The different varieties of the Suyama-Yamaguchi consistency relation and its violation as a signal of statistical inhomogeneity

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez, Yeinzon; Beltrán Almeida, Juan P.; Valenzuela-Toledo, César A.

2013-04-01

of models that includes the vector curvaton scenario, vector inflation, and the hybrid inflation with coupled vector and scalar ``waterfall field'' where ζ is generated at the end of inflation, finding that the fourth variety of the SY consistency relation is indeed strongly violated for some specific wavevector configurations while the fifth variety continues to be well satisfied. Finally, as a byproduct of our investigation, we draw attention to a quite recently demonstrated variety of the SY consistency relation: τisoNL>=((6/5)fisoNL)2, in scenarios where scalar and vector fields contribute to the generation of the primordial curvature perturbation; this variety of the SY consistency relation is satisfied although the isotropic pieces of the non-gaussianity parameters receive contributions from the vector fields. We discuss further implications for observational cosmology.

The different varieties of the Suyama-Yamaguchi consistency relation and its violation as a signal of statistical inhomogeneity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodríguez, Yeinzon; Almeida, Juan P. Beltrán; Valenzuela-Toledo, César A.

2013-01-01

the δN formalism at tree level, we study a class of models that includes the vector curvaton scenario, vector inflation, and the hybrid inflation with coupled vector and scalar ''waterfall field'' where ζ is generated at the end of inflation, finding that the fourth variety of the SY consistency relation is indeed strongly violated for some specific wavevector configurations while the fifth variety continues to be well satisfied. Finally, as a byproduct of our investigation, we draw attention to a quite recently demonstrated variety of the SY consistency relation: τ iso NL ≥((6/5)f iso NL ) 2 , in scenarios where scalar and vector fields contribute to the generation of the primordial curvature perturbation; this variety of the SY consistency relation is satisfied although the isotropic pieces of the non-gaussianity parameters receive contributions from the vector fields. We discuss further implications for observational cosmology

Dominance of gauge artifact in the consistency relation for the primordial bispectrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Takahiro; Urakawa, Yuko

2011-01-01

The conventional cosmological perturbation theory has been performed under the assumption that we know the whole spatial region of the universe with infinite volume. This is, however, not the case in the actual observations because observable portion of the universe is limited. To give a theoretical prediction to the observable fluctuations, gauge-invariant observables should be composed of the information in our local observable universe with finite volume. From this point of view, we reexamine the primordial non-Gaussianity in single field models, focusing on the bispectrum in the squeezed limit. A conventional prediction states that the bispectrum in this limit is related to the power spectrum through the so-called consistency relation. However, it turns out that, if we adopt a genuine gauge invariant variable which is naturally composed purely of the information in our local universe, the leading term for the bispectrum in the squeezed limit predicted by the consistency relation vanishes

Online self-report questionnaire on computer work-related exposure (OSCWE): validity and internal consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Mekhora, Keerin; Jalayondeja, Wattana; Jalayondeja, Chutima; Bhuanantanondh, Petcharatana; Dusadiisariyavong, Asadang; Upiriyasakul, Rujiret; Anuraktam, Khajornyod

2014-07-01

To develop an online, self-report questionnaire on computer work-related exposure (OSCWE) and to determine the internal consistency, face and content validity of the questionnaire. The online, self-report questionnaire was developed to determine the risk factors related to musculoskeletal disorders in computer users. It comprised five domains: personal, work-related, work environment, physical health and psychosocial factors. The questionnaire's content was validated by an occupational medical doctor and three physical therapy lecturers involved in ergonomic teaching. Twenty-five lay people examined the feasibility of computer-administered and the user-friendly language. The item correlation in each domain was analyzed by the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha; alpha). The content of the questionnaire was considered congruent with the testing purposes. Eight hundred and thirty-five computer users at the PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited registered to the online self-report questionnaire. The internal consistency of the five domains was: personal (alpha = 0.58), work-related (alpha = 0.348), work environment (alpha = 0.72), physical health (alpha = 0.68) and psychosocial factor (alpha = 0.93). The findings suggested that the OSCWE had acceptable internal consistency for work environment and psychosocial factors. The OSCWE is available to use in population-based survey research among computer office workers.

Ward identities and consistency relations for the large scale structure with multiple species

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peloso, Marco; Pietroni, Massimo

2014-01-01

We present fully nonlinear consistency relations for the squeezed bispectrum of Large Scale Structure. These relations hold when the matter component of the Universe is composed of one or more species, and generalize those obtained in [1,2] in the single species case. The multi-species relations apply to the standard dark matter + baryons scenario, as well as to the case in which some of the fields are auxiliary quantities describing a particular population, such as dark matter halos or a specific galaxy class. If a large scale velocity bias exists between the different populations new terms appear in the consistency relations with respect to the single species case. As an illustration, we discuss two physical cases in which such a velocity bias can exist: (1) a new long range scalar force in the dark matter sector (resulting in a violation of the equivalence principle in the dark matter-baryon system), and (2) the distribution of dark matter halos relative to that of the underlying dark matter field

Consistency relation and inflaton field redefinition in the δN formalism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Domènech, Guillem [Center for Gravitational Physics, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan); Gong, Jinn-Ouk, E-mail: jinn-ouk.gong@apctp.org [Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Pohang 37673 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Physics, Postech, Pohang 37673 (Korea, Republic of); Sasaki, Misao [Center for Gravitational Physics, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)

2017-06-10

We compute for general single-field inflation the intrinsic non-Gaussianity due to the self-interactions of the inflaton field in the squeezed limit. We recover the consistency relation in the context of the δN formalism, and argue that there is a particular field redefinition that makes the intrinsic non-Gaussianity vanishing, thus improving the estimate of the local non-Gaussianity using the δN formalism.

Are Canadian clinicians providing consistent sport-related concussion management advice?

Science.gov (United States)

Carson, James D; Rendely, Alexandra; Garel, Alisha; Meaney, Christopher; Stoller, Jacqueline; Kaicker, Jatin; Hayden, Leigh; Moineddin, Rahim; Frémont, Pierre

2016-06-01

To compare the knowledge and use of recommendations for the management of sport-related concussion (SRC) among sport and exercise medicine physicians (SEMPs) and emergency department physicians (EDPs) to assess the success of SRC knowledge transfer across Canada. A self-administered, multiple-choice survey accessed via e-mail by SEMPs and EDPs. The survey had been assessed for content validity. Canada. The survey was completed between May and July 2012 by SEMPs who had passed the diploma examination of the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine and by EDPs who did not hold this diploma. Knowledge and identification of sources of concussion management information, use of concussion diagnosis strategies, and whether physicians use common and consistent terminology when explaining cognitive rest strategies to patients after an SRC. There was a response rate of 28% (305 of 1085). The SEMP and EDP response rates were 41% (147 of 360) and 22% (158 of 725), respectively. Of the responses, 41% of EDPs and 3% of SEMPs were unaware of any consensus statements on concussion in sport; 74% of SEMPs used the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, version 2 (SCAT2), "usually or always," whereas 88% of EDPs never used the SCAT2. When queried about how cognitive rest could best be achieved after an SRC, no consistent answer was documented. Differences and a lack of consistency in the implementation of recommendations for SRC patients were identified for SEMPs and EDPs. It appears that the SCAT2 is used more in the SEMP setting than in the emergency context. Further knowledge transfer efforts and research should address the barriers to achieving more consistent advice given by physicians who attend SRC patients. Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

General factorization relations and consistency conditions in the sudden approximation via infinite matrix inversion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan, C.K.; Hoffman, D.K.; Evans, J.W.

1985-01-01

Local, i.e., multiplicative, operators satisfy well-known linear factorization relations wherein matrix elements (between states associated with a complete set of wave functions) can be obtained as a linear combination of those out of the ground state (the input data). Analytic derivation of factorization relations for general state input data results in singular integral expressions for the coefficients, which can, however, be regularized using consistency conditions between matrix elements out of a single (nonground) state. Similar results hold for suitable ''symmetry class'' averaged matrix elements where the symmetry class projection operators are ''complete.'' In several cases where the wave functions or projection operators incorporate orthogonal polynomial dependence, we show that the ground state factorization relations have a simplified structure allowing an alternative derivation of the general factorization relations via an infinite matrix inversion procedure. This form is shown to have some advantages over previous versions. In addition, this matrix inversion procedure obtains all consistency conditions (which is not always the case from regularization of singular integrals)

Nonlinear cosmological consistency relations and effective matter stresses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ballesteros, Guillermo; Hollenstein, Lukas; Jain, Rajeev Kumar; Kunz, Martin

2012-01-01

We propose a fully nonlinear framework to construct consistency relations for testing generic cosmological scenarios using the evolution of large scale structure. It is based on the covariant approach in combination with a frame that is purely given by the metric, the normal frame. As an example, we apply this framework to the ΛCDM model, by extending the usual first order conditions on the metric potentials to second order, where the two potentials start to differ from each other. We argue that working in the normal frame is not only a practical choice but also helps with the physical interpretation of nonlinear dynamics. In this frame, effective pressures and anisotropic stresses appear at second order in perturbation theory, even for ''pressureless'' dust. We quantify their effect and compare them, for illustration, to the pressure of a generic clustering dark energy fluid and the anisotropic stress in the DGP model. Besides, we also discuss the effect of a mismatch of the potentials on the determination of galaxy bias

On the analytical demonstration of Planck-Einstein relation

OpenAIRE

Molina Morales, Eddy Luis

2016-01-01

In this paper a possible analytical demonstration of Planck's Law for the spectral distribution of the electromagnetic energy radiated by hot bodies is presented, but in this case, the solutions of Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic radiation problem of Hertz’s dipole are used. The concepts of quantum energy and of photon are redefined from the classical point of view, relating them to the possible electronic nature of electromagnetic waves and the electromagnetic field in general. B...

West Valley Demonstration Project community relations plan FY 1990/91

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Damerow, M.W.

1989-09-01

The purpose of the Community Relations Plan is to fully inform the community about the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) and provide opportunities for public input. A sound approach to community relations is essential to the creation and maintenance of public awareness and community support. The WVDP is a matter of considerable public interest because it deals with nuclear waste. The mission of the WVDP is to solve an existing environmental concern by solidifying high-level radioactive waste and transporting the solidified waste to a federal repository for permanent disposal. The public requires evidence of the continued commitment and demonstrated progress of the industry and government in carrying out the mission in order to sustain confidence that the WVDP is being managed well and will be discussed successfully completed. For this reason, a comprehensive communication plan is essential for the successful completion of the WVDP

Consistent forcing scheme in the cascaded lattice Boltzmann method.

Science.gov (United States)

Fei, Linlin; Luo, Kai Hong

2017-11-01

In this paper, we give an alternative derivation for the cascaded lattice Boltzmann method (CLBM) within a general multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) framework by introducing a shift matrix. When the shift matrix is a unit matrix, the CLBM degrades into an MRT LBM. Based on this, a consistent forcing scheme is developed for the CLBM. The consistency of the nonslip rule, the second-order convergence rate in space, and the property of isotropy for the consistent forcing scheme is demonstrated through numerical simulations of several canonical problems. Several existing forcing schemes previously used in the CLBM are also examined. The study clarifies the relation between MRT LBM and CLBM under a general framework.

Consistent forcing scheme in the cascaded lattice Boltzmann method

Science.gov (United States)

Fei, Linlin; Luo, Kai Hong

2017-11-01

In this paper, we give an alternative derivation for the cascaded lattice Boltzmann method (CLBM) within a general multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) framework by introducing a shift matrix. When the shift matrix is a unit matrix, the CLBM degrades into an MRT LBM. Based on this, a consistent forcing scheme is developed for the CLBM. The consistency of the nonslip rule, the second-order convergence rate in space, and the property of isotropy for the consistent forcing scheme is demonstrated through numerical simulations of several canonical problems. Several existing forcing schemes previously used in the CLBM are also examined. The study clarifies the relation between MRT LBM and CLBM under a general framework.

Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pasi Nieminen

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Previous physics education research has raised the question of “hidden variables” behind students’ success in learning certain concepts. In the context of the force concept, it has been suggested that students’ reasoning ability is one such variable. Strong positive correlations between students’ preinstruction scores for reasoning ability (measured by Lawson’s Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning and their learning of forces [measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI] have been reported in high school and university introductory courses. However, there is no published research concerning the relation between students’ ability to interpret multiple representations consistently (i.e., representational consistency and their learning of forces. To investigate this, we collected 131 high school students’ pre- and post-test data of the Representational Variant of the Force Concept Inventory (for representational consistency and the FCI. The students’ Lawson pretest data were also collected. We found that the preinstruction level of students’ representational consistency correlated strongly with student learning gain of forces. The correlation (0.51 was almost equal to the correlation between Lawson prescore and learning gain of forces (0.52. Our results support earlier findings which suggest that scientific reasoning ability is a hidden variable behind the learning of forces. In addition, we suggest that students’ representational consistency may also be such a factor, and that this should be recognized in physics teaching.

Psychometrics and the neuroscience of individual differences: Internal consistency limits between-subjects effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Hajcak, Greg; Meyer, Alexandria; Kotov, Roman

2017-08-01

In the clinical neuroscience literature, between-subjects differences in neural activity are presumed to reflect reliable measures-even though the psychometric properties of neural measures are almost never reported. The current article focuses on the critical importance of assessing and reporting internal consistency reliability-the homogeneity of "items" that comprise a neural "score." We demonstrate how variability in the internal consistency of neural measures limits between-subjects (i.e., individual differences) effects. To this end, we utilize error-related brain activity (i.e., the error-related negativity or ERN) in both healthy and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) participants to demonstrate options for psychometric analyses of neural measures; we examine between-groups differences in internal consistency, between-groups effect sizes, and between-groups discriminability (i.e., ROC analyses)-all as a function of increasing items (i.e., number of trials). Overall, internal consistency should be used to inform experimental design and the choice of neural measures in individual differences research. The internal consistency of neural measures is necessary for interpreting results and guiding progress in clinical neuroscience-and should be routinely reported in all individual differences studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Relative amplitude preservation processing utilizing surface consistent amplitude correction. Part 4; Surface consistent amplitude correction wo mochiita sotai shinpuku hozon shori. 4

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saeki, T [Japan National Oil Corp., Tokyo (Japan). Technology Research Center

1997-10-22

Discussions were given on seismic exploration from the ground surface using the reflection method, for surface consistent amplitude correction from among effects imposed from the ground surface and a surface layer. Amplitude distribution on the reflection wave zone is complex. Therefore, items to be considered in making an analysis are multiple, such as estimation of spherical surface divergence effect and exponential attenuation effect, not only amplitude change through the surface layer. If all of these items are taken into consideration, burden of the work becomes excessive. As a method to solve this problem, utilization of amplitude in initial movement of a diffraction wave may be conceived. Distribution of the amplitude in initial movement of the diffraction wave shows a value relatively close to distribution of the vibration transmitting and receiving points. The reason for this is thought because characteristics of the vibration transmitting and receiving points related with waveline paths in the vicinity of the ground surface have no great difference both on the diffraction waves and on the reflection waves. The lecture described in this paper introduces an attempt of improving the efficiency of the surface consistent amplitude correction by utilizing the analysis of amplitude in initial movement of the diffraction wave. 4 refs., 2 figs.

The existence of superluminal particles is consistent with the kinematics of Einstein's special theory of relativity

OpenAIRE

Székely, Gergely

2012-01-01

Within an axiomatic framework of kinematics, we prove that the existence of faster than light particles is logically independent of Einstein's special theory of relativity. Consequently, it is consistent with the kinematics of special relativity that there might be faster than light particles.

Quasiparticles and thermodynamical consistency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shanenko, A.A.; Biro, T.S.; Toneev, V.D.

2003-01-01

A brief and simple introduction into the problem of the thermodynamical consistency is given. The thermodynamical consistency relations, which should be taken into account under constructing a quasiparticle model, are found in a general manner from the finite-temperature extension of the Hellmann-Feynman theorem. Restrictions following from these relations are illustrated by simple physical examples. (author)

Single-field consistency relations of large scale structure part III: test of the equivalence principle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Creminelli, Paolo [Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, Trieste, 34151 (Italy); Gleyzes, Jérôme; Vernizzi, Filippo [CEA, Institut de Physique Théorique, Gif-sur-Yvette cédex, F-91191 France (France); Hui, Lam [Physics Department and Institute for Strings, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027 (United States); Simonović, Marko, E-mail: creminel@ictp.it, E-mail: jerome.gleyzes@cea.fr, E-mail: lhui@astro.columbia.edu, E-mail: msimonov@sissa.it, E-mail: filippo.vernizzi@cea.fr [SISSA, via Bonomea 265, Trieste, 34136 (Italy)

2014-06-01

The recently derived consistency relations for Large Scale Structure do not hold if the Equivalence Principle (EP) is violated. We show it explicitly in a toy model with two fluids, one of which is coupled to a fifth force. We explore the constraints that galaxy surveys can set on EP violation looking at the squeezed limit of the 3-point function involving two populations of objects. We find that one can explore EP violations of order 10{sup −3}÷10{sup −4} on cosmological scales. Chameleon models are already very constrained by the requirement of screening within the Solar System and only a very tiny region of the parameter space can be explored with this method. We show that no violation of the consistency relations is expected in Galileon models.

WOrk-Related Questionnaire for UPper extremity disorders (WORQ-UP): Factor Analysis and Internal Consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Aerts, Bas R; Kuijer, P Paul; Beumer, Annechien; Eygendaal, Denise; Frings-Dresen, Monique H

2018-04-17

To test a 17-item questionnaire, the WOrk-Related Questionnaire for UPper extremity disorders (WORQ-UP), for dimensionality of the items (factor analysis) and internal consistency. Cross-sectional study. Outpatient clinic. A consecutive sample of patients (N=150) consisting of all new referral patients (either from a general physician or other hospital) who visited the orthopedic outpatient clinic because of an upper extremity musculoskeletal disorder. Not applicable. Number and dimensionality of the factors in the WORQ-UP. Four factors with eigenvalues (EVs) >1.0 were found. The factors were named exertion, dexterity, tools & equipment, and mobility. The EVs of the factors were, respectively, 5.78, 2.38, 1.81, and 1.24. The factors together explained 65.9% of the variance. The Cronbach alpha values for these factors were, respectively, .88, .74, .87, and .66. The 17 items of the WORQ-UP resemble 4 factors-exertion, dexterity, tools & equipment, and mobility-with a good internal consistency. Copyright © 2018 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparison of the relative stability of pharmaceutical cocrystals consisting of paracetamol and dicarboxylic acids.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Naoto; Kawahata, Masatoshi; Yamaguchi, Kentaro; Suzuki, Toyofumi; Tomono, Kazuo; Fukami, Toshiro

2018-04-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relative stability of pharmaceutical cocrystals consisting of paracetamol (APAP) and oxalic acid (OXA) or maleic acid (MLA). These observations of cocrystal stability under various conditions are useful coformer criteria when cocrystals are selected as the active pharmaceutical ingredient in drug development. The relative stability was determined from the preferentially formed cocrystals under various conditions. Cocrystal of APAP-OXA was more stable than that of APAP-MLA in a ternary cogrinding system and possessed thermodynamical stability. On the other hand, when grinding with moisture or maintaining at high temperatures and relative humidity conditions, APAP-MLA was more stable, and OXA converted to OXA dihydrate. In the slurry method, APAP-OXA was more stable in aprotic solvents because the APAP-OXA with low-solubility product precipitated. The relative stability order was affected by preparing conditions of presence of moisture. This order might attribute to the small difference of crystal structure in the extension of the hydrogen bond network.

MRI Study on the Functional and Spatial Consistency of Resting State-Related Independent Components of the Brain Network

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeong, Bum Seok [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Jee Wook [Daejeon St. Mary' s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Ji Woong [College of Medical Science, Konyang University, Daejeon(Korea, Republic of)

2012-06-15

Resting-state networks (RSNs), including the default mode network (DMN), have been considered as markers of brain status such as consciousness, developmental change, and treatment effects. The consistency of functional connectivity among RSNs has not been fully explored, especially among resting-state-related independent components (RSICs). This resting-state fMRI study addressed the consistency of functional connectivity among RSICs as well as their spatial consistency between 'at day 1' and 'after 4 weeks' in 13 healthy volunteers. We found that most RSICs, especially the DMN, are reproducible across time, whereas some RSICs were variable in either their spatial characteristics or their functional connectivity. Relatively low spatial consistency was found in the basal ganglia, a parietal region of left frontoparietal network, and the supplementary motor area. The functional connectivity between two independent components, the bilateral angular/supramarginal gyri/intraparietal lobule and bilateral middle temporal/occipital gyri, was decreased across time regardless of the correlation analysis method employed, (Pearson's or partial correlation). RSICs showing variable consistency are different between spatial characteristics and functional connectivity. To understand the brain as a dynamic network, we recommend further investigation of both changes in the activation of specific regions and the modulation of functional connectivity in the brain network.

MRI Study on the Functional and Spatial Consistency of Resting State-Related Independent Components of the Brain Network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Bum Seok; Choi, Jee Wook; Kim, Ji Woong

2012-01-01

Resting-state networks (RSNs), including the default mode network (DMN), have been considered as markers of brain status such as consciousness, developmental change, and treatment effects. The consistency of functional connectivity among RSNs has not been fully explored, especially among resting-state-related independent components (RSICs). This resting-state fMRI study addressed the consistency of functional connectivity among RSICs as well as their spatial consistency between 'at day 1' and 'after 4 weeks' in 13 healthy volunteers. We found that most RSICs, especially the DMN, are reproducible across time, whereas some RSICs were variable in either their spatial characteristics or their functional connectivity. Relatively low spatial consistency was found in the basal ganglia, a parietal region of left frontoparietal network, and the supplementary motor area. The functional connectivity between two independent components, the bilateral angular/supramarginal gyri/intraparietal lobule and bilateral middle temporal/occipital gyri, was decreased across time regardless of the correlation analysis method employed, (Pearson's or partial correlation). RSICs showing variable consistency are different between spatial characteristics and functional connectivity. To understand the brain as a dynamic network, we recommend further investigation of both changes in the activation of specific regions and the modulation of functional connectivity in the brain network.

Multiphase flows of N immiscible incompressible fluids: A reduction-consistent and thermodynamically-consistent formulation and associated algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, S.

2018-05-01

We present a reduction-consistent and thermodynamically consistent formulation and an associated numerical algorithm for simulating the dynamics of an isothermal mixture consisting of N (N ⩾ 2) immiscible incompressible fluids with different physical properties (densities, viscosities, and pair-wise surface tensions). By reduction consistency we refer to the property that if only a set of M (1 ⩽ M ⩽ N - 1) fluids are present in the system then the N-phase governing equations and boundary conditions will exactly reduce to those for the corresponding M-phase system. By thermodynamic consistency we refer to the property that the formulation honors the thermodynamic principles. Our N-phase formulation is developed based on a more general method that allows for the systematic construction of reduction-consistent formulations, and the method suggests the existence of many possible forms of reduction-consistent and thermodynamically consistent N-phase formulations. Extensive numerical experiments have been presented for flow problems involving multiple fluid components and large density ratios and large viscosity ratios, and the simulation results are compared with the physical theories or the available physical solutions. The comparisons demonstrate that our method produces physically accurate results for this class of problems.

Fuel Gas Demonstration Plant Program. Volume I. Demonstration plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-01-01

The objective of this project is for Babcock Contractors Inc. (BCI) to provide process designs, and gasifier retort design for a fuel gas demonstration plant for Erie Mining Company at Hoyt Lake, Minnesota. The fuel gas produced will be used to supplement natural gas and fuel oil for iron ore pellet induration. The fuel gas demonstration plant will consist of five stirred, two-stage fixed-bed gasifier retorts capable of handling caking and non-caking coals, and provisions for the installation of a sixth retort. The process and unit design has been based on operation with caking coals; however, the retorts have been designed for easy conversion to handle non-caking coals. The demonstration unit has been designed to provide for expansion to a commercial plant (described in Commercial Plant Package) in an economical manner.

Techniques for Reducing Consistency-Related Communication in Distributed Shared Memory System

OpenAIRE

Zwaenepoel, W; Bennett, J.K.; Carter, J.B.

1995-01-01

Distributed shared memory 8DSM) is an abstraction of shared memory on a distributed memory machine. Hardware DSM systems support this abstraction at the architecture level; software DSM systems support the abstraction within the runtime system. One of the key problems in building an efficient software DSM system is to reduce the amount of communication needed to keep the distributed memories consistent. In this paper we present four techniques for doing so: 1) software release consistency; 2)...

Structural Consistency, Consistency, and Sequential Rationality.

OpenAIRE

Kreps, David M; Ramey, Garey

1987-01-01

Sequential equilibria comprise consistent beliefs and a sequentially ra tional strategy profile. Consistent beliefs are limits of Bayes ratio nal beliefs for sequences of strategies that approach the equilibrium strategy. Beliefs are structurally consistent if they are rationaliz ed by some single conjecture concerning opponents' strategies. Consis tent beliefs are not necessarily structurally consistent, notwithstan ding a claim by Kreps and Robert Wilson (1982). Moreover, the spirit of stru...

Consistency between verbal and non-verbal affective cues: a clue to speaker credibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillis, Randall L; Nilsen, Elizabeth S

2017-06-01

Listeners are exposed to inconsistencies in communication; for example, when speakers' words (i.e. verbal) are discrepant with their demonstrated emotions (i.e. non-verbal). Such inconsistencies introduce ambiguity, which may render a speaker to be a less credible source of information. Two experiments examined whether children make credibility discriminations based on the consistency of speakers' affect cues. In Experiment 1, school-age children (7- to 8-year-olds) preferred to solicit information from consistent speakers (e.g. those who provided a negative statement with negative affect), over novel speakers, to a greater extent than they preferred to solicit information from inconsistent speakers (e.g. those who provided a negative statement with positive affect) over novel speakers. Preschoolers (4- to 5-year-olds) did not demonstrate this preference. Experiment 2 showed that school-age children's ratings of speakers were influenced by speakers' affect consistency when the attribute being judged was related to information acquisition (speakers' believability, "weird" speech), but not general characteristics (speakers' friendliness, likeability). Together, findings suggest that school-age children are sensitive to, and use, the congruency of affect cues to determine whether individuals are credible sources of information.

Do Health Systems Have Consistent Performance Across Locations and Is Consistency Associated With Higher Performance?

Science.gov (United States)

Crespin, Daniel J; Christianson, Jon B; McCullough, Jeffrey S; Finch, Michael D

This study addresses whether health systems have consistent diabetes care performance across their ambulatory clinics and whether increasing consistency is associated with improvements in clinic performance. Study data included 2007 to 2013 diabetes care intermediate outcome measures for 661 ambulatory clinics in Minnesota and bordering states. Health systems provided more consistent performance, as measured by the standard deviation of performance for clinics in a system, relative to propensity score-matched proxy systems created for comparison purposes. No evidence was found that improvements in consistency were associated with higher clinic performance. The combination of high performance and consistent care is likely to enhance a health system's brand reputation, allowing it to better mitigate the financial risks of consumers seeking care outside the organization. These results suggest that larger health systems are most likely to deliver the combination of consistent and high-performance care. Future research should explore the mechanisms that drive consistent care within health systems.

Magnetic Exchange Couplings from Semilocal Functionals Evaluated Nonself-Consistently on Hybrid Densities: Insights on Relative Importance of Exchange, Correlation, and Delocalization.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Jordan J; Peralta, Juan E

2012-09-11

Semilocal functionals generally yield poor magnetic exchange couplings for transition-metal complexes, typically overpredicting in magnitude the experimental values. Here we show that semilocal functionals evaluated nonself-consistently on densities from hybrid functionals can yield magnetic exchange couplings that are greatly improved with respect to their self-consistent semilocal values. Furthermore, when semilocal functionals are evaluated nonself-consistently on densities from a "half-and-half" hybrid, their errors with respect to experimental values can actually be lower than those from self-consistent calculations with standard hybrid functionals such as PBEh or TPSSh. This illustrates that despite their notoriously poor performance for exchange couplings, for many systems semilocal functionals are capable of delivering accurate relative energies for magnetic states provided that their electron delocalization error is corrected. However, while self-consistent calculations with hybrids uniformly improve results for all complexes, evaluating nonself-consistently with semilocal functionals does not give a balanced improvement for both ferro- and antiferromagnetically coupled complexes, indicating that there is more at play with the overestimation problem than simply the delocalization error. Additionally, we show that for some systems the conventional wisdom of choice of exchange functional mattering more than correlation does not hold. This combined with results from the nonself-consistent calculations provide insight on clarifying the relative roles of exchange, correlation, and delocalization in calculating magnetic exchange coupling parameters in Kohn-Sham Density Functional Theory.

Self-consistent mean-field models for nuclear structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bender, Michael; Heenen, Paul-Henri; Reinhard, Paul-Gerhard

2003-01-01

The authors review the present status of self-consistent mean-field (SCMF) models for describing nuclear structure and low-energy dynamics. These models are presented as effective energy-density functionals. The three most widely used variants of SCMF's based on a Skyrme energy functional, a Gogny force, and a relativistic mean-field Lagrangian are considered side by side. The crucial role of the treatment of pairing correlations is pointed out in each case. The authors discuss other related nuclear structure models and present several extensions beyond the mean-field model which are currently used. Phenomenological adjustment of the model parameters is discussed in detail. The performance quality of the SCMF model is demonstrated for a broad range of typical applications

Consistence of Network Filtering Rules

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

SHE Kun; WU Yuancheng; HUANG Juncai; ZHOU Mingtian

2004-01-01

The inconsistence of firewall/VPN(Virtual Private Network) rule makes a huge maintainable cost.With development of Multinational Company,SOHO office,E-government the number of firewalls/VPN will increase rapidly.Rule table in stand-alone or network will be increased in geometric series accordingly.Checking the consistence of rule table manually is inadequate.A formal approach can define semantic consistence,make a theoretic foundation of intelligent management about rule tables.In this paper,a kind of formalization of host rules and network ones for auto rule-validation based on SET theory were proporsed and a rule validation scheme was defined.The analysis results show the superior performance of the methods and demonstrate its potential for the intelligent management based on rule tables.

Hydrologic consistency as a basis for assessing complexity of monthly water balance models for the continental United States

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, Guillermo F.; Gupta, Hoshin V.

2011-12-01

Methods to select parsimonious and hydrologically consistent model structures are useful for evaluating dominance of hydrologic processes and representativeness of data. While information criteria (appropriately constrained to obey underlying statistical assumptions) can provide a basis for evaluating appropriate model complexity, it is not sufficient to rely upon the principle of maximum likelihood (ML) alone. We suggest that one must also call upon a "principle of hydrologic consistency," meaning that selected ML structures and parameter estimates must be constrained (as well as possible) to reproduce desired hydrological characteristics of the processes under investigation. This argument is demonstrated in the context of evaluating the suitability of candidate model structures for lumped water balance modeling across the continental United States, using data from 307 snow-free catchments. The models are constrained to satisfy several tests of hydrologic consistency, a flow space transformation is used to ensure better consistency with underlying statistical assumptions, and information criteria are used to evaluate model complexity relative to the data. The results clearly demonstrate that the principle of consistency provides a sensible basis for guiding selection of model structures and indicate strong spatial persistence of certain model structures across the continental United States. Further work to untangle reasons for model structure predominance can help to relate conceptual model structures to physical characteristics of the catchments, facilitating the task of prediction in ungaged basins.

Perception of parents as demonstrating the inherent merit of their values: relations with self-congruence and subjective well-being.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Shi; Assor, Avi; Liu, Xiangping

2015-02-01

This study focuses on the parenting practice of inherent value demonstration (IVD), involving parents' tendency to express their values in behaviours and appear satisfied and vital while doing so. Data from Chinese college students (n = 89) confirmed the hypothesis that offspring's perception of their parents as engaged in IVD predicts offspring's subjective well-being (SWB) through sense of self-congruence. Importantly, these relations emerged also when controlling for fundamental autonomy-supportive (FAS) parenting practices such as taking children's perspective, minimising control and allowing choice. These findings are consistent with the view that parents concerned with their children's sense of autonomy may do well to engage in IVD in addition to more fundamental autonomy-supportive practices. Future research may examine the role of IVD in promoting authentic values that serve as an internal compass that guides children to act in ways that feel self-congruent. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

Consistent Differential Expression Pattern (CDEP) on microarray to identify genes related to metastatic behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsoi, Lam C; Qin, Tingting; Slate, Elizabeth H; Zheng, W Jim

2011-11-11

To utilize the large volume of gene expression information generated from different microarray experiments, several meta-analysis techniques have been developed. Despite these efforts, there remain significant challenges to effectively increasing the statistical power and decreasing the Type I error rate while pooling the heterogeneous datasets from public resources. The objective of this study is to develop a novel meta-analysis approach, Consistent Differential Expression Pattern (CDEP), to identify genes with common differential expression patterns across different datasets. We combined False Discovery Rate (FDR) estimation and the non-parametric RankProd approach to estimate the Type I error rate in each microarray dataset of the meta-analysis. These Type I error rates from all datasets were then used to identify genes with common differential expression patterns. Our simulation study showed that CDEP achieved higher statistical power and maintained low Type I error rate when compared with two recently proposed meta-analysis approaches. We applied CDEP to analyze microarray data from different laboratories that compared transcription profiles between metastatic and primary cancer of different types. Many genes identified as differentially expressed consistently across different cancer types are in pathways related to metastatic behavior, such as ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, and blood vessel development. We also identified novel genes such as AMIGO2, Gem, and CXCL11 that have not been shown to associate with, but may play roles in, metastasis. CDEP is a flexible approach that borrows information from each dataset in a meta-analysis in order to identify genes being differentially expressed consistently. We have shown that CDEP can gain higher statistical power than other existing approaches under a variety of settings considered in the simulation study, suggesting its robustness and insensitivity to data variation commonly associated with microarray

Λ CDM is Consistent with SPARC Radial Acceleration Relation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keller, B. W.; Wadsley, J. W., E-mail: kellerbw@mcmaster.ca [Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1 (Canada)

2017-01-20

Recent analysis of the Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curve (SPARC) galaxy sample found a surprisingly tight relation between the radial acceleration inferred from the rotation curves and the acceleration due to the baryonic components of the disk. It has been suggested that this relation may be evidence for new physics, beyond Λ CDM . In this Letter, we show that 32 galaxies from the MUGS2 match the SPARC acceleration relation. These cosmological simulations of star-forming, rotationally supported disks were simulated with a WMAP3 Λ CDM cosmology, and match the SPARC acceleration relation with less scatter than the observational data. These results show that this acceleration relation is a consequence of dissipative collapse of baryons, rather than being evidence for exotic dark-sector physics or new dynamical laws.

The accuracy and consistency of nutrition care process terminology use in cases of refeeding syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Matthews, Kylie L; Palmer, Michelle A; Capra, Sandra M

2017-11-08

Using standardised terminology in acute care has encouraged consistency in patient care and the evaluation of outcomes. As such, the Nutrition Care Process (NCP) and Nutrition Care Process Terminology (NCPT) may assist dietitian nutritionists in the delivery of high quality nutrition care worldwide; however, limited research has been conducted examining the consistency and accuracy of its use. We aimed to examine the NCPT that dietitian nutritionists would use to formulate a diagnostic statement relating to refeeding syndrome (RFS). A multimethod action research approach was used, incorporating two projects. The first was a survey examining Australian dietitian nutritionists' (n = 195) opinions regarding NCPT use in cases of RFS. To establish if results were similar internationally, an interview was then conducted with 22 dietitian nutritionists working within 10 different countries. 'Imbalance of nutrients' was only identified as a correct code by 17% of respondents in project 1. No mention of this term was made in project 2. Also 86% of respondents incorrectly selected more than one diagnostic code. The majority of respondents (80%, n = 52/65) who incorrectly selected 'Malnutrition', without also selecting 'Imbalance of nutrients', selected 'reduce intake' as an intervention, suggesting some misunderstanding in the requirement for interrelated diagnoses, interventions and goals. Our findings demonstrate that there is limited accuracy and consistency in selecting nutritional diagnostic codes in relation to RFS. Respondents also demonstrated limited knowledge regarding appropriate application of the NCP and NCPT. Implementation practices may require further refinement, as accurate and consistent use is required to procure the benefits of standardised terminology. © 2017 Dietitians Association of Australia.

Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration lessons learned: 1993 technology demonstrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostelnik, K.M.; Owens, K.J.

1994-01-01

An integrated technology demonstration was conducted by the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration (BWID) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Cold Test Pit in the summer of 1993. This program and demonstration was sponsored by the US Department of Energy Office of Technology Development. The demonstration included six technologies representing a synergistic system for the characterization and retrieval of a buried hazardous waste site. The integrated technology demonstration proved very successful and a summary of the technical accomplishments is presented. Upon completion of the integrated technology demonstration, cognizant program personnel participated in a lessons learned exercise. This exercise was conducted at the Simplot Decision Support Center at Idaho State University and lessons learned activity captured additional information relative to the integration of technologies for demonstration purposes. This information will be used by BWID to enhance program planning and strengthen future technology demonstrations

Consistent-handed individuals are more authoritarian.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyle, Keith B; Grillo, Michael C

2014-01-01

Individuals differ in the consistency with which they use one hand over the other to perform everyday activities. Some individuals are very consistent, habitually using a single hand to perform most tasks. Others are relatively inconsistent, and hence make greater use of both hands. More- versus less-consistent individuals have been shown to differ in numerous aspects of personality and cognition. In several respects consistent-handed individuals resemble authoritarian individuals. For example, both consistent-handedness and authoritarianism have been linked to cognitive inflexibility. Therefore we hypothesised that consistent-handedness is an external marker for authoritarianism. Confirming our hypothesis, we found that consistent-handers scored higher than inconsistent-handers on a measure of submission to authority, were more likely to identify with a conservative political party (Republican), and expressed less-positive attitudes towards out-groups. We propose that authoritarianism may be influenced by the degree of interaction between the left and right brain hemispheres, which has been found to differ between consistent- and inconsistent-handed individuals.

Multifractality and quantum diffusion from self-consistent theory of localization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suslov, I. M., E-mail: suslov@kapitza.ras.ru [Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems (Russian Federation)

2015-11-15

Multifractal properties of wave functions in a disordered system can be derived from self-consistent theory of localization by Vollhardt and Wölfle. A diagrammatic interpretation of results allows to obtain all scaling relations used in numerical experiments. The arguments are given that the one-loop Wegner result for a space dimension d = 2 + ϵ is exact, so the multifractal spectrum is strictly parabolical. The σ-models are shown to be deficient at the four-loop level and the possible reasons of that are discussed. The extremely slow convergence to the thermodynamic limit is demonstrated. The open question on the relation between multifractality and a spatial dispersion of the diffusion coefficient D(ω, q) is resolved in the compromise manner due to ambiguity of the D(ω, q) definition. Comparison is made with the extensive numerical material.

Consistent guiding center drift theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wimmel, H.K.

1982-04-01

Various guiding-center drift theories are presented that are optimized in respect of consistency. They satisfy exact energy conservation theorems (in time-independent fields), Liouville's theorems, and appropriate power balance equations. A theoretical framework is given that allows direct and exact derivation of associated drift-kinetic equations from the respective guiding-center drift-orbit theories. These drift-kinetic equations are listed. Northrop's non-optimized theory is discussed for reference, and internal consistency relations of G.C. drift theories are presented. (orig.)

Context-dependent individual behavioral consistency in Daphnia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heuschele, Jan; Ekvall, Mikael T.; Bianco, Giuseppe

2017-01-01

The understanding of consistent individual differences in behavior, often termed "personality," for adapting and coping with threats and novel environmental conditions has advanced considerably during the last decade. However, advancements are almost exclusively associated with higher-order animals......, whereas studies focusing on smaller aquatic organisms are still rare. Here, we show individual differences in the swimming behavior of Daphnia magna, a clonal freshwater invertebrate, before, during, and after being exposed to a lethal threat, ultraviolet radiation (UVR). We show consistency in swimming...... that of adults. Overall, we show that aquatic invertebrates are far from being identical robots, but instead they show considerable individual differences in behavior that can be attributed to both ontogenetic development and individual consistency. Our study also demonstrates, for the first time...

A Consistent Fuzzy Preference Relations Based ANP Model for R&D Project Selection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chia-Hua Cheng

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In today’s rapidly changing economy, technology companies have to make decisions on research and development (R&D projects investment on a routine bases with such decisions having a direct impact on that company’s profitability, sustainability and future growth. Companies seeking profitable opportunities for investment and project selection must consider many factors such as resource limitations and differences in assessment, with consideration of both qualitative and quantitative criteria. Often, differences in perception by the various stakeholders hinder the attainment of a consensus of opinion and coordination efforts. Thus, in this study, a hybrid model is developed for the consideration of the complex criteria taking into account the different opinions of the various stakeholders who often come from different departments within the company and have different opinions about which direction to take. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL approach is used to convert the cause and effect relations representing the criteria into a visual network structure. A consistent fuzzy preference relations based analytic network process (CFPR-ANP method is developed to calculate the preference-weights of the criteria based on the derived network structure. The CFPR-ANP is an improvement over the original analytic network process (ANP method in that it reduces the problem of inconsistency as well as the number of pairwise comparisons. The combined complex proportional assessment (COPRAS-G method is applied with fuzzy grey relations to resolve conflicts arising from differences in information and opinions provided by the different stakeholders about the selection of the most suitable R&D projects. This novel combination approach is then used to assist an international brand-name company to prioritize projects and make project decisions that will maximize returns and ensure sustainability for the company.

Event-related potential correlates of emergent inference in human arbitrary relational learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ting; Dymond, Simon

2013-01-01

Two experiments investigated the functional-anatomical correlates of cognition supporting untrained, emergent relational inference in a stimulus equivalence task. In Experiment 1, after learning a series of conditional relations involving words and pseudowords, participants performed a relatedness task during which EEG was recorded. Behavioural performance was faster and more accurate on untrained, indirectly related symmetry (i.e., learn AB and infer BA) and equivalence trials (i.e., learn AB and AC and infer CB) than on unrelated trials, regardless of whether or not a formal test for stimulus equivalence relations had been conducted. Consistent with previous results, event related potentials (ERPs) evoked by trained and emergent trials at parietal and occipital sites differed only for those participants who had not received a prior equivalence test. Experiment 2 further replicated and extended these behavioural and ERP findings using arbitrary symbols as stimuli and demonstrated time and frequency differences for trained and untrained relatedness trials. Overall, the findings demonstrate convincingly the ERP correlates of intra-experimentally established stimulus equivalence relations consisting entirely of arbitrary symbols and offer support for a contemporary cognitive-behavioural model of symbolic categorisation and relational inference. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Full self-consistency versus quasiparticle self-consistency in diagrammatic approaches: exactly solvable two-site Hubbard model.

Science.gov (United States)

Kutepov, A L

2015-08-12

Self-consistent solutions of Hedin's equations (HE) for the two-site Hubbard model (HM) have been studied. They have been found for three-point vertices of increasing complexity (Γ = 1 (GW approximation), Γ1 from the first-order perturbation theory, and the exact vertex Γ(E)). Comparison is made between the cases when an additional quasiparticle (QP) approximation for Green's functions is applied during the self-consistent iterative solving of HE and when QP approximation is not applied. The results obtained with the exact vertex are directly related to the present open question-which approximation is more advantageous for future implementations, GW + DMFT or QPGW + DMFT. It is shown that in a regime of strong correlations only the originally proposed GW + DMFT scheme is able to provide reliable results. Vertex corrections based on perturbation theory (PT) systematically improve the GW results when full self-consistency is applied. The application of QP self-consistency combined with PT vertex corrections shows similar problems to the case when the exact vertex is applied combined with QP sc. An analysis of Ward Identity violation is performed for all studied in this work's approximations and its relation to the general accuracy of the schemes used is provided.

Orthographic Consistency Affects Spoken Word Recognition at Different Grain-Sizes

Science.gov (United States)

Dich, Nadya

2014-01-01

A number of previous studies found that the consistency of sound-to-spelling mappings (feedback consistency) affects spoken word recognition. In auditory lexical decision experiments, words that can only be spelled one way are recognized faster than words with multiple potential spellings. Previous studies demonstrated this by manipulating…

Weak consistency and strong paraconsistency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gemma Robles

2009-11-01

Full Text Available In a standard sense, consistency and paraconsistency are understood as, respectively, the absence of any contradiction and as the absence of the ECQ (“E contradictione quodlibet” rule that allows us to conclude any well formed formula from any contradiction. The aim of this paper is to explain the concepts of weak consistency alternative to the standard one, the concepts of paraconsistency related to them and the concept of strong paraconsistency, all of which have been defined by the author together with José M. Méndez.

Photovoltaic test and demonstration project. [residential energy program

Science.gov (United States)

Forestieri, A. F.; Brandhorst, H. W., Jr.; Deyo, J. N.

1976-01-01

The considered project consists of three subprojects related to applications, device performance and diagnostics, and endurance testing. The objectives of the applications subproject include the determination of the operating characteristics for a variety of photovoltaic conversion systems. A system test facility is being constructed in this connection and a prototype residence experiment is to be conducted. Market demand for solar cells is to be stimulated by demonstrating suitability of solar cells for specific near-term applications. Activities conducted in connection with device performance studies and diagnostics are also discussed along with developments in the area of endurance testing.

Assessment of the implementation risks for ALFRED demonstrator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Constantin, M.; Diaconu, D.

2016-01-01

The risks related to the implementation of ALFRED demonstrator in Romania are discussed. The assessment is based on the risk matrix approach. Two groups of experts were used in the investigation: participants in FP7 ARCADIA projects and members of the FALCON consortium. The results consist of the hierarchy of the risks obtained based on the appreciations of the two groups. They are comparatively presented and discussed in terms of the identified critical risks and possible measures for prevention and mitigation. Additionally, some elements derived from the experience of similar project such as SUSEN and ELI-NP are discussed. (authors)

Personality and Situation Predictors of Consistent Eating Patterns

OpenAIRE

Vainik, Uku; Dub?, Laurette; Lu, Ji; Fellows, Lesley K.

2015-01-01

Introduction A consistent eating style might be beneficial to avoid overeating in a food-rich environment. Eating consistency entails maintaining a similar dietary pattern across different eating situations. This construct is relatively under-studied, but the available evidence suggests that eating consistency supports successful weight maintenance and decreases risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. Yet, personality and situation predictors of consistency have not been studi...

Reporting consistently on CSR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Christa; Nielsen, Anne Ellerup

2006-01-01

This chapter first outlines theory and literature on CSR and Stakeholder Relations focusing on the different perspectives and the contextual and dynamic character of the CSR concept. CSR reporting challenges are discussed and a model of analysis is proposed. Next, our paper presents the results...... of a case study showing that companies use different and not necessarily consistent strategies for reporting on CSR. Finally, the implications for managerial practice are discussed. The chapter concludes by highlighting the value and awareness of the discourse and the discourse types adopted...... in the reporting material. By implementing consistent discourse strategies that interact according to a well-defined pattern or order, it is possible to communicate a strong social commitment on the one hand, and to take into consideration the expectations of the shareholders and the other stakeholders...

Consistency Analysis of Ultrasound Echoes within a Dual Symmetric Path Inspection Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

VASILE, C.

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Non-destructive ultrasound inspection of metallic structures is a perpetual high-interest area of research because of its well-known benefits in industrial applications, especially from an economic point of view, where detection and localisation of defects in their most initial stages can help maintain high production capabilities for any enterprise. This paper is aimed at providing further validation regarding a new technique for detecting and localising defects in metals, the Matched Filter-based Dual Symmetric Path Inspection (MF-DSPI. This validation consists in demonstrating the consistency of the useful ultrasound echoes, within the framework of the MF-DSPI. A description of the MF-DSPI method and the related work of the authors with it are presented in this paper, along with an experimental setup used to obtain the data with which the useful echo consistency was studied. The four proposed methods are: signal envelope analysis, L2-norm criterion, correlation coefficient criterion and sliding bounding rectangle analysis. The aim of this paper is to verify the useful echo consistency (with the help of these four approaches, as the MF-DSPI method strongly relies on this feature. The results and their implications are discussed in the latter portion of this study.

Decentralized Consistent Updates in SDN

KAUST Repository

Nguyen, Thanh Dang

2017-04-10

We present ez-Segway, a decentralized mechanism to consistently and quickly update the network state while preventing forwarding anomalies (loops and blackholes) and avoiding link congestion. In our design, the centralized SDN controller only pre-computes information needed by the switches during the update execution. This information is distributed to the switches, which use partial knowledge and direct message passing to efficiently realize the update. This separation of concerns has the key benefit of improving update performance as the communication and computation bottlenecks at the controller are removed. Our evaluations via network emulations and large-scale simulations demonstrate the efficiency of ez-Segway, which compared to a centralized approach, improves network update times by up to 45% and 57% at the median and the 99th percentile, respectively. A deployment of a system prototype in a real OpenFlow switch and an implementation in P4 demonstrate the feasibility and low overhead of implementing simple network update functionality within switches.

Do family physicians, emergency department physicians, and pediatricians give consistent sport-related concussion management advice?

Science.gov (United States)

Stoller, Jacqueline; Carson, James D; Garel, Alisha; Libfeld, Paula; Snow, Catherine L; Law, Marcus; Frémont, Pierre

2014-06-01

To identify differences and gaps in recommendations to patients for the management of sport-related concussion among FPs, emergency department physicians (EDPs), and pediatricians. A self-administered, multiple-choice survey was e-mailed to FPs, EDPs, and pediatricians. The survey had been assessed for content validity. Two community teaching hospitals in the greater Toronto area in Ontario. Two hundred seventy physicians, including FPs, EDPs, and pediatricians, were invited to participate. Identification of sources of concussion management information, usefulness of concussion diagnosis strategies, and whether physicians use common terminology when explaining cognitive rest strategies to patients after sport-related concussions. The response rate was 43.7%. Surveys were completed by 70 FPs, 23 EDPs, and 11 pediatricians. In total, 49% of FP, 52% of EDP, and 27% of pediatrician respondents reported no knowledge of any consensus statements on concussion in sport, and 54% of FPs, 86% of EDPs, and 78% of pediatricians never used the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, version 2. Only 49% of FPs, 57% of EDPs, and 36% of pediatricians always advised cognitive rest. This study identified large gaps in the knowledge of concussion guidelines and implementation of recommendations for treating patients with sport-related concussions. Although some physicians recommended physical and cognitive rest, a large proportion failed to consistently advise this strategy. Better knowledge transfer efforts should target all 3 groups of physicians. Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Personality and Situation Predictors of Consistent Eating Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Vainik, Uku; Dubé, Laurette; Lu, Ji; Fellows, Lesley K

2015-01-01

A consistent eating style might be beneficial to avoid overeating in a food-rich environment. Eating consistency entails maintaining a similar dietary pattern across different eating situations. This construct is relatively under-studied, but the available evidence suggests that eating consistency supports successful weight maintenance and decreases risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. Yet, personality and situation predictors of consistency have not been studied. A community-based sample of 164 women completed various personality tests, and 139 of them also reported their eating behaviour 6 times/day over 10 observational days. We focused on observations with meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner). The participants indicated if their momentary eating patterns were consistent with their own baseline eating patterns in terms of healthiness or size of the meal. Further, participants described various characteristics of each eating situation. Eating consistency was positively predicted by trait self-control. Eating consistency was undermined by eating in the evening, eating with others, eating away from home, having consumed alcohol and having undertaken physical exercise. Interactions emerged between personality traits and situations, including punishment sensitivity, restraint, physical activity and alcohol consumption. Trait self-control and several eating situation variables were related to eating consistency. These findings provide a starting point for targeting interventions to improve consistency, suggesting that a focus on self-control skills, together with addressing contextual factors such as social situations and time of day, may be most promising. This work is a first step to provide people with the tools they need to maintain a consistently healthy lifestyle in a food-rich environment.

Personality and Situation Predictors of Consistent Eating Patterns.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uku Vainik

Full Text Available A consistent eating style might be beneficial to avoid overeating in a food-rich environment. Eating consistency entails maintaining a similar dietary pattern across different eating situations. This construct is relatively under-studied, but the available evidence suggests that eating consistency supports successful weight maintenance and decreases risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. Yet, personality and situation predictors of consistency have not been studied.A community-based sample of 164 women completed various personality tests, and 139 of them also reported their eating behaviour 6 times/day over 10 observational days. We focused on observations with meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The participants indicated if their momentary eating patterns were consistent with their own baseline eating patterns in terms of healthiness or size of the meal. Further, participants described various characteristics of each eating situation.Eating consistency was positively predicted by trait self-control. Eating consistency was undermined by eating in the evening, eating with others, eating away from home, having consumed alcohol and having undertaken physical exercise. Interactions emerged between personality traits and situations, including punishment sensitivity, restraint, physical activity and alcohol consumption.Trait self-control and several eating situation variables were related to eating consistency. These findings provide a starting point for targeting interventions to improve consistency, suggesting that a focus on self-control skills, together with addressing contextual factors such as social situations and time of day, may be most promising. This work is a first step to provide people with the tools they need to maintain a consistently healthy lifestyle in a food-rich environment.

Spinning Up Interest: Classroom Demonstrations of Rotating Fluid Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Aurnou, J.

2005-12-01

The complex relationship between rotation and its effect on fluid motions presents some of the most difficult and vexing concepts for both undergraduate and graduate level students to learn. We have found that student comprehension is greatly increased by the presentation of in-class fluid mechanics experiments. A relatively inexpensive experimental set-up consists of the following components: a record player, a wireless camera placed in the rotating frame, a tank of fluid, and food coloring. At my poster, I will use this set-up to carry out demonstrations that illustrate the Taylor-Proudman theorem, flow within the Ekman layer, columnar convection, and flow around high and low pressure centers. By sending the output of the wireless camera through an LCD projection system, such demonstrations can be carried out even for classes in large lecture halls.

Resource Roads demonstration project : final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-07-15

British Columbia's vast network of resource roads are considered to be amongst the most dangerous, high-risk workplaces in the province. Resource roads, also known as industrial roads, forest service roads, or petroleum development roads, present several unique safety challenges as workplaces. They are built for the purpose of access, egress and transport of materials, resources, equipment and people. However, the lack the same diligence of enforcement and a consistent design, construction, maintenance and standard for use as public highways or municipal roads. There are also safety challenges related to public use of resource roads. This report presented a project, called ResourceRoads by WorkSafe BC that focused on the organization and implementation of a management structure that would provide a system of coordination and a process of compliance for the users of the defined road systems. The project was based on information gathered in two forest districts of Prince George and the South Peace Forest Districts. A committee consisting of the actual owner of the road and other users was formed. The report presented a history of British Columbia's resource road system, and discussed resource roads as industrial workplaces and worksites, as well as resource road fatality statistics. The demonstration project was outlined in terms of project leadership; scope; strategic objectives; project purpose; performance objectives; project communication; demonstration areas; and project stages. Project fundamentals and project findings were also presented along with recommendations and responses to the Auditor General report and the Forest Safety Ombudsman report. It was concluded that potential uses of new technologies for resource road vehicles should be reviewed. tabs., figs.

Biodenitrification demonstration test report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benear, A.K.; Murray, S.J.; Lahoda, E.J.; Leslie, J.W.; Patton, J.B.; Menako, C.R.

1987-08-01

A two-column biodenitrification (BDN) facility was constructed at the Feed Materials Production Center (FMPC) in 1985 and 1986 to test the feasibility of biological treatment for industrial nitrate-bearing waste water generated at FMPC. This demonstration facility comprises one-half of the proposed four-column production facility. A demonstration test was conducted over a four month period in 1987. The results indicate the proposed BDN production facility can process FMPC industrial wastewater in a continuous manner while maintaining an effluent that will consistently meet the proposed NPDES limits for combined nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 -N) and nitrite nitrogen (NO 2 -N). The proposed NPDES limits are 62 kg/day average and 124 kg/day maximum. These limits were proportioned to determine that the two-column demonstration facility should meet the limits of 31 kg/day average and 62 kg/day maximum

Self-consistent model of confinement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swift, A.R.

1988-01-01

A model of the large-spatial-distance, zero--three-momentum, limit of QCD is developed from the hypothesis that there is an infrared singularity. Single quarks and gluons do not propagate because they have infinite energy after renormalization. The Hamiltonian formulation of the path integral is used to quantize QCD with physical, nonpropagating fields. Perturbation theory in the infrared limit is simplified by the absence of self-energy insertions and by the suppression of large classes of diagrams due to vanishing propagators. Remaining terms in the perturbation series are resummed to produce a set of nonlinear, renormalizable integral equations which fix both the confining interaction and the physical propagators. Solutions demonstrate the self-consistency of the concepts of an infrared singularity and nonpropagating fields. The Wilson loop is calculated to provide a general proof of confinement. Bethe-Salpeter equations for quark-antiquark pairs and for two gluons have finite-energy solutions in the color-singlet channel. The choice of gauge is addressed in detail. Large classes of corrections to the model are discussed and shown to support self-consistency

A new relative radiometric consistency processing method for change detection based on wavelet transform and a low-pass filter

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2010-01-01

The research purpose of this paper is to show the limitations of the existing radiometric normalization approaches and their disadvantages in change detection of artificial objects by comparing the existing approaches,on the basis of which a preprocessing approach to radiometric consistency,based on wavelet transform and a spatial low-pass filter,has been devised.This approach first separates the high frequency information and low frequency information by wavelet transform.Then,the processing of relative radiometric consistency based on a low-pass filter is conducted on the low frequency parts.After processing,an inverse wavelet transform is conducted to obtain the results image.The experimental results show that this approach can substantially reduce the influence on change detection of linear or nonlinear radiometric differences in multi-temporal images.

