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Reconfiguring an African...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-11

... Determinations: ``Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists From Three... ``Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents... that the exhibition or display of the exhibit objects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY...

Manipulations to regenerate aspen ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Wayne D. Shepperd

2001-01-01

Vegetative regeneration of aspen can be initiated through manipulations that provide hormonal stimulation, proper growth environment, and sucker protection - the three elements of the aspen regeneration triangle. The correct course of action depends upon a careful evaluation of the size, vigor, age, and successional status of the existing clone. Soils and site...

Rapidly reconfigurable all-optical universal logic gate

Science.gov (United States)

Goddard, Lynford L.; Bond, Tiziana C.; Kallman, Jeffrey S.

2010-09-07

A new reconfigurable cascadable all-optical on-chip device is presented. The gate operates by combining the Vernier effect with a novel effect, the gain-index lever, to help shift the dominant lasing mode from a mode where the laser light is output at one facet to a mode where it is output at the other facet. Since the laser remains above threshold, the speed of the gate for logic operations as well as for reprogramming the function of the gate is primarily limited to the small signal optical modulation speed of the laser, which can be on the order of up to about tens of GHz. The gate can be rapidly and repeatedly reprogrammed to perform any of the basic digital logic operations by using an appropriate analog optical or electrical signal at the gate selection port. Other all-optical functionality includes wavelength conversion, signal duplication, threshold switching, analog to digital conversion, digital to analog conversion, signal routing, and environment sensing. Since each gate can perform different operations, the functionality of such a cascaded circuit grows exponentially.

Design of a novel parallel reconfigurable machine tool

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Modungwa, D

2008-06-01

Full Text Available of meeting the demands for high mechanical dexterity adaptation as well as high stiffness necessary for mould and die re-conditioning. This paper presents, the design of parallel reconfigurable machine tool (PRMT) based on both application...

Network reconfiguration for loss reduction in electrical distribution system using genetic algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adail, A.S.A.A.

2012-01-01

Distribution system is a critical links between the utility and the nuclear installation. During feeding electricity to that installation there are power losses. The quality of the network depends on the reduction of these losses. Distribution system which feeds the nuclear installation must have a higher quality power. For example, in Inshas site, electrical power is supplied to it from two incoming feeders (one from new abu-zabal substation and the other from old abu-zabal substation). Each feeder is designed to carry the full load, while the operator preferred to connect with a new abu-zabal substation, which has a good power quality. Bad power quality affects directly the nuclear reactor and has a negative impact on the installed sensitive equipment's of the operation. The thesis is Studying the electrical losses in a distribution system (causes and effected factors), feeder reconfiguration methods, and applying of genetic algorithm in an electric distribution power system. In the end, this study proposes an optimization technique based on genetic algorithms for distribution network reconfiguration to reduce the network losses to minimum. The proposed method is applied to IEEE test network; that contain 3 feeders and 16 nodes. The technique is applied through two groups, distribution have general loads, and nuclear loads. In the groups the technique applied to seven cases at normal operation state, system fault condition as well as different loads conditions. Simulated results are drawn to show the accuracy of the technique.

Chameleon-reconfigurability in hand-held multimedia computers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria; Bos, M.; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Smit, Jaap; Mullender, Sape J.; Gellersen, H.W.

In this paper a reconfigurable systems-architecture in combination with a QoS driven operating system is introduced that can deal with the inherent dynamics of future mobile systems. We claim that a radical new approach has to be taken in order to fulfill the requirements - in terms of processing

Bayes Empirical Bayes Inference of Amino Acid Sites Under Positive Selection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Ziheng; Wong, Wendy Shuk Wan; Nielsen, Rasmus

2005-01-01

, with > 1 indicating positive selection. Statistical distributions are used to model the variation in among sites, allowing a subset of sites to have > 1 while the rest of the sequence may be under purifying selection with ... probabilities that a site comes from the site class with > 1. Current implementations, however, use the naive EB (NEB) approach and fail to account for sampling errors in maximum likelihood estimates of model parameters, such as the proportions and ratios for the site classes. In small data sets lacking...... information, this approach may lead to unreliable posterior probability calculations. In this paper, we develop a Bayes empirical Bayes (BEB) approach to the problem, which assigns a prior to the model parameters and integrates over their uncertainties. We compare the new and old methods on real and simulated...

A Reconfigurable Buck, Boost, and Buck-Boost Converter: Unified Model and Robust Controller

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martín Antonio Rodríguez Licea

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The need for reconfigurable, high power density, and low-cost configurations of DC-DC power electronic converters (PEC in areas such as the transport electrification and the use of renewable energy has spread out the requirement to incorporate in a single circuit several topologies, which generally result in an increment of complexity about the modeling, control, and stability analyses. In this paper, a reconfigurable topology is presented which can be applied in alterative/changing power conversion scenarios and consists of a reconfigurable Buck, Boost, and Buck-Boost DC-DC converter (RBBC. A unified averaged model of the RBBC is obtained, a robust controller is designed through a polytopic representation, and a Lyapunov based switched stability analysis of the closed-loop system is presented. The reported RBBC provides a wide range of voltage operation, theoretically from -∞ to ∞ volts with a single power source. Robust stability, even under arbitrarily fast (bounded parameter variations and reconfiguration changes, is reported including numerical and experimental results. The main advantages of the converter and the robust controller proposed are simple design, robustness against abrupt changes in the parameters, and low cost.

