WorldWideScience

Sample records for remote site initial

  1. Tunnel-Site Selection by Remote Sensing Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

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

  2. Comprehensive, integrated, remote sensing at DOE sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lackey, J.G.; Burson, Z.G.

    1985-01-01

    The Department of Energy has established a program called Comprehensive, Integrated Remote Sensing (CIRS). The overall objective of the program is to provide a state-of-the-art data base of remotely sensed data for all users of such information at large DOE sites. The primary types of remote sensing provided, at present, consist of the following: large format aerial photography, video from aerial platforms, multispectral scanning, and airborne nuclear radiometric surveys. Implementation of the CIRS Program by EG and G Energy Measurements, Inc. began with field operations at the Savannah River Plant in 1982 and is continuing at that DOE site at a level of effort of about $1.5 m per year. Integrated remote sensing studies were subsequently extended to the West Valley Demonstration Project in this summer and fall of 1984. It is expected that the Program will eventually be extended to cover all large DOE sites on a continuing basis

  3. NN-SITE: A remote monitoring testbed facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kadner, S.; White, R.; Roman, W.; Sheely, K.; Puckett, J.; Ystesund, K.

    1997-01-01

    DOE, Aquila Technologies, LANL and SNL recently launched collaborative efforts to create a Non-Proliferation Network Systems Integration and Test (NN-Site, pronounced N-Site) facility. NN-Site will focus on wide area, local area, and local operating level network connectivity including Internet access. This facility will provide thorough and cost-effective integration, testing and development of information connectivity among diverse operating systems and network topologies prior to full-scale deployment. In concentrating on instrument interconnectivity, tamper indication, and data collection and review, NN-Site will facilitate efforts of equipment providers and system integrators in deploying systems that will meet nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards objectives. The following will discuss the objectives of ongoing remote monitoring efforts, as well as the prevalent policy concerns. An in-depth discussion of the Non-Proliferation Network Systems Integration and Test facility (NN-Site) will illuminate the role that this testbed facility can perform in meeting the objectives of remote monitoring efforts, and its potential contribution in promoting eventual acceptance of remote monitoring systems in facilities worldwide

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCaffrey, Thomas M.; Franklin, Steven E.

    1993-11-01

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

  5. How to Commission, Operate and Maintain a Large Future Accelerator Complex From Far Remote Sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phinney, Nan

    2001-01-01

    A study on future large accelerators [1] has considered a facility, which is designed, built and operated by a worldwide collaboration of equal partner institutions, and which is remote from most of these institutions. The full range of operation was considered including commissioning, machine development, maintenance, trouble shooting and repair. Experience from existing accelerators confirms that most of these activities are already performed remotely. The large high-energy physics experiments and astronomy projects, already involve international collaborations of distant institutions. Based on this experience, the prospects for a machine operated remotely from far sites are encouraging. Experts from each laboratory would remain at their home institution but continue to participate in the operation of the machine after construction. Experts are required to be on site only during initial commissioning and for particularly difficult problems. Repairs require an on-site non-expert maintenance crew. Most of the interventions can be made without an expert and many of the rest resolved with remote assistance. There appears to be no technical obstacle to controlling an accelerator from a distance. The major challenge is to solve the complex management and communication problems

  6. How to Commission, Operate and Maintain a Large Future Accelerator Complex From Far Remote Sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Phinney, Nan

    2001-12-07

    A study on future large accelerators [1] has considered a facility, which is designed, built and operated by a worldwide collaboration of equal partner institutions, and which is remote from most of these institutions. The full range of operation was considered including commissioning, machine development, maintenance, troubleshooting and repair. Experience from existing accelerators confirms that most of these activities are already performed 'remotely'. The large high-energy physics experiments and astronomy projects, already involve international collaborations of distant institutions. Based on this experience, the prospects for a machine operated remotely from far sites are encouraging. Experts from each laboratory would remain at their home institution but continue to participate in the operation of the machine after construction. Experts are required to be on site only during initial commissioning and for particularly difficult problems. Repairs require an on-site non-expert maintenance crew. Most of the interventions can be made without an expert and many of the rest resolved with remote assistance. There appears to be no technical obstacle to controlling an accelerator from a distance. The major challenge is to solve the complex management and communication problems.

  7. Remotely operated excavator needs assessment/site visit summary

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Straub, J.; Haller, S.; Worsley, R. [Westinghouse Environmental Management Co. of Ohio, Cincinnati, OH (United States); King, M. [THETA Technology Inc. (United States)

    1992-12-02

    The Uranium in Soils Integrated Demonstration requested an assessment of soil excavation needs relative to soil remediation. The following list identifies the DOE sites assessed: Mound Laboratory, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Nevada Test Site, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Rocky Flats Plant, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Hanford Site, and Fernald Site. The reviewed sites fall into one or more of the following three categories: production, EPA National Priorities List, or CERCLA (superfund) designation. Only three of the sites appear to have the need for a remotely operated excavator rope. Hanford and Idaho Falls have areas of high-level radioactive contamination either buried or in/under buildings. The Fernald site has a need for remote operated equipment of different types. It is their feeling that remote equipment can be used to remove the health dangers to humans by removing them from the area. Most interviewees stated that characterization technologies needs are more immediate concern over excavation. In addition, the sites do not have similar geographic conditions which would aid in the development of a generic precision excavator. The sites visited were not ready to utilize or provide the required design information necessary to draft a performance specification. This creates a strong case against the development of one type of ROPE for use at these sites. Assuming soil characterization technology/methodology is improved sufficiently to allow accurate and real time field characterization then development of a precision excavator might be pursued based on FEMP needs, since the FEMP`s sole scope of work is remediation. The excavator could then be used/tested and then later modified for other sites as warranted.

  8. Remote sensing to monitor uranium tailing sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-02-01

    This report concerns the feasibility of using remotely-sensed data for long-term monitoring of uranium tailings. Decommissioning of uranium mine tailings sites may require long-term monitoring to confirm that no unanticipated release of contaminants occurs. Traditional ground-based monitoring of specific criteria of concern would be a significant expense depending on the nature and frequency of the monitoring. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether available remote-sensing data and techniques were applicable to the long-term monitoring of tailings sites. This objective was met by evaluating to what extent the data and techniques could be used to identify and discriminate information useful for monitoring tailings sites. The cost associated with obtaining and interpreting this information was also evaluated. Satellite and aircraft remote-sensing-based activities were evaluated. A monitoring programme based on annual coverage of Landsat Thematic Mapper data is recommended. Immediately prior to and for several years after decommissioning of the tailings sites, airborne multispectral and thermal infrared surveys combined with field verification data are required in order to establish a baseline for the long-term satellite-based monitoring programme. More frequent airborne surveys may be required if rapidly changing phenomena require monitoring. The use of a geographic information system is recommended for the effective storage and manipulation of data accumulated over a number of years

  9. A remote characterization system for subsurface mapping of buried waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandness, G.A.; Bennett, D.W.

    1992-10-01

    Mapping of buried objects and regions of chemical and radiological contamination is required at US Department of Energy (DOE) buried waste sites. The DOE Office of Technology Development Robotics Integrated Program has initiated a project to develop and demonstrate a remotely controlled subsurface sensing system, called the Remote Characterization System (RCS). This project, a collaborative effort by five of the National Laboratories, involves the development of a unique low-signature survey vehicle, a base station, radio telemetry data links, satellite-based vehicle tracking, stereo vision, and sensors for non-invasive inspection of the surface and subsurface. To minimize interference with on-board sensors, the survey vehicle has been constructed predominatantly of non-metallic materials. The vehicle is self-propelled and will be guided by an operator located at a remote base station. The RCS sensors will be environmentally sealed and internally cooled to preclude contamination during use. Ground-penetrating radar, magnetometers, and conductivity devices are planned for geophysical surveys. Chemical and radiological sensors will be provided to locate hot spots and to provide isotopic concentration data

  10. A teleoperated system for remote site characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandness, G.A.; Richardson, B.S.; Pence, J.

    1993-08-01

    The detection and characterization of buried objects and materials is an important first step in the restoration of burial sites containing chemical and radioactive waste materials at Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) facilities. To address the need to minimize the exposure of on-site personnel to the hazards associated with such sites, the DOE Office of Technology Development and the US Army Environmental Center have jointly supported the development of the Remote Characterization System (RCS). One of the main components of the RCS is a small remotely driven survey vehicle that can transport various combinations of geophysical and radiological sensors. Currently implemented sensors include ground-penetrating radar, magnetometers, an electromagnetic induction sensor, and a sodium iodide radiation detector. The survey vehicle was constructed predominantly of non-metallic materials to minimize its effect on the operation of its geophysical sensors. The system operator controls the vehicle from a remote, truck-mounted, base station. Video images are transmitted to the base station by an radio link to give the operator necessary visual information. Vehicle control commands, tracking information, and sensor data are transmitted between the survey vehicle and the base station by means of a radio ethernet link. Precise vehicle tracking coordinates are provided by a differential Global Positioning System (GPS). The sensors are environmentally protected, internally cooled, and interchangeable based on mission requirements. To date, the RCS has been successfully tested at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

  11. Administering an epoch initiated for remote memory access

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blocksome, Michael A; Miller, Douglas R

    2012-10-23

    Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for administering an epoch initiated for remote memory access that include: initiating, by an origin application messaging module on an origin compute node, one or more data transfers to a target compute node for the epoch; initiating, by the origin application messaging module after initiating the data transfers, a closing stage for the epoch, including rejecting any new data transfers after initiating the closing stage for the epoch; determining, by the origin application messaging module, whether the data transfers have completed; and closing, by the origin application messaging module, the epoch if the data transfers have completed.

  12. A new ground-penetrating radar system for remote site characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, K.C.; Sandness, G.A.

    1994-08-01

    The cleanup of waste burial sites and military bombing ranges involves the risk of exposing field personnel to toxic chemicals, radioactive materials, or unexploded munitions. Time-consuming and costly measures are required to provide protection from those hazards. Therefore, there is a growing interest in developing remotely controlled sensors and sensor platforms that can be employed in site characterization surveys. A specialized ground-penetrating radar has been developed to operate on a remotely controlled vehicle for the non-intrusive subsurface characterization of buried waste sites. Improved radar circuits provide enhanced performance, and an embedded microprocessor dynamically optimizes operation. The radar unit is packaged to survive chemical contamination and decontamination

  13. Conceptual design analyses for Hanford Site deployable remote spectroscopy systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Philipp, B.L.; Reich, F.R.

    1994-09-01

    This document identifies potential remote, NIR spectroscopic waste surface moisture monitoring system design alternatives to be operated inside one of the Hanford Site, high level, nuclear waste storage tanks. Potential tank waste moisture data impacts from the remote NIR signal transfer through high humidity vapor space is evaluated

  14. Remote sensing for nuclear power plant siting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siegal, B.S.; Welby, C.W.

    1981-01-01

    It is shown that satellite remote sensing provides timely and cost-effective information for siting and site evaluation of nuclear power plants. Side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) imagery is especially valuable in regions of prolonged cloud cover and haze, and provides additional assurance in siting and licensing. In addition, a wide range of enhancement techniques should be employed and different types of image should be color-combined to provide structural and lithologic information. Coastal water circulation can also be studied through repetitive coverage and the inherently synoptic nature of imaging satellites. Among the issues discussed are snow cover, sun angle, and cloud cover, and actual site evaluation studies in the Bataan peninsula of the Philippines and Laguna Verde, California

  15. Siting Study for the Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Disposal Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lisa Harvego; Joan Connolly; Lance Peterson; Brennon Orr; Bob Starr

    2010-10-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy has identified a mission need for continued disposal capacity for remote-handled low-level waste (LLW) generated at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). An alternatives analysis that was conducted to evaluate strategies to achieve this mission need identified two broad options for disposal of INL generated remote-handled LLW: (1) offsite disposal and (2) onsite disposal. The purpose of this study is to identify candidate sites or locations within INL boundaries for the alternative of an onsite remote handled LLW disposal facility and recommend the highest-ranked locations for consideration in the National Environmental Policy Act process. The study implements an evaluation based on consideration of five key elements: (1) regulations, (2) key assumptions, (3) conceptual design, (4) facility performance, and (5) previous INL siting study criteria, and uses a five-step process to identify, screen, evaluate, score, and rank 34 separate sites located across INL. The result of the evaluation is identification of two recommended alternative locations for siting an onsite remote-handled LLW disposal facility. The two alternative locations that best meet the evaluation criteria are (1) near the Advanced Test Reactor Complex and (2) west of the Idaho Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act Disposal Facility.

  16. Improving the safety of remote site emergency airway management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wijesuriya, Julian; Brand, Jonathan

    2014-01-01

    Airway management, particularly in non-theatre settings, is an area of anaesthesia and critical care associated with significant risk of morbidity & mortality, as highlighted during the 4th National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (NAP4). A survey of junior anaesthetists at our hospital highlighted a lack of confidence and perceived lack of safety in emergency airway management, especially in non-theatre settings. We developed and implemented a multifaceted airway package designed to improve the safety of remote site airway management. A Rapid Sequence Induction (RSI) checklist was developed; this was combined with new advanced airway equipment and drugs bags. Additionally, new carbon dioxide detector filters were procured in order to comply with NAP4 monitoring recommendations. The RSI checklists were placed in key locations throughout the hospital and the drugs and advanced airway equipment bags were centralised in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). It was agreed with the senior nursing staff that an appropriately trained ICU nurse would attend all emergency situations with new airway resources upon request. Departmental guidelines were updated to include details of the new resources and the on-call anaesthetist's responsibilities regarding checks and maintenance. Following our intervention trainees reported higher confidence levels regarding remote site emergency airway management. Nine trusts within the Northern Region were surveyed and we found large variations in the provision of remote site airway management resources. Complications in remote site airway management due lack of available appropriate drugs, equipment or trained staff are potentially life threatening and completely avoidable. Utilising the intervention package an anaesthetist would be able to safely plan and prepare for airway management in any setting. They would subsequently have the drugs, equipment, and trained assistance required to manage any difficulties or complications

  17. A Remote Characterization System for subsurface mapping of buried waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandness, G.A.; Bennett, D.W.; Martinson, L.

    1992-06-01

    This paper describes a development project that will provide new technology for characterizing hazardous waste burial sites. The project is a collaborative effort by five of the national laboratories, involving the development and demonstration of a remotely controlled site characterization system. The Remote Characterization System (RCS) includes a unique low-signature survey vehicle, a base station, radio telemetry data links, satellite-based vehicle tracking, stereo vision, and sensors for non-invasive inspection of the surface and subsurface

  18. Impairment of Neutrophil Migration to Remote Inflammatory Site during Lung Histoplasmosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra I. Medeiros

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Histoplasma capsulatum (Hc induces a pulmonary disease in which leukotrienes promote activation and recruitment of effectors cells. It is also well-recognized that leukotriene B4 (LTB4 and platelet-activating factor (PAF induce leukocyte recruitment to inflammatory sites. We investigated the impact of pulmonary Hc infection on PMN migration to a remote inflammatory site. Our results show that pulmonary Hc infection impairs LTB4- or PAF-stimulated PMN recruitment to air pouch. Yet, remote inflammation did not modify PMN numbers in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF of Hc-infected mice. Interestingly, the concomitant administration of PAF and LTB4 receptor antagonists inhibited PMN recruitment to both BALF and the remote site, demonstrating cooperation between both mediators. Along that line, our results show that PAF-elicited PMN chemotaxis was abrogated in 5-lipoxygenase-deficient animals. These results suggest caution in the indiscriminate use of anti-inflammatory drugs during infectious diseases.

  19. Applications of ecological concepts and remote sensing technologies in archaeological site reconnaissance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, W. Frank; Sever, Thomas L.; Lee, C. Daniel

    1991-01-01

    The concept of integrating ecological perspectives on early man's settlement patterns with advanced remote sensing technologies shows promise for predictive site modeling. Early work with aerial imagery and ecosystem analysis is discussed with respect to the development of a major project in Maya archaeology supported by NASA and the National Geographic Society with technical support from the Mississippi State Remote Sensing Center. A preliminary site reconnaissance model will be developed for testing during the 1991 field season.

  20. Development of remote controller for an EMI test receiver in site survey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cha, K. H.; Hwang, I. G.; Lee, D. Y.; Lee, K. Y.; Park, J. K.

    2000-01-01

    EMI assessment, which is based on the Site survey(the measurement of EMI noise) in an operating plant, can be considered for system design. Our Site survey is being planned to utilize the ESI7 model, to be manufactured as the EMI test receiver by Rodge-Schwaltz GmbH. But the ESI7 is often manipulated by manual if a Site survey is continued for some days in nuclear power plant. The problem can be resolved if a remote controller is implemented for the ESI7 and it controls the ESI7. The Remote Controller has its functions for supporting the ESI7 manual tasks, including storing mass SCAN data onto external PC memory (hard-disk), controlling ESI7, and analyzing the stored SCAN data. These functions have been implemented in 'G' programming of LabVIEW software under a notebook PC with PCMCIA-GPIB card. The Remote Controller prototype will be applied to store the real EMI measurements in the coming Site survey and analyze the data after integrated tests and their evaluation

  1. Remote experimental site concept for diagnostic collaborations in fusion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casper, T.A.

    1991-08-01

    The next generation of tokamaks, ITER or BPX, will be characterized by an even greater emphasis on joint operation and experimentation. With anticipation of an increased number and diversity of collaborations, especially in the area of diagnostics, we are preparing for such shared facilities by developing a systematic approach to remote, joint physics operation involving experimental teams at several locations. The local area network of computers used for control and data acquisition on present and future experiments can be extended over a wide area network to provide a mechanism for remote operation of subsystems (e.g. diagnostics) required for physics experiments. The technology required for high bandwidth (≥45Mbps) connections between multiple sites either exists or will be available over the next few years. With the rapid development of high performance workstations, network interfaces, distributed computing, and video conferencing, we can proceed with the development of a system of control and analysis sites to provide for consistent, efficient, and continuing collaborations. Early establishment of such sites could also enhance existing joint design and development efforts

  2. Apollo 16 landing site: Summary of earth based remote sensing data, part W

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zisk, S. H.; Masursky, H.; Milton, D. J.; Schaber, G. G.; Shorthill, R. W.; Thompson, T. W.

    1972-01-01

    Infrared and radar studies of the Apollo 16 landing site are summarized. Correlations and comparisons between earth based remote sensing data, IR observations, and other data are discussed in detail. Remote sensing studies were devoted to solving two problems: (1) determining the physical difference between Cayley and Descartes geologic units near the landing site; and (2) determining the nature of the bright unit of Descartes mountain material.

  3. Re-dating Lapita movement into remote Oceania

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sheppard, P.J.; Chiu, S.; Walter, R.

    2015-01-01

    Understanding the nature and process of initial Pacific settlement by people carrying the Lapita culture is ultimately founded upon accurate knowledge of the timing and speed of settlement. This paper reports on re-dating of one of the earliest Lapita sites (SE-SZ-8) from Santa Cruz in the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands on the western margin of Remote Oceania. Our results indicate this site is considerably younger than previously believed and comparison of this result to other early Lapita sites suggests initial settlement of Remote was at not much more than 3000 BP. This would argue for very rapid Lapita settlement of much of the South-western Pacific. (author).

  4. A hyper-temporal remote sensing protocol for high-resolution mapping of ecological sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maynard, Jonathan J; Karl, Jason W

    2017-01-01

    Ecological site classification has emerged as a highly effective land management framework, but its utility at a regional scale has been limited due to the spatial ambiguity of ecological site locations in the U.S. or the absence of ecological site maps in other regions of the world. In response to these shortcomings, this study evaluated the use of hyper-temporal remote sensing (i.e., hundreds of images) for high spatial resolution mapping of ecological sites. We posit that hyper-temporal remote sensing can provide novel insights into the spatial variability of ecological sites by quantifying the temporal response of land surface spectral properties. This temporal response provides a spectral 'fingerprint' of the soil-vegetation-climate relationship which is central to the concept of ecological sites. Consequently, the main objective of this study was to predict the spatial distribution of ecological sites in a semi-arid rangeland using a 28-year time series of normalized difference vegetation index from Landsat TM 5 data and modeled using support vector machine classification. Results from this study show that support vector machine classification using hyper-temporal remote sensing imagery was effective in modeling ecological site classes, with a 62% correct classification. These results were compared to Gridded Soil Survey Geographic database and expert delineated maps of ecological sites which had a 51 and 89% correct classification, respectively. An analysis of the effects of ecological state on ecological site misclassifications revealed that sites in degraded states (e.g., shrub-dominated/shrubland and bare/annuals) had a higher rate of misclassification due to their close spectral similarity with other ecological sites. This study identified three important factors that need to be addressed to improve future model predictions: 1) sampling designs need to fully represent the range of both within class (i.e., states) and between class (i.e., ecological sites

  5. Documentation of archaeological sites in northern iraq using remote sensing methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matoušková, E.; Pavelka, K.; Nováček, K.; Starková, L.

    2015-08-01

    The MULINEM (The Medieval Urban Landscape in Northeastern Mesopotamia) project is aiming to investigate a Late Sasanian and Islamic urban network in the land of Erbil, historic province of Hidyab (Adiabene) that is located in the northern Iraq. The research of the hierarchical urban network in a defined area belongs to approaches rarely used in the study of the Islamic urbanism. The project focuses on the cluster of urban sites of the 6th-17th centuries A.D. This paper focuses on remote sensing analysis of historical sites with special interest of FORMOSAT-2 data that have been gained through a research announcement: Free FORMOSAT-2 satellite Imagery. Documentation of two archaeological sites (Makhmúr al-Qadima and Kushaf) are introduced. FORMOSAT-2 data results have been compared to historic CORONA satellite data of mentioned historical sites purchased earlier by the University of West Bohemia. Remote sensing methods were completed using in-situ measurements.

  6. Remote Excavation of Heavily Contaminated UXO Sites. The Range Master

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Crandall, Alan L

    2007-01-01

    USA Environmental, Inc., and Timberline Environmental Services, Inc., developed the Range Master, a remote controlled scraper with an integrated power screen, to excavate and sift the top 12 inches of heavily contaminated UXO sites...

  7. Remote sensing supported surveillance and characterization of tailings behavior at a gold mine site, Finland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rauhala, Anssi; Tuomela, Anne; Rossi, Pekka M.; Davids, Corine

    2017-04-01

    The management of vast amounts of tailings produced is one of the key issues in mining operations. The effective and economic disposal of the waste requires knowledge concerning both basic physical properties of the tailings as well as more complex aspects such as consolidation behavior. The behavior of tailings in itself is a very complex issue that can be affected by flocculation, sedimentation, consolidation, segregation, deposition, freeze-thaw, and desiccation phenomena. The utilization of remote sensing in an impoundment-scale monitoring of tailings could benefit the management of tailings, and improve our knowledge on tailings behavior. In order to gain better knowledge of tailings behavior in cold climate, we have utilized both modern remote sensing techniques and more traditional in situ and laboratory measurements in characterizing thickened gold tailings behavior at a Finnish gold mine site, where the production has been halted due to low gold prices. The remote sensing measurements consisted of elevation datasets collected from unmanned aerial vehicles during summers 2015 and 2016, and a further campaign is planned for the summer 2017. The ongoing traditional measurements include for example particle-size distribution, frost heave, frost depth, water retention, temperature profile, and rheological measurements. Initial results from the remote sensing indicated larger than expected settlements on parts of the tailings impoundment, and also highlighted some of the complexities related to data processing. The interpretation of the results and characterization of the behavior is in this case complicated by possible freeze-thaw effects and potential settlement of the impoundment bottom structure consisting of natural peat. Experiments with remote sensing and unmanned aerial vehicles indicate that they could offer potential benefits in frequent mine site monitoring, but there is a need towards more robust and streamlined data acquisition and processing. The

  8. Remote video radioactive systems evaluation, Savannah River Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heckendorn, F.M.; Robinson, C.W.

    1991-01-01

    Specialized miniature low cost video equipment has been effectively used in a number of remote, radioactive, and contaminated environments at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The equipment and related techniques have reduced the potential for personnel exposure to both radiation and physical hazards. The valuable process information thus provided would not have otherwise been available for use in improving the quality of operation at SRS

  9. Research plan for integrated ecosystem and pollutant monitoring at remote wilderness study sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruns, D.A.; Wiersma, G.B.

    1988-03-01

    This research plan outlines an approach to the measurement of pollutants and ecosystem parameters at remote, high-elevation, wilderness study sites. A multimedia, systems approach to environmental monitoring is emphasized. The primary purpose of the research is to apply and field test a technical report entitled ''Guidelines for measuring the physical, chemical, and biological condition of wilderness ecosystems.'' This document intended to provide Federal Land Managers with information to establish environmental monitoring programs in wilderness areas. To date, this monitoring document has yet to be evaluated under rigorous field conditions at a remote, high-elevation Rocky Mountain site. For the purpose of field testing approaches to monitoring of pollutants and ecosystems in remote, wilderness areas, evaluation criteria were developed. These include useability, cost-effectiveness, data variability, alternative approaches, ecosystems conceptual approach, and quality assurance. Both the Forest Service and INEL environmental monitoring techniques will be evaluated with these criteria. Another objective of this research plan is to obtain an integrated data base on pollutants and ecosystem structure and function at a remote study site. The methods tested in this project will be used to acquire these data from a systems approach. This includes multimedia monitoring of air and water quality, soils, and forest, stream, and lake ecosystems. 71 refs., 1 fig., 9 tabs

  10. Long Term Remote Monitoring of TCE Contaminated Groundwater at Savannah River Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duran, C.; Gudavalli, R.; Lagos, L.; Tansel, B.; Varona, J.; Allen, M.

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop a mobile self powered remote monitoring system enhanced for field deployment at Savannah River Site (SRS). The system used a localized power source with solar recharging and has wireless data collection, analysis, transmission, and data management capabilities. The prototype was equipped with a Hydrolab's DataSonde 4a multi-sensor array package managed by a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, with an adequate pumping capacity of water samples for sampling and analysis of Trichloroethylene (TCE) in contaminated groundwater wells at SRS. This paper focuses on a study and technology development efforts conducted at the Hemispheric Center for Environmental Technology (HCET) at Florida International University (FIU) to automate the sampling of contaminated wells with a multi-sensor array package developed using COTS (Commercial Off The shelf) parts. Bladder pumps will pump water from different wells to the sensors array, water quality TCE indicator parameters are measured (i.e. pH, redox, ORP, DO, NO3 -, Cl-). In order to increase user access and data management, the system was designed to be accessible over the Internet. Remote users can take sample readings and collect data remotely over a web. Results obtained at Florida International University in-house testing and at a field deployment at the Savannah River Site indicate that this long term monitoring technique can be a feasible solution for the sampling of TCE indicator parameters at remote contaminated sites

  11. Remote sensing for nuclear power plant siting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siegal, B.S.; Welby, C.W.

    1981-01-01

    Remote sensing techniques enhance the selection and evaluation process for nuclear power plant siting. The principal advantage is the synoptic view which improves recognition of linear features, possibly indicative of faults. The interpretation of such images, in conjunction with seismological studies, also permits delineation of seismo-tectonic provinces. In volcanic terrains, geomorphic-age boundaries can be delineated and volcanic centers identified, providing necessary guidance for field sampling and regional model derivation. The use of such techniques is considered for studies in the Philippines, Mexico, and Greece. 5 refs

  12. Analysis of a photovoltaic dwelling in remote sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eliot, P

    1982-01-01

    This work is a design analysis of autonomous or quasi-autonomous photovolaic system suited to dwellings on remote sites in France; this study allowed to establish ''curves'' of sizing related to several performance, from which it is possible to estimate costs (under many conditions of house occupancy, of climates). The interest of a back-up generating sit for the permanent resident is studied. Then, an adaptation and an improvement of existing analysis tools are looked.

  13. Remote technology in RBMK-1000 spent fuel management at NPP site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Makarchuk, T.F.; Kozlov, Y.V.; Tikhonov, N.S.; Tokarenko, A.I.; Spichev, V.V.; Kaljazin, N.N.

    1999-01-01

    The report describes the remote technologies employed in the nuclear power plant with RBMK-1000 type. Spent fuel transfer and handling operations at reactor (AR) and away from reactor (AFR) on reactor site (RS) facilities are illustrated by the example of the Leningradskaya NPP and are typical for all NPPs with RBMK-1000. The current approach to spent fuel management at NPP sites is also presented. (author)

  14. A novel biometric signature: multi-site, remote (> 100 m) photo-plethysmography using ambient light

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verkruijsse, W.; Bodlaender, M.P.

    2010-01-01

    We propose a novel biometric signature based on the principle of multi-site remote photo-plethysmography (remote PPG). This signature can be measured using video cameras. Traditional PPG uses a contact sensor to measure slight skin color changes that occur with every heartbeat. Recently we have

  15. Remote Sensing Analysis Techniques and Sensor Requirements to Support the Mapping of Illegal Domestic Waste Disposal Sites in Queensland, Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katharine Glanville

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Illegal disposal of waste is a significant management issue for contemporary governments with waste posing an economic, social, and environmental risk. An improved understanding of the distribution of illegal waste disposal sites is critical to enhance the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of waste management efforts. Remotely sensed data has the potential to address this knowledge gap. However, the literature regarding the use of remote sensing to map illegal waste disposal sites is incomplete. This paper aims to analyze existing remote sensing methods and sensors used to monitor and map illegal waste disposal sites. The purpose of this paper is to support the evaluation of existing remote sensing methods for mapping illegal domestic waste sites in Queensland, Australia. Recent advances in technology and the acquisition of very high-resolution remote sensing imagery provide an important opportunity to (1 revisit established analysis techniques for identifying illegal waste disposal sites, (2 examine the applicability of different remote sensors for illegal waste disposal detection, and (3 identify opportunities for future research to increase the accuracy of any illegal waste disposal mapping products.

  16. Assessment of remote sensing technologies to discover and characterize waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    This report presents details about waste management practices that are being developed using remote sensing techniques to characterize DOE waste sites. Once sites and problems have been located and an achievable restoration and remediation program have been established, efforts to reclaim the environment will begin. Special problems to be considered are: concentrated wastes in tanks and pits; soil and ground water contamination; ground safety hazards for workers; and requirements for long-term monitoring

  17. Health science students and their learning environment: a comparison of perceptions of on-site, remote-site, and traditional classroom students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elison-Bowers, P; Snelson, Chareen; Casa de Calvo, Mario; Thompson, Heather

    2008-02-05

    This study compared the responses of on-site, remote-site, and traditional classroom students on measures of student/teacher interaction, course structure, physical learning environment, and overall course enjoyment/satisfaction. The sample population consisted of students taking undergraduate courses in medical terminology at two western colleges. The survey instrument was derived from Thomerson's questionnaire, which included closed- and open-ended questions assessing perceptions of students toward their courses. Controlling for grade expectations, results revealed no significant differences among the on-site, remote-site, and traditional classroom students in any of the four cluster domains. However, a nonsignificant (and continuing) trend suggested that students preferred the traditional classroom environment. When results were controlled for age, significant differences emerged between traditional and nontraditional students on measures of student/teacher interaction, physical learning environment, and overall enjoyment/satisfaction, as nontraditional students exhibited higher scores. Students' responses to open-ended questions indicated they enjoyed the convenience of online instruction, but reported finding frustration with technology itself.

  18. Assessment of remote sensing technologies to discover and characterize waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    This report presents details about waste management practices that are being developed using remote sensing techniques to characterize DOE waste sites. Once the sites and problems have been located and characterized and an achievable restoration and remediation program have been established, efforts to reclaim the environment will begin. Special problems to be considered are: concentrated waste forms in tanks and pits; soil and ground water contamination; ground safety hazards for workers; and requirement for long-term monitoring

  19. Support and development for remote collaborations in fusion research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casper, T.A.; Jong, R.A.; Meyer, W.H.; Moller, J.M.

    2000-01-01

    Major fusion experiments and modeling efforts rely on joint research of scientists from several locations around the world. A variety of software tools are in use to provide remote interactive access to facilities and data are routinely available over wide-area-network connections to researchers. Audio and video communications, monitoring of control room information and synchronization of remote sites with experimental operations all enhance participation during experiments. Remote distributed computing capabilities allow utilization of off-site computers that now help support the demands of control room analyses and plasma modeling. A collaborative software development project is currently using object technologies with CORBA-based communications to build a network executable transport code that further demonstrates the ability to utilize geographically dispersed resources. Development to extend these concepts with security and naming services and possible applications to instrumentation systems has been initiated. An Information Technology Initiative is deploying communication systems, ISDN (telephone) and IP (network) audio/video (A/V) and web browser-based, to build the infrastructure needed to support remote physics meetings, seminars and interactive discussions

  20. Support and development for remote collaboration in fusion research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casper, T A; Jong, R A; Meyer, W H; Moller, J M

    1999-01-01

    Major fusion experiments and modeling efforts rely on joint research of scientists from several locations around the world. A variety of software tools are in use to provide remote interactive access to facilities and data are routinely available over wide-area-network connections to researchers. Audio and video communications, monitoring of control room information and synchronization of remote sites with experimental operations all enhance participation during experiments. Remote distributed computing capabilities allow utilization of off-site computers that now help support the demands of control room analyses and plasma modeling. A collaborative software development project is currently using object technologies with CORBA-based communications to build a network executable transport code that further demonstrates the ability to utilize geographically dispersed resources. Development to extend these concepts with security and naming services and possible applications to instrumentation systems has been initiated. An Information Technology Initiative is deploying communication systems, ISDN (telephone) and IP (network) audio/video (A/V) and web browser-based, to build the infrastructure needed to support remote physics meetings, seminars and interactive discussions

  1. Remote Experimental Site: A command and analysis center for ''Big Physics'' experimentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casper, T.A.; Lennon, W.J.

    1991-09-01

    The next generation of tokamaks, ITER or BPX, will be characterized by an even greater emphasis on joint operation and experimentation. With anticipation of an increased number and diversity of collaborations, we are preparing for such shared facilities by developing a systematic approach to remote, joint physics operation involving experimental teams at several locations. The local area network of computers used for control and data acquisition on present and future experiments can be extended over a wide area network to provide a mechanism for remote operation of subsystems required for physics experiments. The technology required for high bandwidth (≥45Mbps) connections between multiple sites either exists or will be available over the next few years. With the rapid development of high performance workstations, network interfaces, distributed computing, and video conferencing, we can proceed with the development of a system of control and analysis sites to provide for consistent, efficient, and continuing collaborations. Early establishment of such sites could also enhance existing joint design and development efforts. 2 refs., 3 figs

  2. Hanford tank initiative test facility site selection study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Staehr, T.W.

    1997-01-01

    The Hanford Tanks Initiative (HTI) project is developing equipment for the removal of hard heel waste from the Hanford Site underground single-shell waste storage tanks. The HTI equipment will initially be installed in the 241-C-106 tank where its operation will be demonstrated. This study evaluates existing Hanford Site facilities and other sites for functional testing of the HTI equipment before it is installed into the 241-C-106 tank

  3. Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative Education Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-01-01

    A NASA engineer with the Commercial Remote Sensing Program (CRSP) at Stennis Space Center works with students from W.P. Daniels High School in New Albany, Miss., through NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative Program. CRSP is teaching students to use remote sensing to locate a potential site for a water reservoir to offset a predicted water shortage in the community's future.

  4. The most remote point method for the site selection of the future GGOS network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hase, Hayo; Pedreros, Felipe

    2014-10-01

    The Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) proposes 30-40 geodetic observatories as global infrastructure for the most accurate reference frame to monitor the global change. To reach this goal, several geodetic observatories have upgrade plans to become GGOS stations. Most initiatives are driven by national institutions following national interests. From a global perspective, the site distribution remains incomplete and the initiatives to improve this are up until now insufficient. This article is a contribution to answer the question on where to install new GGOS observatories and where to add observation techniques to existing observatories. It introduces the iterative most remote point (MRP) method for filling in the largest gaps in existing technique-specific networks. A spherical version of the Voronoi-diagram is used to pick the optimal location of the new observatory, but practical concerns determine its realistic location. Once chosen, the process is iterated. A quality and a homogeneity parameter of global networks measure the progress of improving the homogeneity of the global site distribution. This method is applied to the global networks of VGOS, and VGOS co-located with SLR to derive some clues about where additional observatory sites or additional observation techniques at existing observatories will improve the GGOS network configuration. With only six additional VGOS-stations, the homogeneity of the global VGOS-network could be significantly improved by more than . From the presented analysis, 25 known or new co-located VGOS and SLR sites are proposed as the future GGOS backbone: Colombo, Easter Island, Fairbanks, Fortaleza, Galapagos, GGAO, Hartebeesthoek, Honiara, Ibadan, Kokee Park, La Plata, Mauritius, McMurdo, Metsahövi, Ny Alesund, Riyadh, San Diego, Santa Maria, Shanghai, Syowa, Tahiti, Tristan de Cunha, Warkworth, Wettzell, and Yarragadee.

  5. Execution programme for the initial site investigations at Forsmark

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2002-05-01

    In the feasibility studies that were completed in 2001, eight sites were identified as potentially suitable for hosting a repository. All the identified sites meet the safety requirements with respect to bedrock conditions that could be checked at that time. The feasibility studies have revealed good potential when it comes to the technical and environmental aspects as well. Based on an integrated evaluation SKB proposed to start site investigations with test drillings at three sites; Forsmark, Simpevarp and Tierp. Site investigations have started at Forsmark and Simpevarp. The municipal council of Tierp voted no to a site investigation in April 2002. The site investigations are divided into two main phases; initial and complete investigations. Initial site investigations are performed to identify the site within a specified area that is deemed to be most suitable for a deep repository and to determine whether the feasibility study's judgement of the suitability of the area holds up in the light of borehole data from repository depth. The initial site investigations are expected to take 1.5-2 years. If the assessment shows that the site has good potential to host a repository, complete site investigations will follow for an expected duration of 3.5-4 years. The purpose of the complete site investigations is to gather all information required to select one of the sites as the main alternative and to apply for a permit for construction of the deep repository at that site. A general programme in which the results from feasibility studies are summarized, the candidate sites presented and the framework of programme for the site investigation phase presented has been published. The general programme, and main references to the programme, specifies which data are required in order to design the repository and carry out a safety assessment, how the investigations should be carried out in order to provide these data, criteria with which the site must comply, as well as

  6. Execution programme for the initial site investigations at Forsmark

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-05-01

    In the feasibility studies that were completed in 2001, eight sites were identified as potentially suitable for hosting a repository. All the identified sites meet the safety requirements with respect to bedrock conditions that could be checked at that time. The feasibility studies have revealed good potential when it comes to the technical and environmental aspects as well. Based on an integrated evaluation SKB proposed to start site investigations with test drillings at three sites; Forsmark, Simpevarp and Tierp. Site investigations have started at Forsmark and Simpevarp. The municipal council of Tierp voted no to a site investigation in April 2002. The site investigations are divided into two main phases; initial and complete investigations. Initial site investigations are performed to identify the site within a specified area that is deemed to be most suitable for a deep repository and to determine whether the feasibility study's judgement of the suitability of the area holds up in the light of borehole data from repository depth. The initial site investigations are expected to take 1.5-2 years. If the assessment shows that the site has good potential to host a repository, complete site investigations will follow for an expected duration of 3.5-4 years. The purpose of the complete site investigations is to gather all information required to select one of the sites as the main alternative and to apply for a permit for construction of the deep repository at that site. A general programme in which the results from feasibility studies are summarized, the candidate sites presented and the framework of programme for the site investigation phase presented has been published. The general programme, and main references to the programme, specifies which data are required in order to design the repository and carry out a safety assessment, how the investigations should be carried out in order to provide these data, criteria with which the site must comply, as well as

  7. Remote Sensing Analysis of the Sierra Blanca (Faskin Ranch) Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Site, Hudspeth County, Texas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    LeMone, D. V.; Dodge, R.; Xie, H.; Langford, R. P.; Keller, G. R.

    2002-01-01

    Remote sensing images provide useful physical information, revealing such features as geological structure, vegetation, drainage patterns, and variations in consolidated and unconsolidated lithologies. That technology has been applied to the failed Sierra Blanca (Faskin Ranch) shallow burial low-level radioactive waste disposal site selected by the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority. It has been re-examined using data from LANDSAT satellite series. The comparison of the earlier LANDSAT V (5/20/86) (30-m resolution) with the later new, higher resolution ETM imagery (10/23/99) LANDSAT VII data (15-m resolution) clearly shows the superiority of the LANDSAT VII data. The search for surficial indications of evidence of fatal flaws at the Sierra Blanca site utilizing was not successful, as it had been in the case of the earlier remote sensing analysis of the failed Fort Hancock site utilizing LANDSAT V data. The authors conclude that the tectonic activity at the Sierra Blanca site is much less recent and active than in the previously studied Fort Hancock site. The Sierra Blanca site failed primarily on the further needed documentation concerning a subsurface fault underneath the site and environmental justice issues. The presence of this fault was not revealed using the newer LANDSAT VII data. Despite this fact, it must be remembered that remote sensing provides baseline documentation for determining future physical and financial remediation responsibilities. On the basis of the two sites examined by LANDSAT remote sensing imaging, it is concluded that it is an essential, cost-effective tool that should be utilized not only in site examination but also in all nuclear-related facilities

  8. Remote controlled tool systems for nuclear sites have subsea applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bath, B.; Yemington, C.; Kuhta, B.

    1995-10-01

    Remotely operated underwater tool systems designed to operate in Nuclear Fuel Storage Basins can be applied to deep water, subsea oilfield applications. Spent nuclear fuel rods re stored underwater in large indoor swimming pool-like facilities where the water cover shields the workers from the radiation. This paper describes three specialized tooling systems that were designed and built by Sonsub for work at the Department of Energy's Hanford site. The Door Seal Tool removed an existing seal system, cleaned a 20 ft. tall, carbon steel, underwater hatch and installed a new stainless steel gasket surface with underwater epoxy. The Concrete Sampling Tool was built to take core samples from the vertical, concrete walls of the basins. The tool has three hydraulic drills with proprietary hollow core drill bits to cut and retrieve the concrete samples. The Rack Saw remotely attached itself to a structure, cut a variety of steel shapes and pipes, and retained the cut pieces for retrieval. All of these systems are remotely operated with onboard video cameras and debris collection systems. The methods and equipment proven in this application are available to refurbish sealing surfaces and to drill or sample concrete in offshore oil field applications

  9. Solar electric power for instruments at remote sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    McChesney, P.J.

    2000-01-01

    Small photovoltaic (PV) systems are the preferred method to power instruments operating at permanent locations away from the electric power grid. The low-power PV power system consists of a solar panel or small array of panels, lead-acid batteries, and a charge controller. Even though the small PV power system is simple, the job of supplying power at a remote site can be very demanding. The equipment is often exposed to harsh conditions. The site may be inaccessible part of the year or difficult and expensive to reach at any time. Yet the system must provide uninterrupted power with minimum maintenance at low cost. This requires good design. Successful small PV systems often require modifications by a knowledgeable fieldworker to adapt to conditions at the site. Much information is available in many places about solar panels, lead-acid batteries, and charging systems but very little of it applies directly to low power instrument sites. The discussion here aims to close some of the gap. Each of the major components is described in terms of this application with particular attention paid to batteries. Site problems are investigated. Finally, maintenance and test procedures are given. This document assumes that the reader is engaged in planning or maintaining low-power PV sites and has basic electrical and electronic knowledge. The area covered by the discussion is broad. To help the reader with the many terms and acronyms used, they are shown in bold when first used and a glossary is provided at the end of the paper.

  10. Evaluation of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for remote wetland monitoring: design and initial results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watras, Carl J; Morrow, Michael; Morrison, Ken; Scannell, Sean; Yaziciaglu, Steve; Read, Jordan S; Hu, Yu-Hen; Hanson, Paul C; Kratz, Tim

    2014-02-01

    Here, we describe and evaluate two low-power wireless sensor networks (WSNs) designed to remotely monitor wetland hydrochemical dynamics over time scales ranging from minutes to decades. Each WSN (one student-built and one commercial) has multiple nodes to monitor water level, precipitation, evapotranspiration, temperature, and major solutes at user-defined time intervals. Both WSNs can be configured to report data in near real time via the internet. Based on deployments in two isolated wetlands, we report highly resolved water budgets, transient reversals of flow path, rates of transpiration from peatlands and the dynamics of chromophoric-dissolved organic matter and bulk ionic solutes (specific conductivity)-all on daily or subdaily time scales. Initial results indicate that direct precipitation and evapotranspiration dominate the hydrologic budget of both study wetlands, despite their relatively flat geomorphology and proximity to elevated uplands. Rates of transpiration from peatland sites were typically greater than evaporation from open waters but were more challenging to integrate spatially. Due to the high specific yield of peat, the hydrologic gradient between peatland and open water varied with precipitation events and intervening periods of dry out. The resultant flow path reversals implied that the flux of solutes across the riparian boundary varied over daily time scales. We conclude that WSNs can be deployed in remote wetland-dominated ecosystems at relatively low cost to assess the hydrochemical impacts of weather, climate, and other perturbations.

  11. The Department of Energy Nevada Test Site Remote Area Monitoring System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanders, L.D.; Hart, O.F.

    1993-01-01

    The Remote Area Monitoring System was developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for DOE test directors at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) to verify radiological conditions are safe after a nuclear test. In the unlikely event of a venting as a result of a nuclear test, this system provides radiological and meteorological data to Weather Service Nuclear Support Office (WSNSO) computers where mesoscale models are used to predict downwind exposure rates. The system uses a combination of hardwired radiation sensors and satellite based data acquisition units with their own radiation sensors to measure exposure rates in remote areas of the NTS. The satellite based data acquisition units are available as small, Portable Remote Area Monitors (RAMs) for rapid deployment, and larger, Semipermanent RAMs that can have meteorological towers. The satellite based stations measure exposure rates and transmit measurements to the GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) where they are relayed to Direct Readout Ground Stations (DRGS) at the NTS and Los Alamos. Computers process the data and display results in the NTS Operations Coordination Center. Los Alamos computers and NTS computers are linked together through a wide area network, providing remote redundant system capability. Recently, LANL, expanded the system to take radiological and meteorological measurements in communities in the western United States. The system was also expanded to acquire data from Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS) that transmit through GOES. The addition of Portable and Semipermanent RAMs to the system has vastly expanded monitoring capabilities at NTS and can be used to take measurements anywhere in this hemisphere

  12. Characteristics and diurnal variations of NMHCs at urban, suburban, and rural sites in the Pearl River Delta and a remote site in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, J. H.; Chan, L. Y.; Chan, C. Y.; Li, Y. S.; Chang, C. C.; Liu, S. C.; Wu, D.; Li, Y. D.

    The Pearl River Delta (PRD) is one of the most industrialized and urbanized regions in China. With rapid growth of the economy, it is suffering from deteriorating air quality. Non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) were investigated at urban and suburban sites in Guangzhou (GZ), a rural site in PRD and a clean remote site in South China, in April 2005. Additional roadside samples in GZ and Qingxi (QX, a small industrial town in PRD), ambient air samples at the rooftop of a printing factory in QX and exhaust samples from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)—fueled taxis in GZ were collected to help identify the source signatures of NMHCs. A large fraction of propane (47%) was found in exhaust samples from LPG-fueled taxis in GZ and extremely high levels of toluene (2.0-3.1 ppmv) were found at the rooftop of the printing factory in QX. Vehicular and industrial emissions were the main sources of NMHCs. The effect of vehicular emission on the ambient air varied among the three PRD sites. The impact of industrial emissions was widespread and they contributed greatly to the high levels of aromatic hydrocarbons, especially toluene, at the three PRD sites investigated. Leakage from vehicles fueled by LPG contributed mainly to the high levels of propane and n-butane at the urban GZ site. Ethane and ethyne from long-range transport and isoprene from local biogenic emission were the main contributors to the total hydrocarbons at the remote site. Diurnal variations of NMHCs showed that the contribution from vehicular emissions varied with traffic conditions and were more influenced by fresh emissions at the urban site and by aged air at the suburban and rural sites. Isoprene from biogenic emission contributed largely to the ozone formation potential (OFP) at the remote site. Ethene, toluene and m/ p-xylene were the main contributors to the OFP at the three PRD sites.

  13. Initial Operation of the Savannah River Site Advanced Storage Monitoring Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCurry, D.R.

    2001-01-01

    An advanced storage monitoring facility has been constructed at the Savannah River Site capable of storing sensitive nuclear materials (SNM) with access to monitoring information available over the Internet. This system will also have monitoring information available over the Internet to appropriate users. The programs will ultimately supply authenticated and encrypted data from the storage sites to certified users to demonstrate the capability of using the Internet as a safe and secure communications medium for remote monitoring of sensitive items

  14. Multi-site testing and evaluation of remote sensing instruments for wind energy applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sanz Rodrigo, J.; Borbon Guillen, F.; Gomez Arranz, P.

    2013-01-01

    A procedure for testing and evaluation of remote sensing instruments that makes use of two test sites in flat and complex terrain is presented. To illustrate the method, a system intercomparison experiment is presented involving one sodar and two lidars (pulsed and continuous-wave). The wind...

  15. Angkor site monitoring and evaluation by radar remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Fulong; Jiang, Aihui; Ishwaran, Natarajan

    2014-11-01

    Angkor, in the northern province of Siem Reap, Cambodia, is one of the most important world heritage sites of Southeast Asia. Seasonal flood and ground sinking are two representative hazards in Angkor site. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing has played an important role for the Angkor site monitoring and management. In this study, 46 scenes of TerraSAR data acquired in the span of February, 2011 to December, 2013 were used for the time series analysis and hazard evaluation; that is, two-fold classification for flood area extracting and Multi-Temporal SAR Interferometry (MT-InSAR) for ground subsidence monitoring. For the flood investigation, the original Single Look Complex (SLC) TerraSAR-X data were transferred into amplitude images. Water features in dry and flood seasons were firstly extracted using a proposed mixed-threshold approach based on the backscattering; and then for the correlation analysis between water features and the precipitation in seasonally and annually. Using the MT-InSAR method, the ground subsidence was derived with values ranging from -50 to +12 mm/yr in the observation period of February, 2011 to June, 2013. It is clear that the displacement on the Angkor site was evident, implying the necessity of continuous monitoring.

  16. Timing of initial arrival at the breeding site predicts age at first reproduction in a long-lived migratory bird

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becker, Peter H.; Dittmann, Tobias; Ludwigs, Jan-Dieter; Limmer, Bente; Ludwig, Sonja C.; Bauch, Christina; Braasch, Alexander; Wendeln, Helmut

    2008-01-01

    In long-lived vertebrates, individuals generally visit potential breeding areas or populations during one or more seasons before reproducing for the first time. During these years of prospecting, they select a future breeding site, colony, or mate and improve various skills and their physical condition to meet the requirements of reproduction. One precondition of successful reproduction is arrival in time on the breeding grounds. Here, we study the intricate links among the date of initial spring arrival, body mass, sex, and the age of first breeding in the common tern Sterna hirundo, a long-lived migratory colonial seabird. The study is based on a unique, individual-based, long-term dataset of sexed birds, marked with transponders, which allow recording their individual arrival, overall attendance, and clutch initiation remotely and automatically year by year over the entire lifetime at the natal colony site. We show that the seasonal date of initial arrival at the breeding grounds predicts the individual age at first reproduction, which mostly occurs years later. Late first-time arrivals remain delayed birds throughout subsequent years. Our findings reveal that timing of arrival at the site of reproduction and timing of reproduction itself are coherent parameters of individual quality, which are linked with the prospects of the breeding career and may have consequences for fitness. PMID:18711134

  17. Remote inspection system for hazardous sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Redd, J.; Borst, C.; Volz, R.A.; Everett, L.J.

    1999-04-01

    Long term storage of special nuclear materials poses a number of problems. One of these is a need to inspect the items being stored from time to time. Yet the environment is hostile to man, with significant radiation exposure resulting from prolonged presence in the storage facility. This paper describes research to provide a remote inspection capability, which could lead to eliminating the need for humans to enter a nuclear storage facility. While there are many ways in which an RI system might be created, this paper describes the development of a prototype remote inspection system, which utilizes virtual reality technology along with robotics. The purpose of this system is to allow the operator to establish a safe and realistic telepresence in a remote environment. In addition, it was desired that the user interface for the system be as intuitive to use as possible, thus eliminating the need for extensive training. The goal of this system is to provide a robotic platform with two cameras, which are capable of providing accurate and reliable stereographic images of the remote environment. One application for the system is that it might be driven down the corridors of a nuclear storage facility and utilized to inspect the drums inside, all without the need for physical human presence. Thus, it is not a true virtual reality system providing simulated graphics, but rather an augmented reality system, which performs remote inspection of an existing, real environment

  18. Execution programme for the initial site investigations at Simpevarp

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2002-10-01

    In the feasibility studies that were completed in 2001, eight sites were identified as potentially suitable for hosting a repository. All the identified sites meet the safety requirements with respect to bedrock conditions that could be checked at that time. The feasibility studies have revealed good potential when it comes to the technical and environmental aspects as well. Based on an integrated evaluation SKB proposed to start site investigations with test drillings at three sites; Simpevarp, Forsmark, and Tierp north. The site investigations have started at Simpevarp and Forsmark. The municipal council of Tierp rejected a site investigation in April 2002. The site investigations are divided into two main phases; initial and complete investigations. Initial Site Investigation is performed to identify the site within a specified area that is deemed to be most suitable for a deep repository and to determine whether the feasibility study's judgement of the suitability of the area holds up in the light of borehole data from repository depth. The Initial Site Investigation is expected to take about 3 years. If the assessment shows that the site has good potential to host a repository, Complete Site Investigation will follow for an expected duration of another 3 years. The purpose of the Complete Site Investigation is to gather all information required to select one of the sites as the main alternative and to apply for a permit for construction of the deep repository at that site. The site-specific programme gives an overview of the whole site investigation phase as well as a detailed description of the initial stage. The results of the initial investigations will determine whether Simpevarp is appropriate for further investigation, i.e. the Complete Site Investigation. This document summarizes the investigations that will be carried out at Simpevarp during the Initial Site Investigations. The document is a working document, which will be successively updated as

  19. Execution programme for the initial site investigations at Simpevarp

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-10-01

    In the feasibility studies that were completed in 2001, eight sites were identified as potentially suitable for hosting a repository. All the identified sites meet the safety requirements with respect to bedrock conditions that could be checked at that time. The feasibility studies have revealed good potential when it comes to the technical and environmental aspects as well. Based on an integrated evaluation SKB proposed to start site investigations with test drillings at three sites; Simpevarp, Forsmark, and Tierp north. The site investigations have started at Simpevarp and Forsmark. The municipal council of Tierp rejected a site investigation in April 2002. The site investigations are divided into two main phases; initial and complete investigations. Initial Site Investigation is performed to identify the site within a specified area that is deemed to be most suitable for a deep repository and to determine whether the feasibility study's judgement of the suitability of the area holds up in the light of borehole data from repository depth. The Initial Site Investigation is expected to take about 3 years. If the assessment shows that the site has good potential to host a repository, Complete Site Investigation will follow for an expected duration of another 3 years. The purpose of the Complete Site Investigation is to gather all information required to select one of the sites as the main alternative and to apply for a permit for construction of the deep repository at that site. The site-specific programme gives an overview of the whole site investigation phase as well as a detailed description of the initial stage. The results of the initial investigations will determine whether Simpevarp is appropriate for further investigation, i.e. the Complete Site Investigation. This document summarizes the investigations that will be carried out at Simpevarp during the Initial Site Investigations. The document is a working document, which will be successively updated as

  20. Interactive computer enhanced remote viewing system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.A.; Tourtellott, J.A.

    1994-01-01

    The Interactive, Computer Enhanced, Remote Viewing System (ICERVSA) is a volumetric data system designed to help the Department of Energy (DOE) improve remote operations in hazardous sites by providing reliable and accurate maps of task spaces where robots will clean up nuclear wastes. The ICERVS mission is to acquire, store, integrate and manage all the sensor data for a site and to provide the necessary tools to facilitate its visualization and interpretation. Empirical sensor data enters through the Common Interface for Sensors and after initial processing, is stored in the Volumetric Database. The data can be analyzed and displayed via a Graphic User Interface with a variety of visualization tools. Other tools permit the construction of geometric objects, such as wire frame models, to represent objects which the operator may recognize in the live TV image. A computer image can be generated that matches the viewpoint of the live TV camera at the remote site, facilitating access to site data. Lastly, the data can be gathered, processed, and transmitted in acceptable form to a robotic controller. Descriptions are given of all these components. The final phase of the ICERVS project, which has just begun, will produce a full scale system and demonstrate it at a DOE site to be selected. A task added to this Phase will adapt the ICERVS to meet the needs of the Dismantlement and Decommissioning (D and D) work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2017-12-18

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

  2. Estimating wind frequency limits for natural ventilation at remote sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su, B.; Aynsley, R.

    2006-01-01

    Detailed wind data are collected at a limited number of sites, usually at airports. When a building is sited remote from the nearest wind data collection site, estimating wind frequency is more complex. The techniques involved come from the discipline of wind engineering. Where there is a relatively flat terrain between the wind data-recording site and the building site, simple computations can be made to account for the wind velocities over intervening terrain roughness. Where significant topographic features such as hills or mountains are present between the wind data-recording site and the building site, then boundary layer wind tunnel studies will be necessary to determine the influence of such features on wind speed and direction. Rough estimates can be calculated using factors used in some wind loading codes. When buildings are to be designed to take advantage of the energy efficiency offered by natural ventilation, it is important to estimate the actual potential for such ventilation. The natural ventilation potential can be estimated in terms of the percentage of time when wind exceeds some minimum value. For buildings near airports this is a relatively simple procedure. Such estimates are important as they also indicate the likely percentage of time when fans or other energy consuming devices will be needed to maintain indoor thermal comfort. This paper identifies the wind engineering techniques that can be used for such estimates and gives examples of such calculations

  3. 76 FR 61741 - Bmc Software, Inc. Including On-Site Leased Workers From COMSYS ITS Including Remote Workers...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration [TA-W-74,540] Bmc Software, Inc... November 23, 2010, applicable to workers of BMC Software, Inc., including on-site leased workers from... BMC Software, inc., including on-site leased workers from Comsys ITS, and including remote workers...

  4. A demonstration of remote survey and characterization of a buried waste site using the SRIP [Soldier Robot Interface Project] testbed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burks, B.L.; Richardson, B.S.; Armstrong, G.A.; Hamel, W.R.; Jansen, J.F.; Killough, S.M.; Thompson, D.H.; Emery, M.S.

    1990-01-01

    During FY 1990, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) supported the Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ER ampersand WM) Office of Technology Development through several projects including the development of a semiautonomous survey of a buried waste site using a remotely operated all-terrain robotic testbed borrowed from the US Army. The testbed was developed for the US Army's Human Engineering Laboratory (HEL) for the US Army's Soldier Robot Interface Project (SRIP). Initial development of the SRIP testbed was performed by a team including ORNL, HEL, Tooele Army Depot, and Odetics, Inc., as an experimental testbed for a variety of human factors issues related to military applications of robotics. The SRIP testbed was made available to the DOE and ORNL for the further development required for a remote landfill survey. The robot was modified extensively, equipped with environmental sensors, and used to demonstrate an automated remote survey of Solid Waste Storage Area No. 3 (SWSA 3) at ORNL on Tuesday, September 18, 1990. Burial trenches in this area containing contaminated materials were covered with soil nearly twenty years ago. This paper describes the SRIP testbed and work performed in FY 1990 to demonstrate a semiautonomous landfill survey at ORNL. 5 refs

  5. Detection of environmental change using hyperspectral remote sensing at Olkiluoto repository site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tuominen, J.; Lipping, T.

    2011-03-01

    In this report methods related to hyperspectral monitoring of Olkiluoto repository site are described. A short introduction to environmental remote sensing is presented, followed by more detailed description of hyperspectral imaging and a review of applications of hyperspectral remote sensing presented in the literature. The trends of future hyperspectral imaging are discussed exploring the possibilities of long-wave infrared hyperspectral imaging. A detailed description of HYPE08 hyperspectral flight campaign at the Olkiluoto region in 2008 is presented. In addition, related pre-processing and atmospheric correction methods, necessary in monitoring use, and the quality control methods applied, are described. Various change detection methods presented in the literature are described, too. Finally, a system for hyperspectral monitoring is proposed. The system is based on continued hyperspectral airborne flight campaigns and precisely defined data processing procedure. (orig.)

  6. Site initialization, recovery, and back-up in a distributed database system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Attar, R.; Bernstein, P.A.; Goodman, N.

    1982-01-01

    Site initialization is the problem of integrating a new site into a running distributed database system (DDBS). Site recovery is the problem of integrating an old site into a DDBS when the site recovers from failure. Site backup is the problem of creating a static backup copy of a database for archival or query purposes. We present an algorithm that solves the site initialization problem. By modifying the algorithm slightly, we get solutions to the other two problems as well. Our algorithm exploits the fact that a correct DDBS must run a serializable concurrency control algorithm. Our algorithm relies on the concurrency control algorithm to handle all inter-site synchronization

  7. Comprehensive Calibration and Validation Site for Information Remote Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, C. R.; Tang, L. L.; Ma, L. L.; Zhou, Y. S.; Gao, C. X.; Wang, N.; Li, X. H.; Wang, X. H.; Zhu, X. H.

    2015-04-01

    As a naturally part of information technology, Remote Sensing (RS) is strongly required to provide very precise and accurate information product to serve industry, academy and the public at this information economic era. To meet the needs of high quality RS product, building a fully functional and advanced calibration system, including measuring instruments, measuring approaches and target site become extremely important. Supported by MOST of China via national plan, great progress has been made to construct a comprehensive calibration and validation (Cal&Val) site, which integrates most functions of RS sensor aviation testing, EO satellite on-orbit caration and performance assessment and RS product validation at this site located in Baotou, 600km west of Beijing. The site is equipped with various artificial standard targets, including portable and permanent targets, which supports for long-term calibration and validation. A number of fine-designed ground measuring instruments and airborne standard sensors are developed for realizing high-accuracy stepwise validation, an approach in avoiding or reducing uncertainties caused from nonsynchronized measurement. As part of contribution to worldwide Cal&Val study coordinated by CEOS-WGCV, Baotou site is offering its support to Radiometric Calibration Network of Automated Instruments (RadCalNet), with an aim of providing demonstrated global standard automated radiometric calibration service in cooperation with ESA, NASA, CNES and NPL. Furthermore, several Cal&Val campaigns have been performed during the past years to calibrate and validate the spaceborne/airborne optical and SAR sensors, and the results of some typical demonstration are discussed in this study.

  8. Dynamic Monitoring of Yin Xu Site by Remote Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ruixia; Peng, Yanyan

    2014-03-01

    Yin Xu, dates back more than 3,300 years, is the first relic of the capital of the Shang Dynasty literally recorded and confirmed by oracle bone scripts and the archaeological excavation in China. Located in Anyang City of Henan Province(northwestern suburbs of Huanhe banks) it covers an area of around 36 km2. According to the characteristics of Yin Xu, remote sensing has shown its great capabilities to solve many issues in different fields, e.g. visual interpretations of aerial photo were used to identify the feature of Yin Xu site in 1972, 1984, 1998, 2005 and 2010. Using the classification validated by field investigations,the change information such as the monitoring index of settlements, riverway, main roads, factory and green area can be extracted in heritage site. According to the monitoring results of land cover and the surrounding environment, we conclude that the protection planning system is effective, and the rapid expansion of neighboring building area has playing a negative role in Yin Xu protection.

  9. Dynamic Monitoring of Yin Xu Site by Remote Sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Ruixia; Peng, Yanyan

    2014-01-01

    Yin Xu, dates back more than 3,300 years, is the first relic of the capital of the Shang Dynasty literally recorded and confirmed by oracle bone scripts and the archaeological excavation in China. Located in Anyang City of Henan Province(northwestern suburbs of Huanhe banks) it covers an area of around 36 km 2 . According to the characteristics of Yin Xu, remote sensing has shown its great capabilities to solve many issues in different fields, e.g. visual interpretations of aerial photo were used to identify the feature of Yin Xu site in 1972, 1984, 1998, 2005 and 2010. Using the classification validated by field investigations,the change information such as the monitoring index of settlements, riverway, main roads, factory and green area can be extracted in heritage site. According to the monitoring results of land cover and the surrounding environment, we conclude that the protection planning system is effective, and the rapid expansion of neighboring building area has playing a negative role in Yin Xu protection

  10. Remote hemorrhage from the site of craniotomy Hemorragia à distância da área da craniotomia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Alberto Landeiro

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available Postoperative intracranial hemorrhage is a serious and sometimes a fatal neurosurgical complication. Hemorrhage occurring at regions remote from the site of intracranial operations comprises an uncommon affection, most ignored by the assistant physicians. It bares a still incomprehensive pathophysiology, despite several theories trying to explain it. Looks like a common sense that the presence of the remote site hemorrhage cannot be related to concomitant presence of hypertension, coagulopathy or undiscovered lesions. We report three cases of postoperative hemorrhages occurring in a remote site of supratentorial craniotomies, two patients presented cavernous sinus meningeoma and one patient was submitted to intracranial vascular surgery.Hemorragia intracraniana de ocorrência em pós-operatório é grave complicação das cirurgias intracranianas. O aparecimento de foco hemorrágico em regiões distantes ao sítio operatório original é considerado incomum, e muitas vezes ignorado pelos médicos assistentes. A fisiopatologia envolvida no processo não é de todo compreendida, apesar das diversas teorias já propostas. São apresentados três casos de hemorragia á distancia da área cirúrgica, no pós-operatório de dois pacientes portadores de meningeoma do seio cavernoso e de um submetido à clipagem de aneurisma intracraniano.