Comparing Demonstratives in Kwa

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper is a comparative study of demonstrative forms in three K wa languages, ... relative distance from the deictic centre, such as English this and that, here and there. ... Mostly, the referents of demonstratives are 'activated' or at least.

Risk aversion vs. the Omega ratio : Consistency results

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Balder, Sven; Schweizer, Nikolaus

This paper clarifies when the Omega ratio and related performance measures are consistent with second order stochastic dominance and when they are not. To avoid consistency problems, the threshold parameter in the ratio should be chosen as the expected return of some benchmark – as is commonly done

Regulatory requirements of the integrated technology demonstration program, Savannah River Site (U)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergren, C.L.

1992-01-01

The integrated demonstration program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) involves demonstration, testing and evaluation of new characterization, monitoring, drilling and remediation technologies for soils and groundwater impacted by organic solvent contamination. The regulatory success of the demonstration program has developed as a result of open communications between the regulators and the technical teams involved. This open dialogue is an attempt to allow timely completion of applied environmental restoration demonstrations while meeting all applicable regulatory requirements. Simultaneous processing of multiple regulatory documents (satisfying RCRA, CERCLA, NEPA and various state regulations) has streamlined the overall permitting process. Public involvement is achieved as various regulatory documents are advertised for public comment consistent with the site's community relations plan. The SRS integrated demonstration has been permitted and endorsed by regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. EPA headquarters and regional offices are involved in DOE's integrated Demonstration Program. This relationship allows for rapid regulatory acceptance while reducing federal funding and time requirements. (author)

Measuring consistency of autobiographical memory recall in depression.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Semkovska, Maria

2012-05-15

Autobiographical amnesia assessments in depression need to account for normal changes in consistency over time, contribution of mood and type of memories measured. We report herein validation studies of the Columbia Autobiographical Memory Interview - Short Form (CAMI-SF), exclusively used in depressed patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) but without previous published report of normative data. The CAMI-SF was administered twice with a 6-month interval to 44 healthy volunteers to obtain normative data for retrieval consistency of its Semantic, Episodic-Extended and Episodic-Specific components and assess their reliability and validity. Healthy volunteers showed significant large decreases in retrieval consistency on all components. The Semantic and Episodic-Specific components demonstrated substantial construct validity. We then assessed CAMI-SF retrieval consistencies over a 2-month interval in 30 severely depressed patients never treated with ECT compared with healthy controls (n=19). On initial assessment, depressed patients produced less episodic-specific memories than controls. Both groups showed equivalent amounts of consistency loss over a 2-month interval on all components. At reassessment, only patients with persisting depressive symptoms were distinguishable from controls on episodic-specific memories retrieved. Research quantifying retrograde amnesia following ECT for depression needs to control for normal loss in consistency over time and contribution of persisting depressive symptoms.

Effectiveness of a consistently formulated diffusion-synthetic acceleration differencing approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khalil, H.

1988-01-01

A consistently formulated differencing approach is applied to the diffusion-synthetic acceleration of discrete ordinates calculations based on various spatial differencing schemes. The diffusion ''coupling'' equations derived for each scheme are contrasted to conventional coupling relations and are shown to permit derivation of either point- or box-centered diffusion difference equations. The resulting difference equations are shown to be mathematically equivalent, in slab geometry, to equations derived by applying Larsen's four-step procedure to the S/sub 2/ equations. Fourier stability analysis of the acceleration method applied to slab model problems is used to demonstrate that, for any S/sub n/ differencing scheme (a) the upper bound on the spectral radius of the method occurs in the fine-mesh limit and equals that of the spatially continuous case (0.22466), and (b) the spectral radius decreases with increasing mesh size to an asymptotic value <0.13135. This model problem performance is somewhat superior to that of Larsen's approach, for which the spectral radius is bounded by 0.25 in the wide-mesh limit. Numerical results of multidimensional, heterogeneous, scattering-dominated problems are also presented to demonstrate the rapid convergence of accelerated discrete ordinates calculations using various spatial differencing schemes

Standard Model Vacuum Stability and Weyl Consistency Conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Antipin, Oleg; Gillioz, Marc; Krog, Jens

2013-01-01

At high energy the standard model possesses conformal symmetry at the classical level. This is reflected at the quantum level by relations between the different beta functions of the model. These relations are known as the Weyl consistency conditions. We show that it is possible to satisfy them...... order by order in perturbation theory, provided that a suitable coupling constant counting scheme is used. As a direct phenomenological application, we study the stability of the standard model vacuum at high energies and compare with previous computations violating the Weyl consistency conditions....

Relative contribution of organs other than brain to resting energy expenditure is consistent among male power athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Oshima, Satomi; Miyauchi, Sakiho; Asaka, Meiko; Kawano, Hiroshi; Taguchi, Motoko; Torii, Suguru; Higuchi, Mitsuru

2013-01-01

We have previously shown that resting energy expenditure (REE) adjusted by fat-free mass (FFM) in male college athletes remains consistent regardless of FFM. The FFM comprises internal organs with high metabolic activity, such as liver and brain, which account for 60 to 80% of REE in adults. The purpose of the present study is to examine the contribution of internal organs to the REE of the FFM fraction among male power athletes. The study included 37 American male college football players. REE was measured by indirect calorimetry and body composition was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Mass of brain, liver, and kidneys was measured by MRI and mass of heart was estimated by echocardiography. Normal levels of thyroid hormone (triiodothyronine: T3) were confirmed in all subjects prior to the analysis. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the influence of FFM, fat mass (FM), T3, and mass of organs on variance of REE. Average body weight and FFM were 81.2±11.3 kg and 67.7±7.4 kg, respectively. The relative contributions of liver, kidneys, and heart to REE were consistent regardless of FFM, while the REE of brain was negatively correlated with FFM (r=-0.672, pFFM and T3 were found to be independent factors influencing REE. These results suggest that a steady contribution of internal organs other than the brain is the major reason for the consistency of the REE/FFM ratio in male power athletes.

Delimiting Coefficient a from Internal Consistency and Unidimensionality

Science.gov (United States)

Sijtsma, Klaas

2015-01-01

I discuss the contribution by Davenport, Davison, Liou, & Love (2015) in which they relate reliability represented by coefficient a to formal definitions of internal consistency and unidimensionality, both proposed by Cronbach (1951). I argue that coefficient a is a lower bound to reliability and that concepts of internal consistency and…

A network architecture supporting consistent rich behavior in collaborative interactive applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Marsh, James; Glencross, Mashhuda; Pettifer, Steve; Hubbold, Roger

2006-01-01

Network architectures for collaborative virtual reality have traditionally been dominated by client-server and peer-to-peer approaches, with peer-to-peer strategies typically being favored where minimizing latency is a priority, and client-server where consistency is key. With increasingly sophisticated behavior models and the demand for better support for haptics, we argue that neither approach provides sufficient support for these scenarios and, thus, a hybrid architecture is required. We discuss the relative performance of different distribution strategies in the face of real network conditions and illustrate the problems they face. Finally, we present an architecture that successfully meets many of these challenges and demonstrate its use in a distributed virtual prototyping application which supports simultaneous collaboration for assembly, maintenance, and training applications utilizing haptics.

Diagnostic language consistency among multicultural English-speaking nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Wieck, K L

1996-01-01

Cultural differences among nurses may influence the choice of terminology applicable to use of a nursing diagnostic statement. This study explored whether defining characteristics are consistently applied by culturally varied nurses in an English language setting. Two diagnoses, pain, and high risk for altered skin integrity, were studied within six cultures: African, Asian, Filipino, East Indian, African-American, and Anglo-American nurses. Overall, there was consistency between the cultural groups. Analysis of variance for the pain scale demonstrated differences among cultures on two characteristics of pain, restlessness and grimace. The only difference on the high risk for altered skin integrity scale was found on the distructor, supple skin.

Self-consistent RPA based on a many-body vacuum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jemaï, M.; Schuck, P.

2011-01-01

Self-Consistent RPA is extended in a way so that it is compatible with a variational ansatz for the ground-state wave function as a fermionic many-body vacuum. Employing the usual equation-of-motion technique, we arrive at extended RPA equations of the Self-Consistent RPA structure. In principle the Pauli principle is, therefore, fully respected. However, the correlation functions entering the RPA matrix can only be obtained from a systematic expansion in powers of some combinations of RPA amplitudes. We demonstrate for a model case that this expansion may converge rapidly.

Measuring consistency of autobiographical memory recall in depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Semkovska, Maria; Noone, Martha; Carton, Mary; McLoughlin, Declan M

2012-05-15

Autobiographical amnesia assessments in depression need to account for normal changes in consistency over time, contribution of mood and type of memories measured. We report herein validation studies of the Columbia Autobiographical Memory Interview - Short Form (CAMI-SF), exclusively used in depressed patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) but without previous published report of normative data. The CAMI-SF was administered twice with a 6-month interval to 44 healthy volunteers to obtain normative data for retrieval consistency of its Semantic, Episodic-Extended and Episodic-Specific components and assess their reliability and validity. Healthy volunteers showed significant large decreases in retrieval consistency on all components. The Semantic and Episodic-Specific components demonstrated substantial construct validity. We then assessed CAMI-SF retrieval consistencies over a 2-month interval in 30 severely depressed patients never treated with ECT compared with healthy controls (n=19). On initial assessment, depressed patients produced less episodic-specific memories than controls. Both groups showed equivalent amounts of consistency loss over a 2-month interval on all components. At reassessment, only patients with persisting depressive symptoms were distinguishable from controls on episodic-specific memories retrieved. Research quantifying retrograde amnesia following ECT for depression needs to control for normal loss in consistency over time and contribution of persisting depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Staying on Task: Age-Related Changes in the Relationship Between Executive Functioning and Response Time Consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Vasquez, Brandon P; Binns, Malcolm A; Anderson, Nicole D

2016-03-01

Little is known about the relationship of executive functioning with age-related increases in response time (RT) distribution indices (intraindividual standard deviation [ISD], and ex-Gaussian parameters mu, sigma, tau). The goals of this study were to (a) replicate findings of age-related changes in response time distribution indices during an engaging touch-screen RT task and (b) investigate age-related changes in the relationship between executive functioning and RT distribution indices. Healthy adults (24 young [aged 18-30], 24 young-old [aged 65-74], and 24 old-old [aged 75-85]) completed a touch-screen attention task and a battery of neuropsychological tests. The relationships between RT performance and executive functions were examined with structural equation modeling (SEM). ISD, mu, and tau, but not sigma, increased with age. SEM revealed tau as the most salient RT index associated with neuropsychological measures of executive functioning. Further analysis demonstrated that correlations between tau and a weighted executive function composite were significant only in the old-old group. Our results replicate findings of greater RT inconsistency in older adults and reveal that executive functioning is related to tau in adults aged 75-85. These results support literature identifying tau as a marker of cognitive control, which deteriorates in old age. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Plant parameters envelope report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-03-01

The Early Site Permit (ESP) Demonstration Program is the nuclear industry's initiative for piloting the early resolution of siting-related issues before the detailed design proceedings of the combined operating license review. The ESP Demonstration Program consists of three phases. The plant parameters envelopes task is part of Phase 1, which addresses the generic review of applicable federal regulations and develops criteria for safety and environmental assessment of potential sites. The plant parameters envelopes identify parameters that characterize the interface between an ALWR design and a potential site, and quantify the interface through values selected from the Utility Requirements Documents, vendor design information, or engineering assessments. When augmented with site-specific information, the plant parameters envelopes provide sufficient information to allow ESPs to be granted based on individual ALWR design information or enveloping design information for the evolutionary, passive, or generic ALWR plants. This document is expected to become a living document when used by future applicants

ACHIEVING CONSISTENT DOPPLER MEASUREMENTS FROM SDO /HMI VECTOR FIELD INVERSIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schuck, Peter W.; Antiochos, S. K.; Leka, K. D.; Barnes, Graham

2016-01-01

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is delivering vector magnetic field observations of the full solar disk with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution; however, the satellite is in a highly inclined geosynchronous orbit. The relative spacecraft–Sun velocity varies by ±3 km s −1 over a day, which introduces major orbital artifacts in the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) data. We demonstrate that the orbital artifacts contaminate all spatial and temporal scales in the data. We describe a newly developed three-stage procedure for mitigating these artifacts in the Doppler data obtained from the Milne–Eddington inversions in the HMI pipeline. The procedure ultimately uses 32 velocity-dependent coefficients to adjust 10 million pixels—a remarkably sparse correction model given the complexity of the orbital artifacts. This procedure was applied to full-disk images of AR 11084 to produce consistent Dopplergrams. The data adjustments reduce the power in the orbital artifacts by 31 dB. Furthermore, we analyze in detail the corrected images and show that our procedure greatly improves the temporal and spectral properties of the data without adding any new artifacts. We conclude that this new procedure makes a dramatic improvement in the consistency of the HMI data and in its usefulness for precision scientific studies.

Achieving Consistent Doppler Measurements from SDO/HMI Vector Field Inversions

Science.gov (United States)

Schuck, Peter W.; Antiochos, S. K.; Leka, K. D.; Barnes, Graham

2016-01-01

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is delivering vector magnetic field observations of the full solar disk with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution; however, the satellite is in a highly inclined geosynchronous orbit. The relative spacecraft-Sun velocity varies by +/-3 kms-1 over a day, which introduces major orbital artifacts in the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) data. We demonstrate that the orbital artifacts contaminate all spatial and temporal scales in the data. We describe a newly developed three-stage procedure for mitigating these artifacts in the Doppler data obtained from the Milne-Eddington inversions in the HMI pipeline. The procedure ultimately uses 32 velocity-dependent coefficients to adjust 10 million pixels-a remarkably sparse correction model given the complexity of the orbital artifacts. This procedure was applied to full-disk images of AR 11084 to produce consistent Dopplergrams. The data adjustments reduce the power in the orbital artifacts by 31 dB. Furthermore, we analyze in detail the corrected images and show that our procedure greatly improves the temporal and spectral properties of the data without adding any new artifacts. We conclude that this new procedure makes a dramatic improvement in the consistency of the HMI data and in its usefulness for precision scientific studies.

Skis to demonstrate new atomic techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1969-01-01

Skis in which part of the material consists of birch wood impregnated with the basic chemicals of plastic and then irradiated are now undergoing tests. They are a demonstration of the new material created when this technique is applied to wood and fibres. (author)

A consistent response spectrum analysis including the resonance range

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmitz, D.; Simmchen, A.

1983-01-01

The report provides a complete consistent Response Spectrum Analysis for any component. The effect of supports with different excitation is taken into consideration, at is the description of the resonance ranges. It includes information explaining how the contributions of the eigenforms with higher eigenfrequencies are to be considered. Stocking of floor response spectra is also possible using the method described here. However, modified floor response spectra must now be calculated for each building mode. Once these have been prepared, the calculation of the dynamic component values is practically no more complicated than with the conventional, non-consistent methods. The consistent Response Spectrum Analysis can supply smaller and larger values than the conventional theory, a fact which can be demonstrated using simple examples. The report contains a consistent Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA), which, as far as we know, has been formulated in this way for the first time. A consistent RSA is so important because today this method is preferentially applied as an important tool for the earthquake proof of components in nuclear power plants. (orig./HP)

Japanese dietary pattern consistently relates to low depressive symptoms and it is modified by job strain and worksite supports.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Tomoko; Miyaki, Koichi; Tsutsumi, Akizumi; Hashimoto, Hideki; Kawakami, Norito; Takahashi, Masaya; Shimazu, Akihito; Inoue, Akiomi; Kurioka, Sumiko; Kakehashi, Masayuki; Sasaki, Yasuharu; Shimbo, Takuro

2013-09-05

This study examined the association between traditional Japanese dietary pattern and depressive symptoms in Japanese workers, employing large-scale samples, considering socioeconomic status (SES) and job stress factors. A cross-sectional study of 2266 Japanese employees aged 21-65 years from all areas of Japan was conducted as part of the Japanese Study of Health, Occupation and Psychosocial factors related Equity (J-HOPE). Habitual diet was assessed by FFQ (BDHQ). The depression degree and job stress factors (job demand, job control, and worksite support) were measured by K6 and Job Content Questionnaire. Participants with high scores for the balanced Japanese dietary pattern were significantly less likely to show probable mood/anxiety disorders (K6≥9) with multivariate adjustment including SES and job stress factors (odds ratio=0.66 [0.51-0.86], trend P=0.002). Other dietary patterns were not associated with depressive symptoms. Even after stratification by job stress factors, the Japanese dietary pattern was consistently protective against depressive symptoms. Furthermore, a highly significant difference between the first and third tertiles of the dietary pattern was observed in participants with active strain (high demand and high control) with low worksite supports (8.5 vs. 5.2, P=0.011). Female participant sample was relatively small. Japanese dietary pattern consistently related to low depressive symptoms in this large-scale cohort of Japanese workers, even after adjusting for SES and job stress factors. The protective impact is especially strong for workers with active strain and low support. Making better use of traditional dietary patterns may facilitate reducing social disparities in mental health. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A consistency assessment of coupled cohesive zone models for mixed-mode debonding problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Dimitri

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Due to their simplicity, cohesive zone models (CZMs are very attractive to describe mixed-mode failure and debonding processes of materials and interfaces. Although a large number of coupled CZMs have been proposed, and despite the extensive related literature, little attention has been devoted to ensuring the consistency of these models for mixed-mode conditions, primarily in a thermodynamical sense. A lack of consistency may affect the local or global response of a mechanical system. This contribution deals with the consistency check for some widely used exponential and bilinear mixed-mode CZMs. The coupling effect on stresses and energy dissipation is first investigated and the path-dependance of the mixed-mode debonding work of separation is analitically evaluated. Analytical predictions are also compared with results from numerical implementations, where the interface is described with zero-thickness contact elements. A node-to-segment strategy is here adopted, which incorporates decohesion and contact within a unified framework. A new thermodynamically consistent mixed-mode CZ model based on a reformulation of the Xu-Needleman model as modified by van den Bosch et al. is finally proposed and derived by applying the Coleman and Noll procedure in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics. The model holds monolithically for loading and unloading processes, as well as for decohesion and contact, and its performance is demonstrated through suitable examples.

Guided color consistency optimization for image mosaicking

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Renping; Xia, Menghan; Yao, Jian; Li, Li

2018-01-01

This paper studies the problem of color consistency correction for sequential images with diverse color characteristics. Existing algorithms try to adjust all images to minimize color differences among images under a unified energy framework, however, the results are prone to presenting a consistent but unnatural appearance when the color difference between images is large and diverse. In our approach, this problem is addressed effectively by providing a guided initial solution for the global consistency optimization, which avoids converging to a meaningless integrated solution. First of all, to obtain the reliable intensity correspondences in overlapping regions between image pairs, we creatively propose the histogram extreme point matching algorithm which is robust to image geometrical misalignment to some extents. In the absence of the extra reference information, the guided initial solution is learned from the major tone of the original images by searching some image subset as the reference, whose color characteristics will be transferred to the others via the paths of graph analysis. Thus, the final results via global adjustment will take on a consistent color similar to the appearance of the reference image subset. Several groups of convincing experiments on both the synthetic dataset and the challenging real ones sufficiently demonstrate that the proposed approach can achieve as good or even better results compared with the state-of-the-art approaches.

Automatic fatigue monitoring based on real loads. Live demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergholz, Steffen; Rudolph, Juergen; Bruckmueller, Florian; Heinz, Benedikt; Jouan, Benoit

2012-01-01

The fatigue assessment of power plant components based on local fatigue monitoring approaches is an essential part of the integrity concept and modern lifetime management. An integral approach like the AREVA Fatigue Concept (AFC) basically consists of two essential modules: realistic determination of occurring operational thermal loads by means of a high end fatigue monitoring system and related highly qualified fatigue assessment methods and tools. The fatigue monitoring system delivers continuously realistic load data at the fatigue relevant locations. Consequently, realistic operational load sequences are available as input data for all ensuing fatigue analyses. This way, realistic load data are available and qualified fatigue usage factors can be determined. The mode of operation of the fatigue monitoring system will be explained in the framework of a live demonstration by means of the FAMOSi (i = integrated) demonstration wall. The workflow starts with the continuous online measurement of outer wall temperatures transients on a pipe. Visualization is implemented within the FAMOSi viewer software. In a second step, inner wall temperatures are directly calculated. In a third step, the resulting linearly elastic stress history will be calculated as the basis for subsequent code conforming fatigue assessment. Subsequently, the related advanced fatigue assessment methods of the three staged AFC-approach are addressed.

Integrable motion of curves in self-consistent potentials: Relation to spin systems and soliton equations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Myrzakulov, R.; Mamyrbekova, G.K.; Nugmanova, G.N.; Yesmakhanova, K.R. [Eurasian International Center for Theoretical Physics and Department of General and Theoretical Physics, Eurasian National University, Astana 010008 (Kazakhstan); Lakshmanan, M., E-mail: lakshman@cnld.bdu.ac.in [Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics, School of Physics, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli 620 024 (India)

2014-06-13

Motion of curves and surfaces in R{sup 3} lead to nonlinear evolution equations which are often integrable. They are also intimately connected to the dynamics of spin chains in the continuum limit and integrable soliton systems through geometric and gauge symmetric connections/equivalence. Here we point out the fact that a more general situation in which the curves evolve in the presence of additional self-consistent vector potentials can lead to interesting generalized spin systems with self-consistent potentials or soliton equations with self-consistent potentials. We obtain the general form of the evolution equations of underlying curves and report specific examples of generalized spin chains and soliton equations. These include principal chiral model and various Myrzakulov spin equations in (1+1) dimensions and their geometrically equivalent generalized nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) family of equations, including Hirota–Maxwell–Bloch equations, all in the presence of self-consistent potential fields. The associated gauge equivalent Lax pairs are also presented to confirm their integrability. - Highlights: • Geometry of continuum spin chain with self-consistent potentials explored. • Mapping on moving space curves in R{sup 3} in the presence of potential fields carried out. • Equivalent generalized nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) family of equations identified. • Integrability of identified nonlinear systems proved by deducing appropriate Lax pairs.

Relative amplitude preservation processing utilizing surface consistent amplitude correction. Part 3; Surface consistent amplitude correction wo mochiita sotai shinpuku hozon shori. 3

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saeki, T [Japan National Oil Corporation, Tokyo (Japan). Technology Research Center

1996-10-01

For the seismic reflection method conducted on the ground surface, generator and geophone are set on the surface. The observed waveforms are affected by the ground surface and surface layer. Therefore, it is required for discussing physical properties of the deep underground to remove the influence of surface layer, preliminarily. For the surface consistent amplitude correction, properties of the generator and geophone were removed by assuming that the observed waveforms can be expressed by equations of convolution. This is a correction method to obtain records without affected by the surface conditions. In response to analysis and correction of waveforms, wavelet conversion was examined. Using the amplitude patterns after correction, the significant signal region, noise dominant region, and surface wave dominant region would be separated each other. Since the amplitude values after correction of values in the significant signal region have only small variation, a representative value can be given. This can be used for analyzing the surface consistent amplitude correction. Efficiency of the process can be enhanced by considering the change of frequency. 3 refs., 5 figs.

Lagrangian multiforms and multidimensional consistency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lobb, Sarah; Nijhoff, Frank [Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT (United Kingdom)

2009-10-30

We show that well-chosen Lagrangians for a class of two-dimensional integrable lattice equations obey a closure relation when embedded in a higher dimensional lattice. On the basis of this property we formulate a Lagrangian description for such systems in terms of Lagrangian multiforms. We discuss the connection of this formalism with the notion of multidimensional consistency, and the role of the lattice from the point of view of the relevant variational principle.

Using complex networks to quantify consistency in the use of words

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amancio, D R; Oliveira Jr, O N; Costa, L da F

2012-01-01

In this paper we have quantified the consistency of word usage in written texts represented by complex networks, where words were taken as nodes, by measuring the degree of preservation of the node neighborhood. Words were considered highly consistent if the authors used them with the same neighborhood. When ranked according to the consistency of use, the words obeyed a log-normal distribution, in contrast to Zipf's law that applies to the frequency of use. Consistency correlated positively with the familiarity and frequency of use, and negatively with ambiguity and age of acquisition. An inspection of some highly consistent words confirmed that they are used in very limited semantic contexts. A comparison of consistency indices for eight authors indicated that these indices may be employed for author recognition. Indeed, as expected, authors of novels could be distinguished from those who wrote scientific texts. Our analysis demonstrated the suitability of the consistency indices, which can now be applied in other tasks, such as emotion recognition

Time-consistent and market-consistent evaluations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pelsser, A.; Stadje, M.A.

2014-01-01

We consider evaluation methods for payoffs with an inherent financial risk as encountered for instance for portfolios held by pension funds and insurance companies. Pricing such payoffs in a way consistent to market prices typically involves combining actuarial techniques with methods from

Consistent Quantum Histories: Towards a Universal Language of Physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grygiel, W.P.

2007-01-01

The consistent histories interpretation of quantum mechanics is a reformulation of the standard Copenhagen interpretation that aims at incorporating quantum probabilities as part of the axiomatic foundations of the theory. It is not only supposed to equip quantum mechanics with clear criteria of its own experimental verification but, first and foremost, to alleviate one of the stumbling blocks of the theory - the measurement problem. Since the consistent histories interpretation operates with a series of quantum events integrated into one quantum history, the measurement problem is naturally absorbed as one of the events that build up a history. The interpretation rests upon the two following assumptions, proposed already by J. von Neumann: (1) both the microscopic and macroscopic regimes are subject to the same set of quantum laws and (2) a projector operator that is assigned to each event within a history permits to transcribe the history into a set of propositions that relate the entire course of quantum events. Based on this, a universal language of physics is expected to emerge that will bring the quantum apparatus back to common sense propositional logic. The basic philosophical issue raised this study is whether one should justify quantum mechanics by means of what emerges from it, that is, the properties of the macroscopic world, or use the axioms of quantum mechanics to demonstrate the mechanisms how the macroscopic world comes about from the quantum regime. (author)

Self-consistent Maxwell-Bloch theory of quantum-dot-population switching in photonic crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeda, Hiroyuki; John, Sajeev

2011-01-01

We theoretically demonstrate the population switching of quantum dots (QD's), modeled as two-level atoms in idealized one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals (PC's) by self-consistent solution of the Maxwell-Bloch equations. In our semiclassical theory, energy states of the electron are quantized, and electron dynamics is described by the atomic Bloch equation, while electromagnetic waves satisfy the classical Maxwell equations. Near a waveguide cutoff in a photonic band gap, the local electromagnetic density of states (LDOS) and spontaneous emission rates exhibit abrupt changes with frequency, enabling large QD population inversion driven by both continuous and pulsed optical fields. We recapture and generalize this ultrafast population switching using the Maxwell-Bloch equations. Radiative emission from the QD is obtained directly from the surrounding PC geometry using finite-difference time-domain simulation of the electromagnetic field. The atomic Bloch equations provide a source term for the electromagnetic field. The total electromagnetic field, consisting of the external input and radiated field, drives the polarization components of the atomic Bloch vector. We also include a microscopic model for phonon dephasing of the atomic polarization and nonradiative decay caused by damped phonons. Our self-consistent theory captures stimulated emission and coherent feedback effects of the atomic Mollow sidebands, neglected in earlier treatments. This leads to remarkable high-contrast QD-population switching with relatively modest (factor of 10) jump discontinuities in the electromagnetic LDOS. Switching is demonstrated in three separate models of QD's placed (i) in the vicinity of a band edge of a 1D PC, (ii) near a cutoff frequency in a bimodal waveguide channel of a 2D PC, and (iii) in the vicinity of a localized defect mode side coupled to a single-mode waveguide channel in a 2D PC.

Reliability, Dimensionality, and Internal Consistency as Defined by Cronbach: Distinct Albeit Related Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Davenport, Ernest C.; Davison, Mark L.; Liou, Pey-Yan; Love, Quintin U.

2015-01-01

This article uses definitions provided by Cronbach in his seminal paper for coefficient a to show the concepts of reliability, dimensionality, and internal consistency are distinct but interrelated. The article begins with a critique of the definition of reliability and then explores mathematical properties of Cronbach's a. Internal consistency…

Consistent probabilities in loop quantum cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craig, David A; Singh, Parampreet

2013-01-01

A fundamental issue for any quantum cosmological theory is to specify how probabilities can be assigned to various quantum events or sequences of events such as the occurrence of singularities or bounces. In previous work, we have demonstrated how this issue can be successfully addressed within the consistent histories approach to quantum theory for Wheeler–DeWitt-quantized cosmological models. In this work, we generalize that analysis to the exactly solvable loop quantization of a spatially flat, homogeneous and isotropic cosmology sourced with a massless, minimally coupled scalar field known as sLQC. We provide an explicit, rigorous and complete decoherent-histories formulation for this model and compute the probabilities for the occurrence of a quantum bounce versus a singularity. Using the scalar field as an emergent internal time, we show for generic states that the probability for a singularity to occur in this model is zero, and that of a bounce is unity, complementing earlier studies of the expectation values of the volume and matter density in this theory. We also show from the consistent histories point of view that all states in this model, whether quantum or classical, achieve arbitrarily large volume in the limit of infinite ‘past’ or ‘future’ scalar ‘time’, in the sense that the wave function evaluated at any arbitrary fixed value of the volume vanishes in that limit. Finally, we briefly discuss certain misconceptions concerning the utility of the consistent histories approach in these models. (paper)

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Regulatory criteria evaluation report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-03-01

The primary objective of the Early Site Plan Demonstration Program (ESPDP) is to demonstrate successfully the use of 10CFR52 to obtain ESPs for one or more US sites for one (or more) ALWR nuclear power plants. It is anticipated that preparation of the ESP application and interaction with NRC during the application review process will result not only in an ESP for the applicant(s) but also in the development of criteria and definition of processes, setting the precedent that facilitates ESPs for subsequent ESP applications. Because siting regulatory processes and acceptance criteria are contained in over 100 separate documents, comprehensive licensing and technical reviews were performed to establish whether the requirements and documentation are self-consistent, whether the acceptance criteria are sufficiently well-defined and clear, and whether the licensing process leading to the issuance of an ESP is unambiguously specified. This document provides appendices A and B of this report. Appendix A contains a list of regulations, regulatory guidance, and acceptance criteria; Appendix B contains a cross-reference index of siting-related documentation

40 CFR 117.14 - Demonstration projects.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 21 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Demonstration projects. 117.14 Section... DETERMINATION OF REPORTABLE QUANTITIES FOR HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES Applicability § 117.14 Demonstration projects... research or demonstration projects relating to the prevention, control, or abatement of hazardous substance...

Residential Energy Efficiency Demonstration: Hawaii and Guam Energy Improvement Technology Demonstration Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Earle, L. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sparn, B. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Rutter, A. [Sustainability Solutions LLC (Guam); Briggs, D. [Naval Base Guam, Santa Rita (Guam)

2014-03-01

In order to meet its energy goals, the Department of Defense (DOD) has partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) to rapidly demonstrate and deploy cost-effective renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies. The scope of this project was to demonstrate tools and technologies to reduce energy use in military housing, with particular emphasis on measuring and reducing loads related to consumer electronics (commonly referred to as 'plug loads'), hot water, and whole-house cooling.

Consistency relations for sharp inflationary non-Gaussian features

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mooij, Sander; Palma, Gonzalo A.; Panotopoulos, Grigoris [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2008, Santiago (Chile); Soto, Alex, E-mail: sander.mooij@ing.uchile.cl, E-mail: gpalmaquilod@ing.uchile.cl, E-mail: gpanotop@ing.uchile.cl, E-mail: gatogeno@gmail.com [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago (Chile)

2016-09-01

If cosmic inflation suffered tiny time-dependent deviations from the slow-roll regime, these would induce the existence of small scale-dependent features imprinted in the primordial spectra, with their shapes and sizes revealing information about the physics that produced them. Small sharp features could be suppressed at the level of the two-point correlation function, making them undetectable in the power spectrum, but could be amplified at the level of the three-point correlation function, offering us a window of opportunity to uncover them in the non-Gaussian bispectrum. In this article, we show that sharp features may be analyzed using only data coming from the three point correlation function parametrizing primordial non-Gaussianity. More precisely, we show that if features appear in a particular non-Gaussian triangle configuration (e.g. equilateral, folded, squeezed), these must reappear in every other configuration according to a specific relation allowing us to correlate features across the non-Gaussian bispectrum. As a result, we offer a method to study scale-dependent features generated during inflation that depends only on data coming from measurements of non-Gaussianity, allowing us to omit data from the power spectrum.

Consistency relations for sharp inflationary non-Gaussian features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mooij, Sander; Palma, Gonzalo A.; Panotopoulos, Grigoris; Soto, Alex

2016-01-01

If cosmic inflation suffered tiny time-dependent deviations from the slow-roll regime, these would induce the existence of small scale-dependent features imprinted in the primordial spectra, with their shapes and sizes revealing information about the physics that produced them. Small sharp features could be suppressed at the level of the two-point correlation function, making them undetectable in the power spectrum, but could be amplified at the level of the three-point correlation function, offering us a window of opportunity to uncover them in the non-Gaussian bispectrum. In this article, we show that sharp features may be analyzed using only data coming from the three point correlation function parametrizing primordial non-Gaussianity. More precisely, we show that if features appear in a particular non-Gaussian triangle configuration (e.g. equilateral, folded, squeezed), these must reappear in every other configuration according to a specific relation allowing us to correlate features across the non-Gaussian bispectrum. As a result, we offer a method to study scale-dependent features generated during inflation that depends only on data coming from measurements of non-Gaussianity, allowing us to omit data from the power spectrum.

Consistent Estimation of Pricing Kernels from Noisy Price Data

OpenAIRE

Vladislav Kargin

2003-01-01

If pricing kernels are assumed non-negative then the inverse problem of finding the pricing kernel is well-posed. The constrained least squares method provides a consistent estimate of the pricing kernel. When the data are limited, a new method is suggested: relaxed maximization of the relative entropy. This estimator is also consistent. Keywords: $\\epsilon$-entropy, non-parametric estimation, pricing kernel, inverse problems.

Discovery of Consistent QTLs of Wheat Spike-Related Traits under Nitrogen Treatment at Different Development Stages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiying Deng

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Spike-related traits such as spike length (Sl, fertile spikelet number (Fsn, sterile spikelet number (Ssn, grain number per spike (Gns, and thousand-kernel weight (Tkw are important factors influencing wheat yield. However, reliably stable markers that can be used for molecular breeding in different environments have not yet been identified. In this study, a double haploid (DH population was used for quantitative trait locus (QTL mapping of five spike-related traits under four different nitrogen (N supply dates in two locations and years. Seventy additive QTLs with phenotypic variation ranging from 4.12 to 34.74% and 10 major epistatic QTLs were identified. Eight important chromosomal regions on five chromosomes (1B, 2B, 2D, 5D, and 6A were found. Sixteen stable QTLs were detected for which N application had little effect. Among those stable QTLs, QSl.sdau-2D-1, and QSl.sdau-2D-2, with phenotypic variation explained (PVE of 10.4 and 24.2%, respectively, were flanked by markers Xwmc112 and Xcfd53 in the same order. The QTLs QSsn.sdau-2B-1, QFsn.sdau-2B-1, and QGns.sdau-2B, with PVE ranging from 4.37 to 28.43%, collocated in the Xwmc179-Xbarc373 marker interval. The consistent kernel wheat QTL (QTkw.sdau-6A on the long arm of chromosome 6A, flanked by SSR markers Xbarc1055 and Xwmc553, showed PVE of 5.87–15.18%. Among these stable QTLs, the two flanking markers Xwmc112 and Xcfd53 have been validated using different varieties and populations for selecting Sl. Therefore, these results will be of great value for marker-assisted selection (MAS in breeding programs and will accelerate the understanding of the genetic relationships among spike-related traits at the molecular level.

Discovery of Consistent QTLs of Wheat Spike-Related Traits under Nitrogen Treatment at Different Development Stages.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Zhiying; Cui, Yong; Han, Qingdian; Fang, Wenqi; Li, Jifa; Tian, Jichun

2017-01-01

Spike-related traits such as spike length (Sl), fertile spikelet number (Fsn), sterile spikelet number (Ssn), grain number per spike (Gns), and thousand-kernel weight (Tkw) are important factors influencing wheat yield. However, reliably stable markers that can be used for molecular breeding in different environments have not yet been identified. In this study, a double haploid (DH) population was used for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of five spike-related traits under four different nitrogen (N) supply dates in two locations and years. Seventy additive QTLs with phenotypic variation ranging from 4.12 to 34.74% and 10 major epistatic QTLs were identified. Eight important chromosomal regions on five chromosomes (1B, 2B, 2D, 5D, and 6A) were found. Sixteen stable QTLs were detected for which N application had little effect. Among those stable QTLs, QSl.sdau-2D-1 , and QSl.sdau-2D-2 , with phenotypic variation explained (PVE) of 10.4 and 24.2%, respectively, were flanked by markers Xwmc112 and Xcfd53 in the same order. The QTLs QSsn.sdau-2B-1, QFsn.sdau-2B-1 , and QGns.sdau-2B , with PVE ranging from 4.37 to 28.43%, collocated in the Xwmc179 - Xbarc373 marker interval. The consistent kernel wheat QTL ( QTkw.sdau-6A ) on the long arm of chromosome 6A, flanked by SSR markers Xbarc1055 and Xwmc553 , showed PVE of 5.87-15.18%. Among these stable QTLs, the two flanking markers Xwmc112 and Xcfd53 have been validated using different varieties and populations for selecting Sl. Therefore, these results will be of great value for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in breeding programs and will accelerate the understanding of the genetic relationships among spike-related traits at the molecular level.

RM12-2703 Advanced Rooftop Unit Control Retrofit Kit Field Demonstration: Hawaii and Guam Energy Improvement Technology Demonstration Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Doebber, I. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Dean, J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Dominick, J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Holland, G. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2014-03-01

As part of its overall strategy to meet its energy goals, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) partnered with U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to rapidly demonstrate and deploy cost-effective renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. This was one of several demonstrations of new and underutilized commercial energy efficiency technologies. The consistent year-round demand for air conditioning and dehumidification in Hawaii provides an advantageous demonstration location for advanced rooftop control (ARC) retrofit kits to packaged rooftop units (RTUs). This report summarizes the field demonstration of ARCs installed on nine RTUs serving a 70,000-ft² exchange store (large retail) and two RTUs, each serving small office buildings located on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH).

HBV infection in relation to consistent condom use: a population-based study in Peru.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernabe-Ortiz, Antonio; Carcamo, Cesar P; Scott, John D; Hughes, James P; Garcia, Patricia J; Holmes, King K

2011-01-01

Data on hepatitis B virus (HBV) prevalence are limited in developing countries. There is also limited information of consistent condom use efficacy for reducing HBV transmission at the population level. The study goal was to evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with HBV infection in Peru, and the relationship between anti-HBc positivity and consistent condom use. Data from two different surveys performed in 28 mid-sized Peruvian cities were analyzed. Participants aged 18-29 years were selected using a multistage cluster sampling. Information was collected through a validated two-part questionnaire. The first part (face-to-face) concerned demographic data, while the second part (self-administered using handheld computers) concerned sexual behavior. Hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) was tested in 7,000 blood samples. Prevalences and associations were adjusted for sample strata, primary sampling units and population weights. Anti-HBc prevalence was 5.0% (95%CI 4.1%-5.9%), with the highest prevalence among jungle cities: 16.3% (95%CI 13.8%-19.1%). In the multivariable analysis, Anti-HBc positivity was directly associated with geographic region (highlands OR = 2.05; 95%CI 1.28-3.27, and jungle OR = 4.86; 95%CI 3.05-7.74; compared to coastal region); and inversely associated with age at sexual debut (OR = 0.90; 95%CI 0.85-0.97). Consistent condom use, evaluated in about 40% of participants, was associated with reduced prevalence (OR = 0.34; 95%CI 0.15-0.79) after adjusting for gender, geographic region, education level, lifetime number of sex partners, age at sexual debut and year of survey. Residence in highlands or jungle cities is associated with higher anti-HBc prevalences, whereas increasing age at sexual debut were associated with lower prevalences. Consistent condom use was associated with decreased risk of anti-HBc. Findings from this study emphasize the need of primary prevention programs (vaccination) especially in the jungle

HBV infection in relation to consistent condom use: a population-based study in Peru.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz

Full Text Available Data on hepatitis B virus (HBV prevalence are limited in developing countries. There is also limited information of consistent condom use efficacy for reducing HBV transmission at the population level. The study goal was to evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with HBV infection in Peru, and the relationship between anti-HBc positivity and consistent condom use.Data from two different surveys performed in 28 mid-sized Peruvian cities were analyzed. Participants aged 18-29 years were selected using a multistage cluster sampling. Information was collected through a validated two-part questionnaire. The first part (face-to-face concerned demographic data, while the second part (self-administered using handheld computers concerned sexual behavior. Hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc was tested in 7,000 blood samples. Prevalences and associations were adjusted for sample strata, primary sampling units and population weights. Anti-HBc prevalence was 5.0% (95%CI 4.1%-5.9%, with the highest prevalence among jungle cities: 16.3% (95%CI 13.8%-19.1%. In the multivariable analysis, Anti-HBc positivity was directly associated with geographic region (highlands OR = 2.05; 95%CI 1.28-3.27, and jungle OR = 4.86; 95%CI 3.05-7.74; compared to coastal region; and inversely associated with age at sexual debut (OR = 0.90; 95%CI 0.85-0.97. Consistent condom use, evaluated in about 40% of participants, was associated with reduced prevalence (OR = 0.34; 95%CI 0.15-0.79 after adjusting for gender, geographic region, education level, lifetime number of sex partners, age at sexual debut and year of survey.Residence in highlands or jungle cities is associated with higher anti-HBc prevalences, whereas increasing age at sexual debut were associated with lower prevalences. Consistent condom use was associated with decreased risk of anti-HBc. Findings from this study emphasize the need of primary prevention programs (vaccination especially in the

Thermodynamically self-consistent integral equations and the structure of liquid metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pastore, G.; Kahl, G.

1987-01-01

We discuss the application of the new thermodynamically self-consistent integral equations for the determination of the structural properties of liquid metals. We present a detailed comparison of the structure (S(q) and g(r)) for models of liquid alkali metals as obtained from two thermodynamically self-consistent integral equations and some published exact computer simulation results; the range of states extends from the triple point to the expanded metal. The theories which only impose thermodynamic self-consistency without any fitting of external data show an excellent agreement with the simulation results, thus demonstrating that this new type of integral equation is definitely superior to the conventional ones (hypernetted chain, Percus-Yevick, mean spherical approximation, etc). (author)

Reevaluation of epidemiological data demonstrates that it is consistent with cross-immunity among human papillomavirus types.

Science.gov (United States)

Durham, David P; Poolman, Eric M; Ibuka, Yoko; Townsend, Jeffrey P; Galvani, Alison P

2012-10-01

The degree of cross-immunity between human papillomavirus (HPV) types is fundamental both to the epidemiological dynamics of HPV and to the impact of HPV vaccination. Epidemiological data on HPV infections has been repeatedly interpreted as inconsistent with cross-immunity. We reevaluate the epidemiological data using a model to determine the odds ratios of multiple to single infections expected in the presence or absence of cross-immunity. We simulate a virtual longitudinal survey to determine the effect cross-immunity has on the prevalence of multiple infections. We calibrate our model to epidemiological data and estimate the extent of type replacement following vaccination against specific HPV types. We find that cross-immunity can produce odds ratios of infection comparable with epidemiological observations. We show that the sample sizes underlying existing surveys have been insufficient to identify even intense cross-immunity. We also find that the removal of HPV type 16, type 18, and types 6 and 11 would increase the prevalence of nontargeted types by 50%, 29%, and 183%, respectively. Cross-immunity between HPV types is consistent with epidemiological data, contrary to previous interpretations. Cross-immunity may cause significant type replacement following vaccination, and therefore should be considered in future vaccine studies and epidemiological models.

Consistent framework data for modeling and formation of scenarios in the Federal Environment Office; Konsistente Rahmendaten fuer Modellierungen und Szenariobildung im Umweltbundesamt

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weimer-Jehle, Wolfgang; Wassermann, Sandra; Kosow, Hannah [Internationales Zentrum fuer Kultur- und Technikforschung an der Univ. Stuttgart (Germany). ZIRN Interdisziplinaerer Forschungsschwerpunkt Risiko und Nachhaltige Technikentwicklung

2011-04-15

Model-based environmental scenarios normally require multiple framework assumptions regarding future social, political and economic developments (external developments). In most cases these framework assumptions are highly uncertain. Furthermore, different external developments are not isolated from each other and their interdependences can be described by qualitative judgments only. If the internal consistency of framework assumptions is not methodologically addressed, environmental models risk to be based on inconsistent combinations of framework assumptions which do not reflect existing relations between the respective factors in an appropriate way. This report aims at demonstrating how consistent context scenarios can be developed with the help of the cross-impact balance analysis (CIB). This method allows not only for the internal consistency of framework assumptions of a single model but also for the overall consistency of framework assumptions of modeling instruments, supporting the integrated interpretation of the results of different models. In order to demonstrate the method, in a first step, ten common framework assumptions were chosen and their possible future developments until 2030 were described. In a second step, a qualitative impact network was developed based on expert elicitation. The impact network provided the basis for a qualitative but systematic analysis of the internal consistency of combinations of framework assumptions. This analysis was carried out with the CIB-method and resulted in a set of consistent context scenarios. These scenarios can be used as an informative background for defining framework assumptions for environmental models at the UBA. (orig.)

Demonstrator study for micro-ranging-laser device

Science.gov (United States)

Henkel, Hartmut; Bernhardt, Bodo; Pereira do Carmo, J.

2017-11-01

Within ESA's Innovation Triangle Initiative (ITI) a demonstrator breadboard for a micro-ranging-laser device "MYLRAD" has been developed. Its working principle is the measurement of the round-trip delay time of a laser beam as a phase shift. The demonstrator consists of the laser diode (30 mW, square wave AM), optics, APD detector, narrowband preamplifier, limiter, and a phase digitiser based on a novel noise-shaping synchroniser (NSS) circuit; this works without ADCs and can be built from rad-hard components for space. The system timing and the digitiser algorithm are performed by an FPGA. The demonstrator has been tested at ranges from 1 m to 30 m. With a static non-cooperative target an RMS noise of 1 mm at a result rate of 60 Hz was reached. The demonstrator needs less than 2.5 W power.

GRAVITATIONALLY CONSISTENT HALO CATALOGS AND MERGER TREES FOR PRECISION COSMOLOGY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Behroozi, Peter S.; Wechsler, Risa H.; Wu, Hao-Yi; Busha, Michael T.; Klypin, Anatoly A.; Primack, Joel R.

2013-01-01

We present a new algorithm for generating merger trees and halo catalogs which explicitly ensures consistency of halo properties (mass, position, and velocity) across time steps. Our algorithm has demonstrated the ability to improve both the completeness (through detecting and inserting otherwise missing halos) and purity (through detecting and removing spurious objects) of both merger trees and halo catalogs. In addition, our method is able to robustly measure the self-consistency of halo finders; it is the first to directly measure the uncertainties in halo positions, halo velocities, and the halo mass function for a given halo finder based on consistency between snapshots in cosmological simulations. We use this algorithm to generate merger trees for two large simulations (Bolshoi and Consuelo) and evaluate two halo finders (ROCKSTAR and BDM). We find that both the ROCKSTAR and BDM halo finders track halos extremely well; in both, the number of halos which do not have physically consistent progenitors is at the 1%-2% level across all halo masses. Our code is publicly available at http://code.google.com/p/consistent-trees. Our trees and catalogs are publicly available at http://hipacc.ucsc.edu/Bolshoi/.

How one can construct a consistent relativistic quantum mechanics on the base of a relativistic wave equation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gavrilov, S.P. [Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS), Aracaju, SE (Brazil); Gitman, D.M. [Sao Paulo Univ. (USP), SP (Brazil). Inst. de Fisica

2000-07-01

Full text follows: There is a common opinion that the construction of a consistent relativistic quantum mechanics on the base of a relativistic wave equation meets well-known difficulties related to the existence of infinite number of negative energy levels, to the existence of negative vector norms, and so on, which may be only solved in a second-quantized theory, see, for example, two basic papers devoted to the problem L.Foldy, S.Wouthuysen, Phys. Rep.78 (1950) 29; H.Feshbach, F.Villars, Rev. Mod. Phys. 30 (1958) 24, whose arguments are repeated in all handbooks in relativistic quantum theory. Even Dirac trying to solve the problem had turned last years to infinite-component relativistic wave equations, see P.A.M. Dirac, Proc. R. Soc. London, A328 (1972) 1. We believe that a consistent relativistic quantum mechanics may be constructed on the base of an extended (charge symmetric) equation, which unite both a relativistic wave equation for a particle and for an antiparticle. We present explicitly the corresponding construction, see for details hep-th/0003112. We support such a construction by two demonstrations: first, in course of a careful canonical quantization of the corresponding classical action of a relativistic particle we arrive just to such a consistent quantum mechanics; second, we demonstrate that a reduction of the QFT of a corresponding field (scalar, spinor, etc.) to one-particle sector, if such a reduction may be done, present namely this quantum mechanics. (author)

Technology summary of the in situ bioremediation demonstration (methane biostimulation) via horizontal wells at the Savannah River Site Integrated Demonstration Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazen, T.C.; Looney, B.B.; Fliermans, C.B.; Eddy-Dilek, C.A.; Lombard, K.H.; Enzien, M.V.; Dougherty, J.M.; Wear, J.

1994-01-01

The US Department of Energy, Office of Technology Development, has been sponsoring full-scale environmental restoration technology demonstrations for the past 4 years. The Savannah River Site Integrated Demonstration focuses on ''Clean-up of Soils ad Groundwater Contaminated with Chlorinated VOCs.'' Several laboratories including our own had demonstrated the ability of methanotrophic bacteria to completely degrade or mineralize chlorinated solvents, and these bacteria were naturally found in soil and aquifer material. Thus the test consisted of injection of methane mixed with air into the contaminated aquifer via a horizontal well and extraction from the vadose zone via a parallel horizontal well

Demonstration of Cosmic Microwave Background Delensing Using the Cosmic Infrared Background.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Patricia; Challinor, Anthony; Sherwin, Blake D; Mak, Daisy

2016-10-07

Delensing is an increasingly important technique to reverse the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and thus reveal primordial signals the lensing may obscure. We present a first demonstration of delensing on Planck temperature maps using the cosmic infrared background (CIB). Reversing the lensing deflections in Planck CMB temperature maps using a linear combination of the 545 and 857 GHz maps as a lensing tracer, we find that the lensing effects in the temperature power spectrum are reduced in a manner consistent with theoretical expectations. In particular, the characteristic sharpening of the acoustic peaks of the temperature power spectrum resulting from successful delensing is detected at a significance of 16σ, with an amplitude of A_{delens}=1.12±0.07 relative to the expected value of unity. This first demonstration on data of CIB delensing, and of delensing techniques in general, is significant because lensing removal will soon be essential for achieving high-precision constraints on inflationary B-mode polarization.

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Plant parameters envelope report. Volume 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-03-01

The Early Site Permit (ESP) Demonstration Program is the nuclear industry`s initiative for piloting the early resolution of siting-related issues before the detailed design proceedings of the combined operating license review. The ESP Demonstration Program consists of three phases. The plant parameters envelopes task is part of Phase 1, which addresses the generic review of applicable federal regulations and develops criteria for safety and environmental assessment of potential sites. The plant parameters envelopes identify parameters that characterize the interface between an ALWR design and a potential site, and quantify the interface through values selected from the Utility Requirements Documents, vendor design information, or engineering assessments. When augmented with site-specific information, the plant parameters envelopes provide sufficient information to allow ESPs to be granted based on individual ALWR design information or enveloping design information for the evolutionary, passive, or generic ALWR plants. This document is expected to become a living document when used by future applicants.

Smart grid demonstrators and experiments in France: Economic assessments of smart grids. Challenges, methods, progress status and demonstrators; Contribution of 'smart grid' demonstrators to electricity transport and market architectures; Challenges and contributions of smart grid demonstrators to the distribution network. Focus on the integration of decentralised production; Challenges and contributions of smart grid demonstrators to the evolution of providing-related professions and to consumption practices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudret, Thierry; Belhomme, Regine; Nekrassov, Andrei; Chartres, Sophie; Chiappini, Florent; Drouineau, Mathilde; Hadjsaid, Nouredine; Leonard, Cedric; Bena, Michel; Buhagiar, Thierry; Lemaitre, Christian; Janssen, Tanguy; Guedou, Benjamin; Viana, Maria Sebastian; Malarange, Gilles; Hadjsaid, Nouredine; Petit, Marc; Lehec, Guillaume; Jahn, Rafael; Gehain, Etienne

2015-01-01

This publication proposes a set of four articles which give an overview of challenges and contributions of smart grid demonstrators for the French electricity system according to different perspectives and different stakeholders. These articles present the first lessons learned from these demonstrators in terms of technical and technological innovations, of business and regulation models, and of customer behaviour and acceptance. More precisely, the authors discuss economic assessments of smart grids with an overview of challenges, methods, progress status and existing smart grid programs in the World, comment the importance of the introduction of intelligence at hardware, software and market level, highlight the challenges and contributions of smart grids for the integration of decentralised production, and discuss how smart grid demonstrators impact providing-related professions and customer consumption practices

Orthology and paralogy constraints: satisfiability and consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafond, Manuel; El-Mabrouk, Nadia

2014-01-01

A variety of methods based on sequence similarity, reconciliation, synteny or functional characteristics, can be used to infer orthology and paralogy relations between genes of a given gene family  G. But is a given set  C of orthology/paralogy constraints possible, i.e., can they simultaneously co-exist in an evolutionary history for  G? While previous studies have focused on full sets of constraints, here we consider the general case where  C does not necessarily involve a constraint for each pair of genes. The problem is subdivided in two parts: (1) Is  C satisfiable, i.e. can we find an event-labeled gene tree G inducing  C? (2) Is there such a G which is consistent, i.e., such that all displayed triplet phylogenies are included in a species tree? Previous results on the Graph sandwich problem can be used to answer to (1), and we provide polynomial-time algorithms for satisfiability and consistency with a given species tree. We also describe a new polynomial-time algorithm for the case of consistency with an unknown species tree and full knowledge of pairwise orthology/paralogy relationships, as well as a branch-and-bound algorithm in the case when unknown relations are present. We show that our algorithms can be used in combination with ProteinOrtho, a sequence similarity-based orthology detection tool, to extract a set of robust orthology/paralogy relationships.

Modified General Relativity and Cosmology

Science.gov (United States)

Abdel-Rahman, A.-M. M.

1997-10-01

Aspects of the modified general relativity theory of Rastall, Al-Rawaf and Taha are discussed in both the radiation- and matter-dominated flat cosmological models. A nucleosynthesis constraint on the theory's free parameter is obtained and the implication for the age of the Universe is discussed. The consistency of the modified matter- dominated model with the neoclassical cosmological tests is demonstrated.

Delimiting coefficient alpha from internal consistency and unidimensionality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sijtsma, K.

2015-01-01

I discuss the contribution by Davenport, Davison, Liou, & Love (2015) in which they relate reliability represented by coefficient α to formal definitions of internal consistency and unidimensionality, both proposed by Cronbach (1951). I argue that coefficient α is a lower bound to reliability and

Coalinga polymer demonstration project. Fourth annual report, July 1978-July 1979

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schultz, V.

1980-09-01

A field demonstration test of displacement mobility control in the East Coalinga Field is being conducted in order to determine the relative merits of polymer flooding and waterflooding in a medium viscosity oil reservoir. The injection pattern consists of four inverted 5-spot patterns and an updip area. Water injection began in June 1976 and continued through April 1978. Polymer injection began in May 1978 and is ongoing. The overall production performance for the pilot has been far less than expected. The current oil production rate is currently below the expected primary decline rate. The polymer injection rate is substantially below original predictions and will increase the time required to inject the designed slug volume.

Consistent model driven architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Niepostyn, Stanisław J.

2015-09-01

The goal of the MDA is to produce software systems from abstract models in a way where human interaction is restricted to a minimum. These abstract models are based on the UML language. However, the semantics of UML models is defined in a natural language. Subsequently the verification of consistency of these diagrams is needed in order to identify errors in requirements at the early stage of the development process. The verification of consistency is difficult due to a semi-formal nature of UML diagrams. We propose automatic verification of consistency of the series of UML diagrams originating from abstract models implemented with our consistency rules. This Consistent Model Driven Architecture approach enables us to generate automatically complete workflow applications from consistent and complete models developed from abstract models (e.g. Business Context Diagram). Therefore, our method can be used to check practicability (feasibility) of software architecture models.

Evaluating the consistency of gene sets used in the analysis of bacterial gene expression data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tintle Nathan L

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Statistical analyses of whole genome expression data require functional information about genes in order to yield meaningful biological conclusions. The Gene Ontology (GO and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG are common sources of functionally grouped gene sets. For bacteria, the SEED and MicrobesOnline provide alternative, complementary sources of gene sets. To date, no comprehensive evaluation of the data obtained from these resources has been performed. Results We define a series of gene set consistency metrics directly related to the most common classes of statistical analyses for gene expression data, and then perform a comprehensive analysis of 3581 Affymetrix® gene expression arrays across 17 diverse bacteria. We find that gene sets obtained from GO and KEGG demonstrate lower consistency than those obtained from the SEED and MicrobesOnline, regardless of gene set size. Conclusions Despite the widespread use of GO and KEGG gene sets in bacterial gene expression data analysis, the SEED and MicrobesOnline provide more consistent sets for a wide variety of statistical analyses. Increased use of the SEED and MicrobesOnline gene sets in the analysis of bacterial gene expression data may improve statistical power and utility of expression data.

