Improving the performance and fuel consumption of dual chamber stratified charge spark ignition engines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sorenson, S.C.; Pan, S.S.; Bruckbauer, J.J.; Gehrke, G.R.

1979-09-01

A combined experimental and theoretical investigation of the nature of the combustion processes in a dual chamber stratified charge spark ignition engine is described. This work concentrated on understanding the mixing process in the main chamber gases. A specially constructed single cylinder engine was used to both conduct experiments to study mixing effects and to obtain experimental data for the validation of the computer model which was constructed in the theoretical portion of the study. The test procedures are described. Studies were conducted on the effect of fuel injection timing on performance and emissions using the combination of orifice size and prechamber to main chamber flow rate ratio which gave the best overall compromise between emissions and performance. In general, fuel injection gave slightly higher oxides of nitrogen, but considerably lower hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions than the carbureted form of the engine. Experiments with engine intake port redesign to promote swirl mixing indicated a substantial increase in the power output from the engine and, that an equivalent power levels, the nitric oxide emissions are approximately 30% lower with swirl in the main chamber than without swirl. The development of a computer simulation of the combustion process showed that a one-dimensional combustion model can be used to accurately predict trends in engine operation conditions and nitric oxide emissions even though the actual flame in the engine is not completely one-dimensional, and that a simple model for mixing of the main chamber and prechamber intake gases at the start of compression proved adequate to explain the effects of swirl, ignition timing, overall fuel air ratio, volumetric efficiency, and variations in prechamber air fuel ratio and fuel rate percentage on engine power and nitric oxide emissions. (LCL)

Gamma radiation measurement, through a spark chamber put aboard of a stratospheric balloon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santo, C.M.E.; Rao, K.R.

1982-06-01

For determining the diffuse component of gamma rays in the 15 to 75 Mev range arriving from near the galactic center, a digitized spark chamber was launched aboard two balloons from Resende, Brazil, on 19 November and 3 December 1975. In each flight the detector reached an altitude of 2,2 g/cm 2 . Based on these data, a diffuse gamma ray flux 6,0x10 - 5 , 2,0x10 - 5 , 4,6x10 - 6 and 1,3x10 - 6 photons (cm 2 .s.sterad.Mev) at energies of 21, 36, 52, 67 Mev respectively was obtained. These values give a power law spectrum with spectral index equal to -3,3. The dependence of this radiation with the galactic latitude and longitude in the interval -5 0 0 and 325 0 0 was also obtained. Finally, our results were compared with other experiments' results. (Author) [pt

The suppression of destructive sparks in parallel plate proportional counters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cockshott, R.A.; Mason, I.M.

1984-02-01

The authors find that high energy background events produce localised sparks in parallel plate counters when operated in the proportional mode. These sparks increase dead-time and lead to degradation ranging from electrode damage to spurious pulsing and continuous breakdown. The problem is particularly serious in low energy photon detectors for X-ray astronomy which are required to have lifetimes of several years in the high radiation environment of space. For the parallel plate imaging detector developed for the European X-ray Observatory Satellite (EXOSAT) they investigate quantitatively the spark thresholds, spark rates and degradation processes. They discuss the spark mechanism, pointing out differences from the situation in spark chambers and counters. They show that the time profile of the sparks allows them to devise a spark suppression system which reduces the degradation rate by a factor of ''200.

Giuseppe and Maria Fidecaro inside the spark chamber apparatus in the South Hall of PS to search for the $\\rho \\rightarrow \\pi\\gamma$ decay

CERN Multimedia

Gérard Bertin; CERN PhotoLab

1964-01-01

The lens, the so-called front view (see album https://cds.cern.ch/record/1974123), was used in the S30 experiment to converge onto a camera parallel light rays from the front of a large spark chamber. A second identical lens, the so-called top view, and a large mirror were used to take pictures at 90 degrees in such a way to determine the x,y coordinates in the horizontal plane of each spark. Details of the optics are reported in the note: A $\\gamma$-ray detector for the study of the electromagnetic decay of resonances, INFN/AE - 67/7, 20 Jun 1967, by F. Bradamante, G. Fidecaro, M. Fidecaro, M. Giorgi, F. Sauli, P. Schiavon.

Streamer chamber: pion decay

CERN Multimedia

1992-01-01

The real particles produced in the decay of a positive pion can be seen in this image from a streamer chamber. Streamer chambers consist of a gas chamber through which a strong pulsed electric field is passed, creating sparks as a charged particle passes through it. A magnetic field is added to cause the decay products to follow curved paths so that their charge and momentum can be measured.

High counting rate resistive-plate chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peskov, V.; Anderson, D.F.; Kwan, S.

1993-05-01

Parallel-plate avalanche chambers (PPAC) are widely used in physics experiments because they are fast ( 5 counts/mm 2 . A resistive-plate chamber (RPC) is similar to the PPAC in construction except that one or both of the electrodes are made from high resistivity (≥10 10 Ω·cm) materials. In practice RPCs are usually used in the spark mode. Resistive electrodes are charged by sparks, locally reducing the actual electric field in the gap. The size of the charged surface is about 10 mm 2 , leaving the rest of the detector unaffected. Therefore, the rate capability of such detectors in the spark mode is considerably higher than conventional spark counters. Among the different glasses tested the best results were obtained with electron type conductive glasses, which obey Ohm's law. Most of the work with such glasses was done with high pressure parallel-plate chambers (10 atm) for time-of-flight measurements. Resistive glasses have been expensive and produced only in small quantities. Now resistive glasses are commercially available, although they are still expensive in small scale production. From the positive experience of different groups working with the resistive glasses, it was decided to review the old idea to use this glass for the RPC. This work has investigated the possibility of using the RPC at 1 atm and in the avalanche mode. This has several advantages: simplicity of construction, high rate capability, low voltage operation, and the ability to work with non-flammable gases

The wide gap resistive plate chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crotty, I.; Lamas Valverde, J.; Hatzifotiadou, D.; Williams, M.C.S.; Zichichi, A.

1995-01-01

The resistive plate chamber (RPC) has good time and position resolution; these factors (coupled to its simple construction) make it an attractive candidate for muon trigger systems at future colliders. However, operated in spark mode, the RPC has severe rate problems that make it unusable above 10 Hz/cm 2 . We have previously published our results concerning the operation of the RPC in spark and in avalanche mode; we have shown that the rate limit can be increased to 150 Hz/cm 2 if the RPC is operated in avalanche mode. Here, we discuss the performance of chambers with 6 and 8 mm gas gaps (compared to the more usual 2 mm gap). We outline the reasons for this choice, and also discuss anode versus cathode strip readout. We have measured the efficiency versus flux, and also show that an enhanced rate limit can be obtained if only a small region of the chamber is exposed to the beam (spot illumination). Finally we have tested the performance of chambers constructed with other materials for the resistiv e plate and compare it to chambers constructed with our preferred plastic, melamine laminate. (orig.)

Turbulent spark-jet ignition in SI gas fuelled engine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pielecha Ireneusz

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article contains a thermodynamic analysis of a new combustion system that allows the combustion of stratified gas mixtures with mean air excess coefficient in the range 1.4-1.8. Spark ignition was used in the pre-chamber that has been mounted in the engine cylinder head and contained a rich mixture out of which a turbulent flow of ignited mixture is ejected. It allows spark-jet ignition and the turbulent combustion of the lean mixture in the main combustion chamber. This resulted in a two-stage combustion system for lean mixtures. The experimental study has been conducted using a single-cylinder test engine with a geometric compression ratio ε = 15.5 adapted for natural gas supply. The tests were performed at engine speed n = 2000 rpm under stationary engine load when the engine operating parameters and toxic compounds emissions have been recorded. Analysis of the results allowed to conclude that the evaluated combustion system offers large flexibility in the initiation of charge ignition through an appropriate control of the fuel quantities supplied into the pre-chamber and into the main combustion chamber. The research concluded with determining the charge ignition criterion for a suitably divided total fuel dose fed to the cylinder.

Modelling auto ignition of hydrogen in a jet ignition pre-chamber

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boretti, Alberto A. [School of Science and Engineering, University of Ballarat, PO Box 663, Ballarat, Victoria 3353 (Australia)

2010-04-15

Spark-less jet ignition pre-chambers are enablers of high efficiencies and load control by quantity of fuel injected when coupled with direct injection of main chamber fuel, thus permitting always lean burn bulk stratified combustion. Towards the end of the compression stroke, a small quantity of hydrogen is injected within the pre-chamber, where it mixes with the air entering from the main chamber. Combustion of the air and fuel mixture then starts within the pre-chamber because of the high temperature of the hot glow plug, and then jets of partially combusted hot gases enter the main chamber igniting there in the bulk, over multiple ignition points, lean stratified mixtures of air and fuel. The paper describes the operation of the spark-less jet ignition pre-chamber coupling CFD and CAE engine simulations to allow component selection and engine performance evaluation. (author)

Adaptation of multiwire chambers to some recent experiments in elementary particle physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Comby, G.

1977-01-01

Three realizations of gas multiplication detectors are presented in the field of multiwire chambers. Le 'NEUTRINO' experiment is intended for investigating neutrino interactions at energies as high as possible with using drift chambers. The 'LEZARD' experiment is intended for investigating lepton and hadron production at high transverse momentum in hadron-nucleon collisions up to the higher energies attainable at SPS (use of a multiwire proportional chamber), the apparatus has the performance of a spectrometer. A spark chamber equipped with memories has been developed for controlling bubble chamber experiments. Emphasis is put on the evolution towards detectors associated with 'another thing' to obtain a more specific operation: such as the plasma memory and spark chamber association, some possible association with function gaps is pointed out (delay function, homothetic function) [fr

Simulation of muon transport through the aragats spark chamber calorimeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asatiani, T.L.; Ter-Antonyan, S.V.

1981-01-01

The algorithm is presented of the program on simulation of muon transport through Aragats spark calorimeter. Statistic test method with account of fluctuations and angular distributions of cascade showers is used. The program is worked out on the Fortran algorithm language for EVM BESM-6 and is calibrated by experimental data of Aragats complex installation [ru

Brookhaven National Laboratory's multiparticle spectrometer drift chamber system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Etkin, A.; Kramer, M.A.

1979-01-01

A system of drift chambers is being built to replace the present spark chambers in the Brookhaven National Laboratory's Multiparticle Spectrometer. This system will handle a beam of approx. 3 million particles per second and have a resolution of 200 μm. A summary of the status of the chambers and the custom integrated circuits is presented. The data acquisition system is described. Prototype chambers have been built and tested with results that are consistent with the expected chamber properties

The analysis of track chamber photographs using flying spot digitizers

CERN Multimedia

Powell, Brian W

1966-01-01

A vast quantity of data pours from the experiments on particle accelerators throughout the world. For example, over 300 000 photographs per week came from the three bubble chambers operating on the CERN PS at the end of 1965. The conventional method of processing these bubble chamber photographs is for each one of them to be examined ('scanned') to see whether it records an interesting particle interaction. The interesting photographs are then passed to hand operated measuring machines to obtain precise measurements of the particle trajectories recorded on the film. Similar measurements are carried out on photographs taken in film spark chamber experiments. This article on the Flying Spot Digitizers at CERN describes one of the most fruitful attempts to speed and make more accurate the process of analysis of bubble and spark chamber photographs. There are two types of Flying Spot Digitizer at CERN — the HPD or Hough Powell Device (named after Professor Hough and the author who, together, initiated the devel...

An experimental investigation of a lean-burn natural-gas pre-chamber spark ignition engine for cogeneration; Swiss Motor. Modification d'un moteur diesel pour le fonctionnement au gaz naturel en cogeneration. Fonctionnement avec prechambre de combustion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roethlisberger, R.; Favrat, D.