  11. The interpretation of remote sensing image on the stability of fault zone at HLW repository site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Linqing; Yu Yunxiang

    1994-01-01

    It is attempted to interpret the buried fault at the preselected HLW repository site in western Gansu province with a remote sensing image. The authors discuss the features of neotectonism of Shule River buried fault zone and its two sides in light of the remote sensing image, geomorphology, stream pattern, type and thickness difference of Quaternary sediments, and structural basin, etc.. The stability of Shule River fault zone is mainly dominated by the neotectonic movement pattern and strength of its two sides. Although there exist normal and differential vertical movements along it, their strengths are small. Therefore, this is a weakly-active passive fault zone. The east Beishan area north to Shule River fault zone is weakliest active and is considered as the target for further pre-selection for HLW repository site

  12. Controlled soil warming powered by alternative energy for remote field sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnstone, Jill F; Henkelman, Jonathan; Allen, Kirsten; Helgason, Warren; Bedard-Haughn, Angela

    2013-01-01

    Experiments using controlled manipulation of climate variables in the field are critical for developing and testing mechanistic models of ecosystem responses to climate change. Despite rapid changes in climate observed in many high latitude and high altitude environments, controlled manipulations in these remote regions have largely been limited to passive experimental methods with variable effects on environmental factors. In this study, we tested a method of controlled soil warming suitable for remote field locations that can be powered using alternative energy sources. The design was tested in high latitude, alpine tundra of southern Yukon Territory, Canada, in 2010 and 2011. Electrical warming probes were inserted vertically in the near-surface soil and powered with photovoltaics attached to a monitoring and control system. The warming manipulation achieved a stable target warming of 1.3 to 2 °C in 1 m(2) plots while minimizing disturbance to soil and vegetation. Active control of power output in the warming plots allowed the treatment to closely match spatial and temporal variations in soil temperature while optimizing system performance during periods of low power supply. Active soil heating with vertical electric probes powered by alternative energy is a viable option for remote sites and presents a low-disturbance option for soil warming experiments. This active heating design provides a valuable tool for examining the impacts of soil warming on ecosystem processes.

  13. Controlled soil warming powered by alternative energy for remote field sites.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jill F Johnstone

    Full Text Available Experiments using controlled manipulation of climate variables in the field are critical for developing and testing mechanistic models of ecosystem responses to climate change. Despite rapid changes in climate observed in many high latitude and high altitude environments, controlled manipulations in these remote regions have largely been limited to passive experimental methods with variable effects on environmental factors. In this study, we tested a method of controlled soil warming suitable for remote field locations that can be powered using alternative energy sources. The design was tested in high latitude, alpine tundra of southern Yukon Territory, Canada, in 2010 and 2011. Electrical warming probes were inserted vertically in the near-surface soil and powered with photovoltaics attached to a monitoring and control system. The warming manipulation achieved a stable target warming of 1.3 to 2 °C in 1 m(2 plots while minimizing disturbance to soil and vegetation. Active control of power output in the warming plots allowed the treatment to closely match spatial and temporal variations in soil temperature while optimizing system performance during periods of low power supply. Active soil heating with vertical electric probes powered by alternative energy is a viable option for remote sites and presents a low-disturbance option for soil warming experiments. This active heating design provides a valuable tool for examining the impacts of soil warming on ecosystem processes.

  14. An evaluation of remote sensing technologies for the detection of fugitive contamination at selected Superfund hazardous waste sites in Pennsylvania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slonecker, E. Terrence; Fisher, Gary B.

    2014-01-01

    This evaluation was conducted to assess the potential for using both traditional remote sensing, such as aerial imagery, and emerging remote sensing technology, such as hyperspectral imaging, as tools for postclosure monitoring of selected hazardous waste sites. Sixteen deleted Superfund (SF) National Priorities List (NPL) sites in Pennsylvania were imaged with a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Airborne Real-Time Cueing Hyperspectral Enhanced Reconnaissance (ARCHER) sensor between 2009 and 2012. Deleted sites are those sites that have been remediated and removed from the NPL. The imagery was processed to radiance and atmospherically corrected to relative reflectance with standard software routines using the Environment for Visualizing Imagery (ENVI, ITT–VIS, Boulder, Colorado) software. Standard routines for anomaly detection, endmember collection, vegetation stress, and spectral analysis were applied.

  15. Site-characterization information using LANDSAT satellite and other remote-sensing data: integration of remote-sensing data with geographic information systems. A case study in Pennsylvania

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campbell, W.J.; Imhoff, M.L.; Robinson, J.; Gunther, F.; Boyd, R.; Anuta, M.

    1983-06-01

    The utility and cost effectiveness of incorporating digitized aircraft and satellite remote sensing data into a geographic information system for facility siting and environmental impact assessments was evaluated. This research focused on the evaluation of several types of multisource remotely sensed data representing a variety of spectral band widths and spatial resolution. High resolution aircraft photography, Landsat MSS, and 7 band Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) data were acquired, analyzed, and evaluated for their suitability as input to an operational geographic information system (GIS). 78 references, 59 figures, 74 tables

  16. Improved remote HEPA filtration development program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, C.E. III.

    1987-03-01

    This paper presents a summary of the prototype development and hot cell mock-up testing program undertaken to adapt a commercial remote HEPA filter housing for use in the Process Facility Modification Project (PFMP). This program was initiated in response to the project design criteria and documentation that required the air from the hot cell environment to be exhausted through three stages of HEPA filtration. Due to the anticipated quantity of radioactive contamination captured by the first stage of filters, it was determined that the first stage would need to be located in a remotely operated and maintained shielded cell adjoining the primary hot cell areas. Commercially available remote filtration equipment was evaluated and candidate unit was identified, which could be developed into a suitable filter housing. A candidate unit was obtained from Flanders Filters, Inc. and a series of hot cell mock-up tests were identified in the 305 facility at the Hanford site. The results of these tests, and further interaction with the vendor, led to a prototype remote filter housing which satisfied most PFMP criteria and proved to be significantly superior to existing commercial units for remote operation/maintenance

  17. Surface Properties and Characteristics of Mars Landing Sites from Remote Sensing Data and Ground Truth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golombek, M. P.; Haldemann, A. F.; Simpson, R. A.; Furgason, R. L.; Putzig, N. E.; Huertas, A.; Arvidson, R. E.; Heet, T.; Bell, J. F.; Mellon, M. T.; McEwen, A. S.

    2008-12-01

    Surface characteristics at the six sites where spacecraft have successfully landed on Mars can be related favorably to their signatures in remotely sensed data from orbit and from the Earth. Comparisons of the rock abundance, types and coverage of soils (and their physical properties), thermal inertia, albedo, and topographic slope all agree with orbital remote sensing estimates and show that the materials at the landing sites can be used as ground truth for the materials that make up most of the equatorial and mid- to moderately high-latitude regions of Mars. The six landing sites sample two of the three dominant global thermal inertia and albedo units that cover ~80% of the surface of Mars. The Viking, Spirit, Mars Pathfinder, and Phoenix landing sites are representative of the moderate to high thermal inertia and intermediate to high albedo unit that is dominated by crusty, cloddy, blocky or frozen soils (duricrust that may be layered) with various abundances of rocks and bright dust. The Opportunity landing site is representative of the moderate to high thermal inertia and low albedo surface unit that is relatively dust free and composed of dark eolian sand and/or increased abundance of rocks. Rock abundance derived from orbital thermal differencing techniques in the equatorial regions agrees with that determined from rock counts at the surface and varies from ~3-20% at the landing sites. The size-frequency distributions of rocks >1.5 m diameter fully resolvable in HiRISE images of the landing sites follow exponential models developed from lander measurements of smaller rocks and are continuous with these rock distributions indicating both are part of the same population. Interpretation of radar data confirms the presence of load bearing, relatively dense surfaces controlled by the soil type at the landing sites, regional rock populations from diffuse scattering similar to those observed directly at the sites, and root-mean-squared slopes that compare favorably

  18. Remote Handled TRU Waste Status and Activities and Challenges at the Hanford Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MCKENNEY, D.E.

    2000-01-01

    A significant portion of the Department of Energy's forecast volume of remote-handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) waste will originate from the Hanford Site. The forecasted Hanford RH-TRU waste volume of over 2000 cubic meters may constitute over one-third of the forecast inventory of RH-TRU destined for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). To date, the Hanford TRU waste program has focused on the retrieval, treatment and certification of the contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) wastes. This near-term focus on CH-TRU is consistent with the National TRU Program plans and capabilities. The first shipment of CH-TRU waste from Hanford to the WIPP is scheduled early in Calendar Year 2000. Shipments of RH-TRU from Hanford to the WIPP are scheduled to begin in Fiscal Year 2006 per the National TRU Waste Management Plan. This schedule has been incorporated into milestones within the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Tri-Party Agreement). These Tri-Party milestones (designated the ''M-91'' series of milestones) relate to development of project management plans, completion of design efforts, construction and contracting schedules, and initiation of process operations. The milestone allows for modification of an existing facility, construction of a new facility, and/or commercial contracting to provide the capabilities for processing and certification of RH-TRU wastes for disposal at the WIPP. The development of a Project Management Plan (PMP) for TRU waste is the first significant step in the development of a program for disposal of Hanford's RH-TRU waste. This PMP will address the path forward for disposition of waste streams that cannot be prepared for disposal in the Hanford Waste Receiving and Processing facility (a contact-handled, small container facility) or other Site facilities. The PMP development effort has been initiated, and the PMP will be provided to the regulators for their approval by June 30, 2000. This plan will detail the

  19. Behavioural changes experienced by contract managers while working on remote project sites

    OpenAIRE

    2012-01-01

    M.B.A. This research project is concerned with the behavioural changes of contract managers while working on 'remote' project sites. While working on such a project, the researcher became aware that the behaviour of certain contract managers changed over the course of the project, and that this behaviour was not the same as they demonstrated when at home or in the office environment. In many instances these behavioural changes were of a negative nature, the consequences of which often resu...

  20. The Use Of Satellite Remote Sensing And Helicopter Tem Data For The Identification And Characterization Of Contaminated Landfill Sites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Viezzoli, Andrea; Edsen, Anders; Auken, Esben

    , satellite remote sensing has been successfully used to identify numerous candidate sites that are most likely to host waste materials. This result was the basis for further monitoring activities based on the use of an helicopter transient electromagnetic (TEM) system, to be carried out at end of April 2009...... and remote sensing methods represents a useful instrument for environmental management....

  1. Population Turnover in Remote Oceania Shortly after Initial Settlement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lipson, Mark; Skoglund, Pontus; Spriggs, Matthew; Valentin, Frederique; Bedford, Stuart; Shing, Richard; Buckley, Hallie; Phillip, Iarawai; Ward, Graeme K; Mallick, Swapan; Rohland, Nadin; Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen; Cheronet, Olivia; Ferry, Matthew; Harper, Thomas K; Michel, Megan; Oppenheimer, Jonas; Sirak, Kendra; Stewardson, Kristin; Auckland, Kathryn; Hill, Adrian V S; Maitland, Kathryn; Oppenheimer, Stephen J; Parks, Tom; Robson, Kathryn; Williams, Thomas N; Kennett, Douglas J; Mentzer, Alexander J; Pinhasi, Ron; Reich, David

    2018-04-02

    Ancient DNA from Vanuatu and Tonga dating to about 2,900-2,600 years ago (before present, BP) has revealed that the "First Remote Oceanians" associated with the Lapita archaeological culture were directly descended from the population that, beginning around 5000 BP, spread Austronesian languages from Taiwan to the Philippines, western Melanesia, and eventually Remote Oceania. Thus, ancestors of the First Remote Oceanians must have passed by the Papuan-ancestry populations they encountered in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands with minimal admixture [1]. However, all present-day populations in Near and Remote Oceania harbor >25% Papuan ancestry, implying that additional eastward migration must have occurred. We generated genome-wide data for 14 ancient individuals from Efate and Epi Islands in Vanuatu from 2900-150 BP, as well as 185 present-day individuals from 18 islands. We find that people of almost entirely Papuan ancestry arrived in Vanuatu by around 2300 BP, most likely reflecting migrations a few hundred years earlier at the end of the Lapita period, when there is also evidence of changes in skeletal morphology and cessation of long-distance trade between Near and Remote Oceania [2, 3]. Papuan ancestry was subsequently diluted through admixture but remains at least 80%-90% in most islands. Through a fine-grained analysis of ancestry profiles, we show that the Papuan ancestry in Vanuatu derives from the Bismarck Archipelago rather than the geographically closer Solomon Islands. However, the Papuan ancestry in Polynesia-the most remote Pacific islands-derives from different sources, documenting a third stream of migration from Near to Remote Oceania. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. VEGETATION COVER ANALYSIS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES IN UTAH AND ARIZONA USING HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Serrato, M.; Jungho, I.; Jensen, J.; Jensen, R.; Gladden, J.; Waugh, J.

    2012-01-17

    Remote sensing technology can provide a cost-effective tool for monitoring hazardous waste sites. This study investigated the usability of HyMap airborne hyperspectral remote sensing data (126 bands at 2.3 x 2.3 m spatial resolution) to characterize the vegetation at U.S. Department of Energy uranium processing sites near Monticello, Utah and Monument Valley, Arizona. Grass and shrub species were mixed on an engineered disposal cell cover at the Monticello site while shrub species were dominant in the phytoremediation plantings at the Monument Valley site. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1) estimate leaf-area-index (LAI) of the vegetation using three different methods (i.e., vegetation indices, red-edge positioning (REP), and machine learning regression trees), and (2) map the vegetation cover using machine learning decision trees based on either the scaled reflectance data or mixture tuned matched filtering (MTMF)-derived metrics and vegetation indices. Regression trees resulted in the best calibration performance of LAI estimation (R{sup 2} > 0.80). The use of REPs failed to accurately predict LAI (R{sup 2} < 0.2). The use of the MTMF-derived metrics (matched filter scores and infeasibility) and a range of vegetation indices in decision trees improved the vegetation mapping when compared to the decision tree classification using just the scaled reflectance. Results suggest that hyperspectral imagery are useful for characterizing biophysical characteristics (LAI) and vegetation cover on capped hazardous waste sites. However, it is believed that the vegetation mapping would benefit from the use of 1 higher spatial resolution hyperspectral data due to the small size of many of the vegetation patches (< 1m) found on the sites.

  3. Vegetation Cover Analysis Of Hazardous Waste Sites In Utah And Arizona Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serrato, M.; Jungho, I.; Jensen, J.; Jensen, R.; Gladden, J.; Waugh, J.

    2012-01-01

    Remote sensing technology can provide a cost-effective tool for monitoring hazardous waste sites. This study investigated the usability of HyMap airborne hyperspectral remote sensing data (126 bands at 2.3 x 2.3 m spatial resolution) to characterize the vegetation at U.S. Department of Energy uranium processing sites near Monticello, Utah and Monument Valley, Arizona. Grass and shrub species were mixed on an engineered disposal cell cover at the Monticello site while shrub species were dominant in the phytoremediation plantings at the Monument Valley site. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1) estimate leaf-area-index (LAI) of the vegetation using three different methods (i.e., vegetation indices, red-edge positioning (REP), and machine learning regression trees), and (2) map the vegetation cover using machine learning decision trees based on either the scaled reflectance data or mixture tuned matched filtering (MTMF)-derived metrics and vegetation indices. Regression trees resulted in the best calibration performance of LAI estimation (R 2 > 0.80). The use of REPs failed to accurately predict LAI (R 2 < 0.2). The use of the MTMF-derived metrics (matched filter scores and infeasibility) and a range of vegetation indices in decision trees improved the vegetation mapping when compared to the decision tree classification using just the scaled reflectance. Results suggest that hyperspectral imagery are useful for characterizing biophysical characteristics (LAI) and vegetation cover on capped hazardous waste sites. However, it is believed that the vegetation mapping would benefit from the use of 1 higher spatial resolution hyperspectral data due to the small size of many of the vegetation patches (< 1m) found on the sites.

  4. Crowdsourcing earthquake damage assessment using remote sensing imagery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stuart Gill

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the evolution of recent work on using crowdsourced analysis of remote sensing imagery, particularly high-resolution aerial imagery, to provide rapid, reliable assessments of damage caused by earthquakes and potentially other disasters. The initial effort examined online imagery taken after the 2008 Wenchuan, China, earthquake. A more recent response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake led to the formation of an international consortium: the Global Earth Observation Catastrophe Assessment Network (GEO-CAN. The success of GEO-CAN in contributing to the official damage assessments made by the Government of Haiti, the United Nations, and the World Bank led to further development of a web-based interface. A current initiative in Christchurch, New Zealand, is underway where remote sensing experts are analyzing satellite imagery, geotechnical engineers are marking liquefaction areas, and structural engineers are identifying building damage. The current site includes online training to improve the accuracy of the assessments and make it possible for even novice users to contribute to the crowdsourced solution. The paper discusses lessons learned from these initiatives and presents a way forward for using crowdsourced remote sensing as a tool for rapid assessment of damage caused by natural disasters around the world.

  5. Remote experimental site concept development, LDRD final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casper, T.A.; Meyer, W.; Butner, D.

    1995-01-01

    Scientific research is now often conducted on large and expensive experiments that utilize collaborative efforts on a national or international scale to explore physics and engineering issues. This is particularly true for the current US magnetic fusion energy program where collaboration on existing facilities has increased in importance and will form the basis for future efforts. As fusion energy research approaches reactor conditions, the trend is towards fewer large and expensive experimental facilities, leaving many major institutions without local experiments. Since the expertise of various groups is a valuable resource, it is important to integrate these teams into an overall scientific program. To sustain continued involvement in experiments, scientists are now often required to travel frequently, or to move their families, to the new large facilities. This problem is common to many other different fields of scientific research. The next-generation tokamaks, such as the Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX) or the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), will operate in steady-state or long pulse mode and produce fluxes of fusion reaction products sufficient to activate the surrounding structures. As a direct consequence, remote operation requiring robotics and video monitoring will become necessary, with only brief and limited access to the vessel area allowed. Even the on-site control room, data acquisition facilities, and work areas will be remotely located from the experiment, isolated by large biological barriers, and connected with fiber-optics. Current planning for the ITER experiment includes a network of control room facilities to be located in the countries of the four major international partners; USA, Russian Federation, Japan, and the European Community

  6. Young Adult Capacity Initiative Cross-Site Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Academy for Educational Development, 2012

    2012-01-01

    This cross-site analysis presents findings about the implementation, impact, and outcomes of the Young Adult Capacity Initiative (YACI), at 13 community-based organizations in New York City. These agencies received technical assistance and small incentive grants from the Fund for the City of New York Youth Development Institute (YDI) to build…

  7. Using Remote Sensing Data for Integrating different Renewable Energy Sources at Coastal Site in South Italy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Calaudi, Rosamaria; Feudo, Teresa Lo; Calidonna, Claudia Roberta

    2016-01-01

    Italian coastal sites have the advantage of favorable climatic conditions to use mixed renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind. Harbors are safe places to install wind turbines where wind conditions are almost offshore. Space-borne remote sensing can provide information to determine solar...

  8. A contemporary method for monitoring indoor radon and environmental conditions at a remote test site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Renken, K.J.; Coursin, S.

    1996-01-01

    A state-of-the-art method for automatically monitoring indoor radon and environmental conditions at a remote test site is described. A Wisconsin home that exhibited elevated radon levels has been installed with automated PC-data acquisition system (PC-DAS) that includes: a laptop PC, a data acquisition cardcage, a commercial data acquisition software program plus sensors to measure radon gas concentrations, differential pressures, indoor air quality and meteorological conditions. The isolated PC-DAS is connected to a PC in a university laboratory via a modem and a communications software package. Experimental data is monitored and saved by the remote PC in real time and then automatically downloaded to the lab computer at selected intervals. An example of the formatted field results is presented and analysed. This documentation of the set-up, the off-the-shelf computer hardware and software, and the procedures should assist investigations requiring flexible remote long-term radon and environmental monitoring. (Author)

  9. SAR-EDU - An education initiative for applied Synthetic Aperture Radar remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckardt, Robert; Richter, Nicole; Auer, Stefan; Eineder, Michael; Roth, Achim; Hajnsek, Irena; Walter, Diana; Braun, Matthias; Motagh, Mahdi; Pathe, Carsten; Pleskachevsky, Andrey; Thiel, Christian; Schmullius, Christiane

    2013-04-01

    Since the 1970s, radar remote sensing techniques have evolved rapidly and are increasingly employed in all fields of earth sciences. Applications are manifold and still expanding due to the continuous development of new instruments and missions as well as the availability of very high-quality data. The trend worldwide is towards operational employment of the various algorithms and methods that have been developed. However, the utilization of operational services does not keep up yet with the rate of technical developments and the improvements in sensor technology. With the enhancing availability and variety of space borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and a growing number of analysis algorithms the need for a vital user community is increasing. Therefore the German Aerospace Center (DLR) together with the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (FSU) and the Technical University Munich (TUM) launched the education initiative SAR-EDU. The aim of the project is to facilitate access to expert knowledge in the scientific field of radar remote sensing. Within this effort a web portal will be created to provide seminar material on SAR basics, methods and applications to support both, lecturers and students. The overall intension of the project SAR-EDU is to provide seminar material for higher education in radar remote sensing covering the topic holistically from the very basics to the most advanced methods and applications that are available. The principles of processing and interpreting SAR data are going to be taught using test data sets and open-source as well as commercial software packages. The material that is provided by SAR-EDU will be accessible at no charge from a DLR web portal. The educational tool will have a modular structure, consisting of separate modules that broach the issue of a particular topic. The aim of the implementation of SAR-EDU as application-oriented radar remote sensing educational tool is to advocate the development and wider use of

  10. Parotid gland as an initial site of metastasis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borg, Martin F.

    2004-01-01

    The parotid gland is an uncommon site of metastasis from carcinomas arising outside the head and neck region. Involvement of the parotid gland as an initial site of metastasis or presentation is rare. The present case report is the first, to our knowledge, to describe the management and outcome of an elderly man whose first presentation of an asymptomatic squamous cell carcinoma of the lung was that of a rapidly growing fungating left parotid mass Copyright (2004) Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd

  11. An evaluation of traditional and emerging remote sensing technologies for the detection of fugitive contamination at selected Superfund hazardous waste sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slonecker, E. Terrence; Fisher, Gary B.

    2011-01-01

    This report represents a remote sensing research effort conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the EPA Office of Inspector General. The objective of this investigation was to explore the efficacy of remote sensing as a technology for postclosure monitoring of hazardous waste sites as defined under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-510, 42 U.S.C. §9601 et seq.), also known as \\"Superfund.\\" Five delisted Superfund sites in Maryland and Virginia were imaged with a hyperspectral sensor and visited for collection of soil, water, and spectral samples and inspection of general site conditions. This report evaluates traditional and hyperspectral imagery and field spectroscopic measurement techniques in the characterization and analysis of fugitive (anthropogenic, uncontrolled) contamination at previously remediated hazardous waste disposal sites.

  12. INTEGRATED REMOTE SENSING AND GIS FOR MODELING ECONOMIC REHABILITATION DEVELOPMENT OF EX-MINE SITES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junaidi Junaidi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The potential environmental impacts of mining, increasing environmental legislation and public awareness have received increased attention world-wide in the last two decades. The focus of concern by the industry, environmental regulatory agencies and members of the public is the systematic rehabilitation of ex-mine sites to improve the quality at site for potential future commercial land use. The minerals extracted from these mine/quarry sites are essential in the construction, semiconductor, high-technology, ceramic and other manufacturing sectors for further industrial development. However, efficient engineering design and systematic economic evaluation of mine sites for site rehabilitation are required in maintaining the expected standards of environmental compliance.  With escalating production costs and the keen competitiveness of the mining industry world-wide, the necessity to increase the efficiency in site rehabilitation is getting more prominence.  A coordinated environmental protection and rehabilitation programme is essential if the environmental awareness of the community and the demands of the respective planning authorities are to be accommodated. There is thus a need to increase the base of knowledge for efficient planning in the systematic and progressive rehabilitation of current and future ex-mine sites. An efficient modeling tool is required for the systematic planning and design of potential economic land development of ex-mine sites. The applicability of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS technology is a useful tool to acquire spatial information for the systematic design and planning of potential development of ex-mine sites. This research was conducted to detect the trends in the suitability of land cover changes via land cover change detection of ex-mine sites and validated with reality. The findings are useful to assist in the development of a tool for efficient modeling and design of potential

  13. USING REMOTELY SENSED DATA FOR DOCUMENTATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN NORTHEASTERN MESOPOTAMIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Matoušková

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces two archaeological sites documented during the MULINEM (The Medieval Urban Landscape in Northeastern Mesopotamia project. This project investigates the Late Sasanian and Islamic urban network in the land of Erbil, a historic province of Hidyab (Adiabene that is located in northern Iraq. The investigated sites are the two deserted cities of Makhmúr al-Quadíma and Al-Hadítha. It is assumed that these two sites used to form large cities with high business and cultural importance in the medieval period. The archaeological locations are endangered by various threats.The Al-Hadítha site seems to be under the control of the „Islamic state“ at the moment and Makhmúr al-Quadíma is located just next to the town of new Makhmúr that expands rapidly and without complex urban plans. Documentation of the archaeological sites has been done by using remotely sensed methods together with in-situ measurements (where available. FORMOSAT-2 data that has been gained through a research announcement: Free FORMOSAT-2 satellite imagery and when combined with other sources (recent and historical data it provides a powerful documentation tool. In-situ RPAS measurements and a DTM creation furnish a new source of highly valuable information. Influence of the political and security situation in Al-Hadítha will be analysed.

  14. Using Remotely Sensed Data for Documentation of Archaeological Sites in Northeastern Mesopotamia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matoušková, E.; Starková, L.; Pavelka, K.; Nováček, K.; Šedina, J.; Faltýnová, M.; Housarová, E.

    2016-06-01

    This paper introduces two archaeological sites documented during the MULINEM (The Medieval Urban Landscape in Northeastern Mesopotamia) project. This project investigates the Late Sasanian and Islamic urban network in the land of Erbil, a historic province of Hidyab (Adiabene) that is located in northern Iraq. The investigated sites are the two deserted cities of Makhmúr al-Quadíma and Al-Hadítha. It is assumed that these two sites used to form large cities with high business and cultural importance in the medieval period. The archaeological locations are endangered by various threats.The Al-Hadítha site seems to be under the control of the „Islamic state" at the moment and Makhmúr al-Quadíma is located just next to the town of new Makhmúr that expands rapidly and without complex urban plans. Documentation of the archaeological sites has been done by using remotely sensed methods together with in-situ measurements (where available). FORMOSAT-2 data that has been gained through a research announcement: Free FORMOSAT-2 satellite imagery and when combined with other sources (recent and historical data) it provides a powerful documentation tool. In-situ RPAS measurements and a DTM creation furnish a new source of highly valuable information. Influence of the political and security situation in Al-Hadítha will be analysed.

  15. Optical technologies applied alongside on-site and remote approaches for climate gas emission quantification at a wastewater treatment plant

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Samuelsson, Jerker; Delre, Antonio; Tumlin, Susanne

    2018-01-01

    Plant-integrated and on-site gas emissions were quantified from a Swedish wastewater treatment plant by applying several optical analytical techniques and measurement methods. Plant-integrated CH4 emission rates, measured using mobile ground-based remote sensing methods, varied between 28.5 and 33.......5 kg CH4 h−1, corresponding to an average emission factor of 5.9% as kg CH4 (kg CH4production) −1, whereas N2O emissions varied between 4.0 and 6.4 kg h−1, corresponding to an average emission factor of 1.5% as kg N2O-N (kg TN influent) −1. Plant-integrated NH3 emissions were around 0.4 kg h−1...... quantifications were approximately two-thirds of the plant-integrated emission quantifications, which may be explained by the different timeframes of the approaches and that not all emission sources were identified during on-site investigation. Off-site gas emission quantifications, using ground-based remote...

  16. Underground ventilation remote monitoring and control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strever, M.T.; Wallace, K.G. Jr.; McDaniel, K.H.

    1995-01-01

    This paper presents the design and installation of an underground ventilation remote monitoring and control system at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. This facility is designed to demonstrate safe underground disposal of U.S. defense generated transuranic nuclear waste. To improve the operability of the ventilation system, an underground remote monitoring and control system was designed and installed. The system consists of 15 air velocity sensors and 8 differential pressure sensors strategically located throughout the underground facility providing real-time data regarding the status of the ventilation system. In addition, a control system was installed on the main underground air regulators. The regulator control system gives indication of the regulator position and can be controlled either locally or remotely. The sensor output is displayed locally and at a central surface location through the site-wide Central Monitoring System (CMS). The CMS operator can review all sensor data and can remotely operate the main underground regulators. Furthermore, the Virtual Address Extension (VAX) network allows the ventilation engineer to retrieve real-time ventilation data on his personal computer located in his workstation. This paper describes the types of sensors selected, the installation of the instrumentation, and the initial operation of the remote monitoring system

  17. A Remote Characterization System and a fault-tolerant tracking system for subsurface mapping of buried waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandness, G.A.; Bennett, D.W.; Martinson, L.; Bingham, D.N.; Anderson, A.A.

    1992-08-01

    This paper describes two closely related projects that will provide new technology for characterizing hazardous waste burial sites. The first project, a collaborative effort by five of the national laboratories, involves the development and demonstration of a remotely controlled site characterization system. The Remote Characterization System (RCS) includes a unique low-signature survey vehicle, a base station, radio telemetry data links, satellite-based vehicle tracking, stereo vision, and sensors for noninvasive inspection of the surface and subsurface. The second project, conducted by the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), involves the development of a position sensing system that can track a survey vehicle or instrument in the field. This system can coordinate updates at a rate of 200/s with an accuracy better than 0.1% of the distance separating the target and the sensor. It can employ acoustic or electromagnetic signals in a wide range of frequencies and can be operated as a passive or active device

  18. Site Specific Advisory Board initiative, evaluation survey results supplementary appendix: Summary of individual site results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-08-01

    This Appendix presents results of the Site-Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) Initiative for each of the 11 sites that participated in the survey. These individual results are a supplement to the June 1996 Summary Report which presented overall survey results. Results are presented in 11 sections, arranged alphabetically by site. Each section includes a series of figures and tables that parallel those presented in the Summary Report. To facilitate comparison, figures are presented both for the individual site and for the overall long survey. The sequence of sections is: Fernald, Hanford, Idaho, Los Alamos, Monticello, Nevada, Pantex, Rocky Flats, St. Louis, Sandia, and Savannah River

  19. Remote site survey and characterization for the National ER ampersand WM Program using the SRIP [Solider Robot Interface Project] vehicle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Richardson, B.S.; Killough, S.M.; Emery, M.D.; Herndon, J.N.; Hamel, W.R.; Burks, B.L.

    1990-01-01

    A significant number of Department of Energy (DOE) production and research sites will require remediation of buried waste sites during the coming years. An important first step in cleanup, restoration, and decontamination activities is burial site characterization. An early field demonstration of buried waste site survey and characterization will be conducted using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, a manipulator system, and a vision system. This demonstration will be conducted in July 1990. 4 refs., 4 figs

  20. Remote viewing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, C

    1988-04-15

    Remote viewing is the supposed faculty which enables a percipient, sited in a closed room, to describe the perceptions of a remote agent visiting an unknown target site. To provide convincing demonstration of such a faculty poses a range of experimental and practical problems, especially if feedback to the percipient is allowed after each trial. The precautions needed are elaborate and troublesome; many potential loopholes have to be plugged and there will be strong temptations to relax standards, requiring exceptional discipline and dedication by the experimenters. Most reports of remote viewing experiments are rather superficial and do not permit assessment of the experimental procedures with confidence; in many cases there is clear evidence of particular loopholes left unclosed. Any serious appraisal of the evidence would have to go beyond the reports. Meanwhile the published evidence is far from compelling, and certainly insufficient to justify overthrow of well-established scientific principles.

  1. Remote Sensing for Mapping RAMSAR Heritage Site at Sungai Pulai Mangrove Forest Reserve, Johor, Malaysia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasmadi, I.M.; Pakhriazad, H.Z.; Norlida, K.

    2011-01-01

    The Sungai Pulai Mangrove Forest Reserve (SPMFR) is the largest reverin mangrove system in Johore. In 2003 about 9,126 ha of the Sungai Pulai mangrove was designated as a RAMSAR site. RAMSAR sites are wetland areas that are deemed to have international importance and are included in the List of Wetlands of International Importance. The SPMFR plays a significant socio-economic role to the adjacent 38 villages. Satellite remote sensing is a useful source of information where it provides timely and complete coverage for vegetation mapping especially in mangroves where the accessibility is difficult. This study was carried out to identify and map land cover types using SPOT-4 imagery at the Sungai Pulai-RAMSAR site and its surrounding areas. Through unsupervised classification technique a total of seven classes of land cover type were mapped, where about 90 % mapping accuracy was gained from the accuracy assessment. Later, vegetation densities were classified into five levels namely very high, high, medium, low and very low based on crown density scale using vegetation indices model such as NDVI, AVI and OSAVI. Results from NDVI and OSAVI model were almost similar but AVI model detected more on medium vegetation which did not show the real ground condition. The study concludes that SPOT-4 imagery was able to discriminate mangrove area clearly from other land covers type. Vegetation indices model can be used as a tool for mapping vegetation density level in the SPMFR and its surrounding area. Therefore VIs models from remote sensing are useful to monitor and manage the mangrove forest for sustainable management and preserve the SPMFR as a RAMSAR site in Peninsular Malaysia. (author)

  2. EVALUATION OF A FORMER LANDFILL SITE IN FORT COLLINS, COLORADO USING GROUND-BASED OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY

    Science.gov (United States)

    This report details a measurement campaign conducted using the Radial Plume Mapping (RPM) method and optical remote sensing technologies to characterize fugitive emissions. This work was funded by EPA′s Monitoring and Measurement for the 21st Century Initiative, or 21M2. The si...

  3. Progress on ITER remote experimentation centre

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ozeki, Takahisa; Clement-Lorenzo, Susana; Nakajima, Noriyoshi

    2016-01-01

    Construction of ITER remote experimentation centre (REC) based on the broader approach (BA) activity of the joint program of Japan and Europe (EU) is progressing. In order to make the future experiments of ITER and JT-60SA effectively and efficiently implemented, development of a remote experiment system by using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities was planned and the development of software for the remote experiment is ongoing, including the systems for the remote connection and the communication between the remote site and the on-site facility. The network system from REC in Rokkasho-site of Japan to the network in EU was established in collaboration with the National Institute of Informatics (NII). Effective data transfer method that is capable of fast transfer speeds in the gigabit range is investigated. Data transfer at the rate of several Gbps was successfully obtained between the institutes in Japan. The preliminary versions of the software for data analysis are developed, such as for visualization of time dependent experimental data and transport simulations, visualization of plasma boundary/equilibrium and spatial profiles of diagnostic data. The remote data access program and an integrated platform for Documentation and Experiment Management are also being developed. A remote experiment room in the Rokkasho-site in Japan was designed and the construction started. The function of REC will be tested and the total system will be demonstrated by the middle of 2017.

  4. Progress on ITER remote experimentation centre

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ozeki, Takahisa, E-mail: ozeki.takahisa@jaea.go.jp [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-166 Obuchi Rokkasho, Kitakami-gun, Aomori 039-3212 (Japan); Clement-Lorenzo, Susana [Fusion for Energy, Torres Diagonal Litoral, B3, 13/03, Barcelona 08019 (Spain); Nakajima, Noriyoshi [National institute for Fusion Science and Project leader of IFERC, 2-166 Obuchi, Rokkasho, Kamikita-gun, Aomori 039-3212 (Japan)

    2016-11-15

    Construction of ITER remote experimentation centre (REC) based on the broader approach (BA) activity of the joint program of Japan and Europe (EU) is progressing. In order to make the future experiments of ITER and JT-60SA effectively and efficiently implemented, development of a remote experiment system by using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities was planned and the development of software for the remote experiment is ongoing, including the systems for the remote connection and the communication between the remote site and the on-site facility. The network system from REC in Rokkasho-site of Japan to the network in EU was established in collaboration with the National Institute of Informatics (NII). Effective data transfer method that is capable of fast transfer speeds in the gigabit range is investigated. Data transfer at the rate of several Gbps was successfully obtained between the institutes in Japan. The preliminary versions of the software for data analysis are developed, such as for visualization of time dependent experimental data and transport simulations, visualization of plasma boundary/equilibrium and spatial profiles of diagnostic data. The remote data access program and an integrated platform for Documentation and Experiment Management are also being developed. A remote experiment room in the Rokkasho-site in Japan was designed and the construction started. The function of REC will be tested and the total system will be demonstrated by the middle of 2017.

  5. Remote docking apparatus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dent, T.H.; Sumpman, W.C.; Wilhelm, J.J.

    1981-01-01

    The remote docking apparatus comprises a support plate with locking devices mounted thereon. The locking devices are capable of being inserted into tubular members for suspending the support plate therefrom. A vertical member is attached to the support plate with an attachment mechanism attached to the vertical member. A remote access manipulator is capable of being attached to the attachment mechanism so that the vertical member can position the remote access manipulator so that the remote access manipulator can be initially attached to the tubular members in a well defined manner

  6. Quality improvement initiative: Preventative Surgical Site Infection Protocol in Vascular Surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parizh, David; Ascher, Enrico; Raza Rizvi, Syed Ali; Hingorani, Anil; Amaturo, Michael; Johnson, Eric

    2018-02-01

    Objective A quality improvement initiative was employed to decrease single institution surgical site infection rate in open lower extremity revascularization procedures. In an attempt to lower patient morbidity, we developed and implemented the Preventative Surgical Site Infection Protocol in Vascular Surgery. Surgical site infections lead to prolonged hospital stays, adjunctive procedure, and additive costs. We employed targeted interventions to address the common risk factors that predispose patients to post-operative complications. Methods Retrospective review was performed between 2012 and 2016 for all surgical site infections after revascularization procedures of the lower extremity. A quality improvement protocol was initiated in January 2015. Primary outcome was the assessment of surgical site infection rate reduction in the pre-protocol vs. post-protocol era. Secondary outcomes evaluated patient demographics, closure method, perioperative antibiotic coverage, and management outcomes. Results Implementation of the protocol decreased the surgical site infection rate from 6.4% to 1.6% p = 0.0137). Patient demographics and comorbidities were assessed and failed to demonstrate a statistically significant difference among the infection and no-infection groups. Wound closure with monocryl suture vs. staple proved to be associated with decreased surgical site infection rate ( p site infections in the vascular surgery population are effective and necessary. Our data suggest that there may be benefit in the incorporation of MRSA and Gram-negative coverage as part of the Surgical Care Improvement Project perioperative guidelines.

  7. In vitro transcription in the presence of DNA oligonucleotides can generate strong anomalous initiation sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chow, C W; Clark, M P; Rinaldo, J E; Chalkley, R

    1996-03-01

    In the present study, we have explored an unexpected observation in transcription initiation that is mediated by single-stranded oligonucleotides. Initially, our goal was to understand the function of different upstream regulatory elements/initiation sites in the rat xanthine dehydrogenase/oxidase (XDH/XO) promoter. We performed in vitro transcription with HeLa nuclear extracts in the presence of different double-stranded oligonucleotides against upstream elements as competitors. A new and unusual transcription initiation site was detected by primer extension. This new initiation site maps to the downstream region of the corresponding competitor. Subsequent analyses have indicated that the induction of a new transcription initiation site is anomalous which is due to the presence of a small amount of single-stranded oligonucleotide in the competitor. We found that this anomalous initiation site is insensitive to the orientation of the promoter and requires only a small amount of single-stranded oligonucleotide (< 2-fold molar excess relative to template). We surmise that a complementary interaction between the single-stranded oligonucleotide and transiently denatured promoter template may be responsible for this sequence-specific transcription initiation artifact. To study the regulation of transcription initiation by in vitro transcription approaches, we propose that one should probe the effect of removing transacting factors by adding an excess of a cognate oligonucleotide which does not bear exact sequence identity to the template.

  8. Spectral dependence of aerosol light absorption at an urban and a remote site over the Tibetan Plateau.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Chong-Shu; Cao, Jun-Ji; Hu, Ta-Feng; Shen, Zhen-Xing; Tie, Xue-Xi; Huang, Hong; Wang, Qi-Yuan; Huang, Ru-Jin; Zhao, Zhu-Zi; Močnik, Griša; Hansen, Anthony D A

    2017-07-15

    We present a study of aerosol light absorption by using a 7-wavelength Aethalometer model AE33 at an urban site (Lhasa) and a remote site (Lulang) in the Tibetan Plateau. Approximately 5 times greater aerosol absorption values were observed at Lhasa (53±46Mm -1 at 370nm and 20±18Mm -1 at 950nm, respectively) in comparison to Lulang (15±19Mm -1 at 370nm and 4±5Mm -1 at 950nm, respectively). Black carbon (BC) was the dominant light absorbing aerosol component at all wavelengths. The brown carbon (BrC) absorption at 370nm is 32±15% of the total aerosol absorption at Lulang, whereas it is 8±6% at Lhasa. Higher value of absorption Ångström exponent (AAE, 370-950nm) was obtained for Lulang (1.18) than that for Lhasa (1.04) due to the presence of BrC. The AAEs (370-950nm) of BrC were directly extracted at Lulang (3.8) and Lhasa (3.3). The loading compensation parameters (k) increased with wavelengths for both sites, and lower values were obtained at Lulang than those observed at Lhasa for all wavelengths. This study underlines the relatively high percentage of BrC absorption contribution in remote area compared to urban site over the Tibetan Plateau. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. An Information Technology Framework for the Development of an Embedded Computer System for the Remote and Non-Destructive Study of Sensitive Archaeology Sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iliya Georgiev

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The paper proposes an information technology framework for the development of an embedded remote system for non-destructive observation and study of sensitive archaeological sites. The overall concept and motivation are described. The general hardware layout and software configuration are presented. The paper concentrates on the implementation of the following informational technology components: (a a geographically unique identification scheme supporting a global key space for a key-value store; (b a common method for octree modeling for spatial geometrical models of the archaeological artifacts, and abstract object representation in the global key space; (c a broadcast of the archaeological information as an Extensible Markup Language (XML stream over the Web for worldwide availability; and (d a set of testing methods increasing the fault tolerance of the system. This framework can serve as a foundation for the development of a complete system for remote archaeological exploration of enclosed archaeological sites like buried churches, tombs, and caves. An archaeological site is opened once upon discovery, the embedded computer system is installed inside upon a robotic platform, equipped with sensors, cameras, and actuators, and the intact site is sealed again. Archaeological research is conducted on a multimedia data stream which is sent remotely from the system and conforms to necessary standards for digital archaeology.

  10. Refinement of a Method for Identifying Probable Archaeological Sites from Remotely Sensed Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilton, James C.; Comer, Douglas C.; Priebe, Carey E.; Sussman, Daniel; Chen, Li

    2012-01-01

    To facilitate locating archaeological sites before they are compromised or destroyed, we are developing approaches for generating maps of probable archaeological sites, through detecting subtle anomalies in vegetative cover, soil chemistry, and soil moisture by analyzing remotely sensed data from multiple sources. We previously reported some success in this effort with a statistical analysis of slope, radar, and Ikonos data (including tasseled cap and NDVI transforms) with Student's t-test. We report here on new developments in our work, performing an analysis of 8-band multispectral Worldview-2 data. The Worldview-2 analysis begins by computing medians and median absolute deviations for the pixels in various annuli around each site of interest on the 28 band difference ratios. We then use principle components analysis followed by linear discriminant analysis to train a classifier which assigns a posterior probability that a location is an archaeological site. We tested the procedure using leave-one-out cross validation with a second leave-one-out step to choose parameters on a 9,859x23,000 subset of the WorldView-2 data over the western portion of Ft. Irwin, CA, USA. We used 100 known non-sites and trained one classifier for lithic sites (n=33) and one classifier for habitation sites (n=16). We then analyzed convex combinations of scores from the Archaeological Predictive Model (APM) and our scores. We found that that the combined scores had a higher area under the ROC curve than either individual method, indicating that including WorldView-2 data in analysis improved the predictive power of the provided APM.

  11. Graphic products used in the evaluation of traditional and emerging remote sensing technologies for the detection of fugitive contamination at selected superfund hazardous waste sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slonecker, E. Terrence; Fisher, Gary B.

    2011-01-01

    This report presents the overhead imagery and field sampling results used to prepare U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011-1050, 'Evaluation of Traditional and Emerging Remote Sensing Technologies for the Detection of Fugitive Contamination at Selected Superfund Hazardous Waste Sites'. These graphic products were used in the evaluation of remote sensing technology in postclosure monitoring of hazardous waste sites and represent an ongoing research effort. Soil sampling results presented here were accomplished with field portable x-ray fluoresence (XRF) technology and are used as screening tools only representing the current conditions of metals and other contaminants at selected Superfund hazardous waste sites.

  12. U.S. Department of Energy's site screening, site selection, and initial characterization for storage of CO2 in deep geological formations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodosta, T.D.; Litynski, J.T.; Plasynski, S.I.; Hickman, S.; Frailey, S.; Myer, L.

    2011-01-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is the lead Federal agency for the development and deployment of carbon sequestration technologies. As part of its mission to facilitate technology transfer and develop guidelines from lessons learned, DOE is developing a series of best practice manuals (BPMs) for carbon capture and storage (CCS). The "Site Screening, Site Selection, and Initial Characterization for Storage of CO2 in Deep Geological Formations" BPM is a compilation of best practices and includes flowchart diagrams illustrating the general decision making process for Site Screening, Site Selection, and Initial Characterization. The BPM integrates the knowledge gained from various programmatic efforts, with particular emphasis on the Characterization Phase through pilot-scale CO2 injection testing of the Validation Phase of the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (RCSP) Initiative. Key geologic and surface elements that suitable candidate storage sites should possess are identified, along with example Site Screening, Site Selection, and Initial Characterization protocols for large-scale geologic storage projects located across diverse geologic and regional settings. This manual has been written as a working document, establishing a framework and methodology for proper site selection for CO2 geologic storage. This will be useful for future CO2 emitters, transporters, and storage providers. It will also be of use in informing local, regional, state, and national governmental agencies of best practices in proper sequestration site selection. Furthermore, it will educate the inquisitive general public on options and processes for geologic CO2 storage. In addition to providing best practices, the manual presents a geologic storage resource and capacity classification system. The system provides a "standard" to communicate storage and capacity estimates, uncertainty and project development risk, data guidelines and analyses for adequate site characterization, and

  13. Combining remote sensing and on-site monitoring methods to investigate footpath erosion within a popular recreational heathland environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodway-Dyer, Sue; Ellis, Nicola

    2018-06-01

    Footpaths are a prominent consequence of natural area tourism and reflect damage caused to valuable, sensitive habitats by people pressure. Degradation impacts on vegetation, wildlife, on and off-site soil movement and loss, creation of additional informal off-path footpaths (desire lines), and visual destruction of landscapes. Impacts need to be measured and monitored on a large temporal and spatial scale to aid in land management to maintain access and preserve natural environments. This study combined remote sensing (Light Detection and Ranging [LiDAR] and aerial photography) with on-site measurement of footpaths within a sensitive heathland habitat (Land's End, Cornwall, UK). Soil loss, slope angle change, vegetation damage and a hydrology model were combined to comprehensively study the site. Results showed 0.09 m mean soil loss over five years, footpath widening, increasing grass cover into heathland, and water channelling on the footpaths exacerbating erosion. The environments surrounding the footpaths were affected with visitors walking off path, requiring further management and monitoring. Multiple remote sensing techniques were highly successful in comprehensively assessing the area, particularly the hydrology model, demonstrating the potential of providing a valuable objective and quantitative monitoring and management tool. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Cornell University remote sensing program. [application to waste disposal site selection, study of drainage patterns, and water quality management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, T.; Mcnair, A. J.; Philipson, W. R.

    1977-01-01

    Aircraft and satellite remote sensing technology were applied in the following areas: (1) evaluation of proposed fly ash disposal sites; (2) development of priorities for drainage improvements; (3) state park analysis for rehabilitation and development; (4) watershed study for water quality planning; and (5) assistance project-landfill site selection. Results are briefly summarized. Other projects conducted include: (1) assessment of vineyard-related problems; (2) LANDSAT analysis for pheasant range management; (3) photo-historic evaluation of Revolutionary War sites; and (4) thermal analysis of building insulation. The objectives, expected benefits and actions, and status of these projects are described.

  15. The application of GIS and remote sensing technologies for site characterization and environmental assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Durfee, R.C.; McCord, R.A.; Dobson, J.E.

    1993-01-01

    Environmental cleanup and restoration of hazardous waste sites are major activities at federal facilities around the US. Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing technologies are very useful computer tools to aid in site characterization, monitoring, assessment, and remediation efforts. Results from applying three technologies are presented to demonstrate examples of site characterization and environmental assessment for a federal facility. The first technology involves the development and use of GIS within the comprehensive Oak Ridge Environmental Information System (OREIS) to integrate facility data, terrain models, aerial and satellite imagery, demographics, waste area information, and geographic data bases. The second technology presents 3-D subsurface analyses and displays of groundwater and contaminant measurements within waste areas. In the third application, aerial survey information is being used to characterize land cover and vegetative patterns, detect change, and study areas of previous waste activities and possible transport pathways. These computer technologies are required to manage, analyze, and display the large amounts of environmental and geographic data that must be handled in carrying out effective environmental restoration

  16. The use of desk studies, remote sensing and surface geological and geophysical techniques in site investigations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mather, J.D.

    1984-02-01

    The geoscientific investigations required to characterise a site for the underground disposal of radioactive wastes involve a wide range of techniques and expertise. Individual national investigations need to be planned with the specific geological environment and waste form in mind. However, in any investigation there should be a planned sequence of operations leading through desk studies and surface investigations to the more expensive and sophisticated sub-surface investigations involving borehole drilling and the construction of in situ test facilities. Desk studies are an important and largely underestimated component of site investigations. Most developed countries have archives of topographical, geological and environmental data within government agencies, universities, research institutes and learned societies. Industry is another valuable source but here confidentiality can be a problem. However, in developing countries and in some regions of developed countries the amount of basic data, which needs to be collected over many decades, will not be as extensive. In such regions remote sensing offers a rapid method of examining large areas regardless of land access, vegetation or geological setting, rapidly and at relatively low cost. It can also be used to examine features, such as discontinuity patterns, over relatively small areas in support of intensive ground investigations. Examples will be given of how remote sensing has materially contributed to site characterisation in a number of countries, particularly those such as Sweden, Canada and the United Kingdom where the major effort has concentrated on crystalline rocks. The main role of desk studies and surface investigations is to provide basic data for the planning and execution of more detailed subsurface investigations. However, such studies act as a valuable screening mechanism and if they are carried out correctly can enable adverse characteristics of a site to be identified at an early stage before

  17. Preliminary Safety Design Report for Remote Handled Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Timothy Solack; Carol Mason

    2012-03-01

    A new onsite, remote-handled low-level waste disposal facility has been identified as the highest ranked alternative for providing continued, uninterrupted remote-handled low-level waste disposal for remote-handled low-level waste from the Idaho National Laboratory and for nuclear fuel processing activities at the Naval Reactors Facility. Historically, this type of waste has been disposed of at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex. Disposal of remote-handled low-level waste in concrete disposal vaults at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex will continue until the facility is full or until it must be closed in preparation for final remediation of the Subsurface Disposal Area (approximately at the end of Fiscal Year 2017). This preliminary safety design report supports the design of a proposed onsite remote-handled low-level waste disposal facility by providing an initial nuclear facility hazard categorization, by discussing site characteristics that impact accident analysis, by providing the facility and process information necessary to support the hazard analysis, by identifying and evaluating potential hazards for processes associated with onsite handling and disposal of remote-handled low-level waste, and by discussing the need for safety features that will become part of the facility design.

  18. MetWAMer: eukaryotic translation initiation site prediction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brendel Volker

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Translation initiation site (TIS identification is an important aspect of the gene annotation process, requisite for the accurate delineation of protein sequences from transcript data. We have developed the MetWAMer package for TIS prediction in eukaryotic open reading frames of non-viral origin. MetWAMer can be used as a stand-alone, third-party tool for post-processing gene structure annotations generated by external computational programs and/or pipelines, or directly integrated into gene structure prediction software implementations. Results MetWAMer currently implements five distinct methods for TIS prediction, the most accurate of which is a routine that combines weighted, signal-based translation initiation site scores and the contrast in coding potential of sequences flanking TISs using a perceptron. Also, our program implements clustering capabilities through use of the k-medoids algorithm, thereby enabling cluster-specific TIS parameter utilization. In practice, our static weight array matrix-based indexing method for parameter set lookup can be used with good results in data sets exhibiting moderate levels of 5'-complete coverage. Conclusion We demonstrate that improvements in statistically-based models for TIS prediction can be achieved by taking the class of each potential start-methionine into account pending certain testing conditions, and that our perceptron-based model is suitable for the TIS identification task. MetWAMer represents a well-documented, extensible, and freely available software system that can be readily re-trained for differing target applications and/or extended with existing and novel TIS prediction methods, to support further research efforts in this area.

  19. Atmospheric polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and Pb isotopes at a remote site in Southwestern China: Implications for monsoon-associated transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Yue; Zhang, Gan; Li, Jun; Liu, Xiang; Li, Xiangdong

    2011-01-01

    A 13-month sampling campaign was conducted at a remote site in southwestern China from October, 2005 to December, 2006. An integrated approach with lead isotopes and air back trajectory analysis was used to investigate the monsoon-associated atmospheric transport of PBDEs in tropical/subtropical Asia regions. The air concentration of PBDEs ranged from 1.6 to 57.5 pg m -3 (15.9 ± 12.0 pg m -3 ), comparable to reported levels at other remote sites in the world. BDE-209, followed by BDE-47 and -99 dominated the PBDE compositions, indicating a mixed deca- and penta-BDE source. Air mass back trajectory analysis revealed that the major potential source regions of BDE-47 and -99 could be southern China and Thailand, while those of BDE-209 are widely distributed in industrialized and urbanized areas in tropical Asia. The different lead isotope compositions of aerosols between trajectory clusters further substantiated the observation that the South Asian monsoon from spring to summer could penetrate deep into southwestern China, and facilitate long-range transport of airborne pollutants from South Asia. - Highlights: →The atmospheric levels of PBDEs and Pb isotopic ratios at a remote site were reported. →Significant high concentrations of BDE-47 and -99 were observed when air masses came from China and Southeast Asia. →High concentrations of BDE-209 and low Pb isotopic ratios were associated with Indian monsoon. →The onset of monsoon could facilitate long-range transport of airborne pollutants from South Asia.

  20. Videoconferencing for site initiations in clinical studies: Mixed methods evaluation of usability, acceptability, and impact on recruitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randell, Rebecca; Backhouse, Michael R; Nelson, E Andrea

    2016-12-01

    A critical issue for multicentre clinical studies is conducting site initiations, ensuring sites are trained in study procedures and comply with relevant governance requirements before they begin recruiting patients. How technology can support site initiations has not previously been explored. This study sought to evaluate use of off-the-shelf web-based videoconferencing to deliver site initiations for a large national multicentre study. Participants in the initiations, including podiatrists, diabetologists, trial coordinators, and research nurses, completed an online questionnaire based on the System Usability Scale (SUS) (N = 15). This was followed by semi-structured interviews, with a consultant diabetologist, a trial coordinator, and three research nurses, exploring perceived benefits and limitations of videoconferencing. The mean SUS score for the videoconferencing platform was 87.2 (SD = 13.7), suggesting a good level of usability. Interview participants perceived initiations delivered by videoconferencing as being more interactive and easier to follow than those delivered by teleconference. In comparison to face-to-face initiations, videoconferencing takes less time, easily fitting in with the work of staff at the local sites. Perceptions of impact on communication varied according to the hardware used. Off-the-shelf videoconferencing is a viable alternative to face-to-face site initiations and confers advantages over teleconferencing.

  1. Recovery Act. Direct Confirmation of Commercial Geothermal Resources in Colorado Using Remote Sensing and On-Site Exploration, Testing, and Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Foley, Paul [Pagosa Verde LLC, Pagosa Springs, CO (United States); Skeehan, Kirsten [Pagosa Verde LLC, Pagosa Springs, CO (United States); Smith, Jerome [Pagosa Verde LLC, Pagosa Springs, CO (United States); Mink, Roy [Pagosa Verde LLC, Pagosa Springs, CO (United States); Geohydro, Mink [Pagosa Verde LLC, Pagosa Springs, CO (United States)

    2016-02-16

    Report on the confirmation of Commercial Geothermal Resources in Colorado describing the on site testing and analysis to confirm remote sensing identified potential resources. A series of thermal gradient wells were drilled in the Pagosa Springs region and the data collected is analyzed within.

  2. Remote-handled transuranic system assessment appendices. Volume 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-11-01

    Volume 2 of this report contains six appendices to the report: Inventory and generation of remote-handled transuranic waste; Remote-handled transuranic waste site storage; Characterization of remote-handled transuranic waste; RH-TRU waste treatment alternatives system analysis; Packaging and transportation study; and Remote-handled transuranic waste disposal alternatives.

  3. Remote-handled transuranic system assessment appendices. Volume 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-11-01

    Volume 2 of this report contains six appendices to the report: Inventory and generation of remote-handled transuranic waste; Remote-handled transuranic waste site storage; Characterization of remote-handled transuranic waste; RH-TRU waste treatment alternatives system analysis; Packaging and transportation study; and Remote-handled transuranic waste disposal alternatives

  4. Remote-site power generation opportunities for Alaska

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jones, M.L.

    1997-03-01

    The Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) has been working with the Federal Energy Technology Center in Morgantown, West Virginia, to assess options for small, low-cost, environmental acceptable power generation for application in remote areas of Alaska. The goal of this activity was to reduce the use of fuel in Alaskan villages by developing small, low-cost power generation applications. Because of the abundance of high-quality coal throughout Alaska, emphasis was placed on clean coal applications, but other energy sources, including geothermal, wind, hydro, and coalbed methane, were also considered. The use of indigenous energy sources would provide cheaper cleaner power, reduce the need for PCE (Power Cost Equalization program) subsidies, increase self-sufficiency, and retain hard currency in the state while at the same time creating jobs in the region. The introduction of economical, small power generation systems into Alaska by US equipment suppliers and technology developers aided by the EERC would create the opportunities for these companies to learn how to engineer, package, transport, finance, and operate small systems in remote locations. All of this experience would put the US developers and equipment supply companies in an excellent position to export similar types of small power systems to rural areas or developing countries. Thus activities in this task that relate to determining the generic suitability of these technologies for other countries can increase US competitiveness and help US companies sell these technologies in foreign countries, increasing the number of US jobs. The bulk of this report is contained in the two appendices: Small alternative power workshop, topical report and Global market assessment of coalbed methane, fluidized-bed combustion, and coal-fired diesel technologies in remote applications.

  5. Remote Sensing Mars Landing Sites: An Out-of-School Time Planetary Science Education Activity for Middle School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, R. B.; Gaither, T. A.; Edgar, L. A.; Milazzo, M. P.; Vaughan, R. G.; Rubino-Hare, L.; Clark, J.; Ryan, S.

    2017-12-01

    As part of the Planetary Learning that Advances the Nexus of Engineering, Technology, and Science (PLANETS) project, we have developed an out-of-school time unit for middle school students focused on planetary remote sensing. The activity is divided into two exercises, with the goal of choosing a scientifically interesting and safe landing site for a future Mars mission. Students are introduced to NASA data from several actual and proposed landing sites and must use what they learn about remote sensing to choose a site that satisfies scientific and engineering criteria. The activity also includes background information for educators, including a summary of how landing on Mars helps answer major scientific questions, brief overviews of the data sets that the students will use, summaries of the site geology, and a list of relevant vocabulary. The first exercise introduces students to the concept of reflectance spectroscopy and how it can be used to identify the "fingerprints" of different minerals on the surface of Mars. Students are provided with simplified maps of mineral spectra at the four sites, based on Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) observations, as well as a reference sheet with the spectra of common minerals on Mars. They can use this information to determine which sites have hydrated minerals, mafic minerals, or both. The second exercise adds data from the Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter (MOLA), and high resolution visible data from the Context Camera (CTX) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Students learn about laser altimetry and how to interpret topographic contours to assess whether a landing site is too rough. The CTX data allow students to study the sites at higher resolution, with annotations that indicate key landforms of interest. These data, along with the spectroscopy data, allow students to rank the sites based on science and engineering criteria. This activity was developed as a collaboration between subject matter experts at

  6. Further details of a hypothesis for the initiation of genetic recombination from recognition sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Markham, P [Queen Elizabeth College, London (G.B.)

    1982-01-01

    Consideration of the initiation of genetic recombination from fixed sites recognised by an initiation complex, has provided more details of the envisaged mechanism and implications of a recent hypothesis. It has been shown that the hypothesis allows for more than one recombinogenic-event to result from a single binding of the recombination initiation complex to a recognition site in a DNA duplex. This capacity can explain data from fungal systems which are apparently inconsistent with the Meselson-Radding model of genetic recombination with respect to the positional relationship between tracts of hybrid DNA and sites of crossing-over. A mechanism for conversion, involving hybrid DNA formation, but without mismatch correction has also been proposed on the basis of this capacity. It is suggested that the hypothesis may apply generally to genetic recombination, in prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes.

  7. Wireless remote control of clinical image workflow: using a PDA for off-site distribution and disaster recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Documet, Jorge; Liu, Brent J; Documet, Luis; Huang, H K

    2006-07-01

    This paper describes a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) tool based on Web technology that remotely manages medical images between a PACS archive and remote destinations. Successfully implemented in a clinical environment and also demonstrated for the past 3 years at the conferences of various organizations, including the Radiological Society of North America, this tool provides a very practical and simple way to manage a PACS, including off-site image distribution and disaster recovery. The application is robust and flexible and can be used on a standard PC workstation or a Tablet PC, but more important, it can be used with a personal digital assistant (PDA). With a PDA, the Web application becomes a powerful wireless and mobile image management tool. The application's quick and easy-to-use features allow users to perform Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) queries and retrievals with a single interface, without having to worry about the underlying configuration of DICOM nodes. In addition, this frees up dedicated PACS workstations to perform their specialized roles within the PACS workflow. This tool has been used at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, for 2 years. The average number of queries per month is 2,021, with 816 C-MOVE retrieve requests. Clinical staff members can use PDAs to manage image workflow and PACS examination distribution conveniently for off-site consultations by referring physicians and radiologists and for disaster recovery. This solution also improves radiologists' effectiveness and efficiency in health care delivery both within radiology departments and for off-site clinical coverage.

  8. Remote handling maintenance of ITER

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haange, R.

    1999-01-01

    The remote maintenance strategy and the associated component design of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) have reached a high degree of completeness, especially with respect to those components that are expected to require frequent or occasional remote maintenance. Large-scale test stands, to demonstrate the principle feasibility of the remote maintenance procedures and to develop the required equipment and tools, were operational at the end of the Engineering Design Activities (EDA) phase. The initial results are highly encouraging: major remote equipment deployment and component replacement operations have been successfully demonstrated. (author)

  9. Application of Earth Sciencés Technology in Mapping the of Brazilian Coast: Localization, Analysis & Monitoring of the Archaeological Sites with Remote Sensing & LiDAR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson Alves de Souza, Carlos Eduardo

    Application of Earth Sciencés Technology in Mapping the of Brazilian Coast: Localization, Analysis & Monitoring of the Archaeological Sites with Remote Sensing & LiDAR Carlos Eduardo Thompson Alves de Souza cethompsoniii@hotmail.com Archaeologist Member of the European Association of Archaeologists B.A.Archaeology MA.Remote Sensing Abstract The Archaeological Research in Urban Environment with the Air Light Detection and Ranging is problematic for the Overlay Layers mixed with contexts concerning the Interpretation of Archaeological Data. However, in the Underwater Archaeology the results are excellent. This paper considers the application of Remote Sensing and Air Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) as separate things as well as Land Archaeology and the Underwater Archaeology. European Archaeologists know very little about Brazil and the article presents an Overview of Research in Brazil with Remote Sensing in Archaeology and Light Detection and Ranging in Land Archaeology and Underwater Archaeology, because Brazil has Continental Dimensions. Braziliańs Methodology for Location, Analysis and Monitoring of Archaeological Sites is necessarily more Complex and Innovative and therefore can serve as a New Paradigm for other archaeologists involved in the Advanced Management Heritage.