Processing and Integration of Contextual Information in Monkey Ventrolateral Prefrontal Neurons during Selection and Execution of Goal-Directed Manipulative Actions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruni, Stefania; Giorgetti, Valentina; Bonini, Luca; Fogassi, Leonardo

2015-08-26

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is deemed to underlie the complexity, flexibility, and goal-directedness of primates' behavior. Most neurophysiological studies performed so far investigated PFC functions with arm-reaching or oculomotor tasks, thus leaving unclear whether, and to which extent, PFC neurons also play a role in goal-directed manipulative actions, such as those commonly used by primates during most of their daily activities. Here we trained two macaques to perform or withhold grasp-to-eat and grasp-to-place actions, depending on the combination of two subsequently presented cues: an auditory go/no-go cue (high/low tone) and a visually presented target (food/object). By varying the order of presentation of the two cues, we could segment and independently evaluate the processing and integration of contextual information allowing the monkey to make a decision on whether or not to act, and what action to perform. We recorded 403 task-related neurons from the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC): unimodal sensory-driven (37%), motor-related (21%), unimodal sensory-and-motor (23%), and multisensory (19%) neurons. Target and go/no-go selectivity characterized most of the recorded neurons, particularly those endowed with motor-related discharge. Interestingly, multisensory neurons appeared to encode a behavioral decision independently from the sensory modality of the stimulus allowing the monkey to make it: some of them reflected the decision to act or refraining from acting (56%), whereas others (44%) encoded the decision to perform (or withhold) a specific action (e.g., grasp-to-eat). Our findings indicate that VLPFC neurons play a role in the processing of contextual information underlying motor decision during goal-directed manipulative actions. We demonstrated that macaque ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) neurons show remarkable selectivity for different aspects of the contextual information allowing the monkey to select and execute goal

Task based synthesis of serial manipulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarosh Patel

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Computing the optimal geometric structure of manipulators is one of the most intricate problems in contemporary robot kinematics. Robotic manipulators are designed and built to perform certain predetermined tasks. There is a very close relationship between the structure of the manipulator and its kinematic performance. It is therefore important to incorporate such task requirements during the design and synthesis of the robotic manipulators. Such task requirements and performance constraints can be specified in terms of the required end-effector positions, orientations and velocities along the task trajectory. In this work, we present a comprehensive method to develop the optimal geometric structure (DH parameters of a non-redundant six degree of freedom serial manipulator from task descriptions. In this work we define, develop and test a methodology to design optimal manipulator configurations based on task descriptions. This methodology is devised to investigate all possible manipulator configurations that can satisfy the task performance requirements under imposed joint constraints. Out of all the possible structures, the structures that can reach all the task points with the required orientations are selected. Next, these candidate structures are tested to see whether they can attain end-effector velocities in arbitrary directions within the user defined joint constraints, so that they can deliver the best kinematic performance. Additionally least power consuming configurations are also identified.

A reconfigurable analog baseband circuit for WLAN, WCDMA, and Bluetooth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tong Tao; Chi Baoyong; Wang Ziqiang; Zhang Ying; Jiang Hanjun; Wang Zhihua

2010-01-01

A reconfigurable analog baseband circuit for WLAN, WCDMA, and Bluetooth in 0.35 μm CMOS is presented. The circuit consists of two variable gain amplifiers (VGA) in cascade and a G m -C elliptic low-pass filter (LPF). The filter-order and the cut-off frequency of the LPF can be reconfigured to satisfy the requirements of various applications. In order to achieve the optimum power consumption, the bandwidth of the VGAs can also be dynamically reconfigured and some G m cells can be cut off in the given application. Simulation results show that the analog baseband circuit consumes 16.8 mW for WLAN, 8.9 mW for WCDMA and only 6.5 mW for Bluetooth, all with a 3 V power supply. The analog baseband circuit could provide -10 to +40 dB variable gain, third-order low pass filtering with 1 MHz cut-off frequency for Bluetooth, fourth-order low pass filtering with 2.2 MHz cut-off frequency for WCDMA, and fifth-order low pass filtering with 11 MHz cut-off frequency for WLAN, respectively. (semiconductor integrated circuits)

A reconfigurable analog baseband circuit for WLAN, WCDMA, and Bluetooth

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tong Tao; Chi Baoyong; Wang Ziqiang; Zhang Ying; Jiang Hanjun; Wang Zhihua, E-mail: tongt05@gmail.co [Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