Cosmological consistency tests of gravity theory and cosmic acceleration

Science.gov (United States)

Ishak-Boushaki, Mustapha B.

2017-01-01

Testing general relativity at cosmological scales and probing the cause of cosmic acceleration are among the important objectives targeted by incoming and future astronomical surveys and experiments. I present our recent results on consistency tests that can provide insights about the underlying gravity theory and cosmic acceleration using cosmological data sets. We use statistical measures, the rate of cosmic expansion, the growth rate of large scale structure, and the physical consistency of these probes with one another.

Smaller self-inflating bags produce greater guideline consistent ventilation in simulated cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Nehme, Ziad; Boyle, Malcolm J

2009-02-20

Suboptimal bag ventilation in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has demonstrated detrimental physiological outcomes for cardiac arrest patients. In light of recent guideline changes for resuscitation, there is a need to identify the efficacy of bag ventilation by prehospital care providers. The objective of this study was to evaluate bag ventilation in relation to operator ability to achieve guideline consistent ventilation rate, tidal volume and minute volume when using two different capacity self-inflating bags in an undergraduate paramedic cohort. An experimental study using a mechanical lung model and a simulated adult cardiac arrest to assess the ventilation ability of third year Monash University undergraduate paramedic students. Participants were instructed to ventilate using 1600 ml and 1000 ml bags for a length of two minutes at the correct rate and tidal volume for a patient undergoing CPR with an advanced airway. Ventilation rate and tidal volume were recorded using an analogue scale with mean values calculated. Ethics approval was granted. Suboptimal ventilation with the use of conventional 1600 ml bag was common, with 77% and 97% of participants unable to achieve guideline consistent ventilation rates and tidal volumes respectively. Reduced levels of suboptimal ventilation arouse from the use of the smaller bag with a 27% reduction in suboptimal tidal volumes (p = 0.015) and 23% reduction in suboptimal minute volumes (p = 0.045). Smaller self-inflating bags reduce the incidence of suboptimal tidal volumes and minute volumes and produce greater guideline consistent results for cardiac arrest patients.

Semantics of trace relations in requirements models for consistency checking and inferencing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Göknil, Arda; Ivanov, Ivan; van den Berg, Klaas; Veldhuis, Jan-Willem

2009-01-01

Requirements traceability is the ability to relate requirements back to stakeholders and forward to corresponding design artifacts, code, and test cases. Although considerable research has been devoted to relating requirements in both forward and backward directions, less attention has been paid to

Consistent rationalization of type-2 topoisomerases' unknotting, decatenating, supercoil-relaxing actions and their scaling relation.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhirong; Chan, Hue Sun

2015-09-09

How type-2 topoisomerases discern global topology from local properties of DNA is not known precisely but the hypothesis that the enzymes selectively pass double-helix strands at hook-like juxtapositions is promising. Building upon an investigation of unknotting and decatenating using an improved wormlike DNA model, here we focus primarily on the enzymes' action in narrowing the distribution of linking number (Lk) in supercoiled DNA. Consistent with experiments, with selective passage at a hooked juxtaposition, the simulated narrowing factor RLk diminishes with decreasing DNA circle size but approaches an asymptotic RLk ≈ 1.7-1.8 for circle size ≳3.5 kb. For the larger DNA circles, we found that (RLk - 1) ≈ 0.42log10RK ≈ 0.68log10RL and thus RK ≈ (RL)(1.6) holds for the computed RLk and knot and catenane reduction factors RK and RL attained by selective passage at different juxtaposition geometries. Remarkably, this general scaling relation is essentially identical to that observed experimentally for several type-2 topoisomerases from a variety of organisms, indicating that the different disentangling powers of the topoisomerases likely arise from variations in the hooked geometries they select. Taken together, our results suggest strongly that type-2 topoisomerases recognize not only the curvature of the G-segment but also that of the T-segment.

Consistency of students’ conceptions of wave propagation: Findings from a conceptual survey in mechanical waves

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Apisit Tongchai

2011-07-01

Full Text Available We recently developed a multiple-choice conceptual survey in mechanical waves. The development, evaluation, and demonstration of the use of the survey were reported elsewhere [A. Tongchai et al., Developing, evaluating and demonstrating the use of a conceptual survey in mechanical waves, Int. J. Sci. Educ. 31, 2437 (2009ISEDEB0950-069310.1080/09500690802389605]. We administered the survey to 902 students from seven different groups ranging from high school to second year university. As an outcome of that analysis we were able to identify several conceptual models which the students seemed to be using when answering the questions in the survey. In this paper we attempt to investigate the strength with which the students were committed to these conceptual models, as evidenced by the consistency with which they answered the questions. For this purpose we focus on the patterns of student responses to questions in one particular subtopic, wave propagation. This study has three main purposes: (1 to investigate the consistency of student conceptions, (2 to explore the relative usefulness of different analysis techniques, and (3 to determine what extra information a study of consistency can give about student understanding of basic concepts. We used two techniques: first, categorizing and counting, which is widely used in the science education community, and second, model analysis, recently introduced into physics education research. The manner in which categorizing and counting is used is very diverse while model analysis has been employed only in prescriptive ways. Research studies have reported that students often use their conceptual models inconsistently when solving a series of questions that test the same idea. Our results support their conclusions. Moreover, our findings suggest that students who have had more experiences in physics learning seem to use the scientifically accepted models more consistently. Further, the two analysis techniques

Human (InConsistencies in Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anghel Florentina

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam has supplied its readers with psychological, moral and social topical issues presented in an easy flowing and exhilarating style. Starting from the assumption that life consists of a series of inconsistencies which are inherent and bring their contribution to the individual’s formation, the paper aims at demonstrating that the protagonists’ judgmental and moral inconsistencies, which are used as a plot generator and are environmentally determined, reveal features of their personality.

Classroom Demonstrations Of Atmosphere-ocean Dynamics: Baroclinic Instability

Science.gov (United States)

Aurnou, Jonathan; Nadiga, B. T.

2008-09-01

Here we will present simple hands-on experimental demonstrations that show how baroclinic instabilities develop in rotating fluid dynamical systems. Such instabilities are found in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere as well as in the atmospheres and oceans of planetary bodies throughout the solar system and beyond. Our inexpensive experimental apparatus consists of a vinyl-record player, a wide shallow pan, and a weighted, dyed block of ice. Most directly, these demonstrations can be used to explain winter-time atmospheric weather patterns observed in Earth's mid-latitudes.

E/Z MAS demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boor, M.G.; Hurford, J.M.; Landry, R.P.; Martinez, B.J.; Solem, A.M.; Whiteson, R.; Zardecki, A.

1998-01-01

Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed E/Z MAS, a new generation nuclear material accountability application based on the latest technology and designed for facilities required to track nuclear materials with a simple-to-use interface. E/Z MAS is based on years of experience spent developing nuclear material accounting systems. E/Z MAS uses a modern relational database with a web server and enables users on a classified local area network to interact with the database with web browsers. The E/Z MAS Demonstration poster session demonstrates the E/Z MAS functions required by an operational nuclear facility to track material as it enters and leaves a facility and to account for the material as it moves through a process. The generation of internal facility reports and external reports for the Russian Federal system will be demonstrated. Bar-code readers will be used to demonstrate the ability of EZ MAS to automate certain functions, such as physical inventories at facilities

Maternal Verbal Responsiveness and Directiveness: Consistency, Stability, and Relations to Child Early Linguistic Development

Science.gov (United States)

Paavola-Ruotsalainen, Leila; Lehtosaari, Jaana; Palomäki, Josefina; Tervo, Immi

2018-01-01

Maternal responsive and directive speech to children at ages 0;10 and 2;0 was investigated by applying a procedure frst introduced by Flynn and Masur (2007) to a new language community (Finnish). The issues examined were consistency and stability over time, and also the role of responsiveness and directiveness in child linguistic development at…

The buried waste integrated demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostelnik, K.M.

1991-01-01

There are numerous locations throughout the Department of Energy (DOE) Complex where wastes have been buried in the ground or stored for future disposal. Much of this buried waste is contaminated with hazardous and radioactive materials. An extensive research program has been initiated at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) to develop and demonstrate advanced remediation techniques for DOE Complex buried waste. The purpose of the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration (BWID), is to develop a scientifically sound and deployable remediation system consisting of advanced technologies which address the buried waste characteristics of the DOE Complex. This comprehensive remediation system win include technologies for the entire remediation cycle (cradle-to-grave). Technologies developed and demonstrated within the BWID will be transferred to the DOE Complex sites with buried waste, to private industry, and to universities. Multidirectional technology transfer is encouraged by the BWID. Identification and evaluation of plausible technological solutions are an ongoing activity of the BWID. A number of technologies are currently under development throughout the DOE Complex, private industry, and universities. Technology integration mechanisms have been established by BWID to facilitate collaborative research and demonstration of applicable remedial technologies for buried waste. Successful completion of the BWID will result in the development of a proven and deployable system at the INEL and other DOE Complex buried waste sites, thereby supporting the DOE Complex's environmental restoration objectives

Audiovisual Biofeedback Improves Cine–Magnetic Resonance Imaging Measured Lung Tumor Motion Consistency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Danny [Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sidney, NSW (Australia); Greer, Peter B. [School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW (Australia); Department of Radiation Oncology, Calvary Mater Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW (Australia); Ludbrook, Joanna; Arm, Jameen; Hunter, Perry [Department of Radiation Oncology, Calvary Mater Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW (Australia); Pollock, Sean; Makhija, Kuldeep; O' brien, Ricky T. [Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sidney, NSW (Australia); Kim, Taeho [Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sidney, NSW (Australia); Department of Radiation Oncology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia (United States); Keall, Paul, E-mail: paul.keall@sydney.edu.au [Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sidney, NSW (Australia)

2016-03-01

Purpose: To assess the impact of an audiovisual (AV) biofeedback on intra- and interfraction tumor motion for lung cancer patients. Methods and Materials: Lung tumor motion was investigated in 9 lung cancer patients who underwent a breathing training session with AV biofeedback before 2 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sessions. The breathing training session was performed to allow patients to become familiar with AV biofeedback, which uses a guiding wave customized for each patient according to a reference breathing pattern. In the first MRI session (pretreatment), 2-dimensional cine-MR images with (1) free breathing (FB) and (2) AV biofeedback were obtained, and the second MRI session was repeated within 3-6 weeks (mid-treatment). Lung tumors were directly measured from cine-MR images using an auto-segmentation technique; the centroid and outlier motions of the lung tumors were measured from the segmented tumors. Free breathing and AV biofeedback were compared using several metrics: intra- and interfraction tumor motion consistency in displacement and period, and the outlier motion ratio. Results: Compared with FB, AV biofeedback improved intrafraction tumor motion consistency by 34% in displacement (P=.019) and by 73% in period (P<.001). Compared with FB, AV biofeedback improved interfraction tumor motion consistency by 42% in displacement (P<.046) and by 74% in period (P=.005). Compared with FB, AV biofeedback reduced the outlier motion ratio by 21% (P<.001). Conclusions: These results demonstrated that AV biofeedback significantly improved intra- and interfraction lung tumor motion consistency for lung cancer patients. These results demonstrate that AV biofeedback can facilitate consistent tumor motion, which is advantageous toward achieving more accurate medical imaging and radiation therapy procedures.

Audiovisual Biofeedback Improves Cine–Magnetic Resonance Imaging Measured Lung Tumor Motion Consistency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Danny; Greer, Peter B.; Ludbrook, Joanna; Arm, Jameen; Hunter, Perry; Pollock, Sean; Makhija, Kuldeep; O'brien, Ricky T.; Kim, Taeho; Keall, Paul

2016-01-01

Purpose: To assess the impact of an audiovisual (AV) biofeedback on intra- and interfraction tumor motion for lung cancer patients. Methods and Materials: Lung tumor motion was investigated in 9 lung cancer patients who underwent a breathing training session with AV biofeedback before 2 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sessions. The breathing training session was performed to allow patients to become familiar with AV biofeedback, which uses a guiding wave customized for each patient according to a reference breathing pattern. In the first MRI session (pretreatment), 2-dimensional cine-MR images with (1) free breathing (FB) and (2) AV biofeedback were obtained, and the second MRI session was repeated within 3-6 weeks (mid-treatment). Lung tumors were directly measured from cine-MR images using an auto-segmentation technique; the centroid and outlier motions of the lung tumors were measured from the segmented tumors. Free breathing and AV biofeedback were compared using several metrics: intra- and interfraction tumor motion consistency in displacement and period, and the outlier motion ratio. Results: Compared with FB, AV biofeedback improved intrafraction tumor motion consistency by 34% in displacement (P=.019) and by 73% in period (P<.001). Compared with FB, AV biofeedback improved interfraction tumor motion consistency by 42% in displacement (P<.046) and by 74% in period (P=.005). Compared with FB, AV biofeedback reduced the outlier motion ratio by 21% (P<.001). Conclusions: These results demonstrated that AV biofeedback significantly improved intra- and interfraction lung tumor motion consistency for lung cancer patients. These results demonstrate that AV biofeedback can facilitate consistent tumor motion, which is advantageous toward achieving more accurate medical imaging and radiation therapy procedures.

Demonstration: A smartphone 3D functional brain scanner

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stahlhut, Carsten; Stopczynski, Arkadiusz; Larsen, Jakob Eg

We demonstrate a fully portable 3D real-time functional brain scanner consisting of a wireless 14-channel ‘Neuroheadset‘ (Emotiv EPOC) and a Nokia N900 smartphone. The novelty of our system is the ability to perform real-time functional brain imaging on a smartphone device, including stimulus...

The Fort McMurray Demonstration Project in social marketing: health- and safety-related behaviour among oil sands workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Guidotti, T L; Watson, L; Wheeler, M; Jhangri, G S

1996-08-01

This is the first round in a series of surveys conducted in Fort McMurray as part of the Fort McMurray Demonstration Project in social marketing. This component of the survey was intended to focus on the most prominent group of employed workers in the community and to compare their patterns of response with the community as a whole. Respondents to the survey were overwhelmingly male (96%), married (72.9%) and living in households of two to five persons (87.9%). They were predominantly aged 30-44 (55%) and graduates of high school (53.5%). Younger male workers (below age 30) were more likely to have a high school diploma (78.3%) or some additional technical or vocational training (21.7% compared to 12.5% overall) and to be unmarried or separated. Attitudes toward safety-related behaviours were stronger than for respondents from the community as a whole. Approximately 70-100% of all age groups and both sexes showed strong agreement with attitudes involving child car seats and the unacceptability of drinking and driving. These attitudes include strong advocacy of vigorous enforcement of occupational health and safety standards. However, they showed a variability similar to the community as a whole in behaviour at home compared to work, generally reporting more consistent use of personal protection on the job than in their own homes, particularly hearing protection. Even so, they were much less likely to perform stretching and warm-up exercises prior to exertion than community residents in general. The potential may exist to transfer the technology and attitudes from workplace health and safety to community safety. One possible strategy to accomplish this is to involve workers in this industry directly in community initiatives. This strategy may be generalizable to any community in which there are major employers who place a heavy emphasis on risk control and occupational health and safety.

Review of the Vortec soil remediation demonstration program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patten, J.S.

1994-01-01

The principal objective of the METC/Vortec program is to develop and demonstrate the effectiveness of the Vortec CMS in remediating soils contaminated with hazardous materials and/or low levels of radionuclides. To convincingly demonstrate the CMS's capability, a Demonstration Plant will be constructed and operated at a DOE site that has a need for the remediation of contamination soil. The following objectives will be met during the program: (1) establish the glass chemistry requirements to achieve vitrification of contaminated soils found at the selected DOE site; (2) complete the design of a fully integrated soil vitrification demonstration plant with a capacity to process 25 TPD of soil; (3) establish the cost of a fully integrated soil demonstration plant with a capacity to process 25 TPD of soil; (4) construct and operate a fully integrated demonstration plant; (5) analyze all influent and effluent streams to establish the partitioning of contaminants and to demonstrate compliance with all applicable health, safety, and environmental requirements; (6) demonstrate that the CMS technology has the capability to produce a vitrified product that will immobilize the hazardous and radionuclide materials consistent with the needs of the specific DOE waste repositories

Flexible-Rotor Balancing Demonstration

Science.gov (United States)

Giordano, J.; Zorzi, E.

1986-01-01

Report describes method for balancing high-speed rotors at relatively low speeds and discusses demonstration of method on laboratory test rig. Method ensures rotor brought up to speeds well over 20,000 r/min smoothly, without excessive vibration amplitude at critical speeds or at operating speed.

Island of Stability for Consistent Deformations of Einstein's Gravity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dietrich, Dennis D.; Berkhahn, Felix; Hofmann, Stefan

2012-01-01

We construct deformations of general relativity that are consistent and phenomenologically viable, since they respect, in particular, cosmological backgrounds. These deformations have unique symmetries in accordance with their Minkowski cousins (Fierz-Pauli theory for massive gravitons) and incor...

Consistent robustness analysis (CRA) identifies biologically relevant properties of regulatory network models.

Science.gov (United States)

Saithong, Treenut; Painter, Kevin J; Millar, Andrew J

2010-12-16

A number of studies have previously demonstrated that "goodness of fit" is insufficient in reliably classifying the credibility of a biological model. Robustness and/or sensitivity analysis is commonly employed as a secondary method for evaluating the suitability of a particular model. The results of such analyses invariably depend on the particular parameter set tested, yet many parameter values for biological models are uncertain. Here, we propose a novel robustness analysis that aims to determine the "common robustness" of the model with multiple, biologically plausible parameter sets, rather than the local robustness for a particular parameter set. Our method is applied to two published models of the Arabidopsis circadian clock (the one-loop [1] and two-loop [2] models). The results reinforce current findings suggesting the greater reliability of the two-loop model and pinpoint the crucial role of TOC1 in the circadian network. Consistent Robustness Analysis can indicate both the relative plausibility of different models and also the critical components and processes controlling each model.

Approximate self-consistent potentials for density-functional-theory exchange-correlation functionals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cafiero, Mauricio; Gonzalez, Carlos

2005-01-01

We show that potentials for exchange-correlation functionals within the Kohn-Sham density-functional-theory framework may be written as potentials for simpler functionals multiplied by a factor close to unity, and in a self-consistent field calculation, these effective potentials find the correct self-consistent solutions. This simple theory is demonstrated with self-consistent exchange-only calculations of the atomization energies of some small molecules using the Perdew-Kurth-Zupan-Blaha (PKZB) meta-generalized-gradient-approximation (meta-GGA) exchange functional. The atomization energies obtained with our method agree with or surpass previous meta-GGA calculations performed in a non-self-consistent manner. The results of this work suggest the utility of this simple theory to approximate exchange-correlation potentials corresponding to energy functionals too complicated to generate closed forms for their potentials. We hope that this method will encourage the development of complex functionals which have correct boundary conditions and are free of self-interaction errors without the worry that the functionals are too complex to differentiate to obtain potentials

An inspection demonstration program/a quality system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cox, L.D.

1995-01-01

Mobil relies on tubular manufacturers to consistently supply OCTG which complies with all material requirements of API Specification 5CT. This paper details the Mobil Inspection Demonstration Program; Mobil's method for qualifying ultrasonic inspection systems for use during Mobil receiving inspections. Additionally, the basic fundamentals of the Mobil quality system and acceptance sampling are presented with an emphasis on tracking short-term and long-term supplier performance

Challenging demonstrations in the physics classroom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raz, E.

2004-01-01

Full Text: We consider the role of classroom demonstrations in improving students understanding of physics lectures and suggest criteria to decide whether a given demonstration will be pedagogically useful. In the light of these considerations, we performed two series of related experiments before groups of high-school students. We shall perform one of them with active participation from the audience. We shall also show some challenging demonstrations performed in the final stages of the Israeli Physics Olympiad for high-school students

Multiconfigurational self-consistent reaction field theory for nonequilibrium solvation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Kurt V.; Cesar, Amary; Ågren, Hans

1995-01-01

electronic structure whereas the inertial polarization vector is not necessarily in equilibrium with the actual electronic structure. The electronic structure of the compound is described by a correlated electronic wave function - a multiconfigurational self-consistent field (MCSCF) wave function. This wave......, open-shell, excited, and transition states. We demonstrate the theory by computing solvatochromatic shifts in optical/UV spectra of some small molecules and electron ionization and electron detachment energies of the benzene molecule. It is shown that the dependency of the solvent induced affinity...

A consistent time frame for Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrimage

Science.gov (United States)

Kummerer, K. R.

2001-08-01

A consistent time frame for the pilgrimage that Geoffrey Chaucer describes in The Canterbury Tales can be established if the seven celestial assertions related to the journey mentioned in the text can be reconciled with each other and the date of April 18 that is also mentioned. Past attempts to establish such a consistency for all seven celestial assertions have not been successful. The analysis herein, however, indicates that in The Canterbury Tales Chaucer accurately describes the celestial conditions he observed in the April sky above the London(Canterbury region of England in the latter half of the fourteenth century. All seven celestial assertions are in agreement with each other and consistent with the April 18 date. The actual words of Chaucer indicate that the Canterbury journey began during the 'seson' he defines in the General Prologue and ends under the light of the full Moon on the night of April 18, 1391.

Product consistency leach tests of Savannah River Site radioactive waste glasses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bibler, N.E.; Bates, J.K.

1989-01-01

The Product Consistency Test (PCT) is a glass leach test that was developed at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to routinely confirm the durability of nuclear waste glasses that will be produced in the Defense Waste Processing Facility. The PCT is a 7 day, crushed glass leach test in deionized water at 90 degree C. Final leachates are filtered and acidified prior to analysis. To demonstrate the reproducibility of the PCT when performed remotely, SRS and Argonne National Laboratory have performed the PCT on samples of two radioactive glasses. The tests were also performed to compare the releases of the radionuclides with the major nonradioactive glass components and to determine if radiation from the glass was affecting the results of the PCT. The test was performed in triplicate at each laboratory. For the major soluble elements, B, Li, Na, and Si, in the glass, each investigator obtained relative precisions in the range 2--5% in the triplicate tests. This range indicates good precision for the PCT when performed remotely with master slave manipulators in a shielded cell environment

Smaller self-inflating bags produce greater guideline consistent ventilation in simulated cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boyle Malcolm J

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Suboptimal bag ventilation in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR has demonstrated detrimental physiological outcomes for cardiac arrest patients. In light of recent guideline changes for resuscitation, there is a need to identify the efficacy of bag ventilation by prehospital care providers. The objective of this study was to evaluate bag ventilation in relation to operator ability to achieve guideline consistent ventilation rate, tidal volume and minute volume when using two different capacity self-inflating bags in an undergraduate paramedic cohort. Methods An experimental study using a mechanical lung model and a simulated adult cardiac arrest to assess the ventilation ability of third year Monash University undergraduate paramedic students. Participants were instructed to ventilate using 1600 ml and 1000 ml bags for a length of two minutes at the correct rate and tidal volume for a patient undergoing CPR with an advanced airway. Ventilation rate and tidal volume were recorded using an analogue scale with mean values calculated. Ethics approval was granted. Results Suboptimal ventilation with the use of conventional 1600 ml bag was common, with 77% and 97% of participants unable to achieve guideline consistent ventilation rates and tidal volumes respectively. Reduced levels of suboptimal ventilation arouse from the use of the smaller bag with a 27% reduction in suboptimal tidal volumes (p = 0.015 and 23% reduction in suboptimal minute volumes (p = 0.045. Conclusion Smaller self-inflating bags reduce the incidence of suboptimal tidal volumes and minute volumes and produce greater guideline consistent results for cardiac arrest patients.

The effects of attention on age-related relational memory deficits: Evidence from a novel attentional manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, So-Yeon; Giovanello, Kelly S.

2011-01-01

Healthy aging is often accompanied by episodic memory decline. Prior studies have consistently demonstrated that older adults show disproportionate deficits in relational memory (RM) relative to item memory (IM). Despite rich evidence of an age-related RM deficit, the source of this deficit remains unspecified. One of the most widely investigated factors of age-related RM impairment is a reduction in attentional resources. However, no prior studies have demonstrated that reduced attentional resources are the critical source of age-related RM deficits. Here, we utilized qualitatively different attention tasks, and tested whether reduced attention for relational processing underlies the RM deficit observed in aging. In Experiment 1, we imposed either item-detection or relation-detection attention tasks on young adults during episodic memory encoding, and found that only the concurrent attention task involving relational processing disproportionately impaired RM performance in young adults. Moreover, by ruling out the possible confound of task-difficulty on the disproportionate RM impairment, we further demonstrated that reduced relational attention is a key factor for the age-related RM deficit. In Experiment 2, we replicated the results from Experiment 1 using different materials of stimuli and found that the effect of relational attention on RM is material-general. The results of Experiment 2 also showed that reducing attentional resources for relational processing in young adults strikingly equated their RM performance to that of older adults. Thus, the current study documents the first evidence that reduced attentional resources for relational processing are a critical factor for the relational memory impairment observed in aging. PMID:21707178

Measuring process and knowledge consistency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edwards, Kasper; Jensen, Klaes Ladeby; Haug, Anders

2007-01-01

When implementing configuration systems, knowledge about products and processes are documented and replicated in the configuration system. This practice assumes that products are specified consistently i.e. on the same rule base and likewise for processes. However, consistency cannot be taken...... for granted; rather the contrary, and attempting to implement a configuration system may easily ignite a political battle. This is because stakes are high in the sense that the rules and processes chosen may only reflect one part of the practice, ignoring a majority of the employees. To avoid this situation......, this paper presents a methodology for measuring product and process consistency prior to implementing a configuration system. The methodology consists of two parts: 1) measuring knowledge consistency and 2) measuring process consistency. Knowledge consistency is measured by developing a questionnaire...

Bitcoin Meets Strong Consistency

OpenAIRE

Decker, Christian; Seidel, Jochen; Wattenhofer, Roger

2014-01-01

The Bitcoin system only provides eventual consistency. For everyday life, the time to confirm a Bitcoin transaction is prohibitively slow. In this paper we propose a new system, built on the Bitcoin blockchain, which enables strong consistency. Our system, PeerCensus, acts as a certification authority, manages peer identities in a peer-to-peer network, and ultimately enhances Bitcoin and similar systems with strong consistency. Our extensive analysis shows that PeerCensus is in a secure state...

Structural covariance networks across healthy young adults and their consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Xiaojuan; Wang, Yan; Guo, Taomei; Chen, Kewei; Zhang, Jiacai; Li, Ke; Jin, Zhen; Yao, Li

2015-08-01

To investigate structural covariance networks (SCNs) as measured by regional gray matter volumes with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from healthy young adults, and to examine their consistency and stability. Two independent cohorts were included in this study: Group 1 (82 healthy subjects aged 18-28 years) and Group 2 (109 healthy subjects aged 20-28 years). Structural MRI data were acquired at 3.0T and 1.5T using a magnetization prepared rapid-acquisition gradient echo sequence for these two groups, respectively. We applied independent component analysis (ICA) to construct SCNs and further applied the spatial overlap ratio and correlation coefficient to evaluate the spatial consistency of the SCNs between these two datasets. Seven and six independent components were identified for Group 1 and Group 2, respectively. Moreover, six SCNs including the posterior default mode network, the visual and auditory networks consistently existed across the two datasets. The overlap ratios and correlation coefficients of the visual network reached the maximums of 72% and 0.71. This study demonstrates the existence of consistent SCNs corresponding to general functional networks. These structural covariance findings may provide insight into the underlying organizational principles of brain anatomy. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Wide baseline stereo matching based on double topological relationship consistency

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Xiaohong; Liu, Bin; Song, Xiaoxue; Liu, Yang

2009-07-01

Stereo matching is one of the most important branches in computer vision. In this paper, an algorithm is proposed for wide-baseline stereo vision matching. Here, a novel scheme is presented called double topological relationship consistency (DCTR). The combination of double topological configuration includes the consistency of first topological relationship (CFTR) and the consistency of second topological relationship (CSTR). It not only sets up a more advanced model on matching, but discards mismatches by iteratively computing the fitness of the feature matches and overcomes many problems of traditional methods depending on the powerful invariance to changes in the scale, rotation or illumination across large view changes and even occlusions. Experimental examples are shown where the two cameras have been located in very different orientations. Also, epipolar geometry can be recovered using RANSAC by far the most widely method adopted possibly. By the method, we can obtain correspondences with high precision on wide baseline matching problems. Finally, the effectiveness and reliability of this method are demonstrated in wide-baseline experiments on the image pairs.

Temporal and contextual consistency of leadership in homing pigeon flocks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos D Santos

Full Text Available Organized flight of homing pigeons (Columba livia was previously shown to rely on simple leadership rules between flock mates, yet the stability of this social structuring over time and across different contexts remains unclear. We quantified the repeatability of leadership-based flock structures within a flight and across multiple flights conducted with the same animals. We compared two contexts of flock composition: flocks of birds of the same age and flight experience; and, flocks of birds of different ages and flight experience. All flocks displayed consistent leadership-based structures over time, showing that individuals have stable roles in the navigational decisions of the flock. However, flocks of balanced age and flight experience exhibited reduced leadership stability, indicating that these factors promote flock structuring. Our study empirically demonstrates that leadership and followership are consistent behaviours in homing pigeon flocks, but such consistency is affected by the heterogeneity of individual flight experiences and/or age. Similar evidence from other species suggests leadership as an important mechanism for coordinated motion in small groups of animals with strong social bonds.

Self-consistent gravitational self-force

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pound, Adam

2010-01-01

I review the problem of motion for small bodies in general relativity, with an emphasis on developing a self-consistent treatment of the gravitational self-force. An analysis of the various derivations extant in the literature leads me to formulate an asymptotic expansion in which the metric is expanded while a representative worldline is held fixed. I discuss the utility of this expansion for both exact point particles and asymptotically small bodies, contrasting it with a regular expansion in which both the metric and the worldline are expanded. Based on these preliminary analyses, I present a general method of deriving self-consistent equations of motion for arbitrarily structured (sufficiently compact) small bodies. My method utilizes two expansions: an inner expansion that keeps the size of the body fixed, and an outer expansion that lets the body shrink while holding its worldline fixed. By imposing the Lorenz gauge, I express the global solution to the Einstein equation in the outer expansion in terms of an integral over a worldtube of small radius surrounding the body. Appropriate boundary data on the tube are determined from a local-in-space expansion in a buffer region where both the inner and outer expansions are valid. This buffer-region expansion also results in an expression for the self-force in terms of irreducible pieces of the metric perturbation on the worldline. Based on the global solution, these pieces of the perturbation can be written in terms of a tail integral over the body's past history. This approach can be applied at any order to obtain a self-consistent approximation that is valid on long time scales, both near and far from the small body. I conclude by discussing possible extensions of my method and comparing it to alternative approaches.

Self-Consistent Generation of Primordial Continental Crust in Global Mantle Convection Models

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, C.; Rozel, A.; Tackley, P. J.

2017-12-01

We present the generation of primordial continental crust (TTG rocks) using self-consistent and evolutionary thermochemical mantle convection models (Tackley, PEPI 2008). Numerical modelling commonly shows that mantle convection and continents have strong feedbacks on each other. However in most studies, continents are inserted a priori while basaltic (oceanic) crust is generated self-consistently in some models (Lourenco et al., EPSL 2016). Formation of primordial continental crust happened by fractional melting and crystallisation in episodes of relatively rapid growth from late Archean to late Proterozoic eras (3-1 Ga) (Hawkesworth & Kemp, Nature 2006) and it has also been linked to the onset of plate tectonics around 3 Ga. It takes several stages of differentiation to generate Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite (TTG) rocks or proto-continents. First, the basaltic magma is extracted from the pyrolitic mantle which is both erupted at the surface and intruded at the base of the crust. Second, it goes through eclogitic transformation and then partially melts to form TTGs (Rudnick, Nature 1995; Herzberg & Rudnick, Lithos 2012). TTGs account for the majority of the Archean continental crust. Based on the melting conditions proposed by Moyen (Lithos 2011), the feasibility of generating TTG rocks in numerical simulations has already been demonstrated by Rozel et al. (Nature, 2017). Here, we have developed the code further by parameterising TTG formation. We vary the ratio of intrusive (plutonic) and extrusive (volcanic) magmatism (Crisp, Volcanol. Geotherm. 1984) to study the relative volumes of three petrological TTG compositions as reported from field data (Moyen, Lithos 2011). Furthermore, we systematically vary parameters such as friction coefficient, initial core temperature and composition-dependent viscosity to investigate the global tectonic regime of early Earth. Continental crust can also be destroyed by subduction or delamination. We will investigate

Subsurface barrier demonstration test strategy and performance specification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Treat, R.L.; Cruse, J.M.

1994-05-01

This document was developed to help specify a major demonstration test project of subsurface barrier systems supporting the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Program. The document focuses discussion on requirements applicable to demonstration of three subsurface barrier concepts: (1) Injected Material, (2) Cryogenic, and (3) Desiccant. Detailed requirements are provided for initial qualification of a technology proposal followed by the pre-demonstration and demonstration test requirements and specifications. Each requirement and specification is accompanied by a discussion of the rationale for it. The document also includes information on the Hanford Site tank farms and related data; the related and currently active technology development projects within the DOE's EM-50 Program; and the overall demonstration test strategy. Procurement activities and other preparations for actual demonstration testing are on hold until a decision is made regarding further development of subsurface barriers. Accordingly, this document is being issued for information only

Diagnosing a Strong-Fault Model by Conflict and Consistency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenfeng Zhang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The diagnosis method for a weak-fault model with only normal behaviors of each component has evolved over decades. However, many systems now demand a strong-fault models, the fault modes of which have specific behaviors as well. It is difficult to diagnose a strong-fault model due to its non-monotonicity. Currently, diagnosis methods usually employ conflicts to isolate possible fault and the process can be expedited when some observed output is consistent with the model’s prediction where the consistency indicates probably normal components. This paper solves the problem of efficiently diagnosing a strong-fault model by proposing a novel Logic-based Truth Maintenance System (LTMS with two search approaches based on conflict and consistency. At the beginning, the original a strong-fault model is encoded by Boolean variables and converted into Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF. Then the proposed LTMS is employed to reason over CNF and find multiple minimal conflicts and maximal consistencies when there exists fault. The search approaches offer the best candidate efficiency based on the reasoning result until the diagnosis results are obtained. The completeness, coverage, correctness and complexity of the proposals are analyzed theoretically to show their strength and weakness. Finally, the proposed approaches are demonstrated by applying them to a real-world domain—the heat control unit of a spacecraft—where the proposed methods are significantly better than best first and conflict directly with A* search methods.

Probability Machines: Consistent Probability Estimation Using Nonparametric Learning Machines

Science.gov (United States)

Malley, J. D.; Kruppa, J.; Dasgupta, A.; Malley, K. G.; Ziegler, A.

2011-01-01

Summary Background Most machine learning approaches only provide a classification for binary responses. However, probabilities are required for risk estimation using individual patient characteristics. It has been shown recently that every statistical learning machine known to be consistent for a nonparametric regression problem is a probability machine that is provably consistent for this estimation problem. Objectives The aim of this paper is to show how random forests and nearest neighbors can be used for consistent estimation of individual probabilities. Methods Two random forest algorithms and two nearest neighbor algorithms are described in detail for estimation of individual probabilities. We discuss the consistency of random forests, nearest neighbors and other learning machines in detail. We conduct a simulation study to illustrate the validity of the methods. We exemplify the algorithms by analyzing two well-known data sets on the diagnosis of appendicitis and the diagnosis of diabetes in Pima Indians. Results Simulations demonstrate the validity of the method. With the real data application, we show the accuracy and practicality of this approach. We provide sample code from R packages in which the probability estimation is already available. This means that all calculations can be performed using existing software. Conclusions Random forest algorithms as well as nearest neighbor approaches are valid machine learning methods for estimating individual probabilities for binary responses. Freely available implementations are available in R and may be used for applications. PMID:21915433

Diagnosing a Strong-Fault Model by Conflict and Consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wenfeng; Zhao, Qi; Zhao, Hongbo; Zhou, Gan; Feng, Wenquan

2018-03-29

The diagnosis method for a weak-fault model with only normal behaviors of each component has evolved over decades. However, many systems now demand a strong-fault models, the fault modes of which have specific behaviors as well. It is difficult to diagnose a strong-fault model due to its non-monotonicity. Currently, diagnosis methods usually employ conflicts to isolate possible fault and the process can be expedited when some observed output is consistent with the model's prediction where the consistency indicates probably normal components. This paper solves the problem of efficiently diagnosing a strong-fault model by proposing a novel Logic-based Truth Maintenance System (LTMS) with two search approaches based on conflict and consistency. At the beginning, the original a strong-fault model is encoded by Boolean variables and converted into Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF). Then the proposed LTMS is employed to reason over CNF and find multiple minimal conflicts and maximal consistencies when there exists fault. The search approaches offer the best candidate efficiency based on the reasoning result until the diagnosis results are obtained. The completeness, coverage, correctness and complexity of the proposals are analyzed theoretically to show their strength and weakness. Finally, the proposed approaches are demonstrated by applying them to a real-world domain-the heat control unit of a spacecraft-where the proposed methods are significantly better than best first and conflict directly with A* search methods.

Culture, Cross-Role Consistency, and Adjustment: Testing Trait and Cultural Psychology Perspectives

OpenAIRE

Church, A. Timothy; Anderson-Harumi, Cheryl A.; del Prado, Alicia M.; Curtis, Guy J.; Tanaka-Matsumi, Junko; Valdez Medina, José L.; Mastor, Khairul A.; White, Fiona A.; Miramontes, Lilia A.; Katigbak, Marcia S.

2008-01-01

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in two individualistic cultures, the United States (N = 231) and Australia (N = 195), and four collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N = 199), Philippines (N = 195), Malaysia (N = 217), and Japan (N = 180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology...

MultiSIMNRA: A computational tool for self-consistent ion beam analysis using SIMNRA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, T.F.; Rodrigues, C.L.; Mayer, M.; Moro, M.V.; Trindade, G.F.; Aguirre, F.R.; Added, N.; Rizzutto, M.A.; Tabacniks, M.H.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • MultiSIMNRA enables the self-consistent analysis of multiple ion beam techniques. • Self-consistent analysis enables unequivocal and reliable modeling of the sample. • Four different computational algorithms available for model optimizations. • Definition of constraints enables to include prior knowledge into the analysis. - Abstract: SIMNRA is widely adopted by the scientific community of ion beam analysis for the simulation and interpretation of nuclear scattering techniques for material characterization. Taking advantage of its recognized reliability and quality of the simulations, we developed a computer program that uses multiple parallel sessions of SIMNRA to perform self-consistent analysis of data obtained by different ion beam techniques or in different experimental conditions of a given sample. In this paper, we present a result using MultiSIMNRA for a self-consistent multi-elemental analysis of a thin film produced by magnetron sputtering. The results demonstrate the potentialities of the self-consistent analysis and its feasibility using MultiSIMNRA.

Demonstrating a lack of brand/cause effects on point of sale donations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Coleman Joshua T.

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Point of sale cause-related marketing has raised over $2 billion for charities over the past 30 years, yet the subject remains largely unexplored in academic literature. The subject of brand/cause fit, however, is prolific throughout extant research, with many studies showing that high congruence between a company and a charity is necessary to achieve philanthropic success. This paper challenges current marketing thinking both conceptually and empirically. Employing tests of no-effect hypotheses following the guidelines set out by Cortina and Folger (1998, it is established that, in the point of sale cause-related marketing context, the traditional effects of brand/cause fits do not apply. Across three studies involving experimental designs and over 500 respondents, the results of one-way ANOVA analyses consistently demonstrate that a low brand/cause fit can be just as effective as a high/brand cause fit. These findings contribute to a profound understanding of social efforts such as cause-related marketing may not be as simple or easily understood as was once thought.

Hamilton's Marbles or Jevon's Beans: A Demonstration of Miller's Magical Number Seven.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaffer, Leigh S.

1982-01-01

Describes a demonstration for college-level cognitive psychology classes of Miller's "Magical Number Seven" concept of the limitation of sensory capacity for processing information. Students report on the number of pennies they observed in a box after viewing the coins for two seconds. Demonstration results consistently support Miller's…

Self-assessment: Strategy for higher standards, consistency, and performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ide, W.E.

1996-01-01

In late 1994, Palo Verde operations underwent a transformation from a unitized structure to a single functional unit. It was necessary to build consistency in watchstanding practices and create a shared mission. Because there was a lack of focus on actual plant operations and because personnel were deeply involved with administrative tasks, command and control of evolutions were weak. Improvement was needed. Consistent performance standards have been set for all three operating units. These expectation focus on nuclear, radiological, and industrial safety. Straightforward descriptions of watchstanding and monitoring practices have been provided to all department personnel. The desired professional and leadership qualities for employee conduct have been defined and communicated thoroughly. A healthy and competitive atmosphere developed with the successful implementation of these standards. Overall performance improved. The auxiliary operators demonstrated increased pride and ownership in the performance of their work activities. In addition, their morale improved. Crew teamwork improved as well as the quality of shift briefs. There was a decrease in the noise level and the administrative functions in the control room. The use of self-assessment helped to anchor and define higher and more consistent standards. The proof of Palo Verde's success was evident when an Institute of Nuclear Power Operations finding was turned into a strength within 1 yr

Gender consistency and flexibility: using dynamics to understand the relationship between gender and adjustment.

Science.gov (United States)

DiDonato, Matthew D; Martin, Carol L; Hessler, Eric E; Amazeen, Polemnia G; Hanish, Laura D; Fabes, Richard A

2012-04-01

Controversy surrounds questions regarding the influence of being gender consistent (i.e., having and expressing gendered characteristics that are consistent with one's biological sex) versus being gender flexible (i.e., having and expressing gendered characteristics that vary from masculine to feminine as circumstances arise) on children's adjustment outcomes, such as self-esteem, positive emotion, or behavior problems. Whereas evidence supporting the consistency hypothesis is abundant, little support exists for the flexibility hypothesis. To shed new light on the flexibility hypothesis, we explored children's gendered behavior from a dynamical perspective that highlighted variability and flexibility in addition to employing a conventional approach that emphasized stability and consistency. Conventional mean-level analyses supported the consistency hypothesis by revealing that gender atypical behavior was related to greater maladjustment, and dynamical analyses supported the flexibility hypothesis by showing that flexibility of gendered behavior over time was related to positive adjustment. Integrated analyses showed that gender typical behavior was related to the adjustment of children who were behaviorally inflexible, but not for those who were flexible. These results provided a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between gendered behavior and adjustment in young children and illustrated for the first time the feasibility of applying dynamical analyses to the study of gendered behavior.

G-Consistent Subsets and Reduced Dynamical Quantum Maps

Science.gov (United States)

Ceballos, Russell R.

A quantum system which evolves in time while interacting with an external environ- ment is said to be an open quantum system (OQS), and the influence of the environment on the unperturbed unitary evolution of the system generally leads to non-unitary dynamics. This kind of open system dynamical evolution has been typically modeled by a Standard Prescription (SP) which assumes that the state of the OQS is initially uncorrelated with the environment state. It is here shown that when a minimal set of physically motivated assumptions are adopted, not only does there exist constraints on the reduced dynamics of an OQS such that this SP does not always accurately describe the possible initial cor- relations existing between the OQS and environment, but such initial correlations, and even entanglement, can be witnessed when observing a particular class of reduced state transformations termed purity extractions are observed. Furthermore, as part of a more fundamental investigation to better understand the minimal set of assumptions required to formulate well defined reduced dynamical quantum maps, it is demonstrated that there exists a one-to-one correspondence between the set of initial reduced states and the set of admissible initial system-environment composite states when G-consistency is enforced. Given the discussions surrounding the requirement of complete positivity and the reliance on the SP, the results presented here may well be found valuable for determining the ba- sic properties of reduced dynamical maps, and when restrictions on the OQS dynamics naturally emerge.

An algebraic method for constructing stable and consistent autoregressive filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harlim, John; Hong, Hoon; Robbins, Jacob L.

2015-01-01

In this paper, we introduce an algebraic method to construct stable and consistent univariate autoregressive (AR) models of low order for filtering and predicting nonlinear turbulent signals with memory depth. By stable, we refer to the classical stability condition for the AR model. By consistent, we refer to the classical consistency constraints of Adams–Bashforth methods of order-two. One attractive feature of this algebraic method is that the model parameters can be obtained without directly knowing any training data set as opposed to many standard, regression-based parameterization methods. It takes only long-time average statistics as inputs. The proposed method provides a discretization time step interval which guarantees the existence of stable and consistent AR model and simultaneously produces the parameters for the AR models. In our numerical examples with two chaotic time series with different characteristics of decaying time scales, we find that the proposed AR models produce significantly more accurate short-term predictive skill and comparable filtering skill relative to the linear regression-based AR models. These encouraging results are robust across wide ranges of discretization times, observation times, and observation noise variances. Finally, we also find that the proposed model produces an improved short-time prediction relative to the linear regression-based AR-models in forecasting a data set that characterizes the variability of the Madden–Julian Oscillation, a dominant tropical atmospheric wave pattern

Waste and Disposal: Demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neerdael, B.; Buyens, M.; De Bruyn, D.; Volckaert, G.

2002-01-01

Within the Belgian R and D programme on geological disposal, demonstration experiments have become increasingly important. In this contribution to the scientific report 2001, an overview is given of SCK-CEN's activities and achievements in the field of large-scale demonstration experiments. In 2001, main emphasis was on the PRACLAY project, which is a large-scale experiment to demonstrate the construction and the operation of a gallery for the disposal of HLW in a clay formation. The PRACLAY experiment will contribute to enhance understanding of water flow and mass transport in dense clay-based materials as well as to improve the design of the reference disposal concept. In the context of PRACLAY, a surface experiment (OPHELIE) has been developed to prepare and to complement PRACLAY-related experimental work in the HADES Underground Research Laboratory. In 2001, efforts were focussed on the operation of the OPHELIE mock-up. SCK-CEN also contributed to the SELFRAC roject which studies the self-healing of fractures in a clay formation

Self-consistent adjoint analysis for topology optimization of electromagnetic waves

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Yongbo; Korvink, Jan G.

2018-05-01

In topology optimization of electromagnetic waves, the Gâteaux differentiability of the conjugate operator to the complex field variable results in the complexity of the adjoint sensitivity, which evolves the original real-valued design variable to be complex during the iterative solution procedure. Therefore, the self-inconsistency of the adjoint sensitivity is presented. To enforce the self-consistency, the real part operator has been used to extract the real part of the sensitivity to keep the real-value property of the design variable. However, this enforced self-consistency can cause the problem that the derived structural topology has unreasonable dependence on the phase of the incident wave. To solve this problem, this article focuses on the self-consistent adjoint analysis of the topology optimization problems for electromagnetic waves. This self-consistent adjoint analysis is implemented by splitting the complex variables of the wave equations into the corresponding real parts and imaginary parts, sequentially substituting the split complex variables into the wave equations with deriving the coupled equations equivalent to the original wave equations, where the infinite free space is truncated by the perfectly matched layers. Then, the topology optimization problems of electromagnetic waves are transformed into the forms defined on real functional spaces instead of complex functional spaces; the adjoint analysis of the topology optimization problems is implemented on real functional spaces with removing the variational of the conjugate operator; the self-consistent adjoint sensitivity is derived, and the phase-dependence problem is avoided for the derived structural topology. Several numerical examples are implemented to demonstrate the robustness of the derived self-consistent adjoint analysis.

Composition consisting of a dendrimer and an active substance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

1995-01-01

The invention relates to a composition consisting of a dendrimer provided with blocking agents and an active substance occluded in the dendrimer. According to the invention a blocking agent is a compound which is sterically of sufficient size, which readily enters into a chemical bond with the

Dispersion Differences and Consistency of Artificial Periodic Structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Zhi-Bao; Lin, Wen-Kai; Shi, Zhi-Fei

2017-10-01

Dispersion differences and consistency of artificial periodic structures, including phononic crystals, elastic metamaterials, as well as periodic structures composited of phononic crystals and elastic metamaterials, are investigated in this paper. By developing a K(ω) method, complex dispersion relations and group/phase velocity curves of both the single-mechanism periodic structures and the mixing-mechanism periodic structures are calculated at first, from which dispersion differences of artificial periodic structures are discussed. Then, based on a unified formulation, dispersion consistency of artificial periodic structures is investigated. Through a comprehensive comparison study, the correctness for the unified formulation is verified. Mathematical derivations of the unified formulation for different artificial periodic structures are presented. Furthermore, physical meanings of the unified formulation are discussed in the energy-state space.

Variable acuity remote viewing system flight demonstration

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, R. W.

1983-01-01

The Variable Acuity Remote Viewing System (VARVS), originally developed under contract to the Navy (ONR) as a laboratory brassboard, was modified for flight demonstration. The VARVS system was originally conceived as a technique which could circumvent the acuity/field of view/bandwidth tradeoffs that exists in remote viewing to provide a nearly eye limited display in both field of view (160 deg) and resolution (2 min arc) while utilizing conventional TV sensing, transmission, and display equipment. The modifications for flight demonstration consisted of modifying the sensor so it could be installed and flow in a Piper PA20 aircraft, equipped for remote control and modifying the display equipment so it could be integrated with the NASA Research RPB (RPRV) remote control cockpit.

Consistent Kaluza-Klein truncations via exceptional field theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hohm, Olaf [Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Samtleben, Henning [Université de Lyon, Laboratoire de Physique, UMR 5672, CNRS,École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46, allée d’Italie, F-69364 Lyon cedex 07 (France)

2015-01-26

We present the generalized Scherk-Schwarz reduction ansatz for the full supersymmetric exceptional field theory in terms of group valued twist matrices subject to consistency equations. With this ansatz the field equations precisely reduce to those of lower-dimensional gauged supergravity parametrized by an embedding tensor. We explicitly construct a family of twist matrices as solutions of the consistency equations. They induce gauged supergravities with gauge groups SO(p,q) and CSO(p,q,r). Geometrically, they describe compactifications on internal spaces given by spheres and (warped) hyperboloides H{sup p,q}, thus extending the applicability of generalized Scherk-Schwarz reductions beyond homogeneous spaces. Together with the dictionary that relates exceptional field theory to D=11 and IIB supergravity, respectively, the construction defines an entire new family of consistent truncations of the original theories. These include not only compactifications on spheres of different dimensions (such as AdS{sub 5}×S{sup 5}), but also various hyperboloid compactifications giving rise to a higher-dimensional embedding of supergravities with non-compact and non-semisimple gauge groups.

Consistency argued students of fluid

Science.gov (United States)

Viyanti; Cari; Suparmi; Winarti; Slamet Budiarti, Indah; Handika, Jeffry; Widyastuti, Fatma

2017-01-01

Problem solving for physics concepts through consistency arguments can improve thinking skills of students and it is an important thing in science. The study aims to assess the consistency of the material Fluid student argmentation. The population of this study are College students PGRI Madiun, UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta and Lampung University. Samples using cluster random sampling, 145 samples obtained by the number of students. The study used a descriptive survey method. Data obtained through multiple-choice test and interview reasoned. Problem fluid modified from [9] and [1]. The results of the study gained an average consistency argmentation for the right consistency, consistency is wrong, and inconsistent respectively 4.85%; 29.93%; and 65.23%. Data from the study have an impact on the lack of understanding of the fluid material which is ideally in full consistency argued affect the expansion of understanding of the concept. The results of the study as a reference in making improvements in future studies is to obtain a positive change in the consistency of argumentations.

On Consistency Test Method of Expert Opinion in Ecological Security Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Zaiwu; Wang, Lihong

2017-09-04

To reflect the initiative design and initiative of human security management and safety warning, ecological safety assessment is of great value. In the comprehensive evaluation of regional ecological security with the participation of experts, the expert's individual judgment level, ability and the consistency of the expert's overall opinion will have a very important influence on the evaluation result. This paper studies the consistency measure and consensus measure based on the multiplicative and additive consistency property of fuzzy preference relation (FPR). We firstly propose the optimization methods to obtain the optimal multiplicative consistent and additively consistent FPRs of individual and group judgments, respectively. Then, we put forward a consistency measure by computing the distance between the original individual judgment and the optimal individual estimation, along with a consensus measure by computing the distance between the original collective judgment and the optimal collective estimation. In the end, we make a case study on ecological security for five cities. Result shows that the optimal FPRs are helpful in measuring the consistency degree of individual judgment and the consensus degree of collective judgment.

Evaluation and demonstration of methods for improved fuel utilization. Third semi-annual progress report, October 1, 1980-March 31, 1981

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-06-01

The demonstrations are being performed in the Fort Calhoun reactor. The current program consists of two parts, one to demonstrate low leakage fuel management (SAVFUEL - Shimmed And Very Flexible Uranium Element Loading) and the other to demonstrate high burnup. During this period the four SAVFUEL demonstration assemblies were undergoing their second exposure cycle, simulating the SAVFUEL power cycle. In addition, one high burnup demonstration assembly, which is being irradiated for a fifth exposure cycle has achieved a peak rod average burnup of 45 GWD/T which is the burnup originally targeted for this program. This assembly is projected to achieve a peak rod average burnup of 49 GWD/T at the end of its fifth exposure cycle. During this period analyses were performed to determine the sensitivity of the economics to cycle lengths chosen for Fort Calhoun. Cost savings for 18 month cycles relative to 12 month cycles are reported

Consistency, Verification, and Validation of Turbulence Models for Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Rumsey, Christopher L.

2009-01-01

In current practice, it is often difficult to draw firm conclusions about turbulence model accuracy when performing multi-code CFD studies ostensibly using the same model because of inconsistencies in model formulation or implementation in different codes. This paper describes an effort to improve the consistency, verification, and validation of turbulence models within the aerospace community through a website database of verification and validation cases. Some of the variants of two widely-used turbulence models are described, and two independent computer codes (one structured and one unstructured) are used in conjunction with two specific versions of these models to demonstrate consistency with grid refinement for several representative problems. Naming conventions, implementation consistency, and thorough grid resolution studies are key factors necessary for success.

Consistency of orthodox gravity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bellucci, S. [INFN, Frascati (Italy). Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati; Shiekh, A. [International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy)

1997-01-01

A recent proposal for quantizing gravity is investigated for self consistency. The existence of a fixed-point all-order solution is found, corresponding to a consistent quantum gravity. A criterion to unify couplings is suggested, by invoking an application of their argument to more complex systems.

Different Influences on Lexical Priming for Integrative, Thematic, and Taxonomic Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lara L. Jones

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Word pairs may be integrative (i.e., combination of two concepts into one meaningful entity; e.g., fruit - cake, thematically related (i.e., connected in time and place; e.g., party - cake, and/or taxonomically related (i.e., shared features and category co-members; e.g., muffin - cake. Using participant ratings and computational measures, we demonstrated distinct patterns across measures of similarity and co-occurrence, and familiarity for each relational construct in two different item sets. Overall, target RTs and priming magnitudes were consistent across the SOAs for both item sets. However, results of a standard lexical decision task with various delays between prime and target presentation further demonstrated distinct patterns among these three relations on some of the underlying measures influencing target word recognition (LSA, Google, and BEAGLE. These distinct patterns suggest different mechanisms of lexical priming and further demonstrate that integrative relations are distinct from thematic and taxonomic relations.

Decentralized Consistent Network Updates in SDN with ez-Segway

KAUST Repository

Nguyen, Thanh Dang

2017-03-06

We present ez-Segway, a decentralized mechanism to consistently and quickly update the network state while preventing forwarding anomalies (loops and black-holes) and avoiding link congestion. In our design, the centralized SDN controller only pre-computes information needed by the switches during the update execution. This information is distributed to the switches, which use partial knowledge and direct message passing to efficiently realize the update. This separation of concerns has the key benefit of improving update performance as the communication and computation bottlenecks at the controller are removed. Our evaluations via network emulations and large-scale simulations demonstrate the efficiency of ez-Segway, which compared to a centralized approach, improves network update times by up to 45% and 57% at the median and the 99th percentile, respectively. A deployment of a system prototype in a real OpenFlow switch and an implementation in P4 demonstrate the feasibility and low overhead of implementing simple network update functionality within switches.

Demonstration of Cauchy: Understanding Algebraic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T.L. Costa

2012-11-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: In this study we present some considerations about the End of Course Work undergraduate Full Degree in Mathematics / UFMT, drafted in 2011, and by taking title "A story about Cauchy and Euler's theorem on polyhedra" that gave birth to our research project Master of Education, begun in 2012, on the approaches of Euler's theorem on polyhedra in mathematics textbooks. At work in 2011 presented some considerations about the history of Euler's theorem for polyhedra which focus the demonstration presented by Cauchy (1789-1857, who tries to generalize it, relying on assumptions not observable in Euclidean geometry. Therefore, we seek the accessible literature on the history of mathematics; relate some aspects of the demonstration Cauchy with historical events on the development of mathematics in the nineteenth century, which allowed the acceptance of such a demonstration by mathematicians of his time.Keywords: History of Mathematics. Euler's Theorem on Polyhedra. Demonstration of Cauchy.