  10. Viking landing sites, remote-sensing observations, and physical properties of Martian surface materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, H.J.; Jakosky, B.M.

    1989-01-01

    Important problems that confront future scientific exploration of Mars include the physical properties of Martian surface materials and the geologic processes that formed the materials. The design of landing spacecraft, roving vehicles, and sampling devices and the selection of landing sites, vehicle traverses, and sample sites will be, in part, guided by the physical properties of the materials. Four materials occur in the sample fields of the Viking landers: (1) drift, (2) crusty to cloddy, (3) blocky, and (4) rock. The first three are soillike. Drift materials is weak, loose, and porous. We estimate that it has a dielectric constant near 2.4 and a thermal inertia near 1 ?? 10-3 to 3 ?? 10-3 (cal cm-2 sec 1 2 K-1) because of its low bulk density, fine grain size, and small cohesion. Crusty to cloddy material is expected to have a dielectric constant near 2.8 and a thermal inertia near 4 ?? 10-3 to 7 ?? 10-3 because of its moderate bulk density and cementation of grains. Blocky material should have a dielectric constant near 3.3 and a thermal inertia near 7 ?? 10-3 to 9 ?? 10-3 because of its moderate bulk density and cementation. Common basaltic rocks have dielectric constans near 8 and thermal inertias near 30 ?? 10-3 to 60 ?? 10-3. Comparisons of estimated dielectric constants and thermal inertias of the materials at the landing sites with those obtained remotely by Earth-based radars and Viking Orbiter thermal sensors suggest that the materials at the landing sites are good analogs for materials elsewhere on Mars. Correlation of remotely estimated dielectric constant and thermal inertias indicates two modal values for paired values of dielectric constants and thermal inertias near (A) 2 and 2 ?? 10-3 and (B) 3 and 6 ?? 10-3, respectively. These two modes are comparable to the dielectric constants and thermal inertias for drift and crusty to cloddy material, respectively. Dielectric constants and thermal inertias for blocky material are larger but conistent

  11. Validating the Remotely Sensed Geography of Crime: A Review of Emerging Issues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alice B. Kelly

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores the existing literature on the active detection of crimes using remote sensing technologies. The paper reviews sixty-one studies that use remote sensing to actively detect crime. Considering the serious consequences of misidentifying crimes or sites of crimes (e.g., opening that place and its residents up to potentially needless intrusion, intimidation, surveillance or violence, the authors were surprised to find a lack of rigorous validation of the remote sensing methods utilized in these studies. In some cases, validation was not mentioned, while in others, validation was severely hampered by security issues, rough terrain and weather conditions. The paper also considers the potential hazards of the use of Google Earth to identify crimes and criminals. The paper concludes by considering alternate, “second order” validation techniques that could add vital context and understanding to remotely sensed images in a law enforcement context. With this discussion, the authors seek to initiate a discussion on other potential “second order” validation techniques, as well as on the exponential growth of surveillance in our everyday lives.

  12. Remote control of a fusion facility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schissel, D.P. [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, CA 92186-5608 (United States)], E-mail: schissel@fusion.gat.com; Abla, G.; Humphreys, D.A.; Penaflor, B.G.; Sammuli, B.S.; Walker, M.L. [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, CA 92186-5608 (United States)

    2009-06-15

    Magnetic fusion experiments keep growing in size and complexity resulting in a concurrent growth in collaboration between experimental sites and laboratories worldwide. This scientific collaboration activity is strong at existing experimental sites, is a major element of machines just coming on line, and is also a thrust of experiments that will come on line in the next decade. Computer science research into enhancing the ability to scientifically participate in a fusion experiment remotely has been growing in size in an attempt to better address the needs of fusion scientists worldwide. The natural progression of this research is to examine how to move from remote scientific participation to remote hardware control. This paper examines the challenges associated with remote experimental device control and proposes a solution based on a semantic approach that defines a Gatekeeper software system that will be the only channel of interaction for incoming requests to the experimental site. The role of the Gatekeeper is to validate the identification and access privilege of the requestor and to ensure the validity of the proposed request. The Gatekeeper will be a modular system, transparent to end-users, and allow a high volume of activity.

  13. Remote control of a fusion facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schissel, D.P.; Abla, G.; Humphreys, D.A.; Penaflor, B.G.; Sammuli, B.S.; Walker, M.L.

    2009-01-01

    Magnetic fusion experiments keep growing in size and complexity resulting in a concurrent growth in collaboration between experimental sites and laboratories worldwide. This scientific collaboration activity is strong at existing experimental sites, is a major element of machines just coming on line, and is also a thrust of experiments that will come on line in the next decade. Computer science research into enhancing the ability to scientifically participate in a fusion experiment remotely has been growing in size in an attempt to better address the needs of fusion scientists worldwide. The natural progression of this research is to examine how to move from remote scientific participation to remote hardware control. This paper examines the challenges associated with remote experimental device control and proposes a solution based on a semantic approach that defines a Gatekeeper software system that will be the only channel of interaction for incoming requests to the experimental site. The role of the Gatekeeper is to validate the identification and access privilege of the requestor and to ensure the validity of the proposed request. The Gatekeeper will be a modular system, transparent to end-users, and allow a high volume of activity.

  14. Passive Treatment And Monitoring At The Standard Mine Superfund Site, Crested Butte, CO

    Science.gov (United States)

    At the 2008 ASMR conference, data from the initial two months of operation of a U.S. EPA pilot biochemical reactor (BCR) was reported. The BCR was designed and constructed in August, 2007 to treat mining influenced water (MIW) emanating from an adit at a remote site in southern ...

  15. Hon-yaku: a biology-driven Bayesian methodology for identifying translation initiation sites in prokaryotes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    de Hoon Michiel JL

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Computational prediction methods are currently used to identify genes in prokaryote genomes. However, identification of the correct translation initiation sites remains a difficult task. Accurate translation initiation sites (TISs are important not only for the annotation of unknown proteins but also for the prediction of operons, promoters, and small non-coding RNA genes, as this typically makes use of the intergenic distance. A further problem is that most existing methods are optimized for Escherichia coli data sets; applying these methods to newly sequenced bacterial genomes may not result in an equivalent level of accuracy. Results Based on a biological representation of the translation process, we applied Bayesian statistics to create a score function for predicting translation initiation sites. In contrast to existing programs, our combination of methods uses supervised learning to optimally use the set of known translation initiation sites. We combined the Ribosome Binding Site (RBS sequence, the distance between the translation initiation site and the RBS sequence, the base composition of the start codon, the nucleotide composition (A-rich sequences following start codons, and the expected distribution of the protein length in a Bayesian scoring function. To further increase the prediction accuracy, we also took into account the operon orientation. The outcome of the procedure achieved a prediction accuracy of 93.2% in 858 E. coli genes from the EcoGene data set and 92.7% accuracy in a data set of 1243 Bacillus subtilis 'non-y' genes. We confirmed the performance in the GC-rich Gamma-Proteobacteria Herminiimonas arsenicoxydans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Burkholderia pseudomallei K96243. Conclusion Hon-yaku, being based on a careful choice of elements important in translation, improved the prediction accuracy in B. subtilis data sets and other bacteria except for E. coli. We believe that most remaining

  16. Robust Initial Wetness Condition Framework of an Event-Based Rainfall–Runoff Model Using Remotely Sensed Soil Moisture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wooyeon Sunwoo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Runoff prediction in limited-data areas is vital for hydrological applications, such as the design of infrastructure and flood defenses, runoff forecasting, and water management. Rainfall–runoff models may be useful for simulation of runoff generation, particularly event-based models, which offer a practical modeling scheme because of their simplicity. However, there is a need to reduce the uncertainties related to the estimation of the initial wetness condition (IWC prior to a rainfall event. Soil moisture is one of the most important variables in rainfall–runoff modeling, and remotely sensed soil moisture is recognized as an effective way to improve the accuracy of runoff prediction. In this study, the IWC was evaluated based on remotely sensed soil moisture by using the Soil Conservation Service-Curve Number (SCS-CN method, which is one of the representative event-based models used for reducing the uncertainty of runoff prediction. Four proxy variables for the IWC were determined from the measurements of total rainfall depth (API5, ground-based soil moisture (SSMinsitu, remotely sensed surface soil moisture (SSM, and soil water index (SWI provided by the advanced scatterometer (ASCAT. To obtain a robust IWC framework, this study consists of two main parts: the validation of remotely sensed soil moisture, and the evaluation of runoff prediction using four proxy variables with a set of rainfall–runoff events in the East Asian monsoon region. The results showed an acceptable agreement between remotely sensed soil moisture (SSM and SWI and ground based soil moisture data (SSMinsitu. In the proxy variable analysis, the SWI indicated the optimal value among the proposed proxy variables. In the runoff prediction analysis considering various infiltration conditions, the SSM and SWI proxy variables significantly reduced the runoff prediction error as compared with API5 by 60% and 66%, respectively. Moreover, the proposed IWC framework with

  17. Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli in migratory birds inhabiting remote Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramey, Andy M.; Hernandez, Jorge; Tyrlöv, Veronica; Uher-Koch, Brian D.; Schmutz, Joel A.; Atterby, Clara; Järhult, Josef D.; Bonnedahl, Jonas

    2018-01-01

    We explored the abundance of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli among migratory birds at remote sites in Alaska and used a comparative approach to speculate on plausible explanations for differences in detection among species. At a remote island site, we detected antibiotic-resistant E. coli phenotypes in samples collected from glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens), a species often associated with foraging at landfills, but not in samples collected from black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), a more pelagic gull that typically inhabits remote areas year-round. We did not find evidence for antibiotic-resistant E. coli among 347 samples collected primarily from waterfowl at a second remote site in western Alaska. Our results provide evidence that glaucous-winged gulls may be more likely to be infected with antibiotic-resistant E. coli at remote breeding sites as compared to sympatric black-legged kittiwakes. This could be a function of the tendency of glaucous-winged gulls to forage at landfills where antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections may be acquired and subsequently dispersed. The low overall detection of antibiotic-resistant E. coli in migratory birds sampled at remote sites in Alaska is consistent with the premise that anthropogenic inputs into the local environment or the relative lack thereof influences the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria among birds inhabiting the area.

  18. Accessing Remote Knowledge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maskell, Peter

    2014-01-01

    young, single-site firms search for distant sources of complementary competences. The discussion is positioned within a comprehensive framework that allows a systematic investigation of the approaches available to firms engaged in globally extended learning. By utilizing the distinction between problem...... awareness (what remote knowledge is needed?) and source awareness (where does this knowledge reside?) the article explores the relative merits and inherent limitations of pipelines, listening posts, crowdsourcing and trade fairs to acquire knowledge and solutions from geographically and relationally remote...

  19. An investigation of secure remote instrument control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schissel, D.P.; Abla, G.; Fredian, T.; Greenwald, M.; Penaflor, B.G.; Stillerman, J.; Walker, M.L.; Ciarlette, D.J.

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines the computer science issues associated with secure remote instrumentation control for magnetic fusion experiments. Computer science research into enhancing the ability to scientifically participate in a fusion experiment remotely has been growing in size in an attempt to better address the needs of fusion scientists worldwide. The natural progression of this research is to examine how to move from remote scientific participation to remote hardware control. The vision is to define a gatekeeper software system that will be the only channel of interaction for incoming requests to the secured area of the experimental site. The role of the gatekeeper is to validate the identification and access privilege of the requestor and to insure the general validity of the proposed request. The vision for the gatekeeper is that it be a modular system that is simple in design and defined in a way that makes its implementation and operation transparent and obvious. The architecture of the module interface is flexible enough that it can easily allow the future addition of new modules. At the same time, it should be transparent to end-users and allow a high volume of activity so as to not provide a work bottleneck. The results of the gatekeeper design and initial implementation are presented as well as a discussion on the implication of this research on the operation of fusion experimental machines such as ITER.

  20. An investigation of secure remote instrument control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schissel, D.P., E-mail: schissel@fusion.gat.co [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, CA 92186-5608 (United States); Abla, G. [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, CA 92186-5608 (United States); Fredian, T.; Greenwald, M. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States); Penaflor, B.G. [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, CA 92186-5608 (United States); Stillerman, J. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States); Walker, M.L. [General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, CA 92186-5608 (United States); Ciarlette, D.J. [US ITER Project Office, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

    2010-07-15

    This paper examines the computer science issues associated with secure remote instrumentation control for magnetic fusion experiments. Computer science research into enhancing the ability to scientifically participate in a fusion experiment remotely has been growing in size in an attempt to better address the needs of fusion scientists worldwide. The natural progression of this research is to examine how to move from remote scientific participation to remote hardware control. The vision is to define a gatekeeper software system that will be the only channel of interaction for incoming requests to the secured area of the experimental site. The role of the gatekeeper is to validate the identification and access privilege of the requestor and to insure the general validity of the proposed request. The vision for the gatekeeper is that it be a modular system that is simple in design and defined in a way that makes its implementation and operation transparent and obvious. The architecture of the module interface is flexible enough that it can easily allow the future addition of new modules. At the same time, it should be transparent to end-users and allow a high volume of activity so as to not provide a work bottleneck. The results of the gatekeeper design and initial implementation are presented as well as a discussion on the implication of this research on the operation of fusion experimental machines such as ITER.

  1. Remote source document verification in two national clinical trials networks: a pilot study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meredith Mealer

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Barriers to executing large-scale randomized controlled trials include costs, complexity, and regulatory requirements. We hypothesized that source document verification (SDV via remote electronic monitoring is feasible. METHODS: Five hospitals from two NIH sponsored networks provided remote electronic access to study monitors. We evaluated pre-visit remote SDV compared to traditional on-site SDV using a randomized convenience sample of all study subjects due for a monitoring visit. The number of data values verified and the time to perform remote and on-site SDV was collected. RESULTS: Thirty-two study subjects were randomized to either remote SDV (N=16 or traditional on-site SDV (N=16. Technical capabilities, remote access policies and regulatory requirements varied widely across sites. In the adult network, only 14 of 2965 data values (0.47% could not be located remotely. In the traditional on-site SDV arm, 3 of 2608 data values (0.12% required coordinator help. In the pediatric network, all 198 data values in the remote SDV arm and all 183 data values in the on-site SDV arm were located. Although not statistically significant there was a consistent trend for more time consumed per data value (minutes +/- SD: Adult 0.50 +/- 0.17 min vs. 0.39 +/- 0.10 min (two-tailed t-test p=0.11; Pediatric 0.99 +/- 1.07 min vs. 0.56 +/- 0.61 min (p=0.37 and time per case report form: Adult: 4.60 +/- 1.42 min vs. 3.60 +/- 0.96 min (p=0.10; Pediatric: 11.64 +/- 7.54 min vs. 6.07 +/- 3.18 min (p=0.10 using remote SDV. CONCLUSIONS: Because each site had different policies, requirements, and technologies, a common approach to assimilating monitors into the access management system could not be implemented. Despite substantial technology differences, more than 99% of data values were successfully monitored remotely. This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of remote monitoring and the need to develop consistent access policies for remote study

  2. TPX in-vessel remote maintenance tooling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rennich, M.J.; Silke, G.W.

    1995-01-01

    The Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX) has used the lessons learned from successful remote maintenance and remote handling facilities to develop both a concept and philosophy for incorporation of remote design from the earliest phases of the project. Initiation of mockup testing during the conceptual design phase leads to significant improvements in the basic maintenance equipment configuration. In addition, remote handling features and capabilities have been incorporated into the design of the plasma-facing components (PFCs) as part of the total PFC design effort

  3. Technician-Supported Remote Interrogation of CIEDs: Initial Use in US Emergency Departments and Perioperative Areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Imdad; Patel, Amisha S; Balgaard, Timothy J; Rosenfeld, Lynda E

    2016-03-01

    Interrogation/interpretation of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) is frequently required in the emergency department (ED) or perioperative areas (OR) where resources to do this are often not available. CareLink Express (CLE; Medtronic, plc, Mounds View, MN, USA) is a technician-supported real-time remote interrogation system for Medtronic CIEDs. Using data from 136 US locations, this retrospective study was designed to assess CLE efficiency compared to traditional device management, and examine its findings. All 7,044 US CLE transmissions from the ED and OR (January 2012-October 2014) were compared to 217 traditional requests where CIED interrogations/interpretations were performed by calling industry representatives to these sites. CLE reduced the time to device interrogation/interpretation by 78%: 100 ± 140-22 ± 14 minutes, P < 0.0001, improving response time and consistency; ED: 82 ± 103-23 ± 18 minutes, P, ≤ 0.01; OR: 127 ± 181-17 ± 10 minutes, P < 0.0001. Actionable events (AE) (arrhythmia, device/lead abnormalities) were infrequent: 9.1% overall (ED: 9.9%; OR: 4.1%). Only 6.5% of patients with syncope/presyncope and 13.6% with a perceived shock had AE. AEs were more common in those with suspected device problems (30.4%) or audible alerts (52.6%). They were more likely in patients not enrolled in long-term remote monitoring (23.9% vs 8.2%, P < 0.0001) and in those with older CIED systems (7.4% in year 1 vs 31.0% after 10 years). The many patients with CIEDs, and the ability to quickly identify the minority with high-risk AE from the no/low-risk majority, strongly support CLE use in the ED and OR, sites which are expensive and prioritize efficiency. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  4. Remote C−H Activation of Quinolines through Copper-Catalyzed Radical Cross-Coupling

    KAUST Repository

    Xu, Jun

    2016-01-12

    Achieving site selectivity in carbon-hydrogen (C-H) functionalization reactions is a formidable challenge in organic chemistry. Herein, we report a novel approach to activating remote C-H bonds at the C5 position of 8-aminoquinoline through copper-catalyzed sulfonylation under mild conditions. Our strategy shows high conversion efficiency, a broad substrate scope, and good toleration with different functional groups. Furthermore, our mechanistic investigations suggest that a single-electron-transfer process plays a vital role in generating sulfonyl radicals and subsequently initiating C-S cross-coupling. Importantly, our copper-catalyzed remote functionalization protocol can be expanded for the construction of a variety of chemical bonds, including C-O, C-Br, C-N, C-C, and C-I. These findings provide a fundamental insight into the activation of remote C-H bonds, while offering new possibilities for rational design of drug molecules and optoelectronic materials requiring specific modification of functional groups. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. Enviromental sampling at remote sites based on radiological screening assessments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebinger, M.H.; Hansen, W.R.; Wenz, G.; Oxenberg, T.P.

    1996-01-01

    Environmental radiation monitoring (ERM) data from remote sites on the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, were used to estimate doses to humans and terrestrial mammals from residual radiation deposited during testing of components containing depleted uranium (DU) and thorium (Th). ERM data were used with the DOE code RESRAD and a simple steady-state pathway code to estimate the potential adverse effects from DU and Th to workers in the contaminated zones, to hunters consuming animals from the contaminated zones, and to terrestrial mammals that inhabit the contaminated zones. Assessments of zones contaminated with DU and Th and DU alone were conducted. Radiological doses from Th and DU in soils were largest with a maximum of about 3.5 mrem y -1 in humans and maximum of about 0.1 mrad d -1 in deer. Dose estimates from DU alone in soils were significantly less with a maximum of about 1 mrem y -1 in humans and about 0.04 mrad d -1 in deer. The results of the dose estimates suggest strongly that environmental sampling in these affected areas can be infrequent and still provide adequate assessments of radiological doses to workers, hunters, and terrestrial mammals

  6. Integration of Remote Sensing Products with Ground-Based Measurements to Understand the Dynamics of Nepal's Forests and Plantation Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilani, H.; Jain, A. K.

    2016-12-01

    This study assembles information from three sources - remote sensing, terrestrial photography and ground-based inventory data, to understand the dynamics of Nepal's tropical and sub-tropical forests and plantation sites for the period 1990-2015. Our study focuses on following three specific district areas, which have conserved forests through social and agroforestry management practices: 1. Dolakha district: This site has been selected to study the impact of community-based forest management on land cover change using repeat photography and satellite imagery, in combination with interviews with community members. The study time period is during the period 1990-2010. We determined that satellite data with ground photographs can provide transparency for long term monitoring. The initial results also suggests that community-based forest management program in the mid-hills of Nepal was successful. 2. Chitwan district: Here we use high resolution remote sensing data and optimized community field inventories to evaluate potential application and operational feasibility of community level REDD+ measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems. The study uses temporal dynamics of land cover transitions, tree canopy size classes and biomass over a Kayar khola watershed REDD+ study area with community forest to evaluate satellite Image segmentation for land cover, linear regression model for above ground biomass (AGB), and estimation and monitoring field data for tree crowns and AGB. We study three specific years 2002, 2009, 2012. Using integration of WorldView-2 and airborne LiDAR data for tree species level. 3. Nuwakot district: This district was selected to study the impact of establishment of tree plantation on total barren/fallow. Over the last 40 year, this area has went through a drastic changes, from barren land to forest area with tree species consisting of Dalbergia sissoo, Leucaena leucocephala, Michelia champaca, etc. In 1994, this district area was registered

  7. Passive Treatment And Monitoring At The Standard Mine Superfund Site, Crested Butte, CO (Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    At the 2008 ASMR conference, data from the initial two months of operation of a U.S. EPA pilot biochemical reactor (BCR) was reported. The BCR was designed and constructed in August, 2007 to treat mining influenced water (MIW) emanating from an adit at a remote site in southern ...

  8. Remote repair appliance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heumann, F.K.; Wilkinson, J.C.; Wooding, D.R.

    1997-01-01

    A remote appliance for supporting a tool for performing work at a work site on a substantially circular bore of a work piece and for providing video signals of the work site to a remote monitor comprises: a base plate having an inner face and an outer face; a plurality of rollers, wherein each roller is rotatably and adjustably attached to the inner face of the base plate and positioned to roll against the bore of the work piece when the base plate is positioned against the mouth of the bore such that the appliance may be rotated about the bore in a plane substantially parallel to the base plate; a tool holding means for supporting the tool, the tool holding means being adjustably attached to the outer face of the base plate such that the working end of the tool is positioned on the inner face side of the base plate; a camera for providing video signals of the work site to the remote monitor; and a camera holding means for supporting the camera on the inner face side of the base plate, the camera holding means being adjustably attached to the outer face of the base plate. In a preferred embodiment, roller guards are provided to protect the rollers from debris and a bore guard is provided to protect the bore from wear by the rollers and damage from debris. 5 figs

  9. Eddy Covariance Measurements of Methane Flux at Remote Sites with New Low-Power Lightweight Fast Gas Analyzer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Liukang; Burba, George; Schedlbauer, Jessica; Zona, Donatella; McDermitt, Dayle K.; Anderson, Tyler; Oberbauer, Steven; Oechel, Walter; Komissarov, Anatoly; Riensche, Brad

    2010-05-01

    Majority of natural methane production happens at remote unpopulated areas in ecosystems with little or no infrastructure or easily available grid power, such as arctic and boreal wetlands, tropical mangroves, etc. Present approaches for direct measurements of CH4 fluxes rely on fast closed-path analyzers, which have to work under significantly reduced pressures, and require powerful pumps and grid power. Power and labor demands may be reasons why CH4 flux is often measured at locations with good infrastructure and grid power, and not with high CH4 production. An instrument was developed to allow Eddy Covariance measurements of CH4 flux with power consumption 30-150 times below presently available technologies. This instrument, LI-7700, uses proposed extremely low-power technology would allows placing methane Eddy Covariance stations in the middle of the source (wetland, rice paddy, forest, etc.) in the absence of the grid power. This could significantly expand the Eddy Covariance CH4 flux measurements coverage, and possibly, significantly improve the budget estimates of world CH4 emissions and budget. Various prototypes of the LI-7700 were field-tested for three seasons at the remote site in middle of Everglades National Park (Florida, USA) using solar panels, at three stationary and several mobile sites during three seasons at remote Arctic wetlands near Barrow (Alaska, USA), in the tropical mangroves near La Paz (Mexico) using portable generator, and in bare agricultural field near Mead (Nebraska, USA) during 2005 through 2010. Latest data on CH4 concentration, co-spectra and fluxes, and latest details of instrumental design are examined in this presentation. Overall, hourly methane fluxes ranged from near-zero at night to about 4 mg m-2 h-1 in midday in arctic tundra. Observed fluxes were within the ranges reported in the literature for a number of wetlands in North America, including the Everglades wetlands. Diurnal patterns were similar to those measured by

  10. Remote Viewing End Effectors for Light Duty Utility Arm Robot (U)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heckendorn, F.M.; Robinson, C.W.; Haynes, H.B.; Anderosn, E.K.; Pardini, A.F.

    1996-01-01

    The Robotics Development Groups at the Savannah River Site (SRS) and at the Hanford site have developed remote video and photography systems for deployment in underground radioactive-waste storage tanks at the Department of Energy (DOE) sites as a part of the Office of Science and Technology (OST) program within DOE. Viewing and documenting the tank interiors and their associated annular spaces is an extremely valuable tool in characterizing their condition and contents and in controlling their remediation. Several specialized video/photography systems and robotic End Effectors have been fabricated that provide remote viewing and lighting. All are remotely deployable into and out of the tank, with all viewing functions remotely operated. Positioning all control components away from the facility prevents the potential for personnel exposure to radiation and contamination. Only the remote video systems are discussed in this paper

  11. Plan of ITER remote experimentation center

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ozeki, T., E-mail: ozeki.takahisa@jaea.go.jp [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-166 Obuchi Rokkasho, Kitakami-gun, Aomori 039-3212 (Japan); Clement, S.L. [Fusion for Energy, Torres Diagonal Litoral, B3, 13/03, 08019 Barcelona (Spain); Nakajima, N. [National Institute for Fusion Science and Project Leader of IFERC, 2-166 Obuchi, Rokkasho, Kamikita-gun, Aomori 039-3212 (Japan)

    2014-05-15

    Plan of ITER remote experimentation center (REC) based on the broader approach (BA) activity of the joint program of Japan and Europe (EU) is described. Objectives of REC activity are (1) to identify the functions and solve the technical issues for the construction of the REC for ITER at Rokkasho, (2) to develop the remote experiment system and verify the functions required for the remote experiment by using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities in order to make the future experiments of ITER and JT-60SA effectively and efficiently implemented, and (3) to test the functions of REC and demonstrate the total system by using JT-60SA and existing other facilities in EU. Preliminary identified items to be developed are (1) Functions of the remote experiment system, such as setting of experiment parameters, shot scheduling, real time data streaming, communication by video-conference between the remote-site and on-site, (2) Effective data transfer system that is capable of fast transfer of the huge amount of data between on-site and off-site and the network connecting the REC system, (3) Storage system that can store/access the huge amount of data, including database management, (4) Data analysis software for the data viewing of the diagnostic data on the storage system, (5) Numerical simulation for preparation and estimation of the shot performance and the analysis of the plasma shot. Detailed specifications of the above items will be discussed and the system will be made in these four years in collaboration with tokamak facilities of JT-60SA and EU tokamak, experts of informatics, activities of plasma simulation and ITER. Finally, the function of REC will be tested and the total system will be demonstrated by the middle of 2017.

  12. Unattended power sources for remote, harsh environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lamp, T.R.; Donovan, B.D.

    1994-01-01

    Forest fires that have endangered remote US Air Force sites equipped with radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) has prompted the assessment of power generating systems as substitutes for RTGs in small scale (10--120 watt) applications. A team of scientists and engineers of the US Air Forces' Wright Laboratory conducted an assessment of electrical power technologies for use by the Air Force in remote, harsh environments. The surprisingly high logistic costs of operating fossil fuel generators resulted in the extension of the assessment to non-RTG sites. The candidate power sources must operate unattended for long periods at a high level of operations reliability. Selection of the optimum power generation technology is complicated and heavily driven by the severe operating environment compounded by the remoteness of the location. It is these site-related characteristics, more than any other, that drive the selection of a safe and economical power source for Arctic applications. A number of proven power generation technologies were evaluated. The assessment concluded that continued use of the RTGs is clearly the safest, most reliable, and most economical approach to supplying electrical power for remote, difficult to access locations

  13. Wired well sites: future of data acquisition based on open architecture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marsters, S.

    1999-10-01

    Up to recent times, there have been two primary ways to access process information such as flow volumes, pressure, temperature, surface cards, on/off status, fluid levels, torque/rpm and location, from remote sites. One way was to drive or helicopter to the site and retrieve the data. The other method was using SCADA, a data acquisition system composed of a remote terminal unit (RTU) to measure data at the site, a communication system to relay the data from the site to a central location, and a host computer system at the central site to receive and display the data brought in by the communication system. This paper is devoted to the examination of several of the communication systems, such as cellular digital packet data modems, low earth orbiting satellite systems and geosynchronous satellite systems, and devices that permit communication with remote host computer systems, such as processor assisted connectors (PAC) and the Intersat-developed global data network (GDN). With these proprietary devices in place, companies have the freedom to select virtually any type of communications system and combine it with virtually any type of output device to serve as the host computer. The GDN can automatically recognize the type of data transmitted, the source, the destination, and whether the information is scheduled or unscheduled, and raise an alarm in the case unscheduled messages to initiate immediate response. A second level of Intersat service (IP ANYWHERE) includes the capability for customers to check a well's status at any time they wish, to alter flow volume, or turn a valve on or off. The potential for IP ANYWHERE is estimated to be excellent, especially in difficult-to-access remote locations. 2 photos.

  14. Hanford Site sustainable development initiatives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sullivan, C.T.

    1994-05-01

    Since the days of the Manhattan Project of World War II, the economic well being of the Tri-Cities (Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland) of Washington State has been tied to the US Department of Energy missions at the nearby Hanford Site. As missions at the Site changed, so did the economic vitality of the region. The Hanford Site is now poised to complete its final mission, that of environmental restoration. When restoration is completed, the Site may be closed and the effect on the local economy will be devastating if action is not taken now. To that end, economic diversification and transition are being planned. To facilitate the process, the Hanford Site will become a sustainable development demonstration project

  15. Networked remote area dental services: a viable, sustainable approach to oral health care in challenging environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dyson, Kate; Kruger, Estie; Tennant, Marc

    2012-12-01

    This study examines the cost effectiveness of a model of remote area oral health service. Retrospective financial analysis. Rural and remote primary health services. Clinical activity data and associated cost data relating to the provision of a networked visiting oral health service by the Centre for Rural and Remote Oral Health formed the basis of the study data frameset. The cost-effectiveness of the Centre's model of service provision at five rural and remote sites in Western Australia during the calendar years 2006, 2008 and 2010 was examined in the study. Calculations of the service provision costs and value of care provided were made using data records and the Fee Schedule of Dental Services for Dentists. The ratio of service provision costs to the value of care provided was determined for each site and was benchmarked against the equivalent ratios applicable to large scale government sector models of service provision. The use of networked models have been effective in other disciplines but this study is the first to show a networked hub and spoke approach of five spokes to one hub is cost efficient in remote oral health care. By excluding special cost-saving initiatives introduced by the Centre, the study examines easily translatable direct service provision costs against direct clinical care outcomes in some of Australia's most challenging locations. This study finds that networked hub and spoke models of care can be financially efficient arrangements in remote oral health care. © 2012 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health © National Rural Health Alliance Inc.

  16. Remote RemoteRemoteRemote sensing potential for sensing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Remote RemoteRemoteRemote sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing potential for sensing p. A Ngie, F Ahmed, K Abutaleb ...

  17. Remote Sensing and Geospatial Technological Applications for Site-specific Management of Fruit and Nut Crops: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joel O. Paz

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Site-specific crop management (SSCM is one facet of precision agriculture which is helping increase production with minimal input. It has enhanced the cost-benefit scenario in crop production. Even though the SSCM is very widely used in row crop agriculture like corn, wheat, rice, soybean, etc. it has very little application in cash crops like fruit and nut. The main goal of this review paper was to conduct a comprehensive review of advanced technologies, including geospatial technologies, used in site-specific management of fruit and nut crops. The review explores various remote sensing data from different platforms like satellite, LIDAR, aerial, and field imaging. The study analyzes the use of satellite sensors, such as Quickbird, Landsat, SPOT, and IRS imagery as well as hyperspectral narrow-band remote sensing data in study of fruit and nut crops in blueberry, citrus, peach, apple, etc. The study also explores other geospatial technologies such as GPS, GIS spatial modeling, advanced image processing techniques, and information technology for suitability study, orchard delineation, and classification accuracy assessment. The study also provides an example of a geospatial model developed in ArcGIS ModelBuilder to automate the blueberry production suitability analysis. The GIS spatial model is developed using various crop characteristics such as chilling hours, soil permeability, drainage, and pH, and land cover to determine the best sites for growing blueberry in Georgia, U.S. The study also provides a list of spectral reflectance curves developed for some fruit and nut crops, blueberry, crowberry, redblush citrus, orange, prickly pear, and peach. The study also explains these curves in detail to help researchers choose the image platform, sensor, and spectrum wavelength for various fruit and nut crops SSCM.

  18. SU-E-T-675: Remote Dosimetry with a Novel PRESAGE Formulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mein, S; Juang, T; Malcolm, J; Adamovics, J; Oldham, M

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: 3D-gel dosimetry provides high-resolution treatment validation; however, scanners aren’t widely available. In remote dosimetry, dosimeters are shipped out from a central base institution to a remote site for irradiation, then shipped back for scanning and analysis, affording a convenient service for treatment validation to institutions lacking the necessary equipment and resources. Previous works demonstrated the high-resolution performance and temporal stability of PRESAGE. Here the newest formulation is investigated for remote dosimetry use. Methods: A new formulation of PRESAGE was created with the aim of improved color stability post irradiation. Dose sensitivity was determined by irradiating cuvettes on a Varian Linac (6MV) from 0–15Gy and measuring change in optical density at 633nm. Sensitivity readings were tracked over time in a temperature control study to determine long-term stability. A large volume study was performed to evaluate the accuracy for remote dosimetry. A 1kg dosimeter was pre-scanned, irradiated on-site with an 8Gy 4field box treatment, post-scanned and shipped to Princess Margaret Hospital for remote reading on an identical scanner. Results: Dose sensitivities ranged from 0.0194–0.0295 ΔOD/(Gy*cm)—similar to previous formulations. Post-irradiated cuvettes stored at 10°C retained 100% initial sensitivity over 5 days and 98.6% over 10 weeks while cuvettes stored at room temperature fell to 95.8% after 5 days and 37.4% after 10 weeks. The immediate and 5-day scans of the 4field box dosimeter data was reconstructed, registered to the corresponding eclipse dose-distribution, and compared with analytical tools in CERR. Immediate and 5-day scans looked visually similar. Line profiles revealed close agreement aside from a slight elevation in dose at the edge in the 5-day readout. Conclusion: The remote dosimetry formulation exhibits excellent temporal stability in small volumes. While immediate and 5-day readout scans of large

  19. An Investigation of Secure Remote Instrument Control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schissel, D.; Abla, G.; Penaflor, B. [General Atomics, San Diego (United States); Ciarlette, D. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge (United States)

    2009-07-01

    This paper examines the computer science issues associated with secure remote instrumentation control for magnetic fusion experiments. Computer science research into enhancing the ability to scientifically participate in a fusion experiment remotely has been growing in size in an attempt to better address the needs of fusion scientists worldwide. The natural progression of this research is to examine how to move from remote scientific participation to remote hardware control. The vision is to define a gatekeeper software system that will be the only channel of interaction for incoming requests to the experimental site. The role of the gatekeeper is to validate the identification and access privilege of the requester and to insure the validity of the proposed request. The vision for the gatekeeper is that it be a modular system that is simple in design and defined in a way that makes its implementation and operation transparent and obvious. The architecture of the module interface is flexible enough that it can easily allow the future addition of new modules. At the same time, it should be transparent to end-users and allow a high volume of activity so as to not provide a work bottleneck. Appropriate security requires the ability to verify identity (authentication), verify access control (authorization), and validate the appropriateness of requests. The validation process can include provenance and semantic methodologies. The results of the gatekeeper design and initial prototype testing will be presented as well as a discussion on the implication of this research on the operation of fusion experimental machines such as ITER. (authors)

  20. Siting considerations for LNG import terminals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meratla, Z. [CDS Research Ltd., Vancouver, BC (Canada)

    2005-07-01

    Site selection criteria for liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and terminals were reviewed in this PowerPoint presentation. Onshore and offshore sites were discussed. Typical public opposition issues were examined, including public concerns over safety and the environment. Low key consultation processes with local communities was advised to assess levels of interest and opposition during initial stages. It was suggested that desirable LNG sites should not be visible from local communities. Remoteness from built-up areas was advised, as well as ensuring that sites meet the requirements of future expansion and large LNG carriers. Issues concerning waterway drawbacks and exclusion zones were examined, as well as the relative merits of onshore and offshore terminals. It was noted that onshore terminals are accessible to personnel as well as outside emergency response resources, and are less susceptible to weather related downtime. In addition, onshore spills are generally impounded. Offshore LNG import terminals are visible from shorelines and susceptible to stray marine traffic and abnormal events. Siting considerations for offshore facilities include sensitive areas; shipping channels; foundation issues; shipping lane access; and offshore pipeline lengths. Issues concerning loading arms, remote flare systems, integral ballast and process equipment for offshore facilities were discussed. Membrane type storage systems and tank construction details were presented as well as details of self supporting storage systems. A comparison of gravity-based structures and floating facilities was presented. It was concluded that floating LNG facilities have well developed security procedures, passive protection and automatic intruder detection alarms. tabs., figs.

  1. A 5' splice site enhances the recruitment of basal transcription initiation factors in vivo

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damgaard, Christian Kroun; Kahns, Søren; Lykke-Andersen, Søren

    2008-01-01

    RNAs, harboring wild-type or various 5′ splice site mutations, we demonstrate a strong positive correlation between splicing efficiency and transcription activity. Interestingly, a 5′ splice site can stimulate transcription even in the absence of splicing. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments show enhanced...... a promoter-proximal 5′ splice site via its U1 snRNA interaction can feed back to stimulate transcription initiation by enhancing preinitiation complex assembly....

  2. Vegetation Cover Analysis of Hazardous Waste Sites in Utah and Arizona Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mike Serrato

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the usability of hyperspectral remote sensing for characterizing vegetation at hazardous waste sites. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1 estimate leaf-area-index (LAI of the vegetation using three different methods (i.e., vegetation indices, red-edge positioning (REP, and machine learning regression trees, and (2 map the vegetation cover using machine learning decision trees based on either the scaled reflectance data or mixture tuned matched filtering (MTMF-derived metrics and vegetation indices. HyMap airborne data (126 bands at 2.3 × 2.3 m spatial resolution, collected over the U.S. Department of Energy uranium processing sites near Monticello, Utah and Monument Valley, Arizona, were used. Grass and shrub species were mixed on an engineered disposal cell cover at the Monticello site while shrub species were dominant in the phytoremediation plantings at the Monument Valley site. Regression trees resulted in the best calibration performance of LAI estimation (R2 > 0.80. The use of REPs failed to accurately predict LAI (R2 < 0.2. The use of the MTMF-derived metrics (matched filter scores and infeasibility and a range of vegetation indices in decision trees improved the vegetation mapping when compared to the decision tree classification using just the scaled reflectance. Results suggest that hyperspectral imagery are useful for characterizing biophysical characteristics (LAI and vegetation cover on capped hazardous waste sites. However, it is believed that the vegetation mapping would benefit from the use of higher spatial resolution hyperspectral data due to the small size of many of the vegetation patches ( < 1 m found on the sites.

  3. Development of a Remote Monitoring System Using Meteor Burst Technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ewanic, M.A.; Dunstan, M.T.; Reichhardt, D.K.

    2006-01-01

    Monitoring the cleanup and closure of contaminated sites requires extensive data acquisition, processing, and storage. At remote sites, the task of monitoring often becomes problematical due to the lack of site infrastructure (i.e., electrical power lines, telephone lines, etc.). MSE Technology Applications, Inc. (MSE) has designed an economical and efficient remote monitoring system that will handle large amounts of data; process the data, if necessary; and transmit this data over long distances. Design criteria MSE considered during the development of the remote monitoring system included: the ability to handle multiple, remote sampling points with independent sampling frequencies; robust (i.e., less susceptible to moisture, heat, and cold extremes); independent of infrastructure; user friendly; economical; and easy to expand system capabilities. MSE installed and tested a prototype system at the Mike Mansfield Advanced Technology Center (MMATC), Butte, Montana, in June 2005. The system MSE designed and installed consisted of a 'master' control station and two remote 'slave' stations. Data acquired at the two slave stations were transmitted to the master control station, which then transmits a complete data package to a ground station using meteor burst technology. The meteor burst technology has no need for hardwired land-lines or man-made satellites. Instead, it uses ionized particles in the Earth's atmosphere to propagate a radio signal. One major advantage of the system is that it can be configured to accept data from virtually any type of device, so long as the signal from the device can be read and recorded by a standard data-logger. In fact, MSE has designed and built an electrical resistivity monitoring system that will be powered and controlled by the meteor burst system components. As sites move through the process of remediation and eventual closure, monitoring provides data vital to the successful long term management of the site. The remote

  4. ITER Remote Maintenance System (IRMS) lifecycle management

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tesini, Alessandro, E-mail: alessandro.tesini@iter.org [ITER Organization, CS 90 046, 13067 St. Paul Lez Durance Cedex (France); Otto' , Bede [Oxford Technologies Ltd, 7, Nuffield Way, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 1RJ (United Kingdom); Blight, John [FAAST 31c Allee de la Granette, 13600 Ceyreste (France); Choi, Chang-Hwan; Friconneau, Jean-Pierre; Gotewal, Krishan Kumar; Hamilton, David [ITER Organization, CS 90 046, 13067 St. Paul Lez Durance Cedex (France); Heckendorn, Frank [FD Technologies, PO Box 6686, Aiken, SC (United States); Martins, Jean-Pierre [ITER Organization, CS 90 046, 13067 St. Paul Lez Durance Cedex (France); Marty, Thomas [Westinghouse, 122, avenue de Hambourg, 13008 Marseille (France); Nakahira, Masataka; Palmer, Jim; Subramanian, Rajendran [ITER Organization, CS 90 046, 13067 St. Paul Lez Durance Cedex (France)

    2011-10-15

    The availability of the ITER machine to perform its scientific program is strongly dependent on the performance of the different Remote Handling (RH) systems constituting the ITER Remote Maintenance System (IRMS). The lifecycle of the IRMS will largely exceed 40 years from initial concept design and proof testing through to machine decommissioning. Such a long lifecycle requires that a rigorous approach is put in place to guarantee the technical capabilities of the highly innovative IRMS, its efficiency and its availability. For this purpose, an IRMS System Engineering and IRMS lifecycle management approach has been adopted by ITER. The approach aims at ensuring the IRMS full operability and availability at an acceptable cost of ownership over the full ITER machine assembly and operations period. The IRMS lifecycle management method described in this paper covers such subjects as specific requirements for IRMS design reviews, monitoring during manufacture, factory and site acceptance testing, integrated commissioning, decontamination, maintenance and re-qualification strategies, requirements for Integrated Logistical Support during operations. The updating and implementation of the IRMS lifecycle strategy and this procedure will be managed and monitored by the Remote Handling Integrated Product Team (RH-IPT). Although developed for the IRMS, the basic principles and procedures of lifecycle management could be applied to other ITER plant systems whose reliability and availability will be essential for the continued operation of the ITER machine.

  5. ITER Remote Maintenance System (IRMS) lifecycle management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tesini, Alessandro; Otto', Bede; Blight, John; Choi, Chang-Hwan; Friconneau, Jean-Pierre; Gotewal, Krishan Kumar; Hamilton, David; Heckendorn, Frank; Martins, Jean-Pierre; Marty, Thomas; Nakahira, Masataka; Palmer, Jim; Subramanian, Rajendran

    2011-01-01

    The availability of the ITER machine to perform its scientific program is strongly dependent on the performance of the different Remote Handling (RH) systems constituting the ITER Remote Maintenance System (IRMS). The lifecycle of the IRMS will largely exceed 40 years from initial concept design and proof testing through to machine decommissioning. Such a long lifecycle requires that a rigorous approach is put in place to guarantee the technical capabilities of the highly innovative IRMS, its efficiency and its availability. For this purpose, an IRMS System Engineering and IRMS lifecycle management approach has been adopted by ITER. The approach aims at ensuring the IRMS full operability and availability at an acceptable cost of ownership over the full ITER machine assembly and operations period. The IRMS lifecycle management method described in this paper covers such subjects as specific requirements for IRMS design reviews, monitoring during manufacture, factory and site acceptance testing, integrated commissioning, decontamination, maintenance and re-qualification strategies, requirements for Integrated Logistical Support during operations. The updating and implementation of the IRMS lifecycle strategy and this procedure will be managed and monitored by the Remote Handling Integrated Product Team (RH-IPT). Although developed for the IRMS, the basic principles and procedures of lifecycle management could be applied to other ITER plant systems whose reliability and availability will be essential for the continued operation of the ITER machine.

  6. Progress in energy generation for Canadian remote sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saad, Y.; Younes, R.; Abboudi, S.; Ilinca, A.; Nohra, C.

    2016-07-01

    Many remote areas around the world are isolated, for various reasons, from electricity networks. They are usually supplied with electricity through diesel generators. The cost of operation and transportation of diesel fuel in addition to its price have led to the procurement of a more efficient and environmentally greener method of supply. Various studies have shown that a wind-diesel hybrid system with compressed air storage (WDCAS) seems to be one of the best solutions, and presents itself as an optimal configuration for the electrification of isolated sites. This system allows significant fuel savings to be made because the stored compressed air is used to supercharge the engine. In order to optimize system performance and minimize fuel consumption, installation of a system for recovering and storing the heat of compression (TES) seems necessary. In addition, the use of hydro-pneumatic energy storage systems that use the same machine as the hydraulic pump and turbine allow us to store energy in tight spaces and, if possible, contribute to power generation. The scrupulous study of this technical approach will be the focus of our research which will validate (or not) the use of such a system for the regulation of frequency of electrical networks. In this article we will skim through the main research that recently examined the wind-diesel hybrid system which addressed topics such as adiabatic compression and hydro-pneumatic storage. Instead, we will offer (based on existing studies) a new ACP-WDCAS (wind-diesel hybrid system with adiabatic air compression and storage at constant pressure), which combines these three concepts in one system for the optimization of wind-diesel hybrid system.

  7. The Effectiveness of Remote Facilitation in Simulation-Based Pediatric Resuscitation Training for Medical Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohta, Kunio; Kurosawa, Hiroshi; Shiima, Yuko; Ikeyama, Takanari; Scott, James; Hayes, Scott; Gould, Michael; Buchanan, Newton; Nadkarni, Vinay; Nishisaki, Akira

    2017-08-01

    To assess the effectiveness of pediatric simulation by remote facilitation. We hypothesized that simulation by remote facilitation is more effective compared to simulation by an on-site facilitator. We defined remote facilitation as a facilitator remotely (1) introduces simulation-based learning and simulation environment, (2) runs scenarios, and (3) performs debriefing with an on-site facilitator. A remote simulation program for medical students during pediatric rotation was implemented. Groups were allocated to either remote or on-site facilitation depending on the availability of telemedicine technology. Both groups had identical 1-hour simulation sessions with 2 scenarios and debriefing. Their team performance was assessed with behavioral assessment tool by a trained rater. Perception by students was evaluated with Likert scale (1-7). Fifteen groups with 89 students participated in a simulation by remote facilitation, and 8 groups with 47 students participated in a simulation by on-site facilitation. Participant demographics and previous simulation experience were similar. Both groups improved their performance from first to second scenario: groups by remote simulation (first [8.5 ± 4.2] vs second [13.2 ± 6.2], P = 0.003), and groups by on-site simulation (first [6.9 ± 4.1] vs second [12.4 ± 6.4], P = 0.056). The performance improvement was not significantly different between the 2 groups (P = 0.94). Faculty evaluation by students was equally high in both groups (7 vs 7; P = 0.65). A pediatric acute care simulation by remote facilitation significantly improved students' performance. In this pilot study, remote facilitation seems as effective as a traditional, locally facilitated simulation. The remote simulation can be a strong alternative method, especially where experienced facilitators are limited.

  8. On the feasibility of comprehensive high-resolution 3D remote dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Juang, Titania; Grant, Ryan; Adamovics, John; Ibbott, Geoffrey; Oldham, Mark

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: This study investigates the feasibility of remote high-resolution 3D dosimetry with the PRESAGE®/Optical-CT system. In remote dosimetry, dosimeters are shipped out from a central base institution to a remote institution for irradiation, then shipped back to the base institution for subsequent readout and analysis. Methods: Two nominally identical optical-CT scanners for 3D dosimetry were constructed and placed at the base (Duke University) and remote (Radiological Physics Center) institutions. Two formulations of PRESAGE® (SS1, SS2) radiochromic dosimeters were investigated. Higher sensitivity was expected in SS1, which had higher initiator content (0.25% bromotrichloromethane), while greater temporal stability was expected in SS2. Four unirradiated PRESAGE® dosimeters (two per formulation, cylindrical dimensions 11 cm diameter, 8.5–9.5 cm length) were imaged at the base institution, then shipped to the remote institution for planning and irradiation. Each dosimeter was irradiated with the same simple treatment plan: an isocentric 3-field “cross” arrangement of 4 × 4 cm open 6 MV beams configured as parallel opposed laterals with an anterior beam. This simple plan was amenable to accurate and repeatable setup, as well as accurate dose modeling by a commissioned treatment planning system (Pinnacle). After irradiation and subsequent (within 1 h) optical-CT readout at the remote institution, the dosimeters were shipped back to the base institution for remote dosimetry readout 3 days postirradiation. Measured on-site and remote relative 3D dose distributions were registered to the Pinnacle dose calculation, which served as the reference distribution for 3D gamma calculations with passing criteria of 5%/2 mm, 3%/3 mm, and 3%/2 mm with a 10% dose threshold. Gamma passing rates, dose profiles, and color-maps were all used to assess and compare the performance of both PRESAGE® formulations for remote dosimetry. Results: The best agreements between the

  9. The contribution to site core damage frequency from independent occurrences of initiators in two or more units: How low is it?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Dong-San; Park, Jin Hee; Lim, Ho Gon [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    Stutzke estimated the site risk by summing the contribution from common cause initiators and the contribution from single-unit initiators. He considered some kinds of multi-unit accident sequences caused by single-unit initiators. However, the contribution from independent occurrences of initiators in two or more units at a site was not taken into account. The purpose of this study is to estimate the contribution to site core damage frequency (CDF) from simultaneous occurrences of independent initiators in two or more units at the same site. Some assumptions and methods used in this analysis are firstly described, and the results and conclusions of the analysis are described. In this study, the contribution to site core damage frequency (CDF) from simultaneous occurrences of independent initiators in two or more units at the same site was estimated. A Korean six-unit site was selected as the reference site and the at-power internal events Level 1 PSA model for an OPR1000 unit at the reference site was used as the base model, and was modified to deal with some major dependencies between units at the site. Specifically, the availability of the AAC D/G, dependencies between offsite power recovery actions in different unis, and inter-unit CCF modeling for risk-significant components such as diesel generators were taken into account. As a result, the sum of dual-unit CDF due to independent occurrences of initiators in two units at the reference site was estimated to be sufficiently low to be neglected.

  10. Developing and Field Testing a Community Based Youth Initiative to Increase Tuberculosis Awareness in Remote Arctic Inuit Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez, Gonzalo G; Van Dyk, Deborah D; Colquhoun, Heather; Moreau, Katherine A; Mulpuru, Sunita; Graham, Ian D

    2016-01-01

    Inuit in Canada have the highest reported tuberculosis (TB) incidence rate in Canada, even higher than other Canadian Indigenous groups. The aim of this study was to increase TB awareness among Inuit youth and their communities by equipping those who can best reach this population with a community based, youth focused, education initiative built on interventions adapted from a previous TB awareness study. The Taima TB Youth Education Initiative was a field test case study of a knowledge translation (KT) strategy aimed at community members who provide health education in these communities. In the first stage of this study, interventions from a larger TB awareness campaign were adapted to focus on youth living in remote Inuit communities. During the second stage of the study, investigators field tested the initiative in two isolated Inuit communities. It was then applied by local implementation teams in two other communities. Evaluation criteria included feasibility, acceptability, knowledge uptake and health behavior change. Implementation of the adapted KT interventions resulted in participation of a total of 41 youth (19 females, 22 males) with an average age of 16 years (range 12-21 years) in four different communities in Nunavut. Community celebration events were attended by 271 community members where TB messaging were presented and discussed. All of the health care workers and community members surveyed reported that the adapted interventions were acceptable and a useful way of learning to some extent. Knowledge uptake measures indicated an average TB knowledge score of 64 out of 100. Local partners in all four communities indicated that they would use the Taima TB Youth Education Initiative again to raise awareness about TB among youth in their communities. The TB awareness interventions adapted for the Taima TB Youth Education Initiative were acceptable to the Inuit communities involved in the study. They resulted in uptake of knowledge among participants

  11. Mississippi Sound Remote Sensing Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atwell, B. H.

    1973-01-01

    The Mississippi Sound Remote Sensing Study was initiated as part of the research program of the NASA Earth Resources Laboratory. The objective of this study is development of remote sensing techniques to study near-shore marine waters. Included within this general objective are the following: (1) evaluate existing techniques and instruments used for remote measurement of parameters of interest within these waters; (2) develop methods for interpretation of state-of-the-art remote sensing data which are most meaningful to an understanding of processes taking place within near-shore waters; (3) define hardware development requirements and/or system specifications; (4) develop a system combining data from remote and surface measurements which will most efficiently assess conditions in near-shore waters; (5) conduct projects in coordination with appropriate operating agencies to demonstrate applicability of this research to environmental and economic problems.

  12. A web-based remote radiation treatment planning system using the remote desktop function of a computer operating system: a preliminary report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Keishiro; Hirasawa, Yukinori; Yaegashi, Yuji; Miyamoto, Hideki; Shirato, Hiroki

    2009-01-01

    We developed a web-based, remote radiation treatment planning system which allowed staff at an affiliated hospital to obtain support from a fully staffed central institution. Network security was based on a firewall and a virtual private network (VPN). Client computers were installed at a cancer centre, at a university hospital and at a staff home. We remotely operated the treatment planning computer using the Remote Desktop function built in to the Windows operating system. Except for the initial setup of the VPN router, no special knowledge was needed to operate the remote radiation treatment planning system. There was a time lag that seemed to depend on the volume of data traffic on the Internet, but it did not affect smooth operation. The initial cost and running cost of the system were reasonable.

  13. Benchmarking the Remote-Handled Waste Facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendiratta, O.P.; Ploetz, D.K.

    2000-01-01

    ABSTRACT Facility decontamination activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), the site of a former commercial nuclear spent fuel reprocessing facility near Buffalo, New York, have resulted in the removal of radioactive waste. Due to high dose and/or high contamination levels of this waste, it needs to be handled remotely for processing and repackaging into transport/disposal-ready containers. An initial conceptual design for a Remote-Handled Waste Facility (RHWF), completed in June 1998, was estimated to cost $55 million and take 11 years to process the waste. Benchmarking the RHWF with other facilities around the world, completed in November 1998, identified unique facility design features and innovative waste processing methods. Incorporation of the benchmarking effort has led to a smaller yet fully functional, $31 million facility. To distinguish it from the June 1998 version, the revised design is called the Rescoped Remote-Handled Waste Facility (RRHWF) in this topical report. The conceptual design for the RRHWF was completed in June 1999. A design-build contract was approved by the Department of Energy in September 1999

  14. Benchmarking the Remote-Handled Waste Facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    O. P. Mendiratta; D. K. Ploetz

    2000-02-29

    ABSTRACT Facility decontamination activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), the site of a former commercial nuclear spent fuel reprocessing facility near Buffalo, New York, have resulted in the removal of radioactive waste. Due to high dose and/or high contamination levels of this waste, it needs to be handled remotely for processing and repackaging into transport/disposal-ready containers. An initial conceptual design for a Remote-Handled Waste Facility (RHWF), completed in June 1998, was estimated to cost $55 million and take 11 years to process the waste. Benchmarking the RHWF with other facilities around the world, completed in November 1998, identified unique facility design features and innovative waste pro-cessing methods. Incorporation of the benchmarking effort has led to a smaller yet fully functional, $31 million facility. To distinguish it from the June 1998 version, the revised design is called the Rescoped Remote-Handled Waste Facility (RRHWF) in this topical report. The conceptual design for the RRHWF was completed in June 1999. A design-build contract was approved by the Department of Energy in September 1999.

  15. Demonstration of a remotely operated TRU waste size-reduction and material handling process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stewart, J.A. III; Schuler, T.F.; Ward, C.R.

    1986-01-01

    Noncombustible Pu-238 and Pu-239 waste is generated as a result of normal operation and decommissioning activity at the Savannah River Plant and is being retrievably stored at the site. As part of the long-term plan to process the stored waste and current waste for permanent disposal, a remote size-reduction and material handling process is being tested at Savannah River Laboratory to provide design support for the plant TRU Waste Facility scheduled to be completed in 1993. The process consists of a large, low-speed shredder and material handling system, a remote worktable, a bagless transfer system, and a robotically controlled manipulator, or Telerobot. Initial testing of the shredder and material handling system and a cycle test of the bagless transfer system were completed. Initial Telerobot run-in and system evaluation was completed. User software was evaluated and modified to support complete menu-driven operation. Telerobot prototype size-reduction tooling was designed and successfully tested. Complete nonradioactive testing of the equipment is scheduled to be completed in 1987

  16. Remote sensing for the geobotanical and biogeochemical assessment of environmental contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wickham, J.; Chesley, M.; Lancaster, J.; Mouat, D.

    1993-01-01

    Under Contract Number DE-AC08-90NV10845, the DOE has funded the Desert Research Institute (DRI) to examine several aspects of remote sensing, specifically with respect to how its use might help support Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ERWM) activities at DOE sites located throughout the country. This report represents partial fulfillment of DRI's obligations under that contract and includes a review of relevant literature associated with remote sensing studies and our evaluation and recommendation as to the applicability of various remote sensing techniques for DOE needs. With respect to DOE ERWM activities, remote sensing may be broadly defined as collecting information about a target without actually being in physical contact with the object. As the common platforms for remote sensing observations are aircraft and satellites, there exists the possibility to rapidly and efficiently collect information over DOE sites that would allow for the identification and monitoring of contamination related to present and past activities. As DOE sites cover areas ranging from tens to hundreds of square miles, remote sensing may provide an effective, efficient, and economical method in support of ERWM activities. For this review, remote sensing has been limited to methods that employ electromagnetic (EM) energy as the means of detecting and measuring target characteristics

  17. Remote sensing for the geobotanical and biogeochemical assessment of environmental contamination

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wickham, J.; Chesley, M.; Lancaster, J.; Mouat, D.

    1993-01-01

    Under Contract Number DE-AC08-90NV10845, the DOE has funded the Desert Research Institute (DRI) to examine several aspects of remote sensing, specifically with respect to how its use might help support Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ERWM) activities at DOE sites located throughout the country. This report represents partial fulfillment of DRI`s obligations under that contract and includes a review of relevant literature associated with remote sensing studies and our evaluation and recommendation as to the applicability of various remote sensing techniques for DOE needs. With respect to DOE ERWM activities, remote sensing may be broadly defined as collecting information about a target without actually being in physical contact with the object. As the common platforms for remote sensing observations are aircraft and satellites, there exists the possibility to rapidly and efficiently collect information over DOE sites that would allow for the identification and monitoring of contamination related to present and past activities. As DOE sites cover areas ranging from tens to hundreds of square miles, remote sensing may provide an effective, efficient, and economical method in support of ERWM activities. For this review, remote sensing has been limited to methods that employ electromagnetic (EM) energy as the means of detecting and measuring target characteristics.

  18. Remote data monitoring for CDF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kippenhan, H.A. Jr.; Lidinsky, W.; Roediger, G.

    1995-11-01

    Remote data monitoring from the physicists' home institutions has become an important issue in large international experiments to ensure high performance of the detectors and high quality of data and scientific results. The CDF experiment is a collaboration of 450 physicists from 36 institutions in the U.S., Japan, Canada, Italy and Taiwan. Future experiments at Fermilab, CERN and elsewhere will be even larger, and will be performed over a period of order 10 years. The ability of collaborators at remote sites to monitor the increasingly complex detectors and feed the results back into the data acquisition process will be of great importance We report on the status and performance of remote monitoring from Japan of the CDF experiment in Batavia Illinois. We also discuss feasibilities for modest Remote Control Rooms

  19. Studies on surface graft polymerization of acrylic acid onto PTFE film by remote argon plasma initiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Chen; Chen Jierong

    2007-01-01

    The graft polymerization of acrylic acid (AAc) was carried out onto poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) films that had been pretreated with remote argon plasma and subsequently exposed to oxygen to create peroxides. Peroxides are known to be the species responsible for initiating the graft polymerization when PTFE reacts with AAc. We chose different parameters of remote plasma treatment to get the optimum condition for introducing maximum peroxides (2.87 x 10 -11 mol/cm 2 ) on the surface. The influence of grafted reaction conditions on the grafting degree was investigated. The maximum grafting degree was 25.2 μg/cm 2 . The surface microstructures and compositions of the AAc grafted PTFE film were characterized with the water contact angle meter, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Contact angle measurements revealed that the water contact angle decreased from 108 o to 41 o and the surface free energy increased from 22.1 x 10 -5 to 62.1 x 10 -5 N cm -1 by the grafting of the AAc chains. The hydrophilicity of the PTFE film surface was greatly enhanced. The time-dependent activity of the grafted surface was better than that of the plasma treated film

  20. Initial Characterization of the Wave Resource at Several High Energy U.S. Sites

    OpenAIRE

    Dallman, Ann; Neary, Vincent S.

    2014-01-01

    Wave energy resource characterization efforts are critical for developing knowledge of the physical conditions experienced by wave energy converter (WEC) devices and arrays. Developers are lacking a consistent characterization of possible wave energy test sites, and therefore Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has been tasked with developing a catalogue characterizing three high energy U.S. test sites. The initial results and framework for the catalogue are discussed in this paper. U.S. De...

  1. Remote Sensing of Surficial Process Responses to Extreme Meteorological Events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brakenridge, G. Robert

    1997-01-01

    Changes in the frequency and magnitude of extreme meteorological events are associated with changing environmental means. Such events are important in human affairs, and can also be investigated by orbital remote sensing. During the course of this project, we applied ERS-1, ERS-2, Radarsat, and an airborne sensor (AIRSAR-TOPSAR) to measure flood extents, flood water surface profiles, and flood depths. We established a World Wide Web site (the Dartmouth Flood Observatory) for publishing remote sensing-based maps of contemporary floods worldwide; this is also an online "active archive" that presently constitutes the only global compilation of extreme flood events. We prepared an article for EOS concerning SAR imaging of the Mississippi Valley flood; an article for the International Journal of Remote Sensing on measurement of a river flood wave using ERS-2, began work on an article (since completed and published) on the Flood Observatory for a Geoscience Information Society Proceedings volume, and presented lectures at several Geol. Soc. of America Natl. Meetings, an Assoc. of Amer. Geographers Natl. Meeting, and a Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium (all on SAR remote sensing of the Mississippi Valley flood). We expanded in-house modeling capabilities by installing the latest version of the Army Corps of Engineers RMA two-dimensional hydraulics software and BYU Engineering Graphics Lab's Surface Water Modeling System (finite elements based pre- and post-processors for RMA work) and also added watershed modeling software. We are presently comparing the results of the 2-d flow models with SAR image data. The grant also supported several important upgrades of pc-based remote sensing infrastructure at Dartmouth. During work on this grant, we collaborated with several workers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Remote Sensing/GIS laboratory (for flood inundation mapping and modeling; particularly of the Illinois River using the AIRSAR/TOPSAR/ERS-2 combined data), with Dr

  2. Mars Science Laboratory: Mission, Landing Site, and Initial Results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grotzinger, John; Blake, D.; Crisp, J.; Edgett, K.; Gellert, R.; Gomez-Elvira, J.; Hassler, D.; Mahaffy, P.; Malin, M.; Meyer, M.; Mitrofanov, I.; Vasavada, A.; Wiens, R.