2010-05-15

A reconfigurable analog baseband circuit for WLAN, WCDMA, and Bluetooth in 0.35 {mu}m CMOS is presented. The circuit consists of two variable gain amplifiers (VGA) in cascade and a G{sub m}-C elliptic low-pass filter (LPF). The filter-order and the cut-off frequency of the LPF can be reconfigured to satisfy the requirements of various applications. In order to achieve the optimum power consumption, the bandwidth of the VGAs can also be dynamically reconfigured and some G{sub m} cells can be cut off in the given application. Simulation results show that the analog baseband circuit consumes 16.8 mW for WLAN, 8.9 mW for WCDMA and only 6.5 mW for Bluetooth, all with a 3 V power supply. The analog baseband circuit could provide -10 to +40 dB variable gain, third-order low pass filtering with 1 MHz cut-off frequency for Bluetooth, fourth-order low pass filtering with 2.2 MHz cut-off frequency for WCDMA, and fifth-order low pass filtering with 11 MHz cut-off frequency for WLAN, respectively. (semiconductor integrated circuits)

Reconfiguring grid-interfacing converters for power quality improvement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, F.; Duarte, J.L.; Hendrix, M.A.M.; Encica, L.; Gysen, B.L.J.; Jansen, J.W.; Krop, D.C.J.

2008-01-01

In this paper reconfiguration of grid-interfacing converters is proposed for power quality improvement. In addition to the traditional function of delivering energy between distributed sources and the utility grid, more flexible ancillary functions can be integrated into the control of

Optically Controlled Reconfigurable Antenna Array Based on E-Shaped Elements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arismar Cerqueira Sodré Junior

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This work presents the development of optically controlled reconfigurable antenna arrays. They are based on two patch elements with E-shaped slots, a printed probe, and a photoconductive switch made from an intrinsic silicon die. Numerical simulations and experiments have been shown to be in agreement, and both demonstrate that the frequency response of the antenna arrays can be efficiently reconfigured over two different frequency ISM bands, namely, 2.4 and 5 GHz. A measured gain of 12.5 dBi has been obtained through the use of two radiating elements printed in a low-cost substrate and a dihedral corner reflector.

Integrating DC/DC Conversion with Possible Reconfiguration within Submodule Solar Photovoltaic Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Peter Jen-Hung

This research first proposes a method to merge photovoltaic (PV) cells or PV panels within the internal components DC-DC converters. The purpose of this merged structure is to reconfigure the PV modules between series and parallel connections using high switching frequencies (hundreds of kHz). This leads to multi-levels of voltages and currents that become applied to the output filter of the converter. Further, this research introduces a concept of a switching cell that utilizes the reconfiguration of series and parallel connections in DC-DC converters. The switching occurs at high switching frequency and the switches can be integrated to be within the solar panels or in between the solar cells. The concept is generalized and applied to basic buck and boost topologies. As examples of the new types of converters: reconfigurable PV-buck and PV-boost converter topologies are presented. It is also possible to create other reconfigurable power converters: non-isolated and isolated topologies. Analysis, simulation and experimental verification for the reconfigurable PV-buck and PV-boost converters are presented extensively to illustrate proof of concept. Benefits and drawbacks of the new approach are discussed. The second part of this research proposes to utilize the internal solar cell capacitance and internal solar module wire parasitic inductances to replace the input capacitor and filter inductor in boost derived DC-DC converters for energy harvesting applications. High switching frequency (MHz) hard switched and resonant boost converters are proposed. Their analysis, simulation and experimental prototypes are presented. A specific proof-of-concept application is especially tested for foldable PV panels, which are known for their high internal wire inductance. The experimental converters successfully boost solar module voltage without adding any external input capacitance or filter inductor. Benefits and drawbacks of new proposed PV submodule integrated boost

An att site-based recombination reporter system for genome engineering and synthetic DNA assembly.

Science.gov (United States)

Bland, Michael J; Ducos-Galand, Magaly; Val, Marie-Eve; Mazel, Didier

2017-07-14

Direct manipulation of the genome is a widespread technique for genetic studies and synthetic biology applications. The tyrosine and serine site-specific recombination systems of bacteriophages HK022 and ΦC31 are widely used for stable directional exchange and relocation of DNA sequences, making them valuable tools in these contexts. We have developed site-specific recombination tools that allow the direct selection of recombination events by embedding the attB site from each system within the β-lactamase resistance coding sequence (bla). The HK and ΦC31 tools were developed by placing the attB sites from each system into the signal peptide cleavage site coding sequence of bla. All possible open reading frames (ORFs) were inserted and tested for recombination efficiency and bla activity. Efficient recombination was observed for all tested ORFs (3 for HK, 6 for ΦC31) as shown through a cointegrate formation assay. The bla gene with the embedded attB site was functional for eight of the nine constructs tested. The HK/ΦC31 att-bla system offers a simple way to directly select recombination events, thus enhancing the use of site-specific recombination systems for carrying out precise, large-scale DNA manipulation, and adding useful tools to the genetics toolbox. We further show the power and flexibility of bla to be used as a reporter for recombination.

Tunable, Chemo- and Site-Selective Nitrene Transfer Reactions through the Rational Design of Silver(I) Catalysts.