2001-07-01

This thesis presented at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne describes the conversion and testing of a commercial diesel engine for use as a lean-burn, natural gas, pre-chamber, spark ignition engine with a rated power of 150 kW, in combined heat and power (CHP) plants. The objective of the investigations - to evaluate the potential of reducing exhaust gas emissions - is discussed in detail with respect to NO{sub x} and CO emissions. The approach adopted includes both experimental work and numerical simulation. The report describes the testing facilities used. The results obtained with experimental spark-plug configurations based on simulation results are presented and the influence of various pre-chamber configuration variants are discussed. The results of the tests are presented and the significant reduction of NO{sub x}, CO and unburned-hydrocarbon (THC) emissions are discussed. The authors state that the engine, which achieves a fuel efficiency of more than 36.5%, fulfils the Swiss requirements on exhaust gas emissions. Also, ways of compensating for the slight loss in fuel-conversion efficiency in the pre-chamber configuration are discussed.

Pressure Indicating with Measuring Spark Plugs on a DI-Gasoline Engine - State of Technology; Druckindizierung mit Messzuendkerzen an einem DI-Ottomotor - Stand der Technik

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Walter, T.; Brechbuehl, S.; Gossweiler, C.; Schnepf, M.; Wolfer, P. [Kistler Instrumente AG, Winterthur (Switzerland)

2004-07-01

For pressure indicating in gasoline engines, spark plugs with integrated pressure sensor are enabling for fast and efficient access to the combustion chamber. These socalled measuring spark plugs permit any engine to be set up for pressure-indicating within a minimum amount of time and without need for any preparation of an additional bore. Measuring spark plugs offer the user a number of immediate advantages: a) no need to modify the engine by drilling a separate bore to access the combustion chamber b) no modification of the geometry of the combustion chamber and thermal conditions c) suitable for on-board measurements, end-of-line checks and monitoring d) quick and easy installation and replacement In terms of costs, measuring spark plugs are also representing a beneficial alternative to separate indicating bores. The cost of designing, preparing and carrying out an additional bore in a cylinder head are typically many times the costs for a measuring spark plug, thus producing a significant cost saving. The main disadvantages of measuring spark plugs are as follows: 1) restricted to uncooled, low sensitivity miniature pressure sensors 2) the sensor element is exposed to an extraordinarily high thermal load 3) proximity to high voltage carries the risk of electromagnetic interference 4) the positioning between the valve seats means they are subject to heavy vibration 5) the incorporation of the pressure sensor results in more complex design. The purpose of this paper is to describe the technology as well as the dynamic behaviour of measuring spark plugs and to present the current state of technology. (orig.)

Spark Channels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haydon, S. C. [Department of Physics, University of New England, Armidale, NSW (Australia)

1968-04-15

A brief summary is given of the principal methods used for initiating spark channels and the various highly time-resolved techniques developed recently for studies with nanosecond resolution. The importance of the percentage overvoltage in determining the early history and subsequent development of the various phases of the growth of the spark channel is discussed. An account is then given of the recent photographic, oscillographic and spectroscopic investigations of spark channels initiated by co-axial cable discharges of spark gaps at low [{approx} 1%] overvoltages. The phenomena observed in the development of the immediate post-breakdown phase, the diffuse glow structure, the growth of the luminous filament and the final formation of the spark channel in hydrogen are described. A brief account is also given of the salient features emerging from corresponding studies of highly overvolted spark gaps in which the spark channel develops from single avalanche conditions. The essential differences between the two types of channel formation are summarized and possible explanations of the general features are indicated. (author)

GeoSpark SQL: An Effective Framework Enabling Spatial Queries on Spark

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhou Huang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In the era of big data, Internet-based geospatial information services such as various LBS apps are deployed everywhere, followed by an increasing number of queries against the massive spatial data. As a result, the traditional relational spatial database (e.g., PostgreSQL with PostGIS and Oracle Spatial cannot adapt well to the needs of large-scale spatial query processing. Spark is an emerging outstanding distributed computing framework in the Hadoop ecosystem. This paper aims to address the increasingly large-scale spatial query-processing requirement in the era of big data, and proposes an effective framework GeoSpark SQL, which enables spatial queries on Spark. On the one hand, GeoSpark SQL provides a convenient SQL interface; on the other hand, GeoSpark SQL achieves both efficient storage management and high-performance parallel computing through integrating Hive and Spark. In this study, the following key issues are discussed and addressed: (1 storage management methods under the GeoSpark SQL framework, (2 the spatial operator implementation approach in the Spark environment, and (3 spatial query optimization methods under Spark. Experimental evaluation is also performed and the results show that GeoSpark SQL is able to achieve real-time query processing. It should be noted that Spark is not a panacea. It is observed that the traditional spatial database PostGIS/PostgreSQL performs better than GeoSpark SQL in some query scenarios, especially for the spatial queries with high selectivity, such as the point query and the window query. In general, GeoSpark SQL performs better when dealing with compute-intensive spatial queries such as the kNN query and the spatial join query.

Comparison and flowering valuation of New Guinea Impatiens cultivars from Sonic and Super Sonic groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ludmiła Startek

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In the years 2002-2003 the flowering of four New Guinea Impatiens cultivars from Sonic and Super Sonic groups were compared. They were the following cultivars: 'Sonic Pink', 'Sonic Sweet Cherry', 'Super Sonic Cherry Cream' and 'Super Sonic Hot Pink'. The experiments were carried out from the middle of April till the middle of October. Neutralised sphagnum peat with slow release fertiliser Osmocote Plus 5/6 was used as medium. It was found that the cultivar 'Sonic Pink' began blooming 1-4 weeks earlier than the other cultivars. The cultivars 'Sonic Sweet Cherry' and 'Super Sonic Cherry Cream' had significantly more abundant flowering (105.3-113.3 flowers per plant than the cultivars 'Sonic Pink' and 'Super Sonic Hot Pink' (72.0-92.8 flowers per plant. All the cultivars had big flowers (6.3-7.8 cm in diameter. The most similar flowers were found in 'Sonic Sweet Cherry' and the least similar in 'Super Sonic Hot Pink'.

SparkRS - Spark for Remote Sensing, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed innovation is Spark-RS, an open source software project that enables GPU-accelerated remote sensing workflows in an Apache Spark distributed computing...

High performance Spark best practices for scaling and optimizing Apache Spark

CERN Document Server

Karau, Holden

2017-01-01

Apache Spark is amazing when everything clicks. But if you haven’t seen the performance improvements you expected, or still don’t feel confident enough to use Spark in production, this practical book is for you. Authors Holden Karau and Rachel Warren demonstrate performance optimizations to help your Spark queries run faster and handle larger data sizes, while using fewer resources. Ideal for software engineers, data engineers, developers, and system administrators working with large-scale data applications, this book describes techniques that can reduce data infrastructure costs and developer hours. Not only will you gain a more comprehensive understanding of Spark, you’ll also learn how to make it sing. With this book, you’ll explore: How Spark SQL’s new interfaces improve performance over SQL’s RDD data structure The choice between data joins in Core Spark and Spark SQL Techniques for getting the most out of standard RDD transformations How to work around performance issues i...

Scattering profiles of sparks and combustibility of filter against hot sparks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asazuma, Shinichiro; Okada, Takashi; Kashiro, Kashio

2004-01-01

The glove-box dismantling facility in the Plutonium Fuel Production Facility is developed to dismantle after-service glove-boxes with remote-controlled devices such as an arm-type manipulator. An abrasive wheel cutter, which is used to size reduce the gloveboxes, generates sparks during operation. This dispersing spark was a problem from the fire prevention point of view. A suitable spark control measures for this operation were required. We developed panels to minimize spark dispersion, shields to prevent the income of sparks to the pre-filter, and incombustible pre-filters. The equipment was tested and effectiveness was confirmed. This report provides the results of these tests. (author)

THE EFFECT OF COMPRESSION RATIO VARIATIONS ON THE ENGINE PERFORMANCE PARAMETRES IN SPARK IGNITION ENGINES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yakup SEKMEN

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Performance of the spark ignition engines may be increased by changing the geometrical compression ratio according to the amount of charging in cylinders. The designed geometrical compression ratio can be realized as an effective compression ratio under the full load and full open throttle conditions since the effective compression ratio changes with the amount of charging into the cylinder in spark ignition engines. So, this condition of the spark ignition engines forces designers to change their geometrical compression ratio according to the amount of charging into the cylinder for improvement of performance and fuel economy. In order to improve the combustion efficiency, fuel economy, power output, exhaust emissions at partial loads, compression ratio must be increased; but, under high load and low speed conditions to prevent probable knock and hard running the compression ratio must be decreased gradually. In this paper, relation of the performance parameters to compression ratio such as power, torque, specific fuel consumption, cylindir pressure, exhaust gas temperature, combustion chamber surface area/volume ratio, thermal efficiency, spark timing etc. in spark ignition engines have been investigated and using of engines with variable compression ratio is suggested to fuel economy and more clear environment.

Ignition of turbulent swirling n-heptane spray flames using single and multiple sparks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marchionea, T.; Ahmeda, S.F.; Mastorakos, E. [Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)

2009-01-15

This paper examines ignition processes of an n-heptane spray in a flow typical of a liquid-fuelled burner. The spray is created by a hollow-cone pressure atomiser placed in the centre of a bluff body, around which swirling air induces a strong recirculation zone. Ignition was achieved by single small sparks of short duration (2 mm; 0.5 ms), located at various places inside the flow so as to identify the most ignitable regions, or larger sparks of longer duration (5 mm; 8 ms) repeated at 100 Hz, located close to the combustion chamber enclosure so as to mimic the placement and characteristics of a gas turbine combustor surface igniter. The air and droplet velocities, the droplet diameter, and the total (i.e. liquid plus vapour) equivalence ratio were measured in inert flow by phase Doppler anemometry and sampling respectively. Fast camera imaging suggested that successful ignition events were associated with flamelets that propagated back towards the spray nozzle. Measurements of ignition probability with the single spark showed that localised ignition inside the spray is more likely to result in successful flame establishment when the spark is located in a region of negative velocity, relatively small droplet Sauter mean diameter, and mean equivalence ratio within the flammability limits. Ignition with the single spark was not possible at the location where the multiple spark experiments were performed. For those, the multiple spark sequence lasted approximately 1 to 5 s. It was found that a long spark sequence increases the ignition efficiency, which reached a maximum of 100% at the axial distance where the recirculation zone had maximum width. Ignition was not feasible with the spark downstream of about two burner diameters. Visualisation showed that small flame kernels emanate very often from the spark, which can be stretched as far as 20 mm from the electrodes by the turbulent velocity fluctuations. These kernels survive very little time. Successful overall

Analysis of Nozzle Jet Plume Effects on Sonic Boom Signature

Science.gov (United States)

Bui, Trong

2010-01-01

coupling to a sonic boom propagation analysis code, from the stagnation chamber of the nozzle to the far field external flow, taking into account all nonisentropic effects in the shocks, boundary layers, and free shear layers, and their interactions at distances up to 30 times the nozzle exit diameter from the jet centerline. A CFD solution is shown in Figure 2. The flow field is very complicated and multi-dimensional, with shock-shock and shockplume interactions. At the time of this reporting, a full three-dimensional CFD study was being conducted to evaluate the effects of nozzle vectoring on the aircraft tail shock strength.

AROMA-AIRWICK: a CHLOE/CDC-3600 system for the automatic identification of spark images and their association into tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, R.K.