    2012-10-01

    Scheduled to land on August 5, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, will conduct an investigation of modern and ancient environments. Recent mission results will be discussed. Curiosity has a lifetime of at least one Mars year ( 23 months), and drive capability of at least 20 km. The MSL science payload was specifically assembled to assess habitability and includes a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer and gas analyzer that will search for organic carbon in rocks, regolith fines, and the atmosphere; an x-ray diffractometer that will determine mineralogical diversity; focusable cameras that can image landscapes and rock/regolith textures in natural color; an alpha-particle x-ray spectrometer for in situ determination of rock and soil chemistry; a laser-induced breakdown spectrometer to remotely sense the chemical composition of rocks and minerals; an active neutron spectrometer designed to search for water in rocks/regolith; a weather station to measure modern-day environmental variables; and a sensor designed for continuous monitoring of background solar and cosmic radiation. The 155-km diameter Gale Crater was chosen as Curiosity’s field site based on several attributes: an interior mound of ancient flat-lying strata extending almost 5 km above the elevation of the landing site; the lower few hundred meters of the mound show a progression with relative age from clay-bearing to sulfate-bearing strata, separated by an unconformity from overlying likely anhydrous strata; the landing ellipse is characterized by a mixture of alluvial fan and high thermal inertia/high albedo stratified deposits; and a number of stratigraphically/geomorphically distinct fluvial features. Gale’s regional context and strong evidence for a progression through multiple potentially habitable environments, represented by a stratigraphic record of extraordinary extent, insure preservation of a rich record of the environmental history of early Mars.

  3. Analysis of Bright Harvest Remote Analysis for Residential Solar Installations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nangle, John [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Simon, Joseph [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2015-06-17

    Bright Harvest provides remote shading analysis and design products for residential PV system installers. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) through the NREL Commercialization Assistance Program, completed comparative assessments between on-site measurements and remotely calculated values to validate the accuracy of Bright Harvest’s remote shading and power generation.

  4. Opportunities for Increasing Societal Value of Remote Sensing Data ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Opportunities for Increasing Societal Value of Remote Sensing Data in South Africa's Strategic Development Priorities: A Review. ... Despite the enormous capital required to fund remote sensing initiatives, governments ... HOW TO USE AJOL.

  5. Using remote sensing data for exploitation of integrated renewable energy at coastal site in South Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calaudi, Rosamaria; Lo Feudo, Teresa; Calidonna, Claudia Roberta; Sempreviva, Anna Maria

    2016-04-01

    Renewable energy sources are major components of the strategy to reduce harmful emissions and to replace depleting fossil energy resources. Data from Remote Sensing can provide detailed information for analysis for sources of renewable energy and to determine the potential energy and socially acceptability of suggested location. Coastal sites of Southern Italy have the advantage of favorable climatic conditions to use renewable energy, such us cloud free days and local breeze phenomena. Many ports are located where they have opportunities for exploitation of renewable energy, by using existing port area and by taking advantage of their coastal locations. Policies of European-Committee and Global-Navigation-PIANC for a better use of energy and an efficient supply from renewable sources are also focused on the construction of port facilities in zero emissions. Using data from Remote Sensing, can reduce the financial resources currently required for finding and assessing suitable areas, we defined an integrated methodology for potential wind and solar energy in harbor areas. In this study we compared the hourly solar power energy using MSG-SEVIRI (Meteosat Second Generation Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared) data products DSSF (Down-welling Surface Short-wave-Flux), and PV-Plant measurements with Nominal Power Peak of 19,85 kWp. The PV Plant is situated at a coastal site in Calabrian region, located near Vibo Valentia harbor area. We estimate potential energy by using input solar radiation of Satellite data, with same characteristics of the PV-plant. The RMSE and BIAS for hourly averaged solar electrical reproducibility are estimated including clear and sky conditions. Comparison between energy reproducibility by using DSSF product and PV-plant measurements, made over the period October 2013-June 2014, showed a good agreement in our costal site and generally overestimate (RMSE(35W/m2) and BIAS(4W/m2)) electrical reproducibility from a PV-plant. For wind resource

  6. Simple economic evaluation and applications experiments for photovoltaic systems for remote sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rios, M. Jr.

    1980-01-01

    A simple evaluation of the cost effectiveness of photovoltaic systems is presented. The evaluation is based on a calculation of breakeven costs of photovoltaics (PV) arrays with the levelized costs of two alternative energy sources (1) extension of the utility grid and (2) diesel generators. A selected number of PV applications experiments that are in progress in remote areas of the US are summarized. These applications experiments range from a 23 watt insect survey trap to a 100 kW PV system for a national park complex. It is concluded that PV systems for remote areas are now cost effective in remote small applications with commercially available technology and will be cost competitive for intermediate scale systems (approx. 10 kW) in the 1980s if the DOE 1986 Commercial Readiness Goals are achieved.

  7. Remote sensing and GIS approach for water-well site selection, southwest Iran

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rangzan, K.; Charchi, A.; Abshirini, E.; Dinger, J.

    2008-01-01

    The Pabdeh-Lali Anticline of northern Khuzestan province is located in southwestern Iran and occupies 790 km2. This structure is situated in the Zagros folded belt. As a result of well-developed karst systems in the anticlinal axis, the water supply potential is high and is drained by many peripheral springs. However, there is a scarcity of water for agriculture and population centers on the anticlinal flanks, which imposes a severe problem in terms of area development. This study combines remotely sensed (RS) data and a geographical information system (GIS) into a RSGIS technique to delineate new areas for groundwater development and specific sites for drilling productive water wells. Toward these goals, RS data were used to develop GIS layers for lithology, structural geology, topographic slope, elevation, and drainage density. Field measurements were made to create spring-location and groundwater-quality GIS layers. Subsequently, expert choice and relational methods were used in a GIS environment to conjunctively analyze all layers to delineate preferable regions and 43 individual sites in which to drill water wells. Results indicate that the most preferred areas are, in preferential order, within recent alluvial deposits, the Bakhtiyari Conglomerates, and the Aghajari Sandstone. The Asmari Limestone and other units have much lower potential for groundwater supplies. Potential usefulness of the RSGIS method was indicated when six out of nine producing wells recently drilled by the Khozestan Water and Power Authority (which had no knowledge of this study) were located in areas preferentially selected by this technique.

  8. Fundamentals and advances in the development of remote welding fabrication systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agapakis, J. E.; Masubuchi, K.; Von Alt, C.

    1986-01-01

    Operational and man-machine issues for welding underwater, in outer space, and at other remote sites are investigated, and recent process developments are described. Probable remote welding missions are classified, and the essential characteristics of fundamental remote welding tasks are analyzed. Various possible operational modes for remote welding fabrication are identified, and appropriate roles for humans and machines are suggested. Human operator performance in remote welding fabrication tasks is discussed, and recent advances in the development of remote welding systems are described, including packaged welding systems, stud welding systems, remotely operated welding systems, and vision-aided remote robotic welding and autonomous welding systems.

  9. Remote sensing for vineyard management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Philipson, W. R.; Erb, T. L.; Fernandez, D.; Mcleester, J. N.

    1980-01-01

    Cornell's Remote Sensing Program has been involved in a continuing investigation to assess the value of remote sensing for vineyard management. Program staff members have conducted a series of site and crop analysis studies. These include: (1) panchromatic aerial photography for planning artificial drainage in a new vineyard; (2) color infrared aerial photography for assessing crop vigor/health; and (3) color infrared aerial photography and aircraft multispectral scanner data for evaluating yield related factors. These studies and their findings are reviewed.

  10. Nuclear power: Siting and safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Openshaw, S.

    1986-01-01

    By 2030, half, or even two-thirds, of all electricity may be generated by nuclear power. Major reactor accidents are still expected to be rare occurrences, but nuclear safety is largely a matter of faith. Terrorist attacks, sabotage, and human error could cause a significant accident. Reactor siting can offer an additional, design-independent margin of safety. Remote geographical sites for new plants would minimize health risks, protect the industry from negative changes in public opinion concerning nuclear energy, and improve long-term public acceptance of nuclear power. U.K. siting practices usually do not consider the contribution to safety that could be obtained from remote sites. This book discusses the present trends of siting policies of nuclear power and their design-independent margin of safety

  11. A remote laboratory for USRP-based software defined radio

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gandhinagar Ekanthappa, Rudresh; Escobar, Rodrigo; Matevossian, Achot; Akopian, David

    2014-02-01

    Electrical and computer engineering graduates need practical working skills with real-world electronic devices, which are addressed to some extent by hands-on laboratories. Deployment capacity of hands-on laboratories is typically constrained due to insufficient equipment availability, facility shortages, and lack of human resources for in-class support and maintenance. At the same time, at many sites, existing experimental systems are usually underutilized due to class scheduling bottlenecks. Nowadays, online education gains popularity and remote laboratories have been suggested to broaden access to experimentation resources. Remote laboratories resolve many problems as various costs can be shared, and student access to instrumentation is facilitated in terms of access time and locations. Labs are converted to homeworks that can be done without physical presence in laboratories. Even though they are not providing full sense of hands-on experimentation, remote labs are a viable alternatives for underserved educational sites. This paper studies remote modality of USRP-based radio-communication labs offered by National Instruments (NI). The labs are offered to graduate and undergraduate students and tentative assessments support feasibility of remote deployments.

  12. Macro and Micro Remote Viewing of Objects in Sealed Gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heckendorn, F.M.

    2004-01-01

    The Savannah River Site uses sophisticated glovebox facilities to process and analyze material that is radiologically contaminated or that must be protected from contamination by atmospheric gases. The analysis can be visual, non destructive measurement, or destructive measurement, and allows for the gathering of information that would otherwise not be obtainable. Macro and Micro systems that cover a range of 2X to 400X magnifications with a robust system compatible with the harsh glovebox environment were installed. Remote video inspection systems were developed and deployed in Savannah River Site glovebox facilities that provide high quality or mega-pixel quality remote views, for remote inspections. The specialized video systems that are the subject of this report exhibited specialized field application of remote video/viewing techniques by expanding remote viewing to high and very high quality viewing in gloveboxes. This technological enhancement will allow the gathering of precision information that is otherwise not available

  13. The possibility of distance methods application for snow dump sites monitoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pasko Olga

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article the results of remote sensing of the Earth for monitoring of four snow dump sites in Tomsk are described. Their compliance with permitted type of the territory use was evaluated. Earlier unknown time of the operation start was identified. The spatial-temporal variability of areas was defined. The temperature profiles of snow dump and background sites were analyzed. Use of remote sensing data allowed easy identification of snow dump sites creation time. The fact that the sites are located out of zones of permitted type of the territory use was revealed, that is violation of the law. For the first time the cartographic material was collected and showed that in the recent years their areas increased in average in 18%. The fore-cast for the nearest years was made. The article contains satellite images indicting the degradation of soil-vegetative cover of snow dumps. The reasons are contamination and overcooling of the soil in the beginning of vegetation period. The research results became the initial material for perfection of snow dumps territories management and will be applied in the work of environmental protecting service. Approaches proposed by authors may be used in solving similar problems in any region.

  14. Solar photovoltaic water pumping for remote locations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meah, Kala; Fletcher, Steven; Ula, Sadrul

    2008-01-01

    Many parts of the world as well as the western US are rural in nature and consequently do not have electrical distribution lines in many parts of villages, farms, and ranches. Distribution line extension costs can run from USD 10,000 to USD 16,000/km, thereby making availability of electricity to small water pumping projects economically unattractive. But, ground water and sunlight are available, which make solar photovoltaic (SPV) powered water pumping more cost effective in these areas' small scale applications. Many western states including Wyoming are passing through the sixth year of drought with the consequent shortages of water for many applications. The Wyoming State Climatologist is predicting a possible 5-10 years of drought. Drought impacts the surface water right away, while it takes much longer to impact the underground aquifers. To mitigate the effect on the livestock and wildlife, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal initiated a solar water pumping initiative in cooperation with the University of Wyoming, County Conservation Districts, Rural Electric Cooperatives, and ranching organizations. Solar water pumping has several advantages over traditional systems; for example, diesel or propane engines require not only expensive fuels, they also create noise and air pollution in many remote pristine areas. Solar systems are environment friendly, low maintenance, and have no fuel cost. In this paper the design, installation, site selection, and performance monitoring of the solar system for small-scale remote water pumping will be presented. This paper also presents technical, environmental, and economic benefits of the SPV water pumping system compared to stand alone generator and electric utility. (author)

  15. Frequent dual initiation of reverse transcription in murine leukemia virus-based vectors containing two primer-binding sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voronin, Yegor A.; Pathak, Vinay K.

    2003-01-01

    Retroviruses package two copies of viral RNA into each virion. Although each RNA contains a primer-binding site for initiation of DNA synthesis, it is unknown whether reverse transcription is initiated on both RNAs. To determine whether a single virion is capable of initiating reverse transcription more than once, we constructed a murine leukemia virus-based vector containing a second primer-binding site (PBS) derived from spleen necrosis virus and inserted the green fluorescent protein gene (GFP) between the two PBSs. Initiation of reverse transcription at either PBS results in a provirus that expresses GFP. However, initiation at both PBSs can result in the deletion of GFP, which can be detected by flow cytometry and Southern blotting analysis. Approximately 22-29% of the proviruses formed deleted the GFP in a single replication cycle, indicating the minimum proportion of virions that initiated reverse transcription on both PBSs. These results show that a significant proportion of MLV-based vectors containing two PBSs have the capacity to initiate reverse transcription more than once

  16. College Students' Engagement in E-Tutoring Children in Remote Areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    ChanLin, Lih-Juan; Lin, Hong-Yen; Lu, Tze-Han

    2016-01-01

    To bridge the digital divide and learning gap among children in remote areas, an online tutoring service has been initiated for after-school learning in remote schools. College students were recruited for the role of teaching and supporting remote learners through online tutoring. This research aimed to study college students' involvement in…

  17. Initial results from MARmara SuperSITE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meral Ozel, Nurcan; Necmioglu, Ocal; Favali, Paolo; Douglas, John; Mathieu, Pierre-Philippe; Geli, Louis; Ergintav, Semih; Oguz Ozel, Asım; Tan, Onur; Gurbuz, Cemil; Erdik, Mustafa

    2014-05-01

    shaking measurements, has been prepared by INERIS to be set up on the field to be also set up as an early warning system prototype to be progressively parameterized and tested on near to real time condition. Slip rate on the Main Marmara Fault from 3D seismic data has been estimated and extremely young age of the North Anatolian Fault in the Sea of Marmara has been determined. Seismic risk study for IGDAS Natural Gas Network including pipelines and its components has been carried out with several earthquake scenarios in Marmara Sea. An automatic shut-off algorithm has been developed for the automatic shut-off of the gas flow at the IGDAS district regulators during an extreme event. All the European and international initiatives and projects that could have links with MARsite were identified as the initial step for the integration of data management practices and coordination with ongoing research infrastructures. EPOS and EMSO are considered to be crucial links that could provide sustainability of MARsite's developments beyond the project's lifetime. Concerning EMSO, Marmara is one of the nodes of the research infrastructure, in which a permanent installation at sea is being integrated with land-based networks. In the context of EPOS, MARsite will be a thematic core service. In addition, the data collection and dissemination in MARsite is carried out according to the data management principles of EMSO and EPOS. Dissemination activities reached a certain level of maturity through the relesea of Public Annual Report, quarterly newsletter, ID card and poster, social media interaction, dedicated web sites, videos and several conferences and workhops participated, such as GEO European Projects' Workshop, Supersites Coordination Workshop and GEO-X Plenary & Geneva Ministerial Summit .

  18. Enabling Remote Activity: Using mobile technology for remote participation in geoscience fieldwork

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Sarah; Collins, Trevor; Gaved, Mark; Bartlett, Jessica; Valentine, Chris; McCann, Lewis

    2010-05-01

    Field-based activities are regarded as essential to the development of a range of professional and personal skills within the geosciences. Students enjoy field activities, preferring these to learning with simulations (Spicer and Stratford 2001), and these improve deeper learning and understanding (Kern and Carpenter, 1984; Elkins and Elkins, 2007). However, some students find it difficult to access these field-based learning opportunities. Field sites may be remote and often require travel across uneven, challenging or potentially dangerous terrain. Mobility-impaired students are particularly limited in their opportunities to participate in field-based learning activities and, as higher education institutions have a responsibility to provide inclusive opportunities for students (UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995, UK Special Education Needs and Disability Rights Act 2001), the need for inclusive fieldwork learning is being increasingly recognised. The Enabling Remote Activity (ERA) project has been investigating how mobile communications technologies might allow field learning experiences to be brought to students who would otherwise find it difficult to participate, and also to enhance activities for all participants. It uses a rapidly deployable, battery-powered wireless network to transmit video, audio, and high resolution still images to connect participants at an accessible location with participants in the field. Crucially, the system uses a transient wireless network, allowing multiple locations to be explored during a field visit, and for plans to be changed dynamically if required. Central to the concept is the requirement for independent investigative learning: students are enabled to participate actively in the learning experience and to direct the investigations, as opposed to being simply remote viewers of the experience. Two ways of using the ERA system have been investigated: remote access and collaborative groupwork. In 2006 and 2008 remote

  19. VARIABILITY IN NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND CARBON STORAGE IN BIOMASS ACROSS OREGON FORESTS - AN ASSESSMENT INTEGRATING DATA FROM FOREST INVENTORIES, INTENSIVE SITES, AND REMOTE SENSING. (R828309)

    Science.gov (United States)

    We used a combination of data from USDA Forest Service inventories, intensivechronosequences, extensive sites, and satellite remote sensing, to estimate biomassand net primary production (NPP) for the forested region of western Oregon. Thestudy area was divided int...

  20. Action potentials in retinal ganglion cells are initiated at the site of maximal curvature of the extracellular potential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eickenscheidt, Max; Zeck, Günther

    2014-06-01

    The initiation of an action potential by extracellular stimulation occurs after local depolarization of the neuronal membrane above threshold. Although the technique shows remarkable clinical success, the site of action and the relevant stimulation parameters are not completely understood. Here we identify the site of action potential initiation in rabbit retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) interfaced to an array of extracellular capacitive stimulation electrodes. We determine which feature of the extracellular potential governs action potential initiation by simultaneous stimulation and recording RGCs interfaced in epiretinal configuration. Stimulation electrodes were combined to areas of different size and were presented at different positions with respect to the RGC. Based on stimulation by electrodes beneath the RGC soma and simultaneous sub-millisecond latency measurement we infer axonal initiation at the site of maximal curvature of the extracellular potential. Stimulation by electrodes at different positions along the axon reveals a nearly constant threshold current density except for a narrow region close to the cell soma. These findings are explained by the concept of the activating function modified to consider a region of lower excitability close to the cell soma. We present a framework how to estimate the site of action potential initiation and the stimulus required to cross threshold in neurons tightly interfaced to capacitive stimulation electrodes. Our results underscore the necessity of rigorous electrical characterization of the stimulation electrodes and of the interfaced neural tissue.

  1. LIDAR and atmosphere remote sensing [DST Space Science Initiatives

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Venkataraman, S

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Energy Source included in the measurement. Slide 2 © CSIR 2008 www.csir.co.za The observer can control the source Eg. Radar, Lidar, Sodar, Sonar etc. (b) Passive remote sensors. Energy source is not included in the measurement... Instrument Passive Slide 3 © CSIR 2008 www.csir.co.za Active LiDAR Principle • LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) • LiDAR employs a laser as a source of pulsed energy • Lasers are advantageous because – checkbld Monochromatic...

  2. Remote excavation using the telerobotic small emplacement excavator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thompson, D.H.; Burks, B.L.; Killough, S.M.

    1993-01-01

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory is developing remote excavation technologies for the Office of Technology Development, Robotics Technology Development Program. This work is being done to meet the need for remote excavation and removal of radioactive and contaminated buried waste at several DOE sites. System requirements are based on the need to uncover and remove waste from burial sites in a way that does not cause unnecessary personnel exposure or additional environmental contamination. Goals for the current project are to demonstrate dexterous control of a backhoe with force feedback and to implement robotic operations that will improve productivity. The Telerobotic Small Emplacement Excavator is a prototype system that incorporates the needed robotic and telerobotic capabilities on a commercially available platform. The ability to add remote dexterous teleoperation and robotic operating modes is intended to be adaptable to other commercially available excavator systems

  3. International Conference on Remote Sensing Applications for Archaeological Research and World Heritage Conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    Contents include the following: Monitoring the Ancient Countryside: Remote Sensing and GIS at the Chora of Chersonesos (Crimea, Ukraine). Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS for Management Decision Support in the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve (Republic of Benin). Monitoring of deforestation invasion in natural reserves of northern Madagascar based on space imagery. Cartography of Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Cartography and Land Use Change of World Heritage Areas and the Benefits of Remote Sensing and GIS for Conservation. Assessing and Monitoring Vegetation in Nabq Protected Area, South Sinai, Egypt, using combine approach of Satellite Imagery and Land Surveys. Evaluation of forage resources in semi-arid savannah environments with satellite imagery: contribution to the management of a protected area (Nakuru National Park) in Kenya. SOGHA, the Surveillance of Gorilla Habitat in World Heritage sites using Space Technologies. Application of Remote Sensing to monitor the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay (France). Application of Remote Sensing & GIS for the Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites of the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Social and Environmental monitoring of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: Case Study over the Vosges du Nord and Pfalzerwald Parks using Corona and Spot Imagery. Satellite Remote Sensing as tool to Monitor Indian Reservation in the Brazilian Amazonia. Remote Sensing and GIS Technology for Monitoring UNESCO World Heritage Sites - A Pilot Project. Urban Green Spaces: Modern Heritage. Monitoring of the technical condition of the St. Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in Kiev with Space Applications, geo-positioning systems and GIS tools. The Murghab delta palaeochannel Reconstruction on the Basis of Remote Sensing from Space. Acquisition, Registration and Application of IKONOS Space Imagery for the cultural World Heritage site at Mew, Turkmenistan. Remote Sensing and VR applications for the reconstruction of archaeological landscapes

  4. Integration of remotely operated manipulator systems for the nuclear industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blight, J.; Cornec, G.

    2003-01-01

    rectify the situation. The paper has the following structure: Methodology (choice of scenarios, initial status, final status); Phases preceding dismantling operations; Flux of wastes; Processes; Remotely operated manipulators; Development of scenarios; Involvement of CYBERNETIX in dismantling projects; Involvement in 'Upstream phasest'; Supply of remotely operated systems; Validation of processes and remotely operated systems prior to active work; Involvement at site. As a summary, CYBERNETIX recommends, in order to ensure the good development of a project: - to be actively involved in developing/validating processes and scenarios, in order to make sure that constraints from both the remotely operated systems and the environment are taken into consideration; - to amortize amortization of development, integration, refurbishing, maintenance and storage costs on a serial of works/projects; - to provision sufficient time to develop, adapt, fine-tune equipment and processes, as a function of the scenarios; - to validate equipment and processes and confirm operational performances of the system during prior tests in 'non-active' or 'slightly active' conditions before the operational phase; - to be actively involved in site operations, in order to trouble-shout, fine-tune and constantly improve equipment and processes, using their own operators, technicians and engineers in order to guarantee the availability of the system in all circumstances; - to establish with the prime contractor, or other participating companies 'partnering' or 'alliance' agreements during operational phases, in order to motivate all actors

  5. Joint federal initiative for demonstration of on-site innovative technologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marsh, J.; Munro, J.F.; McKinnon, C.; Coyle, G.J.

    1994-01-01

    The Federal Government needs to develop and implement new technologies to support its environmental and waste management programs. The incentive is threefold: First, new technologies are needed to accomplish many cleanup and waste management tasks. Second, the development and implementation of new technologies is expected to reduce significantly total cleanup costs. Third, the development of new environmental technologies can help secure national economic advantages by making U.S. industry more competitive in terms of global environmental markets. The Federal Advisory Committee to Develop On-Site Innovative Technologies (DOIT) initiative reinvents inter-governmental relations by stressing the solving of environmental problems through partnerships rather than through confrontation. This overview -- which is essentially a shortened and slightly modified version of the recent Coordinating Group Report to the DOIT Committee --describes the waste management challenges facing the Nation, discusses the innovative solutions offered by DOIT, outlines progress of the initiative to date, and identifies critical next steps

  6. Factors Related to Initiating Interpersonal Contacts on Internet Dating Sites: A View From the Social Exchange Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rivka Shtatfeld

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence dating-site users to initiate contact with potential romantic partners. The study was carried out by observing online behaviors and analyzing the profiles and authentic messages of these users (N = 106 over seven months. Contacts made by and with the research participants were analyzed in terms of the relationships between initiators‘ and receivers‘ demographic variables (marital status, age, level of education, income, writing skills, and stated physical appearance. In addition, the relationship between contacting partners and site accessibility was examined. The findings revealed that dating-site users initiated contact primarily with those having a similar marital status or slightly better characteristics (income, education, writing skills. In regard to writing skills, it was found that skilled writers attracted more contacts than did less skilled writers. However, the factor that was found to be most significantly related to initiating contact was the length of time that elapsed from last connection to the site, which implies the perceived accessibility of potential romantic partners. The findings were explained in terms of the Social Exchange Theory: people are attracted to those who grant them rewards.

  7. GTRI Remote Monitoring System: Training and Operational Needs Assessment Analysis Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Day, Debra E.; Fox, Sorcha

    2012-04-20

    The mission of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administrations (NNSA's) Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) is to identify, secure, recover and facilitate the disposition of vulnerable nuclear and high-risk radioactive materials around the world that pose a threat to the United States and the international community. The GTRI's unique mission to reduce and protect vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials located at civilian sites worldwide directly addresses recommendations of the 9/11 Commission1, and is a vital part of the President's National Security Strategy and the Global Initiative. The GTRI Remote Monitoring System (RMS) is a standalone security system that includes radiation and tamper alarms, and CCTV; which can be transmitted securely over the Internet to multiple on-site and off-site locations. Through our experiences during installation of the system at 162 sites, plus feedback received from Alarm Response Training course participants, site input to project teams and analysis of trouble calls; indications were that current system training was lacking and inconsistent. A survey was undertaken to gather information from RMS users across the nation, to evaluate the current level of training and determine what if any improvements needed to be made. Additional questions were focused on the operation of the RMS software. The training survey was initially sent electronically to 245 users at the RMS sites and achieved a 37.6% return rate. Analysis of the resulting data revealed that 34.6% of the respondents had not received training or were unsure if they had, despite the fact that vendor engineers provide training at installation of the system. Any training received was referred to as minimal, and brief, not documented, and nothing in writing. 63.7% of respondents said they were either not at all prepared or only somewhat prepared to use the RMS software required to effectively operate the

  8. Modelling a reliable wind/PV/storage power system for remote radio base station sites without utility power

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bitterlin, Ian F [Emerson Network Power Ltd., Globe Park, Marlow, SL7 1YG (United Kingdom)

    2006-11-22

    The development of photovoltaic (PV) cells has made steady progress from the early days, when only the USA space program could afford to deploy them, to now, seeing them applied to roadside applications even in our Northern European climes. The manufacturing cost per watt has fallen and the daylight-to-power conversion efficiency increased. At the same time, the perception that the sun has to be directly shining on it for a PV array to work has faded. On some of those roadside applications, particularly for remote emergency telephones or for temporary roadwork signage where a utility electrical power connection is not practical, the keen observer will spot, usually in addition to a PV array, a small wind-turbine and an electrical cabinet quite obviously (by virtue of its volume) containing a storage battery. In the UK, we have the lions share (>40%) of Europe's entire wind power resource although, despite press coverage of the 'anti-wind' lobby to the contrary, we have hardly started to harvest this clean and free energy source. Taking this (established and proven) roadside solution one step further, we will consider higher power applications. A cellular phone system is one where a multitude of remote radio base stations (RBS) are required to provide geographical coverage. With networks developing into the so called '3G' technologies the need for base stations has tripled, as each 3G cell covers only 1/3 the geographical area of its '2G' counterpart. To cover >90% of the UK's topology (>97% population coverage) with 3G cellular technology will requires in excess of 12,000 radio base stations per operator network. In 2001, there were around 25,000 established sites and, with an anticipated degree of collocation by necessity, that figure is forecast to rise to >47,000. Of course, the vast majority of these sites have a convenient grid connection. However, it is easy to see that the combination of wind and PV power generation and an energy storage system may be an

  9. Remote Working Technologies, Benefits and Challenges

    OpenAIRE

    Gill, Gurjit

    2008-01-01

    Abstract: "More and more . . . work is becoming something you do, not a place you go to." - Woody Leonhard, The Underground Guide to Telecommuting (1995). Many organisations now have Remote Working initiatives, not just the large multi-nationals, but increasingly small and medium enterprises as well. There are many benefits of Remote Working which firms can exploit to increase performance such as cost savings, work-life balance, increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, loyalty, re...

  10. The Myres Hill remote sensing intercomparison study: preliminary results

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clive, P J M; Chindurza, I [SgurrEnergy Ltd, 79 Coplaw Street, Glasgow G42 7JG, Scotland (United Kingdom); Ravey, I; Bass, J [RES Group Ltd, James Blyth House, 7000 Academy Park, Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom); Boyle, R J; Jones, P [TUV NEL Ltd, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, Scotland (United Kingdom); Lang, S J [Sustainable Energy Research Group, University College Cork (Ireland); Bradley, S [Mighty River Power, Level 14, 23-29 Albert Street, Auckland (New Zealand); Hay, L [Garrad Hassan and Partners Ltd, 2064 Maryhill Road, Glasgow G20 0AB, Scotland (United Kingdom); Oldroyd, A [Oldbaum Services Ltd, Schoolhouse, Brig o' Turk, Callander, Scotland (United Kingdom); Stickland, M [University of Strathclyde, 16 Richmond Street, Glasgow G1 1XQ, Scotland (United Kingdom)], E-mail: peter.clive@sgurrenergy.com

    2008-05-01

    Two remote sensing techniques (SODAR and LIDAR) have been developed for measuring wind speed and turbulence from ground level up to altitudes of 300 m or higher. Although originally developed in the defence sector, these techniques are now generating considerable interest in the renewable energy and meteorological sectors. Despite the benefits of these instruments they are not yet generally accepted for due diligence measurements by wind energy developers and financial institutions. There is a requirement for a series of independent assessments of these new metrology techniques, comparing their measurements with the approved cup-type anemometer readings. This is being addressed at TUV NEL's Myres Hill wind turbine test site in a measurement programme supported by the DIUS National Measurement Systems Measurement for Innovators scheme and a consortium of 21 industrial collaborators. Data from SODAR and LIDAR systems are being compared with results from cup-type anemometers mounted at different heights on an 80m meteorological mast. An ultrasonic sensor is also mounted on the mast. The objective of the test programme is to assess the effectiveness of SODAR and LIDAR wind speed measurement techniques under different operating regimes and atmospheric conditions. Results from the measurements will provide definitive data on the performance of the remote wind speed sensing techniques under test on complex terrain typical of many wind farm sites. Preliminary measurements based on data acquired during the initial measurement campaign are presented.

  11. Current perspective on remote sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goodman, R.H.

    1992-01-01

    Surveillance and tracking of oil spills has been a feature of most spill response situations for many years. The simplest and most direct method uses visual observations from an aircraft and hand-plotting of the data on a map. This technique has proven adequate for most small spills and for responses in fair weather. As the size of the spill increases or the weather deteriorates, there is a need to augment visual aerial observations with remote sensing methods. Remote sensing and its associated systems are one of the most technically complex and sophisticated elements of an oil spill response. During the past few years, a number of initiatives have been undertaken to use contemporary electronic and computing systems to develop new and improved remote sensing systems

  12. Cyclic joint remote state preparation in noisy environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Chang-yue; Bai, Ming-qiang; Zhou, Si-qi

    2018-06-01

    We propose a scheme of cyclic joint remote state preparation for three sides, which takes advantage of three GHZ states to compose product state as quantum channel. Suppose there are six legitimate participants, says Alice, Bob, Charlie, David, Emma and Fred in the scheme. It can be shown that Alice and David can remotely prepare a single-qubit state on Bob's side; meanwhile, Bob and Emma can remotely prepare a desired quantum state on Charlie's side, and Charlie and Fred can also remotely prepare a single-qubit state on Alice's side at the same time. Further, it can be achieved in the opposite direction of the cycle by changing the quantum channel. Based on it, we generalize this protocol to N (N≥3) sides utilizing three multi-qubit GHZ-type states as quantum channel. Therefore, the scheme can achieve cyclic joint remote state preparation, which remotely prepares N states in quantum network with N-party, simultaneously. In addition, we consider that the effect of amplitude-damping noise of the initial states is prepared in four different laboratory. Clearly, we use fidelity to describe how much information has been lost in the cyclic process. Our investigation about the effect of noise shows that the preparing of the initial state in different laboratories will affect the loss of information.

  13. Optimizing interactive performance for long-distance remote observing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kibrick, Robert; Allen, Steven L.; Conrad, Al; Wirth, Gregory D.

    2006-06-01

    Remote observing is the dominant mode of operation for both Keck Telescopes and their associated instruments. Over 90% of all Keck observations are carried out remotely from the Keck Headquarters in Waimea, Hawaii (located 40 kilometers from the telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea), and this year represents the tenth anniversary of the start of Keck remote observing from Waimea. In addition, an increasing number of observations are now conducted by geographically-dispersed observing teams, with some team members working from Waimea while others collaborate from Keck remote observing facilities located in California. Such facilities are now operational on four campuses of the University of California and at the California Institute of Technology. Details of the motivation and planning for those facilities and the software architecture on which they were originally based are discussed in several previous reports. The most recent of those papers reported the results of various measurements of interactive performance as a function of alternative networking protocols (e.g., ssh, X, VNC) and software topologies. This report updates those results to reflect performance improvements that have occurred over the past two years as a result of upgrades to hardware, software, and network configurations at the respective sites. It also explores how the Keck remote observing effort has evolved over the past decade in response to the increased number and diversity of Keck instruments and the growing number of mainland remote observing sites.

  14. Use of telemedicine in the remote programming of cochlear implants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos, Angel; Rodriguez, Carina; Martinez-Beneyto, Paz; Perez, Daniel; Gault, Alexandre; Falcon, Juan Carlos; Boyle, Patrick

    2009-05-01

    Remote cochlear implant (CI) programming is a viable, safe, user-friendly and cost-effective procedure, equivalent to standard programming in terms of efficacy and user's perception, which can complement the standard procedures. The potential benefits of this technique are outlined. We assessed the technical viability, risks and difficulties of remote CI programming; and evaluated the benefits for the user comparing the standard on-site CI programming versus the remote CI programming. The Remote Programming System (RPS) basically consists of completing the habitual programming protocol in a regular CI centre, assisted by local staff, although guided by a remote expert, who programs the CI device using a remote programming station that takes control of the local station through the Internet. A randomized prospective study has been designed with the appropriate controls comparing RPS to the standard on-site CI programming. Study subjects were implanted adults with a HiRes 90K(R) CI with post-lingual onset of profound deafness and 4-12 weeks of device use. Subjects underwent two daily CI programming sessions either remote or standard, on 4 programming days separated by 3 month intervals. A total of 12 remote and 12 standard sessions were completed. To compare both CI programming modes we analysed: program parameters, subjects' auditory progress, subjects' perceptions of the CI programming sessions, and technical aspects, risks and difficulties of remote CI programming. Control of the local station from the remote station was carried out successfully and remote programming sessions were achieved completely and without incidents. Remote and standard program parameters were compared and no significant differences were found between the groups. The performance evaluated in subjects who had been using either standard or remote programs for 3 months showed no significant difference. Subjects were satisfied with both the remote and standard sessions. Safety was proven by

  15. Development of improved methods for remote access of DIII-D data and data analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greene, K.L.; McHarg, B.B. Jr.

    1997-11-01

    The DIII-D tokamak is a national fusion research facility. There is an increasing need to access data from remote sites in order to facilitate data analysis by collaborative researchers at remote locations, both nationally and internationally. In the past, this has usually been done by remotely logging into computers at the DIII-D site. With the advent of faster networking and powerful computers at remote sites, it is becoming possible to access and analyze data from anywhere in the world as if the remote user were actually at the DIII-D site. The general mechanism for accessing DIII-D data has always been via the PTDATA subroutine. Substantial enhancements are being made to that routine to make it more useful in a non-local environment. In particular, a caching mechanism is being built into PTDATA to make network data access more efficient. Studies are also being made of using Distributed File System (DFS) disk storage in a Distributed Computing Environment (DCE). A data server has been created that will migrate, on request, shot data from the DIII-D environment into the DFS environment

  16. Remote Inspection, Measurement and Handling for LHC

    CERN Document Server

    Kershaw, K; Coin, A; Delsaux, F; Feniet, T; Grenard, J L; Valbuena, R

    2007-01-01

    Personnel access to the LHC tunnel will be restricted to varying extents during the life of the machine due to radiation, cryogenic and pressure hazards. The ability to carry out visual inspection, measurement and handling activities remotely during periods when the LHC tunnel is potentially hazardous offers advantages in terms of safety, accelerator down time, and costs. The first applications identified were remote measurement of radiation levels at the start of shut-down, remote geometrical survey measurements in the collimation regions, and remote visual inspection during pressure testing and initial machine cool-down. In addition, for remote handling operations, it will be necessary to be able to transmit several real-time video images from the tunnel to the control room. The paper describes the design, development and use of a remotely controlled vehicle to demonstrate the feasibility of meeting the above requirements in the LHC tunnel. Design choices are explained along with operating experience to-dat...

  17. Mapping of Landscape Cover Using Remote Sensing and GIS in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Tadesse

    present study, Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques were used. Remotely sensed .... growing stock in Tahno range of Dehradun Forest Division. Okhandiara (2008) .... areas on an image by identifying 'training' sites of known targets and then extrapolating those spectral signatures to ...

  18. Interim report - geotechnical site assessment methodology. Vol.1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tunbridge, L.W.; Richards, L.R.

    1983-05-01

    An interim report summarizing the research conducted on geotechnical site assessment methodology at the Carwynnen test mine in Cornwall. The geological setting of the test site in the Cornubian granite batholith is described. The effect of structure imposed by discontinuities on the engineering behaviour of rock masses is discussed and the scanline survey method of obtaining data on discontinuities in the rock mass is described. The requirement for remote geophysical methods of characterizing the mass is discussed and initial experiments using seismic and ultrasonic velocity measurements are reported. Computer programs to perform statistical analysis of the discontinuity patterns are described. Overcoring and hydraulic fracturing methods of determining the in-situ stress are briefly described and the results of a programme of in-situ stress measurements using the overcoring method are reported. (author)

  19. Comparison of POLDER Cloud Phase Retrievals to Active Remote Sensors Measurements at the ARM SGP Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riedi, J.; Goloub, P.; Marchand, Roger T.

    2001-01-01

    In our present study, cloud boundaries derived from a combination of active remote sensors at the ARM SGP site are compared to POLDER cloud top phase index which is derived from polarimetric measurements using an innovative method. This approach shows the viability of the POLDER phase retrieval algorithm, and also leads to interesting results. In particular, the analysis demonstrates the sensitivity of polarization measurements to ice crystal shape and indicates that occurrence of polycrystalline ice clouds has to be taken into account in order to improve the POLDER phase retrieval algorithm accuracy. Secondly, the results show that a temperature threshold of 240 K could serve for cloud top particle phase classification. Considering the limitations of the analysis, the temperature threshold could be biased high, but not by more than about 5 degrees

  20. Remote connector development study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parazin, R.J.

    1995-05-01

    Plutonium-uranium extraction (PUREX) connectors, the most common connectors used at the Hanford site, offer a certain level of flexibility in pipe routing, process system configuration, and remote equipment/instrument replacement. However, these desirable features have inherent shortcomings like leakage, high pressure drop through the right angle bends, and a limited range of available pipe diameters that can be connect by them. Costs for construction, maintenance, and operation of PUREX connectors seem to be very high. The PUREX connector designs include a 90 degree bend in each connector. This increases the pressure drop and erosion effects. Thus, each jumper requires at least two 90 degree bends. PUREX connectors have not been practically used beyond 100 (4 in.) inner diameter. This study represents the results of a survey on the use of remote pipe-connection systems in US and foreign plants. This study also describes the interdependence between connectors, remote handling equipment, and the necessary skills of the operators

  1. Tracking greenhouse gas emissions from a U.S. megacity by remote sensing from a mountaintop site

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Clare; Fu, Dejian; Pongetti, Thomas; Newman, Sally; Kort, Eric; Duren, Riley; Hsu, Ying-Kuang; Miller, Charles; Yung, Yuk; Sander, Stanley

    2014-05-01

    Cities, such as Los Angeles, are significant sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs). With the growth of populations in cities worldwide, GHG emissions will increase, and monitoring the temporal trends will provide crucial data for global climate models as well as assessments of the effectiveness of control policies. Currently, continuous GHG observations in the Los Angeles basin are limited to a few in situ measurements, which are shown to be sensitive to local emissions and do not represent the Los Angeles basin well. To quantify GHG emissions from the metropolitan area, which tend to have heterogeneous characteristics, it is important to perform measurements which provide both continuous temporal and spatial coverage of the domain. Here we present observations of the major greenhouse gases, CO2 and CH4, using a spectroscopic remote sensing technique from the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS) at Mount Wilson, California (1.7 km elevation). A Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) deployed at the CLARS site points downward at 28 selected land surfaces in the LA basin to measure the slant column abundances of CO2, CH4, N2¬O, CO and O2 using reflected sunlight in the near-infrared and short-wave infrared regions. This remote sensing technique provides continuous temporal and spatial measurements in the Los Angeles basin to achieve the goal of quantifying emissions of GHGs and CO. It also serves as a test-bed for future geostationary satellite missions to measure GHGs from space such as NASA JPL's Geostationary Carbon Process Investigation (GCPI). The path-averaged dry-air mixing ratio, XCO2 and XCH4, observed by the CLARS FTS, showed significant diurnal variability that arises from emissions in the Los Angeles basin and atmospheric transport processes. High-precision data have been collected since August 2011. We analyze the seasonal trends of the ratio XCH4:XCO2 and estimate the seasonal and annual CH4 emission in the Los Angeles

  2. Improving powerlifters’ technical preparedness at initial training stage using a device for remote control of competitive exercises technique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    А. Власов

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The objective is to improve powerlifters’ technical preparedness at the initial training stage using a device for remote control of the competitive exercises technique. Materials and methods. The study relied on the following methods used: theoretical analysis and collation of data of scientific and methodological literature and internet; pedagogical observation; pedagogical experiment; methods of mathematical statistics. Results. We have designed an algorithmic structure for teaching squats with a barbell on shoulders in powerlifting and a device for remote control of the competitive exercises technique. We used the pedagogical experiment and pedagogical observation of the competitive activity to reveal reliable deviations (p > 0.05 in the number of mistakes made by the athletes of the reference and experimental groups during the competitive activity. The reference group powerlifters made the mistake “no straight angle between the knee and the hip joints when performing the third stage” twelve times, while the experimental group athletes — seven times. Conclusions. The results obtained allow to maintain that the experimental group athletes have more rationally mastered the competitive exercises technique and made fewer mistakes compared to the control group powerlifters. This confirms the effectiveness of the designed algorithmic structure for teaching squats with a barbell on shoulders.

  3. Comparison Study to the Use of Geophysical Methods at Archaeological Sites Observed by Various Remote Sensing Techniques in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roman Křivánek

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available A combination of geophysical methods could be very a useful and a practical way of verifying the origin and precise localisation of archaeological situations identified by different remote sensing techniques. The results of different methods (and scales of monitoring these fully non-destructive methods provide distinct data and often complement each other. The presented examples of combinations of these methods/techniques in this study (aerial survey, LIDAR-ALS and surface magnetometer or resistivity survey could provide information on some specifics and may also be limitations in surveying different archaeological terrains, types of archaeological situations and activities. The archaeological site in this contribution is considered to be a material of this study. In case of Neolithic ditch enclosure near Kolín were compared aerial prospection data, magnetometer survey and aerial photo-documentation of excavated site. In the case of hillforts near Levousy we compared LIDAR data with aerial photography and large-scale magnetometer survey. In the case of the medieval castle Liběhrad we compared LIDAR data with geoelectric resistivity measurement. In case of a burial mound cemetery we combined LIDAR data with magnetometer survey. In the case of the production area near Rynartice we combined LIDAR data with magnetometer and resistivity measurements and result of archaeological excavation. Fortunately for successful combination of geophysical and remote sensing results, their conditions and factors for efficient use in archaeology are not the same. On the other hand, the quality and state of many prehistoric, early medieval, medieval and also modern archaeological sites is rapidly changing over time and both groups of techniques represent important support for their comprehensive and precise documentation and protection.

  4. Improving visual skills: II-remote assessment via Internet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powers, Maureen K; Grisham, J David; Wurm, Janice K; Wurm, William C

    2009-02-01

    Even though poor readers often have poor visual skills, such as binocular coordination and oculomotor control, students' visual skills are rarely assessed. Computer assessments have the potential to assist in identifying students whose visual skills are deficient. This study compared assessments made by an Internet-based computer orthoptics program with those of an on-site vision therapist. Students (N = 41) in grades 1 through 8, reading at least 2 levels below grade, were assessed for visual skill dysfunction (including binocular fusion and tracking ability) by a vision therapist at their school in Wisconsin. The therapist determined whether the student had adequate visual skills based on clinical and behavioral observations. A "remote" investigator located in California determined the adequacy of accommodative facility, tracking, and vergence skills in the same students, based on quantitative progress through the modules of an Internet-based computer orthoptics training program during 3 assessment sessions. The on-site therapist made 33 referrals for possible visual skills training (80%). The remote investigator made 25 referrals (61%), all of which were consistent with referrals made by the on-site therapist; thus, no false-positives occurred when using the remote assessment technique. The 8 additional referrals by the therapist were attributed to the ability to observe student behavior during assessment. Remote assessment of visual skills via an Internet orthoptics program may provide a simple means to detect visual skill problems experienced by poor readers.

  5. A remote sensing and GIS-enabled asset management system (RS-GAMS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-01

    Under U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Commercial Remote Sensing and : Spatial Information (CRS&SI) Technology Initiative 2 of the Transportation : Infrastructure Construction and Condition Assessment, an intelligent Remote Sensing and : GIS-b...

  6. Site specific N application and remote sensing of cotton crop

    Science.gov (United States)

    A spatial variable nitrogen (N) rate trial and remote sensing of cotton crop was conducted during 2003 at Paul Good Farms, Mississippi, USA. The N rate trial consisted of three, 8-row transects at the east and west side of the field that were selected to represent variable soil and elevation feature...

  7. International remote monitoring project Argentina Nuclear Power Station Spent Fuel Transfer Remote Monitoring System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schneider, S.; Lucero, R.; Glidewell, D.

    1997-01-01

    The Autoridad Regulataria Nuclear (ARN) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) are cooperating on the development of a Remote Monitoring System for nuclear nonproliferation efforts. A Remote Monitoring System for spent fuel transfer will be installed at the Argentina Nuclear Power Station in Embalse, Argentina. The system has been designed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) providing gamma and neutron sensors. This project will test and evaluate the fundamental design and implementation of the Remote Monitoring System in its application to regional and international safeguards efficiency. This paper provides a description of the monitoring system and its functions. The Remote Monitoring System consists of gamma and neutron radiation sensors, RF systems, and video systems integrated into a coherent functioning whole. All sensor data communicate over an Echelon LonWorks Network to a single data logger. The Neumann DCM 14 video module is integrated into the Remote Monitoring System. All sensor and image data are stored on a Data Acquisition System (DAS) and archived and reviewed on a Data and Image Review Station (DIRS). Conventional phone lines are used as the telecommunications link to transmit on-site collected data and images to remote locations. The data and images are authenticated before transmission. Data review stations will be installed at ARN in Buenos Aires, Argentina, ABACC in Rio De Janeiro, IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 2 refs., 2 figs

  8. The ITER Remote Maintenance Management System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tesini, Alessandro; Rolfe, A.C.

    2009-01-01

    A major challenge for the ITER project is to develop and implement a Remote Maintenance System, which can deliver high Tokamak availability within the constraints of the overall ITER programme objectives. Much of the maintenance of ITER will be performed using remote handling methods and some with combined manual and remote activities working together. The organization and management of the ITER remote handling facilities will be of a scale unlike any other remote handling application in the world. The ITER remote handling design and procurement activities will require co-ordination and management across many different sites throughout the world. It will be a major challenge for the ITER project to ensure a consistent quality and technical approach in all of the contributing parties. To address this issue the IO remote handling team are implementing the ITER Maintenance Management Plan (IMMP) comprising an overarching document defining the policies and methodologies (ITER Remote Maintenance Management System or IMMS) and an associated ITER remote handling code of practise (IRHCOP). The IMMS will be in document form available as a pdf file or similar. The IRHCOP will be implemented as a web based application and will provide access to the central resource of the entire code of practise from any location in the world. The IRHCOP data library will be centrally controlled in order that users can be assured of the data relevance and authenticity. This paper will describe the overall approach being taken to deal with this challenge and go on to detail the structure and content of both the IMMS and the IRHCOP.

  9. Criteria of site assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gibbs, P.; Fuchs, H.

    1975-01-01

    The criteria which lead to the choice of a particular site for a nuclear power station are in general very similar to those which would apply to any other type of power station. The principal differences derive from the simpler transport problems for the fuel compared with, say, solid fuel and the special safety considerations which attach to nuclear reactors. The search for a suitable site obviously starts by considering where the power is needed, i.e. where the load centers are and also the existing transmission network which may help to bring the power from a more remote site to the load centers. This economic incentive to put the plant close to loads conflicts directly with the nuclear safety argument which favours more remote siting, and part of the problem of site selection is to reconcile these two matters. In addition, there are many other important matters which will be considered later concerning the adequacy of cooling water supplies, foundation conditions, etc., all of which must be examined in considerable detail. (orig./TK) [de

  10. Feasibility and reliability of remote assessment of PALS psychomotor skills via interactive videoconferencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weeks, Douglas L; Molsberry, Dianne M

    2009-03-01

    This study determined inter-rater agreement between skill assessments provided by on-site PALS evaluators with ratings from evaluators at a remote site viewing the same skill performance over a videoconferencing network. Judgments about feasibility of remote evaluation were also obtained from the evaluators and PALS course participants. Two remote and two on-site instructors independently rated performance of 27 course participants who performed cardiac and shock/respiratory emergency core cases. Inter-rater reliability was assessed with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Feasibility was assessed with surveys of evaluators and course participants. Core cases were under the direction of the remote evaluators. The ICC for overall agreement on pass/fail decisions was 0.997 for the cardiac cases and 0.998 for the shock/respiratory cases. Perfect agreement was reached on 52 of 54 pass/fail decisions. Across all evaluators, all core cases, and all participants, 2584 ratings of individual skill criteria were provided, of which 21 (0.8%) were ratings in which a single evaluator disagreed with the other three evaluators. No trends emerged for location of the disagreeing evaluator. Survey responses indicated that remote evaluation was acceptable and feasible to course participants and to the evaluators. Videoconferencing technology was shown to provide adequate spatial and temporal resolution for PALS evaluators at-a-distance from course participants to agree with ratings of on-site evaluators.

  11. A Web Service and Interface for Remote Electronic Device Characterization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dutta, S.; Prakash, S.; Estrada, D.; Pop, E.

    2011-01-01

    A lightweight Web Service and a Web site interface have been developed, which enable remote measurements of electronic devices as a "virtual laboratory" for undergraduate engineering classes. Using standard browsers without additional plugins (such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, or even Safari on an iPhone), remote users can control a Keithley…

  12. Production optimization of remotely operated gas wells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Juell, Aleksander

    2012-07-01

    From the introduction: The Remote Operations in Oklahoma Intended for Education (ROOKIE) project is a remote field laboratory constructed as a part of this research project. ROOKIE was initiated to provide data in research on production optimization of low productivity gas wells. In addition to this, ROOKIE is used as a teaching tool. Much of the remote operations technology used in the ROOKIE project has been used by the industry for several decades. The first use of remote data acquisition in Oklahoma was in 1989, as described by Luppens [7]. Even though this, for the most part, is old technology, the ROOKIE project is the first remote operations project set up with research and teaching as the main focus. This chapter will discuss the process of establishing the remote field laboratory and the data storage facilities. Results from the project will also be discussed. All testing, instrumentation installation, and modifications to the wells discussed in this chapter was performed by the author. The communication system between the well and NTNU, and the storage database was installed and configured by the author.(Author)

  13. Genome-wide identification and characterisation of human DNA replication origins by initiation site sequencing (ini-seq).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langley, Alexander R; Gräf, Stefan; Smith, James C; Krude, Torsten

    2016-12-01

    Next-generation sequencing has enabled the genome-wide identification of human DNA replication origins. However, different approaches to mapping replication origins, namely (i) sequencing isolated small nascent DNA strands (SNS-seq); (ii) sequencing replication bubbles (bubble-seq) and (iii) sequencing Okazaki fragments (OK-seq), show only limited concordance. To address this controversy, we describe here an independent high-resolution origin mapping technique that we call initiation site sequencing (ini-seq). In this approach, newly replicated DNA is directly labelled with digoxigenin-dUTP near the sites of its initiation in a cell-free system. The labelled DNA is then immunoprecipitated and genomic locations are determined by DNA sequencing. Using this technique we identify >25,000 discrete origin sites at sub-kilobase resolution on the human genome, with high concordance between biological replicates. Most activated origins identified by ini-seq are found at transcriptional start sites and contain G-quadruplex (G4) motifs. They tend to cluster in early-replicating domains, providing a correlation between early replication timing and local density of activated origins. Origins identified by ini-seq show highest concordance with sites identified by SNS-seq, followed by OK-seq and bubble-seq. Furthermore, germline origins identified by positive nucleotide distribution skew jumps overlap with origins identified by ini-seq and OK-seq more frequently and more specifically than do sites identified by either SNS-seq or bubble-seq. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  14. Initial site characterization and evaluation of radionuclide contaminated soil waste burial grounds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phillips, S.J.; Reisenauer, A.E.; Rickard, W.H.; Sandness, G.A.

    1977-02-01

    A survey of historical records and literature containing information on the contents of 300 Area and North Burial Grounds was completed. Existing records of radioactive waste location, type, and quantity within each burial ground facility were obtained and distributed to cooperating investigators. A study was then initiated to evaluate geophysical exploration techniques for mapping buried waste materials, waste containers, and trench boundaries. Results indicate that a combination of ground penetrating radar, magnetometer, metal detector, and acoustic measurements will be effective but will require further study, hardware development, and field testing. Drilling techniques for recovering radionuclide-contaminated materials and sediment cores were developed and tested. Laboratory sediment characterization and fluid transport and monitoring analyses were begun by installation of in situ transducers at the 300 North Burial Ground site. Biological transport mechanisms that control radionuclide movement at contaminated sites were also studied. Flora and fauna presently inhabiting specific burial ground areas were identified and analyzed. Future monitoring of specific mammal populations will permit determination of dose rate and pathways of contaminated materials contained in and adjacent to burial ground sites

  15. Application of a topical vapocoolant spray decreases pain at the site of initial intradermal anaesthetic injection during ultrasound-guided breast needle biopsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collado-Mesa, F.; Net, J.M.; Arheart, K.; Klevos, G.A.; Yepes, M.M.

    2015-01-01

    Aim: To assess whether the application of a topical vapocoolant spray immediately prior to initial intradermal anaesthetic injection during ultrasound-guided breast biopsy decreases pain at the site of the initial injection. Materials and methods: In this institutional review board-approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant study, 50 women aged 49.1 ± 1.6 years (mean ± standard error) were recruited and provided written informed consent. Participants served as their own controls and were blinded as to whether a topical vapocoolant spray or a placebo was used immediately prior to the initial local anaesthetic injection at two separate biopsy sites. With the exception of the application of vapocoolant or placebo, the entire ultrasound-guided procedure was performed according to a routine protocol. Participants recorded pain at initial injection site on a visual analogue scale. General linear mixed models for repeated measures analysis of variance and a 0.05 significance level were used. Results: Application of topical vapocoolant spray was shown to significantly decrease pain at the site of initial intradermal anaesthetic injection as compared to placebo (p<0.001). Treatment effect was independent of age of the subject, race/ethnicity, operator, type of biopsy device, and histopathology result. No complications from vapocoolant spray use were reported. Conclusion: Application of a topical vapocoolant spray immediately prior to initial intradermal anaesthetic injection during ultrasound-guided breast biopsy significantly decreases pain at the site of the initial injection and could contribute to improve the patient's overall procedural experience. -- Highlights: •Topical vapocoolant spray decreased pain at site of initial anesthetic injection (

  16. Strategic plan for the utilization of remote sensing technologies in the environmental restoration program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    King, A.D.; Doll, W.E.; Durfee, R.C.; Luxmoore, R.J.; Conder, S.R.; Nyquist, J.E.

    1993-12-01

    The objectives of the Environmental Restoration (ER) Remote Sensing and Special Surveys Program are to apply state-of-the-art remote sensing and geophysical technologies and to manage routine and remotely-sensed examinations of the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS), and their adjacent off-site areas. Repeated multispectral scanner (MSS) imagery, gamma, and photographic surveys will allow monitoring of the degradation that might occur in waste containment vessels and monitoring (at a later stage in the remediation life cycle) of improvements from restoration efforts and cleanup. These technologies, in combination with geophysical surveys, will provide an effective means for identifying unknown waste sites and contaminant transport pathways. All of the data will be maintained in a data base that will be accessible to site managers in the ER Program. The complete analysis of collected data will provide site-specific data to the ER Program for characterizing and monitoring ER Program hazardous waste sites

  17. Strategic plan for the utilization of remote sensing technologies in the Environmental Restoration Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    King, A.D.; Doll, W.E.; Durfee, R.C.; Luxmoore, R.J.; Conder, S.R.; Nyquist, J.E.

    1994-03-01

    The objectives of the Environmental Restoration (ER) Remote Sensing and Special Surveys Program are to apply state-of-the-art remote sensing and geophysical technologies and to manage routine and remotely-sensed examinations of the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS), and their adjacent off-site areas. Repeated multispectral scanner (MSS) imagery, gamma, and photographic surveys will allow monitoring of the degradation that might occur in waste containment vessels and monitoring (at a later stage in the remediation life cycle) of improvements from restoration efforts and cleanup. These technologies, in combination with geophysical surveys, will provide an effective means for identifying unknown waste sites and contaminant transport pathways. All of the data will be maintained in a data base that will be accessible to site managers in the ER Program. The complete analysis of collected data will provide site-specific data to the ER Program for characterizing and monitoring ER Program hazardous waste sites

  18. Savannah River Plant remote environmental monitoring system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schubert, J.F.

    1987-01-01

    The SRP remote environmental monitoring system consists of separations facilities stack monitors, production reactor stack monitors, twelve site perimeter monitors, river and stream monitors, a geostationary operational environmental satellite (GOES) data link, reactor cooling lake thermal monitors, meteorological tower system, Weather Information and Display (WIND) system computer, and the VANTAGE data base management system. The remote environmental monitoring system when fully implemented will provide automatic monitoring of key stack releases and automatic inclusion of these source terms in the emergency response codes

  19. International astronomical remote present observation on IRC.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Kaifan; Cao, Wenda; Song, Qian

    On March 6 - 7, 1997, an international astronomical remote present observation (RPO) was made on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) for the first time. Seven groups in four countries, China, United States, Canada and Great Britain, used the 1 meter telescope of Yunnan observatory together by the way of remote present observation. Within minutes, images were "On-line" by FTP, and every one was able to get them by anonymous ftp and discuss them on IRC from different widely separated sites.

  20. Remote Access: A Vision for Mobile Medical Devices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Herbert Ernst

    2005-11-01

    Full Text Available During the Symposium for Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation held at Brasov in early July 2005 an outlook was presented regarding the future potential of remote engineering for mobile medical devices. It is the intention of this article to recapitulate the content of the initiated discussions and to stimulate work in this complex and until now largely neglected field of application.

  1. Remote monitoring in international safeguards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dupree, S.A.; Sonnier, C.S.; Johnson, C.S.

    1996-01-01

    In recent years, technology that permits the integration of monitoring sensors and instruments into a coherent network has become available. Such integrated monitoring systems provide a means for the automatic collection and assessment of sensor signals and instrument readings and for processing such signals and readings in near real time. To gain experience with the new monitoring system technology, the US Department of energy, through bilateral agreements with its international partners, has initiated a project to emplace demonstration systems in various nuclear facilities and conduct field trials of the technology. This effort is the International Remote Monitoring Project. Under this project, remote monitoring systems are being deployed around the world in an incremental manner. Each deployment is different and each offers lessons for improving the performance and flexibility of the technology. Few problems were encountered with the operation of the installations to date, and much has been learned about the operation and use of the new technology. In the future, the authors believe systems for safeguards applications should be capable of being monitored remotely, emphasize the use of sensors, and utilize selective triggering for recording of images. Remote monitoring across national borders can occur only in the context of a cooperative, nonadversarial implementation regime. However, significant technical and policy work remains to be done before widespread safeguards implementation of remote monitoring should be considered. This paper shows that an abundance of technology supports the implementation of integrated and remote monitoring systems. Current field trials of remote monitoring systems are providing practical data and operational experience to aid in the design of tomorrow's systems

  2. Assessment of radioisotope heaters for remote terrestrial applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uherka, K.L.

    1987-05-01

    This paper examines the feasibility of using radioisotope byproducts for special heating applications at remote sites in Alaska and other cold regions. The investigation included assessment of candidate radioisotope materials for heater applications, identification of the most promising cold region applications, evaluation of key technical issues and implementation constraints, and development of conceptual heater designs for candidate applications. Strontium-90 (Sr-90) was selected as the most viable fuel for radioisotopic heaters used in terrestrial applications. Opportunities for the application of radioisotopic heaters were determined through site visits to representative Alaska installations. Candidate heater applications included water storage tanks, sludge digesters, sewage lagoons, water piping systems, well-head pumping stations, emergency shelters, and fuel storage tank deicers. Radioisotopic heaters for water storage tank freeze-up protection and for enhancement of biological waste treatment processes at remote sites were selected as the most promising applications

  3. Application and Removal of Strippable Coatings via Remote Platform - 13133

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shoffner, P.; Lagos, L.; Maggio, S.

    2013-01-01

    Florida International University's (FIU's) Applied Research Center is currently supporting the Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management Office of D and D and Facility Engineering program. FIU is supporting DOE's initiative to improve safety, reduce technical risks, and limit uncertainty within D and D operations by identifying technologies suitable to meet specific facility D and D requirements, assessing the readiness of those technologies for field deployment, and conducting feasibility studies and technology demonstrations of selected technologies and working with technology vendors to optimize the design of their current technologies to accomplish dangerous and demanding tasks during D and D operations. To meet one identified technology gap challenge for a technology to remotely apply strippable coatings, fixatives and decontamination gels, FIU identified and performed an initial demonstration of an innovative remote fixative sprayer platform from International Climbing Machines (ICM). The selected technology was demonstrated spraying fixative products at the hot cell mockup facility at the Applied Research Center at FIU in November 2008 under cold (non-radioactive) conditions. The remotely controlled platform was remotely operated and entered the facility and sprayed a fixative onto horizontal and vertical surfaces. Based on the initial FIU demonstration and the specific technical requirements identified at the DOE facilities, a follow-up demonstration was expanded to include strippable coatings and a decontamination gel, which was demonstrated in June 2010 at the ICM facility in Ithaca, NY. This second technology evaluation documented the ability of the remote system to spray the selected products on vertical stainless steel and concrete surfaces to a height of 3 meters (10 feet) and to achieve sufficient coverage and product thickness to promote the ability to peel/remove the strippable coatings and decontamination gel. The next challenge was to

  4. Asfordby spoiled - remote disposal of spoil - the case of Asfordby mine in Leicestershire

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rose, D

    1988-03-01

    The Asfordby Mine Project in Leicestershire, UK is scheduled for completion in 1993/4 and should produce 3 mt of coal pa. An estimated 650 000 tpa of spoil would be generated, 10% of which could be used for backfilling elsewhere in the area. The creation of spoil heaps on site was rejected by the County Council on environmental and agricultural grounds, and remote disposal was investigated by a Working Party. Four remote sites were identified, having disposal costs varying from 3.82 to 11.34 UKL per tonne (compared with 2.10 UKL on site). A pilot remote disposal scheme involving two old clay pits was explored, but the costs were found to outweigh the other advantages and so the idea has been dropped. Appeals have been made to the Department of the Environment to reconsider the advantages of such an innovative approach and to seek funding for it from the site operator and the EEC.

  5. Spatial And Temporal Trends Of Organic Pollutants In Vegetation From Remote And Rural Areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartrons, Mireia; Catalan, Jordi; Penuelas, Josep

    2016-05-05

    Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) used in agricultural, industrial, and domestic applications are widely distributed and bioaccumulate in food webs, causing adverse effects to the biosphere. A review of published data for 1977-2015 for a wide range of vegetation around the globe indicates an extensive load of pollutants in vegetation. On a global perspective, the accumulation of POPs and PAHs in vegetation depends on the industrialization history across continents and distance to emission sources, beyond organism type and climatic variables. International regulations initially reduced the concentrations of POPs in vegetation in rural areas, but concentrations of HCB, HCHs, and DDTs at remote sites did not decrease or even increased over time, pointing to a remobilization of POPs from source areas to remote sites. The concentrations of compounds currently in use, PBDEs and PAHs, are still increasing in vegetation. Differential congener specific accumulation is mostly determined by continent-in accordance to the different regulations of HCHs, PCBs and PBDEs in different countries-and by plant type (PAHs). These results support a concerning general accumulation of toxic pollutants in most ecosystems of the globe that for some compounds is still far from being mitigated in the near future.