CALDERON COKEMAKING PROCESS/DEMONSTRATION PROJECT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albert Calderon

1999-01-01

This project deals with the demonstration of a coking process using proprietary technology of Calderon, with the following objectives geared to facilitate commercialization: (1) making coke of such quality as to be suitable for use in hard-driving, large blast furnaces; (2) providing proof that such process is continuous and environmentally closed to prevent emissions; (3) demonstrating that high-coking-pressure (non-traditional) coal blends which cannot be safely charged into conventional by-product coke ovens can be used in the Calderon process; and (4) demonstrating that coke can be produced economically, at a level competitive with coke imports. The activities of the past quarter were focused on the following: Consolidation of the team of stakeholders; Move the site for the commercial demonstration to LTV Steel, Cleveland, Ohio; Permitting for new site; Site specific engineering; Cost update of the project as it relates to the Cleveland location; FETC update; DCAA audit; and Updated endorsement of Calderon process by Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA, Region 5

Squeezing of open boundaries by Maxwell-consistent real coordinate transformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shyroki, Dzmitry

2006-01-01

To emulate open boundaries within a finite computational domain, real-function coordinate transformation consistent with generally covariant Maxwell equations is proposed. The mapping-realized with arctangent function here-has a transparent geometric meaning of pure squeezing of coordinates, does...... not introduce artificially lossy layers (or "lossy coordinates") to absorb outgoing radiation, nor lead to spurious non-Maxwellian fields. In finite-difference frequency-domain calculations on staggered grid, clear superiority over perfectly matched layers is demonstrated by the proposed technique, at a lower...

Self-consistent nonlinearly polarizable shell-model dynamics for ferroelectric materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mkam Tchouobiap, S.E.; Kofane, T.C.; Ngabireng, C.M.

2002-11-01

We investigate the dynamical properties of the polarizable shellmodel with a symmetric double Morse-type electron-ion interaction in one ionic species. A variational calculation based on the Self-Consistent Einstein Model (SCEM) shows that a theoretical ferroelectric (FE) transition temperature can be derive which demonstrates the presence of a first-order phase transition for the potassium selenate (K 2 SeO 4 ) crystal around Tc 91.5 K. Comparison of the model calculation with the experimental critical temperature yields satisfactory agreement. (author)

Overspecification of colour, pattern, and size: Salience, absoluteness, and consistency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sammie eTarenskeen

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The rates of overspecification of colour, pattern, and size are compared, to investigate how salience and absoluteness contribute to the production of overspecification. Colour and pattern are absolute attributes, whereas size is relative and less salient. Additionally, a tendency towards consistent responses is assessed. Using a within-participants design, we find similar rates of colour and pattern overspecification, which are both higher than the rate of size overspecification. Using a between-participants design, however, we find similar rates of pattern and size overspecification, which are both lower than the rate of colour overspecification. This indicates that although many speakers are more likely to include colour than pattern (probably because colour is more salient, they may also treat pattern like colour due to a tendency towards consistency. We find no increase in size overspecification when the salience of size is increased, suggesting that speakers are more likely to include absolute than relative attributes. However, we do find an increase in size overspecification when mentioning the attributes is triggered, which again shows that speakers tend refer in a consistent manner, and that there are circumstances in which even size overspecification is frequently produced.

The prediction of semantic consistency in self-descriptions: characteristics of persons and of terms that affect the consistency of responses to synonym and antonym pairs.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, L R; Kilkowski, J M

1985-01-01

Subjects described themselves, using an alphabetically ordered list of 191 trait adjectives, which included sets of synonyms and antonyms, half of each type more difficult than the other half. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions. In one condition, each adjective was listed with its dictionary definition; in the other condition, only the adjectives were listed. All subjects were administered a battery of demographic, cognitive, and personality measures. We analyzed both the relative consistency elicited by different pairs of terms and the individual differences in semantic consistency displayed by different sorts of subjects. Although the provision of definitions served to increase consistency (especially for the difficult antonyms), it did not decrease the range of consistency values across either synonym or antonym pairs. And, although interpair differences in semantic consistency were as difficult to predict in this study as in previous ones, individual differences were highly predictable. The implications of our many findings are discussed in the context of various hypotheses about semantic inconsistency in self-reports.

Final report : Alberta renewable diesel demonstration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-02-15

The Alberta renewable diesel demonstration (ARDD) was a demonstration project aimed at providing information and operating experience to stakeholders in the diesel fuel industry. The demonstration took renewable diesel from the lab to the road, providing hands-on experience at 2 and 5 per cent blends (B2 in winter and B5 in shoulder and summer seasons). The ARDD fleet consisted of 59 vehicles running on two types of renewable diesel, notably fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and hydrogenated-derived renewable diesel (HDRD). This report was a summary of the observations of the ARDD. The report provided a general account of the project scope, methods and observations employed in a multi-stakeholder, real-world demonstration of low-level renewable diesel fuels in challenging winter conditions. The purpose of the report was to provide feedback to stakeholders regarding the use of renewable diesel fuels in Canada's on-road diesel fuel market and to confirm the operability of low level renewable diesel blends under the specific conditions tested ensuring full and continuous compliance with CAN/CGSB 3.520. The report discussed Canada's fuel distribution system in western Canada; the blending facility; blending techniques; fuel retail locations; fuel properties; fuel handling; fuel selection; and fuel testing. It was concluded that the ARDD demonstrated that B2 blends of canola methyl ester and 2 per cent blends of hydrogenation derived renewable diesel were fully operable in winter conditions in the study area when cloud points were adjusted to meet CAN/CGSB requirements. 4 refs., 15 tabs., 20 figs., 2 appendices.

Individual consistency in exploratory behaviour and mating tactics in male guppies

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Jennifer L.; Phillips, Samuel C.; Evans, Jonathan P.

2013-10-01

While behavioural plasticity is considered an adaptation to fluctuating social and environmental conditions, many animals also display a high level of individual consistency in their behaviour over time or across contexts (generally termed ‘personality’). However, studies of animal personalities that include sexual behaviour, or functionally distinct but correlated traits, are relatively scarce. In this study, we tested for individual behavioural consistency in courtship and exploratory behaviour in male guppies ( Poecilia reticulata) in two light environments (high vs. low light intensity). Based on previous work on guppies, we predicted that males would modify their behaviour from sneak mating tactics to courtship displays under low light conditions, but also that the rank orders of courtship effort would remain unchanged (i.e. highly sexually active individuals would display relatively high levels of courtship under both light regimes). We also tested for correlations between courtship and exploratory behaviour, predicting that males that had high display rates would also be more likely to approach a novel object. Although males showed significant consistency in their exploratory and mating behaviour over time (1 week), we found no evidence that these traits constituted a behavioural syndrome. Furthermore, in contrast to previous work, we found no overall effect of the light environment on any of the behaviours measured, although males responded to the treatment on an individual-level basis, as reflected by a significant individual-by-environment interaction. The future challenge is to investigate how individual consistency across different environmental contexts relates to male reproductive success.

Inverse consistent non-rigid image registration based on robust point set matching

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Robust point matching (RPM) has been extensively used in non-rigid registration of images to robustly register two sets of image points. However, except for the location at control points, RPM cannot estimate the consistent correspondence between two images because RPM is a unidirectional image matching approach. Therefore, it is an important issue to make an improvement in image registration based on RPM. Methods In our work, a consistent image registration approach based on the point sets matching is proposed to incorporate the property of inverse consistency and improve registration accuracy. Instead of only estimating the forward transformation between the source point sets and the target point sets in state-of-the-art RPM algorithms, the forward and backward transformations between two point sets are estimated concurrently in our algorithm. The inverse consistency constraints are introduced to the cost function of RPM and the fuzzy correspondences between two point sets are estimated based on both the forward and backward transformations simultaneously. A modified consistent landmark thin-plate spline registration is discussed in detail to find the forward and backward transformations during the optimization of RPM. The similarity of image content is also incorporated into point matching in order to improve image matching. Results Synthetic data sets, medical images are employed to demonstrate and validate the performance of our approach. The inverse consistent errors of our algorithm are smaller than RPM. Especially, the topology of transformations is preserved well for our algorithm for the large deformation between point sets. Moreover, the distance errors of our algorithm are similar to that of RPM, and they maintain a downward trend as whole, which demonstrates the convergence of our algorithm. The registration errors for image registrations are evaluated also. Again, our algorithm achieves the lower registration errors in same iteration number

Object-Oriented Hierarchy Radiation Consistency for Different Temporal and Different Sensor Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nan Su

2018-02-01

Full Text Available In the paper, we propose a novel object-oriented hierarchy radiation consistency method for dense matching of different temporal and different sensor data in the 3D reconstruction. For different temporal images, our illumination consistency method is proposed to solve both the illumination uniformity for a single image and the relative illumination normalization for image pairs. Especially in the relative illumination normalization step, singular value equalization and linear relationship of the invariant pixels is combined used for the initial global illumination normalization and the object-oriented refined illumination normalization in detail, respectively. For different sensor images, we propose the union group sparse method, which is based on improving the original group sparse model. The different sensor images are set to a similar smoothness level by the same threshold of singular value from the union group matrix. Our method comprehensively considered the influence factors on the dense matching of the different temporal and different sensor stereoscopic image pairs to simultaneously improve the illumination consistency and the smoothness consistency. The radiation consistency experimental results verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method by comparing two other methods. Moreover, in the dense matching experiment of the mixed stereoscopic image pairs, our method has more advantages for objects in the urban area.

Data quality assurance for the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

Science.gov (United States)

Myslik, Jordan; Majorana Collaboration

2017-09-01

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is an experiment constructed to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in germanium-76 and to demonstrate the feasibility to deploy a large-scale experiment in a phased and modular fashion. It consists of two modular arrays of natural and 76Ge-enriched germanium detectors totalling 44.1 kg, located at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. Any neutrinoless double-beta decay search requires a thorough understanding of the background and the signal energy spectra. Data collection is monitored with a thorough regimen, instrumental background events are tagged for removal, and subsequent careful analysis of the collected data is performed to ensure that there are no deeper issues. This talk will discuss the various techniques employed to ensure the integrity of the measured spectra.

Self-consistent descriptions of vector mesons in hot matter reexamined

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riek, Felix; Knoll, Joern

2010-01-01

Technical concepts are presented that improve the self-consistent treatment of vector mesons in a hot and dense medium. First applications concern an interacting gas of pions and ρ mesons. As an extension of earlier studies, we thereby include random-phase-approximation-type vertex corrections and further use dispersion relations to calculate the real part of the vector-meson self-energy. An improved projection method preserves the four transversality of the vector-meson polarization tensor throughout the self-consistent calculations, thereby keeping the scheme void of kinematical singularities.

Market-consistent actuarial valuation

CERN Document Server

Wüthrich, Mario V

2016-01-01

This is the third edition of this well-received textbook, presenting powerful methods for measuring insurance liabilities and assets in a consistent way, with detailed mathematical frameworks that lead to market-consistent values for liabilities. Topics covered are stochastic discounting with deflators, valuation portfolio in life and non-life insurance, probability distortions, asset and liability management, financial risks, insurance technical risks, and solvency. Including updates on recent developments and regulatory changes under Solvency II, this new edition of Market-Consistent Actuarial Valuation also elaborates on different risk measures, providing a revised definition of solvency based on industry practice, and presents an adapted valuation framework which takes a dynamic view of non-life insurance reserving risk.

Selecting the best bank that offered Islamic personal loan package by using consistent fuzzy preference relations (CFPR)

Science.gov (United States)

Kadir, Norhidayah A.; Sarudin, Ezzah Suraya; Hamid, Fairus; Shamsuddin, Nor Diyana Ahmad

2014-10-01

There are various thoughts and opinions when it comes to how people think of their selected banks. Therefore, to choose the best bank with a good personal loan package can be a bit tricky especially for first time customer. This research offers a guide in choosing the right bank for applying personal loan package by highlighting the important criteria that applicants should take into consideration. In order to cater the problem above, we used Consistent Fuzzy Preference Relations (CFPR). Based on expert and public opinions, the important criteria in selecting an Islamic personal loan package are interest rate, tenure of loan, processing period and security of the loan. We developed questionnaire with the criteria mention earlier and distributed it among academic staffs and non academic staffs at Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FSKM), UiTM Shah Alam. Based on the questionnaire, we found that four banks have been selected for multiple reasons. Before we could determine the best bank, calculations are divided into 2 phases which are criteria weights determination and ranking of alternatives. We implemented these phases to get the aggregation result and to obtain the ranking in descending order. As a result, our objectives have been achieved. As a conclusion, CFPR can help others in the decision making process.

Standardized UXO Technology Demonstration Site, Blind Grid Scoring Record No. 919

Science.gov (United States)

2008-07-01

provided by demonstrator) a. The core component of the electromagnetic (EM) AMOS metal detector is a linear multichannel sensor array consisting of a...Attainable accuracy of depth (z) +0.3 m h. Detection performance for ferrous and nonferrous metals : Will detect ammunition components 20-mm caliber...2-meter-wide transmitter coil and 16 receiver coils, mounted on a robust, all-terrain trailer (fig. 1). b. The AMOS detector unit consists of the

Bilingualism increases neural response consistency and attentional control: evidence for sensory and cognitive coupling.

Science.gov (United States)

Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Marian, Viorica; Kraus, Nina

2014-01-01

Auditory processing is presumed to be influenced by cognitive processes - including attentional control - in a top-down manner. In bilinguals, activation of both languages during daily communication hones inhibitory skills, which subsequently bolster attentional control. We hypothesize that the heightened attentional demands of bilingual communication strengthens connections between cognitive (i.e., attentional control) and auditory processing, leading to greater across-trial consistency in the auditory evoked response (i.e., neural consistency) in bilinguals. To assess this, we collected passively-elicited auditory evoked responses to the syllable [da] in adolescent Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals and separately obtained measures of attentional control and language ability. Bilinguals demonstrated enhanced attentional control and more consistent brainstem and cortical responses. In bilinguals, but not monolinguals, brainstem consistency tracked with language proficiency and attentional control. We interpret these enhancements in neural consistency as the outcome of strengthened attentional control that emerged from experience communicating in two languages. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Standardized UXO Technology Demonstration Site Open Field Scoring Record No. 908

Science.gov (United States)

2008-08-01

demonstration at Aberdeen Proving Ground, a system with eight fluxgate magnetometers (Foerster CON650 gradiometers) and RTK-DGPS georeferencing will...be used. The spacing between the individual fluxgate sensors will be 25 cm (ca. 10 inches), totaling to a swath width of 2 m. c. The MAGNETO...MX system consists of: the MX-compact hardware multiplexer electronic module, up to 32 fluxgate gradiometers (for the APG demonstration: 8 fluxgate

Generic demonstration plant study (A/E package)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Molzen, D.F.

1979-01-01

Molzen--Corbin and Associates, Albuquerque, New Mexico, under contract to Sandia Laboratories, has prepared preliminary drawings, descriptive material and a scale model of the demonstration plant. This information will be made available to A/E firms to assist them in the preparation of proposals for complete construction plans and specifications. The four categories for which preliminary work has been prepared consist of structural work, mechanical work, electrical work, and cost estimates. In addition, preliminary specifications, including a written description of the facility consisting of mechanical electrical systems and operations, a description of the safety features, the basic design criteria, three-dimensional sketches, and a scale model of the design have been prepared. The preliminary drawings indicate the required minimum wall thicknesses, overall dimensions and the necessary layout of the removable concrete blocks and slabs required for radiation protection and control

Occlusion-Aware Fragment-Based Tracking With Spatial-Temporal Consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Chong; Wang, Dong; Lu, Huchuan

2016-08-01

In this paper, we present a robust tracking method by exploiting a fragment-based appearance model with consideration of both temporal continuity and discontinuity information. From the perspective of probability theory, the proposed tracking algorithm can be viewed as a two-stage optimization problem. In the first stage, by adopting the estimated occlusion state as a prior, the optimal state of the tracked object can be obtained by solving an optimization problem, where the objective function is designed based on the classification score, occlusion prior, and temporal continuity information. In the second stage, we propose a discriminative occlusion model, which exploits both foreground and background information to detect the possible occlusion, and also models the consistency of occlusion labels among different frames. In addition, a simple yet effective training strategy is introduced during the model training (and updating) process, with which the effects of spatial-temporal consistency are properly weighted. The proposed tracker is evaluated by using the recent benchmark data set, on which the results demonstrate that our tracker performs favorably against other state-of-the-art tracking algorithms.

Options identification programme for demonstration of nuclear desalination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-08-01

This report responds to Resolutions GC(XXXVIII)/RES/7 in 1994 and GC(XXXIX)/RES/15 in 1995 at the IAEA General Conference, which requested the Director General to initiate a two year Options Identification Programme to identify and define practical options for demonstration of nuclear desalination and to submit a report on this programme to the General Conference of 1996. This programme was implemented by a Working Group, consisting of experts from interested Member States and IAEA staff, through a combination of periodic meetings and individual work assignments. It resulted in identification of a few practical options, based on reactor and desalination technologies which are themselves readily available without further development being required at the time of demonstration. The report thus provides a perspective how to proceed with demonstration of nuclear desalination, which is expected to help solving the potable water supply problem in the next century. Refs, figs, tabs

Internal Consistency and Convergent Validity of the Klontz Money Behavior Inventory (KMBI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colby D. Taylor

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The Klontz Money Behavior Inventory (KMBI is a standalone, multi-scale measure than can screen for the presence of eight distinct money disorders. Given the well-established relationship between mental health and financial behaviors, results from the KMBI can be used to inform both mental health care professionals and financial planners. The present study examined the internal consistency and convergent validity of the KMBI, through comparison with similar measures, among a sample of college students (n = 232. Results indicate that the KMBI demonstrates acceptable internal consistency reliability and some convergence for most subscales when compared to other analogous measures. These findings highlight a need for literature and assessments to identify and describe disordered money behaviors.

Implementing a cornerstone of culture change: Consistent staff assignment in VHA community living centers.

Science.gov (United States)

Lemke, Sonne; Brennan, Penny L; SooHoo, Sonya; Schutte, Kathleen K

2017-08-01

In 2011, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) began implementing consistent staff assignment in its nursing homes (called Community Living Centers or CLCs). Consistent assignment, a cornerstone of culture change, minimizes the number of staff who provide a resident's care. The present research assessed the level and stability of consistent assignment in units within VHA CLCs and identified unit characteristics related to implementation of this staff assignment model. Schedulers in 185 of 335 organizational units that make up VHA CLCs completed a Staffing Practices Survey. For the month prior to the survey, 53% of CLC units had full implementation of consistent assignment. Tracked back over time, 37% of CLC units had stable high consistent assignment, 29% had stable low consistent assignment, and 34% were variable. Units with stable high consistent assignment were most likely to use care teams with stable membership and to obtain staff input for care assignments. Schedulers in these units reported more positive experiences with consistent staff assignment and better unit functioning in terms of staff absences, complaints about workload fairness, and resolution of scheduling problems. Units with stable low and variable consistent assignment were similar in most of these respects; however, units with variable consistent assignment made greater use of stable care teams and were less likely to change assignments at a staff member's request. Overall, consistent assignment implementation was not related to unit size, nursing hours per resident day, or specialty focus. Findings can help guide consistent staff assignment implementation in VHA and community nursing homes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Audiovisual biofeedback guided breath-hold improves lung tumor position reproducibility and volume consistency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danny Lee, PhD

2017-07-01

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that audiovisual biofeedback can be used to improve the reproducibility and consistency of breath-hold lung tumor position and volume, respectively. These results may provide a pathway to achieve more accurate lung cancer radiation treatment in addition to improving various medical imaging and treatments by using breath-hold procedures.

Self-consistent potential variations in magnetic wells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kesner, J.; Knorr, G.; Nicholson, D.R.

1981-01-01

Self-consistent electrostatic potential variations are considered in a spatial region of weak magnetic field, as in the proposed tandem mirror thermal barriers (with no trapped ions). For some conditions, equivalent to ion distributions with a sufficiently high net drift speed along the magnetic field, the desired potential depressions are found. When the net drift speed is not high enough, potential depressions are found only in combination with strong electric fields on the boundaries of the system. These potential depressions are not directly related to the magnetic field depression. (author)

Consistency properties of chaotic systems driven by time-delayed feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Jüngling, T.; Soriano, M. C.; Oliver, N.; Porte, X.; Fischer, I.

2018-04-01

Consistency refers to the property of an externally driven dynamical system to respond in similar ways to similar inputs. In a delay system, the delayed feedback can be considered as an external drive to the undelayed subsystem. We analyze the degree of consistency in a generic chaotic system with delayed feedback by means of the auxiliary system approach. In this scheme an identical copy of the nonlinear node is driven by exactly the same signal as the original, allowing us to verify complete consistency via complete synchronization. In the past, the phenomenon of synchronization in delay-coupled chaotic systems has been widely studied using correlation functions. Here, we analytically derive relationships between characteristic signatures of the correlation functions in such systems and unequivocally relate them to the degree of consistency. The analytical framework is illustrated and supported by numerical calculations of the logistic map with delayed feedback for different replica configurations. We further apply the formalism to time series from an experiment based on a semiconductor laser with a double fiber-optical feedback loop. The experiment constitutes a high-quality replica scheme for studying consistency of the delay-driven laser and confirms the general theoretical results.

Status of the Virginia Power/DOE Cooperative Cask Testing/Demonstration Program: A video presentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKinnon, M.A.; Creer, J.M.; Collantes, C.E.

1990-01-01

This paper is documentation of a video presentation and provides a brief summary of the Virginia power/US Department of Energy Cooperative Cask Testing/Demonstration Program. The program consists of two phases. The first phase has been completed and involved the unlicensed performance testing (heat transfer and shielding) of three metal spent fuel storage casks at the federally owned Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The second phase is ongoing and consists of licensed demonstrations of standard casks from two different vendors and of one or two enhanced capacity casks. 6 refs., 1 tab

Test of Gross Motor Development : Expert Validity, confirmatory validity and internal consistence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadia Cristina Valentini

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2 is an instrument used to evaluate children’s level of motordevelopment. The objective of this study was to translate and verify the clarity and pertinence of the TGMD-2 items by expertsand the confirmatory factorial validity and the internal consistence by means of test-retest of the Portuguese TGMD-2. Across-cultural translation was used to construct the Portuguese version. The participants of this study were 7 professionalsand 587 children, from 27 schools (kindergarten and elementary from 3 to 10 years old (51.1% boys and 48.9% girls.Each child was videotaped performing the test twice. The videotaped tests were then scored. The results indicated thatthe Portuguese version of the TGMD-2 contains clear and pertinent motor items; demonstrated satisfactory indices ofconfirmatory factorial validity (χ2/gl = 3.38; Goodness-of-fit Index = 0.95; Adjusted Goodness-of-fit index = 0.92 and Tuckerand Lewis’s Index of Fit = 0.83 and test-retest internal consistency (locomotion r = 0.82; control of object: r = 0.88. ThePortuguese TGMD-2 demonstrated validity and reliability for the sample investigated.

Test of Gross Motor Development: expert validity, confirmatory validity and internal consistence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadia Cristina Valentini

2008-01-01

The Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2 is an instrument used to evaluate children’s level of motor development. The objective of this study was to translate and verify the clarity and pertinence of the TGMD-2 items by experts and the confirmatory factorial validity and the internal consistence by means of test-retest of the Portuguese TGMD-2. A cross-cultural translation was used to construct the Portuguese version. The participants of this study were 7 professionals and 587 children, from 27 schools (kindergarten and elementary from 3 to 10 years old (51.1% boys and 48.9% girls. Each child was videotaped performing the test twice. The videotaped tests were then scored. The results indicated that the Portuguese version of the TGMD-2 contains clear and pertinent motor items; demonstrated satisfactory indices of confirmatory factorial validity (÷2/gl = 3.38; Goodness-of-fit Index = 0.95; Adjusted Goodness-of-fit index = 0.92 and Tucker and Lewis’s Index of Fit = 0.83 and test-retest internal consistency (locomotion r = 0.82; control of object: r = 0.88. The Portuguese TGMD-2 demonstrated validity and reliability for the sample investigated.

Protective Factors, Risk Indicators, and Contraceptive Consistency Among College Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Morrison, Leslie F; Sieving, Renee E; Pettingell, Sandra L; Hellerstedt, Wendy L; McMorris, Barbara J; Bearinger, Linda H

2016-01-01

To explore risk and protective factors associated with consistent contraceptive use among emerging adult female college students and whether effects of risk indicators were moderated by protective factors. Secondary analysis of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Wave III data. Data collected through in-home interviews in 2001 and 2002. National sample of 18- to 25-year-old women (N = 842) attending 4-year colleges. We examined relationships between protective factors, risk indicators, and consistent contraceptive use. Consistent contraceptive use was defined as use all of the time during intercourse in the past 12 months. Protective factors included external supports of parental closeness and relationship with caring nonparental adult and internal assets of self-esteem, confidence, independence, and life satisfaction. Risk indicators included heavy episodic drinking, marijuana use, and depression symptoms. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate relationships between protective factors and consistent contraceptive use and between risk indicators and contraceptive use. Self-esteem, confidence, independence, and life satisfaction were significantly associated with more consistent contraceptive use. In a final model including all internal assets, life satisfaction was significantly related to consistent contraceptive use. Marijuana use and depression symptoms were significantly associated with less consistent use. With one exception, protective factors did not moderate relationships between risk indicators and consistent use. Based on our findings, we suggest that risk and protective factors may have largely independent influences on consistent contraceptive use among college women. A focus on risk and protective factors may improve contraceptive use rates and thereby reduce unintended pregnancy among college students. Copyright © 2016 AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Published

Image velocimetry for clouds with relaxation labeling based on deformation consistency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horinouchi, Takeshi; Murakami, Shin-ya; Yamazaki, Atsushi; Kouyama, Toru; Ogohara, Kazunori; Yamada, Manabu; Watanabe, Shigeto

2017-01-01

Correlation-based cloud tracking has been extensively used to measure atmospheric winds, but still difficulty remains. In this study, aiming at developing a cloud tracking system for Akatsuki, an artificial satellite orbiting Venus, a formulation is developed for improving the relaxation labeling technique to select appropriate peaks of cross-correlation surfaces which tend to have multiple peaks. The formulation makes an explicit use of consistency inherent in the type of cross-correlation method where template sub-images are slid without deformation; if the resultant motion vectors indicate a too-large deformation, it is contradictory to the assumption of the method. The deformation consistency is exploited further to develop two post processes; one clusters the motion vectors into groups within each of which the consistency is perfect, and the other extends the groups using the original candidate lists. These processes are useful to eliminate erroneous vectors, distinguish motion vectors at different altitudes, and detect phase velocities of waves in fluids such as atmospheric gravity waves. As a basis of the relaxation labeling and the post processes as well as uncertainty estimation, the necessity to find isolated (well-separated) peaks of cross-correlation surfaces is argued, and an algorithm to realize it is presented. All the methods are implemented, and their effectiveness is demonstrated with initial images obtained by the ultraviolet imager onboard Akatsuki. Since the deformation consistency regards the logical consistency inherent in template matching methods, it should have broad application beyond cloud tracking. (paper)

Image velocimetry for clouds with relaxation labeling based on deformation consistency

Science.gov (United States)

Horinouchi, Takeshi; Murakami, Shin-ya; Kouyama, Toru; Ogohara, Kazunori; Yamazaki, Atsushi; Yamada, Manabu; Watanabe, Shigeto

2017-08-01

Correlation-based cloud tracking has been extensively used to measure atmospheric winds, but still difficulty remains. In this study, aiming at developing a cloud tracking system for Akatsuki, an artificial satellite orbiting Venus, a formulation is developed for improving the relaxation labeling technique to select appropriate peaks of cross-correlation surfaces which tend to have multiple peaks. The formulation makes an explicit use of consistency inherent in the type of cross-correlation method where template sub-images are slid without deformation; if the resultant motion vectors indicate a too-large deformation, it is contradictory to the assumption of the method. The deformation consistency is exploited further to develop two post processes; one clusters the motion vectors into groups within each of which the consistency is perfect, and the other extends the groups using the original candidate lists. These processes are useful to eliminate erroneous vectors, distinguish motion vectors at different altitudes, and detect phase velocities of waves in fluids such as atmospheric gravity waves. As a basis of the relaxation labeling and the post processes as well as uncertainty estimation, the necessity to find isolated (well-separated) peaks of cross-correlation surfaces is argued, and an algorithm to realize it is presented. All the methods are implemented, and their effectiveness is demonstrated with initial images obtained by the ultraviolet imager onboard Akatsuki. Since the deformation consistency regards the logical consistency inherent in template matching methods, it should have broad application beyond cloud tracking.

A systematic and relational approach to obtaining curriculum consistency in corporate education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kessels, Joseph; Plomp, T.

1999-01-01

We report the results of an empirical study on the use of standards in designing educational programmes in corporate education that relates the programmes' constituent factors to their effects. Such standards may improve training products, affect goal-setting, remove constraints, and reinforce

Gravitation Theory: Empirical Status from Solar System Experiments: All observations to date are consistent with Einstein's general relativity theory of gravity.

Science.gov (United States)

Nordtvedt, K L

1972-12-15

I have reviewed the historical and contemporary experiments that guide us in choosing a post-Newtonian, relativistic gravitational theory. The foundation experiments essentially constrain gravitation theory to be a metric theory in which matter couples solely to one gravitational field, the metric field, although other cosmological gravitational fields may exist. The metric field for any metric theory can be specified (for the solar system, for our present purposes) by a series of potential terms with several parameters. A variety of experiments specify (or put limits on) the numerical values of the seven parameters in the post-Newtonian metric field, and other such experiments have been planned. The empirical results, to date, yield values of the parameters that are consistent with the predictions of Einstein's general relativity.

Review of potential EGS sites and possible EGS demonstration scenarios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1999-09-01

Review of potential sites for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and development of reference scenarios for EGS demonstration projects are two sub-tasks included in the FY 1999 EGS Research and Development (R&D) Management Task (DOE Task Order Number DE-AT07-99ID60365, included in the Appendix of this report). These sub-tasks are consistent with the EGS Strategic Plan, which includes milestones relating to EGS site selection (Milestone 4, to be completed in 2004) and development of a cost-shared, pilot-scale demonstration project (Milestone 5, to be completed in 2008). The purpose of the present work is to provide some reference points for discussing what type of EGS projects might be undertaken, where they might be located, and what the associated benefits are likely to be. The review of potential EGS sites is presented in Chapter 2 of this report. It draws upon site-selection criteria (and potential project sites that were identified using those criteria) developed at a mini-workshop held at the April 1998 DOE Geothermal Program Review to discuss EGS R&D issues. The criteria and the sites were the focus of a paper presented at the 4th International Hot Dry Rock Forum in Strasbourg in September 1998 (Sass and Robertson-Tait, 1998). The selection criteria, project sites and possible EGS developments discussed in the workshop and paper are described in more detail herein. Input from geothermal operators is incorporated, and water availability and transmission-line access are emphasized. The reference scenarios for EGS demonstration projects are presented in Chapter 3. Three alternative scenarios are discussed: (1) a stand-alone demonstration plant in an area with no existing geothermal development; (2) a separate generating facility adjacent to an existing geothermal development; and (3) an EGS project that supplies an existing geothermal power plant with additional generating capacity. Furthermore, information potentially useful to DOE in framing solicitations and

Demonstration of an automated electromanometer for measurement of solution volume in accountability vessels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suda, S.; Keisch, B.; Hayashi, M.; Onuma, T.; Fukuari, Y.

1981-09-01

A system for measuring the liquid volume in input and plutonium product accountability vessels, based upon a desktop-computer-controlled electromanometer, was installed at the Tokai-Mura reprocessing plant. In-tank temperatures, pressure measurements relating to volume and density, and load-cell weights are measured cyclically and recorded. The system feasibility was demonstrated through a series of tests including vessel calibration and the effects of thermal expansion, and through use during thirteen months of on-line plant operation. The value to the operator of the recording, display, replay, data handling, and report generation features of the system was demonstrated as was the enhanced precision of the electromanometer as compared to the conventional water-filled manometer system. The automated electromanometer system consists of a pneumatic scanner, a precision electromanometer, electronic scanner, a digital voltmeter, and a desktop computer with disc and tape mass storage, cathode-ray tube (CRT) graphics display, and printer output. The desktop computer is used to control the pneumatic and electronic scanners and the digital voltmeter and to log in the measurement data

A proposed grading system for standardizing tumor consistency of intracranial meningiomas.

Science.gov (United States)

Zada, Gabriel; Yashar, Parham; Robison, Aaron; Winer, Jesse; Khalessi, Alexander; Mack, William J; Giannotta, Steven L

2013-12-01

Tumor consistency plays an important and underrecognized role in the surgeon's ability to resect meningiomas, especially with evolving trends toward minimally invasive and keyhole surgical approaches. Aside from descriptors such as "hard" or "soft," no objective criteria exist for grading, studying, and conveying the consistency of meningiomas. The authors designed a practical 5-point scale for intraoperative grading of meningiomas based on the surgeon's ability to internally debulk the tumor and on the subsequent resistance to folding of the tumor capsule. Tumor consistency grades and features are as follows: 1) extremely soft tumor, internal debulking with suction only; 2) soft tumor, internal debulking mostly with suction, and remaining fibrous strands resected with easily folded capsule; 3) average consistency, tumor cannot be freely suctioned and requires mechanical debulking, and the capsule then folds with relative ease; 4) firm tumor, high degree of mechanical debulking required, and capsule remains difficult to fold; and 5) extremely firm, calcified tumor, approaches density of bone, and capsule does not fold. Additional grading categories included tumor heterogeneity (with minimum and maximum consistency scores) and a 3-point vascularity score. This grading system was prospectively assessed in 50 consecutive patients undergoing craniotomy for meningioma resection by 2 surgeons in an independent fashion. Grading scores were subjected to a linear weighted kappa analysis for interuser reliability. Fifty patients (100 scores) were included in the analysis. The mean maximal tumor diameter was 4.3 cm. The distribution of overall tumor consistency scores was as follows: Grade 1, 4%; Grade 2, 9%; Grade 3, 43%; Grade 4, 44%; and Grade 5, 0%. Regions of Grade 5 consistency were reported only focally in 14% of heterogeneous tumors. Tumors were designated as homogeneous in 68% and heterogeneous in 32% of grades. The kappa analysis score for overall tumor consistency

Self-consistent asset pricing models

Science.gov (United States)

Malevergne, Y.; Sornette, D.

2007-08-01

We discuss the foundations of factor or regression models in the light of the self-consistency condition that the market portfolio (and more generally the risk factors) is (are) constituted of the assets whose returns it is (they are) supposed to explain. As already reported in several articles, self-consistency implies correlations between the return disturbances. As a consequence, the alphas and betas of the factor model are unobservable. Self-consistency leads to renormalized betas with zero effective alphas, which are observable with standard OLS regressions. When the conditions derived from internal consistency are not met, the model is necessarily incomplete, which means that some sources of risk cannot be replicated (or hedged) by a portfolio of stocks traded on the market, even for infinite economies. Analytical derivations and numerical simulations show that, for arbitrary choices of the proxy which are different from the true market portfolio, a modified linear regression holds with a non-zero value αi at the origin between an asset i's return and the proxy's return. Self-consistency also introduces “orthogonality” and “normality” conditions linking the betas, alphas (as well as the residuals) and the weights of the proxy portfolio. Two diagnostics based on these orthogonality and normality conditions are implemented on a basket of 323 assets which have been components of the S&P500 in the period from January 1990 to February 2005. These two diagnostics show interesting departures from dynamical self-consistency starting about 2 years before the end of the Internet bubble. Assuming that the CAPM holds with the self-consistency condition, the OLS method automatically obeys the resulting orthogonality and normality conditions and therefore provides a simple way to self-consistently assess the parameters of the model by using proxy portfolios made only of the assets which are used in the CAPM regressions. Finally, the factor decomposition with the

Syllable type consistency is related to age, social status and reproductive success in the tropical mockingbird

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Botero, Carlos A.; Rossman, Rachel J.; Caro, Lina M.; Stenzler, Laura M.; Lovette, Irby J.; de Kort, Selvino R.; Vehrencamp, Sandra L.

Many animals repeat standardized displays multiple times while attracting a mate or deterring a rival. In such contexts the ability to perform each display or signal type in a consistent fashion may be under direct selection. Studies on sexual selection on song learning in birds have focused on

Self-consistent quark bags

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rafelski, J.

1979-01-01

After an introductory overview of the bag model the author uses the self-consistent solution of the coupled Dirac-meson fields to represent a bound state of strongly ineteracting fermions. In this framework he discusses the vivial approach to classical field equations. After a short description of the used numerical methods the properties of bound states of scalar self-consistent Fields and the solutions of a self-coupled Dirac field are considered. (HSI) [de

The influence of thermodynamic self-consistency on the phase behaviour of symmetric binary mixtures

CERN Document Server

Scholl-Paschinger, E; Kahl, G

2004-01-01

We have investigated the phase behaviour of a symmetric binary mixture with particles interacting via hard-core Yukawa potentials. To calculate the thermodynamic properties we have used the mean spherical approximation (MSA), a conventional liquid state theory, and the closely related self-consistent Ornstein-Zernike approximation which is defined via an MSA-type closure relation, requiring, in addition, thermodynamic self-consistency between the compressibility and the energy-route. We investigate on a quantitative level the effect of the self-consistency requirement on the phase diagram and on the critical behaviour and confirm the existence of three archetypes of phase diagram, which originate from the competition between the first order liquid/vapour transition and the second order demixing transition.

Regulatory analysis of the Underground Storage Tank-Integrated Demonstration Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, E.H.

1992-01-01

The Underground Storage Tank-Integrated Demonstration (UST-ID) Program has been developed to identify, demonstrate, test, and evaluate technologies that will provide alternatives to the current underground storage tank remediation program. The UST-ID Program is a national program that consists of five participating US Department of Energy (DOE) sites where technologies can be developed an ultimately demonstrated. Once these technologies are demonstrated, the UST-ID Program will transfer the developed technology system to industry (governmental or industrial) for application or back to Research and Development for further evaluation and modification, as necessary. In order to ensure that the UST-ID Program proceeds without interruption, it will be necessary to identify regulatory requirements along with associated permitting and notification requirements early in the technology development process. This document serves as a baseline for identifying certain federal and state regulatory requirements that may impact the UST-ID Program and the demonstration of any identified technologies

Consistently Showing Your Best Side? Intra-individual Consistency in #Selfie Pose Orientation

Science.gov (United States)

Lindell, Annukka K.

2017-01-01

Painted and photographic portraits of others show an asymmetric bias: people favor their left cheek. Both experimental and database studies confirm that the left cheek bias extends to selfies. To date all such selfie studies have been cross-sectional; whether individual selfie-takers tend to consistently favor the same pose orientation, or switch between multiple poses, remains to be determined. The present study thus examined intra-individual consistency in selfie pose orientations. Two hundred selfie-taking participants (100 male and 100 female) were identified by searching #selfie on Instagram. The most recent 10 single-subject selfies for the each of the participants were selected and coded for type of selfie (normal; mirror) and pose orientation (left, midline, right), resulting in a sample of 2000 selfies. Results indicated that selfie-takers do tend to consistently adopt a preferred pose orientation (α = 0.72), with more participants showing an overall left cheek bias (41%) than would be expected by chance (overall right cheek bias = 31.5%; overall midline bias = 19.5%; no overall bias = 8%). Logistic regression modellng, controlling for the repeated measure of participant identity, indicated that sex did not affect pose orientation. However, selfie type proved a significant predictor when comparing left and right cheek poses, with a stronger left cheek bias for mirror than normal selfies. Overall, these novel findings indicate that selfie-takers show intra-individual consistency in pose orientation, and in addition, replicate the previously reported left cheek bias for selfies and other types of portrait, confirming that the left cheek bias also presents within individuals’ selfie corpora. PMID:28270790

Positive Illusions of Preference Consistency: When Remaining Eluded by One's Preferences Yields Greater Subjective Well-Being and Decision Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, Rachael E.; Iyengar, Sheena S.

2005-01-01

Psychological research has repeatedly demonstrated two seemingly irreconcilable human tendencies. People are motivated towards internal consistency, or acting in accordance with stable, self-generated preferences. Simultaneously though, people demonstrate considerable variation in the content of their preferences, often induced by subtle external…

Interface Consistency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Staunstrup, Jørgen

1998-01-01

This paper proposes that Interface Consistency is an important issue for the development of modular designs. Byproviding a precise specification of component interfaces it becomes possible to check that separately developedcomponents use a common interface in a coherent matter thus avoiding a very...... significant source of design errors. Awide range of interface specifications are possible, the simplest form is a syntactical check of parameter types.However, today it is possible to do more sophisticated forms involving semantic checks....

CRP on Demonstrating Performance of Spent Fuel and Related Storage Systems beyond the Long Term

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bevilacqua, Arturo

2014-01-01

At the initial Coordinated Research Project (CRP) planning meeting held in August 2011, international experts in spent fuel performance confirmed the value of further coordination and development of international efforts to demonstrate the performance of spent fuel and related storage system components as durations extend. Furthermore, in recognition that the Extended Storage Collaboration Program (ESCP) managed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in the USA, from now on ESCP, provided a broad context for the research and development work to be performed in the frame of this CRP, it was agreed that its objectives should target specific ESCP needs in order to make a relevant contribution. Accordingly, the experts examined on-going gap analyses - gaps between anticipated technical needs and existing technical data - for identify the specific research objectives. Additionally, during the planning meeting it was pointed out the need to coordinate and cooperate with the OECD/NEA counterparts involved in the organization of the International Workshop planned in autumn 2013 and with the on-going third phase of the CRP on Spent Fuel Performance Assessment and Research (SPAR-III). Given the importance to assess the performance of spent fuel and related important storage system components in order to confirm the viability of very long term storage for supporting the need to extend or renew licenses for storage facilities the CRP was approved by the IAEA in November 2011. While a full range of spent fuel types and storage conditions are deployed around the world, this CRP is focused on existing systems and, more specifically, water reactor fuel in dry storage with the overall research objective to support the technical basis for water reactor spent fuel management as dry storage durations extend. In March 2012 the group of international experts who participated at the initial CRP planning meeting in August 2011 evaluated and recommended for approval 9 research

Self-consistency of a heterogeneous continuum porous medium representation of a fractured medium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoch, A.R.; Jackson, C.P.; Todman, S.

1998-01-01

For many of the rocks that are, or have been, under investigation as potential host rocks for a radioactive waste repository, groundwater flow is considered to take place predominantly through discontinuities such as fractures. Although models of networks of discrete features (DFN models) would be the most realistic models for such rocks, calculations on large length scales would not be computationally practicable. A possible approach would be to use heterogeneous continuum porous-medium (CPM) models in which each block has an effective permeability appropriate to represent the network of features within the block. In order to build confidence in this approach, it is necessary to demonstrate that the approach is self-consistent, in the sense that if the effective permeability on a large length scale is derived using the CPM model, the result is close to the value derived directly from the underlying network model. It is also desirable to demonstrate self-consistency for the use of stochastic heterogeneous CPM models that are built as follows. The correlation structure of the effective permeability on the scale of the blocks is inferred by analysis of the effective permeabilities obtained from the underlying DFN model. Then realizations of the effective permeability within the domain of interest are generated on the basis of the correlation structure, rather than being obtained directly from the underlying DFN model. A study of self-consistency is presented for two very different underlying DFN models: one based on the properties of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group at Sellafield, and one based on the properties of the granite at Aespoe in Sweden. It is shown that, in both cases, the use of heterogeneous CPM models based directly on the DFN model is self-consistent, provided that care is taken in the evaluation of the effective permeability for the DFN models. It is also shown that the use of stochastic heterogeneous CPM models based on the correlation structure of the

Self-consistent nonlocal feedback theory for electrocatalytic swimmers with heterogeneous surface chemical kinetics

Science.gov (United States)

Nourhani, Amir; Crespi, Vincent H.; Lammert, Paul E.

2015-06-01

We present a self-consistent nonlocal feedback theory for the phoretic propulsion mechanisms of electrocatalytic micromotors or nanomotors. These swimmers, such as bimetallic platinum and gold rods catalyzing decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solution, have received considerable theoretical attention. In contrast, the heterogeneous electrochemical processes with nonlocal feedback that are the actual "engines" of such motors are relatively neglected. We present a flexible approach to these processes using bias potential as a control parameter field and a locally-open-circuit reference state, carried through in detail for a spherical motor. While the phenomenological flavor makes meaningful contact with experiment easier, required inputs can also conceivably come from, e.g., Frumkin-Butler-Volmer kinetics. Previously obtained results are recovered in the weak-heterogeneity limit and improved small-basis approximations tailored to structural heterogeneity are presented. Under the assumption of weak inhomogeneity, a scaling form is deduced for motor speed as a function of fuel concentration and swimmer size. We argue that this form should be robust and demonstrate a good fit to experimental data.

Self-consistent nuclear energy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, A.; Fujiie, Y.

1995-01-01

A concept of self-consistent energy systems (SCNES) has been proposed as an ultimate goal of the nuclear energy system in the coming centuries. SCNES should realize a stable and unlimited energy supply without endangering the human race and the global environment. It is defined as a system that realizes at least the following four objectives simultaneously: (a) energy generation -attain high efficiency in the utilization of fission energy; (b) fuel production - secure inexhaustible energy source: breeding of fissile material with the breeding ratio greater than one and complete burning of transuranium through recycling; (c) burning of radionuclides - zero release of radionuclides from the system: complete burning of transuranium and elimination of radioactive fission products by neutron capture reactions through recycling; (d) system safety - achieve system safety both for the public and experts: eliminate criticality-related safety issues by using natural laws and simple logic. This paper describes the concept of SCNES and discusses the feasibility of the system. Both ''neutron balance'' and ''energbalance'' of the system are introduced as the necessary conditions to be satisfied at least by SCNES. Evaluations made so far indicate that both the neutron balance and the energy balance can be realized by fast reactors but not by thermal reactors. Concerning the system safety, two safety concepts: ''self controllability'' and ''self-terminability'' are introduced to eliminate the criticality-related safety issues in fast reactors. (author)

Product consistency leach tests of Savannah River Site radioactive waste glasses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bibler, N.E.; Bates, J.K.

1990-01-01

The product consistency test (PCT) is a glass leach test developed at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to confirm the durability of radioactive nuclear waste glasses that will be produced in the Defense Waste Processing Facility. The PCT is a seven day, crushed glass leach test in deionized water at 90C. Final leachates are filtered and acidified prior to analysis. To demonstrate the reproducibility of the PCT when performed remotely, SRS and Argonne National Laboratory have performed the PCT on samples of two radioactive glasses. The tests were also performed to compare the releases of the radionuclides with the major nonradioactive glass components and to determine if radiation from the glass was affecting the results of the PCT. The test was performed in triplicate at each laboratory. For the major soluble elements, B, Li, Na, and Si, in the glass, each investigator obtained relative precisions in the range 2-5% in the triplicate tests. This range indicates good precision for the PCT when performed remotely with master slave manipulators in a shielded cell environment. When the results of the two laboratories were compared to each other, the agreement was within 20%. Normalized concentrations for the nonradioactive and radioactive elements in the PCT leachates measured at both facilities indicated that the radionuclides were released from the glass slower than the major soluble elements in the glass. For both laboratories, the normalized releases for both glasses were in the general order Li ∼ B ∼ Na > Si > Cs - 137 > Sb - 125 < Sr - 90. The normalized releases for the major soluble elements and the final pH values in the tests with radioactive glass are consistent with those for nonradioactive glasses with similar compositions. This indicates that there was no significant effect of radiation on the results of the PCT

Replica consistency in a Data Grid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Domenici, Andrea; Donno, Flavia; Pucciani, Gianni; Stockinger, Heinz; Stockinger, Kurt

2004-01-01

A Data Grid is a wide area computing infrastructure that employs Grid technologies to provide storage capacity and processing power to applications that handle very large quantities of data. Data Grids rely on data replication to achieve better performance and reliability by storing copies of data sets on different Grid nodes. When a data set can be modified by applications, the problem of maintaining consistency among existing copies arises. The consistency problem also concerns metadata, i.e., additional information about application data sets such as indices, directories, or catalogues. This kind of metadata is used both by the applications and by the Grid middleware to manage the data. For instance, the Replica Management Service (the Grid middleware component that controls data replication) uses catalogues to find the replicas of each data set. Such catalogues can also be replicated and their consistency is crucial to the correct operation of the Grid. Therefore, metadata consistency generally poses stricter requirements than data consistency. In this paper we report on the development of a Replica Consistency Service based on the middleware mainly developed by the European Data Grid Project. The paper summarises the main issues in the replica consistency problem, and lays out a high-level architectural design for a Replica Consistency Service. Finally, results from simulations of different consistency models are presented

Full data consistency conditions for cone-beam projections with sources on a plane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clackdoyle, Rolf; Desbat, Laurent

2013-01-01

Cone-beam consistency conditions (also known as range conditions) are mathematical relationships between different cone-beam projections, and they therefore describe the redundancy or overlap of information between projections. These redundancies have often been exploited for applications in image reconstruction. In this work we describe new consistency conditions for cone-beam projections whose source positions lie on a plane. A further restriction is that the target object must not intersect this plane. The conditions require that moments of the cone-beam projections be polynomial functions of the source positions, with some additional constraints on the coefficients of the polynomials. A precise description of the consistency conditions is that the four parameters of the cone-beam projections (two for the detector, two for the source position) can be expressed with just three variables, using a certain formulation involving homogeneous polynomials. The main contribution of this work is our demonstration that these conditions are not only necessary, but also sufficient. Thus the consistency conditions completely characterize all redundancies, so no other independent conditions are possible and in this sense the conditions are full. The idea of the proof is to use the known consistency conditions for 3D parallel projections, and to then apply a 1996 theorem of Edholm and Danielsson that links parallel to cone-beam projections. The consistency conditions are illustrated with a simulation example. (paper)

Emotion and attention : Event-related brain potential studies

OpenAIRE

Schupp, Harald Thomas; Flaisch, Tobias; Stockburger, Jessica; Junghöfer, Markus

2006-01-01

Emotional pictures guide selective visual attention. A series of event-related brain potential (ERP) studies is reviewed demonstrating the consistent and robust modulation of specific ERP components by emotional images. Specifically, pictures depicting natural pleasant and unpleasant scenes are associated with an increased early posterior negativity, late positive potential, and sustained positive slow wave compared with neutral contents. These modulations are considered to index different st...

Efficient self-consistency for magnetic tight binding

Science.gov (United States)

Soin, Preetma; Horsfield, A. P.; Nguyen-Manh, D.

2011-06-01

Tight binding can be extended to magnetic systems by including an exchange interaction on an atomic site that favours net spin polarisation. We have used a published model, extended to include long-ranged Coulomb interactions, to study defects in iron. We have found that achieving self-consistency using conventional techniques was either unstable or very slow. By formulating the problem of achieving charge and spin self-consistency as a search for stationary points of a Harris-Foulkes functional, extended to include spin, we have derived a much more efficient scheme based on a Newton-Raphson procedure. We demonstrate the capabilities of our method by looking at vacancies and self-interstitials in iron. Self-consistency can indeed be achieved in a more efficient and stable manner, but care needs to be taken to manage this. The algorithm is implemented in the code PLATO. Program summaryProgram title:PLATO Catalogue identifier: AEFC_v2_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEFC_v2_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 228 747 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1 880 369 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: C and PERL Computer: Apple Macintosh, PC, Unix machines Operating system: Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows XP Has the code been vectorised or parallelised?: Yes. Up to 256 processors tested RAM: Up to 2 Gbytes per processor Classification: 7.3 External routines: LAPACK, BLAS and optionally ScaLAPACK, BLACS, PBLAS, FFTW Catalogue identifier of previous version: AEFC_v1_0 Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 180 (2009) 2616 Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes Nature of problem: Achieving charge and spin self-consistency in magnetic tight binding can be very

Maintaining consistency in distributed systems

Science.gov (United States)

Birman, Kenneth P.

1991-01-01

In systems designed as assemblies of independently developed components, concurrent access to data or data structures normally arises within individual programs, and is controlled using mutual exclusion constructs, such as semaphores and monitors. Where data is persistent and/or sets of operation are related to one another, transactions or linearizability may be more appropriate. Systems that incorporate cooperative styles of distributed execution often replicate or distribute data within groups of components. In these cases, group oriented consistency properties must be maintained, and tools based on the virtual synchrony execution model greatly simplify the task confronting an application developer. All three styles of distributed computing are likely to be seen in future systems - often, within the same application. This leads us to propose an integrated approach that permits applications that use virtual synchrony with concurrent objects that respect a linearizability constraint, and vice versa. Transactional subsystems are treated as a special case of linearizability.

A photon position sensor consisting of single-electron circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kikombo, Andrew Kilinga; Amemiya, Yoshihito; Tabe, Michiharu

2009-01-01

This paper proposes a solid-state sensor that can detect the position of incident photons with a high spatial resolution. The sensor consists of a two-dimensional array of single-electron oscillators, each coupled to its neighbors through coupling capacitors. An incident photon triggers an excitatory circular wave of electron tunneling in the oscillator array. The wave propagates in all directions to reach the periphery of the array. By measuring the arrival time of the wave at the periphery, we can know the position of the incident photon. The tunneling wave's generation, propagation, arrival at the array periphery, and the determination of incident photon positions are demonstrated with the results of Monte Carlo based computer simulations.

Factor analysis of regional brain activation in bipolar and healthy individuals reveals a consistent modular structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleck, David E; Welge, Jeffrey A; Eliassen, James C; Adler, Caleb M; DelBello, Melissa P; Strakowski, Stephen M

2018-07-01

The neurophysiological substrates of cognition and emotion, as seen with fMRI, are generally explained using modular structures. The present study was designed to probe the modular structure of cognitive-emotional processing in bipolar and healthy individuals using factor analysis and compare the results with current conceptions of the neurophysiology of bipolar disorder. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess patterns of covariation among brain regions-of-interest activated during the Continuous Performance Task with Emotional and Neutral Distractors in healthy and bipolar individuals without a priori constraints on the number or composition of latent factors. Results indicated a common cognitive-emotional network consisting of prefrontal, medial temporal, limbic, parietal, anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate modules. However, reduced brain activation to emotional stimuli in the frontal, medial temporal and limbic modules was apparent in the bipolar relative to the healthy group, potentially accounting for emotional dysregulation in bipolar disorder. This study is limited by a relatively small sample size recruited at a single site. The results have yet to be validated on a larger independent sample. Although the modular structure of cognitive-emotional processing is similar in bipolar and healthy individuals, activation in response to emotional/neutral cues varies. These findings are not only consistent with recent conceptions of mood regulation in bipolar disorder, but also suggest that regional activation can be considered within tighter modular structures without compromising data interpretation. This demonstration may serve as a template for data reduction in future region-of-interest analyses to increase statistical power. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Coordinating user interfaces for consistency

CERN Document Server

Nielsen, Jakob

2001-01-01

In the years since Jakob Nielsen's classic collection on interface consistency first appeared, much has changed, and much has stayed the same. On the one hand, there's been exponential growth in the opportunities for following or disregarding the principles of interface consistency-more computers, more applications, more users, and of course the vast expanse of the Web. On the other, there are the principles themselves, as persistent and as valuable as ever. In these contributed chapters, you'll find details on many methods for seeking and enforcing consistency, along with bottom-line analys

Consistency of parametric registration in serial MRI studies of brain tumor progression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mang, Andreas; Buzug, Thorsten M.; Schnabel, Julia A.; Crum, William R.; Modat, Marc; Ourselin, Sebastien; Hawkes, David J.; Camara-Rey, Oscar; Palm, Christoph; Caseiras, Gisele Brasil; Jaeger, H.R.

2008-01-01

The consistency of parametric registration in multi-temporal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies was evaluated. Serial MRI scans of adult patients with a brain tumor (glioma) were aligned by parametric registration. The performance of low-order spatial alignment (6/9/12 degrees of freedom) of different 3D serial MR-weighted images is evaluated. A registration protocol for the alignment of all images to one reference coordinate system at baseline is presented. Registration results were evaluated for both, multimodal intra-timepoint and mono-modal multi-temporal registration. The latter case might present a challenge to automatic intensity-based registration algorithms due to ill-defined correspondences. The performance of our algorithm was assessed by testing the inverse registration consistency. Four different similarity measures were evaluated to assess consistency. Careful visual inspection suggests that images are well aligned, but their consistency may be imperfect. Sub-voxel inconsistency within the brain was found for allsimilarity measures used for parametric multi-temporal registration. T1-weighted images were most reliable for establishing spatial correspondence between different timepoints. The parametric registration algorithm is feasible for use in this application. The sub-voxel resolution mean displacement error of registration transformations demonstrates that the algorithm converges to an almost identical solution for forward and reverse registration. (orig.)

Experimental Demonstration of 32 Gbaud 4-PAM for Data Center Interconnections of up to 320 km

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Peter; Suhr, Lau Frejstrup; Clausen, Anders

2017-01-01

This paper presents experimental results demonstrating a 64 Gbps 4-PAM transmission over a 320 km SSMF span employing standard 80 km fiber spans for metro links. The receiver consists of a LPF and a DFE utilizing the DD-LMS algorithm.......This paper presents experimental results demonstrating a 64 Gbps 4-PAM transmission over a 320 km SSMF span employing standard 80 km fiber spans for metro links. The receiver consists of a LPF and a DFE utilizing the DD-LMS algorithm....

