Pencil kernel correction and residual error estimation for quality-index-based dose calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nyholm, Tufve; Olofsson, Joergen; Ahnesjoe, Anders; Georg, Dietmar; Karlsson, Mikael

2006-01-01

Experimental data from 593 photon beams were used to quantify the errors in dose calculations using a previously published pencil kernel model. A correction of the kernel was derived in order to remove the observed systematic errors. The remaining residual error for individual beams was modelled through uncertainty associated with the kernel model. The methods were tested against an independent set of measurements. No significant systematic error was observed in the calculations using the derived correction of the kernel and the remaining random errors were found to be adequately predicted by the proposed method

MANAGEMENT OF RESIDUAL REFRACTIVE ERROR AFTER CATARACT PHACOEMULSIFICATION. PART 2. INTRAOCULAR APPROACHES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. B. Pershin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The review presents an  analysis  of the  literature  data  on  the  methods of surgical  correction of residual  refractive  error after cataract phacoemulsification. Keratorefractive and intraocular approaches are  considered in details.  A comparison of the  efficacy and  safet y  of different groups   of methods on  the  example  of comparative studies is given.  Historically earlier  keratorefractive methods (laser  vision correction with LASIK and  PRK techniques on intact  eyes,  LASIK after  implantation  of multifocal  IOLs and arcuate keratotomy  after  phaco  are  indicated  for  the  correction of astigmatic refractive  error and  a small  spherical refractive error. Intraocular methods, including the  replacement of the  IOL  and  «piggyback» IOLs implantation  are  used  to  correct a large spherical refractive error. The introduction  of new  technology, the  implantation  of light-adjustable  IOLs, will  expand  the  existing evidence  and provide greater predictabilit y and efficiency of the  method  of correction of residual  refractive error.

Improving probabilistic prediction of daily streamflow by identifying Pareto optimal approaches for modelling heteroscedastic residual errors

Science.gov (United States)

David, McInerney; Mark, Thyer; Dmitri, Kavetski; George, Kuczera

2017-04-01

This study provides guidance to hydrological researchers which enables them to provide probabilistic predictions of daily streamflow with the best reliability and precision for different catchment types (e.g. high/low degree of ephemerality). Reliable and precise probabilistic prediction of daily catchment-scale streamflow requires statistical characterization of residual errors of hydrological models. It is commonly known that hydrological model residual errors are heteroscedastic, i.e. there is a pattern of larger errors in higher streamflow predictions. Although multiple approaches exist for representing this heteroscedasticity, few studies have undertaken a comprehensive evaluation and comparison of these approaches. This study fills this research gap by evaluating 8 common residual error schemes, including standard and weighted least squares, the Box-Cox transformation (with fixed and calibrated power parameter, lambda) and the log-sinh transformation. Case studies include 17 perennial and 6 ephemeral catchments in Australia and USA, and two lumped hydrological models. We find the choice of heteroscedastic error modelling approach significantly impacts on predictive performance, though no single scheme simultaneously optimizes all performance metrics. The set of Pareto optimal schemes, reflecting performance trade-offs, comprises Box-Cox schemes with lambda of 0.2 and 0.5, and the log scheme (lambda=0, perennial catchments only). These schemes significantly outperform even the average-performing remaining schemes (e.g., across ephemeral catchments, median precision tightens from 105% to 40% of observed streamflow, and median biases decrease from 25% to 4%). Theoretical interpretations of empirical results highlight the importance of capturing the skew/kurtosis of raw residuals and reproducing zero flows. Recommendations for researchers and practitioners seeking robust residual error schemes for practical work are provided.

Performance of the APS optical slope measuring system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qian, Jun; Sullivan, Joe; Erdmann, Mark; Khounsary, Ali; Assoufid, Lahsen

2013-01-01

An optical slope measuring system (OSMS) was recently brought into operation at the Advanced Photon Source of the Argonne National Laboratory. This system is equipped with a precision autocollimator and a very accurate mirror-based pentaprism on a scanning stage and kept in an environment-controlled enclosure. This system has the capability to measure precision optics with sub-microradian rms slope errors as documented with a series of tests demonstrating accuracy, stability, reliability and repeatability. Measurements of a flat mirror with 0.2 μrad rms slope error are presented which show that the variation of the slope profile measurements with the mirror setting at different locations along the scanning direction is only 60 nrad and the corresponding height error profile has 2 nm rms. -- Highlights: ► This is the first time to present the APS OSMS in publication. ► The APS OSMS is capable to measure flat and near flat mirrors with slope error <100 nrad rms. ► The accuracy of the slope error measurements of a 350 mm long mirror is less than 60 nrad rms

Residual-based a posteriori error estimation for multipoint flux mixed finite element methods

KAUST Repository

Du, Shaohong; Sun, Shuyu; Xie, Xiaoping

2015-01-01

A novel residual-type a posteriori error analysis technique is developed for multipoint flux mixed finite element methods for flow in porous media in two or three space dimensions. The derived a posteriori error estimator for the velocity and pressure error in L-norm consists of discretization and quadrature indicators, and is shown to be reliable and efficient. The main tools of analysis are a locally postprocessed approximation to the pressure solution of an auxiliary problem and a quadrature error estimate. Numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the competitive behavior of the estimator.

Residual-based a posteriori error estimation for multipoint flux mixed finite element methods

KAUST Repository

Du, Shaohong

2015-10-26

A novel residual-type a posteriori error analysis technique is developed for multipoint flux mixed finite element methods for flow in porous media in two or three space dimensions. The derived a posteriori error estimator for the velocity and pressure error in L-norm consists of discretization and quadrature indicators, and is shown to be reliable and efficient. The main tools of analysis are a locally postprocessed approximation to the pressure solution of an auxiliary problem and a quadrature error estimate. Numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the competitive behavior of the estimator.

Residual rotational set-up errors after daily cone-beam CT image guided radiotherapy of locally advanced cervical cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laursen, Louise Vagner; Elstrøm, Ulrik Vindelev; Vestergaard, Anne; Muren, Ludvig P.; Petersen, Jørgen Baltzer; Lindegaard, Jacob Christian; Grau, Cai; Tanderup, Kari

2012-01-01

Purpose: Due to the often quite extended treatment fields in cervical cancer radiotherapy, uncorrected rotational set-up errors result in a potential risk of target miss. This study reports on the residual rotational set-up error after using daily cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) to position cervical cancer patients for radiotherapy treatment. Methods and materials: Twenty-five patients with locally advanced cervical cancer had daily CBCT scans (650 CBCTs in total) prior to treatment delivery. We retrospectively analyzed the translational shifts made in the clinic prior to each treatment fraction as well as the residual rotational errors remaining after translational correction. Results: The CBCT-guided couch movement resulted in a mean translational 3D vector correction of 7.4 mm. Residual rotational error resulted in a target shift exceeding 5 mm in 57 of the 650 treatment fractions. Three patients alone accounted for 30 of these fractions. Nine patients had no shifts exceeding 5 mm and 13 patients had 5 or less treatment fractions with such shifts. Conclusion: Twenty-two of the 25 patients have none or few treatment fractions with target shifts larger than 5 mm due to residual rotational error. However, three patients display a significant number of shifts suggesting a more systematic set-up error.

Improving probabilistic prediction of daily streamflow by identifying Pareto optimal approaches for modeling heteroscedastic residual errors

Science.gov (United States)

McInerney, David; Thyer, Mark; Kavetski, Dmitri; Lerat, Julien; Kuczera, George

2017-03-01

Reliable and precise probabilistic prediction of daily catchment-scale streamflow requires statistical characterization of residual errors of hydrological models. This study focuses on approaches for representing error heteroscedasticity with respect to simulated streamflow, i.e., the pattern of larger errors in higher streamflow predictions. We evaluate eight common residual error schemes, including standard and weighted least squares, the Box-Cox transformation (with fixed and calibrated power parameter λ) and the log-sinh transformation. Case studies include 17 perennial and 6 ephemeral catchments in Australia and the United States, and two lumped hydrological models. Performance is quantified using predictive reliability, precision, and volumetric bias metrics. We find the choice of heteroscedastic error modeling approach significantly impacts on predictive performance, though no single scheme simultaneously optimizes all performance metrics. The set of Pareto optimal schemes, reflecting performance trade-offs, comprises Box-Cox schemes with λ of 0.2 and 0.5, and the log scheme (λ = 0, perennial catchments only). These schemes significantly outperform even the average-performing remaining schemes (e.g., across ephemeral catchments, median precision tightens from 105% to 40% of observed streamflow, and median biases decrease from 25% to 4%). Theoretical interpretations of empirical results highlight the importance of capturing the skew/kurtosis of raw residuals and reproducing zero flows. Paradoxically, calibration of λ is often counterproductive: in perennial catchments, it tends to overfit low flows at the expense of abysmal precision in high flows. The log-sinh transformation is dominated by the simpler Pareto optimal schemes listed above. Recommendations for researchers and practitioners seeking robust residual error schemes for practical work are provided.

Residual translational and rotational errors after kV X-ray image-guided correction of prostate location using implanted fiducials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wust, Peter; Graf, Reinhold; Boehmer, Dirk; Budach, Volker

2010-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the residual errors and required safety margins after stereoscopic kilovoltage (kV) X-ray target localization of the prostate in image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) using internal fiducials. Patients and Methods: Radiopaque fiducial markers (FMs) have been inserted into the prostate in a cohort of 33 patients. The ExacTrac/Novalis Body trademark X-ray 6d image acquisition system (BrainLAB AG, Feldkirchen, Germany) was used. Corrections were performed in left-right (LR), anterior-posterior (AP), and superior-inferior (SI) direction. Rotational errors around LR (x-axis), AP (y) and SI (z) have been recorded for the first series of nine patients, and since 2007 for the subsequent 24 patients in addition corrected in each fraction by using the Robotic Tilt Module trademark and Varian Exact Couch trademark. After positioning, a second set of X-ray images was acquired for verification purposes. Residual errors were registered and again corrected. Results: Standard deviations (SD) of residual translational random errors in LR, AP, and SI coordinates were 1.3, 1.7, and 2.2 mm. Residual random rotation errors were found for lateral (around x, tilt), vertical (around y, table), and longitudinal (around z, roll) and of 3.2 , 1.8 , and 1.5 . Planning target volume (PTV)-clinical target volume (CTV) margins were calculated in LR, AP, and SI direction to 2.3, 3.0, and 3.7 mm. After a second repositioning, the margins could be reduced to 1.8, 2.1, and 1.8 mm. Conclusion: On the basis of the residual setup error measurements, the margin required after one to two online X-ray corrections for the patients enrolled in this study would be at minimum 2 mm. The contribution of intrafractional motion to residual random errors has to be evaluated. (orig.)

Residual translational and rotational errors after kV X-ray image-guided correction of prostate location using implanted fiducials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wust, Peter [Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Charite - Univ. Medicine Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Berlin (Germany); Graf, Reinhold; Boehmer, Dirk; Budach, Volker

2010-10-15

Purpose: To evaluate the residual errors and required safety margins after stereoscopic kilovoltage (kV) X-ray target localization of the prostate in image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) using internal fiducials. Patients and Methods: Radiopaque fiducial markers (FMs) have been inserted into the prostate in a cohort of 33 patients. The ExacTrac/Novalis Body trademark X-ray 6d image acquisition system (BrainLAB AG, Feldkirchen, Germany) was used. Corrections were performed in left-right (LR), anterior-posterior (AP), and superior-inferior (SI) direction. Rotational errors around LR (x-axis), AP (y) and SI (z) have been recorded for the first series of nine patients, and since 2007 for the subsequent 24 patients in addition corrected in each fraction by using the Robotic Tilt Module trademark and Varian Exact Couch trademark. After positioning, a second set of X-ray images was acquired for verification purposes. Residual errors were registered and again corrected. Results: Standard deviations (SD) of residual translational random errors in LR, AP, and SI coordinates were 1.3, 1.7, and 2.2 mm. Residual random rotation errors were found for lateral (around x, tilt), vertical (around y, table), and longitudinal (around z, roll) and of 3.2 , 1.8 , and 1.5 . Planning target volume (PTV)-clinical target volume (CTV) margins were calculated in LR, AP, and SI direction to 2.3, 3.0, and 3.7 mm. After a second repositioning, the margins could be reduced to 1.8, 2.1, and 1.8 mm. Conclusion: On the basis of the residual setup error measurements, the margin required after one to two online X-ray corrections for the patients enrolled in this study would be at minimum 2 mm. The contribution of intrafractional motion to residual random errors has to be evaluated. (orig.)

Residual setup errors caused by rotation and non-rigid motion in prone-treated cervical cancer patients after online CBCT image-guidance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, Rozilawati; Hoogeman, Mischa S.; Quint, Sandra; Mens, Jan Willem; Osorio, Eliana M. Vásquez; Heijmen, Ben J.M.

2012-01-01

Purpose: To quantify the impact of uncorrected or partially corrected pelvis rotation and spine bending on region-specific residual setup errors in prone-treated cervical cancer patients. Methods and materials: Fifteen patients received an in-room CBCT scan twice a week. CBCT scans were registered to the planning CT-scan using a pelvic clip box and considering both translations and rotations. For daily correction of the detected translational pelvis setup errors by couch shifts, residual setup errors were determined for L5, L4 and seven other points of interest (POIs). The same was done for a procedure with translational corrections and limited rotational correction (±3°) by a 6D positioning device. Results: With translational correction only, residual setup errors were large especially for L5/L4 in AP direction (Σ = 5.1/5.5 mm). For the 7 POIs the residual setup errors ranged from 1.8 to 5.6 mm (AP). Using the 6D positioning device, the errors were substantially smaller (for L5/L4 in AP direction Σ = 2.7/2.2 mm). Using this device, the percentage of fractions with a residual AP displacement for L4 > 5 mm reduced from 47% to 9%. Conclusions: Setup variations caused by pelvis rotations are large and cannot be ignored in prone treatment of cervical cancer patients. Corrections with a 6D positioning device may considerably reduce resulting setup errors, but the residual setup errors should still be accounted for by appropriate CTV-to-PTV margins.

Proposal for a Universal Test Mirror for Characterization of Slope Measuring Instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yashchuk, Valeriy V.; McKinney, Wayne R.; Warwick, Tony; Noll, Tino; Siewert, Frank; Zeschke, Thomas; Geckeler, Ralf D.

2007-01-01

The development of third generation light sources like the Advanced Light Source (ALS) or BESSY II brought to a focus the need for high performance synchrotron optics with unprecedented tolerances for slope error and micro roughness. Proposed beam lines at Free Electron Lasers (FEL) require optical elements up to a length of one meter, characterized by a residual slope error in the range of 0.1mu rad (rms),and rms values of 0.1 nm for micro roughness. These optical elements must be inspected by highly accurate measuring instruments, providing a measurement uncertainty lower than the specified accuracy of the surface under test. It is essential that metrology devices in use at synchrotron laboratories be precisely characterized and calibrated to achieve this target. In this paper we discuss a proposal for a Universal Test Mirror (UTM) as a realization of a high performance calibration instrument. The instrument would provide an ideal calibration surface to replicate a redundant surface under test of redundant figure. The application of a sophisticated calibration instrument will allow the elimination of the majority of the systematic error from the error budget of an individual measurement of a particular optical element. We present the limitations of existing methods, initial UTM design considerations, possible calibration algorithms, and an estimation of the expected accuracy

Prediction of the residual strength of clay using functional networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.Z. Khan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Landslides are common natural hazards occurring in most parts of the world and have considerable adverse economic effects. Residual shear strength of clay is one of the most important factors in the determination of stability of slopes or landslides. This effect is more pronounced in sensitive clays which show large changes in shear strength from peak to residual states. This study analyses the prediction of the residual strength of clay based on a new prediction model, functional networks (FN using data available in the literature. The performance of FN was compared with support vector machine (SVM and artificial neural network (ANN based on statistical parameters like correlation coefficient (R, Nash--Sutcliff coefficient of efficiency (E, absolute average error (AAE, maximum average error (MAE and root mean square error (RMSE. Based on R and E parameters, FN is found to be a better prediction tool than ANN for the given data. However, the R and E values for FN are less than SVM. A prediction equation is presented that can be used by practicing geotechnical engineers. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to ascertain the importance of various inputs in the prediction of the output.

A method for the estimation of the residual error in the SALP approach for fault tree analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Astolfi, M.; Contini, S.

1980-01-01

The aim of this report is the illustration of the algorithms implemented in the SALP-MP code for the estimation of the residual error. These algorithms are of more general use, and it would be possible to implement them on all codes of the series SALP previously developed, as well as, with minor modifications, to analysis procedures based on 'top-down' approaches. At the time, combined 'top-down' - 'bottom up' procedures are being studied in order to take advantage from both approaches for further reduction of computer time and better estimation of the residual error, for which the developed algorithms are still applicable

Differential Effects of Visual-Acoustic Biofeedback Intervention for Residual Speech Errors

Science.gov (United States)

McAllister Byun, Tara; Campbell, Heather

2016-01-01

Recent evidence suggests that the incorporation of visual biofeedback technologies may enhance response to treatment in individuals with residual speech errors. However, there is a need for controlled research systematically comparing biofeedback versus non-biofeedback intervention approaches. This study implemented a single-subject experimental design with a crossover component to investigate the relative efficacy of visual-acoustic biofeedback and traditional articulatory treatment for residual rhotic errors. Eleven child/adolescent participants received ten sessions of visual-acoustic biofeedback and 10 sessions of traditional treatment, with the order of biofeedback and traditional phases counterbalanced across participants. Probe measures eliciting untreated rhotic words were administered in at least three sessions prior to the start of treatment (baseline), between the two treatment phases (midpoint), and after treatment ended (maintenance), as well as before and after each treatment session. Perceptual accuracy of rhotic production was assessed by outside listeners in a blinded, randomized fashion. Results were analyzed using a combination of visual inspection of treatment trajectories, individual effect sizes, and logistic mixed-effects regression. Effect sizes and visual inspection revealed that participants could be divided into categories of strong responders (n = 4), mixed/moderate responders (n = 3), and non-responders (n = 4). Individual results did not reveal a reliable pattern of stronger performance in biofeedback versus traditional blocks, or vice versa. Moreover, biofeedback versus traditional treatment was not a significant predictor of accuracy in the logistic mixed-effects model examining all within-treatment word probes. However, the interaction between treatment condition and treatment order was significant: biofeedback was more effective than traditional treatment in the first phase of treatment, and traditional treatment was more effective

Correcting the Standard Errors of 2-Stage Residual Inclusion Estimators for Mendelian Randomization Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Palmer, Tom M; Holmes, Michael V; Keating, Brendan J; Sheehan, Nuala A

2017-11-01

Mendelian randomization studies use genotypes as instrumental variables to test for and estimate the causal effects of modifiable risk factors on outcomes. Two-stage residual inclusion (TSRI) estimators have been used when researchers are willing to make parametric assumptions. However, researchers are currently reporting uncorrected or heteroscedasticity-robust standard errors for these estimates. We compared several different forms of the standard error for linear and logistic TSRI estimates in simulations and in real-data examples. Among others, we consider standard errors modified from the approach of Newey (1987), Terza (2016), and bootstrapping. In our simulations Newey, Terza, bootstrap, and corrected 2-stage least squares (in the linear case) standard errors gave the best results in terms of coverage and type I error. In the real-data examples, the Newey standard errors were 0.5% and 2% larger than the unadjusted standard errors for the linear and logistic TSRI estimators, respectively. We show that TSRI estimators with modified standard errors have correct type I error under the null. Researchers should report TSRI estimates with modified standard errors instead of reporting unadjusted or heteroscedasticity-robust standard errors. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Analysis of covariance with pre-treatment measurements in randomized trials: comparison of equal and unequal slopes.

Science.gov (United States)

Funatogawa, Ikuko; Funatogawa, Takashi

2011-09-01

In randomized trials, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) is often used to analyze post-treatment measurements with pre-treatment measurements as a covariate to compare two treatment groups. Random allocation guarantees only equal variances of pre-treatment measurements. We hence consider data with unequal covariances and variances of post-treatment measurements without assuming normality. Recently, we showed that the actual type I error rate of the usual ANCOVA assuming equal slopes and equal residual variances is asymptotically at a nominal level under equal sample sizes, and that of the ANCOVA with unequal variances is asymptotically at a nominal level, even under unequal sample sizes. In this paper, we investigated the asymptotic properties of the ANCOVA with unequal slopes for such data. The estimators of the treatment effect at the observed mean are identical between equal and unequal variance assumptions, and these are asymptotically normal estimators for the treatment effect at the true mean. However, the variances of these estimators based on standard formulas are biased, and the actual type I error rates are not at a nominal level, irrespective of variance assumptions. In equal sample sizes, the efficiency of the usual ANCOVA assuming equal slopes and equal variances is asymptotically the same as those of the ANCOVA with unequal slopes and higher than that of the ANCOVA with equal slopes and unequal variances. Therefore, the use of the usual ANCOVA is appropriate in equal sample sizes. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Fibonacci collocation method with a residual error Function to solve linear Volterra integro differential equations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salih Yalcinbas

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a new collocation method based on the Fibonacci polynomials is introduced to solve the high-order linear Volterra integro-differential equations under the conditions. Numerical examples are included to demonstrate the applicability and validity of the proposed method and comparisons are made with the existing results. In addition, an error estimation based on the residual functions is presented for this method. The approximate solutions are improved by using this error estimation.

A residual-based a posteriori error estimator for single-phase Darcy flow in fractured porous media

KAUST Repository

Chen, Huangxin

2016-12-09

In this paper we develop an a posteriori error estimator for a mixed finite element method for single-phase Darcy flow in a two-dimensional fractured porous media. The discrete fracture model is applied to model the fractures by one-dimensional fractures in a two-dimensional domain. We consider Raviart–Thomas mixed finite element method for the approximation of the coupled Darcy flows in the fractures and the surrounding porous media. We derive a robust residual-based a posteriori error estimator for the problem with non-intersecting fractures. The reliability and efficiency of the a posteriori error estimator are established for the error measured in an energy norm. Numerical results verifying the robustness of the proposed a posteriori error estimator are given. Moreover, our numerical results indicate that the a posteriori error estimator also works well for the problem with intersecting fractures.

Enhancing Intervention for Residual Rhotic Errors Via App-Delivered Biofeedback: A Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Byun, Tara McAllister; Campbell, Heather; Carey, Helen; Liang, Wendy; Park, Tae Hong; Svirsky, Mario

2017-06-22

Recent research suggests that visual-acoustic biofeedback can be an effective treatment for residual speech errors, but adoption remains limited due to barriers including high cost and lack of familiarity with the technology. This case study reports results from the first participant to complete a course of visual-acoustic biofeedback using a not-for-profit iOS app, Speech Therapist's App for /r/ Treatment. App-based biofeedback treatment for rhotic misarticulation was provided in weekly 30-min sessions for 20 weeks. Within-treatment progress was documented using clinician perceptual ratings and acoustic measures. Generalization gains were assessed using acoustic measures of word probes elicited during baseline, treatment, and maintenance sessions. Both clinician ratings and acoustic measures indicated that the participant significantly improved her rhotic production accuracy in trials elicited during treatment sessions. However, these gains did not transfer to generalization probes. This study provides a proof-of-concept demonstration that app-based biofeedback is a viable alternative to costlier dedicated systems. Generalization of gains to contexts without biofeedback remains a challenge that requires further study. App-delivered biofeedback could enable clinician-research partnerships that would strengthen the evidence base while providing enhanced treatment for children with residual rhotic errors. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5116318.

A discontinuous Poisson-Boltzmann equation with interfacial jump: homogenisation and residual error estimate.

Science.gov (United States)

Fellner, Klemens; Kovtunenko, Victor A

2016-01-01

A nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation with inhomogeneous Robin type boundary conditions at the interface between two materials is investigated. The model describes the electrostatic potential generated by a vector of ion concentrations in a periodic multiphase medium with dilute solid particles. The key issue stems from interfacial jumps, which necessitate discontinuous solutions to the problem. Based on variational techniques, we derive the homogenisation of the discontinuous problem and establish a rigorous residual error estimate up to the first-order correction.

Effect of heteroscedasticity treatment in residual error models on model calibration and prediction uncertainty estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Ruochen; Yuan, Huiling; Liu, Xiaoli

2017-11-01

The heteroscedasticity treatment in residual error models directly impacts the model calibration and prediction uncertainty estimation. This study compares three methods to deal with the heteroscedasticity, including the explicit linear modeling (LM) method and nonlinear modeling (NL) method using hyperbolic tangent function, as well as the implicit Box-Cox transformation (BC). Then a combined approach (CA) combining the advantages of both LM and BC methods has been proposed. In conjunction with the first order autoregressive model and the skew exponential power (SEP) distribution, four residual error models are generated, namely LM-SEP, NL-SEP, BC-SEP and CA-SEP, and their corresponding likelihood functions are applied to the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model over the Huaihe River basin, China. Results show that the LM-SEP yields the poorest streamflow predictions with the widest uncertainty band and unrealistic negative flows. The NL and BC methods can better deal with the heteroscedasticity and hence their corresponding predictive performances are improved, yet the negative flows cannot be avoided. The CA-SEP produces the most accurate predictions with the highest reliability and effectively avoids the negative flows, because the CA approach is capable of addressing the complicated heteroscedasticity over the study basin.

Numerical computation of homogeneous slope stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Shuangshuang; Li, Kemin; Ding, Xiaohua; Liu, Tong

2015-01-01

To simplify the computational process of homogeneous slope stability, improve computational accuracy, and find multiple potential slip surfaces of a complex geometric slope, this study utilized the limit equilibrium method to derive expression equations of overall and partial factors of safety. This study transformed the solution of the minimum factor of safety (FOS) to solving of a constrained nonlinear programming problem and applied an exhaustive method (EM) and particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) to this problem. In simple slope examples, the computational results using an EM and PSO were close to those obtained using other methods. Compared to the EM, the PSO had a small computation error and a significantly shorter computation time. As a result, the PSO could precisely calculate the slope FOS with high efficiency. The example of the multistage slope analysis indicated that this slope had two potential slip surfaces. The factors of safety were 1.1182 and 1.1560, respectively. The differences between these and the minimum FOS (1.0759) were small, but the positions of the slip surfaces were completely different than the critical slip surface (CSS).

Numerical Computation of Homogeneous Slope Stability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuangshuang Xiao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To simplify the computational process of homogeneous slope stability, improve computational accuracy, and find multiple potential slip surfaces of a complex geometric slope, this study utilized the limit equilibrium method to derive expression equations of overall and partial factors of safety. This study transformed the solution of the minimum factor of safety (FOS to solving of a constrained nonlinear programming problem and applied an exhaustive method (EM and particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO to this problem. In simple slope examples, the computational results using an EM and PSO were close to those obtained using other methods. Compared to the EM, the PSO had a small computation error and a significantly shorter computation time. As a result, the PSO could precisely calculate the slope FOS with high efficiency. The example of the multistage slope analysis indicated that this slope had two potential slip surfaces. The factors of safety were 1.1182 and 1.1560, respectively. The differences between these and the minimum FOS (1.0759 were small, but the positions of the slip surfaces were completely different than the critical slip surface (CSS.

Effects of Rainfall Characteristics on the Stability of Tropical Residual Soil Slope

OpenAIRE

Rahardjo Harianto; Satyanaga Alfrendo; Leong Eng Choon

2016-01-01

Global climate change has a significant impact on rainfall characteristics, sea water level and groundwater table. Changes in rainfall characteristics may affect stability of slopes and have severe impacts on sustainable urban living. Information on the intensity, frequency and duration of rainfall is often required by geotechnical engineers for performing slope stability analyses. Many seepage analyses are commonly performed using the most extreme rainfall possible which is uneconomical in d...

Slope Monitoring using Total Station: What are the Challenges and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Afeni

implications of incorrect use or negligence during slope monitoring surveys ... Data collection, processing and the presentation of results in a concise format ..... There are several software packages on the market for total station error propagation, ..... Thomas, H.G., 2011, Slope stability prism monitoring: A guide for practising ...

Shifted Legendre method with residual error estimation for delay linear Fredholm integro-differential equations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Şuayip Yüzbaşı

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we suggest a matrix method for obtaining the approximate solutions of the delay linear Fredholm integro-differential equations with constant coefficients using the shifted Legendre polynomials. The problem is considered with mixed conditions. Using the required matrix operations, the delay linear Fredholm integro-differential equation is transformed into a matrix equation. Additionally, error analysis for the method is presented using the residual function. Illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the method. The results obtained in this study are compared with the known results.

A Hybrid FEM-ANN Approach for Slope Instability Prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Verma, A. K.; Singh, T. N.; Chauhan, Nikhil Kumar; Sarkar, K.

2016-09-01

Assessment of slope stability is one of the most critical aspects for the life of a slope. In any slope vulnerability appraisal, Factor Of Safety (FOS) is the widely accepted index to understand, how close or far a slope from the failure. In this work, an attempt has been made to simulate a road cut slope in a landslide prone area in Rudrapryag, Uttarakhand, India which lies near Himalayan geodynamic mountain belt. A combination of Finite Element Method (FEM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has been adopted to predict FOS of the slope. In ANN, a three layer, feed- forward back-propagation neural network with one input layer and one hidden layer with three neurons and one output layer has been considered and trained using datasets generated from numerical analysis of the slope and validated with new set of field slope data. Mean absolute percentage error estimated as 1.04 with coefficient of correlation between the FOS of FEM and ANN as 0.973, which indicates that the system is very vigorous and fast to predict FOS for any slope.

Linear chirped slope profile for spatial calibration in slope measuring deflectometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siewert, F., E-mail: frank.siewert@helmholtz-berlin.de; Zeschke, T. [Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Institut für Nanometer Optik und Technologie, Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Arnold, T.; Paetzelt, H. [Leibnitz Institut für Oberflächen Modifizierung Leipzig e.V., IOM, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig (Germany); Yashchuk, V. V. [Lawerence Berkeley National Laboratory, Advanced Light Source, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

2016-05-15

Slope measuring deflectometry is commonly used by the X-ray optics community to measure the long-spatial-wavelength surface figure error of optical components dedicated to guide and focus X-rays under grazing incidence condition at synchrotron and free electron laser beamlines. The best performing instruments of this kind are capable of absolute accuracy on the level of 30-50 nrad. However, the exact bandwidth of the measurements, determined at the higher spatial frequencies by the instrument’s spatial resolution, or more generally by the instrument’s modulation transfer function (MTF) is hard to determine. An MTF calibration method based on application of a test surface with a one-dimensional (1D) chirped height profile of constant amplitude was suggested in the past. In this work, we propose a new approach to designing the test surfaces with a 2D-chirped topography, specially optimized for MTF characterization of slope measuring instruments. The design of the developed MTF test samples based on the proposed linear chirped slope profiles (LCSPs) is free of the major drawback of the 1D chirped height profiles, where in the slope domain, the amplitude strongly increases with the local spatial frequency of the profile. We provide the details of fabrication of the LCSP samples. The results of first application of the developed test samples to measure the spatial resolution of the BESSY-NOM at different experimental arrangements are also presented and discussed.

Advance in prediction of soil slope instabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Sigarán-Loría, C.; Hack, R.; Nieuwenhuis, J. D.

2012-04-01

Six generic soils (clays and sands) were systematically modeled with plane-strain finite elements (FE) at varying heights and inclinations. A dataset was generated in order to develop predictive relations of soil slope instabilities, in terms of co-seismic displacements (u), under strong motions with a linear multiple regression. For simplicity, the seismic loads are monochromatic artificial sinusoidal functions at four frequencies: 1, 2, 4, and 6 Hz, and the slope failure criterion used corresponds to near 10% Cartesian shear strains along a continuous region comparable to a slip surface. The generated dataset comprises variables from the slope geometry and site conditions: height, H, inclination, i, shear wave velocity from the upper 30 m, vs30, site period, Ts; as well as the input strong motion: yield acceleration, ay (equal to peak ground acceleration, PGA in this research), frequency, f; and in some cases moment magnitude, M, and Arias intensity, Ia, assumed from empirical correlations. Different datasets or scenarios were created: "Magnitude-independent", "Magnitude-dependent", and "Soil-dependent", and the data was statistically explored and analyzed with varying mathematical forms. Qualitative relations show that the permanent deformations are highly related to the soil class for the clay slopes, but not for the sand slopes. Furthermore, the slope height does not constrain the variability in the co-seismic displacements. The input frequency decreases the variability of the co-seismic displacements for the "Magnitude-dependent" and "Soil-dependent" datasets. The empirical models were developed with two and three predictors. For the sands it was not possible because they could not satisfy the constrains from the statistical method. For the clays, the best models with the smallest errors coincided with the simple general form of multiple regression with three predictors (e.g. near 0.16 and 0.21 standard error, S.E. and 0.75 and 0.55 R2 for the "M

Slope Estimation in Noisy Piecewise Linear Functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingle, Atul; Bucklew, James; Sethares, William; Varghese, Tomy

2015-03-01

This paper discusses the development of a slope estimation algorithm called MAPSlope for piecewise linear data that is corrupted by Gaussian noise. The number and locations of slope change points (also known as breakpoints) are assumed to be unknown a priori though it is assumed that the possible range of slope values lies within known bounds. A stochastic hidden Markov model that is general enough to encompass real world sources of piecewise linear data is used to model the transitions between slope values and the problem of slope estimation is addressed using a Bayesian maximum a posteriori approach. The set of possible slope values is discretized, enabling the design of a dynamic programming algorithm for posterior density maximization. Numerical simulations are used to justify choice of a reasonable number of quantization levels and also to analyze mean squared error performance of the proposed algorithm. An alternating maximization algorithm is proposed for estimation of unknown model parameters and a convergence result for the method is provided. Finally, results using data from political science, finance and medical imaging applications are presented to demonstrate the practical utility of this procedure.

Transformation (normalization) of slope gradient and surface curvatures, automated for statistical analyses from DEMs

Science.gov (United States)

Csillik, O.; Evans, I. S.; Drăguţ, L.

2015-03-01

Automated procedures are developed to alleviate long tails in frequency distributions of morphometric variables. They minimize the skewness of slope gradient frequency distributions, and modify the kurtosis of profile and plan curvature distributions toward that of the Gaussian (normal) model. Box-Cox (for slope) and arctangent (for curvature) transformations are tested on nine digital elevation models (DEMs) of varying origin and resolution, and different landscapes, and shown to be effective. Resulting histograms are illustrated and show considerable improvements over those for previously recommended slope transformations (sine, square root of sine, and logarithm of tangent). Unlike previous approaches, the proposed method evaluates the frequency distribution of slope gradient values in a given area and applies the most appropriate transform if required. Sensitivity of the arctangent transformation is tested, showing that Gaussian-kurtosis transformations are acceptable also in terms of histogram shape. Cube root transformations of curvatures produced bimodal histograms. The transforms are applicable to morphometric variables and many others with skewed or long-tailed distributions. By avoiding long tails and outliers, they permit parametric statistics such as correlation, regression and principal component analyses to be applied, with greater confidence that requirements for linearity, additivity and even scatter of residuals (constancy of error variance) are likely to be met. It is suggested that such transformations should be routinely applied in all parametric analyses of long-tailed variables. Our Box-Cox and curvature automated transformations are based on a Python script, implemented as an easy-to-use script tool in ArcGIS.

Number-counts slope estimation in the presence of Poisson noise

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Juergen H. M. M.; Maccacaro, Tommaso

1986-01-01

The slope determination of a power-law number flux relationship in the case of photon-limited sampling. This case is important for high-sensitivity X-ray surveys with imaging telescopes, where the error in an individual source measurement depends on integrated flux and is Poisson, rather than Gaussian, distributed. A bias-free method of slope estimation is developed that takes into account the exact error distribution, the influence of background noise, and the effects of varying limiting sensitivities. It is shown that the resulting bias corrections are quite insensitive to the bias correction procedures applied, as long as only sources with signal-to-noise ratio five or greater are considered. However, if sources with signal-to-noise ratio five or less are included, the derived bias corrections depend sensitively on the shape of the error distribution.

Impact of residual and intrafractional errors on strategy of correction for image-guided accelerated partial breast irradiation

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Guo Xiao-Mao

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The cone beam CT (CBCT guided radiation can reduce the systematic and random setup errors as compared to the skin-mark setup. However, the residual and intrafractional (RAIF errors are still unknown. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the magnitude of RAIF errors and correction action levels needed in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT guided accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI. Methods Ten patients were enrolled in the prospective study of CBCT guided APBI. The postoperative tumor bed was irradiated with 38.5 Gy in 10 fractions over 5 days. Two cone-beam CT data sets were obtained with one before and one after the treatment delivery. The CBCT images were registered online to the planning CT images using the automatic algorithm followed by a fine manual adjustment. An action level of 3 mm, meaning that corrections were performed for translations exceeding 3 mm, was implemented in clinical treatments. Based on the acquired data, different correction action levels were simulated, and random RAIF errors, systematic RAIF errors and related margins before and after the treatments were determined for varying correction action levels. Results A total of 75 pairs of CBCT data sets were analyzed. The systematic and random setup errors based on skin-mark setup prior to treatment delivery were 2.1 mm and 1.8 mm in the lateral (LR, 3.1 mm and 2.3 mm in the superior-inferior (SI, and 2.3 mm and 2.0 mm in the anterior-posterior (AP directions. With the 3 mm correction action level, the systematic and random RAIF errors were 2.5 mm and 2.3 mm in the LR direction, 2.3 mm and 2.3 mm in the SI direction, and 2.3 mm and 2.2 mm in the AP direction after treatments delivery. Accordingly, the margins for correction action levels of 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm and no correction were 7.9 mm, 8.0 mm, 8.0 mm, 7.9 mm and 8.0 mm in the LR direction; 6.4 mm, 7.1 mm, 7.9 mm, 9.2 mm and 10.5 mm in the SI direction; 7.6 mm, 7.9 mm, 9.4 mm, 10

Impact of residual and intrafractional errors on strategy of correction for image-guided accelerated partial breast irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai, Gang; Hu, Wei-Gang; Chen, Jia-Yi; Yu, Xiao-Li; Pan, Zi-Qiang; Yang, Zhao-Zhi; Guo, Xiao-Mao; Shao, Zhi-Min; Jiang, Guo-Liang

2010-01-01

The cone beam CT (CBCT) guided radiation can reduce the systematic and random setup errors as compared to the skin-mark setup. However, the residual and intrafractional (RAIF) errors are still unknown. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the magnitude of RAIF errors and correction action levels needed in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) guided accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI). Ten patients were enrolled in the prospective study of CBCT guided APBI. The postoperative tumor bed was irradiated with 38.5 Gy in 10 fractions over 5 days. Two cone-beam CT data sets were obtained with one before and one after the treatment delivery. The CBCT images were registered online to the planning CT images using the automatic algorithm followed by a fine manual adjustment. An action level of 3 mm, meaning that corrections were performed for translations exceeding 3 mm, was implemented in clinical treatments. Based on the acquired data, different correction action levels were simulated, and random RAIF errors, systematic RAIF errors and related margins before and after the treatments were determined for varying correction action levels. A total of 75 pairs of CBCT data sets were analyzed. The systematic and random setup errors based on skin-mark setup prior to treatment delivery were 2.1 mm and 1.8 mm in the lateral (LR), 3.1 mm and 2.3 mm in the superior-inferior (SI), and 2.3 mm and 2.0 mm in the anterior-posterior (AP) directions. With the 3 mm correction action level, the systematic and random RAIF errors were 2.5 mm and 2.3 mm in the LR direction, 2.3 mm and 2.3 mm in the SI direction, and 2.3 mm and 2.2 mm in the AP direction after treatments delivery. Accordingly, the margins for correction action levels of 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm and no correction were 7.9 mm, 8.0 mm, 8.0 mm, 7.9 mm and 8.0 mm in the LR direction; 6.4 mm, 7.1 mm, 7.9 mm, 9.2 mm and 10.5 mm in the SI direction; 7.6 mm, 7.9 mm, 9.4 mm, 10.1 mm and 12.7 mm in the AP direction

Saturated and unsaturated stability analysis of slope subjected to rainfall infiltration

OpenAIRE

Gofar Nurly; Rahardjo Harianto

2017-01-01

This paper presents results of saturated and unsaturated stability analysis of typical residual slopes subjected to rainfall infiltration corresponds to 50 years rainfall return period. The slope angles considered were 45° and 70°. The saturated stability analyses were carried out for original and critical ground water level commonly considered by practicing engineer. The analyses were conducted using limit equilibrium method. Unsaturated stability analyses used combination of coupled stress–...

Slope Stability Analysis Based on Type, Physical And Mechanical Properties Rock in Teluk Pandan District, East Kutai Regency, East Kalimantan

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Sujiman Kusnadi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Research was located In Teluk Pandan District, East Kutai Regency, East Kalimantan Province.  It’s aimed to determine the lithology in the  research area and to find out how the amount of slope that will be a landslide at that location. The research conducted with the analysis of coring drilling results and then analyzed in the laboratory of rock mechanics to get the characteristic of physical and mechanical properties of the rocks. The data analysis using Hoek and Bray Method. The results showed that in the area study has a sedimentary rock lithology fine to medium detritus, such as claystone, siltstone and sandstone, as well as inserts are coal and shale. Based on the results of laboratory analysis of rock mechanics obtained density between 2,648 to 2,770. While the test results obtained value triaxial cohesion between (6.66 - 9:05 Kg / cm2, friction angle in between (37.19 - 44.08o, cohesion residual (2.72 - 3.10 Kg / cm2, residual friction angle (27.22 - 32.44o. While the direct shear test the cohesion of the summit between (6.66 - 9:05 Kg / cm2, friction angle in the cohesion peak (36.15 - 43.00o, cohesion residual (2:22 to 3:10 Kg / cm2, friction angle in the cohesion residual (37.22 - 33.85o. The simulation results stability of the slope stability Hoek and Bray using rockslide software, the result is that if the slope with a single slope stability, the stability of the slope is 60o, and if the slope with the stability of the slope overall stability of the slope is 48o.

Uncertainty of the Soil–Water Characteristic Curve and Its Effects on Slope Seepage and Stability Analysis under Conditions of Rainfall Using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method

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Weiping Liu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available It is important to determine the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC for analyzing slope seepage and stability under the conditions of rainfall. However, SWCCs exhibit high uncertainty because of complex influencing factors, which has not been previously considered in slope seepage and stability analysis under conditions of rainfall. This study aimed to evaluate the uncertainty of the SWCC and its effects on the seepage and stability analysis of an unsaturated soil slope under conditions of rainfall. The SWCC model parameters were treated as random variables. An uncertainty evaluation of the parameters was conducted based on the Bayesian approach and the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC method. Observed data from granite residual soil were used to test the uncertainty of the SWCC. Then, different confidence intervals for the model parameters of the SWCC were constructed. The slope seepage and stability analysis under conditions of rainfall with the SWCC of different confidence intervals was investigated using finite element software (SEEP/W and SLOPE/W. The results demonstrated that SWCC uncertainty had significant effects on slope seepage and stability. In general, the larger the percentile value, the greater the reduction of negative pore-water pressure in the soil layer and the lower the safety factor of the slope. Uncertainties in the model parameters of the SWCC can lead to obvious errors in predicted pore-water pressure profiles and the estimated safety factor of the slope under conditions of rainfall.

Estima de error residual explícita para cantidades de interés utilizando funciones burbuja

OpenAIRE

Rosales, R.; Díez, P.

2009-01-01

En este trabajo se introduce un nuevo estimador de error residual explícito a posteriori para problemas elípticos orientado a cantidades de interés. Se propone utilizar funciones burbuja sobre elementos y sobre aristas. Se parte de la solución de elementos finitos del problema primal y de la de un problema junto (o dual), asociado a una cantidad de interés definida por el usuario. Por ejemplo, la variación de temperatura o el desplazamiento de un punto del dominio. La estima se calcula en...

Assessment of radar altimetry correction slopes for marine gravity recovery: A case study of Jason-1 GM data

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shengjun; Li, Jiancheng; Jin, Taoyong; Che, Defu

2018-04-01

Marine gravity anomaly derived from satellite altimetry can be computed using either sea surface height or sea surface slope measurements. Here we consider the slope method and evaluate the errors in the slope of the corrections supplied with the Jason-1 geodetic mission data. The slope corrections are divided into three groups based on whether they are small, comparable, or large with respect to the 1 microradian error in the current sea surface slope models. (1) The small and thus negligible corrections include dry tropospheric correction, inverted barometer correction, solid earth tide and geocentric pole tide. (2) The moderately important corrections include wet tropospheric correction, dual-frequency ionospheric correction and sea state bias. The radiometer measurements are more preferred than model values in the geophysical data records for constraining wet tropospheric effect owing to the highly variable water-vapor structure in atmosphere. The items of dual-frequency ionospheric correction and sea state bias should better not be directly added to range observations for obtaining sea surface slopes since their inherent errors may cause abnormal sea surface slopes and along-track smoothing with uniform distribution weight in certain width is an effective strategy for avoiding introducing extra noises. The slopes calculated from radiometer wet tropospheric corrections, and along-track smoothed dual-frequency ionospheric corrections, sea state bias are generally within ±0.5 microradians and no larger than 1 microradians. (3) Ocean tide has the largest influence on obtaining sea surface slopes while most of ocean tide slopes distribute within ±3 microradians. Larger ocean tide slopes mostly occur over marginal and island-surrounding seas, and extra tidal models with better precision or with extending process (e.g. Got-e) are strongly recommended for updating corrections in geophysical data records.

Saturated and unsaturated stability analysis of slope subjected to rainfall infiltration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gofar Nurly

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents results of saturated and unsaturated stability analysis of typical residual slopes subjected to rainfall infiltration corresponds to 50 years rainfall return period. The slope angles considered were 45° and 70°. The saturated stability analyses were carried out for original and critical ground water level commonly considered by practicing engineer. The analyses were conducted using limit equilibrium method. Unsaturated stability analyses used combination of coupled stress–pore-water pressure analysis to evaluate the effect of rainfall infiltration on the deformation and transient pore-water pressure on slope stability. Slope stability analyses were performed at some times during and after rainfall infiltration. Results show that the critical condition for slope made by sandy material was at the end of rainfall while for clayey material was at some specified times after the rainfall ceased. Unsaturated stability analysis on sandy soil gives higher factor of safety because the soil never reached saturation. Transient analysis using unsaturated soil concept could predict more critical condition of delayed failure of slopes made up of clayey soil.

Design and Analysis of Delayed Chip Slope Modulation in Optical Wireless Communication

KAUST Repository

Park, Kihong

2015-08-23

In this letter, we propose a novel slope-based binary modulation called delayed chip slope modulation (DCSM) and develop a chip-based hard-decision receiver to demodulate the resulting signal, detect the chip sequence, and decode the input bit sequence. Shorter duration of chips than bit duration are used to represent the change of state in an amplitude level according to consecutive bit information and to exploit the trade-off between bandwidth and power efficiency. We analyze the power spectral density and error rate performance of the proposed DCSM. We show from numerical results that the DCSM scheme can exploit spectrum density more efficiently than the reference schemes while providing an error rate performance comparable to conventional modulation schemes.

Design and Analysis of Delayed Chip Slope Modulation in Optical Wireless Communication

KAUST Repository

Park, Kihong; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2015-01-01

In this letter, we propose a novel slope-based binary modulation called delayed chip slope modulation (DCSM) and develop a chip-based hard-decision receiver to demodulate the resulting signal, detect the chip sequence, and decode the input bit sequence. Shorter duration of chips than bit duration are used to represent the change of state in an amplitude level according to consecutive bit information and to exploit the trade-off between bandwidth and power efficiency. We analyze the power spectral density and error rate performance of the proposed DCSM. We show from numerical results that the DCSM scheme can exploit spectrum density more efficiently than the reference schemes while providing an error rate performance comparable to conventional modulation schemes.

The Q-Slope Method for Rock Slope Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Bar, Neil; Barton, Nick

2017-12-01

Q-slope is an empirical rock slope engineering method for assessing the stability of excavated rock slopes in the field. Intended for use in reinforcement-free road or railway cuttings or in opencast mines, Q-slope allows geotechnical engineers to make potential adjustments to slope angles as rock mass conditions become apparent during construction. Through case studies across Asia, Australia, Central America, and Europe, a simple correlation between Q-slope and long-term stable slopes was established. Q-slope is designed such that it suggests stable, maintenance-free bench-face slope angles of, for instance, 40°-45°, 60°-65°, and 80°-85° with respective Q-slope values of approximately 0.1, 1.0, and 10. Q-slope was developed by supplementing the Q-system which has been extensively used for characterizing rock exposures, drill-core, and tunnels under construction for the last 40 years. The Q' parameters (RQD, J n, J a, and J r) remain unchanged in Q-slope. However, a new method for applying J r/ J a ratios to both sides of potential wedges is used, with relative orientation weightings for each side. The term J w, which is now termed J wice, takes into account long-term exposure to various climatic and environmental conditions such as intense erosive rainfall and ice-wedging effects. Slope-relevant SRF categories for slope surface conditions, stress-strength ratios, and major discontinuities such as faults, weakness zones, or joint swarms have also been incorporated. This paper discusses the applicability of the Q-slope method to slopes ranging from less than 5 m to more than 250 m in height in both civil and mining engineering projects.

Error Bounds: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Outrata, Jiří; Kruger, A.Y.; Fabian, Marián; Henrion, R.

2010-01-01

Roč. 18, č. 2 (2010), s. 121-149 ISSN 1877-0533 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA100750802 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506; CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : Error bounds * Calmness * Subdifferential * Slope Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.333, year: 2010 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2010/MTR/outrata-error bounds necessary and sufficient conditions.pdf

Residual position errors of lymph node surrogates in breast cancer adjuvant radiotherapy: Comparison of two arm fixation devices and the effect of arm position correction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kapanen, Mika; Laaksomaa, Marko; Skyttä, Tanja; Haltamo, Mikko; Pehkonen, Jani; Lehtonen, Turkka; Kellokumpu-Lehtinen, Pirkko-Liisa; Hyödynmaa, Simo

2016-01-01

Residual position errors of the lymph node (LN) surrogates and humeral head (HH) were determined for 2 different arm fixation devices in radiotherapy (RT) of breast cancer: a standard wrist-hold (WH) and a house-made rod-hold (RH). The effect of arm position correction (APC) based on setup images was also investigated. A total of 113 consecutive patients with early-stage breast cancer with LN irradiation were retrospectively analyzed (53 and 60 using the WH and RH, respectively). Residual position errors of the LN surrogates (Th1-2 and clavicle) and the HH were investigated to compare the 2 fixation devices. The position errors and setup margins were determined before and after the APC to investigate the efficacy of the APC in the treatment situation. A threshold of 5 mm was used for the residual errors of the clavicle and Th1-2 to perform the APC, and a threshold of 7 mm was used for the HH. The setup margins were calculated with the van Herk formula. Irradiated volumes of the HH were determined from RT treatment plans. With the WH and the RH, setup margins up to 8.1 and 6.7 mm should be used for the LN surrogates, and margins up to 4.6 and 3.6 mm should be used to spare the HH, respectively, without the APC. After the APC, the margins of the LN surrogates were equal to or less than 7.5/6.0 mm with the WH/RH, but margins up to 4.2/2.9 mm were required for the HH. The APC was needed at least once with both the devices for approximately 60% of the patients. With the RH, irradiated volume of the HH was approximately 2 times more than with the WH, without any dose constraints. Use of the RH together with the APC resulted in minimal residual position errors and setup margins for all the investigated bony landmarks. Based on the obtained results, we prefer the house-made RH. However, more attention should be given to minimize the irradiation of the HH with the RH than with the WH.

Relative Error Evaluation to Typical Open Global dem Datasets in Shanxi Plateau of China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, S.; Zhang, S.; Cheng, W.

2018-04-01

Produced by radar data or stereo remote sensing image pairs, global DEM datasets are one of the most important types for DEM data. Relative error relates to surface quality created by DEM data, so it relates to geomorphology and hydrologic applications using DEM data. Taking Shanxi Plateau of China as the study area, this research evaluated the relative error to typical open global DEM datasets including Shuttle Radar Terrain Mission (SRTM) data with 1 arc second resolution (SRTM1), SRTM data with 3 arc second resolution (SRTM3), ASTER global DEM data in the second version (GDEM-v2) and ALOS world 3D-30m (AW3D) data. Through process and selection, more than 300,000 ICESat/GLA14 points were used as the GCP data, and the vertical error was computed and compared among four typical global DEM datasets. Then, more than 2,600,000 ICESat/GLA14 point pairs were acquired using the distance threshold between 100 m and 500 m. Meanwhile, the horizontal distance between every point pair was computed, so the relative error was achieved using slope values based on vertical error difference and the horizontal distance of the point pairs. Finally, false slope ratio (FSR) index was computed through analyzing the difference between DEM and ICESat/GLA14 values for every point pair. Both relative error and FSR index were categorically compared for the four DEM datasets under different slope classes. Research results show: Overall, AW3D has the lowest relative error values in mean error, mean absolute error, root mean square error and standard deviation error; then the SRTM1 data, its values are a little higher than AW3D data; the SRTM3 and GDEM-v2 data have the highest relative error values, and the values for the two datasets are similar. Considering different slope conditions, all the four DEM data have better performance in flat areas but worse performance in sloping regions; AW3D has the best performance in all the slope classes, a litter better than SRTM1; with slope increasing

A comparison of least squares linear regression and measurement error modeling of warm/cold multipole correlation in SSC prototype dipole magnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pollock, D.; Kim, K.; Gunst, R.; Schucany, W.

1993-05-01

Linear estimation of cold magnetic field quality based on warm multipole measurements is being considered as a quality control method for SSC production magnet acceptance. To investigate prediction uncertainties associated with such an approach, axial-scan (Z-scan) magnetic measurements from SSC Prototype Collider Dipole Magnets (CDM's) have been studied. This paper presents a preliminary evaluation of the explanatory ability of warm measurement multipole variation on the prediction of cold magnet multipoles. Two linear estimation methods are presented: least-squares regression, which uses the assumption of fixed independent variable (xi) observations, and the measurement error model, which includes measurement error in the xi's. The influence of warm multipole measurement errors on predicted cold magnet multipole averages is considered. MSD QA is studying warm/cold correlation to answer several magnet quality control questions. How well do warm measurements predict cold (2kA) multipoles? Does sampling error significantly influence estimates of the linear coefficients (slope, intercept and residual standard error)? Is estimation error for the predicted cold magnet average small compared to typical variation along the Z-Axis? What fraction of the multipole RMS tolerance is accounted for by individual magnet prediction uncertainty?