  6. Correlation between particle multiplicity and location on virion RNA of the assembly initiation site for viruses of the tobacco mosaic virus group.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukuda, M; Meshi, T; Okada, Y; Otsuki, Y; Takebe, I

    1981-07-01

    The initiation site for reconstitution on genome RNA was determined by electron microscopic serology for a watermelon strain of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV-W), which is chemically and serologically related to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The initiation site was located at the same position as that of the cowpea strain, a virus that produces short rods of encapsidated subgenomic messenger RNA for the coat protein (a two-component TMV), being about 320 nucleotides away from the 3' terminus, and hence within the coat protein cistron. Although CGMMV-W was until now believed to be a single-component TMV, the location of the initiation site indicated the presence of short rods containing coat protein messenger RNA in CGMMV-W-infected tissue, as in the case for the cowpea strain. We found such short rods in CGMMV-W-infected tissue. The results confirmed our previous hypothesis that the site of the initiation region for reconstitution determines the rod multiplicity of TMV. The finding of the second two-component TMV, CGMMV, indicates that the cowpea strain of TMV is not unique in being a two-component virus and that the location of the assembly initiation site on the genome RNA can be a criterion for grouping of viruses.

  7. 5' diversity of human hepatic PXR (NR1I2) transcripts and identification of the major transcription initiation site.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurose, Kouichi; Koyano, Satoru; Ikeda, Shinobu; Tohkin, Masahiro; Hasegawa, Ryuichi; Sawada, Jun-Ichi

    2005-05-01

    The human pregnane X receptor (PXR) is a crucial regulator of the genes encoding several major cytochrome P450 enzymes and transporters, such as CYP3A4 and MDR1, but its own transcriptional regulation remains unclear. To elucidate the transcriptional mechanisms of human PXR gene, we first endeavored to identify the transcription initiation site of human PXR using 5'-RACE. Five types of 5'-variable transcripts (a, b, c, d, and e) with common exon 2 sequence were found, and comparison of these sequences with the genomic sequence suggested that their 5' diversity is derived from initiation by alternative promoters and alternative splicing. None of the exons found in our study contain any new in-frame coding regions. Newly identified introns IVS-a and IVS-b were found to have CT-AC splice sites that do not follow the GT-AG rule of conventional donor and acceptor splice sites. Of the five types of 5' variable transcripts identified, RT-PCR showed that type-a was the major transcript type. Four transcription initiation sites (A-D) for type-a transcript were identified by 5'-RACE using GeneRacer RACE Ready cDNA (human liver) constructed by the oligo-capping method. Putative TATA boxes were located approximately 30 bp upstream from the transcriptional start sites of the major transcript (C) and the longest minor transcript (A) expressed in the human liver. These results indicate that the initiation of transcription of human PXR is more complex than previously reported.

  8. Telepsychiatry clinical decision support system used by non-psychiatrists in remote areas: Validity & reliabilityof diagnostic module

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Savita Malhotra

    2017-01-01

    Interpretation & conclusions: Diagnostic tool showed acceptable to good validity and reliability when used by non-specialists at remote sites. Our findings show that diagnostic tool of the telepsychiatry application has potential to empower non-psychiatrist doctors and paramedics to diagnose psychiatric disorders accurately and reliably in remote sites.

  9. A Novel Quality Measure and Correction Procedure for the Annotation of Microbial Translation Initiation Sites

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Overmars, L.; Siezen, R.J.; Francke, C.

    2015-01-01

    The identification of translation initiation sites (TISs) constitutes an important aspect of sequence-based genome analysis. An erroneous TIS annotation can impair the identification of regulatory elements and N-terminal signal peptides, and also may flaw the determination of descent, for any

  10. Commercial future: making remote sensing a media event

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lurie, Ian

    1999-12-01

    The rapid growth of commercial remote sensing has made high quality digital sensing data widely available -- now, remote sensing must become and remain a strong, commercially viable industry. However, this new industry cannot survive without an educated consumer base. To access markets, remote sensing providers must make their product more accessible, both literally and figuratively: Potential customers must be able to find the data they require, when they require it, and they must understand the utility of the information available to them. The Internet and the World Wide Web offer the perfect medium to educate potential customers and to sell remote sensing data to those customers. A well-designed web presence can provide both an information center and a market place for companies offering their data for sale. A very high potential web-based market for remote sensing lies in media. News agencies, web sites, and a host of other visual media services can use remote sensing data to provide current, relevant information regarding news around the world. This paper will provide a model for promotion and sale of remote sensing data via the Internet.

  11. Remote monitoring for international safeguards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dupree, S.A.; Sonnier, C.S.

    1999-01-01

    Remote monitoring is not a new technology, and its application to safeguards-relevant activities has been examined for a number of years. On behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy and international partners, remote monitoring systems have been emplaced in nuclear facilities and laboratories in various parts of the world. The experience gained from these Geld trials of remote monitoring systems has shown the viability of the concept of using integrated monitoring systems. Although a wide variety of sensors has been used in the remote monitoring field trials conducted to date, the possible range of instrumentation that might be used has scarcely been touched. As the technology becomes widespread, large amounts of data will become available to inspectors responsible for safeguards activities at the sites. Effective use of remote monitoring will require processing, archiving, presenting, and assessing of these data. To provide reasonable efficiency in the application of this technology, data processing should be done in a careful and organized manner. The problem will be not an issue of poring over scant records but of surviving under a deluge of information made possible by modern technology Fortunately, modem technology, which created the problem of the data glut, is available to come to the assistance of those inundated by data. Apart from the technological problems, one of the most important aspects of remote monitoring is the potential constraint related to the transmission of data out of a facility or beyond national borders. Remote monitoring across national borders can be seriously considered only in the context of a comprehensive, transparent, and open implementation regime. (author)

  12. Remote operated valves - the Bolivian approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cuellar, O.; Arce, G.; Blanco, E.; Collazos, A.; Chavarria, E. [Transredes S.A., Transporte de Hidrocarburos, La Paz (Bolivia)

    2005-07-01

    For pipeline operators, the Remote Operated Valves (ROV) are tools to isolate pipe segments and contain any potential spill and they are also useful tools to provide data on operating conditions. Projects and articles about the locations and site layouts were developed to install Remote Operated Valves and the criteria for their use; each location has its own environmental, social and logistical particulars. This article describes the approach used to install ROV in Bolivia and the final design installed discussions and lessons learned about the: criteria to define the location, layout equipment installed and shelter and particulars of the location. (author)

  13. Remote measurement of river discharge using thermal particle image velocimetry (PIV) and various sources of bathymetric information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Legleiter, Carl; Kinzel, Paul J.; Nelson, Jonathan M.

    2017-01-01

    Although river discharge is a fundamental hydrologic quantity, conventional methods of streamgaging are impractical, expensive, and potentially dangerous in remote locations. This study evaluated the potential for measuring discharge via various forms of remote sensing, primarily thermal imaging of flow velocities but also spectrally-based depth retrieval from passive optical image data. We acquired thermal image time series from bridges spanning five streams in Alaska and observed strong agreement between velocities measured in situ and those inferred by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), which quantified advection of thermal features by the flow. The resulting surface velocities were converted to depth-averaged velocities by applying site-specific, calibrated velocity indices. Field spectra from three clear-flowing streams provided strong relationships between depth and reflectance, suggesting that, under favorable conditions, spectrally-based bathymetric mapping could complement thermal PIV in a hybrid approach to remote sensing of river discharge; this strategy would not be applicable to larger, more turbid rivers, however. A more flexible and efficient alternative might involve inferring depth from thermal data based on relationships between depth and integral length scales of turbulent fluctuations in temperature, captured as variations in image brightness. We observed moderately strong correlations for a site-aggregated data set that reduced station-to-station variability but encompassed a broad range of depths. Discharges calculated using thermal PIV-derived velocities were within 15% of in situ measurements when combined with depths measured directly in the field or estimated from field spectra and within 40% when the depth information also was derived from thermal images. The results of this initial, proof-of-concept investigation suggest that remote sensing techniques could facilitate measurement of river discharge.

  14. Investigation of soil fertility at a remote site in karachi, pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shirin, K.; Shafiq, S.; Imad, S.; Alvi, S.K.; Khan, M.A.

    2014-01-01

    This study reveals chemical and physical properties of soils collected from a remote site at Karachi, Pakistan. Altogether 23 parameters were determined. Out of 12 soil samples 11 were categorised as sand or sandy barns, p1-I varied between 7.35-8.49, density ranged between 1.61-2.39 gm/cm3, the conductivity of 1:2 water extracts varied up to a great extent i.e., between 0.437-16.47 MS/M3. Sodium (Na) contents were higher in ammonium acetate extract when compared with 1:2 water extract. The bicarbonate (HCO/sub 3/) contents were ranged between 0. 17-1.73 ppm. The organic matter contents were low (0.81 -2,21%), these soils were also deficient in their macronutrient contents. Specifically, the ranges of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S) were 0.04-i. 16%, 0.25-15.99 ppm, 4.40-135.89 ppm, 0.001-0.199%, 0.001-0.019% and 0.01-0.143%, respectively. Heavy metals were determined in diethylene--triamine-pentaacctic acid (DTPA) extracts and the levels of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn). and zinc (Zn) in these samples were I.86-3280 ppm, 1.68-7.69 ppm, 16.51-75.28 and 0.25-20.75 ppm, respectively. Toxic heavy metals, lead (Pb) and nickel (Ni) contents were also estimated and their concentration was found low ranging between 0.91-563 ppm and 0.32-1.26 ppm, respectively. (author)

  15. Twelve tips on how to set up postgraduate training via remote clinical supervision

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wearne, Susan; Dornan, Tim; Teunissen, Pim W.

    2013-01-01

    Doctors-in-training can now be supervised remotely by specialist clinicians using information and communication technology. This provides an intermediate stage of professional development between on-site supervision and independent medical practice. Remote supervision could increase training capa...

  16. Pressurized grout remote backfilling at AML sites near Beulah and Zap, North Dakota

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weiner, E.J.; Dodd, W.E.

    1999-01-01

    The Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Division of the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) is charged with the reclamation of hazardous abandoned mine sites in North Dakota. Several underground lignite coalmines were operated near the cities of Beulah and Zap, North Dakota, from the early 1900's until about 1955. Coal seams in this area were relatively thick and the overburden generally shallow. As these mines have deteriorated with time, deep collapse features, or sinkholes, have surfaced in many areas. These features are very dangerous, especially when they occur at or near residential and commercial areas and public roads. In the past five years, sinkholes have surfaced beneath a commercial building (boat dealership, lounge, and gas station) and beneath a nearby occupied mobile home north of Beulah. sinkholes have also surfaced near KHOL Radio Station in Beulah and in the right of way of a public road south of Zap. The AML Division has conducted several emergency sinkhole-filling projects in these areas. In 1995--97, the AML Division conducted exploratory drilling which confirmed the presence of collapsing underground mines at these sites. The remediation of these sites around Beulah/Zap will take place over several years and involve three or more separate contracts due to budget considerations. In 1997, the AML Division began reclamation at these sties utilizing pressurized grout remote backfilling. In this technique, a cementitious grout is pumped through cased drill holes directly into the mine cavities to fill them and thereby stabilize the surface from collapse. The successful contractor for Phase One of the project was The Concrete Doctor, Inc. (TCDI). This paper will concentrate on Phase One of this work performed from June through September 1997. This project is especially interesting because grout was pumped through holes drilled inside the occupied commercial building. Grout was also pumped through angled holes that intercepted mined workings directly

  17. Pressurized grout remote backfilling at AML sites near Beulah and Zap, North Dakota

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weiner, E.J.; Dodd, W.E.

    1999-07-01

    The Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Division of the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) is charged with the reclamation of hazardous abandoned mine sites in North Dakota. Several underground lignite coalmines were operated near the cities of Beulah and Zap, North Dakota, from the early 1900's until about 1955. Coal seams in this area were relatively thick and the overburden generally shallow. As these mines have deteriorated with time, deep collapse features, or sinkholes, have surfaced in many areas. These features are very dangerous, especially when they occur at or near residential and commercial areas and public roads. In the past five years, sinkholes have surfaced beneath a commercial building (boat dealership, lounge, and gas station) and beneath a nearby occupied mobile home north of Beulah. sinkholes have also surfaced near KHOL Radio Station in Beulah and in the right of way of a public road south of Zap. The AML Division has conducted several emergency sinkhole-filling projects in these areas. In 1995--97, the AML Division conducted exploratory drilling which confirmed the presence of collapsing underground mines at these sites. The remediation of these sites around Beulah/Zap will take place over several years and involve three or more separate contracts due to budget considerations. In 1997, the AML Division began reclamation at these sties utilizing pressurized grout remote backfilling. In this technique, a cementitious grout is pumped through cased drill holes directly into the mine cavities to fill them and thereby stabilize the surface from collapse. The successful contractor for Phase One of the project was The Concrete Doctor, Inc. (TCDI). This paper will concentrate on Phase One of this work performed from June through September 1997. This project is especially interesting because grout was pumped through holes drilled inside the occupied commercial building. Grout was also pumped through angled holes that intercepted mined workings

  18. How MCM loading and spreading specify eukaryotic DNA replication initiation sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyrien, Olivier

    2016-01-01

    DNA replication origins strikingly differ between eukaryotic species and cell types. Origins are localized and can be highly efficient in budding yeast, are randomly located in early fly and frog embryos, which do not transcribe their genomes, and are clustered in broad (10-100 kb) non-transcribed zones, frequently abutting transcribed genes, in mammalian cells. Nonetheless, in all cases, origins are established during the G1-phase of the cell cycle by the loading of double hexamers of the Mcm 2-7 proteins (MCM DHs), the core of the replicative helicase. MCM DH activation in S-phase leads to origin unwinding, polymerase recruitment, and initiation of bidirectional DNA synthesis. Although MCM DHs are initially loaded at sites defined by the binding of the origin recognition complex (ORC), they ultimately bind chromatin in much greater numbers than ORC and only a fraction are activated in any one S-phase. Data suggest that the multiplicity and functional redundancy of MCM DHs provide robustness to the replication process and affect replication time and that MCM DHs can slide along the DNA and spread over large distances around the ORC. Recent studies further show that MCM DHs are displaced along the DNA by collision with transcription complexes but remain functional for initiation after displacement. Therefore, eukaryotic DNA replication relies on intrinsically mobile and flexible origins, a strategy fundamentally different from bacteria but conserved from yeast to human. These properties of MCM DHs likely contribute to the establishment of broad, intergenic replication initiation zones in higher eukaryotes.

  19. Analysis of potential urban unstable areas and landslide-induced damages on Volterra historical site through a remote sensing approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Del Soldato, Matteo; Bianchini, Silvia; Nolesini, Teresa; Frodella, William; Casagli, Nicola

    2017-04-01

    Multisystem remote sensing techniques were exploited to provide a comprehensive overview of Volterra (Italy) site stability with regards to its landscape, urban fabric and cultural heritage. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques allow precise measurements of Earth surface displacement, as well as the detection of building deformations on large urban areas. In the field of cultural heritage conservation Infrared thermography (IRT) provides surface temperature mapping and therefore detects various potential criticalities, such as moisture, seepage areas, cracks and structural anomalies. Between winter 2014 and spring 2015 the historical center and south-western sectors of Volterra (Tuscany region, central Italy) were affected by instability phenomena. The spatial distribution, typology and effect on the urban fabrics of the landslide phenomena were investigated by analyzing the geological and geomorphological settings, traditional geotechnical monitoring and advanced remote sensing data such as Persistent Scatterers Interferometry (PSI). The ground deformation rates and the maximum settlement values derived from SAR acquisitions of historical ENVISAT and recent COSMO-SkyMed sensors, in 2003-2009 and 2010-2015 respectively, were compared with background geological data, constructive features, in situ evidences and detailed field inspections in order to classify landslide-damaged buildings. In this way, the detected movements and their potential correspondences with recognized damages were investigated in order to perform an assessment of the built-up areas deformations and damages on Volterra. The IRT technique was applied in order to survey the surface temperature of the historical Volterra wall-enclosure, and allowed highlighting thermal anomalies on this cultural heritage element of the site. The obtained results permitted to better correlate the landslide effects of the recognized deformations in the urban fabric, in order to provide useful

  20. Operating a wide-area remote observing system for the W. M. Keck Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wirth, Gregory D.; Kibrick, Robert I.; Goodrich, Robert W.; Lyke, James E.

    2008-07-01

    For over a decade, the W. M. Keck Observatory's two 10-meter telescopes have been operated remotely from its Waimea headquarters. Over the last 6 years, WMKO remote observing has expanded to allow teams at dedicated sites in California to observe either in collaboration with colleagues in Waimea or entirely from the U.S. mainland. Once an experimental effort, the Observatory's mainland observing capability is now fully operational, supported on all science instruments (except the interferometer) and regularly used by astronomers at eight mainland sites. Establishing a convenient and secure observing capability from those sites required careful planning to ensure that they are properly equipped and configured. It also entailed a significant investment in hardware and software, including both custom scripts to simplify launching the instrument interface at remote sites and automated routers employing ISDN backup lines to ensure continuation of observing during Internet outages. Observers often wait until shortly before their runs to request use of the mainland facilities. Scheduling these requests and ensuring proper system operation prior to observing requires close coordination between personnel at WMKO and the mainland sites. An established protocol for approving requests and carrying out pre-run checkout has proven useful in ensuring success. The Observatory anticipates enhancing and expanding its remote observing system. Future plans include deploying dedicated summit computers for running VNC server software, implementing a web-based tracking system for mainland-based observing requests, expanding the system to additional mainland sites, and converting to full-time VNC operation for all instruments.

  1. Finnish remote environmental monitoring field demonstration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toivonen, H.; Leppaenen, A.; Ylaetalo, S.; Lehtinen, J.; Hokkinen, J.; Tarvainen, M.; Crawford, T.; Glidewell, D.; Smartt, H.; Torres, J.

    1997-10-01

    Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Helsinki, Finland and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), working under the Finnish Support Program to IAEA Safeguards and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) funded International Remote Monitoring Program (Task FIN E 935), have undertaken a joint effort to demonstrate the use of remote monitoring for environmental air sampling and safeguards applications. The results of the task will be used by the IAEA to identify the feasibility, cost-effectiveness, reliability, advantages, and problems associated with remote environmental monitoring. An essential prerequisite for a reliable remote air sampling system is the protection of samples against tampering. Means must be developed to guarantee that the sampling itself has been performed as designed and the original samples are not substituted with samples produced with other equipment at another site. One such method is to label the samples with an unequivocal tag. In addition, the inspection personnel must have the capability to remotely monitor and access the automated environmental air sampling system through the use of various sensors and video imagery equipment. A unique aspect to this project is the network integration of remote monitoring equipment with a STUK radiation monitoring system. This integration will allow inspectors to remotely view air sampler radiation data and sensor/image data through separate software applications on the same review station. A sensor network and video system will be integrated with the SNL developed Modular Integrated Monitoring System (MIMS) to provide a comprehensive remote monitoring approach for safeguards purposes. This field trial system is being implemented through a multiphase approach for use by STUK, SNL, and for possible future use by the IAEA

  2. Initial robotics research for environmental restoration and waste management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamel, W.R.; Mann, R.C.

    1990-01-01

    This paper describes the initial research and development activities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that will support the technology development component of the overall National Robotics Technology Development Program (NRTDP). The NRTDP is a subelement of the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ER and WM) 5-Year Applied Research, Development, Demonstration, Testing, and Evaluation Plan and of overall efforts at DOE operational sites around the country. ORNL research will focus on fundamental improvement of remote manipulation through enhancements of the human man/machine interface, integration of automated functions, and the incorporation of machine intelligence to increase productivity. Background and goals for these activities are presented in this paper

  3. A remote sensing and GIS-enabled asset management system (RS-GAMS) : phase 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-04-01

    Under the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Commercial Remote Sensing and Spatial : Information (CRS&SI) Technology Initiative 2 of the Transportation Infrastructure Construction : and Condition Assessment, an intelligent Remote Sensing and GIS...

  4. Geophysical Remote Sensing of North Carolina's Historic Cultural Landscapes: Studies at House in the Horseshoe State Historic Site

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Jacob R.

    This dissertation is written in accordance with the three article option offered by the Geography Department at UNC Greensboro. It contains three manuscripts to be submitted for publication. The articles address specific research issues within the remote sensing process described by Jensen (2016) as they apply to subsurface geophysical remote sensing of historic cultural landscapes, using the buried architectural features of House in the Horseshoe State Historic Site in Moore County, North Carolina. The first article compares instrument detection capabilities by examining subsurface structure remnants as they appear in single band ground-penetrating radar (GPR), magnetic gradiometer, magnetic susceptibility and conductivity images, and also demonstrates how excavation strengthens geophysical image interpretation. The second article examines the ability of GPR to estimate volumetric soil moisture (VSM) in order to improve the timing of data collection, and also examines the visible effect of variable moisture conditions on the interpretation of a large historic pit feature, while including the relative soil moisture continuum concepts common to geography/geomorphology into a discussion of GPR survey hydrologic conditions. The third article examines the roles of scientific visualization and cartography in the production of knowledge and the presentation of maps using geophysical data to depict historic landscapes. This study explores visualization techniques pertaining to the private data exploration view of the expert, and to the simplified public facing view.

  5. Designing remote monitoring systems for long term maintenance and reliability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, G.E.; Johnson, G.L.; Schrader, F.D.; Stone, M.A.; Wilson, E.F.

    2001-01-01

    Full text: As part of the effort to modernize safeguards equipment, the IAEA is continuing to acquire and install equipment for upgrading obsolete surveillance systems with digital technology; and providing remote-monitoring capabilities where and when economically justified. Remote monitoring is expected to reduce inspection effort, particularly at storage facilities and reactor sites. Remote monitoring technology will not only involve surveillance, but will also include seals, sensors, and other unattended measurement equipment. LLNL's experience with the Argus Security System offers lessons for the design, deployment, and maintenance of remote monitoring systems. Argus is an integrated security system for protection of high-consequence U.S. Government assets, including nuclear materials. Argus provides secure transmission of sensor data, administrative data, and video information to support intrusion detection and access control functions. LLNL developed and deployed the Argus system on its own site in 1988. Since that time LLNL has installed, maintained, and upgraded Argus systems at several Department of Energy and Department of Defense sites in the US as well as at the original LLNL site. Argus has provided high levels of reliability and integrity, as well as reducing overall lifecycle cost through incremental improvements to hardware and software. This philosophy permits expansion of functional capability, hardware upgrade and software upgrade without system outages and with minimum outage of local functions. This presentation will describe Argus design strategies and lessons learned from the Argus program as they apply to the design, development, and maintenance of a remote monitoring network. Hardware failures, software failures, and communication outages are expected and must be addressed by astute selection of system architecture. A combination of redundancy, diversity, and effective functional allocation between field and system level components should

  6. Buried waste remote survey of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory subsurface disposal area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Richardson, B.S.; Noakes, M.W.; Griebenow, B.E.; Josten, N.E.

    1991-01-01

    Burial site characterization is an important first step in the restoration of subsurface disposal sites. Testing and demonstration of technology for remote buried waste site characterization were performed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) by a team from five US Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories. The US Army's Soldier Robot Interface Project (SRIP) vehicle, on loan to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), was used as a remotely operated sensor platform. The SRIP was equipped with an array of sensors including terrain conductivity meter, magnetometer, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), organic vapor detector, gamma-based radar detector, and spectrum analyzer. The testing and demonstration were successfully completed and provided direction for future work in buried waste site characterization

  7. Ground-based grasslands data to support remote sensing and ecosystem modeling of terrestrial primary production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, R. J.; Scurlock, J. M. O.; Turner, R. S.; Jennings, S. V.

    1995-01-01

    Estimating terrestrial net primary production (NPP) using remote-sensing tools and ecosystem models requires adequate ground-based measurements for calibration, parameterization, and validation. These data needs were strongly endorsed at a recent meeting of ecosystem modelers organized by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program's (IGBP's) Data and Information System (DIS) and its Global Analysis, Interpretation, and Modelling (GAIM) Task Force. To meet these needs, a multinational, multiagency project is being coordinated by the IGBP DIS to compile existing NPP data from field sites and to regionalize NPP point estimates to various-sized grid cells. Progress at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on compiling NPP data for grasslands as part of the IGBP DIS data initiative is described. Site data and associated documentation from diverse field studies are being acquired for selected grasslands and are being reviewed for completeness, consistency, and adequacy of documentation, including a description of sampling methods. Data are being compiled in a database with spatial, temporal, and thematic characteristics relevant to remote sensing and global modeling. NPP data are available from the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) for biogeochemical dynamics. The ORNL DAAC is part of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System, of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  8. Ground-based grasslands data to support remote sensing and ecosystem modeling of terrestrial primary production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olson, R.J.; Turner, R.S. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Scurlock, J.M.O. [King`s College London, (England); Jennings, S.V. [Tennessee Univ., Knoxville, TN (United States)

    1995-12-31

    Estimating terrestrial net primary production (NPP) using remote- sensing tools and ecosystem models requires adequate ground-based measurements for calibration, parameterization, and validation. These data needs were strongly endorsed at a recent meeting of ecosystem modelers organized by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme`s (IGBP`s) Data and Information System (DIS) and its Global Analysis, Interpretation, and Modelling (GAIM) Task Force. To meet these needs, a multinational, multiagency project is being coordinated by the IGBP DIS to compile existing NPP data from field sites and to regionalize NPP point estimates to various-sized grid cells. Progress at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on compiling NPP data for grasslands as part of the IGBP DIS data initiative is described. Site data and associated documentation from diverse field studies are being acquired for selected grasslands and are being reviewed for completeness, consistency, and adequacy of documentation, including a description of sampling methods. Data are being compiled in a database with spatial, temporal, and thematic characteristics relevant to remote sensing and global modeling. NPP data are available from the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) for biogeochemical dynamics. The ORNL DAAC is part of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System, of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  9. Beginnings of remote handling at the RAL Spallation Neutron Source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liska, D.J.; Hirst, J.

    1985-01-01

    Expenditure of funds and resources for remote maintenance systems traditionally are delayed until late in an accelerator's development. However, simple remote-surveillance equipment can be included early in facility planning to set the stage for future remote-handling needs and to identify appropriate personnel. Some basic equipment developed in the UK at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) that serves this function and that has been used to monitor beam loss during commissioning is described. A photograph of this equipment, positioned over the extractor septum magnet, is shown. This method can serve as a pattern approach to the problem of initiating remote-handling activities in other facilities

  10. A remote palm domain residue of RB69 DNA polymerase is critical for enzyme activity and influences the conformation of the active site.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agata Jacewicz

    Full Text Available Non-conserved amino acids that are far removed from the active site can sometimes have an unexpected effect on enzyme catalysis. We have investigated the effects of alanine replacement of residues distant from the active site of the replicative RB69 DNA polymerase, and identified a substitution in a weakly conserved palm residue (D714A, that renders the enzyme incapable of sustaining phage replication in vivo. D714, located several angstroms away from the active site, does not contact the DNA or the incoming dNTP, and our apoenzyme and ternary crystal structures of the Pol(D714A mutant demonstrate that D714A does not affect the overall structure of the protein. The structures reveal a conformational change of several amino acid side chains, which cascade out from the site of the substitution towards the catalytic center, substantially perturbing the geometry of the active site. Consistent with these structural observations, the mutant has a significantly reduced k pol for correct incorporation. We propose that the observed structural changes underlie the severe polymerization defect and thus D714 is a remote, non-catalytic residue that is nevertheless critical for maintaining an optimal active site conformation. This represents a striking example of an action-at-a-distance interaction.

  11. Opportune Landing Site Program: Opportune Landing Site Southeastern Indiana Field Data Collection and Assessment

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Barna, Lynette A; Ryerson, Charles C; Affleck, Rosa T

    2008-01-01

    .... The opportune landing site (OLS) program utilized existing technologies to rapidly accelerate the process of selecting OLSs using remote sensing technology and state-of-the-ground forecast tools...

  12. Application and Removal of Strippable Coatings via Remote Platform - 13133

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shoffner, P.; Lagos, L. [Applied Research Center, Florida International University, 10555 West Flagler Street, Suite 2100, Miami, FL 33174 (United States); Maggio, S. [International Climbing Machine, 630 Elmira Road, Ithaca, NY 14850 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    Florida International University's (FIU's) Applied Research Center is currently supporting the Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management Office of D and D and Facility Engineering program. FIU is supporting DOE's initiative to improve safety, reduce technical risks, and limit uncertainty within D and D operations by identifying technologies suitable to meet specific facility D and D requirements, assessing the readiness of those technologies for field deployment, and conducting feasibility studies and technology demonstrations of selected technologies and working with technology vendors to optimize the design of their current technologies to accomplish dangerous and demanding tasks during D and D operations. To meet one identified technology gap challenge for a technology to remotely apply strippable coatings, fixatives and decontamination gels, FIU identified and performed an initial demonstration of an innovative remote fixative sprayer platform from International Climbing Machines (ICM). The selected technology was demonstrated spraying fixative products at the hot cell mockup facility at the Applied Research Center at FIU in November 2008 under cold (non-radioactive) conditions. The remotely controlled platform was remotely operated and entered the facility and sprayed a fixative onto horizontal and vertical surfaces. Based on the initial FIU demonstration and the specific technical requirements identified at the DOE facilities, a follow-up demonstration was expanded to include strippable coatings and a decontamination gel, which was demonstrated in June 2010 at the ICM facility in Ithaca, NY. This second technology evaluation documented the ability of the remote system to spray the selected products on vertical stainless steel and concrete surfaces to a height of 3 meters (10 feet) and to achieve sufficient coverage and product thickness to promote the ability to peel/remove the strippable coatings and decontamination gel. The next

  13. Neural Network Prediction of Translation Initiation Sites in Eukaryotes: Perspectives for EST and Genome analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Anders Gorm; Nielsen, Henrik

    1997-01-01

    Translation in eukaryotes does not always start at the first AUG in an mRNA, implying that context information also plays a role.This makes prediction of translation initiation sites a non-trivial task, especially when analysing EST and genome data where the entire mature mRNA sequence is not known...

  14. Human-factors-based implementation of the remote characterization system high-level control station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noakes, M.W.; Richardson, B.S.; Rowe, J.C.; Draper, J.V.; Sandness, G.R.

    1993-01-01

    The detection and characterization of buried objects and materials is an important first step in the restoration of the numerous US Department of Energy (DOE) and US Department of Defense waste disposal sites. DOE, through its Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Robotics and Technology Development Program, has developed the Remote Characterization System (RCS) to address the needs of remote subsurfacecharacterization. The RCS consists of a low-metal-content (low-metallic-signature) remotely piloted vehicle, a high-level control station (HLCS) where operators can remotely control the vehicle and analyze real-time data from sensors, and an array of sensors that can be chosen to meet the survey task at hand. Communication between the vehicle and the base station is handled by a radio link. Site mapping is made possible through the use of geopositioning satellite data. The primary mode of vehicle operation is teleoperation, but provision has been made for semiautonomous or supervisory control that allows for automated sitesurvey on simple sites. Data analysis and display is supported for both real-time observation and postprocessing of data. The particular emphasis of this paper documents the human-factors-based design influences on the HLCS and describes the design in detail

  15. Remote preenrollment checking of consent forms to reduce nonconformity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Journot, Valérie; Pérusat-Villetorte, Sophie; Bouyssou, Caroline; Couffin-Cadiergues, Sandrine; Tall, Aminata; Chêne, Geneviève

    2013-01-01

    In biomedical research, the signed consent form must be checked for compliance with regulatory requirements. Checking usually is performed on site, most frequently after a participant's final enrollment. We piloted a procedure for remote preenrollment consent forms checking. We applied it in five trials and assessed its efficiency to reduce form nonconformity before participant enrollment. Our clinical trials unit (CTU) routinely uses a consent form with an additional copy that contains a pattern that partially masks the participant's name and signature. After completion and signatures by the participant and investigator, this masked copy is faxed to the CTU for checking. In case of detected nonconformity, the CTU suspends the participant's enrollment until the form is brought into compliance. We checked nonconformities of consent forms both remotely before enrollment and on site in five trials conducted in our CTU. We tabulated the number and nature of nonconformities by location of detection: at the CTU or on site. We used these data for a pseudo before-and-after analysis and estimated the efficiency of this remote checking procedure in terms of reduction of nonconformities before enrollment as compared to the standard on-site checking procedure. We searched for nonconformity determinants among characteristics of trials, consent forms, investigator sites, and participants through multivariate logistic regression so as to identify opportunities for improvement in our procedure. Five trials, starting sequentially but running concurrently, with remote preenrollment and on-site checking of consent forms from 415 participants screened in 2006-2009 led to 518 consent forms checked; 94 nonconformities were detected in 75 forms, 75 (80%) remotely and 19 more (20%) on site. Nonconformities infrequently concerned dates of signatures (7%) and information about participants (12%). Most nonconformities dealt with investigator information (76%), primarily contact information

  16. Remote monitoring demonstration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caskey, Susan; Olsen, John

    2006-01-01

    The recently upgraded remote monitoring system at the Joyo Experimental Reactor uses a DCM-14 camera module and GEMINI software. The final data is compatible both with the IAEA-approved GARS review software and the ALIS software that was used for this demonstration. Features of the remote monitoring upgrade emphasized compatibility with IAEA practice. This presentation gives particular attention to the selection process for meeting network security considerations at the O'arai site. The Joyo system is different from the NNCA's ACPF system, in that it emphasizes use of IAEA standard camera technology and data acquisition and transmission software. In the demonstration itself, a temporary virtual private network (VPN) between the meeting room and the server at Sandia in Albuquerque allowed attendees to observe data stored from routine transmissions from the Joyo Fresh Fuel Storage to Sandia. Image files from a fuel movement earlier in the month showed Joyo workers and IAEA inspectors carrying out a transfer. (author)

  17. Remote viewing system development in BNFL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Case, D.R.; Garlick, D.R.; Crawford, G.; Montgomerie, J.

    1996-01-01

    The application of imaging systems to BNFL's plants is primarily provided by the Company's Engineering Group. Many systems have been developed for active service and several new developments are currently in an advanced stage of implementation. BNFL has acquired extensive experience of remote viewing from a series of projects undertaken for the Sellafield site in West Cumbria. Applications vary in size and complexity, from simple identification of bar-codes to more complex schemes for remotely storing UO 3 drums. Some are high speed and highly repetitive, whereas others are low speed but require high precision. In this paper the authors outline a selection of current applications. (UK)

  18. Remote viewing system development in BNFL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Case, D.R.; Garlick, D.R.; Crawford, G.; Montgomerie, J.

    1996-01-01

    The application of imaging systems to BNFL's plants is primarily provided by the Company's Engineering Group. Many systems have been developed for active service and several new developments are currently in an advanced stage of implementation. BNFL has acquired extensive experience of remote viewing from a series of projects undertaken for the Sellafield site in West Cumbria. Applications vary in size and complexity, from simple identification of bar-codes to more complex schemes for remotely storing UO 3 drums. Some are high speed and highly repetitive, whereas others are low speed but require high precision. In this paper the authors shall outline a selection of current applications. (Author)

  19. Prediction of supratidal Zones as turtle nesting sites using remote sensing and geographic information system, a case study in Pacitan, Southern Java Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darmawan, A.; Saputra, D. K.; Wiadnya, D. G. R.; Gusmida, A. M.

    2018-04-01

    Turtles, the most threatened coastal-marine fauna, are protected through both national and global regulations. However, many of their nesting sites have been degraded in the past years. Completing natal homing, adult females emerged at night to lay-down eggs in the upper intertidal and supra-tidal zone of sandy beach from where they hatched. This study explained coastal topology of beaches usually used for nesting sites, covering 117 km coastline at Pacitan Regency, Southern Java Sea. The shift in beach morphology through times was figured out based on Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2a satellite imagery and remote sensing (GIS methods). This was combined with in-situ data on current coastline features, slope, and tide variations. Results showed a typical sandy beach, called Taman Ria Beach, a long time identified as nesting site for Lepidochelys olivacea, locally named as Penyu Lekang. Also, there was approximatelly 3.49 ha of supratidal area predicted in Taman Ria Beach according this study

  20. Lapita diet in remote oceania: new stable isotope evidence from the 3000-year-old Teouma site, Efate Island, Vanuatu.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca Kinaston

    Full Text Available Remote Oceania was colonized ca. 3000 BP by populations associated with the Lapita Cultural Complex, marking a major event in the prehistoric settlement of the Pacific Islands. Although over 250 Lapita sites have been found throughout the Western Pacific, human remains associated with Lapita period sites are rare. The site of Teouma, on Efate Island, Vanuatu has yielded the largest burial assemblage (n=68 inhumations of Lapita period humans ever discovered, providing a unique opportunity for assessing human adaptation to the environment in a colonizing population. Stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S of human bone collagen from forty-nine Teouma adults were analyzed against a comprehensive dietary baseline to assess the paleodiet of some of Vanuatu's earliest inhabitants. The isotopic dietary baseline included both modern plants and animals (n=98 and prehistoric fauna from the site (n=71. The human stable isotope data showed that dietary protein at Teouma included a mixture of reef fish and inshore organisms and a variety of higher trophic marine (e.g. marine turtle and terrestrial animals (e.g. domestic animals and fruit bats. The domestic pigs and chickens at Teouma primarily ate food from a C3 terrestrial environment but their δ15N values indicated that they were eating foods from higher trophic levels than those of plants, such as insects or human fecal matter, suggesting that animal husbandry at the site may have included free range methods. The dietary interpretations for the humans suggest that broad-spectrum foraging and the consumption of domestic animals were the most important methods for procuring dietary protein at the site. Males displayed significantly higher δ15N values compared with females, possibly suggesting dietary differences associated with labor specialization or socio-cultural practices relating to food distribution.

  1. Remote aerosol testing of large size HEPA filter banks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franklin, B.; Pasha, M.; Bronger, C.A.

    1987-01-01

    Different methods of testing HEPA filter banks are described. Difficulties in remote testing of large banks of HEPA filters in series with minimum distances between banks, and with no available access upstream and downstream of the filter house, are discussed. Modifications incorporated to make the filter system suitable for remote testing without personnel re-entry into the filter house are described for a 51,000 m/sup 3//hr filter unit at the WIPP site

  2. Development of robotics technology for remote characterization and remediationof buried waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noakes, M.W.; Richardson, B.S.; Burks, B.L.; Sandness, G.R.

    1992-01-01

    Detection, characterization, and excavation of buried objects and materials are important steps in the restoration of subsurface disposal sites. The US Department of Energy (DOE), through its Buried Waste Robotics Program, is developing a Remote Characterization System (RCS) to address the needs of remote subsurface characterization and, in a joint program with the US Army, is developing a teleoperated excavator. Development of the RCS is based on recent DOE remote characterization testing and demonstrations performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The RCS, which will be developed and refined over a two- to three-year period, is designed to (1) increase safety by removing on-site personnel from hazardous areas, (2) remotely acquire real-time data from multiple sensors, (3) increase cost-effectiveness and productivity by partial automation of the data collection process and by gathering and evaluating data from multiple sensors in real time, and (4) reduce costs for other waste-related development programs through joint development efforts and reusable standardized subsystems. For retrieval of characterized waste, the Small Emplacement Excavator, an existing US Army backhoe that is being converted to teleoperated control, will be used to demonstrate the feasibility of retrofitting commercial equipment for high-performance remote operations

  3. Dragon TIS Spotter: An Arabidopsis-derived predictor of translation initiation sites in plants

    KAUST Repository

    Magana-Mora, Arturo; Ashoor, Haitham; Jankovic, Boris R.; Kamau, Allan; Awara, Karim; Chowdhary, Rajesh; Archer, John A.C.; Bajic, Vladimir B.

    2012-01-01

    In higher eukaryotes, the identification of translation initiation sites (TISs) has been focused on finding these signals in cDNA or mRNA sequences. Using Arabidopsis thaliana (A.t.) information, we developed a prediction tool for signals within genomic sequences of plants that correspond to TISs. Our tool requires only genome sequence, not expressed sequences. Its sensitivity/specificity is for A.t. (90.75%/92.2%), for Vitis vinifera (66.8%/94.4%) and for Populus trichocarpa (81.6%/94.4%), which suggests that our tool can be used in annotation of different plant genomes. We provide a list of features used in our model. Further study of these features may improve our understanding of mechanisms of the translation initiation. The Author(s) 2012. Published by Oxford University Press.

  4. Dragon TIS Spotter: An Arabidopsis-derived predictor of translation initiation sites in plants

    KAUST Repository

    Magana-Mora, Arturo

    2012-10-30

    In higher eukaryotes, the identification of translation initiation sites (TISs) has been focused on finding these signals in cDNA or mRNA sequences. Using Arabidopsis thaliana (A.t.) information, we developed a prediction tool for signals within genomic sequences of plants that correspond to TISs. Our tool requires only genome sequence, not expressed sequences. Its sensitivity/specificity is for A.t. (90.75%/92.2%), for Vitis vinifera (66.8%/94.4%) and for Populus trichocarpa (81.6%/94.4%), which suggests that our tool can be used in annotation of different plant genomes. We provide a list of features used in our model. Further study of these features may improve our understanding of mechanisms of the translation initiation. The Author(s) 2012. Published by Oxford University Press.

  5. The international inspection of a US excess fissile material storage facility with and without remote monitoring: A cost comparison

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abrams, M.; Nilsen, C.; Tolk, K.M.; McGilvary, R.C. III

    1996-01-01

    This study estimates the DOE-incurred costs in preparing for and hosting potential IAEA inspections of an excess pit storage facility at the Pantex Site with and without the aid of remote monitoring. Focus was on whether an investment in remote monitoring is recoverable, ie, whether the costs for installing, operating, and maintaining a remote monitoring system (RMS) are overcome by the costs that would be incurred without its use. A baseline RMS incorporating demonstrated technologies is defined and its cost estimated. This estimate and several multiples of it, together with estimates of labor and operational costs incurred under a postulated inspection regime serve as the bases of this study. A key finding is that, for the range of parameters considered, the times for investment recovery are reached relatively quickly, ie, within a decade after the inspection regime's onset. Investment recovery times, expenditures in reaching them, and average annual cost accrual rates are provided as function of RMS initial cost. A guideline indicating when investment recovery is theoretically possible is also provided

  6. History of Robotic and Remotely Operated Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genet, Russell M.

    2011-03-01

    While automated instrument sequencers were employed on solar eclipse expeditions in the late 1800s, it wasn't until the 1960s that Art Code and associates at Wisconsin used a PDP minicomputer to automate an 8-inch photometric telescope. Although this pioneering project experienced frequent equipment failures and was shut down after a couple of years, it paved the way for the first space telescopes. Reliable microcomputers initiated the modern era of robotic telescopes. Louis Boyd and I applied single board microcomputers with 64K of RAM and floppy disk drives to telescope automation at the Fairborn Observatory, achieving reliable, fully robotic operation in 1983 that has continued uninterrupted for 28 years. In 1985 the Smithsonian Institution provided us with a suburb operating location on Mt. Hopkins in southern Arizona, while the National Science Foundation funded additional telescopes. Remote access to our multiple robotic telescopes at the Fairborn Observatory began in the late 1980s. The Fairborn Observatory, with its 14 fully robotic telescopes and staff of two (one full and one part time) illustrates the potential for low operating and maintenance costs. As the information capacity of the Internet has expanded, observational modes beyond simple differential photometry opened up, bringing us to the current era of real-time remote access to remote observatories and global observatory networks. Although initially confined to smaller telescopes, robotic operation and remote access are spreading to larger telescopes as telescopes from afar becomes the normal mode of operation.

  7. Data analysis for remote monitoring of safeguarded facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DeLand, S.M.

    1997-01-01

    The International Remote Monitoring Project (IRMP) sponsored by the US DOE allows DOE and its international partners to gain experience with the remote collection, transmission, and interpretation of safeguards-relevant data. This paper focuses on the interpretation of the data from these remote monitoring systems. Users of these systems need to be able to ascertain that the remote monitoring system is functioning as expected and that the events generated by the sensors are consistent with declared activity. The initial set of analytical tools being provided for IRMP installations this year include a suite of automatically generated views of user-selected data. The baseline set of tools, with illustrative examples, will be discussed. Plans for near-term enhancements will also be discussed. Finally, the applicability of more advanced analytical techniques such as expert systems will be discussed

  8. Distributing File-Based Data to Remote Sites Within the BABAR Collaboration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gowdy, Stephen J.

    2002-01-01

    BABAR [1] uses two formats for its data: Objectivity database and root [2] files. This poster concerns the distribution of the latter--for Objectivity data see [3]. The BABAR analysis data is stored in root files--one per physics run and analysis selection channel--maintained in a large directory tree. Currently BABAR has more than 4.5 TBytes in 200,000 root files. This data is (mostly) produced at SLAC, but is required for analysis at universities and research centers throughout the us and Europe. Two basic problems confront us when we seek to import bulk data from slac to an institute's local storage via the network. We must determine which files must be imported (depending on the local site requirements and which files have already been imported), and we must make the optimum use of the network when transferring the data. Basic ftp-like tools (ftp, scp, etc) do not attempt to solve the first problem. More sophisticated tools like rsync [4], the widely-used mirror/synchronization program, compare local and remote file systems, checking for changes (based on file date, size and, if desired, an elaborate checksum) in order to only copy new or modified files. However rsync allows for only limited file selection. Also when, as in BABAR, an extremely large directory structure must be scanned, rsync can take several hours just to determine which files need to be copied. Although rsync (and scp) provides on-the-fly compression, it does not allow us to optimize the network transfer by using multiple streams, adjusting the tcp window size, or separating encrypted authentication from unencrypted data channels

  9. Distributing file-based data to remote sites within the BABAR collaboration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adye, T.; Dorigo, A.; Forti, A.; Leonardi, E.

    2001-01-01

    BABAR uses two formats for its data: Objectivity database and ROOT files. This poster concerns the distribution of the latter--for Objectivity data see. The BABAR analysis data is stored in ROOT files--one per physics run and analysis selection channel-maintained in a large directory tree. Currently BABAR has more than 4.5 TBytes in 200,00- ROOT files. This data is (mostly) produced at SLAC, but is required for analysis at universities and research centres throughout the US and Europe. Two basic problems confront us when we seek to import bulk data from SLAC to an institute's local storage via the network. We must determine which files must be imported (depending on the local site requirements and which files have already been imported), and the authors must make the optimum use of the network when transferring the data. Basic ftp-like tools (ftp, scp, etc) do not attempt to solve the first problem. More sophisticated tools like rsync, the widely-used mirror/synchronisation program, compare local and remote file systems, checking for changes (based on file date, size and, if desired, an elaborate checksum) in order to only copy new or modified files. However rsync allows for only limited file selection. Also when, as in BABAR, an extremely large directory structure must be scanned, rsync can take several hours just to determine which files need to be copied. Although rsync (and scp) provides on-the-fly compression, it does not allow us to optimise the network transfer by using multiple streams, adjusting the TCP window size, or separating encrypted authentication from unencrypted data channels

  10. Hanford Site radioactive mixed waste thermal treatment initiative

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Place, B.G.; Riddelle, J.G.

    1993-03-01

    This paper is a progress report of current Westinghouse Hanford Company engineering activities related to the implementation of a program for the thermal treatment of the Hanford Site radioactive mixed waste. Topics discussed include a site-specific engineering study, the review of private sector capability in thermal treatment, and thermal treatment of some of the Hanford Site radioactive mixed waste at other US Department of Energy sites

  11. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant remote-handled transuranic waste disposal strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-01-01

    The remote-handled transuranic (RH-TRU) waste disposal strategy described in this report identifies the process for ensuring that cost-effective initial disposal of RH-TRU waste will begin in Fiscal Year 2002. The strategy also provides a long-term approach for ensuring the efficient and sustained disposal of RH-TRU waste during the operating life of WIPP. Because Oak Ridge National Laboratory stores about 85 percent of the current inventory, the strategy is to assess the effectiveness of modifying their facilities to package waste, rather than constructing new facilities. In addition, the strategy involves identification of ways to prepare waste at other sites to supplement waste from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. DOE will also evaluate alternative packagings, modes of transportation, and waste emplacement configurations, and will select preferred alternatives to ensure initial disposal as scheduled. The long-term strategy provides a systemwide planning approach that will allow sustained disposal of RH-TRU waste during the operating life of WIPP. The DOE's approach is to consider the three relevant systems -- the waste management system at the generator/storage sites, the transportation system, and the WIPP disposal system -- and to evaluate the system components individually and in aggregate against criteria for improving system performance. To ensure full implementation, in Fiscal Years 1996 and 1997 DOE will: (1) decide whether existing facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory or new facilities to package and certify waste are necessary; (2) select the optimal packaging and mode of transportation for initial disposal; and (3) select an optimal disposal configuration to ensure that the allowable limits of RH-TRU waste can be disposed. These decisions will be used to identify funding requirements for the three relevant systems and schedules for implementation to ensure that the goal of initial disposal is met

  12. [Use of Remote Sensing for Crop and Soil Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johannsen, Chris J.

    1997-01-01

    The primary agricultural objective of this research is to determine what soil and crop information can be verified from remotely sensed images during the growing season. Specifically: (1) Elements of crop stress due to drought, weeds, disease and nutrient deficiencies will be documented with ground truth over specific agricultural sites and (2) Use of remote sensing with GPS and GIS technology for providing a safe and environmentally friendly application of fertilizers and chemicals will be documented.

  13. Aromatic hydrocarbons at urban, sub-urban, rural (8°52'N; 67°19'W) and remote sites in Venezuela

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzinger, R.; Kleiss, B.; Donoso, L.; Sanhueza, E.

    Using the novel on-line proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) technique, atmospheric concentrations of benzene, toluene, xylenes, and C 9-benzenes were measured in Caracas (urban), Altos de Pipe (sub-urban), Calabozo (rural) and Parupa (remote), during various campaigns in 1999 and 2000. Average daytime mixing ratios measured in Caracas are 1.1, 3.2, 3.7, and 2.7 nmol/mol for benzene, toluene, xylenes, and C 9-benzenes. At the sub-urban site, located only few km from Caracas, relatively low levels (˜20% of the levels measured in Caracas) of these aromatic hydrocarbons were observed. At the rural site during the dry season, higher concentrations of benzene (0.15 nmol/mol) were recorded, whereas those of toluene (0.08 nmol/mol) were lower during that time. The aromatic hydrocarbon ratios in the wet season (benzene: 0.08 nmol/mol; toluene: 0.09 nmol/mol) are consistent with an aged urban plume, whereas biomass burning emissions dominate during the dry season. From rural and urban [benzene]/[toluene] ratios a mean HO concentration of 2.6×10 6 molecules/cm 3 was estimated during the wet season. This value must be considered an overestimate because it does not account for background concentrations which are likely for benzene and toluene. At the remote "La Gran Sabana" region (Parupa) very low mixing ratios (0.031 and 0.015 nmol/mol for benzene and toluene) are showing the pristine region to be unaffected by local sources. From the [benzene]/[toluene] ratio we deduced, that "urban" air arriving from the coastline (350 km) is likely mixed with air containing some background of benzene and toluene. Urban emissions (automobiles) should be the major source of aromatic compounds, however, during the dry season biomass burning seems to make an important contribution.

  14. Attracting Preservice Teachers to Remote Locations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Kenneth D.; Grainger, Peter; James, Dennis

    2018-01-01

    Teaching in rural/remote regions poses many challenges to teachers and is identified as a priority research area by the state government. Despite initiatives by the Queensland state government and university providers to solve the issue through various incentives designed to attract teachers, the problem remains significant. This research…

  15. Application of remote sensing data and geographic information system (GIS) in the selection of a NPP potential site in west Kalimantan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heni Susiati; Yarianto SBS; Kurnia Anzhar; Bansyah Kironi; June Mellawati

    2015-01-01

    Potential site selection on spatial basis which applied throughout the coast of West Kalimantan has been performed by adding additional criteria compare to the criteria used in 2014. The objective of research is to get the potential site of nuclear power plants (NPP) in the coastal areas of West Kalimantan Province based on the applicable criteria. Research methods include collecting of primary data, interpretation of remote sensing data, and weighting analysis based on SIG. The research results obtained six of potential site for NPP, i e., Air Besar Village Kendawangan Sub-district Ketapang Regency (first rank), Sie Village Simpang Hilir Sub-district Kayong Regency (second rank), Sungai Kanan Village Muara Sub-district Ketapang Regency (third rank), Sungai Nanjung Village Matan Sodascorbate Ketapang Regency (fourth rank), Kendawangan Kanan Village Kendawangan Sub-district Ketapang Regency (fifth rank) dan Sungai Nanjung Village Matan Sub-district Ketapang Regency, Matang Village Paloh Sub-district, Sambas Regency (sixth rank). Analysis of land suitability showed that all potential has met the general and specific criteria, among other things because it is not a peat and far away from the settlements. (author)

  16. Preliminary safety evaluation, based on initial site investigation data. Planning document

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hedin, Allan

    2002-12-01

    This report is a planning document for the preliminary safety evaluations (PSE) to be carried out at the end of the initial stage of SKBs ongoing site investigations for a deep repository for spent nuclear fuel. The main purposes of the evaluations are to determine whether earlier judgements of the suitability of the candidate area for a deep repository with respect to long-term safety holds up in the light of borehole data and to provide feed-back to continued site investigations and site specific repository design. The preliminary safety evaluations will be carried out by a safety assessment group, based on a site model, being part of a site description, provided by a site modelling group and a repository layout within that model suggested by a repository engineering group. The site model contains the geometric features of the site as well as properties of the host rock. Several alternative interpretations of the site data will likely be suggested. Also the biosphere is included in the site model. A first task for the PSE will be to compare the rock properties described in the site model to previously established criteria for a suitable host rock. This report gives an example of such a comparison. In order to provide more detailed feedback, a number of thermal, hydrological, mechanical and chemical analyses of the site will also be included in the evaluation. The selection of analyses is derived from the set of geosphere and biosphere analyses preliminarily planned for the comprehensive safety assessment named SR-SITE, which will be based on a complete site investigation. The selection is dictated primarily by the expected feedback to continued site investigations and by the availability of data after the PSE. The repository engineering group will consider several safety related factors in suggesting a repository layout: Thermal calculations will be made to determine a minimum distance between canisters avoiding canister surface temperatures above 100 deg C

  17. BPX commitment to total remote maintenance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, F.C.; Burgess, T.W.

    1991-01-01

    The Burning Plasma Experiment (BPX), to be located at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, is the next major experimental machine in the US Fusion Program. It will be fueled with deuterium-tritium (D-T) that, when burned, will generate high-energy neutrons. This will activate the various materials used in construction of the machine, which will result in high levels of gamma radiation. Any subsequent maintenance activities on the machine or in the test cell area must be performed remotely. The initial criteria for BPX assumed that failure of toroidal field (TF) coil or poloidal field (PF) coil was an unlikely event. Therefore, no provisions were made for remote replacement. Expected failures were limited to the plasma-facing components and the external auxiliary equipment such as heating systems and diagnostics. Recent coil failures experienced at the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), the Joint European Torus (JET), JT-60, and Tore Supra caused the BPX project staff to reconsider the need for remote replacement. A study was undertaken to investigate how the project would be affected if the capability to recover from a coil failure were required. Potential effects including configuration changes to the machine and facility, project cost, and project operation were considered. The study revealed that it is indeed feasible to design BPX for remote recovery from any coil failure. However, for this to be accomplished effectively, it is imperative to incorporate the necessary remote maintenance features of the components to be remotely replaced into the original design along with all of the other functional features. The remote maintenance capability cannot be retrofitted after the design is complete or the equipment is built. This paper discusses the impacts of the coil remote replacement study and the subsequent changes to the design. 4 figs., 1 tab

  18. Remotely Accessed Vehicle Traffic Management System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Alawi, Raida

    2010-06-01

    The ever increasing number of vehicles in most metropolitan cities around the world and the limitation in altering the transportation infrastructure, led to serious traffic congestion and an increase in the travelling time. In this work we exploit the emergence of novel technologies such as the internet, to design an intelligent Traffic Management System (TMS) that can remotely monitor and control a network of traffic light controllers located at different sites. The system is based on utilizing Embedded Web Servers (EWS) technology to design a web-based TMS. The EWS located at each intersection uses IP technology for communicating remotely with a Central Traffic Management Unit (CTMU) located at the traffic department authority. Friendly GUI software installed at the CTMU will be able to monitor the sequence of operation of the traffic lights and the presence of traffic at each intersection as well as remotely controlling the operation of the signals. The system has been validated by constructing a prototype that resembles the real application.

  19. Thermal infrared remote sensing in assessing groundwater and surface-water resources related to Hannukainen mining development site, northern Finland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rautio, Anne B.; Korkka-Niemi, Kirsti I.; Salonen, Veli-Pekka

    2018-02-01

    Mining development sites occasionally host complicated aquifer systems with notable connections to natural surface water (SW) bodies. A low-altitude thermal infrared (TIR) imaging survey was conducted to identify hydraulic connections between aquifers and rivers and to map spatial surface temperature patterns along the subarctic rivers in the proximity of the Hannukainen mining development area, northern Finland. In addition to TIR data, stable isotopic compositions ( δ 18O, δD) and dissolved silica concentrations were used as tracers to verify the observed groundwater (GW) discharge into the river system. Based on the TIR survey, notable GW discharge into the main river channel and its tributaries (61 km altogether) was observed and over 500 GW discharge sites were located. On the basis of the survey, the longitudinal temperature patterns of the studied rivers were found to be highly variable. Hydrological and hydrogeological information is crucial in planning and siting essential mining operations, such as tailing areas, in order to prevent any undesirable environmental impacts. The observed notable GW discharge was taken into consideration in the planning of the Hannukainen mining development area. The results of this study support the use of TIR imagery in GW-SW interaction and environmental studies in extensive and remote areas with special concerns for water-related issues but lacking the baseline research.

  20. First operation of the wide-area remote experiment system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Furukawa, Y.; Hasegawa, K.; Ueno, G.

    2012-01-01

    The Wide-area Remote Experiment System (WRES) at Spring-8 has been successfully developed. The system communicates with remote users on the basis of SSL/TLS with bi-directional authentication to avoid interference from unauthorized access to the system. The system has a message-filtering system to allow remote users access only to the corresponding beamline equipment and safety interlock system. This is to protect persons inside the experimental station from injury from any accidental motion of heavy equipment. The system also has a video streaming system to monitor samples or experimental equipment. We have tested the system from the point of view of safety, stability, reliability etc. and successfully performed the first experiment from a remote site, i.e., RIKEN's Wako campus, which is 480 km away from Spring-8, at the end of October 2010. (authors)

  1. Overview of Remote Retrieval Equipment and the Strategy for removal of Radon Bearing Waste from Silos 1 and 2 at the Fernald Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rinker, Michael W.; Samuel, Todd J.

    2001-01-01

    This document provides an overview of the remote retrieval equipment and strategy for the retrieval of waste from Silos 1 and 2 at the Department of Energy's Fernald site in southwestern Ohio. The scope of this paper is limited to general descriptions of remote equipment specifically related in-silo retrieval. The retrieval strategy describes how the contractor team is planning to utilize the various remote subsystems to efficiently remove the waste from the silos from a philosophical standpoint as opposed to a procedural and operational standpoint. The retrieval strategy and approach is based upon the successful tank retrieval operations conducted at DOE's Oak Ridge and Hanford Sites. Lessons learned from these previous operations have been utilized in planning an approach for the Fernald Silo Retrieval Project. The equipment overview includes discussion of the retrieval system configurations together with descriptions of the robotic arm and retrieval end effectors, the conditioning and transfer pumping system, the sluicer and sluicing pump, as well as the debris retrieval system. A unique challenge being addressed as part of this project is the waste contents. Silos 1 and 2 contain two distinct layers of material that need to be retrieved. The first layer is a Bentonite (trade name BentogroutTM) cap that was placed in the silos to prevent radon migration into the dome space and out of the silos. The Bentonite layer varies, but in general it is approximately six inches deep in the center of the silo and thirty-six inches near the silo walls. The material may have dried out on the surface, and may still be wetted near the bottom of the bentonite layer. The K-65 ore tailings, which were slurried into the silos, are the remainder of the waste that is over 20' in depth. This paper provides an overview of the retrieval strategies, technologies, and techniques that will be used to safely and efficiently retrieve the waste from the Fernald Silos

  2. A remotely operated excavator [HAZ-TRAK

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    HAZ-TRAK is a remotely operated excavator and material handling system for nuclear waste site characterization, waste site remediation, and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. HAZ-TRAK combines the power and mobility of a commercial excavator, with the dexterity and controllability of a force feedback manipulator system: when operating HAZ-TRAK as an excavator, the operator can feel buried objects. A master/slave control method enables the operator to intuitively control all the excavator arm functions with one hand. The main features of the excavator are described in this article. (author)

  3. Developments in Remote Collaboration and Computation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burruss, J.R.; Abla, G.; Flanagan, S.; Keahey, K.; Leggett, T.; Ludesche, C.; McCune, D.; Papka, M.E.; Peng, Q.; Randerson, L.; Schissel, D.P.

    2005-01-01

    The National Fusion Collaboratory (NFC) is creating and deploying collaborative software tools to unite magnetic fusion research in the United States. In particular, the NFC is developing and deploying a national FES 'Grid' (FusionGrid) for secure sharing of computation, visualization, and data resources over the Internet. The goal of FusionGrid is to allow scientists at remote sites to participate as fully in experiments, machine design, and computational activities as if they were working on site thereby creating a unified virtual organization of the geographically dispersed U.S. fusion community

  4. Initial site characterisation of a dissolved hydrocarbon groundwater plume discharging to a surface water environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Westbrook, S.J.; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Land and Water, Wembley, WA; Davis, G.B.; Rayner, J.L.; Fisher, S.J.; Clement, T.P.

    2000-01-01

    Preliminary characterisation of a dissolved hydrocarbon groundwater plume flowing towards a tidally- and seasonally-forced estuarine system has been completed at a site in Perth, Western Australia. Installation and sampling of multiport boreholes enabled fine scale (0.5-m) vertical definition of hydrocarbon concentrations. Vertical electrical conductivity profiles from multiport and spear probe sampling into the river sediments indicated that two groundwater/river water interfaces or dispersion zones are present: (a) an upper dispersion zone between brackish river water and groundwater, and (b) a lower interface between groundwater and deeper saline water. On-line water level loggers show that near-shore groundwater levels are also strongly influence by tidal oscillation. Results from the initial site characterisation will be used to plan further investigations of contaminated groundwater/surface water interactions and the biodegradation processes occurring at the site

  5. Remote sensing of the Canadian Arctic: Modelling biophysical variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Nanfeng

    It is anticipated that Arctic vegetation will respond in a variety of ways to altered temperature and precipitation patterns expected with climate change, including changes in phenology, productivity, biomass, cover and net ecosystem exchange. Remote sensing provides data and data processing methodologies for monitoring and assessing Arctic vegetation over large areas. The goal of this research was to explore the potential of hyperspectral and high spatial resolution multispectral remote sensing data for modelling two important Arctic biophysical variables: Percent Vegetation Cover (PVC) and the fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fAPAR). A series of field experiments were conducted to collect PVC and fAPAR at three Canadian Arctic sites: (1) Sabine Peninsula, Melville Island, NU; (2) Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory (CBAWO), Melville Island, NU; and (3) Apex River Watershed (ARW), Baffin Island, NU. Linear relationships between biophysical variables and Vegetation Indices (VIs) were examined at different spatial scales using field spectra (for the Sabine Peninsula site) and high spatial resolution satellite data (for the CBAWO and ARW sites). At the Sabine Peninsula site, hyperspectral VIs exhibited a better performance for modelling PVC than multispectral VIs due to their capacity for sampling fine spectral features. The optimal hyperspectral bands were located at important spectral features observed in Arctic vegetation spectra, including leaf pigment absorption in the red wavelengths and at the red-edge, leaf water absorption in the near infrared, and leaf cellulose and lignin absorption in the shortwave infrared. At the CBAWO and ARW sites, field PVC and fAPAR exhibited strong correlations (R2 > 0.70) with the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) derived from high-resolution WorldView-2 data. Similarly, high spatial resolution satellite-derived fAPAR was correlated to MODIS fAPAR (R2 = 0.68), with a systematic

  6. Investigating Near Space Interaction Regions: Developing a Remote Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallant, M.; Mierkiewicz, E. J.; Oliversen, R. J.; Jaehnig, K.; Percival, J.; Harlander, J.; Englert, C. R.; Kallio, R.; Roesler, F. L.; Nossal, S. M.; Gardner, D.; Rosborough, S.