The AROMA-AIRWICK System for CHLOE, an automatic film scanning equipment built at Argonne by Donald Hodges, and the CDC-3600 computer is a system for the automatic identification of spark images and their association into tracks. AROMA-AIRWICK has been an outgrowth of the generally recognized need for the automatic processing of high energy physics data and the fact that the Argonne National Laboratory has been a center of serious spark chamber development in recent years

Sonic Interaction Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

) challenges these prevalent approaches by considering sound as an active medium that can enable novel sensory and social experiences through interactive technologies. This book offers an overview of the emerging SID research, discussing theories, methods, and practices, with a focus on the multisensory......Sound is an integral part of every user experience but a neglected medium in design disciplines. Design of an artifact’s sonic qualities is often limited to the shaping of functional, representational, and signaling roles of sound. The interdisciplinary field of sonic interaction design (SID...... aspects of sonic experience. Sonic Interaction Design gathers contributions from scholars, artists, and designers working at the intersections of fields ranging from electronic music to cognitive science. They offer both theoretical considerations of key themes and case studies of products and systems...

Automatic scanning of Cerenkov light photograms from a multistep avalanche chamber using a television digitizer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vascon, M.; Zanella, G.

1980-01-01

A television digitizer and its application to automatic scanning of Cerenkov imaging using the multistep avalanche chamber in front of optical spark chamber are described. The results are of interest in the adoption of the automatic scanning of photographic plates of these events or for the on-line application of the television digitizer itself. (orig.)

Stability of Streamer Chamber

Science.gov (United States)

Wada, Toshiaki; Ogawa, Masato; Takahashi, Kaoru; Sugiyama, Tsunetoshi; Kobayashi, Shigeharu; Kohno, Hirobumi

1982-08-01

The quality of tracks obtained from a streamer chamber is studied through the measurement of the streamer brightness. The stability of streamer tracks depends on the value of the high voltage applied and its shape. By using a single conical-type spark gap as the pulse shaper, stable brightness of the streamer tracks is attained. The data on the streamer brightness are compared with the result by Bulos et al. and it is found that the brightness is more strongly affected by field parameters than in their result.

Stability of streamer chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wada, Toshiaki; Ogawa, Masato; Takahashi, Kaoru; Sugiyama, Tsunetoshi; Kobayashi, Shigeharu; Kohno, Hirobumi.

1982-01-01

The quality of tracks obtained from a streamer chamber is studied through the measurement of the streamer brightness. The stability of streamer tracks depends on the value of the high voltage applied and its shape. By using a single conical-type spark gap as the pulse shaper, stable brightness of the streamer tracks is attained. The data on the streamer brightness are compared with the result by Bulos et al. and it is found that the brightness is more strongly affected by field parameters than in their result. (author)

A Experimental Study of the Growth of Laser Spark and Electric Spark Ignited Flame Kernels.

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Chi Ming

1995-01-01

Better ignition sources are constantly in demand for enhancing the spark ignition in practical applications such as automotive and liquid rocket engines. In response to this practical challenge, the present experimental study was conducted with the major objective to obtain a better understanding on how spark formation and hence spark characteristics affect the flame kernel growth. Two laser sparks and one electric spark were studied in air, propane-air, propane -air-nitrogen, methane-air, and methane-oxygen mixtures that were initially at ambient pressure and temperature. The growth of the kernels was monitored by imaging the kernels with shadowgraph systems, and by imaging the planar laser -induced fluorescence of the hydroxyl radicals inside the kernels. Characteristic dimensions and kernel structures were obtained from these images. Since different energy transfer mechanisms are involved in the formation of a laser spark as compared to that of an electric spark; a laser spark is insensitive to changes in mixture ratio and mixture type, while an electric spark is sensitive to changes in both. The detailed structures of the kernels in air and propane-air mixtures primarily depend on the spark characteristics. But the combustion heat released rapidly in methane-oxygen mixtures significantly modifies the kernel structure. Uneven spark energy distribution causes remarkably asymmetric kernel structure. The breakdown energy of a spark creates a blast wave that shows good agreement with the numerical point blast solution, and a succeeding complex spark-induced flow that agrees reasonably well with a simple puff model. The transient growth rates of the propane-air, propane-air -nitrogen, and methane-air flame kernels can be interpreted in terms of spark effects, flame stretch, and preferential diffusion. For a given mixture, a spark with higher breakdown energy produces a greater and longer-lasting enhancing effect on the kernel growth rate. By comparing the growth

A Photographic Study of Combustion and Knock in a Spark-Ignition Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Rothrock, A M; Spencer, R C

1938-01-01

Report presents the results of a photographic study of the combustion in a spark-ignition engine using both Schlieren and flame photographs taken at high rates of speed. Although shock waves are present after knock occurs, there was no evidence of any type of sonic or supersonic compression waves existing in the combustion gases prior to the occurrence of knock. Artificially induced shock waves in the engine did not in themselves cause knock. The photographs also indicate that, although auto-ignition ahead of the flame front may occur in conjunction with knock, it is not necessary for the occurrence of knock. There is also evidence that the reaction is not completed in the flame front but continues for some time after the flame front has passed through the charge.

Vehicle driving cycle performance of the spark-less di-ji hydrogen engine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boretti, Alberto A. [School of Science and Engineering, University of Ballarat, PO Box663, Ballarat, VIC 3353 (Australia)

2010-05-15

The paper describes coupled CFD combustion simulations and CAE engine performance computations to describe the operation over the full range of load and speed of an always lean burn, Direct Injection Jet Ignition (DI-JI) hydrogen engine. Jet ignition pre-chambers and direct injection are enablers of high efficiencies and load control by quantity of fuel injected. Towards the end of the compression stroke, a small quantity of hydrogen is injected within the spark-less pre-chamber of the DI-JI engine, where it mixes with the air entering from the main chamber and auto-ignites because of the high temperature of the hot glow plug. Then, jets of partially combusted hot gases enter the main chamber igniting there in the bulk, over multiple ignition points, lean stratified mixtures of air and fuel. Engine maps of brake specific fuel consumption vs. speed and brake mean effective pressure are computed first. CAE vehicle simulations are finally performed evaluating the fuel consumption over emission cycles of a vehicle equipped with this engine. (author)

Sonic Watermarking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryuki Tachibana

2004-10-01

Full Text Available Audio watermarking has been used mainly for digital sound. In this paper, we extend the range of its applications to live performances with a new composition method for real-time audio watermarking. Sonic watermarking mixes the sound of the watermark signal and the host sound in the air to detect illegal music recordings recorded from auditoriums. We propose an audio watermarking algorithm for sonic watermarking that increases the magnitudes of the host signal only in segmented areas pseudorandomly chosen in the time-frequency plane. The result of a MUSHRA subjective listening test assesses the acoustic quality of the method in the range of “excellent quality.” The robustness is dependent on the type of music samples. For popular and orchestral music, a watermark can be stably detected from music samples that have been sonic-watermarked and then once compressed in an MPEG 1 layer 3 file.

Specific features of a single-pulse sliding discharge in neon near the threshold for spark breakdown

Science.gov (United States)

Trusov, K. K.

2017-08-01

Experimental data on the spatial structure of a single-pulse sliding discharge in neon at voltages below, equal to, and above the threshold for spark breakdown are discussed. The experiments were carried at gas pressures of 30 and 100 kPa and different polarities of the discharge voltage. Photographs of the plasma structure in two discharge chambers with different dimensions of the discharge zone and different thicknesses of an alumina dielectric plate on the surface of which the discharge develops are inspected. Common features of the prebreakdown discharge and its specific features depending on the voltage polarity and gas pressure are analyzed. It is shown that, at voltages below the threshold for spark breakdown, a low-current glow discharge with cathode and anode spots develops in the electrode gap. Above the breakdown threshold, regardless of the voltage polarity, spark channels directed from the cathode to the anode develop against the background of a low-current discharge.

Experimental investigations of argon spark gap recovery times by developing a high voltage double pulse generator.

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy, C S; Patel, A S; Naresh, P; Sharma, Archana; Mittal, K C

2014-06-01

The voltage recovery in a spark gap for repetitive switching has been a long research interest. A two-pulse technique is used to determine the voltage recovery times of gas spark gap switch with argon gas. First pulse is applied to the spark gap to over-volt the gap and initiate the breakdown and second pulse is used to determine the recovery voltage of the gap. A pulse transformer based double pulse generator capable of generating 40 kV peak pulses with rise time of 300 ns and 1.5 μs FWHM and with a delay of 10 μs-1 s was developed. A matrix transformer topology is used to get fast rise times by reducing L(l)C(d) product in the circuit. Recovery Experiments have been conducted for 2 mm, 3 mm, and 4 mm gap length with 0-2 bars pressure for argon gas. Electrodes of a sparkgap chamber are of rogowsky profile type, made up of stainless steel material, and thickness of 15 mm are used in the recovery study. The variation in the distance and pressure effects the recovery rate of the spark gap. An intermediate plateu is observed in the spark gap recovery curves. Recovery time decreases with increase in pressure and shorter gaps in length are recovering faster than longer gaps.

Fiber coupled optical spark delivery system

Science.gov (United States)

Yalin, Azer; Willson, Bryan; Defoort, Morgan

2008-08-12

A spark delivery system for generating a spark using a laser beam is provided, the spark delivery system including a laser light source and a laser delivery assembly. The laser delivery assembly includes a hollow fiber and a launch assembly comprising launch focusing optics to input the laser beam in the hollow fiber. In addition, the laser delivery assembly includes exit focusing optics that demagnify an exit beam of laser light from the hollow fiber, thereby increasing the intensity of the laser beam and creating a spark. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the assembly may be used to create a spark in a combustion engine. In accordance with other embodiments of the present invention, a method of using the spark delivery system is provided. In addition, a method of choosing an appropriate fiber for creating a spark using a laser beam is also presented.

High-Quality Seismic Observations of Sonic Booms

Science.gov (United States)

Wurman, Gilead; Haering, Edward A., Jr.; Price, Michael J.

2011-01-01

The SonicBREWS project (Sonic Boom Resistant Earthquake Warning Systems) is a collaborative effort between Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. This project aims to evaluate the effects of sonic booms on Earthquake Warning Systems in order to prevent such systems from experiencing false alarms due to sonic booms. The airspace above the Antelope Valley, California includes the High Altitude Supersonic Corridor and the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor. These corridors are among the few places in the US where supersonic flight is permitted, and sonic booms are commonplace in the Antelope Valley. One result of this project is a rich dataset of high-quality accelerometer records of sonic booms which can shed light on the interaction between these atmospheric phenomena and the solid earth. Nearly 100 sonic booms were recorded with low-noise triaxial MEMS accelerometers recording 1000 samples per second. The sonic booms had peak overpressures ranging up to approximately 10 psf and were recorded in three flight series in 2010 and 2011. Each boom was recorded with up to four accelerometers in various array configurations up to 100 meter baseline lengths, both in the built environment and the free field. All sonic booms were also recorded by nearby microphones. We present the results of the project in terms of the potential for sonic-boom-induced false alarms in Earthquake Warning Systems, and highlight some of the interesting features of the dataset.

Fastdata processing with Spark

CERN Document Server

Karau, Holden

2013-01-01

This book will be a basic, step-by-step tutorial, which will help readers take advantage of all that Spark has to offer.Fastdata Processing with Spark is for software developers who want to learn how to write distributed programs with Spark. It will help developers who have had problems that were too much to be dealt with on a single computer. No previous experience with distributed programming is necessary. This book assumes knowledge of either Java, Scala, or Python.

Development of micromegas muon chambers for the ATLAS upgrade

Science.gov (United States)

Wotschack, J.

2012-02-01

Large-area particle detectors based on the bulk-micromegas technology are an attractive choice for the upgrade of LHC detectors and/or detectors for the ILC or other experiments. In the context of the R&D for the ATLAS Muon System upgrade, we have built detectors of order 1 m2. In order to overcome the spark problem in micromegas a novel protection scheme using resistive strips above the readout electrode has been developed. This technology has undergone extensive tests with hadron beams at the CERN-SPS, X-rays in the lab, as well as in a neutron beam. In addition, four 10 × 10 cm2 micromegas chambers have been installed in the ATLAS cavern and are taking data under LHC conditions. We will discuss the underlying design of the chambers and present results on the performance of these chambers.