Analysis of slope slip surface case study landslide road segment Purwantoro-Nawangan/Bts Jatim Km 89+400

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Purnomo, Joko Sidik; Purwana, Yusep Muslih; Surjandari, Niken Silmi

2017-01-01

Wonogiri is a region of south eastern part of Central Java province which borders with East Java and Yogyakarta Province. In Physiographic its mostly undulating hills so that the frequent occurrence of landslides, especially during the rainy season. Landslide disaster that just happened that on the road segment Purwantoro-Nawangan / Bts Jatim Km 89 + 400 were included in the authority of the Highways Department of Central Java Province. During this time, Error analysis of slope stability is not caused by a lot of presumption shape of slip surface, but by an error in determining the location of the critical slip surface. This study aims to find the shape and location slip surface landslide on segment Purwantoro - Nawangan Km 89 + 400 with the interpretation of soil test results. This research method is with the interpretation of CPT test and Bore Hole as well as modeling use limit equilibrium method and finite element method. Processing contours of the slopes in the landslide area resulted in three cross section that slopes A-A, B-B and C-C which will be modeling the slopes. Modeling slopes with dry and wet conditions at the third cross section slope. It was found that the form of the slope slip surface are known to be composite depth 1.5-2 m with safety factor values more than 1.2 (stable) when conditions are dry slopes. But its became failure with factor of safety < 0.44 when conditions are wet slopes. (paper)

Residual strain sensor using Al-packaged optical fiber and Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Bo-Hun; Kwon, Il-Bum

2015-03-09

We propose a distributed residual strain sensor that uses an Al-packaged optical fiber for the first time. The residual strain which causes Brillouin frequency shifts in the optical fiber was measured using Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis with 2 cm spatial resolution. We quantified the Brillouin frequency shifts in the Al-packaged optical fiber by the tensile stress and compared them for a varying number of Al layers in the optical fiber. The Brillouin frequency shift of an optical fiber with one Al layer had a slope of 0.038 MHz/με with respect to tensile stress, which corresponds to 78% of that for an optical fiber without Al layers. After removal of the stress, 87% of the strain remained as residual strain. When different tensile stresses were randomly applied, the strain caused by the highest stress was the only one detected as residual strain. The residual strain was repeatedly measured for a time span of nine months for the purpose of reliability testing, and there was no change in the strain except for a 4% reduction, which is within the error tolerance of the experiment. A composite material plate equipped with our proposed Al-packaged optical fiber sensor was hammered for impact experiment and the residual strain in the plate was successfully detected. We suggest that the Al-packaged optical fiber can be adapted as a distributed strain sensor for smart structures, including aerospace structures.

Effects of Target Positioning Error on Motion Compensation for Airborne Interferometric SAR

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Li Yin-wei

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The measurement inaccuracies of Inertial Measurement Unit/Global Positioning System (IMU/GPS as well as the positioning error of the target may contribute to the residual uncompensated motion errors in the MOtion COmpensation (MOCO approach based on the measurement of IMU/GPS. Aiming at the effects of target positioning error on MOCO for airborne interferometric SAR, the paper firstly deduces a mathematical model of residual motion error bring out by target positioning error under the condition of squint. And the paper analyzes the effects on the residual motion error caused by system sampling delay error, the Doppler center frequency error and reference DEM error which result in target positioning error based on the model. Then, the paper discusses the effects of the reference DEM error on the interferometric SAR image quality, the interferometric phase and the coherent coefficient. The research provides theoretical bases for the MOCO precision in signal processing of airborne high precision SAR and airborne repeat-pass interferometric SAR.

Dip-slope and Dip-slope Failures in Taiwan - a Review

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, C.

2011-12-01

Taiwan is famous for dip-slope and dip-slope slides. Dip-slopes exist at many places in the fold-and-thrust belt of Taiwan. Under active cutting of stream channels and man-made excavations, a dip-slope may become unstable and susceptible for mass sliding. Daylight of a bedding parallel clay seam is the most dangerous type for dip-slope sliding. Buckling or shear-off features may also happen at toe of a long dip-slope. Besides, a dip-slope is also dangerous for shallow debris slides, if the slope angle is between 25 to 45 degrees and the debris (colluvium or slope wash) is thick (>1m). These unstable slopes may slide during a triggering event, earthquake or typhoon storm; or even slide without a triggering event, like the 2010 Tapu case. Initial buckling feature had been found in the dip-slope of the Feitsui arch dam abutment after detailed explorations. Shear-off feature have also been found in dip-slope located in right bank of the Nahua reservoir after field investigation and drilling. The Chiufengerhshan slide may also be shear-off type. On the other hand, the Tapu, the Tsaoling slides and others are of direct slide type. The Neihoo Bishan slide is a shallow debris slide on dip-slope. All these cases demonstrate the four different types of dip-slope slide. The hazard of a dip-slope should be investigated to cover these possible types of failure. The existence of bedding parallel clay seams is critical for the stability of a dip-slope, either for direct slide or buckling or shear-off type of failure, and is a hot point during investigation. Because, the stability of a dip-slope is changing with time, therefore, detailed explorations to including weathering and erosion rates are also very necessary to ensure the long-term stability of a dip-slope.

Modeling coding-sequence evolution within the context of residue solvent accessibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Scherrer, Michael P; Meyer, Austin G; Wilke, Claus O

2012-09-12

Protein structure mediates site-specific patterns of sequence divergence. In particular, residues in the core of a protein (solvent-inaccessible residues) tend to be more evolutionarily conserved than residues on the surface (solvent-accessible residues). Here, we present a model of sequence evolution that explicitly accounts for the relative solvent accessibility of each residue in a protein. Our model is a variant of the Goldman-Yang 1994 (GY94) model in which all model parameters can be functions of the relative solvent accessibility (RSA) of a residue. We apply this model to a data set comprised of nearly 600 yeast genes, and find that an evolutionary-rate ratio ω that varies linearly with RSA provides a better model fit than an RSA-independent ω or an ω that is estimated separately in individual RSA bins. We further show that the branch length t and the transition-transverion ratio κ also vary with RSA. The RSA-dependent GY94 model performs better than an RSA-dependent Muse-Gaut 1994 (MG94) model in which the synonymous and non-synonymous rates individually are linear functions of RSA. Finally, protein core size affects the slope of the linear relationship between ω and RSA, and gene expression level affects both the intercept and the slope. Structure-aware models of sequence evolution provide a significantly better fit than traditional models that neglect structure. The linear relationship between ω and RSA implies that genes are better characterized by their ω slope and intercept than by just their mean ω.

Modeling coding-sequence evolution within the context of residue solvent accessibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scherrer Michael P

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein structure mediates site-specific patterns of sequence divergence. In particular, residues in the core of a protein (solvent-inaccessible residues tend to be more evolutionarily conserved than residues on the surface (solvent-accessible residues. Results Here, we present a model of sequence evolution that explicitly accounts for the relative solvent accessibility of each residue in a protein. Our model is a variant of the Goldman-Yang 1994 (GY94 model in which all model parameters can be functions of the relative solvent accessibility (RSA of a residue. We apply this model to a data set comprised of nearly 600 yeast genes, and find that an evolutionary-rate ratio ω that varies linearly with RSA provides a better model fit than an RSA-independent ω or an ω that is estimated separately in individual RSA bins. We further show that the branch length t and the transition-transverion ratio κ also vary with RSA. The RSA-dependent GY94 model performs better than an RSA-dependent Muse-Gaut 1994 (MG94 model in which the synonymous and non-synonymous rates individually are linear functions of RSA. Finally, protein core size affects the slope of the linear relationship between ω and RSA, and gene expression level affects both the intercept and the slope. Conclusions Structure-aware models of sequence evolution provide a significantly better fit than traditional models that neglect structure. The linear relationship between ω and RSA implies that genes are better characterized by their ω slope and intercept than by just their mean ω.

Diffraction grating strain gauge method: error analysis and its application for the residual stress measurement in thermal barrier coatings

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Yuanjie; Fan, Bozhao; He, Wei; Dai, Xianglu; Guo, Baoqiao; Xie, Huimin

2018-03-01

Diffraction grating strain gauge (DGSG) is an optical strain measurement method. Based on this method, a six-spot diffraction grating strain gauge (S-DGSG) system has been developed with the advantages of high and adjustable sensitivity, compact structure, and non-contact measurement. In this study, this system is applied for the residual stress measurement in thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) combining the hole-drilling method. During the experiment, the specimen’s location is supposed to be reset accurately before and after the hole-drilling, however, it is found that the rigid body displacements from the resetting process could seriously influence the measurement accuracy. In order to understand and eliminate the effects from the rigid body displacements, such as the three-dimensional (3D) rotations and the out-of-plane displacement of the grating, the measurement error of this system is systematically analyzed, and an optimized method is proposed. Moreover, a numerical experiment and a verified tensile test are conducted, and the results verify the applicability of this optimized method successfully. Finally, combining this optimized method, a residual stress measurement experiment is conducted, and the results show that this method can be applied to measure the residual stress in TBCs.

[Fire behavior of ground surface fuels in Pinus koraiensis and Quercus mongolica mixed forest under no wind and zero slope condition: a prediction with extended Rothermel model].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ji-Li; Liu, Bo-Fei; Chu, Teng-Fei; Di, Xue-Ying; Jin, Sen

2012-06-01

A laboratory burning experiment was conducted to measure the fire spread speed, residual time, reaction intensity, fireline intensity, and flame length of the ground surface fuels collected from a Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) and Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica) mixed stand in Maoer Mountains of Northeast China under the conditions of no wind, zero slope, and different moisture content, load, and mixture ratio of the fuels. The results measured were compared with those predicted by the extended Rothermel model to test the performance of the model, especially for the effects of two different weighting methods on the fire behavior modeling of the mixed fuels. With the prediction of the model, the mean absolute errors of the fire spread speed and reaction intensity of the fuels were 0.04 m X min(-1) and 77 kW X m(-2), their mean relative errors were 16% and 22%, while the mean absolute errors of residual time, fireline intensity and flame length were 15.5 s, 17.3 kW X m(-1), and 9.7 cm, and their mean relative errors were 55.5%, 48.7%, and 24%, respectively, indicating that the predicted values of residual time, fireline intensity, and flame length were lower than the observed ones. These errors could be regarded as the lower limits for the application of the extended Rothermel model in predicting the fire behavior of similar fuel types, and provide valuable information for using the model to predict the fire behavior under the similar field conditions. As a whole, the two different weighting methods did not show significant difference in predicting the fire behavior of the mixed fuels by extended Rothermel model. When the proportion of Korean pine fuels was lower, the predicted values of spread speed and reaction intensity obtained by surface area weighting method and those of fireline intensity and flame length obtained by load weighting method were higher; when the proportion of Korean pine needles was higher, the contrary results were obtained.

Twice cutting method reduces tibial cutting error in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Inui, Hiroshi; Taketomi, Shuji; Yamagami, Ryota; Sanada, Takaki; Tanaka, Sakae

2016-01-01

Bone cutting error can be one of the causes of malalignment in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). The amount of cutting error in total knee arthroplasty has been reported. However, none have investigated cutting error in UKA. The purpose of this study was to reveal the amount of cutting error in UKA when open cutting guide was used and clarify whether cutting the tibia horizontally twice using the same cutting guide reduced the cutting errors in UKA. We measured the alignment of the tibial cutting guides, the first-cut cutting surfaces and the second cut cutting surfaces using the navigation system in 50 UKAs. Cutting error was defined as the angular difference between the cutting guide and cutting surface. The mean absolute first-cut cutting error was 1.9° (1.1° varus) in the coronal plane and 1.1° (0.6° anterior slope) in the sagittal plane, whereas the mean absolute second-cut cutting error was 1.1° (0.6° varus) in the coronal plane and 1.1° (0.4° anterior slope) in the sagittal plane. Cutting the tibia horizontally twice reduced the cutting errors in the coronal plane significantly (Pcutting the tibia horizontally twice using the same cutting guide reduced cutting error in the coronal plane. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating and improving the representation of heteroscedastic errors in hydrological models

Science.gov (United States)

McInerney, D. J.; Thyer, M. A.; Kavetski, D.; Kuczera, G. A.

2013-12-01

Appropriate representation of residual errors in hydrological modelling is essential for accurate and reliable probabilistic predictions. In particular, residual errors of hydrological models are often heteroscedastic, with large errors associated with high rainfall and runoff events. Recent studies have shown that using a weighted least squares (WLS) approach - where the magnitude of residuals are assumed to be linearly proportional to the magnitude of the flow - captures some of this heteroscedasticity. In this study we explore a range of Bayesian approaches for improving the representation of heteroscedasticity in residual errors. We compare several improved formulations of the WLS approach, the well-known Box-Cox transformation and the more recent log-sinh transformation. Our results confirm that these approaches are able to stabilize the residual error variance, and that it is possible to improve the representation of heteroscedasticity compared with the linear WLS approach. We also find generally good performance of the Box-Cox and log-sinh transformations, although as indicated in earlier publications, the Box-Cox transform sometimes produces unrealistically large prediction limits. Our work explores the trade-offs between these different uncertainty characterization approaches, investigates how their performance varies across diverse catchments and models, and recommends practical approaches suitable for large-scale applications.

Small scale tests on the progressive retreat of soil slopes

Science.gov (United States)

Voulgari, Chrysoula; Utili, Stefano; Castellanza, Riccardo

2015-04-01

In this paper, the influence due to the presence of cracks on the morphologic evolution of natural cliffs subject to progressive retreat induced by weathering is investigated through small scale laboratory tests. Weathering turns hard rocks into soft rocks that maintain the structure of the intact rocks, but are characterised by higher void ratios and reduced bond strengths; soft rocks are transformed into granular soils generally called residual soils. A number of landslides develop in slopes due to weathering which results in the progressive retrogression of the slope face and the further degradation within the weathering zone. Cracks, that are widely present, can be a result of weathering and they can cause a significant decrease in their stability, as they provide preferential flow channels which increase the soil permeability and decrease the soil strength. The geological models employed until now are mainly empirical. Several researchers have tried to study the stability of slopes through experimental procedures. Centrifuge modelling is widely used to investigate the failure of slopes. Small scale tests are also an important approach, in order to study the behaviour of a slope under certain conditions, such as the existence of water, as they allow the observation of the infiltration processes, the movement of the weathering front, deformation and failure. However, the deformation response of a slope subject to weathering is not yet thoroughly clarified. In this work, a set of experiments were conducted to investigate weathering induced successive landslides. Weathering was applied to the slope model by wetting the slope crest through a rainfall simulator device. The moisture content of the soil during the tests was monitored by soil moisture sensors that were buried inside the slope model. High resolution cameras were recording the behaviour of the slope model. GeoPIV was used to analyse the frames and obtain the deformations of the slope model during the

Precision Tiltmeter as a Reference for Slope MeasuringInstruments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kirschman, Jonathan L.; Domning, Edward E.; Morrison, Gregory Y.; Smith, Brian V.; Yashchuk, Valeriy V.

2007-08-01

The next generation of synchrotrons and free electron lasers require extremely high-performance x-ray optical systems for proper focusing. The necessary optics cannot be fabricated without the use of precise optical metrology instrumentation. In particular, the Long Trace Profiler (LTP) based on the pencil-beam interferometer is a valuable tool for low-spatial-frequency slope measurement with x-ray optics. The limitations of such a device are set by the amount of systematic errors and noise. A significant improvement of LTP performance was the addition of an optical reference channel, which allowed to partially account for systematic errors associated with wiggling and wobbling of the LTP carriage. However, the optical reference is affected by changing optical path length, non-homogeneous optics, and air turbulence. In the present work, we experimentally investigate the questions related to the use of a precision tiltmeter as a reference channel. Dependence of the tiltmeter performance on horizontal acceleration, temperature drift, motion regime, and kinematical scheme of the translation stage has been investigated. It is shown that at an appropriate experimental arrangement, the tiltmeter provides a slope reference for the LTP system with accuracy on the level of 0.1 {micro}rad (rms).

Precision Tiltmeter as a Reference for Slope Measuring Instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirschman, Jonathan L.; Domning, Edward E.; Morrison, Gregory Y.; Smith, Brian V.; Yashchuk, Valeriy V.

2007-01-01

The next generation of synchrotrons and free electron lasers require extremely high-performance x-ray optical systems for proper focusing. The necessary optics cannot be fabricated without the use of precise optical metrology instrumentation. In particular, the Long Trace Profiler (LTP) based on the pencil-beam interferometer is a valuable tool for low-spatial-frequency slope measurement with x-ray optics. The limitations of such a device are set by the amount of systematic errors and noise. A significant improvement of LTP performance was the addition of an optical reference channel, which allowed to partially account for systematic errors associated with wiggling and wobbling of the LTP carriage. However, the optical reference is affected by changing optical path length, non-homogeneous optics, and air turbulence. In the present work, we experimentally investigate the questions related to the use of a precision tiltmeter as a reference channel. Dependence of the tiltmeter performance on horizontal acceleration, temperature drift, motion regime, and kinematical scheme of the translation stage has been investigated. It is shown that at an appropriate experimental arrangement, the tiltmeter provides a slope reference for the LTP system with accuracy on the level of 0.1 (micro)rad (rms)

Slope movements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wagner, P.

2009-01-01

On this poster some reasons of slope movements on the territory of the Slovak Republic are presented. Slope movements induced deterioration of land and forests, endangering of towns villages, and communications as well as hydro-engineering structures. Methods of preventing and stabilisation of slope movements are presented.

Water Erosion in Different Slope Lengths on Bare Soil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bárbara Bagio

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Water erosion degrades the soil and contaminates the environment, and one influential factor on erosion is slope length. The aim of this study was to quantify losses of soil (SL and water (WL in a Humic Cambisol in a field experiment under natural rainfall conditions from July 4, 2014 to June 18, 2015 in individual events of 41 erosive rains in the Southern Plateau of Santa Catarina and to estimate soil losses through the USLE and RUSLE models. The treatments consisted of slope lengths of 11, 22, 33, and 44 m, with an average degree of slope of 8 %, on bare and uncropped soil that had been cultivated with corn prior to the study. At the end of the corn cycle, the stalk residue was removed from the surface, leaving the roots of the crop in the soil. Soil loss by water erosion is related linearly and positively to the increase in slope length in the span between 11 and 44 m. Soil losses were related to water losses and the Erosivity Index (EI30, while water losses were related to rain depth. Soil losses estimated by the USLE and RUSLE model showed lower values than the values observed experimentally in the field, especially the values estimated by the USLE. The values of factor L calculated for slope length of 11, 22, 33, and 44 m for the two versions (USLE and RUSLE of the soil loss prediction model showed satisfactory results in relation to the values of soil losses observed.

Errors in Computing the Normalized Protein Catabolic Rate due to Use of Single-pool Urea Kinetic Modeling or to Omission of the Residual Kidney Urea Clearance.

Science.gov (United States)

Daugirdas, John T

2017-07-01

The protein catabolic rate normalized to body size (PCRn) often is computed in dialysis units to obtain information about protein ingestion. However, errors can manifest when inappropriate modeling methods are used. We used a variable volume 2-pool urea kinetic model to examine the percent errors in PCRn due to use of a 1-pool urea kinetic model or after omission of residual urea clearance (Kru). When a single-pool model was used, 2 sources of errors were identified. The first, dependent on the ratio of dialyzer urea clearance to urea distribution volume (K/V), resulted in a 7% inflation of the PCRn when K/V was in the range of 6 mL/min per L. A second, larger error appeared when Kt/V values were below 1.0 and was related to underestimation of urea distribution volume (due to overestimation of effective clearance) by the single-pool model. A previously reported prediction equation for PCRn was valid, but data suggest that it should be modified using 2-pool eKt/V and V coefficients instead of single-pool values. A third source of error, this one unrelated to use of a single-pool model, namely omission of Kru, was shown to result in an underestimation of PCRn, such that each ml/minute Kru per 35 L of V caused a 5.6% underestimate in PCRn. Marked overestimation of PCRn can result due to inappropriate use of a single-pool urea kinetic model, particularly when Kt/V <1.0 (as in short daily dialysis), or after omission of residual native kidney clearance. Copyright © 2017 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Error floor behavior study of LDPC codes for concatenated codes design

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Weigang; Yin, Liuguo; Lu, Jianhua

2007-11-01

Error floor behavior of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes using quantized decoding algorithms is statistically studied with experimental results on a hardware evaluation platform. The results present the distribution of the residual errors after decoding failure and reveal that the number of residual error bits in a codeword is usually very small using quantized sum-product (SP) algorithm. Therefore, LDPC code may serve as the inner code in a concatenated coding system with a high code rate outer code and thus an ultra low error floor can be achieved. This conclusion is also verified by the experimental results.

Significance of the actual nonlinear slope geometry for catastrophic failure in submarine landslides.

Science.gov (United States)

Puzrin, Alexander M; Gray, Thomas E; Hill, Andrew J

2015-03-08

A simple approach to slope stability analysis of naturally occurring, mild nonlinear slopes is proposed through extension of shear band propagation (SBP) theory. An initial weak zone appears in the steepest part of the slope where the combined action of gravity and seismic loads overcomes the degraded peak shear resistance of the soil. If the length of this steepest part is larger than the critical length, the shear band will propagate into the quasi-stable parts of the slope, where the gravitational and seismically induced shear stresses are smaller than the peak but larger than the residual shear strength of the soil. Growth of a shear band is strongly dependent on the shape of the slope, seismic parameters and the strength of soil and less dependent on the slope inclination and the sensitivity of clay. For the slope surface with faster changing inclination, the criterion is more sensitive to the changes of the parameters. Accounting for the actual nonlinear slope geometry eliminates the main challenge of the SBP approach-determination of the length of the initial weak zone, because the slope geometry can be readily obtained from submarine site investigations. It also helps to identify conditions for the early arrest of the shear band, before failure in the sliding layer or a change in loading or excess pore water pressures occurs. The difference in the size of a landslide predicted by limiting equilibrium and SBP approaches can reach orders of magnitude, potentially providing an explanation for the immense dimensions of many observed submarine landslides that may be caused by local factors acting over a limited portion of the slope.

Evolution of strain localization in variable-width three-dimensional unsaturated laboratory-scale cut slopes

Science.gov (United States)

Morse, Michael S.; Lu, Ning; Wayllace, Alexandra; Godt, Jonathan W.

2017-01-01

To experimentally validate a recently developed theory for predicting the stability of cut slopes under unsaturated conditions, the authors measured increasing strain localization in unsaturated slope cuts prior to abrupt failure. Cut slope width and moisture content were controlled and varied in a laboratory, and a sliding door that extended the height of the free face of the slope was lowered until the cut slope failed. A particle image velocimetry tool was used to quantify soil displacement in the x-y">x-y (horizontal) and x-z">x-z (vertical) planes, and strain was calculated from the displacement. Areas of maximum strain localization prior to failure were shown to coincide with the location of the eventual failure plane. Experimental failure heights agreed with the recently developed stability theory for unsaturated cut slopes (within 14.3% relative error) for a range of saturation and cut slope widths. A theoretical threshold for sidewall influence on cut slope failures was also proposed to quantify the relationship between normalized sidewall width and critical height. The proposed relationship was consistent with the cut slope experiment results, and is intended for consideration in future geotechnical experiment design. The experimental data of evolution of strain localization presented herein provide a physical basis from which future numerical models of strain localization can be validated.

Decline of Low-Frequency Hearing in People With Ski-Slope Hearing Loss; Implications for Electrode Array Insertion.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuurbiers, Jasper; Dingemanse, Gertjan; Metselaar, Mick

2017-12-01

The decline of low-frequency hearing in people with ski-slope hearing loss varies and might depend on etiology. People with ski-sloping hearing loss might benefit from cochlear implantation with preservation of residual hearing. To reduce the risk of losing low-frequency hearing after implantation, the electrode-array can be inserted partially up to the desired frequency. That, however, obstructs electrical stimulation of lower frequencies. To decide between complete or partial insertion, knowledge regarding the natural decline of low-frequency hearing is helpful. Patients with at least two ski-slope audiograms over time were selected. We calculated progression at lower frequencies for 320 patients. Etiologies for hearing loss were retrieved from medical records. Progression of hearing loss was analyzed separately for patients with uni- and bilateral hearing losses. Relative progression of hearing loss was obtained by comparing progression to a reference group. Average progression of PTA was 1.73 dB/yr and was not significantly different in the bilateral and unilateral group. Etiologies that did not show significantly more progression compared with the reference group could be identified as single or short-lasting pathologic events, whereas long-lasting conditions had significant more progression of PTA. Patients with a ski-slope hearing loss that was caused by a single or short-lasting event have low progression rate and are viable for partial insertion to minimize the risk of damaging residual low-frequency hearing. In the absence of such an event, complete insertion should be considered because faster than normal deterioration of low-frequency hearing over time will probably limit the advantage of preservation of residual hearing.

An Empirical State Error Covariance Matrix Orbit Determination Example

Science.gov (United States)

Frisbee, Joseph H., Jr.

2015-01-01

State estimation techniques serve effectively to provide mean state estimates. However, the state error covariance matrices provided as part of these techniques suffer from some degree of lack of confidence in their ability to adequately describe the uncertainty in the estimated states. A specific problem with the traditional form of state error covariance matrices is that they represent only a mapping of the assumed observation error characteristics into the state space. Any errors that arise from other sources (environment modeling, precision, etc.) are not directly represented in a traditional, theoretical state error covariance matrix. First, consider that an actual observation contains only measurement error and that an estimated observation contains all other errors, known and unknown. Then it follows that a measurement residual (the difference between expected and observed measurements) contains all errors for that measurement. Therefore, a direct and appropriate inclusion of the actual measurement residuals in the state error covariance matrix of the estimate will result in an empirical state error covariance matrix. This empirical state error covariance matrix will fully include all of the errors in the state estimate. The empirical error covariance matrix is determined from a literal reinterpretation of the equations involved in the weighted least squares estimation algorithm. It is a formally correct, empirical state error covariance matrix obtained through use of the average form of the weighted measurement residual variance performance index rather than the usual total weighted residual form. Based on its formulation, this matrix will contain the total uncertainty in the state estimate, regardless as to the source of the uncertainty and whether the source is anticipated or not. It is expected that the empirical error covariance matrix will give a better, statistical representation of the state error in poorly modeled systems or when sensor performance

Certain methods for improving the accuracy of lattice parameter determination in sloping scanning with the use of single-crystal spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinegin, V.I.; Koz'ma, A.A.; Fuks, M.Ya.

1985-01-01

Errors are accounted for the sloping scanning that is a base of X-ray tenzometry and requires high accuracy of lattice parameter determination including a limp state parameter. A technique is suggested for elimination of systematic alignment errors due to deviation of the primary beam and eccentricity of an irradiated sample surface relative to the main axis of a goniometer. The technique allows to decrease a relative error in interplanar distance determination from 10 -4 to 10 -5 using the DRON-20 diffractometer. Analytical expressions are obtained for correction calculations. The technique can be used in sloping scanning of imperfect single- and polycrystals. Experimental test of the technique has been carried out with epitaxy single-crystal nickel films 500 to 2000 A thick with the use of copper radiation

Effect of variations in rainfall intensity on slope stability in Singapore

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christofer Kristo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Numerous scientific evidence has given credence to the true existence and deleterious impacts of climate change. One aspect of climate change is the variations in rainfall patterns, which affect the flux boundary condition across ground surface. A possible disastrous consequence of this change is the occurrence of rainfall-induced slope failures. This paper aims to investigate the variations in rainfall patterns in Singapore and its effect on slope stability. Singapore's historical rainfall data from Seletar and Paya Lebar weather stations for the period of 1985–2009 were obtained and analysed by duration using linear regression. A general increasing trend was observed in both weather stations, with a possible shift to longer duration rainfall events, despite being statistically insignificant according to the Mann-Kendall test. Using the derived trends, projected rainfall intensities in 2050 and 2100 were used in the seepage and slope stability analyses performed on a typical residual soil slope in Singapore. A significant reduction in factor of safety was observed in the next 50 years, with only a marginal decrease in factor of safety in the subsequent 50 years. This indicates a possible detrimental effect of variations in rainfall patterns on slope stability in Singapore, especially in the next 50 years. The statistical analyses on rainfall data from Seletar and Paya Lebar weather stations for the period of 1985–2009 indicated that rainfall intensity tend to increase over the years, with a possible shift to longer duration rainfall events in the future. The stability analyses showed a significant decrease in factor of safety from 2003 to 2050 due to increase in rainfall intensity, suggesting that a climate change might have existed beyond 2009 with possibly detrimental effects to slope stability. Keywords: Climate change, Rainfall, Seepage, Slope stability

A procedure for the significance testing of unmodeled errors in GNSS observations

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bofeng; Zhang, Zhetao; Shen, Yunzhong; Yang, Ling

2018-01-01

It is a crucial task to establish a precise mathematical model for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) observations in precise positioning. Due to the spatiotemporal complexity of, and limited knowledge on, systematic errors in GNSS observations, some residual systematic errors would inevitably remain even after corrected with empirical model and parameterization. These residual systematic errors are referred to as unmodeled errors. However, most of the existing studies mainly focus on handling the systematic errors that can be properly modeled and then simply ignore the unmodeled errors that may actually exist. To further improve the accuracy and reliability of GNSS applications, such unmodeled errors must be handled especially when they are significant. Therefore, a very first question is how to statistically validate the significance of unmodeled errors. In this research, we will propose a procedure to examine the significance of these unmodeled errors by the combined use of the hypothesis tests. With this testing procedure, three components of unmodeled errors, i.e., the nonstationary signal, stationary signal and white noise, are identified. The procedure is tested by using simulated data and real BeiDou datasets with varying error sources. The results show that the unmodeled errors can be discriminated by our procedure with approximately 90% confidence. The efficiency of the proposed procedure is further reassured by applying the time-domain Allan variance analysis and frequency-domain fast Fourier transform. In summary, the spatiotemporally correlated unmodeled errors are commonly existent in GNSS observations and mainly governed by the residual atmospheric biases and multipath. Their patterns may also be impacted by the receiver.

The effect of errors in charged particle beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carey, D.C.

1987-01-01

Residual errors in a charged particle optical system determine how well the performance of the system conforms to the theory on which it is based. Mathematically possible optical modes can sometimes be eliminated as requiring precisions not attainable. Other plans may require introduction of means of correction for the occurrence of various errors. Error types include misalignments, magnet fabrication precision limitations, and magnet current regulation errors. A thorough analysis of a beam optical system requires computer simulation of all these effects. A unified scheme for the simulation of errors and their correction is discussed

Fiber Bragg grating-based performance monitoring of a slope model subjected to seepage

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Hong-Hu; Shi, Bin; Yan, Jun-Fan; Zhang, Jie; Zhang, Cheng-Cheng; Wang, Bao-Jun

2014-09-01

In the past few years, fiber optic sensing technologies have played an increasingly important role in the health monitoring of civil infrastructures. These innovative sensing technologies have recently been successfully applied to the performance monitoring of a series of geotechnical structures. Fiber optic sensors have shown many unique advantages in comparison with conventional sensors, including immunity to electrical noise, higher precision and improved durability and embedding capabilities; fiber optic sensors are also smaller in size and lighter in weight. In order to explore the mechanism of seepage-induced slope instability, a small-scale 1 g model test of the soil slope has been performed in the laboratory. During the model’s construction, specially fabricated sensing fibers containing nine fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors connected in a series were horizontally and vertically embedded into the soil mass. The surcharge load was applied on the slope crest, and the groundwater level inside of the slope was subsequently varied using two water chambers installed besides the slope model. The fiber optic sensing data of the vertical and horizontal strains within the slope model were automatically recorded by an FBG interrogator and a computer during the test. The test results are presented and interpreted in detail. It is found that the gradually accumulated deformation of the slope model subjected to seepage can be accurately captured by the quasi-distributed FBG strain sensors. The test results also demonstrate that the slope stability is significantly affected by ground water seepage, which fits well with the results that were calculated using finite element and limit equilibrium methods. The relationship between the strain measurements and the safety factors is further analyzed, together with a discussion on the residual strains. The performance evaluation of a soil slope using fiber optic strain sensors is proved to be a potentially effective

Fiber Bragg grating-based performance monitoring of a slope model subjected to seepage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Hong-Hu; Shi, Bin; Yan, Jun-Fan; Zhang, Cheng-Cheng; Wang, Bao-Jun; Zhang, Jie

2014-01-01

In the past few years, fiber optic sensing technologies have played an increasingly important role in the health monitoring of civil infrastructures. These innovative sensing technologies have recently been successfully applied to the performance monitoring of a series of geotechnical structures. Fiber optic sensors have shown many unique advantages in comparison with conventional sensors, including immunity to electrical noise, higher precision and improved durability and embedding capabilities; fiber optic sensors are also smaller in size and lighter in weight. In order to explore the mechanism of seepage-induced slope instability, a small-scale 1 g model test of the soil slope has been performed in the laboratory. During the model’s construction, specially fabricated sensing fibers containing nine fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors connected in a series were horizontally and vertically embedded into the soil mass. The surcharge load was applied on the slope crest, and the groundwater level inside of the slope was subsequently varied using two water chambers installed besides the slope model. The fiber optic sensing data of the vertical and horizontal strains within the slope model were automatically recorded by an FBG interrogator and a computer during the test. The test results are presented and interpreted in detail. It is found that the gradually accumulated deformation of the slope model subjected to seepage can be accurately captured by the quasi-distributed FBG strain sensors. The test results also demonstrate that the slope stability is significantly affected by ground water seepage, which fits well with the results that were calculated using finite element and limit equilibrium methods. The relationship between the strain measurements and the safety factors is further analyzed, together with a discussion on the residual strains. The performance evaluation of a soil slope using fiber optic strain sensors is proved to be a potentially effective

Assessment of Slope Stability of Various Cut Slopes with Effects of Weathering by Using Slope Stability Probability Classification (SSPC)

Science.gov (United States)

Ersöz, Timur; Topal, Tamer

2017-04-01

Rocks containing pore spaces, fractures, joints, bedding planes and faults are prone to weathering due to temperature differences, wetting-drying, chemistry of solutions absorbed, and other physical and chemical agents. Especially cut slopes are very sensitive to weathering activities because of disturbed rock mass and topographical condition by excavation. During and right after an excavation process of a cut slope, weathering and erosion may act on this newly exposed rock material. These acting on the material may degrade and change its properties and the stability of the cut slope in its engineering lifetime. In this study, the effect of physical and chemical weathering agents on shear strength parameters of the rocks are investigated in order to observe the differences between weathered and unweathered rocks. Also, slope stability assessment of cut slopes affected by these weathering agents which may disturb the parameters like strength, cohesion, internal friction angle, unit weight, water absorption and porosity are studied. In order to compare the condition of the rock materials and analyze the slope stability, the parameters of weathered and fresh rock materials are found with in-situ tests such as Schmidt hammer and laboratory tests like uniaxial compressive strength, point load and direct shear. Moreover, slake durability and methylene blue tests are applied to investigate the response of the rock to weathering and presence of clays in rock materials, respectively. In addition to these studies, both rock strength parameters and any kind of failure mechanism are determined by probabilistic approach with the help of SSPC system. With these observations, the performances of the weathered and fresh zones of the cut slopes are evaluated and 2-D slope stability analysis are modeled with further recommendations for the cut slopes. Keywords: 2-D Modeling, Rock Strength, Slope Stability, SSPC, Weathering

Investigation of Primary Mirror Segment's Residual Errors for the Thirty Meter Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Byoung-Joon; Nissly, Carl; Angeli, George; MacMynowski, Doug; Sigrist, Norbert; Troy, Mitchell; Williams, Eric

2009-01-01

The primary mirror segment aberrations after shape corrections with warping harness have been identified as the single largest error term in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) image quality error budget. In order to better understand the likely errors and how they will impact the telescope performance we have performed detailed simulations. We first generated unwarped primary mirror segment surface shapes that met TMT specifications. Then we used the predicted warping harness influence functions and a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor model to determine estimates for the 492 corrected segment surfaces that make up the TMT primary mirror. Surface and control parameters, as well as the number of subapertures were varied to explore the parameter space. The corrected segment shapes were then passed to an optical TMT model built using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) developed Modeling and Analysis for Controlled Optical Systems (MACOS) ray-trace simulator. The generated exit pupil wavefront error maps provided RMS wavefront error and image-plane characteristics like the Normalized Point Source Sensitivity (PSSN). The results have been used to optimize the segment shape correction and wavefront sensor designs as well as provide input to the TMT systems engineering error budgets.

North Slope (Wahluke Slope) expedited response action cleanup plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1994-02-01

The purpose of this action is to mitigate any threat to public health and the environment from hazards on the North Slope and meet the expedited response action (ERA) objective of cleanup to a degree requiring no further action. The ERA may be the final remediation of the 100-I-3 Operable Unit. A No Action record of decision (ROD) may be issued after remediation completion. The US Department of Energy (DOE) currently owns or administers approximately 140 mi{sup 2} (about 90,000 acres) of land north and east of the Columbia River (referred to as the North Slope) that is part of the Hanford Site. The North Slope, also commonly known as the Wahluke Slope, was not used for plutonium production or support facilities; it was used for military air defense of the Hanford Site and vicinity. The North Slope contained seven antiaircraft gun emplacements and three Nike-Ajax missile positions. These military positions were vacated in 1960--1961 as the defense requirements at Hanford changed. They were demolished in 1974. Prior to government control in 1943, the North Slope was homesteaded. Since the initiation of this ERA in the summer of 1992, DOE signed the modified Hanford Federal Agreement and Consent Order (Tri-Party Agreement) with the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in which a milestone was set to complete remediation activities and a draft closeout report by October 1994. Remediation activities will make the North Slope area available for future non-DOE uses. Thirty-nine sites have undergone limited characterization to determine if significant environmental hazards exist. This plan documents the results of that characterization and evaluates the potential remediation alternatives.

North Slope (Wahluke Slope) expedited response action cleanup plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-02-01

The purpose of this action is to mitigate any threat to public health and the environment from hazards on the North Slope and meet the expedited response action (ERA) objective of cleanup to a degree requiring no further action. The ERA may be the final remediation of the 100-I-3 Operable Unit. A No Action record of decision (ROD) may be issued after remediation completion. The US Department of Energy (DOE) currently owns or administers approximately 140 mi 2 (about 90,000 acres) of land north and east of the Columbia River (referred to as the North Slope) that is part of the Hanford Site. The North Slope, also commonly known as the Wahluke Slope, was not used for plutonium production or support facilities; it was used for military air defense of the Hanford Site and vicinity. The North Slope contained seven antiaircraft gun emplacements and three Nike-Ajax missile positions. These military positions were vacated in 1960--1961 as the defense requirements at Hanford changed. They were demolished in 1974. Prior to government control in 1943, the North Slope was homesteaded. Since the initiation of this ERA in the summer of 1992, DOE signed the modified Hanford Federal Agreement and Consent Order (Tri-Party Agreement) with the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in which a milestone was set to complete remediation activities and a draft closeout report by October 1994. Remediation activities will make the North Slope area available for future non-DOE uses. Thirty-nine sites have undergone limited characterization to determine if significant environmental hazards exist. This plan documents the results of that characterization and evaluates the potential remediation alternatives

LOWER BOUNDS ON PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT ERRORS FROM TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA TEMPLATES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asztalos, S.; Nikolaev, S.; De Vries, W.; Olivier, S.; Cook, K.; Wang, L.

2010-01-01

Cosmology with Type Ia supernova heretofore has required extensive spectroscopic follow-up to establish an accurate redshift. Though this resource-intensive approach is tolerable at the present discovery rate, the next generation of ground-based all-sky survey instruments will render it unsustainable. Photometry-based redshift determination may be a viable alternative, though the technique introduces non-negligible errors that ultimately degrade the ability to discriminate between competing cosmologies. We present a strictly template-based photometric redshift estimator and compute redshift reconstruction errors in the presence of statistical errors. Under highly degraded photometric conditions corresponding to a statistical error σ of 0.5, the residual redshift error is found to be 0.236 when assuming a nightly observing cadence and a single Large Synoptic Science Telescope (LSST) u-band filter. Utilizing all six LSST bandpass filters reduces the residual redshift error to 9.1 x 10 -3 . Assuming a more optimistic statistical error σ of 0.05, we derive residual redshift errors of 4.2 x 10 -4 , 5.2 x 10 -4 , 9.2 x 10 -4 , and 1.8 x 10 -3 for observations occuring nightly, every 5th, 20th and 45th night, respectively, in each of the six LSST bandpass filters. Adopting an observing cadence in which photometry is acquired with all six filters every 5th night and a realistic supernova distribution, binned redshift errors are combined with photometric errors with a σ of 0.17 and systematic errors with a σ∼ 0.003 to derive joint errors (σ w , σ w ' ) of (0.012, 0.066), respectively, in (w,w') with 68% confidence using Fisher matrix formalism. Though highly idealized in the present context, the methodology is nonetheless quite relevant for the next generation of ground-based all-sky surveys.

[Analysis of intrusion errors in free recall].

Science.gov (United States)

Diesfeldt, H F A

2017-06-01

Extra-list intrusion errors during five trials of the eight-word list-learning task of the Amsterdam Dementia Screening Test (ADST) were investigated in 823 consecutive psychogeriatric patients (87.1% suffering from major neurocognitive disorder). Almost half of the participants (45.9%) produced one or more intrusion errors on the verbal recall test. Correct responses were lower when subjects made intrusion errors, but learning slopes did not differ between subjects who committed intrusion errors and those who did not so. Bivariate regression analyses revealed that participants who committed intrusion errors were more deficient on measures of eight-word recognition memory, delayed visual recognition and tests of executive control (the Behavioral Dyscontrol Scale and the ADST-Graphical Sequences as measures of response inhibition). Using hierarchical multiple regression, only free recall and delayed visual recognition retained an independent effect in the association with intrusion errors, such that deficient scores on tests of episodic memory were sufficient to explain the occurrence of intrusion errors. Measures of inhibitory control did not add significantly to the explanation of intrusion errors in free recall, which makes insufficient strength of memory traces rather than a primary deficit in inhibition the preferred account for intrusion errors in free recall.

Ranging error analysis of single photon satellite laser altimetry under different terrain conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jiapeng; Li, Guoyuan; Gao, Xiaoming; Wang, Jianmin; Fan, Wenfeng; Zhou, Shihong

2018-02-01

Single photon satellite laser altimeter is based on Geiger model, which has the characteristics of small spot, high repetition rate etc. In this paper, for the slope terrain, the distance of error's formula and numerical calculation are carried out. Monte Carlo method is used to simulate the experiment of different terrain measurements. The experimental results show that ranging accuracy is not affected by the spot size under the condition of the flat terrain, But the inclined terrain can influence the ranging error dramatically, when the satellite pointing angle is 0.001° and the terrain slope is about 12°, the ranging error can reach to 0.5m. While the accuracy can't meet the requirement when the slope is more than 70°. Monte Carlo simulation results show that single photon laser altimeter satellite with high repetition rate can improve the ranging accuracy under the condition of complex terrain. In order to ensure repeated observation of the same point for 25 times, according to the parameters of ICESat-2, we deduce the quantitative relation between the footprint size, footprint, and the frequency repetition. The related conclusions can provide reference for the design and demonstration of the domestic single photon laser altimetry satellite.

Error estimation for goal-oriented spatial adaptivity for the SN equations on triangular meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lathouwers, D.

2011-01-01

In this paper we investigate different error estimation procedures for use within a goal oriented adaptive algorithm for the S N equations on unstructured meshes. The method is based on a dual-weighted residual approach where an appropriate adjoint problem is formulated and solved in order to obtain the importance of residual errors in the forward problem on the specific goal of interest. The forward residuals and the adjoint function are combined to obtain both economical finite element meshes tailored to the solution of the target functional as well as providing error estimates. Various approximations made to make the calculation of the adjoint angular flux more economically attractive are evaluated by comparing the performance of the resulting adaptive algorithm and the quality of the error estimators when applied to two shielding-type test problems. (author)

Comparison of slope and height profiles for flat synchrotron x-ray mirrors measured with a long trace profiler and a Fizeau interferometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qian, J.; Assoufid, L.; Macrander, A.

2007-01-01

Long trace profilers (LTPS) have been used at many synchrotron radiation laboratories worldwide for over a decade to measure surface slope profiles of long grazing incidence x-ray mirrors. Phase measuring interferometers (PMIs) of the Fizeau type, on the other hand, are being used by most mirror manufacturers to accomplish the same task. However, large mirrors whose dimensions exceed the aperture of the Fizeau interferometer require measurements to be carried out at grazing incidence, and aspheric optics require the use of a null lens. While an LTP provides a direct measurement of ID slope profiles, PMIs measure area height profiles from which the slope can be obtained by a differentiation algorithm. Measurements of the two types of instruments have been found by us to be in good agreement, but to our knowledge there is no published work directly comparing the two instruments. This paper documents that comparison. We measured two different nominally flat mirrors with both the LTP in operation at the Advanced Photon Source (a type-II LTP) and a Fizeau-type PMI interferometer (Wyko model 6000). One mirror was 500 mm long and made of Zerodur, and the other mirror was 350 mm long and made of silicon. Slope error results with these instruments agree within nearly 100% (3.11 ± 0.15 (micro)rad for the LTP, and 3.11 ± 0.02 (micro)rad for the Fizeau PMI interferometer) for the medium quality Zerodur mirror with 3 (micro)rad rms nominal slope error. A significant difference was observed with the much higher quality silicon mirror. For the Si mirror, slope error data is 0.39 ± 0.08 (micro)rad from LTP measurements but it is 0.35 ± 0.01 (micro)rad from PMI interferometer measurements. The standard deviations show that the Fizeau PMI interferometer has much better measurement repeatability.

Mean Bias in Seasonal Forecast Model and ENSO Prediction Error.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seon Tae; Jeong, Hye-In; Jin, Fei-Fei

2017-07-20

This study uses retrospective forecasts made using an APEC Climate Center seasonal forecast model to investigate the cause of errors in predicting the amplitude of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-driven sea surface temperature variability. When utilizing Bjerknes coupled stability (BJ) index analysis, enhanced errors in ENSO amplitude with forecast lead times are found to be well represented by those in the growth rate estimated by the BJ index. ENSO amplitude forecast errors are most strongly associated with the errors in both the thermocline slope response and surface wind response to forcing over the tropical Pacific, leading to errors in thermocline feedback. This study concludes that upper ocean temperature bias in the equatorial Pacific, which becomes more intense with increasing lead times, is a possible cause of forecast errors in the thermocline feedback and thus in ENSO amplitude.

Swath-altimetry measurements of the main stem Amazon River: measurement errors and hydraulic implications

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, M. D.; Durand, M.; Jung, H. C.; Alsdorf, D.

2015-04-01

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, scheduled for launch in 2020, will provide a step-change improvement in the measurement of terrestrial surface-water storage and dynamics. In particular, it will provide the first, routine two-dimensional measurements of water-surface elevations. In this paper, we aimed to (i) characterise and illustrate in two dimensions the errors which may be found in SWOT swath measurements of terrestrial surface water, (ii) simulate the spatio-temporal sampling scheme of SWOT for the Amazon, and (iii) assess the impact of each of these on estimates of water-surface slope and river discharge which may be obtained from SWOT imagery. We based our analysis on a virtual mission for a ~260 km reach of the central Amazon (Solimões) River, using a hydraulic model to provide water-surface elevations according to SWOT spatio-temporal sampling to which errors were added based on a two-dimensional height error spectrum derived from the SWOT design requirements. We thereby obtained water-surface elevation measurements for the Amazon main stem as may be observed by SWOT. Using these measurements, we derived estimates of river slope and discharge and compared them to those obtained directly from the hydraulic model. We found that cross-channel and along-reach averaging of SWOT measurements using reach lengths greater than 4 km for the Solimões and 7.5 km for Purus reduced the effect of systematic height errors, enabling discharge to be reproduced accurately from the water height, assuming known bathymetry and friction. Using cross-sectional averaging and 20 km reach lengths, results show Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency values of 0.99 for the Solimões and 0.88 for the Purus, with 2.6 and 19.1 % average overall error in discharge, respectively. We extend the results to other rivers worldwide and infer that SWOT-derived discharge estimates may be more accurate for rivers with larger channel widths (permitting a greater level of cross

Errors in dual x-ray beam differential absorptiometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bolin, F.; Preuss, L.; Gilbert, K.; Bugenis, C.

1977-01-01

Errors pertinent to the dual beam absorptiometry system have been studied and five areas are given in detail: (1) scattering, in which a computer analysis of multiple scattering shows little error due to this effect; (2) geometrical configuration effects, in which the slope of the sample is shown to influence the accuracy of the measurement; (3) Poisson variations, wherein it is shown that a simultaneous reduction can be obtained in both dosage and statistical error; (4) absorption coefficients, in which the effect of variation in absorption coefficient compilations is shown to have a critical effect on the interpretations of experimental data; and (5) filtering, wherein is shown the need for filters on dual beam systems using a characteristic x-ray output. A zero filter system is outlined

A posteriori error estimator and AMR for discrete ordinates nodal transport methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duo, Jose I.; Azmy, Yousry Y.; Zikatanov, Ludmil T.

2009-01-01

In the development of high fidelity transport solvers, optimization of the use of available computational resources and access to a tool for assessing quality of the solution are key to the success of large-scale nuclear systems' simulation. In this regard, error control provides the analyst with a confidence level in the numerical solution and enables for optimization of resources through Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR). In this paper, we derive an a posteriori error estimator based on the nodal solution of the Arbitrarily High Order Transport Method of the Nodal type (AHOT-N). Furthermore, by making assumptions on the regularity of the solution, we represent the error estimator as a function of computable volume and element-edges residuals. The global L 2 error norm is proved to be bound by the estimator. To lighten the computational load, we present a numerical approximation to the aforementioned residuals and split the global norm error estimator into local error indicators. These indicators are used to drive an AMR strategy for the spatial discretization. However, the indicators based on forward solution residuals alone do not bound the cell-wise error. The estimator and AMR strategy are tested in two problems featuring strong heterogeneity and highly transport streaming regime with strong flux gradients. The results show that the error estimator indeed bounds the global error norms and that the error indicator follows the cell-error's spatial distribution pattern closely. The AMR strategy proves beneficial to optimize resources, primarily by reducing the number of unknowns solved for to achieve prescribed solution accuracy in global L 2 error norm. Likewise, AMR achieves higher accuracy compared to uniform refinement when resolving sharp flux gradients, for the same number of unknowns

Modeling systematic errors: polychromatic sources of Beer-Lambert deviations in HPLC/UV and nonchromatographic spectrophotometric assays.

Science.gov (United States)

Galli, C

2001-07-01

It is well established that the use of polychromatic radiation in spectrophotometric assays leads to excursions from the Beer-Lambert limit. This Note models the resulting systematic error as a function of assay spectral width, slope of molecular extinction coefficient, and analyte concentration. The theoretical calculations are compared with recent experimental results; a parameter is introduced which can be used to estimate the magnitude of the systematic error in both chromatographic and nonchromatographic spectrophotometric assays. It is important to realize that the polychromatic radiation employed in common laboratory equipment can yield assay errors up to approximately 4%, even at absorption levels generally considered 'safe' (i.e. absorption <1). Thus careful consideration of instrumental spectral width, analyte concentration, and slope of molecular extinction coefficient is required to ensure robust analytical methods.

16 determination of posterior tibia slope and slope deterioration

African Journals Online (AJOL)

normal slope and mechanical axis of the knee (7). The slope is reported to deepen in osteoarthritis; meaning increased articular surface contact and increased tibial translation (8). Total knee replacement aims to restore the mechanical axis of the natural knee joint. This axis will be changed by an altered PTS; yet after.

Estimation of Branch Topology Errors in Power Networks by WLAN State Estimation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Hong Rae [Soonchunhyang University(Korea); Song, Kyung Bin [Kei Myoung University(Korea)

2000-06-01

The purpose of this paper is to detect and identify topological errors in order to maintain a reliable database for the state estimator. In this paper, a two stage estimation procedure is used to identify the topology errors. At the first stage, the WLAV state estimator which has characteristics to remove bad data during the estimation procedure is run for finding out the suspected branches at which topology errors take place. The resulting residuals are normalized and the measurements with significant normalized residuals are selected. A set of suspected branches is formed based on these selected measurements; if the selected measurement if a line flow, the corresponding branch is suspected; if it is an injection, then all the branches connecting the injection bus to its immediate neighbors are suspected. A new WLAV state estimator adding the branch flow errors in the state vector is developed to identify the branch topology errors. Sample cases of single topology error and topology error with a measurement error are applied to IEEE 14 bus test system. (author). 24 refs., 1 fig., 9 tabs.

Impact of residual setup error on parotid gland dose in intensity-modulated radiation therapy with or without planning organ-at-risk margin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delana, Anna; Menegotti, Loris; Valentini, Aldo; Bolner, Andrea; Tomio, Luigi; Vanoni, Valentina; Lohr, Frank

2009-01-01

Purpose: To estimate the dosimetric impact of residual setup errors on parotid sparing in head-and-neck (H and N) intensity-modulated treatments and to evaluate the effect of employing an PRV (planning organ-at-risk volume) margin for the parotid gland. Patients and methods: Ten patients treated for H and N cancer were considered. A nine-beam intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) was planned for each patient. A second optimization was performed prescribing dose constraint to the PRV of the parotid gland. Systematic setup errors of 2 mm, 3 mm, and 5 mm were simulated. The dose-volume histograms of the shifted and reference plans were compared with regard to mean parotid gland dose (MPD), normal-tissue complication probability (NTCP), and coverage of the clinical target volume (V 95% and equivalent uniform dose [EUD]); the sensitivity of parotid sparing on setup error was evaluated with a probability-based approach. Results: MPD increased by 3.4%/mm and 3.0%/mm for displacements in the craniocaudal and lateral direction and by 0.7%/mm for displacements in the anterior-posterior direction. The probability to irradiate the parotid with a mean dose > 30 Gy was > 50%, for setup errors in cranial and lateral direction and 95% and EUD variations < 1% and < 1 Gy). Conclusion: The parotid gland is more sensitive to craniocaudal and lateral displacements. A setup error of 2 mm guarantees an MPD ≤ 30 Gy in most cases, without adding a PRV margin. If greater displacements are expected/accepted, an adequate PRV margin could be used to meet the clinical parotid gland constraint of 30 Gy, without affecting target volume coverage. (orig.)