    2016-12-01

    The Investigating Near Space Interaction Regions (INSpIRe) effort will (1) establish an adaptable research station capable of contributing to terrestrial and planetary aeronomy; (2) integrate two state-of-the-art second generation Fabry-Perot (FP) and Spatial Heteorodyne Spectrometers (SHS) into a remotely operable configuration; (3) deploy this instrumentation to a clear-air site, establishing a stable, well-calibrated observatory; (4) embark on a series of observations designed to contribute to three major areas of geocoronal research: geocoronal physics, structure/coupling, and variability. This poster describes the development of the INSpIRe remote observatory. Based at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), initiative INSpIRe provides a platform to encourage the next generation of researchers to apply knowledge gained in the classroom to real-world science and engineering. Students at ERAU contribute to the INSpIRe effort's hardware and software needs. Mechanical/optical systems are in design to bring light to any of four instruments. Control software is in development to allow remote users to control everything from dome and optical system operations to calibration and data collection. In April 2016, we also installed and tested our first science instrument in the INSpIRe trailer, the Redline DASH Demonstration Instrument (REDDI). REDDI uses Doppler Asymmetric Spatial Heterodyne (DASH) spectroscopy, and its deployment as part of INSpIRe is a collaborative research effort between the Naval Research Lab, St Cloud State University, and ERAU. Similar to a stepped Michelson device, REDDI measures oxygen (630.0 nm) winds from the thermosphere. REDDI is currently mounted in a temporary location under INSpIRe's main siderostat until its entrance optical system can be modified. First light tests produced good signal-to-noise fringes in ten minute integrations, indicating that we will soon be able to measure thermospheric winds from our Daytona Beach testing site

  7. Status of initial phase of site-specific seismic monitoring: Basalt Waste Isolation Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rohay, A.C.

    1981-01-01

    This report presents the status of the initial phase of site-specific seismic monitoring work conducted under the Basalt Waste Isolation Project. This work is currently organized under two main elements: (1) a portable array; and (2) a baseline data collection array. Progress toward the development of each array is discussed along with an interpretation of preliminary data obtained from the test of a borehole seismometer at potential repository depths. The text is supplemented by nine figures and one table. 9 figs., 1 tab

  8. Multi-Destination and Multi-Purpose Trip Effects in the Analysis of the Demand for Trips to a Remote Recreational Site

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-Espiñeira, Roberto; Amoako-Tuffour, Joe

    2009-06-01

    One of the basic assumptions of the travel cost method for recreational demand analysis is that the travel cost is always incurred for a single purpose recreational trip. Several studies have skirted around the issue with simplifying assumptions and dropping observations considered as nonconventional holiday-makers or as nontraditional visitors from the sample. The effect of such simplifications on the benefit estimates remains conjectural. Given the remoteness of notable recreational parks, multi-destination or multi-purpose trips are not uncommon. This article examines the consequences of allocating travel costs to a recreational site when some trips were taken for purposes other than recreation and/or included visits to other recreational sites. Using a multi-purpose weighting approach on data from Gros Morne National Park, Canada, we conclude that a proper correction for multi-destination or multi-purpose trip is more of what is needed to avoid potential biases in the estimated effects of the price (travel-cost) variable and of the income variable in the trip generation equation.

  9. Aortic aneurysm sac pressure measurements after endovascular repair using an implantable remote sensor: initial experience and short-term follow-up

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoppe, Hanno; Kaufman, John A.; Segall, Jocelyn A.; Liem, Timothy K.; Landry, Gregory J.

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this single-center study was to report our initial experience with an implantable remote pressure sensor for aneurysm sac pressure measurement in patients post-endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) including short-term follow-up. A pressure sensor (EndoSure, Atlanta, GA) was implanted in 12 patients treated with different commercially available aortic endografts for EVAR. Pressure was read pre- and post-EVAR in the operating room. One-month follow-up (30 days ± 6 days) was performed including sac pressure readings and IV contrast CT scans. Variables were compared using the paired Student's t test. An intraprocedure type-I endoleak and a type-III endoleak were successfully treated resulting in decreasing sac pressures. In all patients, post-EVAR systolic sac pressure decreased by an average of 33% (P ≤ 0.005) compared to pre-EVAR measurements. One-month follow-up demonstrated a 47% decrease in systolic sac pressure (P ≤ 0.05). On follow-up CT scans, the average maximum aneurysm diameter pre-EVAR was 6.3 ± 1.6 cm and post-EVAR 6.0 ± 1.7 cm (P≤0.05). The diameter of the aneurysm sac was larger only in one patient with a type-III endoleak. Remote sac pressure measurement may provide important information in addition to imaging and may help to reduce the number of follow-up CT scans. (orig.)

  10. Application of network technology to Remote Monitoring System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, C.S.; Sorokowski, D.L.; Veevers, K.

    1994-01-01

    The Australian Safeguards Office (ASO) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) have sponsored work under a bilateral agreement to implement a Remote Monitoring System (RMS) at an Australian nuclear site operated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO). The RMS, designed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), was installed in February 1994 at the Dry Spent Fuel Storage Facility (DSFSF) located at Lucas Heights, Australia. The RMS was designed to test a number of different concepts that would be useful for unattended remote monitoring activities. The DSFSF located in Building 27 is a very suitable test site for a RMS. The RMS uses a network of low cost nodes to collect data from a number of different sensors and security devices. Different sensors and detection devices have been installed to study how they can be used to complement each other for C/S applications. The data collected from the network will allow a comparison of how the various types of sensors perform under the same set of conditions. A video system using digital compression collects digital images and stores them on a hard drive and a digital optical disk. Data and images from the storage area are remotely monitored via telephone from Canberra, Australia and Albuquerque, NM, USA. These remote monitoring stations operated by ASO and SNL respectively, can retrieve data and images from the RMS computer at the DSFSF. The data and images are encrypted before transmission. The Remote Monitoring System field tests have been operational for six months with good test results. Sensors have performed well and the digital images have excellent resolution. The hardware and software have performed reliably without any major difficulties. This paper summarizes the highlights of the prototype system and the ongoing field tests

  11. Radioactive waste on-site storage alternative

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dufrane, K.H.

    1983-01-01

    The first, most frequently evaluated approach for the large producer is the construction of a relatively expensive storage building. However, with the likely possibility that at least one disposal site will remain available and the building never used, such expenditures are difficult to justify. A low cost, but effective alternative, is the use of ''On-Site Storage Containers'' (OSSC) when and if required. Radwaste is only stored in the OSSC if a disposal site is not available. A small number of OSSC's would be purchased initially just to assure immediate access to storage. Only in the unlikely event of total disposal sites closure would additional OSSC's have to be obtained and even this is cost effective. With two or three months of storage available on site, production lead time is sufficient for the delivery of additional units at a rate faster than the waste can be produced. The recommended OSSC design would be sized and shielding optimized to meet the needs of the waste generator. Normally, this would duplicate the shipping containers (casks or vans) currently in use. The reinforced concrete design presented is suitable for outside storage, contains a leakproof polyethylene liner and has remote sampling capability. Licensing would be under 10CFR50.59 for interim storage with long-term storage under 10CFR30 not an impossibility. Cost comparisons of this approach vs. building construction show that for a typical reactor plant installation, the OSSC offers direct savings even under the worst case assumption that no disposal sites are available and the time value of money is zero

  12. Remote observing from the bottom up: the architecture of the WIYN telescope control system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Percival, Jeffrey W.

    1995-06-01

    Remote observing has many definitions, ranging from unattended batch-mode use through simple remote logins to fully faithful off-site observing centers indistinguishable from the on- site telescope control room. There are problems with each of these ideas: batch mode operation, for example, precludes remote interactive target acquisition and remote access to targets of opportunity. Simple remote login suffers from network problems such as full-duplex character latency; shipping screens instead of the underlying data can cause bandwidth problems and interferes with analyzing or archiving data. Brute-force reproduction of the control room requires expensive fiber or satellite connections. The WIYN Telescope control system was designed to be inexpensive to build and inexpensive to maintain. We emphasized the use of standard tools, portable implementations, and network friendliness. These techniques and features are precisely those that underlie a powerful remote observing capability. The WIYN Telescope control system therefore supports remote observing from the very lowest levels, and does so effectively and inexpensively using a carefully planned architecture, standard software and network tools, and innovative methods to ship large digital images over low bandwidth connections such as phone lines. Even before the construction was complete, these techniques proved their value by allowing remote access for the purposes of eavesdropping, troubleshooting, and servo tuning. This paper presents a block diagram and detailed descriptions of the WIYN Telescope control system architecture. Each aspect of the control system is discussed with respect to its contribution to the overall goal of remote observing, including multi-user access, bandwidth conservation, interoperability, and portability.

  13. Joint remote data transmission field trial at Ahaus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pekkarinen, J.; Meylemans, P.; Rudolf, K.; Schink, F.J.; Kuribayashi, T.; Leslie, R.F.; Neumann, G.

    2001-05-01

    The international safeguards authorities Euratom Safeguards Office and international atomic energy agency (IAEA) intend to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their inspection efforts in nuclear facilities by replacing unattended remote monitoring technology for on-site inspection activities. In order to study aspects of cost-effectiveness as well as technical feasibility and reliability, a 13-month dedicated field trial was performed at the Ahaus spent fuel storage facility testing the remote retrieval of authenticated and encrypted image data files from a digital multi-camera optical surveillance system (DMOS) with three cameras. Each image data file was released with a delay of 24 hours for remote retrieval via ISDN. Retrieval, reviewing and archiving took place at Euratom headquarters in Luxembourg. Due to the applied distributed data storage concept no loss of data took place. The data reduction principle of front end scene change detection worked reliably, i.e. it was possible to significantly reduce the amount of data to be remotely transmitted and the associated transmission costs. Under the assumption that technically mature safeguards instrumentation is available, the implementation of remote monitoring systems is technically feasible but requires cost-benefit analyses on a case-by-case basis. (orig.) [de

  14. Educational activities of remote sensing archaeology (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hadjimitsis, Diofantos G.; Agapiou, Athos; Lysandrou, Vasilki; Themistocleous, Kyriacos; Cuca, Branka; Nisantzi, Argyro; Lasaponara, Rosa; Masini, Nicola; Krauss, Thomas; Cerra, Daniele; Gessner, Ursula; Schreier, Gunter

    2016-10-01

    Remote sensing science is increasingly being used to support archaeological and cultural heritage research in various ways. Satellite sensors either passive or active are currently used in a systematic basis to detect buried archaeological remains and to systematic monitor tangible heritage. In addition, airborne and low altitude systems are being used for documentation purposes. Ground surveys using remote sensing tools such as spectroradiometers and ground penetrating radars can detect variations of vegetation and soil respectively, which are linked to the presence of underground archaeological features. Education activities and training of remote sensing archaeology to young people is characterized of highly importance. Specific remote sensing tools relevant for archaeological research can be developed including web tools, small libraries, interactive learning games etc. These tools can be then combined and aligned with archaeology and cultural heritage. This can be achieved by presenting historical and pre-historical records, excavated sites or even artifacts under a "remote sensing" approach. Using such non-form educational approach, the students can be involved, ask, read, and seek to learn more about remote sensing and of course to learn about history. The paper aims to present a modern didactical concept and some examples of practical implementation of remote sensing archaeology in secondary schools in Cyprus. The idea was built upon an ongoing project (ATHENA) focused on the sue of remote sensing for archaeological research in Cyprus. Through H2020 ATHENA project, the Remote Sensing Science and Geo-Environment Research Laboratory at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), with the support of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) aims to enhance its performance in all these new technologies.

  15. Robot-Assisted Laparoendoscopic Single-Site Partial Nephrectomy With the Novel Da Vinci Single-Site Platform: Initial Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komninos, Christos; Tuliao, Patrick; Kim, Dae Keun; Choi, Young Deuk; Chung, Byung Ha

    2014-01-01

    Purpose To report our initial clinical cases of robotic laparoendoscopic single-site (R-LESS) partial nephrectomy (PN) performed with the use of the novel Da Vinci R-LESS platform. Materials and Methods Three patients underwent R-LESS PN from November 2013 through February 2014. Perioperative and postoperative outcomes were collected and intraoperative difficulties were noted. Results Operative time and estimated blood loss volume ranged between 100 and 110 minutes and between 50 and 500 mL, respectively. None of the patients was transfused. All cases were completed with the off-clamp technique, whereas one case required conversion to the conventional (multiport) approach because of difficulty in creating the appropriate scope for safe tumor resection. No major postoperative complications occurred, and all tumors were resected in safe margins. Length of hospital stay ranged between 3 and 7 days. The lack of EndoWrist movements, the external collisions, and the bed assistant's limited working space were noticed to be the main drawbacks of this surgical method. Conclusions Our initial experience with R-LESS PN with the novel Da Vinci platform shows that even though the procedure is feasible, it should be applied in only appropriately selected patients. However, further improvement is needed to overcome the existing limitations. PMID:24955221

  16. Geological characterization of remote field sites using visible and infrared spectroscopy: Results from the 1999 Marsokhod field test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, J. R.; Ruff, S.W.; Moersch, J.; Roush, T.; Horton, K.; Bishop, J.; Cabrol, N.A.; Cockell, C.; Gazis, P.; Newsom, Horton E.; Stoker, C.

    2001-01-01

    Upcoming Mars Surveyor lander missions will include extensive spectroscopic capabilities designed to improve interpretations of the mineralogy and geology of landing sites on Mars. The 1999 Marsokhod Field Experiment (MFE) was a Mars rover simulation designed in part to investigate the utility of visible/near-infrared and thermal infrared field spectrometers to contribute to the remote geological exploration of a Mars analog field site in the California Mojave Desert. The experiment simultaneously investigated the abilities of an off-site science team to effectively analyze and acquire useful imaging and spectroscopic data and to communicate efficiently with rover engineers and an on-site field team to provide meaningful input to rover operations and traverse planning. Experiences gained during the MFE regarding effective communication between different mission operation teams will be useful to upcoming Mars mission teams. Field spectra acquired during the MFE mission exhibited features interpreted at the time as indicative of carbonates (both dolomitic and calcitic), mafic rocks and associated weathering products, and silicic rocks with desert varnish-like coatings. The visible/near-infrared spectra also suggested the presence of organic compounds, including chlorophyll in one rock. Postmission laboratory petrologic and spectral analyses of returned samples confirmed that all rocks identified as carbonates using field measurements alone were calc-silicates and that chlorophyll associated with endolithic organisms was present in the one rock for which it was predicted. Rocks classified from field spectra as silicics and weathered mafics were recognized in the laboratory as metamorphosed monzonites and diorite schists. This discrepancy was likely due to rock coatings sampled by the field spectrometers compared to fresh rock interiors analyzed petrographically, in addition to somewhat different surfaces analyzed by laboratory thermal spectroscopy compared to field

  17. Recruitment of Mcm10 to Sites of Replication Initiation Requires Direct Binding to the Minichromosome Maintenance (MCM) Complex*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, Max E.

    2016-01-01

    Mcm10 is required for the initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication and contributes in some unknown way to the activation of the Cdc45-MCM-GINS (CMG) helicase. How Mcm10 is localized to sites of replication initiation is unclear, as current models indicate that direct binding to minichromosome maintenance (MCM) plays a role, but the details and functional importance of this interaction have not been determined. Here, we show that purified Mcm10 can bind both DNA-bound double hexamers and soluble single hexamers of MCM. The binding of Mcm10 to MCM requires the Mcm10 C terminus. Moreover, the binding site for Mcm10 on MCM includes the Mcm2 and Mcm6 subunits and overlaps that for the loading factor Cdt1. Whether Mcm10 recruitment to replication origins depends on CMG helicase assembly has been unclear. We show that Mcm10 recruitment occurs via two modes: low affinity recruitment in the absence of CMG assembly (“G1-like”) and high affinity recruitment when CMG assembly takes place (“S-phase-like”). Mcm10 that cannot bind directly to MCM is defective in both modes of recruitment and is unable to support DNA replication. These findings indicate that Mcm10 is localized to replication initiation sites by directly binding MCM through the Mcm10 C terminus. PMID:26719337

  18. Recruitment of Mcm10 to Sites of Replication Initiation Requires Direct Binding to the Minichromosome Maintenance (MCM) Complex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, Max E; Diffley, John F X

    2016-03-11

    Mcm10 is required for the initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication and contributes in some unknown way to the activation of the Cdc45-MCM-GINS (CMG) helicase. How Mcm10 is localized to sites of replication initiation is unclear, as current models indicate that direct binding to minichromosome maintenance (MCM) plays a role, but the details and functional importance of this interaction have not been determined. Here, we show that purified Mcm10 can bind both DNA-bound double hexamers and soluble single hexamers of MCM. The binding of Mcm10 to MCM requires the Mcm10 C terminus. Moreover, the binding site for Mcm10 on MCM includes the Mcm2 and Mcm6 subunits and overlaps that for the loading factor Cdt1. Whether Mcm10 recruitment to replication origins depends on CMG helicase assembly has been unclear. We show that Mcm10 recruitment occurs via two modes: low affinity recruitment in the absence of CMG assembly ("G1-like") and high affinity recruitment when CMG assembly takes place ("S-phase-like"). Mcm10 that cannot bind directly to MCM is defective in both modes of recruitment and is unable to support DNA replication. These findings indicate that Mcm10 is localized to replication initiation sites by directly binding MCM through the Mcm10 C terminus. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  19. Data Quality in Remote Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batini, C.; Blaschke, T.; Lang, S.; Albrecht, F.; Abdulmutalib, H. M.; Barsi, Á.; Szabó, G.; Kugler, Zs.

    2017-09-01

    The issue of data quality (DQ) is of growing importance in Remote Sensing (RS), due to the widespread use of digital services (incl. apps) that exploit remote sensing data. In this position paper a body of experts from the ISPRS Intercommission working group III/IVb "DQ" identifies, categorises and reasons about issues that are considered as crucial for a RS research and application agenda. This ISPRS initiative ensures to build on earlier work by other organisations such as IEEE, CEOS or GEO, in particular on the meritorious work of the Quality Assurance Framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO) which was established and endorsed by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) but aims to broaden the view by including experts from computer science and particularly database science. The main activities and outcomes include: providing a taxonomy of DQ dimensions in the RS domain, achieving a global approach to DQ for heterogeneous-format RS data sets, investigate DQ dimensions in use, conceive a methodology for managing cost effective solutions on DQ in RS initiatives, and to address future challenges on RS DQ dimensions arising in the new era of the big Earth data.

  20. Operating a wide-area high-availability collaborative remote observing system for classically-scheduled observations at the W. M. Keck Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kibrick, Robert I.; Wirth, Gregory D.; Allen, Steven L.; Deich, William T. S.; Goodrich, Robert W.; Lanclos, Kyle; Lyke, James E.

    2011-03-01

    For over a decade, the W. M. Keck Observatory's two 10-meter telescopes have been operated remotely from its Waimea headquarters. Over the last 9 years, WMKO remote observing has expanded to allow observing teams at dedicated sites located across California to observe via the Internet either in collaboration with colleagues in Waimea or entirely from California; this capability was extended to Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 and to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in early 2011. All Keck facility science instruments are currently supported. Observers distributed between as many as four sites can collaborate in the interactive operation of each instrument by means of shared VNC desktops and multipoint video and/or telephone conferencing. Automated routers at primary remote observing sites ensure continued connectivity during Internet outages. Each Keck remote observing facility is similarly equipped and configured so observers have the same operating environment. This architecture provides observers the flexibility to conduct observations from the location best suited to their needs and to adapt to last-minute changes. It also enhances the ability of off-site technical staff to provide remote support.

  1. Remote handling needs of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smiltnieks, V.

    1982-07-01

    This report is the result of a Task Force study commissioned by the Canadian Fusion Fuels Technology Project (CFFTP) to investigate the remote handling requirements at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and identify specific areas where CFFTP could offer a contractual or collaborative participation, drawing on the Canadian industrial expertise in remote handling technology. The Task Force reviewed four areas related to remote handling requirements; the TFTR facility as a whole, the service equipment required for remote maintenance, the more complex in-vessel components, and the tritium systems. Remote maintenance requirements both inside the vacuum vessel and around the periphery of the machine were identified as the principal areas where Canadian resources could effectively provide an input, initially in requirement definition, concept evaluation and feasibility design, and subsequently in detailed design and manufacture. Support requirements were identified in such areas as the mock-up facility and a variety of planning studies relating to reliability, availability, and staff training. Specific tasks are described which provide an important data base to the facility's remote handling requirements. Canadian involvement in the areas is suggested where expertise exists and support for the remote handling work is warranted. Reliability, maintenance operations, inspection strategy and decommissioning are suggested for study. Several specific components are singled out as needing development

  2. Remote radio control of insect flight

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hirotaka Sato

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available We demonstrated the remote control of insects in free flight via an implantable radio-equipped miniature neural stimulating system. The pronotum mounted system consisted of neural stimulators, muscular stimulators, a radio transceiver-equipped microcontroller and a microbattery. Flight initiation, cessation and elevation control were accomplished through neural stimulus of the brain which elicited, suppressed or modulated wing oscillation. Turns were triggered through the direct muscular stimulus of either of the basalar muscles. We characterized the response times, success rates, and free-flight trajectories elicited by our neural control systems in remotely-controlled beetles. We believe this type of technology will open the door to in-flight perturbation and recording of insect flight responses.

  3. Remote radio control of insect flight.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Hirotaka; Berry, Christopher W; Peeri, Yoav; Baghoomian, Emen; Casey, Brendan E; Lavella, Gabriel; Vandenbrooks, John M; Harrison, Jon F; Maharbiz, Michel M

    2009-01-01

    We demonstrated the remote control of insects in free flight via an implantable radio-equipped miniature neural stimulating system. The pronotum mounted system consisted of neural stimulators, muscular stimulators, a radio transceiver-equipped microcontroller and a microbattery. Flight initiation, cessation and elevation control were accomplished through neural stimulus of the brain which elicited, suppressed or modulated wing oscillation. Turns were triggered through the direct muscular stimulus of either of the basalar muscles. We characterized the response times, success rates, and free-flight trajectories elicited by our neural control systems in remotely controlled beetles. We believe this type of technology will open the door to in-flight perturbation and recording of insect flight responses.

  4. Remote sensing for wind power potential: a prospector's handbook

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wade, J.E.; Maule, P.A.; Bodvarsson, G.; Rosenfeld, C.L.; Woolley, S.G.; McClenahan, M.R.

    1983-02-01

    Remote sensing can aid in identifying and locating indicators of wind power potential from the terrestrial, marine, and atmospheric environments (i.e.: wind-deformed trees, white caps, and areas of thermal flux). It is not considered as a tool for determining wind power potential. A wide variety of remotely sensed evidence is described in terms of the scale at which evidence of wind power can be identified, and the appropriate remote sensors for finding such evidence. Remote sensing can be used for regional area prospecting using small-scale imagery. The information from such small-scale imagery is most often qualitative, and if it is transitory, examination of a number of images to verify presistence of the feature may be required. However, this evidence will allow rapid screening of a large area. Medium-scale imagery provides a better picture of the evidence obtained from small-scale imagery. At this level it is best to use existing imagery. Criteria relating to land use, accessibility, and proximity of candidate sites to nearby transmission lines can also be effectively evaluated from medium-scale imagery. Large-scale imagery provides the most quantitative evidence of the strength of wind. Wind-deformed trees can be identified at a large number of sites using only a few hours in locally chartered aircraft. A handheld 35mm camera can adequately document any evidence of wind. Three case studies that employ remote sensing prospecting techniques are described. Based on remotely sensed evidence, the wind power potential in three geographically and climatically diverse areas of the United States is estimated, and the estimates are compared to actual wind data in those regions. In addition, the cost of each survey is discussed. The results indicate that remote sensing for wind power potential is a quick, cost effective, and fairly reliable method for screening large areas for wind power potential.

  5. Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Disposal Project Alternatives Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David Duncan

    2011-04-01

    This report identifies, evaluates, and compares alternatives for meeting the U.S. Department of Energy’s mission need for management of remote-handled low-level waste generated by the Idaho National Laboratory and its tenants. Each alternative identified in the Mission Need Statement for the Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Treatment Project is described and evaluated for capability to fulfill the mission need. Alternatives that could meet the mission need are further evaluated and compared using criteria of cost, risk, complexity, stakeholder values, and regulatory compliance. The alternative for disposal of remote-handled low-level waste that has the highest confidence of meeting the mission need and represents best value to the government is to build a new disposal facility at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.

  6. Remote-Handled Low Level Waste Disposal Project Alternatives Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David Duncan

    2010-10-01

    This report identifies, evaluates, and compares alternatives for meeting the U.S. Department of Energy’s mission need for management of remote-handled low-level waste generated by the Idaho National Laboratory and its tenants. Each alternative identified in the Mission Need Statement for the Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Treatment Project is described and evaluated for capability to fulfill the mission need. Alternatives that could meet the mission need are further evaluated and compared using criteria of cost, risk, complexity, stakeholder values, and regulatory compliance. The alternative for disposal of remote-handled low-level waste that has the highest confidence of meeting the mission need and represents best value to the government is to build a new disposal facility at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.

  7. Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Disposal Project Alternatives Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David Duncan

    2011-03-01

    This report identifies, evaluates, and compares alternatives for meeting the U.S. Department of Energy’s mission need for management of remote-handled low-level waste generated by the Idaho National Laboratory and its tenants. Each alternative identified in the Mission Need Statement for the Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Treatment Project is described and evaluated for capability to fulfill the mission need. Alternatives that could meet the mission need are further evaluated and compared using criteria of cost, risk, complexity, stakeholder values, and regulatory compliance. The alternative for disposal of remote-handled low-level waste that has the highest confidence of meeting the mission need and represents best value to the government is to build a new disposal facility at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.

  8. Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Disposal Project Alternatives Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    David Duncan

    2010-06-01

    This report identifies, evaluates, and compares alternatives for meeting the U.S. Department of Energy’s mission need for management of remote-handled low-level waste generated by the Idaho National Laboratory and its tenants. Each alternative identified in the Mission Need Statement for the Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Treatment Project is described and evaluated for capability to fulfill the mission need. Alternatives that could meet the mission need are further evaluated and compared using criteria of cost, risk, complexity, stakeholder values, and regulatory compliance. The alternative for disposal of remote-handled low-level waste that has the highest confidence of meeting the mission need and represents best value to the government is to build a new disposal facility at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.

  9. Geospatial Analysis and Remote Sensing from Airplanes and Satellites for Cultural Resources Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giardino, Marco J.; Haley, Bryan S.

    2005-01-01

    Cultural resource management consists of research to identify, evaluate, document and assess cultural resources, planning to assist in decision-making, and stewardship to implement the preservation, protection and interpretation of these decisions and plans. One technique that may be useful in cultural resource management archaeology is remote sensing. It is the acquisition of data and derivative information about objects or materials (targets) located on the Earth's surface or in its atmosphere by using sensor mounted on platforms located at a distance from the targets to make measurements on interactions between the targets and electromagnetic radiation. Included in this definition are systems that acquire imagery by photographic methods and digital multispectral sensors. Data collected by digital multispectral sensors on aircraft and satellite platforms play a prominent role in many earth science applications, including land cover mapping, geology, soil science, agriculture, forestry, water resource management, urban and regional planning, and environmental assessments. Inherent in the analysis of remotely sensed data is the use of computer-based image processing techniques. Geographical information systems (GIS), designed for collecting, managing, and analyzing spatial information, are also useful in the analysis of remotely sensed data. A GIS can be used to integrate diverse types of spatially referenced digital data, including remotely sensed and map data. In archaeology, these tools have been used in various ways to aid in cultural resource projects. For example, they have been used to predict the presence of archaeological resources using modern environmental indicators. Remote sensing techniques have also been used to directly detect the presence of unknown sites based on the impact of past occupation on the Earth's surface. Additionally, remote sensing has been used as a mapping tool aimed at delineating the boundaries of a site or mapping previously

  10. Web-based Java application to advanced JT-60 Man-Machine Interfacing System for remote experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Totsuka, Toshiyuki; Suzuki, Yoshio; Sakata, Shinya; Oshima, Takayuki; Iba, Katsuyuki

    2008-01-01

    Since remote participation in ITER experiments is planned, it is expected to demonstrate that the JT-60SA experiment is controlled from a Japanese remote experiment center located in Rokkasho-mura, Aomori-ken, Japan as a part of the ITER-BA project. Functions required for this experiment are monitoring of the discharge sequence status, handling of the discharge parameter, checking of experiment data, and monitoring of plant data, all of which are included in the existing JT-60 Man-Machine Interfacing System (MMIF). The MMIF is now only available to on-site users at the Naka site due to network safety. The motivation for remote MMIF is prompted by the issue of developing and achieving compatibility with network safety. The Java language has been chosen to implement this task. This paper deals with details of the JT-60 MMIF for the remote experiment that has evolved using the Java language

  11. Remote effects of extracorporeal shock wave therapy on cutaneous microcirculation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kisch, Tobias; Sorg, Heiko; Forstmeier, Vinzent; Knobloch, Karsten; Liodaki, Eirini; Stang, Felix; Mailänder, Peter; Krämer, Robert

    2015-11-01

    Extracorporeal shock wave treatment (ESWT) has proven its clinical benefits in different fields of medicine. Tissue regeneration and healing is improved after shock wave treatment. Even in the case of burn wounds angiogenesis and re-epithelialization is accelerated, but ESWT in extensive burn wounds is impracticable. High energy ESWT influences cutaneous microcirculation at body regions remote from application site. Eighteen Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned to two groups and received either high energy ESWT (Group A: total 1000 impulses, 10 J) or placebo shock wave treatment (Group B: 0 impulses, 0 J), applied to the dorsal lower leg of the hind limb. Ten minutes later microcirculatory effects were assessed at the contralateral lower leg of the hind limb (remote body region) by combined Laser-Doppler-Imaging and Photospectrometry. In Group A cutaneous capillary blood velocity was significantly increased by 152.8% vs. placebo ESWT at the remote body location (p = 0.01). Postcapillary venous filling pressure remained statistically unchanged (p > 0.05), while cutaneous tissue oxygen saturation increased by 12.7% in Group A (p = 0.220). High energy ESWT affects cutaneous hemodynamics in body regions remote from application site in a standard rat model. The results of this preliminary study indicate that ESWT might be beneficial even in disseminated and extensive burn wounds by remote shock wave effects and should therefore be subject to further scientific evaluation. Copyright © 2015 Tissue Viability Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Applying remote handling attributes to the ITER neutral beam cell monorail crane

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Crofts, O., E-mail: Oliver.Crofts@CCFE.ac.uk [CCFE, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB (United Kingdom); Allan, P.; Raimbach, J. [CCFE, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB (United Kingdom); Tesini, A.; Choi, C.-H. [ITER Organisation, CS90 046, 13067 St. Paul les Durance Cedex (France); Damiani, C.; Van Uffelen, M. [Fusion for Energy, C/Josep Pla 2, Torres Diagonal Litoral-B3, E-08019 Barcelona (Spain)

    2013-10-15

    The maintenance requirements for the equipment in the ITER neutral beam cell require components to be lifted and transported within the cell by remote means. To meet this requirement, the provision of an overhead crane with remote handling capabilities has been initiated. The layout of the cell has driven the design to consist of a monorail crane that travels on a branched monorail track attached to the cell ceiling. This paper describes the principle design constraints and how the remote handling attributes were applied to the concept design of the monorail crane, concentrating on areas where novel design solutions have been required and on the remote recovery requirements and solutions.

  13. Applying remote handling attributes to the ITER neutral beam cell monorail crane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crofts, O.; Allan, P.; Raimbach, J.; Tesini, A.; Choi, C.-H.; Damiani, C.; Van Uffelen, M.

    2013-01-01

    The maintenance requirements for the equipment in the ITER neutral beam cell require components to be lifted and transported within the cell by remote means. To meet this requirement, the provision of an overhead crane with remote handling capabilities has been initiated. The layout of the cell has driven the design to consist of a monorail crane that travels on a branched monorail track attached to the cell ceiling. This paper describes the principle design constraints and how the remote handling attributes were applied to the concept design of the monorail crane, concentrating on areas where novel design solutions have been required and on the remote recovery requirements and solutions

  14. Remote entanglement distribution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanders, B.C.; Gour, G.; Meyer, D.A.

    2005-01-01

    Full text: Shared bipartite entanglement is a crucial shared resource for many quantum information tasks such as teleportation, entanglement swapping, and remote state preparation. In general different nodes of a quantum network share an entanglement resource, such as ebits, that are consumed during the task. In practice, generating entangled states is expensive, but here we establish a protocol by which a quantum network requires only a single supplier of entanglement to all nodes who, by judicious measurements and classical communication, provides the nodes with a unique pair wise entangled state independent of the measurement outcome. Furthermore, we extend this result to a chain of suppliers and nodes, which enables an operational interpretation of concurrence. In the special case that the supplier shares bipartite states with two nodes, and such states are pure and maximally entangled, our protocol corresponds to entanglement swapping. However, in the practical case that initial shared entanglement between suppliers and nodes involves partially entangled or mixed states, we show that general local operations and classical communication by all parties (suppliers and nodes) yields distributions of entangled states between nodes. In general a distribution of bipartite entangled states between any two nodes will include states that do not have the same entanglement; thus we name this general process remote entanglement distribution. In our terminology entanglement swapping with partially entangled states is a particular class of remote entanglement distribution protocols. Here we identify which distributions of states that can or cannot be created by remote entanglement distribution. In particular we prove a powerful theorem that establishes an upper bound on the entanglement of formation that can be produced between two qubit nodes. We extend this result to the case of a linear chain of parties that play the roles of suppliers and nodes; this extension provides

  15. Dragon TIS Spotter: an Arabidopsis-derived predictor of translation initiation sites in plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magana-Mora, Arturo; Ashoor, Haitham; Jankovic, Boris R; Kamau, Allan; Awara, Karim; Chowdhary, Rajesh; Archer, John A C; Bajic, Vladimir B

    2013-01-01

    In higher eukaryotes, the identification of translation initiation sites (TISs) has been focused on finding these signals in cDNA or mRNA sequences. Using Arabidopsis thaliana (A.t.) information, we developed a prediction tool for signals within genomic sequences of plants that correspond to TISs. Our tool requires only genome sequence, not expressed sequences. Its sensitivity/specificity is for A.t. (90.75%/92.2%), for Vitis vinifera (66.8%/94.4%) and for Populus trichocarpa (81.6%/94.4%), which suggests that our tool can be used in annotation of different plant genomes. We provide a list of features used in our model. Further study of these features may improve our understanding of mechanisms of the translation initiation. Our tool is implemented as an artificial neural network. It is available as a web-based tool and, together with the source code, the list of features, and data used for model development, is accessible at http://cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/dts.

  16. Multi-mode remote participation on the GOLEM tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Svoboda, V.; Huang, B.; Mlynar, J.; Pokol, G.I.; Stoeckel, J.; Vondrasek, G.

    2011-01-01

    The GOLEM tokamak (formerly CASTOR) at Czech Technical University is demonstrated as an educational tokamak device for domestic and foreign students. Remote participation of several foreign universities (in Hungary, Belgium, Poland and Costa Rica) has been successfully performed. A unique feature of the GOLEM device is functionality which enables complete remote participation and control, solely through Internet access. Basic remote control is possible either in online mode via WWW/SSH interface or offline mode using batch processing code. Discharge parameters are set in each case to configure the tokamak for a plasma discharge. Using the X11 protocol it is possible to control in an advanced mode many technological aspects of the tokamak operation, including: i) vacuum pump initialization, ii) chamber baking, iii) charging of power supplies, iv) plasma discharge scenario, v) data acquisition system.

  17. Real-Time and Post-Processed Georeferencing for Hyperpspectral Drone Remote Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, R. A.; Khoramshahi, E.; Suomalainen, J.; Hakala, T.; Viljanen, N.; Honkavaara, E.

    2018-05-01

    The use of drones and photogrammetric technologies are increasing rapidly in different applications. Currently, drone processing workflow is in most cases based on sequential image acquisition and post-processing, but there are great interests towards real-time solutions. Fast and reliable real-time drone data processing can benefit, for instance, environmental monitoring tasks in precision agriculture and in forest. Recent developments in miniaturized and low-cost inertial measurement systems and GNSS sensors, and Real-time kinematic (RTK) position data are offering new perspectives for the comprehensive remote sensing applications. The combination of these sensors and light-weight and low-cost multi- or hyperspectral frame sensors in drones provides the opportunity of creating near real-time or real-time remote sensing data of target object. We have developed a system with direct georeferencing onboard drone to be used combined with hyperspectral frame cameras in real-time remote sensing applications. The objective of this study is to evaluate the real-time georeferencing comparing with post-processing solutions. Experimental data sets were captured in agricultural and forested test sites using the system. The accuracy of onboard georeferencing data were better than 0.5 m. The results showed that the real-time remote sensing is promising and feasible in both test sites.

  18. Remote operational trials with the ITER FDR divertor handling equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Irving, M.; Baldi, L.; Benamati, G.; Galbiati, L.; Giacomelli, S.; Lorenzelli, L.; Micciche, G.; Muro, L.; Polverari, A.; Palmer, J.; Martin, E.

    2003-01-01

    The ITER divertor test platform (DTP) located at ENEA's Research Centre in Brasimone, Italy is a full-scale mock-up of a 72 deg. arc of the ITER 1998 vessel divertor region--the result of a major initiative over the period 1996-2000. Since the implementation of this facility, the design of the ITER vessel--and therefore much of the remote maintenance equipment--has changed substantially. However, the nature and principles of the remote handling equipment are still very similar, and hence many valuable lessons can yet be learned from the existing equipment for the future. In particular, true remote handling tests of the major maintenance subsystems were seen as an important step in determining their suitability for ITER. This paper describes and documents a series of three, discrete, remote-handling trials carried out using most of the major DTP subsystems, and presents an overview of the conclusions and suggestions for future development of ITER cassette remote handling equipment

  19. The governance of Natura 2000 sites: the importance of initial choices in the organisation of planning processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beunen, R.; Vries, de J.R.

    2011-01-01

    The management of Natura 2000 sites faces several challenges. Responsible authorities need to achieve specific conservation objectives and they need to balance these objectives with social and economic interests. A study of two cases, one in England and one in the Netherlands, shows that the initial

  20. Telepsychiatry clinical decision support system used by non-psychiatrists in remote areas: Validity & reliability of diagnostic module

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malhotra, Savita; Chakrabarti, Subho; Shah, Ruchita; Sharma, Minali; Sharma, Kanu Priya; Malhotra, Akanksha; Upadhyaya, Suneet K.; Margoob, Mushtaq A.; Maqbool, Dar; Jassal, Gopal D.

    2017-01-01

    Background & objectives: A knowledge-based, logically-linked online telepsychiatric decision support system for diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders was developed and validated. We evaluated diagnostic accuracy and reliability of the application at remote sites when used by non-psychiatrists who underwent a brief training in its use through video-conferencing. Methods: The study was conducted at a nodal telepsychiatry centre, and three geographically remote peripheral centres. The diagnostic tool of application had a screening followed by detailed criteria-wise diagnostic modules for 18 psychiatric disorders. A total of 100 consecutive consenting adult outpatients attending remote telepsychiatry centres were included. To assess inter-rater reliability, patients were interviewed face to face by non-specialists at remote sites using the application (active interviewer) and simultaneously on online application via video-conferencing by a passive assessor at nodal centre. Another interviewer at the nodal centre rated the patient using Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) for diagnostic validation. Results: Screening sub-module had high sensitivity (80-100%), low positive predictive values (PPV) (0.10-0.71) but high negative predictive value (NPV) (0.97-1) for most disorders. For the diagnostic sub-modules, Cohen's kappa was >0.4 for all disorders, with kappa of 0.7-1.0 for most disorders. PPV and NPV were high for most disorders. Inter-rater agreement analysis revealed kappa >0.6 for all disorders. Interpretation & conclusions: Diagnostic tool showed acceptable to good validity and reliability when used by non-specialists at remote sites. Our findings show that diagnostic tool of the telepsychiatry application has potential to empower non-psychiatrist doctors and paramedics to diagnose psychiatric disorders accurately and reliably in remote sites. PMID:29265020

  1. Safeguards First Principles Initiative at the Nevada Test Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, Geneva

    2007-01-01

    The Material Control and Accountability (MC and A) program at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) was selected as a test bed for the Safeguards First Principles Initiative (SFPI). The implementation of the SFPI is evaluated using the system effectiveness model and the program is managed under an approved MC and A Plan. The effectiveness model consists of an evaluation of the critical elements necessary to detect, deter, and/or prevent the theft or diversion of Special Nuclear Material (SNM). The modeled results indicate that the MC and A program established under this variance is still effective, without creating unacceptable risk. Extensive performance testing is conducted through the duration of the pilot to ensure the protection system is effective and no material is at an unacceptable risk. The pilot was conducted from January 1, 2007, through May 30, 2007. This paper will discuss the following activities in association with SFPI: (1) Development of Timeline; (2) Crosswalk of DOE Order and SFPI; (3) Peer Review; (4) Deviation; (5) MC and A Plan and Procedure changes; (6) Changes implemented at NTS; (7) Training; and (8) Performance Test

  2. Use of Remote Sensing Techniques For Geomorphological Study of Some Sites For Eroticism In Farafra Area, Western Desert, Egypt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    EI Gammal, E.A.; Salem, S.M.

    2008-01-01

    The present study deals with investigating some significant geomorphic features in the Farafra Oasis area such as natural caves and white desert which display remarkable landscapes of high esthetic value and very important sites for ecotourism. The study aims to produce a GIS ready database for registration of the natural caves with stalactites and stalagmites and a set of printed thematic maps for the above mentioned features with an explanatory notes for the features considered. To achieve these goals remote sensing and GIS techniques have been used, verified by field trip and GPS instrument for correct locations. The used thematic maps are: topographic maps for roads and tracks and main cities, and geologic maps. The study will be illustrated by numerous field photos. The description of the considered features and including significant photographs will be presented on a CD

  3. Initial source and site characterization studies for the U.C. Santa Barbara campus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Archuleta, R.; Nicholson, C.; Steidl, J.; Gurrola, L.; Alex, C.; Cochran, E.; Ely, G.; Tyler, T. [University of California, Santa Barbara (United States)

    1997-12-01

    The University of California Campus-Laboratory Collaboration (CLC) project is an integrated 3 year effort involving Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and four UC campuses - Los Angeles (UCLA), Riverside (UCR), Santa Barbara (UCSB), and San Diego (UCSD) - plus additional collaborators at San Diego State University (SDSU), at Los Alamos National Laboratory and in industry. The primary purpose of the project is to estimate potential ground motions from large earthquakes and to predict site-specific ground motions for one critical structure on each campus. This project thus combines the disciplines of geology, seismology, geodesy, soil dynamics, and earthquake engineering into a fully integrated approach. Once completed, the CLC project will provide a template to evaluate other buildings at each of the four UC campuses, as well as provide a methodology for evaluating seismic hazards at other critical sites in California, including other UC locations at risk from large earthquakes. Another important objective of the CLC project is the education of students and other professional in the application of this integrated, multidisciplinary, state-of-the-art approach to the assessment of earthquake hazard. For each campus targeted by the CLC project, the seismic hazard study will consist of four phases: Phase I - Initial source and site characterization, Phase II - Drilling, logging, seismic monitoring, and laboratory dynamic soil testing, Phase III - Modeling of predicted site-specific earthquake ground motions, and Phase IV - Calculations of 3D building response. This report cover Phase I for the UCSB campus and incudes results up through March 1997.

  4. Implementation of a referral to discharge glycemic control initiative for reduction of surgical site infections in gynecologic oncology patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopkins, Laura; Brown-Broderick, Jennifer; Hearn, James; Malcolm, Janine; Chan, James; Hicks-Boucher, Wendy; De Sousa, Filomena; Walker, Mark C; Gagné, Sylvain

    2017-08-01

    To evaluate the frequency of surgical site infections before and after implementation of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary perioperative glycemic control initiative. As part of a CUSP (Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program) initiative, between January 5 and December 18, 2015, we implemented comprehensive, multidisciplinary glycemic control initiative to reduce SSI rates in patients undergoing major pelvic surgery for a gynecologic malignancy ('Group II'). Key components of this quality of care initiative included pre-operative HbA1c measurement with special triage for patients meeting criteria for diabetes or pre-diabetes, standardization of available intraoperative insulin choices, rigorous pre-op/intra-op/post-op glucose monitoring with control targets set to maintain BG ≤10mmol/L (180mg/dL) and communication/notification with primary care providers. Effectiveness was evaluated against a similar control group of patients ('Group I') undergoing surgery in 2014 prior to implementation of this initiative. We studied a total of 462 patients. Subjects in the screened (Group II) and comparison (Group I) groups were of similar age (avg. 61.0, 60.0years; p=0.422) and BMI (avg. 31.1, 32.3kg/m 2 ; p=0.257). Descriptive statistics served to compare surgical site infection (SSI) rates and other characteristics across groups. Women undergoing surgery prior to implementation of this algorithm (n=165) had an infection rate of 14.6%. Group II (n=297) showed an over 2-fold reduction in SSI compared to Group I [5.7%; p=0.001, adjRR: 0.45, 95% CI: (0.25, 0.81)]. Additionally, approximately 19% of Group II patients were newly diagnosed with either prediabetes (HbA1C 6.0-6.4) or diabetes (HbA1C≥6.5) and were referred to family or internal medicine for appropriate management. Implementation of a comprehensive multidisciplinary glycemic control initiative can lead to a significant reduction in surgical site infections in addition to early identification of an important health

  5. Remote sensing terminology: past experience and recent needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kancheva, Rumiana

    2013-10-01

    Terminology is a key issue for a better understanding among people using various languages. Terminology accuracy is essential during all phases of international cooperation. It is crucial to keep up with the latest quantitative and qualitative developments and novelties of the terminology in advanced technology fields such as aerospace science and industry. This is especially true in remote sensing and geoinformatics which develop rapidly and have wide and ever extending applications in various domains of human activity. The importance of the correct use of remote sensing terms refers not only to people working in this field but also to experts in many disciplines who handle remote sensing data and information products. The paper is devoted to terminology issues that refer to all aspects of remote sensing research and application areas. The attention is drawn on the recent needs and peculiarities of compiling specialized dictionaries in the subject area of remote sensing. Details are presented about the work in progress on the preparation of an English-Bulgarian dictionary of remote sensing terms focusing on Earth observations and geoinformation science. Our belief is that the elaboration of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries in this spreading, most technically advanced and promising field of human expertise is of great practical importance. Any interest in cooperation and initiating of suchlike collaborative multilingual projects is welcome and highly appreciated.

  6. Effects of initial nitrogen addition on deep-soils bioventing at a fuel-contaminated site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ratz, J.W.; Guest, P.R.; Downey, D.C.

    1994-01-01

    A ruptured pipe at a Burlington Northern Railroad (BNRR) fueling pump house resulted in over 60,000 gallons of No. 2 diesel fuel spilling onto the surrounding soil. An initial investigation of site conditions indicated that subsurface soils were contaminated with diesel fuel to ground water, which was observed approximately 70 feet below the ground surface. State regulatory agencies requested that BNRR develop and implement a remedial action plan to treat these diesel-contaminated soils and protect local ground waters. Engineering-Science, Inc. (ES) was retained for this work and, after evaluating a variety of remediation technologies recommended using soil venting methods to enhance the immediate volatilization and long-term biodegradation of fuel residuals. ES designed and implemented a ''bioventing'' pilot test to determine soil properties such as air permeability, and to assess the potential for partial volatilization and long-term biodegradation of diesel fuel residuals at the site. Hydrocarbon concentrations, carbon dioxide, and oxygen levels were monitored at a vapor extraction well (VEW) and six vapor monitoring points (VMPs) to determine the rates of volatilization and biological degradation of fuel residuals. Pilot test results confirmed that full-scale bioventing was feasible for the remediation of this site

  7. Ten ways remote sensing can contribute to conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Robert A.; Byler, Dirck; Eastman, J. Ron; Fleishman, Erica; Geller, Gary; Goetz, Scott; Guild, Liane; Hamilton, Healy; Hansen, Matt; Headley, Rachel; Hewson, Jennifer; Horning, Ned; Kaplin, Beth A.; Laporte, Nadine; Leidner, Allison K.; Leimgruber, Peter; Morisette, Jeffrey T.; Musinsky, John; Pintea, Lilian; Prados, Ana; Radeloff, Volker C.; Rowen, Mary; Saatchi, Sassan; Schill, Steve; Tabor, Karyn; Turner, Woody; Vodacek, Anthony; Vogelmann, James; Wegmann, Martin; Wilkie, David; Wilson, Cara

    2014-01-01

    In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners’ use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain-referral survey. We then used a workshop-based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real-time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing-derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to

  8. Ten ways remote sensing can contribute to conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Robert A; Byler, Dirck; Eastman, J Ron; Fleishman, Erica; Geller, Gary; Goetz, Scott; Guild, Liane; Hamilton, Healy; Hansen, Matt; Headley, Rachel; Hewson, Jennifer; Horning, Ned; Kaplin, Beth A; Laporte, Nadine; Leidner, Allison; Leimgruber, Peter; Morisette, Jeffrey; Musinsky, John; Pintea, Lilian; Prados, Ana; Radeloff, Volker C; Rowen, Mary; Saatchi, Sassan; Schill, Steve; Tabor, Karyn; Turner, Woody; Vodacek, Anthony; Vogelmann, James; Wegmann, Martin; Wilkie, David; Wilson, Cara

    2015-04-01

    In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners' use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain-referral survey. We then used a workshop-based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real-time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing-derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to

  9. The design of remote participation platform for EAST plasma control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yuan, Q.P., E-mail: qpyuan@ipp.ac.cn [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei (China); Xiao, B.J. [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei (China); University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei (China); Zhang, R.R. [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei (China); Chai, W.T.; Liu, J.; Xiao, R.; Zhou, Z.C.; Pei, X.F. [Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei (China); University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei (China)

    2016-11-15

    Highlights: • The remote participation platform for EAST plasma control is composed of real time control service and scenario management. • The web based interface has been developed for supporting remote participation. • The functionality module has been designed and assistant tools have been developed. - Abstract: EAST has become a physics experimental platform for high parameter and steady-state long-pulse plasma operation. A new remote participation platform for EAST plasma control is designed, which is composed of gatekeeper system, web-based user interface system, discharge scenario management system, online simulation system and data interface with on-site plasma control system (PCS). The identification and access privilege of remote participator is validated by the gatekeeper system. Only authorized users can set control parameters for next shot plasma control or making discharge scenario for future shot through WebPCS which is a web-based user interface and designed based on B/S structure. The systematic architecture design and preliminary deployment of such remote platform will be presented in this paper.

  10. Annual Report - Remotely Operated NDE System for Inspection of Hanford's Waste Tank Knuckle Regions and Development of a Small Roving Annulus Inspection Vehicle T-SAFT Scanning Bridge for Savannah River Site Applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pardini, Allan F.; Crawford, Susan L.; Harris, Robert V.; Samuel, Todd J.; Roberts, Ron A.; Alzheimer, James M.; Gervais, Kevin L.; Maynard, Melody A.; Tucker, Joseph C.

    2002-01-01

    The design, development, and performance testing of a prototype system known as the Remotely Operated Nondestructive Examination (RONDE)system to examine the knuckle region of a Hanford DST have been completed. The design and fabrication of a scanning bridge to support the Savannah River Site utilizing similar technology was also completed

  11. Initial Tuning Sebagai Salah Satu Metode Pengoptimalan New Site Pada Jaringan Seluler Gsm (Studi Kasus Pada Area Kerja Pt. Sinergi Telecom Under Ericsson Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hesti Susilawati

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available The development of new sites by telecommunication network operator, especially GSM network, purposes for more increase performance and give satisfy for consument. Performance of a site is most affecting for value of network quality totally. New site builded must be monitorized and optimized by its existing in order to can be more realible on serving society with the method that was mentioned “initial tuning activity”. On this method must be concerned some matter as like: application of accurate frequency for avoiding interference problem, creating neighbour relationship between ex isting site and new site, detection for faulth installation for arranging re-use frequency concept, setting accurate coverage, olso changing tilt angle for accurate main beam area. This arrangement must be conditioned on a new site that still “default”, so it can improve quality. On operator side, they have some criteria that must be passed by a new site. Initial tuning activity on Site Simpang RGM had been proved on passing  that site from recommended criteria, olso being totally indicated more increase pe rformance of network

  12. Remotely controlled large container disposal methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amir, S.J.

    1994-09-01

    Remotely Handled Large Containers (RHLC), also called drag-off boxes, have been used at the Hanford Site since the 1940s to dispose of large pieces of radioactively contaminated equipment. These containers are typically large steel-reinforced concrete boxes, which weigh as much as 40 tons. Because large quantities of high-dose waste can produce radiation levels as high as 200 mrem/hour at 200 ft, the containers are remotely handled (either lifted off the railcar by crane or dragged off with a cable). Many of the existing containers do not meet existing structural and safety design criteria and some of the transportation requirements. The drag-off method of pulling the box off the railcar using a cable and a tractor is also not considered a safe operation, especially in view of past mishaps

  13. Laser long-range remote-sensing program experimental results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Highland, Ronald G.; Shilko, Michael L.; Fox, Marsha J.; Gonglewski, John D.; Czyzak, Stanley R.; Dowling, James A.; Kelly, Brian; Pierrottet, Diego F.; Ruffatto, Donald; Loando, Sharon; Matsuura, Chris; Senft, Daniel C.; Finkner, Lyle; Rae, Joe; Gallegos, Joe

    1995-12-01

    A laser long range remote sensing (LRS) program is being conducted by the United States Air Force Phillips Laboratory (AF/PL). As part of this program, AF/PL is testing the feasibility of developing a long path CO(subscript 2) laser-based DIAL system for remote sensing. In support of this program, the AF/PL has recently completed an experimental series using a 21 km slant- range path (3.05 km ASL transceiver height to 0.067 km ASL target height) at its Phillips Laboratory Air Force Maui Optical Station (AMOS) facility located on Maui, Hawaii. The dial system uses a 3-joule, (superscript 13)C isotope laser coupled into a 0.6 m diameter telescope. The atmospheric optical characterization incorporates information from an infrared scintillometer co-aligned to the laser path, atmospheric profiles from weather balloons launched from the target site, and meteorological data from ground stations at AMOS and the target site. In this paper, we report a description of the experiment configuration, a summary of the results, a summary of the atmospheric conditions and their implications to the LRS program. The capability of such a system for long-range, low-angle, slant-path remote sensing is discussed. System performance issues relating to both coherent and incoherent detection methods, atmospheric limitations, as well as, the development of advanced models to predict performance of long range scenarios are presented.

  14. The Archaeology and Remote Sensing of Santa Elena’s Four Millennia of Occupation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor D. Thompson

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we present the results of a comprehensive, landscape-scale remote sensing project at Santa Elena on Parris Island, South Carolina. Substantial occupation at the site extends for over 4000 years and has resulted in a complex array of features dating to different time periods. In addition, there is a 40-year history of archaeological research at the site that includes a large-scale systematic shovel test survey, large block excavations, and scattered test units. Also, modern use of the site included significant alterations to the subsurface deposits. Our goals for this present work are threefold: (1 to explicitly present a logical approach to examine sites with long-term occupations; (2 to examine changes in land use at Santa Elena and its implications for human occupation of this persistent place; and (3 to use the remote sensing program and past archaeological research to make substantive suggestions regarding future research, conservation, and management of the site. Our research provides important insight into the distribution of cultural features at this National Historic Landmark. While the majority of archaeological research at the site has focused on the Spanish period, our work suggests a complex and vast array of archaeological features that can provide insight into over 4000 years of history in the region. At a gross level, we have identified possible Late Archaic structures, Woodland houses and features, Late Prehistoric and early Historic council houses, and a suite of features related to the Spanish occupation which builds on our previous research at the site. In addition to documenting possible cultural features at the site, our work illustrates the value of multiple remote sensing techniques used in conjunction with close-interval shovel test data.

  15. Applying virtual reality to remote control of mobile robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Chin-Shan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is based on virtual reality to assisted pick and place tasks. Virtual reality can be utilized to control remote robot for pick and place element. The operator monitored and controlled the situation information of working site by Human Machine Interface. Therefore, we worked in harsh or dangerous environments that thing can be avoided. The procedure to operate mobile robot in virtual reality describes as follow: An experiment site with really experimental equipment is first established. Then, the experimental equipment and scene modeling are input to virtual reality for establishing a environment similar to the reality. Finally, the remote mobile robot is controlled to operate pick and place tasks through wireless communication by the object operation in virtual reality. The robot consists of a movable robot platform and robotic arm. The virtual reality is constructed by EON software; the Human Machine Interface is established by Visual Basic. The wireless connection is equipped the wireless Bluetooth, which is set the PC and PLC controller. With experimental tests to verify the robot in virtual reality and the wireless remote control, the robot could be operated and controlled to successfully complete pick and place tasks in reality by Human Machine Interface.

  16. American black bear denning behavior: Observations and applications using remote photography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bridges, A.S.; Fox, J.A.; Olfenbuttel, C.; Vaughan, M.B.

    2004-01-01

    Researchers examining American black bear (Ursus americanus) denning behavior have relied primarily on den-site visitation and radiotelemetry to gather data. Repeated den-site visits are time-intensive and may disturb denning bears, possibly causing den abandonment, whereas radiotelemetry is sufficient only to provide gross data on den emergence. We used remote cameras to examine black bear denning behavior in the Allegheny Mountains of western Virginia during March-May 2003. We deployed cameras at 10 den sites and used 137 pictures of black bears. Adult female black bears exhibited greater extra-den activity than we expected prior to final den emergence, which occurred between April 12 and May 6, 2003. Our technique provided more accurate den-emergence estimation than previously published methodologies. Additionally, we observed seldom-documented behaviors associated with den exits and estimated cub age at den emergence. Remote cameras can provide unique insights into denning ecology, and we describe their potential application to reproductive, survival, and behavioral research.

  17. Development of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for international sites, challenges and guidelines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fernandez Ares, Antonio, E-mail: antonio.fernandez@rizzoassoc.com [Paul C. Rizzo Associates, Inc., 500 Penn Center Boulevard, Penn Center East, Suite 100, Pittsburgh, PA 15235 (United States); Fatehi, Ali, E-mail: ali.fatehi@rizzoassoc.com [Paul C. Rizzo Associates, Inc., 500 Penn Center Boulevard, Penn Center East, Suite 100, Pittsburgh, PA 15235 (United States)

    2013-06-15

    Research highlights: ► Site-specific seismic hazard study and suggestions for overcoming those challenges that are inherent to the significant amounts of epistemic uncertainty for sites at remote locations. ► Main aspects of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). ► Regional and site geology in the context of a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), including state-of-the-art ground motion estimation methods, and geophysical conditions. ► Senior seismic hazard analysis (SSHAC) as a mean to incorporate the opinions and contributions of the informed scientific community. -- Abstract: This article provides guidance to conduct a site-specific seismic hazard study, giving suggestions for overcoming those challenges that are inherent to the significant amounts of epistemic uncertainty for sites at remote locations. The text follows the general process of a seismic hazard study, describing both the deterministic and probabilistic approaches. Key and controversial items are identified in the areas of recorded seismicity, seismic sources, magnitude, ground motion models, and local site effects. A case history corresponding to a seismic hazard study in the Middle East for a Greenfield site in a remote location is incorporated along the development of the recommendations. Other examples of analysis case histories throughout the World are presented as well.

  18. Initial evaluation of the radioecological situation at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in the Republic of Kazakhstan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Voigt, G.; Semiochkina, N. [GSF - Forschungszentrum fuer Umwelt und Gesundheit Neuherberg GmbH, Oberschleissheim (Germany). Inst. fuer Strahlenschutz

    1998-12-31

    The Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) located in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Figure 1.1) was one of the major nuclear weapon test sites of the former Soviet Union. At the site, four hundred fifty six nuclear explosions took place between 1949 and 1989 within the STS (Mikhailov et al. 1996; Dubasov et al. 1994a), resulting in radioactive contamination both within and around the STS. Incidences of radiation related illnesses in such areas may be higher than normal levels (Burkhart 1996). Published estimates of the resulting dose to the public vary according to the source, but an independent study (Grosche 1996) indicated that as many as 30,000-40,000 people could have been exposed to an average dose of 1.6 Sv (160 rem) or more (mainly due to short-lived radionuclides such as {sup 131}I). A detailed international assessment of the impact of these tests on the local population has not yet been undertaken. A current investigation under the acronym, RADTEST, includes an evaluation of Semipalatinsk as part of a broad review of internal and external doses to people arising from nuclear tests at many different sites in the world. In the context of the European Commission funded project RESTORE (Restoration Strategy for Radioactive Contaminated Ecosystems) an attempt is being made to assess the present radiolecological situation in the STS. This initial report collates currently available data published in Russian-language literature and internal CIS reports, reports from Europe and the USA, and other international literature. In this initial evaluation, only an overview of published data made available to the RESTORE project is provided and briefly discussed. In addition, further assessments including experimental work are suggested. Additional sources of data will be pursued and will be integrated with experimental results in the final evaluation report. (orig.)

  19. Initial evaluation of the radioecological situation at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in the Republic of Kazakhstan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voigt, G.; Semiochkina, N.

    1998-01-01

    The Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) located in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Figure 1.1) was one of the major nuclear weapon test sites of the former Soviet Union. At the site, four hundred fifty six nuclear explosions took place between 1949 and 1989 within the STS (Mikhailov et al. 1996; Dubasov et al. 1994a), resulting in radioactive contamination both within and around the STS. Incidences of radiation related illnesses in such areas may be higher than normal levels (Burkhart 1996). Published estimates of the resulting dose to the public vary according to the source, but an independent study (Grosche 1996) indicated that as many as 30,000-40,000 people could have been exposed to an average dose of 1.6 Sv (160 rem) or more (mainly due to short-lived radionuclides such as 131 I). A detailed international assessment of the impact of these tests on the local population has not yet been undertaken. A current investigation under the acronym, RADTEST, includes an evaluation of Semipalatinsk as part of a broad review of internal and external doses to people arising from nuclear tests at many different sites in the world. In the context of the European Commission funded project RESTORE (Restoration Strategy for Radioactive Contaminated Ecosystems) an attempt is being made to assess the present radiolecological situation in the STS. This initial report collates currently available data published in Russian-language literature and internal CIS reports, reports from Europe and the USA, and other international literature. In this initial evaluation, only an overview of published data made available to the RESTORE project is provided and briefly discussed. In addition, further assessments including experimental work are suggested. Additional sources of data will be pursued and will be integrated with experimental results in the final evaluation report. (orig.)

  20. Geological remote sensing signatures of terrestrial impact craters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garvin, J.B.; Schnetzler, C.; Grieve, R.A.F.

    1988-01-01

    Geological remote sensing techniques can be used to investigate structural, depositional, and shock metamorphic effects associated with hypervelocity impact structures, some of which may be linked to global Earth system catastrophies. Although detailed laboratory and field investigations are necessary to establish conclusive evidence of an impact origin for suspected crater landforms, the synoptic perspective provided by various remote sensing systems can often serve as a pathfinder to key deposits which can then be targetted for intensive field study. In addition, remote sensing imagery can be used as a tool in the search for impact and other catastrophic explosion landforms on the basis of localized disruption and anomaly patterns. In order to reconstruct original dimensions of large, complex impact features in isolated, inaccessible regions, remote sensing imagery can be used to make preliminary estimates in the absence of field geophysical surveys. The experienced gained from two decades of planetary remote sensing of impact craters on the terrestrial planets, as well as the techniques developed for recognizing stages of degradation and initial crater morphology, can now be applied to the problem of discovering and studying eroded impact landforms on Earth. Preliminary results of remote sensing analyses of a set of terrestrial impact features in various states of degradation, geologic settings, and for a broad range of diameters and hence energies of formation are summarized. The intention is to develop a database of remote sensing signatures for catastrophic impact landforms which can then be used in EOS-era global surveys as the basis for locating the possibly hundreds of missing impact structures

  1. Remote-controlled optics experiment for supporting senior high school and undergraduate teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choy, S. H.; Jim, K. L.; Mak, C. L.; Leung, C. W.

    2017-08-01

    This paper reports the development of a remote laboratory (RemoteLab) platform for practising technologyenhanced learning of optics. The development of RemoteLab enhances students' understanding of experimental methodologies and outcomes, and enable students to conduct experiments everywhere at all times. While the initial goal of the system was for physics major undergradutes, the sytem was also made available for senior secondary school students. To gauge the impact of the RemoteLab, we evaluated two groups of students, which included 109 physics 1st-year undergraduates and 11 students from a local secondary school. After the experiments, evaluation including questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted to collect data on students' perceptions on RemoteLab and implementation issues related to the platform. The surveys focused on four main topics, including user interface, experiment setup, booking system and learning process. The survey results indicated that most of the participants' views towards RemoteLab was positive.

  2. Remote Sensing

    CERN Document Server

    Khorram, Siamak; Koch, Frank H; van der Wiele, Cynthia F

    2012-01-01

    Remote Sensing provides information on how remote sensing relates to the natural resources inventory, management, and monitoring, as well as environmental concerns. It explains the role of this new technology in current global challenges. "Remote Sensing" will discuss remotely sensed data application payloads and platforms, along with the methodologies involving image processing techniques as applied to remotely sensed data. This title provides information on image classification techniques and image registration, data integration, and data fusion techniques. How this technology applies to natural resources and environmental concerns will also be discussed.