Culture, cross-role consistency, and adjustment: testing trait and cultural psychology perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Church, A Timothy; Anderson-Harumi, Cheryl A; del Prado, Alicia M; Curtis, Guy J; Tanaka-Matsumi, Junko; Valdez Medina, José L; Mastor, Khairul A; White, Fiona A; Miramontes, Lilia A; Katigbak, Marcia S

2008-09-01

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in 2 individualistic cultures, the United States (N=231) and Australia (N=195), and 4 collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N=199), the Philippines (N=195), Malaysia (N=217), and Japan (N=180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology perspectives as applied to East Asian cultures (i.e., Japan) but not collectivistic cultures more generally. Some but not all of the hypothesized predictors of consistency were supported across cultures. Cross-role consistency predicted aspects of adjustment in all cultures, but prediction was most reliable in the U.S. sample and weakest in the Japanese sample. Alternative constructs proposed by cultural psychologists--personality coherence, social appraisal, and relationship harmony--predicted adjustment in all cultures but were not, as hypothesized, better predictors of adjustment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures.

Fluids Demonstrations: Trailing Vortices, Plateau Border, Angle of Repose, and Flow Instability

Science.gov (United States)

Shakerin, Said

2018-01-01

Demonstrations of physics phenomena via relatively simple devices and toys have been around for a long time. Because of the pedagogical value of demonstrations, this journal and other periodicals have published papers on the subject of classroom demonstrations including those related to fluid mechanics. Four new, low-cost apparatuses that…

Consistency Anchor Formalization and Correctness Proofs

OpenAIRE

Miguel, Correia; Bessani, Alysson

2014-01-01

This is report contains the formal proofs for the techniques for increasing the consistency of cloud storage as presented in "Bessani et al. SCFS: A Cloud-backed File System. Proc. of the 2014 USENIX Annual Technical Conference. June 2014." The consistency anchor technique allows one to increase the consistency provided by eventually consistent cloud storage services like Amazon S3. This technique has been used in the SCFS (Shared Cloud File System) cloud-backed file system for solving rea...

Coal ash artificial reef demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Livingston, R.J.; Brendel, G.F.; Bruzek, D.A.

1991-01-01

This experimental project evaluated the use of coal ash to construct artificial reefs. An artificial reef consisting of approximately 33 tons of cement-stabilized coal ash blocks was constructed in approximately 20 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 9.3 miles west of Cedar Key, Florida. The project objectives were: (1) demonstrate that a durable coal ash/cement block can be manufactured by commercial block-making machines for use in artificial reefs, and (2) evaluate the possibility that a physically stable and environmentally acceptable coal ash/cement block reef can be constructed as a means of expanding recreational and commercial fisheries. The reef was constructed in February 1988 and biological surveys were made at monthly intervals from May 1988 to April 1989. The project provided information regarding: Development of an optimum design mix, block production and reef construction, chemical composition of block leachate, biological colonization of the reef, potential concentration of metals in the food web associated with the reef, acute bioassays (96-hour LC 50 ). The Cedar Key reef was found to be a habitat that was associated with a relatively rich assemblage of plants and animals. The reef did not appear to be a major source of heavy metals to species at various levels of biological organization. GAI Consultants, Inc (GAI) of Monroeville, Pennsylvania was the prime consultant for the project. The biological monitoring surveys and evaluations were performed by Environmental Planning and Analysis, Inc. of Tallahassee, Florida. The chemical analyses of biological organisms and bioassay elutriates were performed by Savannah Laboratories of Tallahassee, Florida. Florida Power Corporation of St. Petersburg, Florida sponsored the project and supplied ash from their Crystal River Energy Complex

Theory of mind reasoning in schizophrenia patients and non-psychotic relatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Cassetta, Briana; Goghari, Vina

2014-08-15

Research consistently demonstrates that schizophrenia patients have theory of mind (ToM) impairments. Additionally, there is some evidence that family members of schizophrenia patients also demonstrate impairments in ToM, suggesting a genetic vulnerability for the disorder. This study assessed ToM abilities (i.e., sarcasm comprehension) in schizophrenia patients and their first-degree biological relatives during video-taped social interactions, to be representative of real-world interactions and to assess for disease-specific and/or genetic liability effects. Additionally, we assessed whether ToM abilities predicted social and global functioning in schizophrenia patients, and whether symptoms were associated with ToM deficits. Schizophrenia patients demonstrated impairments in sarcasm comprehension compared to controls and relatives, whereas relatives showed intact comprehension. Symptoms of schizophrenia significantly predicted worse ToM abilities. Furthermore, in schizophrenia patients, impaired ToM reasoning predicted worse social and global functioning. Given schizophrenia patients demonstrated impairments in ToM reasoning in a task that resembles real-life interactions, this might be a key area for remediation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Poor Sleep and Its Relation to Impulsivity in Patients with Antisocial or Borderline Personality Disorders

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Veen, M. M.; Karsten, J.; Lancel, M.

2017-01-01

Studies investigating sleep and personality disorders consistently demonstrate a relation between personality disorders characterized by behavioral disinhibition and/or emotional dysregulation (traditionally termed cluster B personality disorders) and poor sleep. This finding is in line with

A new approach to hull consistency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kolev Lubomir

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Hull consistency is a known technique to improve the efficiency of iterative interval methods for solving nonlinear systems describing steady-states in various circuits. Presently, hull consistency is checked in a scalar manner, i.e. successively for each equation of the nonlinear system with respect to a single variable. In the present poster, a new more general approach to implementing hull consistency is suggested which consists in treating simultaneously several equations with respect to the same number of variables.

Time-Consistent and Market-Consistent Evaluations (Revised version of 2012-086)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stadje, M.A.; Pelsser, A.

2014-01-01

Abstract: We consider evaluation methods for payoffs with an inherent financial risk as encountered for instance for portfolios held by pension funds and insurance companies. Pricing such payoffs in a way consistent to market prices typically involves combining actuarial techniques with methods from

Does computer-synthesized speech manifest personality? Experimental tests of recognition, similarity-attraction, and consistency-attraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Nass, C; Lee, K M

2001-09-01

Would people exhibit similarity-attraction and consistency-attraction toward unambiguously computer-generated speech even when personality is clearly not relevant? In Experiment 1, participants (extrovert or introvert) heard a synthesized voice (extrovert or introvert) on a book-buying Web site. Participants accurately recognized personality cues in text to speech and showed similarity-attraction in their evaluation of the computer voice, the book reviews, and the reviewer. Experiment 2, in a Web auction context, added personality of the text to the previous design. The results replicated Experiment 1 and demonstrated consistency (voice and text personality)-attraction. To maximize liking and trust, designers should set parameters, for example, words per minute or frequency range, that create a personality that is consistent with the user and the content being presented.

Are prescription drug insurance choices consistent with expected utility theory?

Science.gov (United States)

Bundorf, M Kate; Mata, Rui; Schoenbaum, Michael; Bhattacharya, Jay

2013-09-01

To determine the extent to which people make choices inconsistent with expected utility theory when choosing among prescription drug insurance plans and whether tabular or graphical presentation format influences the consistency of their choices. Members of an Internet-enabled panel chose between two Medicare prescription drug plans. The "low variance" plan required higher out-of-pocket payments for the drugs respondents usually took but lower out-of-pocket payments for the drugs they might need if they developed a new health condition than the "high variance" plan. The probability of a change in health varied within subjects and the presentation format (text vs. graphical) and the affective salience of the clinical condition (abstract vs. risk related to specific clinical condition) varied between subjects. Respondents were classified based on whether they consistently chose either the low or high variance plan. Logistic regression models were estimated to examine the relationship between decision outcomes and task characteristics. The majority of respondents consistently chose either the low or high variance plan, consistent with expected utility theory. Half of respondents consistently chose the low variance plan. Respondents were less likely to make discrepant choices when information was presented in graphical format. Many people, although not all, make choices consistent with expected utility theory when they have information on differences among plans in the variance of out-of-pocket spending. Medicare beneficiaries would benefit from information on the extent to which prescription drug plans provide risk protection. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

A methodological approach to studying resilience mechanisms: demonstration of utility in age and Alzheimer's disease-related brain pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Dominik; Fischer, Florian Udo; Fellgiebel, Andreas

2018-05-01

The present work aims at providing a methodological approach for the investigation of resilience factors and mechanisms in normal aging, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. By expanding and re-conceptualizing traditional regression approaches, we propose an approach that not only aims at identifying potential resilience factors but also allows for a differentiation between general and dynamic resilience factors in terms of their association with pathology. Dynamic resilience factors are characterized by an increasing relevance with increasing levels of pathology, while the relevance of general resilience factors is independent of the amount of pathology. Utility of the approach is demonstrated in age and AD-related brain pathology by investigating widely accepted resilience factors, including education and brain volume. Moreover, the approach is used to test hippocampal volume as potential resilience factor. Education and brain volume could be identified as general resilience factors against age and AD-related pathology. Beyond that, analyses highlighted that hippocampal volume may not only be disease target but also serve as a potential resilience factor in age and AD-related pathology, particularly at higher levels of tau-pathology (i.e. dynamic resilience factor). Given its unspecific and superordinate nature the approach is suitable for the investigation of a wide range of potential resilience factors in normal aging, AD and other neurodegenerative disorders. Consequently, it may find a wide application and thereby promote the comparability between studies.

Final report for the cryogenic retrieval demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valentich, D.J.; Yokuda, E.L.

1992-09-01

This report documents a demonstration of a proposed buried transuranic waste retrieval concept that uses cryogenic ground freezing and remote excavation. At the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), there are over 8 million ft 3 of intermingled soil and transuranic (TRU) wastes in shallow land burial, and retrieval of the material is one of the options being considered by the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration for the Environmental Restoration program. Cryogenically freezing contaminated soil and buried waste has been proposed as a way to greatly reduce or eliminate the climate the threat of contamination spread during retrieval activities. In support of this idea, a demonstration of an innovative ground freezing and retrieval technology was performed at the INEL. This initial demonstration was held near the Radioactive Waste Management Complex at a ''cold test pit'' that was built in 1988 as a test bed for the demonstration of retrieval contamination control technologies. This pit is not contaminated with any radioactive or hazardous wastes. Barrels and boxes filled with metals, plastics, tools, paper, cloth, etc. configured in the same manner as expected in contaminated pits and trenches are buried at the cold test pit. After design, fabrication, and shop testing, Sonsub mobilized to the field in early July 1992 to perform the field demonstration. It was planned to freeze and extract four pits, each 9 x 9 x 10 ft. Each pit represented a different configuration of buried waste (stacked boxes, stacked barrels, random dumped barrels and boxes, and random dumped barrels). Sonsub's proposed technology consisted of driving a series of freeze pipes into the soil and waste, using liquid nitrogen to freeze the mass, and extracting the soil and debris using a series of remote operated, bridge crane mounted tools. In conjunction with the freezing and removal activities, temperature and moisture measurements, and air monitoring were performed

Final report for the cryogenic retrieval demonstration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valentich, D.J.; Yokuda, E.L.

1992-09-01

This report documents a demonstration of a proposed buried transuranic waste retrieval concept that uses cryogenic ground freezing and remote excavation. At the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), there are over 8 million ft{sup 3} of intermingled soil and transuranic (TRU) wastes in shallow land burial, and retrieval of the material is one of the options being considered by the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration for the Environmental Restoration program. Cryogenically freezing contaminated soil and buried waste has been proposed as a way to greatly reduce or eliminate the climate the threat of contamination spread during retrieval activities. In support of this idea, a demonstration of an innovative ground freezing and retrieval technology was performed at the INEL. This initial demonstration was held near the Radioactive Waste Management Complex at a ``cold test pit`` that was built in 1988 as a test bed for the demonstration of retrieval contamination control technologies. This pit is not contaminated with any radioactive or hazardous wastes. Barrels and boxes filled with metals, plastics, tools, paper, cloth, etc. configured in the same manner as expected in contaminated pits and trenches are buried at the cold test pit. After design, fabrication, and shop testing, Sonsub mobilized to the field in early July 1992 to perform the field demonstration. It was planned to freeze and extract four pits, each 9 {times} 9 {times} 10 ft. Each pit represented a different configuration of buried waste (stacked boxes, stacked barrels, random dumped barrels and boxes, and random dumped barrels). Sonsub`s proposed technology consisted of driving a series of freeze pipes into the soil and waste, using liquid nitrogen to freeze the mass, and extracting the soil and debris using a series of remote operated, bridge crane mounted tools. In conjunction with the freezing and removal activities, temperature and moisture measurements, and air monitoring were performed.

Final report for the cryogenic retrieval demonstration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valentich, D.J.; Yokuda, E.L.

1992-09-01

This report documents a demonstration of a proposed buried transuranic waste retrieval concept that uses cryogenic ground freezing and remote excavation. At the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), there are over 8 million ft[sup 3] of intermingled soil and transuranic (TRU) wastes in shallow land burial, and retrieval of the material is one of the options being considered by the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration for the Environmental Restoration program. Cryogenically freezing contaminated soil and buried waste has been proposed as a way to greatly reduce or eliminate the climate the threat of contamination spread during retrieval activities. In support of this idea, a demonstration of an innovative ground freezing and retrieval technology was performed at the INEL. This initial demonstration was held near the Radioactive Waste Management Complex at a cold test pit'' that was built in 1988 as a test bed for the demonstration of retrieval contamination control technologies. This pit is not contaminated with any radioactive or hazardous wastes. Barrels and boxes filled with metals, plastics, tools, paper, cloth, etc. configured in the same manner as expected in contaminated pits and trenches are buried at the cold test pit. After design, fabrication, and shop testing, Sonsub mobilized to the field in early July 1992 to perform the field demonstration. It was planned to freeze and extract four pits, each 9 [times] 9 [times] 10 ft. Each pit represented a different configuration of buried waste (stacked boxes, stacked barrels, random dumped barrels and boxes, and random dumped barrels). Sonsub's proposed technology consisted of driving a series of freeze pipes into the soil and waste, using liquid nitrogen to freeze the mass, and extracting the soil and debris using a series of remote operated, bridge crane mounted tools. In conjunction with the freezing and removal activities, temperature and moisture measurements, and air monitoring were

Linear Scaling Solution of the Time-Dependent Self-Consistent-Field Equations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matt Challacombe

2014-03-01

Full Text Available A new approach to solving the Time-Dependent Self-Consistent-Field equations is developed based on the double quotient formulation of Tsiper 2001 (J. Phys. B. Dual channel, quasi-independent non-linear optimization of these quotients is found to yield convergence rates approaching those of the best case (single channel Tamm-Dancoff approximation. This formulation is variational with respect to matrix truncation, admitting linear scaling solution of the matrix-eigenvalue problem, which is demonstrated for bulk excitons in the polyphenylene vinylene oligomer and the (4,3 carbon nanotube segment.

Classroom as Reality: Demonstrating Campaign Effects through Live Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Coffey, Daniel J.; Miller, William J.; Feuerstein, Derek

2011-01-01

Scholastic research has demonstrated that when conducted properly, active learning exercises are successful at increasing student awareness, student interest, and knowledge retention. Face-to-face simulations, in particular, have been demonstrated to add positively to classrooms focusing on comparative politics, international relations, public…

Toward a consistent modeling framework to assess multi-sectoral climate impacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Monier, Erwan; Paltsev, Sergey; Sokolov, Andrei; Chen, Y-H Henry; Gao, Xiang; Ejaz, Qudsia; Couzo, Evan; Schlosser, C Adam; Dutkiewicz, Stephanie; Fant, Charles; Scott, Jeffery; Kicklighter, David; Morris, Jennifer; Jacoby, Henry; Prinn, Ronald; Haigh, Martin

2018-02-13

Efforts to estimate the physical and economic impacts of future climate change face substantial challenges. To enrich the currently popular approaches to impact analysis-which involve evaluation of a damage function or multi-model comparisons based on a limited number of standardized scenarios-we propose integrating a geospatially resolved physical representation of impacts into a coupled human-Earth system modeling framework. Large internationally coordinated exercises cannot easily respond to new policy targets and the implementation of standard scenarios across models, institutions and research communities can yield inconsistent estimates. Here, we argue for a shift toward the use of a self-consistent integrated modeling framework to assess climate impacts, and discuss ways the integrated assessment modeling community can move in this direction. We then demonstrate the capabilities of such a modeling framework by conducting a multi-sectoral assessment of climate impacts under a range of consistent and integrated economic and climate scenarios that are responsive to new policies and business expectations.

Tunneling in a self-consistent dynamic image potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudberg, B.G.R.; Jonson, M.

1991-01-01

We have calculated the self-consistent effective potential for an electron tunneling through a square barrier while interacting with surface plasmons. This potential reduces to the classical image potential in the static limit. In the opposite limit, when the ''velocity'' of the tunneling electron is large, it reduces to the unperturbed square-barrier potential. For a wide variety of parameters the dynamic effects on the transmission coefficient T=|t 2 | can, for instance, be related to the Buettiker-Landauer traversal time for tunneling, given by τ BL =ℎ|d lnt/dV|

Dynamic wall demonstration project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakatsui, L.; Mayhew, W.

1990-12-01

The dynamic wall concept is a ventilation strategy that can be applied to a single family dwelling. With suitable construction, outside air can be admitted through the exterior walls of the house to the interior space to function as ventilation air. The construction and performance monitoring of a demonstration house built to test the dynamic wall concept in Sherwood Park, Alberta, is described. The project had the objectives of demonstrating and assessing the construction methods; determining the cost-effectiveness of the concept in Alberta; analyzing the operation of the dynamic wall system; and determining how other components and systems in the house interact with the dynamic wall. The exterior wall construction consisted of vinyl siding, spun-bonded polyolefin-backed (SBPO) rigid fiberglass sheathing, 38 mm by 89 mm framing, fiberglass batt insulation and 12.7 mm drywall. The mechanical system was designed to operate in the dynamic (negative pressure) mode, however flexibility was provided to allow operation in the static (balanced pressure) mode to permit monitoring of the walls as if they were in a conventional house. The house was monitored by an extensive computerized monitoring system. Dynamic wall operation was dependent on pressure and temperature differentials between indoor and outdoor as well as wind speed and direction. The degree of heat gain was found to be ca 74% of the indoor-outdoor temperature differential. Temperature of incoming dynamic air was significantly affected by solar radiation and measurement of indoor air pollutants found no significant levels. 4 refs., 34 figs., 11 tabs.

Robust inverse-consistent affine CT-MR registration in MRI-assisted and MRI-alone prostate radiation therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Rivest-Hénault, David; Dowson, Nicholas; Greer, Peter B; Fripp, Jurgen; Dowling, Jason A

2015-07-01

CT-MR registration is a critical component of many radiation oncology protocols. In prostate external beam radiation therapy, it allows the propagation of MR-derived contours to reference CT images at the planning stage, and it enables dose mapping during dosimetry studies. The use of carefully registered CT-MR atlases allows the estimation of patient specific electron density maps from MRI scans, enabling MRI-alone radiation therapy planning and treatment adaptation. In all cases, the precision and accuracy achieved by registration influences the quality of the entire process. Most current registration algorithms do not robustly generalize and lack inverse-consistency, increasing the risk of human error and acting as a source of bias in studies where information is propagated in a particular direction, e.g. CT to MR or vice versa. In MRI-based treatment planning where both CT and MR scans serve as spatial references, inverse-consistency is critical, if under-acknowledged. A robust, inverse-consistent, rigid/affine registration algorithm that is well suited to CT-MR alignment in prostate radiation therapy is presented. The presented method is based on a robust block-matching optimization process that utilises a half-way space definition to maintain inverse-consistency. Inverse-consistency substantially reduces the influence of the order of input images, simplifying analysis, and increasing robustness. An open source implementation is available online at http://aehrc.github.io/Mirorr/. Experimental results on a challenging 35 CT-MR pelvis dataset demonstrate that the proposed method is more accurate than other popular registration packages and is at least as accurate as the state of the art, while being more robust and having an order of magnitude higher inverse-consistency than competing approaches. The presented results demonstrate that the proposed registration algorithm is readily applicable to prostate radiation therapy planning. Copyright © 2015. Published by

The Principle of Energetic Consistency

Science.gov (United States)

Cohn, Stephen E.

2009-01-01

A basic result in estimation theory is that the minimum variance estimate of the dynamical state, given the observations, is the conditional mean estimate. This result holds independently of the specifics of any dynamical or observation nonlinearity or stochasticity, requiring only that the probability density function of the state, conditioned on the observations, has two moments. For nonlinear dynamics that conserve a total energy, this general result implies the principle of energetic consistency: if the dynamical variables are taken to be the natural energy variables, then the sum of the total energy of the conditional mean and the trace of the conditional covariance matrix (the total variance) is constant between observations. Ensemble Kalman filtering methods are designed to approximate the evolution of the conditional mean and covariance matrix. For them the principle of energetic consistency holds independently of ensemble size, even with covariance localization. However, full Kalman filter experiments with advection dynamics have shown that a small amount of numerical dissipation can cause a large, state-dependent loss of total variance, to the detriment of filter performance. The principle of energetic consistency offers a simple way to test whether this spurious loss of variance limits ensemble filter performance in full-blown applications. The classical second-moment closure (third-moment discard) equations also satisfy the principle of energetic consistency, independently of the rank of the conditional covariance matrix. Low-rank approximation of these equations offers an energetically consistent, computationally viable alternative to ensemble filtering. Current formulations of long-window, weak-constraint, four-dimensional variational methods are designed to approximate the conditional mode rather than the conditional mean. Thus they neglect the nonlinear bias term in the second-moment closure equation for the conditional mean. The principle of

Recommended ALIs and DACs for 10 CFR part 220: A consistent numerical set

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eckerman, K.F.

1996-05-01

Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 20 contains numerical data for controlling the intake of radionuclides in the workplace or in the environment. These data, derived from the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), do not provide a numerically consistent basis for demonstrating compliance with the limitation on dose stated in the regulation. This situation is largely a consequence of the numerical procedures used by the ICRP which did not maintain, in a strict numerical sense, the hierarchial relationship among the radiation protection quantities. In this work recommended values of the quantities in Appendix B to CFR Part 20 are developed using the dose coefficients of the applicable ICRP publications and a numerical procedure which ensures that the tabulated quantities are numerically consistent.

Self-consistent collective coordinate method for large amplitude collective motions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakata, F.; Hashimoto, Y.; Marumori, T.; Une, T.

1982-01-01

A recent development of the self-consistent collective coordinate method is described. The self-consistent collective coordinate method was proposed on the basis of the fundamental principle called the invariance principle of the Schroedinger equation. If this is formulated within a framework of the time dependent Hartree Fock (TDHF) theory, a classical version of the theory is obtained. A quantum version of the theory is deduced by formulating it within a framework of the unitary transformation method with auxiliary bosons. In this report, the discussion is concentrated on a relation between the classical theory and the quantum theory, and an applicability of the classical theory. The aim of the classical theory is to extract a maximally decoupled collective subspace out of a huge dimensional 1p - 1h parameter space introduced by the TDHF theory. An intimate similarity between the classical theory and a full quantum boson expansion method (BEM) was clarified. Discussion was concentrated to a simple Lipkin model. Then a relation between the BEM and the unitary transformation method with auxiliary bosons was discussed. It became clear that the quantum version of the theory had a strong relation to the BEM, and that the BEM was nothing but a quantum analogue of the present classical theory. The present theory was compared with the full TDHF calculation by using a simple model. (Kato, T.)

Architecting the Firm: Coherency and Consistency in Managing the Enterprise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turner, Patrick; Gøtze, John; Bernus, Peter

2010-01-01

Traditional Enterprise Architecture (EA) practice lacks a clear and effective governance and management layer that is easily understandable and intuitive to senior decision makers with the modern organisation. This paper uses three case studies to demonstrate the relative maturity of different EA...... practice groups within these organisations to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of a traditional ICT management approach versus those that include EA practice in all levels and domains of management. Concepts of Coherency Management and Pervasiveness will be used to explain the idea of a next...

Consistency of psychotropic drug-drug interactions listed in drug monographs.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xinyue; Hatton, Randy C; Zhu, Yanmin; Hincapie-Castillo, Juan M; Bussing, Regina; Barnicoat, Marie; Winterstein, Almut G

With an increasing prevalence of psychotropic polypharmacy, clinicians depend on drug-drug interaction (DDI) references to ensure safe regimens, but the consistency of such information is frequently questioned. To evaluate the consistency of psychotropic DDIs documented in Clinical Pharmacology (CP), Micromedex (MM), and Lexicomp (LC) and summarize consistent psychotropic DDIs. In May 2016, we extracted severe or major psychotropic DDIs for 102 psychotropic drugs, including central nervous system (CNS) stimulants, antidepressants, an antimanic agent (lithium), antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, and anxiolytics-sedatives-hypnotics from CP, MM, and LC. We then summarized the psychotropic DDIs that were included in all 3 references and with evidence quality of "excellent" or "good" based on MM. We identified 1496, 938, and 1006 unique severe or major psychotropic DDIs from CP, MM, and LC, respectively. Common adverse effects related to psychotropic DDIs include increased or decreased effectiveness, CNS depression, neurotoxicity, QT prolongation, serotonin syndrome, and multiple adverse effects. Among these interactions, only 371 psychotropic DDIs were documented in all 3 references, 59 of which had "excellent" or "good" quality of evidence based on MM. The consistency of psychotropic DDI documentation across CP, MM, and LC is poor. DDI documentations need standards that would encourage consistency among drug information references. The list of the 59 DDIs may be useful in the assessment of psychotropic polypharmacy and highlighting DDI alerts in clinical practice. Copyright © 2017 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sex-related differences in sleep slow wave activity in major depressive disorder: a high-density EEG investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Plante, David T; Landsness, Eric C; Peterson, Michael J; Goldstein, Michael R; Riedner, Brady A; Wanger, Timothy; Guokas, Jeffrey J; Tononi, Giulio; Benca, Ruth M

2012-09-18

Sleep disturbance plays an important role in major depressive disorder (MDD). Prior investigations have demonstrated that slow wave activity (SWA) during sleep is altered in MDD; however, results have not been consistent across studies, which may be due in part to sex-related differences in SWA and/or limited spatial resolution of spectral analyses. This study sought to characterize SWA in MDD utilizing high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) to examine the topography of SWA across the cortex in MDD, as well as sex-related variation in SWA topography in the disorder. All-night recordings with 256 channel hdEEG were collected in 30 unipolar MDD subjects (19 women) and 30 age and sex-matched control subjects. Spectral analyses of SWA were performed to determine group differences. SWA was compared between MDD and controls, including analyses stratified by sex, using statistical non-parametric mapping to correct for multiple comparisons of topographic data. As a group, MDD subjects demonstrated significant increases in all-night SWA primarily in bilateral prefrontal channels. When stratified by sex, MDD women demonstrated global increases in SWA relative to age-matched controls that were most consistent in bilateral prefrontal regions; however, MDD men showed no significant differences relative to age-matched controls. Further analyses demonstrated increased SWA in MDD women was most prominent in the first portion of the night. Women, but not men with MDD demonstrate significant increases in SWA in multiple cortical areas relative to control subjects. Further research is warranted to investigate the role of SWA in MDD, and to clarify how increased SWA in women with MDD is related to the pathophysiology of the disorder.

ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY FOR ASTROPHYSICISTS: A SELF-CONSISTENT FORMALISM AND ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR ARBITRARY C/O

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heng, Kevin; Tsai, Shang-Min; Lyons, James R.

2016-01-01

We present a self-consistent formalism for computing and understanding the atmospheric chemistry of exoplanets from the viewpoint of an astrophysicist. Starting from the first law of thermodynamics, we demonstrate that the van’t Hoff equation (which describes the equilibrium constant), Arrhenius equation (which describes the rate coefficients), and procedures associated with the Gibbs free energy (minimization, rescaling) have a common physical and mathematical origin. We address an ambiguity associated with the equilibrium constant, which is used to relate the forward and reverse rate coefficients, and restate its two definitions. By necessity, one of the equilibrium constants must be dimensionless and equate to an exponential function involving the Gibbs free energy, while the other is a ratio of rate coefficients and must therefore possess physical units. We demonstrate that the Arrhenius equation takes on a functional form that is more general than previously stated without recourse to tagging on ad hoc functional forms. Finally, we derive analytical models of chemical systems, in equilibrium, with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. We include acetylene and are able to reproduce several key trends, versus temperature and carbon-to-oxygen ratio, published in the literature. The rich variety of behavior that mixing ratios exhibit as a function of the carbon-to-oxygen ratio is merely the outcome of stoichiometric book-keeping and not the direct consequence of temperature or pressure variations

ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY FOR ASTROPHYSICISTS: A SELF-CONSISTENT FORMALISM AND ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR ARBITRARY C/O

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heng, Kevin; Tsai, Shang-Min [University of Bern, Center for Space and Habitability, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012, Bern (Switzerland); Lyons, James R., E-mail: kevin.heng@csh.unibe.ch [Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Bateman Physical Sciences, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 (United States)

2016-01-10

We present a self-consistent formalism for computing and understanding the atmospheric chemistry of exoplanets from the viewpoint of an astrophysicist. Starting from the first law of thermodynamics, we demonstrate that the van’t Hoff equation (which describes the equilibrium constant), Arrhenius equation (which describes the rate coefficients), and procedures associated with the Gibbs free energy (minimization, rescaling) have a common physical and mathematical origin. We address an ambiguity associated with the equilibrium constant, which is used to relate the forward and reverse rate coefficients, and restate its two definitions. By necessity, one of the equilibrium constants must be dimensionless and equate to an exponential function involving the Gibbs free energy, while the other is a ratio of rate coefficients and must therefore possess physical units. We demonstrate that the Arrhenius equation takes on a functional form that is more general than previously stated without recourse to tagging on ad hoc functional forms. Finally, we derive analytical models of chemical systems, in equilibrium, with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. We include acetylene and are able to reproduce several key trends, versus temperature and carbon-to-oxygen ratio, published in the literature. The rich variety of behavior that mixing ratios exhibit as a function of the carbon-to-oxygen ratio is merely the outcome of stoichiometric book-keeping and not the direct consequence of temperature or pressure variations.

Factorial validity and internal consistency of the motivational climate in physical education scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Soini, Markus; Liukkonen, Jarmo; Watt, Anthony; Yli-Piipari, Sami; Jaakkola, Timo

2014-01-01

The aim of the study was to examine the construct validity and internal consistency of the Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale (MCPES). A key element of the development process of the scale was establishing a theoretical framework that integrated the dimensions of task- and ego involving climates in conjunction with autonomy, and social relatedness supporting climates. These constructs were adopted from the self-determination and achievement goal theories. A sample of Finnish Grade 9 students, comprising 2,594 girls and 1,803 boys, completed the 18-item MCPES during one physical education class. The results of the study demonstrated that participants had highest mean in task-involving climate and the lowest in autonomy climate and ego-involving climate. Additionally, autonomy, social relatedness, and task- involving climates were significantly and strongly correlated with each other, whereas the ego- involving climate had low or negligible correlations with the other climate dimensions.The construct validity of the MCPES was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. The statistical fit of the four-factor model consisting of motivational climate factors supporting perceived autonomy, social relatedness, task-involvement, and ego-involvement was satisfactory. The results of the reliability analysis showed acceptable internal consistencies for all four dimensions. The Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale can be considered as psychometrically valid tool to measure motivational climate in Finnish Grade 9 students. Key PointsThis study developed Motivational Climate in School Physical Education Scale (MCPES). During the development process of the scale, the theoretical framework using dimensions of task- and ego involving as well as autonomy, and social relatedness supporting climates was constructed. These constructs were adopted from the self-determination and achievement goal theories.The statistical fit of the four-factor model of the

Consistent Quantum Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Griffiths, Robert B.

2001-11-01

Quantum mechanics is one of the most fundamental yet difficult subjects in physics. Nonrelativistic quantum theory is presented here in a clear and systematic fashion, integrating Born's probabilistic interpretation with Schrödinger dynamics. Basic quantum principles are illustrated with simple examples requiring no mathematics beyond linear algebra and elementary probability theory. The quantum measurement process is consistently analyzed using fundamental quantum principles without referring to measurement. These same principles are used to resolve several of the paradoxes that have long perplexed physicists, including the double slit and Schrödinger's cat. The consistent histories formalism used here was first introduced by the author, and extended by M. Gell-Mann, J. Hartle and R. Omnès. Essential for researchers yet accessible to advanced undergraduate students in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science, this book is supplementary to standard textbooks. It will also be of interest to physicists and philosophers working on the foundations of quantum mechanics. Comprehensive account Written by one of the main figures in the field Paperback edition of successful work on philosophy of quantum mechanics

Consistent expression of guanylyl cyclase-C in primary and metastatic gastrointestinal cancers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hadi Danaee

Full Text Available The transmembrane receptor guanylate cyclase-C (GCC has been found to be expressed in colorectal cancers. However, limited data are available on GCC protein expression in non-colorectal gastrointestinal tumors and few studies have reported whether GCC protein expression was consistently preserved in synchronous primary and metastatic cancer tissues.GCC protein status was assessed by immunohistochemistry in tumor specimens from individuals (n = 627 with gastrointestinal tumors, including esophageal (n = 130, gastric (n = 276, pancreatic (n = 136, and colorectal (n = 85 primary and metastatic tumors. Tissue specimens consisted of tissue microarrays containing esophageal, gastric, pancreatic tumors, and whole-slide tissue sections from colorectal cancer patients with matching primary and metastatic tumors.Among the evaluated esophageal, gastric, and pancreatic tumors, the frequency of GCC positivity at the protein level ranged from 59% to 68%. GCC was consistently expressed in primary and matched/synchronous metastatic lesions of colorectal cancer tissues derived from the same patients.This observational study demonstrated the protein expression of GCC across various gastrointestinal malignancies. In all cancer histotypes, GCC protein localization was observed predominantly in the cytoplasm compared to the membrane region of tumor cells. Consistent immunohistochemistry detection of GCC protein expression in primary colorectal cancers and in their matched liver metastases suggests that the expression of GCC is maintained throughout the process of tumor progression and formation of metastatic disease.

The Internal Consistency and Validity of the Vaccination Attitudes Examination Scale: A Replication Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Louise; Smith, Michael; Miller, Christopher B; O'Carroll, Ronan E

2018-06-19

Vaccinations are important preventative health behaviors. The recently developed Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) Scale aims to measure the reasons behind refusal/hesitancy regarding vaccinations. The aim of this replication study is to conduct an independent test of the newly developed VAX Scale in the UK. We tested (a) internal consistency (Cronbach's α); (b) convergent validity by assessing its relationships with beliefs about medication, medical mistrust, and perceived sensitivity to medicines; and (c) construct validity by testing how well the VAX Scale discriminated between vaccinators and nonvaccinators. A sample of 243 UK adults completed the VAX Scale, the Beliefs About Medicines Questionnaire, the Perceived Sensitivity to Medicines Scale, and the Medical Mistrust Index, in addition to demographics of age, gender, education levels, and social deprivation. Participants were asked (a) whether they received an influenza vaccination in the past year and (b) if they had a young child, whether they had vaccinated the young child against influenza in the past year. The VAX (a) demonstrated high internal consistency (α = .92); (b) was positively correlated with medical mistrust and beliefs about medicines, and less strongly correlated with perceived sensitivity to medicines; and (c) successfully differentiated parental influenza vaccinators from nonvaccinators. The VAX demonstrated good internal consistency, convergent validity, and construct validity in an independent UK sample. It appears to be a useful measure to help us understand the health beliefs that promote or deter vaccination behavior.

Demonstration of the exponential decay law using beer froth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leike, A.

2002-01-01

The volume of beer froth decays exponentially with time. This property is used to demonstrate the exponential decay law in the classroom. The decay constant depends on the type of beer and can be used to differentiate between different beers. The analysis shows in a transparent way the techniques of data analysis commonly used in science - consistency checks of theoretical models with the data, parameter estimation and determination of confidence intervals. (author)

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY IDENTIFICATION, DEVELOPMENT, DEMONSTRATION, DEPLOYMENT AND EXCHANGE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roy C. Herndon

2001-02-28

Cooperative Agreement (DE-FC21-95EW55101) between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Florida State University's Institute for International Cooperative Environmental Research (IICER) was designed to facilitate a number of joint programmatic goals of both the DOE and the IICER related to international technology identification, development, demonstration and deployment using a variety of mechanisms to accomplish these goals. These mechanisms included: laboratory and field research; technology demonstrations; international training and technical exchanges; data collection, synthesis and evaluation; the conduct of conferences, symposia and high-level meetings; and other appropriate and effective approaches. The DOE utilized the expertise and facilities of the IICER at Florida State University to accomplish its goals related to this cooperative agreement. The IICER has unique and demonstrated capabilities that have been utilized to conduct the tasks for this cooperative agreement. The IICER conducted activities related to technology identification, development, evaluation, demonstration and deployment through its joint centers which link the capabilities at Florida State University with collaborating academic and leading research institutions in the major countries of Central and Eastern Europe (e.g., Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland) and Russia. The activities and accomplishments for this five-year cooperative agreement are summarized in this Final Technical Report.

Holocene fluctuations in human population demonstrate repeated links to food production and climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Bevan, Andrew; Colledge, Sue; Fuller, Dorian; Fyfe, Ralph; Shennan, Stephen; Stevens, Chris

2017-12-05

We consider the long-term relationship between human demography, food production, and Holocene climate via an archaeological radiocarbon date series of unprecedented sampling density and detail. There is striking consistency in the inferred human population dynamics across different regions of Britain and Ireland during the middle and later Holocene. Major cross-regional population downturns in population coincide with episodes of more abrupt change in North Atlantic climate and witness societal responses in food procurement as visible in directly dated plants and animals, often with moves toward hardier cereals, increased pastoralism, and/or gathered resources. For the Neolithic, this evidence questions existing models of wholly endogenous demographic boom-bust. For the wider Holocene, it demonstrates that climate-related disruptions have been quasi-periodic drivers of societal and subsistence change. Copyright © 2017 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Experimental demonstration of interferometric imaging using photonic integrated circuits.

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Tiehui; Scott, Ryan P; Ogden, Chad; Thurman, Samuel T; Kendrick, Richard L; Duncan, Alan; Yu, Runxiang; Yoo, S J B

2017-05-29

This paper reports design, fabrication, and demonstration of a silica photonic integrated circuit (PIC) capable of conducting interferometric imaging with multiple baselines around λ = 1550 nm. The PIC consists of four sets of five waveguides (total of twenty waveguides), each leading to a three-band spectrometer (total of sixty waveguides), after which a tunable Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) constructs interferograms from each pair of the waveguides. A total of thirty sets of interferograms (ten pairs of three spectral bands) is collected by the detector array at the output of the PIC. The optical path difference (OPD) of each interferometer baseline is kept to within 1 µm to maximize the visibility of the interference measurement. We constructed an experiment to utilize the two baselines for complex visibility measurement on a point source and a variable width slit. We used the point source to demonstrate near unity value of the PIC instrumental visibility, and used the variable slit to demonstrate visibility measurement for a simple extended object. The experimental result demonstrates the visibility of baseline 5 and 20 mm for a slit width of 0 to 500 µm in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

How Well Does the Sum Score Summarize the Test? Summability as a Measure of Internal Consistency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goeman, J.J.; De, Jong N.H.

2018-01-01

Many researchers use Cronbach's alpha to demonstrate internal consistency, even though it has been shown numerous times that Cronbach's alpha is not suitable for this. Because the intention of questionnaire and test constructers is to summarize the test by its overall sum score, we advocate

Consistency of students’ conceptions of wave propagation: Findings from a conceptual survey in mechanical waves

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chernchok Soankwan

2011-07-01

Full Text Available We recently developed a multiple-choice conceptual survey in mechanical waves. The development, evaluation, and demonstration of the use of the survey were reported elsewhere [ A. Tongchai et al. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 31 2437 (2009]. We administered the survey to 902 students from seven different groups ranging from high school to second year university. As an outcome of that analysis we were able to identify several conceptual models which the students seemed to be using when answering the questions in the survey. In this paper we attempt to investigate the strength with which the students were committed to these conceptual models, as evidenced by the consistency with which they answered the questions. For this purpose we focus on the patterns of student responses to questions in one particular subtopic, wave propagation. This study has three main purposes: (1 to investigate the consistency of student conceptions, (2 to explore the relative usefulness of different analysis techniques, and (3 to determine what extra information a study of consistency can give about student understanding of basic concepts. We used two techniques: first, categorizing and counting, which is widely used in the science education community, and second, model analysis, recently introduced into physics education research. The manner in which categorizing and counting is used is very diverse while model analysis has been employed only in prescriptive ways. Research studies have reported that students often use their conceptual models inconsistently when solving a series of questions that test the same idea. Our results support their conclusions. Moreover, our findings suggest that students who have had more experiences in physics learning seem to use the scientifically accepted models more consistently. Further, the two analysis techniques have different advantages and disadvantages. Our findings show that model analysis can be used in more diverse ways, provides

Determinants of consistent condom use among female sex workers in Savannakhet, Lao PDR.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrews, Carin Hillerdal; Faxelid, Elisabeth; Sychaerun, Vanphanom; Phrasisombath, Ketkesone

2015-08-19

Female sex workers (FSWs) are a high-risk population for HIV. Correct and consistent use of condoms is the most effective measure for reducing transmission of HIV. Lao PDR is a low HIV-prevalence country, but FSWs have a relatively high HIV prevalence. To be able to make recommendations for condom promotion interventions in Lao PDR it is important to know more about the context specific situation. This study looked at reasons for and associated factors of consistent condom use among FSWs. A cross-sectional survey among 258 FSWs in Kaysone Phomvihan district in Savannakhet province was performed. Almost all FSWs had enough condoms (94%), condoms always available (100%) and could always afford condoms (92%). Consistent condom use was 97% with non-regular partners and 60% with regular partners. Almost all respondents (95%) had received information about condoms from the drop-in centre. Stated reasons for consistent condom use were prevention of HIV (94%), STIs (88%) and pregnancy (87%). Most reasons for inconsistent condom use were related to partners not wanting to use condoms because of reduced sexual pleasure. Some FSWs reported that they were physically abused and forced not to use condoms. Shorter time in sex work, higher education and FSW not having regular partners were significantly associated with consistent condom use. Consistent condom use was very high with non-regular partners, but less frequent with regular partners. The main reason for inconsistent condom use was that the partner did not want to use a condom. Associated factors for consistent condom use were not having regular partners, higher education and shorter time in sex work. Condom promotion programs should include both FSWs and their partners and female condoms should be included in condom intervention efforts. Future studies should investigate the validity of self-reported sexual practices, partners' reasons for inconsistent condom use, risk of violence in sex work and why shorter time in sex

Use of family relationships improved consistency of identification of Aboriginal people in linked administrative data.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibberd, Alison J; Simpson, Judy M; Eades, Sandra J

2017-10-01

Algorithms are often used to improve identification of Aboriginal Australians in linked data sets with inconsistent and incomplete recording of Aboriginal status. We compared how consistently some common algorithms identified family members, developed a new algorithm incorporating relatives' information, and assessed the effects of these algorithms on health estimates. The sample was people born 1980-2011 recorded as Aboriginal at least once (or a relative) in four Western Australian data sets and their relatives (N = 156,407). A very inclusive approach, ever-Aboriginal (EA/EA+, where + denotes children's records incorporated), and two more specific approaches, multistage median (MSM/MSM+) and last record (LR/LR+), were chosen, along with the new algorithm (MSM+Family). Ever-Aboriginal (EA) categorized relatives the least consistently; 25% of parent-child triads had incongruent Aboriginal statuses with EA+, compared with only 9% with MSM+. With EA+, 14% of full siblings had different statuses compared with 8% for MSM+. EA produced the lowest estimates of the proportion of Aboriginal people with poor health outcomes. Using relatives' records reduced the number of uncategorized people and categorized as Aboriginal more people who had few records (e.g., no hospital admissions). When many data sets are linked, more specific algorithms select more representative Aboriginal samples and identify Aboriginality of relatives more consistently. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Syneresis, rheological characteristic and sensory consistency of the artichoke sauce (Cynara scolymus L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Mora Barandiarán

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The effect of the concentration of three hydrocolloids: CMC, guar gum and xanthan gum on the syneresis, rheological features and sensory consistency of the artichoke sauce (Cynara scolymus L. Imperial Star variety was studied. The syneresis was determined by the water loss by centrifugation, the rheological features of the artichoke sauce was determined using a Brookfield RVDV – III model rheometer and finally, the sensory consistency was determined by measuring the degree of satisfaction with hedonic scale of nine points. A simplex lattice design blends with centroid expanded under the response surface methodology was applied to establish the effect of the concentration of hydrocolloid on syneresis, rheological features and sensory consistency. In all treatments, the apparent viscosity decreased with shear rate demonstrating a “non Newtonian” behavior of “general plastic” type with an “n” value less than 1 and an initial shear stress. The flow behavior index “n” was in the range of 0.0856 and 0.3131 (n < 1 and the consistency index “k” in the range of 84.55 y 167.80 Pa.sn , the initial shear stress was in the range of 9,10 y 13,51 Pa and consistency sensory presented score of “like” to “like slightly”. Finally, the hydrocolloid mixture was optimized over the area of feasible formulation. With the optimal mixture, corresponding to 0.28% CMC, 0.13% guar gum and 0.59% xanthan gum is expected to obtain a 0.089% of syneresis and a rating of 6 in terms of sensory consistency.

Consistent classical supergravity theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muller, M.

1989-01-01

This book offers a presentation of both conformal and Poincare supergravity. The consistent four-dimensional supergravity theories are classified. The formulae needed for further modelling are included

Consistent calculation of the screening and exchange effects in allowed β- transitions

Science.gov (United States)

Mougeot, X.; Bisch, C.

2014-07-01

The atomic exchange effect has previously been demonstrated to have a great influence at low energy on the Pu241 β- transition. The screening effect has been given as a possible explanation for a remaining discrepancy. Improved calculations have been made to consistently evaluate these two atomic effects, compared here to the recent high-precision measurements of Pu241 and Ni63 β spectra. In this paper a screening correction has been defined to account for the spatial extension of the electron wave functions. Excellent overall agreement of about 1% from 500 eV to the end-point energy has been obtained for both β spectra, which demonstrates that a rather simple β decay model for allowed transitions, including atomic effects within an independent-particle model, is sufficient to describe well the current most precise measurements.

A non-parametric consistency test of the ΛCDM model with Planck CMB data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aghamousa, Amir; Shafieloo, Arman [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Hamann, Jan, E-mail: amir@aghamousa.com, E-mail: jan.hamann@unsw.edu.au, E-mail: shafieloo@kasi.re.kr [School of Physics, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052 (Australia)

2017-09-01

Non-parametric reconstruction methods, such as Gaussian process (GP) regression, provide a model-independent way of estimating an underlying function and its uncertainty from noisy data. We demonstrate how GP-reconstruction can be used as a consistency test between a given data set and a specific model by looking for structures in the residuals of the data with respect to the model's best-fit. Applying this formalism to the Planck temperature and polarisation power spectrum measurements, we test their global consistency with the predictions of the base ΛCDM model. Our results do not show any serious inconsistencies, lending further support to the interpretation of the base ΛCDM model as cosmology's gold standard.

How Affectively-Based and Cognitively-Based Attitudes Drive Intergroup Behaviours: The Moderating Role of Affective-Cognitive Consistency

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Jie; Dovidio, John; Wang, Erping

2013-01-01

The moderating role of affective-cognitive consistency in the effects of affectively-based and cognitively-based attitudes on consummatory and instrumental behaviors was explored using two experimental studies in the intergroup context. Study 1 revealed that affectively-based attitudes were better predictors than cognitively-based attitudes regardless of affective-cognitive consistency for consummatory behaviors (e.g., undergraduates’ supportive behaviors toward government officials). Study 2, which investigated task groups’ supportive behaviors toward an immediate supervisory group, found that for these instrumental behaviors cognitively-based attitudes were better predictors than affectively-based attitudes only when affective-cognitive consistency was high. The present research also examined the mechanism by which affective-cognitive consistency moderates the relative roles of affectively-based and cognitively-based attitudes in attitude-behavior consistency. Results indicated that attitude-behavior consistency is eroded primarily because of the weaker relationship of affective or cognitive components to behaviors than to general attitudes. The reciprocal implications of research on attitudes and work on intergroup relations are considered. PMID:24244751

Freihoelser Forst Local Training Area Demonstration Project: Prescription development and installation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hinchman, R.R.; Zellmer, S.D.; Brent, J.J.

1989-04-01

The Freiholser Forst Local Training Area (LTA) Rehabilitation Demonstration Project is part of the Integrated Training Area Management program being developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers' Construction Engineering Research Laboratory for the Seventh Army Training Command of the US Army in Europe. The rehabilitation demonstration project was begun in 1987 to develop and demonstrate rapid, cost-effective methods to stabilize the LTA's barren, eroding maneuver areas and make training conditions more realistic. The sandy, infertile, and acidic soils at the LTA are considered the major factor limiting rehabilitation efforts there. The project involves the evaluation of three procedures to revegetate the soils, each incorporating identical methods for preparing the seedbed and a single seed mixture consisting of adapted, native species but using different soil amendments. All three treatments have satisfactorily reestablished vegetation and controlled erosion on the demonstration plots at the LTA, but their costs have varied widely

Direct calculation of self-consistent π bond orders in conjugated systems and pairing relations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro, A.F.

1982-01-01

Pairing relations in excited states of conjugated systems which satisfy to a given symmetry with a Pariser-Parr-Pople-like (PPP) calculation are studied. Six π - electron systems are considered having a symmetry axis which does not cross π centers following a treatment which permits the direct obtainment of the bond order matrix based on Hall's method. Pairing relations are looked for, too, using particular solutions when U(3) groups is applied. Pyridazine molecules are used in order to test the results. (L.C.) [pt

Personality consistency in dogs: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Fratkin, Jamie L; Sinn, David L; Patall, Erika A; Gosling, Samuel D

2013-01-01

Personality, or consistent individual differences in behavior, is well established in studies of dogs. Such consistency implies predictability of behavior, but some recent research suggests that predictability cannot be assumed. In addition, anecdotally, many dog experts believe that 'puppy tests' measuring behavior during the first year of a dog's life are not accurate indicators of subsequent adult behavior. Personality consistency in dogs is an important aspect of human-dog relationships (e.g., when selecting dogs suitable for substance-detection work or placement in a family). Here we perform the first comprehensive meta-analysis of studies reporting estimates of temporal consistency of dog personality. A thorough literature search identified 31 studies suitable for inclusion in our meta-analysis. Overall, we found evidence to suggest substantial consistency (r = 0.43). Furthermore, personality consistency was higher in older dogs, when behavioral assessment intervals were shorter, and when the measurement tool was exactly the same in both assessments. In puppies, aggression and submissiveness were the most consistent dimensions, while responsiveness to training, fearfulness, and sociability were the least consistent dimensions. In adult dogs, there were no dimension-based differences in consistency. There was no difference in personality consistency in dogs tested first as puppies and later as adults (e.g., 'puppy tests') versus dogs tested first as puppies and later again as puppies. Finally, there were no differences in consistency between working versus non-working dogs, between behavioral codings versus behavioral ratings, and between aggregate versus single measures. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

Personality consistency in dogs: a meta-analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamie L Fratkin

Full Text Available Personality, or consistent individual differences in behavior, is well established in studies of dogs. Such consistency implies predictability of behavior, but some recent research suggests that predictability cannot be assumed. In addition, anecdotally, many dog experts believe that 'puppy tests' measuring behavior during the first year of a dog's life are not accurate indicators of subsequent adult behavior. Personality consistency in dogs is an important aspect of human-dog relationships (e.g., when selecting dogs suitable for substance-detection work or placement in a family. Here we perform the first comprehensive meta-analysis of studies reporting estimates of temporal consistency of dog personality. A thorough literature search identified 31 studies suitable for inclusion in our meta-analysis. Overall, we found evidence to suggest substantial consistency (r = 0.43. Furthermore, personality consistency was higher in older dogs, when behavioral assessment intervals were shorter, and when the measurement tool was exactly the same in both assessments. In puppies, aggression and submissiveness were the most consistent dimensions, while responsiveness to training, fearfulness, and sociability were the least consistent dimensions. In adult dogs, there were no dimension-based differences in consistency. There was no difference in personality consistency in dogs tested first as puppies and later as adults (e.g., 'puppy tests' versus dogs tested first as puppies and later again as puppies. Finally, there were no differences in consistency between working versus non-working dogs, between behavioral codings versus behavioral ratings, and between aggregate versus single measures. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

Personality Consistency in Dogs: A Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Fratkin, Jamie L.; Sinn, David L.; Patall, Erika A.; Gosling, Samuel D.

2013-01-01

Personality, or consistent individual differences in behavior, is well established in studies of dogs. Such consistency implies predictability of behavior, but some recent research suggests that predictability cannot be assumed. In addition, anecdotally, many dog experts believe that ‘puppy tests’ measuring behavior during the first year of a dog's life are not accurate indicators of subsequent adult behavior. Personality consistency in dogs is an important aspect of human-dog relationships (e.g., when selecting dogs suitable for substance-detection work or placement in a family). Here we perform the first comprehensive meta-analysis of studies reporting estimates of temporal consistency of dog personality. A thorough literature search identified 31 studies suitable for inclusion in our meta-analysis. Overall, we found evidence to suggest substantial consistency (r = 0.43). Furthermore, personality consistency was higher in older dogs, when behavioral assessment intervals were shorter, and when the measurement tool was exactly the same in both assessments. In puppies, aggression and submissiveness were the most consistent dimensions, while responsiveness to training, fearfulness, and sociability were the least consistent dimensions. In adult dogs, there were no dimension-based differences in consistency. There was no difference in personality consistency in dogs tested first as puppies and later as adults (e.g., ‘puppy tests’) versus dogs tested first as puppies and later again as puppies. Finally, there were no differences in consistency between working versus non-working dogs, between behavioral codings versus behavioral ratings, and between aggregate versus single measures. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed. PMID:23372787

Tuberculosis related drug-lipid interactions demonstrated by evanescent field biosensor

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Lemmer, Yolandy

2009-08-01

Full Text Available stream_source_info Lemmer1_2009.pdf.txt stream_content_type text/plain stream_size 6475 Content-Encoding ISO-8859-1 stream_name Lemmer1_2009.pdf.txt Content-Type text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Tuberculosis related drug... of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa bPolymers and Bioceramics, MSM, CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa Mycolic acids (MA), depicted in Fig.1, which are part of the cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, play a major role in the pathogenesis of the bacteria...

Time perspective and attitude-behaviour consistency in future-oriented behaviours.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabinovich, Anna; Morton, Thomas; Postmes, Tom

2010-03-01

The authors propose that the salience of a distant-future time perspective, compared to a near-future time perspective, should increase attitude-behaviour and attitude-intention consistency for future-oriented behaviours. To test this prediction, time perspective was experimentally manipulated in three studies. Across studies, participants in the distant-future time perspective condition demonstrated a strong positive relationship between attitudes towards future-oriented behaviours (saving and environmental protection) and corresponding intentions, as well as between attitudes and behaviour. In the near-future time perspective condition, the relationship between attitudes and intentions and attitudes and behaviour was significantly weaker than in the distant-future time perspective condition. The theoretical implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Is cosmology consistent?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Xiaomin; Tegmark, Max; Zaldarriaga, Matias

2002-01-01

We perform a detailed analysis of the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements (including BOOMERaNG, DASI, Maxima and CBI), both alone and jointly with other cosmological data sets involving, e.g., galaxy clustering and the Lyman Alpha Forest. We first address the question of whether the CMB data are internally consistent once calibration and beam uncertainties are taken into account, performing a series of statistical tests. With a few minor caveats, our answer is yes, and we compress all data into a single set of 24 bandpowers with associated covariance matrix and window functions. We then compute joint constraints on the 11 parameters of the 'standard' adiabatic inflationary cosmological model. Our best fit model passes a series of physical consistency checks and agrees with essentially all currently available cosmological data. In addition to sharp constraints on the cosmic matter budget in good agreement with those of the BOOMERaNG, DASI and Maxima teams, we obtain a heaviest neutrino mass range 0.04-4.2 eV and the sharpest constraints to date on gravity waves which (together with preference for a slight red-tilt) favor 'small-field' inflation models

Thermodynamically consistent model calibration in chemical kinetics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goutsias John

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The dynamics of biochemical reaction systems are constrained by the fundamental laws of thermodynamics, which impose well-defined relationships among the reaction rate constants characterizing these systems. Constructing biochemical reaction systems from experimental observations often leads to parameter values that do not satisfy the necessary thermodynamic constraints. This can result in models that are not physically realizable and may lead to inaccurate, or even erroneous, descriptions of cellular function. Results We introduce a thermodynamically consistent model calibration (TCMC method that can be effectively used to provide thermodynamically feasible values for the parameters of an open biochemical reaction system. The proposed method formulates the model calibration problem as a constrained optimization problem that takes thermodynamic constraints (and, if desired, additional non-thermodynamic constraints into account. By calculating thermodynamically feasible values for the kinetic parameters of a well-known model of the EGF/ERK signaling cascade, we demonstrate the qualitative and quantitative significance of imposing thermodynamic constraints on these parameters and the effectiveness of our method for accomplishing this important task. MATLAB software, using the Systems Biology Toolbox 2.1, can be accessed from http://www.cis.jhu.edu/~goutsias/CSS lab/software.html. An SBML file containing the thermodynamically feasible EGF/ERK signaling cascade model can be found in the BioModels database. Conclusions TCMC is a simple and flexible method for obtaining physically plausible values for the kinetic parameters of open biochemical reaction systems. It can be effectively used to recalculate a thermodynamically consistent set of parameter values for existing thermodynamically infeasible biochemical reaction models of cellular function as well as to estimate thermodynamically feasible values for the parameters of new

Self-consistent radial sheath

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazeltine, R.D.