Slope Estimation from ICESat/GLAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Craig Mahoney

2014-10-01

Full Text Available We present a novel technique to infer ground slope angle from waveform LiDAR, known as the independent slope method (ISM. The technique is applied to large footprint waveforms (\\(\\sim\\ mean diameter from the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS to produce a slope dataset of near-global coverage at \\(0.5^{\\circ} \\times 0.5^{\\circ}\\ resolution. ISM slope estimates are compared against high resolution airborne LiDAR slope measurements for nine sites across three continents. ISM slope estimates compare better with the aircraft data (R\\(^{2}=0.87\\ and RMSE\\(=5.16^{\\circ}\\ than the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Digital Elevation Model (SRTM DEM inferred slopes (R\\(^{2}=0.71\\ and RMSE\\(=8.69^{\\circ}\\ ISM slope estimates are concurrent with GLAS waveforms and can be used to correct biophysical parameters, such as tree height and biomass. They can also be fused with other DEMs, such as SRTM, to improve slope estimates.

PRECISION MEASUREMENTS OF THE CLUSTER RED SEQUENCE USING AN ERROR-CORRECTED GAUSSIAN MIXTURE MODEL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hao Jiangang; Annis, James; Koester, Benjamin P.; Mckay, Timothy A.; Evrard, August; Gerdes, David; Rykoff, Eli S.; Rozo, Eduardo; Becker, Matthew; Busha, Michael; Wechsler, Risa H.; Johnston, David E.; Sheldon, Erin

2009-01-01

The red sequence is an important feature of galaxy clusters and plays a crucial role in optical cluster detection. Measurement of the slope and scatter of the red sequence are affected both by selection of red sequence galaxies and measurement errors. In this paper, we describe a new error-corrected Gaussian Mixture Model for red sequence galaxy identification. Using this technique, we can remove the effects of measurement error and extract unbiased information about the intrinsic properties of the red sequence. We use this method to select red sequence galaxies in each of the 13,823 clusters in the maxBCG catalog, and measure the red sequence ridgeline location and scatter of each. These measurements provide precise constraints on the variation of the average red galaxy populations in the observed frame with redshift. We find that the scatter of the red sequence ridgeline increases mildly with redshift, and that the slope decreases with redshift. We also observe that the slope does not strongly depend on cluster richness. Using similar methods, we show that this behavior is mirrored in a spectroscopic sample of field galaxies, further emphasizing that ridgeline properties are independent of environment. These precise measurements serve as an important observational check on simulations and mock galaxy catalogs. The observed trends in the slope and scatter of the red sequence ridgeline with redshift are clues to possible intrinsic evolution of the cluster red sequence itself. Most importantly, the methods presented in this work lay the groundwork for further improvements in optically based cluster cosmology.

Precision Measurements of the Cluster Red Sequence using an Error Corrected Gaussian Mixture Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hao, Jiangang; /Fermilab /Michigan U.; Koester, Benjamin P.; /Chicago U.; Mckay, Timothy A.; /Michigan U.; Rykoff, Eli S.; /UC, Santa Barbara; Rozo, Eduardo; /Ohio State U.; Evrard, August; /Michigan U.; Annis, James; /Fermilab; Becker, Matthew; /Chicago U.; Busha, Michael; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /SLAC; Gerdes, David; /Michigan U.; Johnston, David E.; /Northwestern U. /Brookhaven

2009-07-01

The red sequence is an important feature of galaxy clusters and plays a crucial role in optical cluster detection. Measurement of the slope and scatter of the red sequence are affected both by selection of red sequence galaxies and measurement errors. In this paper, we describe a new error corrected Gaussian Mixture Model for red sequence galaxy identification. Using this technique, we can remove the effects of measurement error and extract unbiased information about the intrinsic properties of the red sequence. We use this method to select red sequence galaxies in each of the 13,823 clusters in the maxBCG catalog, and measure the red sequence ridgeline location and scatter of each. These measurements provide precise constraints on the variation of the average red galaxy populations in the observed frame with redshift. We find that the scatter of the red sequence ridgeline increases mildly with redshift, and that the slope decreases with redshift. We also observe that the slope does not strongly depend on cluster richness. Using similar methods, we show that this behavior is mirrored in a spectroscopic sample of field galaxies, further emphasizing that ridgeline properties are independent of environment. These precise measurements serve as an important observational check on simulations and mock galaxy catalogs. The observed trends in the slope and scatter of the red sequence ridgeline with redshift are clues to possible intrinsic evolution of the cluster red-sequence itself. Most importantly, the methods presented in this work lay the groundwork for further improvements in optically-based cluster cosmology.

Cooperative Three-Robot System for Traversing Steep Slopes

Science.gov (United States)

Stroupe, Ashley; Huntsberger, Terrance; Aghazarian, Hrand; Younse, Paulo; Garrett, Michael

2009-01-01

from all three robots for decision- making at each step, and to control the physical connections among the robots. In addition, TRESSA (as in prior systems that have utilized this architecture) , incorporates a capability for deterministic response to unanticipated situations from yet another architecture reported in Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing (NPO-43635), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 10 (October 2008), page 40. Tether tension control is a major consideration in the design and operation of TRESSA. Tension is measured by force sensors connected to each tether at the Cliffbot. The direction of the tension (both azimuth and elevation) is also measured. The tension controller combines a controller to counter gravitational force and an optional velocity controller that anticipates the motion of the Cliffbot. The gravity controller estimates the slope angle from the inclination of the tethers. This angle and the weight of the Cliffbot determine the total tension needed to counteract the weight of the Cliffbot. The total needed tension is broken into components for each Anchorbot. The difference between this needed tension and the tension measured at the Cliffbot constitutes an error signal that is provided to the gravity controller. The velocity controller computes the tether speed needed to produce the desired motion of the Cliffbot. Another major consideration in the design and operation of TRESSA is detection of faults. Each robot in the TRESSA system monitors its own performance and the performance of its teammates in order to detect any system faults and prevent unsafe conditions. At startup, communication links are tested and if any robot is not communicating, the system refuses to execute any motion commands. Prior to motion, the Anchorbots attempt to set tensions in the tethers at optimal levels for counteracting the weight of the Cliffbot; if either Anchorbot fails to reach its optimal tension level within a specified time, it sends

Heat transfer properties of organic coolants containing high boiling residues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Debbage, A.G.; Driver, M.; Waller, P.R.

1964-01-01

Heat transfer measurements were made in forced convection with Santowax R, mixtures of Santowax R and pyrolytic high boiling residue, mixtures of Santowax R and CMRE Radiolytic high boiling residue, and OMRE coolant, in the range of Reynolds number 10 4 to 10 5 . The data was correlated with the equation Nu = 0.015 Re b 0.85 Pr b 0.4 with an r.m.s. error of ± 8.5%. The total maximum error arising from the experimental method and inherent errors in the physical property data has been estimated to be less than ± 8.5%. From the correlation and physical property data, the decrease in heat transfer coefficient with increasing high boiling residue concentration has been determined. It has been shown that subcooled boiling in organic coolants containing high boiling residues is a complex phenomenon and the advantages to be gained by operating a reactor in this region may be marginal. Gas bearing pumps used initially in these experiments were found to be unsuitable; a re-designed ball bearing system lubricated with a terphenyl mixture was found to operate successfully. (author)

Preliminary Slope Stability Study Using Slope/ W

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazran Harun; Mohd Abd Wahab Yusof; Kamarudin Samuding; Mohd Muzamil Mohd Hashim; Nurul Fairuz Diyana Bahrudin

2014-01-01

Analyzing the stability of earth structures is the oldest type of numerical analysis in geotechnical engineering. Limit equilibrium types of analyses for assessing the stability of earth slopes have been in use in geotechnical engineering for many decades. Modern limit equilibrium software is making it possible to handle ever-increasing complexity within an analysis. It is being considered as the potential method in dealing with complex stratigraphy, highly irregular pore-water pressure conditions, various linear and nonlinear shear strength models and almost any kind of slip surface shape. It allows rapid decision making by providing an early indication of the potential suitability of sites based on slope stability analysis. Hence, a preliminary slope stability study has been developed to improve the capacity of Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) in assessing potential sites for Borehole Disposal for Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources. The results showed that geometry of cross section A-A ' , B-B ' , C-C ' and D-D ' achieved the factor of safety not less than 1.4 and these are deemed acceptable. (author)

Assessment and mapping of slope stability based on slope units: A ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Shallow landslide; infinite slope stability equation; return period precipitation; assessment; slope unit. ... 2010), logistic regression ... model to assess the hazard of shallow landslides ..... grating a fuzzy k-means classification and a Bayesian.

Synergism Analysis of Bedding Slope with Piles and Anchor Cable Support under Sine Wave Vehicle Load

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Dan-Feng

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Slope instability under dynamic load is the technical difficulty in the engineering; the evaluation of slope stability under dynamic load and the control of dynamic load is particularly important. In this paper, taking the right side slope of K27+140 m~380 m typical section (K27 slope for short in Chongqing Fuling-Fengdu-Shizhu expresses highway as an example to calculate and analyze. The K27 slope is under sinusoidal vehicle load and supported by anchor cable and antislide pile to resist downslide strength; at the same time, the combined effect of them is studied. Three-dimensional finite element methodology (FEM is used to simulate the bedding slope with piles and anchor cable support; furthermore, the eigenvalue can be obtained. In order to reduce error of the elastic boundary conditions caused by the reflection effect of wavelengths, the combination of Lysmer surface viscous boundary and traditional ground support boundaries is utilized to analyze and calculate the time-histories during bedding slope under dynamic load. The dynamic response of pile anchor support to resist sliding force is obtained. The concept of the pile anchor supporting coordinate interval is put forward. Furthermore, it is verified that the pile anchor supporting coordinate interval can be used to evaluate the stability of the slope under dynamic load and provide a new method for the control of the dynamic load.

Infiltration on sloping terrain and its role on runoff generation and slope stability

Science.gov (United States)

Loáiciga, Hugo A.; Johnson, J. Michael

2018-06-01

A modified Green-and-Ampt model is formulated to quantify infiltration on sloping terrain underlain by homogeneous soil wetted by surficial water application. This paper's theory for quantifying infiltration relies on the mathematical statement of the coupled partial differential equations (pdes) governing infiltration and runoff. These pdes are solved by employing an explicit finite-difference numerical method that yields the infiltration, the infiltration rate, the depth to the wetting front, the rate of runoff, and the depth of runoff everywhere on the slope during external wetting. Data inputs consist of a water application rate or the rainfall hyetograph of a storm of arbitrary duration, soil hydraulic characteristics and antecedent moisture, and the slope's hydraulic and geometric characteristics. The presented theory predicts the effect an advancing wetting front has on slope stability with respect to translational sliding. This paper's theory also develops the 1D pde governing suspended sediment transport and slope degradation caused by runoff influenced by infiltration. Three examples illustrate the application of the developed theory to calculate infiltration and runoff on a slope and their role on the stability of cohesive and cohesionless soils forming sloping terrain.

Analysis of translational errors in frame-based and frameless cranial radiosurgery using an anthropomorphic phantom

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Almeida, Taynna Vernalha Rocha [Faculdades Pequeno Principe (FPP), Curitiba, PR (Brazil); Cordova Junior, Arno Lotar; Almeida, Cristiane Maria; Piedade, Pedro Argolo; Silva, Cintia Mara da, E-mail: taynnavra@gmail.com [Centro de Radioterapia Sao Sebastiao, Florianopolis, SC (Brazil); Brincas, Gabriela R. Baseggio [Centro de Diagnostico Medico Imagem, Florianopolis, SC (Brazil); Marins, Priscila; Soboll, Danyel Scheidegger [Universidade Tecnologica Federal do Parana (UTFPR), Curitiba, PR (Brazil)

2016-03-15

Objective: To evaluate three-dimensional translational setup errors and residual errors in image-guided radiosurgery, comparing frameless and frame-based techniques, using an anthropomorphic phantom. Materials and Methods: We initially used specific phantoms for the calibration and quality control of the image-guided system. For the hidden target test, we used an Alderson Radiation Therapy (ART)-210 anthropomorphic head phantom, into which we inserted four 5- mm metal balls to simulate target treatment volumes. Computed tomography images were the taken with the head phantom properly positioned for frameless and frame-based radiosurgery. Results: For the frameless technique, the mean error magnitude was 0.22 ± 0.04 mm for setup errors and 0.14 ± 0.02 mm for residual errors, the combined uncertainty being 0.28 mm and 0.16 mm, respectively. For the frame-based technique, the mean error magnitude was 0.73 ± 0.14 mm for setup errors and 0.31 ± 0.04 mm for residual errors, the combined uncertainty being 1.15 mm and 0.63 mm, respectively. Conclusion: The mean values, standard deviations, and combined uncertainties showed no evidence of a significant differences between the two techniques when the head phantom ART-210 was used. (author)

On the Ground or in the Air? A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kosmowski, Frédéric; Stevenson, James; Campbell, Jeff; Ambel, Alemayehu; Haile Tsegay, Asmelash

2017-10-01

Maintaining permanent coverage of the soil using crop residues is an important and commonly recommended practice in conservation agriculture. Measuring this practice is an essential step in improving knowledge about the adoption and impact of conservation agriculture. Different data collection methods can be implemented to capture the field level crop residue coverage for a given plot, each with its own implication on survey budget, implementation speed and respondent and interviewer burden. In this paper, six alternative methods of crop residue coverage measurement are tested among the same sample of rural households in Ethiopia. The relative accuracy of these methods are compared against a benchmark, the line-transect method. The alternative methods compared against the benchmark include: (i) interviewee (respondent) estimation; (ii) enumerator estimation visiting the field; (iii) interviewee with visual-aid without visiting the field; (iv) enumerator with visual-aid visiting the field; (v) field picture collected with a drone and analyzed with image-processing methods and (vi) satellite picture of the field analyzed with remote sensing methods. Results of the methodological experiment show that survey-based methods tend to underestimate field residue cover. When quantitative data on cover are needed, the best estimates are provided by visual-aid protocols. For categorical analysis (i.e., >30% cover or not), visual-aid protocols and remote sensing methods perform equally well. Among survey-based methods, the strongest correlates of measurement errors are total farm size, field size, distance, and slope. Results deliver a ranking of measurement options that can inform survey practitioners and researchers.

On the Ground or in the Air? A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia

Science.gov (United States)

Kosmowski, Frédéric; Stevenson, James; Campbell, Jeff; Ambel, Alemayehu; Haile Tsegay, Asmelash

2017-10-01

Maintaining permanent coverage of the soil using crop residues is an important and commonly recommended practice in conservation agriculture. Measuring this practice is an essential step in improving knowledge about the adoption and impact of conservation agriculture. Different data collection methods can be implemented to capture the field level crop residue coverage for a given plot, each with its own implication on survey budget, implementation speed and respondent and interviewer burden. In this paper, six alternative methods of crop residue coverage measurement are tested among the same sample of rural households in Ethiopia. The relative accuracy of these methods are compared against a benchmark, the line-transect method. The alternative methods compared against the benchmark include: (i) interviewee (respondent) estimation; (ii) enumerator estimation visiting the field; (iii) interviewee with visual-aid without visiting the field; (iv) enumerator with visual-aid visiting the field; (v) field picture collected with a drone and analyzed with image-processing methods and (vi) satellite picture of the field analyzed with remote sensing methods. Results of the methodological experiment show that survey-based methods tend to underestimate field residue cover. When quantitative data on cover are needed, the best estimates are provided by visual-aid protocols. For categorical analysis (i.e., >30% cover or not), visual-aid protocols and remote sensing methods perform equally well. Among survey-based methods, the strongest correlates of measurement errors are total farm size, field size, distance, and slope. Results deliver a ranking of measurement options that can inform survey practitioners and researchers.

Errors due to random noise in velocity measurement using incoherent-scatter radar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. J. S. Williams

1996-12-01

Full Text Available The random-noise errors involved in measuring the Doppler shift of an 'incoherent-scatter' spectrum are predicted theoretically for all values of Te/Ti from 1.0 to 3.0. After correction has been made for the effects of convolution during transmission and reception and the additional errors introduced by subtracting the average of the background gates, the rms errors can be expressed by a simple semi-empirical formula. The observed errors are determined from a comparison of simultaneous EISCAT measurements using an identical pulse code on several adjacent frequencies. The plot of observed versus predicted error has a slope of 0.991 and a correlation coefficient of 99.3%. The prediction also agrees well with the mean of the error distribution reported by the standard EISCAT analysis programme.

An Empirical State Error Covariance Matrix for Batch State Estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Frisbee, Joseph H., Jr.

2011-01-01

State estimation techniques serve effectively to provide mean state estimates. However, the state error covariance matrices provided as part of these techniques suffer from some degree of lack of confidence in their ability to adequately describe the uncertainty in the estimated states. A specific problem with the traditional form of state error covariance matrices is that they represent only a mapping of the assumed observation error characteristics into the state space. Any errors that arise from other sources (environment modeling, precision, etc.) are not directly represented in a traditional, theoretical state error covariance matrix. Consider that an actual observation contains only measurement error and that an estimated observation contains all other errors, known and unknown. It then follows that a measurement residual (the difference between expected and observed measurements) contains all errors for that measurement. Therefore, a direct and appropriate inclusion of the actual measurement residuals in the state error covariance matrix will result in an empirical state error covariance matrix. This empirical state error covariance matrix will fully account for the error in the state estimate. By way of a literal reinterpretation of the equations involved in the weighted least squares estimation algorithm, it is possible to arrive at an appropriate, and formally correct, empirical state error covariance matrix. The first specific step of the method is to use the average form of the weighted measurement residual variance performance index rather than its usual total weighted residual form. Next it is helpful to interpret the solution to the normal equations as the average of a collection of sample vectors drawn from a hypothetical parent population. From here, using a standard statistical analysis approach, it directly follows as to how to determine the standard empirical state error covariance matrix. This matrix will contain the total uncertainty in the

Reliability-Based Stability Analysis of Rock Slopes Using Numerical Analysis and Response Surface Method

Science.gov (United States)

Dadashzadeh, N.; Duzgun, H. S. B.; Yesiloglu-Gultekin, N.

2017-08-01

While advanced numerical techniques in slope stability analysis are successfully used in deterministic studies, they have so far found limited use in probabilistic analyses due to their high computation cost. The first-order reliability method (FORM) is one of the most efficient probabilistic techniques to perform probabilistic stability analysis by considering the associated uncertainties in the analysis parameters. However, it is not possible to directly use FORM in numerical slope stability evaluations as it requires definition of a limit state performance function. In this study, an integrated methodology for probabilistic numerical modeling of rock slope stability is proposed. The methodology is based on response surface method, where FORM is used to develop an explicit performance function from the results of numerical simulations. The implementation of the proposed methodology is performed by considering a large potential rock wedge in Sumela Monastery, Turkey. The accuracy of the developed performance function to truly represent the limit state surface is evaluated by monitoring the slope behavior. The calculated probability of failure is compared with Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method. The proposed methodology is found to be 72% more efficient than MCS, while the accuracy is decreased with an error of 24%.

IMPROVED LARGE-SCALE SLOPE ANALYSIS ON MARS BASED ON CORRELATION OF SLOPES DERIVED WITH DIFFERENT BASELINES

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Y. Wang

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The surface slopes of planetary bodies are important factors for exploration missions, such as landing site selection and rover manoeuvre. Generally, high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs such as those generated from the HiRISE images on Mars are preferred to generate detailed slopes with a better fidelity of terrain features. Unfortunately, high-resolution datasets normally only cover small area and are not always available. While lower resolution datasets, such as MOLA, provide global coverage of the Martian surface. Slopes generated from the low-resolution DEM will be based on a large baseline and be smoothed from the real situation. In order to carry out slope analysis at large scale on Martian surface based low-resolution data such as MOLA data, while alleviating the smoothness problem of slopes due to its low resolution, this paper presents an amplifying function of slopes derived from low-resolution DEMs based on the relationships between DEM resolutions and slopes. First, slope maps are derived from the HiRISE DEM (meter-level resolution DEM generated from HiRISE images and a series of down-sampled HiRISE DEMs. The latter are used to simulate low-resolution DEMs. Then the high-resolution slope map is down- sampled to the same resolution with the slope map from the lower-resolution DEMs. Thus, a comparison can be conducted pixel-wise. For each pixel on the slope map derived from the lower-resolution DEM, it can reach the same value with the down-sampled HiRISE slope by multiplying an amplifying factor. Seven sets of HiRISE images with representative terrain types are used for correlation analysis. It shows that the relationship between the amplifying factors and the original MOLA slopes can be described by the exponential function. Verifications using other datasets show that after applying the proposed amplifying function, the updated slope maps give better representations of slopes on Martian surface compared with the original

Slope Estimation during Normal Walking Using a Shank-Mounted Inertial Sensor

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Juan C. Álvarez

2012-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper we propose an approach for the estimation of the slope of the walking surface during normal walking using a body-worn sensor composed of a biaxial accelerometer and a uniaxial gyroscope attached to the shank. It builds upon a state of the art technique that was successfully used to estimate the walking velocity from walking stride data, but did not work when used to estimate the slope of the walking surface. As claimed by the authors, the reason was that it did not take into account the actual inclination of the shank of the stance leg at the beginning of the stride (mid stance. In this paper, inspired by the biomechanical characteristics of human walking, we propose to solve this issue by using the accelerometer as a tilt sensor, assuming that at mid stance it is only measuring the gravity acceleration. Results from a set of experiments involving several users walking at different inclinations on a treadmill confirm the feasibility of our approach. A statistical analysis of slope estimations shows in first instance that the technique is capable of distinguishing the different slopes of the walking surface for every subject. It reports a global RMS error (per-unit difference between actual and estimated inclination of the walking surface for each stride identified in the experiments of 0.05 and this can be reduced to 0.03 with subject-specific calibration and post processing procedures by means of averaging techniques.

Residual volume on land and when immersed in water: effect on percent body fat.

Science.gov (United States)

Demura, Shinichi; Yamaji, Shunsuke; Kitabayashi, Tamotsu

2006-08-01

There is a large residual volume (RV) error when assessing percent body fat by means of hydrostatic weighing. It has generally been measured before hydrostatic weighing. However, an individual's maximal exhalations on land and in the water may not be identical. The aims of this study were to compare residual volumes and vital capacities on land and when immersed to the neck in water, and to examine the influence of the measurement error on percent body fat. The participants were 20 healthy Japanese males and 20 healthy Japanese females. To assess the influence of the RV error on percent body fat in both conditions and to evaluate the cross-validity of the prediction equation, another 20 males and 20 females were measured using hydrostatic weighing. Residual volume was measured on land and in the water using a nitrogen wash-out technique based on an open-circuit approach. In water, residual volume was measured with the participant sitting on a chair while the whole body, except the head, was submerged . The trial-to-trial reliabilities of residual volume in both conditions were very good (intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.98). Although residual volume measured under the two conditions did not agree completely, they showed a high correlation (males: 0.880; females: 0.853; P body fat computed using residual volume measured in both conditions was very good for both sexes (males: r = 0.902; females: r = 0.869, P body fat: -3.4 to 2.2% for males; -6.3 to 4.4% for females). We conclude that if these errors are of no importance, residual volume measured on land can be used when assessing body composition.

Error Resilient Video Compression Using Behavior Models

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Jacco R. Taal

2004-03-01

Full Text Available Wireless and Internet video applications are inherently subjected to bit errors and packet errors, respectively. This is especially so if constraints on the end-to-end compression and transmission latencies are imposed. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods to optimize the video compression parameters and the rate allocation of these applications that take into account residual channel bit errors. In this paper, we study the behavior of a predictive (interframe video encoder and model the encoders behavior using only the statistics of the original input data and of the underlying channel prone to bit errors. The resulting data-driven behavior models are then used to carry out group-of-pictures partitioning and to control the rate of the video encoder in such a way that the overall quality of the decoded video with compression and channel errors is optimized.

Solow Residuals Without Capital Stocks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burda, Michael C.; Severgnini, Battista

2014-01-01

We use synthetic data generated by a prototypical stochastic growth model to assess the accuracy of the Solow residual (Solow, 1957) as a measure of total factor productivity (TFP) growth when the capital stock in use is measured with error. We propose two alternative measurements based on curren...

Slippery Slope Arguments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Burg, W.; Chadwick, R.F.

1998-01-01

Slippery slope arguments hold that one should not take some action (which in itself may be innocuous or even laudable) in order to prevent one from being dragged down a slope towards some clearly undesirable situation. Their typical purpose is to prevent changes in the status quo and, therefore,

STACK NUMBER INFLUENCE ON THE ACCURACY OF ASTER GDEM (V2

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S. M. J. Mirzadeh

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In this research, the influence of stack number (STKN on the accuracy of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER Global DEM (GDEM has been investigated. For this purpose, two data sets of ASTER and Reference DEMs from two study areas with various topography (Bomehen and Tazehabad were used. The Results show that in both study areas, STKN of 19 results in minimum error so that this minimum error has small difference with other STKN. The analysis of slope, STKN, and error values shows that there is no strong correlation between these parameters in both study areas. For example, the value of mean absolute error increase by changing the topography and the increase of slope values and height on cells but, the changes in STKN has no important effect on error values. Furthermore, according to high values of STKN, effect of slope on elevation accuracy has practically decreased. Also, there is no great correlation between the residual and STKN in ASTER GDEM.

Preparation-induced errors in EPR dosimetry of enamel: pre- and post-crushing sensitivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haskell, E.H.; Hayes, R.B.; Kenner, G.H.

1996-01-01

Errors in dose estimation as a function of grain size for tooth enamel has been previously shown for beta irradiation after crushing. We tested the effect of gamma radiation applied to specimens before and after crushing. We extend the previous work in that we found that post-crushing irradiation altered the slope of the dose-response curve of the hydroxyapatite signal and produced a grain-size dependent offset. No changes in the slope of the dose-response curve were seen in enamel caps irradiated before crushing

Effects of grapevine root density and reinforcement on slopes prone to shallow slope instability

Science.gov (United States)

Meisina, Claudia; Bordoni, Massimiliano; Bischetti, Gianbattista; Vercesi, Alberto; Chiaradia, Enrico; Cislaghi, Alessio; Valentino, Roberto; Bittelli, Marco; Vergani, Chiara; Chersich, Silvia; Giuseppina Persichillo, Maria; Comolli, Roberto

2016-04-01

Slope erosion and shallow slope instabilities are the major factors of soil losses in cultivated steep terrains. These phenomena also cause loss of organic matter and plants nutrients, together with the partial or total destruction of the structures, such as the row tillage pattern of the vineyards, which allow for the plants cultivation. Vegetation has long been used as an effective tool to decrease the susceptibility of a slope to erosion and to shallow landslides. In particular, the scientific research focused on the role played by the plant roots, because the belowground biomass has the major control on the potential development of soil erosion and of shallow failures. Instead, a comprehensive study that analyzes the effects of the roots of agricultural plants on both soil erosion and slope instability has not been carried out yet. This aspect should be fundamental where sloped terrains are cultivated with plants of great economical relevance, as grapevine. To contribute to fill this gap, in this study the features of root density in the soil profile have been analyzed in slopes cultivated with vineyards, located on a sample hilly area of Oltrepò Pavese (northern Italy). In this area, the viticulture is the most important branch of the local economy. Moreover, several events of rainfall-induced slope erosion and shallow landslides have occurred in this area in the last 6 years, causing several economical damages linked to the destruction of the vineyards and the loss of high productivity soils. Grapevine root distribution have been measured in different test-site slopes, representative of the main geological, geomorphological, pedological, landslides distribution, agricultural features, in order to identify particular patterns on root density that can influence the development of slope instabilities. Roots have been sampled in each test-site for characterizing their strength, in terms of the relation between root diameter and root force at rupture. Root

Parameterization experiments performed via synthetic mass movements prototypes generated by 3D slope stability simulator

Science.gov (United States)

Colangelo, Antonio C.

2010-05-01

each cell in synthetic slope systems performed by relief unity emulator. The central methodological strategy is to locate the potential rupture surfaces (prs), main material discontinuities, like soil-regolith or regolith-rock transitions. Inner these "prs", we would to outline the effective potential rupture surfaces (eprs). This surface is a sub-set of the "prs" that presents safety factor less than unity (fwalls, the "slope stability simulator" generates a synthetic mass movement. The overlay material will slide until that a new equilibrium be attained at residual shear strength. These devices generate graphic 3D cinematic sequences of experiments in synthetic slope systems and numerical results about physical and morphological data about scars and deposits. Thus, we have a detailed geotechnical, morphological, topographic and morphometric description of these mass movements prototypes, for deal with effective mass movements found in the real environments.

Investigations of slope stability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nonveiller, E.

1979-01-01

The dynamics of slope slides and parameters for calculating slope stability is discussed. Two types of slides are outlined: rotation slide and translation slide. Slide dynamics are analyzed according to A. Heim. A calculation example of a slide which occurred at Vajont, Yugoslavia is presented. Calculation results differ from those presented by Ciabatti. For investigation of slope stability the calculation methods of A.W. Bishop (1955), N. Morgenstern and M. Maksimovic are discussed. 12 references

Wavefront error sensing for LDR

Science.gov (United States)

Tubbs, Eldred F.; Glavich, T. A.

1988-01-01

Wavefront sensing is a significant aspect of the LDR control problem and requires attention at an early stage of the control system definition and design. A combination of a Hartmann test for wavefront slope measurement and an interference test for piston errors of the segments was examined and is presented as a point of departure for further discussion. The assumption is made that the wavefront sensor will be used for initial alignment and periodic alignment checks but that it will not be used during scientific observations. The Hartmann test and the interferometric test are briefly examined.

Laboratory experiment on the 3D tide-induced Lagrangian residual current using the PIV technique

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yang; Jiang, Wensheng; Chen, Xu; Wang, Tao; Bian, Changwei

2017-12-01

The 3D structure of the tide-induced Lagrangian residual current was studied using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique in a long shallow narrow tank in the laboratory. At the mouth of the tank, a wave generator was used to make periodic wave which represents the tide movement, and at the head of the tank, a laterally sloping topography with the length of one fifth of the water tank was installed, above which the tide-induced Lagrangian residual current was studied. Under the weakly nonlinear condition in the present experiment setup, the results show that the Lagrangian residual velocity (LRV) field has a three-layer structure. The residual current flows inwards (towards the head) in the bottom layer and flows outwards in the middle layer, while in the surface layer, it flows inwards along the shallow side of the sloping topography and outwards along the deep side. The depth-averaged and breadth-averaged LRV are also analyzed based on the 3D LRV observations. Our results are in good agreement with the previous experiment studies, the analytical solutions with similar conditions and the observational results in real bays. Moreover, the volume flux comparison between the Lagrangian and Eulerian residual currents shows that the Eulerian residual velocity violates the mass conservation law while the LRV truly represents the inter-tidal water transport. This work enriches the laboratory studies of the LRV and offers valuable references for the LRV studies in real bays.

Cross-slope Movement Patterns in Landslides

Science.gov (United States)

Petley, D.; Murphy, W.; Bulmer, M. H.; Keefer, D.

2002-12-01

There is growing evidence that there is a significant element of cross-slope movement in many large landslide systems. These movements may result in changing states of stress between landslide blocks that can establish complex displacement patterns. Such motions, which are not considered in traditional two-dimensional limit-equilibrium analyses, are important in the investigation of a variety of landslide types, such as those triggered by earthquakes. In addition, these movements may introduce considerable errors into the interpretation of strain patterns as derived from InSAR studies. Finally, even traditional interpretation techniques may lead to the amount of total displacement being underestimated. These observations suggest that a three dimensional form of analysis may be more appropriate for large landslide complexes. The significance of such cross-slope movements are being investigated using a detailed investigation of the Lishan landslide complex in Central Taiwan. This landslide system, which was reactivated in 1990 related to the construction of a hotel. The total recorded movements have been approximately 1.5 m over an area of sliding that is estimated to be 450 m wide and 200 m long. Extensive damage has been caused to roads and buildings within the town. Remediation work has resulted largely in the stabilization of the landslide complex. Detailed geomorphological mapping has revealed that the landslide complex is composed of two main components. The first, immediately upslope of the hotel construction site, is a relatively shallow earthflow. The second, which has formed a large headscarp upslope from the main road in the centre of the town, is a deeper translational slide. Both appear to have been reactivations of previous failures. While the displacement patterns of the earthflow indicate a relatively simple downslope movement, the vectors derived from kinematic analysis of surface features have indicated that the movement of the deeper

Residual-based Methods for Controlling Discretization Error in CFD

Science.gov (United States)

2015-08-24

ccjccjccj iVi Jwxf V dVxf V 1 ,,, )(det)( 1)(1   . (25) where J is the Jacobian of the coordinate transformation and the weights can be found from...179. Layton, W., Lee , H.K., and Peterson, J. (2002). “A Defect-Correction Method for the Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations,” Applied Mathematics...and Computation, Vol. 129, pp. 1-19. Lee , D. and Tsuei, Y.M. (1992). “A Formula for Estimation of Truncation Errors of Convective Terms in a

Slope-Area Computation Program Graphical User Interface 1.0—A Preprocessing and Postprocessing Tool for Estimating Peak Flood Discharge Using the Slope-Area Method

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, D. Nathan

2012-01-01

The slope-area method is a technique for estimating the peak discharge of a flood after the water has receded (Dalrymple and Benson, 1967). This type of discharge estimate is called an “indirect measurement” because it relies on evidence left behind by the flood, such as high-water marks (HWMs) on trees or buildings. These indicators of flood stage are combined with measurements of the cross-sectional geometry of the stream, estimates of channel roughness, and a mathematical model that balances the total energy of the flow between cross sections. This is in contrast to a “direct” measurement of discharge during the flood where cross-sectional area is measured and a current meter or acoustic equipment is used to measure the water velocity. When a direct discharge measurement cannot be made at a gage during high flows because of logistics or safety reasons, an indirect measurement of a peak discharge is useful for defining the high-flow section of the stage-discharge relation (rating curve) at the stream gage, resulting in more accurate computation of high flows. The Slope-Area Computation program (SAC; Fulford, 1994) is an implementation of the slope-area method that computes a peak-discharge estimate from inputs of water-surface slope (from surveyed HWMs), channel geometry, and estimated channel roughness. SAC is a command line program written in Fortran that reads input data from a formatted text file and prints results to another formatted text file. Preparing the input file can be time-consuming and prone to errors. This document describes the SAC graphical user interface (GUI), a crossplatform “wrapper” application that prepares the SAC input file, executes the program, and helps the user interpret the output. The SAC GUI is an update and enhancement of the slope-area method (SAM; Hortness, 2004; Berenbrock, 1996), an earlier spreadsheet tool used to aid field personnel in the completion of a slope-area measurement. The SAC GUI reads survey data

Mid-term and scaling effects of forest residue mulching on post-fire runoff and soil erosion.

Science.gov (United States)

Prats, Sergio Alegre; Wagenbrenner, Joseph W; Martins, Martinho António Santos; Malvar, Maruxa Cortizo; Keizer, Jan Jacob

2016-12-15

Mulching is an effective post-fire soil erosion mitigation treatment. Experiments with forest residue mulch have demonstrated that it increased ground cover to 70% and reduced runoff and soil loss at small spatial scales and for short post-fire periods. However, no studies have systematically assessed the joint effects of scale, time since burning, and mulching on runoff, soil loss, and organic matter loss. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of scale and forest residue mulch using 0.25m 2 micro-plots and 100m 2 slope-scale plots in a burnt eucalypt plantation in central Portugal. We assessed the underlying processes involved in the post-fire hydrologic and erosive responses, particularly the effects of soil moisture and soil water repellency. Runoff amount in the micro-plots was more than ten-fold the runoff in the larger slope-scale plots in the first year and decreased to eight-fold in the third post-fire year. Soil losses in the micro-plots were initially about twice the values in the slope-scale plots and this ratio increased over time. The mulch greatly reduced the cumulative soil loss measured in the untreated slope-scale plots (616gm -2 ) by 91% during the five post-fire years. The implications are that applying forest residue mulch immediately after a wildfire can reduce soil losses at spatial scales of interest to land managers throughout the expected post-fire window of disturbance, and that mulching resulted in a substantial relative gain in soil organic matter. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Calibration Errors in Interferometric Radio Polarimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Hales, Christopher A.

2017-08-01

Residual calibration errors are difficult to predict in interferometric radio polarimetry because they depend on the observational calibration strategy employed, encompassing the Stokes vector of the calibrator and parallactic angle coverage. This work presents analytic derivations and simulations that enable examination of residual on-axis instrumental leakage and position-angle errors for a suite of calibration strategies. The focus is on arrays comprising alt-azimuth antennas with common feeds over which parallactic angle is approximately uniform. The results indicate that calibration schemes requiring parallactic angle coverage in the linear feed basis (e.g., the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) need only observe over 30°, beyond which no significant improvements in calibration accuracy are obtained. In the circular feed basis (e.g., the Very Large Array above 1 GHz), 30° is also appropriate when the Stokes vector of the leakage calibrator is known a priori, but this rises to 90° when the Stokes vector is unknown. These findings illustrate and quantify concepts that were previously obscure rules of thumb.

Kinematic Reconstruction of a Deep-Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation by Geomorphic Analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Morelli

2018-01-01

Full Text Available On 4 November 2010, a deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (North Italy reactivated with sudden ground movement. A 450,000 m2 mountainous area moved some metres downslope, but the undeniable signs were only connected to the triggering of a debris flow from the bulging area’s detrital cover and the presence of a continuous perimeter fracture near the crown area. Based on two detailed LiDAR surveys (2 m × 2 m performed just a few days before and after the event, a quantitative topographic analysis was performed in a GIS environment, integrating morphometric terrain parameters (slope, aspect, surface roughness, hill shade, and curvature. The DEMs analysis highlighted some morphological changes related to deeper as well as shallow movements. Both global and sectorial displacements were widely verified and discussed, finally inferring that the geometry, persistence, and layout of all movements properly justify each current morphostructure, which has the shape of a typical Sackung-type structure with impulsive kinematics. Moreover, a targeted field survey allowed specific clues to be found that confirmed the global deduced dynamics of the slope deformation. Finally, thanks to a ground-based interferometric radar system (GB-InSAR that was installed a few days after the reactivation, the residual deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD movements were also monitored. In the landslide lower bulging area, a localized material progression of small entities was observed for some months after the parossistic event, indicating a slow dissipation of forces in sectors more distant from the crown area.

Seismic stability analysis of rock slopes by yield design theory using the generalized Hoek-Brown criterion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Belghali Mounir

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The stability of rock slope is studied using the kinematic approach of yield design theory, under the condition of plane strain and by considering the last version of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. This criterion, which is suitable to intact rock or rock mass highly fractured regarded as isotropic and homogeneous, is widely accepted by the rock mechanics community and has been applied in numerous projects around the world. The failure mechanism used to implement the kinematic approach is a log-spiral rotational mechanism. The stability analysis is carried out under the effects of gravity forces and a surcharge applied along the upper plateau of the slope. To take account of the effects of forces developed in the rock mass during the passage of a seismic wave, the conventional pseudo-static method is adopted. This method is often used in slope stability study for its simplicity and efficiency to simulate the seismic forces. The results found are compared with published numerical solutions obtained from other approaches. The comparison showed that the results are almost equal. The maximum error found is less than 1%, indicating that this approach is effective for analyzing the stability of rock slopes. The relevance of the approach demonstrated, investigations are undertaken to study the influence of some parameters on the stability of the slope. These parameters relate to the mechanical strength of the rock, slope geometry and loading.

Cold-seep carbonates of the middle and lower continental slope, northern Gulf of Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Harry H.; Feng, Dong; Joye, Samantha B.

2010-11-01

Authigenic carbonates from cold seeps on the middle and lower continental slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) exhibit a wide range of mineralogical and stable isotopic compositions. These carbonates consist of concretions and nodules in surface sediments, hardgrounds of crusts and isolated slabs, and mounded buildups of blocks and slabs of up to over 10 meters in relief above the surrounding seafloor. Mineralogically, the carbonates are dominated by high-Mg calcite (HMC) and aragonite. However, low levels (oil, seawater CO2, and 13C-enriched residual CO2 from methanogenesis. A similarly large variability in δ18O values (2.5 to 6.7‰ PDB) demonstrates the geochemical complexity of the slope, with some samples pointing toward an 18O-enriched oxygen source that is possibly related to advection of 18O-enriched formation water and/or to the decomposition of gas hydrate. A considerable range of mineralogical and isotopic variations in cold-seep carbonate composition was noted even within individual study sites. However, common trends occur across multiple geographic areas. This situation suggests that local controls on fluid and gas flux, types of seep hydrocarbons, the presence or absence of gas hydrate in the near-surface sediment, and chemosynthetic communities, as well as the temporal evolution of the local hydrocarbon reservoir, all may play a part in determining carbonate mineralogy and isotope geochemistry. The carbon isotope data clearly indicate that between-site variation is greater than within-site variation. Seep carbonates formed on the middle and lower continental slope of the GOM do not appear to be substantially different from those found on the upper slope (<1000-m water depth). The highly variable fluids and gases that leave their geochemical imprints on seep carbonate of the middle and lower continental slope are similar to their outer shelf and upper slope counterparts.

Slope of the Slope Derivative Surface used to characterize the complexity of the seafloor around St. John, USVI

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Slope of slope was calculated from the bathymetry surface for each raster cell by applying the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst 'Slope' Tool to a previously created slope...

A residual Monte Carlo method for discrete thermal radiative diffusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, T.M.; Urbatsch, T.J.; Lichtenstein, H.; Morel, J.E.

2003-01-01

Residual Monte Carlo methods reduce statistical error at a rate of exp(-bN), where b is a positive constant and N is the number of particle histories. Contrast this convergence rate with 1/√N, which is the rate of statistical error reduction for conventional Monte Carlo methods. Thus, residual Monte Carlo methods hold great promise for increased efficiency relative to conventional Monte Carlo methods. Previous research has shown that the application of residual Monte Carlo methods to the solution of continuum equations, such as the radiation transport equation, is problematic for all but the simplest of cases. However, the residual method readily applies to discrete systems as long as those systems are monotone, i.e., they produce positive solutions given positive sources. We develop a residual Monte Carlo method for solving a discrete 1D non-linear thermal radiative equilibrium diffusion equation, and we compare its performance with that of the discrete conventional Monte Carlo method upon which it is based. We find that the residual method provides efficiency gains of many orders of magnitude. Part of the residual gain is due to the fact that we begin each timestep with an initial guess equal to the solution from the previous timestep. Moreover, fully consistent non-linear solutions can be obtained in a reasonable amount of time because of the effective lack of statistical noise. We conclude that the residual approach has great potential and that further research into such methods should be pursued for more general discrete and continuum systems

Wave run-up on sandbag slopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thamnoon Rasmeemasmuang

2014-03-01

Full Text Available On occasions, sandbag revetments are temporarily applied to armour sandy beaches from erosion. Nevertheless, an empirical formula to determine the wave run -up height on sandbag slopes has not been available heretofore. In this study a wave run-up formula which considers the roughness of slope surfaces is proposed for the case of sandbag slopes. A series of laboratory experiments on the wave run -up on smooth slopes and sandbag slopes were conducted in a regular-wave flume, leading to the finding of empirical parameters for the formula. The proposed empirical formula is applicable to wave steepness ranging from 0.01 to 0.14 and to the thickness of placed sandbags relative to the wave height ranging from 0.17 to 3.0. The study shows that the wave run-up height computed by the formula for the sandbag slopes is 26-40% lower than that computed by the formula for the smooth slopes.

Residual-driven online generalized multiscale finite element methods

KAUST Repository

Chung, Eric T.

2015-09-08

The construction of local reduced-order models via multiscale basis functions has been an area of active research. In this paper, we propose online multiscale basis functions which are constructed using the offline space and the current residual. Online multiscale basis functions are constructed adaptively in some selected regions based on our error indicators. We derive an error estimator which shows that one needs to have an offline space with certain properties to guarantee that additional online multiscale basis function will decrease the error. This error decrease is independent of physical parameters, such as the contrast and multiple scales in the problem. The offline spaces are constructed using Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Methods (GMsFEM). We show that if one chooses a sufficient number of offline basis functions, one can guarantee that additional online multiscale basis functions will reduce the error independent of contrast. We note that the construction of online basis functions is motivated by the fact that the offline space construction does not take into account distant effects. Using the residual information, we can incorporate the distant information provided the offline approximation satisfies certain properties. In the paper, theoretical and numerical results are presented. Our numerical results show that if the offline space is sufficiently large (in terms of the dimension) such that the coarse space contains all multiscale spectral basis functions that correspond to small eigenvalues, then the error reduction by adding online multiscale basis function is independent of the contrast. We discuss various ways computing online multiscale basis functions which include a use of small dimensional offline spaces.

Effect of cement injection on sandy soil slope stability, case study: slope in Petang district, Badung regency

Science.gov (United States)

Arya, I. W.; Wiraga, I. W.; GAG Suryanegara, I.

2018-01-01

Slope is a part of soil topography formed due to elevation difference from two soil surface. Landslides is frequently occur in natural slope, it is because shear force is greater than shear strength in the soil. There are some factor that influence slope stability such as: rain dissipation, vibration from earthquake, construction and crack in the soil. Slope instability can cause risk in human activity or even threaten human lives. Every years in rainy season, landslides always occur in Indonesia. In 2016, there was some landslide occurred in Bali. One of the most damaging is landslide in Petang district, Badung regency. This landslide caused main road closed entirely. In order to overcome and prevent landslide, a lot of method have been practiced and still looking for more sophisticated method for forecasting slope stability. One of the method to strengthen soil stability is filling the soil pores with some certain material. Cement is one of the material that can be used to fill the soil pores because when it is in liquid form, it can infiltrate into soil pores and fill the gap between soil particles. And after it dry, it can formed a bond with soil particle so that soil become stronger and the slope as well. In this study, it will use experimental method, slope model in laboratory to simulate a real slope behavior in the field. The first model is the slope without any addition of cement. This model will be become a benchmark for the other models. The second model is a slope with improved soil that injects the slope with cement. Injection of cement is done with varying interval distance of injection point is 5 cm and 10 cm. Each slope model will be given a load until the slope collapses. The slope model will also be analyzed with slope stability program. The test results on the improved slope models will be compared with unimproved slope. In the initial test will consist of 3 model. First model is soil without improvement or cement injection, second model is soil

Modeling astronomical adaptive optics performance with temporally filtered Wiener reconstruction of slope data

Science.gov (United States)

Correia, Carlos M.; Bond, Charlotte Z.; Sauvage, Jean-François; Fusco, Thierry; Conan, Rodolphe; Wizinowich, Peter L.

2017-10-01

We build on a long-standing tradition in astronomical adaptive optics (AO) of specifying performance metrics and error budgets using linear systems modeling in the spatial-frequency domain. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive tool for the calculation of error budgets in terms of residual temporally filtered phase power spectral densities and variances. In addition, the fast simulation of AO-corrected point spread functions (PSFs) provided by this method can be used as inputs for simulations of science observations with next-generation instruments and telescopes, in particular to predict post-coronagraphic contrast improvements for planet finder systems. We extend the previous results and propose the synthesis of a distributed Kalman filter to mitigate both aniso-servo-lag and aliasing errors whilst minimizing the overall residual variance. We discuss applications to (i) analytic AO-corrected PSF modeling in the spatial-frequency domain, (ii) post-coronagraphic contrast enhancement, (iii) filter optimization for real-time wavefront reconstruction, and (iv) PSF reconstruction from system telemetry. Under perfect knowledge of wind velocities, we show that $\\sim$60 nm rms error reduction can be achieved with the distributed Kalman filter embodying anti- aliasing reconstructors on 10 m class high-order AO systems, leading to contrast improvement factors of up to three orders of magnitude at few ${\\lambda}/D$ separations ($\\sim1-5{\\lambda}/D$) for a 0 magnitude star and reaching close to one order of magnitude for a 12 magnitude star.

Unrealized potential and residual consequences of electronic prescribing on pharmacy workflow in the outpatient pharmacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Nanji, Karen C; Rothschild, Jeffrey M; Boehne, Jennifer J; Keohane, Carol A; Ash, Joan S; Poon, Eric G

2014-01-01

Electronic prescribing systems have often been promoted as a tool for reducing medication errors and adverse drug events. Recent evidence has revealed that adoption of electronic prescribing systems can lead to unintended consequences such as the introduction of new errors. The purpose of this study is to identify and characterize the unrealized potential and residual consequences of electronic prescribing on pharmacy workflow in an outpatient pharmacy. A multidisciplinary team conducted direct observations of workflow in an independent pharmacy and semi-structured interviews with pharmacy staff members about their perceptions of the unrealized potential and residual consequences of electronic prescribing systems. We used qualitative methods to iteratively analyze text data using a grounded theory approach, and derive a list of major themes and subthemes related to the unrealized potential and residual consequences of electronic prescribing. We identified the following five themes: Communication, workflow disruption, cost, technology, and opportunity for new errors. These contained 26 unique subthemes representing different facets of our observations and the pharmacy staff's perceptions of the unrealized potential and residual consequences of electronic prescribing. We offer targeted solutions to improve electronic prescribing systems by addressing the unrealized potential and residual consequences that we identified. These recommendations may be applied not only to improve staff perceptions of electronic prescribing systems but also to improve the design and/or selection of these systems in order to optimize communication and workflow within pharmacies while minimizing both cost and the potential for the introduction of new errors.

Combined slope ratio analysis and linear-subtraction: An extension of the Pearce ratio method

Science.gov (United States)

De Waal, Sybrand A.

1996-07-01

A new technique, called combined slope ratio analysis, has been developed by extending the Pearce element ratio or conserved-denominator method (Pearce, 1968) to its logical conclusions. If two stoichiometric substances are mixed and certain chemical components are uniquely contained in either one of the two mixing substances, then by treating these unique components as conserved, the composition of the substance not containing the relevant component can be accurately calculated within the limits allowed by analytical and geological error. The calculated composition can then be subjected to rigorous statistical testing using the linear-subtraction method recently advanced by Woronow (1994). Application of combined slope ratio analysis to the rocks of the Uwekahuna Laccolith, Hawaii, USA, and the lavas of the 1959-summit eruption of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, USA, yields results that are consistent with field observations.

Error estimation and global fitting in transverse-relaxation dispersion experiments to determine chemical-exchange parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishima, Rieko; Torchia, Dennis A.

2005-01-01

Off-resonance effects can introduce significant systematic errors in R 2 measurements in constant-time Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) transverse relaxation dispersion experiments. For an off-resonance chemical shift of 500 Hz, 15 N relaxation dispersion profiles obtained from experiment and computer simulation indicated a systematic error of ca. 3%. This error is three- to five-fold larger than the random error in R 2 caused by noise. Good estimates of total R 2 uncertainty are critical in order to obtain accurate estimates in optimized chemical exchange parameters and their uncertainties derived from χ 2 minimization of a target function. Here, we present a simple empirical approach that provides a good estimate of the total error (systematic + random) in 15 N R 2 values measured for the HIV protease. The advantage of this empirical error estimate is that it is applicable even when some of the factors that contribute to the off-resonance error are not known. These errors are incorporated into a χ 2 minimization protocol, in which the Carver-Richards equation is used fit the observed R 2 dispersion profiles, that yields optimized chemical exchange parameters and their confidence limits. Optimized parameters are also derived, using the same protein sample and data-fitting protocol, from 1 H R 2 measurements in which systematic errors are negligible. Although 1 H and 15 N relaxation profiles of individual residues were well fit, the optimized exchange parameters had large uncertainties (confidence limits). In contrast, when a single pair of exchange parameters (the exchange lifetime, τ ex , and the fractional population, p a ), were constrained to globally fit all R 2 profiles for residues in the dimer interface of the protein, confidence limits were less than 8% for all optimized exchange parameters. In addition, F-tests showed that quality of the fits obtained using τ ex , p a as global parameters were not improved when these parameters were free to fit the R

Subroutine library for error estimation of matrix computation (Ver. 1.0)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichihara, Kiyoshi; Shizawa, Yoshihisa; Kishida, Norio

1999-03-01

'Subroutine Library for Error Estimation of Matrix Computation' is a subroutine library which aids the users in obtaining the error ranges of the linear system's solutions or the Hermitian matrices' eigenvalues. This library contains routines for both sequential computers and parallel computers. The subroutines for linear system error estimation calculate norms of residual vectors, matrices's condition numbers, error bounds of solutions and so on. The subroutines for error estimation of Hermitian matrix eigenvalues derive the error ranges of the eigenvalues according to the Korn-Kato's formula. The test matrix generators supply the matrices appeared in the mathematical research, the ones randomly generated and the ones appeared in the application programs. This user's manual contains a brief mathematical background of error analysis on linear algebra and usage of the subroutines. (author)

The utility of fractional wash-out slope values following intravenous 133Xe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durak, H.; Bekdik, C.F.; Ulutuncel, N.

1991-01-01

The regional clearance of 133 Xe from the lungs after intravenous administration as well as following rebreathing was assessed in 7 normals and 18 patients with various lung disorders. Each lung was divided into three zones as upper, middle and lower. Regional ventilation (V) and regional perfusion (P) were determined using the area under the first peak at the beginning of the ventilation study and the area under the peak after intravenous administration, respectively. Slopes were calculated using the first exponential of the wash-out curve. Absolute slope values of the wash-out curves after perfusion (Pwo) and ventilation (Vwo) were expressed as a percentage of the total for each lung. Correlation coefficients between V and Vwo, V and Pwo, P and Pwo were .695, .584 and .882 in normals and .610, .461 and .685 in patients, respectively. It is concluded that Pwo is influenced by both perfusion and ventilation; it may reflect the fractional contribution to the gas exchange and can be used in the prediction of residual lung function after lung resection. (orig.) [de

Box-counting dimension revisited: presenting an efficient method of minimising quantisation error and an assessment of the self-similarity of structural root systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin eBouda

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Fractal dimension (FD, estimated by box-counting, is a metric used to characterise plant anatomical complexity or space-filling characteristic for a variety of purposes. The vast majority of published studies fail to evaluate the assumption of statistical self-similarity, which underpins the validity of the procedure. The box-counting procedure is also subject to error arising from arbitrary grid placement, known as quantisation error (QE, which is strictly positive and varies as a function of scale, making it problematic for the procedure's slope estimation step. Previous studies either ignore QE or employ inefficient brute-force grid translations to reduce it. The goals of this study were to characterise the effect of QE due to translation and rotation on FD estimates, to provide an efficient method of reducing QE, and to evaluate the assumption of statistical self-similarity of coarse root datasets typical of those used in recent trait studies. Coarse root systems of 36 shrubs were digitised in 3D and subjected to box-counts. A pattern search algorithm was used to minimise QE by optimising grid placement and its efficiency was compared to the brute force method. The degree of statistical self-similarity was evaluated using linear regression residuals and local slope estimates.QE due to both grid position and orientation was a significant source of error in FD estimates, but pattern search provided an efficient means of minimising it. Pattern search had higher initial computational cost but converged on lower error values more efficiently than the commonly employed brute force method. Our representations of coarse root system digitisations did not exhibit details over a sufficient range of scales to be considered statistically self-similar and informatively approximated as fractals, suggesting a lack of sufficient ramification of the coarse root systems for reiteration to be thought of as a dominant force in their development. FD estimates did

Geostatistical methods applied to field model residuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maule, Fox; Mosegaard, K.; Olsen, Nils

consists of measurement errors and unmodelled signal), and is typically assumed to be uncorrelated and Gaussian distributed. We have applied geostatistical methods to analyse the residuals of the Oersted(09d/04) field model [http://www.dsri.dk/Oersted/Field_models/IGRF_2005_candidates/], which is based...