Development of micromegas muon chambers for the ATLAS upgrade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wotschack, J

2012-01-01

Large-area particle detectors based on the bulk-micromegas technology are an attractive choice for the upgrade of LHC detectors and/or detectors for the ILC or other experiments. In the context of the R and D for the ATLAS Muon System upgrade, we have built detectors of order 1 m 2 . In order to overcome the spark problem in micromegas a novel protection scheme using resistive strips above the readout electrode has been developed. This technology has undergone extensive tests with hadron beams at the CERN-SPS, X-rays in the lab, as well as in a neutron beam. In addition, four 10 × 10 cm 2 micromegas chambers have been installed in the ATLAS cavern and are taking data under LHC conditions. We will discuss the underlying design of the chambers and present results on the performance of these chambers.

A spectroscopy study of gasoline partially premixed compression ignition spark assisted combustion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pastor, J.V.; García-Oliver, J.M.; García, A.; Micó, C.; Durrett, R.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► PPC combustion combined with spark assistance and gasoline fuel on a CI engine. ► Chemiluminescence of different chemical species describes the progress of combustion reaction. ► Spectra of a novel combustion mode under SACI conditions is described. ► UV–Visible spectrometry, high speed imaging and pressure diagnostic were employed for analysis. - Abstract: Nowadays many research efforts are focused on the study and development of new combustion modes, mainly based on the use of locally lean air–fuel mixtures. This characteristic, combined with exhaust gas recirculation, provides low combustion temperatures that reduces pollutant formation and increases efficiency. However these combustion concepts have some drawbacks, related to combustion phasing control, which must be overcome. In this way, the use of a spark plug has shown to be a good solution to improve phasing control in combination with lean low temperature combustion. Its performance is well reported on bibliography, however phenomena involving the combustion process are not completely described. The aim of the present work is to develop a detailed description of the spark assisted compression ignition mode by means of application of UV–Visible spectrometry, in order to improve insight on the combustion process. Tests have been performed in an optical engine by means of broadband radiation imaging and emission spectrometry. The engine hardware is typical of a compression ignition passenger car application. Gasoline was used as the fuel due to its low reactivity. Combining broadband luminosity images with pressure-derived heat-release rate and UV–Visible spectra, it was possible to identify different stages of the combustion reaction. After the spark discharge, a first flame kernel appears and starts growing as a premixed flame front, characterized by a low and constant heat-release rate in combination with the presence of remarkable OH radical radiation. Heat release increases

Display of a proton-proton interaction as seen in the streamer chamber of NA5

CERN Multimedia

CERN PhotoLab

1979-01-01

This experiment was performed by the Bari-Cracow-Liverpool-Munich (MPI)-Nijmegen Collaboration using the unseparated H2 beam in the EHN1 hall. The setup consisted of a three-gap streamer chamber (2x1.4x0.72 m3) inside a superconducting vertex magnet, large magnetostrictive spark chambers, proportional chambers and beam defining counters. A large acceptance electron and hadron calorimeter completed the setup. Particles from beam interactions on a target, 36.5 cm long, 2 cm in diameter (for liquid hydrogen) located inside the chamber at its entrance were photographed. Multiplicities, rapidity distributions, and correlations were studied for interactions with a large value for the sum of the transverse momenta.

Stakeholder acceptance analysis ResonantSonic drilling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, T.

1995-12-01

This report presents evaluations, recommendations, and requirements concerning ResonantSonic Drilling (Sonic Drilling), derived from a three-year program of stakeholder involvement. Sonic Drilling is an innovative method to reach contamination in soil and groundwater. The resonant sonic drill rig uses counter-rotating weights to generate energy, which causes the drill pipe to vibrate elastically along its entire length. In the resonant condition, forces of up to 200,000 pounds are transmitted to the drill bit face to create a cutting action. The resonant energy causes subsurface materials to move back into the adjacent formation, permitting the drill pipe to advance. This report is for technology developers and those responsible for making decisions about the use of technology to remediate contamination by volatile organic compounds. Stakeholders' perspectives help those responsible for technology deployment to make good decisions concerning the acceptability and applicability of sonic drilling to the remediation problems they face

Paper mechanisms for sonic interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Delle Monache, Stefano; Rocchesso, Davide; Qi, Ji

2012-01-01

Introducing continuous sonic interaction in augmented pop-up books enhances the expressive and performative qualities of movables, making the whole narrative experience more engaging and personal. The SaMPL Spring School on Sounding Popables explored the specific topic of paper-driven sonic...

The Sound of Stigmatization: Sonic Habitus, Sonic Styles, and Boundary Work in an Urban Slum.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwarz, Ori

2015-07-01

Based on focus groups and interviews with student renters in an Israeli slum, the article explores the contributions of differences in sonic styles and sensibilities to boundary work, social categorization, and evaluation. Alongside visual cues such as broken windows, bad neighborhoods are characterized by sonic cues, such as shouts from windows. Students understand "being ghetto" as being loud in a particular way and use loudness as a central resource in their boundary work. Loudness is read as a performative index of class and ethnicity, and the performance of middle-class studentship entails being appalled by stigmatized sonic practices and participating in their exoticization. However, the sonic is not merely yet another resource of boundary work. Paying sociological attention to senses other than vision reveals complex interactions between structures anchored in the body, structures anchored in language, and actors' identification strategies, which may refine theorizations of the body and the senses in social theory.

A new gaseous detector for tracking: The blade chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ambrosi, G.; Battiston, R.; Levi, G.; Barillari, T.; Susinno, G.; Bergsma, F.; Contin, A.; Labbe, J.C.; Laurenti, G.; Mattern, D.; Simonet, G.; Williams, M.C.S.; Zichichi, A.; Boscherini, D.; Bruni, G.; De Pasquale, S.; Giusti, P.; Maccarrone, G.; Nania, R.; O'Shea, V.; Castro, H.; Galvez, J.; Rivera, F.; Schioppa, M.; Sharma, A.

1990-01-01

As part of the LAA project at CERN a prototype of a streamer-chamber in which a blade, instead of a wire, is used as the amplification electrode has been built. A big advantage is that the blade can be bent to follow a curve so that a chamber can be built with cells ideally matched to the geometry of the experiment. Moreover, a blade is very rugged, it can withstand severe mechanical shocks and it is also resistant to damage by sparks. The drift time has been measured and a spatial resolution of 250μm has been achieved. Left-right ambiguity can be solved by measuring the charge asymmetry on the walls. The coordinate along the blade is read by external pickup strips. (orig.)

The sonic borehole logging tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oelgaard, P.L.

1990-09-01

This report deals with the sonic borehole tool. First a review of the various elastic wave types is given and velocity values of compressional waves in various materials listed. Next follows a discussion of 3 models for the relation between transit time and porosity, and a comparison between the 3 models is made. The design of sonic tools is described including their geometry. The path of the sonic signals is discussed. Also the effect of environmental factors on the results of the tools are considered. Finally a number of applications are described. In two appendices the mechanics of deformable bodies and formulas for the velocity of sound are reviewed. (author)

Phase I ResonantSonic CRADA report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richterich, L.R.; Amos, L.O.; Fancher, J.D.; McLellan, G.W.; Setzer, W.V.; Tuttle, B.G.; Hockey, R.L.; Ferris, R.H.; Riechers, D.M.; Pitman, S.G.

1994-01-01

This test report describes the Phase 1 testing and results of the ResonantSonic drilling method. This effort was conducted as part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between the US Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Westinghouse Hanford Company and Water Development Corporation. The purpose of this demonstration was to evaluate the Water Development Corporation's ResonantSonic drilling system, modify components as necessary and determine compatible drilling applications for the ResonantSonic drilling method for use at facilities in the DOE complex and private industry. Initially, the ResonantSonic drill was used to drill several test holes at the Drilling Technology Test Site to assess the feasibility of drilling vertical and angle holes. After this initial phase, a 45 degree angle vapor extraction well was drilled to a depth of 168 feet at the 200 West Carbon Tetrachloride Site. This well was drilled and completed in nine days. Extensive geologic and vapor sampling were conducted while drilling this well. In addition, testing was also conducted at the test site to evaluated drilling with larger diameter casing (8 5/8 inch). Evaluation of the Resonant Sonic drilling method will be continued during the Phase 2 portion of testing to determine if improvements to the ResonantSonic system will make it a more viable method for drilling and sampling

Field intercomparison of prevailing sonic anemometers

Science.gov (United States)

Mauder, Matthias; Zeeman, Matthias J.

2018-01-01

Three-dimensional sonic anemometers are the core component of eddy covariance systems, which are widely used for micrometeorological and ecological research. In order to characterize the measurement uncertainty of these instruments we present and analyse the results from a field intercomparison experiment of six commonly used sonic anemometer models from four major manufacturers. These models include Campbell CSAT3, Gill HS-50 and R3, METEK uSonic-3 Omni, R. M. Young 81000 and 81000RE. The experiment was conducted over a meadow at the TERENO/ICOS site DE-Fen in southern Germany over a period of 16 days in June of 2016 as part of the ScaleX campaign. The measurement height was 3 m for all sensors, which were separated by 9 m from each other, each on its own tripod, in order to limit contamination of the turbulence measurements by adjacent structures as much as possible. Moreover, the high-frequency data from all instruments were treated with the same post-processing algorithm. In this study, we compare the results for various turbulence statistics, which include mean horizontal wind speed, standard deviations of vertical wind velocity and sonic temperature, friction velocity, and the buoyancy flux. Quantitative measures of uncertainty, such as bias and comparability, are derived from these results. We find that biases are generally very small for all sensors and all computed variables, except for the sonic temperature measurements of the two Gill sonic anemometers (HS and R3), confirming a known transducer-temperature dependence of the sonic temperature measurement. The best overall agreement between the different instruments was found for the mean wind speed and the buoyancy flux.

Pressure dependence of the spark constant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hess, H; Radtke, R; Deparade, W [Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR, Berlin. Zentralinstitut fuer Elektronenphysik

1978-02-21

The author's theory on the development of LTE plasmas in low-inductance spark discharges has proved to be a useful tool in predicting the electric behaviour of such sparks. Their earlier experimental work was restricted to only one initial pressure, and in this paper they extend the examined pressure range to obtain some general conclusions on the pressure dependence of the spark behaviour.

Development of a Micro Pixel Chamber for the ATLAS Upgrade

CERN Document Server

Ochi, Atsuhiko; Komai, Hidetoshi; Edo, Yuki; Yamaguchi, Takahiro

2012-01-01

The Micro Pixel Chamber (μ-PIC) is being developed a sacandidate for the muon system of the ATLAS detector for upgrading in LHC experiments. The μ-PIC is a micro-pattern gaseous detector that doesn’t have floating structure such as wires, mesh, or foil. This detector can be made by printed-circuit-board (PCB) technology, which is commercially available and suited for mass production. Operation tests have been performed under high flux neutrons under similar conditions to the ATLAS cavern. Spark rates are measured using several gas mixtures under 7 MeV neutron irradiation, and good properties were observed using neon, ethane, and CF4 mixture of gases.Using resistive materials as electrodes, we are also developing a new μ-PIC, which is not expected to damage the electrodes in the case of discharge sparks.

Bluetooth Communication Interface for EEG Signal Recording in Hyperbaric Chambers.