  3. Baited remote underwater video system (BRUVs) survey of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This is the first baited remote underwater video system (BRUVs) survey of the relative abundance, diversity and seasonal distribution of chondrichthyans in False Bay. Nineteen species from 11 families were recorded across 185 sites at between 4 and 49 m depth. Diversity was greatest in summer, on reefs and in shallow ...

  4. The Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM) Initiative in the Nyali-Bamburi-Shanzu Site, Mombasa, Kenya.

    OpenAIRE

    Mwandotto, B.A.J.

    1997-01-01

    A multi-institutional planning team headed by Coast Development Authority (CDA) in Kenya initiated an Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM) process in 1994. The pilot study site was Nyali-Bamburi-Shanzu area in Mombasa. The objective was to provide a starting point for addressing urgent coastal issues facing the area and to enrich the dialogue on how to address urgent coastal management problems nationwide. The pertinent coastal issues that were profiled in a participatory and interactive...

  5. Research Implementation and Quality Assurance Project Plan: An Evaluation of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Technologies for the Detection of Fugitive Contamination at Selected Superfund Hazardous Waste Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slonecker, E. Terrence; Fisher, Gary B.

    2009-01-01

    This project is a research collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Eastern Geographic Science Center (EGSC), for the purpose of evaluating the utility of hyperspectral remote sensing technology for post-closure monitoring of residual contamination at delisted and closed hazardous waste sites as defined under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act [CERCLA (also known as 'Superfund')] of 1980 and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986.

  6. Remote Maintenance Design Guide for Compact Processing Units

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Draper, J.V.

    2000-07-13

    processing radiological contamination. A CPU is a minimally sized operating assemblage of processing equipment that performs a specified function. This technical report details remote maintenance guidelines for a CPU system being built at ORNL to ensure that sludge sent to a waste repository is in the appropriate form for transport through the storage facility pipe lines. The CPU conditions the sludge by (a) reducing the size of particulates that do not meet piping system requirements and (b) preparing the sludge for transport. The CPU has filters, grinders, sensors, valves, and pipes that must be remotely maintained. In the near future, the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), at the Savannah River Site (SRS) is expected to use many CPUs with remote maintenance characteristics similar to those of the ORNL CPU. These guidelines will aid the designers of those systems especially when design encompasses the often-used approach of surveying commercially available hardware and making modifications appropriate for remote operations. This is a cost-effective approach for design of systems for remote maintenance and is the approach that will be used in design of CPU's and remote maintenance equipment.

  7. A review of geothermal mapping techniques using remotely sensed ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Exploiting geothermal (GT) resources requires first and foremost locating suitable areas for its development. Remote sensing offers a synoptic capability of covering large areas in real time and can cost effectively explore prospective geothermal sites not easily detectable using conventional survey methods, thus can aid in ...

  8. Potential for remote sensing of agriculture from the international space station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morgenthaler, George W.; Khatib, Nader

    1999-01-01

    Today's spatial resolution of orbital sensing systems is too coarse to economically serve the yield-improvement/contamination-reduction needs of the small to mid-size farm enterprise. Remote sensing from aircraft is being pressed into service. However, satellite remote sensing constellations with greater resolution and more spectral bands, i.e., with resolutions of 1 m in the panchromatic, 4 m in the multi-spectral, and 8 m in the hyper-spectral are expected to be in orbit by the year 2000. Such systems coupled with Global Positioning System (GPS) capability will make 'precision agriculture', i.e., the identification of specific and timely fertilizer, irrigation, herbicide, and insecticide needs on an acre-by-acre basis and the ability to meet these needs with precision delivery systems at affordable costs, is what is needed and can be achieved. Current plans for remote sensing systems on the International Space Station (ISS) include externally attached payloads and a window observation platform. The planned orbit of the Space Station will result in overflight of a specific latitude and longitude at the same clock time every 3 months. However, a pass over a specific latitude and longitude during 'daylight hours' could occur much more frequently. The ISS might thus be a space platform for experimental and developmental testing of future commercial space remote sensing precision agriculture systems. There is also a need for agricultural 'truth' sites so that predictive crop yield and pollution models can be devised and corrective suggestions delivered to farmers at affordable costs. In Summer 1998, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Center for the Study of Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Atmospheres (CSTEA) at Howard University, under NASA Goddard Space Flight Center funding, established an agricultural 'truth' site in eastern Colorado. The 'truth' site was highly instrumented for measuring trace gas concentrations (NO x , SO x , CO 2 , O 3 , organics

  9. 1999 IEEE international geoscience and remote sensing symposium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-07-01

    The theme of IGARSS'99, ``Remote Sensing of the System Earth--A Challenge for the 21st Century,'' shows how earth observation based on satellite remote sensing can significantly contribute to the future study of the environment and the changes it is undergoing, whether from natural causes or human activities. The wide range of topics offers an interdisciplinary approach and suggests integrated techniques and theory in remote sensing are essential for modeling and understanding the environment. Topics covered include: new instrumentation and future systems; high resolution SAR/InSAR; earth system science educational initiative; data fusion; radar sensing of ice sheets; image processing techniques; clouds and ice particles; internal waves; natural hazards and disaster monitoring; advanced passive and active sensors and sensor calibration; radar assessment of rain, oil spills and natural slicks; data standards and distribution; and vegetation monitoring using BRDF approaches.

  10. Optical Remote Sensing Potentials for Looting Detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Athos Agapiou

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Looting of archaeological sites is illegal and considered a major anthropogenic threat for cultural heritage, entailing undesirable and irreversible damage at several levels, such as landscape disturbance, heritage destruction, and adverse social impact. In recent years, the employment of remote sensing technologies using ground-based and/or space-based sensors has assisted in dealing with this issue. Novel remote sensing techniques have tackled heritage destruction occurring in war-conflicted areas, as well as illicit archeological activity in vast areas of archaeological interest with limited surveillance. The damage performed by illegal activities, as well as the scarcity of reliable information are some of the major concerns that local stakeholders are facing today. This study discusses the potential use of remote sensing technologies based on the results obtained for the archaeological landscape of Ayios Mnason in Politiko village, located in Nicosia district, Cyprus. In this area, more than ten looted tombs have been recorded in the last decade, indicating small-scale, but still systematic, looting. The image analysis, including vegetation indices, fusion, automatic extraction after object-oriented classification, etc., was based on high-resolution WorldView-2 multispectral satellite imagery and RGB high-resolution aerial orthorectified images. Google Earth© images were also used to map and diachronically observe the site. The current research also discusses the potential for wider application of the presented methodology, acting as an early warning system, in an effort to establish a systematic monitoring tool for archaeological areas in Cyprus facing similar threats.

  11. Observations of atmospheric Hg species and depositions in remote areas of China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feng X.

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available From September 2007, we conducted continuous measurements of speciated atmospheric mercury (Hg and atmospheric mercury depositions at five remote sites in China. Four of these sites were involved in the Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS as ground-based stations. These stations were located in the northwest, southwest, northeast, and east part of China, respectively, which represent the regional atmospheric Hg budgets in different areas of China. The preliminary results showed that mean TGM concentrations were in the range of 1.60 – 2.88 ng m-3, with relatively higher levels observed at sites in Eastern China and Southwestern China and lower levels at sites in Northeastern and Northwestern China. TGM concentrations at remote sites of China were also higher than those reported from background sites in North America and Europe, and this is corresponding very well with the Chinese great anthropogenic Hg emissions. Gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM and particulate bounded mercury (PBM were in the ranges of 3.2 – 7.4 pg m−3 and 19.4 – 43.5 pg m-3, respectively. The preliminary result on precipitation showed mean precipitation THg concentrations were in the range of 2.7 – 18.0 ng L-1.

  12. Challenges for remote monitoring and control of small reactors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trask, D., E-mail: traskd@aecl.ca [Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Fredericton, New Brunswick (Canada)

    2013-07-01

    This paper considers a model for small, unmanned, remotely located reactors and discusses the ensuing cyber security and operational challenges for monitoring and control and how these challenges might be overcome through some of AECL's research initiatives and experience. (author)

  13. Remote sensing education and Internet/World Wide Web technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffith, J.A.; Egbert, S.L.

    2001-01-01

    Remote sensing education is increasingly in demand across academic and professional disciplines. Meanwhile, Internet technology and the World Wide Web (WWW) are being more frequently employed as teaching tools in remote sensing and other disciplines. The current wealth of information on the Internet and World Wide Web must be distilled, nonetheless, to be useful in remote sensing education. An extensive literature base is developing on the WWW as a tool in education and in teaching remote sensing. This literature reveals benefits and limitations of the WWW, and can guide its implementation. Among the most beneficial aspects of the Web are increased access to remote sensing expertise regardless of geographic location, increased access to current material, and access to extensive archives of satellite imagery and aerial photography. As with other teaching innovations, using the WWW/Internet may well mean more work, not less, for teachers, at least at the stage of early adoption. Also, information posted on Web sites is not always accurate. Development stages of this technology range from on-line posting of syllabi and lecture notes to on-line laboratory exercises and animated landscape flyovers and on-line image processing. The advantages of WWW/Internet technology may likely outweigh the costs of implementing it as a teaching tool.

  14. Integrated remotely sensed datasets for disaster management

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, Timothy; Farrell, Ronan; Curtis, Andrew; Fotheringham, A. Stewart

    2008-10-01

    Video imagery can be acquired from aerial, terrestrial and marine based platforms and has been exploited for a range of remote sensing applications over the past two decades. Examples include coastal surveys using aerial video, routecorridor infrastructures surveys using vehicle mounted video cameras, aerial surveys over forestry and agriculture, underwater habitat mapping and disaster management. Many of these video systems are based on interlaced, television standards such as North America's NTSC and European SECAM and PAL television systems that are then recorded using various video formats. This technology has recently being employed as a front-line, remote sensing technology for damage assessment post-disaster. This paper traces the development of spatial video as a remote sensing tool from the early 1980s to the present day. The background to a new spatial-video research initiative based at National University of Ireland, Maynooth, (NUIM) is described. New improvements are proposed and include; low-cost encoders, easy to use software decoders, timing issues and interoperability. These developments will enable specialists and non-specialists collect, process and integrate these datasets within minimal support. This integrated approach will enable decision makers to access relevant remotely sensed datasets quickly and so, carry out rapid damage assessment during and post-disaster.

  15. In-vessel remote maintenance of the Compact Ignition Tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabor, M.A.; Hager, E.R.; Creedon, R.L.; Fisher, M.V.; Atkin, S.D.

    1987-01-01

    The Compact Ignition Tokamak (CIT) is the first deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion device that will study the physics of an ignited plasma. The ability of the tokamak vacuum vessel to be maintained remotely while under vacuum has not been fully demonstrated on previous machines, and this ability will be critical to the efficient and safe operation of ignition devices. Although manned entry into the CIT vacuum vessel will be possible during the nonactivated stages of operation, remotely automated equipment will be used to assist in initial assembly of the vessel as well as to maintain all in-vessel components once the D-T burn is achieved. Remote maintenance and operation will be routinely required for replacement of thermal protection tiles, inspection of components, leak detection, and repair welding activities. Conceptual design to support these remote maintenance activities has been integrated with the conceptual design of the in-vessel components to provide a complete and practical remote maintenance system for CIT. The primary remote assembly and maintenance operations on CIT will be accomplished through two dedicated 37- x 100-cm ports on the main toroidal vessel. Each port contains a single articulated boom manipulator (ABM), which is capable of accessing half of the torus. The proposed ABM consists of a movable carriage assembly, telescoping two-part mast, and articulated link sections. 1 ref

  16. The role of dislocation channeling in IASCC initiation of neutron irradiated stainless steel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stephenson, Kale J., E-mail: kalejs@umich.edu; Was, Gary S.

    2016-12-01

    This study intended to understand how dislocation channeling affects IASCC initiation using a novel four-point bend test. Stainless steels used in this study (irradiated in the BOR-60 reactor) included a commercial purity 304L alloy irradiated to 5.5, 10.2, and 47.5 dpa, and two high purity alloys, Fe−18Cr−12Ni and Fe−18Cr−25Ni, irradiated to ∼10 dpa. IASCC was enhanced by MnS inclusions, which dissolve in the NWC environment and form oxide caps, creating a crevice condition with a high propensity for crack initiation. Stress concentration at the grain boundary intersecting these sites induced crack initiation, resulting from discontinuous dislocation channels (DC). Stress to initiate IASCC decreased with dose due to earlier DC initiation. The HP Fe−18Cr−12Ni alloy had low IASCC susceptibility and the high Ni alloy did not crack. The difference was attributed to the propensity for DCs to transmit across grain boundaries, which controls stress accumulation at DC – grain boundary intersections. - Highlights: • MnS inclusions enhance susceptibility to IASCC initiation. • Local stress (typically caused by an intersecting dislocation channel) was required to cause cracking at a MnS inclusion. • The remotely applied stress at which IASCC initiation occurred decreased with increasing irradiation dose. • IASCC resistant alloys were more likely to transmit dislocation channels across grain boundaries.

  17. Economical wind powered bioventing systems successfully applied at remote locations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Graves, D.; Wilson, B.; Walker, K.

    1996-01-01

    Wind-powered bioventing systems were designed to operate at remote locations in the absence of electrical power. Laboratory measurements of soil respiration under bioventing conditions indicated the biodegradation of up to 25 mg of weathered diesel per kg of site soil per day. Further testing demonstrated the potential for harnessing wind-power to stimulate air movement through vadose zone soil. Several wind-powered bioventing systems were installed near Nome, Alaska. In situ respiration tests, soil gas composition measurements and measurable pressure changes in the soil indicated that the systems were capable of aerating the soil. Diesel range oil measurements indicated contaminant reductions up to 90% after only two treatments seasons. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of wind-powered biovents. The low cost, low maintenance, and simplicity of the biovents make them a very attractive treatment option for windy, remote sites with unsaturated soil impacted by biodegradable contaminants

  18. Tools for remote collaboration on the DIII-D national fusion facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McHarg, B.B. Jr.; Greenwood, D.

    1999-01-01

    The DIII-D national fusion facility, a tokamak experiment funded by the US Department of Energy and operated by General Atomics (GA), is an international resource for plasma physics and fusion energy science research. This facility has a long history of collaborations with scientists from a wide variety of laboratories and universities from around the world. That collaboration has mostly been conducted by travel to and participation at the DIII-D site. Many new developments in the computing and technology fields are now facilitating collaboration from remote sites, thus reducing some of the needs to travel to the experiment. Some of these developments include higher speed wide area networks, powerful workstations connected within a distributed computing environment, network based audio/video capabilities, and the use of the world wide web. As the number of collaborators increases, the need for remote tools become important options to efficiently utilize the DIII-D facility. In the last two years a joint study by GA, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has introduced remote collaboration tools into the DIII-D environment and studied their effectiveness. These tools have included the use of audio/video for communication from the DIII-D control room, the broadcast of meetings, use of inter-process communication software to post events to the network during a tokamak shot, the creation of a DCE (distributed computing environment) cell for creating a common collaboratory environment, distributed use of computer cycles, remote data access, and remote display of results. This study also included sociological studies of how scientists in this environment work together as well as apart. (orig.)

  19. Sustainable Energy in Remote Indonesian Grids. Accelerating Project Development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hirsch, Brian [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Burman, Kari [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Davidson, Carolyn [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Elchinger, Michael [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hardison, R. [Winrock International, Little Rock, AR (United States); Karsiwulan, D. [Winrock International, Little Rock, AR (United States); Castermans, B. [Winrock International, Little Rock, AR (United States)

    2015-06-30

    Sustainable Energy for Remote Indonesian Grids (SERIG) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded initiative to support Indonesia’s efforts to develop clean energy and increase access to electricity in remote locations throughout the country. With DOE support, the SERIG implementation team consists of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Winrock International’s Jakarta, Indonesia office. Through technical assistance that includes techno-economic feasibility evaluation for selected projects, government-to-government coordination, infrastructure assessment, stakeholder outreach, and policy analysis, SERIG seeks to provide opportunities for individual project development and a collective framework for national replication office.

  20. Remote-Handled Transuranic Content Codes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Washington TRU Solutions

    2006-12-01

    The Remote-Handled Transuranic (RH-TRU) Content Codes (RH-TRUCON) document describes the inventory of RH-TRU waste within the transportation parameters specified by the Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Authorized Methods for Payload Control (RH-TRAMPAC).1 The RH-TRAMPAC defines the allowable payload for the RH-TRU 72-B. This document is a catalog of RH-TRU 72-B authorized contents by site. A content code is defined by the following components: • A two-letter site abbreviation that designates the physical location of the generated/stored waste (e.g., ID for Idaho National Laboratory [INL]). The site-specific letter designations for each of the sites are provided in Table 1. • A three-digit code that designates the physical and chemical form of the waste (e.g., content code 317 denotes TRU Metal Waste). For RH-TRU waste to be transported in the RH-TRU 72-B, the first number of this three-digit code is “3.” The second and third numbers of the three-digit code describe the physical and chemical form of the waste. Table 2 provides a brief description of each generic code. Content codes are further defined as subcodes by an alpha trailer after the three-digit code to allow segregation of wastes that differ in one or more parameter(s). For example, the alpha trailers of the subcodes ID 322A and ID 322B may be used to differentiate between waste packaging configurations. As detailed in the RH-TRAMPAC, compliance with flammable gas limits may be demonstrated through the evaluation of compliance with either a decay heat limit or flammable gas generation rate (FGGR) limit per container specified in approved content codes. As applicable, if a container meets the watt*year criteria specified by the RH-TRAMPAC, the decay heat limits based on the dose-dependent G value may be used as specified in an approved content code. If a site implements the administrative controls outlined in the RH-TRAMPAC and Appendix 2.4 of the RH-TRU Payload Appendices, the decay heat or FGGR

  1. eHealth for Remote Regions: Findings from Central Asia Health Systems Strengthening Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sajwani, Afroz; Qureshi, Kiran; Shaikh, Tehniat; Sayani, Saleem

    2015-01-01

    Isolated communities in remote regions of Afghanistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan and Tajikistan lack access to high-quality, low-cost health care services, forcing them to travel to distant parts of the country, bearing an unnecessary financial burden. The eHealth Programme under Central Asia Health Systems Strengthening (CAHSS) Project, a joint initiative between the Aga Khan Foundation, Canada and the Government of Canada, was initiated in 2013 with the aim to utilize Information and Communication Technologies to link health care institutions and providers with rural communities to provide comprehensive and coordinated care, helping minimize the barriers of distance and time. Under the CAHSS Project, access to low-cost, quality health care is provided through a regional hub and spoke teleconsultation network of government and non-government health facilities. In addition, capacity building initiatives are offered to health professionals. By 2017, the network is expected to connect seven Tier 1 tertiary care facilities with 14 Tier 2 secondary care facilities for teleconsultation and eLearning. From April 2013 to September 2014, 6140 teleconsultations have been provided across the project sites. Additionally, 52 new eLearning sessions have been developed and 2020 staff members have benefitted from eLearning sessions. Ethics and patient rights are respected during project implementation.

  2. Effect of remote clouds on surface UV irradiance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deguenther, M.; Meerkoetter, R. [Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Wessling (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik der Atmosphaere

    2000-06-01

    Clouds affect local surface UV irradiance, even if the horizontal distance from the radiation observation site amounts to several kilometers. In order to investigate this effect, which we call remote clouds effect, a 3-dimensional radiative transfer model is applied. Assuming the atmosphere is subdivided into a quadratic based sector and its surrounding, we quantify the influence of changing cloud coverage within this surrounding from 0% to 100% on surface UV irradiance at the sector center. To work out this remote clouds influence as a function of sector base size, we made some calculations for different sizes between 10 km x 10 km and 100 km x 100 km. It appears that in the case of small sectors (base size {<=}20 km x 20 km) the remote clouds effect is highly variable: Depending on cloud structure, solar zenith angle and wavelength, the surface UV irradiance may be enhanced up to 15% as well as reduced by more than 50%. In contrast, for larger sectors it is always the case that enhancements become smaller by 5% if sector base size exceeds 60 km x 60 km. However, these values are upper estimates of the remote cloud effects and they are found only for special cloud structures. Since these structures might occur but cannot be regarded as typical, different satellite observed cloud formations (horizontal resolution about 1 km x 1 km) have also been investigated. For these more common cloud distributions we find remote cloud effects to be distinctly smaller than the corresponding upper estimates, e.g., for a sector with base size of 25 km x 25 km the surface UV irradiance error due to ignoring the actual remote clouds and replacing their influence with periodic horizontal boundary conditions is less than 3%, whereas the upper estimate of remote clouds effect would suggest an error close to 10%. (orig.)

  3. Development of a remote spectroelectrochemical sensor for technetium as pertechnetate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monk, David James

    Subsurface contamination by technetium (Tc) is of particular concern in the monitoring, characterization, and remediation of underground nuclear waste storage tanks, processing areas, and associated surroundings at the Hanford Site and other U.S. DOE sites nationwide. The concern over this radioactive element arises for two reasons. First, its most common isotope, 99Tc, has an extremely long lifetime of 2.15 x 105 years. Second, it's most common chemical form in environmental conditions, pertechnetate (TcO4-), exhibits very fast migration through soils and readily presents itself to any nearby aquifer. Standard procedures of sampling and analysis in a laboratory prove to be slow and costly in the case of subsurface contamination by radioactive materials. It is highly desirable to develop sensors for these materials that possess the capability of either in-situ or on-site placement for continuous monitoring or immediate analysis of collected samples. These sensors need to possess adequate detection limit and selectivity, rapid response, reversibility (many measurements with one sensor), the ability to perform remotely, and ruggedness. This dissertation describes several areas of the continued work toward a sensor for 99Tc as TcO4-. Research initially focused on developing spectroelectrochemical instrumentation and a disposable sensing element, engineered to address the need to perform remote measurements. The instrument was then tested using samples containing 99Tc, resulting in the development of ancillary equipment and techniques to address concerns associated with performing experiments on radioactive materials. In these tests, the electrochemistry of TcO4 - was demonstrated to be irreversible. Electrochemical reduction of TcO4- on a bare or polymer modified electrode resulted in the continuous build up of technetium oxide (TcO2) on the electrode surface. This TcO2 formed in visual quantities in these films during electrochemistry, and proved to be non-ideal for

  4. Remote data access in computational jobs on the ATLAS data grid

    CERN Document Server

    Begy, Volodimir; The ATLAS collaboration; Lassnig, Mario

    2018-01-01

    This work describes the technique of remote data access from computational jobs on the ATLAS data grid. In comparison to traditional data movement and stage-in approaches it is well suited for data transfers which are asynchronous with respect to the job execution. Hence, it can be used for optimization of data access patterns based on various policies. In this study, remote data access is realized with the HTTP and WebDAV protocols, and is investigated in the context of intra- and inter-computing site data transfers. In both cases, the typical scenarios for application of remote data access are identified. The paper also presents an analysis of parameters influencing the data goodput between heterogeneous storage element - worker node pairs on the grid.

  5. Characterization of Seismic Noise at Selected Non-Urban Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-01

    Field sites for seismic recordings: Scottish moor (upper left), Enfield, NH (upper right), and vicinity of Keele, England (bottom). ERDC...three sites. The sites are: a wind farm on a remote moor in Scotland, a ~13 acre field bounded by woods in a rural Enfield, NH neigh- borhood, and a site...in a rural Enfield, NH, neighborhood, and a site transitional from developed land to farmland within 1 km of the six-lane M6 motorway near Keele

  6. Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Landfill (waste Disposal) Site Selection and Environmental Impacts Assessment around Mysore City, Karnataka, India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basavarajappa, T. H.

    2012-07-01

    a suitable methodology was developed. The feasibility of site selection in the study area based on different criteria was used to obtain the layered data by integrating Remote Sensing and GIS. This methodology is suitable for all practical applications in other cities, also.

  7. Constraint map for landfill site selection in Akure Metropolis ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    An integration of remote sensing, soil type, geological, geoelectrical, hydrogeological and geotechnical data was carried out in a GIS environment with a view to developing a constraint map for the location of landfill (waste disposal) site(s) in Akure, Metropolis.. Geomorphological features identified from satellite images ...

  8. Ground-based Fabry-Perot interferometry of the terrestrial nightglow with a bare charge-coupled device; Remote field site deployment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niciejewski, R.; Killeen, T.L.; Turnbull, M.

    1994-01-01

    The application of Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) to the study of upper atmosphere thermodynamics has largely been restricted by the very low light levels in the terrestrial airglow as well as the limited range in wavelength of photomultiplier tube (PMT) technology. During the past decade, the development of the scientific grade charge-coupled device (CCD) has progressed to the stage in which the detector has become the logical replacement for the PMT. Small fast microcomputers have made it possible to ''upgrade'' the remote field sites which bare CCDs and not only retain the previous capabilities of the existing FPIs but expand the data coverage in both temporal and wavelength domains. The problems encountered and the solutions applied to the deployment of a bare CCD, with data acquisition and image reduction techniques, are discussed. Sample geophysical data determined from the FPI fringe profiles are shown for stations at Peach Mountain, Michigan, and Watson Lake, Yukon Territory

  9. Influence of Noises on Remote State Preparation Using GHZ State

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liang Huaqiu; Liu Jinming

    2008-01-01

    Using a quantum channel consisting of a GHZ state exposed to noisy environment, we investigate how to remotely prepare an entangled state and a qubit state, respectively. By solving the master equation in the Lindblad form, the influence of the various types of noises on the GHZ state is first discussed. Then we use the fidelity to describe how close the remotely prepared state and the initial state are. Our results show that the fidelity is a function of the decoherence rates and the angles of the initial state. It is found that for each of the two RSP schemes, the influence of the noise acting simultaneously in x, y, and z directions on the average fidelity is the strongest while the influence of the noise acting in x or z direction on the average fidelity is relatively weaker

  10. Identification of archaeological sites from space

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Sathe, P.V.; Gaur, A.S.

    It is well known that remote sensing is the only non-destructive method of earth's exploration. Archaeologists particular can not preserve a site as well as study it through ground-based methods. The aim of the present paper is to familiarize...

  11. Communication network for decentralized remote tele-science during the Spacelab mission IML-2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christ, Uwe; Schulz, Klaus-Juergen; Incollingo, Marco

    1994-01-01

    The ESA communication network for decentralized remote telescience during the Spacelab mission IML-2, called Interconnection Ground Subnetwork (IGS), provided data, voice conferencing, video distribution/conferencing and high rate data services to 5 remote user centers in Europe. The combination of services allowed the experimenters to interact with their experiments as they would normally do from the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) at MSFC. In addition, to enhance their science results, they were able to make use of reference facilities and computing resources in their home laboratory, which typically are not available in the POCC. Characteristics of the IML-2 communications implementation were the adaptation to the different user needs based on modular service capabilities of IGS and the cost optimization for the connectivity. This was achieved by using a combination of traditional leased lines, satellite based VSAT connectivity and N-ISDN according to the simulation and mission schedule for each remote site. The central management system of IGS allows minimization of staffing and the involvement of communications personnel at the remote sites. The successful operation of IGS for IML-2 as a precursor network for the Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) has proven the concept for communications to support the operation of the COF decentralized scenario.

  12. Assessment of Effectiveness of Geologic Isolation Systems: REFERENCE SITE INITIAL ASSESSMENT FOR A SALT DOME REPOSITORY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harwell, M. A.; Brandstetter, A.; Benson, G. L.; Raymond, J. R.; Brandley, D. J.; Serne, R. J.; Soldat, J. K.; Cole, C. R.; Deutsch, W. J.; Gupta, S. K.; Harwell, C. C.; Napier, B. A.; Reisenauer, A. E.; Prater, L. S.; Simmons, C. S.; Strenge, D. L.; Washburn, J. F.; Zellmer, J. T.

    1982-06-01

    As a methodology demonstration for the Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (ONWI), the Assessment of Effectiveness of Geologic Isolation Systems (AEGIS) Program conducted an initial reference site analysis of the long-term effectiveness of a salt dome repository. The Hainesville Salt Dome in Texas was chosen to be representative of the Gulf Coast interior salt domes; however, the Hainesville Site has been eliminated as a possible nuclear waste repository site. The data used for this exercise are not adequate for an actual assessment, nor have all the parametric analyses been made that would adequately characterize the response of the geosystem surrounding the repository. Additionally, because this was the first exercise of the complete AEGIS and WASTE Rock Interaction Technology (WRIT) methodology, this report provides the initial opportunity for the methodology, specifically applied to a site, to be reviewed by the community outside the AEGIS. The scenario evaluation, as a part of the methodology demonstration, involved consideration of a large variety of potentially disruptive phenomena, which alone or in concert could lead to a breach in a salt dome repository and to a subsequent transport of the radionuclides to the environment. Without waste- and repository-induced effects, no plausible natural geologic events or processes which would compromise the repository integrity could be envisioned over the one-million-year time frame after closure. Near-field (waste- and repository-induced) effects were excluded from consideration in this analysis, but they can be added in future analyses when that methodology development is more complete. The potential for consequential human intrusion into salt domes within a million-year time frame led to the consideration of a solution mining intrusion scenario. The AEGIS staff developed a specific human intrusion scenario at 100 years and 1000 years post-closure, which is one of a whole suite of possible scenarios. This scenario

  13. Reactor siting risk comparisons related to recommendations of NUREG-0625

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barsell, A.W.; Dombek, F.S.; Orvis, D.D.

    1980-11-01

    This document evaluates how implementing the remote siting recommendations for nuclear reactors (NUREG-0625) made by the Siting Policy Task Force of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) can reduce potential public risk. The document analyzes how population density affects site-specific risk for both light water reactors (LWRs) and high-temperature gas-cooled reactors

  14. Design of remote handled process assemblies for the process facility modifications project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smets, J.L.; Ajifu, D.A.

    1987-01-01

    The modular design philosophy for the process facility modification project utilizes an integrated design of components to facilitate operations and maintenance of nuclear fuel reprocessing equipment in a hot cell environment. The utilization of a matrix of remoteable base frames combines with process equipment designed as remote assemblies and sub-assemblies has simplified the overall design. Modularity will allow future flexibility while providing advantages for construction and maintenance in the initial installation

  15. Mapping of RNA initiation sites by high doses of uv iradiation: evidence for three independent promoters within the left 11% of the Ad-2 genome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, M.C.; Fraser, N.W.; Darnell, J.E. Jr.

    1979-01-01

    Cells infected with Ad-2 virus were irradiated so that uv-induced lesions were introduced every 500 to 1000 nucleotides in the genomes, consequently leading to the premature termination of RNA transcription. Such cells when labeled with [ 3 H]uridine accumulate labeled promoter proximal RNA. Hybridization of this RNA after size fractionation to restriction fragments of the Ad-2 genome allowed the identification of DNA sequences containing active RNA initiation sites. Early during the infectious cycle two active RNA initiation sites were found within the left 11% of the Ad-2 genome within the 0 to 3.0 and 4.4 to 8.0 restriction fragments. During late infection (15 hr) an additional uv resistant transcript was detected indicating that a newly activated RNA initiation site, presumably for protein IX, resides within the fragment 8.0 to 11.2

  16. Bunker C tank cars derailment in remote region of Labrador

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tinto, I.; Preziosi, L.

    1995-01-01

    Methods of cleaning up following a 1994 train derailment involving six Bunker C tank cars in a remote region of Labrador were described. 345,000 litres of Bunker C spilled in a ditch, through a culvert and into a section of the Summit River. Methods used in the reclamation of the bunker oil from the tank cars, from inside the culvert, and from the bottom of the Summit River were also reviewed.Principal problems encountered in the clean-up included severe winter conditions, remoteness of the spill site, and the onset of spring breakup. 3 figs., 3 tabs

  17. DEVELOPMENT OF REMOTE HANFORD CONNECTOR GASKET REPLACEMENT TOOLING FOR THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE'S DEFENSE WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krementz, D

    2007-01-01

    The Savannah River Site's (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) requested development of tooling for remote replacement of gaskets in mechanical Hanford connectors. The facility has compressed air supply, two master-slave manipulators (MSM's) and a lightweight robotic arm for operation of the remote tools. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) developed and tested multiple tools to perform the gasket replacement tasks. Separate pneumatic snap-ring removal tools that use the connector skirt as a reaction surface were developed for removal of the snap ring and spent gasket on both vertical and horizontal Hanford connectors. A pneumatic tool that clamps and centers on the jumper pipe ID was developed to simultaneously install the new gasket and snap ring. A pneumatic snap-ring-loading tool was developed that compresses the snap ring and places it in a groove in the installation tool. All of the tools are located on a custom work table with a pneumatic valve station that directs compressed air to the desired tool and vents the tools as needed. The entire system has been successfully tested using MSM's to manipulate the various tools. Deployment of the entire system is expected during FY08. The Hanford connector gasket replacement tooling has been successfully tested using MSM's to manipulate the various tools. Nitric acid is used in many of the decontamination processes performed in the REDC, where the tooling will be deployed. Although most of the tool components were fabricated/purchased with nitric acid and radioactive service in mind, some of the prototype parts must be replaced with parts that are more compatible with nitric acid/radioactive service. Several modifications to the various tools are needed to facilitate maintenance and replacement of failed components. Development of installation tools for replacement of 1-inch, 2-inch and multi-hole gaskets is being considered. Deployment of the existing system in the DWPF REDC is expected during FY

  18. The siting of nuclear power stations in Britain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wright, H.A.

    1975-01-01

    It is a fundamental precept that all prudent precautions should be taken. The secondary contribution to public safety derived by a proper choice of site must therefore be utilised. A siting policy should limit the choice of site but give the Utility sufficient freedom of choice to enable the more remote sites to be available for the adoption of new reactor types. For a significant release few people should be affected sufficiently to require evacuation, and account must also be taken of population centres possibly up to 20 miles from the site. (orig.) [de

  19. Intercomparison of Remotely Sensed Vegetation Indices, Ground Spectroscopy, and Foliar Chemistry Data from NEON

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulslander, D.; Warren, J. N.; Weintraub, S. R.

    2017-12-01

    Hyperspectral imaging systems can be used to produce spectral reflectance curves giving rich information about composition, relative abundances of materials, mixes and combinations. Indices based on just a few spectral bands have been used for over 40 years to study vegetation health, mineral abundance, and more. These indices are much simpler to visualize and use than a full hyperspectral data set which may contain over 400 bands. Yet historically, it has been difficult to directly relate remotely sensed spectral indices to quantitative biophysical properties significant to forest ecology such as canopy nitrogen, lignin, and chlorophyll. This linkage is a critical piece in enabling the detection of high value ecological information, usually only available from labor-intensive canopy foliar chemistry sampling, to the geographic and temporal coverage available via remote sensing. Previous studies have shown some promising results linking ground-based data and remotely sensed indices, but are consistently limited in time, geographic extent, and land cover type. Moreover, previous studies are often focused on tuning linkage algorithms for the purpose of achieving good results for only one study site or one type of vegetation, precluding development of more generalized algorithms. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a unique system of 47 terrestrial sites covering all of the major eco-climatic domains of the US, including AK, HI, and Puerto Rico. These sites are regularly monitored and sampled using uniform instrumentation and protocols, including both foliar chemistry sampling and remote sensing flights for high resolution hyperspectral, LiDAR, and digital camera data acquisition. In this study we compare the results of foliar chemistry analysis to the remote sensing vegetation indices and investigate possible sources for variance and difference through the use of the larger hyperspectral dataset as well as ground based spectrometer measurements of

  20. The use of UAVs to monitor archeological sites: the case study of Choirokoitia within the PROTHEGO project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Themistocleous, K.

    2017-09-01

    PROTHEGO (PROTection of European Cultural HEritage from GeO-hazards) is a collaborative research project funded in the framework of the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPICH) - Heritage Plus in 2015-2018 (www.prothego.eu). PROTHEGO aims to make an innovative contribution towards the analysis of geo-hazards in areas of cultural heritage, and uses novel space technology for the management of sites and world heritage monuments located throughout Europe, using specialized remote sensing techniques. Τhe methodology will include the 395 monuments of UNESCO in Europe, with case studies conducted in 4 UNESCO sites in England, Spain, Italy and Cyprus. For the Cyprus case study in Choirokoitia, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are used to monitor and assess the risk from natural hazards on the archaeological site to evaluate cultural heritage sites deformation. The UAVs were flown over the study area to produce time-series data, including orthoimages, 3D models and digital elevation models of the Choirokoitia site in order to identify changes in the area caused by natural hazards.

  1. Remote control and data processing for measurement of radiation dose

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Yu; Luo Yisheng; Guo Yong; Ji Gang; Wang Xinggong; Zhang Hong; Zhang Wenzhong

    2004-01-01

    Objective: To protect the workers from the reactor radiation and to improve the accuracy and efficiency of neutron dose measurement. Methods: With the application of remote control technology, a remote control and automatic measurement system for radiation dose measurement(especially for neutron dose) was set up. A Model 6517A electrometer was operated all automatically over RS-232 serial interface using SCPI commands with a computer. Results: The workers could stay far from the reactor and be able to control the portable computer in site though internet or LAN and then to control the 6517A electrometer to implement the dose measurement. After the measurement, the data were transferred to the remote computer near the workers and shared by many experts at the first time through the net. Conclusion: This is the first time that the remote control technology is applied in radiation dose measurement, which has so far been considered can only be performed at a near place. This new system can meet the need of neutron radiobiology researches as well as of the safety and health of the workers. (author)

  2. Modeling time to recovery and initiating event frequency for loss of off-site power incidents at nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iman, R.L.; Hora, S.C.

    1988-01-01

    Industry data representing the time to recovery of loss of off-site power at nuclear power plants for 63 incidents caused by plant-centered losses, grid losses, or severe weather losses are fit with exponential, lognormal, gamma and Weibull probability models. A Bayesian analysis is used to compare the adequacy of each of these models and to provide uncertainty bounds on each of the fitted models. A composite model that combines the probability models fitted to each of the three sources of data is presented as a method for predicting the time to recovery of loss of off-site power. The composite model is very general and can be made site specific by making adjustments on the models used, such as might occur due to the type of switchyard configuration or type of grid, and by adjusting the weights on the individual models, such as might occur with weather conditions existing at a particular plant. Adjustments in the composite model are shown for different models used for switchyard configuration and for different weights due to weather. Bayesian approaches are also presented for modeling the frequency of initiating events leading to loss of off-site power. One Bayesian model assumes that all plants share a common incidence rate for loss of off-site power, while the other Bayesian approach models the incidence rate for each plant relative to the incidence rates of all other plants. Combining the Bayesian models for the frequency of the initiating events with the composite Bayesian model for recovery provides the necessary vehicle for a complete model that incorporates uncertainty into a probabilistic risk assessment

  3. Nevada Test Site Environmental Report 2005, Attachment A - Site Description

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cathy A. Wills

    2006-01-01

    This appendix to the ''Nevada Test Site Environmental Report 2005'', dated October 2006 (DOE/NV/11718--1214; DOE/NV/25946--007) expands on the general description of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) presented in the Introduction. Included are subsections that summarize the site?s geological, hydrological, climatological, and ecological setting. The cultural resources of the NTS are also presented. The subsections are meant to aid the reader in understanding the complex physical and biological environment of the NTS. An adequate knowledge of the site's environment is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of new projects, design and implement environmental monitoring activities for current site operations, and assess the impacts of site operations on the public residing in the vicinity of the NTS. The NTS environment contributes to several key features of the site which afford protection to the inhabitants of adjacent areas from potential exposure to radioactivity or other contaminants resulting from NTS operations. These key features include the general remote location of the NTS, restricted access, extended wind transport times, the great depths to slow-moving groundwater, little or no surface water, and low population density. This appendix complements the annual summary of monitoring program activities and dose assessments presented in the main body of this report

  4. Nevada Test Site Environmental Report 2005, Attachment A - Site Description

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cathy A. Wills

    2006-10-01

    This appendix to the ''Nevada Test Site Environmental Report 2005'', dated October 2006 (DOE/NV/11718--1214; DOE/NV/25946--007) expands on the general description of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) presented in the Introduction. Included are subsections that summarize the site?s geological, hydrological, climatological, and ecological setting. The cultural resources of the NTS are also presented. The subsections are meant to aid the reader in understanding the complex physical and biological environment of the NTS. An adequate knowledge of the site's environment is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of new projects, design and implement environmental monitoring activities for current site operations, and assess the impacts of site operations on the public residing in the vicinity of the NTS. The NTS environment contributes to several key features of the site which afford protection to the inhabitants of adjacent areas from potential exposure to radioactivity or other contaminants resulting from NTS operations. These key features include the general remote location of the NTS, restricted access, extended wind transport times, the great depths to slow-moving groundwater, little or no surface water, and low population density. This appendix complements the annual summary of monitoring program activities and dose assessments presented in the main body of this report.

  5. Automatic remote communication system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamamoto, Yoichi

    1990-05-01

    The Upgraded RECOVER (Remote Continual Verification) system is a communication system for remote continual verification of security and safeguards status of nuclear material in principal nuclear facilities. The system is composed of a command center and facility sub-systems. A command center is a mini-computer system to process C/S (Containment and Surveillance) status data. Facility sub-systems consists of OSM (On-site Multiplexer), MU (Monitoring Unit) and C/S sensor. The system uses public telephone network for communication between a command center and facility sub-systems, and it encrypts communication data to prevent falsification and wiretapping by unauthorized persons. This system inherits the design principle of RECOVER system that was tested by IAEA before. We upgraded and expanded its capabilities more than those of RECOVER. The development of this system began in 1983, and it finished in 1987. Performance tests of the system were carried out since 1987. It showed a farely good result with some indications which should need further improvements. The Upgraded RECOVER system provides timely information about the status of C/S systems, which could contribute to the reduction of inspection effort and the improvement of cost performance. (author)

  6. Nasa's Land Remote Sensing Plans for the 1980's

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higg, H. C.; Butera, K. M.; Settle, M.

    1985-01-01

    Research since the launch of LANDSAT-1 has been primarily directed to the development of analysis techniques and to the conduct of applications studies designed to address resource information needs in the United States and in many other countries. The current measurement capabilities represented by MSS, TM, and SIR-A and B, coupled with the present level of remote sensing understanding and the state of knowledge in the discipline earth sciences, form the foundation for NASA's Land Processes Program. Science issues to be systematically addressed include: energy balance, hydrologic cycle, biogeochemical cycles, biological productivity, rock cycle, landscape development, geological and botanical associations, and land surface inventory, monitoring, and modeling. A global perspective is required for using remote sensing technology for problem solving or applications context. A successful model for this kind of activity involves joint research with a user entity where the user provides a test site and ground truth and NASA provides the remote sensing techniques to be tested.

  7. Remote Research

    CERN Document Server

    Tulathimutte, Tony

    2011-01-01

    Remote studies allow you to recruit subjects quickly, cheaply, and immediately, and give you the opportunity to observe users as they behave naturally in their own environment. In Remote Research, Nate Bolt and Tony Tulathimutte teach you how to design and conduct remote research studies, top to bottom, with little more than a phone and a laptop.

  8. Remote operations and interactions for systems of arbitrary-dimensional Hilbert space: State-operator approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reznik, Benni; Groisman, Berry; Aharonov, Yakir

    2002-01-01

    We present a systematic simple method for constructing deterministic remote operations on single and multiple systems of arbitrary discrete dimensionality. These operations include remote rotations, remote interactions, and measurements. The resources needed for an operation on a two-level system are one ebit and a bidirectional communication of two cbits, and for an n-level system, a pair of entangled n-level particles and two classical 'nits'. In the latter case, there are n-1 possible distinct operations per n-level entangled pair. Similar results apply for generating interaction between a pair of remote systems, while for remote measurements only one-directional classical communication is needed. We further consider remote operations on N spatially distributed systems, and show that the number of possible distinct operations increases here exponentially, with the available number of entangled pairs that are initially distributed between the systems. Our results follow from the properties of a hybrid state-operator object (stator), which describes quantum correlations between states and operations

  9. NASA's Indigenous Capacity Building Initiative: Balancing Traditional Knowledge and Existing Remote Sensing Training to Inform Management Decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCullum, A. J. K.; Schmidt, C.; Palacios, S. L.; Ly, V.

    2017-12-01

    NASA's Indigenous Capacity Building Initiative is aimed to provide remote sensing training, mentoring, and research opportunities to the indigenous community. A key programmatic goal is the co-production of place-based trainings where participants have the opportunity to address specific natural resource research and management issues facing their tribal lands. Three primary strategies have been adopted to engage with our tribal partners, these include: (1) the use of existing tribal networks and conferences such as the National Tribal GIS Conference, (2) coordination with other federal agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and tribal liaisons at regional Climate Science Centers, and (3) connecting with tribes directly. Regional partner visits with tribes, such as meetings with the Samish Indian Nation, are integral to cultivate trusting, collaborative, and sustained partnerships and an understanding of how Earth Observations can be applied to the unique set of challenges and goals each tribe faces. As the program continues to grow, we aim to increase our incorporation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) into technical methods and to develop trainings tailored to thematic areas of interest to specific tribes. Engagement and feedback are encouraged to refine our approaches to increase capacity within the indigenous community to utilize NASA Earth Observations.

  10. Nevada National Security Site Environmental Report 2011 Attachment A: Site Description

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wills, Cathy

    2012-01-01

    This attachment expands on the general description of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) presented in the Introduction to the Nevada National Security Site Environmental Report 2011. Included are subsections that summarize the site's geological, hydrological, climatological, and ecological setting and the cultural resources of the NNSS. The subsections are meant to aid the reader in understanding the complex physical and biological environment of the NNSS. An adequate knowledge of the site's environment is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of new projects, design and implement environmental monitoring activities for current site operations, and assess the impacts of site operations on the public residing in the vicinity of the NNSS. The NNSS environment contributes to several key features of the site that afford protection to the inhabitants of adjacent areas from potential exposure to radioactivity or other contaminants resulting from NNSS operations. These key features include the general remote location of the NNSS, restricted access, extended wind transport times, the great depths to slow-moving groundwater, little or no surface water, and low population density. This attachment complements the annual summary of monitoring program activities and dose assessments presented in the main body of this report.

  11. Long-range atmospheric transport of persistent organochlorinated compounds from south and mainland south-eastern Asia to a remote mountain site in south-western China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Yue; Zhang, Gan; Li, Jun; Chakraborty, Paromita; Li, Hua; Liu, Xiang

    2011-11-01

    A range of organochlorinated compounds have been consumed in China, India and the countries of mainland southeast Asia (MSA). Considering their persistence in the environment and ability in long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT), the potential outflow of these compounds from this region is therefore of great concern in the context of the global distribution of toxic chemicals. As part of a monitoring campaign aimed at investigating the LRAT of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from southern China, MSA and northern India, atmospheric levels of OCPs and PCBs were measured once a week from October 2005 through December 2006 at Tengchong Mountain (TM), a remote site located in south-western China. The average concentrations of OCPs were found to be higher than those in other remote stations in the Arctic and the Tibetan plateau, except for α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH). A high level of β-HCH and low α-HCH/β-HCH ratio was attributed to an accidental release of β-HCH from unknown sources, besides obvious evidence of lindane (γ-HCH) and technical HCH usage. Temporal variations of chlordanes and endosulfan were related to the usage pattern of these compounds, as well as LRAT. In contrast, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) exhibited a relatively minor seasonal variation. The OCP levels at the monitoring site were found to be related to the air parcel back trajectories on the basis of four distinct clusters. Elevated levels of HCHs and DDTs were observed when air parcels originated from northern India where considerable OCP usage was reported recently, while high levels of γ-HCH and TC (trans-chlordane) were mainly associated with air masses from southern China and northern MSA. The study highlighted the high background level of OCPs as well as their temporal patterns of trans-boundary LRAT in the MSA region.

  12. A Self-Calibrating Remote Control Chemical Monitoring System

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jessica Croft

    2007-06-01

    The Susie Mine, part of the Upper Tenmile Mining Area, is located in Rimini, MT about 15 miles southwest of Helena, MT. The Upper Tenmile Creek Mining Area is an EPA Superfund site with 70 abandoned hard rock mines and several residential yards prioritized for clean up. Water from the Susie mine flows into Tenmile Creek from which the city of Helena draws part of its water supply. MSE Technology Applications in Butte, Montana was contracted by the EPA to build a treatment system for the Susie mine effluent and demonstrate a system capable of treating mine waste water in remote locations. The Idaho National Lab was contracted to design, build and demonstrate a low maintenance self-calibrating monitoring system that would monitor multiple sample points, allow remote two-way communications with the control software and allow access to the collected data through a web site. The Automated Chemical Analysis Monitoring (ACAM) system was installed in December 2006. This thesis documents the overall design of the hardware, control software and website, the data collected while MSE-TA’s system was operational, the data collected after MSE-TA’s system was shut down and suggested improvements to the existing system.

  13. Remote Sensing of Volcanic ASH at the Met Office

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marenco F.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 has triggered the rapid development of volcanic ash remote sensing activities at the Met Office. Volcanic ash qualitative and quantitative mapping have been achieved using lidar on board the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM research aircraft, and using improved satellite retrieval algorithms. After the eruption, a new aircraft facility, the Met Office Civil Contingencies Aircraft (MOCCA, has been set up to enable a rapid response, and a network of ground-based remote sensing sites with lidars and sunphotometers is currently being developed. Thanks to these efforts, the United Kingdom (UK will be much better equipped to deal with such a crisis, should it happen in the future.

  14. Remote controlled capsules in human drug absorption (HDA) studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilding, Ian R; Prior, David V

    2003-01-01

    The biopharmaceutical complexity of today's new drug candidates provides significant challenges for pharmaceutical scientists in terms of both candidate selection and optimizing subsequent development strategy. In addition, life cycle management of marketed drugs has become an important income stream for pharmaceutical companies, but the selection of least risk/highest benefit strategies is far from simple. The proactive adoption of human drug absorption (HDA) studies using remote controlled capsules offers the pharmaceutical scientist significant guidance for planning a route through the maze of product development. This review examines the position of HDA studies in drug development, using a variety of case histories and an insightful update on remote controlled capsules to achieve site-specific delivery.

  15. Case history update: RCRA waste site remediation by telerobotic methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yemington, C.R.; Stone, J.

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents a summary of the first 18 months of closure work at the Kerr Hollow Quarry site on the DOE reservation at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Closure work includes recovery and processing of explosive, toxic and radioactive waste. As of January 1992, more than 10,000 items had been processed and removed from the quarry, exclusively by remotely operated equipment. Drums, buckets, tubing assemblies and other containers are being shredded to react any explosive contents. Concussion and projectiles are controlled by operating the shredder under 30 feet of water. The performance of the shredder, the effectiveness of the approach, production rates and maintenance requirements are addressed in the paper. To avoid exposing personnel to hazards, all work in the restricted area is done remotely. Two remotely operated vehicles were used to clear a pad, set a stand and install the 200-hp shredder. Some materials exposed by shredding are stable in water but react when exposed to air. In addition, radioactive items are mixed in with the other wastes. Safety considerations have therefore led to use of remote techniques for handling and examining materials after recovery. Deteriorated gas cylinders, which may contain pressurized toxic materials, are recovered and handled exclusively by remotely operated equipment. Waste retrieval work at the Kerr Hollow Quarry has proven the capability and cost-effectiveness of remotely operated equipment to deal with a wide variety of hazardous materials in an unstructured waste site environment. A mixture of radioactive materials, toxic chemicals, explosives and asbestos has been found and processed. Remotely operated vehicles have retrieved, sorted and processed more than 10,000 items including drums, buckets, pipe manifolds, gas cylinders and other containers

  16. Correlation between pairing initiation sites, recombination nodules and meiotic recombination in Sordaria macrospora.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zickler, D; Moreau, P J; Huynh, A D; Slezec, A M

    1992-09-01

    The decrease of meiotic exchanges (crossing over and conversion) in two mutants of Sordaria macrospora correlated strongly with a reduction of chiasmata and of both types of "recombination nodules." Serial section reconstruction electron microscopy was used to compare the synapsis pattern of meiotic prophase I in wild type and mutants. First, synapsis occurred but the number of synaptonemal complex initiation sites was reduced in both mutants. Second, this reduction was accompanied by, or resulted in, modifications of the pattern of synapsis. Genetic and synaptonemal complex maps were compared in three regions along one chromosome arm divided into well marked intervals. Reciprocal exchange frequencies and number of recombination nodules correlated in wild type in the three analyzed intervals, but disparity was found between the location of recombination nodules and exchanges in the mutants. Despite the twofold exchange decrease, sections of the genome such as the short arm of chromosome 2 and telomere regions were sheltered from nodule decrease and from pairing modifications. This indicated a certain amount of diversity in the control of these features and suggested that exchange frequency was dependent not only on the amount of effective pairing but also on the localization of the pairing sites, as revealed by the synaptonemal complex progression in the mutants.

  17. Indigenous Respiratory Outreach Care: the first 18 months of a specialist respiratory outreach service to rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland, Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medlin, Linda G; Chang, Anne B; Fong, Kwun; Jackson, Rebecca; Bishop, Penny; Dent, Annette; Hill, Deb C; Vincent, Stephen; O'Grady, Kerry-Ann F

    2014-09-01

    Respiratory diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Indigenous Australians. However, there are limited approaches to specialist respiratory care in rural and remote communities that are culturally appropriate. A specialist Indigenous Respiratory Outreach Care (IROC) program, developed to address this gap, is described. The aim of the present study was to implement, pilot and evaluate multidisciplinary specialist respiratory outreach medical teams in rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland, Australia. Sites were identified based on a perception of unmet need, burden of respiratory disease and/or capacity to use the clinical service and capacity building for support offered. IROC commenced in March 2011 and, to date, has been implemented in 13 communities servicing a population of approximately 43000 Indigenous people. Clinical service delivery has been possible through community engagement and capacity building initiatives directed by community protocols. IROC is a culturally sensitive and sustainable model for adult and paediatric specialist outreach respiratory services that may be transferrable to Indigenous communities across Queensland and Australia.

  18. Human error in remote Afterloading Brachytherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quinn, M.L.; Callan, J.; Schoenfeld, I.; Serig, D.

    1994-01-01

    Remote Afterloading Brachytherapy (RAB) is a medical process used in the treatment of cancer. RAB uses a computer-controlled device to remotely insert and remove radioactive sources close to a target (or tumor) in the body. Some RAB problems affecting the radiation dose to the patient have been reported and attributed to human error. To determine the root cause of human error in the RAB system, a human factors team visited 23 RAB treatment sites in the US. The team observed RAB treatment planning and delivery, interviewed RAB personnel, and performed walk-throughs, during which staff demonstrated the procedures and practices used in performing RAB tasks. Factors leading to human error in the RAB system were identified. The impact of those factors on the performance of RAB was then evaluated and prioritized in terms of safety significance. Finally, the project identified and evaluated alternative approaches for resolving the safety significant problems related to human error

  19. The development of remote repairing system, decontamination and in-cell remote inspection equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishibashi, Yuzo; Toyoda, Osamu; Haginoya, Isao; Yamamoto, Ryuichi; Tanaka, Yasumasa

    1993-01-01

    PNC has been developing remote repair and inspection technologies for in-cell components in reprocessing Plants. In this report, several remote technologies such as remote dismantling and removal, decontamination, remote pipe maintenance and remote in-cell inspection equipment are described. (author)

  20. Combining remote sensing and climatic data to estimate net primary production across Oregon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Law, B.E.; Waring, R.H.

    1994-01-01

    A range in productivity and climate exists along an east—west transect in Oregon. Remote sensing and climatic data for several of the Oregon Transect Ecosystem Research Project (OTTER) forested sites and neighboring shrub sites were combined to determined whether percentage intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (%IPAR) can be estimated from remotely sensed observations and to evaluate climatic constraints on the ability of vegetation to utilize intercepted of radiation for production. The Thematic Mappers Simulator (TMS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) provided a good linear estimate of %IPAR (R 2 = 0.97). Vegetation intercepted from 24.8% to 99.9% of incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and aboveground net primary production (ANPP) ranged from 53 to 1310 g·m —2 ·yr —1 . The ANPP was linearly related to annual IPAR across sites (R 2 = 0.70). Constraints on the ability of each species to utilize intercepted light, as defined by differential responses to freezing temperatures, drought, and vapor pressure deficit, were quantified from hourly meteorological station measurements near the sites and field physiological measurements. Vegetation could utilize from 30% of intercepted radiation at the eastside semiarid juniper woodland and shrub sites to 97% at the maritime coastal sites. Energy—size efficiency (ϵu), calculated from aboveground production and IPAR modified by the environmental limits, averaged 0.5 g/MJ for the shrub sites and 0.9 g/MJ for the forested sites. (author)

  1. Remote plasma-enhanced metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of aluminum oxide thin films

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Volintiru, I.; Creatore, M.; Hemmen, van J.L.; Sanden, van de M.C.M.

    2008-01-01

    Aluminum oxide films were deposited using remote plasma-enhanced metalorganic chemical vapor deposition from oxygen/trimethylaluminum mixtures. Initial studies by in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry demonstrated that the aluminum oxide films deposited at temperatures

  2. Robotics and Automation Activities at the Savannah River Site: A Site Report for SUBWOG 39F

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teese, G.D.

    1995-01-01

    The Savannah River Site has successfully used robots, teleoperators, and remote video to reduce exposure to ionizing radiation, improve worker safety, and improve the quality of operations. Previous reports have described the use of mobile teleoperators in coping with a high level liquid waste spill, the removal of highly contaminated equipment, and the inspection of nuclear reactor vessels. This report will cover recent applications at the Savannah River, as well as systems which SRS has delivered to other DOE site customers

  3. Carbonaceous particle record in lake sediments from the Arctic and other remote areas of the northern hemisphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rose, N.L.

    1995-01-01

    Lake sediments, including spheroidal carbonaceous particles produced by high temperature combustion of fossil fuels, contain a record of lake, catchment and atmospheric deposition history. The spatial and temporal distributions of these particles can indicate the extent to which a single lake or a region has been contaminated by airborne pollutants (e.g. sulfur, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)) derived from fossil fuels. The carbonaceous particle records of two Arctic lakes, Shuonijavr and Stepanovichjarvi, close to local pollution sources on the Kola Peninsula, Russia, are compared with the record of a remote lake on Svalbard and with mid-latitude remote mountain lakes in Europe and Asia. Although, Shuonijavr and Stepanovichjarvi show relatively high levels of contamination, as expected, the presence of carbonaceous particles at all of the remote sites studied suggests there is a hemispherical background of these particles. Other less remote mountain lakes in Europe have been found to contain significant concentrations of particles and these may represent regional deposition patterns. Carbonaceous particle analysis may provide an effective assessment of whether a lake site is receiving local, regional or background levels of deposition

  4. Nevada Test Site Environmental Report 2007 Attachment A: Site Description

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cathy Wills

    2008-09-01

    This appendix expands on the general description of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) presented in the Introduction to the Nevada Test Site Environmental Report 2007 (U.S. Department of Energy [DOE], 2008). Included are subsections that summarize the site's geological, hydrological, climatological, and ecological setting. The cultural resources of the NTS are also presented. The subsections are meant to aid the reader in understanding the complex physical and biological environment of the NTS. An adequate knowledge of the site's environment is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of new projects, design and implement environmental monitoring activities for current site operations, and assess the impacts of site operations on the public residing in the vicinity of the NTS. The NTS environment contributes to several key features of the site which afford protection to the inhabitants of adjacent areas from potential exposure to radioactivity or other contaminants resulting from NTS operations. These key features include the general remote location of the NTS, restricted access, extended wind transport times, the great depths to slow-moving groundwater, little or no surface water, and low population density. This attachment complements the annual summary of monitoring program activities and dose assessments presented in the main body of this report.

  5. Development of a generic system for real-time data access and remote control of multiple in-situ water quality monitoring instruments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, S. A.; Bennett, G. E.; Andrews, T.; Melis, T. S.; Topping, D. J.

    2005-05-01

    Currently, in-situ monitoring of water quality parameters (e.g. water temperature, conductivity, turbidity) in the Colorado River ecosystem typically consists of deploying instruments in the river, retrieving them at a later date, downloading the datalogger, then examining the data; an arduous process in the remote settings of Grand Canyon. Under this protocol, data is not available real-time and there is no way to detect problems with the instrumentation until after retrieval. The next obvious stage in the development of in-situ monitoring in Grand Canyon was the advent of one-way telemetry, i.e. streaming data in real-time from the instrument to the office and/or the world-wide-web. This protocol allows for real-time access to data and the identification of instrumentation problems, but still requires a site visit to address instrument malfunctions, i.e. the user does not have the ability to remotely control the instrument. At some field sites, such as the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, site visitation is restricted by remoteness and lack of traditional access routes (i.e. roads). Even at less remote sites, it may still be desirable to have two-way communication with instruments in order to, for example, diagnose and potentially fix instrumentation problems, change sampling parameters to save battery power, etc., without having to visit the site. To this end, the U.S. Geological Survey, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, is currently developing and testing a high-speed, two-way communication system that allows for real-time data access and remote control of instrumentation. The approach tested relies on internet access and may be especially useful in areas where land-line or cellular connections are unavailable. The system is composed of off-the-shelf products, uses a commercial broadband satellite service, and is designed in a generic way such that any instrument that communicates through RS-232 communication (i.e. a serial port) is compatible with

  6. Replicative Intermediates of Human Papillomavirus Type 11 in Laryngeal Papillomas: Site of Replication Initiation and Direction of Replication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Auborn, K. J.; Little, R. D.; Platt, T. H. K.; Vaccariello, M. A.; Schildkraut, C. L.

    1994-07-01

    We have examined the structures of replication intermediates from the human papillomavirus type 11 genome in DNA extracted from papilloma lesions (laryngeal papillomas). The sites of replication initiation and termination utilized in vivo were mapped by using neutral/neutral and neutral/alkaline two-dimensional agarose gel electrophoresis methods. Initiation of replication was detected in or very close to the upstream regulatory region (URR; the noncoding, regulatory sequences upstream of the open reading frames in the papillomavirus genome). We also show that replication forks proceed bidirectionally from the origin and converge 180circ opposite the URR. These results demonstrate the feasibility of analysis of replication of viral genomes directly from infected tissue.

  7. Remote community electrification program - small wind integration in BC's offgrid communities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lafaille, Julien [BC Hydro (Canada)

    2011-07-01

    The paper presents the Remote Community Electrification (RCE) program and wind integration in BC's off grid communities. The program offers electric utility service to eligible remote communities in BC. Most of them are offered off-grid services although it is cheaper to connect a community to a grid. BC hydro serves some communities that are not connected to the main grid. Local diesel or small hydro-generating stations are used to serve remote communities. The renewable energy program target is to reach 50% of remote communities. The reason that wind is a small part of the renewables is that hydro and biomass are abundant in BC. Some other barriers include high installation costs, durability concerns, and lack of in-house technical expertise. Some small Wind initiatives that have been taken were relatively few and fairly small. It can be concluded that due to a poor wind resource and the relatively low cost of diesel, there is limited potential for wind in BC remote communities.

  8. Environmental mapping and monitoring of Iceland by remote sensing (EMMIRS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedersen, Gro B. M.; Vilmundardóttir, Olga K.; Falco, Nicola; Sigurmundsson, Friðþór S.; Rustowicz, Rose; Belart, Joaquin M.-C.; Gísladóttir, Gudrun; Benediktsson, Jón A.