Satellite Magnetic Residuals Investigated With Geostatistical Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fox Maule, Chaterine; Mosegaard, Klaus; Olsen, Nils

2005-01-01

(which consists of measurement errors and unmodeled signal), and is typically assumed to be uncorrelated and Gaussian distributed. We have applied geostatistical methods to analyze the residuals of the Oersted (09d/04) field model (www.dsri.dk/Oersted/Field models/IGRF 2005 candidates/), which is based...

Slope-scale dynamic states of rockfalls

Science.gov (United States)

Agliardi, F.; Crosta, G. B.

2009-04-01

Rockfalls are common earth surface phenomena characterised by complex dynamics at the slope scale, depending on local block kinematics and slope geometry. We investigated the nature of this slope-scale dynamics by parametric 3D numerical modelling of rockfalls over synthetic slopes with different inclination, roughness and spatial resolution. Simulations were performed through an original code specifically designed for rockfall modeling, incorporating kinematic and hybrid algorithms with different damping functions available to model local energy loss by impact and pure rolling. Modelling results in terms of average velocity profiles suggest that three dynamic regimes (i.e. decelerating, steady-state and accelerating), previously recognized in the literature through laboratory experiments on granular flows, can set up at the slope scale depending on slope average inclination and roughness. Sharp changes in rock fall kinematics, including motion type and lateral dispersion of trajectories, are associated to the transition among different regimes. Associated threshold conditions, portrayed in "phase diagrams" as slope-roughness critical lines, were analysed depending on block size, impact/rebound angles, velocity and energy, and model spatial resolution. Motion in regime B (i.e. steady state) is governed by a slope-scale "viscous friction" with average velocity linearly related to the sine of slope inclination. This suggest an analogy between rockfall motion in regime B and newtonian flow, whereas in regime C (i.e. accelerating) an analogy with a dilatant flow was observed. Thus, although local behavior of single falling blocks is well described by rigid body dynamics, the slope scale dynamics of rockfalls seem to statistically approach that of granular media. Possible outcomes of these findings include a discussion of the transition from rockfall to granular flow, the evaluation of the reliability of predictive models, and the implementation of criteria for a

EFFECTS OF SLOPE SHAPES ON SOIL EROSION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hüseyin ŞENSOY, Şahin PALTA

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Water is one of the most important erosive forces. A great number of factors also play a role in erosion process and slope characteristic is also one of them. The steepness and length of the slope are important factors for runoff and soil erosion. Another slope factor that has an effect on erosion is the shape of the slope. Generally, different erosion and runoff characteristics exist in different slopes which can be classified as uniform, concave, convex and complex shape. In this study, the effects of slope shape on erosion are stated and emphasized by taking similar researches into consideration.

Rock slopes and reservoirs - lessons learned

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moore, D.P.

1999-01-01

Lessons learned about slope stability in the course of four decades of monitoring, and in some cases stabilizing, slopes along British Columbia's hydroelectric reservoirs are discussed. The lessons are illustrated by short case histories of some of the more important slopes such as Little Chief Slide, Dutchman's Ridge, Downie Slide, Checkerboard Creek and Wahleach. Information derived from the monitoring and other investigations are compared with early interpretations of geology and slope performance. The comparison serves as an indicator of progress in slope stability determination and as a measure of the value of accumulated experience in terms of the potential consequences to safety and cost savings over the long life-span of hydroelectric projects.14 refs., 2 tabs., 15 figs

Centrifuge model test of rock slope failure caused by seismic excitation. Plane failure of dip slope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishimaru, Makoto; Kawai, Tadashi

2008-01-01

Recently, it is necessary to assess quantitatively seismic safety of critical facilities against the earthquake induced rock slope failure from the viewpoint of seismic PSA. Under these circumstances, it is essential to evaluate more accurately the possibilities of rock slope failure and the potential failure boundary, which are triggered by earthquake ground motions. The purpose of this study is to analyze dynamic failure characteristics of rock slopes by centrifuge model tests for verification and improvement of the analytical methods. We conducted a centrifuge model test using a dip slope model with discontinuities limitated by Teflon sheets. The centrifugal acceleration was 50G, and the acceleration amplitude of input sin waves increased gradually at every step. The test results were compared with safety factors of the stability analysis based on the limit equilibrium concept. Resultant conclusions are mainly as follows: (1) The slope model collapsed when it was excited by the sine wave of 400gal, which was converted to real field scale, (2) Artificial discontinuities were considerably concerned in the collapse, and the type of collapse was plane failure, (3) From response acceleration records observed at the slope model, we can say that tension cracks were generated near the top of the slope model during excitation, and that might be cause of the collapse, (4) By considering generation of the tension cracks in the stability analysis, correspondence of the analytical results and the experimental results improved. From the obtained results, we need to consider progressive failure in evaluating earthquake induced rock slope failure. (author)

A residual-based a posteriori error estimator for single-phase Darcy flow in fractured porous media

KAUST Repository

Chen, Huangxin; Sun, Shuyu

2016-01-01

for the problem with non-intersecting fractures. The reliability and efficiency of the a posteriori error estimator are established for the error measured in an energy norm. Numerical results verifying the robustness of the proposed a posteriori error estimator

Fusing metabolomics data sets with heterogeneous measurement errors

Science.gov (United States)

Waaijenborg, Sandra; Korobko, Oksana; Willems van Dijk, Ko; Lips, Mirjam; Hankemeier, Thomas; Wilderjans, Tom F.; Smilde, Age K.

2018-01-01

Combining different metabolomics platforms can contribute significantly to the discovery of complementary processes expressed under different conditions. However, analysing the fused data might be hampered by the difference in their quality. In metabolomics data, one often observes that measurement errors increase with increasing measurement level and that different platforms have different measurement error variance. In this paper we compare three different approaches to correct for the measurement error heterogeneity, by transformation of the raw data, by weighted filtering before modelling and by a modelling approach using a weighted sum of residuals. For an illustration of these different approaches we analyse data from healthy obese and diabetic obese individuals, obtained from two metabolomics platforms. Concluding, the filtering and modelling approaches that both estimate a model of the measurement error did not outperform the data transformation approaches for this application. This is probably due to the limited difference in measurement error and the fact that estimation of measurement error models is unstable due to the small number of repeats available. A transformation of the data improves the classification of the two groups. PMID:29698490

Expected Performance of the Upcoming Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission Measurements of River Height, Width, and Slope

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, R.; Frasson, R. P. M.; Williams, B. A.; Rodriguez, E.; Pavelsky, T.; Altenau, E. H.; Durand, M. T.

2017-12-01

The upcoming Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will measure river widths and water surface elevations of rivers wider than 100 m. In preparation for the SWOT mission, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory built the SWOT hydrology simulator with the intent of generating synthetic SWOT overpasses over rivers with realistic error characteristics. These synthetic overpasses can be used to guide the design of processing methods and data products, as well as develop data assimilation techniques that will incorporate the future SWOT data into hydraulic and hydrologic models as soon as the satellite becomes operational. SWOT simulator uses as inputs water depth, river bathymetry, and the surrounding terrain digital elevation model to create simulated interferograms of the study area. Next, the simulator emulates the anticipated processing of SWOT data by attempting to geolocate and classify the radar returns. The resulting cloud of points include information on water surface elevation, pixel area, and surface classification (land vs water). Finally, we process the pixel clouds by grouping pixels into equally spaced nodes located at the river centerline. This study applies the SWOT simulator to six different rivers: Sacramento River, Tanana River, Saint Lawrence River, Platte River, Po River, and Amazon River. This collection of rivers covers a range of size, slope, and planform complexity with the intent of evaluating the impact of river width, slope, planform complexity, and surrounding topography on the anticipated SWOT height, width, and slope error characteristics.

Tiltmeter Indicates Sense of Slope

Science.gov (United States)

Lonborg, J. O.

1985-01-01

Tiltmeter indicates sense and magnitude of slope used in locations where incline not visible to operator. Use of direct rather than alternating current greatly simplifies design of instrument capable of indicating sense of slope.

Influence of ion irradiation on internal residual stress in DLC films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karaseov, Platon A., E-mail: platon.karaseov@rphf.spbstu.r [St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, Polytechnicheskaya St. 29, 195251 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Podsvirov, Oleg A.; Karabeshkin, Konstantin V. [St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, Polytechnicheskaya St. 29, 195251 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Vinogradov, Andrei Ya. [Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute RAS, Polytechnicheskaya 26, 195252 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Azarov, Alexander Yu. [St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, Polytechnicheskaya St. 29, 195251 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Karasev, Nikita N. [State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, Sablinskaya Str. 14, 197101 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Titov, Andrei I.; Smirnov, Alexander S. [St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, Polytechnicheskaya St. 29, 195251 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)

2010-10-01

The dependence of internal residual stress in thin diamond-like carbon films grown on Si substrate by PECVD technique on most important growth parameters, namely RF-power, DC bias voltage and substrate temperature, is described. Results show that compressive stress reaches the highest value of 2.7 GPa at low RF-power and DC bias. Increase of substrate temperature from 250 to 350 {sup o}C leads to nonlinear increase of stress value. Inhomogeneity of residual stress along the film surface disappears when film is deposited at temperatures above 275 {sup o}C. Post-growth film irradiation by P{sup +} and In{sup +} ions cause decrease of compressive stress followed by its inversion to tensile. For all ion energy combinations used residual stress changes linearly with normalized fluence up to 0.2 DPA with slope (8.7 {+-} 1.3) GPa/DPA.

Effect of residual stress on the integrity of a branch connection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Law, M.; Kirstein, O.; Luzin, V.

2012-01-01

A new connection to an existing gas pipeline was made by hot-tapping, welding directly onto a pressurised pipeline. The welds were not post-weld heat treated, causing significant residual stresses. The critical weld had residual stresses determined by neutron diffraction using ANSTO's residual stress diffractometer, Kowari. The maximum measured residual stress (290 MPa) was 60% of the yield strength. The magnitudes of errors from a number of sources were estimated. An integrity assessment of the welded branch connection was performed with the measured residual stress values and with residual stress distributions from the BS 7910 and API 579 analysis codes. Analysis using estimates of residual stress from API 579 overestimated the critical crack size. Highlights: ► Residual stresses were measured by neutron diffraction in a thick section, non post-weld heat treated ferritic weld. ► There is little published data on these welds. ► The work compares the measured residual stresses with code-based residual stress distributions.

Slope mass rating and kinematic analysis of slopes along the national highway-58 near Jonk, Rishikesh, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tariq Siddique

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The road network in the Himalayan terrain, connecting remote areas either in the valleys or on the hill slopes, plays a pivotal role in socio-economic development of India. The planning, development and even maintenance of road and rail networks in such precarious terrains are always a challenging task because of complexities posed by topography, geological structures, varied lithology and neotectonics. Increasing population and construction of roads have led to destabilisation of slopes, thus leading to mass wasting and movement, further aggravation due to recent events of cloud bursts and unprecedented flash floods. Vulnerability analysis of slopes is an important component for the “Landslide Hazard Assessment” and “Slope Mass Characterisation” guide planners to predict and choose suitable ways for construction of roads and other engineering structures. The problem of landslides along the national highway-58 (NH-58 from Rishikesh to Devprayag is a common scene. The slopes along the NH-58 between Jonk and Rishikesh were investigated, which experienced very heavy traffic especially from March to August due to pilgrimage to Kedarnath shrine. On the basis of slope mass rating (SMR investigation, the area falls in stable class, and landslide susceptibility score (LSS values also indicate that the slopes under investigation fall in low to moderate vulnerability to landslide. More attentions should be paid to the slopes to achieve greater safe and economic benefits along the highway.

Implications of Self-Potential Distribution for Groundwater Flow System in a Nonvolcanic Mountain Slope

OpenAIRE

Goto, Tada-nori; Kondo, Kazuya; Ito, Rina; Esaki, Keisuke; Oouchi, Yasuo; Abe, Yutaka; Tsujimura, Maki

2012-01-01

Self-potential (SP) measurements were conducted at Mt. Tsukuba, Japan, which is a nonvolcanic mountain, to infer groundwater flow system in the mountain. Survey routes were set around the northern slope, and the reliability of observed SP anomaly was checked by using SP values along parallel survey routes; the error was almost within 10 mV. The FFT analysis of the spatial SP distribution allows us a separation of raw data into two components with shorter and longer wavelength. In the shorter ...

Residual sweeping errors in turbulent particle pair diffusion in a Lagrangian diffusion model.

Science.gov (United States)

Malik, Nadeem A

2017-01-01

Thomson, D. J. & Devenish, B. J. [J. Fluid Mech. 526, 277 (2005)] and others have suggested that sweeping effects make Lagrangian properties in Kinematic Simulations (KS), Fung et al [Fung J. C. H., Hunt J. C. R., Malik N. A. & Perkins R. J. J. Fluid Mech. 236, 281 (1992)], unreliable. However, such a conclusion can only be drawn under the assumption of locality. The major aim here is to quantify the sweeping errors in KS without assuming locality. Through a novel analysis based upon analysing pairs of particle trajectories in a frame of reference moving with the large energy containing scales of motion it is shown that the normalized integrated error [Formula: see text] in the turbulent pair diffusivity (K) due to the sweeping effect decreases with increasing pair separation (σl), such that [Formula: see text] as σl/η → ∞; and [Formula: see text] as σl/η → 0. η is the Kolmogorov turbulence microscale. There is an intermediate range of separations 1 < σl/η < ∞ in which the error [Formula: see text] remains negligible. Simulations using KS shows that in the swept frame of reference, this intermediate range is large covering almost the entire inertial subrange simulated, 1 < σl/η < 105, implying that the deviation from locality observed in KS cannot be atributed to sweeping errors. This is important for pair diffusion theory and modeling. PACS numbers: 47.27.E?, 47.27.Gs, 47.27.jv, 47.27.Ak, 47.27.tb, 47.27.eb, 47.11.-j.

A posteriori error estimates for finite volume approximations of elliptic equations on general surfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ju, Lili; Tian, Li; Wang, Desheng

2008-10-31

In this paper, we present a residual-based a posteriori error estimate for the finite volume discretization of steady convection– diffusion–reaction equations defined on surfaces in R3, which are often implicitly represented as level sets of smooth functions. Reliability and efficiency of the proposed a posteriori error estimator are rigorously proved. Numerical experiments are also conducted to verify the theoretical results and demonstrate the robustness of the error estimator.

Study on the response of unsaturated soil slope based on the effects of rainfall intensity and slope angle

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, Mohd Ashraf Mohamad; Hamzah, Nur Hasliza

2017-07-01

Rainfall has been considered as the major cause of the slope failure. The mechanism leading to slope failures included the infiltration process, surface runoff, volumetric water content and pore-water pressure of the soil. This paper describes a study in which simulated rainfall events were used with 2-dimensional soil column to study the response of unsaturated soil behavior based on different slope angle. The 2-dimensional soil column is used in order to demonstrate the mechanism of the slope failure. These unsaturated soil were tested with four different slope (15°, 25°, 35° and 45°) and subjected to three different rainfall intensities (maximum, mean and minimum). The following key results were obtained: (1) the stability of unsaturated soil decrease as the rainwater infiltrates into the soil. Soil that initially in unsaturated state will start to reach saturated state when rainwater seeps into the soil. Infiltration of rainwater will reduce the matric suction in the soil. Matric suction acts in controlling soil shear strength. Reduction in matric suction affects the decrease in effective normal stress, which in turn diminishes the available shear strength to a point where equilibrium can no longer be sustained in the slope. (2) The infiltration rate of rainwater decreases while surface runoff increase when the soil nearly achieve saturated state. These situations cause the soil erosion and lead to slope failure. (3) The steepness of the soil is not a major factor but also contribute to slope failures. For steep slopes, rainwater that fall on the soil surface will become surface runoff within a short time compare to the water that infiltrate into the soil. While for gentle slopes, water that becomes surface runoff will move slowly and these increase the water that infiltrate into the soil.

The role of Soil Water Retention Curve in slope stability analysis in unsaturated and heterogeneous soils.

Science.gov (United States)

Antinoro, Chiara; Arnone, Elisa; Noto, Leonardo V.

2015-04-01

The mechanisms of rainwater infiltration causing slope instability had been analyzed and reviewed in many scientific works. Rainwater infiltration into unsaturated soil increases the degree of saturation, hence affecting the shear strength properties and thus the probability of slope failure. It has been widely proved that the shear strength properties change with the soil water suction in unsaturated soils; therefore, the accuracy to predict the relationship between soil water content and soil water suction, parameterized by the soil-water characteristic curve, has significant effects on the slope stability analysis. The aim of this study is to investigate how the characterization of SWRC of differently structured unsaturated soils affects the slope stability on a simple infinite slope. In particular, the unimodal and bimodal distributions of the soil pore size were compared. Samples of 40 soils, highly different in terms of structure and texture, were collected and used to calibrate two bimodal SWRCs, i.e. Ross and Smettem (1993) and Dexter et al., (2008). The traditional unimodal van Genuchten (1980) model was also applied for comparison. Slope stability analysis was conducted in terms of Factor of Safety (FS) by applying the infinite slope model for unsaturated soils. In the used formulation, the contribution of the suction effect is tuned by a parameter 'chi' in a rate proportional to the saturation conditions. Different parameterizations of this term were also compared and analyzed. Results indicated that all three SWRC models showed good overall performance in fitting the sperimental SWRCs. Both the RS and DE models described adequately the water retention data for soils with a bimodal behavior confirmed from the analysis of pore size distribution, but the best performance was obtained by DE model confirmed. In terms of FS, the tree models showed very similar results as soil moisture approached to the saturated condition; however, within the residual zone

A modified risk evaluation method of slope failure in a heavy rain. For application to slopes in widespread area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suenaga, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Shiro; Kobayakawa, Hiroaki

2015-01-01

A risk evaluation method of slope failure has developed to combine gas-liquid two phase flow analysis as a rainfall infiltration analysis and elastic-plastic finite element analysis as a slope stability analysis and has applied to a slope field. This method, however, had a difficulty to apply to many slopes since it needed many parameters to calculate the risk of the slope failure. The method was simplified to lessen input parameters which included an inclination and length of a slope, a depth of bedrock and a rainfall pattern assuming that hydraulic properties and mechanical properties were similar for the same geological unit. The method was also modified to represent a water collection structure, a surface runoff, an existence of a forest road and a water level variation of a downward river / pond which could affect infiltration phenomena. Results of the simplification and the modification made it possible to enhance a prediction precision of the method and create a hazard map of slopes in widespread area. (author)

Phase Error Modeling and Its Impact on Precise Orbit Determination of GRACE Satellites

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Jia Tu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Limiting factors for the precise orbit determination (POD of low-earth orbit (LEO satellite using dual-frequency GPS are nowadays mainly encountered with the in-flight phase error modeling. The phase error is modeled as a systematic and a random component each depending on the direction of GPS signal reception. The systematic part and standard deviation of random part in phase error model are, respectively, estimated by bin-wise mean and standard deviation values of phase postfit residuals computed by orbit determination. By removing the systematic component and adjusting the weight of phase observation data according to standard deviation of random component, the orbit can be further improved by POD approach. The GRACE data of 1–31 January 2006 are processed, and three types of orbit solutions, POD without phase error model correction, POD with mean value correction of phase error model, and POD with phase error model correction, are obtained. The three-dimensional (3D orbit improvements derived from phase error model correction are 0.0153 m for GRACE A and 0.0131 m for GRACE B, and the 3D influences arisen from random part of phase error model are 0.0068 m and 0.0075 m for GRACE A and GRACE B, respectively. Thus the random part of phase error model cannot be neglected for POD. It is also demonstrated by phase postfit residual analysis, orbit comparison with JPL precise science orbit, and orbit validation with KBR data that the results derived from POD with phase error model correction are better than another two types of orbit solutions generated in this paper.

An adjoint-based scheme for eigenvalue error improvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merton, S.R.; Smedley-Stevenson, R.P.; Pain, C.C.; El-Sheikh, A.H.; Buchan, A.G.

2011-01-01

A scheme for improving the accuracy and reducing the error in eigenvalue calculations is presented. Using a rst order Taylor series expansion of both the eigenvalue solution and the residual of the governing equation, an approximation to the error in the eigenvalue is derived. This is done using a convolution of the equation residual and adjoint solution, which is calculated in-line with the primal solution. A defect correction on the solution is then performed in which the approximation to the error is used to apply a correction to the eigenvalue. The method is shown to dramatically improve convergence of the eigenvalue. The equation for the eigenvalue is shown to simplify when certain normalizations are applied to the eigenvector. Two such normalizations are considered; the rst of these is a fission-source type of normalisation and the second is an eigenvector normalisation. Results are demonstrated on a number of demanding elliptic problems using continuous Galerkin weighted nite elements. Moreover, the correction scheme may also be applied to hyperbolic problems and arbitrary discretization. This is not limited to spatial corrections and may be used throughout the phase space of the discrete equation. The applied correction not only improves fidelity of the calculation, it allows assessment of the reliability of numerical schemes to be made and could be used to guide mesh adaption algorithms or to automate mesh generation schemes. (author)

Dosimetric Effect of Intrafraction Motion and Residual Setup Error for Hypofractionated Prostate Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy With Online Cone Beam Computed Tomography Image Guidance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adamson, Justus; Wu Qiuwen; Yan Di

2011-01-01

Purpose: To quantify the dosimetric effect and margins required to account for prostate intrafractional translation and residual setup error in a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT)-guided hypofractionated radiotherapy protocol. Methods and Materials: Prostate position after online correction was measured during dose delivery using simultaneous kV fluoroscopy and posttreatment CBCT in 572 fractions to 30 patients. We reconstructed the dose distribution to the clinical tumor volume (CTV) using a convolution of the static dose with a probability density function (PDF) based on the kV fluoroscopy, and we calculated the minimum dose received by 99% of the CTV (D 99 ). We compared reconstructed doses when the convolution was performed per beam, per patient, and when the PDF was created using posttreatment CBCT. We determined the minimum axis-specific margins to limit CTV D 99 reduction to 1%. Results: For 3-mm margins, D 99 reduction was ≤5% for 29/30 patients. Using post-CBCT rather than localizations at treatment delivery exaggerated dosimetric effects by ∼47%, while there was no such bias between the dose convolved with a beam-specific and patient-specific PDF. After eight fractions, final cumulative D 99 could be predicted with a root mean square error of <1%. For 90% of patients, the required margins were ≤2, 4, and 3 mm, with 70%, 40%, and 33% of patients requiring no right-left (RL), anteroposterior (AP), and superoinferior margins, respectively. Conclusions: For protocols with CBCT guidance, RL, AP, and SI margins of 2, 4, and 3 mm are sufficient to account for translational errors; however, the large variation in patient-specific margins suggests that adaptive management may be beneficial.

Dosimetric effect of intrafraction motion and residual setup error for hypofractionated prostate intensity-modulated radiotherapy with online cone beam computed tomography image guidance.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Adamson, Justus

2012-02-01

PURPOSE: To quantify the dosimetric effect and margins required to account for prostate intrafractional translation and residual setup error in a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT)-guided hypofractionated radiotherapy protocol. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Prostate position after online correction was measured during dose delivery using simultaneous kV fluoroscopy and posttreatment CBCT in 572 fractions to 30 patients. We reconstructed the dose distribution to the clinical tumor volume (CTV) using a convolution of the static dose with a probability density function (PDF) based on the kV fluoroscopy, and we calculated the minimum dose received by 99% of the CTV (D(99)). We compared reconstructed doses when the convolution was performed per beam, per patient, and when the PDF was created using posttreatment CBCT. We determined the minimum axis-specific margins to limit CTV D(99) reduction to 1%. RESULTS: For 3-mm margins, D(99) reduction was <\\/=5% for 29\\/30 patients. Using post-CBCT rather than localizations at treatment delivery exaggerated dosimetric effects by ~47%, while there was no such bias between the dose convolved with a beam-specific and patient-specific PDF. After eight fractions, final cumulative D(99) could be predicted with a root mean square error of <1%. For 90% of patients, the required margins were <\\/=2, 4, and 3 mm, with 70%, 40%, and 33% of patients requiring no right-left (RL), anteroposterior (AP), and superoinferior margins, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: For protocols with CBCT guidance, RL, AP, and SI margins of 2, 4, and 3 mm are sufficient to account for translational errors; however, the large variation in patient-specific margins suggests that adaptive management may be beneficial.

Identification of residue pairing in interacting β-strands from a predicted residue contact map.

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, Wenzhi; Wang, Tong; Zhang, Wenxuan; Gong, Haipeng

2018-04-19

Despite the rapid progress of protein residue contact prediction, predicted residue contact maps frequently contain many errors. However, information of residue pairing in β strands could be extracted from a noisy contact map, due to the presence of characteristic contact patterns in β-β interactions. This information may benefit the tertiary structure prediction of mainly β proteins. In this work, we propose a novel ridge-detection-based β-β contact predictor to identify residue pairing in β strands from any predicted residue contact map. Our algorithm RDb 2 C adopts ridge detection, a well-developed technique in computer image processing, to capture consecutive residue contacts, and then utilizes a novel multi-stage random forest framework to integrate the ridge information and additional features for prediction. Starting from the predicted contact map of CCMpred, RDb 2 C remarkably outperforms all state-of-the-art methods on two conventional test sets of β proteins (BetaSheet916 and BetaSheet1452), and achieves F1-scores of ~ 62% and ~ 76% at the residue level and strand level, respectively. Taking the prediction of the more advanced RaptorX-Contact as input, RDb 2 C achieves impressively higher performance, with F1-scores reaching ~ 76% and ~ 86% at the residue level and strand level, respectively. In a test of structural modeling using the top 1 L predicted contacts as constraints, for 61 mainly β proteins, the average TM-score achieves 0.442 when using the raw RaptorX-Contact prediction, but increases to 0.506 when using the improved prediction by RDb 2 C. Our method can significantly improve the prediction of β-β contacts from any predicted residue contact maps. Prediction results of our algorithm could be directly applied to effectively facilitate the practical structure prediction of mainly β proteins. All source data and codes are available at http://166.111.152.91/Downloads.html or the GitHub address of https://github.com/wzmao/RDb2C .

Hubungan Parameter Sifat Magnetik Dan Sifat Keteknikan Tanah Pada Tanah Residual Vulkanik

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mela Faridlah

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Penelitian mengenai karakteristik tanah residual vulkanik menggunakan metode magnetik dan metode geoteknik telah dilakukan pada lereng stabil dan lereng longsor yang berada di Desa Langensari Kecamatan Lembang Kabupaten Bandung Barat Provinsi Jawa Barat. Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk mengetahui gambaran karakteristik suseptibilitas magnetik dan parameter keteknikan tanah residual vulkanik. Karakteristik geoteknik ditentukan melalui uji fisik berupa uji bobot isi, berat isi tanah basah, berat isi tanah kering, kadar air, derajat kejenuhan dan porositas, uji batas atterberg serta uji ukuran butir tanah.. Karakteristik magnetik ditentukan melalui uji suseptibilitas magnetik menggunakan Bartington MS2B (Magnetic Suseptibility System sensor B dual frekuensi yaitu 470 Hz dan 4,7 kHz. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan peningkatan nilai-nilai χLF (suseptibilitas frekuensi rendah dan χFD% (suseptibilitas bergantung frekuensi kearah horizon bagian atas profil tanah residual. Peningkatan nilai-nilai χLF dan χFD% ke arah horizon bagian atas merupakan karakteristik dari suseptibilitas magnetik.Dari hasil penelitian geoteknik dan magnetik didapatkan hasil jenis tanah residual vulkanik tersebut merupakan tanah lempung dengan mineral dominan yaitu Ilmenit. Hubungan antara parameter magnetik dan keteknikan tanah yaitu beberapa parameter keteknikan yang mempengaruhi sifat kemagnetan diantaranya berat isi tanah basah dan kadar air. Research on volcanic residual soil characteristics using magnetic methods and geotechnic methods was carried out on a stable slope and landslide slope are located in Langensari Lembang west Bandung, West Java Province. This study are intended to describe the characteristics of the magnetic susceptibility and residual volcanic soil engineering parameters. Geotechnical characteristics were determined by physical properties tests such as bulk density test, wet density, dry density, water content, degree of saturation and porosity

Using residual stacking to mitigate site-specific errors in order to improve the quality of GNSS-based coordinate time series of CORS

Science.gov (United States)

Knöpfler, Andreas; Mayer, Michael; Heck, Bernhard

2014-05-01

Within the last decades, positioning using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems; e.g., GPS) has become a standard tool in many (geo-) sciences. The positioning methods Precise Point Positioning and differential point positioning based on carrier phase observations have been developed for a broad variety of applications with different demands for example on accuracy. In high precision applications, a lot of effort was invested to mitigate different error sources: the products for satellite orbits and satellite clocks were improved; the misbehaviour of satellite and receiver antennas compared to an ideal antenna is modelled by calibration values on absolute level, the modelling of the ionosphere and the troposphere is updated year by year. Therefore, within processing of data of CORS (continuously operating reference sites), equipped with geodetic hardware using a sophisticated strategy, the latest products and models nowadays enable positioning accuracies at low mm level. Despite the considerable improvements that have been achieved within GNSS data processing, a generally valid multipath model is still lacking. Therefore, site specific multipath still represents a major error source in precise GNSS positioning. Furthermore, the calibration information of receiving GNSS antennas, which is for instance derived by a robot or chamber calibration, is valid strictly speaking only for the location of the calibration. The calibrated antenna can show a slightly different behaviour at the CORS due to near field multipath effects. One very promising strategy to mitigate multipath effects as well as imperfectly calibrated receiver antennas is to stack observation residuals of several days, thereby, multipath-loaded observation residuals are analysed for example with respect to signal direction, to find and reduce systematic constituents. This presentation will give a short overview about existing stacking approaches. In addition, first results of the stacking approach

High slope waste dumps – a proven possibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor Svrkota

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper is an overview of dumping operations on High Slope Waste Dump at Veliki Krivelj open pit copper mine, RTB Bor, Serbia. The High Slope Waste Dump in Bor is the highest single slope waste dump in the world with the slope height of 405 m. The paper gives the basics and limitations of the designed dumping technology, the redesigned technology, gives an overview of the 13 year long operation and gathered experiences and addresses the main issues of dumping operations in high slope conditions as well as the present condition of the High Slope Waste Dump.

Peranan Konservatisme Akuntansi dan Faktor Risiko Makro dalam Model Laba Residual: Sebuah Studi di Bursa Efek Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andry Irwanto

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study examines the association of accounting conservatism, growth and macro-economic risk factors and valuation error of residual income model in Indonesian Stock Exchange. We use beta, book to market ratio, and size as proxies for macro-economic risk. Using sample of 186 companies taken from LQ-45 for the year of 2001 – 2005, we find that accounting conservatism and growth, have no significant influence toward residual income model valuation error. B/M has significant influence toward valuation error and has consistent sign as predicted by theory. Beta and Size has no significant influence toward valuation error. Overall, macro-economic risk factors can explain the valuation error better than accounting-based factors.Future research is expected to find accounting variables that can represent macro-economic risk and test their ability to explain valuation error. Also, future research need to confirm the relevance of accounting conservatism in stock valuation after implementation of IFRS in Indonesia.

The Residual Setup Errors of Different IGRT Alignment Procedures for Head and Neck IMRT and the Resulting Dosimetric Impact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graff, Pierre; Kirby, Neil; Weinberg, Vivian; Chen, Josephine; Yom, Sue S.; Lambert, Louise; Pouliot, Jean

2013-01-01

Purpose: To assess residual setup errors during head and neck radiation therapy and the resulting consequences for the delivered dose for various patient alignment procedures. Methods and Materials: Megavoltage cone beam computed tomography (MVCBCT) scans from 11 head and neck patients who underwent intensity modulated radiation therapy were used to assess setup errors. Each MVCBCT scan was registered to its reference planning kVCT, with seven different alignment procedures: automatic alignment and manual registration to 6 separate bony landmarks (sphenoid, left/right maxillary sinuses, mandible, cervical 1 [C1]-C2, and C7-thoracic 1 [T1] vertebrae). Shifts in the different alignments were compared with each other to determine whether there were any statistically significant differences. Then, the dose distribution was recalculated on 3 MVCBCT images per patient for every alignment procedure. The resulting dose-volume histograms for targets and organs at risk (OARs) were compared to those from the planning kVCTs. Results: The registration procedures produced statistically significant global differences in patient alignment and actual dose distribution, calling for a need for standardization of patient positioning. Vertically, the automatic, sphenoid, and maxillary sinuses alignments mainly generated posterior shifts and resulted in mean increases in maximal dose to OARs of >3% of the planned dose. The suggested choice of C1-C2 as a reference landmark appears valid, combining both OAR sparing and target coverage. Assuming this choice, relevant margins to apply around volumes of interest at the time of planning to take into account for the relative mobility of other regions are discussed. Conclusions: Use of different alignment procedures for treating head and neck patients produced variations in patient setup and dose distribution. With concern for standardizing practice, C1-C2 reference alignment with relevant margins around planning volumes seems to be a valid

Acidic Barren Slope Profiling using Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI) at Ayer Hitam area Johor, Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Azhar, A. T. S.; Hazreek, Z. A. M.; Aziman, M.; Haimi, D. S.; Hafiz, Z. M.

2016-04-01

Recently, non-destructive method such as the electrical resistivity technique has become increasingly popular in engineering, environmental, mining and archeological studies nowadays. This method was popular in subsurface profiling due to its ability to replicate the images of the subsurface indirectly. The soil slope found in Batu Pahat, specifically in Ayer Hitam, is known to be problematic due to its barren condition. This location is believed to contain futile soil due to its difficulty in supporting the growth of vegetations. In the past, acidic barren slope assessment using non-destructive method was rarely being used due to several reasons related to the equipment and knowledge constraints. Hence, this study performed an electrical resistivity imaging using ABEM Terrameter LS in order to investigate the acidic barren slope conditions. Field data acquisition was based on Schlumberger and Wenner arrays while RES2DINV software was used to analyze and generate a 2-D model of the problematic subsurface profile. Based on electrical resistivity results, it was found that the acidic barren slope studied consists of two main zones representing residual soil (electrical resistivity value = 10 - 600 Ωm) and shale (electrical resistivity value = 20 - 2000 Ωm). The results of resistivity value were correlated with the physical mapping and the in situ mackintosh probe test for verification purposes. It was found that the maximum depth of the mackintosh probe test was 1.8 m due to its ground penetration limitation. However, the results of the resistivity section managed to achieve greater depth up to 40 m. Hence, the correlation between electrical resistivity and mackintosh probe results can only be performed at certain depth of the acidic barren slope profile in contrast with the physical mapping which able to define the whole section of the barren soil slope structure. Finally, a good match of electrical resistivity results calibrated with mackintosh and physical

Arctic Submarine Slope Stability

Science.gov (United States)

Winkelmann, D.; Geissler, W.

2010-12-01

Submarine landsliding represents aside submarine earthquakes major natural hazard to coastal and sea-floor infrastructure as well as to coastal communities due to their ability to generate large-scale tsunamis with their socio-economic consequences. The investigation of submarine landslides, their conditions and trigger mechanisms, recurrence rates and potential impact remains an important task for the evaluation of risks in coastal management and offshore industrial activities. In the light of a changing globe with warming oceans and rising sea-level accompanied by increasing human population along coasts and enhanced near- and offshore activities, slope stability issues gain more importance than ever before. The Arctic exhibits the most rapid and drastic changes and is predicted to change even faster. Aside rising air temperatures, enhanced inflow of less cooled Atlantic water into the Arctic Ocean reduces sea-ice cover and warms the surroundings. Slope stability is challenged considering large areas of permafrost and hydrates. The Hinlopen/Yermak Megaslide (HYM) north of Svalbard is the first and so far only reported large-scale submarine landslide in the Arctic Ocean. The HYM exhibits the highest headwalls that have been found on siliciclastic margins. With more than 10.000 square kilometer areal extent and app. 2.400 cubic kilometer of involved sedimentary material, it is one of the largest exposed submarine slides worldwide. Geometry and age put this slide in a special position in discussing submarine slope stability on glaciated continental margins. The HYM occurred 30 ka ago, when the global sea-level dropped by app. 50 m within less than one millennium due to rapid onset of global glaciation. It probably caused a tsunami with circum-Arctic impact and wave heights exceeding 130 meters. The HYM affected the slope stability field in its neighbourhood by removal of support. Post-megaslide slope instability as expressed in creeping and smaller-scaled slides are

Rock slope instabilities in Norway: First systematic hazard and risk classification of 22 unstable rock slopes

Science.gov (United States)

Böhme, Martina; Hermanns, Reginald L.; Oppikofer, Thierry; Penna, Ivanna

2016-04-01

Unstable rock slopes that can cause large failures of the rock-avalanche type have been mapped in Norway for almost two decades. Four sites have earlier been characterized as high-risk objects based on expertise of few researchers. This resulted in installing continuous monitoring systems and set-up of an early-warning system for those four sites. Other unstable rock slopes have not been ranked related to their hazard or risk. There are ca. 300 other sites known of which 70 sites were installed for periodic deformation measurements using multiple techniques (Global Navigation Satellite Systems, extensometers, measurement bolts, and others). In 2012 a systematic hazard and risk classification system for unstable rock slopes was established in Norway and the mapping approach adapted to that in 2013. Now, the first 22 sites were classified for hazard, consequences and risk using this classification system. The selection of the first group of sites to be classified was based on an assumed high hazard or risk and importance given to the sites by Norwegian media and the public. Nine of the classified 22 unstable rock slopes are large sites that deform inhomogeneously or are strongly broken up in individual blocks. This suggests that different failure scenarios are possible that need to be analyzed individually. A total of 35 failure scenarios for those nine unstable rock slopes were considered. The hazard analyses were based on 9 geological parameters defined in the classification system. The classification system will be presented based on the Gamanjunni unstable rock slope. This slope has a well developed back scarp that exposes 150 m preceding displacement. The lateral limits of the unstable slope are clearly visible in the morphology and InSAR displacement data. There have been no single structures observed that allow sliding kinematically. The lower extend of the displacing rock mass is clearly defined in InSAR data and by a zone of higher rock fall activity. Yearly

Decomposition and correction overlapping peaks of LIBS using an error compensation method combined with curve fitting.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Bing; Huang, Min; Zhu, Qibing; Guo, Ya; Qin, Jianwei

2017-09-01

The laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique is an effective method to detect material composition by obtaining the plasma emission spectrum. The overlapping peaks in the spectrum are a fundamental problem in the qualitative and quantitative analysis of LIBS. Based on a curve fitting method, this paper studies an error compensation method to achieve the decomposition and correction of overlapping peaks. The vital step is that the fitting residual is fed back to the overlapping peaks and performs multiple curve fitting processes to obtain a lower residual result. For the quantitative experiments of Cu, the Cu-Fe overlapping peaks in the range of 321-327 nm obtained from the LIBS spectrum of five different concentrations of CuSO 4 ·5H 2 O solution were decomposed and corrected using curve fitting and error compensation methods. Compared with the curve fitting method, the error compensation reduced the fitting residual about 18.12-32.64% and improved the correlation about 0.86-1.82%. Then, the calibration curve between the intensity and concentration of the Cu was established. It can be seen that the error compensation method exhibits a higher linear correlation between the intensity and concentration of Cu, which can be applied to the decomposition and correction of overlapping peaks in the LIBS spectrum.

The Hydromechanics of Vegetation for Slope Stabilization

Science.gov (United States)

Mulyono, A.; Subardja, A.; Ekasari, I.; Lailati, M.; Sudirja, R.; Ningrum, W.

2018-02-01

Vegetation is one of the alternative technologies in the prevention of shallow landslide prevention that occurs mostly during the rainy season. The application of plant for slope stabilization is known as bioengineering. Knowledge of the vegetative contribution that can be considered in bioengineering was the hydrological and mechanical aspects (hydromechanical). Hydrological effect of the plant on slope stability is to reduce soil water content through transpiration, interception, and evapotranspiration. The mechanical impact of vegetation on slope stability is to stabilize the slope with mechanical reinforcement of soils through roots. Vegetation water consumption varies depending on the age and density, rainfall factors and soil types. Vegetation with high ability to absorb water from the soil and release into the atmosphere through a transpiration process will reduce the pore water stress and increase slope stability, and vegetation with deep root anchoring and strong root binding was potentially more significant to maintain the stability of the slope.

Interfractional and intrafractional errors assessed by daily cone-beam computed tomography in nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy. A prospective study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Heming; Lin Hui; Feng Guosheng

2012-01-01

This prospective study was to assess interfractional and intrafractional errors and to estimate appropriate margins for planning target volume (PTV) by using daily cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) guidance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Daily pretreatment and post-treatment CBCT scans were acquired separately after initial patient setup and after the completion of each treatment fraction in 10 patients treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Online corrections were made before treatment if any translational setup error was found. Interfractional and intrafractional errors were recorded in the right-left (RL), superior-inferior (SI) and anterior-posterior (AP) directions. For the translational shifts, interfractional errors >2 mm occurred in 21.7% of measurements in the RL direction, 12.7% in the SI direction and 34.1% in the AP direction, respectively. Online correction resulted in 100% of residual errors ≤2 mm in the RL and SI directions, and 95.5% of residual errors ≤2 mm in the AP direction. No residual errors >3 mm occurred in the three directions. For the rotational shifts, a significant reduction was found in the magnitudes of residual errors compared with those of interfractional errors. A margin of 4.9 mm, 4.0 mm and 6.3 mm was required in the RL, SI and AP directions, respectively, when daily CBCT scans were not performed. With daily CBCT, the margins were reduced to 1.2 mm in all directions. In conclusion, daily CBCT guidance is an effective modality to improve the accuracy of IMRT for NPC. The online correction could result in a 70-81% reduction in margin size. (author)

Analysis of error-correction constraints in an optical disk

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Jonathan D.; Ryley, Alan; Jones, David M.; Burke, David

1996-07-01

The compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) is a mature storage medium with complex error control. It comprises four levels of Reed Solomon codes allied to a sequence of sophisticated interleaving strategies and 8:14 modulation coding. New storage media are being developed and introduced that place still further demands on signal processing for error correction. It is therefore appropriate to explore thoroughly the limit of existing strategies to assess future requirements. We describe a simulation of all stages of the CD-ROM coding, modulation, and decoding. The results of decoding the burst error of a prescribed number of modulation bits are discussed in detail. Measures of residual uncorrected error within a sector are displayed by C1, C2, P, and Q error counts and by the status of the final cyclic redundancy check (CRC). Where each data sector is encoded separately, it is shown that error-correction performance against burst errors depends critically on the position of the burst within a sector. The C1 error measures the burst length, whereas C2 errors reflect the burst position. The performance of Reed Solomon product codes is shown by the P and Q statistics. It is shown that synchronization loss is critical near the limits of error correction. An example is given of miscorrection that is identified by the CRC check.

Sources of medical error in refractive surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Moshirfar, Majid; Simpson, Rachel G; Dave, Sonal B; Christiansen, Steven M; Edmonds, Jason N; Culbertson, William W; Pascucci, Stephen E; Sher, Neal A; Cano, David B; Trattler, William B

2013-05-01

To evaluate the causes of laser programming errors in refractive surgery and outcomes in these cases. In this multicenter, retrospective chart review, 22 eyes of 18 patients who had incorrect data entered into the refractive laser computer system at the time of treatment were evaluated. Cases were analyzed to uncover the etiology of these errors, patient follow-up treatments, and final outcomes. The results were used to identify potential methods to avoid similar errors in the future. Every patient experienced compromised uncorrected visual acuity requiring additional intervention, and 7 of 22 eyes (32%) lost corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) of at least one line. Sixteen patients were suitable candidates for additional surgical correction to address these residual visual symptoms and six were not. Thirteen of 22 eyes (59%) received surgical follow-up treatment; nine eyes were treated with contact lenses. After follow-up treatment, six patients (27%) still had a loss of one line or more of CDVA. Three significant sources of error were identified: errors of cylinder conversion, data entry, and patient identification error. Twenty-seven percent of eyes with laser programming errors ultimately lost one or more lines of CDVA. Patients who underwent surgical revision had better outcomes than those who did not. Many of the mistakes identified were likely avoidable had preventive measures been taken, such as strict adherence to patient verification protocol or rigorous rechecking of treatment parameters. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

Tracking and shape errors measurement of concentrating heliostats

Science.gov (United States)

Coquand, Mathieu; Caliot, Cyril; Hénault, François

2017-09-01

In solar tower power plants, factors such as tracking accuracy, facets misalignment and surface shape errors of concentrating heliostats are of prime importance on the efficiency of the system. At industrial scale, one critical issue is the time and effort required to adjust the different mirrors of the faceted heliostats, which could take several months using current techniques. Thus, methods enabling quick adjustment of a field with a huge number of heliostats are essential for the rise of solar tower technology. In this communication is described a new method for heliostat characterization that makes use of four cameras located near the solar receiver and simultaneously recording images of the sun reflected by the optical surfaces. From knowledge of a measured sun profile, data processing of the acquired images allows reconstructing the slope and shape errors of the heliostats, including tracking and canting errors. The mathematical basis of this shape reconstruction process is explained comprehensively. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the measurement accuracy of this "backward-gazing method" is compliant with the requirements of solar concentrating optics. Finally, we present our first experimental results obtained at the THEMIS experimental solar tower plant in Targasonne, France.

Internal waves and temperature fronts on slopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. A. Thorpe

Full Text Available Time series measurements from an array of temperature miniloggers in a line at constant depth along the sloping boundary of a lake are used to describe the `internal surf zone' where internal waves interact with the sloping boundary. More small positive temperature time derivatives are recorded than negative, but there are more large negative values than positive, giving the overall distribution of temperature time derivatives a small negative skewness. This is consistent with the internal wave dynamics; fronts form during the up-slope phase of the motion, bringing cold water up the slope, and the return flow may become unstable, leading to small advecting billows and weak warm fronts. The data are analysed to detect `events', periods in which the temperature derivatives exceed a set threshold. The speed and distance travelled by `events' are described. The motion along the slope may be a consequence of (a instabilities advected by the flow (b internal waves propagating along-slope or (c internal waves approaching the slope from oblique directions. The propagation of several of the observed 'events' can only be explained by (c, evidence that the internal surf zone has some, but possibly not all, the characteristics of the conventional 'surface wave' surf zone, with waves steepening as they approach the slope at oblique angles.

Key words. Oceanography: general (benthic boundary layers; limnology, Oceanography: physical (internal and inertial waves

A Phillips curve interpretation of error-correction models of the wage and price dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harck, Søren H.

-correction setting, which actually seems to capture the wage and price dynamics of many large- scale econometric models quite well, is fully compatible with the notion of an old-fashioned Phillips curve with finite slope. It is shown how the steady-state impact of various shocks to the model can be profitably...... This paper presents a model of employment, distribution and inflation in which a modern error correction specification of the nominal wage and price dynamics (referring to claims on income by workers and firms) occupies a prominent role. It is brought out, explicitly, how this rather typical error...

A Phillips curve interpretation of error-correction models of the wage and price dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harck, Søren H.

2009-01-01

-correction setting, which actually seems to capture the wage and price dynamics of many large- scale econometric models quite well, is fully compatible with the notion of an old-fashioned Phillips curve with finite slope. It is shown how the steady-state impact of various shocks to the model can be profitably......This paper presents a model of employment, distribution and inflation in which a modern error correction specification of the nominal wage and price dynamics (referring to claims on income by workers and firms) occupies a prominent role. It is brought out, explicitly, how this rather typical error...

Dosimetric implications of inter- and intrafractional prostate positioning errors during tomotherapy : Comparison of gold marker-based registrations with native MVCT.

Science.gov (United States)

Wust, Peter; Joswig, Marc; Graf, Reinhold; Böhmer, Dirk; Beck, Marcus; Barelkowski, Thomasz; Budach, Volker; Ghadjar, Pirus

2017-09-01

For high-dose radiation therapy (RT) of prostate cancer, image-guided (IGRT) and intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) approaches are standard. Less is known regarding comparisons of different IGRT techniques and the resulting residual errors, as well as regarding their influences on dose distributions. A total of 58 patients who received tomotherapy-based RT up to 84 Gy for high-risk prostate cancer underwent IGRT based either on daily megavoltage CT (MVCT) alone (n = 43) or the additional use of gold markers (n = 15) under routine conditions. Planned Adaptive (Accuray Inc., Madison, WI, USA) software was used for elaborated offline analysis to quantify residual interfractional prostate positioning errors, along with systematic and random errors and the resulting safety margins after both IGRT approaches. Dosimetric parameters for clinical target volume (CTV) coverage and exposition of organs at risk (OAR) were also analyzed and compared. Interfractional as well as intrafractional displacements were determined. Particularly in the vertical direction, residual interfractional positioning errors were reduced using the gold marker-based approach, but dosimetric differences were moderate and the clinical relevance relatively small. Intrafractional prostate motion proved to be quite high, with displacements of 1-3 mm; however, these did not result in additional dosimetric impairments. Residual interfractional positioning errors were reduced using gold marker-based IGRT; however, this resulted in only slightly different final dose distributions. Therefore, daily MVCT-based IGRT without markers might be a valid alternative.

Validity and reliability of a novel 3D scanner for assessment of the shape and volume of amputees' residual limb models.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Seminati

Full Text Available Objective assessment methods to monitor residual limb volume following lower-limb amputation are required to enhance practitioner-led prosthetic fitting. Computer aided systems, including 3D scanners, present numerous advantages and the recent Artec Eva scanner, based on laser free technology, could potentially be an effective solution for monitoring residual limb volumes.The aim of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Artec Eva scanner (practical measurement against a high precision laser 3D scanner (criterion measurement for the determination of residual limb model shape and volume.Three observers completed three repeat assessments of ten residual limb models, using both the scanners. Validity of the Artec Eva scanner was assessed (mean percentage error <2% and Bland-Altman statistics were adopted to assess the agreement between the two scanners. Intra and inter-rater reliability (repeatability coefficient <5% of the Artec Eva scanner was calculated for measuring indices of residual limb model volume and shape (i.e. residual limb cross sectional areas and perimeters.Residual limb model volumes ranged from 885 to 4399 ml. Mean percentage error of the Artec Eva scanner (validity was 1.4% of the criterion volumes. Correlation coefficients between the Artec Eva and the Romer determined variables were higher than 0.9. Volume intra-rater and inter-rater reliability coefficients were 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively. Shape percentage maximal error was 2% at the distal end of the residual limb, with intra-rater reliability coefficients presenting the lowest errors (0.2%, both for cross sectional areas and perimeters of the residual limb models.The Artec Eva scanner is a valid and reliable method for assessing residual limb model shapes and volumes. While the method needs to be tested on human residual limbs and the results compared with the current system used in clinical practice, it has the potential to quantify shape and volume

Runoff from armored slopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Codell, R.B.

1986-01-01

Models exist for calculating overland flow on hillsides but no models have been found which explicitly deal with runoff from armored slopes. Flow on armored slopes differs from overland flow, because substantial flow occurs beneath the surface of the rock layer at low runnoff, and both above and below the surface for high runoff. In addition to the lack of a suitable model, no estimates of the PMP exist for such small areas and for very short durations. This paper develops a model for calculating runoff from armored embankments. The model considers the effect of slope, drainage area and ''flow concentration'' caused by irregular grading or slumping. A rainfall-duration curve based on the PMP is presented which is suitable for very small drainage areas. The development of the runoff model and rainfall-duration curve is presented below, along with a demonstration of the model on the design of a hypothetical tailings embankment

Evaluation of rotational set-up errors in patients with thoracic neoplasms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yanyang; Fu Xiaolong; Xia Bing; Fan Min; Yang Huanjun; Ren Jun; Xu Zhiyong; Jiang Guoliang

2010-01-01

Objective: To assess the rotational set-up errors in patients with thoracic neoplasms. Methods: 224 kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography (KVCBCT) scans from 20 thoracic tumor patients were evaluated retrospectively. All these patients were involved in the research of 'Evaluation of the residual set-up error for online kilovoltage cone-beam CT guided thoracic tumor radiation'. Rotational set-up errors, including pitch, roll and yaw, were calculated by 'aligning the KVCBCT with the planning CT, using the semi-automatic alignment method. Results: The average rotational set-up errors were -0.28 degree ±1.52 degree, 0.21 degree ± 0.91 degree and 0.27 degree ± 0.78 degree in the left-fight, superior-inferior and anterior-posterior axis, respectively. The maximal rotational errors of pitch, roll and yaw were 3.5 degree, 2.7 degree and 2.2 degree, respectively. After correction for translational set-up errors, no statistically significant changes in rotational error were observed. Conclusions: The rotational set-up errors in patients with thoracic neoplasms were all small in magnitude. Rotational errors may not change after the correction for translational set-up errors alone, which should be evaluated in a larger sample future. (authors)

Radiological monitoring of northern slopes of Mogoltau

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murtazaev, Kh.; Boboev, B.D.; Bolibekov, Sh.; Akhmedov, M.Z.

2010-01-01

Present article is devoted to radiological monitoring of northern slopes of Mogoltau. The physicochemical properties of water of northern slopes of Mogoltau were studied. The radiation monitoring of northern slopes of Mogoltau was carried out during several years under various weather conditions. The exposure rate of human settlements of northern part of Mogoltau was defined.

A user's manual of Tools for Error Estimation of Complex Number Matrix Computation (Ver.1.0)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichihara, Kiyoshi.