1988-12-01

The boundary layer arising in the radial vicinity of a tokamak limiter is examined, with special reference to the TEXT tokamak. It is shown that sheath structure depends upon the self-consistent effects of ion guiding-center orbit modification, as well as the radial variation of E /times/ B-induced toroidal rotation. Reasonable agreement with experiment is obtained from an idealized model which, however simplified, preserves such self-consistent effects. It is argued that the radial sheath, which occurs whenever confining magnetic field-lines lie in the plasma boundary surface, is an object of some intrinsic interest. It differs from the more familiar axial sheath because magnetized charges respond very differently to parallel and perpendicular electric fields. 11 refs., 1 fig

Performance demonstration program plan for analysis of simulated headspace gases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-06-01

The Performance Demonstration Program (PDP) for analysis of headspace gases will consist of regular distribution and analyses of test standards to evaluate the capability for analyzing VOCs, hydrogen, and methane in the headspace of transuranic (TRU) waste throughout the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. Each distribution is termed a PDP cycle. These evaluation cycles will provide an objective measure of the reliability of measurements performed for TRU waste characterization. Laboratory performance will be demonstrated by the successful analysis of blind audit samples of simulated TRU waste drum headspace gases according to the criteria set within the text of this Program Plan. Blind audit samples (hereinafter referred to as PDP samples) will be used as an independent means to assess laboratory performance regarding compliance with the QAPP QAOs. The concentration of analytes in the PDP samples will encompass the range of concentrations anticipated in actual waste characterization gas samples. Analyses which are required by the WIPP to demonstrate compliance with various regulatory requirements and which are included in the PDP must be performed by laboratories which have demonstrated acceptable performance in the PDP

The Plasma Hearth Process demonstration project for mixed waste treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geimer, R.; Dwight, C.; McClellan, G.

1994-01-01

The Plasma Hearth Process (PHP) demonstration project is one of the key technology projects in the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Development (OTD) Mixed Waste Integrated Program (MWIP). Testing to date has yielded encouraging results in displaying potential applications for the PHP technology. Early tests have shown that a wide range of waste materials can be readily processed in the PHP and converted to a vitreous product. Waste materials can be treated in their original container as received at the treatment facility, without pretreatment. The vitreous product, when cooled, exhibits excellent performance in leach resistance, consistently exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) requirements. Performance of the Demonstration System during test operations has been shown to meet emission requirements. An accelerated development phase, being conducted at both bench- and pilot-scale on both nonradioactive and radioactive materials, will confirm the viability of the process. It is anticipated that, as a result of this accelerated technology development and demonstration phase, the PHP will be ready for a final field-level demonstration within three years

A blueprint for demonstrating quantum supremacy with superconducting qubits

Science.gov (United States)

Neill, C.; Roushan, P.; Kechedzhi, K.; Boixo, S.; Isakov, S. V.; Smelyanskiy, V.; Megrant, A.; Chiaro, B.; Dunsworth, A.; Arya, K.; Barends, R.; Burkett, B.; Chen, Y.; Chen, Z.; Fowler, A.; Foxen, B.; Giustina, M.; Graff, R.; Jeffrey, E.; Huang, T.; Kelly, J.; Klimov, P.; Lucero, E.; Mutus, J.; Neeley, M.; Quintana, C.; Sank, D.; Vainsencher, A.; Wenner, J.; White, T. C.; Neven, H.; Martinis, J. M.

2018-04-01

A key step toward demonstrating a quantum system that can address difficult problems in physics and chemistry will be performing a computation beyond the capabilities of any classical computer, thus achieving so-called quantum supremacy. In this study, we used nine superconducting qubits to demonstrate a promising path toward quantum supremacy. By individually tuning the qubit parameters, we were able to generate thousands of distinct Hamiltonian evolutions and probe the output probabilities. The measured probabilities obey a universal distribution, consistent with uniformly sampling the full Hilbert space. As the number of qubits increases, the system continues to explore the exponentially growing number of states. Extending these results to a system of 50 qubits has the potential to address scientific questions that are beyond the capabilities of any classical computer.

Self-consistent studies of magnetic thin film Ni (001)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, C.S.; Freeman, A.J.

1979-01-01

Advances in experimental methods for studying surface phenomena have provided the stimulus to develop theoretical methods capable of interpreting this wealth of new information. Of particular interest have been the relative roles of bulk and surface contributions since in several important cases agreement between experiment and bulk self-consistent (SC) calculations within the local spin density functional formalism (LSDF) is lacking. We discuss our recent extension of the (LSDF) approach to the study of thin films (slabs) and the role of surface effects on magnetic properties. Results are described for Ni (001) films using our new SC numerical basis set LCAO method. Self-consistency within the superposition of overlapping spherical atomic charge density model is obtained iteratively with the atomic configuration as the adjustable parameter. Results are presented for the electronic charge densities and local density of states. The origin and role of (magnetic) surface states is discussed by comparison with results of earlier bulk calculations

Method used to test the imaging consistency of binocular camera's left-right optical system

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Meiying; Wang, Hu; Liu, Jie; Xue, Yaoke; Yang, Shaodong; Zhao, Hui

2016-09-01

To binocular camera, the consistency of optical parameters of the left and the right optical system is an important factor that will influence the overall imaging consistency. In conventional testing procedure of optical system, there lacks specifications suitable for evaluating imaging consistency. In this paper, considering the special requirements of binocular optical imaging system, a method used to measure the imaging consistency of binocular camera is presented. Based on this method, a measurement system which is composed of an integrating sphere, a rotary table and a CMOS camera has been established. First, let the left and the right optical system capture images in normal exposure time under the same condition. Second, a contour image is obtained based on the multiple threshold segmentation result and the boundary is determined using the slope of contour lines near the pseudo-contour line. Third, the constraint of gray level based on the corresponding coordinates of left-right images is established and the imaging consistency could be evaluated through standard deviation σ of the imaging grayscale difference D (x, y) between the left and right optical system. The experiments demonstrate that the method is suitable for carrying out the imaging consistency testing for binocular camera. When the standard deviation 3σ distribution of imaging gray difference D (x, y) between the left and right optical system of the binocular camera does not exceed 5%, it is believed that the design requirements have been achieved. This method could be used effectively and paves the way for the imaging consistency testing of the binocular camera.

Choice, internal consistency, and rationality

OpenAIRE

Aditi Bhattacharyya; Prasanta K. Pattanaik; Yongsheng Xu

2010-01-01

The classical theory of rational choice is built on several important internal consistency conditions. In recent years, the reasonableness of those internal consistency conditions has been questioned and criticized, and several responses to accommodate such criticisms have been proposed in the literature. This paper develops a general framework to accommodate the issues raised by the criticisms of classical rational choice theory, and examines the broad impact of these criticisms from both no...

FINDING SOLUTIONS AT THE WEST VALLEY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drake, John L.; Gramling, James M.; Houston, Helene M.

2003-01-01

The United States Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) faces a number of sizeable challenges as it begins to transform its mission from managing risk to reducing and eliminating risk throughout the DOE Complex. One of the greatest challenges being addressed by DOE-EM as this transformation takes place is accelerating the deactivation and decommissioning of thousands of facilities within the DOE Complex that were once used to support nuclear-related programs and projects. These facilities are now unused and aging. Finding solutions to complete the cleanup of these aging facilities more safely, efficiently, and effectively while reducing costs is critical to successfully meeting DOE-EM's cleanup challenge. The Large-Scale Demonstration and Deployment Project (LSDDP) of Hot Cells at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) is a near-term project funded through the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE-NETL) for the specific purpose of identifying, evaluating, demonstrating, and deploying commercially available technologies that are capable of streamlining the cleanup of hot cells in unused facilities while improving worker safety. Two DOE project sites are participating in this LSDDP: the WVDP site in West Valley, New York and the Hanford River Corridor Project (RCP) site in Richland, Washington. The WVDP site serves as the host site for the project. Technologies considered for demonstration and potential deployment at both LSDDP sites are targeted for application in hot cells that require the use of remote and semi-remote techniques to conduct various cleanup-related activities because of high radiation or high contamination levels. These hot cells, the type of cleanup activities being conducted, and technologies selected for demonstration are the main topics discussed in this paper. The range of cleanup-related activities addressed include in-situ characterization, size-reduction, contamination control, decontamination, in

Numerical investigation of degas performance on impeller of medium-consistency pump

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hong Li

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Medium-consistency technology is known as the process with high efficiency and low pollution. The gas distribution was simulated in the medium-consistency pump with different degas hole positions. Rheological behaviors of pulp suspension were obtained by experimental test. A modified Herschel–Bulkley model and the Eulerian gas–liquid two-phase flow model were utilized to approximately represent the behaviors of the medium-consistency pulp suspension. The results show that when the relative position is 0.53, the gas volume ratio is less than 0.1% at the pump outlet and 9.8% at the vacuum inlet, and the pump head is at the maximum. Because of the different numbers of the impeller blades and turbulence blades and the asymmetric volute structure, the gas is distributed unevenly in the impeller. In addition, the pump performance was tested in experiment and the results are used to validate computational fluid dynamics outcomes.

Stress-Strain Relation of Tire Rubber Consist of Entangled Polymers, Fillers and Crosslink

Science.gov (United States)

Hagita, Katsumi; Bito, Y.; Minagawa, Y.; Omiya, M.; Morita, H.; Doi, M.; Takano, H.

2009-03-01

We presented a preliminary result of large scale coarse-grained Molecular Dynamics simulation of filled polymer melts with Sulfur-crosslink under an uni-axial deformation by using the Kremer-Grest Model. The size of simulation box under periodic boundary conditions (PBC) is set to about 66nm to consider length of entangled polymer chains, size and structure of fillers, and non-uniform distribution of crosslink. We put 640 polymer chains of 1024 particles and 32 fillers into the PBC box. Each filler consists of 1280 particles of the C1280 fullerene structure. A repulsive force from the center of the filler is applied to the particles. Here, the particles of the fillers are chosen to be the same as the particles of the polymers and the diameter of the filler is about 15nm. The distribution of the fillers used in this simulation is provided by the result of 2d pattern RMC analysis for 2D-USAXS experiments at SPring-8. Sulfur crosslink are randomly distributed in the system. It is found that stress-strain curves estimated by applying a certain uni-axial deformation to the system in simulations are in good agreement with those in experiments. It is successful to show difference on the S-S curve between existence / absence of fillers and qualitative dependence of attractive force between polymer and filler.

Consistent histories and operational quantum theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudolph, O.

1996-01-01

In this work a generalization of the consistent histories approach to quantum mechanics is presented. We first critically review the consistent histories approach to nonrelativistic quantum mechanics in a mathematically rigorous way and give some general comments about it. We investigate to what extent the consistent histories scheme is compatible with the results of the operational formulation of quantum mechanics. According to the operational approach, nonrelativistic quantum mechanics is most generally formulated in terms of effects, states, and operations. We formulate a generalized consistent histories theory using the concepts and the terminology which have proven useful in the operational formulation of quantum mechanics. The logical rule of the logical interpretation of quantum mechanics is generalized to the present context. The algebraic structure of the generalized theory is studied in detail

Fusion-power demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henning, C.D.; Logan, B.G.; Carlson, G.A.; Neef, W.S.; Moir, R.W.; Campbell, R.B.; Botwin, R.; Clarkson, I.R.; Carpenter, T.J.

1983-01-01

As a satellite to the MARS (Mirror Advanced Reactor Study) a smaller, near-term device has been scoped, called the FPD (Fusion Power Demonstration). Envisioned as the next logical step toward a power reactor, it would advance the mirror fusion program beyond MFTF-B and provide an intermediate step toward commercial fusion power. Breakeven net electric power capability would be the goal such that no net utility power would be required to sustain the operation. A phased implementation is envisioned, with a deuterium checkout first to verify the plasma systems before significant neutron activation has occurred. Major tritium-related facilities would be installed with the second phase to produce sufficient fusion power to supply the recirculating power to maintain the neutral beams, ECRH, magnets and other auxiliary equipment

Fusion power demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henning, C.D.; Logan, B.G.

1983-01-01

As a satellite to the MARS (Mirror Advanced Reactor Study) a smaller, near-term device has been scoped, called the FPD (Fusion Power Demonstration). Envisioned as the next logical step toward a power reactor, it would advance the mirror fusion program beyond MFTF-B and provide an intermediate step toward commercial fusion power. Breakeven net electric power capability would be the goal such that no net utility power would be required to sustain the operation. A phased implementation is envisioned, with a deuterium checkout first to verify the plasma systems before significant neutron activation has occurred. Major tritium-related facilities would be installed with the second phase to produce sufficient fusion power to supply the recirculating power to maintain the neutral beams, ECRH, magnets and other auxiliary equipment

Overspecification of colour, pattern, and size: Salience, absoluteness, and consistency

OpenAIRE

Sammie eTarenskeen; Mirjam eBroersma; Mirjam eBroersma; Bart eGeurts

2015-01-01

The rates of overspecification of colour, pattern, and size are compared, to investigate how salience and absoluteness contribute to the production of overspecification. Colour and pattern are absolute attributes, whereas size is relative and less salient. Additionally, a tendency towards consistent responses is assessed. Using a within-participants design, we find similar rates of colour and pattern overspecification, which are both higher than the rate of size overspecification. Using a bet...

Overspecification of color, pattern, and size: salience, absoluteness, and consistency

OpenAIRE

Tarenskeen, S.L.; Broersma, M.; Geurts, B.

2015-01-01

The rates of overspecification of color, pattern, and size are compared, to investigate how salience and absoluteness contribute to the production of overspecification. Color and pattern are absolute and salient attributes, whereas size is relative and less salient. Additionally, a tendency toward consistent responses is assessed. Using a within-participants design, we find similar rates of color and pattern overspecification, which are both higher than the rate of size overspecification. Usi...

VOC-Arid Integrated Demonstration guide to preparation of demonstration documents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jensen, E.J.; Brouns, T.M.; Koegler, K.J.; McCabe, G.H.; Morris, F.A.

1994-06-01

This guide has been prepared by Demonstration Operations of the Volatile Organic Compound-Arid Integrated Demonstration (VOC-Arid ID). Its purpose is to describe demonstration documents, designate responsibilities for these documents, and guide the Principal Investigator (PI) and others in their preparation. The main emphasis of this guide is to describe the documentation required of the PI. However, it does cover some of the responsibilities of other members of the VOC-Arid ID team. The VOC-Arid ID is one of several US Department of Energy (DOE) integrated demonstrations designed to support the demonstration of emerging environmental management and restoration technologies. The principal objective of the VOC-Arid ID is to identify, develop, and demonstrate new and innovative technologies for environmental restoration at arid or semiarid sites containing volatile organic compounds with or without associated contamination (e.g., radionuclides and metals)

Toward a consistent RHA-RPA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shepard, J.R.

1991-01-01

The authors examine the RPA based on a relativistic Hartree approximation description for nuclear ground states. This model includes contributions from the negative energy sea at the 1-loop level. They emphasize consistency between the treatment of the ground state and the RPA. This consistency is important in the description of low-lying collective levels but less important for the longitudinal (e, e') quasi-elastic response. They also study the effect of imposing a 3-momentum cutoff on negative energy sea contributions. A cutoff of twice the nucleon mass improves agreement with observed spin orbit splittings in nuclei compared to the standard infinite cutoff results, an effect traceable to the fact that imposing the cutoff reduces m*/m. The cutoff is much less important than consistency in the description of low-lying collective levels. The cutoff model provides excellent agreement with quasi-elastic (e, e') data

Production process reproducibility and product quality consistency of transient gene expression in HEK293 cells with anti-PD1 antibody as the model protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Kai; Han, Lei; Zong, Huifang; Chen, Junsheng; Zhang, Baohong; Zhu, Jianwei

2017-03-01

Demonstration of reproducibility and consistency of process and product quality is one of the most crucial issues in using transient gene expression (TGE) technology for biopharmaceutical development. In this study, we challenged the production consistency of TGE by expressing nine batches of recombinant IgG antibody in human embryonic kidney 293 cells to evaluate reproducibility including viable cell density, viability, apoptotic status, and antibody yield in cell culture supernatant. Product quality including isoelectric point, binding affinity, secondary structure, and thermal stability was assessed as well. In addition, major glycan forms of antibody from different batches of production were compared to demonstrate glycosylation consistency. Glycan compositions of the antibody harvested at different time periods were also measured to illustrate N-glycan distribution over the culture time. From the results, it has been demonstrated that different TGE batches are reproducible from lot to lot in overall cell growth, product yield, and product qualities including isoelectric point, binding affinity, secondary structure, and thermal stability. Furthermore, major N-glycan compositions are consistent among different TGE batches and conserved during cell culture time.

Isoscalar and isovector giant resonances in a self-consistent phonon coupling approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lyutorovich, N.; Tselyaev, V. [Physical Faculty, St. Petersburg State University, RU-198504 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Speth, J., E-mail: J.Speth@fz-juelich.de [Institut für Kernphysik, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich (Germany); Krewald, S.; Grümmer, F. [Institut für Kernphysik, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich (Germany); Reinhard, P.-G. [Institut für Theoretische Physik II, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91058 Erlangen (Germany)

2015-10-07

We present fully self-consistent calculations of isoscalar giant monopole and quadrupole as well as isovector giant dipole resonances in heavy and light nuclei. The description is based on Skyrme energy-density functionals determining the static Hartree–Fock ground state and the excitation spectra within random-phase approximation (RPA) and RPA extended by including the quasiparticle-phonon coupling at the level of the time-blocking approximation (TBA). All matrix elements were derived consistently from the given energy-density functional and calculated without any approximation. As a new feature in these calculations, the single-particle continuum was included thus avoiding the artificial discretization usually implied in RPA and TBA. The step to include phonon coupling in TBA leads to small, but systematic, down shifts of the centroid energies of the giant resonances. These shifts are similar in size for all Skyrme parametrizations investigated here. After all, we demonstrate that one can find Skyrme parametrizations which deliver a good simultaneous reproduction of all three giant resonances within TBA.

Group sparse multiview patch alignment framework with view consistency for image classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Gui, Jie; Tao, Dacheng; Sun, Zhenan; Luo, Yong; You, Xinge; Tang, Yuan Yan

2014-07-01

No single feature can satisfactorily characterize the semantic concepts of an image. Multiview learning aims to unify different kinds of features to produce a consensual and efficient representation. This paper redefines part optimization in the patch alignment framework (PAF) and develops a group sparse multiview patch alignment framework (GSM-PAF). The new part optimization considers not only the complementary properties of different views, but also view consistency. In particular, view consistency models the correlations between all possible combinations of any two kinds of view. In contrast to conventional dimensionality reduction algorithms that perform feature extraction and feature selection independently, GSM-PAF enjoys joint feature extraction and feature selection by exploiting l(2,1)-norm on the projection matrix to achieve row sparsity, which leads to the simultaneous selection of relevant features and learning transformation, and thus makes the algorithm more discriminative. Experiments on two real-world image data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of GSM-PAF for image classification.

Consistency in the World Wide Web

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Jakob Grauenkjær

Tim Berners-Lee envisioned that computers will behave as agents of humans on the World Wide Web, where they will retrieve, extract, and interact with information from the World Wide Web. A step towards this vision is to make computers capable of extracting this information in a reliable...... and consistent way. In this dissertation we study steps towards this vision by showing techniques for the specication, the verication and the evaluation of the consistency of information in the World Wide Web. We show how to detect certain classes of errors in a specication of information, and we show how...... the World Wide Web, in order to help perform consistent evaluations of web extraction techniques. These contributions are steps towards having computers reliable and consistently extract information from the World Wide Web, which in turn are steps towards achieving Tim Berners-Lee's vision. ii...

Determinants of consistent condom use among female sex workers in Savannakhet, Lao PDR

OpenAIRE

Andrews, Carin Hillerdal; Faxelid, Elisabeth; Sychaerun, Vanphanom; Phrasisombath, Ketkesone

2015-01-01

Background Female sex workers (FSWs) are a high-risk population for HIV. Correct and consistent use of condoms is the most effective measure for reducing transmission of HIV. Lao PDR is a low HIV-prevalence country, but FSWs have a relatively high HIV prevalence. To be able to make recommendations for condom promotion interventions in Lao PDR it is important to know more about the context specific situation. This study looked at reasons for and associated factors of consistent condom use amon...

A consistent thermodynamic database for cement minerals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanc, P.; Claret, F.; Burnol, A.; Marty, N.; Gaboreau, S.; Tournassat, C.; Gaucher, E.C.; Giffault, E.; Bourbon, X.

2010-01-01

work - the formation enthalpy and the Cp(T) function are taken from the literature or estimated - finally, the Log K(T) function is calculated, based on the selected dataset and it is compared to experimental data gathered at different temperatures. Each experimental point is extracted from solution compositions by using PHREEQC with a selection of aqueous complexes, consistent with the Thermochimie database. The selection was tested namely by drawing activity diagrams, allowing to assess phases relations. An example of such a diagram, drawn in the CaO-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 -H 2 O system is displayed. It can be seen that low pH concrete alteration proceeds essentially in decreasing the C/S ratio in C-S-H phases to the point where C-S-H are no longer stable and replaced by zeolite, then clay minerals. This evolution corresponds to a decrease in silica activity, which is consistent with the pH decrease, as silica concentration depends essentially on pH. Some rather consistent phase relations have been obtained for the SO 3 -Al 2 O 3 -CaO-CO 2 -H 2 O system. Addition of iron III enlarges the AFm-SO 4 stability field to the low temperature domain, whereas it decreases the pH domain where ettringite is stable. On the other hand, the stability field of katoite remains largely ambiguous, namely with respect to a hydro-garnet/grossular solid solution. With respect to other databases this work was made in consistency with a larger mineral selection, so that it can be used for modelling works in the cement clay interaction context

Visually defining and querying consistent multi-granular clinical temporal abstractions.

Science.gov (United States)

Combi, Carlo; Oliboni, Barbara

2012-02-01

the component abstractions. Moreover, we propose a visual query language where different temporal abstractions can be composed to build complex queries: temporal abstractions are visually connected through the usual logical connectives AND, OR, and NOT. The proposed visual language allows one to simply define temporal abstractions by using intuitive metaphors, and to specify temporal intervals related to abstractions by using different temporal granularities. The physician can interact with the designed and implemented tool by point-and-click selections, and can visually compose queries involving several temporal abstractions. The evaluation of the proposed granularity-related metaphors consisted in two parts: (i) solving 30 interpretation exercises by choosing the correct interpretation of a given screenshot representing a possible scenario, and (ii) solving a complex exercise, by visually specifying through the interface a scenario described only in natural language. The exercises were done by 13 subjects. The percentage of correct answers to the interpretation exercises were slightly different with respect to the considered metaphors (54.4--striped wall, 73.3--plastered wall, 61--brick wall, and 61--no wall), but post hoc statistical analysis on means confirmed that differences were not statistically significant. The result of the user's satisfaction questionnaire related to the evaluation of the proposed granularity-related metaphors ratified that there are no preferences for one of them. The evaluation of the proposed logical notation consisted in two parts: (i) solving five interpretation exercises provided by a screenshot representing a possible scenario and by three different possible interpretations, of which only one was correct, and (ii) solving five exercises, by visually defining through the interface a scenario described only in natural language. Exercises had an increasing difficulty. The evaluation involved a total of 31 subjects. Results related to

The Enhancement of Consistency of Interpretation Skills on the Newton’s Laws Concept

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yudi Kurniawan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Conceptual understanding is the most important thing that students should have rather than they had reaches achievement. The interpretation skill is one of conceptual understanding aspects. The aim of this paper is to know the consistency of students’ interpreting skills and all at once to get the levels of increasing of students’ interpretations skill. These variables learned by Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILD common sense. The method of this research is pre-experimental research with one group pretest-posttest design. The sample has taken by cluster random sampling. The result had shown that 16 % of all student that are have perfect consistency of interpretation skill and there are increasing of interpretation skill on 84 % from unknown to be understand (this skill. This finding could be used by the future researcher to study in the other areas of conceptual understanding aspects

Sport fans: evaluating the consistency between implicit and explicit attitudes toward favorite and rival teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Wenger, Jay L; Brown, Roderick O

2014-04-01

Sport fans often foster very positive attitudes for their favorite teams and less favorable attitudes for opponents. The current research was designed to evaluate the consistency that might exist between implicit and explicit measures of those attitudes. College students (24 women, 16 men) performed a version of the Implicit Association Test related to their favorite and rival teams. Participants also reported their attitudes for these teams explicitly, via self-report instruments. When responding to the IAT, participants' responses were faster when they paired positive words with concepts related to favorite teams and negative words with rival teams, indicating implicit favorability for favorite teams and implicit negativity for rival teams. This pattern of implicit favorability and negativity was consistent with what participants reported explicitly via self-report. The importance of evaluating implicit attitudes and the corresponding consistency with explicit attitudes are discussed.

Knowledge of correct condom use and consistency of use among adolescents in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Bankole, Akinrinola; Ahmed, Fatima H; Neema, Stella; Ouedraogo, Christine; Konyani, Sidon

2007-12-01

Using data from the 2004 National Adolescent Surveys, this paper undertook a detail analysis of knowledge of correct condom use and consistency of use, as well as their covariates, among adolescents in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda. The strongest predictor of knowledge of correct condom use among both male and female adolescents is exposure to a condom use demonstration. In Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda, adolescents who have seen a condom demonstration are 2 to 5 times as likely as those who have not to have good knowledge of correct condom use. Age, ever received sex education in school, ever attended school and exposure to the radio are also significant predictors of knowledge of correct use, particularly among men. As indicated by behavior among young men, the extent to which adolescents use the condom consistently varies across countries. Yet, it is nowhere near the required 100% level. The proportion reporting consistent use of the method in the 3 months preceding the survey is 38% in Burkina Faso, 47% in Ghana, 20% in Malawi and 36% in Uganda. Age difference between partners is a major determinant of consistent use of condoms: young men whose partner is 0-4 years younger are about two and a half times more likely to use condoms consistently than those who whose partner is 5-9 years younger. Other important predictors of consistent condom use are residence, education, living arrangement and exposure to mass media, specifically the radio and newspaper. Findings from this study point to areas that policy and program can address to provide adolescents access to the kinds of information and service they need to achieve healthy sexual and reproductive lives.

Small Scale Mixing Demonstration Batch Transfer and Sampling Performance of Simulated HLW - 12307

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jensen, Jesse; Townson, Paul; Vanatta, Matt [EnergySolutions, Engineering and Technology Group, Richland, WA, 99354 (United States)

2012-07-01

The ability to effectively mix, sample, certify, and deliver consistent batches of High Level Waste (HLW) feed from the Hanford Double Shell Tanks (DST) to the Waste treatment Plant (WTP) has been recognized as a significant mission risk with potential to impact mission length and the quantity of HLW glass produced. At the end of 2009 DOE's Tank Operations Contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), awarded a contract to EnergySolutions to design, fabricate and operate a demonstration platform called the Small Scale Mixing Demonstration (SSMD) to establish pre-transfer sampling capacity, and batch transfer performance data at two different scales. This data will be used to examine the baseline capacity for a tank mixed via rotational jet mixers to transfer consistent or bounding batches, and provide scale up information to predict full scale operational performance. This information will then in turn be used to define the baseline capacity of such a system to transfer and sample batches sent to WTP. The Small Scale Mixing Demonstration (SSMD) platform consists of 43'' and 120'' diameter clear acrylic test vessels, each equipped with two scaled jet mixer pump assemblies, and all supporting vessels, controls, services, and simulant make up facilities. All tank internals have been modeled including the air lift circulators (ALCs), the steam heating coil, and the radius between the wall and floor. The test vessels are set up to simulate the transfer of HLW out of a mixed tank, and collect a pre-transfer sample in a manner similar to the proposed baseline configuration. The collected material is submitted to an NQA-1 laboratory for chemical analysis. Previous work has been done to assess tank mixing performance at both scales. This work involved a combination of unique instruments to understand the three dimensional distribution of solids using a combination of Coriolis meter measurements, in situ chord length distribution

A new mixed self-consistent field procedure

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarez-Ibarra, A.; Köster, A. M.

2015-10-01

A new approach for the calculation of three-centre electronic repulsion integrals (ERIs) is developed, implemented and benchmarked in the framework of auxiliary density functional theory (ADFT). The so-called mixed self-consistent field (mixed SCF) divides the computationally costly ERIs in two sets: far-field and near-field. Far-field ERIs are calculated using the newly developed double asymptotic expansion as in the direct SCF scheme. Near-field ERIs are calculated only once prior to the SCF procedure and stored in memory, as in the conventional SCF scheme. Hence the name, mixed SCF. The implementation is particularly powerful when used in parallel architectures, since all RAM available are used for near-field ERI storage. In addition, the efficient distribution algorithm performs minimal intercommunication operations between processors, avoiding a potential bottleneck. One-, two- and three-dimensional systems are used for benchmarking, showing substantial time reduction in the ERI calculation for all of them. A Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics calculation for the Na+55 cluster is also shown in order to demonstrate the speed-up for small systems achievable with the mixed SCF. Dedicated to Sourav Pal on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Random Numbers Demonstrate the Frequency of Type I Errors: Three Spreadsheets for Class Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Sean

2010-01-01

This paper describes three spreadsheet exercises demonstrating the nature and frequency of type I errors using random number generation. The exercises are designed specifically to address issues related to testing multiple relations using correlation (Demonstration I), t tests varying in sample size (Demonstration II) and multiple comparisons…

RNA-Seq reveals spliceosome and proteasome genes as most consistent transcripts in human cancer cells.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tara Macrae

Full Text Available Accurate quantification of gene expression by qRT-PCR relies on normalization against a consistently expressed control gene. However, control genes in common use often vary greatly between samples, especially in cancer. The advent of Next Generation Sequencing technology offers the possibility to better select control genes with the least cell to cell variability in steady state transcript levels. Here we analyze the transcriptomes of 55 leukemia samples to identify the most consistent genes. This list is enriched for components of the proteasome (ex. PSMA1 and spliceosome (ex. SF3B2, and also includes the translation initiation factor EIF4H, and many heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein genes (ex. HNRNPL. We have validated the consistency of our new control genes in 1933 cancer and normal tissues using publically available RNA-seq data, and their usefulness in qRT-PCR analysis is clearly demonstrated.

Preliminary findings on the correlation of saliva pH, buffering capacity, flow, Consistency and Streptococcus mutans in relation to cigarette smoking.

Science.gov (United States)

Voelker, Marsha A; Simmer-Beck, Melanie; Cole, Molly; Keeven, Erin; Tira, Daniel

2013-02-01

The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine the relationship of caries risk, salivary buffering capacity, salivary pH, salivary quality (flow, consistency) and levels of Streptococcus mutans in relation to cigarette smoking. This clinical trial consisted of 53 volunteer patients receiving care in a university based dental hygiene clinic. Participants completed a questionnaire specific to their social history in regards to tobacco use, oral health and dietary history. Measurements of unstimulated saliva were collected followed by collection of stimulated saliva samples. These samples were used to measure salivary pH, buffering capacity and Streptococcus mutans levels. The subject's smoking status was significantly associated with caries risk (p= 0.001), with 25% of the variability of caries risk attributed to smoking. The smoking status was significantly associated with buffering capacity (p=0.025), with 9% of the variability of buffering status attributed to the smoking. Associations between smoking status and salivary pH were not statistically significant. The subject's caries risk was significantly associated with buffering capacity (p= 0.001), with 25% of the variability of caries risk attributed to the buffering capacity. The subject's caries risk was significantly associated with salivary pH (p= 0.031), with 9% of the variability of caries risk attributed to the salivary pH. The Streptococcus mutans test showed no statistical significance (p>0.05) possibly due to the number and low variance in the subjects. A relationship between caries risk and smoking, buffering capacity and smoking, and stimulated salivary pH and smoking were concluded. No significance difference (p>0.05) between caries risk and salivary pH, salivary quality and smoking, S. mutans and smoking were noted from the preliminary results.

A Consistent Orally-Infected Hamster Model for Enterovirus A71 Encephalomyelitis Demonstrates Squamous Lesions in the Paws, Skin and Oral Cavity Reminiscent of Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Win Kyaw Phyu

Full Text Available Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71 causes self-limiting, hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD that may rarely be complicated by encephalomyelitis. Person-to-person transmission is usually by fecal-oral or oral-oral routes. To study viral replication sites in the oral cavity and other tissues, and to gain further insights into virus shedding and neuropathogenesis, we developed a consistent, orally-infected, 2-week-old hamster model of HFMD and EV-A71 encephalomyelitis. Tissues from orally-infected, 2-week-old hamsters were studied by light microscopy, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization to detect viral antigens and RNA, respectively, and by virus titration. Hamsters developed the disease and died after 4-8 days post infection; LD50 was 25 CCID50. Macroscopic cutaneous lesions around the oral cavity and paws were observed. Squamous epithelium in the lip, oral cavity, paw, skin, and esophagus, showed multiple small inflammatory foci around squamous cells that demonstrated viral antigens/RNA. Neurons (brainstem, spinal cord, sensory ganglia, acinar cells (salivary gland, lacrimal gland, lymphoid cells (lymph node, spleen, and muscle fibres (skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscles, liver and gastric epithelium also showed varying amounts of viral antigens/RNA. Intestinal epithelium, Peyer's patches, thymus, pancreas, lung and kidney were negative. Virus was isolated from oral washes, feces, brain, spinal cord, skeletal muscle, serum, and other tissues. Our animal model should be useful to study squamous epitheliotropism, neuropathogenesis, oral/fecal shedding in EV-A71 infection, person-to-person transmission, and to test anti-viral drugs and vaccines.

Self-consistent calculation of steady-state creep and growth in textured zirconium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tome, C.N.; So, C.B.; Woo, C.H.

1993-01-01

Irradiation creep and growth in zirconium alloys result in anisotropic dimensional changes relative to the crystallographic axis in each individual grain. Several methods have been attempted to model such dimensional changes, taking into account the development of intergranular stresses. In this paper, we compare the predictions of several such models, namely the upper-bound, the lower-bound, the isotropic K* self-consistent (analytical) and the fully self-consistent (numerical) models. For given single-crystal creep compliances and growth factors, the polycrystal compliances predicted by the upper- and lower-bound models are unreliable. The predictions of the two self-consistent approaches are usually similar. The analytical isotropic K* approach is simple to implement and can be used to estimate the creep and growth rates of the polycrystal in many cases. The numerical fully self-consistent approach should be used when an accurate prediction of polycrystal creep is required, particularly for the important case of a closed-end internally pressurized tube. In most cases, the variations in grain shape introduce only minor corrections to the behaviour of polycrystalline materials. (author)

A Secure Localization Approach against Wormhole Attacks Using Distance Consistency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lou Wei

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Wormhole attacks can negatively affect the localization in wireless sensor networks. A typical wormhole attack can be launched by two colluding attackers, one of which sniffs packets at one point in the network and tunnels them through a wired or wireless link to another point, and the other relays them within its vicinity. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the wormhole attack on the localization and propose a novel distance-consistency-based secure localization scheme against wormhole attacks, which includes three phases of wormhole attack detection, valid locators identification and self-localization. The theoretical model is further formulated to analyze the proposed secure localization scheme. The simulation results validate the theoretical results and also demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed scheme.

Ground calibration of DREAMS-H relative humidity device

Science.gov (United States)

Komu, M.; Genzer, M.; Nikkanen, T.; Schmidt, W.; Haukka, H.; Kemppinen, O.; Harri, A.-M.

2014-04-01

DREAMS (Dust Characterization, Risk Assessment and Environmental Analyzer on the Martian Surface) instrument suite is to be launched as part of ESA ExoMars 2016/Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstration Module (EDM). DREAMS consists of an environmental package for monitoring temperature, pressure, relative humidity, winds and dust opacity, as well as atmospheric electricity of Martian atmosphere. DREAMS instruments and scientific goals are described in [1]. Here we describe ground calibration of the relative humidity device, DREAMS-H, provided to DREAMS payload by Finnish Meteorological Institute and based on proprietary technology of Vaisala, Inc. Same kind of device is part of REMS instrument package onboard MSL Curiosity Rover [2][3].

JOYO modification program for demonstration tests of FBR innovative technology development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshimi, H.; Hachiya, Y.

1990-01-01

A plan is under way at PNC to modify the experimental fast reactor JOYO. The project is called MARK-III (MK-III) program. The purpose of MK-III is to expand the function of JOYO, and to make it possible to receive demonstration tests of new or high level technologies for FBR development. The MK-III program consists of two main modifications: conversion to a highly efficient irradiation facility; and a modification for demonstration testing of new technologies and concepts that have a high potential to reduce FBR plant construction cost, to evaluate plant reliability and to improve plant safety. These modifications are scheduled to start in 1991

Island of stability for consistent deformations of Einstein's gravity.

Science.gov (United States)

Berkhahn, Felix; Dietrich, Dennis D; Hofmann, Stefan; Kühnel, Florian; Moyassari, Parvin

2012-03-30

We construct deformations of general relativity that are consistent and phenomenologically viable, since they respect, in particular, cosmological backgrounds. These deformations have unique symmetries in accordance with their Minkowski cousins (Fierz-Pauli theory for massive gravitons) and incorporate a background curvature induced self-stabilizing mechanism. Self-stabilization is essential in order to guarantee hyperbolic evolution in and unitarity of the covariantized theory, as well as the deformation's uniqueness. We show that the deformation's parameter space contains islands of absolute stability that are persistent through the entire cosmic evolution.

Dynamically consistent oil import tariffs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karp, L.; Newbery, D.M.

1992-01-01

The standard theory of optimal tariffs considers tariffs on perishable goods produced abroad under static conditions, in which tariffs affect prices only in that period. Oil and other exhaustable resources do not fit this model, for current tariffs affect the amount of oil imported, which will affect the remaining stock and hence its future price. The problem of choosing a dynamically consistent oil import tariff when suppliers are competitive but importers have market power is considered. The open-loop Nash tariff is solved for the standard competitive case in which the oil price is arbitraged, and it was found that the resulting tariff rises at the rate of interest. This tariff was found to have an equilibrium that in general is dynamically inconsistent. Nevertheless, it is shown that necessary and sufficient conditions exist under which the tariff satisfies the weaker condition of time consistency. A dynamically consistent tariff is obtained by assuming that all agents condition their current decisions on the remaining stock of the resource, in contrast to open-loop strategies. For the natural case in which all agents choose their actions simultaneously in each period, the dynamically consistent tariff was characterized, and found to differ markedly from the time-inconsistent open-loop tariff. It was shown that if importers do not have overwhelming market power, then the time path of the world price is insensitive to the ability to commit, as is the level of wealth achieved by the importer. 26 refs., 4 figs

Is the Quilted Multiverse Consistent with a Thermodynamic Arrow of Time?

Science.gov (United States)

Aharonov, Yakir; Cohen, Eliahu; Shushi, Tomer

2018-02-01

Theoretical achievements, as well as much controversy, surround multiverse theory. Various types of multiverses, with an increasing amount of complexity, were suggested and thoroughly discussed in literature by now. While these types are very different, they all share the same basic idea: our physical reality consists of more than just one universe. Each universe within a possibly huge multiverse might be slightly or even very different from the others. The quilted multiverse is one of these types, whose uniqueness arises from the postulate that every possible event will occur infinitely many times in infinitely many universes. In this paper we show that the quilted multiverse is not self-consistent due to the instability of entropy decrease under small perturbations. We therefore propose a modified version of the quilted multiverse which might overcome this shortcoming. It includes only those universes where the minimal entropy occurs at the same instant of (cosmological) time. Only these universes whose initial conditions are fine-tuned within a small phase-space region would evolve consistently to form their "close"' states at present. A final boundary condition on the multiverse may further lower the amount of possible, consistent universes. Finally, some related observations regarding the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and the emergence of classicality are discussed.

Is the Quilted Multiverse Consistent with a Thermodynamic Arrow of Time?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yakir Aharonov

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Theoretical achievements, as well as much controversy, surround multiverse theory. Various types of multiverses, with an increasing amount of complexity, were suggested and thoroughly discussed in literature by now. While these types are very different, they all share the same basic idea: our physical reality consists of more than just one universe. Each universe within a possibly huge multiverse might be slightly or even very different from the others. The quilted multiverse is one of these types, whose uniqueness arises from the postulate that every possible event will occur infinitely many times in infinitely many universes. In this paper we show that the quilted multiverse is not self-consistent due to the instability of entropy decrease under small perturbations. We therefore propose a modified version of the quilted multiverse which might overcome this shortcoming. It includes only those universes where the minimal entropy occurs at the same instant of (cosmological time. Only these universes whose initial conditions are fine-tuned within a small phase-space region would evolve consistently to form their “close” states at present. A final boundary condition on the multiverse may further lower the amount of possible, consistent universes. Finally, some related observations regarding the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and the emergence of classicality are discussed.

Demonstration sensitivity analysis for RADTRAN III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neuhauser, K.S.; Reardon, P.C.

1986-10-01

A demonstration sensitivity analysis was performed to: quantify the relative importance of 37 variables to the total incident free dose; assess the elasticity of seven dose subgroups to those same variables; develop density distributions for accident dose to combinations of accident data under wide-ranging variations; show the relationship between accident consequences and probabilities of occurrence; and develop limits for the variability of probability consequence curves

Quasi-Particle Self-Consistent GW for Molecules.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, F; Harding, M E; Seiler, C; Weigend, F; Evers, F; van Setten, M J

2016-06-14

We present the formalism and implementation of quasi-particle self-consistent GW (qsGW) and eigenvalue only quasi-particle self-consistent GW (evGW) adapted to standard quantum chemistry packages. Our implementation is benchmarked against high-level quantum chemistry computations (coupled-cluster theory) and experimental results using a representative set of molecules. Furthermore, we compare the qsGW approach for five molecules relevant for organic photovoltaics to self-consistent GW results (scGW) and analyze the effects of the self-consistency on the ground state density by comparing calculated dipole moments to their experimental values. We show that qsGW makes a significant improvement over conventional G0W0 and that partially self-consistent flavors (in particular evGW) can be excellent alternatives.

Consistent force fields for saccharides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Kjeld

1999-01-01

Consistent force fields for carbohydrates were hitherto developed by extensive optimization ofpotential energy function parameters on experimental data and on ab initio results. A wide range of experimental data is used: internal structures obtained from gas phase electron diffraction and from x......-anomeric effects are accounted for without addition of specific terms. The work is done in the framework of the Consistent Force Field which originatedin Israel and was further developed in Denmark. The actual methods and strategies employed havebeen described previously. Extensive testing of the force field...

Demonstration of near-real-time accounting at the AGNS Barnwell Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cobb, D.D.; Dayem, H.A.; Baker, A.L.

1981-01-01

Near-real-time nuclear materials accounting is being demonstrated in a series of experiments at the Allied-General Nuclear Services Barnwell Nuclear Fuels Plant. Each experiment consists of operating the second and third plutonium cycles continuously for 1 week using uranium solutions. Process data are collected in near-real time by the AGNS computerized nuclear materials control and accounting system, and the data are analyzed for diversion using decision analysis techniques developed and implemented by Los Alamos. Although the measurement system primarily consists of process control measurements that have not been optimized for near-real-time accounting, the results of a series of diversion tests show that diversion and unexpected losses from the process area can be detected

Consistent application of codes and standards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, M.A.

1989-01-01

The guidelines presented in the US Department of Energy, General Design Criteria (DOE 6430.1A), and the Design and Evaluation Guidelines for Department of Energy Facilities Subject to Natural Phenomena Hazards (UCRL-15910) provide a consistent and well defined approach to determine the natural phenomena hazards loads for US Department of Energy site facilities. The guidelines for the application of loads combinations and allowables criteria are not as well defined and are more flexible in interpretation. This flexibility in the interpretation of load combinations can lead to conflict between the designer and overseer. The establishment of an efficient set of acceptable design criteria, based on US Department of Energy guidelines, provides a consistent baseline for analysis, design, and review. Additionally, the proposed method should not limit the design and analytical innovation necessary to analyze or qualify the unique structure. This paper investigates the consistent application of load combinations, analytical methods, and load allowables and suggests a reference path consistent with the US Department of Energy guidelines

Consistency in PERT problems

OpenAIRE

Bergantiños, Gustavo; Valencia-Toledo, Alfredo; Vidal-Puga, Juan

2016-01-01

The program evaluation review technique (PERT) is a tool used to schedule and coordinate activities in a complex project. In assigning the cost of a potential delay, we characterize the Shapley rule as the only rule that satisfies consistency and other desirable properties.

Personality consistency analysis in cloned quarantine dog candidates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Choi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In recent research, personality consistency has become an important characteristic. Diverse traits and human-animal interactions, in particular, are studied in the field of personality consistency in dogs. Here, we investigated the consistency of dominant behaviours in cloned and control groups followed by the modified Puppy Aptitude Test, which consists of ten subtests to ascertain the influence of genetic identity. In this test, puppies are exposed to stranger, restraint, prey-like object, noise, startling object, etc. Six cloned and four control puppies participated and the consistency of responses at ages 7–10 and 16 weeks in the two groups was compared. The two groups showed different consistencies in the subtests. While the average scores of the cloned group were consistent (P = 0.7991, those of the control group were not (P = 0.0089. Scores of Pack Drive and Fight or Flight Drive were consistent in the cloned group, however, those of the control group were not. Scores of Prey Drive were not consistent in either the cloned or the control group. Therefore, it is suggested that consistency of dominant behaviour is affected by genetic identity and some behaviours can be influenced more than others. Our results suggest that cloned dogs could show more consistent traits than non-cloned. This study implies that personality consistency could be one of the ways to analyse traits of puppies.

Student Effort, Consistency, and Online Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Patron, Hilde; Lopez, Salvador

2011-01-01

This paper examines how student effort, consistency, motivation, and marginal learning, influence student grades in an online course. We use data from eleven Microeconomics courses taught online for a total of 212 students. Our findings show that consistency, or less time variation, is a statistically significant explanatory variable, whereas…

Consistent resolution of some relativistic quantum paradoxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griffiths, Robert B.

2002-01-01

A relativistic version of the (consistent or decoherent) histories approach to quantum theory is developed on the basis of earlier work by Hartle, and used to discuss relativistic forms of the paradoxes of spherical wave packet collapse, Bohm's formulation of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, and Hardy's paradox. It is argued that wave function collapse is not needed for introducing probabilities into relativistic quantum mechanics, and in any case should never be thought of as a physical process. Alternative approaches to stochastic time dependence can be used to construct a physical picture of the measurement process that is less misleading than collapse models. In particular, one can employ a coarse-grained but fully quantum-mechanical description in which particles move along trajectories, with behavior under Lorentz transformations the same as in classical relativistic physics, and detectors are triggered by particles reaching them along such trajectories. States entangled between spacelike separate regions are also legitimate quantum descriptions, and can be consistently handled by the formalism presented here. The paradoxes in question arise because of using modes of reasoning which, while correct for classical physics, are inconsistent with the mathematical structure of quantum theory, and are resolved (or tamed) by using a proper quantum analysis. In particular, there is no need to invoke, nor any evidence for, mysterious long-range superluminal influences, and thus no incompatibility, at least from this source, between relativity theory and quantum mechanics

General variational many-body theory with complete self-consistency for trapped bosonic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Streltsov, Alexej I.; Alon, Ofir E.; Cederbaum, Lorenz S.

2006-01-01

In this work we develop a complete variational many-body theory for a system of N trapped bosons interacting via a general two-body potential. The many-body solution of this system is expanded over orthogonal many-body basis functions (configurations). In this theory both the many-body basis functions and the respective expansion coefficients are treated as variational parameters. The optimal variational parameters are obtained self-consistently by solving a coupled system of noneigenvalue--generally integro-differential--equations to get the one-particle functions and by diagonalizing the secular matrix problem to find the expansion coefficients. We call this theory multiconfigurational Hartree theory for bosons or MCHB(M), where M specifies explicitly the number of one-particle functions used to construct the configurations. General rules for evaluating the matrix elements of one- and two-particle operators are derived and applied to construct the secular Hamiltonian matrix. We discuss properties of the derived equations. We show that in the limiting cases of one configuration the theory boils down to the well-known Gross-Pitaevskii and the recently developed multi-orbital mean fields. The invariance of the complete solution with respect to unitary transformations of the one-particle functions is utilized to find the solution with the minimal number of contributing configurations. In the second part of our work we implement and apply the developed theory. It is demonstrated that for any practical computation where the configurational space is restricted, the description of trapped bosonic systems strongly depends on the choice of the many-body basis set used, i.e., self-consistency is of great relevance. As illustrative examples we consider bosonic systems trapped in one- and two-dimensional symmetric and asymmetric double well potentials. We demonstrate that self-consistency has great impact on the predicted physical properties of the ground and excited states

Summary report on the Y-12 Sludge Detoxification Demonstration project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jolley, R.L.; Hollenbeck, P.E.; Kennerly, J.M.; Singh, S.P.N.

1994-07-01

The Y-12 Sludge Detoxification Demonstration was conducted in late 1988 at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (subsequently renamed the K-25 Site). The erstwhile Waste Management Technology Center (WMTC) managed the conduct of this waste treatment technology to assist the US Department of Energy/Oak Ridge Operations (DOE/ORO) in implementing the DOE Model. This demonstration was the first project selected by the Hazardous Waste Remedial Actions Program (HAZWRAP)(and funded by DOE) in which a private-sector vendor was contracted to demonstrate an innovative treatment process for treating some of the Oak Ridge Site's radioactive mixed wastes to enable their environmentally compliant disposal. Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. (CNSI) was the private-sector vendor selected to demonstrate its X*TRAX trademark process. Briefly, the X*TRAX trademark process consisted of thermally treating the sludge in an inert atmosphere (to remove the volatile components) to yield a dry residue (containing the nonvolatilized sludge components) and condensed liquids. The dry residue can then be immobilized in cementitious matrix for delisting and disposal in an industrial landfill; the condensed liquids can be disposed in, for example, an incinerator

Time-consistent actuarial valuations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pelsser, A.A.J.; Salahnejhad Ghalehjooghi, A.

2016-01-01

Time-consistent valuations (i.e. pricing operators) can be created by backward iteration of one-period valuations. In this paper we investigate the continuous-time limits of well-known actuarial premium principles when such backward iteration procedures are applied. This method is applied to an

Computational study of depth completion consistent with human bi-stable perception for ambiguous figures.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitsukura, Eiichi; Satoh, Shunji

2018-03-01

We propose a computational model that is consistent with human perception of depth in "ambiguous regions," in which no binocular disparity exists. Results obtained from our model reveal a new characteristic of depth perception. Random dot stereograms (RDS) are often used as examples because RDS provides sufficient disparity for depth calculation. A simple question confronts us: "How can we estimate the depth of a no-texture image region, such as one on white paper?" In such ambiguous regions, mathematical solutions related to binocular disparities are not unique or indefinite. We examine a mathematical description of depth completion that is consistent with human perception of depth for ambiguous regions. Using computer simulation, we demonstrate that resultant depth-maps qualitatively reproduce human depth perception of two kinds. The resultant depth maps produced using our model depend on the initial depth in the ambiguous region. Considering this dependence from psychological viewpoints, we conjecture that humans perceive completed surfaces that are affected by prior-stimuli corresponding to the initial condition of depth. We conducted psychological experiments to verify the model prediction. An ambiguous stimulus was presented after a prior stimulus removed ambiguity. The inter-stimulus interval (ISI) was inserted between the prior stimulus and post-stimulus. Results show that correlation of perception between the prior stimulus and post-stimulus depends on the ISI duration. Correlation is positive, negative, and nearly zero in the respective cases of short (0-200 ms), medium (200-400 ms), and long ISI (>400 ms). Furthermore, based on our model, we propose a computational model that can explain the dependence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Generic Schemes for Single-Molecule Kinetics. 3: Self-Consistent Pathway Solutions for Nonrenewal Processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Piephoff, D Evan; Cao, Jianshu

2018-04-23

We recently developed a pathway analysis framework (paper 1) for describing single-molecule kinetics for renewal (i.e., memoryless) processes based on the decomposition of a kinetic scheme into generic structures. In our approach, waiting time distribution functions corresponding to such structures are expressed in terms of self-consistent pathway solutions and concatenated to form measurable probability distribution functions (PDFs), affording a simple way to decompose and recombine a network. Here, we extend this framework to nonrenewal processes, which involve correlations between events, and employ it to formulate waiting time PDFs, including the first-passage time PDF, for a general kinetic network model. Our technique does not require the assumption of Poissonian kinetics, permitting a more general kinetic description than the usual rate approach, with minimal topological restrictiveness. To demonstrate the usefulness of this technique, we provide explicit calculations for our general model, which we adapt to two generic schemes for single-enzyme turnover with conformational interconversion. For each generic scheme, wherein the intermediate state(s) need not undergo Poissonian decay, the functional dependence of the mean first-passage time on the concentration of an external substrate is analyzed. When conformational detailed balance is satisfied, the enzyme turnover rate (related to the mean first-passage time) reduces to the celebrated Michaelis-Menten functional form, consistent with our previous work involving a similar scheme with all rate processes, thereby establishing further generality to this intriguing result. Our framework affords a general and intuitive approach for evaluating measurable waiting time PDFs and their moments, making it a potentially useful kinetic tool for a wide variety of single-molecule processes.

Consistency in thermophysical properties: enthalpy, heat capacity, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of solid UO2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fink, J.K.; Chasanov, M.G.; Leibowitz, L.

Equations have been derived for the enthalpy, heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity of UO 2 . In selection of these equations, we considered the traditional criterion of lowest relative standard deviation between experimental data and the function chosen to fit these data as well as consistency between the thermophysical properties. In the latter case, we considered consistency in (1) thermodynamic relations among properties, (2) the choice of physical phenomena on which to base the theoretical formulation of the equations, and (3) the existence and temperature of phase transitions

Consistency of self-reported alcohol consumption on randomized and sequential alcohol purchase tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael eAmlung

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Behavioral economic demand for addictive substances is commonly assessed via purchase tasks that measure estimated drug consumption at a range of prices. Purchase tasks typically use escalating prices in sequential order, which may influence performance by providing explicit price reference points. This study investigated the consistency of value preferences on two alcohol purchase tasks (APTs that used either a randomized or sequential price order (price range: free to $30 per drink in a sample of ninety-one young adult monthly drinkers. Randomization of prices significantly reduced relative response consistency (p < .01, although absolute consistency was high for both versions (>95%. Self-reported alcohol consumption across prices and indices of demand were highly similar across versions, although a few notable exceptions were found. These results suggest generally high consistency and overlapping performance between randomized and sequential price assessment. Implications for the behavioral economics literature and priorities for future research are discussed.

A novel consistent and well-balanced algorithm for simulations of multiphase flows on unstructured grids

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Jitendra Kumar; Natarajan, Ganesh

2017-12-01

We discuss the development and assessment of a robust numerical algorithm for simulating multiphase flows with complex interfaces and high density ratios on arbitrary polygonal meshes. The algorithm combines the volume-of-fluid method with an incremental projection approach for incompressible multiphase flows in a novel hybrid staggered/non-staggered framework. The key principles that characterise the algorithm are the consistent treatment of discrete mass and momentum transport and the similar discretisation of force terms appearing in the momentum equation. The former is achieved by invoking identical schemes for convective transport of volume fraction and momentum in the respective discrete equations while the latter is realised by representing the gravity and surface tension terms as gradients of suitable scalars which are then discretised in identical fashion resulting in a balanced formulation. The hybrid staggered/non-staggered framework employed herein solves for the scalar normal momentum at the cell faces, while the volume fraction is computed at the cell centroids. This is shown to naturally lead to similar terms for pressure and its correction in the momentum and pressure correction equations respectively, which are again treated discretely in a similar manner. We show that spurious currents that corrupt the solution may arise both from an unbalanced formulation where forces (gravity and surface tension) are discretised in dissimilar manner and from an inconsistent approach where different schemes are used to convect the mass and momentum, with the latter prominent in flows which are convection-dominant with high density ratios. Interestingly, the inconsistent approach is shown to perform as well as the consistent approach even for high density ratio flows in some cases while it exhibits anomalous behaviour for other scenarios, even at low density ratios. Using a plethora of test problems of increasing complexity, we conclusively demonstrate that the

Absolute consistency: individual versus population variation in annual-cycle schedules of a long-distance migrant bird.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesse R Conklin

Full Text Available Flexibility in scheduling varies throughout an organism's annual cycle, reflecting relative temporal constraints and fitness consequences among life-history stages. Time-selection can act at different scales, either by limiting the range of alternative strategies in the population, or by increasing the precision of individual performance. We tracked individual bar-tailed godwits Limosa lapponica baueri for two full years (including direct observation during non-breeding seasons in New Zealand and geolocator tracking of round-trip migrations to Alaska to present a full annual-cycle view of molt, breeding, and migration schedules. At both population and individual scales, temporal variation was greater in post-breeding than pre-breeding stages, and greater in molts than in movements, but schedules did not tighten across successive stages of migration toward the breeding grounds. In general, individual godwits were quite consistent in timing of events throughout the year, and repeatability of pre-breeding movements was particularly high (r = 0.82-0.92. However, we demonstrate that r values misrepresent absolute consistency by confounding inter- and intra-individual variation; the biological significance of r values can only be understood when these are considered separately. By doing so, we show that some stages have considerable tolerance for alternative strategies within the population, whereas scheduling of northbound migratory movements was similar for all individuals. How time-selection simultaneously shapes both individual and population variation is central to understanding and predicting adaptive phenological responses to environmental change.