Science.gov (United States)

Alderson, Juliet M; Corbin, Joshua R; Schomaker, Jennifer M

2017-09-19

Carbon-nitrogen (C-N) bonds are ubiquitous in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, diverse bioactive natural products, and ligands for transition metal catalysts. An effective strategy for introducing a new C-N bond into a molecule is through transition metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer chemistry. In these reactions, a metal-supported nitrene can either add across a C═C bond to form an aziridine or insert into a C-H bond to furnish the corresponding amine. Typical catalysts for nitrene transfer include Rh 2 L n and Ru 2 L n complexes supported by bridging carboxylate and related ligands, as well as complexes based on Cu, Co, Ir, Fe, and Mn supported by porphyrins and related ligands. A limitation of metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer is the ability to predictably select which specific site will undergo amination in the presence of multiple reactive groups; thus, many reactions rely primarily on substrate control. Achieving true catalyst-control over nitrene transfer would open up exciting possibilities for flexible installation of new C-N bonds into hydrocarbons, natural product-inspired scaffolds, existing pharmaceuticals or biorenewable building blocks. Silver-catalyzed nitrene transfer enables flexible control over the position at which a new C-N bond is introduced. Ag(I) supported by simple N-donor ligands accommodates a diverse range of coordination geometries, from linear to tetrahedral to seesaw, enabling the electronic and steric parameters of the catalyst to be tuned independently. In addition, the ligand, Ag salt counteranion, Ag/ligand ratio and the solvent all influence the fluxional and dynamic behavior of Ag(I) complexes in solution. Understanding the interplay of these parameters to manipulate the behavior of Ag-nitrenes in a predictable manner is a key design feature of our work. In this Account, we describe successful applications of a variety of design principles to tunable, Ag-catalyzed aminations, including (1) changing Ag/ligand ratios to influence

Nucleation of recrystallization at selected sites in deformed fcc metals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xu, Chaoling

The objective of this thesis is to explore nucleation of recrystallization at selected sites in selected face-centered-cubic (FCC) metals, namely cold rolled columnar-grained nickel and high purity aluminum further deformed by indenting. Various techniques, including, optical microscopy, electron...... backscattered diffraction (EBSD), electron channeling contrast (ECC) and synchrotron X-ray technique, differential-aperture X-ray microscopy (DAXM), were used to characterize the microstructures, to explore nucleation sites, orientation relationships between nuclei and deformed microstructures, and nucleation...... mechanisms. In the cold rolled nickel samples, the preference of triple junctions (TJs) and grain boundaries (GBs) as nucleation sites is observed. The majorities of the nuclei have the same orientations as the surrounding matrix or are twin-related to a surrounding deformed grain. Only a few nuclei...

Analytic hierarchy process helps select site for limestone quarry expansion in Barbados.

Science.gov (United States)

Dey, Prasanta Kumar; Ramcharan, Eugene K

2008-09-01

Site selection is a key activity for quarry expansion to support cement production, and is governed by factors such as resource availability, logistics, costs, and socio-economic-environmental factors. Adequate consideration of all the factors facilitates both industrial productivity and sustainable economic growth. This study illustrates the site selection process that was undertaken for the expansion of limestone quarry operations to support cement production in Barbados. First, alternate sites with adequate resources to support a 25-year development horizon were identified. Second, technical and socio-economic-environmental factors were then identified. Third, a database was developed for each site with respect to each factor. Fourth, a hierarchical model in analytic hierarchy process (AHP) framework was then developed. Fifth, the relative ranking of the alternate sites was then derived through pair wise comparison in all the levels and through subsequent synthesizing of the results across the hierarchy through computer software (Expert Choice). The study reveals that an integrated framework using the AHP can help select a site for the quarry expansion project in Barbados.

Architecture design of reconfigurable accelerators for demanding apllications.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jozwiak, L.; Jan, Y.

2010-01-01

This paper focuses on mastering the architecture development of reconfigurable hardware accelerators for highly demanding applications. It presents the results of our analysis of the main issues that have to be addressed when designing accelerators for demanding applications, when using as an

Wavelength-converted long-reach reconfigurable optical access network

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tran, N.C.; Tangdiongga, E.; Koonen, A.M.J.

2012-01-01

Next generation optical access networks should not only increase the capacity but also be able to redistribute the capacity on the fly in order to manage more fluctuated traffic patterns. Wavelength reconfigurability is the instrument to enable such capability of network-wide bandwidth

Hardware/software virtualization for the reconfigurable multicore platform.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ferger, M.; Al Kadi, M.; Hübner, M.; Koedam, M.L.P.J.; Sinha, S.S.; Goossens, K.G.W.; Marchesan Almeida, Gabriel; Rodrigo Azambuja, J.; Becker, Juergen

2012-01-01

This paper presents the Flex Tiles approach for the virtualization of hardware and software for a reconfigurable multicore architecture. The approach enables the virtualization of a dynamic tile-based hardware architecture consisting of processing tiles connected via a network-on-chip and a

Reconfigurable support vector machine classifier with approximate computing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Leussen, M.J.; Huisken, J.; Wang, L.; Jiao, H.; De Gyvez, J.P.