1997-03-01

'Tools for Error Estimation of Complex Number Matrix Computation' is a subroutine library which aids the users in obtaining the error ranges of the complex number linear system's solutions or the Hermitian matrices' eigen values. This library contains routines for both sequential computers and parallel computers. The subroutines for linear system error estimation calulate norms of residual vectors, matrices's condition numbers, error bounds of solutions and so on. The error estimation subroutines for Hermitian matrix eigen values' derive the error ranges of the eigen values according to the Korn-Kato's formula. This user's manual contains a brief mathematical background of error analysis on linear algebra and usage of the subroutines. (author)

Stability of Slopes Reinforced with Truncated Piles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shu-Wei Sun

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Piles are extensively used as a means of slope stabilization. A novel engineering technique of truncated piles that are unlike traditional piles is introduced in this paper. A simplified numerical method is proposed to analyze the stability of slopes stabilized with truncated piles based on the shear strength reduction method. The influential factors, which include pile diameter, pile spacing, depth of truncation, and existence of a weak layer, are systematically investigated from a practical point of view. The results show that an optimum ratio exists between the depth of truncation and the pile length above a slip surface, below which truncating behavior has no influence on the piled slope stability. This optimum ratio is bigger for slopes stabilized with more flexible piles and piles with larger spacing. Besides, truncated piles are more suitable for slopes with a thin weak layer than homogenous slopes. In practical engineering, the piles could be truncated reasonably while ensuring the reinforcement effect. The truncated part of piles can be filled with the surrounding soil and compacted to reduce costs by using fewer materials.

Slope stability radar for monitoring mine walls

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, Bryan; Noon, David A.; Stickley, Glen F.; Longstaff, Dennis

2001-11-01

Determining slope stability in a mining operation is an important task. This is especially true when the mine workings are close to a potentially unstable slope. A common technique to determine slope stability is to monitor the small precursory movements, which occur prior to collapse. The slope stability radar has been developed to remotely scan a rock slope to continuously monitor the spatial deformation of the face. Using differential radar interferometry, the system can detect deformation movements of a rough wall with sub-millimeter accuracy, and with high spatial and temporal resolution. The effects of atmospheric variations and spurious signals can be reduced via signal processing means. The advantage of radar over other monitoring techniques is that it provides full area coverage without the need for mounted reflectors or equipment on the wall. In addition, the radar waves adequately penetrate through rain, dust and smoke to give reliable measurements, twenty-four hours a day. The system has been trialed at three open-cut coal mines in Australia, which demonstrated the potential for real-time monitoring of slope stability during active mining operations.

The Interval Slope Method for Long-Term Forecasting of Stock Price Trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-xue Nie

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A stock price is a typical but complex type of time series data. We used the effective prediction of long-term time series data to schedule an investment strategy and obtain higher profit. Due to economic, environmental, and other factors, it is very difficult to obtain a precise long-term stock price prediction. The exponentially segmented pattern (ESP is introduced here and used to predict the fluctuation of different stock data over five future prediction intervals. The new feature of stock pricing during the subinterval, named the interval slope, can characterize fluctuations in stock price over specific periods. The cumulative distribution function (CDF of MSE was compared to those of MMSE-BC and SVR. We concluded that the interval slope developed here can capture more complex dynamics of stock price trends. The mean stock price can then be predicted over specific time intervals relatively accurately, in which multiple mean values over time intervals are used to express the time series in the long term. In this way, the prediction of long-term stock price can be more precise and prevent the development of cumulative errors.

An Adaptive Estimation of Forecast Error Covariance Parameters for Kalman Filtering Data Assimilation

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xiaogu ZHENG

2009-01-01

An adaptive estimation of forecast error covariance matrices is proposed for Kalman filtering data assimilation. A forecast error covariance matrix is initially estimated using an ensemble of perturbation forecasts. This initially estimated matrix is then adjusted with scale parameters that are adaptively estimated by minimizing -2log-likelihood of observed-minus-forecast residuals. The proposed approach could be applied to Kalman filtering data assimilation with imperfect models when the model error statistics are not known. A simple nonlinear model (Burgers' equation model) is used to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.

Positioning errors assessed with kV cone-beam CT for image-guided prostate radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Jiongyan; Guo Xiaomao; Yao Weiqiang; Wang Yanyang; Ma Jinli; Chen Jiayi; Zhang Zhen; Feng Yan

2010-01-01

Objective: To assess set-up errors measured with kilovoltage cone-beam CT (KV-CBCT), and the impact of online corrections on margins required to account for set-up variability during IMRT for patients with prostate cancer. Methods: Seven patients with prostate cancer undergoing IMRT were enrolled onto the study. The KV-CBCT scans were acquired at least twice weekly. After initial set-up using the skin marks, a CBCT scan was acquired and registered with the planning CT to determine the setup errors using an auto grey-scale registration software. Corrections would be made by moving the table if the setup errors were considered clinically significant (i. e. , > 2 mm). A second CBCT scan was acquired immediately after the corrections to evaluate the residual error. PTV margins were derived to account for the measured set-up errors and residual errors determined for this group of patients. Results: 197 KV-CBCT images in total were acquired. The random and systematic positioning errors and calculated PTV margins without correction in mm were : a) Lateral 3.1, 2.1, 9.3; b) Longitudinal 1.5, 1.8, 5.1;c) Vertical 4.2, 3.7, 13.0. The random and systematic positioning errors and calculated PTV margin with correction in mm were : a) Lateral 1.1, 0.9, 3.4; b) Longitudinal 0.7, 1.1, 2.5; c) Vertical 1.1, 1.3, 3.7. Conclusions: With the guidance of online KV-CBCT, set-up errors could be reduced significantly for patients with prostate cancer receiving IMRT. The margin required after online CBCT correction for the patients enrolled in the study would be appoximatively 3-4 mm. (authors)

$\\Upsilon\\overline{B}B$ couplings, slope of the Isgur-Wise function and improved estimate of $V_{cb}$

CERN Document Server

Narison, Stéphan

1994-01-01

We estimate the sum of the \\Upsilon \\bar BB couplings using QCD Spectral Sum Rules (QSSR). Our result implies the phenomenological bound \\xi'(vv'=1) \\geq -1.04 for the slope of the Isgur-Wise function. An analytic estimate of the (physical) slope to two loops within QSSR leads to the accurate value \\xi'(vv'=1) \\simeq -(1.00 \\pm 0.02) due to the (almost) complete cancellations between the perturbative and non-perturbative corrections at the stability points. Then, we deduce, from the present data, the improved estimate \\vert V_{cb} \\vert \\simeq \\ga 1.48 \\mbox{ps}/\\tau_B \\dr ^{1/2}(37.3 \\pm 1.2 \\pm 1.4)\\times 10^{-3} where the first error comes from the data analysis and the second one from the different model parametrizations of the Isgur-Wise function.

Decision Guide for Roof Slope Selection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sharp, T.R.

1988-01-01

This decision guide has been written for personnel who are responsible for the design, construction, and replacement of Air Force roofs. It provides the necessary information and analytical tools for making prudent and cost-effective decisions regarding the amount of slope to provide in various roofing situations. Because the expertise and experience of the decision makers will vary, the guide contains both basic slope-related concepts as well as more sophisticated technical data. This breadth of information enables the less experienced user to develop an understanding of roof slope issues before applying the more sophisticated analytical tools, while the experienced user can proceed directly to the technical sections. Although much of this guide is devoted to the analysis of costs, it is not a cost-estimating document. It does, however, provide the reader with the relative costs of a variety of roof slope options; and it shows how to determine the relative cost-effectiveness of different options. The selection of the proper roof slope coupled with good roof design, a quality installation, periodic inspection, and appropriate maintenance and repair will achieve the Air Force's objective of obtaining the best possible roofing value for its buildings.

The great slippery-slope argument.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, J A

1993-09-01

Whenever some form of beneficent killing--for example, voluntary euthanasia--is advocated, the proposal is greeted with a flood of slippery-slope arguments warning of the dangers of a Nazi-style slide into genocide. This paper is an attempt systematically to evaluate arguments of this kind. Although there are slippery-slope arguments that are sound and convincing, typical formulations of the Nazi-invoking argument are found to be seriously deficient both in logical rigour and in the social history and psychology required as a scholarly underpinning. As an antidote, an attempt is made both to identify some of the likely causes of genocide and to isolate some of the more modest but legitimate fears that lie behind slippery-slope arguments of this kind.

Slope activity in Gale crater, Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Dundas, Colin M.; McEwen, Alfred S.

2015-01-01

High-resolution repeat imaging of Aeolis Mons, the central mound in Gale crater, reveals active slope processes within tens of kilometers of the Curiosity rover. At one location near the base of northeastern Aeolis Mons, dozens of transient narrow lineae were observed, resembling features (Recurring Slope Lineae) that are potentially due to liquid water. However, the lineae faded and have not recurred in subsequent Mars years. Other small-scale slope activity is common, but has different spatial and temporal characteristics. We have not identified confirmed RSL, which Rummel et al. (Rummel, J.D. et al. [2014]. Astrobiology 14, 887–968) recommended be treated as potential special regions for planetary protection. Repeat images acquired as Curiosity approaches the base of Aeolis Mons could detect changes due to active slope processes, which could enable the rover to examine recently exposed material.

A New Recursive Filtering Method of Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data to Preserve Ground Surface Information in Steep-Slope Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mi-Kyeong Kim

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Landslides are one of the critical natural hazards that cause human, infrastructure, and economic losses. Risk of catastrophic losses due to landslides is significant given sprawled urban development near steep slopes and the increasing proximity of large populations to hilly areas. For reducing these losses, a high-resolution digital terrain model (DTM is an essential piece of data for a qualitative or a quantitative investigation of slopes that may lead to landslides. Data acquired by a terrestrial laser scanning (TLS, called a point cloud, has been widely used to generate a DTM, since a TLS is appropriate for detecting small- to large-scale ground features on steep slopes. For an accurate DTM, TLS data should be filtered to remove non-ground points, but most current algorithms for extracting ground points from a point cloud have been developed for airborne laser scanning (ALS data and not TLS data. Moreover, it is a challenging task to generate an accurate DTM from a steep-slope area by using existing algorithms. For these reasons, we developed an algorithm to automatically extract only ground points from the point clouds of steep terrains. Our methodology is focused on TLS datasets and utilizes the adaptive principal component analysis–triangular irregular network (PCA-TIN approach. Our method was applied to two test areas and the results showed that the algorithm can cope well with steep slopes, giving an accurate surface model compared to conventional algorithms. Total accuracy values of the generated DTMs in the form of root mean squared errors are 1.84 cm and 2.13 cm over the areas of 5252 m2 and 1378 m2, respectively. The slope-based adaptive PCA-TIN method demonstrates great potential for TLS-derived DTM construction in steep-slope landscapes.

Storm-Induced Slope Failure Susceptibility Mapping

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

A pilot study was conducted to characterize and map the areas susceptible to slope failure using state-wide available data. The objective was to determine whether it would be possible to provide slope-failure susceptibility mapping that could be used...

Hydrology of two slopes in subarctic Yukon, Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Carey, Sean K.; Woo, Ming-Ko

1999-11-01

Two subarctic forested slopes in central Wolf Creek basin, Yukon, were studied in 1996-1997 to determine the seasonal pattern of the hydrologic processes. A south-facing slope has a dense aspen forest on silty soils with seasonal frost only and a north-facing slope has open stands of black spruce and an organic layer on top of clay sediments with permafrost. Snowmelt is advanced by approximately one month on the south-facing slope due to greater radiation receipt. Meltwater infiltrates its seasonally frozen soil with low ice content, recharging the soil moisture reservoir but yielding no lateral surface or subsurface flow. Summer evaporation depletes this recharged moisture and any additional rainfall input, at the expense of surface or subsurface flow. The north-facing slope with an ice rich substrate hinders deep percolation. Snow meltwater is impounded within the organic layer to produce surface runoff in rills and gullies, and subsurface flow along pipes and within the matrix of the organic soil. During the summer, most subsurface flows are confined to the organic layer which has hydraulic conductivities orders of magnitudes larger than the underlying boulder-clay. Evaporation on the north-facing slope declines as both the frost table and the water table descend in the summer. A water balance of the two slopes demonstrates that vertical processes of infiltration and evaporation dominate moisture exchanges on the south-facing slope, whereas the retardation of deep drainage by frost and by clayey soil on the permafrost slope promotes a strong lateral flow component, principally within the organic layer. These results have the important implication that permafrost slopes and organic horizons are the principal controls on streamflow generation in subarctic catchments.

Research on the stability evaluation of slope

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-08-15

In order to create the guideline corresponding to a new regulatory standard, such as criteria in the ground-slope stability evaluation method, we have conducted an analysis and discussion of the shaking table test results using a large slope model. As a result, it was found that in that phase of the vertical motion and the horizontal motion affects the amplification characteristics of the ground motion, need to be considered in assessing the safety of the slope and the influence of the phase difference amplification or local. We also conduct a study on countermeasure construction slope by shaking table test, the effect of the countermeasure construction of pile and anchors deterrence could be confirmed. Focusing on the new method can reproduce the behavior of large deformation and discontinuity, with respect to the advancement of slope analysis, we identify issues on the maintenance and code applicability of each analysis method. (author)

Comparison of orthogonal kilovolt X-ray images and cone-beam CT matching results in setup error assessment and correction for EB-PBI during free breathing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Wei; Li Jianbin; Hu Hongguang; Ma Zhifang; Xu Min; Fan Tingyong; Shao Qian; Ding Yun

2014-01-01

Objective: To compare the differences in setup error (SE) assessment and correction between the orthogonal kilovolt X-ray images and CBCT in EB-PBI patients during free breathing. Methods: Nineteen patients after breast conserving surgery EB-PBI were recruited. Interfraction SE was acquired using orthogonal kilovolt X-ray setup images and CBCT, after on-line setup correction,calculate the residual error and compare the SE, residual error and setup margin (SM) quantified for orthogonal kilovolt X-ray images and CBCT. Wilcoxon sign-rank test was used to evaluate the differences. Results: The CBCT based SE (systematic error, ∑) was smaller than the orthogonal kilovolt X-ray images based ∑ in AP direction (-1.2 mm vs 2.00 mm; P=0.005), and there was no statistically significant differences for three dimensional directions in random error (σ) (P=0.948, 0.376, 0.314). After on-line setup correction,CBCT decreases setup residual error than the orthogonal kilovolt X-ray images in AP direction (Σ: -0.20 mm vs 0.50 mm, P=0.008; σ: 0.45 mm vs 1.34 mm, P=0.002). And also the CBCT based SM was smaller than orthogonal kilovolt X-ray images based SM in AP direction (Σ: -1.39 mm vs 5.57 mm, P=0.003; σ: 0.00 mm vs 3.2 mm, P=0.003). Conclusions: Compared with kilovolt X-ray images, CBCT underestimate the setup error in the AP direction, but decreases setup residual error significantly.An image-guided radiotherapy and setup error assessment using kilovolt X-ray images for EB-PBI plans was feasible. (authors)

Does urbanization affect energy intensities across provinces in China?Long-run elasticities estimation using dynamic panels with heterogeneous slopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Ben

2015-01-01

Although there has been extensive debate in the literature that addresses the impact of urbanization on total energy use, the relative magnitude of each impact channel has not been empirically examined and urbanization's effects on energy transition dynamics in China remains unknown. Using panel datasets at the provincial level from 1986 to 2011, this paper employs dynamic models to investigate both the long-run and short-run elasticities of urbanization on energy intensities and the most significant impact channel is identified. Coal intensity and electricity intensity are also modeled to reveal energy transition dynamics driven by urbanization. A set of newly developed regression techniques, namely well-performed common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) and augmented mean group (AMG) estimators, are used to treat residual cross-sectional dependence, nonstationary residuals, and unlikely-to-hold homogeneous slope assumptions. The results obtained verify that the net effects of urbanization on overall energy intensity and electricity intensity are statistically positive, with long-run elasticities of 0.14% to 0.37% and 0.23% to 0.29%, respectively, whereas China's urbanization does not significantly increase coal intensity. The fact that short-run elasticities account for a majority of corresponding long-run values indicates that the short-run effect, that is, indirect energy use induced by urban infrastructures is the most significant impact channel of urbanization on energy use in China. An energy transition from high-pollution coal to clean electricity is also present in China, although the fundamental transition to renewable energy is still in its infancy. From a regional perspective, urbanization exerts asymmetric impacts on provincial energy use so that energy policies associated with urbanization should be province-specific. The findings also illustrate that for a panel dataset on regional dimension within large and fast-growing economies such

An alternative soil nailing system for slope stabilization: Akarpiles

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Chun-Lan; Chan, Chee-Ming

2017-11-01

This research proposes an innovative solution for slope stabilization with less environmental footprint: AKARPILES. In Malaysia, landslide has become common civil and environmental problems that cause impacts to the economy, safety and environment. Therefore, effective slope stabilization method helps to improve the safety of public and protect the environment. This study focused on stabilizing surfacial slope failure. The idea of AKARPILES was generated from the tree roots system in slope stabilization. After the piles are installed in the slope and intercepting the slip plane, grout was pumped in and discharged through holes on the piles. The grout then filled the pores in the soil with random flow within the slip zone. SKW mixture was used to simulate the soil slope. There were two designs being proposed in this study and the prototypes were produced by a 3D printer. Trial mix of the grout was carried out to obtain the optimum mixing ratio of bentonite: cement: water. A series of tests were conducted on the single-pile-reinforced slope under vertical slope crest loading condition considering different slope gradients and nail designs. Parameters such as ultimate load, failure time and failure strain were recorded and compared. As comparison with the unreinforced slope, both designs of AKARPILES showed better but different performances in the model tests.

Factors affecting seismic response of submarine slopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Biscontin

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The response of submerged slopes on the continental shelf to seismic or storm loading has become an important element in the risk assessment for offshore structures and 'local' tsunami hazards worldwide. The geological profile of these slopes typically includes normally consolidated to lightly overconsolidated soft cohesive soils with layer thickness ranging from a few meters to hundreds of meters. The factor of safety obtained from pseudo-static analyses is not always a useful measure for evaluating the slope response, since values less than one do not necessarily imply slope failure with large movements of the soil mass. This paper addresses the relative importance of different factors affecting the response of submerged slopes during seismic loading. The analyses use a dynamic finite element code which includes a constitutive law describing the anisotropic stress-strain-strength behavior of normally consolidated to lightly overconsolidated clays. The model also incorporates anisotropic hardening to describe the effect of different shear strain and stress histories as well as bounding surface principles to provide realistic descriptions of the accumulation of the plastic strains and excess pore pressure during successive loading cycles. The paper presents results from parametric site response analyses on slope geometry and layering, soil material parameters, and input ground motion characteristics. The predicted maximum shear strains, permanent deformations, displacement time histories and maximum excess pore pressure development provide insight of slope performance during a seismic event.

Measuring depth profiles of residual stress with Raman spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Enloe, W.S.; Sparks, R.G.; Paesler, M.A.

1988-12-01

Knowledge of the variation of residual stress is a very important factor in understanding the properties of machined surfaces. The nature of the residual stress can determine a part`s susceptibility to wear deformation, and cracking. Raman spectroscopy is known to be a very useful technique for measuring residual stress in many materials. These measurements are routinely made with a lateral resolution of 1{mu}m and an accuracy of 0.1 kbar. The variation of stress with depth; however, has not received much attention in the past. A novel technique has been developed that allows quantitative measurement of the variation of the residual stress with depth with an accuracy of 10nm in the z direction. Qualitative techniques for determining whether the stress is varying with depth are presented. It is also demonstrated that when the stress is changing over the volume sampled, errors can be introduced if the variation of the stress with depth is ignored. Computer aided data analysis is used to determine the depth dependence of the residual stress.

Analysis of Rainfall Infiltration Law in Unsaturated Soil Slope

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Gui-rong; Qian, Ya-jun; Wang, Zhang-chun; Zhao, Bo

2014-01-01

In the study of unsaturated soil slope stability under rainfall infiltration, it is worth continuing to explore how much rainfall infiltrates into the slope in a rain process, and the amount of rainfall infiltrating into slope is the important factor influencing the stability. Therefore, rainfall infiltration capacity is an important issue of unsaturated seepage analysis for slope. On the basis of previous studies, rainfall infiltration law of unsaturated soil slope is analyzed. Considering t...

Measurement properties and usability of non-contact scanners for measuring transtibial residual limb volume.

Science.gov (United States)

Kofman, Rianne; Beekman, Anna M; Emmelot, Cornelis H; Geertzen, Jan H B; Dijkstra, Pieter U

2018-06-01

Non-contact scanners may have potential for measurement of residual limb volume. Different non-contact scanners have been introduced during the last decades. Reliability and usability (practicality and user friendliness) should be assessed before introducing these systems in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to analyze the measurement properties and usability of four non-contact scanners (TT Design, Omega Scanner, BioSculptor Bioscanner, and Rodin4D Scanner). Quasi experimental. Nine (geometric and residual limb) models were measured on two occasions, each consisting of two sessions, thus in total 4 sessions. In each session, four observers used the four systems for volume measurement. Mean for each model, repeatability coefficients for each system, variance components, and their two-way interactions of measurement conditions were calculated. User satisfaction was evaluated with the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire. Systematic differences between the systems were found in volume measurements. Most of the variances were explained by the model (97%), while error variance was 3%. Measurement system and the interaction between system and model explained 44% of the error variance. Repeatability coefficient of the systems ranged from 0.101 (Omega Scanner) to 0.131 L (Rodin4D). Differences in Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire scores between the systems were small and not significant. The systems were reliable in determining residual limb volume. Measurement systems and the interaction between system and residual limb model explained most of the error variances. The differences in repeatability coefficient and usability between the four CAD/CAM systems were small. Clinical relevance If accurate measurements of residual limb volume are required (in case of research), modern non-contact scanners should be taken in consideration nowadays.

Effect of rainfall intensity and slope steepness on the development of soil erosion in the Southern Cis-Ural region (A model experiment)

Science.gov (United States)

Sobol, N. V.; Gabbasova, I. M.; Komissarov, M. A.

2017-09-01

The effect of rainfall intensity on the erosion of residual calcareous agrogray soils and clay-illuvial agrochernozems in the Southern Cis-Ural region on slopes of different inclination and vegetation type has been studied by simulating with a small-size sprinkler. It has been shown that soil loss linearly depends on rainfall intensity (2, 4, and 6 mm/min) and slope inclination (3° and 7°). When the rainfall intensity and duration, and the slope inclination increase, soil loss by erosion from agrogray soils increases higher than from agrochernozems. On the plowland with a slope of 3°, runoff begins 12, 10, and 5 min, on the average, after the beginning of rains at these intensities. When the slope increases to 7°, runoff begins earlier by 7, 6, and 4 min, respectively. After the beginning of runoff and with its increase by 1 mm, the soil loss from slopes of 3° and 7° reaches 4.2 and 25.7 t/ha on agrogray soils and 1.4 and 4.7 t/ha on agrochernozems, respectively. Fallow soils have higher erosion resistance, and the soil loss little depends on the slope gradient: it gradually increases to 0.3-1.0 t/ha per 1 mm of runoff with increasing rainfall intensity and duration. The content of physical clay in eroded material is higher than in the original soils. Fine fractions prevail in this material, which increases their humus content. The increase in rainfall intensity and duration to 4 and 6 mm/min results in the entrapment of coarse silt and sand by runoff.

Aspect-Driven Changes in Slope Stability Due to Ecohydrologic Feedbacks

Science.gov (United States)

Poulos, M. J.; Pierce, J. L.; Flores, A. N.; Benner, S. G.; Smith, T. J.; McNamara, J. P.

2009-12-01

Seasonally integrated variation in insolation drives feedbacks among evapotranspiration, soil moisture, weathering, and erosion that lead to pronounced contrasts in slope angles and vegetation on north and south-facing hillslopes. Spatial variations in insolation associated with north-south contrasts in topographic aspect leads to corresponding variation in local microclimates and ecohydrologic regimes that, in turn, impact spatial patterns of weathering and erosion, ultimately impacting slope angles on north and south-facing slopes. Aspect-sensitive environments appear to be poised on a balance point between ecohydrologic systems, and may be especially susceptible to climate change. In the semi-arid Colorado Plateau of northeastern Arizona, cliffs often form on south-facing slopes where soil moisture is insufficient for weathering of clay-cemented sandstone that is susceptible to hydration. In contrast, cliffs are rare on northerly slopes, which are dominated by mantles of weathered sandstone and colluvium (Burnett et al., 2008, doi:10.1029/2007JF000789). However, in semi-arid regions of the Idaho Batholith, preliminary results indicate some north-facing slopes are significantly steeper than south-facing slopes. We hypothesize that in semi-arid areas with observable increases in vegetation on north vs. south-facing slopes, north-facing slopes will be steeper due to increased soil cohesion, increased capture of wind-borne loess due to vegetative wind-baffling, and differences in the type and magnitude of erosive processes. In moister areas where aspect does not visibly control vegetation type and density, differences in slope angles with aspect should not be observed. We investigate tectonically quiescent regions of the mostly-homogenous granodioritic Idaho Batholith to locate areas sensitive to aspect-induced variations in insolation and compare slope characteristics on north and south-facing slopes. Hillslopes within the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed, in the

EPDM Based Double Slope Triangular Enclosure Solar Collector: A Novel Approach

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Shafiq R. Qureshi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Solar heating is one of the important utilities of solar energy both in domestic and industrial sectors. Evacuated tube heaters are a commonly used technology for domestic water heating. However, increasing cost of copper and nickel has resulted in huge initial cost for these types of heaters. Utilizing solar energy more economically for domestic use requires new concept which has low initial and operating costs together with ease of maintainability. As domestic heating requires only nominal heating temperature to the range of 60–90°C, therefore replacing nickel coated copper pipes with any cheap alternate can drastically reduce the cost of solar heater. We have proposed a new concept which utilizes double slope triangular chamber with EPDM based synthetic rubber pipes. This has reduced the initial and operating costs substantially. A detailed analytical study was carried out to design a novel solar heater. On the basis of analytical design, a prototype was manufactured. Results obtained from the experiments were found to be in good agreement with the analytical study. A maximum error of 10% was recorded at noon. However, results show that error is less than 5% in early and late hours.

EPDM based double slope triangular enclosure solar collector: a novel approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Qureshi, Shafiq R; Khan, Waqar A; Sarwar, Waqas

2014-01-01

Solar heating is one of the important utilities of solar energy both in domestic and industrial sectors. Evacuated tube heaters are a commonly used technology for domestic water heating. However, increasing cost of copper and nickel has resulted in huge initial cost for these types of heaters. Utilizing solar energy more economically for domestic use requires new concept which has low initial and operating costs together with ease of maintainability. As domestic heating requires only nominal heating temperature to the range of 60-90 °C, therefore replacing nickel coated copper pipes with any cheap alternate can drastically reduce the cost of solar heater. We have proposed a new concept which utilizes double slope triangular chamber with EPDM based synthetic rubber pipes. This has reduced the initial and operating costs substantially. A detailed analytical study was carried out to design a novel solar heater. On the basis of analytical design, a prototype was manufactured. Results obtained from the experiments were found to be in good agreement with the analytical study. A maximum error of 10% was recorded at noon. However, results show that error is less than 5% in early and late hours.

Analysis of rainfall infiltration law in unsaturated soil slope.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Gui-rong; Qian, Ya-jun; Wang, Zhang-chun; Zhao, Bo

2014-01-01

In the study of unsaturated soil slope stability under rainfall infiltration, it is worth continuing to explore how much rainfall infiltrates into the slope in a rain process, and the amount of rainfall infiltrating into slope is the important factor influencing the stability. Therefore, rainfall infiltration capacity is an important issue of unsaturated seepage analysis for slope. On the basis of previous studies, rainfall infiltration law of unsaturated soil slope is analyzed. Considering the characteristics of slope and rainfall, the key factors affecting rainfall infiltration of slope, including hydraulic properties, water storage capacity (θs - θr), soil types, rainfall intensities, and antecedent and subsequent infiltration rates on unsaturated soil slope, are discussed by using theory analysis and numerical simulation technology. Based on critical factors changing, this paper presents three calculation models of rainfall infiltrability for unsaturated slope, including (1) infiltration model considering rainfall intensity; (2) effective rainfall model considering antecedent rainfall; (3) infiltration model considering comprehensive factors. Based on the technology of system response, the relationship of rainfall and infiltration is described, and the prototype of regression model of rainfall infiltration is given, in order to determine the amount of rain penetration during a rain process.

A method for determining average beach slope and beach slope variability for U.S. sandy coastlines

Science.gov (United States)

Doran, Kara S.; Long, Joseph W.; Overbeck, Jacquelyn R.

2015-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Assessment of Hurricane-Induced Coastal Erosion Hazards compares measurements of beach morphology with storm-induced total water levels to produce forecasts of coastal change for storms impacting the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastlines of the United States. The wave-induced water level component (wave setup and swash) is estimated by using modeled offshore wave height and period and measured beach slope (from dune toe to shoreline) through the empirical parameterization of Stockdon and others (2006). Spatial and temporal variability in beach slope leads to corresponding variability in predicted wave setup and swash. For instance, seasonal and storm-induced changes in beach slope can lead to differences on the order of 1 meter (m) in wave-induced water level elevation, making accurate specification of this parameter and its associated uncertainty essential to skillful forecasts of coastal change. A method for calculating spatially and temporally averaged beach slopes is presented here along with a method for determining total uncertainty for each 200-m alongshore section of coastline.

Automatic approach to deriving fuzzy slope positions

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Liang-Jun; Zhu, A.-Xing; Qin, Cheng-Zhi; Liu, Jun-Zhi

2018-03-01

Fuzzy characterization of slope positions is important for geographic modeling. Most of the existing fuzzy classification-based methods for fuzzy characterization require extensive user intervention in data preparation and parameter setting, which is tedious and time-consuming. This paper presents an automatic approach to overcoming these limitations in the prototype-based inference method for deriving fuzzy membership value (or similarity) to slope positions. The key contribution is a procedure for finding the typical locations and setting the fuzzy inference parameters for each slope position type. Instead of being determined totally by users in the prototype-based inference method, in the proposed approach the typical locations and fuzzy inference parameters for each slope position type are automatically determined by a rule set based on prior domain knowledge and the frequency distributions of topographic attributes. Furthermore, the preparation of topographic attributes (e.g., slope gradient, curvature, and relative position index) is automated, so the proposed automatic approach has only one necessary input, i.e., the gridded digital elevation model of the study area. All compute-intensive algorithms in the proposed approach were speeded up by parallel computing. Two study cases were provided to demonstrate that this approach can properly, conveniently and quickly derive the fuzzy slope positions.

30 CFR 77.1911 - Ventilation of slopes and shafts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... SAFETY AND HEALTH MANDATORY SAFETY STANDARDS, SURFACE COAL MINES AND SURFACE WORK AREAS OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Slope and Shaft Sinking § 77.1911 Ventilation of slopes and shafts. (a) All slopes and... connected to the slope or shaft opening with fireproof air ducts; (3) Designed to permit the reversal of the...

Goal-oriented error estimation for Cahn-Hilliard models of binary phase transition

KAUST Repository

van der Zee, Kristoffer G.

2010-10-27

A posteriori estimates of errors in quantities of interest are developed for the nonlinear system of evolution equations embodied in the Cahn-Hilliard model of binary phase transition. These involve the analysis of wellposedness of dual backward-in-time problems and the calculation of residuals. Mixed finite element approximations are developed and used to deliver numerical solutions of representative problems in one- and two-dimensional domains. Estimated errors are shown to be quite accurate in these numerical examples. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Intertidal beach slope predictions compared to field data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Madsen, A.J.; Plant, N.G.

2001-01-01

This paper presents a test of a very simple model for predicting beach slope changes. The model assumes that these changes are a function of both the incident wave conditions and the beach slope itself. Following other studies, we hypothesized that the beach slope evolves towards an equilibrium

US North Slope gas and Asian LNG markets

Science.gov (United States)

Attanasi, E.D.

1994-01-01

Prospects for export of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Alaska's North Slope are assessed. Projected market conditions to 2010 show that new LNG capacity beyond announced expansions will be needed to meet regional demand and that supplies will probably come from outside the region. The estimated delivered costs of likely suppliers show that Alaska North Slope gas will not be competitive. The alternative North Slope gas development strategies of transport and sale to the lower 48 states and use on the North Slope for either enhanced oil recovery or conversion to liquids are examined. The alternative options require delaying development until US gas prices increase, exhaustion of certain North Slope oil fields, or advances occur in gas to liquid fuels conversion technology. ?? 1995.

Slope excavation quality assessment and excavated volume calculation in hydraulic projects based on laser scanning technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao Hu

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Slope excavation is one of the most crucial steps in the construction of a hydraulic project. Excavation project quality assessment and excavated volume calculation are critical in construction management. The positioning of excavation projects using traditional instruments is inefficient and may cause error. To improve the efficiency and precision of calculation and assessment, three-dimensional laser scanning technology was used for slope excavation quality assessment. An efficient data acquisition, processing, and management workflow was presented in this study. Based on the quality control indices, including the average gradient, slope toe elevation, and overbreak and underbreak, cross-sectional quality assessment and holistic quality assessment methods were proposed to assess the slope excavation quality with laser-scanned data. An algorithm was also presented to calculate the excavated volume with laser-scanned data. A field application and a laboratory experiment were carried out to verify the feasibility of these methods for excavation quality assessment and excavated volume calculation. The results show that the quality assessment indices can be obtained rapidly and accurately with design parameters and scanned data, and the results of holistic quality assessment are consistent with those of cross-sectional quality assessment. In addition, the time consumption in excavation quality assessment with the laser scanning technology can be reduced by 70%–90%, as compared with the traditional method. The excavated volume calculated with the scanned data only slightly differs from measured data, demonstrating the applicability of the excavated volume calculation method presented in this study.

Near-field Oblique Remote Sensing of Stream Water-surface Elevation, Slope, and Surface Velocity

Science.gov (United States)

Minear, J. T.; Kinzel, P. J.; Nelson, J. M.; McDonald, R.; Wright, S. A.

2014-12-01

A major challenge for estimating discharges during flood events or in steep channels is the difficulty and hazard inherent in obtaining in-stream measurements. One possible solution is to use near-field remote sensing to obtain simultaneous water-surface elevations, slope, and surface velocities. In this test case, we utilized Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) to remotely measure water-surface elevations and slope in combination with surface velocities estimated from particle image velocimetry (PIV) obtained by video-camera and/or infrared camera. We tested this method at several sites in New Mexico and Colorado using independent validation data consisting of in-channel measurements from survey-grade GPS and Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) instruments. Preliminary results indicate that for relatively turbid or steep streams, TLS collects tens of thousands of water-surface elevations and slopes in minutes, much faster than conventional means and at relatively high precision, at least as good as continuous survey-grade GPS measurements. Estimated surface velocities from this technique are within 15% of measured velocity magnitudes and within 10 degrees from the measured velocity direction (using extrapolation from the shallowest bin of the ADCP measurements). Accurately aligning the PIV results into Cartesian coordinates appears to be one of the main sources of error, primarily due to the sensitivity at these shallow oblique look angles and the low numbers of stationary objects for rectification. Combining remotely-sensed water-surface elevations, slope, and surface velocities produces simultaneous velocity measurements from a large number of locations in the channel and is more spatially extensive than traditional velocity measurements. These factors make this technique useful for improving estimates of flow measurements during flood flows and in steep channels while also decreasing the difficulty and hazard associated with making measurements in these

The great slippery-slope argument.

OpenAIRE

Burgess, J A

1993-01-01

Whenever some form of beneficent killing--for example, voluntary euthanasia--is advocated, the proposal is greeted with a flood of slippery-slope arguments warning of the dangers of a Nazi-style slide into genocide. This paper is an attempt systematically to evaluate arguments of this kind. Although there are slippery-slope arguments that are sound and convincing, typical formulations of the Nazi-invoking argument are found to be seriously deficient both in logical rigour and in the social hi...

DOWNWARD SLOPING DEMAND CURVES FOR STOCK AND LEVERAGE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liem Pei Fun

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This research attempts to investigate the effect of downward sloping demand curves for stock on firms' financing decisions. For the same size of equity issuance, firms with steeper slope of demand curves for their stocks experience a larger price drop in their share price compare to their counterparts. As a consequence, firms with a steeper slope of demand curves are less likely to issue equity and hence they have higher leverage ratios. This research finds that the steeper the slope of demand curve for firm's stock, the higher the actual leverage of the firm. Furthermore, firms with a steeper slope of demand curves have higher target leverage ratios, signifying that these firms prefer debt to equity financing in order to avoid the adverse price impact of equity issuance on their share price.

Investigation of Diesel’s Residual Noise on Predictive Vehicles Noise Cancelling using LMS Adaptive Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Arttini Dwi Prasetyowati, Sri; Susanto, Adhi; Widihastuti, Ida

2017-04-01

Every noise problems require different solution. In this research, the noise that must be cancelled comes from roadway. Least Mean Square (LMS) adaptive is one of the algorithm that can be used to cancel that noise. Residual noise always appears and could not be erased completely. This research aims to know the characteristic of residual noise from vehicle’s noise and analysis so that it is no longer appearing as a problem. LMS algorithm was used to predict the vehicle’s noise and minimize the error. The distribution of the residual noise could be observed to determine the specificity of the residual noise. The statistic of the residual noise close to normal distribution with = 0,0435, = 1,13 and the autocorrelation of the residual noise forming impulse. As a conclusion the residual noise is insignificant.

Conceptualizations of Slope: A Review of State Standards

Science.gov (United States)

Stanton, Michael; Moore-Russo, Deborah

2012-01-01

Since slope is a fundamental topic that is embedded throughout the U.S. secondary school curriculum, this study examined standards documents for all 50 states to determine how they address the concept of slope. The study used eleven conceptualizations of slope as categories to classify the material in the documents. The findings indicate that all…

Accuracy Assessment of Lidar-Derived Digital Terrain Model (dtm) with Different Slope and Canopy Cover in Tropical Forest Region

Science.gov (United States)

Salleh, M. R. M.; Ismail, Z.; Rahman, M. Z. A.

2015-10-01

Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology has been widely used recent years especially in generating high accuracy of Digital Terrain Model (DTM). High density and good quality of airborne LiDAR data promises a high quality of DTM. This study focussing on the analysing the error associated with the density of vegetation cover (canopy cover) and terrain slope in a LiDAR derived-DTM value in a tropical forest environment in Bentong, State of Pahang, Malaysia. Airborne LiDAR data were collected can be consider as low density captured by Reigl system mounted on an aircraft. The ground filtering procedure use adaptive triangulation irregular network (ATIN) algorithm technique in producing ground points. Next, the ground control points (GCPs) used in generating the reference DTM and these DTM was used for slope classification and the point clouds belong to non-ground are then used in determining the relative percentage of canopy cover. The results show that terrain slope has high correlation for both study area (0.993 and 0.870) with the RMSE of the LiDAR-derived DTM. This is similar to canopy cover where high value of correlation (0.989 and 0.924) obtained. This indicates that the accuracy of airborne LiDAR-derived DTM is significantly affected by terrain slope and canopy caver of study area.

ACCURACY ASSESSMENT OF LIDAR-DERIVED DIGITAL TERRAIN MODEL (DTM WITH DIFFERENT SLOPE AND CANOPY COVER IN TROPICAL FOREST REGION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. R. M. Salleh

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR technology has been widely used recent years especially in generating high accuracy of Digital Terrain Model (DTM. High density and good quality of airborne LiDAR data promises a high quality of DTM. This study focussing on the analysing the error associated with the density of vegetation cover (canopy cover and terrain slope in a LiDAR derived-DTM value in a tropical forest environment in Bentong, State of Pahang, Malaysia. Airborne LiDAR data were collected can be consider as low density captured by Reigl system mounted on an aircraft. The ground filtering procedure use adaptive triangulation irregular network (ATIN algorithm technique in producing ground points. Next, the ground control points (GCPs used in generating the reference DTM and these DTM was used for slope classification and the point clouds belong to non-ground are then used in determining the relative percentage of canopy cover. The results show that terrain slope has high correlation for both study area (0.993 and 0.870 with the RMSE of the LiDAR-derived DTM. This is similar to canopy cover where high value of correlation (0.989 and 0.924 obtained. This indicates that the accuracy of airborne LiDAR-derived DTM is significantly affected by terrain slope and canopy caver of study area.

Residual DNA double strand breaks in perfused but not in unperfused areas determine different radiosensitivity of tumours

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menegakis, Apostolos; Eicheler, Wolfgang; Yaromina, Ala; Thames, Howard D.; Krause, Mechthild; Baumann, Michael

2011-01-01

Purpose: Micromilieu-dependent quantification of γH2AX after irradiation in vivo and correlation with local tumour control. Materials and methods: Local tumour control was evaluated after irradiation of FaDu and SKX xenografts with ambient single doses. γH2AX foci were quantified in perfused and unperfused regions after different irradiation doses and at different time points. Results: The TCD 50 of FaDu was 2-times higher compared to SKX (28.0 Gy [95% C.I. 24.6; 31.3 Gy] for FaDu; 14.9 Gy [10.9; 18.9] for SKX, p < 0.001). The induction of foci did not differ between the tumour models. Residual foci were twice higher in perfused SKX regions compared to FaDu, no difference was observed in the non-perfused region between both tumour models. The number of residual foci increased with a 2-times higher slope in perfused SKX-regions compared to FaDu, while no difference was detected in unperfused regions. Already within the perfused regions, this slope decreased with distance from perfused vessels. Conclusion: The dose-response of residual γH2AX foci is highly dependent on tumour cell oxygenation in well perfused areas. This dependence decreases further away from tumour vessels. Only γH2AX evaluation in perfused tumour areas can distinguish between the different radiocurability of the two tumour models.

The logarithmic slope in diffractive DIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gay Ducati, M.B.; Goncalves, V.P.; Machado, M.V.T.

2002-01-01

The logarithmic slope of diffractive structure function is a potential observable to separate the hard and soft contributions in diffraction, allowing to disentangle the QCD dynamics at small-x region. In this paper we extend our previous analyzes and calculate the diffractive logarithmic slope for three current approaches in the literature: (i) the Bartels-Wusthoff model, based on perturbative QCD, (ii) the CKMT model, based on Regge theory and (iii) the Golec-Biernat-Wusthoff model which assumes that the saturation phenomena is present in the HERA kinematic region. We analyze the transition region of small to large momentum transfer and verify that future experimental results on the diffractive logarithmic slope could discriminate between these approaches

Design of Rock Slope Reinforcement: An Himalayan Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Gaurav; Latha, Gali Madhavi

2016-06-01

The stability analysis of the two abutment slopes of a railway bridge proposed at about 359 m above the ground level, crossing a river and connecting two hill faces in the Himalayas, India, is presented. The bridge is located in a zone of high seismic activity. The rock slopes are composed of a heavily jointed rock mass and the spacing, dip and dip direction of joint sets are varying at different locations. Geological mapping was carried out to characterize all discontinuities present along the slopes. Laboratory and field investigations were conducted to assess the geotechnical properties of the intact rock, rock mass and joint infill. Stability analyses of these rock slopes were carried out using numerical programmes. Loads from the foundations resting on the slopes and seismic accelerations estimated from site-specific ground response analysis were considered. The proposed slope profile with several berms between successive foundations was simulated in the numerical model. An equivalent continuum approach with Hoek and Brown failure criterion was initially used in a finite element model to assess the global stability of the slope abutments. In the second stage, finite element analysis of rock slopes with all joint sets with their orientations, spacing and properties explicitly incorporated into the numerical model was taken up using continuum with joints approach. It was observed that the continuum with joints approach was able to capture the local failures in some of the slope sections, which were verified using wedge failure analysis and stereographic projections. Based on the slope deformations and failure patterns observed from the numerical analyses, rock anchors were designed to achieve the target factors of safety against failure while keeping the deformations within the permissible limits. Detailed design of rock anchors and comparison of the stability of slopes with and without reinforcement are presented.

Integrating concepts and skills: Slope and kinematics graphs

Science.gov (United States)

Tonelli, Edward P., Jr.

The concept of force is a foundational idea in physics. To predict the results of applying forces to objects, a student must be able to interpret data representing changes in distance, time, speed, and acceleration. Comprehension of kinematics concepts requires students to interpret motion graphs, where rates of change are represented as slopes of line segments. Studies have shown that majorities of students who show proficiency with mathematical concepts fail accurately to interpret motion graphs. The primary aim of this study was to examine how students apply their knowledge of slope when interpreting kinematics graphs. To answer the research questions a mixed methods research design, which included a survey and interviews, was adopted. Ninety eight (N=98) high school students completed surveys which were quantitatively analyzed along with qualitative information collected from interviews of students (N=15) and teachers ( N=2). The study showed that students who recalled methods for calculating slopes and speeds calculated slopes accurately, but calculated speeds inaccurately. When comparing the slopes and speeds, most students resorted to calculating instead of visual inspection. Most students recalled and applied memorized rules. Students who calculated slopes and speeds inaccurately failed to recall methods of calculating slopes and speeds, but when comparing speeds, these students connected the concepts of distance and time to the line segments and the rates of change they represented. This study's findings will likely help mathematics and science educators to better assist their students to apply their knowledge of the definition of slope and skills in kinematics concepts.

MODEL FOR THE CORRECTION OF THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF BIODIESEL FROM RESIDUAL OIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Aparecida Rosa da Silva

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Biodiesel is a important fuel with economic benefits, social and environmental. The production cost of the biodiesel can be significantly lowered if the raw material is replaced by a alternative material as residual oil. In this study, the variation of specific gravity with temperature increase for diesel and biodiesel from residual oil obtained by homogeneous basic catalysis. All properties analyzed for biodiesel are within specification Brazil. The determination of the correction algorithm for the specific gravity function of temperature is also presented, and the slope of the line to diesel fuel, methylic biodiesel (BMR and ethylic biodiesel (BER from residual oil were respectively the values -0.7089, -0.7290 and -0.7277. This demonstrates the existence of difference of the model when compared chemically different fuels, like diesel and biodiesel from different sources, indicating the importance of determining the specific algorithm for the operations of conversion of volume to the reference temperature.

A preferential coating technique for fabricating large, high quality optics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alcock, S.G.; Cockerton, S.

2010-01-01

A major challenge facing optic manufacturers is the fabrication of large mirrors (>1 m) with minimal residual slope errors (<0.5 μrad rms). We present a differential coating method with the potential to satisfy such exacting technical demands. Iterative cycles of measurement using the Diamond-NOM, followed by preferential deposition, were performed on a 1200 mm long, silicon mirror. The applied coatings were observed to reduce the optical slope and figure errors from 1.62 to 0.44 μrad rms, and from 208 to 13 nm rms, respectively. It is hoped that this research will lead to commercially available products, of direct benefit to the Synchrotron, Free Electron Laser, Astronomy, Space, and Laser communities, who all require state-of-the-art optics.

Stability Analysis of Tunnel-Slope Coupling Based on Genetic Algorithm

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Tao Luo

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Subjects in tunnels, being constrained by terrain and routes, entrances and exits to tunnels, usually stay in the terrain with slopes. Thus, it is necessary to carry out stability analysis by treating the tunnel slope as an entity. In this study, based on the Janbu slices method, a model for the calculation of the stability of the original slope-tunnel-bank slope is established. The genetic algorithm is used to implement calculation variables, safety coefficient expression and fitness function design. The stability of the original slope-tunnel-bank slope under different conditions is calculated, after utilizing the secondary development function of the mathematical tool MATLAB for programming. We found that the bearing capacity of the original slopes is reduced as the tunnels are excavated and the safety coefficient is gradually decreased as loads of the embankment construction increased. After the embankment was constructed, the safety coefficient was 1.38, which is larger than the 1.3 value specified by China’s standards. Thus, the original slope-tunnel-bank slope would remain in a stable state.

Mapping the N-Z plane: residual mass regularities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirsch, J.G.; Frank, A.; Velazquez, V.

2004-01-01

A new development in the study of the deviations between experimental nuclear masses and those calculated in the framework of the Finite Range Droplet Model is introduced. Some frequencies are isolated and used in a simple fit to reduce significantly the error width. The presence of this regular residual correlations suggests that the Strutinsky method of including microscopic fluctuations in nuclear masses could be improved. (Author)

assessment of slope stability around gilgel gibe-ii hydroelectric

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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1 Gilgel-Gibe II Hydroelectric Project, Fofa Town, Ethiopia ... Key words/phrases: Factor of safety, plane failure, slope design, slope .... condition of potential unstable slopes along the road between Fofa town and Gilgel-Gibe Hydro- power II.

Correction of phase-shifting error in wavelength scanning digital holographic microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiaolei; Wang, Jie; Zhang, Xiangchao; Xu, Min; Zhang, Hao; Jiang, Xiangqian

2018-05-01

Digital holographic microscopy is a promising method for measuring complex micro-structures with high slopes. A quasi-common path interferometric apparatus is adopted to overcome environmental disturbances, and an acousto-optic tunable filter is used to obtain multi-wavelength holograms. However, the phase shifting error caused by the acousto-optic tunable filter reduces the measurement accuracy and, in turn, the reconstructed topographies are erroneous. In this paper, an accurate reconstruction approach is proposed. It corrects the phase-shifting errors by minimizing the difference between the ideal interferograms and the recorded ones. The restriction on the step number and uniformity of the phase shifting is relaxed in the interferometry, and the measurement accuracy for complex surfaces can also be improved. The universality and superiority of the proposed method are demonstrated by practical experiments and comparison to other measurement methods.

Effect of residual patient motion on dose distribution during image-guided robotic radiosurgery for skull tracking based on log file analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inoue, Mitsuhiro; Shiomi, Hiroya; Sato, Kengo

2014-01-01

The present study aimed to assess the effect of residual patient motion on dose distribution during intracranial image-guided robotic radiosurgery by analyzing the system log files. The dosimetric effect was analyzed according to the difference between the original and estimated dose distributions, including targeting error, caused by residual patient motion between two successive image acquisitions. One hundred twenty-eight treatments were analyzed. Forty-two patients were treated using the isocentric plan, and 86 patients were treated using the conformal (non-isocentric) plan. The median distance from the imaging center to the target was 55 mm, and the median interval between the acquisitions of sequential images was 79 s. The median translational residual patient motion was 0.1 mm for each axis, and the rotational residual patient motion was 0.1 deg for Δpitch and Δroll and 0.2 deg for Δyaw. The dose error for D 95 was within 1% in more than 95% of cases. The maximum dose error for D 10 to D 90 was within 2%. None of the studied parameters, including the interval between the acquisitions of sequential images, was significantly related to the dosimetric effect. The effect of residual patient motion on dose distribution was minimal. (author)

Model tests of geosynthetic reinforced slopes in a geotechnical centrifuge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aklik, P.

2012-01-01

Geosynthetic-reinforced slopes and walls became very popular in recent years because of their financial, technical, and ecological advantages. Centrifuge modelling is a powerful tool for physical modelling of reinforced slopes and offers the advantage to observe the failure mechanisms of the slopes. In order to replicate the gravity induced stresses of a prototype structure in a geometrically 1/N reduced model, it is necessary to test the model in a gravitational field N times larger than that of the prototype structure. In this dissertation, geotextile-reinforced slope models were tested in a geotechnical centrifuge to identify the possible failure mechanisms. Slope models were tested by varying slope inclination, tensile strengths of the geotextiles, and overlapping lengths. Photographs of the geotextile reinforced slope models in flight were taken with a digital camera and the soil deformations of geotextile reinforced slopes were evaluated with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The experimental results showed that failure of the centrifuge models initiated at midheight of the slope, and occurred due to geotextile breakage instead of pullout. The location of the shear surface is independent of the tensile strength of the geotextile; it is dependent on the shear strength of the soil. It is logical to see that the required acceleration of the centrifuge at slope failure was decreased with increasing slope inclination. An important contribution to the stability of the slope models was provided by the overlapping of the geotextile layers. It has a secondary reinforcement effect when it was prolonged and passed through the shear surface. Moreover, the location of the shear surface observed with PIV analysis exactly matches the tears of the retrieved geotextiles measured carefully after the centrifuge testing. It is concluded that PIV is an efficient tool to instrument the slope failures in a geotechnical centrifuge.(author) [de

Stability of the slopes around nuclear power plants in earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Hiroshi

1983-01-01

The evaluation of the stability of the slopes around the buildings of nuclear power plants is important especially with respect to earthquakes. In this connection, the behavior of a slope up to its destruction and the phenomena of the destruction have been examined in the case of an earthquake by both experiment and numerical analysis. The purpose is to obtain the data for the establishment of a method for evaluating the seismic stability of a slope and of the slope design standards. The following results are described: the behavior of a slope and its destruction characteristics in the slope destruction experiment simulating the seismic coefficient method; the vibration of a slope and its destruction characteristics in vibration destruction experiment; the validity of the method of numerical simulation analysis and of stability evaluation for the slope destruction and the vibration destruction experiments, and quantitative destruction mechanism; the comparison of the various stability evaluation methods and the evaluation of seismic forces. (Mori, K.)

Evaluation of a Web-based Error Reporting Surveillance System in a Large Iranian Hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Askarian, Mehrdad; Ghoreishi, Mahboobeh; Akbari Haghighinejad, Hourvash; Palenik, Charles John; Ghodsi, Maryam

2017-08-01

Proper reporting of medical errors helps healthcare providers learn from adverse incidents and improve patient safety. A well-designed and functioning confidential reporting system is an essential component to this process. There are many error reporting methods; however, web-based systems are often preferred because they can provide; comprehensive and more easily analyzed information. This study addresses the use of a web-based error reporting system. This interventional study involved the application of an in-house designed "voluntary web-based medical error reporting system." The system has been used since July 2014 in Nemazee Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The rate and severity of errors reported during the year prior and a year after system launch were compared. The slope of the error report trend line was steep during the first 12 months (B = 105.727, P = 0.00). However, it slowed following launch of the web-based reporting system and was no longer statistically significant (B = 15.27, P = 0.81) by the end of the second year. Most recorded errors were no-harm laboratory types and were due to inattention. Usually, they were reported by nurses and other permanent employees. Most reported errors occurred during morning shifts. Using a standardized web-based error reporting system can be beneficial. This study reports on the performance of an in-house designed reporting system, which appeared to properly detect and analyze medical errors. The system also generated follow-up reports in a timely and accurate manner. Detection of near-miss errors could play a significant role in identifying areas of system defects.