Science.gov (United States)

Pastena, Lucio; Formaggio, Emanuela; Faralli, Fabio; Melucci, Massimo; Rossi, Marco; Gagliardi, Riccardo; Ricciardi, Lucio; Storti, Silvia F

2015-07-01

Recording biological signals inside a hyperbaric chamber poses technical challenges (the steel walls enclosing it greatly attenuate or completely block the signals as in a Faraday cage), practical (lengthy cables creating eddy currents), and safety (sparks hazard from power supply to the electronic apparatus inside the chamber) which can be overcome with new wireless technologies. In this technical report we present the design and implementation of a Bluetooth system for electroencephalographic (EEG) recording inside a hyperbaric chamber and describe the feasibility of EEG signal transmission outside the chamber. Differently from older systems, this technology allows the online recording of amplified signals, without interference from eddy currents. In an application of this technology, we measured EEG activity in professional divers under three experimental conditions in a hyperbaric chamber to determine how oxygen, assumed at a constant hyperbaric pressure of 2.8 ATA , affects the bioelectrical activity. The EEG spectral power estimated by fast Fourier transform and the cortical sources of the EEG rhythms estimated by low-resolution brain electromagnetic analysis were analyzed in three different EEG acquisitions: breathing air at sea level; breathing oxygen at a simulated depth of 18 msw, and breathing air at sea level after decompression.

DeepSpark: A Spark-Based Distributed Deep Learning Framework for Commodity Clusters

OpenAIRE

Kim, Hanjoo; Park, Jaehong; Jang, Jaehee; Yoon, Sungroh

2016-01-01

The increasing complexity of deep neural networks (DNNs) has made it challenging to exploit existing large-scale data processing pipelines for handling massive data and parameters involved in DNN training. Distributed computing platforms and GPGPU-based acceleration provide a mainstream solution to this computational challenge. In this paper, we propose DeepSpark, a distributed and parallel deep learning framework that exploits Apache Spark on commodity clusters. To support parallel operation...

The Effect of Sonic Booms on Earthquake Warning Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Wurman, Gilead; Haering, Edward A, Jr.; Price, Michael J.

2011-01-01

Several aerospace companies are designing quiet supersonic business jets for service over the United States. These aircraft have the potential to increase the occurrence of mild sonic booms across the country. This leads to interest among earthquake warning (EQW) developers and the general seismological community in characterizing the effect of sonic booms on seismic sensors in the field, their potential impact on EQW systems, and means of discriminating their signatures from those of earthquakes. The SonicBREWS project (Sonic Boom Resistant Earthquake Warning Systems) is a collaborative effort between Seismic Warning Systems, Inc. (SWS) and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. This project aims to evaluate the effects of sonic booms on EQW sensors. The study consists of exposing high-sample-rate (1000 sps) triaxial accelerometers to sonic booms with overpressures ranging from 10 to 600 Pa in the free field and the built environment. The accelerometers record the coupling of the sonic boom to the ground and surrounding structures, while microphones record the acoustic wave above ground near the sensor. Sonic booms are broadband signals with more high-frequency content than earthquakes. Even a 1000 sps accelerometer will produce a significantly aliased record. Thus the observed peak ground velocity is strongly dependent on the sampling rate, and increases as the sampling rate is reduced. At 1000 sps we observe ground velocities that exceed those of P-waves from ML 3 earthquakes at local distances, suggesting that sonic booms are not negligible for EQW applications. We present the results of several experiments conducted under SonicBREWS showing the effects of typical-case low amplitude sonic booms and worst-case high amplitude booms. We show the effects of various sensor placements and sensor array geometries. Finally, we suggest possible avenues for discriminating sonic booms from earthquakes for the purposes of EQW.

Spark channel propagation in a microbubble liquid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Panov, V. A.; Vasilyak, L. M., E-mail: vasilyak@ihed.ras.ru; Vetchinin, S. P.; Pecherkin, V. Ya.; Son, E. E. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Joint Institute for High Temperatures (Russian Federation)

2016-11-15

Experimental study on the development of the spark channel from the anode needle under pulsed electrical breakdown of isopropyl alcohol solution in water with air microbubbles has been performed. The presence of the microbubbles increases the velocity of the spark channel propagation and increases the current in the discharge gap circuit. The observed rate of spark channel propagation in microbubble liquid ranges from 4 to 12 m/s, indicating the thermal mechanism of the spark channel development in a microbubble liquid.

Bright Sparks of Our Future!

Science.gov (United States)

Riordan, Naoimh

2016-04-01

My name is Naoimh Riordan and I am the Vice Principal of Rockboro Primary School in Cork City, South of Ireland. I am a full time class primary teacher and I teach 4th class, my students are aged between 9-10 years. My passion for education has developed over the years and grown towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. I believe these subjects are the way forward for our future. My passion and beliefs are driven by the unique after school programme that I have developed. It is titled "Sparks" coming from the term Bright Sparks. "Sparks" is an after school programme with a difference where the STEM subjects are concentrated on through lessons such as Science, Veterinary Science Computer Animation /Coding, Eco engineering, Robotics, Magical Maths, Chess and Creative Writing. All these subjects are taught through activity based learning and are one-hour long each week for a ten-week term. "Sparks" is fully inclusive and non-selective which gives all students of any level of ability an opportunity to engage into these subjects. "Sparks" is open to all primary students in County Cork. The "Sparks" after school programme is taught by tutors from the different Universities and Colleges in Cork City. It works very well because the tutor brings their knowledge, skills and specialised equipment from their respective universities and in turn the tutor gains invaluable teaching practise, can trial a pilot programme in a chosen STEM subject and gain an insight into what works in the physical classroom.

Tool grinding and spark testing

Science.gov (United States)

Widener, Edward L.

1993-01-01

The objectives were the following: (1) to revive the neglected art of metal-sparking; (2) to promote quality-assurance in the workplace; (3) to avoid spark-ignited explosions of dusts or volatiles; (4) to facilitate the salvage of scrap metals; and (5) to summarize important references.

Primary Science Interview: Science Sparks

Science.gov (United States)

Bianchi, Lynne

2016-01-01

In this "Primary Science" interview, Lynne Bianchi talks with Emma Vanstone about "Science Sparks," which is a website full of creative, fun, and exciting science activity ideas for children of primary-school age. "Science Sparks" started with the aim of inspiring more parents to do science at home with their…

Big Data Analytics with Datalog Queries on Spark.

Science.gov (United States)

Shkapsky, Alexander; Yang, Mohan; Interlandi, Matteo; Chiu, Hsuan; Condie, Tyson; Zaniolo, Carlo

2016-01-01

There is great interest in exploiting the opportunity provided by cloud computing platforms for large-scale analytics. Among these platforms, Apache Spark is growing in popularity for machine learning and graph analytics. Developing efficient complex analytics in Spark requires deep understanding of both the algorithm at hand and the Spark API or subsystem APIs (e.g., Spark SQL, GraphX). Our BigDatalog system addresses the problem by providing concise declarative specification of complex queries amenable to efficient evaluation. Towards this goal, we propose compilation and optimization techniques that tackle the important problem of efficiently supporting recursion in Spark. We perform an experimental comparison with other state-of-the-art large-scale Datalog systems and verify the efficacy of our techniques and effectiveness of Spark in supporting Datalog-based analytics.

Realism Assessment of Sonic Boom Simulators

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, Brenda M.; Davies, Patrica; Hodgdon, Kthleen K.; Salamone, Joseph A., III; Pilon, Anthony

2008-01-01

Developments in small supersonic aircraft design are predicted to result in low-intensity sonic booms. Booms generated by current aircraft are similar to those that led to the ban on commercial supersonic fli ght over the US, so are unsuitable for parametric studies of psychoac oustic response to low-intensity booms. Therefore, simulators have be en used to study the impact of predicted low-intensity sonic booms. H owever, simulators have been criticized because, when simulating conv entional-level booms, the sounds were observed to be unrealistic by p eople experienced in listening to sonic booms. Thus, two studies were conducted to measure the perceived realism of three sonic boom simul ators. Experienced listeners rated the realism of conventional sonic boom signatures when played in these simulators. The effects on percei ved realism of factors such as duration of post-boom noise, exclusion of very low frequency components, inclusion of ground reflections, a nd type of simulator were examined. Duration of post-boom noise was f ound to have a strong effect on perceived realism, while type of simu lator had a weak effect. It was determined that post-boom noise had t o be at least 1.5 seconds long for the sound to be rated very realist ic. Loudness level did not affect realism for the range of sounds pla yed in the tests (80-93 dB ASEL).

Production Well Performance Enhancement using Sonication Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adewumi, Michael A; Ityokumbul, M Thaddeus; Watson, Robert W; Eltohami, Eltohami; Farias, Mario; Heckman, Glenn; Houlihan, Brendan; Karoor, Samata Prakash; Miller, Bruce G; Mohammed, Nazia; Olanrewaju, Johnson; Ozdemir, Mine; Rejepov, Dautmamed; Sadegh, Abdallah A; Quammie, Kevin E; Zaghloul, Jose; Hughes, W Jack; Montgomery, Thomas C

2005-12-31

The objective of this project was to develop a sonic well performance enhancement technology that focused on near wellbore formation damage. In order to successfully achieve this objective, a three-year project was defined. The entire project was broken into four tasks. The overall objective of all this was to foster a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in sonic energy interactions with fluid flow in porous media and adapt such knowledge for field applications. The fours tasks are: • Laboratory studies • Mathematical modeling • Sonic tool design and development • Field demonstration The project was designed to be completed in three years; however, due to budget cuts, support was only provided for the first year, and hence the full objective of the project could not be accomplished. This report summarizes what was accomplished with the support provided by the US Department of Energy. Experiments performed focused on determining the inception of cavitation, studying thermal dissipation under cavitation conditions, investigating sonic energy interactions with glass beads and oil, and studying the effects of sonication on crude oil properties. Our findings show that the voltage threshold for onset of cavitation is independent of transducer-hydrophone separation distance. In addition, thermal dissipation under cavitation conditions contributed to the mobilization of deposited paraffins and waxes. Our preliminary laboratory experiments suggest that waxes are mobilized when the fluid temperature approaches 40°C. Experiments were conducted that provided insights into the interactions between sonic wave and the fluid contained in the porous media. Most of these studies were carried out in a slim-tube apparatus. A numerical model was developed for simulating the effect of sonication in the nearwellbore region. The numerical model developed was validated using a number of standard testbed problems. However, actual application of the model for scale

Quantification of Radicals Generated in a Sonicator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kassim Badmus

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The hydroxyl radical (OH• is a powerful oxidant produced as a consequence of cavitation in water. It can react nonspecifically in breaking down persistent organic pollutants in water into their mineral form. It can also recombine to form hydrogen peroxide which is very useful in water treatment. In this study, terephthalic acid (TA and potassium iodide dosimetry were used to quantify and investigate the behaviour of the generated OH radical in a laboratory scale sonicator. The 2-hydroxyl terephthalic acid (HTA formed during terephthalic acid dosimetry was determined by optical fibre spectrometer. The production rate of HTA served as a means of evaluating and characterizing the OH• generated over given time in a sonicator. The influence of sonicator power intensity, solution pH and irradiation time upon OH• generation were investigated. Approximately 2.2 ´ 10-9 M s-1 of OH radical was generated during the sonication process. The rate of generation of the OH radicals was established to be independent of the concentration of the initial reactant. Thus, the rate of generation of OH• can be predicted by zero order kinetics in a sonicator.

Sample preparations for spark source mass spectrography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Catlett, C.W.; Rollins, M.B.; Griffin, E.B.; Dorsey, J.G.

1977-10-01

Methods have been developed for the preparation of various materials for spark source mass spectrography. The essential features of these preparations (all which can provide adequate precision in a cost-effective manner) consist in obtaining spark-stable electrode sample pieces, a common matrix, a reduction of anomolous effects in the spark, the incorporation of a suitable internal standard for plate response normalization, and a reduction in time

The pressure dependence of the spark constant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hess, H.; Radtke, R.; Deparade, W.