2017-01-01

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is one of the most popular machine learning algorithms. An energy-efficient SVM classifier is proposed in this paper, where approximate computing is utilized to reduce energy consumption and silicon area. A hardware architecture with reconfigurable kernels and

A hybrid evolutionary algorithm for distribution feeder reconfiguration

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

the reconfiguration of distribution networks has been proposed by .... An effective strategy to increase the loading margin of heavily loaded feeders is to ... social animals such as a flock of birds, a school of fish or a group of people that pursue.

Preservation of correctness during system reconfiguration in Data Distribution Service for Real-Time Systems (DDS)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zieba, Bogumil; van Sinderen, Marten J.

This paper addresses dynamic reconfiguration of distributed systems that use a publish/subscribe (pub/sub) middleware. The objective of dynamic reconfiguration is to evolve incrementally from one system configuration to another at run-time in order to e.g., ensure the reliability of the system. The

Static Scheduling of Periodic Hardware Tasks with Precedence and Deadline Constraints on Reconfigurable Hardware Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ikbel Belaid

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Task graph scheduling for reconfigurable hardware devices can be defined as finding a schedule for a set of periodic tasks with precedence, dependence, and deadline constraints as well as their optimal allocations on the available heterogeneous hardware resources. This paper proposes a new methodology comprising three main stages. Using these three main stages, dynamic partial reconfiguration and mixed integer programming, pipelined scheduling and efficient placement are achieved and enable parallel computing of the task graph on the reconfigurable devices by optimizing placement/scheduling quality. Experiments on an application of heterogeneous hardware tasks demonstrate an improvement of resource utilization of 12.45% of the available reconfigurable resources corresponding to a resource gain of 17.3% compared to a static design. The configuration overhead is reduced to 2% of the total running time. Due to pipelined scheduling, the task graph spanning is minimized by 4% compared to sequential execution of the graph.

Reconfiguring waveguide-gratings-based M-signature codecs to enhance OCDMA network confidentiality

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jen-Fa; Chen, Kai-Sheng; Lin, Ying-Chen; Li, Chung-Yu

2014-02-01

A reconfiguration scheme based on composite signature codes over waveguide-gratings-based optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) network coder/decoders (codecs) is proposed in the paper. By using central control node to monitor network traffic condition and reconfigure the composite signature codes made up of maximal-length sequence (M-sequence) component codes and random changing the signature codes assigned for each user to improve the confidentiality performance in an OCDMA system. The proposed scheme is analyzed with some practical eavesdroppers' attacks.

Development of design system of manipulator for fusion reactor maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ida, Toshio; Niikura, Setsuo; Ishiguro, Akiko; Yamada, Masao; Matsuoka, Fushiki

1989-01-01

A program which supports designers of a manipulator for in-vessel maintenance of a fusion reactor has been developed. The main purpose of this program is to provide the designer with a promising manipulator specification by furnishing useful information. It combines a technique of knowledge engineering with numerical solutions. This program consists of three parts: The first part is to generate candidates for the manipulator using a knowledge base; the second is to evaluate both static and dynamic properties of each candidate through numerical simulation of the maintenance task; and the third is to select the candidates having better performance and feasibility on the basis of the simulation data and knowledge base. The feasibility of the method used in this program is confirmed by the preliminary application. This application also emphasizes the importance of the knowledge base for the candidate generation and selection. Although the degree of freedom of the manipulator is restricted to less than 7 degrees in this study, further development of the capability of manipulator simulation (seven or more degrees of freedom) will enhance the effectiveness of this program. (orig.)

Geotechnical conditions of Bulgaria and site selection for radioactive waste repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iliev, I.; Tacheva, E.

1993-01-01

A comparative study of the complex structure of the Bulgarian lands and the engineering geological criteria for site selection of national repositories for high level radwastes is made. A detailed description of the following geotechnical conditions of Bulgaria's territory is given: genetic, lithological and engineering-geological types of rocks; physico-mechanical parameters of the most widespread rocky and semi-rocky engineering geological types; fissuring of the rocks; rock massifs; geodynamic processes. The number of promising variants for repositories have been classified according to the structure of the rock massif and the engineering-geological properties of the layers which are promising for the purpose. The following sites are investigated: 1) sites in one-type homogeneous rock massifs of high strength and elasticity; 2) sites of various type massifs with a promising layer of rocks with medium strength and elasticity; 3) sites in various type massifs with a promising layer of plastic rocks of low strength. It is concluded that the complexity of the geotechnical and other conditions in the territory of Bulgaria would predetermine the deficiency of the list of the properties required for the selected sites. The building up of engineering defence will be needed to offset that deficiency and their problems will be resolved after the specific site have been chosen. Geotechnical elements should be likewise envisaged within the general pattern of the monitoring needed. The designing, installing and putting into operation of the monitoring systems should be accomplished as early as the stage of the detailed investigation of the site selected. 19 refs., 2 suppls. (author)

Radiography by selective detection of scatter field velocity components

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobs, Alan M. (Inventor); Dugan, Edward T. (Inventor); Shedlock, Daniel (Inventor)

2007-01-01

A reconfigurable collimated radiation detector, system and related method includes at least one collimated radiation detector. The detector has an adjustable collimator assembly including at least one feature, such as a fin, optically coupled thereto. Adjustments to the adjustable collimator selects particular directions of travel of scattered radiation emitted from an irradiated object which reach the detector. The collimated detector is preferably a collimated detector array, where the collimators are independently adjustable. The independent motion capability provides the capability to focus the image by selection of the desired scatter field components. When an array of reconfigurable collimated detectors is provided, separate image data can be obtained from each of the detectors and the respective images cross-correlated and combined to form an enhanced image.