    2016-04-01

    Iceland is exposed to rapid and dynamic landscape changes caused by natural processes and man-made activities, which impact and challenge the country. Fast and reliable mapping and monitoring techniques are needed on a big spatial scale. However, currently there is lack of operational advanced information processing techniques, which are needed for end-users to incorporate remote sensing (RS) data from multiple data sources. Hence, the full potential of the recent RS data explosion is not being fully exploited. The project Environmental Mapping and Monitoring of Iceland by Remote Sensing (EMMIRS) bridges the gap between advanced information processing capabilities and end-user mapping of the Icelandic environment. This is done by a multidisciplinary assessment of two selected remote sensing super sites, Hekla and Öræfajökull, which encompass many of the rapid natural and man-made landscape changes that Iceland is exposed to. An open-access benchmark repository of the two remote sensing supersites is under construction, providing high-resolution LIDAR topography and hyperspectral data for land-cover and landform classification. Furthermore, a multi-temporal and multi-source archive stretching back to 1945 allows a decadal evaluation of landscape and ecological changes for the two remote sensing super sites by the development of automated change detection techniques. The development of innovative pattern recognition and machine learning-based approaches to image classification and change detection is one of the main tasks of the EMMIRS project, aiming to extract and compute earth observation variables as automatically as possible. Ground reference data collected through a field campaign will be used to validate the implemented methods, which outputs are then inferred with geological and vegetation models. Here, preliminary results of an automatic land-cover classification based on hyperspectral image analysis are reported. Furthermore, the EMMIRS project

  9. CP monitoring by IR free potential probe through a remote control system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lazzari, L. [Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy); Bazzoni, B. [Cescor srl, Milan (Italy); Benedetto, S. [Italgas SpA, Turin (Italy)

    2004-07-01

    This paper presents the results of field tests on measurement of true potential of pipelines by means of a IR drop free potential probe and a remote control system. The probe used is composed of a steel coupon, simulating a coating defect, and a reference electrode of Mixed Metal Oxide (MMO) titanium activated type, both embedded in an alkaline mortar. Laboratory and field tests confirmed the probe to be reliable and enable to eliminate the IR drop contribution in all conditions and especially in presence of stray current. A remote control system was tested for a reliable and continuous monitoring of CP parameters with the aim to operate CP systems in compliance with regulations and to reduce maintenance costs. The remote control system consists of Acquisition Units for continuous field data gathering, a Data Centre pilot all functions such as query, download and processing data, and an Internet web site for remote connections. Field data obtained in various situations are presented and discussed. (authors)

  10. Remote technology applications in spent fuel management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-03-01

    packaging for disposal, depending on the options chosen for spent fuel management. Because of the predominant amount of work required for spent fuel storage in the current and foreseeable future requirements for spent fuel management, more details are described on remote technology associated with storage of spent fuel. Some information on the application methodology of remote systems technology is provided with discussions on the basic principles that seem to be applicable in the development and application of remote technologies for all aspects of spent fuel handling. In addition, some practical guidance is provided on the selection of appropriate technology for implementation of a system. Finally, presented are some advanced technologies that would find applications in the longer term including the innovative fuel cycle concepts now in early stage of developments by some international initiatives like Gen IV of the USA and INPRO of the IAEA

  11. Remote C−H Activation of Quinolines through Copper-Catalyzed Radical Cross-Coupling

    KAUST Repository

    Xu, Jun; Shen, Chao; Zhu, Xiaolei; Zhang, Pengfei; Ajitha, Manjaly John; Huang, Kuo-Wei; An, Zhongfu; Liu, Xiaogang

    2016-01-01

    Achieving site selectivity in carbon-hydrogen (C-H) functionalization reactions is a formidable challenge in organic chemistry. Herein, we report a novel approach to activating remote C-H bonds at the C5 position of 8-aminoquinoline through copper

  12. Siting nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yellin, J.; Joskow, P.L.

    1980-01-01

    The first edition of this journal is devoted to the policies and problems of siting nuclear power plants and the question of how far commercial reactors should be placed from urban areas. The article is divided into four major siting issues: policies, risk evaluation, accident consequences, and economic and physical constraints. One concern is how to treat currently operating reactors and those under construction that were established under less-stringent criteria if siting is to be used as a way to limit the consequences of accidents. Mehanical cost-benefit analyses are not as appropriate as the systematic use of empirical observations in assessing the values involved. Stricter siting rules are justified because (1) opposition because of safety is growing: (2) remote siting will make the industry more stable; (3) the conflict is eliminated between regulatory policies and the probability basis for nuclear insurance; and (4) joint ownership of utilities and power-pooling are increasing. 227 references, 7 tables

  13. Ex-vessel remote maintenance design for the Compact Ignition Tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spampinato, P.T.; Macdonald, D.

    1987-01-01

    The use of deuterium-tritium (D-T) fuel for operation of the Compact Ignition Tokamak (CIT) imposes a requirement for remote handling technology to carry out maintenance operations on auxiliary machine components. These operations consist of removing and repairing components such as diagnostics and radio frequency (rf) heating modules using remotely operated maintenance equipment. The major equipment that is being developed to accomplish maintenance external to the plasma chamber includes the bridge-mounted manipulator system for test cell operations, decontamination (decon) equipment, hot cell equipment, and solid rad-waste handling equipment. Wherever possible, the project will use commercially available equipment. Several areas of the maintenance system design have been addressed in fiscal year (FY) 1987. These included conceptual designs of manipulator systems, the start of a remote equipment research and development (R and D) program, and definition of the hot cell, decon, and equipment repair facility requirements. The manipulator work included investigating transporters and viewing/lighting subsystems. In each case, existing commercial units are being assessed initially, along with viable alternative approaches. R and D work also included demonstrations of remote handling operations on full-size, partial mock-ups of the CIT machine at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Remote Operations and Maintenance Development Facility

  14. Feasibility Study of Biopower in East Helena, Montana. A Study Prepared in Partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency for the RE-Powering America's Land Initiative: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moriarty, K.

    2013-02-01

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the RE-Powering America's Land initiative to reuse contaminated sites for renewable energy generation when aligned with the community's vision for the site. The former American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) smelter in East Helena, Montana, was selected for a feasibility study under the initiative. Biomass was chosen as the renewable energy resource based on the wood products industry in the area. Biopower was selected as the technology based on Montana's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requiring utilities to purchase renewable power.

  15. Robotics and remote systems for hazardous environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jamshidi, M.; Eicker, P.

    1993-01-01

    This is the first volume in a series of books to be published by Prentice Hall on Environmental and Intelligent Manufacturing Systems. The editors have assembled an interdisciplinary collection of authors from industry, government, and academia, that provide a broad range of expertise on robotics and remote systems. Readily accessible to practicing engineers, the book provides case studies and introduces new technology applicable to remote operations in unstructured and/or hazardous environments. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the US Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to apply robotic technology to assist in the operations at hazardous waste sites. The next chapter focuses on the theory and implementation of robust impedance control for robotic manipulators. Chapter 3 presents a discussion on the integration of failure tolerance into robotic systems. The next two chapters address the issue of sensory feedback and its indispensable role in remote and/or hazardous environments. Chapter 6 presents numerous examples of robots and telemanipulators that have been applied for various tasks at the DOE's Savannah River Site. The following chapter picks up on this theme and discusses the fundamental paradigm shifts that are required in artificial intelligence for robots to deal with hazardous, unstructured, and dynamic environments. Chapter 8 returns to the issue of impedance control first raised in Chapter 2. While the majority of the applications discussed in this book are related to the nuclear industry, chapter 9 considers applying telerobotics for the control of traditional heavy machinery that is widely used in forestry, mining, and construction. The final chapter of the book returns to the topic of artificial intelligence's role in producing increased autonomy for robotic systems and provides an interesting counterpoint to the philosophy of reactive control discussed earlier

  16. REMOTE SURVEILLANCE OF FACILITIES AWAITING D AND D

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebadian, M.A.; Weger, Hans; Roelant, Dave; Ade, Rodrigue; Duran, Celso

    2001-01-01

    A remote surveillance system was designed, tested and will be deployed at INEEL that will monitor the TAN-616 facility for water in sumps, tanks, and on the floor. The presence of water is an indication that the facility is not contained and that the risk of contamination escaping is increased. This system replaces the need to send inspectors into the facility with radiation control personnel to check for water. Some of the areas that would be checked by the inspectors have a high radiation field and little space for maneuvering. Therefore, this system also decreases the radiation exposure and increases the safety of these personnel. A remote surveillance system has a higher initial capital cost for the equipment than the baseline method, which is to send inspectors into the building to obtain samples and perform measurements. However, the cost of operating and maintaining the system is negligible compared to the continuing cost of sending inspectors and radiation control technicians into the facility. The remote surveillance system has a lower cost in the long term when compared to the baseline method

  17. Remote operation: a selective review of research into visual depth perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reinhardt-Rutland, A H

    1996-07-01

    Some perceptual motor operations are performed remotely; examples include the handling of life-threatening materials and surgical procedures. A camera conveys the site of operation to a TV monitor, so depth perception relies mainly on pictorial information, perhaps with enhancement of the occlusion cue by motion. However, motion information such as motion parallax is not likely to be important. The effectiveness of pictorial information is diminished by monocular and binocular information conveying flatness of the screen and by difficulties in scaling: Only a degree of relative depth can be conveyed. Furthermore, pictorial information can mislead. Depth perception is probably adequate in remote operation, if target objects are well separated, with well-defined edges and familiar shapes. Stereoscopic viewing systems are being developed to introduce binocular information to remote operation. However, stereoscopic viewing is problematic because binocular disparity conflicts with convergence and monocular information. An alternative strategy to improve precision in remote operation may be to rely on individuals who lack binocular function: There is redundancy in depth information, and such individuals seem to compensate for the lack of binocular function.

  18. Using Tree-Rings and Remote Sensing to Investigate Forest Productivity Response to Landscape Fragmentation in Northeastern Algeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rouini, N.; Lepley, K. S.; Messaoudene, M.

    2017-12-01

    Remote sensing and dendrochronology are valuable tools in the face of climate change and land use change, yet the connection between these resources remains largely unexploited. Research on forest fragmentation is mainly focused on animal groups, while our work focuses on tree communities. We link tree-rings and remotely-sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) using seasonal correlation analysis to investigate forest primary productivity response to fragmentation. Tree core samples from Quercus afares have been taken from two sites within the Guerrouche Forest in northeastern Algeria. The first site is located within a very fragmented area while the second site is intact. Fragmentation is estimated to have occurred with the construction of a road in 1930. We find raw tree-ring width chronologies from each site reveal growth release in the disturbed site after 1930. The means of each chronology for the 1930 to 2016 period are statistically different (p < 0.01). Based on these preliminary results we hypothesize that reconstructed primary productivity (NDVI) will be higher in the fragmented site after fragmentation took place.

  19. Factors affecting the remotely sensed response of coniferous forest plantations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Danson, F.M.; Curran, P.J.

    1993-01-01

    Remote sensing of forest biophysical properties has concentrated upon forest sites with a wide range of green vegetation amount and thereby leaf area index and canopy cover. However, coniferous forest plantations, an important forest type in Europe, are managed to maintain a large amount of green vegetation with little spatial variation. Therefore, the strength of the remotely sensed signal will, it is hypothesized, be determined more by the structure of this forest than by its cover. Airborne Thematic Mapper (ATM) and SPOT-1 HRV data were used to determine the effects of this structural variation on the remotely sensed response of a coniferous forest plantation in the United Kingdom. Red and near infrared radiance were strongly and negatively correlated with a range of structural properties and with the age of the stands but weakly correlated with canopy cover. A composite variable, related to the volume of the canopy, accounted for over 75% of the variation in near infrared radiance. A simple model that related forest structural variables to the remotely sensed response was used to understand and explain this response from a coniferous forest plantation

  20. Development of a compact and user-friendly ion irradiation system controlled remotely through the internet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishikawa, Ippei; Kada, Wataru; Sato, Fuminobu; Kato, Yushi; Iida, Toshiyuki; Tanaka, Teruya; Yamamoto, Junji

    2007-01-01

    A compact and user-friendly ion irradiation system controlled remotely through the Internet was developed for the execution of collaboration experiments together with researchers at remote sites. Several hardware instruments and software programs were constructed and provided for the remote control of the system and for its connection to the Internet. Surface modification and analysis experiments with this system were remotely performed through the Internet. It was confirmed from the experiments that the present ion irradiation system was precisely controlled through the Internet and could be easily and safely used for the surface modification and analysis, that the normal communication speed of around 10 Mbps for the Internet was fast enough for the execution of such typical remote-controlled experiments, and also that an access to the system by a mobile phone was convenient and useful enough to check the condition of the system and experimental data. (author)

  1. Initialization of a spin qubit in a site-controlled nanowire quantum dot

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lagoudakis, Konstantinos G; McMahon, Peter L; Fischer, Kevin A; Müller, Kai; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa; Vučković, Jelena; Puri, Shruti; Dan Dalacu; Poole, Philip J; Reimer, Michael E; Zwiller, Val

    2016-01-01

    A fault-tolerant quantum repeater or quantum computer using solid-state spin-based quantum bits will likely require a physical implementation with many spins arranged in a grid. Self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) have been established as attractive candidates for building spin-based quantum information processing devices, but such QDs are randomly positioned, which makes them unsuitable for constructing large-scale processors. Recent efforts have shown that QDs embedded in nanowires can be deterministically positioned in regular arrays, can store single charges, and have excellent optical properties, but so far there have been no demonstrations of spin qubit operations using nanowire QDs. Here we demonstrate optical pumping of individual spins trapped in site-controlled nanowire QDs, resulting in high-fidelity spin-qubit initialization. This represents the next step towards establishing spins in nanowire QDs as quantum memories suitable for use in a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer or repeater based on all-optical control of the spin qubits. (paper)

  2. Uterine cervical cancer with brain metastasis as the initial site of presentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Yumi; Tanaka, Kei; Kobayashi, Yoichi; Shibuya, Hiromi; Nishigaya, Yoshiko; Momomura, Mai; Matsumoto, Hironori; Iwashita, Mitsutoshi

    2015-07-01

    Brain metastasis from uterine cervical cancer is rare, with an incidence of 0.5%, and usually occurs late in the course of the disease. We report a case of uterine cervical cancer with brain metastasis as the initial site of presentation. A 50-year-old woman with headache, vertigo, amnesia and loss of appetite was admitted for persistent vomiting. Contrast enhanced computed tomography showed a solitary right frontal cerebral lesion with ring enhancement and uterine cervical tumor. She was diagnosed with uterine cervical squamous cell carcinoma with parametrium invasion and no other distant affected organs were detected. The cerebral lesion was surgically removed and pathologically proved to be metastasis of uterine cervical squamous cell carcinoma. The patient underwent concurrent chemoradiotherapy, followed by cerebral radiation therapy, but multiple metastases to the liver and lung developed and the patient died 7 months after diagnosis of brain metastasis. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research © 2015 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

  3. Nevada Test Site Environmental Report 2009, Attachment A: Site Description

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cathy Wills, ed.

    2010-09-13

    This attachment expands on the general description of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) presented in the Introduction to the Nevada Test Site Environmental Report 2009. Included are subsections that summarize the site’s geological, hydrological, climatological, and ecological setting. The cultural resources of the NTS are also presented. The subsections are meant to aid the reader in understanding the complex physical and biological environment of the NTS. An adequate knowledge of the site’s environment is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of new projects, design and implement environmental monitoring activities for current site operations, and assess the impacts of site operations on the public residing in the vicinity of the NTS. The NTS environment contributes to several key features of the site that afford protection to the inhabitants of adjacent areas from potential exposure to radioactivity or other contaminants resulting from NTS operations. These key features include the general remote location of the NTS, restricted access, extended wind transport times, the great depths to slow-moving groundwater, little or no surface water, and low population density. This attachment complements the annual summary of monitoring program activities and dose assessments presented in the main body of this report.

  4. Remote engineering progress report, January-December 1982

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, C.M.

    1984-01-01

    Discussed briefly are the objectives, prior work (if any), present achievements, and future work in the following areas: an automated storage, transfer, and retrieval system for laboratory specimens; automation of molten salt button breakout operations; emission spectrometer automation, direct oxide reduction process support; hydride operations support; part serialization processes; contact handled waste container welding; automated sample cutting; filter probe positioner; Unimate robot replacement to handle uranium ingots in a hot pressing operation; development and testing of a device to automate compacting on site return nuclear weapons parts for pyrochemical operations; remote transfer system for gloveboxes (made from a modified radio-controlled toy tank); plutonium oxide/skull burn and reburn process; advanced size reduction facility; automation of the plutonium oxide pelletizing process for chemical analytical laboratory operations; automated assembly demonstration for a Mechanical Safe and Arm Detonator (MSAD); and a stacker-retriever remote vacuum cleaning system

  5. TPX remote maintenance and shielding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rennich, M.J.; Nelson, B.E.

    1994-01-01

    The Tokamak Physics Experiment machine design incorporates comprehensive planning for efficient and safe component maintenance. Three programmatic decisions have been made to insure the successful implementation of this objective. First, the tokamak incorporates radiation shielding to reduce activation of components and limit the dose rate to personnel working on the outside of the machine. This allows most of the ex-vessel equipment to be maintained through conventional ''hands-on'' procedures. Second, to the maximum extent possible, low activation materials will be used inside the shielding volume. This resulted in the selection of Titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) for the vacuum vessel and PFC structures. The third decision stipulated that the primary in-vessel components will be replaced or repaired via remote maintenance tools specifically provided for the task. The component designers have been given the responsibility of incorporating maintenance design and for proving the maintainability of the design concepts in full-scale mockup tests prior to the initiation of final fabrication. Remote maintenance of the TPX machine is facilitated by general purpose tools provided by a special purpose design team. Major tools will include an in-vessel transporter, a vessel transfer system and a large component transfer container. In addition, tools such as manipulators and remotely operable impact wrenches will be made available to the component designers by this group. Maintenance systems will also provide the necessary controls for this equipment

  6. Computer networks for remote laboratories in physics and engineering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Starks, Scott; Elizandro, David; Leiner, Barry M.; Wiskerchen, Michael

    1988-01-01

    This paper addresses a relatively new approach to scientific research, telescience, which is the conduct of scientific operations in locations remote from the site of central experimental activity. A testbed based on the concepts of telescience is being developed to ultimately enable scientific researchers on earth to conduct experiments onboard the Space Station. This system along with background materials are discussed.

  7. Using Remote Sensing and Geospatial Technology for Climate Change Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, Helen; Kelly, Kimberle; Yetter, Laura

    2014-01-01

    This curriculum and instruction paper describes initial implementation and evaluation of remote-sensing exercises designed to promote post-secondary climate literacy in the geosciences. Tutorials developed by the first author engaged students in the analysis of climate change data obtained from NASA satellite missions, including the LANDSAT,…

  8. Discrete event simulation of NASA's Remote Exploration and Experimentation Project (REE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunphy, J.; Rogstad, S.

    2001-01-01

    The Remote Exploration and Experimentation Project (REE) is a new initiative at JPL to be able to place a supercomputer on board a spacecraft and allow large amounts of data reduction and compression to be done before science results are returned to Earth.

  9. AVAILABILITY RESEARCH OF REMOTE DEVICES FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. A. Bazhayev

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available We consider the wireless network under attack, aimed at "broadcast storm" initiation, in order to determine the availability of stand-alone units and the ability to carry out their functional tasks under information exposure. We determine a set of conditions for such type of attacks on the part of potential information interloper. The functional analysis of the systems based on wireless technology is made. We examine the remote device of a self-organizing wireless network as a queuing system M/M/1/n. Model dependencies are shown for normal system performance and at information exposure on the part of potential information interloper. Analytical simulation of wireless network functioning is carried out in the normal mode and under the attack aimed at "broadcast storm" initiation. An experiment is described which provides statistical information on operation of network remote devices. We present experiment results on carrying out attack at typical system transferring data by broabcast net scanning package at different noise intensities on the part of information interloper. The proposed model can be used to determine the technical characteristics of wireless ad-hoc network, develop recommendations for node configuration, aimed at countering "broadcast storm".

  10. Remote detection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nixon, K.V.; France, S.W.; Garcia, C.; Hastings, R.D.

    1981-05-01

    A newly designed remote detection system has been developed at Los Alamos that allows the collection of high-resolution gamma-ray spectra and neutron data from a remote location. The system consists of the remote unit and a command unit. The remote unit collects data in a potentially hostile environment while the operator controls the unit by either radio or wire link from a safe position. Both units are battery powered and are housed in metal carrying cases

  11. Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar Photovoltaics at the Brisbane Baylands Brownfield Site in Brisbane, California. A Study Prepared in Partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency for the RE-Powering America's Land Initiative: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salasovich, J.; Geiger, J.; Healey, V.; Mosey, G.

    2013-04-01

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in accordance with the RE-Powering America's Land initiative, selected the Brisbane Baylands site in Brisbane, California, for a feasibility study of renewable energy production. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided technical assistance for this project. The purpose of this report is to assess the site for a possible photovoltaic (PV) system installation and estimate the cost, performance, and site impacts of different PV options. In addition, the report recommends financing options that could assist in the implementation of a PV system at the site.

  12. Remote waste handling and feed preparation for Mixed Waste Management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Couture, S.A.; Merrill, R.D.; Densley, P.J.

    1995-05-01

    The Mixed Waste Management Facility (MWMF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will serve as a national testbed to demonstrate mature mixed waste handling and treatment technologies in a complete front-end to back-end --facility (1). Remote operations, modular processing units and telerobotics for initial waste characterization, sorting and feed preparation have been demonstrated at the bench scale and have been selected for demonstration in MWMF. The goal of the Feed Preparation design team was to design and deploy a robust system that meets the initial waste preparation flexibility and productivity needs while providing a smooth upgrade path to incorporate technology advances as they occur. The selection of telerobotics for remote handling in MWMF was made based on a number of factors -- personnel protection, waste generation, maturity, cost, flexibility and extendibility. Modular processing units were selected to enable processing flexibility and facilitate reconfiguration as new treatment processes or waste streams are brought on line for demonstration. Modularity will be achieved through standard interfaces for mechanical attachment as well as process utilities, feeds and effluents. This will facilitate reconfiguration of contaminated systems without drilling, cutting or welding of contaminated materials and with a minimum of operator contact. Modular interfaces also provide a standard connection and disconnection method that can be engineered to allow convenient remote operation

  13. Remote Sensing of Landscapes with Spectral Images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, John B.; Gillespie, Alan R.

    2006-05-01

    Remote Sensing of Landscapes with Spectral Images describes how to process and interpret spectral images using physical models to bridge the gap between the engineering and theoretical sides of remote-sensing and the world that we encounter when we venture outdoors. The emphasis is on the practical use of images rather than on theory and mathematical derivations. Examples are drawn from a variety of landscapes and interpretations are tested against the reality seen on the ground. The reader is led through analysis of real images (using figures and explanations); the examples are chosen to illustrate important aspects of the analytic framework. This textbook will form a valuable reference for graduate students and professionals in a variety of disciplines including ecology, forestry, geology, geography, urban planning, archeology and civil engineering. It is supplemented by a web-site hosting digital color versions of figures in the book as well as ancillary images (www.cambridge.org/9780521662214). Presents a coherent view of practical remote sensing, leading from imaging and field work to the generation of useful thematic maps Explains how to apply physical models to help interpret spectral images Supplemented by a website hosting digital colour versions of figures in the book, as well as additional colour figures

  14. Site 300 City Water Master Plan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shaw, Jeff [Stantec Consulting Services Inc., Irvine, CA (United States)

    2017-03-13

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a scientific research facility, operates an experimental test site known as Site 300. The site is located in a remote area of southeastern Alameda County, California, and consists of about 100 facilities spread across 7,000-acres. The Site 300 water system includes groundwater wells and a system of storage tanks, booster pumps, and underground piping to distribute water to buildings and significant areas throughout the site. Site 300, which is classified as a non-transient non-community (NTNC) water system, serves approximately 110 employees through 109 service connections. The distribution system includes approximately 76,500-feet of water mains varying from 4- to 10-inches in diameter, mostly asbestos cement (AC) pipe, and eleven water storage tanks. The water system is divided into four pressure zones fed by three booster pump stations to tanks in each zone.

  15. Remote unambiguous discrimination of linearly independent symmetric d-level quantum states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Libing; Liu Yuhua; Tan Peng; Lu Hong

    2009-01-01

    A set of linearly independent nonorthogonal symmetric d-level quantum states can be discriminated remotely and unambiguously with the aid of two-level Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) states. We present a scheme for such a kind of remote unambiguous quantum state discrimination (UD). The probability of discrimination is in agreement with the optimal probability for local unambiguous discrimination among d symmetric states (Chefles and Barnettt 1998 Phys. Lett. A 250 223). This scheme consists of a remote generalized measurement described by a positive operator valued measurement (POVM). This remote POVM can be realized by performing a nonlocal 2d x 2d unitary operation on two spatially separated systems, one is the qudit which is encoded by one of the d symmetric nonorthogonal states to be distinguished and the other is an ancillary qubit, and a conventional local von Neumann orthogonal measurement on the ancilla. By decomposing the evolution process from the initial state to the final state, we construct a quantum network for realizing the remote POVM with a set of two-level nonlocal controlled-rotation gates, and thus provide a feasible physical means to realize the remote UD. A two-level nonlocal controlled-rotation gate can be implemented by using a two-level EPR pair in addition to local operations and classical communications (LOCCs)

  16. Nevada National Security Site Environmental Report 2011 Attachment A: Site Description

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cathy Wills, ed.

    2012-09-12

    This attachment expands on the general description of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) presented in the Introduction to the Nevada National Security Site Environmental Report 2011. Included are subsections that summarize the site's geological, hydrological, climatological, and ecological setting and the cultural resources of the NNSS. The subsections are meant to aid the reader in understanding the complex physical and biological environment of the NNSS. An adequate knowledge of the site's environment is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of new projects, design and implement environmental monitoring activities for current site operations, and assess the impacts of site operations on the public residing in the vicinity of the NNSS. The NNSS environment contributes to several key features of the site that afford protection to the inhabitants of adjacent areas from potential exposure to radioactivity or other contaminants resulting from NNSS operations. These key features include the general remote location of the NNSS, restricted access, extended wind transport times, the great depths to slow-moving groundwater, little or no surface water, and low population density. This attachment complements the annual summary of monitoring program activities and dose assessments presented in the main body of this report.

  17. Mesoscale Modeling, Forecasting and Remote Sensing Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    remote sensing , cyclonic scale diagnostic studies and mesoscale numerical modeling and forecasting are summarized. Mechanisms involved in the release of potential instability are discussed and simulated quantitatively, giving particular attention to the convective formulation. The basic mesoscale model is documented including the equations, boundary condition, finite differences and initialization through an idealized frontal zone. Results of tests including a three dimensional test with real data, tests of convective/mesoscale interaction and tests with a detailed

  18. Technical guidance for siting criteria development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aldrich, D.C.; Sprung, J.L.; Alpert, D.J.

    1982-12-01

    Technical guidance to support the formulation and comparison of possible siting criteria for nuclear power plants has been developed in four areas: (1) consequences of hypothetical severe nuclear-power-plant accidents, (2) characteristics of population distributions about current reactor sites, (3) site availability within the continental United States, and (4) socioeconomic impacts of reactor siting. The impact on consequences of source-term magnitude, meteorology, population distribution, and emergency response have been analyzed. Population distributions about current sites were analyzed to identify statistical characteristics, time trends, and regional differences. A site-availability data bank was constructed for the continential United States. The data bank contains information about population densities, seismicity, topography, water availability, and land-use restrictions. Finally, the socioeconomic impacts of rural-industrialization projects, energy boomtowns, and nuclear power plants were examined to determine their nature, magnitude, and dependence on site demography and remoteness

  19. Technical guidance for siting criteria development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aldrich, D.C.; Sprung, J.L.; Alpert, D.J.; Diegert, K.; Ostmeyer, R.M.; Ritchie, L.T.; Strip, D.R.; Johnson, J.D.; Hansen, K.; Robinson, J.

    1982-12-01

    Technical guidance to support the formulation and comparison of possible siting criteria for nuclear power plants has been developed in four areas: (1) consequences of hypothetical severe nuclear-power-plant accidents, (2) characteristics of population distributions about current reactor sites, (3) site availability within the continental United States, and (4) socioeconomic impacts of reactor siting. The impact on consequences of source-term magnitude, meteorology, population distribution, and emergency response have been analyzed. Population distributions about current sites were analyzed to identify statistical characteristics, time trends, and regional differences. A site-availability data bank was constructed for the continential United States. The data bank contains information about population densities, seismicity, topography, water availability, and land-use restrictions. Finally, the socioeconomic impacts of rural-industrialization projects, energy boomtowns, and nuclear power plants were examined to determine their nature, magnitude, and dependence on site demography and remoteness.

  20. Utility and effectiveness of a remote telepresence robotic system in nursing education in a simulated care environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sampsel, Debi; Vermeersch, Patricia; Doarn, Charles R

    2014-11-01

    There is a growing shortage of nursing graduates and faculty to prepare students for careers in nursing. One way to ameliorate this paradigm is to integrate technology such as a remote presence robot (RPR) in both clinical and educational settings. The InTouch Health (Santa Barbara, CA) RP-7, an RPR, was deployed in a simulated, multigenerational home where nursing students and faculty interact in a variety of activities. Seventy students and five faculty members were instructed by a remotely located instructor who controlled the RP-7 from a distant site. Students and faculty, using questionnaires, provided feedback on the didactic interaction. Of the 70 student participants, 56 (80%) responded, and faculty and clinical staff were 100% compliant, resulting in 69 total respondents. Using Krippendorf's themes of (1) usefulness, (2) acceptability, and (3) impact, the data indicated the following. The majority of the students (89%) had no previous experience with the RPR, but the majority (75%) felt that the RPR was a good faculty extender. The students were initially evenly split on first exposure in (a) a positive experience, (b) a negative experience, or (c) a mixed experience. Although there were some technical challenges in operations, these were not deemed significant; nevertheless, they must be addressed. The results of this study support the use of RPRs as faculty extenders to facilitate course quality assurance when the lead faculty is not on site. Both faculty and students perceive this type of technology as a potential faculty extender, but both faculty and students need preparation for the experience.

  1. Initial ORNL site assessment report on the storage of 233U

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bereolos, P.J.; Yong, L.K.; Sadlowe, A.R.; Ramey, D.W.; Krichinsky, A.M.

    1998-03-01

    The 233 U storage facility at ORNL is Building 3019. The inventory stored in Building 3019 consists of 426.5 kg of 233 U contained in 1,387.1 kg of total uranium. The inventory is primarily in the form of uranium oxides; however, uranium metal and other compounds are also stored. Over 99% of the inventory is contained in 1,007 packages stored in tube vaults within the facility. A tank of thorium nitrate solution, the P-24 Tank, contains 0.13 kg of 233 U in ∼ 4,000 gal. of solution. The facility is receiving additional 233 U for storage from the remediation of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) at ORNL. Consolidation of material from sites with small holdings is also adding to the 233 U inventory. Additionally, small quantities ( 233 U are in other research facilities at ORNL. A risk assessment process was chosen to evaluate the stored material and packages based on available package records. The risk scenario was considered the failure of a package (or a group of similar packages) in the Building 3019 inventory. The probability of such a failure depends on packaging factors such as the age and material of construction of the containers. The consequence of such a failure depends on the amount and form of the material within the packages. One thousand seven packages were categorized with this methodology resulting in 859 low-risk packages, 147 medium-risk packages, and 1 high-risk package. This initial assessment also documents the status of the evaluation of the Building 3019 and its systems for safe storage of 233 U. The final assessment report for ORNL storage of 233 U is scheduled for June 1999. The report will document the facility assessments, the specific package inspection plan, and the results of initial package inspections

  2. Dynamic integration of remote cloud resources into local computing clusters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fleig, Georg; Erli, Guenther; Giffels, Manuel; Hauth, Thomas; Quast, Guenter; Schnepf, Matthias [Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik, Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (Germany)

    2016-07-01

    In modern high-energy physics (HEP) experiments enormous amounts of data are analyzed and simulated. Traditionally dedicated HEP computing centers are built or extended to meet this steadily increasing demand for computing resources. Nowadays it is more reasonable and more flexible to utilize computing power at remote data centers providing regular cloud services to users as they can be operated in a more efficient manner. This approach uses virtualization and allows the HEP community to run virtual machines containing a dedicated operating system and transparent access to the required software stack on almost any cloud site. The dynamic management of virtual machines depending on the demand for computing power is essential for cost efficient operation and sharing of resources with other communities. For this purpose the EKP developed the on-demand cloud manager ROCED for dynamic instantiation and integration of virtualized worker nodes into the institute's computing cluster. This contribution will report on the concept of our cloud manager and the implementation utilizing a remote OpenStack cloud site and a shared HPC center (bwForCluster located in Freiburg).

  3. Performance of the Digital Science Partnership Remotely-Operated 0.5-Meter Corrected Dall-Kirkham Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kielkopf, John F.; Carter, B.; Brown, C.; Hart, R.; Hay, J.; Waite, I.

    2007-12-01

    The Digital Science Partnership, a collaboration of the University of Louisville and the University of Southern Queensland, operates a pair of 0.5-meter telescopes for teaching, research, and informal education. The instruments were installed at sites near Toowoomba, Australia, and Louisville, Kentucky in 2006. The Planewave Instruments optical systems employ a unique Dall-Kirkham design incorporating a two-element corrector that demagnifies the image, flattens the focal plane, and reduces coma. These instruments have a moderately fast f/6.8 focal ratio and maintain image quality with little vignetting over a field 42 mm in diameter (0.7 degree). With a 9-micron pixel CCD such as the KAF-6303E, the image scale of 0.55 seconds of arc per pixel typically yields seeing-limited image quality at our sites. The telescopes and their enclosure are operated in a live remote observing mode through Linux-based software, including a dome-control system that uses RFID tags for absolute rotation encoding. After several months of testing and development we have examples of images and photometry from both sites that illustrate the performance of the system. We will discuss image quality, as well as practical matters such as pointing accuracy and field acquisition, auto-guiding, communication latency in large file transfer, and our experience with remote observing assisted by teleconferencing. Time-delay-integration (TDI) imaging, in which the telescope is stationary while the CCD is clocked to track in right ascension, is under study. The technique offers wide fields of view with very high signal-to-noise ratio, and can be implemented in robotically operated instruments used in monitoring, rapid-response, and educational programs. Results for conventional and TDI imaging from the dark site in Australia compared to the brighter suburban site in Kentucky show the benefits of access to dark sites through international partnerships that remote operation technology offers.

  4. Initial data of seismic input and soil conditions of Kozloduy NPP site. Extension to Part 2 soil conditions, issued October '93

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyadjiev, Z.

    1995-01-01

    On the basis of the results of the carried out experimental (laboratory and in situ) investigations of the dynamic characteristics, the following conclusions for the Kozloduy NPP site are presented. (1) The established through experimental studies relationships for the shear module and the damping factor as strain dependent of representative samples of soils of the site profile, can be used for all similar soils in the profile in the different parts of the site, taking into account the possible differences by means of the initial shear module in the normalized relationship for the respective generalized soil type. (2) When solving the problems of the site response and the 'soil - structure analysis', the geotechnical seismic model of the 'free field' profile can be assumed for all parts of the NPP site. (3) The changes of the lithological profile in different parts of the site, in respect to type and thickness, as well as in view of the different way and depth of the NPP structures foundation, make it necessary the elaboration of a geotechnical seismic model of the profile below the foundation plates of the reactor buildings of the NPP units in each particular case. These models can be made out on the basis of the summarized data about the shear velocities of the soil types, the lithological data of the studied boreholes in these places and the data having natural bulk density from 30 - 40 m depth determined by the laboratory studies of samples of these soils, assuming with approximation that the geotechnical seismic model below this depth is the same as the one of the 'free field'. (4) Studies have been carried out through in situ and laboratory studies of all the fundamental structures on the NPP site and the results of them are sufficient as an addition to the present initial data for solving the problems of the site response and the 'soil-structure inter-action' analyses of each structure

  5. Polyhomologation based on in situ generated Boron-thexyl-silaboracyclic initiating sites: a novel strategy towards the synthesis of polyethylene-based complex architectures

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Zhen; Zhang, Hefeng; Gnanou, Yves; Hadjichristidis, Nikolaos

    2015-01-01

    A novel strategy, based on the in situ generated Boron-thexyl-silaboracyclic initiating sites for the polyhomologation of dimethylsulfoxonium methylide, has been developed for the synthesis of complex polyethylene-based architectures. As examples

  6. USDOE Remote Sensing Laboratory multisensor surveys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tinney, L.; Christel, L.; Clark, H.; Mackey, H.

    1996-01-01

    The United States Department of Energy (USDOE) maintains a Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) to support nuclear related programs of the US Government. The mission of the organization includes both emergency response and routine environmental assessments of nuclear facilities. The unique suite of equipment used by RSL for multisensor surveys of nuclear facilities include gamma radiation sensors, mapping quality aerial cameras, video cameras, thermal imagers, and multispectral scanners. Results for RSL multisensor surveys that have been conducted at the Savannah River Site (SRS) located in South Carolina are presented

  7. Robotics and remote systems developments and applications, FY96. Revision 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lewis, W.I. III; Teese, G.D.

    1996-10-01

    The purpose of this report is to document the contributions that the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) has made during Fiscal Year 1996 in the Robotics and Remote Systems Technology arena. The contributions originated from the Applied Science and Engineering Technology (ASET) Department's Equipment Engineering Section (EES). Activities and deliverables for the Savannah River Site's (SRS) main operating divisions as well as contributions to new mission activities, other Department of Energy (DOE) sites and programs, intellectual property development and professional societies are described

  8. Remote Sensing Terminology in a Global and Knowledge-Based World

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kancheva, Rumiana

    , GIS, etc. Our belief is that the elaboration of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries in this spreading, most technically advanced and promising field of human expertise is of great practical importance. The work on an English-Bulgarian Dictionary of Remote Sensing Terms is described including considerations on its scope, structure, information content, sellection of terms, and etc. The vision builds upon previous national and international experience and makes use of ongoing activities on the subject. Any interest in cooperation and initiating suchlike collaborative projects is welcome and highly appreciated.

  9. Post-approval monitoring and oversight of U.S.-initiated human subjects research in resource-constrained countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Brandon; Kinsler, Janni; Folayan, Morenike O; Allen, Karen; Cáceres, Carlos F

    2014-06-01

    The history of human subjects research and controversial procedures in relation to it has helped form the field of bioethics. Ethically questionable elements may be identified during research design, research implementation, management at the study site, or actions by a study's investigator or other staff. Post-approval monitoring (PAM) may prevent violations from occurring or enable their identification at an early stage. In U.S.-initiated human subjects research taking place in resource-constrained countries with limited development of research regulatory structures, arranging a site visit from a U.S. research ethics committee (REC) becomes difficult, thus creating a potential barrier to regulatory oversight by the parent REC. However, this barrier may be overcome through the use of digital technologies, since much of the world has at least remote access to the Internet. Empirical research is needed to pilot test the use of these technologies for research oversight to ensure the protection of human subjects taking part in research worldwide.

  10. Sustainable Approaches for Materials Management in Remote ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Remote, economically challenged areas in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) and American Samoa in the US Pacific island territories face unique challenges with respect to solid waste management. These islands are remote and isolated, with some islands supporting only small populations, thus limiting options for pooling resources among communities in the form of regional waste management facilities, as is common on the US mainland. This isolation also results in greater costs for waste management compared to those encountered in the mainland US, a consequence of, among other factors, more expensive construction and maintenance costs because of the necessary transport of facility components (e.g., landfill liner materials) and the decreased attractiveness of waste recovery for recycling because of lower commodity prices after off-island transportation. Adding to these economic limitations, the gross domestic product and per capita income of the Pacific territories is less than half what it is in parts of the US. The first section of this report outlines a snapshot of the current state of solid waste management overall in the US Pacific island territories, primarily based on site visits.. Steps involved in this work included a review of selected existing published information related to the subject; site visits to Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Tutuila, and Apia; an assessment of the technical and economic feasibility of different solid waste

  11. Remote Monitoring Transparency Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sukhoruchkin, V.K.; Shmelev, V.M.; Roumiantsev, A.N.

    1996-01-01

    The objective of the Remote Monitoring Transparency Program is to evaluate and demonstrate the use of remote monitoring technologies to advance nonproliferation and transparency efforts that are currently being developed by Russia and the United States without compromising the national security to the participating parties. Under a lab-to-lab transparency contract between Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Kurchatov Institute (KI RRC), the Kurchatov Institute will analyze technical and procedural aspects of the application of remote monitoring as a transparency measure to monitor inventories of direct- use HEU and plutonium (e.g., material recovered from dismantled nuclear weapons). A goal of this program is to assist a broad range of political and technical experts in learning more about remote monitoring technologies that could be used to implement nonproliferation, arms control, and other security and confidence building measures. Specifically, this program will: (1) begin integrating Russian technologies into remote monitoring systems; (2) develop remote monitoring procedures that will assist in the application of remote monitoring techniques to monitor inventories of HEU and Pu from dismantled nuclear weapons; and (3) conduct a workshop to review remote monitoring fundamentals, demonstrate an integrated US/Russian remote monitoring system, and discuss the impacts that remote monitoring will have on the national security of participating countries

  12. Utilizing the fluidized bed to initiate water treatment on site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmadvand, H.; Germann, G.; Gandee, J.P.; Buehler, V.T.

    1995-01-01

    Escalating wastewater disposal costs coupled with enforcement of stricter regulations push industrial sites previously without water treatment to treat on site. These sites, inexperienced in water treatment, require a treatment technology that is easily installed, operated, and maintained. The aerobic granular activated carbon (GAC) fluidized bed incorporates biological and adsorptive technologies into a simple, cost-effective process capable of meeting strict effluent requirements. Two case studies at industrial sites illustrate the installation and operation of the fluidized bed and emphasize the ability to use the fluidized bed singularly or as an integral component of a treatment system capable of achieving treatment levels that allow surface discharge and reinjection. Attention is focused on BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes)

  13. Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar Photovoltaics at the Price Landfill Site in Pleasantville, New Jersey. A Study Prepared in Partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency for the RE-Powering America's Land Initiative: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salasovich, J.; Geiger, J.; Mosey, G.; Healey, V.

    2013-05-01

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in accordance with the RE-Powering America's Land initiative, selected the Price Landfill site in Pleasantville, New Jersey, for a feasibility study of renewable energy production. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided technical assistance for this project. The purpose of this report is to assess the site for a possible photovoltaic (PV) system installation and estimate the cost, performance, and site impacts of different PV options. In addition, the report recommends financing options that could assist in the implementation of a PV system at the site. This study did not assess environmental conditions at the site.

  14. Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar Photovoltaics at the Tower Road Site in Aurora, Colorado. A Study Prepared in Partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency for the RE-Powering America's Land Initiative: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Van Geet, O.; Mosey, G.

    2013-03-01

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in accordance with the RE-Powering America's Land initiative, selected the Tower Road site in Aurora, Colorado, for a feasibility study of renewable energy production. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided technical assistance for this project. The purpose of this report is to assess the site for a possible photovoltaic (PV) system installation and estimate the cost, performance, and site impacts of different PV options. In addition, the report recommends financing options that could assist in the implementation of a PV system at the site. This study did not assess environmental conditions at the site.

  15. Evaluation of the geologic relations and seismotectonic stability of the Yucca Mountain area, Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Investigation (NNWSI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-10-01

    This report provides a summary of progress for the project ''Evaluation of the Geologic Relations and Seismotectonic Stability of the Yucca Mountain Area, Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Investigation (NNWSI)'' for the eighteen month period of January 1, 1987 to June 10, 1988. This final report was preceded by the final report for the initial six month period, July 1, 1986 to December 31, 1986 (submitted on January 25, 1987, and revised in June 1987.) Quaternary Tectonics, Geochemical, Mineral Deposits, Vulcanic Geology, Seismology, Tectonics, Neotectonics, Remote Sensing, Geotechnical Assessments, Geotechnical Rock Mass Assessments, Basinal Studies, and Strong Ground Motion

  16. Optimizing the use of X and VNC protocols for support of remote observing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kibrick, Robert I.; Allen, Steven L.; Conrad, Al; Stickel, Terry; Wirth, Gregory D.

    2004-09-01

    Remote observing is the dominant mode of operation for both Keck Telescopes and their associated instruments. Over 90% of all Keck observations are carried out remotely from the Keck Headquarters in Waimea, Hawaii (located 40 kilometers from the telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea). In addition, an increasing number of observations are now conducted by geographically-dispersed observing teams, with some team members working from Waimea while others collaborate from Keck remote observing facilities located in California. Such facilities are now operational on the Santa Cruz and San Diego campuses of the University of California, and at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. This report describes our use of the X and VNC protocols for providing remote and shared graphical displays to distributed teams of observers and observing assistants located at multiple sites. We describe the results of tests involving both protocols, and explore the limitations and performance of each under different regimes of network bandwidth and latency. We also examine other constraints imposed by differences in the processing performance and bit depth of the various frame buffers used to generate these graphical displays. Other topics covered include the use of ssh tunnels for securely encapsulating both X and VNC protocol streams and the results of tests of ssh compression to improve performance under conditions of limited network bandwidth. We also examine trade-offs between different topologies for locating VNC servers and clients when sharing displays between multiple sites.

  17. Autonomous distributed temperature sensing for long-term heated applications in remote areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.-M. Kurth

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Distributed temperature sensing (DTS is a fiber-optical method enabling simultaneous temperature measurements over long distances. Electrical resistance heating of the metallic components of the fiber-optic cable provides information on the thermal characteristics of the cable's environment, providing valuable insight into processes occurring in the surrounding medium, such as groundwater–surface water interactions, dam stability or soil moisture. Until now, heated applications required direct handling of the DTS instrument by a researcher, rendering long-term investigations in remote areas impractical due to the often difficult and time-consuming access to the field site. Remote control and automation of the DTS instrument and heating processes, however, resolve the issue with difficult access. The data can also be remotely accessed and stored on a central database. The power supply can be grid independent, although significant infrastructure investment is required here due to high power consumption during heated applications. Solar energy must be sufficient even in worst case scenarios, e.g. during long periods of intense cloud cover, to prevent system failure due to energy shortage. In combination with storage batteries and a low heating frequency, e.g. once per day or once per week (depending on the season and the solar radiation on site, issues of high power consumption may be resolved. Safety regulations dictate adequate shielding and ground-fault protection, to safeguard animals and humans from electricity and laser sources. In this paper the autonomous DTS system is presented to allow research with heated applications of DTS in remote areas for long-term investigations of temperature distributions in the environment.

  18. Startup of the remote laboratory-scale waste-treatment facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knox, C.A.; Siemens, D.H.; Berger, D.N.

    1981-01-01

    The Remote Laboratory-Scale Waste-Treatment Facility was designed as a system to solidify small volumes of radioactive liquid wastes. The objectives in operating this facility are to evaluate solidification processes, determine the effluents generated, test methods for decontaminating the effluents, and provide radioactive solidified waste products for evaluation. The facility consists of a feed-preparation module, a waste-solidification module and an effluent-treatment module. The system was designed for remote installation and operation. Several special features for remotely handling radioactive materials were incorporated into the design. The equipment was initially assembled outside of a radiochemical cell to size and fabricate the connecting jumpers between the modules and to complete some preliminary design-verification tests. The equipment was then disassembled and installed in the radiochemical cell. When installation was completed the entire system was checked out with water and then with a nonradioactive simulated waste solution. The purpose of these operations was to start up the facility, find and solve operational problems, verify operating procedures and train personnel. The major problems experienced during these nonradioactive runs were plugging of the spray calciner nozzle and feed tank pumping failures. When these problems were solved, radioactive operations were started. This report describes the installation of this facility, its special remote design feature and the startup operations

  19. Time-sensitive remote sensing

    CERN Document Server

    Lippitt, Christopher; Coulter, Lloyd

    2015-01-01

    This book documents the state of the art in the use of remote sensing to address time-sensitive information requirements. Specifically, it brings together a group of authors who are both researchers and practitioners, who work toward or are currently using remote sensing to address time-sensitive information requirements with the goal of advancing the effective use of remote sensing to supply time-sensitive information. The book addresses the theoretical implications of time-sensitivity on the remote sensing process, assessments or descriptions of methods for expediting the delivery and improving the quality of information derived from remote sensing, and describes and analyzes time-sensitive remote sensing applications, with an emphasis on lessons learned. This book is intended for remote sensing scientists, practitioners (e.g., emergency responders or administrators of emergency response agencies), and students, but will also be of use to those seeking to understand the potential of remote sensing to addres...

  20. Architecting Web Sites for High Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arun Iyengar

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Web site applications are some of the most challenging high-performance applications currently being developed and deployed. The challenges emerge from the specific combination of high variability in workload characteristics and of high performance demands regarding the service level, scalability, availability, and costs. In recent years, a large body of research has addressed the Web site application domain, and a host of innovative software and hardware solutions have been proposed and deployed. This paper is an overview of recent solutions concerning the architectures and the software infrastructures used in building Web site applications. The presentation emphasizes three of the main functions in a complex Web site: the processing of client requests, the control of service levels, and the interaction with remote network caches.

  1. Making rural and remote communities more age-friendly: experts' perspectives on issues, challenges, and priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menec, Verena; Bell, Sheri; Novek, Sheila; Minnigaleeva, Gulnara A; Morales, Ernesto; Ouma, Titus; Parodi, Jose F; Winterton, Rachel

    2015-01-01

    With the growing interest worldwide in making communities more age-friendly, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the factors that help or hinder communities in attaining this goal. In this article, we focus on rural and remote communities and present perspectives of 42 experts in the areas of aging, rural and remote issues, and policy who participated in a consensus conference on age-friendly rural and remote communities. Discussions highlighted that strengths in rural and remote communities, such as easy access to local leaders and existing partnerships, can help to further age-friendly goals; however, addressing major challenges, such as lack of infrastructure and limited availability of social and health services, requires regional or national government buy-in and funding opportunities. Age-friendly work in rural and remote communities is, therefore, ideally embedded in larger age-friendly initiatives and supported by regional or national policies, programs, and funding sources.

  2. Multicriteria analysis for sources of renewable energy using data from remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matejicek, L.

    2015-04-01

    Renewable energy sources are major components of the strategy to reduce harmful emissions and to replace depleting fossil energy resources. Data from remote sensing can provide information for multicriteria analysis for sources of renewable energy. Advanced land cover quantification makes it possible to search for suitable sites. Multicriteria analysis, together with other data, is used to determine the energy potential and socially acceptability of suggested locations. The described case study is focused on an area of surface coal mines in the northwestern region of the Czech Republic, where the impacts of surface mining and reclamation constitute a dominant force in land cover changes. High resolution satellite images represent the main input datasets for identification of suitable sites. Solar mapping, wind predictions, the location of weirs in watersheds, road maps and demographic information complement the data from remote sensing for multicriteria analysis, which is implemented in a geographic information system (GIS). The input spatial datasets for multicriteria analysis in GIS are reclassified to a common scale and processed with raster algebra tools to identify suitable sites for sources of renewable energy. The selection of suitable sites is limited by the CORINE land cover database to mining and agricultural areas. The case study is focused on long term land cover changes in the 1985-2015 period. Multicriteria analysis based on CORINE data shows moderate changes in mapping of suitable sites for utilization of selected sources of renewable energy in 1990, 2000, 2006 and 2012. The results represent map layers showing the energy potential on a scale of a few preference classes (1-7), where the first class is linked to minimum preference and the last class to maximum preference. The attached histograms show the moderate variability of preference classes due to land cover changes caused by mining activities. The results also show a slight increase in the more

  3. An Investigation of Information Technology-Enabled Remote Management and Remote Work Issues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Sandy Staples

    1997-05-01

    Full Text Available A two phase research study was done to investigate remote work and remote management issues. In Phase 1, focus groups were carried out with remote managers and remote employees to identify key issues. The most common key issues dealt with communications, information technology, leadership and coaching, teamwork, building trust, and performance management. In the second phase, a questionnaire was used to test hypotheses developed from phase 1. The findings supported that higher trust leads to higher job satisfaction and lower job stress, and that more communication between the manager and the remote employee develops higher levels of employee organizational commitment.

  4. SP-100 reactor disassembly remote handling test program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, C.E.; Potter, J.D.; Maiden, G.E.; Vader, D.P.

    1991-01-01

    This paper is presented as an overview of the remote handling equipment validation testing, which will be conducted before installation and use in the ground engineering test facility. This equipment will be used to defuel the SP-100 reactor core after removing it from the Test Assembly following nuclear testing. A series of full scale mock-up operational tests will be conducted at a Hanford Site facility to verify equipment design, operation, and capabilities

  5. The Argentine remote monitoring and surveillance system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonino, A.; Roca, J.L.; Perez, A.; Pizarro, L.; Krimer, M.; Teira, R.; Higa, Z.; Saettone, S.; Monzon, J.; Moroni, D.

    1996-01-01

    The Scientific and Technical Support Department of the Argentine National Board of Nuclear Regulation (ENREN) has developed a Remote Monitoring and Surveillance System (RMSS) that provides a media to verify state of variables related to the monitoring and surveillance activities of nuclear facilities, mainly safeguard applications. RMSS includes a variety of on site installed sensors, an authenticated radiofrequency communication link, a receiver processing unit, an active vision set and a user friendly personal computer interface to collect, view and store pertinent histories of events. A real time data base allows consulting, maintenance, updating and checking activities. RMSS could be integrated into a LAN or WAN via modem for use in a remote operation scheme. In this paper a description of the RMSS is provided. Also, an overview of the RMSS operation at one facility under safeguards belonging to the National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA) is presented. Results and conclusions of the system associated with this facility are given. (author). 37 figs

  6. The Argentine remote monitoring and surveillance system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bonino, A; Roca, J L; Perez, A; Pizarro, L; Krimer, M; Teira, R; Higa, Z; Saettone, S; Monzon, J; Moroni, D [Ente Nacional Regulador Nuclear, Buenos Aires (Argentina). Dept. Apoyo Cientifico y Tecnico

    1997-12-31

    The Scientific and Technical Support Department of the Argentine National Board of Nuclear Regulation (ENREN) has developed a Remote Monitoring and Surveillance System (RMSS) that provides a media to verify state of variables related to the monitoring and surveillance activities of nuclear facilities, mainly safeguard applications. RMSS includes a variety of on site installed sensors, an authenticated radiofrequency communication link, a receiver processing unit, an active vision set and a user friendly personal computer interface to collect, view and store pertinent histories of events. A real time data base allows consulting, maintenance, updating and checking activities. RMSS could be integrated into a LAN or WAN via modem for use in a remote operation scheme. In this paper a description of the RMSS is provided. Also, an overview of the RMSS operation at one facility under safeguards belonging to the National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA) is presented. Results and conclusions of the system associated with this facility are given. (author). 37 figs.

  7. Multisource data fusion for documenting archaeological sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knyaz, Vladimir; Chibunichev, Alexander; Zhuravlev, Denis

    2017-10-01

    The quality of archaeological sites documenting is of great importance for cultural heritage preserving and investigating. The progress in developing new techniques and systems for data acquisition and processing creates an excellent basis for achieving a new quality of archaeological sites documenting and visualization. archaeological data has some specific features which have to be taken into account when acquiring, processing and managing. First of all, it is a needed to gather as full as possible information about findings providing no loss of information and no damage to artifacts. Remote sensing technologies are the most adequate and powerful means which satisfy this requirement. An approach to archaeological data acquiring and fusion based on remote sensing is proposed. It combines a set of photogrammetric techniques for obtaining geometrical and visual information at different scales and detailing and a pipeline for archaeological data documenting, structuring, fusion, and analysis. The proposed approach is applied for documenting of Bosporus archaeological expedition of Russian State Historical Museum.

  8. Remote replacement of TF [toroidal field] and PF [poloidal field] coils for the compact ignition tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Macdonald, D.; Watkin, D.C.; Hollis, M.J.; DePew, R.E.; Kuban, D.P.

    1990-01-01

    The use of deuterium-tritium fuel in the Compact Ignition Tokamak will require applying remote handling technology for ex-vessel maintenance and replacement of machine components. Highly activated and contaminated components of the fusion devices auxiliary systems, such as diagnostics and RF heating, must be replaced using remotely operated maintenance equipment in the test cell. In-vessel remote maintenance included replacement of divertor and first wall hardware, faraday shields, and for an in-vessel inspection system. Provision for remote replacement of a vacuum vessel sector, toroidal field coil or poloidal field ring coil was not included in the project baseline. As a result of recent coil failures experienced at a number of facilities, the CIT project decided to reconsider the question of remote recovery from a coil failure and, in January of 1990, initiated a coil replacement study. This study focused on the technical requirements and impact on fusion machine design associated with remote recovery from any coil failure

  9. Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar Photovoltaics at the Kerr McGee Site in Columbus, Mississippi. A Study Prepared in Partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency for the RE-Powering America's Land Initiative: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Simon, J.; Mosey, G.

    2013-01-01

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in accordance with the RE-Powering America's Land initiative, selected the Kerr McGee site in Columbus, Mississippi, for a feasibility study of renewable energy production. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided technical assistance for this project. The purpose of this report is to assess the site for a possible photovoltaic (PV) system installation and estimate the cost, performance, and site impacts of different PV options. In addition, the report recommends financing options that could assist in the implementation of a PV system at the site.

  10. Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar Photovoltaics at the Crazy Horse Landfill Site in Salinas, California. A Study Prepared in Partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency for the RE-Powering America's Land Initiative: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stoltenberg, B.; Konz, C.; Mosey, G.

    2013-03-01

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in accordance with the RE-Powering America's Land initiative, selected the Crazy Horse Landfill site in Salinas, California, for a feasibility study of renewable energy production. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was contacted to provide technical assistance for this project. The purpose of this report is to assess the site for a possible photovoltaic (PV) system installation and estimate the cost, performance, operation and maintenance requirements, and site impacts of different PV options. In addition, the report recommends financing options that could assist in the implementation of a PV system at the site.

  11. Nevada National Security Site Environmental Report 2010, Attachment A: Site Description

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    C. Wills, ed.

    2011-09-13

    Introduction to the Nevada National Security Site Environmental Report 2010. Included are subsections that summarize the site’s geological, hydrological, climatological, and ecological setting and the cultural resources of the NNSS. The subsections are meant to aid the reader in understanding the complex physical and biological environment of the NNSS. An adequate knowledge of the site’s environment is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of new projects, design and implement environmental monitoring activities for current site operations, and assess the impacts of site operations on the public residing in the vicinity of the NNSS. The NNSS environment contributes to several key features of the site that afford protection to the inhabitants of adjacent areas from potential exposure to radioactivity or other contaminants resulting from NNSS operations. These key features include the general remote location of the NNSS, restricted access, extended wind transport times, the great depths to slow-moving groundwater, little or no surface water, and low population density. This attachment complements the annual summary of monitoring program activities and dose assessments presented in the main body of this report.

  12. Fundamentals for remote condition monitoring of offshore wind turbine blades

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McGugan, Malcolm; Sørensen, Bent F.

    2007-01-01

    inspection, repair or replacement. The paper explores the requirements for the level of remote data Output that will allow an initial improvement in the overall management of offshore wind farms., and ultimately accurate estimates of remaining life for individual blades. The practical and theoretical...... knowledge synergy required to introduce a working system is also considered. Although the initial objectives of the present Study were simply to establish the fundamentals for such technology, with industrial collaboration to follow, it quickly became clear that the development of specific prototype...

  13. Initiating Events for Multi-Reactor Plant Sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muhlheim, Michael David [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Flanagan, George F. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Poore, III, Willis P. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

    2014-09-01

    Inherent in the design of modular reactors is the increased likelihood of events that initiate at a single reactor affecting another reactor. Because of the increased level of interactions between reactors, it is apparent that the Probabilistic Risk Assessments (PRAs) for modular reactor designs need to specifically address the increased interactions and dependencies.

  14. Active remote observing system for the 1-m telescope at Tonantzintla Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernal, Abel; Martínez, Luis A.; Hernández, Héctor; Garfias, Fernando; Ángeles, Fernando

    2006-06-01

    We have designed and installed a new active remote observing system for the 1-m, f/15 telescope at the Tonantzintla Observatory. This remote system is operated in real-time through the Internet, allowing an observer to control the building, the telescope (pointing, guiding and focusing) and the CCD image acquisition at the main and finder telescopes from the Instituto de Astronomia headquarters in Mexico City (150 KM away). The whole system was modeled within the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the design has proved to be versatile enough for a variety of astronomical instruments. We describe the system architecture and how different subsystems (telescope control, main telescope and finder image acquisition, weather station, videoconference, etc.) that are based on different operative system platforms (Linux, Windows, uIP) have been integrated. We present the first results of an IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel. Recent remote direct imaging and spectroscopic observations have been used to test the astronomical site. We conclude that this remote system is an excellent tool for supporting research and graduated observational astronomy programs.

  15. Portable, remotely operated, computer-controlled, quadrupole mass spectrometer for field use

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Friesen, R.D.; Newton, J.C.; Smith, C.F.

    1982-04-01

    A portable, remote-controlled mass spectrometer was required at the Nevada Test Site to analyze prompt post-event gas from the nuclear cavity in support of the underground testing program. A Balzers QMG-511 quadrupole was chosen for its ability to be interfaced to a DEC LSI-11 computer and to withstand the ground movement caused by this field environment. The inlet system valves, the pumps, the pressure and temperature transducers, and the quadrupole mass spectrometer are controlled by a read-only-memory-based DEC LSI-11/2 with a high-speed microwave link to the control point which is typically 30 miles away. The computer at the control point is a DEC LSI-11/23 running the RSX-11 operating system. The instrument was automated as much as possible because the system is run by inexperienced operators at times. The mass spectrometer has been used on an initial field event with excellent performance. The gas analysis system is described, including automation by a novel computer control method which reduces operator errors and allows dynamic access to the system parameters

  16. Remote Observational Techniques in Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thieman, J.; Mayo, L.

    2002-09-01

    The ability to observe celestial objects remotely is making a major impact into classroom access to astronomical instrumentation previously impossible to encorporate into curriculum. Two programs, Radio Jove and Telescopes In Education have made important contributions in this field. Radio JOVE is an interactive, hands-on, educational activity for learning the scientific method through the medium of radio observations of Jupiter, the Sun, and the galactic radio background. Students build radio receivers from relatively inexpensive non-profit kits (about \\$125 plus shipping) and use them to record data, analyze the data, and share the results with others. Alternatively, for no cost, the students can record and analyze data from remote radio receivers connected to the web. The projects are useful adjuncts to activities in optical observing since students should recognize that we learn about the universe through more than just the optical spectrum. The projects are mini-electronics courses and also teach about charged particles and magnetic fields. The Radio JOVE web site (http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov) should be consulted for further information. The NASA-sponsored Telescopes In Education (TIE) network (http://tie.jpl.nasa.gov) has been wildly successful in engaging the K-12 education community in real-time, hands-on, interactive astronomy activities. Hundreds of schools in the US, Australia, Canada, England, and Japan have participated in the TIE program, remotely controlling the 24-inch telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory from their classrooms. In recent years, several (approximately 20 to date) other telescopes have been, or are in the process of being, outfitted for remote use as TIE affiliates. These telescopesare integrated seamlessly into one virtual observatory providing the services required to operate this facility, including a scheduling service, tools for data manipulation, an online proposal review environment, an online "Virtual TIE Student Ap J

  17. Measurements in Concentrated Sun using a Remote Controlled Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Floroian

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Nowdays, using the concentrated sunlight is a big issue because the amount of energy is very high and the light is concentrated in a very small area. The main problem in this situation is the heating, and in order to make safe measurements a remote controlled robot is needed. After that, a remote controlled robot will assume the duty of protect the measured sample and to expose it for a precise time to the concentrated sun in order to reduce heating of the sample. For easy operating, and for automatize the process, all the duties, starting with initial conditions, continuing with triggering the measurements, and conditioning the signals and finalizing with data saving must be assured by the robot.

  18. Demonstration of an initial screening phase for site selection for low level radioactive waste burial - an evaluation of relevant IAEA guidelines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-04-01

    Low level radioactive wastes, arising from the use of radioisotopes in medicine and industry are accumulating throughout Australia. The rate of accumulation has not been large and storage of these wastes close to the point of use has proved practicable to date, but consideration must now be given to a central repository or repositories for these low level wastes. This report considers the question of selecting a site suitable for disposal of wastes by shallow ground burial. It attempts to asses the practicability of using factors suggested by the IAEA for the initial phase of site screening. The screening process described has essentially two stages. In the first, New South Wales was divided into broad structural units and these ranked in order of suitability. In the second stage, survey sites in which thick clay beds outcropped were delineated in the five highest ranking structural units. These survey sites were ranked on the basis of various geomorphological properties which largely described the hydrogeology of the site

  19. Remote monitoring field trial. Application to automated air sampling. Report on Task FIN-E935 of the Finnish Support Programme to IAEA Safeguards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poellaenen, R.; Ilander, T.; Lehtinen, J.; Leppaenen, A.; Nikkinen, M.; Toivonen, H.; Ylaetalo, S.; Smartt, H.; Garcia, R.; Martinez, R.; Glidewell, D.; Krantz, K.

    1999-01-01

    An automated air sampling station has recently been developed by Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). The station is furnished with equipment that allows comprehensive remote monitoring of the station and the data. Under the Finnish Support Programme to IAEA Safeguards, STUK and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) established a field trial to demonstrate the use of remote monitoring technologies. STUK provided means for real-lime radiation monitoring and sample authentication whereas SNL delivered means for authenticated surveillance of the equipment and its location. The field trial showed that remote monitoring can be carried out using simple means although advanced facilities are needed for comprehensive surveillance. Authenticated measurement data could be reliably transferred from the monitoring site to the headquarters without the presence of authorized personnel in the monitoring site. The operation of the station and the remote monitoring system were reliable. (orig.)

  20. System for remote control of underground device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brumleve, T.D.; Hicks, M.G.; Jones, M.O.

    1975-10-21

    A system is described for remote control of an underground device, particularly a nuclear explosive. The system includes means at the surface of the ground for transmitting a seismic signal sequence through the earth having controlled and predetermined signal characteristics for initiating a selected action in the device. Additional apparatus, located with or adjacent to the underground device, produces electrical signals in response to the seismic signals received and compares these electrical signals with the predetermined signal characteristics.