High-performance speech recognition using consistency modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Digalakis, Vassilios; Murveit, Hy; Monaco, Peter; Neumeyer, Leo; Sankar, Ananth

1994-12-01

The goal of SRI's consistency modeling project is to improve the raw acoustic modeling component of SRI's DECIPHER speech recognition system and develop consistency modeling technology. Consistency modeling aims to reduce the number of improper independence assumptions used in traditional speech recognition algorithms so that the resulting speech recognition hypotheses are more self-consistent and, therefore, more accurate. At the initial stages of this effort, SRI focused on developing the appropriate base technologies for consistency modeling. We first developed the Progressive Search technology that allowed us to perform large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) experiments. Since its conception and development at SRI, this technique has been adopted by most laboratories, including other ARPA contracting sites, doing research on LVSR. Another goal of the consistency modeling project is to attack difficult modeling problems, when there is a mismatch between the training and testing phases. Such mismatches may include outlier speakers, different microphones and additive noise. We were able to either develop new, or transfer and evaluate existing, technologies that adapted our baseline genonic HMM recognizer to such difficult conditions.

The self-consistent calculation of the edge states in bilayer quantum Hall bar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kavruk, A E; Orzturk, T; Orzturk, A; Atav, U; Yuksel, H

2011-01-01

In this study, we present the spatial distributions of the edge channels for each layer in bilayer quantum Hall bar geometry for a wide range of applied magnetic fields. For this purpose, we employ a self-consistent Thomas-Fermi-Poisson approach to obtain the electron density distributions and related screened potential distributions. In order to have a more realistic description of the system we solve three dimensional Poisson equation numerically in each iteration step to obtain self consistency in the Thomas-Fermi-Poisson approach instead of employing a 'frozen gate' approximation.

Translationally invariant self-consistent field theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shakin, C.M.; Weiss, M.S.

1977-01-01

We present a self-consistent field theory which is translationally invariant. The equations obtained go over to the usual Hartree-Fock equations in the limit of large particle number. In addition to deriving the dynamic equations for the self-consistent amplitudes we discuss the calculation of form factors and various other observables

Technologies of democracy: experiments and demonstrations.

Science.gov (United States)

Laurent, Brice

2011-12-01

Technologies of democracy are instruments based on material apparatus, social practices and expert knowledge that organize the participation of various publics in the definition and treatment of public problems. Using three examples related to the engagement of publics in nanotechnology in France (a citizen conference, a series of public meetings, and an industrial design process), the paper argues that Science and Technology Studies provide useful tools and methods for the analysis of technologies of democracy. Operations of experiments and public demonstrations can be described, as well as controversies about technologies of democracy giving rise to counter-experiments and counter-demonstrations. The political value of the analysis of public engagement lies in the description of processes of stabilization of democratic orders and in the display of potential alternative political arrangements.

Time-Consistent and Market-Consistent Evaluations (replaced by CentER DP 2012-086)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pelsser, A.; Stadje, M.A.

2011-01-01

We consider evaluation methods for payoffs with an inherent financial risk as encountered for instance for portfolios held by pension funds and insurance companies. Pricing such payoffs in a way consistent to market prices typically involves combining actuarial techniques with methods from

Reliability and consistency of a validated sun exposure questionnaire in a population-based Danish sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Køster, B; Søndergaard, J; Nielsen, J B; Olsen, A; Bentzen, J

2018-06-01

An important feature of questionnaire validation is reliability. To be able to measure a given concept by questionnaire validly, the reliability needs to be high. The objectives of this study were to examine reliability of attitude and knowledge and behavioral consistency of sunburn in a developed questionnaire for monitoring and evaluating population sun-related behavior. Sun related behavior, attitude and knowledge was measured weekly by a questionnaire in the summer of 2013 among 664 Danes. Reliability was tested in a test-retest design. Consistency of behavioral information was tested similarly in a questionnaire adapted to measure behavior throughout the summer. The response rates for questionnaire 1, 2 and 3 were high and the drop out was not dependent on demographic characteristic. There was at least 73% agreement between sunburns in the measurement week and the entire summer, and a possible sunburn underestimation in questionnaires summarizing the entire summer. The participants underestimated their outdoor exposure in the evaluation covering the entire summer as compared to the measurement week. The reliability of scales measuring attitude and knowledge was high for majority of scales, while consistency in protection behavior was low. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report reliability for a completely validated questionnaire on sun-related behavior in a national random population based sample. Further, we show that attitude and knowledge questions confirmed their validity with good reliability, while consistency of protection behavior in general and in a week's measurement was low.

A Timoshenko Piezoelectric Beam Finite Element with Consistent Performance Irrespective of Geometric and Material Configurations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Litesh N. Sulbhewar

Full Text Available Abstract The conventional Timoshenko piezoelectric beam finite elements based on First-order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT do not maintain the accuracy and convergence consistently over the applicable range of material and geometric properties. In these elements, the inaccuracy arises due to the induced potential effects in the transverse direction and inefficiency arises due to the use of independently assumed linear polynomial interpolation of the field variables in the longitudinal direction. In this work, a novel FSDT-based piezoelectric beam finite element is proposed which is devoid of these deficiencies. A variational formulation with consistent through-thickness potential is developed. The governing equilibrium equations are used to derive the coupled field relations. These relations are used to develop a polynomial interpolation scheme which properly accommodates the bending-extension, bending-shear and induced potential couplings to produce accurate results in an efficient manner. It is noteworthy that this consistently accurate and efficient beam finite element uses the same nodal variables as of conventional FSDT formulations available in the literature. Comparison of numerical results proves the consistent accuracy and efficiency of the proposed formulation irrespective of geometric and material configurations, unlike the conventional formulations.

Modeling and Testing Legacy Data Consistency Requirements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nytun, J. P.; Jensen, Christian Søndergaard

2003-01-01

An increasing number of data sources are available on the Internet, many of which offer semantically overlapping data, but based on different schemas, or models. While it is often of interest to integrate such data sources, the lack of consistency among them makes this integration difficult....... This paper addresses the need for new techniques that enable the modeling and consistency checking for legacy data sources. Specifically, the paper contributes to the development of a framework that enables consistency testing of data coming from different types of data sources. The vehicle is UML and its...... accompanying XMI. The paper presents techniques for modeling consistency requirements using OCL and other UML modeling elements: it studies how models that describe the required consistencies among instances of legacy models can be designed in standard UML tools that support XMI. The paper also considers...

Self-consistent perturbation expansion for Bose-Einstein condensates satisfying Goldstone's theorem and conservation laws

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kita, Takafumi

2009-01-01

Quantum-field-theoretic descriptions of interacting condensed bosons have suffered from the lack of self-consistent approximation schemes satisfying Goldstone's theorem and dynamical conservation laws simultaneously. We present a procedure to construct such approximations systematically by using either an exact relation for the interaction energy or the Hugenholtz-Pines relation to express the thermodynamic potential in a Luttinger-Ward form. Inspection of the self-consistent perturbation expansion up to the third order with respect to the interaction shows that the two relations yield a unique identical result at each order, reproducing the conserving-gapless mean-field theory [T. Kita, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 74, 1891 (2005)] as the lowest-order approximation. The uniqueness implies that the series becomes exact when infinite terms are retained. We also derive useful expressions for the entropy and superfluid density in terms of Green's function and a set of real-time dynamical equations to describe thermalization of the condensate.

Thin composite films consisting of polypyrrole and polyparaphenylene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golovtsov, I.; Bereznev, S.; Traksmaa, R.; Opik, A.

2007-01-01

This study demonstrates that the combined method for the formation of thin composite films, consisting of polypyrrole (PPy) as a film forming agent and polyparaphenylene (PPP) with controlled electrical properties and high stability, enables one to avoid the low processability of PPP and to extend the possibilities for the development of electronic devices. The high temperature (250-600 deg. C) doping method was used for PPP preparation. The crystallinity and grindability of PPP was found to be increasing with the thermochemical modification. Thin composite films were prepared onto the light transparent substrates using the simple electropolymerization technique. The properties of films were characterized by the optical transmittance and temperature-dependent conductivity measurements. The morphology and thickness of the prepared films were determined using the scanning electron microscopy. The composite films showed a better adhesion to an inorganic substrate. It was found to be connected mostly with the improved properties of the high temperature doped PPP. The current-voltage characteristics of indium tin oxide/film/Au hybrid organic-inorganic structures showed the influence of the doping conditions of PPP inclusions in the obtained films

Lessons Learned During Cryogenic Optical Testing of the Advanced Mirror System Demonstrators (AMSDs)

Science.gov (United States)

Hadaway, James; Reardon, Patrick; Geary, Joseph; Robinson, Brian; Stahl, Philip; Eng, Ron; Kegley, Jeff

2004-01-01

Optical testing in a cryogenic environment presents a host of challenges above and beyond those encountered during room temperature testing. The Advanced Mirror System Demonstrators (AMSDs) are 1.4 m diameter, ultra light-weight (mA2), off-axis parabolic segments. They are required to have 250 nm PV & 50 nm RMS surface figure error or less at 35 K. An optical testing system, consisting of an Instantaneous Phase Interferometer (PI), a diffractive null corrector (DNC), and an Absolute Distance Meter (ADM), was used to measure the surface figure & radius-of-curvature of these mirrors at the operational temperature within the X-Ray Calibration Facility (XRCF) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The Ah4SD program was designed to improve the technology related to the design, fabrication, & testing of such mirrors in support of NASA s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This paper will describe the lessons learned during preparation & cryogenic testing of the AMSDs.

A spot check for assessing static orientation consistency of inertial and magnetic sensing units.

Science.gov (United States)

Picerno, Pietro; Cereatti, Andrea; Cappozzo, Aurelio

2011-03-01

Despite the widespread use of Magnetic and Inertial Measurement Units (MIMUs) for movement reconstruction, only a few studies have tackled issues related to their accuracy. It has been proved that their performance decreases over a period of use since calibration parameters become no longer effective. Good practice rules recommend to assess, prior to any experimental session, the instrumental errors associated to the relevant measures. Aim of this study was to provide a practical and reproducible spot check for assessing the performance of MIMUs in terms of consistency in determining their orientation with respect to a common (inter-MIMUs consistency, IC) and invariant (self-MIMU consistency, SC) global frame. IC was assessed by verifying the hypothesis that the orientation of 9 MIMUs aligned to each other on a rigid Plexiglas plank coincided at any orientation of the plank. SC was assessed separately by verifying differences between measured and imposed known rotations imparted to each MIMU. The orientation of MIMUs relative to the global frame was expressed in terms of quaternion. IC test showed that MIMUs defined their orientation differently. This difference was not constant but varied according to the plank's orientation. The least consistent MIMU showed discrepancy up to 5.7°. SC test confirmed the same MIMU as that affected by the highest inaccuracy (8.4°), whereas it revealed errors within limits (1°) in correspondence to other MIMUs. A tool has been proposed that allows the users to be aware of the errors that may be expected when using MIMUs for the estimate of absolute and relative segments kinematics. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Microwave SQUID Multiplexer Demonstration for Cosmic Microwave Background Imagers.

Science.gov (United States)

Dober, B; Becker, D T; Bennett, D A; Bryan, S A; Duff, S M; Gard, J D; Hays-Wehle, J P; Hilton, G C; Hubmayr, J; Mates, J A B; Reintsema, C D; Vale, L R; Ullom, J N

2017-12-01

Key performance characteristics are demonstrated for the microwave SQUID multiplexer (µmux) coupled to transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers that have been optimized for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. In a 64-channel demonstration, we show that the µmux produces a white, input referred current noise level of [Formula: see text] at -77 dB microwave probe tone power, which is well below expected fundamental detector and photon noise sources for a ground-based CMB-optimized bolometer. Operated with negligible photon loading, we measure [Formula: see text] in the TES-coupled channels biased at 65% of the sensor normal resistance. This noise level is consistent with that predicted from bolometer thermal fluctuation (i.e. phonon) noise. Furthermore, the power spectral density is white over a range of frequencies down to ~ 100 mHz, which enables CMB mapping on large angular scales that constrain the physics of inflation. Additionally, we report cross-talk measurements that indicate a level below 0.3%, which is less than the level of cross-talk from multiplexed readout systems in deployed CMB imagers. These measurements demonstrate the µmux as a viable readout technique for future CMB imaging instruments.

Toward thermodynamic consistency of quasiparticle picture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biro, T.S.; Toneev, V.D.; Shanenko, A.A.

2003-01-01

The purpose of the present article is to call attention to some realistic quasiparticle-based description of quark/gluon matter and its consistent implementation in thermodynamics. A simple and transparent representation of the thermodynamic consistency conditions is given. This representation allows one to review critically and systemize available phenomenological approaches to the deconfinement problem with respect to their thermodynamic consistency. Particular attention is paid to the development of a method for treating the string screening in the dense matter of unbound color charges. The proposed method yields an integrable effective pair potential that can be incorporated into the mean-field picture. The results of its application are in reasonable agreement with lattice data on the QCD thermodynamics

Young women's consistency of contraceptive use--does depression or stress matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Stidham Hall, Kelli; Moreau, Caroline; Trussell, James; Barber, Jennifer

2013-11-01

We prospectively examined the influence of young women's depression and stress symptoms on their weekly consistency of contraceptive method use. Women ages 18-20 years (n = 689) participating in a longitudinal cohort study completed weekly journals assessing reproductive, relationship and health characteristics. We used data through 12 months of follow-up (n = 8877 journals) to examine relationships between baseline depression (CES-D) and stress (PSS-10) symptoms and consistency of contraceptive methods use with sexual activity each week. We analyzed data with random effects multivarible logistic regression. Consistent contraceptive use (72% of weeks) was 10-15 percentage points lower among women with moderate/severe baseline depression and stress symptoms than those without symptoms (p contraceptive consistency each week than those without symptoms, respectively (OR 0.53, CI 0.31-0.91 and OR 0.31, CI 0.18-0.52). Stress predicted inconsistent use of oral contraceptives (OR 0.27, CI 0.12-0.58), condoms (OR 0.40, CI 0.23-0.69) and withdrawal (OR 0.12, CI 0.03-0.50). Women with depression and stress symptoms appear to be at increased risk for user-related contraceptive failures, especially for the most commonly used methods. Our study has shown that young women with elevated depression and stress symptoms appear to be at risk for inconsistent contraceptive use patterns, especially for the most common methods that require greater user effort and diligence. Based upon these findings, clinicians should consider women's psychological and emotional status when helping patients with contraceptive decision-making and management. User-dependent contraceptive method efficacy is important to address in education and counseling sessions, and women with stress or depression may be ideal candidates for long-acting reversible methods, which offer highly effective options with less user-related burden. Ongoing research will provide a greater understanding of how young women

Design alternatives report for the cesium removal demonstration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Walker, J.F. Jr.; Youngblood, E.L.

1995-09-01

The Cesium Removal Demonstration (CRD) project will use liquid low-level waste (LLLW) stored in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Melton Valley Storage Tanks to demonstrate cesium removal from sodium nitrate-based supernates. This report presents the results of a conceptual design study to scope the alternatives for conducting the demonstration at ORNL. Factors considered included (1) sorbent alternatives, (2) facility alternatives, (3) process alternatives, (4) process disposal alternatives, and (5) relative cost comparisons. Recommendations included (1) that design of the CRD system move forward based on information obtained to date from tests with Savannah River Resin, (2) that the CRD system be designed so it could use crystalline silicotitanates (CST) if an engineered form of CST becomes available prior to the CRD, (3) that the system be designed without the capability for resin regeneration, (4) that the LLLW solidification facility be used for the demonstration (5) that vitrification of the loaded resins from the CRD be demonstrated at the Savannah River Site, and (6) that permanent disposal of the loaded and/or vitrified resin at the Nevada Test Site be pursued.

Design alternatives report for the cesium removal demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, J.F. Jr.; Youngblood, E.L.

1995-09-01

The Cesium Removal Demonstration (CRD) project will use liquid low-level waste (LLLW) stored in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Melton Valley Storage Tanks to demonstrate cesium removal from sodium nitrate-based supernates. This report presents the results of a conceptual design study to scope the alternatives for conducting the demonstration at ORNL. Factors considered included (1) sorbent alternatives, (2) facility alternatives, (3) process alternatives, (4) process disposal alternatives, and (5) relative cost comparisons. Recommendations included (1) that design of the CRD system move forward based on information obtained to date from tests with Savannah River Resin, (2) that the CRD system be designed so it could use crystalline silicotitanates (CST) if an engineered form of CST becomes available prior to the CRD, (3) that the system be designed without the capability for resin regeneration, (4) that the LLLW solidification facility be used for the demonstration (5) that vitrification of the loaded resins from the CRD be demonstrated at the Savannah River Site, and (6) that permanent disposal of the loaded and/or vitrified resin at the Nevada Test Site be pursued

Greater preference consistency during the Willingness-to-Pay task is related to higher resting state connectivity between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Scott; Olafsson, Valur; Aupperle, Robin; Lu, Kun; Fonzo, Greg; Parnass, Jason; Liu, Thomas; Paulus, Martin P.

2015-01-01

The significance of why a similar set of brain regions are associated with the default mode network and value-related neural processes remains to be clarified. Here, we examined i) whether brain regions exhibiting willingness-to-pay (WTP) task-related activity are intrinsically connected when the brain is at rest, ii) whether these regions overlap spatially with the default mode network, and iii) whether individual differences in choice behavior during the WTP task are reflected in functional brain connectivity at rest. Blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging while subjects performed the WTP task and at rest with eyes open. Brain regions that tracked the value of bids during the WTP task were used as seed regions in an analysis of functional connectivity in the resting state data. The seed in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was functionally connected to core regions of the WTP task-related network. Brain regions within the WTP task-related network, namely the ventral precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex overlapped spatially with publically available maps of the default mode network. Also, those individuals with higher functional connectivity during rest between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum showed greater preference consistency during the WTP task. Thus, WTP task-related regions are an intrinsic network of the brain that corresponds spatially with the default mode network, and individual differences in functional connectivity within the WTP network at rest may reveal a priori biases in choice behavior. PMID:26271206

Knowledge of correct condom use and consistency of use among adolescents in four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

OpenAIRE

Bankole, Akinrinola; Ahmed, Fatima H.; Neema, Stella; Ouedraogo, Christine; Konyani, Sidon

2007-01-01

Using data from the 2004 National Adolescent Surveys, this paper undertook a detail analysis of knowledge of correct condom use and consistency of use, as well as their covariates, among adolescents in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda. The strongest predictor of knowledge of correct condom use among both male and female adolescents is exposure to a condom use demonstration. In Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda, adolescents who have seen a condom demonstration are 2 to 5 times as likely as ...

Report on Hydrogen Bus Demonstrations Worldwide, 2002-2007.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-03-01

Between 2002 and 2007 more than 20 cities in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and Australia have demonstrated buses powered by fuel cells or hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines, as well as a variety of fueling and related technologies....

Development of demonstration advanced thermal reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nishimura, Seiji; Oguchi, Isao; Touhei, Kazushige

1982-08-01

The design of the advanced thermal demonstration reactor with 600 MWe output was started in 1975. In order to make the compact core, 648 fuel assemblies, each comprising 36 fuel rods, were used, and the mean channel output was increased by 20% as compared with the prototype reactor. The heavy water dumping mechanism for the calandria was abolished. Advanced thermal reactors are suitable to burn plutonium, since the control rod worth does not change, the void reactivity coefficient of coolant shifts to the negative side, and the harmful influence of high order plutonium is small. The void reactivity coefficient is nearly zero, the fluctuation of output in relation to pressure disturbance is small, and the local output change of fuel by the operation of control rods is small, therefore, the operation following load change is relatively easy. The coolant recirculation system is of independent loop construction dividing the core into two, and steam and water are separated in respective steam drums. At present, the rationalizing design is in progress by the leadership of the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. The outline of the demonstration reactor, the reactor construction, the nuclear-thermal-hydraulic characteristics and the output control characteristics are reported.

Development of demonstration advanced thermal reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishimura, Seiji; Oguchi, Isao; Touhei, Kazushige.

1982-01-01

The design of the advanced thermal demonstration reactor with 600 MWe output was started in 1975. In order to make the compact core, 648 fuel assemblies, each comprising 36 fuel rods, were used, and the mean channel output was increased by 20% as compared with the prototype reactor. The heavy water dumping mechanism for the calandria was abolished. Advanced thermal reactors are suitable to burn plutonium, since the control rod worth does not change, the void reactivity coefficient of coolant shifts to the negative side, and the harmful influence of high order plutonium is small. The void reactivity coefficient is nearly zero, the fluctuation of output in relation to pressure disturbance is small, and the local output change of fuel by the operation of control rods is small, therefore, the operation following load change is relatively easy. The coolant recirculation system is of independent loop construction dividing the core into two, and steam and water are separated in respective steam drums. At present, the rationalizing design is in progress by the leadership of the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. The outline of the demonstration reactor, the reactor construction, the nuclear-thermal-hydraulic characteristics and the output control characteristics are reported. (Kako, I.)

Dictionary-based fiber orientation estimation with improved spatial consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Chuyang; Prince, Jerry L

2018-02-01

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) has enabled in vivo investigation of white matter tracts. Fiber orientation (FO) estimation is a key step in tract reconstruction and has been a popular research topic in dMRI analysis. In particular, the sparsity assumption has been used in conjunction with a dictionary-based framework to achieve reliable FO estimation with a reduced number of gradient directions. Because image noise can have a deleterious effect on the accuracy of FO estimation, previous works have incorporated spatial consistency of FOs in the dictionary-based framework to improve the estimation. However, because FOs are only indirectly determined from the mixture fractions of dictionary atoms and not modeled as variables in the objective function, these methods do not incorporate FO smoothness directly, and their ability to produce smooth FOs could be limited. In this work, we propose an improvement to Fiber Orientation Reconstruction using Neighborhood Information (FORNI), which we call FORNI+; this method estimates FOs in a dictionary-based framework where FO smoothness is better enforced than in FORNI alone. We describe an objective function that explicitly models the actual FOs and the mixture fractions of dictionary atoms. Specifically, it consists of data fidelity between the observed signals and the signals represented by the dictionary, pairwise FO dissimilarity that encourages FO smoothness, and weighted ℓ 1 -norm terms that ensure the consistency between the actual FOs and the FO configuration suggested by the dictionary representation. The FOs and mixture fractions are then jointly estimated by minimizing the objective function using an iterative alternating optimization strategy. FORNI+ was evaluated on a simulation phantom, a physical phantom, and real brain dMRI data. In particular, in the real brain dMRI experiment, we have qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated the reproducibility of the proposed method. Results demonstrate that

Demonstration of a geostatistical approach to physically consistent downscaling of climate modeling simulations

KAUST Repository

Jha, Sanjeev Kumar; Mariethoz, Gregoire; Evans, Jason P.; McCabe, Matthew

2013-01-01

A downscaling approach based on multiple-point geostatistics (MPS) is presented. The key concept underlying MPS is to sample spatial patterns from within training images, which can then be used in characterizing the relationship between different variables across multiple scales. The approach is used here to downscale climate variables including skin surface temperature (TSK), soil moisture (SMOIS), and latent heat flux (LH). The performance of the approach is assessed by applying it to data derived from a regional climate model of the Murray-Darling basin in southeast Australia, using model outputs at two spatial resolutions of 50 and 10 km. The data used in this study cover the period from 1985 to 2006, with 1985 to 2005 used for generating the training images that define the relationships of the variables across the different spatial scales. Subsequently, the spatial distributions for the variables in the year 2006 are determined at 10 km resolution using the 50 km resolution data as input. The MPS geostatistical downscaling approach reproduces the spatial distribution of TSK, SMOIS, and LH at 10 km resolution with the correct spatial patterns over different seasons, while providing uncertainty estimates through the use of multiple realizations. The technique has the potential to not only bridge issues of spatial resolution in regional and global climate model simulations but also in feature sharpening in remote sensing applications through image fusion, filling gaps in spatial data, evaluating downscaled variables with available remote sensing images, and aggregating/disaggregating hydrological and groundwater variables for catchment studies.

Isoscalar and isovector giant resonances in a self-consistent phonon coupling approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Lyutorovich

2015-10-01

Full Text Available We present fully self-consistent calculations of isoscalar giant monopole and quadrupole as well as isovector giant dipole resonances in heavy and light nuclei. The description is based on Skyrme energy-density functionals determining the static Hartree–Fock ground state and the excitation spectra within random-phase approximation (RPA and RPA extended by including the quasiparticle-phonon coupling at the level of the time-blocking approximation (TBA. All matrix elements were derived consistently from the given energy-density functional and calculated without any approximation. As a new feature in these calculations, the single-particle continuum was included thus avoiding the artificial discretization usually implied in RPA and TBA. The step to include phonon coupling in TBA leads to small, but systematic, down shifts of the centroid energies of the giant resonances. These shifts are similar in size for all Skyrme parametrizations investigated here. After all, we demonstrate that one can find Skyrme parametrizations which deliver a good simultaneous reproduction of all three giant resonances within TBA.

Spatial Programming for Industrial Robots through Task Demonstration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jens Lambrecht

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract We present an intuitive system for the programming of industrial robots using markerless gesture recognition and mobile augmented reality in terms of programming by demonstration. The approach covers gesture-based task definition and adaption by human demonstration, as well as task evaluation through augmented reality. A 3D motion tracking system and a handheld device establish the basis for the presented spatial programming system. In this publication, we present a prototype toward the programming of an assembly sequence consisting of several pick-and-place tasks. A scene reconstruction provides pose estimation of known objects with the help of the 2D camera of the handheld. Therefore, the programmer is able to define the program through natural bare-hand manipulation of these objects with the help of direct visual feedback in the augmented reality application. The program can be adapted by gestures and transmitted subsequently to an arbitrary industrial robot controller using a unified interface. Finally, we discuss an application of the presented spatial programming approach toward robot-based welding tasks.

Glass consistency and glass performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Plodinec, M.J.; Ramsey, W.G.

1994-01-01

Glass produced by the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) will have to consistently be more durable than a benchmark glass (evaluated using a short-term leach test), with high confidence. The DWPF has developed a Glass Product Control Program to comply with this specification. However, it is not clear what relevance product consistency has on long-term glass performance. In this report, the authors show that DWPF glass, produced in compliance with this specification, can be expected to effectively limit the release of soluble radionuclides to natural environments. However, the release of insoluble radionuclides to the environment will be limited by their solubility, and not glass durability

Towards thermodynamical consistency of quasiparticle picture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biro, T.S.; Shanenko, A.A.; Toneev, V.D.; Research Inst. for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest

2003-01-01

The purpose of the present article is to call attention to some realistic quasi-particle-based description of the quark/gluon matter and its consistent implementation in thermodynamics. A simple and transparent representation of the thermodynamical consistency conditions is given. This representation allows one to review critically and systemize available phenomenological approaches to the deconfinement problem with respect to their thermodynamical consistency. A particular attention is paid to the development of a method for treating the string screening in the dense matter of unbound color charges. The proposed method yields an integrable effective pair potential, which can be incorporated into the mean-field picture. The results of its application are in reasonable agreement with lattice data on the QCD thermodynamics [ru

Consistent Individual Differences Drive Collective Behavior and Group Functioning of Schooling Fish.

Science.gov (United States)

Jolles, Jolle W; Boogert, Neeltje J; Sridhar, Vivek H; Couzin, Iain D; Manica, Andrea

2017-09-25

The ubiquity of consistent inter-individual differences in behavior ("animal personalities") [1, 2] suggests that they might play a fundamental role in driving the movements and functioning of animal groups [3, 4], including their collective decision-making, foraging performance, and predator avoidance. Despite increasing evidence that highlights their importance [5-16], we still lack a unified mechanistic framework to explain and to predict how consistent inter-individual differences may drive collective behavior. Here we investigate how the structure, leadership, movement dynamics, and foraging performance of groups can emerge from inter-individual differences by high-resolution tracking of known behavioral types in free-swimming stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) shoals. We show that individual's propensity to stay near others, measured by a classic "sociability" assay, was negatively linked to swim speed across a range of contexts, and predicted spatial positioning and leadership within groups as well as differences in structure and movement dynamics between groups. In turn, this trait, together with individual's exploratory tendency, measured by a classic "boldness" assay, explained individual and group foraging performance. These effects of consistent individual differences on group-level states emerged naturally from a generic model of self-organizing groups composed of individuals differing in speed and goal-orientedness. Our study provides experimental and theoretical evidence for a simple mechanism to explain the emergence of collective behavior from consistent individual differences, including variation in the structure, leadership, movement dynamics, and functional capabilities of groups, across social and ecological scales. In addition, we demonstrate individual performance is conditional on group composition, indicating how social selection may drive behavioral differentiation between individuals. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by

Risk factors for age-related maculopathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Connell, Paul P; Keane, Pearse A; O'Neill, Evelyn C; Altaie, Rasha W; Loane, Edward; Neelam, Kumari; Nolan, John M; Beatty, Stephen

2009-01-01

Age-related maculopathy (ARM) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. Although beneficial therapeutic strategies have recently begun to emerge, much remains unclear regarding the etiopathogenesis of this disorder. Epidemiologic studies have enhanced our understanding of ARM, but the data, often conflicting, has led to difficulties with drawing firm conclusions with respect to risk for this condition. As a consequence, we saw a need to assimilate the published findings with respect to risk factors for ARM, through a review of the literature appraising results from published cross-sectional studies, prospective cohort studies, case series, and case control studies investigating risk for this condition. Our review shows that, to date, and across a spectrum of epidemiologic study designs, only age, cigarette smoking, and family history of ARM have been consistently demonstrated to represent risk for this condition. In addition, genetic studies have recently implicated many genes in the pathogenesis of age-related maculopathy, including Complement Factor H, PLEKHA 1, and LOC387715/HTRA1, demonstrating that environmental and genetic factors are important for the development of ARM suggesting that gene-environment interaction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of this condition.

Risk Factors for Age-Related Maculopathy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul P. Connell

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Age-related maculopathy (ARM is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. Although beneficial therapeutic strategies have recently begun to emerge, much remains unclear regarding the etiopathogenesis of this disorder. Epidemiologic studies have enhanced our understanding of ARM, but the data, often conflicting, has led to difficulties with drawing firm conclusions with respect to risk for this condition. As a consequence, we saw a need to assimilate the published findings with respect to risk factors for ARM, through a review of the literature appraising results from published cross-sectional studies, prospective cohort studies, case series, and case control studies investigating risk for this condition. Our review shows that, to date, and across a spectrum of epidemiologic study designs, only age, cigarette smoking, and family history of ARM have been consistently demonstrated to represent risk for this condition. In addition, genetic studies have recently implicated many genes in the pathogenesis of age-related maculopathy, including Complement Factor H, PLEKHA 1, and LOC387715/HTRA1, demonstrating that environmental and genetic factors are important for the development of ARM suggesting that gene-environment interaction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of this condition.

Risk factors for age-related maculopathy.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Connell, Paul P

2012-02-01

Age-related maculopathy (ARM) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. Although beneficial therapeutic strategies have recently begun to emerge, much remains unclear regarding the etiopathogenesis of this disorder. Epidemiologic studies have enhanced our understanding of ARM, but the data, often conflicting, has led to difficulties with drawing firm conclusions with respect to risk for this condition. As a consequence, we saw a need to assimilate the published findings with respect to risk factors for ARM, through a review of the literature appraising results from published cross-sectional studies, prospective cohort studies, case series, and case control studies investigating risk for this condition. Our review shows that, to date, and across a spectrum of epidemiologic study designs, only age, cigarette smoking, and family history of ARM have been consistently demonstrated to represent risk for this condition. In addition, genetic studies have recently implicated many genes in the pathogenesis of age-related maculopathy, including Complement Factor H, PLEKHA 1, and LOC387715\\/HTRA1, demonstrating that environmental and genetic factors are important for the development of ARM suggesting that gene-environment interaction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of this condition.

Effect of irradiation on Brazilian honeys' consistency and their acceptability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuda, A.H.; Sabato, S.F.

2004-01-01

Contamination of bee products may occur during packing or even during the process of collection. Gamma irradiation was found to decrease the number of bacteria and fungi. However, little information is available on the effects of gamma irradiation on viscosity which is an important property of honey. In this work the viscosity of two varieties of Brazilian honey was measured when they were irradiated at 5 and 10 kGy. The viscosity was measured at four temperatures (25 deg. C, 30 deg. C, 35 deg. C and 40 deg. C) for both samples and compared with control and within the doses. The sensory evaluation was carried on for the parameters color, odor, taste and consistency, using a 9-point hedonic scale. All the data were treated with a statistical tool (Statistica 5.1, StatSoft, 1998). The viscosity was not impaired significantly by gamma irradiation in doses 5 and 10 kGy (p<0.05). The effect of gamma irradiation on sensorial characteristics (odor, color, taste and consistency) is presented. The taste for Parana type indicated a significant difference among irradiation doses (p<0.05) but the higher value was for 5 kGy dose, demonstrating the acceptability for this case. The Organic honey presented the taste parameter for 10 kGy, significantly lower than the control mean but it did not differ significantly from the 5 kGy value

Disturbance of semantic processing in temporal lobe epilepsy demonstrated with scalp ERPs.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyamoto, T; Katayama, J I; Kohsaka, M; Koyama, T

2000-12-01

We investigated event-related potentials (N400, LPC and CNV) elicited in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients and control subjects from scalp electrodes, using a word-pair category matching paradigm. Each prime consisted of a Japanese noun (constructed from 2-4 characters of the Hiragana) followed by a Chinese character (Kanji) as the target, the latter representing one of five semantic categories. There were two equally probable target conditions: match or mismatch. Each target was preceded by a prime, either belonging to, or not belonging to, the same semantic category. The subjects were required to respond with a specified button press to the given target, according to the condition. We found RTs to be longer under the mismatch condition in both subject groups. The N400 amplitude was reduced in TLE subjects under both conditions, although LPC and CNV amplitudes showed no significant differences. These results suggest that scalp N400 is capable of demonstrating disturbance of semantic processing in TLE non-invasively. Copyright 2000 BEA Trading Ltd.

Content validation: clarity/relevance, reliability and internal consistency of enunciative signs of language acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

Crestani, Anelise Henrich; Moraes, Anaelena Bragança de; Souza, Ana Paula Ramos de

2017-08-10

To analyze the results of the validation of building enunciative signs of language acquisition for children aged 3 to 12 months. The signs were built based on mechanisms of language acquisition in an enunciative perspective and on clinical experience with language disorders. The signs were submitted to judgment of clarity and relevance by a sample of six experts, doctors in linguistic in with knowledge of psycholinguistics and language clinic. In the validation of reliability, two judges/evaluators helped to implement the instruments in videos of 20% of the total sample of mother-infant dyads using the inter-evaluator method. The method known as internal consistency was applied to the total sample, which consisted of 94 mother-infant dyads to the contents of the Phase 1 (3-6 months) and 61 mother-infant dyads to the contents of Phase 2 (7 to 12 months). The data were collected through the analysis of mother-infant interaction based on filming of dyads and application of the parameters to be validated according to the child's age. Data were organized in a spreadsheet and then converted to computer applications for statistical analysis. The judgments of clarity/relevance indicated no modifications to be made in the instruments. The reliability test showed an almost perfect agreement between judges (0.8 ≤ Kappa ≥ 1.0); only the item 2 of Phase 1 showed substantial agreement (0.6 ≤ Kappa ≥ 0.79). The internal consistency for Phase 1 had alpha = 0.84, and Phase 2, alpha = 0.74. This demonstrates the reliability of the instruments. The results suggest adequacy as to content validity of the instruments created for both age groups, demonstrating the relevance of the content of enunciative signs of language acquisition.

Demonstration of creep during filtration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Morten Lykkegaard; Bugge, Thomas Vistisen; Kirchheiner, Anders Løvenbalk

The classical filtration theory assumes a unique relationship between the local filter cake porosity and the local effective pressure. For a number of compressible materials, it has however been observed that during the consolidation stage this may not be the case. It has been found...... that the production of filtrate also depends on the characteristic time for the filter cake solids to deform. This is formulated in the Terzaghi-Voigt model in which a secondary consolidation is introduced. The secondary consolidation may be visualized by plots of the relative cake deformation (U) v.s. the square...... root of time. Even more clearly it is demonstrated by plotting the liquid pressure at the cake piston interface v.s. the relative deformation (to be shown). The phenomenon of a secondary consolidation processes is in short called creep. Provided that the secondary consolidation rate is of the same...

Design of micro distribution systems consisting of long channels with arbitrary cross sections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Misdanitis, S; Valougeorgis, D

2012-01-01

Gas flows through long micro-channels of various cross sections have been extensively investigated over the years both numerically and experimentally. In various technological applications including microfluidics, these micro-channels are combined together in order to form a micro-channel network. Computational algorithms for solving gas pipe networks in the hydrodynamic regime are well developed. However, corresponding tools for solving networks consisting of micro-channels under any degree of gas rarefaction is very limited. Recently a kinetic algorithm has been developed to simulate gas distribution systems consisting of long circular channels under any vacuum conditions. In the present work this algorithm is generalized and extended into micro-channels of arbitrary cross-section etched by KOH in silicon (triangular and trapezoidal channels with acute angle of 54.74°). Since a kinetic approach is implemented, the analysis is valid and the results are accurate in the whole range of the Knudsen number, while the involved computational effort is very small. This is achieved by successfully integrating the kinetic results for the corresponding single channels into the general solver for designing the gas pipe network. To demonstrate the feasibility of the approach two typical systems consisting of long rectangular and trapezoidal micro-channels are solved.

An automatic iterative decision-making method for intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic preference relations

Science.gov (United States)

Pei, Lidan; Jin, Feifei; Ni, Zhiwei; Chen, Huayou; Tao, Zhifu

2017-10-01

As a new preference structure, the intuitionistic fuzzy linguistic preference relation (IFLPR) was recently introduced to efficiently deal with situations in which the membership and non-membership are represented as linguistic terms. In this paper, we study the issues of additive consistency and the derivation of the intuitionistic fuzzy weight vector of an IFLPR. First, the new concepts of order consistency, additive consistency and weak transitivity for IFLPRs are introduced, and followed by a discussion of the characterisation about additive consistent IFLPRs. Then, a parameterised transformation approach is investigated to convert the normalised intuitionistic fuzzy weight vector into additive consistent IFLPRs. After that, a linear optimisation model is established to derive the normalised intuitionistic fuzzy weights for IFLPRs, and a consistency index is defined to measure the deviation degree between an IFLPR and its additive consistent IFLPR. Furthermore, we develop an automatic iterative decision-making method to improve the IFLPRs with unacceptable additive consistency until the adjusted IFLPRs are acceptable additive consistent, and it helps the decision-maker to obtain the reasonable and reliable decision-making results. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the proposed method.

Reliability and consistency of a validated sun exposure questionnaire in a population-based Danish sample

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Køster

2018-06-01

Full Text Available An important feature of questionnaire validation is reliability. To be able to measure a given concept by questionnaire validly, the reliability needs to be high.The objectives of this study were to examine reliability of attitude and knowledge and behavioral consistency of sunburn in a developed questionnaire for monitoring and evaluating population sun-related behavior.Sun related behavior, attitude and knowledge was measured weekly by a questionnaire in the summer of 2013 among 664 Danes. Reliability was tested in a test-retest design. Consistency of behavioral information was tested similarly in a questionnaire adapted to measure behavior throughout the summer.The response rates for questionnaire 1, 2 and 3 were high and the drop out was not dependent on demographic characteristic. There was at least 73% agreement between sunburns in the measurement week and the entire summer, and a possible sunburn underestimation in questionnaires summarizing the entire summer. The participants underestimated their outdoor exposure in the evaluation covering the entire summer as compared to the measurement week. The reliability of scales measuring attitude and knowledge was high for majority of scales, while consistency in protection behavior was low.To our knowledge, this is the first study to report reliability for a completely validated questionnaire on sun-related behavior in a national random population based sample. Further, we show that attitude and knowledge questions confirmed their validity with good reliability, while consistency of protection behavior in general and in a week's measurement was low. Keywords: Questionnaire, Validation, Reliability, Skin cancer, Prevention, Ultraviolet radiation

Example-Based Image Colorization Using Locality Consistent Sparse Representation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bo Li; Fuchen Zhao; Zhuo Su; Xiangguo Liang; Yu-Kun Lai; Rosin, Paul L

2017-11-01

Image colorization aims to produce a natural looking color image from a given gray-scale image, which remains a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a novel example-based image colorization method exploiting a new locality consistent sparse representation. Given a single reference color image, our method automatically colorizes the target gray-scale image by sparse pursuit. For efficiency and robustness, our method operates at the superpixel level. We extract low-level intensity features, mid-level texture features, and high-level semantic features for each superpixel, which are then concatenated to form its descriptor. The collection of feature vectors for all the superpixels from the reference image composes the dictionary. We formulate colorization of target superpixels as a dictionary-based sparse reconstruction problem. Inspired by the observation that superpixels with similar spatial location and/or feature representation are likely to match spatially close regions from the reference image, we further introduce a locality promoting regularization term into the energy formulation, which substantially improves the matching consistency and subsequent colorization results. Target superpixels are colorized based on the chrominance information from the dominant reference superpixels. Finally, to further improve coherence while preserving sharpness, we develop a new edge-preserving filter for chrominance channels with the guidance from the target gray-scale image. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work on sparse pursuit image colorization from single reference images. Experimental results demonstrate that our colorization method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods, both visually and quantitatively using a user study.

A blueprint for demonstrating quantum supremacy with superconducting qubits.

Science.gov (United States)

Neill, C; Roushan, P; Kechedzhi, K; Boixo, S; Isakov, S V; Smelyanskiy, V; Megrant, A; Chiaro, B; Dunsworth, A; Arya, K; Barends, R; Burkett, B; Chen, Y; Chen, Z; Fowler, A; Foxen, B; Giustina, M; Graff, R; Jeffrey, E; Huang, T; Kelly, J; Klimov, P; Lucero, E; Mutus, J; Neeley, M; Quintana, C; Sank, D; Vainsencher, A; Wenner, J; White, T C; Neven, H; Martinis, J M

2018-04-13

A key step toward demonstrating a quantum system that can address difficult problems in physics and chemistry will be performing a computation beyond the capabilities of any classical computer, thus achieving so-called quantum supremacy. In this study, we used nine superconducting qubits to demonstrate a promising path toward quantum supremacy. By individually tuning the qubit parameters, we were able to generate thousands of distinct Hamiltonian evolutions and probe the output probabilities. The measured probabilities obey a universal distribution, consistent with uniformly sampling the full Hilbert space. As the number of qubits increases, the system continues to explore the exponentially growing number of states. Extending these results to a system of 50 qubits has the potential to address scientific questions that are beyond the capabilities of any classical computer. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Consistent Data Assimilation of Actinide Isotopes: 235U and 239Pu

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmiottti, G.; Hiruta, H.; Salvatores, M.

2011-01-01

In this annual report we illustrate the methodology of the consistent data assimilation that allows to use the information coming from integral experiments for improving the basic nuclear parameters used in cross section evaluation. A series of integral experiments were analyzed using the EMPIRE evaluated files for 235 U, 238 U, and 239 Pu. Inmost cases the results have shown quite large worse results with respect to the corresponding existing evaluations available for ENDF/B-VII. The observed discrepancies between calculated and experimental results were used in conjunction with the computed sensitivity coefficients and covariance matrix for nuclear parameters in a consistent data assimilation. Only the GODIVA and JEZEBEL experimental results were used, in order to exploit information relative to the isotope of interest that are, in this particular case: 235 U and 239 Pu. The results obtained by the consistent data assimilation indicate that with reasonable modifications (mostly within the initial standard deviation) it is possible to eliminate the original large discrepancies on the K eff of the two critical configurations. However, some residual discrepancy remains for a few fission spectral indices that are, most likely, to be attributed to the detector cross sections.

Consistency assessment of rating curve data in various locations using Bidirectional Reach (BReach)

Science.gov (United States)

Van Eerdenbrugh, Katrien; Van Hoey, Stijn; Coxon, Gemma; Freer, Jim; Verhoest, Niko E. C.

2017-10-01

When estimating discharges through rating curves, temporal data consistency is a critical issue. In this research, consistency in stage-discharge data is investigated using a methodology called Bidirectional Reach (BReach), which departs from a (in operational hydrology) commonly used definition of consistency. A period is considered to be consistent if no consecutive and systematic deviations from a current situation occur that exceed observational uncertainty. Therefore, the capability of a rating curve model to describe a subset of the (chronologically sorted) data is assessed in each observation by indicating the outermost data points for which the rating curve model behaves satisfactorily. These points are called the maximum left or right reach, depending on the direction of the investigation. This temporal reach should not be confused with a spatial reach (indicating a part of a river). Changes in these reaches throughout the data series indicate possible changes in data consistency and if not resolved could introduce additional errors and biases. In this research, various measurement stations in the UK, New Zealand and Belgium are selected based on their significant historical ratings information and their specific characteristics related to data consistency. For each country, regional information is maximally used to estimate observational uncertainty. Based on this uncertainty, a BReach analysis is performed and, subsequently, results are validated against available knowledge about the history and behavior of the site. For all investigated cases, the methodology provides results that appear to be consistent with this knowledge of historical changes and thus facilitates a reliable assessment of (in)consistent periods in stage-discharge measurements. This assessment is not only useful for the analysis and determination of discharge time series, but also to enhance applications based on these data (e.g., by informing hydrological and hydraulic model

Manufacturing history of etanercept (Enbrel®): Consistency of product quality through major process revisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassett, Brian; Singh, Ena; Mahgoub, Ehab; O'Brien, Julie; Vicik, Steven M; Fitzpatrick, Brian

2018-01-01

Etanercept (ETN) (Enbrel®) is a soluble protein that binds to, and specifically inhibits, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a proinflammatory cytokine. ETN is synthesized in Chinese hamster ovary cells by recombinant DNA technology as a fusion protein, with a fully human TNFRII ectodomain linked to the Fc portion of human IgG1. Successful manufacture of biologics, such as ETN, requires sophisticated process and product understanding, as well as meticulous control of operations to maintain product consistency. The objective of this evaluation was to show that the product profile of ETN drug substance (DS) has been consistent over the course of production. Multiple orthogonal biochemical analyses, which included evaluation of attributes indicative of product purity, potency, and quality, were assessed on >2,000 batches of ETN from three sites of DS manufacture, during the period 1998-2015. Based on the key quality attributes of product purity (assessed by hydrophobic interaction chromatography HPLC), binding activity (to TNF by ELISA), potency (inhibition of TNF-induced apoptosis by cell-based bioassay) and quality (N-linked oligosaccharide map), we show that the integrity of ETN DS has remained consistent over time. This consistency was maintained through three major enhancements to the initial process of manufacturing that were supported by detailed comparability assessments, and approved by the European Medicines Agency. Examination of results for all major quality attributes for ETN DS indicates a highly consistent process for over 18 years and throughout changes to the manufacturing process, without affecting safety and efficacy, as demonstrated across a wide range of clinical trials of ETN in multiple inflammatory diseases.

Self-consistent areas law in QCD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Makeenko, Yu.M.; Migdal, A.A.

1980-01-01

The problem of obtaining the self-consistent areas law in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is considered from the point of view of the quark confinement. The exact equation for the loop average in multicolor QCD is reduced to a bootstrap form. Its iterations yield new manifestly gauge invariant perturbation theory in the loop space, reproducing asymptotic freedom. For large loops, the areas law apprears to be a self-consistent solution

Bistable near field and bistable transmittance in 2D composite slab consisting of nonlocal core-Kerr shell inclusions.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yang; Wu, Ya Min; Gao, Lei

2017-01-23

We carry out a theoretical study on optical bistability of near field intensity and transmittance in two-dimensional nonlinear composite slab. This kind of 2D composite is composed of nonlocal metal/Kerr-type dielectric core-shell inclusions randomly embedded in the host medium, and we derivate the nonlinear relation between the field intensity in the shell of inclusions and the incident field intensity with self-consistent mean field approximation. Numerical demonstration has been performed to show the viable parameter space for the bistable near field. We show that nonlocality can provide broader region in geometric parameter space for bistable near field as well as bistable transmittance of the nonlocal composite slab compared to local case. Furthermore, we investigate the bistable transmittance in wavelength spectrum, and find that besides the input intensity, the wavelength operation could as well make the transmittance jump from a high value to a low one. This kind of self-tunable nano-composite slab might have potential application in optical switching devices.

Thermodynamically consistent coarse graining of biocatalysts beyond Michaelis–Menten

Science.gov (United States)

Wachtel, Artur; Rao, Riccardo; Esposito, Massimiliano

2018-04-01

Starting from the detailed catalytic mechanism of a biocatalyst we provide a coarse-graining procedure which, by construction, is thermodynamically consistent. This procedure provides stoichiometries, reaction fluxes (rate laws), and reaction forces (Gibbs energies of reaction) for the coarse-grained level. It can treat active transporters and molecular machines, and thus extends the applicability of ideas that originated in enzyme kinetics. Our results lay the foundations for systematic studies of the thermodynamics of large-scale biochemical reaction networks. Moreover, we identify the conditions under which a relation between one-way fluxes and forces holds at the coarse-grained level as it holds at the detailed level. In doing so, we clarify the speculations and broad claims made in the literature about such a general flux–force relation. As a further consequence we show that, in contrast to common belief, the second law of thermodynamics does not require the currents and the forces of biochemical reaction networks to be always aligned.

Evaluation of potential blanket concepts for a Demonstration Tokamak Hybrid Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chapin, D.L.; Chi, J.W.H.; Kelly, J.L.

1978-01-01

An evaluation has been made of several different blanket concepts for use in a near-term Demonstration Tokamak Hybrid Reactor (DTHR), whose main objective would be to produce a significant amount of fissile fuel while demonstrating the feasibility of the tokamak hybrid reactor concept. The desirability of a simple design using proven technology plus a proliferation resistant fuel cycle led to the selection of a low temperature and pressure water-cooled, zircaloy clad ThO 2 blanket concept to breed 233 U. The nuclear performance and thermal-hydraulics characteristics of the blanket were evaluated to arrive at a consistent design. The blanket was found to be feasible for producing a significant amount of fissile fuel even with the limited operating conditions and blanket coverage in the DTHR

Rocky Flats Plant precipitate sludge surrogate vitrification demonstration. Technical Task Plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cicero, C.A.; Bickford, D.F.; Bennert, D.M.; Overcamp, T.J.

1994-01-01

Technologies are being developed by the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Nuclear Facility sites to convert hazardous and mixed wastes to a form suitable for permanent disposal. The preferred disposal method would be one that is capable of consistently producing a durable leach resistant wasteform, while simultaneously minimizing disposal volumes. Vitrification, which has been declared the Best Demonstrated Available Technology (BDAT) for high-level radioactive waste disposal by the EPA, is capable of producing a highly durable wasteform that minimizes disposal volumes through organic destruction, moisture evaporation, and porosity reduction. However, this technology must be demonstrated over a range of waste characteristics, including compositions, chemistries, moistures, and physical characteristics to ensure that it is suitable for hazardous and mixed waste treatment

Neuroimaging studies of word and pseudoword reading: consistencies, inconsistencies, and limitations.

Science.gov (United States)

Mechelli, Andrea; Gorno-Tempini, Maria Luisa; Price, Cathy J

2003-02-15

Several functional neuroimaging studies have compared words and pseudowords to test different cognitive models of reading. There are difficulties with this approach, however, because cognitive models do not make clear-cut predictions at the neural level. Therefore, results can only be interpreted on the basis of prior knowledge of cognitive anatomy. Furthermore, studies comparing words and pseudowords have produced inconsistent results. The inconsistencies could reflect false-positive results due to the low statistical thresholds applied or confounds from nonlexical aspects of the stimuli. Alternatively, they may reflect true effects that are inconsistent across subjects; dependent on experimental parameters such as stimulus rate or duration; or not replicated across studies because of insufficient statistical power. In this fMRI study, we investigate consistent and inconsistent differences between word and pseudoword reading in 20 subjects, and distinguish between effects associated with increases and decreases in activity relative to fixation. In addition, the interaction of word type with stimulus duration is explored. We find that words and pseudowords activate the same set of regions relative to fixation, and within this system, there is greater activation for pseudowords than words in the left frontal operculum, left posterior inferior temporal gyrus, and the right cerebellum. The only effects of words relative to pseudowords consistent over subjects are due to decreases in activity for pseudowords relative to fixation; and there are no significant interactions between word type and stimulus duration. Finally, we observe inconsistent but highly significant effects of word type at the individual subject level. These results (i) illustrate that pseudowords place increased demands on areas that have previously been linked to lexical retrieval, and (ii) highlight the importance of including one or more baselines to qualify word type effects. Furthermore, (iii

Manitoba plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) demonstration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoemsen, R. [Red River College, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Parsons, R. [Government of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB (Canada). Centre for Emerging Renewable Energy

2010-07-01

Manitoba has low electricity rates, the highest proportion of renewables, and a legislated commitment to reduce greenhouse gases. However, the province still relies heavily on oil as everyone else. The mix of energy opportunities in Manitoba were highlighted in this presentation, with particular reference to the commercialization of electric vehicles. Several photographs were presented of the Toyota plug-in hybrid vehicle and a plug-in hybrid electric demonstration vehicle. A demonstration project overview was offered that used technology from A123 Systems Inc. The conversion module and vehicle users were profiled. Topics that were presented related to the demonstration project included monitoring; gasoline fuel economy results; fuel economy variability; cold weather operation; cold weather issues; battery upgrade solutions; and highly qualified personnel. It was concluded that in terms of follow-up, there is a need to combine findings of current plug-in hybrid electric vehicle demonstration with those for the new Toyota production plug-in hybrid vehicles. Key next steps for the demonstration are to address cabin heating requirements; better characterizing winter performance; and implementation of IPLC units on all plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for electricity consumption. figs.

Demonstration of entanglement assisted invariance on IBM's quantum experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Deffner, Sebastian

2017-11-01

Quantum entanglement is among the most fundamental, yet from classical intuition also most surprising properties of the fully quantum nature of physical reality. We report several experiments performed on IBM's Quantum Experience demonstrating envariance - entanglement assisted invariance. Envariance is a recently discovered symmetry of composite quantum systems, which is at the foundational origin of physics and a quantum phenomenon of pure states. These very easily reproducible and freely accessible experiments on Quantum Experience provide simple tools to study the properties of envariance, and we illustrate this for several cases with "quantum universes" consisting of up to five qubits.

Personalized recommendation based on unbiased consistence

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xuzhen; Tian, Hui; Zhang, Ping; Hu, Zheng; Zhou, Tao

2015-08-01

Recently, in physical dynamics, mass-diffusion-based recommendation algorithms on bipartite network provide an efficient solution by automatically pushing possible relevant items to users according to their past preferences. However, traditional mass-diffusion-based algorithms just focus on unidirectional mass diffusion from objects having been collected to those which should be recommended, resulting in a biased causal similarity estimation and not-so-good performance. In this letter, we argue that in many cases, a user's interests are stable, and thus bidirectional mass diffusion abilities, no matter originated from objects having been collected or from those which should be recommended, should be consistently powerful, showing unbiased consistence. We further propose a consistence-based mass diffusion algorithm via bidirectional diffusion against biased causality, outperforming the state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms in disparate real data sets, including Netflix, MovieLens, Amazon and Rate Your Music.

Study of Experiment on Rock-like Material Consist of fly-ash, Cement and Mortar

Science.gov (United States)

Nan, Qin; Hongwei, Wang; Yongyan, Wang

2018-03-01

Study the uniaxial compression test of rock-like material consist of coal ash, cement and mortar by changing the sand cement ratio, replace of fine coal, grain diameter, water-binder ratio and height-diameter ratio. We get the law of four factors above to rock-like material’s uniaxial compression characteristics and the quantitative relation. The effect law can be sum up as below: sample’s uniaxial compressive strength and elasticity modulus tend to decrease with the increase of sand cement ratio, replace of fine coal and water-binder ratio, and it satisfies with power function relation. With high ratio increases gradually, the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus is lower, and presents the inverse function curve; Specimen tensile strength decreases gradually with the increase of fly ash. By contrast, uniaxial compression failure phenomenon is consistent with the real rock common failure pattern.