1978-01-01

The author's theory on the development of LTE plasmas in low-inductance spark discharges has proved to be a useful tool in predicting the electric behaviour of such sparks. Their earlier experimental work was restricted to only one initial pressure, and in this paper they extend the examined pressure range to obtain some general conclusions on the pressure dependence of the spark behaviour. (author)

Fabrication of resistive plate chamber using bakelite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neog, Himangshu; Bhuyan, M.R.; Biswas, S.; Mohanty, B.; Mohanty, Rudranarayan; Rudra, Sharmili; Sahu, P.K.; Sahu, S.

2014-01-01

Now a days Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) is one of the most important detectors in the High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments. RPC is a gas filled detector utilizing a constant and uniform electric field produced between two parallel electrode plates made of a material with high bulk resistivity e.g. glass or bakelite. RPC has good time resolution (1-2 ns) and spatial resolution (∼ cm). The high resistance of RPC plate limits the spark size produced after the ionization of gas due to the passing charged particle. This contribution discusses building of a RPC using bakelite (local sources) and the measurement of the surface resistivity of the detector

Fast data processing with Spark

CERN Document Server

Sankar, Krishna

2015-01-01

Fast Data Processing with Spark - Second Edition is for software developers who want to learn how to write distributed programs with Spark. It will help developers who have had problems that were too big to be dealt with on a single computer. No previous experience with distributed programming is necessary. This book assumes knowledge of either Java, Scala, or Python.

Subjective Response to Simulated Sonic Booms in Homes

Science.gov (United States)

McCurdy, David A.; Brown, Sherilyn A.

1996-01-01

One of the environmental issues affecting the development of a second-generation supersonic commercial transport is the impact of sonic booms on people. Aircraft designers are attempting to design the transport to produce sonic boom signatures that will have minimum impact on the public. Current supersonic commercial aircraft produce an 'N-wave' sonic boom pressure signature that is considered unacceptable by the public. This has resulted in first-generation supersonic transports being banned from flying supersonic over land in the United States, a severe economic constraint. By tailoring aircraft volume and lift distributions, designers hope to produce sonic boom signatures having specific shapes other than 'N-wave' that may be more acceptable to the public. As part of the effort to develop a second-generation supersonic commercial transport, Langley Research Center is conducting research to study people's subjective response to sonic booms. As part of that research, a system was developed for performing studies of the subjective response of people to the occurrence of simulated sonic booms in their homes. The In-Home Noise Generation/Response System (IHONORS) provides a degree of situational realism not available in the laboratory and a degree of control over the noise exposure not found in community surveys. The computer-controlled audio system generates the simulated sonic booms, measures the noise levels, and records the subjects' ratings and can be placed and operated in individual homes for extended periods of time. The system was used to conduct an in-home study of subjective response to simulated sonic booms. The primary objective of the study was to determine the effect on annoyance of the number of sonic boom occurrences in a realistic environment. The effects on annoyance of several other parameters were also examined. Initially, data analyses were based on all the data collected. However, further analyser found that test subjects adapted to the sonic

High pressure gas-filled cermet spark gaps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avilov, Eh.A.; Yur'ev, A.L.

2000-01-01

The results of modernization of the R-48 and R-49 spark gaps making it possible to improve their electrical characteristics are presented. The design is described and characteristics of gas-filled cermet spark gaps are presented. By the voltage rise time of 5-6 μs in the Marx generator scheme they provide for the pulse break-through voltage of 120 and 150 kV. By the voltage rise time of 0.5-1 μs the break-through voltage of these spark gaps may be increased up to 130 and 220 kV. The proper commutation time is equal to ≤ 0.5 ns. Practical recommendations relative to designing cermet spark gaps are given [ru

Dispersion characteristics of negative refraction sonic crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, L.-Y.; Chen, L.-W.; Wang, R.C.-C.

2008-01-01

Dispersion characteristics of negative refraction sonic crystals are investigated. The plane wave expansion method is used to calculate the equifrequency surface; the dependences of refractive direction on frequencies and incident angles for triangular lattices are shown. There exist the positive and negative refractive waves which include k.V g ≥0 and k.V g ≤0 in the second band for the triangular system. We also use the finite element method to demonstrate that the relative intensity of the transmitted acoustic waves is dependent on incident frequencies and angles. The positions of the partial band gaps obtained by the plane wave expansion method are in good agreement with those obtained by the finite element method. The sonic crystals with negative effective index are shown to have higher transmission intensities. By using the negative refraction behavior, we can design a sonic crystal plane lens to focus a sonic wave

Optimizing sonication parameters for dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Haibo [Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (Fraunhofer ENAS), 09126 Chemnitz (Germany); Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China); State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 110016 Shenyang (China); Hermann, Sascha, E-mail: sascha.hermann@zfm.tu-chemnitz.de [Center for Microtechnologies (ZfM), Chemnitz University of Technology, 09126 Chemnitz (Germany); Schulz, Stefan E.; Gessner, Thomas [Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (Fraunhofer ENAS), 09126 Chemnitz (Germany); Center for Microtechnologies (ZfM), Chemnitz University of Technology, 09126 Chemnitz (Germany); Dong, Zaili [State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 110016 Shenyang (China); Li, Wen J., E-mail: wenjungli@gmail.com [State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 110016 Shenyang (China); Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR (China)

2012-10-26

Graphical abstract: We study the dispersing behavior of SWCNTs based on the surfactant and the optimization of sonication parameters including the sonication power and running time. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We study the optimization of sonication for the surfactant-based dispersion of SWCNTs. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The absorption spectrum of SWCNT solution strongly depend on the sonication conditions. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The sonication process has an important influence on the average length and diameters of SWCNTs in solution. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Centrifugation mainly contributes to the decrease of nonresonant absorption background. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Under the same sonication parameters, the large-diameter tip performs dispersion of SWCNTs better than the small-diameter tip. -- Abstract: Non-covalent functionalization based on surfactants has become one of the most common methods for dispersing of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Previously, efforts have mainly been focused on experimenting with different surfactant systems, varying their concentrations and solvents. However sonication plays a very important role during the surfactant-based dispersion process for SWCNTs. The sonication treatment enables the surfactant molecules to adsorb onto the surface of SWCNTs by overcoming the interactions induced by the hydrophobic, electrostatic and van der Waals forces. This work describes a systematic study of the influence of the sonication power and time on the dispersion of SWCNTs. UV-vis-NIR absorption spectra is used to analyze and to evaluate the dispersion of SWCNTs in an aqueous solution of 1 w/v% sodium deoxycholate (DOC) showing that the resonant and nonresonant background absorption strongly depends on the sonication conditions. Furthermore, the diameter and length of SWCNTs under different sonication parameters are investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM).

New spark test device for material characterization

CERN Document Server

Kildemo, Morten

2004-01-01

An automated spark test system based on combining field emission and spark measurements, exploiting a discharging capacitor is investigated. In particular, the remaining charge on the capacitor is analytically solved assuming the field emitted current to follow the Fowler Nordheim expression. The latter allows for field emission measurements from pA to A currents, and spark detection by complete discharge of the capacitor. The measurement theory and experiments on Cu and W are discussed.

Liquid-Arc/Spark-Excitation Atomic-Emission Spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Schlagen, Kenneth J.

1992-01-01

Constituents of solutions identified in situ. Liquid-arc/spark-excitation atomic-emission spectroscopy (LAES) is experimental variant of atomic-emission spectroscopy in which electric arc or spark established in liquid and spectrum of light from arc or spark analyzed to identify chemical elements in liquid. Observations encourage development of LAES equipment for online monitoring of process streams in such industries as metal plating, electronics, and steel, and for online monitoring of streams affecting environment.

Recent Progress on Sonic Boom Research at NASA

Science.gov (United States)

Loubeau, Alexandra

2012-01-01

Sonic boom research conducted at NASA through the Supersonics Project of the Fundamental Aeronautics Program is oriented toward understanding the potential impact of sonic boom noise on communities from new low-boom supersonic aircraft designs. Encompassing research in atmospheric propagation, structural response, and human response, NASA research contributes to knowledge in key areas needed to support development of a new noise-based standard for supersonic aircraft certification. Partnerships with several industry, government, and academic institutions have enabled the recent execution of several acoustic field studies on sonic booms. An overview of recent activities funded by NASA includes: focus boom model development and experimental validation, field experiments of structural transmission of sonic booms into large buildings, and low boom community response testing.

Are Crab nanoshots Schwinger sparks?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stebbins, Albert [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Yoo, Hojin [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

2015-05-21

The highest brightness temperature ever observed are from "nanoshots" from the Crab pulsar which we argue could be the signature of bursts of vacuum e^± pair production. If so this would be the first time the astronomical Schwinger effect has been observed. These "Schwinger sparks" would be an intermittent but extremely powerful, ~10³ L_⊙, 10 PeV e^± accelerator in the heart of the Crab. These nanosecond duration sparks are generated in a volume less than 1 m³ and the existence of such sparks has implications for the small scale structure of the magnetic field of young pulsars such as the Crab. As a result, this mechanism may also play a role in producing other enigmatic bright short radio transients such as fast radio bursts.

Continuous and pulse sonication effects on transesterification of used vegetable oil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez-Guerra, Edith; Gude, Veera Gnaneswar

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We studied continuous and pulse sonication effects on transesterification reaction. • Pulse sonication appears to have superior effects on transesterification reaction. • Effects of various process parameters on FAMEs yield were discussed in detail. • Effects of ultrasonic intensity and power density were compared for both conditions. • Continuous sonication may be beneficial for short time and plug-flow conditions. - Abstract: This study reports on the effects of direct application of continuous and pulse sonication on transesterification reaction of used vegetable oil. Specific to this research, thermal effects of ultrasonics in transesterification reaction without external conventional heating along with the effects of different ultrasonic intensities and power densities were reported. Two process parametric evaluation studies were conducted to compare the effects of continuous and pulse sonication. These included methanol to oil ratio, catalyst concentration and reaction time effects on the transesterification reaction. For continuous sonication, a catalyst amount of 0.5% (wt/wt), methanol to oil ratio of 9:1 was sufficient to complete the transesterification reaction in 1–2 min at a power output of 150 W with a biodiesel yield of 93.5%. For pulse sonication, a maximum biodiesel yield of 98% was achieved at 2.5 min of reaction time, 9:1 methanol to oil ratio, and 1.25% catalyst. Generally, higher biodiesel yields were observed for pulse sonication compared to continuous sonication under any given process condition. Power density and ultrasonic intensity tests revealed that biodiesel yields were more sensitive to continuous sonication due to intense mixing. A plug-flow or contact-type reactor design may improve overall ultrasonic utilization in the transesterification reaction under continuous sonication

SPARK: Adapting Keyword Query to Semantic Search

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Qi; Wang, Chong; Xiong, Miao; Wang, Haofen; Yu, Yong

Semantic search promises to provide more accurate result than present-day keyword search. However, progress with semantic search has been delayed due to the complexity of its query languages. In this paper, we explore a novel approach of adapting keywords to querying the semantic web: the approach automatically translates keyword queries into formal logic queries so that end users can use familiar keywords to perform semantic search. A prototype system named 'SPARK' has been implemented in light of this approach. Given a keyword query, SPARK outputs a ranked list of SPARQL queries as the translation result. The translation in SPARK consists of three major steps: term mapping, query graph construction and query ranking. Specifically, a probabilistic query ranking model is proposed to select the most likely SPARQL query. In the experiment, SPARK achieved an encouraging translation result.