Engineering and manipulating exciton wave packets

Science.gov (United States)

Zang, Xiaoning; Montangero, Simone; Carr, Lincoln D.; Lusk, Mark T.

2017-05-01

When a semiconductor absorbs light, the resulting electron-hole superposition amounts to a uncontrolled quantum ripple that eventually degenerates into diffusion. If the conformation of these excitonic superpositions could be engineered, though, they would constitute a new means of transporting information and energy. We show that properly designed laser pulses can be used to create such excitonic wave packets. They can be formed with a prescribed speed, direction, and spectral make-up that allows them to be selectively passed, rejected, or even dissociated using superlattices. Their coherence also provides a handle for manipulation using active, external controls. Energy and information can be conveniently processed and subsequently removed at a distant site by reversing the original procedure to produce a stimulated emission. The ability to create, manage, and remove structured excitons comprises the foundation for optoexcitonic circuits with application to a wide range of quantum information, energy, and light-flow technologies. The paradigm is demonstrated using both tight-binding and time-domain density functional theory simulations.

Gallium-Based Room-Temperature Liquid Metals: Actuation and Manipulation of Droplets and Flows

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leily Majidi

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Gallium-based room-temperature liquid metals possess extremely valuable properties, such as low toxicity, low vapor pressure, and high thermal and electrical conductivity enabling them to become suitable substitutes for mercury and beyond in wide range of applications. When exposed to air, a native oxide layer forms on the surface of gallium-based liquid metals which mechanically stabilizes the liquid. By removing or reconstructing the oxide skin, shape and state of liquid metal droplets and flows can be manipulated/actuated desirably. This can occur manually or in the presence/absence of a magnetic/electric field. These methods lead to numerous useful applications such as soft electronics, reconfigurable devices, and soft robots. In this mini-review, we summarize the most recent progresses achieved on liquid metal droplet generation and actuation of gallium-based liquid metals with/without an external force.

Site-controlled fabrication of silicon nanotips by indentation-induced selective etching

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Chenning; Yu, Bingjun; Liu, Xiaoxiao; Xiao, Chen; Wang, Hongbo; Jiang, Shulan; Wu, Jiang; Liu, Huiyun; Qian, Linmao

2017-12-01

In the present study, the indentation-induced selective etching approach is proposed to fabricate site-controlled pyramidal nanotips on Si(100) surface. Without any masks, the site-controlled nanofabrication can be realized by nanoindentation and post etching in potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. The effect of indentation force and etching time on the formation of pyramidal nanotips was investigated. It is found that the height and radius of the pyramidal nanotips increase with the indentation force or etching time, while long-time etching can lead to the collapse of the tips. The formation of pyramidal tips is ascribed to the anisotropic etching of silicon and etching stop of (111) crystal planes in KOH aqueous solution. The capability of this fabrication method was further demonstrated by producing various tip arrays on silicon surface by selective etching of the site-controlled indent patterns, and the maximum height difference of these tips is less than 10 nm. The indentation-induced selective etching provides a new strategy to fabricate well site-controlled tip arrays for multi-probe SPM system, Si nanostructure-based sensors and high-quality information storage.

Site selection for Canada's national repository for used nuclear fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ben Belfadhel, M.; Watts, B.; Facella, J., E-mail: mbenbelfadhel@nwmo.ca [Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), Toronto, Ontario (Canada)

2015-12-15

In 2007, the Government of Canada selected Adaptive Phased Management as Canada's plan for the long-term management of Canada's used nuclear fuel. The approach provides for containment and isolation of the material in a deep geological repository at a safe site with an informed and willing host. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is tasked through federal legislation with selecting the site and developing and managing all aspects of the plan. In May 2010, the organization published and initiated the site selection process that serves as a road map for decision making on the location for the deep geological repository. It continues to lead the site selection process for the repository and an associated Centre of Expertise. The screening process is advancing and, from an initial starting point of 22 communities expressing interest in learning about the project; as of September 2015, 9 communities are the focus of more detailed technical and community well-being studies. Preliminary Assessments, the third step in the 9-step site selection process are underway in these communities. The Assessments involve preliminary technical and social desktop and field assessments, engagement activities within and beyond each interested community, and involvement of Indigenous peoples and nearby municipalities in the planning and conduct of the work. This paper provides an update on the advancement of the site selection process. It describes the nature of the technical and social studies being conducted at this phase of work, including the progressively more detailed field studies that are the focus of technical work at the current stage, the approach to engagement and collaboration with communities to direct these studies, and the work underway to ensure the framework used for this assessment and engagement includes the range of priorities and perspectives of First Nations and Metis peoples and communities in the broader area. (author)