Error-related brain activity and error awareness in an error classification paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Gregorio, Francesco; Steinhauser, Marco; Maier, Martin E

2016-10-01

Error-related brain activity has been linked to error detection enabling adaptive behavioral adjustments. However, it is still unclear which role error awareness plays in this process. Here, we show that the error-related negativity (Ne/ERN), an event-related potential reflecting early error monitoring, is dissociable from the degree of error awareness. Participants responded to a target while ignoring two different incongruent distractors. After responding, they indicated whether they had committed an error, and if so, whether they had responded to one or to the other distractor. This error classification paradigm allowed distinguishing partially aware errors, (i.e., errors that were noticed but misclassified) and fully aware errors (i.e., errors that were correctly classified). The Ne/ERN was larger for partially aware errors than for fully aware errors. Whereas this speaks against the idea that the Ne/ERN foreshadows the degree of error awareness, it confirms the prediction of a computational model, which relates the Ne/ERN to post-response conflict. This model predicts that stronger distractor processing - a prerequisite of error classification in our paradigm - leads to lower post-response conflict and thus a smaller Ne/ERN. This implies that the relationship between Ne/ERN and error awareness depends on how error awareness is related to response conflict in a specific task. Our results further indicate that the Ne/ERN but not the degree of error awareness determines adaptive performance adjustments. Taken together, we conclude that the Ne/ERN is dissociable from error awareness and foreshadows adaptive performance adjustments. Our results suggest that the relationship between the Ne/ERN and error awareness is correlative and mediated by response conflict. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing slope stability in unplanned settlements in developing countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Malcolm G; Holcombe, Liz; Renaud, Jean-Philippe

2007-10-01

Unplanned housing in developing countries is often located on steep slopes. Frequently no building code is enforced for such housing and mains water is provided with no drainage provision. Both of these factors can be particularly significant in terms of landslide risk if, as is so often the case, such slopes lack any planned drainage provision. There is thus a need to develop a model that facilitates the assessment of slope stability in an holistic context, incorporating a wide range of factors (including surface cover, soil water topographic convergence, slope loading and point source water leakage) in order that appropriate advice can be given as to the general controls on slope stability in such circumstances. This paper outlines a model configured for this specific purpose and describes an application to a site in St. Lucia, West Indies, where there is active slope movement in an unplanned housing development on relatively steep topography. The model findings are in accord with the nature of the current failure at the site, provide guidance as to the significance of slope drainage and correspond to inferences drawn from an application of resistance envelope methods to the site. In being able to scenario test a uniquely wide range of combinations of factors, the model structure is shown to be highly valuable in assessing dominant slope stability process controls in such complex environments.

ALTIMETRY ASSESSMENT OF ASTER GDEM v2 AND SRTM v3 DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS: A CASE STUDY IN URBAN AREA OF BELO HORIZONTE, MG, BRAZIL

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Josyceyla Duarte Morais

Full Text Available Abstract: This work is an altimetry evaluation study involving Digital Elevation Models ASTER GDEM version 2 and SRTM version 3. Both models are readily available free of charge, however as they are built from different remote sensing methods it is also expected that they present different data qualities. LIDAR data with 25 cm vertical accuracy were used as reference for assessment validation. The evaluation study, carried out in urbanized area, investigated the distribution of the residuals and the relationship between the observed errors with land slope classes. Remote sensing principles, quantitative statistical methods and the Cartographic Accuracy Standard of Digital Mapping Products (PEC-PCD were considered. The results indicated strong positive linear correlation and the existence of a functional relationship between the evaluated models and the reference model. Residuals between -4.36 m and 3.11 m grouped 47.7% of samples corresponding to ASTER GDEM and 63.7% of samples corresponding to SRTM. In both evaluated models, Root Mean Square Error values increased with increasing of land slope. Considering 1: 50,000 mapping scale the PEC-PCD classification indicated class B standard for SRTM and class C for ASTER GDEM. In all analyzes, SRTM presented smaller altimetry errors compared to ASTER GDEM, except in areas with steep relief.

Air pocket removal from downward sloping pipes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pothof, I.W.M.; Clemens, F.H.L.R.

2012-01-01

Air-water flow is an undesired condition in water pipelines and hydropower tunnels. Water pipelines and wastewater pressure mains in particular are subject to air pocket accumulation in downward sloping reaches, such as inverted siphons or terrain slopes. Air pockets cause energy losses and an

GIS/RS-based Rapid Reassessment for Slope Land Capability Classification

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, T. Y.; Chompuchan, C.

2014-12-01

Farmland resources in Taiwan are limited because about 73% is mountainous and slope land. Moreover, the rapid urbanization and dense population resulted in the highly developed flat area. Therefore, the utilization of slope land for agriculture is more needed. In 1976, "Slope Land Conservation and Utilization Act" was promulgated to regulate the slope land utilization. Consequently, slope land capability was categorized into Class I-IV according to 4 criteria, i.e., average land slope, effective soil depth, degree of soil erosion, and parent rock. The slope land capability Class I-VI are suitable for cultivation and pasture. Whereas, Class V should be used for forestry purpose and Class VI should be the conservation land which requires intensive conservation practices. The field survey was conducted to categorize each land unit as the classification scheme. The landowners may not allow to overuse land capability limitation. In the last decade, typhoons and landslides frequently devastated in Taiwan. The rapid post-disaster reassessment of the slope land capability classification is necessary. However, the large-scale disaster on slope land is the constraint of field investigation. This study focused on using satellite remote sensing and GIS as the rapid re-evaluation method. Chenyulan watershed in Nantou County, Taiwan was selected to be a case study area. Grid-based slope derivation, topographic wetness index (TWI) and USLE soil loss calculation were used to classify slope land capability. The results showed that GIS-based classification give an overall accuracy of 68.32%. In addition, the post-disaster areas of Typhoon Morakot in 2009, which interpreted by SPOT satellite imageries, were suggested to classify as the conservation lands. These tools perform better in the large coverage post-disaster update for slope land capability classification and reduce time-consuming, manpower and material resources to the field investigation.

Development of a GIS-based failure investigation system for highway soil slopes

Science.gov (United States)

Ramanathan, Raghav; Aydilek, Ahmet H.; Tanyu, Burak F.

2015-06-01

A framework for preparation of an early warning system was developed for Maryland, using a GIS database and a collective overlay of maps that highlight highway slopes susceptible to soil slides or slope failures in advance through spatial and statistical analysis. Data for existing soil slope failures was collected from geotechnical reports and field visits. A total of 48 slope failures were recorded and analyzed. Six factors, including event precipitation, geological formation, land cover, slope history, slope angle, and elevation were considered to affect highway soil slope stability. The observed trends indicate that precipitation and poor surface or subsurface drainage conditions are principal factors causing slope failures. 96% of the failed slopes have an open drainage section. A majority of the failed slopes lie in regions with relatively high event precipitation ( P>200 mm). 90% of the existing failures are surficial erosion type failures, and only 1 out of the 42 slope failures is deep rotational type failure. More than half of the analyzed slope failures have occurred in regions having low density land cover. 46% of failures are on slopes with slope angles between 20° and 30°. Influx of more data relating to failed slopes should give rise to more trends, and thus the developed slope management system will aid the state highway engineers in prudential budget allocation and prioritizing different remediation projects based on the literature reviewed on the principles, concepts, techniques, and methodology for slope instability evaluation (Leshchinsky et al., 2015).

Technical Note: Interference errors in infrared remote sounding of the atmosphere

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R. Sussmann

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Classical error analysis in remote sounding distinguishes between four classes: "smoothing errors," "model parameter errors," "forward model errors," and "retrieval noise errors". For infrared sounding "interference errors", which, in general, cannot be described by these four terms, can be significant. Interference errors originate from spectral residuals due to "interfering species" whose spectral features overlap with the signatures of the target species. A general method for quantification of interference errors is presented, which covers all possible algorithmic implementations, i.e., fine-grid retrievals of the interfering species or coarse-grid retrievals, and cases where the interfering species are not retrieved. In classical retrieval setups interference errors can exceed smoothing errors and can vary by orders of magnitude due to state dependency. An optimum strategy is suggested which practically eliminates interference errors by systematically minimizing the regularization strength applied to joint profile retrieval of the interfering species. This leads to an interfering-species selective deweighting of the retrieval. Details of microwindow selection are no longer critical for this optimum retrieval and widened microwindows even lead to reduced overall (smoothing and interference errors. Since computational power will increase, more and more operational algorithms will be able to utilize this optimum strategy in the future. The findings of this paper can be applied to soundings of all infrared-active atmospheric species, which include more than two dozen different gases relevant to climate and ozone. This holds for all kinds of infrared remote sounding systems, i.e., retrievals from ground-based, balloon-borne, airborne, or satellite spectroradiometers.

Measuring and Modeling Root Distribution and Root Reinforcement in Forested Slopes for Slope Stability Calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, D.; Giadrossich, F.; Schwarz, M.; Vergani, C.

2016-12-01

Roots provide mechanical anchorage and reinforcement of soils on slopes. Roots also modify soil hydrological properties (soil moisture content, pore-water pressure, preferential flow paths) via subsurface flow path associated with root architecture, root density, and root-size distribution. Interactions of root-soil mechanical and hydrological processes are an important control of shallow landslide initiation during rainfall events and slope stability. Knowledge of root-distribution and root strength are key components to estimate slope stability in vegetated slopes and for the management of protection forest in steep mountainous area. We present data that show the importance of measuring root strength directly in the field and present methods for these measurements. These data indicate that the tensile force mobilized in roots depends on root elongation (a function of soil displacement), root size, and on whether roots break in tension of slip out of the soil. Measurements indicate that large lateral roots that cross tension cracks at the scarp are important for slope stability calculations owing to their large tensional resistance. These roots are often overlooked and when included, their strength is overestimated because extrapolated from measurements on small roots. We present planned field experiments that will measure directly the force held by roots of different sizes during the triggering of a shallow landslide by rainfall. These field data are then used in a model of root reinforcement based on fiber-bundle concepts that span different spacial scales, from a single root to the stand scale, and different time scales, from timber harvest to root decay. This model computes the strength of root bundles in tension and in compression and their effect on soil strength. Up-scaled to the stand the model yields the distribution of root reinforcement as a function of tree density, distance from tree, tree species and age with the objective of providing quantitative

Effect of slope height and horizontal forces on the bearing capacity of strip footings near slopes in cohesionless soil

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krabbenhøft, Sven; Damkilde, Lars; Krabbenhøft, Kristian

2016-01-01

, and in such cases the bearing capacity of the footing cannot be found using the existing methods. The present work comprises finite element based upper- and lower-bound calculations, using the geotechnical software OptumG2 to investigate the effect of the slope height and horizontal forces on the total bearing...... capacity, both without and with using superposition as presupposed in the traditional bearing capacity equation. The results for friction angles 30, 35 and 40 degrees, slope inclinations 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4, for selfweight and surcharge are given as charts showing the slope inclination factors suitable...

Improvement of the physically-based groundwater model simulations through complementary correction of its errors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Mauricio Reyes Alcalde

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Physically-Based groundwater Models (PBM, such MODFLOW, are used as groundwater resources evaluation tools supposing that the produced differences (residuals or errors are white noise. However, in the facts these numerical simulations usually show not only random errors but also systematic errors. For this work it has been developed a numerical procedure to deal with PBM systematic errors, studying its structure in order to model its behavior and correct the results by external and complementary means, trough a framework called Complementary Correction Model (CCM. The application of CCM to PBM shows a decrease in local biases, better distribution of errors and reductions in its temporal and spatial correlations, with 73% of reduction in global RMSN over an original PBM. This methodology seems an interesting chance to update a PBM avoiding the work and costs of interfere its internal structure.

Mapping on Slope Seepage Problem using Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI)

Science.gov (United States)

Hazreek, Z. A. M.; Nizam, Z. M.; Aziman, M.; Dan, M. F. Md; Shaylinda, M. Z. N.; Faizal, T. B. M.; Aishah, M. A. N.; Ambak, K.; Rosli, S.; Rais, Y.; Ashraf, M. I. M.; Alel, M. N. A.

2018-04-01

The stability of slope may influenced by several factors such as its geomaterial properties, geometry and environmental factors. Problematic slope due to seepage phenomenon will influenced the slope strength thus promoting to its failure. In the past, slope seepage mapping suffer from several limitation due to cost, time and data coverage. Conventional engineering tools to detect or mapped the seepage on slope experienced those problems involving large and high elevation of slope design. As a result, this study introduced geophysical tools for slope seepage mapping based on electrical resistivity method. Two spread lines of electrical resistivity imaging were performed on the slope crest using ABEM SAS 4000 equipment. Data acquisition configuration was based on long and short arrangement, schlumberger array and 2.5 m of equal electrode spacing interval. Raw data obtained from data acquisition was analyzed using RES2DINV software. Both of the resistivity results show that the slope studied consists of three different anomalies representing top soil (200 – 1000 Ωm), perched water (10 – 100 Ωm) and hard/dry layer (> 200 Ωm). It was found that seepage problem on slope studied was derived from perched water zones with electrical resistivity value of 10 – 100 Ωm. Perched water zone has been detected at 6 m depth from the ground level with varying thickness at 5 m and over. Resistivity results have shown some good similarity output with reference to borehole data, geological map and site observation thus verified the resistivity results interpretation. Hence, this study has shown that the electrical resistivity imaging was applicable in slope seepage mapping which consider efficient in term of cost, time, data coverage and sustainability.

Variance-in-Mean Effects of the Long Forward-Rate Slope

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Charlotte

2005-01-01

This paper contains an empirical analysis of the dependence of the long forward-rate slope on the long-rate variance. The long forward-rate slope and the long rate are described by a bivariate GARCH-in-mean model. In accordance with theory, a negative long-rate variance-in-mean effect for the long...... forward-rate slope is documented. Thus, the greater the long-rate variance, the steeper the long forward-rate curve slopes downward (the long forward-rate slope is negative). The variance-in-mean effect is both statistically and economically significant....

Reorienting with terrain slope and landmarks.

Science.gov (United States)

Nardi, Daniele; Newcombe, Nora S; Shipley, Thomas F

2013-02-01

Orientation (or reorientation) is the first step in navigation, because establishing a spatial frame of reference is essential for a sense of location and heading direction. Recent research on nonhuman animals has revealed that the vertical component of an environment provides an important source of spatial information, in both terrestrial and aquatic settings. Nonetheless, humans show large individual and sex differences in the ability to use terrain slope for reorientation. To understand why some participants--mainly women--exhibit a difficulty with slope, we tested reorientation in a richer environment than had been used previously, including both a tilted floor and a set of distinct objects that could be used as landmarks. This environment allowed for the use of two different strategies for solving the task, one based on directional cues (slope gradient) and one based on positional cues (landmarks). Overall, rather than using both cues, participants tended to focus on just one. Although men and women did not differ significantly in their encoding of or reliance on the two strategies, men showed greater confidence in solving the reorientation task. These facts suggest that one possible cause of the female difficulty with slope might be a generally lower spatial confidence during reorientation.

Evaluation of Analysis by Cross-Validation, Part II: Diagnostic and Optimization of Analysis Error Covariance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard Ménard

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We present a general theory of estimation of analysis error covariances based on cross-validation as well as a geometric interpretation of the method. In particular, we use the variance of passive observation-minus-analysis residuals and show that the true analysis error variance can be estimated, without relying on the optimality assumption. This approach is used to obtain near optimal analyses that are then used to evaluate the air quality analysis error using several different methods at active and passive observation sites. We compare the estimates according to the method of Hollingsworth-Lönnberg, Desroziers et al., a new diagnostic we developed, and the perceived analysis error computed from the analysis scheme, to conclude that, as long as the analysis is near optimal, all estimates agree within a certain error margin.

30 CFR 56.3130 - Wall, bank, and slope stability.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Wall, bank, and slope stability. 56.3130... Mining Methods § 56.3130 Wall, bank, and slope stability. Mining methods shall be used that will maintain wall, bank, and slope stability in places where persons work or travel in performing their assigned...

Slope stabilization guide for Minnesota local government engineers.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-01

This user guide provides simple, costeffective methods for stabilizing locally maintained slopes along roadways in Minnesota. Eight slope stabilization techniques are presented that local government engineers can undertake using locally available ...

Determination Of Slope Instability Using Spatially Integrated Mapping Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Baharuddin, I. N. Z.; Omar, R. C.; Roslan, R.; Khalid, N. H. N.; Hanifah, M. I. M.

2016-11-01

The determination and identification of slope instability are often rely on data obtained from in-situ soil investigation work where it involves the logistic of machineries and manpower, thus these aspects may increase the cost especially for remote locations. Therefore a method, which is able to identify possible slope instability without frequent ground walkabout survey, is needed. This paper presents the method used in prediction of slope instability using spatial integrated mapping framework which applicable for remote areas such as tropical forest and natural hilly terrain. Spatial data such as geology, topography, land use map, slope angle and elevation were used in regional analysis during desktop study. Through this framework, the occurrence of slope instability was able to be identified and was validate using a confirmatory site- specific analysis.

Parametric study on the effect of rainfall pattern to slope stability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hakim Sagitaningrum Fathiyah

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Landslide in Indonesia usually occurs during the rainy seasons. Previous studies showed that rainfall infiltration has a great effect on the factor of safety (FS of slopes. This research focused on the effect of rainfall pattern on the FS of unsaturated slope with different slope angle i.e.: 30°, 45°, and 60°. Three different rainfall patterns, which are normal, advanced, and delayed were considered in the analysis. The effects of low or high hydraulic conductivity of the soil are also observed. The analyses were conducted with SEEP/W for the seepage and SLOPE/W for the slope stability. It is found that the lowest FS for gentle slope is reached under the application of advanced rainfall pattern and the lowest FS for steep slope is reached under the application of delayed rainfall pattern. Reduction of FS is known to be the largest for gentle slope rather than steep slope due to negative pore water pressure reduction and the rising of ground water level. The largest FS reduction caused by rainfall was achieved for gentle slope under advanced rainfall pattern.

Role of slope on infiltration: A review

Science.gov (United States)

Morbidelli, Renato; Saltalippi, Carla; Flammini, Alessia; Govindaraju, Rao S.

2018-02-01

Partitioning of rainfall at the soil-atmosphere interface is important for both surface and subsurface hydrology, and influences many events of major hydrologic interest such as runoff generation, aquifer recharge, and transport of pollutants in surface waters as well as the vadose zone. This partitioning is achieved through the process of infiltration that has been widely investigated at the local scale, and more recently also at the field scale, by models that were designed for horizontal surfaces. However, infiltration, overland flows, and deep flows in most real situations are generated by rainfall over sloping surfaces that bring in additional effects. Therefore, existing models for local infiltration into homogeneous and layered soils and those as for field-scale infiltration, have to be adapted to account for the effects of surface slope. Various studies have investigated the role of surface slope on infiltration based on a theoretical formulations for the dynamics of infiltration, extensions of the Green-Ampt approach, and from laboratory and field experiments. However, conflicting results have been reported in the scientific literature on the role of surface slope on infiltration. We summarize the salient points from previous studies and provide plausible reasons for discrepancies in conclusions of previous authors, thus leading to a critical assessment of the current state of our understanding on this subject. We offer suggestions for future efforts to advance our knowledge of infiltration over sloping surfaces.

Residual power series method for fractional Sharma-Tasso-Olever equation

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Amit Kumar

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we introduce a modified analytical approximate technique to obtain solution of time fractional Sharma-Tasso-Olever equation. First, we present an alternative framework of the Residual power series method (RPSM which can be used simply and effectively to handle nonlinear fractional differential equations arising in several physical phenomena. This method is basically based on the generalized Taylor series formula and residual error function. A good result is found between our solution and the given solution. It is shown that the proposed method is reliable, efficient and easy to implement on all kinds of fractional nonlinear problems arising in science and technology.

VT Lidar Slope (2 meter) - 2012 - Bennington County

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) This metadata applies to the following collection area(s): Bennington County 2012 2.0m and related SLOPE datasets. Created using ArcGIS "SLOPE"...

Slope Stability. CEGS Programs Publication Number 15.

Science.gov (United States)

Pestrong, Raymond

Slope Stability is one in a series of single-topic problem modules intended for use in undergraduate and earth science courses. The module, also appropriate for use in undergraduate civil engineering and engineering geology courses, is a self-standing introduction to studies of slope stability. It has been designed to supplement standard…

Seeing the Errors You Feel Enhances Locomotor Performance but Not Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Roemmich, Ryan T; Long, Andrew W; Bastian, Amy J

2016-10-24

In human motor learning, it is thought that the more information we have about our errors, the faster we learn. Here, we show that additional error information can lead to improved motor performance without any concomitant improvement in learning. We studied split-belt treadmill walking that drives people to learn a new gait pattern using sensory prediction errors detected by proprioceptive feedback. When we also provided visual error feedback, participants acquired the new walking pattern far more rapidly and showed accelerated restoration of the normal walking pattern during washout. However, when the visual error feedback was removed during either learning or washout, errors reappeared with performance immediately returning to the level expected based on proprioceptive learning alone. These findings support a model with two mechanisms: a dual-rate adaptation process that learns invariantly from sensory prediction error detected by proprioception and a visual-feedback-dependent process that monitors learning and corrects residual errors but shows no learning itself. We show that our voluntary correction model accurately predicted behavior in multiple situations where visual feedback was used to change acquisition of new walking patterns while the underlying learning was unaffected. The computational and behavioral framework proposed here suggests that parallel learning and error correction systems allow us to rapidly satisfy task demands without necessarily committing to learning, as the relative permanence of learning may be inappropriate or inefficient when facing environments that are liable to change. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Slope Deformation Prediction Based on Support Vector Machine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei JIA

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This paper principally studies the prediction of slope deformation based on Support Vector Machine (SVM. In the prediction process，explore how to reconstruct the phase space. The geological body’s displacement data obtained from chaotic time series are used as SVM’s training samples. Slope displacement caused by multivariable coupling is predicted by means of single variable. Results show that this model is of high fitting accuracy and generalization, and provides reference for deformation prediction in slope engineering.

Comparison of welding induced residual stresses austenitic and ferritic steel weld joints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajkumar, K.V.; Arun Kumar, S.; Mahadevan, S.; Manojkumar, R.; Rao, B. Purna Chandra; Albert, Shaju K.; Murugan, S.

2015-01-01

X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a well established technique for measurement of residual stresses in components and is being widely used. In XRD technique, the distance between the crystallographic planes (d spacing) is measured from peak position (2è) at various ø angles, where ø is the angle between the normal to the sample and the bisector of the incident and diffracted beam. From the slope of sin2ø vs. d spacing plot, the residual stresses are arrived by assuming a plane stress model. Welding induced residual stresses is of high importance as it is a major cause of failure in components. Surface compressive stresses improve the fatigue strength, whereas tensile residual stresses tend to decrease the fatigue strength. The present study compares the residual stresses that develop in 3 mm thick SS 316 and P91 TIG weld joints using the XRD technique. This study is aimed at understanding the influence of shrinkage during cooling and the effect of phase transformation induced volume changes on residual stress development in these two steels. While the first effect is predominant in the SS 316 weld, both the effects are present in the P91 welds. Stress measurements on SS 316 and P91 were carried out using Cr Kâ (λ-2.0840 Å) and Cr Ká (λ-2.2896 Å) radiations respectively. Typical 'M' type stress profile was observed across the weld centre line in both the welds. The variation and similarities between the longitudinal stress profiles observed in these two weld joints would be discussed. (author)

Piggyback intraocular lens implantation to correct pseudophakic refractive error after segmental multifocal intraocular lens implantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Venter, Jan A; Oberholster, Andre; Schallhorn, Steven C; Pelouskova, Martina

2014-04-01

To evaluate refractive and visual outcomes of secondary piggyback intraocular lens implantation in patients diagnosed as having residual ametropia following segmental multifocal lens implantation. Data of 80 pseudophakic eyes with ametropia that underwent Sulcoflex aspheric 653L intraocular lens implantation (Rayner Intraocular Lenses Ltd., East Sussex, United Kingdom) to correct residual refractive error were analyzed. All eyes previously had in-the-bag zonal refractive multifocal intraocular lens implantation (Lentis Mplus MF30, models LS-312 and LS-313; Oculentis GmbH, Berlin, Germany) and required residual refractive error correction. Outcome measurements included uncorrected distance visual acuity, corrected distance visual acuity, uncorrected near visual acuity, distance-corrected near visual acuity, manifest refraction, and complications. One-year data are presented in this study. The mean spherical equivalent ranged from -1.75 to +3.25 diopters (D) preoperatively (mean: +0.58 ± 1.15 D) and reduced to -1.25 to +0.50 D (mean: -0.14 ± 0.28 D; P < .01). Postoperatively, 93.8% of eyes were within ±0.50 D and 98.8% were within ±1.00 D of emmetropia. The mean uncorrected distance visual acuity improved significantly from 0.28 ± 0.16 to 0.01 ± 0.10 logMAR and 78.8% of eyes achieved 6/6 (Snellen 20/20) or better postoperatively. The mean uncorrected near visual acuity changed from 0.43 ± 0.28 to 0.19 ± 0.15 logMAR. There was no significant change in corrected distance visual acuity or distance-corrected near visual acuity. No serious intraoperative or postoperative complications requiring secondary intraocular lens removal occurred. Sulcoflex lenses proved to be a predictable and safe option for correcting residual refractive error in patients diagnosed as having pseudophakia. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Effects of rye grass coverage on soil loss from loess slopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuequn Dong

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Vegetative coverage is commonly used to reduce urban slope soil erosion. Laboratory experimental study on soil erosion under grass covered slopes is conventionally time and space consuming. In this study, a new method is suggested to study the influences of vegetation coverage on soil erosion from a sloped loess surface under three slope gradients of 5°, 15°, and 25°; four rye grass coverages of 0%, 25%, 50%, and 75%; and three rainfall intensities of 60, 90, and 120 mm/h with a silt-loamy loess soil. Rye grasses were planted in the field with the studied soil before being transplanted into a laboratory flume. Grass was allowed to resume growth for a period before the rain simulation experiment. Results showed that the grass cover reduced soil erosion by 63.90% to 92.75% and sediment transport rate by 80.59% to 96.17% under different slope gradients and rainfall intensities. The sediment concentration/sediment transport rate from bare slope was significantly higher than from a grass-covered slope. The sediment concentration/transport rate from grass-covered slopes decreased linearly with grass coverage and increased with rainfall intensity. The sediment concentration/transport rate from the bare slope increased as a power function of slope and reached the maximum value at the gradient of about 25°, whereas that from grass-covered slope increased linearly and at much lower levels. The results of this study can be used to estimate the effect of vegetation on soil erosion from loess slopes.

Slope and bank erosional stability of the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, UMTRA disposal site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-12-01

This report was prepared in response to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) comments received in a letter of 8 March 1994. This letter included discussions of the US Department of Energy (DOE) 21 May 1993 geomorphic report for the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, site. To clarify the NRC's position, a DOE/NRC conference call was held on 12 April 1994. The NRC clarified that it did not require a preliminary erosion protection design for the Canonsburg site, but directed the DOE to address a ''one-bad-year'' scenario. The NRC wants confirmation that one bad year of stream flooding and landsliding will not release residual radioactive material (RRM) from the Canonsburg site into the creek. The NRC is concerned that a bad year theoretically could occur between postcell-closure inspections. These annual inspections are conducted in September or October. The NRC suggested that the following procedures should be conducted in this analysis: a flooding analysis, including the maximum saturation levels (flood water elevations) anticipated during a 100-year flood; a stream bank erosion analysis to determine how much of the bank adjacent to the site may be removed in a bad year; a slope stability analysis to determine how far back the site would be disturbed by slope instability that could be triggered by a bad year of stream bank erosion; and a ''critical cross section'' study to show the relationship of the RRM located outside the disposal cell to the maximum computer estimated erosion/landslide activity

Soil erosion processes on sloping land using REE tracer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen Zhenzhou; Liu Puling; Yang Mingyi; Lian Zhenlong; Ju Tongjun; Yao Wenyi; Li Mian

2007-01-01

Sheet erosion is the main performance in the slope soil erosion process at the primary stage of natural rainfall. For three times of rainfall during experiment, the ratios of sheet erosion to total erosion account for 71%, 48% and 49% respectively, which showed that the sloping erosion was still at the primary stage from sheet erosion to rill erosion. With the rainfall going, the rill erosion amount increase. It showed that soil erosion was changing from sheet erosion to rill erosion. The sources of sediment from different sections of the plot were analyzed, and the results indicated that whatever the sheet erosion changed, the ratio erosion of upper part of surface soil was always lower than 10%. Sheet erosion came mainly from the lower section of surface soil. With the ratios to the amount of total rill erosion changes, the rill erosion amount of each section regularly changes too. The general conclusion is that when the rainfall ends, relative erosion of different slope element to the foot of slope is: 1 meter away accounts for 16%, 2-4 meters away is 6% and 5-9 meters away is 3%. The ratio of rill erosion amount of these three slope element is 5:2:1, which shows the rill erosion amount are mainly from the slope element of 4 meters from the foot of slope. (authors)

Eros: Shape, topography, and slope processes

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, P.C.; Joseph, J.; Carcich, B.; Veverka, J.; Clark, B.E.; Bell, J.F.; Byrd, A.W.; Chomko, R.; Robinson, M.; Murchie, S.; Prockter, L.; Cheng, A.; Izenberg, N.; Malin, M.; Chapman, C.; McFadden, L.A.; Kirk, R.; Gaffey, M.; Lucey, P.G.

2002-01-01

Stereogrammetric measurement of the shape of Eros using images obtained by NEAR's Multispectral Imager provides a survey of the major topographic features and slope processes on this asteroid. This curved asteroid has radii ranging from 3.1 to 17.7 km and a volume of 2535 ?? 20 km3. The center of figure is within 52 m of the center of mass provided by the Navigation team; this minimal difference suggests that there are only modest variations in density or porosity within the asteroid. Three large depressions 10, 8, and 5.3 km across represent different stages of degradation of large impact craters. Slopes on horizontal scales of ???300 m are nearly all less than 35??, although locally scarps are much steeper. The area distribution of slopes is similar to those on Ida, Phobos, and Deimos. Regions that have slopes greater than 25?? have distinct brighter markings and have fewer large ejecta blocks than do flatter areas. The albedo patterns that suggest downslope transport of regolith have sharper boundaries than those on Phobos, Deimos, and Gaspra. The morphology of the albedo patterns, their lack of discrete sources, and their concentration on steeper slopes suggest transport mechanisms different from those on the previously well-observed small bodies, perhaps due to a reduced relative effectiveness of impact gardening on Eros. Regolith is also transported in talus cones and in connected, sinuous paths extending as much as 2 km, with some evident as relatively darker material. Talus material in at least one area is a discrete superposed unit, a feature not resolved on other small bodies. Flat-floored craters that apparently contain ponded material also suggest discrete units that are not well mixed by impacts. ?? 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

Unstable slope management program.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-08-01

This Rapid Response Project gathered information on existing unstable slope management programs, with a : focus on asset management practices in the United States and overseas. On the basis of this study, the research : team summarized and recommende...

Rock slope design guide.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-01

This Manual is intended to provide guidance for the design of rock cut slopes, rockfall catchment, and : rockfall controls. Recommendations presented in this manual are based on research presented in Shakoor : and Admassu (2010) entitled Rock Slop...

Rock Slope Design Criteria

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-01

Based on the stratigraphy and the type of slope stability problems, the flat lying, Paleozoic age, sedimentary : rocks of Ohio were divided into three design units: 1) competent rock design unit consisting of sandstones, limestones, : and siltstones ...

Newton slopes for Artin-Schreier-Witt towers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davis, Christopher; Wan, Daqing; Xiao, Liang

2016-01-01

We fix a monic polynomial f(x)∈Fq[x] over a finite field and consider the Artin-Schreier-Witt tower defined by f(x); this is a tower of curves ⋯→Cm→Cm−1→⋯→C0=A1, with total Galois group Zp. We study the Newton slopes of zeta functions of this tower of curves. This reduces to the study of the Newton...... slopes of L-functions associated to characters of the Galois group of this tower. We prove that, when the conductor of the character is large enough, the Newton slopes of the L-function form arithmetic progressions which are independent of the conductor of the character. As a corollary, we obtain...

The slope-background for the near-peak regimen of photoemission spectra

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Herrera-Gomez, A., E-mail: aherrera@qro.cinvestav.mx [CINVESTAV-Unidad Queretaro, Queretaro 76230 (Mexico); Bravo-Sanchez, M. [CINVESTAV-Unidad Queretaro, Queretaro 76230 (Mexico); Aguirre-Tostado, F.S. [Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados, Chihuahua, Chihuahua 31109 (Mexico); Vazquez-Lepe, M.O. [Departamento de Ingeniería de Proyectos, Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco 44430 (Mexico)

2013-08-15

Highlights: •We propose a method that accounts for the change in the background slope of XPS data. •The slope-background can be derived from Tougaard–Sigmund's transport theory. •The total background is composed by Shirley–Sherwood and Tougaard type backgrounds. •The slope-background employs one parameter that can be related to REELS spectra. •The slope, in conjunction with the Shirley–Sherwood background, provides better fits. -- Abstract: Photoemission data typically exhibits a change on the intensity of the background between the two sides of the peaks. This step is usually very well reproduced by the Shirley–Sherwood background. Yet, the change on the slope of the background in the near-peak regime, although usually present, is not always as obvious to the eye. However, the intensity of the background signal associated with the evolution of its slope can be appreciable. The slope-background is designed to empirically reproduce the change on the slope. Resembling the non-iterative Shirley method, the proposed functional form relates the slope of the background to the integrated signal at higher electron kinetic energies. This form can be predicted under Tougaard–Sigmund's electron transport theory in the near-peak regime. To reproduce both the step and slope changes on the background, it is necessary to employ the slope-background in conjunction with the Shirley–Sherwood background under the active-background method. As it is shown for a series of materials, the application of the slope-background provides excellent fits, is transparent to the operator, and is much more independent of the fitting range than other background methods. The total area assessed through the combination of the slope and the Shirley–Sherwood backgrounds is larger than when only the Shirley–Sherwood background is employed, and smaller than when the Tougaard background is employed.

Preliminary Analysis of Slope Stability in Kuok and Surrounding Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dewandra Bagus Eka Putra

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The level of slope influenced by the condition of the rocks beneath the surface. On high level of slopes, amount of surface runoff and water transport energy is also enlarged. This caused by greater gravity, in line with the surface tilt from the horizontal plane. In other words, topsoil eroded more and more. When the slope becomes twice as steep, then the amount of erosion per unit area be 2.0 - 2.5 times more. Kuok and surrounding area is the road access between the West Sumatra and Riau which plays an important role economies of both provinces. The purpose of this study is to map the locations that have fairly steep slopes and potential mode of landslides. Based on SRTM data obtained,  the roads in Kuok area has a minimum elevation of + 33 m and a maximum  + 217.329 m. Rugged road conditions with slope ranging from 24.08 ° to 44.68 ° causing this area having frequent landslides. The result of slope stability analysis in a slope near the Water Power Plant Koto Panjang, indicated that mode of active failure is toppling failure or rock fall and the potential zone of failure is in the center part of the slope.

New twist in the optical schematic of surface slope measuring long trace profiler

Science.gov (United States)

Nikitin, Sergey M.; Gevorkyan, Gevork S.; McKinney, Wayne R.; Lacey, Ian; Takacs, Peter Z.; Yashchuk, Valeriy V.

2017-09-01

The advents of fully coherent free electron lasers and diffraction limited synchrotron storage ring sources of x-rays are catalyzing the development of new, ultra-high accuracy metrology methods. To fully exploit the potential of these sources, metrology needs to be capable of determining the figure of an optical element with sub-nanometer height accuracy. Currently, the two most prevalent slope measuring instruments used for characterization of x-ray optics are the auto-collimator based nanometer optical measuring device (NOM) and the long trace profiler (LTP) using pencil beam interferometry (PBI). These devices have been consistently improved upon by the x-ray optics metrology community, but appear to be approaching their metrological limits. Here, we revise the traditional optical schematic of the LTP. We experimentally show that, for the level of accuracy desired for metrology with state-of-the-art x-ray optics, the Dove prism in the LTP reference channel appears to be one of the major sources of instrumental error. Therefore, we suggest returning back to the original PBI LTP schematics with no Dove prism in the reference channel. In this case, the optimal scanning strategies [Yashchuk, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 80, 115101 (2009)] used to suppress the instrumental drift error have to be used to suppress a possible drift error associated with laser beam pointing instability. We experimentally and by numerical simulation demonstrate the usefulness of the suggested approach for measurements with x-ray optics with both face up and face down orientations.

Varying coefficients model with measurement error.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Liang; Greene, Tom

2008-06-01

We propose a semiparametric partially varying coefficient model to study the relationship between serum creatinine concentration and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) among kidney donors and patients with chronic kidney disease. A regression model is used to relate serum creatinine to GFR and demographic factors in which coefficient of GFR is expressed as a function of age to allow its effect to be age dependent. GFR measurements obtained from the clearance of a radioactively labeled isotope are assumed to be a surrogate for the true GFR, with the relationship between measured and true GFR expressed using an additive error model. We use locally corrected score equations to estimate parameters and coefficient functions, and propose an expected generalized cross-validation (EGCV) method to select the kernel bandwidth. The performance of the proposed methods, which avoid distributional assumptions on the true GFR and residuals, is investigated by simulation. Accounting for measurement error using the proposed model reduced apparent inconsistencies in the relationship between serum creatinine and GFR among different clinical data sets derived from kidney donor and chronic kidney disease source populations.

Effects of slope smoothing in river channel modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kyungmin; Liu, Frank; Hodges, Ben R.

2017-04-01

In extending dynamic river modeling with the 1D Saint-Venant equations from a single reach to a large watershed there are critical questions as to how much bathymetric knowledge is necessary and how it should be represented parsimoniously. The ideal model will include the detail necessary to provide realism, but not include extraneous detail that should not exert a control on a 1D (cross-section averaged) solution. In a Saint-Venant model, the overall complexity of the river channel morphometry is typically abstracted into metrics for the channel slope, cross-sectional area, hydraulic radius, and roughness. In stream segments where cross-section surveys are closely spaced, it is not uncommon to have sharp changes in slope or even negative values (where a positive slope is the downstream direction). However, solving river flow with the Saint-Venant equations requires a degree of smoothness in the equation parameters or the equation set with the directly measured channel slopes may not be Lipschitz continuous. The results of non-smoothness are typically extended computational time to converge solutions (or complete failure to converge) and/or numerical instabilities under transient conditions. We have investigated using cubic splines to smooth the bottom slope and ensure always positive reference slopes within a 1D model. This method has been implemented in the Simulation Program for River Networks (SPRNT) and is compared to the standard HEC-RAS river solver. It is shown that the reformulation of the reference slope is both in keeping with the underlying derivation of the Saint-Venant equations and provides practical numerical stability without altering the realism of the simulation. This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant number CCF-1331610.

Dynamic stability and failure modes of slopes in discontinuous rock mass

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, Yasuhiro; Aydan, O.; Ichikawa, Yasuaki; Kawamoto, Toshikazu.

1988-01-01

The stability of rock slopes during earthquakes are of great concern in rock engineering works such as highway, dam, and nuclear power station constructions. As rock mass in nature is usually discontinuous, the stability of rock slopes will be geverned by the spatial distribution of discontinuities in relation with the geometry of slope and their mechanical properties rather than the rock element. The authors have carried out some model tests on discontinuous rock slopes using three different model tests techniques in order to investigate the dynamic behaviour and failure modes of the slopes in discontinuous rock mass. This paper describes the findings and observations made on model rock slopes with various discontinuity patterns and slope geometry. In addition some stability criterions are developed and the calculated results are compared with those of experiments. (author)

Action errors, error management, and learning in organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Frese, Michael; Keith, Nina

2015-01-03

Every organization is confronted with errors. Most errors are corrected easily, but some may lead to negative consequences. Organizations often focus on error prevention as a single strategy for dealing with errors. Our review suggests that error prevention needs to be supplemented by error management--an approach directed at effectively dealing with errors after they have occurred, with the goal of minimizing negative and maximizing positive error consequences (examples of the latter are learning and innovations). After defining errors and related concepts, we review research on error-related processes affected by error management (error detection, damage control). Empirical evidence on positive effects of error management in individuals and organizations is then discussed, along with emotional, motivational, cognitive, and behavioral pathways of these effects. Learning from errors is central, but like other positive consequences, learning occurs under certain circumstances--one being the development of a mind-set of acceptance of human error.

Infinite slope stability under steady unsaturated seepage conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Ning; Godt, Jonathan W.

2008-01-01

We present a generalized framework for the stability of infinite slopes under steady unsaturated seepage conditions. The analytical framework allows the water table to be located at any depth below the ground surface and variation of soil suction and moisture content above the water table under steady infiltration conditions. The framework also explicitly considers the effect of weathering and porosity increase near the ground surface on changes in the friction angle of the soil. The factor of safety is conceptualized as a function of the depth within the vadose zone and can be reduced to the classical analytical solution for subaerial infinite slopes in the saturated zone. Slope stability analyses with hypothetical sandy and silty soils are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the framework. These analyses indicate that for hillslopes of both sandy and silty soils, failure can occur above the water table under steady infiltration conditions, which is consistent with some field observations that cannot be predicted by the classical infinite slope theory. A case study of shallow slope failures of sandy colluvium on steep coastal hillslopes near Seattle, Washington, is presented to examine the predictive utility of the proposed framework.

Surface drainage in leveled land: Implication of slope

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antoniony S. Winkler

Full Text Available ABSTRACT In the lowlands of Rio Grande do Sul, land leveling is mostly carried out with no slope for the purpose of rice production. In this environment, soils with a low hydraulic conductivity are predominant owing to the presence of a practically impermeable B-horizon near the surface. Land leveling leads to soil accommodation resulting in the formation of depressions where water accumulates after heavy rainfalls, subsequently leading to problems with crops implanted in succession to rice, such as soybeans. The objective of this research was to quantify the areas and volumes of water accumulation in soil as a function of the slope of land leveling. Five typical leveled lowland areas were studied as a part of this research. The original areas presented slopes of 0, 0.20, 0.25, 0.28 and 0.40%, which were used to generate new digital elevation models with slopes between 0 and 0.5%. These newly generated digital models were used to map the depressions with surface water storage. In conclusion, land leveling with slopes higher than 0.1% is recommended to minimize problems with superficial water storage in rice fields.

On the effect of systematic errors in near real time accountancy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avenhaus, R.

1987-01-01

Systematic measurement errors have a decisive impact on nuclear materials accountancy. This has been demonstrated at various occasions for a fixed number of inventory periods, i.e. for situations where the overall probability of detection is taken as the measure of effectiveness. In the framework of Near Real Time Accountancy (NRTA), however, such analyses have not yet been performed. In this paper sequential test procedures are considered which are based on the so-called MUF-Residuals. It is shown that, if the decision maker does not know the systematic error variance, the average run lengths tend towards infinity if this variance is equal or longer than that of the random error. Furthermore, if the decision maker knows this invariance, the average run length for constant loss or diversion is not shorter than that without loss or diversion. These results cast some doubt on the present practice of data evaluation where systematic errors are tacitly assumed to persist for an infinite time. In fact, information about the time dependence of the variances of these errors has to be gathered in order that the efficiency of NRTA evaluation methods can be estimated realistically

Modeling coherent errors in quantum error correction

Science.gov (United States)

Greenbaum, Daniel; Dutton, Zachary

2018-01-01

Analysis of quantum error correcting codes is typically done using a stochastic, Pauli channel error model for describing the noise on physical qubits. However, it was recently found that coherent errors (systematic rotations) on physical data qubits result in both physical and logical error rates that differ significantly from those predicted by a Pauli model. Here we examine the accuracy of the Pauli approximation for noise containing coherent errors (characterized by a rotation angle ɛ) under the repetition code. We derive an analytic expression for the logical error channel as a function of arbitrary code distance d and concatenation level n, in the small error limit. We find that coherent physical errors result in logical errors that are partially coherent and therefore non-Pauli. However, the coherent part of the logical error is negligible at fewer than {ε }-({dn-1)} error correction cycles when the decoder is optimized for independent Pauli errors, thus providing a regime of validity for the Pauli approximation. Above this number of correction cycles, the persistent coherent logical error will cause logical failure more quickly than the Pauli model would predict, and this may need to be combated with coherent suppression methods at the physical level or larger codes.

New possibilities for slope stability assessment of spoil banks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Radl, A [Palivovy Kombinat, Vresova (Czechoslovakia)

1991-03-01

Discusses problems associated with slope stability of spoil banks consisting of sedimentary rocks from brown coal surface mining. Effects of rock physical properties on slope stability are analyzed: grain size distribution, compression strength, moisture content, angle of internal friction, etc. Mechanism of plastic slope deformation which occurs during a landslide is evaluated. Formulae for calculating slope stability considering stress distribution in a spoil bank (including all the main factors that influence stresses) are derived. Practical use of the gamma-gamma logging and logging schemes used in geodetic surveys of unstable spoil banks in Czechoslovakia (the Vintirov spoil bank in the Sokolov brown coal district) are discussed. 5 refs.

3D geodetic monitoring slope deformations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weiss Gabriel

1996-06-01

Full Text Available For plenty of slope failures that can be found in Slovakia is necessary and very important their geodetic monitoring (because of their activity, reactivisations, checks. The paper gives new methodologies for these works, using 3D terrestrial survey technologies for measurements in convenient deformation networks. The design of an optimal type of deformation model for various kinds of landslides and their exact processing with an efficient testing procedure to determine the kinematics of the slope deformations are presented too.

Direction of Auditory Pitch-Change Influences Visual Search for Slope From Graphs.

Science.gov (United States)

Parrott, Stacey; Guzman-Martinez, Emmanuel; Orte, Laura; Grabowecky, Marcia; Huntington, Mark D; Suzuki, Satoru

2015-01-01

Linear trend (slope) is important information conveyed by graphs. We investigated how sounds influenced slope detection in a visual search paradigm. Four bar graphs or scatter plots were presented on each trial. Participants looked for a positive-slope or a negative-slope target (in blocked trials), and responded to targets in a go or no-go fashion. For example, in a positive-slope-target block, the target graph displayed a positive slope while other graphs displayed negative slopes (a go trial), or all graphs displayed negative slopes (a no-go trial). When an ascending or descending sound was presented concurrently, ascending sounds slowed detection of negative-slope targets whereas descending sounds slowed detection of positive-slope targets. The sounds had no effect when they immediately preceded the visual search displays, suggesting that the results were due to crossmodal interaction rather than priming. The sounds also had no effect when targets were words describing slopes, such as "positive," "negative," "increasing," or "decreasing," suggesting that the results were unlikely due to semantic-level interactions. Manipulations of spatiotemporal similarity between sounds and graphs had little effect. These results suggest that ascending and descending sounds influence visual search for slope based on a general association between the direction of auditory pitch-change and visual linear trend.

GB-InSAR monitoring of slope deformations in a mountainous area affected by debris flow events

Science.gov (United States)

Frodella, William; Salvatici, Teresa; Pazzi, Veronica; Morelli, Stefano; Fanti, Riccardo

2017-10-01

Diffuse and severe slope instabilities affected the whole Veneto region (north-eastern Italy) between 31 October and 2 November 2010, following a period of heavy and persistent rainfall. In this context, on 4 November 2010 a large detrital mass detached from the cover of the Mt. Rotolon deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD), located in the upper Agno River valley, channelizing within the Rotolon Creek riverbed and evolving into a highly mobile debris flow. The latter phenomena damaged many hydraulic works, also threatening bridges, local roads, and the residents of the Maltaure, Turcati, and Parlati villages located along the creek banks and the town of Recoaro Terme. From the beginning of the emergency phase, the civil protection system was activated, involving the National Civil Protection Department, Veneto Region, and local administrations' personnel and technicians, as well as scientific institutions. On 8 December 2010 a local-scale monitoring system, based on a ground-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (GB-InSAR), was implemented in order to evaluate the slope deformation pattern evolution in correspondence of the debris flow detachment sector, with the final aim of assessing the landslide residual risk and managing the emergency phase. This paper describes the results of a 2-year GB-InSAR monitoring campaign (December 2010-December 2012) and its application for monitoring, mapping, and emergency management activities in order to provide a rapid and easy communication of the results to the involved technicians and civil protection personnel, for a better understanding of the landslide phenomena and the decision-making process in a critical landslide scenario.

How hydrological factors initiate instability in a model sandy slope

OpenAIRE

Terajima, Tomomi; Miyahira, Ei-ichiro; Miyajima, Hiroyuki; Ochiai, Hirotaka; Hattori, Katsumi

2013-01-01

Knowledge of the mechanisms of rain-induced shallow landslides can improve the prediction of their occurrence and mitigate subsequent sediment disasters. Here, we examine an artificial slope's subsurface hydrology and propose a new slope stability analysis that includes seepage force and the down-slope transfer of excess shear forces. We measured pore water pressure and volumetric water content immediately prior to a shallow landslide on an artificial sandy slope of 32°: The direction of the ...

Performance of muon reconstruction including Alignment Position Errors for 2016 Collision Data

CERN Document Server

CMS Collaboration

2016-01-01

From 2016 Run muon reconstruction is using non-zero Alignment Position Errors to account for the residual uncertainties of muon chambers' positions. Significant improvements are obtained in particular for the startup phase after opening/closing the muon detector. Performance results are presented for real data and MC simulations, related to both the offline reconstruction and the High-Level Trigger.

Residual stress measurement in a metal microdevice by micro Raman spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Chang; Du, Liqun; Qi, Leijie; Li, Yu; Li, Xiaojun; Li, Yuanqi

2017-01-01

Large residual stress induced during the electroforming process cannot be ignored to fabricate reliable metal microdevices. Accurate measurement is the basis for studying the residual stress. Influenced by the topological feature size of micron scale in the metal microdevice, residual stress in it can hardly be measured by common methods. In this manuscript, a methodology is proposed to measure the residual stress in the metal microdevice using micro Raman spectroscopy (MRS). To estimate the residual stress in metal materials, micron sized β -SiC particles were mixed in the electroforming solution for codeposition. First, the calculated expression relating the Raman shifts to the induced biaxial stress for β -SiC was derived based on the theory of phonon deformation potentials and Hooke’s law. Corresponding micro electroforming experiments were performed and the residual stress in Ni–SiC composite layer was both measured by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and MRS methods. Then, the validity of the MRS measurements was verified by comparing with the residual stress measured by XRD method. The reliability of the MRS method was further validated by the statistical student’s t -test. The MRS measurements were found to have no systematic error in comparison with the XRD measurements, which confirm that the residual stresses measured by the MRS method are reliable. Besides that, the MRS method, by which the residual stress in a micro inertial switch was measured, has been confirmed to be a convincing experiment tool for estimating the residual stress in metal microdevice with micron order topological feature size. (paper)

Residual stress measurement in a metal microdevice by micro Raman spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Chang; Du, Liqun; Qi, Leijie; Li, Yu; Li, Xiaojun; Li, Yuanqi

2017-10-01

Large residual stress induced during the electroforming process cannot be ignored to fabricate reliable metal microdevices. Accurate measurement is the basis for studying the residual stress. Influenced by the topological feature size of micron scale in the metal microdevice, residual stress in it can hardly be measured by common methods. In this manuscript, a methodology is proposed to measure the residual stress in the metal microdevice using micro Raman spectroscopy (MRS). To estimate the residual stress in metal materials, micron sized β-SiC particles were mixed in the electroforming solution for codeposition. First, the calculated expression relating the Raman shifts to the induced biaxial stress for β-SiC was derived based on the theory of phonon deformation potentials and Hooke’s law. Corresponding micro electroforming experiments were performed and the residual stress in Ni-SiC composite layer was both measured by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and MRS methods. Then, the validity of the MRS measurements was verified by comparing with the residual stress measured by XRD method. The reliability of the MRS method was further validated by the statistical student’s t-test. The MRS measurements were found to have no systematic error in comparison with the XRD measurements, which confirm that the residual stresses measured by the MRS method are reliable. Besides that, the MRS method, by which the residual stress in a micro inertial switch was measured, has been confirmed to be a convincing experiment tool for estimating the residual stress in metal microdevice with micron order topological feature size.

Errors in causal inference: an organizational schema for systematic error and random error.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Etsuji; Tsuda, Toshihide; Mitsuhashi, Toshiharu; Mansournia, Mohammad Ali; Yamamoto, Eiji

2016-11-01

To provide an organizational schema for systematic error and random error in estimating causal measures, aimed at clarifying the concept of errors from the perspective of causal inference. We propose to divide systematic error into structural error and analytic error. With regard to random error, our schema shows its four major sources: nondeterministic counterfactuals, sampling variability, a mechanism that generates exposure events and measurement variability. Structural error is defined from the perspective of counterfactual reasoning and divided into nonexchangeability bias (which comprises confounding bias and selection bias) and measurement bias. Directed acyclic graphs are useful to illustrate this kind of error. Nonexchangeability bias implies a lack of "exchangeability" between the selected exposed and unexposed groups. A lack of exchangeability is not a primary concern of measurement bias, justifying its separation from confounding bias and selection bias. Many forms of analytic errors result from the small-sample properties of the estimator used and vanish asymptotically. Analytic error also results from wrong (misspecified) statistical models and inappropriate statistical methods. Our organizational schema is helpful for understanding the relationship between systematic error and random error from a previously less investigated aspect, enabling us to better understand the relationship between accuracy, validity, and precision. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How to Avoid Errors in Error Propagation: Prediction Intervals and Confidence Intervals in Forest Biomass

Science.gov (United States)

Lilly, P.; Yanai, R. D.; Buckley, H. L.; Case, B. S.; Woollons, R. C.; Holdaway, R. J.; Johnson, J.

2016-12-01

Calculations of forest biomass and elemental content require many measurements and models, each contributing uncertainty to the final estimates. While sampling error is commonly reported, based on replicate plots, error due to uncertainty in the regression used to estimate biomass from tree diameter is usually not quantified. Some published estimates of uncertainty due to the regression models have used the uncertainty in the prediction of individuals, ignoring uncertainty in the mean, while others have propagated uncertainty in the mean while ignoring individual variation. Using the simple case of the calcium concentration of sugar maple leaves, we compare the variation among individuals (the standard deviation) to the uncertainty in the mean (the standard error) and illustrate the declining importance in the prediction of individual concentrations as the number of individuals increases. For allometric models, the analogous statistics are the prediction interval (or the residual variation in the model fit) and the confidence interval (describing the uncertainty in the best fit model). The effect of propagating these two sources of error is illustrated using the mass of sugar maple foliage. The uncertainty in individual tree predictions was large for plots with few trees; for plots with 30 trees or more, the uncertainty in individuals was less important than the uncertainty in the mean. Authors of previously published analyses have reanalyzed their data to show the magnitude of these two sources of uncertainty in scales ranging from experimental plots to entire countries. The most correct analysis will take both sources of uncertainty into account, but for practical purposes, country-level reports of uncertainty in carbon stocks, as required by the IPCC, can ignore the uncertainty in individuals. Ignoring the uncertainty in the mean will lead to exaggerated estimates of confidence in estimates of forest biomass and carbon and nutrient contents.