Self-consistent treatment of nuclear collective motion with an application to the giant-dipole resonance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liran, S.; Technion-Israel Inst. of Tech., Haifa. Dept. of Physics)

1977-01-01

This paper extends the recent theory of Liran, Scheefer, Scheid and Greiner on non-adiabatic cranking and nuclear collective motion. In the present work we show the self-consistency conditions for the collective motion, which are indicated by appropriate time-dependent Lagrange multipliers, can be treated explicitly. The energy conservation and the self-consistency condition in the case of one collective degree of freedom are expressed in differential form. This leads to a set of coupled differential equations in time for the many-body wave function, for the collective variable and for the Lagrange multiplier. An iteration procedure similar to that of the previous work is also presented. As an illustrative example, we investigate Brink's single-particle description of the giant-dipole resonance. In this case, the important role played by non-adiabaticity and self-consistency in determining the collective motion is demonstrated and discussed. We also consider the fact that in this example of a fast collective motion, the adiabatic cranking model of Inglis gives the correct mass parameter. (orig.) [de

Dioecy does not consistently accelerate or slow lineage diversification across multiple genera of angiosperms.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabath, Niv; Goldberg, Emma E; Glick, Lior; Einhorn, Moshe; Ashman, Tia-Lynn; Ming, Ray; Otto, Sarah P; Vamosi, Jana C; Mayrose, Itay

2016-02-01

Dioecy, the sexual system in which male and female organs are found in separate individuals, allows greater specialization for sex-specific functions and can be advantageous under various ecological and environmental conditions. However, dioecy is rare among flowering plants. Previous studies identified contradictory trends regarding the relative diversification rates of dioecious lineages vs their nondioecious counterparts, depending on the methods and data used. We gathered detailed species-level data for dozens of genera that contain both dioecious and nondioecious species. We then applied a probabilistic approach that accounts for differential speciation, extinction, and transition rates between states to examine whether there is an association between dioecy and lineage diversification. We found a bimodal distribution, whereby dioecious lineages exhibited higher diversification in certain genera but lower diversification in others. Additional analyses did not uncover an ecological or life history trait that could explain a context-dependent effect of dioecy on diversification. Furthermore, in-depth simulations of neutral characters demonstrated that such bimodality is also found when simulating neutral characters across the observed trees. Our analyses suggest that - at least for these genera with the currently available data - dioecy neither consistently places a strong brake on diversification nor is a strong driver. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

Self-consistency in Capital Markets

Science.gov (United States)

Benbrahim, Hamid

2013-03-01

Capital Markets are considered, at least in theory, information engines whereby traders contribute to price formation with their diverse perspectives. Regardless whether one believes in efficient market theory on not, actions by individual traders influence prices of securities, which in turn influence actions by other traders. This influence is exerted through a number of mechanisms including portfolio balancing, margin maintenance, trend following, and sentiment. As a result market behaviors emerge from a number of mechanisms ranging from self-consistency due to wisdom of the crowds and self-fulfilling prophecies, to more chaotic behavior resulting from dynamics similar to the three body system, namely the interplay between equities, options, and futures. This talk will address questions and findings regarding the search for self-consistency in capital markets.

TU-FG-209-05: Demonstration of the Line Focus Principle Using the Generalized Measured-Relative Object Detectability (GM-ROD) Metric

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Russ, M; Shankar, A; Lau, A; Bednarek, D; Rudin, S [University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, NY (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: Demonstrate and quantify the augmented resolution due to focalspot size decrease in images acquired on the anode side of the field, for both small and medium (0.3 and 0.6mm) focal-spot sizes using the experimental task-based GM-ROD metric. Theoretical calculations have shown that a medium focal-spot can achieve the resolution of a small focal-spot if acquired with a tilted anode, effectively providing a higher-output small focal-spot. Methods: The MAF-CMOS (micro-angiographic fluoroscopic complementary-metal-oxide semiconductor) detector (75µm pixel pitch) imaged two copper wire segments of different diameter and a pipeline stent at the central axis and on the anode side of the beam, achieved by tilting the x-ray C-arm (Toshiba Infinix) to 6° and realigning the detector with the perpendicular ray to correct for x-ray obliquity. The relative gain in resolution was determined using the GM-ROD metric, which compares images on the basis of the Fourier transform of the image and the measured NNPS. To emphasize the geometric unsharpness, images were acquired at a magnification of two. Results: Images acquired on the anode side were compared to those acquired on the central axis with the same target-area focal-spot to consider the effect of an angled tube, and for all three objects the advantage of the smaller effective focal-spot was clear, showing a maximum improvement of 36% in GM-ROD. The images obtained with the small focal-spot at the central axis were compared to those of the medium focal-spot at the anode side and, for all objects, the relative performance was comparable. Conclusion: For three objects, the GM-ROD demonstrated the advantage of the anode side focal-spot. The comparable performance of the medium focal-spot on the anode side will allow for a high-output small focal-spot; a necessity in endovascular image-guided interventions. Partial support from an NIH grant R01EB002873 and an equipment grant from Toshiba Medical Systems Corp.

TU-FG-209-05: Demonstration of the Line Focus Principle Using the Generalized Measured-Relative Object Detectability (GM-ROD) Metric

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russ, M; Shankar, A; Lau, A; Bednarek, D; Rudin, S

2016-01-01

Purpose: Demonstrate and quantify the augmented resolution due to focalspot size decrease in images acquired on the anode side of the field, for both small and medium (0.3 and 0.6mm) focal-spot sizes using the experimental task-based GM-ROD metric. Theoretical calculations have shown that a medium focal-spot can achieve the resolution of a small focal-spot if acquired with a tilted anode, effectively providing a higher-output small focal-spot. Methods: The MAF-CMOS (micro-angiographic fluoroscopic complementary-metal-oxide semiconductor) detector (75µm pixel pitch) imaged two copper wire segments of different diameter and a pipeline stent at the central axis and on the anode side of the beam, achieved by tilting the x-ray C-arm (Toshiba Infinix) to 6° and realigning the detector with the perpendicular ray to correct for x-ray obliquity. The relative gain in resolution was determined using the GM-ROD metric, which compares images on the basis of the Fourier transform of the image and the measured NNPS. To emphasize the geometric unsharpness, images were acquired at a magnification of two. Results: Images acquired on the anode side were compared to those acquired on the central axis with the same target-area focal-spot to consider the effect of an angled tube, and for all three objects the advantage of the smaller effective focal-spot was clear, showing a maximum improvement of 36% in GM-ROD. The images obtained with the small focal-spot at the central axis were compared to those of the medium focal-spot at the anode side and, for all objects, the relative performance was comparable. Conclusion: For three objects, the GM-ROD demonstrated the advantage of the anode side focal-spot. The comparable performance of the medium focal-spot on the anode side will allow for a high-output small focal-spot; a necessity in endovascular image-guided interventions. Partial support from an NIH grant R01EB002873 and an equipment grant from Toshiba Medical Systems Corp.

Fluids Demonstrations: Trailing Vortices, Plateau Border, Angle of Repose, and Flow Instability

Science.gov (United States)

Shakerin, Said

2018-04-01

Demonstrations of physics phenomena via relatively simple devices and toys have been around for a long time. Because of the pedagogical value of demonstrations, this journal and other periodicals have published papers on the subject of classroom demonstrations including those related to fluid mechanics. Four new, low-cost apparatuses that demonstrate a variety of fluid mechanics phenomena are presented in this paper. The apparatuses are self-contained, instantly set up, require no electric power for operation, and are maintenance free. They can be used as demonstration tools to enhance classroom lectures and outreach activities. Alternatively, these apparatuses can be assigned as projects for students to construct and test. Further involvement, from an aesthetic point of view, might be to construct variations of them as decorative objects by collaborating with students/teachers in visual arts. Features of the apparatuses are presented first, followed by notes on fabrication to enable interested readers to replicate them.

Microwave SQUID multiplexer demonstration for cosmic microwave background imagers

Science.gov (United States)

Dober, B.; Becker, D. T.; Bennett, D. A.; Bryan, S. A.; Duff, S. M.; Gard, J. D.; Hays-Wehle, J. P.; Hilton, G. C.; Hubmayr, J.; Mates, J. A. B.; Reintsema, C. D.; Vale, L. R.; Ullom, J. N.

2017-12-01

Key performance characteristics are demonstrated for the microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer (μmux) coupled to transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers that have been optimized for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. In a 64-channel demonstration, we show that the μmux produces a white, input referred current noise level of 29 pA/ √{H z } at a microwave probe tone power of -77 dB, which is well below the expected fundamental detector and photon noise sources for a ground-based CMB-optimized bolometer. Operated with negligible photon loading, we measure 98 pA/ √{H z } in the TES-coupled channels biased at 65% of the sensor normal resistance. This noise level is consistent with that predicted from bolometer thermal fluctuation (i.e., phonon) noise. Furthermore, the power spectral density is white over a range of frequencies down to ˜100 mHz, which enables CMB mapping on large angular scales that constrain the physics of inflation. Additionally, we report cross-talk measurements that indicate a level below 0.3%, which is less than the level of cross-talk from multiplexed readout systems in deployed CMB imagers. These measurements demonstrate the μmux as a viable readout technique for future CMB imaging instruments.

The WIPP transportation system: Demonstrated readiness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ward, T.R.; Spooner, R.

1991-01-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has developed an integrated transportation system to transport transuranic (TRU) waste from ten widely-dispersed generator sites to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The system consists of a Type B container, a specially- designed trailer, a lightweight tractor, the DOE ''TRANSCOM'' vehicle tracking system, and uniquely qualified and highly-trained drivers. In June of 1989, the National Academy of Sciences reviewed the transportation system and concluded that: ''The system proposed for transportation of TRU waste to WIPP is safer than that employed for any other hazardous material in the United States today and will reduce risk to very low levels'' (emphasis added). The next challenge facing the DOE was demonstrating that this system was ready to transport the TRU waste to the WIPP site efficiently and in the safest manner possible. Not only did the DOE feel that is was necessary to convince itself that the system was safe, but also representatives of the 20 states through which it would travel

The WIPP transportation system: Demonstrated readiness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ward, T.R.; Spooner, R.

1991-01-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) has developed an integrated transportation system to transport transuranic (TRU) waste from ten widely-dispersed generator sites to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The system consists of a Type B container, a specially-designed trailer, a lightweight tractor, the DOE ''TRANSCOM'' vehicle tracing system, and uniquely qualified and highly-trained drivers. In June of 1989, the National Academy of Sciences reviewed the transportation system and concluded that: ''The system proposed for transportation of TRU waste to WIPP is safer than that employed for any other hazardous material in the United States today and will reduce risk to very low levels.'' The next challenge facing the DOE was demonstrating that this system was ready to transport the TRU waste to the WIPP site in the safest manner possible. Not only did the DOE feel that it was necessary to convince itself that the system was safe, but also representatives of the 23 states through which it traveled

Hubbard-U corrected Hamiltonians for non-self-consistent random-phase approximation total-energy calculations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Patrick, Christopher; Thygesen, Kristian Sommer

2016-01-01

In non-self-consistent calculations of the total energy within the random-phase approximation (RPA) for electronic correlation, it is necessary to choose a single-particle Hamiltonian whose solutions are used to construct the electronic density and noninteracting response function. Here we...... investigate the effect of including a Hubbard-U term in this single-particle Hamiltonian, to better describe the on-site correlation of 3d electrons in the transitionmetal compounds ZnS, TiO2, and NiO.We find that the RPA lattice constants are essentially independent of U, despite large changes...... in the underlying electronic structure. We further demonstrate that the non-selfconsistent RPA total energies of these materials have minima at nonzero U. Our RPA calculations find the rutile phase of TiO2 to be more stable than anatase independent of U, a result which is consistent with experiments...

Time-Consistent and Market-Consistent Evaluations (Revised version of CentER DP 2011-063)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pelsser, A.; Stadje, M.A.

2012-01-01

Abstract: We consider evaluation methods for payoffs with an inherent financial risk as encountered for instance for portfolios held by pension funds and insurance companies. Pricing such payoffs in a way consistent to market prices typically involves combining actuarial techniques with methods from

Consistency between GRUAN sondes, LBLRTM and IASI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

X. Calbet

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Radiosonde soundings from the GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN data record are shown to be consistent with Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Instrument (IASI-measured radiances via LBLRTM (Line-By-Line Radiative Transfer Model in the part of the spectrum that is mostly affected by water vapour absorption in the upper troposphere (from 700 hPa up. This result is key for climate data records, since GRUAN, IASI and LBLRTM constitute reference measurements or a reference radiative transfer model in each of their fields. This is specially the case for night-time radiosonde measurements. Although the sample size is small (16 cases, daytime GRUAN radiosonde measurements seem to have a small dry bias of 2.5 % in absolute terms of relative humidity, located mainly in the upper troposphere, with respect to LBLRTM and IASI. Full metrological closure is not yet possible and will not be until collocation uncertainties are better characterized and a full uncertainty covariance matrix is clarified for GRUAN.

The Majorana Demonstrator: A search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of germanium-76

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, S. R.; Abgrall, N.; Aguayo, E.; Avignone, F. T., III; Barabash, A. S.; Bertrand, F. E.; Boswell, M.; Brudanin, V.; Busch, M.; Caldwell, A. S.; Chan, Y.-D.; Christofferson, C. D.; Combs, D. C.; Detwiler, J. A.; Doe, P. J.; Efremenko, Yu.; Egorov, V.; Ejiri, H.; Esterline, J.; Fast, J. E.; Finnerty, P.; Fraenkle, F. M.; Galindo-Uribarri, A.; Giovanetti, G. K.; Goett, J.; Green, M. P.; Gruszko, J.; Guiseppe, V. E.; Gusev, K.; Hallin, A. L.; Hazama, R.; Hegai, A.; Henning, R.; Hoppe, E. W.; Howard, S.; Howe, M. A.; Keeter, K. J.; Kidd, M. F.; Kochetov, O.; Konovalov, S. I.; Kouzes, R. T.; LaFerriere, B. D.; Leon, J.; Leviner, L. E.; Loach, J. C.; MacMullin, S.; Martin, R. D.; Mertens, S.; Mizouni, L.; Nomachi, M.; Orrell, J. L.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Overman, N. R.; Phillips, D. G., II; Poon, A. W. P.; Pushkin, K.; Radford, D. C.; Rielage, K.; Robertson, R. G. H.; Ronquest, M. C.; Schubert, A. G.; Shanks, B.; Shima, T.; Shirchenko, M.; Snavely, K. J.; Snyder, N.; Soin, A.; Strain, J.; Suriano, A. M.; Timkin, V.; Tornow, W.; Varner, R. L.; Vasilyev, S.; Vetter, K.; Vorren, K.; White, B. R.; Wilkerson, J. F.; Xu, W.; Yakushev, E.; Young, A. R.; Yu, C.-H.; Yumatov, V.

2013-12-01

The Majorana collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double beta decay using 76Ge, which has been shown to have a number of advantages in terms of sensitivities and backgrounds. The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would show that lepton number is violated and that neutrinos are Majorana particles and would simultaneously provide information on neutrino mass. Attaining sensitivities for neutrino masses in the inverted hierarchy region, 15 - 50 meV, will require large, tonne-scale detectors with extremely low backgrounds, at the level of ˜1 count/t-y or lower in the region of the signal. The Majorana collaboration, with funding support from DOE Office of Nuclear Physics and NSF Particle Astrophysics, is constructing the Demonstrator, an array consisting of 40 kg of p-type point-contact high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors, of which ˜30 kg will be enriched to 87% in 76Ge. The Demonstrator is being constructed in a clean room laboratory facility at the 4850' level (4300 m.w.e.) of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. It utilizes a compact graded shield approach with the inner portion consisting of ultra-clean Cu that is being electroformed and machined underground. The primary aim of the Demonstrator is to show the feasibility of a future tonne-scale measurement in terms of backgrounds and scalability.

Motivational study for an hybrid demonstrator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boidron, M.; Fiorini, G.L.; Thomas, J.B.

2001-02-01

This document recalls first the role of hybrid accelerator driven systems (ADS) in the domain of transmutation of long-lived fission products and minor actinides. It presents the specific contribution of these systems in the management of radioactive wastes and their technical feasibility and safety aspects. Then, follows a motivational analysis for the construction of a demonstration facility with its specifications and R and D needs: feasibility, schedule, links with other ADS-related programs, cost, international cooperation, recommendations. (J.S.)

Decentralized Consistency Checking in Cross-organizational Workflows

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wombacher, Andreas

Service Oriented Architectures facilitate loosely coupled composed services, which are established in a decentralized way. One challenge for such composed services is to guarantee consistency, i.e., deadlock-freeness. This paper presents a decentralized approach to consistency checking, which

Adult age differences in memory for schema-consistent and schema-inconsistent objects in a real-world setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Prull, Matthew W

2015-01-01

The present study examined age-related differences in the inconsistency effect, in which memory is enhanced for schema-inconsistent information compared to schema-consistent information. Young and older adults studied schema-consistent and schema-inconsistent objects in an academic office under either intentional or incidental encoding instructions, and were given two recognition tests either immediately or after 48 hr: A yes/no item recognition test that included modified remember/know judgments and a token recognition test that required determining whether an original object was replaced with a different object with the same name. Young and older adults showed equivalent inconsistency effects in both item and token recognition tests, although older adults reported phenomenologically less rich memories of schema-inconsistent objects relative to young adults. These findings run counter to previous reports suggesting that aging is associated with processing declines at encoding that impair memory for details of schema-inconsistent or distinctive events. The results are consistent with a retrieval-based account in which age-related difficulties in retrieving contextual details can be offset by environmental support.

Will the consistent organic food consumer step forward?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juhl, Hans Jørn; Fenger, Morten H. J.; Thøgersen, John

2017-01-01

registered transactions over 20 months from 8,704 randomly selected customers with a loyalty card are analyzed using a hidden Markov model, capturing the dynamics in consumers’ purchases. The model identifies latent states representing identifiable, accessible, and actionable dynamic customer segments...... and it captures the movements between states or segments. A pattern emerges which is consistent with the theory of behavioral spillover and inconsistent with the theory of moral licensing, including a tendency to buy organic products in an increasing number of product categories over time. The order in which...... organic products are adopted is inversely related to the behavioral costs of adopting them. The employed approach provides a firm basis for personalized communication aiming to increase cross-selling of organic products, increase the sale of less popular organic products, and to accelerate movements from...

A Simple Approach for Demonstrating Soil Water Retention and Field Capacity

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, A.; Heitman, J. L.; Bowman, D.

2010-01-01

It is difficult to demonstrate the soil water retention relationship and related concepts because the specialized equipment required for performing these measurements is unavailable in most classrooms. This article outlines a low-cost, easily visualized method by which these concepts can be demonstrated in most any classroom. Columns (62.5 cm…

Electrodynamic Dust Shield Demonstrator

Science.gov (United States)

Stankie, Charles G.

2013-01-01

The objective of the project was to design and manufacture a device to demonstrate a new technology developed by NASA's Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory. The technology itself is a system which uses magnetic principles to remove regolith dust from its surface. This project was to create an enclosure that will be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the invention to The Office of the Chief Technologist. ONE of the most important challenges of space exploration is actually caused by something very small and seemingly insignificant. Dust in space, most notably on the moon and Mars, has caused many unforeseen issues. Dirt and dust on Earth, while a nuisance, can be easily cleaned and kept at bay. However, there is considerably less weathering and erosion in space. As a result, the microscopic particles are extremely rough and abrasive. They are also electrostatically charged, so they cling to everything they make contact with. This was first noted to be a major problem during the Apollo missions. Dust would stick to the spacesuits, and could not be wiped off as predicted. Dust was brought back into the spacecraft, and was even inhaled by astronauts. This is a major health hazard. Atmospheric storms and other events can also cause dust to coat surfaces of spacecraft. This can cause abrasive damage to the craft. The coating can also reduce the effectiveness of thermal insulation and solar panels.' A group of engineers at Kennedy Space Center's Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory have developed a new technology, called the Electrodynamic Dust Shield, to help alleviate these problems. It is based off of the electric curtain concept developed at NASA in 1967. "The EDS is an active dust mitigation technology that uses traveling electric fields to transport electrostatically charged dust particles along surfaces. To generate the traveling electric fields, the EDS consists of a multilayer dielectric coating with an embedded thin electrode grid

DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION OF AN ULTRA LOW NOx COMBUSTOR FOR GAS TURBINES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NEIL K. MCDOUGALD

2005-04-30

Alzeta Corporation has developed surface-stabilized fuel injectors for use with lean premixed combustors which provide extended turndown and ultra-low NOX emission performance. These injectors use a patented technique to form interacting radiant and blue-flame zones immediately above a selectively-perforated porous metal surface. This allows stable operation at low reaction temperatures. This technology is being commercialized under the product name nanoSTAR. Initial tests demonstrated low NOX emissions but, were limited by flashback failure of the injectors. The weld seams required to form cylindrical injectors from flat sheet material were identified as the cause of the failures. The approach for this project was to first develop new fabrication methods to produce injectors without weld seams, verify similar emissions performance to the original flat sheet material and then develop products for microturbines and small gas turbines along parallel development paths. A 37 month project was completed to develop and test a surface stabilized combustion system for gas turbine applications. New fabrication techniques developed removed a technological barrier to the success of the product by elimination of conductive weld seams from the injector surface. The injectors demonstrated ultra low emissions in rig tests conducted under gas turbine operating conditions. The ability for injectors to share a common combustion chamber allowing for deployment in annular combustion liner was also demonstrated. Some further development is required to resolve integration issues related to specific engine constraints, but the nanoSTAR technology has clearly demonstrated its low emissions potential. The overall project conclusions can be summarized: (1) A wet-laid casting method successfully eliminated weld seams from the injector surface without degrading performance. (2) Gas turbine cycle analysis identified several injector designs and control schemes to start and load engines using

Quasiparticle self-consistent GW method: a short summary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotani, Takao; Schilfgaarde, Mark van; Faleev, Sergey V; Chantis, Athanasios

2007-01-01

We have developed a quasiparticle self-consistent GW method (QSGW), which is a new self-consistent method to calculate the electronic structure within the GW approximation. The method is formulated based on the idea of a self-consistent perturbation; the non-interacting Green function G 0 , which is the starting point for GWA to obtain G, is determined self-consistently so as to minimize the perturbative correction generated by GWA. After self-consistency is attained, we have G 0 , W (the screened Coulomb interaction) and G self-consistently. This G 0 can be interpreted as the optimum non-interacting propagator for the quasiparticles. We will summarize some theoretical discussions to justify QSGW. Then we will survey results which have been obtained up to now: e.g., band gaps for normal semiconductors are predicted to a precision of 0.1-0.3 eV; the self-consistency including the off-diagonal part is required for NiO and MnO; and so on. There are still some remaining disagreements with experiments; however, they are very systematic, and can be explained from the neglect of excitonic effects

Generalized contexts and consistent histories in quantum mechanics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Losada, Marcelo; Laura, Roberto

2014-01-01

We analyze a restriction of the theory of consistent histories by imposing that a valid description of a physical system must include quantum histories which satisfy the consistency conditions for all states. We prove that these conditions are equivalent to imposing the compatibility conditions of our formalism of generalized contexts. Moreover, we show that the theory of consistent histories with the consistency conditions for all states and the formalism of generalized context are equally useful representing expressions which involve properties at different times

Checking Consistency of Pedigree Information is NP-complete

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aceto, Luca; Hansen, Jens A.; Ingolfsdottir, Anna

Consistency checking is a fundamental computational problem in genetics. Given a pedigree and information on the genotypes of some of the individuals in it, the aim of consistency checking is to determine whether these data are consistent with the classic Mendelian laws of inheritance. This probl...

Advanced Demonstration and Test Reactor Options Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Petti, David Andrew [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Hill, R. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Gehin, J. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Gougar, Hans David [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Strydom, Gerhard [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Heidet, F. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Kinsey, J. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Grandy, Christopher [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Qualls, A. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Brown, Nicholas [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Powers, J. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Hoffman, E. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Croson, D. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2017-01-01

Global efforts to address climate change will require large-scale decarbonization of energy production in the United States and elsewhere. Nuclear power already provides 20% of electricity production in the United States (U.S.) and is increasing in countries undergoing rapid growth around the world. Because reliable, grid-stabilizing, low emission electricity generation, energy security, and energy resource diversity will be increasingly valued, nuclear power’s share of electricity production has a potential to grow. In addition, there are non electricity applications (e.g., process heat, desalination, hydrogen production) that could be better served by advanced nuclear systems. Thus, the timely development, demonstration, and commercialization of advanced nuclear reactors could diversify the nuclear technologies available and offer attractive technology options to expand the impact of nuclear energy for electricity generation and non-electricity missions. The purpose of this planning study is to provide transparent and defensible technology options for a test and/or demonstration reactor(s) to be built to support public policy, innovation and long term commercialization within the context of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) broader commitment to pursuing an “all of the above” clean energy strategy and associated time lines. This planning study includes identification of the key features and timing needed for advanced test or demonstration reactors to support research, development, and technology demonstration leading to the commercialization of power plants built upon these advanced reactor platforms. This planning study is consistent with the Congressional language contained within the fiscal year 2015 appropriation that directed the DOE to conduct a planning study to evaluate “advanced reactor technology options, capabilities, and requirements within the context of national needs and public policy to support innovation in nuclear energy�

Advanced Demonstration and Test Reactor Options Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petti, David Andrew; Hill, R.; Gehin, J.; Gougar, Hans David; Strydom, Gerhard; Heidet, F.; Kinsey, J.; Grandy, Christopher; Qualls, A.; Brown, Nicholas; Powers, J.; Hoffman, E.; Croson, D.

2017-01-01

Global efforts to address climate change will require large-scale decarbonization of energy production in the United States and elsewhere. Nuclear power already provides 20% of electricity production in the United States (U.S.) and is increasing in countries undergoing rapid growth around the world. Because reliable, grid-stabilizing, low emission electricity generation, energy security, and energy resource diversity will be increasingly valued, nuclear power's share of electricity production has a potential to grow. In addition, there are non electricity applications (e.g., process heat, desalination, hydrogen production) that could be better served by advanced nuclear systems. Thus, the timely development, demonstration, and commercialization of advanced nuclear reactors could diversify the nuclear technologies available and offer attractive technology options to expand the impact of nuclear energy for electricity generation and non-electricity missions. The purpose of this planning study is to provide transparent and defensible technology options for a test and/or demonstration reactor(s) to be built to support public policy, innovation and long term commercialization within the context of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) broader commitment to pursuing an 'all of the above' clean energy strategy and associated time lines. This planning study includes identification of the key features and timing needed for advanced test or demonstration reactors to support research, development, and technology demonstration leading to the commercialization of power plants built upon these advanced reactor platforms. This planning study is consistent with the Congressional language contained within the fiscal year 2015 appropriation that directed the DOE to conduct a planning study to evaluate 'advanced reactor technology options, capabilities, and requirements within the context of national needs and public policy to support innovation in nuclear energy'. Advanced reactors are

Examination of the consistency and accuracy of computerized brachytherapy dose predictions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tolbert, D.D.; Reed, S.A.

1981-01-01

Four brachytherapy test cases were sent to representatives of commercial and non-commercial, computerized radiation oncology treatment planning systems. Four commercial systems are represented herein. The non-commercial, state-of-the-art systems represented are (in alphabetical order) BRACHY, ISODOS and RADCOMP. Mutual comparisons were made to examine consistency and a comparison with experimental measurements around a single source was made to examine accuracy. The systems represented are most consistent within 5 cm from the center of a single source, and within rays from the center making angles of greater than or equal to 20 0 relative to the source axis. Taking into account tissue absorption and scatter, the spatial uncertainty in the location of a particular isodose rate value is less than or equal to 0.7 mm for commercial systems and less than or equal to 0.5 mm for non-commercial systems

A self-consistency check for unitary propagation of Hawking quanta

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Daniel; Kodwani, Darsh; Pen, Ue-Li; Yang, I.-Sheng

2017-11-01

The black hole information paradox presumes that quantum field theory in curved space-time can provide unitary propagation from a near-horizon mode to an asymptotic Hawking quantum. Instead of invoking conjectural quantum-gravity effects to modify such an assumption, we propose a self-consistency check. We establish an analogy to Feynman’s analysis of a double-slit experiment. Feynman showed that unitary propagation of the interfering particles, namely ignoring the entanglement with the double-slit, becomes an arbitrarily reliable assumption when the screen upon which the interference pattern is projected is infinitely far away. We argue for an analogous self-consistency check for quantum field theory in curved space-time. We apply it to the propagation of Hawking quanta and test whether ignoring the entanglement with the geometry also becomes arbitrarily reliable in the limit of a large black hole. We present curious results to suggest a negative answer, and we discuss how this loss of naive unitarity in QFT might be related to a solution of the paradox based on the soft-hair-memory effect.

Authoring Effective Demonstrations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Fu, Dan; Jensen, Randy; Salas, Eduardo; Rosen, Michael A; Ramachandran, Sowmya; Upshaw, Christin L; Hinkelman, Elizabeth; Lampton, Don

2007-01-01

... or human role-players for each training event. We report our ongoing efforts to (1) research the nature and purpose of demonstration, articulating guidelines for effective demonstration within a training context, and (2...

Factorial Validity and Internal Consistency of the Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus Soini

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to examine the construct validity and internal consistency of the Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale (MCPES. A key element of the development process of the scale was establishing a theoretical framework that integrated the dimensions of task- and ego involving climates in conjunction with autonomy, and social relatedness supporting climates. These constructs were adopted from the self-determination and achievement goal theories. A sample of Finnish Grade 9 students, comprising 2,594 girls and 1,803 boys, completed the 18-item MCPES during one physical education class. The results of the study demonstrated that participants had highest mean in task-involving climate and the lowest in autonomy climate and ego-involving climate. Additionally, autonomy, social relatedness, and task- involving climates were significantly and strongly correlated with each other, whereas the ego- involving climate had low or negligible correlations with the other climate dimensions.The construct validity of the MCPES was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. The statistical fit of the four-factor model consisting of motivational climate factors supporting perceived autonomy, social relatedness, task-involvement, and ego-involvement was satisfactory. The results of the reliability analysis showed acceptable internal consistencies for all four dimensions. The Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale can be considered as psychometrically valid tool to measure motivational climate in Finnish Grade 9 students.

Towards a unification of the hierarchical reference theory and the self-consistent Ornstein-Zernike approximation.

Science.gov (United States)

Reiner, A; Høye, J S

2005-12-01

The hierarchical reference theory and the self-consistent Ornstein-Zernike approximation are two liquid state theories that both furnish a largely satisfactory description of the critical region as well as phase coexistence and the equation of state in general. Furthermore, there are a number of similarities that suggest the possibility of a unification of both theories. As a first step towards this goal, we consider the problem of combining the lowest order gamma expansion result for the incorporation of a Fourier component of the interaction with the requirement of consistency between internal and free energies, leaving aside the compressibility relation. For simplicity, we restrict ourselves to a simplified lattice gas that is expected to display the same qualitative behavior as more elaborate models. It turns out that the analytically tractable mean spherical approximation is a solution to this problem, as are several of its generalizations. Analysis of the characteristic equations shows the potential for a practical scheme and yields necessary conditions that any closure to the Ornstein-Zernike relation must fulfill for the consistency problem to be well posed and to have a unique differentiable solution. These criteria are expected to remain valid for more general discrete and continuous systems, even if consistency with the compressibility route is also enforced where possible explicit solutions will require numerical evaluations.

The consistency effect depends on markedness in less succesful but not succesful problem solvers: An eye movement study in primary school children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Schoot, M.; Bakker Arkema, A.H.; Horsley, T.M.; van Lieshout, E.C.D.M.

2009-01-01

This study examined the effects of consistency (relational term consistent vs. inconsistent with required arithmetic operation) and markedness (relational term unmarked ['more than'] vs. marked ['less than']) on word problem solving in 10-12 years old children differing in problem-solving skill. The

The HADES demonstration and pilot project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruyn, D.de; Meynendonckx, P.; Neerdael, B.; Noynaert, L.; Voet, M.; Volckaert, G.; Bonne, A.

1988-01-01

This report deals with the activities of SCK/CEN and its subcontractors performed during the years 1986-87 in the framework of the HADES demonstration and pilot project, which is carried out in the geological Boom clay formation underlying the nuclear research establishment at Mol. This demonstration and pilot project is sponsored by the Commission of the European Communities under contract number Fl1W-004 B (B) in the framework of Part B of the CEC programme on radioactive waste management and disposal. The actions undertaken and reported here deal essentially with design and engineering activities in preparation for the construction of a test drift and of a mine-by-test directly related to this construction test and of a combined irradiation/heating test to be performed later on in this test drift. A time schedule for the various tests planned to be made in the test drift has also been worked out taking into account time and spatial dependencies

Relative Utilitarianism

OpenAIRE

DHILLON, Amrita; MERTENS, Jean-François

1993-01-01

In a framework of preferences over lotteries, we show that an axiom system consisting of weakned versions of Arrow’s axioms has a unique solution. “Relative Utilitarianism” consists of first normalizing individual von Neumann-Morgenstern utilities between 0 and 1 and then summing them.

Ultra-Clean Fischer-Tropsch Fuels Production and Demonstration Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steve Bergin

2005-10-14

The Report Abstract provides summaries of the past year's activities relating to each of the main project objectives. Some of the objectives will be expanded on in greater detail further down in the report. The following objectives have their own addition sections in the report: Dynamometer Durability Testing, the Denali Bus Fleet Demonstration, Bus Fleet Demonstrations Emissions Analysis, Impact of SFP Fuel on Engine Performance, Emissions Analysis, Feasibility Study of SFPs for Rural Alaska, and Cold Weather Testing of Ultra Clean Fuel.

Young women's consistency of contraceptive use – Does depression or stress matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Moreau, Caroline; Trussell, James; Barber, Jennifer

2013-01-01

Background We prospectively examined the influence of young women's depression and stress symptoms on their weekly consistency of contraceptive method use. Study Design Women ages 18-20 years (n=689) participating in a longitudinal cohort study completed weekly journals assessing reproductive, relationship and health characteristics. We used data through 12 months follow-up (n=8,877 journals) to examine relationships between baseline depression (CES-D) and stress (PSS-10) symptoms and consistency of contraceptive methods use with sexual activity each week. We analyzed data with random effects multinomial logistic regression. Results Consistent contraceptive use (72% of weeks) was 10-15 percentage points lower among women with moderate/severe baseline depression and stress symptoms than those without symptoms (p-valuescontraceptive consistency each week than those without symptoms, respectively (OR 0.53, CI 0.31-0.91 and OR 0.31, CI 0.18-0.52). Stress predicted inconsistent use of oral contraceptives (OR 0.27, CI 0.12-0.58), condoms (OR 0.40, CI 0.23-0.69) and withdrawal (OR 0.12, CI 0.03-0.50). Conclusion Women with depression and stress symptoms appear to be at increased risk for user-related contraceptive failures, especially for the most commonly used methods. Implications Our study has shown that young women with elevated depression and stress symptoms appear to be at risk for inconsistent contraceptive use patterns, especially for the most common methods that require greater user effort and diligence. Based upon these findings, clinicians should consider women's psychological and emotional status when helping patients with contraceptive decision-making and management. User-dependent contraceptive method efficacy is important to address in education and counseling sessions, and women with stress or depression may be ideal candidates for long-acting reversible methods, which offer highly effective options with less user-related burden. Ongoing research will

Testing the visual consistency of web sites

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Geest, Thea; Loorbach, N.R.

2005-01-01

Consistency in the visual appearance of Web pages is often checked by experts, such as designers or reviewers. This article reports a card sort study conducted to determine whether users rather than experts could distinguish visual (in-)consistency in Web elements and pages. The users proved to

Sticky continuous processes have consistent price systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bender, Christian; Pakkanen, Mikko; Sayit, Hasanjan

Under proportional transaction costs, a price process is said to have a consistent price system, if there is a semimartingale with an equivalent martingale measure that evolves within the bid-ask spread. We show that a continuous, multi-asset price process has a consistent price system, under...

The potential for intelligent decision support systems to improve the quality and consistency of medication reviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Bindoff, I; Stafford, A; Peterson, G; Kang, B H; Tenni, P

2012-08-01

Drug-related problems (DRPs) are of serious concern worldwide, particularly for the elderly who often take many medications simultaneously. Medication reviews have been demonstrated to improve medication usage, leading to reductions in DRPs and potential savings in healthcare costs. However, medication reviews are not always of a consistently high standard, and there is often room for improvement in the quality of their findings. Our aim was to produce computerized intelligent decision support software that can improve the consistency and quality of medication review reports, by helping to ensure that DRPs relevant to a patient are overlooked less frequently. A system that largely achieved this goal was previously published, but refinements have been made. This paper examines the results of both the earlier and newer systems. Two prototype multiple-classification ripple-down rules medication review systems were built, the second being a refinement of the first. Each of the systems was trained incrementally using a human medication review expert. The resultant knowledge bases were analysed and compared, showing factors such as accuracy, time taken to train, and potential errors avoided. The two systems performed well, achieving accuracies of approximately 80% and 90%, after being trained on only a small number of cases (126 and 244 cases, respectively). Through analysis of the available data, it was estimated that without the system intervening, the expert training the first prototype would have missed approximately 36% of potentially relevant DRPs, and the second 43%. However, the system appeared to prevent the majority of these potential expert errors by correctly identifying the DRPs for them, leaving only an estimated 8% error rate for the first expert and 4% for the second. These intelligent decision support systems have shown a clear potential to substantially improve the quality and consistency of medication reviews, which should in turn translate into

Image recognition and consistency of response

Science.gov (United States)

Haygood, Tamara M.; Ryan, John; Liu, Qing Mary A.; Bassett, Roland; Brennan, Patrick C.

2012-02-01

Purpose: To investigate the connection between conscious recognition of an image previously encountered in an experimental setting and consistency of response to the experimental question. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four radiologists viewed 40 frontal chest radiographs and gave their opinion as to the position of a central venous catheter. One-to-three days later they again viewed 40 frontal chest radiographs and again gave their opinion as to the position of the central venous catheter. Half of the radiographs in the second set were repeated images from the first set and half were new. The radiologists were asked of each image whether it had been included in the first set. For this study, we are evaluating only the 20 repeated images. We used the Kruskal-Wallis test and Fisher's exact test to determine the relationship between conscious recognition of a previously interpreted image and consistency in interpretation of the image. Results. There was no significant correlation between recognition of the image and consistency in response regarding the position of the central venous catheter. In fact, there was a trend in the opposite direction, with radiologists being slightly more likely to give a consistent response with respect to images they did not recognize than with respect to those they did recognize. Conclusion: Radiologists' recognition of previously-encountered images in an observer-performance study does not noticeably color their interpretation on the second encounter.

Comment on the internal consistency of thermodynamic databases supporting repository safety assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arthur, R.C.

2001-11-01

This report addresses the concept of internal consistency and its relevance to the reliability of thermodynamic databases used in repository safety assessments. In addition to being internally consistent, a reliable database should be accurate over a range of relevant temperatures and pressures, complete in the sense that all important aqueous species, gases and solid phases are represented, and traceable to original experimental results. No single definition of internal consistency need to be universally accepted as the most appropriate under all conditions, however. As a result, two databases that are each internally consistent may be inconsistent with respect to each other, and a database derived from two or more such databases must itself be internally inconsistent. The consequences of alternative definitions that are reasonably attributable to the concept of internal consistency can be illustrated with reference to the thermodynamic database supporting SKB's recent SR 97 safety assessment. This database is internally inconsistent because it includes equilibrium constants calculated over a range of temperatures: using conflicting reference values for some solids, gases and aqueous species that are common to two internally consistent databases (the OECD/NEA database for radioelements and SUPCRT databases for non-radioactive elements) that serve as source databases for the SR 97 TDB, using different definitions in these source databases of standard states for condensed phases and aqueous species, based on different mathematical expressions used in these source databases representing the temperature dependence of the heat capacity, and based on different chemical models adopted in these source databases for the aqueous phase. The importance of such inconsistencies must be considered in relation to the other database reliability criteria noted above, however. Thus, accepting a certain level of internal inconsistency in a database it is probably preferable to use a

Comment on the internal consistency of thermodynamic databases supporting repository safety assessments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arthur, R.C. [Monitor Scientific, LLC, Denver, CO (United States)

2001-11-01

This report addresses the concept of internal consistency and its relevance to the reliability of thermodynamic databases used in repository safety assessments. In addition to being internally consistent, a reliable database should be accurate over a range of relevant temperatures and pressures, complete in the sense that all important aqueous species, gases and solid phases are represented, and traceable to original experimental results. No single definition of internal consistency need to be universally accepted as the most appropriate under all conditions, however. As a result, two databases that are each internally consistent may be inconsistent with respect to each other, and a database derived from two or more such databases must itself be internally inconsistent. The consequences of alternative definitions that are reasonably attributable to the concept of internal consistency can be illustrated with reference to the thermodynamic database supporting SKB's recent SR 97 safety assessment. This database is internally inconsistent because it includes equilibrium constants calculated over a range of temperatures: using conflicting reference values for some solids, gases and aqueous species that are common to two internally consistent databases (the OECD/NEA database for radioelements and SUPCRT databases for non-radioactive elements) that serve as source databases for the SR 97 TDB, using different definitions in these source databases of standard states for condensed phases and aqueous species, based on different mathematical expressions used in these source databases representing the temperature dependence of the heat capacity, and based on different chemical models adopted in these source databases for the aqueous phase. The importance of such inconsistencies must be considered in relation to the other database reliability criteria noted above, however. Thus, accepting a certain level of internal inconsistency in a database it is probably preferable to

Problematic smartphone use: A conceptual overview and systematic review of relations with anxiety and depression psychopathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Elhai, Jon D; Dvorak, Robert D; Levine, Jason C; Hall, Brian J

2017-01-01

Research literature on problematic smartphone use, or smartphone addiction, has proliferated. However, relationships with existing categories of psychopathology are not well defined. We discuss the concept of problematic smartphone use, including possible causal pathways to such use. We conducted a systematic review of the relationship between problematic use with psychopathology. Using scholarly bibliographic databases, we screened 117 total citations, resulting in 23 peer-reviewer papers examining statistical relations between standardized measures of problematic smartphone use/use severity and the severity of psychopathology. Most papers examined problematic use in relation to depression, anxiety, chronic stress and/or low self-esteem. Across this literature, without statistically adjusting for other relevant variables, depression severity was consistently related to problematic smartphone use, demonstrating at least medium effect sizes. Anxiety was also consistently related to problem use, but with small effect sizes. Stress was somewhat consistently related, with small to medium effects. Self-esteem was inconsistently related, with small to medium effects when found. Statistically adjusting for other relevant variables yielded similar but somewhat smaller effects. We only included correlational studies in our systematic review, but address the few relevant experimental studies also. We discuss causal explanations for relationships between problem smartphone use and psychopathology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NUCLA Circulating Atmospheric Fluidized Bed Demonstration Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-02-01

The objective of this DOE Cooperative Agreement is to conduct a cost-shared clean coal technology project to demonstrate the feasibility of circulating fluidized bed combustion technology and to evaluate economic, environmental, and operational benefits of CFB steam generators on a utility scale. At the conclusion of the Phase 2 program, testing related to satisfying these objectives was completed. Data analysis and reporting are scheduled for completion by October 1991. (VC)

Geometrically Consistent Mesh Modification

KAUST Repository

Bonito, A.

2010-01-01

A new paradigm of adaptivity is to execute refinement, coarsening, and smoothing of meshes on manifolds with incomplete information about their geometry and yet preserve position and curvature accuracy. We refer to this collectively as geometrically consistent (GC) mesh modification. We discuss the concept of discrete GC, show the failure of naive approaches, and propose and analyze a simple algorithm that is GC and accuracy preserving. © 2010 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Strategy Guideline: Demonstration Home

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Savage, C.; Hunt, A.

2012-12-01

This guideline will provide a general overview of the different kinds of demonstration home projects, a basic understanding of the different roles and responsibilities involved in the successful completion of a demonstration home, and an introduction into some of the lessons learned from actual demonstration home projects. Also, this guideline will specifically look at the communication methods employed during demonstration home projects. And lastly, we will focus on how to best create a communication plan for including an energy efficient message in a demonstration home project and carry that message to successful completion.

Strategy Guideline. Demonstration Home

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hunt, A.; Savage, C.

2012-12-01

This guideline will provide a general overview of the different kinds of demonstration home projects, a basic understanding of the different roles and responsibilities involved in the successful completion of a demonstration home, and an introduction into some of the lessons learned from actual demonstration home projects. Also, this guideline will specifically look at the communication methods employed during demonstration home projects. And lastly, we will focus on how to best create a communication plan for including an energy efficient message in a demonstration home project and carry that message to successful completion.

Consistent spectroscopy for a extended gauge model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira Neto, G. de.

1990-11-01

The consistent spectroscopy was obtained with a Lagrangian constructed with vector fields with a U(1) group extended symmetry. As consistent spectroscopy is understood the determination of quantum physical properties described by the model in an manner independent from the possible parametrizations adopted in their description. (L.C.J.A.)

Consistent initial conditions for the Saint-Venant equations in river network modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C.-W. Yu

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Initial conditions for flows and depths (cross-sectional areas throughout a river network are required for any time-marching (unsteady solution of the one-dimensional (1-D hydrodynamic Saint-Venant equations. For a river network modeled with several Strahler orders of tributaries, comprehensive and consistent synoptic data are typically lacking and synthetic starting conditions are needed. Because of underlying nonlinearity, poorly defined or inconsistent initial conditions can lead to convergence problems and long spin-up times in an unsteady solver. Two new approaches are defined and demonstrated herein for computing flows and cross-sectional areas (or depths. These methods can produce an initial condition data set that is consistent with modeled landscape runoff and river geometry boundary conditions at the initial time. These new methods are (1 the pseudo time-marching method (PTM that iterates toward a steady-state initial condition using an unsteady Saint-Venant solver and (2 the steady-solution method (SSM that makes use of graph theory for initial flow rates and solution of a steady-state 1-D momentum equation for the channel cross-sectional areas. The PTM is shown to be adequate for short river reaches but is significantly slower and has occasional non-convergent behavior for large river networks. The SSM approach is shown to provide a rapid solution of consistent initial conditions for both small and large networks, albeit with the requirement that additional code must be written rather than applying an existing unsteady Saint-Venant solver.

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Regulatory criteria evaluation report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-03-01

The primary objective of the Early Site Plan Demonstration Program (ESPDP) is to demonstrate successfully the use of 10CFR52 to obtain ESPs for one or more US sites for one (or more) ALWR nuclear power plants. It is anticipated that preparation of the ESP application and interaction with NRC during the application review process will result not only in an ESP for the applicant(s) but also in the development of criteria and definition of processes, setting the precedent that facilitates ESPs for subsequent ESP applications. Because siting regulatory processes and acceptance criteria are contained in over 100 separate documents, comprehensive licensing and technical reviews were performed to establish whether the requirements and documentation are self-consistent, whether the acceptance criteria are sufficiently well-defined and clear, and whether the licensing process leading to the issuance of an ESP is unambiguously specified. This document provides appendices C and D of this report. Appendix C contains data from the licensing and technical reviews; Appendix D contains technology toolkit data sheets

Status Report of the EPA's Air Pollution Prevention & Control Division's Biomass-to Energy Development & Demonstration Projects

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Purvis, C

1996-01-01

...), is a demonstration of a design by Thermal Technology, Inc. (ITI)and Mech-Chem & Associates, Inc. that consists of a fixed-bed gasifier, a gas cleaning system, a spark ignited syngas engine, and a diesel dual fuel engine...

Self-consistent simulation studies of periodically focused intense charged-particle beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, C.; Jameson, R.A.

1995-01-01

A self-consistent two-dimensional model is used to investigate intense charged-particle beam propagation through a periodic solenoidal focusing channel, particularly in the regime in which there is a mismatch between the beam and the focusing channel. The present self-consistent studies confirm that mismatched beams exhibit nonlinear resonances and chaotic behavior in the envelope evolution, as predicted by an earlier envelope analysis [C. Chen and R. C. Davidson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2195 (1994)]. Transient effects due to emittance growth are studied, and halo formation is investigated. The halo size is estimated. The halo characteristics for a periodic focusing channel are found to be qualitatively the same as those for a uniform focusing channel. A threshold condition is obtained numerically for halo formation in mismatched beams in a uniform focusing channel, which indicates that relative envelope mismatch must be kept well below 20% to prevent space-charge-dominated beams from developing halos

Producing and Recognizing Analogical Relations

Science.gov (United States)

Lipkens, Regina; Hayes, Steven C

2009-01-01

Analogical reasoning is an important component of intelligent behavior, and a key test of any approach to human language and cognition. Only a limited amount of empirical work has been conducted from a behavior analytic point of view, most of that within Relational Frame Theory (RFT), which views analogy as a matter of deriving relations among relations. The present series of four studies expands previous work by exploring the applicability of this model of analogy to topography-based rather than merely selection-based responses and by extending the work into additional relations, including nonsymmetrical ones. In each of the four studies participants pretrained in contextual control over nonarbitrary stimulus relations of sameness and opposition, or of sameness, smaller than, and larger than, learned arbitrary stimulus relations in the presence of these relational cues and derived analogies involving directly trained relations and derived relations of mutual and combinatorial entailment, measured using a variety of productive and selection-based measures. In Experiment 1 participants successfully recognized analogies among stimulus networks containing same and opposite relations; in Experiment 2 analogy was successfully used to extend derived relations to pairs of novel stimuli; in Experiment 3 the procedure used in Experiment 1 was extended to nonsymmetrical comparative relations; in Experiment 4 the procedure used in Experiment 2 was extended to nonsymmetrical comparative relations. Although not every participant showed the effects predicted, overall the procedures occasioned relational responses consistent with an RFT account that have not yet been demonstrated in a behavior-analytic laboratory setting, including productive responding on the basis of analogies. PMID:19230515

Newberry EGS Demonstration: Phase 2.2 Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cladouhos, Trenton T. [AltaRock Energy, Seattle, WA (United States); Petty, Susan [AltaRock Energy, Seattle, WA (United States); Swyer, Mike W. [AltaRock Energy, Seattle, WA (United States); Nordin, Yini [AltaRock Energy, Seattle, WA (United States); Garrison, Geoff [AltaRock Energy, Seattle, WA (United States); Uddenberg, Matt [AltaRock Energy, Seattle, WA (United States); Grasso, Kyla [AltaRock Energy, Seattle, WA (United States); Stern, Paul [PLS Environmental, Boulder, CO (United States); Sonnenthal, Eric [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Foulger, Gillian [Foulger Consulting, Palo Alto, CA (United States); Julian, Bruce [Foulger Consulting, Palo Alto, CA (United States)

2015-07-03

The Newberry Volcano EGS Demonstration is a five year field project designed to demonstrate recent technological advances for engineered geothermal systems (EGS) development. Advances in reservoir stimulation, diverter, and monitoring are being tested in a hot (>300 ºC), dry well (NWG 55-29) drilled in 2008. In the fall of 2014, 9,500m3 (2.5 million gallons) of groundwater were injected at a maximum wellhead pressure of 195 bar (2850 psi) over 4 weeks of hydraulic stimulation. Injectivity changes, thermal profiles and seismicity indicate that fracture permeability in well NWG 55-29 was enhanced. The fifteen-station microseismic array (MSA) located 398 seismic events, ranging in magnitude from M 0 to M 2.26. The next step is to drill a production well into the EGS reservoir. Advanced analysis of the microseismic data including hand picking of first arrivals, moment tensors, relative relocations, and velocity model improvements have resulted new higher-quality microseismic catalogs. These catalogs have been combined by relative weighting and gridding of seismic densities, resulting in probability-based maps and cross-sections, which have been used to plan a production well trajectory. The microseismic locations and times were also used to develop a reservoir diffusivity model, which can be used to evaluate stimulation plans such as dual-well stimulation.

Laser experimental system as teaching aid for demonstrating basic phenomena of laser feedback

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Ling; Zhao, Shijie; Zhang, Shulian

2015-01-01

An experimental laser teaching system is developed to demonstrate laser feedback phenomena, which bring great harm to optical communication and benefits to precision measurement. The system consists of an orthogonally polarized He-Ne laser, a feedback mirror which reflects the laser output light into the laser cavity, and an optical attenuator which changes the intensity of the feedback light. As the feedback mirror is driven by a piezoelectric ceramic, the attenuator is adjusted and the feedback mirror is tilted, the system can demonstrate many basic laser feedback phenomena, including weak, moderate and strong optical feedback, multiple feedback and polarization flipping. Demonstrations of these phenomena can give students a better understanding about the intensity and polarization of lasers. The system is well designed and assembled, simple to operate, and provides a valuable teaching aid at an undergraduate level. (paper)

The Majorana Demonstrator for 0νββ: Current Status and Future Plans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Green, Matthew P. [ORNL; Avignone, F. T. [University of South Carolina/Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Bertrand, Jr, Fred E [ORNL; Galindo-Uribarri, Alfredo [ORNL; Radford, David C [ORNL; Romero-Romero, Elisa [ORNL; Varner, Jr, Robert L [ORNL; White, Brandon R [ORNL; Wilkerson, J. F. [UNC/Triangle Univ. Nucl. Lab, Durham, NC/ORNL; Yu, Chang-Hong [ORNL

2015-01-01

The Majorana Demonstrator will search for neutrinoless-double-beta decay (0νββ) in 76Ge, while establishing the feasibility of a future tonne-scale germanium-based 0νββ experiment, and performing searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model. The experiment, currently under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD, will consist of a pair of modular high-purity germanium detector arrays housed inside of a compact copper, lead, and polyethylene shield. Through a combination of strict materials qualifications and assay, low-background design, and powerful background rejection techniques, the Demonstrator aims to achieve a background rate in the 0νββ region of interest (ROI) of no more than 3cnts/(ROI-t-y). The current status of the Demonstrator is discussed, as are plans for its completion.

Effect of irradiation on Brazilian honeys' consistency and their acceptability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsuda, A.H.; Sabato, S.F. E-mail: sfsabato@ipen.br

2004-10-01

Contamination of bee products may occur during packing or even during the process of collection. Gamma irradiation was found to decrease the number of bacteria and fungi. However, little information is available on the effects of gamma irradiation on viscosity which is an important property of honey. In this work the viscosity of two varieties of Brazilian honey was measured when they were irradiated at 5 and 10 kGy. The viscosity was measured at four temperatures (25 deg. C, 30 deg. C, 35 deg. C and 40 deg. C) for both samples and compared with control and within the doses. The sensory evaluation was carried on for the parameters color, odor, taste and consistency, using a 9-point hedonic scale. All the data were treated with a statistical tool (Statistica 5.1, StatSoft, 1998). The viscosity was not impaired significantly by gamma irradiation in doses 5 and 10 kGy (p<0.05). The effect of gamma irradiation on sensorial characteristics (odor, color, taste and consistency) is presented. The taste for Parana type indicated a significant difference among irradiation doses (p<0.05) but the higher value was for 5 kGy dose, demonstrating the acceptability for this case. The Organic honey presented the taste parameter for 10 kGy, significantly lower than the control mean but it did not differ significantly from the 5 kGy value.

First results of GERDA Phase II and consistency with background models

Science.gov (United States)

Agostini, M.; Allardt, M.; Bakalyarov, A. M.; Balata, M.; Barabanov, I.; Baudis, L.; Bauer, C.; Bellotti, E.; Belogurov, S.; Belyaev, S. T.; Benato, G.; Bettini, A.; Bezrukov, L.; Bode1, T.; Borowicz, D.; Brudanin, V.; Brugnera, R.; Caldwell, A.; Cattadori, C.; Chernogorov, A.; D'Andrea, V.; Demidova, E. V.; Di Marco, N.; Domula, A.; Doroshkevich, E.; Egorov, V.; Falkenstein, R.; Frodyma, N.; Gangapshev, A.; Garfagnini, A.; Gooch, C.; Grabmayr, P.; Gurentsov, V.; Gusev, K.; Hakenmüller, J.; Hegai, A.; Heisel, M.; Hemmer, S.; Hofmann, W.; Hult, M.; Inzhechik, L. V.; Janicskó Csáthy, J.; Jochum, J.; Junker, M.; Kazalov, V.; Kihm, T.; Kirpichnikov, I. V.; Kirsch, A.; Kish, A.; Klimenko, A.; Kneißl, R.; Knöpfle, K. T.; Kochetov, O.; Kornoukhov, V. N.; Kuzminov, V. V.; Laubenstein, M.; Lazzaro, A.; Lebedev, V. I.; Lehnert, B.; Liao, H. Y.; Lindner, M.; Lippi, I.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Lubsandorzhiev, B.; Lutter, G.; Macolino, C.; Majorovits, B.; Maneschg, W.; Medinaceli, E.; Miloradovic, M.; Mingazheva, R.; Misiaszek, M.; Moseev, P.; Nemchenok, I.; Palioselitis, D.; Panas, K.; Pandola, L.; Pelczar, K.; Pullia, A.; Riboldi, S.; Rumyantseva, N.; Sada, C.; Salamida, F.; Salathe, M.; Schmitt, C.; Schneider, B.; Schönert, S.; Schreiner, J.; Schulz, O.; Schütz, A.-K.; Schwingenheuer, B.; Selivanenko, O.; Shevzik, E.; Shirchenko, M.; Simgen, H.; Smolnikov, A.; Stanco, L.; Vanhoefer, L.; Vasenko, A. A.; Veresnikova, A.; von Sturm, K.; Wagner, V.; Wegmann, A.; Wester, T.; Wiesinger, C.; Wojcik, M.; Yanovich, E.; Zhitnikov, I.; Zhukov, S. V.; Zinatulina, D.; Zuber, K.; Zuzel, G.

2017-01-01

The GERDA (GERmanium Detector Array) is an experiment for the search of neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) in 76Ge, located at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN (Italy). GERDA operates bare high purity germanium detectors submersed in liquid Argon (LAr). Phase II of data-taking started in Dec 2015 and is currently ongoing. In Phase II 35 kg of germanium detectors enriched in 76Ge including thirty newly produced Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) detectors is operating to reach an exposure of 100 kg·yr within about 3 years data taking. The design goal of Phase II is to reduce the background by one order of magnitude to get the sensitivity for T1/20ν = O≤ft( {{{10}26}} \\right){{ yr}}. To achieve the necessary background reduction, the setup was complemented with LAr veto. Analysis of the background spectrum of Phase II demonstrates consistency with the background models. Furthermore 226Ra and 232Th contamination levels consistent with screening results. In the first Phase II data release we found no hint for a 0νββ decay signal and place a limit of this process T1/20ν > 5.3 \\cdot {1025} yr (90% C.L., sensitivity 4.0·1025 yr). First results of GERDA Phase II will be presented.