Near wall combustion modeling in spark ignition engines. Part A: Flame–wall interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demesoukas, Sokratis; Caillol, Christian; Higelin, Pascal; Boiarciuc, Andrei; Floch, Alain

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A model for flame–wall interaction in addition to flame wrinkling by turbulence is proposed. • Two sparkplug positions and two lengths are used in a test engine for model validation. • Flame–wall interaction decreases the maximum values of cylinder pressure and heat release rates. • The impact of combustion chamber geometry is taken into account by the flame–wall interaction model. - Abstract: Research and design in the field of spark ignition engines seek to achieve high performance while conserving fuel economy and low pollutant emissions. For the evaluation of various engine configurations, numerical simulations are favored, since they are quick and less expensive than experiments. Various zero-dimensional combustion models are currently used. Both flame front reactions and post-flame processes contribute to the heat release rate. The first part of this study focuses on the role of the flame front on the heat release rate, by modeling the interaction of the flame front with the chamber wall. Post-flame reactions are dealt with in Part B of the study. The basic configurations of flame quenching in laminar flames are also applicable in turbulent flames, which is the case in spark ignition engines. A simplified geometric model of the combustion chamber was used to calculate the mean flame surface, the flame volume and the distribution of flame surface as a function of the distance from the wall. The flame–wall interaction took into account the geometry of the combustion chamber and of the flame, aerodynamic turbulence and the in-cylinder pressure and temperature conditions, through a phenomenological attenuation function of the wrinkling factor. A modified global wrinkling factor as a function of the mean surface distance distribution from the wall was calculated. The impact of flame–wall interaction was simulated for four configurations of the sparkplug position and length: centered and lateral position, and standard and projected

Protection of neutral-beam accelerator electrodes from spark discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Praeg, W.F.

1977-01-01

The high-voltage (HV) electrodes of neutral beam sources (NBS's) must be protected from occasional sparks to ground. Spark currents can be limited with special transformers and reactors which introduce time delays that are long enough to quench the spark or to disconnect the energy source. A saturated time delay transformer (STDT) connected in series with the HV power supply detects spark faults and limits the current supplied by the power supply and its capacitance to ground; it also initiates spark quenching. Nonsaturated, longitudinal reactors limit the discharge current supplied by the energy stored in the circuit capacitance of the NBS filament and arc power supplies long enough to discharge this capacitance into a resistor. The design principles of these protective circuits are presented

Protection of neutral-beam-accelerator electrodes from spark discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Praeg, W.F.

1977-01-01

The high-voltage (HV) electrodes of neutral beam sources (NBS's) must be protected from occasional sparks to ground. Spark currents can be limited with special transformers and reactors which introduce time delays that are long enough to quench the spark or to disconnect the energy source. A saturated time delay transformer (STDT) connected in series with the HV power supply detects spark faults and limits the current supplied by the power supply and its capacitance to ground; it also initiates spark quenching. Nonsaturated, longitudinal reactors limit the discharge current supplied by the energy stored in the circuit capacitance of the NBS filament and arc power supplies long enough to discharge this capacitance into a resistor. The design principles of these protective circuits are presented in this paper

Protection of neutral-beam-accelerator electrodes from spark discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Praeg, W.F.

1978-01-01

The high-voltage (HV) electrodes of neutral beam sources (NBS's) must be protected from occasional sparks to ground. Spark currents can be limited with special transformers and reactors which introduce time delays that are long enough to quench the spark or to disconnect the energy source. A saturated time delay transformer (STDT) connected in series with the HV power supply detects spark faults and limits the current supplied by the power supply and its capacitance to ground; it also initiates spark quenching. Nonsaturated, longitudinal reactors limit the discharge current supplied by the energy stored in the circuit capacitance of the NBS filament and arc power supplies long enough to discharge this capacitance into a resistor. The design principles of these protective circuits are presented in this paper

Production of talc nano sheets via fine grinding and sonication processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samayamutthirian Palaniandy; Noorina Hidayu Jamil Khairun Azizi Mohd Azizli; Syed Fuad Saiyid Hashim; Hashim Hussin

2009-01-01

Fine grinding of high purity talc in jet mill at low grinding pressure was carried out by varying the feed rate and classifier rotational speed. These ground particles were sonicated in laboratory ultrasonic bath by varying the soniction period at five levels. The ground and sonicated particles were characterized in terms of particle size and particle size distribution. Mechanochemical and sonochemical effect of talc was determine via X-ray diffraction. Particle shape and surface texture of the ground and sonicated product was determined via scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. The ground particle size exhibited particle size below 10 μm with narrow size distribution. The reduction of peak intensity in (002) plane indicated the layered structure has been distorted. The sonicated talc shows that the thickness of the talc particles after the sonication process is 20 nm but the lateral particle size still remains in micron range. The reduction of the XRD peak intensity for (002) plane and thickness of sonicated talc as shown in SEM and TEM micrographs proves that fine grinding and sonication process produces talc nano sheets. (author)

Automatic spark counting of alpha-tracks in plastic foils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.; Medveczky, L.; Hunyadi, I.; Nyako, B.

1976-01-01

The possibility of alpha-track counting by jumping spark counter in cellulose acetate and polycarbonate nuclear track detectors was studied. A theoretical treatment is presented which predicts the optimum residual thickness of the etched foils in which completely through-etched tracks (i.e. holes) can be obtained for alpha-particles of various energies and angles of incidence. In agreement with the theoretical prediction it is shown that a successful spark counting of alpha-tracks can be performed even in polycarbonate foils. Some counting characteristics, such as counting efficiency vs particle energy at various etched foil thicknesses, surface spark density produced by electric breakdowns in unexposed foils vs foil thickness, etc. have been determined. Special attention was given to the spark counting of alpha-tracks entering thin detectors at right angle. The applicability of the spark counting technique is demonstrated in angular distribution measurements of the 27 Al(p,α 0 ) 24 Mg nuclear reaction at Ep = 1899 keV resonance energy. For this study 15 μm thick Makrofol-G foils and a jumping spark counter of improved construction were used. (orig.) [de

From Ecological Sounding Artifacts Towards Sonic Artifact Ecologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Erkut, Cumhur; Serafin, Stefania

2016-01-01

The discipline of sonic interaction design has been focused on the interaction between a single user and an artifact. This strongly limits one of the fundamental aspects of music as a social and interactive experience. In this paper we propose sonic artifact ecologies as a mean to examine interac...

Environmental Pollution: Noise Pollution - Sonic Boom

Science.gov (United States)

1977-06-01

UNCLASSIFIED AD-A041 400 DDC/BIB-77/06 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION NOISE POLLUTION SONIC BOOM A DDC BIBLIOGRAPHY DDC-TAS Cameron Station Alexandria, Va...rn7Sttio 658S-A041 400 4 TITLE xand r.VuhtlVlia) 2 TA i b- 1iblog ra ph y ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION : --. Apr-l IM59-Jul, 7NOISE POLLUTION -SONIC BOOM. 1,976...BIBLIOGRAPHY SEARCH CONTROL NO. /2OM09 AD- 769 970 20/1 1/3 DEFENSE UOCUMENTATION CENTER ALEXANDRIA VA ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION : NOISE POLLUTION

State of the art of sonic boom modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Plotkin, Kenneth J.

2002-01-01

Based on fundamental theory developed through the 1950s and 1960s, sonic boom modeling has evolved into practical tools. Over the past decade, there have been requirements for design tools for an advanced supersonic transport, and for tools for environmental assessment of various military and aerospace activities. This has resulted in a number of advances in the understanding of the physics of sonic booms, including shock wave rise times, propagation through turbulence, and blending sonic boom theory with modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) aerodynamic design methods. This article reviews the early fundamental theory, recent advances in theory, and the application of these advances to practical models.

Evaluation of the IRAD flexible probe sonic extensometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glenn, H.D.; Patrick, W.C.; Rector, N.L.; Butler, L.S.

1986-08-01

Evaluation of the IRAD sonic extensometer was initiated with an electronic-circuit analysis which indicated an accuracy of +-0.001 in. (0.025 mm). Readings from two sonic probes consistently were low by 2% for distances between magnetic anchors, but were accurate to +-0.002 and +-0.003 in. (0.051 and 0.076 mm) for small displacements. Although a series of high explosive tests subjected magnetic anchors to peak accelerations of from 2100 g to 32,000 g the anchors generally did not experience detectable damage. Sonic probe readings exhibited a sensitivity to temperature changes with two of the four segments monitored exceeding the correction factor cited by the manufacturer

Energy convergence of shock waves and its destruction mechanism in cone-roof combustion chambers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Han; Yao, Anren; Yao, Chunde; Gao, Jian

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Experiments with simulations are designed to probe into engine severe knock. • Energy convergence at central and edge region is observed in closed-limited space. • Modes with different intensities and mechanism of energy convergence are revealed. • Chamber shape and equivalence ratio can affect the energy convergence. • The destruction effects of energy convergence on pistons are recognized. - Abstract: Energy convergence is considered as an important phenomenon in internal combustion engines under severe knock, in which shock waves caused by violent combustion may aggregate the energy released by fuel burning to damage engine parts like pistons and spark plugs easily. In order to reveal such convergence mechanism and its destruction effects, a novel detonation bomb experiment combined with numerical simulations are conducted. In bomb experiments, a detonation wave is forcibly introduced into a clearance-variable cone-roof combustion chamber by a high energy spark ignition. Four pressure transducers were installed in different positions to monitor the energy convergence. Combined with the experiments, numerical simulations were conducted to reveal the convergence modes and mechanisms. Finally, destruction samples were presented to validate this research. It’s found that the energy convergence of shock waves always occurs in middle and edge region, which are vulnerable to be damaged. Three modes of energy convergence are concluded for middle region while several ways of energy convergence are concluded for edge region, which are all related with the chamber shape and may result in different levels of convergence. It’s also found that though detonation strength (knock intensity) can be changed by both equivalence ratios and initial pressures, only the equivalence ratios can change the convergence modes while the initial pressures cannot.

Modelling Spark Integration in Science Classroom

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marie Paz E. Morales

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The study critically explored how a PASCO-designed technology (SPARK ScienceLearning System is meaningfully integrated into the teaching of selected topics in Earth and Environmental Science. It highlights on modelling the effectiveness of using the SPARK Learning System as a primary tool in learning science that leads to learning and achievement of the students. Data and observation gathered and correlation of the ability of the technology to develop high intrinsic motivation to student achievement were used to design framework on how to meaningfully integrate SPARK ScienceLearning System in teaching Earth and Environmental Science. Research instruments used in this study were adopted from standardized questionnaires available from literature. Achievement test and evaluation form were developed and validated for the purpose of deducing data needed for the study. Interviews were done to delve into the deeper thoughts and emotions of the respondents. Data from the interviews served to validate all numerical data culled from this study. Cross-case analysis of the data was done to reveal some recurring themes, problems and benefits derived by the students in using the SPARK Science Learning System to further establish its effectiveness in the curriculum as a forerunner to the shift towards the 21st Century Learning.

Sonic morphology: Aesthetic dimensional auditory spatial awareness

Science.gov (United States)

Whitehouse, Martha M.

The sound and ceramic sculpture installation, " Skirting the Edge: Experiences in Sound & Form," is an integration of art and science demonstrating the concept of sonic morphology. "Sonic morphology" is herein defined as aesthetic three-dimensional auditory spatial awareness. The exhibition explicates my empirical phenomenal observations that sound has a three-dimensional form. Composed of ceramic sculptures that allude to different social and physical situations, coupled with sound compositions that enhance and create a three-dimensional auditory and visual aesthetic experience (see accompanying DVD), the exhibition supports the research question, "What is the relationship between sound and form?" Precisely how people aurally experience three-dimensional space involves an integration of spatial properties, auditory perception, individual history, and cultural mores. People also utilize environmental sound events as a guide in social situations and in remembering their personal history, as well as a guide in moving through space. Aesthetically, sound affects the fascination, meaning, and attention one has within a particular space. Sonic morphology brings art forms such as a movie, video, sound composition, and musical performance into the cognitive scope by generating meaning from the link between the visual and auditory senses. This research examined sonic morphology as an extension of musique concrete, sound as object, originating in Pierre Schaeffer's work in the 1940s. Pointing, as John Cage did, to the corporeal three-dimensional experience of "all sound," I composed works that took their total form only through the perceiver-participant's participation in the exhibition. While contemporary artist Alvin Lucier creates artworks that draw attention to making sound visible, "Skirting the Edge" engages the perceiver-participant visually and aurally, leading to recognition of sonic morphology.