[Analysis of related factors of slope plant hyperspectral remote sensing].

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Wei-Qi; Zhao, Yun-Sheng; Tu, Lin-Ling

2014-09-01

In the present paper, the slope gradient, aspect, detection zenith angle and plant types were analyzed. In order to strengthen the theoretical discussion, the research was under laboratory condition, and modeled uniform slope for slope plant. Through experiments we found that these factors indeed have influence on plant hyperspectral remote sensing. When choosing slope gradient as the variate, the blade reflection first increases and then decreases as the slope gradient changes from 0° to 36°; When keeping other factors constant, and only detection zenith angle increasing from 0° to 60°, the spectral characteristic of slope plants do not change significantly in visible light band, but decreases gradually in near infrared band; With only slope aspect changing, when the dome meets the light direction, the blade reflectance gets maximum, and when the dome meets the backlit direction, the blade reflectance gets minimum, furthermore, setting the line of vertical intersection of incidence plane and the dome as an axis, the reflectance on the axis's both sides shows symmetric distribution; In addition, spectral curves of different plant types have a lot differences between each other, which means that the plant types also affect hyperspectral remote sensing results of slope plants. This research breaks through the limitations of the traditional vertical remote sensing data collection and uses the multi-angle and hyperspectral information to analyze spectral characteristics of slope plants. So this research has theoretical significance to the development of quantitative remote sensing, and has application value to the plant remote sensing monitoring.

Stability of sulfur slopes on Io

Science.gov (United States)

Clow, G. D.; Carr, M. H.

1980-01-01

The mechanical properties of elemental sulfur are such that the upper crust of Io cannot be primarily sulfur. For heat flows in the range 100-1000 ergs/sq cm sec sulfur becomes ductile within several hundred meters of the surface and would prevent the formation of calderas with depths greater than this. However, the one caldera for which precise depth data are available is 2 km deep, and this value may be typical. A study of the mechanical equilibrium of simple slopes shows that the depth to the zone of rapid ductile flow strongly controls the maximum heights for sulfur slopes. Sulfur scarps with heights greater than 1 km will fail for all heat flows greater than 180 ergs/sq cm sec and slope angles greater than 22.5 deg. The observed relief on Io is inconsistent with that anticipated for a predominantly sulfur crust. However, a silicate crust with several percent sulfur included satisfies both the mechanical constraints and the observed presence of sulfur on Io.

A New Method to Detect and Correct the Critical Errors and Determine the Software-Reliability in Critical Software-System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krini, Ossmane; Börcsök, Josef

2012-01-01

In order to use electronic systems comprising of software and hardware components in safety related and high safety related applications, it is necessary to meet the Marginal risk numbers required by standards and legislative provisions. Existing processes and mathematical models are used to verify the risk numbers. On the hardware side, various accepted mathematical models, processes, and methods exist to provide the required proof. To this day, however, there are no closed models or mathematical procedures known that allow for a dependable prediction of software reliability. This work presents a method that makes a prognosis on the residual critical error number in software. Conventional models lack this ability and right now, there are no methods that forecast critical errors. The new method will show that an estimate of the residual error number of critical errors in software systems is possible by using a combination of prediction models, a ratio of critical errors, and the total error number. Subsequently, the critical expected value-function at any point in time can be derived from the new solution method, provided the detection rate has been calculated using an appropriate estimation method. Also, the presented method makes it possible to make an estimate on the critical failure rate. The approach is modelled on a real process and therefore describes two essential processes - detection and correction process.

Residual nilpotence and residual solubility of groups

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikhailov, R V

2005-01-01

The properties of the residual nilpotence and the residual solubility of groups are studied. The main objects under investigation are the class of residually nilpotent groups such that each central extension of these groups is also residually nilpotent and the class of residually soluble groups such that each Abelian extension of these groups is residually soluble. Various examples of groups not belonging to these classes are constructed by homological methods and methods of the theory of modules over group rings. Several applications of the theory under consideration are presented and problems concerning the residual nilpotence of one-relator groups are considered.

New knowledge on the temperature-entropy saturation boundary slope of working fluids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Su, Wen; Zhao, Li; Deng, Shuai

2017-01-01

The slope of temperature-entropy saturation boundary of working fluids has a significant effect on the thermodynamic performance of cycle processes. However, for the working fluids used in cycles, few studies have been conducted to analyze the saturated slope from the molecular structure and mixture composition. Thus, in this contribution, an analytical expression on the slope of saturated curve is obtained based on the highly accurate Helmholtz energy equation. 14 pure working fluids and three typical binary mixtures are employed to analyze the influence of molecular groups and mixture compositions on the saturated slope, according to the correlated parameters of Helmholtz energy equation. Based on the calculated results, a preliminary trend is demonstrated that with an increase of the number of molecular groups, the positive liquid slope of pure fluids increases and the vapor slope appears positive sign in a narrow temperature range. Particularly, for the binary mixtures, the liquid slope is generally located between the corresponding pure fluids', while the vapor slope can be infinity by mixing dry and wet fluids ingeniously. It can be proved through the analysis of mixtures' saturated slope that three types of vapor slope could be obtained by regulating the mixture composition. - Highlights: • The saturated slope is derived from the Helmholtz function for working fluids. • The effect of molecular structure on the saturated slope is analyzed. • The variation of saturated slope with the mixture composition is investigated.

Western Slope Colorado

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Epis, R.C.; Callender, J.F.

1981-01-01

A conference on the geology and geologic resources of the Western Slope of western Colorado and eastern Utah is presented. Fourteen papers from the conference have been abstracted and indexed for the Department of Energy's Energy Data Base. These papers covered such topics as uranium resources, oil shale deposits, coal resources, oil and gas resources, and geothermal resources of the area

Slope wavenumber spectrum models of capillary and capillary-gravity waves

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

贾永君; 张杰; 王岩峰

2010-01-01

Capillary and capillary-gravity waves possess a random character, and the slope wavenumber spectra of them can be used to represent mean distributions of wave energy with respect to spatial scale of variability. But simple and practical models of the slope wavenumber spectra have not been put forward so far. In this article, we address the accurate definition of the slope wavenumber spectra of water surface capillary and capillary-gravity waves. By combining the existing slope wavenumber models and using th...

An emerging methodology of slope hazard assessment for natural gas pipelines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Z.J.; O' Neil, G.; Rizkalla, M. [TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada)

2000-07-01

A new slope assessment methodology has been developed by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. in an effort to switch from a reactive to a proactive hazard management approach and to optimize maintenance expenditure. The company operates 37,000 km of natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines, portions of which traverse slopes and stream crossings. The newly developed rainfall-ground movement model provides site-specific ground movement predictions for approximately 1100 slopes and establishes a risk-ranked list of slopes upon which maintenance decisions can be based. The input to the predictive model is derived from internal and public information regarding site conditions. This information serves as input to a pipe-soil interaction model to determine the probability of pipeline failure for each slope. The ground movement for this model is limited to creep-type which is typically less than 100 mm per year. Landslides are not addressed in this paper. A system-wide database has been constructed for slopes to prioritize the slope movement hazards. The slope information includes geotechnical data such as bedrock geology, surficial geology, slope details, precipitation and erosion potential. Information related to the pipeline includes the location, age, size, as well as design pressure and temperature. 13 refs., 2 figs.

Engineering and Design: Characterization and Measurement of Discontinuities in Rock Slopes

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1983-01-01

This ETL provides guidance for characterizing and measuring rock discontinuities on natural slopes or slopes constructed in rock above reservoirs, darn abutments, or other types of constructed slopes...

Analysis of ionospheric structure influences on residual ionospheric errors in GNSS radio occultation bending angles based on ray tracing simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Congliang; Kirchengast, Gottfried; Sun, Yueqiang; Zhang, Kefei; Norman, Robert; Schwaerz, Marc; Bai, Weihua; Du, Qifei; Li, Ying

2018-04-01

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) technique is widely used to observe the atmosphere for applications such as numerical weather prediction and global climate monitoring. The ionosphere is a major error source to RO at upper stratospheric altitudes, and a linear dual-frequency bending angle correction is commonly used to remove the first-order ionospheric effect. However, the higher-order residual ionospheric error (RIE) can still be significant, so it needs to be further mitigated for high-accuracy applications, especially from 35 km altitude upward, where the RIE is most relevant compared to the decreasing magnitude of the atmospheric bending angle. In a previous study we quantified RIEs using an ensemble of about 700 quasi-realistic end-to-end simulated RO events, finding typical RIEs at the 0.1 to 0.5 µrad noise level, but were left with 26 exceptional events with anomalous RIEs at the 1 to 10 µrad level that remained unexplained. In this study, we focused on investigating the causes of the high RIE of these exceptional events, employing detailed along-ray-path analyses of atmospheric and ionospheric refractivities, impact parameter changes, and bending angles and RIEs under asymmetric and symmetric ionospheric structures. We found that the main causes of the high RIEs are a combination of physics-based effects - where asymmetric ionospheric conditions play the primary role, more than the ionization level driven by solar activity - and technical ray tracer effects due to occasions of imperfect smoothness in ionospheric refractivity model derivatives. We also found that along-ray impact parameter variations of more than 10 to 20 m are possible due to ionospheric asymmetries and, depending on prevailing horizontal refractivity gradients, are positive or negative relative to the initial impact parameter at the GNSS transmitter. Furthermore, mesospheric RIEs are found generally higher than upper-stratospheric ones, likely due to

Drifter observations of the Hebrides slope current and nearby circulation patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Burrows

1999-02-01

Full Text Available The mean flow at and around the Hebrides and Shetland Shelf slope is measured with ARGOS tracked drifters. Forty-two drifters drogued at 50 m were deployed in three circles over the Hebrides slope at 56.15°N in two releases, one on 5th December, 1995 and the second on 5-9th May, 1996. The circles span a distance of some 20 km from water depths of 200 m to 1200 m. Drifters are initially advected poleward along-slope by the Hebrides slope current at between 0.05 and 0.70 m s-1 in a laterally constrained (25-50 km wide jet-like flow. Drifters released in winter remained in the slope current for over 2000 km whilst summer drifters were lost from the slope current beyond the Wyville-Thomson Ridge, a major topographic feature at 60°N. Dispersion from the slope region into deeper waters occurs at bathymetric irregularities, particularly at the Anton Dohrn Seamount close to which the slope current is found to bifurcate, both in summer and winter, and at the Wyville-Thomson Ridge where drifters move into the Faeroe Shetland Channel. Dispersion onto the continental shelf occurs sporadically along the Hebrides slope. The initial dispersion around the Hebrides slope is remarkably sensitive to initial position, most of the drifters released in shallower water moving onto the shelf, whilst those in 1000 m or more are mostly carried away from the slope into deeper water near the Anton Dohrn Seamount. The dispersion coefficients estimated in directions parallel and normal to the local direction of the 500 m contour, approximately the position of the slope current core, are approximately 8.8 × 103 m2 s-1 and 0.36 × 103 m2 s-1, respectively, during winter, and 11.4 × 103 m2 s-1 and 0.36 × 103 m2 s-1, respectively, during summer. At the slope there is a minimum in across-slope mean velocity, Reynolds stress, and across-slope eddy correlations. The mean across-slope velocity associated with mass flux is about 4 × 10-3 m s-1 shelfward across the shelf break

Toxicity of Pb-contaminated soil to Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) and the use of the blood-dietary Pb slope in risk assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, W. Nelson; Chen, Yu; Henry, Paula; May, Thomas; Mosby, David; Rattner, Barnett A.; Shearn-Bochsler, Valerie I.; Sprague, Daniel; Weber, John

2014-01-01

This study relates tissue concentrations and toxic effects of Pb in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) to the dietary exposure of soil-borne Pb associated with mining and smelting. From 0% to 12% contaminated soil, by weight, was added to 5 experimental diets (0.12 to 382 mg Pb/kg, dry wt) and fed to the quail for 6 weeks. Benchmark doses associated with a 50% reduction in delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity were 0.62 mg Pb/kg in the blood, dry wt, and 27 mg Pb/kg in the diet. Benchmark doses associated with a 20% increase in the concentration of erythrocyte protoporphyrin were 2.7 mg Pb/kg in the blood and 152 mg Pb/kg in the diet. The quail showed no other signs of toxicity (histopathological lesions, alterations in plasma–testosterone concentration, and body and organ weights). The relation of the blood Pb concentration to the soil Pb concentration was linear, with a slope of 0.013 mg Pb/kg of blood (dry wt) divided by mg Pb/kg of diet. We suggest that this slope is potentially useful in ecological risk assessments on birds in the same way that the intake slope factor is an important parameter in risk assessments of children exposed to Pb. The slope may also be used in a tissue-residue approach as an additional line of evidence in ecological risk assessment, supplementary to an estimate of hazard based on dietary toxicity reference values.

Hydrological heterogeneity in Mediterranean reclaimed slopes: runoff and sediment yield at the patch and slope scales along a gradient of overland flow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Merino-Martín

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Hydrological heterogeneity is recognized as a fundamental ecosystem attribute in drylands controlling the flux of water and energy through landscapes. Therefore, mosaics of runoff and sediment source patches and sinks are frequently identified in these dry environments. There is a remarkable scarcity of studies about hydrological spatial heterogeneity in restored slopes, where ecological succession and overland flow are interacting. We conducted field research to study the hydrological role of patches and slopes along an "overland flow gradient" (gradient of overland flow routing through the slopes caused by different amounts of run-on coming from upslope in three reclaimed mining slopes of Mediterranean-continental climate. We found that runoff generation and routing in non-rilled slopes showed a pattern of source and sink areas of runoff. Such hydrological microenvironments were associated with seven vegetation patches (characterized by plant community types and cover. Two types of sink patches were identified: shrub Genista scorpius patches could be considered as "deep sinks", while patches where the graminoids Brachypodium retusum and Lolium perenne dominate were classified as "surface sinks" or "runoff splays". A variety of source patches were also identified spanning from "extreme sources" (Medicago sativa patches; equivalent to bare soil to "poor sources" (areas scattered by dwarf-shrubs of Thymus vulgaris or herbaceous tussocks of Dactylis glomerata. Finally, we identified the volume of overland flow routing along the slope as a major controlling factor of "hydrological diversity" (heterogeneity of hydrological behaviours quantified as Shannon diversity index: when overland flow increases at the slope scale hydrological diversity diminishes.

A study of three-dimensional gravity currents on a uniform slope

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Andrew N.; Linden, P. F.; Dalziel, Stuart B.

2002-02-01

In many geophysical, environmental and industrial situations, a finite volume of fluid with a density different to the ambient is released on a sloping boundary. This leads to the formation of a gravity current travelling up, down and across the slope. We present novel laboratory experiments in which the dense fluid spreads both down-slope (and initially up-slope) and laterally across the slope. The position, shape and dilution of the current are determined through video and conductivity measurements for moderate slopes (5° to 20°). The entrainment coefficient for different slopes is calculated from the experimental results and is found to depend very little on the slope. The value agrees well with previously published values for entrainment into gravity currents on a horizontal surface. The experimental measurements are compared with previous shallow-water models and with a new wedge integral model developed and presented here. It is concluded that these simplified models do not capture all the significant features of the flow. In the models, the current takes the form of a wedge which travels down the slope, but the experiments show the formation of a more complicated current. It is found that the wedge integral model over-predicts the length and width of the gravity current but gives fair agreement with the measured densities in the head. The initial stages of the flow, during which time the wedge shape develops, are studied. It is found that although the influence of the slope is seen relatively quickly for moderate slopes, the time taken for the wedge to develop is much longer. The implications of these findings for safety analysis are briefly discussed.

Potential Risk Assessment of Mountain Torrent Disasters on Sloping Fields in China

Science.gov (United States)

GAO, X.

2017-12-01

China's sloping fields have the problems of low production and serious soil erosion, and mountain torrent disasters will bring more serious soil and water loss to traditional extensive exploitation of sloping field resources. In this paper, China's sloping fields were classified into three grades, such as slightly steep, steep and very steep grade. According to the geological hazards prevention and control regulation, the historical data of China's mountain torrent disasters were spatially interpolated and divided into five classes, such as extremely low, low, middle, high and extremely high level. And the risk level map of mountain torrents was finished in ArcGIS. By using overlaying analysis on sloping fields and risk level map, the potential risk regionalization map of sloping fields in various slope grades was obtained finally. The results shows that the very steep and steep sloping fields are mainly distributed in the first or second stage terraces in China. With the increase of hazard risk level, the area of sloping fields decreases rapidly and the sloping fields in extremely low and low risk levels of mountain torrents reach 98.9%. With the increase of slope grade, the area of sloping fields in various risk levels also declines sharply. The sloping fields take up approximately 60 65% and 26 30% in slightly steep and steep grade areas separately at different risk level. The risk regionalization map can provide effective information for returning farmland to forests or grassland and reducing water and soil erosion of sloping fields in the future.

Modelling vertical error in LiDAR-derived digital elevation models

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilar, Fernando J.; Mills, Jon P.; Delgado, Jorge; Aguilar, Manuel A.; Negreiros, J. G.; Pérez, José L.

2010-01-01

A hybrid theoretical-empirical model has been developed for modelling the error in LiDAR-derived digital elevation models (DEMs) of non-open terrain. The theoretical component seeks to model the propagation of the sample data error (SDE), i.e. the error from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data capture of ground sampled points in open terrain, towards interpolated points. The interpolation methods used for infilling gaps may produce a non-negligible error that is referred to as gridding error. In this case, interpolation is performed using an inverse distance weighting (IDW) method with the local support of the five closest neighbours, although it would be possible to utilize other interpolation methods. The empirical component refers to what is known as "information loss". This is the error purely due to modelling the continuous terrain surface from only a discrete number of points plus the error arising from the interpolation process. The SDE must be previously calculated from a suitable number of check points located in open terrain and assumes that the LiDAR point density was sufficiently high to neglect the gridding error. For model calibration, data for 29 study sites, 200×200 m in size, belonging to different areas around Almeria province, south-east Spain, were acquired by means of stereo photogrammetric methods. The developed methodology was validated against two different LiDAR datasets. The first dataset used was an Ordnance Survey (OS) LiDAR survey carried out over a region of Bristol in the UK. The second dataset was an area located at Gador mountain range, south of Almería province, Spain. Both terrain slope and sampling density were incorporated in the empirical component through the calibration phase, resulting in a very good agreement between predicted and observed data (R2 = 0.9856 ; p reasonably good fit to the predicted errors. Even better results were achieved in the more rugged morphology of the Gador mountain range dataset. The findings

Adriatic storm surges and related cross-basin sea-level slope

Science.gov (United States)

Međugorac, Iva; Orlić, Mirko; Janeković, Ivica; Pasarić, Zoran; Pasarić, Miroslava

2018-05-01

Storm surges pose a severe threat to the northernmost cities of the Adriatic coast, with Venice being most prone to flooding. It has been noted that some flooding episodes cause significantly different effects along the eastern and western Adriatic coasts, with indications that the difference is related to cross-basin sea-level slope. The present study aims to determine specific atmospheric conditions under which the slope develops and to explore connection with increased sea level along the two coastlines. The analysis is based on sea-level time series recorded at Venice and Bakar over the 1984-2014 interval, from which 38 most intensive storm-surge episodes were selected, and their meteorological backgrounds (ERA-Interim) were studied. The obtained sea-level extremes were grouped into three categories according to their cross-basin sea-level slope: storm surges that slope strongly westward (W type), those that slope eastward (E type) and ordinary storm surges (O type). Results show that the slope is controlled by wind action only, specifically, by the wind component towards a particular coast and by the cross-basin shear of along-basin wind. Meteorological fields were used to force an oceanographic numerical model in order to confirm the empirically established connection between the atmospheric forcing and the slope. Finally, it has been found that the intensity of storm surges along a particular Adriatic coast is determined by an interplay of sea-level slopes in the along and cross-basin directions.

Slope instability in the Bastardo Basin (Umbria, Central Italy – The landslide of Barattano

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Cencetti

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The Bastardo Basin is one of the classics Apenninic intermontane basins of central Italy. They are en-closed tectonic basins (graben and semigraben with high anthropization, but with high vulnerability, too (seismic, hydrogeological and geomorphological. The paper concerns some aspects about slope instability in the Bastardo Basin as part of a wider research, which aims to actually define the characteristics of the liability to landslides of the Apenninic intermontane basins. In particular lithological, stratigraphical and hydrogeological conditions are analysed under which a landslide near village of Barattano has developed. This mass movement, at different times, produced partial or total occlusion of the torrent Puglia. Here geognostic investigations together with laboratory tests and subsequent monitoring of landslide area were carried out.  A back analysis, based on limit equilibrium solutions for the factor of safety of the slope, provided the residual strenght properties of the soil mass along the sliding surface.   The landslide of Barattano is representative of a very frequent situation (in terms of type, factors and causes of the movement, possible development of the movement not only within Bastardo Basin, but in general within Apenninic intermontane basins, too.  The study of landslide and the design of appropriate remedial measures are of great importance in terms of prevention and mitigation of geologic-hydraulic risk in Apenninic intermontane basins.

New error calibration tests for gravity models using subset solutions and independent data - Applied to GEM-T3

Science.gov (United States)

Lerch, F. J.; Nerem, R. S.; Chinn, D. S.; Chan, J. C.; Patel, G. B.; Klosko, S. M.

1993-01-01

A new method has been developed to provide a direct test of the error calibrations of gravity models based on actual satellite observations. The basic approach projects the error estimates of the gravity model parameters onto satellite observations, and the results of these projections are then compared with data residual computed from the orbital fits. To allow specific testing of the gravity error calibrations, subset solutions are computed based on the data set and data weighting of the gravity model. The approach is demonstrated using GEM-T3 to show that the gravity error estimates are well calibrated and that reliable predictions of orbit accuracies can be achieved for independent orbits.

QRS slopes for assessment of myocardial damage in chronic chagasic patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pueyo, E; Laciar, E; Anzuola, E; Laguna, P; Jane, R

2007-01-01

In this study the slopes of the QRS complex are evaluated for determination of the degree of myocardial damage in chronic chagasic patients. Previous studies have demonstrated the ability of the slope indices to reflect alterations in the conduction velocity of the cardiac impulse. Results obtained in the present study show that chronic chagasic patients have significantly flatter QRS slopes as compared to healthy subjects. Not only that but the extent of slope lessening turns out to be proportional to the degree of myocardial damage caused by the disease. Additionally, when incorporating the slope indices into a classification analysis together with other indices indicative of the presence of ventricular late potentials obtained from high resolution electrocardiography, results show that the percentages of correct classification increase up to 62.5%, which means eight points above the percentages obtained prior to incorporation of the slope indices. It can be concluded that QRS slopes have great potential for assessing the degree of severity associated with Chagas' disease

Slope Stability of Geosynthetic Clay Liner Test Plots

Science.gov (United States)

Fourteen full-scale field test plots containing five types of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) were constructed on 2H:IV and 3H:IV slopes for the purpose of assessing slope stability. The test plots were designed to simulate typical final cover systems for landfill. Slides occurr...

Assessment of rock mass decay in artificial slopes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huisman, M.

2006-01-01

This research investigates the decay of rock masses underlying slopes, and seeks to quantify the relations of such decay with time and geotechnical parameters of the slope and rock mass. Decay can greatly affect the geotechnical properties of rocks within engineering timescales, and may induce a

Adaptive slope compensation for high bandwidth digital current mode controller

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Taeed, Fazel; Nymand, Morten

2015-01-01

An adaptive slope compensation method for digital current mode control of dc-dc converters is proposed in this paper. The compensation slope is used for stabilizing the inner current loop in peak current mode control. In this method, the compensation slope is adapted with the variations...... in converter duty cycle. The adaptive slope compensation provides optimum controller operation in term of bandwidth over wide range of operating points. In this paper operation principle of the controller is discussed. The proposed controller is implemented in an FPGA to control a 100 W buck converter...

Effect of Tracking Error of Double-Axis Tracking Device on the Optical Performance of Solar Dish Concentrator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Yan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a flux distribution model of the focal plane in dish concentrator system has been established based on ray tracking method. This model was adopted for researching the influence of the mirror slope error, solar direct normal irradiance, and tracking error of elevation-azimuth tracking device (EATD on the focal spot characteristics (i.e., flux distribution, geometrical shape, centroid position, and intercept factor. The tracking error transmission law of the EATD transferred to dish concentrator was also studied. The results show that the azimuth tracking error of the concentrator decreases with the increase of the concentrator elevation angle and it decreases to 0 mrad when the elevation angle is 90°. The centroid position of focal spot along x-axis and y-axis has linear relationship with azimuth and elevation tracking error of EATD, respectively, which could be used to evaluate and calibrate the tracking error of the dish concentrator. Finally, the transmission law of the EATD azimuth tracking error in solar heliostats is analyzed, and a dish concentrator using a spin-elevation tracking device is proposed, which can reduce the effect of spin tracking error on the dish concentrator. This work could provide fundamental for manufacturing precision allocation of tracking devices and developing a new type of tracking device.

Submarine slope failures due to pipe structure formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Elger, Judith; Berndt, Christian; Rüpke, Lars; Krastel, Sebastian; Gross, Felix; Geissler, Wolfram H

2018-02-19

There is a strong spatial correlation between submarine slope failures and the occurrence of gas hydrates. This has been attributed to the dynamic nature of gas hydrate systems and the potential reduction of slope stability due to bottom water warming or sea level drop. However, 30 years of research into this process found no solid supporting evidence. Here we present new reflection seismic data from the Arctic Ocean and numerical modelling results supporting a different link between hydrates and slope stability. Hydrates reduce sediment permeability and cause build-up of overpressure at the base of the gas hydrate stability zone. Resulting hydro-fracturing forms pipe structures as pathways for overpressured fluids to migrate upward. Where these pipe structures reach shallow permeable beds, this overpressure transfers laterally and destabilises the slope. This process reconciles the spatial correlation of submarine landslides and gas hydrate, and it is independent of environmental change and water depth.

Slope stability probability classification, Waikato Coal Measures, New Zealand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lindsay, P.; Gillard, G.R.; Moore, T.A. [CRL Energy, PO Box 29-415, Christchurch (New Zealand); Campbell, R.N.; Fergusson, D.A. [Solid Energy North, Private Bag 502, Huntly (New Zealand)

2001-01-01

Ferm classified lithological units have been identified and described in the Waikato Coal Measures in open pits in the Waikato coal region. These lithological units have been classified geotechnically by mechanical tests and discontinuity measurements. Using these measurements slope stability probability classifications (SSPC) have been quantified based on an adaptation of Hack's [Slope Stability Probability Classification, ITC Delft Publication, Enschede, Netherlands, vol. 43, 1998, 273 pp.] SSPC system, which places less influence on rock quality designation and unconfined compressive strength than previous slope/rock mass rating systems. The Hack weathering susceptibility rating has been modified by using chemical index of alteration values determined from XRF major element analyses. Slaking is an important parameter in slope stability in the Waikato Coal Measures lithologies and hence, a non-subjective method of assessing slaking in relation to the chemical index of alteration has been introduced. Another major component of this adapted SSPC system is the inclusion of rock moisture content effects on slope stability. The main modifications of Hack's SSPC system are the introduction of rock intact strength derived from the modified Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, which has been adapted for varying moisture content, weathering state and confining pressure. It is suggested that the subjectivity in assessing intact rock strength within broad bands in the initial SSPC system is a major weakness of the initial system. Initial results indicate a close relationship between rock mass strength values, calculated from rock mass friction angles and rock mass cohesion values derived from two established rock mass classification methods (modified Hoek-Brown failure criteria and MRMR) and the adapted SSPC system. The advantage of the modified SSPC system is that slope stability probabilities based on discontinuity-independent and discontinuity-dependent data and a

Setup errors and effectiveness of Optical Laser 3D Surface imaging system (Sentinel) in postoperative radiotherapy of breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Xiaobo; Liu, Mengjiao; Ding, Yun; Li, Qilin; Cheng, Changhai; Zong, Xian; Yin, Wenming; Chen, Jie; Gu, Wendong

2018-05-08

Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) plus postoperative radiotherapy has become the standard treatment for early-stage breast cancer. The aim of this study was to compare the setup accuracy of optical surface imaging by the Sentinel system with cone-beam computerized tomography (CBCT) imaging currently used in our clinic for patients received BCS. Two optical surface scans were acquired before and immediately after couch movement correction. The correlation between the setup errors as determined by the initial optical surface scan and CBCT was analyzed. The deviation of the second optical surface scan from the reference planning CT was considered an estimate for the residual errors for the new method for patient setup correction. The consequences in terms for necessary planning target volume (PTV) margins for treatment sessions without setup correction applied. We analyzed 145 scans in 27 patients treated for early stage breast cancer. The setup errors of skin marker based patient alignment by optical surface scan and CBCT were correlated, and the residual setup errors as determined by the optical surface scan after couch movement correction were reduced. Optical surface imaging provides a convenient method for improving the setup accuracy for breast cancer patient without unnecessary imaging dose.

Prevention of prescription errors by computerized, on-line, individual patient related surveillance of drug order entry.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliven, A; Zalman, D; Shilankov, Y; Yeshurun, D; Odeh, M

2002-01-01

Computerized prescription of drugs is expected to reduce the number of many preventable drug ordering errors. In the present study we evaluated the usefullness of a computerized drug order entry (CDOE) system in reducing prescription errors. A department of internal medicine using a comprehensive CDOE, which included also patient-related drug-laboratory, drug-disease and drug-allergy on-line surveillance was compared to a similar department in which drug orders were handwritten. CDOE reduced prescription errors to 25-35%. The causes of errors remained similar, and most errors, on both departments, were associated with abnormal renal function and electrolyte balance. Residual errors remaining on the CDOE-using department were due to handwriting on the typed order, failure to feed patients' diseases, and system failures. The use of CDOE was associated with a significant reduction in mean hospital stay and in the number of changes performed in the prescription. The findings of this study both quantity the impact of comprehensive CDOE on prescription errors and delineate the causes for remaining errors.

Drifter observations of the Hebrides slope current and nearby circulation patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Burrows

Full Text Available The mean flow at and around the Hebrides and Shetland Shelf slope is measured with ARGOS tracked drifters. Forty-two drifters drogued at 50 m were deployed in three circles over the Hebrides slope at 56.15°N in two releases, one on 5th December, 1995 and the second on 5-9th May, 1996. The circles span a distance of some 20 km from water depths of 200 m to 1200 m. Drifters are initially advected poleward along-slope by the Hebrides slope current at between 0.05 and 0.70 m s^-1 in a laterally constrained (25-50 km wide jet-like flow. Drifters released in winter remained in the slope current for over 2000 km whilst summer drifters were lost from the slope current beyond the Wyville-Thomson Ridge, a major topographic feature at 60°N. Dispersion from the slope region into deeper waters occurs at bathymetric irregularities, particularly at the Anton Dohrn Seamount close to which the slope current is found to bifurcate, both in summer and winter, and at the Wyville-Thomson Ridge where drifters move into the Faeroe Shetland Channel. Dispersion onto the continental shelf occurs sporadically along the Hebrides slope. The initial dispersion around the Hebrides slope is remarkably sensitive to initial position, most of the drifters released in shallower water moving onto the shelf, whilst those in 1000 m or more are mostly carried away from the slope into deeper water near the Anton Dohrn Seamount. The dispersion coefficients estimated in directions parallel and normal to the local direction of the 500 m contour, approximately the position of the slope current core, are approximately 8.8 × 10³ m² s^-1 and 0.36 × 10³ m² s^-1, respectively, during winter, and 11.4 × 10³ m² s^-1 and 0.36 × 10³ m² s^-1, respectively, during summer. At the slope there is a minimum in across-slope mean velocity, Reynolds stress, and

Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water

Science.gov (United States)

Meijers, A. J. S.; Meredith, M. P.; Abrahamsen, E. P.; Morales Maqueda, M. A.; Jones, D. C.; Naveira Garabato, A. C.

2016-10-01

The export of waters from the Weddell Gyre to lower latitudes is an integral component of the southern subpolar contribution to the three-dimensional oceanic circulation. Here we use more than 20 years of repeat hydrographic data on the continental slope on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and 5 years of bottom lander data on the slope at 1000 m to show the intermittent presence of a relatively cold, fresh, westward flowing current. This is often bottom-intensified between 600 and 2000 dbar with velocities of over 20 cm s-1, transporting an average of 1.5 ± 1.5 Sv. By comparison with hydrography on the continental slope within the Weddell Sea and modeled tracer release experiments we show that this slope current is an extension of the Antarctic Slope Current that has crossed the South Scotia Ridge west of Orkney Plateau. On monthly to interannual time scales the density of the slope current is negatively correlated (r > 0.6 with a significance of over 95%) with eastward wind stress over the northern Weddell Sea, but lagging it by 6-13 months. This relationship holds in both the high temporal resolution bottom lander time series and the 20+ year annual hydrographic occupations and agrees with Weddell Sea export variability observed further east. We compare several alternative hypotheses for this wind stress/export relationship and find that it is most consistent with wind-driven acceleration of the gyre boundary current, possibly modulated by eddy dynamics, and represents a mechanism by which climatic perturbations can be rapidly transmitted as fluctuations in the supply of intermediate-level waters to lower latitudes.

Dynamic and Static Combination Analysis Method of Slope Stability Analysis during Earthquake

OpenAIRE

Liang Lu; Zongjian Wang; Xiaoyuan Huang; Bin Zheng; Katsuhiko Arai

2014-01-01

The results of laboratory model tests for simulating the slope failure due to vibration, including unreinforced slope and the slope reinforced by using geotextile, show that the slope failure occurs when a cumulative plastic displacement exceeds a certain critical value. To overcome the defects of conventional stability analysis, which evaluates the slope characteristics only by its strength parameters, a numerical procedure considering the stiffness and deformation of materials and geosynthe...

Predicting forest height using the GOST, Landsat 7 ETM+, and airborne LiDAR for sloping terrains in the Greater Khingan Mountains of China

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Chengyan; Clevers, Jan G. P. W.; Liu, Xiao; Tian, Xin; Li, Zhouyuan; Li, Zengyuan

2018-03-01

Sloping terrain of forests is an overlooked factor in many models simulating the canopy bidirectional reflectance distribution function, which limits the estimation accuracy of forest vertical structure parameters (e.g., forest height). The primary objective of this study was to predict forest height on sloping terrain over large areas with the Geometric-Optical Model for Sloping Terrains (GOST) using airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and Landsat 7 imagery in the western Greater Khingan Mountains of China. The Sequential Maximum Angle Convex Cone (SMACC) algorithm was used to generate image endmembers and corresponding abundances in Landsat imagery. Then, LiDAR-derived forest metrics, topographical factors and SMACC abundances were used to calibrate and validate the GOST, which aimed to accurately decompose the SMACC mixed forest pixels into sunlit crown, sunlit background and shade components. Finally, the forest height of the study area was retrieved based on a back-propagation neural network and a look-up table. Results showed good performance for coniferous forests on all slopes and at all aspects, with significant coefficients of determination above 0.70 and root mean square errors (RMSEs) between 0.50 m and 1.00 m based on ground observed validation data. Higher RMSEs were found in areas with forest heights below 5 m and above 17 m. For 90% of the forested area, the average RMSE was 3.58 m. Our study demonstrates the tremendous potential of the GOST for quantitative mapping of forest height on sloping terrains with multispectral and LiDAR inputs.

A preliminary pit slope stability study Kvanefjeld, South Greenland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalvig, P.

1983-11-01

On the basis of 1300 field measurements of joint planes, four individual structural regions have been outlined in the Kvanefjeld area. Potential failure planes and planes which are unlikely to be involved in slope failures are identified. Failures seem, not likely to occur on walls dipping SW or NE respectively, but may occur on walls dipping NM. The factors of safety for each region are calculated in order to determine the sensibility of the overall slope to different overall slope angles. The factors of safety does only exceed the required factor of safety of 1.5 in one of the structural regions. Changing the overall pit slope inclination from 55deg to 45deg improves the security, but even still not satisfactorily for two of the regions. At 45deg overall pit slope in parts of the pit implies additional 14.3 x 10 6 tonnes of non-mineralized material to be mined, thus resulting in a total mineralized- to non-mineralized material ratio about 1.0: 1.7. (author)

Influences of Holocene sea level, regional tectonics, and fluvial, gravity and slope currents induced sedimentation on the regional geomorphology of the continental slope off northwestern India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Chauhan, O.S.; Almeida, F.

the Holocene sea level. The Bombay high area has slope breaks between 400 and 600 m, whereas off Saurashtra steep breaks in the slope occur between 560 and 960 m depth. Further southwards, at the slope, elevations and depressions are present. Variations...

Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication PrinciplesJoint Redundant Residue Number Systems and Module Isolation for Mitigating Single Event Multiple Bit Upsets in Datapath

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Lei; Hu, Jianhao

2010-12-01

Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication Principles"Joint Redundant Residue Number Systems and Module Isolation for Mitigating Single Event Multiple Bit Upsets in Datapath"by Lei Li and Jianhao Hu,in the IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, vol.57, no.6, Dec. 2010, pp. 3779-3786After careful and considered review of the content and authorship of this paper by a duly constituted expert committee, this paper has been found to be in violation of IEEE's Publication Principles.This paper contains substantial duplication of original text from the paper cited below. The original text was copied without attribution (including appropriate references to the original author(s) and/or paper title) and without permission.Due to the nature of this violation, reasonable effort should be made to remove all past references to this paper, and future references should be made to the following articles:"Multiple Error Detection and Correction Based on Redundant Residue Number Systems"by Vik Tor Goh and M.U. Siddiqi,in the IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol.56, no.3, March 2008, pp.325-330"A Coding Theory Approach to Error Control in Redundant Residue Number Systems. I: Theory and Single Error Correction"by H. Krishna, K-Y. Lin, and J-D. Sun, in the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Analog and Digital Signal Processing, vol.39, no.1, Jan 1992, pp.8-17In this paper, we propose a joint scheme which combines redundant residue number systems (RRNS) with module isolation (MI) for mitigating single event multiple bit upsets (SEMBUs) in datapath. The proposed hardening scheme employs redundant residues to improve the fault tolerance for datapath and module spacings to guarantee that SEMBUs caused by charge sharing do not propagate among the operation channels of different moduli. The features of RRNS, such as independence, parallel and error correction, are exploited to establish the radiation hardening architecture for the datapath in radiation environments. In the proposed

Effects of topographic data quality on estimates of shallow slope stability using different regolith depth models

Science.gov (United States)

Baum, Rex L.

2017-01-01

Thickness of colluvium or regolith overlying bedrock or other consolidated materials is a major factor in determining stability of unconsolidated earth materials on steep slopes. Many efforts to model spatially distributed slope stability, for example to assess susceptibility to shallow landslides, have relied on estimates of constant thickness, constant depth, or simple models of thickness (or depth) based on slope and other topographic variables. Assumptions of constant depth or thickness rarely give satisfactory results. Geomorphologists have devised a number of different models to represent the spatial variability of regolith depth and applied them to various settings. I have applied some of these models that can be implemented numerically to different study areas with different types of terrain and tested the results against available depth measurements and landslide inventories. The areas include crystalline rocks of the Colorado Front Range, and gently dipping sedimentary rocks of the Oregon Coast Range. Model performance varies with model, terrain type, and with quality of the input topographic data. Steps in contour-derived 10-m digital elevation models (DEMs) introduce significant errors into the predicted distribution of regolith and landslides. Scan lines, facets, and other artifacts further degrade DEMs and model predictions. Resampling to a lower grid-cell resolution can mitigate effects of facets in lidar DEMs of areas where dense forest severely limits ground returns. Due to its higher accuracy and ability to penetrate vegetation, lidar-derived topography produces more realistic distributions of cover and potential landslides than conventional photogrammetrically derived topographic data.

Is there a distinct continental slope fauna in the Antarctic?

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, Stefanie; Griffiths, Huw J.; Barnes, David K. A.; Brandão, Simone N.; Brandt, Angelika; O'Brien, Philip E.

2011-02-01

The Antarctic continental slope spans the depths from the shelf break (usually between 500 and 1000 m) to ˜3000 m, is very steep, overlain by 'warm' (2-2.5 °C) Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW), and life there is poorly studied. This study investigates whether life on Antarctica's continental slope is essentially an extension of the shelf or the abyssal fauna, a transition zone between these or clearly distinct in its own right. Using data from several cruises to the Weddell Sea and Scotia Sea, including the ANDEEP (ANtarctic benthic DEEP-sea biodiversity, colonisation history and recent community patterns) I-III, BIOPEARL (BIOdiversity, Phylogeny, Evolution and Adaptive Radiation of Life in Antarctica) 1 and EASIZ (Ecology of the Antarctic Sea Ice Zone) II cruises as well as current databases (SOMBASE, SCAR-MarBIN), four different taxa were selected (i.e. cheilostome bryozoans, isopod and ostracod crustaceans and echinoid echinoderms) and two areas, the Weddell Sea and the Scotia Sea, to examine faunal composition, richness and affinities. The answer has important ramifications to the link between physical oceanography and ecology, and the potential of the slope to act as a refuge and resupply zone to the shelf during glaciations. Benthic samples were collected using Agassiz trawl, epibenthic sledge and Rauschert sled. By bathymetric definition, these data suggest that despite eurybathy in some of the groups examined and apparent similarity of physical conditions in the Antarctic, the shelf, slope and abyssal faunas were clearly separated in the Weddell Sea. However, no such separation of faunas was apparent in the Scotia Sea (except in echinoids). Using a geomorphological definition of the slope, shelf-slope-abyss similarity only changed significantly in the bryozoans. Our results did not support the presence of a homogenous and unique Antarctic slope fauna despite a high number of species being restricted to the slope. However, it remains the case that there may be

Sun drying of residual annatto seed powder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dyego da Costa Santos

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Residual annatto seeds are waste from bixin extraction in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Most of this by-product is currently discarded; however, the use of these seeds in human foods through the elaboration of powder added to other commercial powders is seen as a viable option. This study aimed at drying of residual annatto powder, with and without the oil layer derived from the industrial extraction of bixin, fitting different mathematical models to experimental data and calculating the effective moisture diffusivity of the samples. Powder containing oil exhibited the shortest drying time, highest drying rate (≈ 5.0 kg kg-1 min-1 and highest effective diffusivity (6.49 × 10-12 m2 s-1. All mathematical models assessed were a suitable representation of the drying kinetics of powders with and without oil, with R2 above 0.99 and root mean square error values lower than 1.0.

VT Lidar Slope (1.6 meter) - 2012 - Addison County

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) This metadata applies to the following collection area(s): Addison County 2012 1.6m and related SLOPE datasets. Created using ArcGIS "SLOPE"...

VT Lidar Slope (1.6 meter) - 2010 - Missisquoi Upper

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) This metadata applies to the following collection area(s): Missisquoi Upper 2010 1.6m and related SLOPE datasets. Created using ArcGIS "SLOPE"...

Error begat error: design error analysis and prevention in social infrastructure projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Love, Peter E D; Lopez, Robert; Edwards, David J; Goh, Yang M

2012-09-01

Design errors contribute significantly to cost and schedule growth in social infrastructure projects and to engineering failures, which can result in accidents and loss of life. Despite considerable research that has addressed their error causation in construction projects they still remain prevalent. This paper identifies the underlying conditions that contribute to design errors in social infrastructure projects (e.g. hospitals, education, law and order type buildings). A systemic model of error causation is propagated and subsequently used to develop a learning framework for design error prevention. The research suggests that a multitude of strategies should be adopted in congruence to prevent design errors from occurring and so ensure that safety and project performance are ameliorated. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Discontinuous Galerkin methods and a posteriori error analysis for heterogenous diffusion problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stephansen, A.F.

2007-12-01

In this thesis we analyse a discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method and two computable a posteriori error estimators for the linear and stationary advection-diffusion-reaction equation with heterogeneous diffusion. The DG method considered, the SWIP method, is a variation of the Symmetric Interior Penalty Galerkin method. The difference is that the SWIP method uses weighted averages with weights that depend on the diffusion. The a priori analysis shows optimal convergence with respect to mesh-size and robustness with respect to heterogeneous diffusion, which is confirmed by numerical tests. Both a posteriori error estimators are of the residual type and control the energy (semi-)norm of the error. Local lower bounds are obtained showing that almost all indicators are independent of heterogeneities. The exception is for the non-conforming part of the error, which has been evaluated using the Oswald interpolator. The second error estimator is sharper in its estimate with respect to the first one, but it is slightly more costly. This estimator is based on the construction of an H(div)-conforming Raviart-Thomas-Nedelec flux using the conservativeness of DG methods. Numerical results show that both estimators can be used for mesh-adaptation. (author)

Simulating the seismic behaviour of soil slopes and embankments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zania, Varvara; Tsompanakis, Yiannis; Psarropoulos, Prodromos

2010-01-01

In the current study the clarification of the main assumptions, related to the two most commonly used methods of seismic slope stability analysis (pseudostatic and permanent deformation) is attempted. The seismic permanent displacements and the corresponding seismic coefficients were determined via...... parametric dynamic numerical analyses taking into account not only the main parameters dominating the seismic slope stability, but also the inherent assumptions of the applied approaches that affect the obtained results. The investigation conclude to a realistic procedure for seismic slope stability...

Robustness for slope stability modelling under deep uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Susana; Holcombe, Liz; Pianosi, Francesca; Wagener, Thorsten

2015-04-01

Landslides can have large negative societal and economic impacts, such as loss of life and damage to infrastructure. However, the ability of slope stability assessment to guide management is limited by high levels of uncertainty in model predictions. Many of these uncertainties cannot be easily quantified, such as those linked to climate change and other future socio-economic conditions, restricting the usefulness of traditional decision analysis tools. Deep uncertainty can be managed more effectively by developing robust, but not necessarily optimal, policies that are expected to perform adequately under a wide range of future conditions. Robust strategies are particularly valuable when the consequences of taking a wrong decision are high as is often the case of when managing natural hazard risks such as landslides. In our work a physically based numerical model of hydrologically induced slope instability (the Combined Hydrology and Stability Model - CHASM) is applied together with robust decision making to evaluate the most important uncertainties (storm events, groundwater conditions, surface cover, slope geometry, material strata and geotechnical properties) affecting slope stability. Specifically, impacts of climate change on long-term slope stability are incorporated, accounting for the deep uncertainty in future climate projections. Our findings highlight the potential of robust decision making to aid decision support for landslide hazard reduction and risk management under conditions of deep uncertainty.

On Front Slope Stability of Berm Breakwaters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burcharth, Hans F.

2013-01-01

The short communication presents application of the conventional Van der Meer stability formula for low-crested breakwaters for the prediction of front slope erosion of statically stable berm breakwaters with relatively high berms. The method is verified (Burcharth, 2008) by comparison...... with the reshaping of a large Norwegian breakwater exposed to the North Sea waves. As a motivation for applying the Van der Meer formula a discussion of design parameters related to berm breakwater stability formulae is given. Comparisons of front erosion predicted by the use of the Van der Meer formula with model...... test results including tests presented in Sigurdarson and Van der Meer (2011) are discussed. A proposal is presented for performance of new model tests with the purpose of developing more accurate formulae for the prediction of front slope erosion as a function of front slope, relative berm height...

The Relationship Between Lithology and Slope Morphology in the Tucson Mountains, Arizona.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamel Khanchoul

2008-05-01

Full Text Available The relationship between lithology and slope morphology is investigated at eight sites on granitic, andesitic, andsedimentary hillslopes in the Tucson Mountains, Arizona. Several methods are used in the study. Topographic profi lesare constructed. Skewness indices, slope length, and mean slope angles of the different slope profi les are computed andcompared with each other. Debris size analysis has permitted for some profi les, the determination of hillfront/piedmontjunctions. The nature and structural characteristics of the bedrock are the ones that determine the hillslope morphologyin this semi-arid region. There are, as a matter of fact, variations in profi les on the same bedrock nature but differentlyexposed. More precise morphologic studies have been also done in comparing the different lithologic pairs. They havepermitted to show some similarities in shapes. The granitic-andesitic slopes and andesiic-sedimentary slopes are thebest comparisons which show the relationship between lithology and slope morphology. The granitic-sedimentary sloperelationship is shown in the hillfront concavities, mountain front and piedmont mean slope angles.

Application of distinct element method of toppling failure of slope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishida, Tsuyoshi; Hibino, Satoshi; Kitahara, Yoshihiro; Ito, Hiroshi

1984-01-01

The authors have pointed out, in the latest report, that DEM (Distinct Element Method) seems to be a very helpful numerical method to examine the stability of fissured rock slopes, in which toppling failure would occur during earthquakes. In this report, the applicability of DEM for such rock slopes is examined through the following comparisons between theoretical results and DEM results, referring Voegele's works (1982): (1) Stability of one block on a slope. (2) Failure of a rock block column composed of 10 same size rectangular blocks. (3) Cable force required to make a slope stable. Through above 3 comparisons, it seems that DEM give the reasonable results. Considering that these problems may not be treated by the other numerical methods such as FEM and so on, so DEM seems to be a very useful method for fissured rock slope analysis. (author)

Estimating significances of differences between slopes: A new methodology and software

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasco M. N. C. S. Vieira

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Determining the significance of slope differences is a common requirement in studies of self-thinning, ontogeny and sexual dimorphism, among others. This has long been carried out testing for the overlap of the bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals of the slopes. However, the numerical random re-sampling with repetition favours the occurrence of re-combinations yielding largely diverging slopes, widening the confidence intervals and thus increasing the chances of overlooking significant differences. To overcome this problem a permutation test simulating the null hypothesis of no differences between slopes is proposed. This new methodology, when applied both to artificial and factual data, showed an enhanced ability to differentiate slopes.

Effect of Slope Positions on Physicochemical Properties of Soils Located on a Toposequence in Deilaman Area of Guilan Province

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Mohajeri

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Topography is one of the most important factors of soil formation and evolution. Soil properties vary spatially and are influenced by some environmental factors such as landscape features, including topography, slope aspect and position, elevation, climate, parent material and vegetation. Variations in landscape features can influence many phenomena and ecological processes including soil nutrients and water interactions. This factor affects soil properties by changing the altitude, steepness and slope direction of lands. In spite of the importance of understanding the variability of soils for better management, few studies have been done to assess the quality of soils located on a toposequence and most of these studies include just pedological properties. The aim of this study was to investigate physical and chemical properties of soils located on different slope positions and different depths of a toposequence in Deilaman area of Gilan province, that located in north of Iran. Materials and Methods: The lands on toposequence that were same in climate, parent material, vegetation and time factors but topographical factor was different, were divided into five sections including steep peak, shoulder slope, back slope, foot slope and toe slope. In order to topsoil sampling, transverse sections of this toposequence were divided into three parts lengthways, each forming one replicate or block. 10*10 square was selected and after removing a layer of undecomposed organic residues such as leaf litter, three depths of 0 to 20, 20 to 40 and 40 to60 cm soil samples were collected. physical and chemical characteristics such as soil texture, bulk density, aggregate stability, percent of organic matter, cation exchange capacity, available phosphorous and total nitrogen were measured. Results and Discussion: The results showed that, because of high organic matter content and fine textured soils on the lower slope positions including foot slope

Effects of Measurement Error on the Output Gap in Japan

OpenAIRE

Koichiro Kamada; Kazuto Masuda

2000-01-01

Potential output is the largest amount of products that can be produced by fully utilizing available labor and capital stock; the output gap is defined as the discrepancy between actual and potential output. If data on production factors contain measurement errors, total factor productivity (TFP) cannot be estimated accurately from the Solow residual(i.e., the portion of output that is not attributable to labor and capital inputs). This may give rise to distortions in the estimation of potent...

The contribution of particle swarm optimization to three-dimensional slope stability analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalatehjari, Roohollah; Rashid, Ahmad Safuan A; Ali, Nazri; Hajihassani, Mohsen

2014-01-01

Over the last few years, particle swarm optimization (PSO) has been extensively applied in various geotechnical engineering including slope stability analysis. However, this contribution was limited to two-dimensional (2D) slope stability analysis. This paper applied PSO in three-dimensional (3D) slope stability problem to determine the critical slip surface (CSS) of soil slopes. A detailed description of adopted PSO was presented to provide a good basis for more contribution of this technique to the field of 3D slope stability problems. A general rotating ellipsoid shape was introduced as the specific particle for 3D slope stability analysis. A detailed sensitivity analysis was designed and performed to find the optimum values of parameters of PSO. Example problems were used to evaluate the applicability of PSO in determining the CSS of 3D slopes. The first example presented a comparison between the results of PSO and PLAXI-3D finite element software and the second example compared the ability of PSO to determine the CSS of 3D slopes with other optimization methods from the literature. The results demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of PSO in determining the CSS of 3D soil slopes.

Pile-Reinforcement Behavior of Cohesive Soil Slopes: Numerical Modeling and Centrifuge Testing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liping Wang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Centrifuge model tests were conducted on pile-reinforced and unreinforced cohesive soil slopes to investigate the fundamental behavior and reinforcement mechanism. A finite element analysis model was established and confirmed to be effective in capturing the primary behavior of pile-reinforced slopes by comparing its predictions with experimental results. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of the stress-deformation response was obtained by combining the numerical and physical simulations. The response of pile-reinforced slope was indicated to be significantly affected by pile spacing, pile location, restriction style of pile end, and inclination of slope. The piles have a significant effect on the behavior of reinforced slope, and the influencing area was described using a continuous surface, denoted as W-surface. The reinforcement mechanism was described using two basic concepts, compression effect and shear effect, respectively, referring to the piles increasing the compression strain and decreasing the shear strain of the slope in comparison with the unreinforced slope. The pile-soil interaction induces significant compression effect in the inner zone near the piles; this effect is transferred to the upper part of the slope, with the shear effect becoming prominent to prevent possible sliding of unreinforced slope.