Chemical tailoring of teicoplanin with site-selective reactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Pathak, Tejas P; Miller, Scott J

2013-06-05

Semisynthesis of natural product derivatives combines the power of fermentation with orthogonal chemical reactions. Yet, chemical modification of complex structures represents an unmet challenge, as poor selectivity often undermines efficiency. The complex antibiotic teicoplanin eradicates bacterial infections. However, as resistance emerges, the demand for improved analogues grows. We have discovered chemical reactions that achieve site-selective alteration of teicoplanin. Utilizing peptide-based additives that alter reaction selectivities, certain bromo-teicoplanins are accessible. These new compounds are also scaffolds for selective cross-coupling reactions, enabling further molecular diversification. These studies enable two-step access to glycopeptide analogues not available through either biosynthesis or rapid total chemical synthesis alone. The new compounds exhibit a spectrum of activities, revealing that selective chemical alteration of teicoplanin may lead to analogues with attenuated or enhanced antibacterial properties, in particular against vancomycin- and teicoplanin-resistant strains.

Reconfigurable Computing As an Enabling Technology for Single-Photon-Counting Laser Altimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Wesley; Hicks, Edward; Pinchinat, Maxime; Dabney, Philip; McGarry, Jan; Murray, Paul

2003-01-01

Single-photon-counting laser altimetry is a new measurement technique offering significant advantages in vertical resolution, reducing instrument size, mass, and power, and reducing laser complexity as compared to analog or threshold detection laser altimetry techniques. However, these improvements come at the cost of a dramatically increased requirement for onboard real-time data processing. Reconfigurable computing has been shown to offer considerable performance advantages in performing this processing. These advantages have been demonstrated on the Multi-KiloHertz Micro-Laser Altimeter (MMLA), an aircraft based single-photon-counting laser altimeter developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center with several potential spaceflight applications. This paper describes how reconfigurable computing technology was employed to perform MMLA data processing in real-time under realistic operating constraints, along with the results observed. This paper also expands on these prior results to identify concepts for using reconfigurable computing to enable spaceflight single-photon-counting laser altimeter instruments.

Fine-grain reconfigurable platform: FPGA hardware design and software toolset development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pappas, I; Kalenteridis, V; Vassiliadis, N; Pournara, H; Siozios, K; Koutroumpezis, G; Tatas, K; Nikolaidis, S; Siskos, S; Soudris, D J; Thanailakis, A

2005-01-01

A complete system for the implementation of digital logic in a fine-grain reconfigurable platform is introduced. The system is composed of two parts. The fine-grain reconfigurable hardware platform (FPGA) on which the logic is implemented and the set of CAD tools for mapping logic to the FPGA platform. A novel energy-efficient FPGA architecture is presented (CLB, interconnect network, configuration hardware) and simulated in STM 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Concerning the tool flow, each tool can operate as a standalone program as well as part of a complete design framework, composed by existing and new tools

Fine-grain reconfigurable platform: FPGA hardware design and software toolset development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pappas, I [Electronics and Computers Div., Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki (Greece); Kalenteridis, V [Electronics and Computers Div., Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki (Greece); Vassiliadis, N [Electronics and Computers Div., Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki (Greece); Pournara, H [Electronics and Computers Div., Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki (Greece); Siozios, K [VLSI Design and Testing Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi (Greece); Koutroumpezis, G [VLSI Design and Testing Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi (Greece); Tatas, K [VLSI Design and Testing Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi (Greece); Nikolaidis, S [Electronics and Computers Div., Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki (Greece); Siskos, S [Electronics and Computers Div., Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki (Greece); Soudris, D J [VLSI Design and Testing Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi (Greece); Thanailakis, A [Electronics and Computers Div., Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki (Greece)

2005-01-01

A complete system for the implementation of digital logic in a fine-grain reconfigurable platform is introduced. The system is composed of two parts. The fine-grain reconfigurable hardware platform (FPGA) on which the logic is implemented and the set of CAD tools for mapping logic to the FPGA platform. A novel energy-efficient FPGA architecture is presented (CLB, interconnect network, configuration hardware) and simulated in STM 0.18 {mu}m CMOS technology. Concerning the tool flow, each tool can operate as a standalone program as well as part of a complete design framework, composed by existing and new tools.