The Contribution of Particle Swarm Optimization to Three-Dimensional Slope Stability Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

A Rashid, Ahmad Safuan; Ali, Nazri

2014-01-01

Over the last few years, particle swarm optimization (PSO) has been extensively applied in various geotechnical engineering including slope stability analysis. However, this contribution was limited to two-dimensional (2D) slope stability analysis. This paper applied PSO in three-dimensional (3D) slope stability problem to determine the critical slip surface (CSS) of soil slopes. A detailed description of adopted PSO was presented to provide a good basis for more contribution of this technique to the field of 3D slope stability problems. A general rotating ellipsoid shape was introduced as the specific particle for 3D slope stability analysis. A detailed sensitivity analysis was designed and performed to find the optimum values of parameters of PSO. Example problems were used to evaluate the applicability of PSO in determining the CSS of 3D slopes. The first example presented a comparison between the results of PSO and PLAXI-3D finite element software and the second example compared the ability of PSO to determine the CSS of 3D slopes with other optimization methods from the literature. The results demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of PSO in determining the CSS of 3D soil slopes. PMID:24991652

Slope-velocity equilibrium and evolution of surface roughness on a stony hillslope

Science.gov (United States)

Nearing, Mark A.; Polyakov, Viktor O.; Nichols, Mary H.; Hernandez, Mariano; Li, Li; Zhao, Ying; Armendariz, Gerardo

2017-06-01

Slope-velocity equilibrium is hypothesized as a state that evolves naturally over time due to the interaction between overland flow and surface morphology, wherein steeper areas develop a relative increase in physical and hydraulic roughness such that flow velocity is a unique function of overland flow rate independent of slope gradient. This study tests this hypothesis under controlled conditions. Artificial rainfall was applied to 2 m by 6 m plots at 5, 12, and 20 % slope gradients. A series of simulations were made with two replications for each treatment with measurements of runoff rate, velocity, rock cover, and surface roughness. Velocities measured at the end of each experiment were a unique function of discharge rates, independent of slope gradient or rainfall intensity. Physical surface roughness was greater at steeper slopes. The data clearly showed that there was no unique hydraulic coefficient for a given slope, surface condition, or rainfall rate, with hydraulic roughness greater at steeper slopes and lower intensities. This study supports the hypothesis of slope-velocity equilibrium, implying that use of hydraulic equations, such as Chezy and Manning, in hillslope-scale runoff models is problematic because the coefficients vary with both slope and rainfall intensity.

The Contribution of Particle Swarm Optimization to Three-Dimensional Slope Stability Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roohollah Kalatehjari

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Over the last few years, particle swarm optimization (PSO has been extensively applied in various geotechnical engineering including slope stability analysis. However, this contribution was limited to two-dimensional (2D slope stability analysis. This paper applied PSO in three-dimensional (3D slope stability problem to determine the critical slip surface (CSS of soil slopes. A detailed description of adopted PSO was presented to provide a good basis for more contribution of this technique to the field of 3D slope stability problems. A general rotating ellipsoid shape was introduced as the specific particle for 3D slope stability analysis. A detailed sensitivity analysis was designed and performed to find the optimum values of parameters of PSO. Example problems were used to evaluate the applicability of PSO in determining the CSS of 3D slopes. The first example presented a comparison between the results of PSO and PLAXI-3D finite element software and the second example compared the ability of PSO to determine the CSS of 3D slopes with other optimization methods from the literature. The results demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of PSO in determining the CSS of 3D soil slopes.

Analysis of the Fetch Dependency of the Slope of Wind-Water Waves

OpenAIRE

Proß, Christin

2016-01-01

In this thesis mean square slope has been calculated from slope images which were recorded by the Imaging Slope Gauge (ISG) at the annular wind-wave tank Aeolotron in Heidelberg. The calculations have been realized using three different methods, which are, (i) calculation of the variance, (ii) integration of the slope power spectrum and (iii) fitting the probability distribution function of slope with a model function. The resulting values have been compared to each other and t...

A new calibration model for pointing a radio telescope that considers nonlinear errors in the azimuth axis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kong De-Qing; Wang Song-Gen; Zhang Hong-Bo; Wang Jin-Qing; Wang Min

2014-01-01

A new calibration model of a radio telescope that includes pointing error is presented, which considers nonlinear errors in the azimuth axis. For a large radio telescope, in particular for a telescope with a turntable, it is difficult to correct pointing errors using a traditional linear calibration model, because errors produced by the wheel-on-rail or center bearing structures are generally nonlinear. Fourier expansion is made for the oblique error and parameters describing the inclination direction along the azimuth axis based on the linear calibration model, and a new calibration model for pointing is derived. The new pointing model is applied to the 40m radio telescope administered by Yunnan Observatories, which is a telescope that uses a turntable. The results show that this model can significantly reduce the residual systematic errors due to nonlinearity in the azimuth axis compared with the linear model

Predictive hydrogeochemical modelling of bauxite residue sand in field conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Wissmeier, Laurin; Barry, David A; Phillips, Ian R

2011-07-15

surface cover simulation demonstrates that the soil moisture status in the residue sand can be ameliorated by an appropriate design of the cover layer with respect to thickness, slope and distance between lateral drains. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysing hydro-mechanical behaviour of reinforced slopes through centrifuge modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Veenhof, Rick; Wu, Wei

2017-04-01

Every year, slope instability is causing casualties and damage to properties and the environment. The behaviour of slopes during and after these kind of events is complex and depends on meteorological conditions, slope geometry, hydro-mechanical soil properties, boundary conditions and the initial state of the soils. This study describes the effects of adding reinforcement, consisting of randomly distributed polyolefin monofilament fibres or Ryegrass (Lolium), on the behaviour of medium-fine sand in loose and medium dense conditions. Direct shear tests were performed on sand specimens with different void ratios, water content and fibre or root density, respectively. To simulate the stress state of real scale field situations, centrifuge model tests were conducted on sand specimens with different slope angles, thickness of the reinforced layer, fibre density, void ratio and water content. An increase in peak shear strength is observed in all reinforced cases. Centrifuge tests show that for slopes that are reinforced the period until failure is extended. The location of shear band formation and patch displacement behaviour indicate that the design of slope reinforcement has a significant effect on the failure behaviour. Future research will focus on the effect of plant water uptake on soil cohesion.

Impact of Rain Water Infiltration on the Stability of Earth Slopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Farooq Ahmed

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Slope failure occurs very often in natural and man-made slopes which are subjected to frequent changes in ground water level, rapid drawdown, rainfall and earthquakes. The current study discusses the significance of water infiltration, pore water pressure and degree of saturation that affect the stability of earth slopes. Rainwater infiltration not only mechanically reduces the shear strength of a slope material, but also chemically alters the mineral composition of the soil matrix. It results in the alteration of macro structures which in turn decreases the factor of safety. A few case studies are discussed in this paper to quantitatively observe the variation in factor of safety (FOS of various earth slopes by changing the degree of saturation. The results showed that most of the earth slopes get failed or become critical when the degree of saturation approaches to 50 % or more.

Geological hazards investigation - relative slope stability map

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Dae Suk; Kim, Won Young; Yu, Il Hyon; Kim, Kyeong Su; Lee, Sa Ro; Choi, Young Sup [Korea Institute of Geology Mining and Materials, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1997-12-01

The Republic of Korea is a mountainous country; the mountains occupy about three quarters of her land area, an increasing urban development being taken place along the mountainside. For the reason, planners as well as developers and others must realize that some of the urban areas may be threaten by geologic hazards such as landslides and accelerated soil and rock creeps. For the purpose of environmental land-use planning, a mapping project on relative slope-stability was established in 1996. The selected area encompasses about 5,900 km{sup 2} including the topographic maps of Ulsan, Yongchon, Kyongju, Pulguksa, and Kampo, all at a scale of 1:50,000. Many disturbed and undisturbed soil samples, which were collected from the ares of the landslides and unstable slopes, were tested for their physical properties and shear strength. They were classified as GC, SP, SC, SM, SP-SM, SC-SM, CL, ML, and MH according to the Unified Soil Classification System, their liquid limit and plasticity index ranging from 25.3% to as high as 81.3% and from 4.1% to 41.5%, respectively. X-ray analysis revealed that many of the soils contained a certain amount of montmorillonite. Based on the available information as well as both field and laboratory investigation, it was found out that the most common types of slope failures in the study area were both debris and mud flows induced by the heavy rainfalls during the period of rainy season; the flows mostly occurred in the colluvial deposits at the middle and foot of mountains. Thus the deposits generally appear to be the most unstable slope forming materials in the study area. Produced for the study area were six different maps consisting of slope classification map, soil classification map, lineament density map, landslide distribution map, zonal map of rainfall, and geology map, most of them being stored as data base. Using the first four maps and GIS, two sheets of relative slope-stability maps were constructed, each at a scale of 1

Analysis of focusing error signals by differential astigmatic method under off-center tracking in the land-groove-type optical disk

Science.gov (United States)

Shinoda, Masahisa; Nakatani, Hidehiko

2015-04-01

We theoretically calculate the behavior of the focusing error signal in the land-groove-type optical disk when the objective lens traverses on out of the radius of the optical disk. The differential astigmatic method is employed instead of the conventional astigmatic method for generating the focusing error signals. The signal behaviors are compared and analyzed in terms of the gain difference of the slope sensitivity of the focusing error signals from the land and the groove. In our calculation, the format of digital versatile disc-random access memory (DVD-RAM) is adopted as the land-groove-type optical disk model, and advantageous conditions for suppressing the gain difference are investigated. The calculation method and results described in this paper will be reflected in the next generation land-groove-type optical disks.

How Do Adults Perceive, Analyse and Measure Slope?

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, Bruce; Chick, Helen

2013-01-01

Slope is a mathematical concept that is both fundamental to the study of advanced calculus and commonly perceived in everyday life. The measurement of steepness of terrain as a ratio is an example of an everyday application the concept of slope. In this study, a group of pre-service teachers were tested for their capacity to mathematize the…

Stability of submarine slopes in the northern South China Sea: a numerical approach

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Liang; Luan, Xiwu

2013-01-01

Submarine landslides occur frequently on most continental margins. They are effective mechanisms of sediment transfer but also a geological hazard to seafloor installations. In this paper, submarine slope stability is evaluated using a 2D limit equilibrium method. Considerations of slope, sediment, and triggering force on the factor of safety (FOS) were calculated in drained and undrained ( Φ=0) cases. Results show that submarine slopes are stable when the slope is 13° with earthquake peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.5 g; whereas with a weak layer, a PGA of 0.2 g could trigger instability at slopes >10°, and >3° for PGA of 0.5 g. The northern slope of the South China Sea is geomorphologically stable under static conditions. However, because of the possibility of high PGA at the eastern margin of the South China Sea, submarine slides are likely on the Taiwan Bank slope and eastern part of the Dongsha slope. Therefore, submarine slides recognized in seismic profiles on the Taiwan Bank slope would be triggered by an earthquake, the most important factor for triggering submarine slides on the northern slope of the South China Sea. Considering the distribution of PGA, we consider the northern slope of the South China Sea to be stable, excluding the Taiwan Bank slope, which is tectonically active.

Calibration of the century, apsim and ndicea models of decomposition and n mineralization of plant residues in the humid tropics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandre Ferreira do Nascimento

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to calibrate the CENTURY, APSIM and NDICEA simulation models for estimating decomposition and N mineralization rates of plant organic materials (Arachis pintoi, Calopogonium mucunoides, Stizolobium aterrimum, Stylosanthes guyanensis for 360 days in the Atlantic rainforest bioma of Brazil. The models´ default settings overestimated the decomposition and N-mineralization of plant residues, underlining the fact that the models must be calibrated for use under tropical conditions. For example, the APSIM model simulated the decomposition of the Stizolobium aterrimum and Calopogonium mucunoides residues with an error rate of 37.62 and 48.23 %, respectively, by comparison with the observed data, and was the least accurate model in the absence of calibration. At the default settings, the NDICEA model produced an error rate of 10.46 and 14.46 % and the CENTURY model, 21.42 and 31.84 %, respectively, for Stizolobium aterrimum and Calopogonium mucunoides residue decomposition. After calibration, the models showed a high level of accuracy in estimating decomposition and N- mineralization, with an error rate of less than 20 %. The calibrated NDICEA model showed the highest level of accuracy, followed by the APSIM and CENTURY. All models performed poorly in the first few months of decomposition and N-mineralization, indicating the need of an additional parameter for initial microorganism growth on the residues that would take the effect of leaching due to rainfall into account.

A simplified approach for slope stability analysis of uncontrolled waste dumps.

Science.gov (United States)

Turer, Dilek; Turer, Ahmet

2011-02-01

Slope stability analysis of municipal solid waste has always been problematic because of the heterogeneous nature of the waste materials. The requirement for large testing equipment in order to obtain representative samples has identified the need for simplified approaches to obtain the unit weight and shear strength parameters of the waste. In the present study, two of the most recently published approaches for determining the unit weight and shear strength parameters of the waste have been incorporated into a slope stability analysis using the Bishop method to prepare slope stability charts. The slope stability charts were prepared for uncontrolled waste dumps having no liner and leachate collection systems with pore pressure ratios of 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5, considering the most critical slip surface passing through the toe of the slope. As the proposed slope stability charts were prepared by considering the change in unit weight as a function of height, they reflect field conditions better than accepting a constant unit weight approach in the stability analysis. They also streamline the selection of slope or height as a function of the desired factor of safety.

Implications of Self-Potential Distribution for Groundwater Flow System in a Nonvolcanic Mountain Slope

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tada-nori Goto

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Self-potential (SP measurements were conducted at Mt. Tsukuba, Japan, which is a nonvolcanic mountain, to infer groundwater flow system in the mountain. Survey routes were set around the northern slope, and the reliability of observed SP anomaly was checked by using SP values along parallel survey routes; the error was almost within 10 mV. The FFT analysis of the spatial SP distribution allows us a separation of raw data into two components with shorter and longer wavelength. In the shorter (altitudinal wavelength than ∼200 meters, several positive SP peaks of more than 100 mV in magnitude are present, which indicate shallow perched water discharges along the slope. In the regional SP pattern of longer wavelength, there are two major perturbations from the general trend reflecting the topographic effect. By comparing the SP and hydrological data, the perturbation around the foothill is interpreted to be caused by heterogeneous infiltration at the ground surface. The perturbation around the summit is also interpreted to be caused by heterogeneous infiltration process, based on a simplified numerical modeling of SP. As a result, the SP pattern is well explained by groundwater flow and infiltration processes. Thus, SP data is thought to be very useful for understanding of groundwater flow system on a mountain scale.

Estimates of Single Sensor Error Statistics for the MODIS Matchup Database Using Machine Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, C.; Podesta, G. P.; Minnett, P. J.; Kilpatrick, K. A.

2017-12-01

Sea surface temperature (SST) is a fundamental quantity for understanding weather and climate dynamics. Although sensors aboard satellites provide global and repeated SST coverage, a characterization of SST precision and bias is necessary for determining the suitability of SST retrievals in various applications. Guidance on how to derive meaningful error estimates is still being developed. Previous methods estimated retrieval uncertainty based on geophysical factors, e.g. season or "wet" and "dry" atmospheres, but the discrete nature of these bins led to spatial discontinuities in SST maps. Recently, a new approach clustered retrievals based on the terms (excluding offset) in the statistical algorithm used to estimate SST. This approach resulted in over 600 clusters - too many to understand the geophysical conditions that influence retrieval error. Using MODIS and buoy SST matchups (2002 - 2016), we use machine learning algorithms (recursive and conditional trees, random forests) to gain insight into geophysical conditions leading to the different signs and magnitudes of MODIS SST residuals (satellite SSTs minus buoy SSTs). MODIS retrievals were first split into three categories: 0.4 C. These categories are heavily unbalanced, with residuals > 0.4 C being much less frequent. Performance of classification algorithms is affected by imbalance, thus we tested various rebalancing algorithms (oversampling, undersampling, combinations of the two). We consider multiple features for the decision tree algorithms: regressors from the MODIS SST algorithm, proxies for temperature deficit, and spatial homogeneity of brightness temperatures (BTs), e.g., the range of 11 μm BTs inside a 25 km2 area centered on the buoy location. These features and a rebalancing of classes led to an 81.9% accuracy when classifying SST retrievals into the cloud contamination still is one of the causes leading to negative SST residuals. Precision and accuracy of error estimates from our decision tree

Quadratic residues and non-residues selected topics

CERN Document Server

Wright, Steve

2016-01-01

This book offers an account of the classical theory of quadratic residues and non-residues with the goal of using that theory as a lens through which to view the development of some of the fundamental methods employed in modern elementary, algebraic, and analytic number theory. The first three chapters present some basic facts and the history of quadratic residues and non-residues and discuss various proofs of the Law of Quadratic Reciprosity in depth, with an emphasis on the six proofs that Gauss published. The remaining seven chapters explore some interesting applications of the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity, prove some results concerning the distribution and arithmetic structure of quadratic residues and non-residues, provide a detailed proof of Dirichlet’s Class-Number Formula, and discuss the question of whether quadratic residues are randomly distributed. The text is a valuable resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate students as well as for mathematicians interested in number theory.

Errors, error detection, error correction and hippocampal-region damage: data and theories.

Science.gov (United States)

MacKay, Donald G; Johnson, Laura W

2013-11-01

This review and perspective article outlines 15 observational constraints on theories of errors, error detection, and error correction, and their relation to hippocampal-region (HR) damage. The core observations come from 10 studies with H.M., an amnesic with cerebellar and HR damage but virtually no neocortical damage. Three studies examined the detection of errors planted in visual scenes (e.g., a bird flying in a fish bowl in a school classroom) and sentences (e.g., I helped themselves to the birthday cake). In all three experiments, H.M. detected reliably fewer errors than carefully matched memory-normal controls. Other studies examined the detection and correction of self-produced errors, with controls for comprehension of the instructions, impaired visual acuity, temporal factors, motoric slowing, forgetting, excessive memory load, lack of motivation, and deficits in visual scanning or attention. In these studies, H.M. corrected reliably fewer errors than memory-normal and cerebellar controls, and his uncorrected errors in speech, object naming, and reading aloud exhibited two consistent features: omission and anomaly. For example, in sentence production tasks, H.M. omitted one or more words in uncorrected encoding errors that rendered his sentences anomalous (incoherent, incomplete, or ungrammatical) reliably more often than controls. Besides explaining these core findings, the theoretical principles discussed here explain H.M.'s retrograde amnesia for once familiar episodic and semantic information; his anterograde amnesia for novel information; his deficits in visual cognition, sentence comprehension, sentence production, sentence reading, and object naming; and effects of aging on his ability to read isolated low frequency words aloud. These theoretical principles also explain a wide range of other data on error detection and correction and generate new predictions for future test. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

GEOSPATIAL DATA INTEGRATION FOR ASSESSING LANDSLIDE HAZARD ON ENGINEERED SLOPES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. E. Miller

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Road and rail networks are essential components of national infrastructures, underpinning the economy, and facilitating the mobility of goods and the human workforce. Earthwork slopes such as cuttings and embankments are primary components, and their reliability is of fundamental importance. However, instability and failure can occur, through processes such as landslides. Monitoring the condition of earthworks is a costly and continuous process for network operators, and currently, geospatial data is largely underutilised. The research presented here addresses this by combining airborne laser scanning and multispectral aerial imagery to develop a methodology for assessing landslide hazard. This is based on the extraction of key slope stability variables from the remotely sensed data. The methodology is implemented through numerical modelling, which is parameterised with the slope stability information, simulated climate conditions, and geotechnical properties. This allows determination of slope stability (expressed through the factor of safety for a range of simulated scenarios. Regression analysis is then performed in order to develop a functional model relating slope stability to the input variables. The remotely sensed raster datasets are robustly re-sampled to two-dimensional cross-sections to facilitate meaningful interpretation of slope behaviour and mapping of landslide hazard. Results are stored in a geodatabase for spatial analysis within a GIS environment. For a test site located in England, UK, results have shown the utility of the approach in deriving practical hazard assessment information. Outcomes were compared to the network operator’s hazard grading data, and show general agreement. The utility of the slope information was also assessed with respect to auto-population of slope geometry, and found to deliver significant improvements over the network operator’s existing field-based approaches.

Nonmonotonic and spatial-temporal dynamic slope effects on soil erosion during rainfall-runoff processes

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Songbai; Yu, Minghui; Chen, Li

2017-02-01

The slope effect on flow erosivity and soil erosion still remains a controversial issue. This theoretical framework explained and quantified the direct slope effect by coupling the modified Green-Ampt equation accounting for slope effect on infiltration, 1-D kinematic wave overland flow routing model, and WEPP soil erosion model. The flow velocity, runoff rate, shear stress, interrill, and rill erosion were calculated on 0°-60° isotropic slopes with equal horizontal projective length. The results show that, for short-duration rainfall events, the flow erosivity and erosion amounts exhibit a bell-shaped trend which first increase with slope gradient, and then decrease after a critical slope angle. The critical slope angles increase significantly or even vanish with increasing rainfall duration but are nearly independent of the slope projective length. The soil critical shear stress, rainfall intensity, and temporal patterns have great influences on the slope effect trend, while the other soil erosion parameters, soil type, hydraulic conductivity, and antecedent soil moisture have minor impacts. Neglecting the slope effect on infiltration would generate smaller erosion and reduce critical slope angles. The relative slope effect on soil erosion in physically based model WEPP was compared to those in the empirical models USLE and RUSLE. The trends of relative slope effect were found quite different, but the difference may diminish with increasing rainfall duration. Finally, relatively smaller critical slope angles could be obtained with the equal slope length and the range of variation provides a possible explanation for the different critical slope angles reported in previous studies.

Influence of flow on thawing of underwater slopes and the pace ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... hydraulic laboratory of department of architecture & civil engineering RUDN University was performed studies of destruction of underwater and above-water coastal slopes in conditions simulating permafrost, depending on the soil type, the initial slope, and the slope angle. It was shown by authors, the speed of erosion of ...

The Impact of Vegetative Slope on Water Flow and Pollutant Transport through Embankments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liting Sheng

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Embankments are common structures along rivers or lakes in riparian zones in plain areas. They should have natural slopes instead of slopes covered by concrete or other hard materials, in order to rebuild sustainable ecosystems for riparian zones. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of vegetative slopes on water flow and pollutant transport through the embankments. Three embankments with different slope treatments (a bare slope, a slope covered in centipede grass, a slope covered in tall fescue were examined, and three inflow applications of pollute water with different concentration of total nitrogen (TN and total phosphorus (TP used to simulate different agricultural non-point pollution levels. The results showed that the water flux rates of the three embankments were relatively stable under all inflow events, and almost all values were higher than 80%. The embankments with vegetative slopes had better nitrogen removal than the bare slope under all events, and the one with tall fescue slope was best, but the benefits of vegetative slopes decreased with increasing inflow concentration. Moreover, there were no significant differences between the embankments on phosphorus removal, for which the reductions were all high (above 90% with most loads remaining in the front third of embankment bodies. Overall, the embankments with vegetative slopes had positive effects on water exchange and reducing non-point pollutant into lake or river water, which provides a quantitative scientific basis for the actual layout of lakeshores.

Slope failure investigation management system.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-01

Highway slopes are exposed to a variety of environmental and climatic conditions, such as deforestation, cycles of : freezing and thawing weather, and heavy storms. Over time, these climatic conditions, in combination with other : factors such as geo...

Application of distinct element method to toppling failure of slopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishida, Tsuyoshi; Hibino, Satoshi; Kitahara, Yoshihiro; Asai, Yoshiyuki.

1985-01-01

Recently, the stability of slopes during earthquakes has become to be an important engineering problem, especially in case of the earthquake-proof design of nuclear power plants. But, for fissured rock slopes, some problems are remained unresolved, because they can not be treated as continua. The authors have been investigating toppling failure of slopes, from a point of view which regards a fissured rock mass as an assemblage of rigid blocks. DEM (Distinct Element Method) proposed by Cundall (1974) seems to be very helpful to such a investigation. So, in this paper, the applicability of DEM to toppling failure of slopes is examined through the comparison between DEM results and theoretical or experimental results using 3 simple models. (author)

Slope earthquake stability

CERN Document Server

Changwei, Yang; Jing, Lian; Wenying, Yu; Jianjing, Zhang

2017-01-01

This book begins with the dynamic characteristics of the covering layerbedrock type slope, containing monitoring data of the seismic array, shaking table tests, numerical analysis and theoretical derivation. Then it focuses on the landslide mechanism and assessment method. It also proposes a model that assessing the hazard area based on the field investigations. Many questions, exercises and solutions are given. Researchers and engineers in the field of Geotechnical Engineering and Anti-seismic Engineering can benefit from it.

Geosynthetic clay liners - slope stability field study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carson, D.A.; Daniel, D.E.; Koerner, R.M.; Bonaparte, R.

1997-01-01

A field research project was developed to examine the internal shear performance of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs). Several combinations of cross sections were assembled using GCL materials that were available at the time of project initiation. The cross sections utilized were intended to simulate landfill cover applications. Thirteen (13) resulting test plots were constructed on two different slope angles, and each plot is instrumented for physical displacement and soil moisture characteristics. Test plots were constructed in a manner that dictated the shear plane in the clay portion of the GCL product. The project purpose is to assess field performance and to verify design parameters associated with the application of GCLs in waste containment applications. Interim research data shows that test slopes on 2H:1V show global deformation, but little internal shear evidence, and the 3H:1V slopes show little deformation at approximately 650 days. The research is ongoing, and this paper presents the most recent information available from the project

A Posteriori Error Estimation for Finite Element Methods and Iterative Linear Solvers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melboe, Hallgeir

2001-10-01

This thesis addresses a posteriori error estimation for finite element methods and iterative linear solvers. Adaptive finite element methods have gained a lot of popularity over the last decades due to their ability to produce accurate results with limited computer power. In these methods a posteriori error estimates play an essential role. Not only do they give information about how large the total error is, they also indicate which parts of the computational domain should be given a more sophisticated treatment in order to reduce the error. A posteriori error estimates are traditionally aimed at estimating the global error, but more recently so called goal oriented error estimators have been shown a lot of interest. The name reflects the fact that they estimate the error in user-defined local quantities. In this thesis the main focus is on global error estimators for highly stretched grids and goal oriented error estimators for flow problems on regular grids. Numerical methods for partial differential equations, such as finite element methods and other similar techniques, typically result in a linear system of equations that needs to be solved. Usually such systems are solved using some iterative procedure which due to a finite number of iterations introduces an additional error. Most such algorithms apply the residual in the stopping criterion, whereas the control of the actual error may be rather poor. A secondary focus in this thesis is on estimating the errors that are introduced during this last part of the solution procedure. The thesis contains new theoretical results regarding the behaviour of some well known, and a few new, a posteriori error estimators for finite element methods on anisotropic grids. Further, a goal oriented strategy for the computation of forces in flow problems is devised and investigated. Finally, an approach for estimating the actual errors associated with the iterative solution of linear systems of equations is suggested. (author)

Mirror profile optimization for nano-focusing KB mirror

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Lin; Baker, Robert; Barrett, Ray; Cloetens, Peter; Dabin, Yves

2010-01-01

A KB focusing mirror width profile has been optimized to achieve nano-focusing for the nano-imaging end-station ID22NI at the ESRF. The complete mirror and flexure bender assembly has been modeled in 3D with finite element analysis using ANSYS. Bender stiffness, anticlastic effects and geometrical non-linear effects have been considered. Various points have been studied: anisotropy and crystal orientation, stress in the mirror and bender, actuator resolution and the mirror-bender adhesive bonding... Extremely high performance of the mirror is expected with residual slope error smaller than 0.6 μrad, peak-to-valley, compared to the bent slope of 3000 μrad.

DESIGN INFORMATION REPORT: PROTECTION OF WASTEWATER LAGOON INTERIOR SLOPES

Science.gov (United States)

A problem common to many wastewater treatment and storage lagoons is erosion of the interior slopes. Erosion may be caused by surface runoff and wind-induced wave action. The soils that compose the steep interior slopes of lagoons are especially susceptible to erosion and slumpin...

The quadruped robot adaptive control in trotting gait walking on slopes

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shulong; Ma, Hongxu; Yang, Yu; Wang, Jian

2017-10-01

The quadruped robot can be decomposed into a planar seven-link closed kinematic chain in the direction of supporting line and a linear inverted pendulum in normal direction of supporting line. The ground slope can be estimated by using the body attitude information and supporting legs length. The slope degree is used in feedback, to achieve the point of quadruped robot adaptive control walking on slopes. The simulation results verify that the quadruped robot can achieves steady locomotion on the slope with the control strategy proposed in this passage.

SU-E-I-83: Error Analysis of Multi-Modality Image-Based Volumes of Rodent Solid Tumors Using a Preclinical Multi-Modality QA Phantom

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Y [University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, KS (United States); Fullerton, G; Goins, B [University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX (United States)

2015-06-15

Purpose: In our previous study a preclinical multi-modality quality assurance (QA) phantom that contains five tumor-simulating test objects with 2, 4, 7, 10 and 14 mm diameters was developed for accurate tumor size measurement by researchers during cancer drug development and testing. This study analyzed the errors during tumor volume measurement from preclinical magnetic resonance (MR), micro-computed tomography (micro- CT) and ultrasound (US) images acquired in a rodent tumor model using the preclinical multi-modality QA phantom. Methods: Using preclinical 7-Tesla MR, US and micro-CT scanners, images were acquired of subcutaneous SCC4 tumor xenografts in nude rats (3–4 rats per group; 5 groups) along with the QA phantom using the same imaging protocols. After tumors were excised, in-air micro-CT imaging was performed to determine reference tumor volume. Volumes measured for the rat tumors and phantom test objects were calculated using formula V = (π/6)*a*b*c where a, b and c are the maximum diameters in three perpendicular dimensions determined by the three imaging modalities. Then linear regression analysis was performed to compare image-based tumor volumes with the reference tumor volume and known test object volume for the rats and the phantom respectively. Results: The slopes of regression lines for in-vivo tumor volumes measured by three imaging modalities were 1.021, 1.101 and 0.862 for MRI, micro-CT and US respectively. For phantom, the slopes were 0.9485, 0.9971 and 0.9734 for MRI, micro-CT and US respectively. Conclusion: For both animal and phantom studies, random and systematic errors were observed. Random errors were observer-dependent and systematic errors were mainly due to selected imaging protocols and/or measurement method. In the animal study, there were additional systematic errors attributed to ellipsoidal assumption for tumor shape. The systematic errors measured using the QA phantom need to be taken into account to reduce measurement

Measurement Error and Bias in Value-Added Models. Research Report. ETS RR-17-25

Science.gov (United States)

Kane, Michael T.

2017-01-01

By aggregating residual gain scores (the differences between each student's current score and a predicted score based on prior performance) for a school or a teacher, value-added models (VAMs) can be used to generate estimates of school or teacher effects. It is known that random errors in the prior scores will introduce bias into predictions of…

The coupled response to slope-dependent basal melting

Science.gov (United States)

Little, C. M.; Goldberg, D. N.; Sergienko, O. V.; Gnanadesikan, A.

2009-12-01

Ice shelf basal melting is likely to be strongly controlled by basal slope. If ice shelves steepen in response to intensified melting, it suggests instability in the coupled ice-ocean system. The dynamic response of ice shelves governs what stable morphologies are possible, and thus the influence of melting on buttressing and grounding line migration. Simulations performed using a 3-D ocean model indicate that a simple form of slope-dependent melting is robust under more complex oceanographic conditions. Here we utilize this parameterization to investigate the shape and grounding line evolution of ice shelves, using a shallow-shelf approximation-based model that includes lateral drag. The distribution of melting substantially affects the shape and aspect ratio of unbuttressed ice shelves. Slope-dependent melting thins the ice shelf near the grounding line, reducing velocities throughout the shelf. Sharp ice thickness gradients evolve at high melting rates, yet grounding lines remain static. In foredeepened, buttressed ice shelves, changes in grounding line flux allow two additional options: stable or unstable retreat. Under some conditions, slope-dependent melting results in stable configurations even at high melt rates.

The influence of declining air lead levels on blood lead-air lead slope factors in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Richmond-Bryant, Jennifer; Meng, Qingyu; Davis, Allen; Cohen, Jonathan; Lu, Shou-En; Svendsgaard, David; Brown, James S; Tuttle, Lauren; Hubbard, Heidi; Rice, Joann; Kirrane, Ellen; Vinikoor-Imler, Lisa C; Kotchmar, Dennis; Hines, Erin P; Ross, Mary

2014-07-01

It is difficult to discern the proportion of blood lead (PbB) attributable to ambient air lead (PbA), given the multitude of lead (Pb) sources and pathways of exposure. The PbB-PbA relationship has previously been evaluated across populations. This relationship was a central consideration in the 2008 review of the Pb national ambient air quality standards. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationship between PbB and PbA concentrations among children nationwide for recent years and to compare the relationship with those obtained from other studies in the literature. We merged participant-level data for PbB from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988-1994) and NHANES 9908 (1999-2008) with PbA data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We applied mixed-effects models, and we computed slope factor, d[PbB]/d[PbA] or the change in PbB per unit change in PbA, from the model results to assess the relationship between PbB and PbA. Comparing the NHANES regression results with those from the literature shows that slope factor increased with decreasing PbA among children 0-11 years of age. These findings suggest that a larger relative public health benefit may be derived among children from decreases in PbA at low PbA exposures. Simultaneous declines in Pb from other sources, changes in PbA sampling uncertainties over time largely related to changes in the size distribution of Pb-bearing particulate matter, and limitations regarding sampling size and exposure error may contribute to the variability in slope factor observed across peer-reviewed studies.

GB-InSAR monitoring of slope deformations in a mountainous area affected by debris flow events

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Frodella

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Diffuse and severe slope instabilities affected the whole Veneto region (north-eastern Italy between 31 October and 2 November 2010, following a period of heavy and persistent rainfall. In this context, on 4 November 2010 a large detrital mass detached from the cover of the Mt. Rotolon deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD, located in the upper Agno River valley, channelizing within the Rotolon Creek riverbed and evolving into a highly mobile debris flow. The latter phenomena damaged many hydraulic works, also threatening bridges, local roads, and the residents of the Maltaure, Turcati, and Parlati villages located along the creek banks and the town of Recoaro Terme. From the beginning of the emergency phase, the civil protection system was activated, involving the National Civil Protection Department, Veneto Region, and local administrations' personnel and technicians, as well as scientific institutions. On 8 December 2010 a local-scale monitoring system, based on a ground-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (GB-InSAR, was implemented in order to evaluate the slope deformation pattern evolution in correspondence of the debris flow detachment sector, with the final aim of assessing the landslide residual risk and managing the emergency phase. This paper describes the results of a 2-year GB-InSAR monitoring campaign (December 2010–December 2012 and its application for monitoring, mapping, and emergency management activities in order to provide a rapid and easy communication of the results to the involved technicians and civil protection personnel, for a better understanding of the landslide phenomena and the decision-making process in a critical landslide scenario.

Posterior Slope of the Tibia Plateau in Malaysian Patients Undergoing Total Knee Replacement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R Yoga

2009-05-01

Full Text Available The posterior slope of the tibial plateau is an important feature to preserve during knee replacement. The correct slope aids in the amount of flexion and determines if the knee will be loose on flexion. This is a study on the posterior tibial plateau slope based on preoperative and postoperative radiographs of 100 consecutive patients who had total knee replacements. The average posterior slope of the tibia plateau was 10.1 degrees. There is a tendency for patients with higher pre-operative posterior tibial plateau slope to have higher post-operative posterior tibial plate slope.

Coupling a 1D Dual-permeability Model with an Infinite Slope Stability Approach to Quantify the Influence of Preferential Flow on Slope Stability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shao, W.; Bogaard, T.A.; Su, Y.; Bakker, M.

2016-01-01

In this study, a 1D hydro-mechanical model was developed by coupling a dual-permeability model with an infinite slope stability approach to investigate the influence of preferential flow on pressure propagation and slope stability. The dual-permeability model used two modified Darcy-Richards

Learning time-dependent noise to reduce logical errors: real time error rate estimation in quantum error correction

Science.gov (United States)

Huo, Ming-Xia; Li, Ying

2017-12-01

Quantum error correction is important to quantum information processing, which allows us to reliably process information encoded in quantum error correction codes. Efficient quantum error correction benefits from the knowledge of error rates. We propose a protocol for monitoring error rates in real time without interrupting the quantum error correction. Any adaptation of the quantum error correction code or its implementation circuit is not required. The protocol can be directly applied to the most advanced quantum error correction techniques, e.g. surface code. A Gaussian processes algorithm is used to estimate and predict error rates based on error correction data in the past. We find that using these estimated error rates, the probability of error correction failures can be significantly reduced by a factor increasing with the code distance.

[Composition and stability of soil aggregates in hedgerow-crop slope land].

Science.gov (United States)

Pu, Yu-Lin; Lin, Chao-Wen; Xie, De-Ti; Wei, Chao-Fu; Ni, Jiu-Pai

2013-01-01

Based on a long-term experiment of using hedgerow to control soil and water loss, this paper studied the composition and stability of soil aggregates in a hedgerow-crop slope land. Compared with those under routine contour cropping, the contents of > 0.25 mm soil mechanical-stable and water-stable aggregates under the complex mode hedgerow-crop increased significantly by 13.3%-16.1% and 37.8% -55.6%, respectively. Under the complex mode, the contents of > 0.25 mm soil water-stable aggregates on each slope position increased obviously, and the status of > 0.25 mm soil water-stable aggregates being relatively rich at low slope and poor at top slope was improved. Planting hedgerow could significantly increase the mean mass diameter and geometric mean diameter of soil aggregates, decrease the fractal dimension of soil aggregates and the destruction rate of > 0.25 mm soil aggregates, and thus, increase the stability and erosion-resistance of soil aggregates in slope cropland. No significant effects of slope and hedgerow types were observed on the composition, stability and distribution of soil aggregates.

Optimal alignment of mirror based pentaprisms for scanning deflectometric devices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barber, Samuel K.; Geckeler, Ralf D.; Yashchuk, Valeriy V.; Gubarev, Mikhail V.; Buchheim, Jana; Siewert, Frank; Zeschke, Thomas

2011-03-04

In the recent work [Proc. of SPIE 7801, 7801-2/1-12 (2010), Opt. Eng. 50(5) (2011), in press], we have reported on improvement of the Developmental Long Trace Profiler (DLTP), a slope measuring profiler available at the Advanced Light Source Optical Metrology Laboratory, achieved by replacing the bulk pentaprism with a mirror based pentaprism (MBPP). An original experimental procedure for optimal mutual alignment of the MBPP mirrors has been suggested and verified with numerical ray tracing simulations. It has been experimentally shown that the optimally aligned MBPP allows the elimination of systematic errors introduced by inhomogeneity of the optical material and fabrication imperfections of the bulk pentaprism. In the present article, we provide the analytical derivation and verification of easily executed optimal alignment algorithms for two different designs of mirror based pentaprisms. We also provide an analytical description for the mechanism for reduction of the systematic errors introduced by a typical high quality bulk pentaprism. It is also shown that residual misalignments of an MBPP introduce entirely negligible systematic errors in surface slope measurements with scanning deflectometric devices.

GIS-based seismic shaking slope vulnerability map of Sicily (Central Mediterranean)

Science.gov (United States)

Nigro, Fabrizio; Arisco, Giuseppe; Perricone, Marcella; Renda, Pietro; Favara, Rocco

2010-05-01

Earthquakes often represent very dangerouses natural events in terms of human life and economic losses and their damage effects are amplified by the synchronous occurrence of seismically-induced ground-shaking failures in wide regions around the seismogenic source. In fact, the shaking associated with big earthquakes triggers extensive landsliding, sometimes at distances of more than 100 km from the epicenter. The active tectonics and the geomorphic/morphodinamic pattern of the regions affected by earthquakes contribute to the slopes instability tendency. In fact, earthquake-induced groun-motion loading determines inertial forces activation within slopes that, combined with the intrinsic pre-existing static forces, reduces the slope stability towards its failure. Basically, under zero-shear stress reversals conditions, a catastrophic failure will take place if the earthquake-induced shear displacement exceeds the critical level of undrained shear strength to a value equal to the gravitational shear stress. However, seismic stability analyses carried out for various infinite slopes by using the existing Newmark-like methods reveal that estimated permanent displacements smaller than the critical value should also be regarded as dangerous for the post-earthquake slope safety, in terms of human activities use. Earthquake-induced (often high-speed) landslides are among the most destructive phenomena related to slopes failure during earthquakes. In fact, damage from earthquake-induced landslides (and other ground-failures), sometimes exceeds the buildings/infrastructures damage directly related to ground-shaking for fault breaking. For this matter, several hearthquakes-related slope failures methods have been developed, for the evaluation of the combined hazard types represented by seismically ground-motion landslides. The methodologies of analysis of the engineering seismic risk related to the slopes instability processes is often achieved through the evaluation of the

Impact of a reengineered electronic error-reporting system on medication event reporting and care process improvements at an urban medical center.

Science.gov (United States)

McKaig, Donald; Collins, Christine; Elsaid, Khaled A

2014-09-01

A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of a reengineered approach to electronic error reporting at a 719-bed multidisciplinary urban medical center. The main outcome of interest was the monthly reported medication errors during the preimplementation (20 months) and postimplementation (26 months) phases. An interrupted time series analysis was used to describe baseline errors, immediate change following implementation of the current electronic error-reporting system (e-ERS), and trend of error reporting during postimplementation. Errors were categorized according to severity using the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) Medication Error Index classifications. Reported errors were further analyzed by reporter and error site. During preimplementation, the monthly reported errors mean was 40.0 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 36.3-43.7). Immediately following e-ERS implementation, monthly reported errors significantly increased by 19.4 errors (95% CI: 8.4-30.5). The change in slope of reported errors trend was estimated at 0.76 (95% CI: 0.07-1.22). Near misses and no-patient-harm errors accounted for 90% of all errors, while errors that caused increased patient monitoring or temporary harm accounted for 9% and 1%, respectively. Nurses were the most frequent reporters, while physicians were more likely to report high-severity errors. Medical care units accounted for approximately half of all reported errors. Following the intervention, there was a significant increase in reporting of prevented errors and errors that reached the patient with no resultant harm. This improvement in reporting was sustained for 26 months and has contributed to designing and implementing quality improvement initiatives to enhance the safety of the medication use process.

Napropamide residues in runoff and infiltration water from pepper production.

Science.gov (United States)

Antonious, George F; Patterson, Matthew A

2005-01-01

A field study was conducted on a Lowell silty loam soil of 2.7% organic matter at the Kentucky State University Research Farm, Franklin County, Kentucky. Eighteen universal soil loss equation (USLE) standard plots (22 x 3.7 m each) were established on a 10% slope. Three soil management practices were used: (i) class-A biosolids (sewage sludge), (ii) yard waste compost, each mixed with native soil at a rate of 50 ton acre(-1) on a dry-weight basis, and (iii) a no-mulch (NM) treatment (rototilled bare soil), used for comparison purposes. Devrinol 50-DF "napropamide" [N,N-diethyl-2-(1-naphthyloxy) propionamide] was applied as a preemergent herbicide, incorporated into the soil surface, and the plots were planted with 60-day-old sweet bell pepper seedlings. Napropamide residues one hour following spraying averaged 0.8, 0.4, and 0.3 microg g(-1) dry soil in sewage sludge, yard waste compost, and no-mulch treatments, respectively. Surface runoff water, runoff sediment, and napropamide residues in runoff were significantly reduced by the compost and biosolid treatments. Yard waste compost treatments increased water infiltration and napropamide residues in the vadose zone compared to sewage sludge and NM treatments. Total pepper yields from yard waste compost amended soils (9187 lbs acre(-1)) was significantly higher (P soil amended with class-A biosolids (6984 lbs acre(-1)) or the no-mulch soil (7162 lbs acre(-1)).

The Soil-Water Characteristic Curve of Unsaturated Tropical Residual Soil

Science.gov (United States)

Yusof, M. F.; Setapa, A. S.; Tajudin, S. A. A.; Madun, A.; Abidin, M. H. Z.; Marto, A.

2016-07-01

This study was conducted to determine the SWCC of unsaturated tropical residual soil in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Undisturbed soil samples at five locations of high-risk slopes area were taken at a depth of 0.5 m using block sampler. In the determination of the SWCC, the pressure plate extractor with the capacity of 1500 kN/m2 has been used. The index properties of the soil such as natural moisture content, Atterberg limits, specific gravity, and soil classification are performed according to BS 1377: Part 2: 1990. The results of index properties show that the natural moisture content of the soil is between 36% to 46%, the plasticity index is between 10% - 26%, the specific gravity is between 2.51 - 2.61 and the soils is classified as silty organic clay of low plasticity. The SWCC data from the pressure plate extractor have been fitted with the Fredlund and Xing equation. The results show that the air entry value and residual matric suction for residual soils are in the range of 17 kN/m2 to 24 kN/m2 and 145 kN/m2 to 225 kN/m2 respectively. From the fitting curve, it is found that the average value of the Fredlund and Xing parameters such as a, n and m are in the range of 0.24-0.299, 1.7-4.8 and 0.142-0.440 respectively.

Reclamation of slopes left after surface mining

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zmitko, J [Banske Projekty, Teplice (Czech Republic)

1993-03-01

Discusses land reclamation of abandoned slopes from brown coal surface mining in the North Bohemian brown coal basin in the Czech Republic. Problems associated with reclamation of landslide areas in two former coal mines are evaluated: the Otokar mine in Kostany (mining from 1956 to 1966) and the CSM mine in Pozorka (mining from 1955 to 1967). Land reclamation was introduced 25 years after damage occurred. The following aspects are analyzed: hydrogeologic conditions, range of landslides, types of rocks in landslide areas, water conditions, methods for stabilizing slopes, safety aspects.

Statistical evaluation of major human errors during the development of new technological systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, G; Ott, K.O.

1979-01-01

Statistical procedures are presented to evaluate major human errors during the development of a new system, errors that have led or can lead to accidents or major failures. The first procedure aims at estimating the average residual occurrence rate for s or major failures after several have occurred. The procedure is solely based on the historical record. Certain idealizations are introduced that allow the application of a sound statistical evaluation procedure. These idealizations are practically realized to a sufficient degree such that the proposed estimation procedure yields meaningful results, even for situations with a sparse data base, represented by very few accidents. Under the assumption that the possible human-error-related failure times have exponential distributions, the statistical technique of isotonic regression is proposed to estimate the failure rates due to human design error at the failure times of the system. The last value in the sequence of estimates gives the residual accident chance. In addition, theactual situation is tested against the hypothesis that the failure rate of the system remains constant over time. This test determines the chance for a decreasing failure rate being incidental, rather than an indication of an actual learning process. Both techniques can be applied not merely to a single system but to an entire series of similar systems that a technology would generate, enabling the assessment of technological improvement. For the purpose of illustration, the nuclear decay of isotopes was chosen as an example, since the assumptions of the model are rigorously satisfied in this case. This application shows satisfactory agreement of the estimated and actual failure rates (which are exactly known in this example), although the estimation was deliberately based on a sparse historical record

Measurement of Posterior Tibial Slope Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Karimi, Elham; Norouzian, Mohsen; Birjandinejad, Ali; Zandi, Reza; Makhmalbaf, Hadi

2017-11-01

Posterior tibial slope (PTS) is an important factor in the knee joint biomechanics and one of the bone features, which affects knee joint stability. Posterior tibial slope has impact on flexion gap, knee joint stability and posterior femoral rollback that are related to wide range of knee motion. During high tibial osteotomy and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery, proper retaining the mechanical and anatomical axis is important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of posterior tibial slope in medial and lateral compartments of tibial plateau and to assess the relationship among the slope with age, gender and other variables of tibial plateau surface. This descriptive study was conducted on 132 healthy knees (80 males and 52 females) with a mean age of 38.26±11.45 (20-60 years) at Imam Reza hospital in Mashhad, Iran. All patients, selected and enrolled for MRI in this study, were admitted for knee pain with uncertain clinical history. According to initial physical knee examinations the study subjects were reported healthy. The mean posterior tibial slope was 7.78± 2.48 degrees in the medial compartment and 6.85± 2.24 degrees in lateral compartment. No significant correlation was found between age and gender with posterior tibial slope ( P ≥0.05), but there was significant relationship among PTS with mediolateral width, plateau area and medial plateau. Comparison of different studies revealed that the PTS value in our study is different from other communities, which can be associated with genetic and racial factors. The results of our study are useful to PTS reconstruction in surgeries.

Medication errors: prescribing faults and prescription errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Velo, Giampaolo P; Minuz, Pietro

2009-06-01

1. Medication errors are common in general practice and in hospitals. Both errors in the act of writing (prescription errors) and prescribing faults due to erroneous medical decisions can result in harm to patients. 2. Any step in the prescribing process can generate errors. Slips, lapses, or mistakes are sources of errors, as in unintended omissions in the transcription of drugs. Faults in dose selection, omitted transcription, and poor handwriting are common. 3. Inadequate knowledge or competence and incomplete information about clinical characteristics and previous treatment of individual patients can result in prescribing faults, including the use of potentially inappropriate medications. 4. An unsafe working environment, complex or undefined procedures, and inadequate communication among health-care personnel, particularly between doctors and nurses, have been identified as important underlying factors that contribute to prescription errors and prescribing faults. 5. Active interventions aimed at reducing prescription errors and prescribing faults are strongly recommended. These should be focused on the education and training of prescribers and the use of on-line aids. The complexity of the prescribing procedure should be reduced by introducing automated systems or uniform prescribing charts, in order to avoid transcription and omission errors. Feedback control systems and immediate review of prescriptions, which can be performed with the assistance of a hospital pharmacist, are also helpful. Audits should be performed periodically.

A more general model for the analysis of the rock slope stability

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

slope stability analysis, the joint surfaces are assumed to be continuous along the potential ... of rock slope stability has many applications in the design of rock slopes, roofs and walls of .... cases the wedge failure analysis can be applied.

VT Data - Lidar Slope (0.7m) 2015, Windham County

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) This metadata applies to the following collection area(s): Windham County 2015 0.7m and related SLOPE datasets. Created using ArcGIS "SLOPE"...

Statistical evaluation of design-error related accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ott, K.O.; Marchaterre, J.F.

1980-01-01

In a recently published paper (Campbell and Ott, 1979), a general methodology was proposed for the statistical evaluation of design-error related accidents. The evaluation aims at an estimate of the combined residual frequency of yet unknown types of accidents lurking in a certain technological system. Here, the original methodology is extended, as to apply to a variety of systems that evolves during the development of large-scale technologies. A special categorization of incidents and accidents is introduced to define the events that should be jointly analyzed. The resulting formalism is applied to the development of the nuclear power reactor technology, considering serious accidents that involve in the accident-progression a particular design inadequacy

Overpressure, Flow Focusing, Compaction and Slope Stability on the continental slope: Insights from IODP Expedition 308

Science.gov (United States)

Flemings, P. B.

2010-12-01

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expepedition 308 used direct measurements of pore pressure, analysis of hydromechanical properties, and geological analysis to illuminate how sedimentation, flow focusing, overpressure, and slope stability couple beneath the seafloor on the deepwater continental slope in the Gulf of Mexico. We used pore pressure penetrometers to measure severe overpressures (60% of the difference between lithostatic stress and hydrostatic pressure) that extend from the seafloor for 100’s of meters. We ran uniaxial consolidation experiments on whole core and found that although permeability is relatively high near the seafloor, the sediments are highly compressible. As a result, the coefficient of consolidation (the hydraulic diffusivity) is remarkably constant over a large range of effective stresses. This behavior accounts for the high overpressure that begins near the seafloor and extends to depth. Forward modeling suggests that flow is driven laterally along a permeable unit called the Blue Unit. Calculations suggest that soon after deposition, lateral flow lowered the effective stress and triggered the submarine landslides that we observe. Later in the evolution of this system, overpressure may have pre-conditioned the slope to failure by earthquakes. Results from IODP Expedition 308 illustrate how pore pressure and sedimentation control the large-scale form of continental margins, how submarine landslides form, and provide strategies for designing stable drilling programs.

FIB-based measurement of local residual stresses on microsystems

Science.gov (United States)

Vogel, Dietmar; Sabate, Neus; Gollhardt, Astrid; Keller, Juergen; Auersperg, Juergen; Michel, Bernd

2006-03-01

The paper comprises research results obtained for stress determination on micro and nanotechnology components. It meets the concern of controlling stresses introduced to sensors, MEMS and electronics devices during different micromachining processes. The method bases on deformation measurement options made available inside focused ion beam equipment. Removing locally material by ion beam milling existing stresses / residual stresses lead to deformation fields around the milled feature. Digital image correlation techniques are used to extract deformation values from micrographs captured before and after milling. In the paper, two main milling features have been analyzed - through hole and through slit milling. Analytical solutions for stress release fields of in-plane stresses have been derived and compared to respective experimental findings. Their good agreement allows to settle a method for determination of residual stress values, which is demonstrated for thin membranes manufactured by silicon micro technology. Some emphasis is made on the elimination of main error sources for stress determination, like rigid body object displacements and rotations due to drifts of experimental conditions under FIB imaging. In order to illustrate potential application areas of the method residual stress suppression by ion implantation is evaluated by the method and reported here.

Effect of rainfall on the reliability of an infinite slope

OpenAIRE

Yuan, J.; Papaioannou, I.; Mok, C. M.; Straub, D.

2014-01-01

Rainfall is one of the most common factors triggering landslides, since infiltration of water into the soil has a significant impact on pore water pressure buildup that affects slope stability. In this study, the influence of the wetting front development on the reliability of an infinite slope is analyzed. The failure condition of the slope is expressed in terms of the factor of safety. Rainfall infiltration is simulated by a time-dependent model, based on the Green and Ampt assumptions. The...

Discussion on the Safety Factors of Slopes Recommended for Small Dams

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Vrubel

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The design and assessment of the slope stability of small embankment dams is usually not carried out using slope stability calculations but rather by the comparison of proposed or existing dam slopes with those recommended by technical standards or guidelines. Practical experience shows that in many cases the slopes of small dams are steeper than those recommended. However, most of such steeper slopes at existing dams do not exhibit any visible signs of instability, defects or sliding. For the dam owner and also for dam stability engineers, the safety of the slope, expressed e.g. via a factor of safety, is crucial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety margin provided by recommended slopes. The factor of safety was evaluated for several dam shape and layout variants via the shear strength reduction method using PLAXIS software. The study covers various dam geometries, dam core and shoulder positions and parameter values of utilised soils. Three load cases were considered: one with a steady state seepage condition and two with different reservoir water level drawdown velocities – standard and critical. As numerous older small dams lack a drainage system, variants with and without a toe drain were assessed. Calculated factors of safety were compared with required values specified by national standards and guidelines.