Riel Converter Station, Winnipeg: Site selection and environmental assessment status report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-01-01

As part of its expansion plans, Manitoba Hydro is planning to construct a converter station east of Winnipeg to receive power from a 850-km dc transmission line which will be constructed to bring power from a new generating station in the north of the province. Work performed to date on site selection and preliminary environmental assessment of the converter station is reviewed. The role of the converter station is described and the potential impacts are summarized in such areas as employment opportunities, pollution and noise during construction, electric and magnetic field effects, and land use impacts. Site selection criteria are outlined and potential sites are identified and evaluated. The Deacon site has been chosen as the preferred site since it has a number of inherent advantages including existing ownership by Manitoba Hydro, proximity to existing transmission rights-of-way, and low visual and land-use impact. 12 figs

Automating an integrated spatial data-mining model for landfill site selection

Science.gov (United States)

Abujayyab, Sohaib K. M.; Ahamad, Mohd Sanusi S.; Yahya, Ahmad Shukri; Ahmad, Siti Zubaidah; Aziz, Hamidi Abdul

2017-10-01

An integrated programming environment represents a robust approach to building a valid model for landfill site selection. One of the main challenges in the integrated model is the complicated processing and modelling due to the programming stages and several limitations. An automation process helps avoid the limitations and improve the interoperability between integrated programming environments. This work targets the automation of a spatial data-mining model for landfill site selection by integrating between spatial programming environment (Python-ArcGIS) and non-spatial environment (MATLAB). The model was constructed using neural networks and is divided into nine stages distributed between Matlab and Python-ArcGIS. A case study was taken from the north part of Peninsular Malaysia. 22 criteria were selected to utilise as input data and to build the training and testing datasets. The outcomes show a high-performance accuracy percentage of 98.2% in the testing dataset using 10-fold cross validation. The automated spatial data mining model provides a solid platform for decision makers to performing landfill site selection and planning operations on a regional scale.

Reconfigurable intelligent sensors for health monitoring: a case study of pulse oximeter sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Jovanov, E; Milenkovic, A; Basham, S; Clark, D; Kelley, D

2004-01-01

Design of low-cost, miniature, lightweight, ultra low-power, intelligent sensors capable of customization and seamless integration into a body area network for health monitoring applications presents one of the most challenging tasks for system designers. To answer this challenge we propose a reconfigurable intelligent sensor platform featuring a low-power microcontroller, a low-power programmable logic device, a communication interface, and a signal conditioning circuit. The proposed solution promises a cost-effective, flexible platform that allows easy customization, run-time reconfiguration, and energy-efficient computation and communication. The development of a common platform for multiple physical sensors and a repository of both software procedures and soft intellectual property cores for hardware acceleration will increase reuse and alleviate costs of transition to a new generation of sensors. As a case study, we present an implementation of a reconfigurable pulse oximeter sensor.

Stratigraphic Profiles for Selected Hanford Site Seismometer Stations and Other Locations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Last, George V. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2014-02-01

Stratigraphic profiles were constructed for eight selected Hanford Site seismometer stations, five Hanford Site facility reference locations, and seven regional three-component broadband seismometer stations. These profiles provide interpretations of the subsurface layers to support estimation of ground motions from past earthquakes, and the prediction of ground motions from future earthquakes. In most cases these profiles terminated at the top of the Wanapum Basalt, but at selected sites profiles were extended down to the top of the crystalline basement. The composite one-dimensional stratigraphic profiles were based primarily on previous interpretations from nearby boreholes, and in many cases the nearest deep borehole is located kilometers away.

A Design Method for Fault Reconfiguration and Fault-Tolerant Control of a Servo Motor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing He

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A design scheme that integrates fault reconfiguration and fault-tolerant position control is proposed for a nonlinear servo system with friction. Analysis of the non-linear friction torque and fault in the system is used to guide design of a sliding mode position controller. A sliding mode observer is designed to achieve fault reconfiguration based on the equivalence principle. Thus, active fault-tolerant position control of the system can be realized. A real-time simulation experiment is performed on a hardware-in-loop simulation platform. The results show that the system reconfigures well for both incipient and abrupt faults. Under the fault-tolerant control mechanism, the output signal for the system position can rapidly track given values without being influenced by faults.

Equilibrium Strategy Based Recycling Facility Site Selection towards Mitigating Coal Gangue Contamination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiuping Xu

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Environmental pollution caused by coal gangue has been a significant challenge for sustainable development; thus, many coal gangue reduction approaches have been proposed in recent years. In particular, coal gangue facility (CGF construction has been considered as an efficient method for the control and recycling of coal gangue. Meanwhile, the identification and selection of suitable CGF sites is a fundamental task for the government. Therefore, based on the equilibrium strategy, a site selection approach under a fuzzy environment is developed to mitigate coal gangue contamination, which integrates a geographical information system (GIS technique and a bi-level model to identify candidate CGF sites and to select the most suitable one. In this situation, the GIS technique used to identify potential feasible sites is able to integrate a great deal of geographical data tofitwithpracticalcircumstances;thebi-levelmodelusedtoscreentheappropriatesitecanreasonably dealwiththeconflictsbetweenthelocalauthorityandthecolliery. Moreover,aKarush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT condition-based approach is used to find an optimal solution, and a case study is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results across different scenarios show that appropriate site selection can achieve coal gangue reduction targets and that a suitable excess stack level can realize an environmental-economic equilibrium. Finally, some propositions and management recommendations are given.