Dual Spark Plugs For Stratified-Charge Rotary Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Abraham, John; Bracco, Frediano V.

1996-01-01

Fuel efficiency of stratified-charge, rotary, internal-combustion engine increased by improved design featuring dual spark plugs. Second spark plug ignites fuel on upstream side of main fuel injector; enabling faster burning and more nearly complete utilization of fuel.

Research on spark discharge of floating roof tank shunt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bi, Xiaolei; Liu, Quanzhen; Liu, Baoquan; Gao, Xin; Hu, Haiyan; Liu, Juan

2013-01-01

In order to quantitatively analyze the spark discharge risk of floating roof tank shunts, the breakdown voltage of shunt has been calculated by Townsend theory, the shunt spark discharge experiment is carried out by using 1.2/50 μs impulse voltage wave, and the relationship between breakdown voltage of shunt spark discharge and air gap is analyzed. It has been indicated by theoretical analysis and experimental study that the small gap is more easily cause spark discharge than the big gap when the contact between shunt and tank shell is poor. When air gap distance is equal to 0.1 cm, average breakdown voltage is 5280 V. When the air gap distance is less than 0.3 cm, experiment data agree well with Townsend theory. Therefore, in the condition of small gap, Townsend theory can be used to calculated breakdown voltage of shunt. Finally, based on the above conclusions, improvements for avoiding the spark discharge risk of shunt of floating roof tanks have been proposed.

Theoretical investigation of a photoconductively switched high-voltage spark gap

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Broks, B.H.P.; Hendriks, J.; Brok, W.J.M.; Brussaard, G.J.H.; Mullen, van der J.J.A.M.

2006-01-01

In this contribution, a photoconductively switched high-voltage spark gap with an emphasis on theswitching behavior is modeled. It is known experimentally that not all of the voltage that is present at the input of the spark gap is switched, but rather a fraction of it drops across the spark gap.

Combustion and operating characteristics of spark-ignition engines

Science.gov (United States)

Heywood, J. B.; Keck, J. C.; Beretta, G. P.; Watts, P. A.

1980-01-01

The spark-ignition engine turbulent flame propagation process was investigated. Then, using a spark-ignition engine cycle simulation and combustion model, the impact of turbocharging and heat transfer variations or engine power, efficiency, and NO sub x emissions was examined.

The Impact of Sonication on the Surface Quality of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes.

Science.gov (United States)

Koh, Byumseok; Cheng, Wei

2015-08-01

Sonication process is regularly adopted for dispersing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in an aqueous medium. This can be achieved by either covalent functionalization of SWCNTs with strong acid or by noncovalent functionalization using dispersants that adsorb onto the surface of SWCNTs during dispersion. Because the dispersion process is usually performed using sonication, unintentional free radical formation during sonication process may induce covalent modification of SWCNT surface. Herein, we have systematically investigated the status of SWCNT surface modification under various sonication conditions using Raman spectroscopy. Comparing ID /IG (Raman intensities between D and G bands) ratio of SWCNTs under various sonication conditions suggests that typical sonication conditions (1-6 h bath sonication with sonication power between 3 and 80 W) in aqueous media do not induce covalent modification of SWCNT surface. In addition, we confirm that SWCNT dispersion with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) involves noncovalent adsorption of ssDNA onto the surface of SWCNTs, but not covalent linkage between ssDNA and SWCNT surface. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association.

Applications of antireflection coatings in sonic crystal-based acoustic devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yun; Deng Ke; Xu Shengjun; Qiu Chunyin; Yang Hai; Liu Zhengyou

2011-01-01

The unwanted reflection seriously baffles the practical applications of sonic crystals, such as for various acoustic lenses designed by utilizing the in-band properties of sonic crystals. Herein we introduce the concept of the antireflection coating into the sonic crystal-based devices. The efficiency of such accessorial structures is demonstrated well by an originally high reflection system. Promising perspectives can be anticipated in extending the antireflection coating layers into more general acoustic applications through a flexible design process.

Automated qualification and analysis of protective spark gaps for DC accelerators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Banerjee, Srutarshi; Rajan, Rehim N.; Dewangan, S.; Sharma, D.K.; Patel, Rupesh; Bakhtsingh, R.I.; Gond, Seema; Waghmare, Abhay; Thakur, Nitin; Mittal, K.C. [Accelerator and Pulse Power Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)

2014-07-01

Protective spark gaps are used in the high voltage multiplier column of a 3 MeV DC Accelerator to prevent excessive voltage build-ups. Precise gap of 5 mm is maintained between the electrodes in these spark gaps for obtaining 120 kV± 5 kV in 6 kg/cm{sup 2} SF{sub 6} environment which is the dielectric medium. There are 74 such spark gaps used in the multiplier. Each spark gap has to be qualified for electrical performance before fitting in the accelerator to ensure reliable operation. As the breakdown voltage stabilizes after a large number of sparks between the electrodes, the qualification process becomes time consuming and cumbersome. For qualifying large number of spark gaps an automatic breakdown analysis setup has been developed. This setup operates in air, a dielectric medium. The setup consists of a flyback topology based high voltage power supply with maximum rating of 25 kV. This setup works in conjunction with spark detection and automated shutdown circuit. The breakdown voltage is sensed using a peak detector circuit. The voltage breakdown data is recorded and statistical distribution of the breakdown voltage has been analyzed. This paper describes details of the diagnostics and the spark gap qualification process based on the experimental data. (author)

High Precision UTDR Measurements by Sonic Velocity Compensation with Reference Transducer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sam Stade

2014-07-01

Full Text Available An ultrasonic sensor design with sonic velocity compensation is developed to improve the accuracy of distance measurement in membrane modules. High accuracy real-time distance measurements are needed in membrane fouling and compaction studies. The benefits of the sonic velocity compensation with a reference transducer are compared to the sonic velocity calculated with the measured temperature and pressure using the model by Belogol’skii, Sekoyan et al. In the experiments the temperature was changed from 25 to 60 °C at pressures of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 MPa. The set measurement distance was 17.8 mm. Distance measurements with sonic velocity compensation were over ten times more accurate than the ones calculated based on the model. Using the reference transducer measured sonic velocity, the standard deviations for the distance measurements varied from 0.6 to 2.0 µm, while using the calculated sonic velocity the standard deviations were 21–39 µm. In industrial liquors, not only the temperature and the pressure, which were studied in this paper, but also the properties of the filtered solution, such as solute concentration, density, viscosity, etc., may vary greatly, leading to inaccuracy in the use of the Belogol’skii, Sekoyan et al. model. Therefore, calibration of the sonic velocity with reference transducers is needed for accurate distance measurements.

Spark - a modern approach for distributed analytics

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva; Kothuri, Prasanth

2016-01-01

The Hadoop ecosystem is the leading opensource platform for distributed storing and processing big data. It is a very popular system for implementing data warehouses and data lakes. Spark has also emerged to be one of the leading engines for data analytics. The Hadoop platform is available at CERN as a central service provided by the IT department. By attending the session, a participant will acquire knowledge of the essential concepts need to benefit from the parallel data processing offered by Spark framework. The session is structured around practical examples and tutorials. Main topics: Architecture overview - work distribution, concepts of a worker and a driver Computing concepts of transformations and actions Data processing APIs - RDD, DataFrame, and SparkSQL

Shuttle sonic boom - Technology and predictions. [environmental impact

Science.gov (United States)

Holloway, P. F.; Wilhold, G. A.; Jones, J. H.; Garcia, F., Jr.; Hicks, R. M.

1973-01-01

Because the shuttle differs significantly in both geometric and operational characteristics from conventional supersonic aircraft, estimation of sonic boom characteristics required a new technology base. The prediction procedures thus developed are reviewed. Flight measurements obtained for both the ascent and entry phases of the Apollo 15 and 16 and for the ascent phase only of the Apollo 17 missions are presented which verify the techniques established for application to shuttle. Results of extensive analysis of the sonic boom overpressure characteristics completed to date are presented which indicate that this factor of the shuttle's environmental impact is predictable, localized, of short duration and acceptable. Efforts are continuing to define the shuttle sonic boom characteristics to a fine level of detail based on the final system design.

Spark counting technique with an aluminium oxide film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawai, H.; Koga, T.; Morishima, H.; Niwa, T.; Nishiwaki, Y.

1980-01-01

Automatic spark counting of etch-pits on a polycarbonate film produced by nuclear fission fragments is now used for neutron monitoring in several countries. A method was developed using an aluminium oxide film instead of a polycarbonate as the neutron detector. Aluminium oxide films were prepared as follows: A cleaned aluminium plate as an anode and a nickel plate as a cathode were immersed in dilute sulfuric acid solution and electric current flowed between the electrodes at 12degC for 10-30 minutes. Electric current density was about 10 mA/cm 2 . The aluminium plate was then kept in boiling water for 10-30 minutes for sealing. The thickness of the aluminium oxide layer formed was about 1μm. The aluminium plate attached to a plate of suitable fissionable material, such as uranium or thorium, was irradiated with neutrons and set in a usual spark counter for fission track counting. One electrode was the aluminium plate and the other was an aluminized polyester sheet. Sparked pulses were counted with a usual scaler. The advantage of using spark counting with an aluminium oxide film for neutron monitoring is rapid measurement of neutron exposure, since chemical etching which is indispensable for spark counting with a polycarbonate detector film, is not needed. (H.K.)

Acoustic transparency in two-dimensional sonic crystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sanchez-Dehesa, Jose; Torrent, Daniel [Wave Phenomena Group, Department of Electronic Engineering, Polytechnic University of Valencia, C/ Camino de Vera s/n, E-46022 Valencia (Spain); Cai Liangwu [Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506 (United States)], E-mail: jsdehesa@upvnet.upv.es

2009-01-15

Acoustic transparency is studied in two-dimensional sonic crystals consisting of hexagonal distributions of cylinders with continuously varying properties. The transparency condition is achieved by selectively closing the acoustic bandgaps, which are governed by the structure factor of the cylindrical scatterers. It is shown here that cylindrical scatterers with the proposed continuously varying properties are physically realizable by using metafluids based on sonic crystals. The feasibility of this proposal is analyzed by a numerical experiment based on multiple scattering theory.

Chaotic combustion in spark ignition engines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wendeker, Miroslaw; Czarnigowski, Jacek; Litak, Grzegorz; Szabelski, Kazimierz

2003-01-01

We analyse the combustion process in a spark ignition engine using the experimental data of an internal pressure during the combustion process and show that the system can be driven to chaotic behaviour. Our conclusion is based on the observation of unperiodicity in the time series, suitable stroboscopic maps and a complex structure of a reconstructed strange attractor. This analysis can explain that in some circumstances the level of noise in spark ignition engines increases considerably due to nonlinear dynamics of a combustion process

Design optimization of twin-fluid atomizers with an internal mixing chamber for heavy fuel oils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferreira, German; Garcia, Juan Antonio; Barreras, Felix; Lozano, Antonio [LITEC, CSIC - Univ. Zaragoza, Maria de Luna 10, 50018 - Zaragoza (Spain); Lincheta, Eduardo [CECYEN, Universidad de Matanzas, Highway to Varadero, km 31/2, 44740 - Matanzas (Cuba)

2009-02-15

The present work is devoted to determine the magnitude of the main parameters that yield the optimum results for twin-fluid nozzles with an internal mixing chamber. The focus is placed on the study of the interaction of both air and liquid flows at the internal chamber and its effects on the resulting spray. To this end, some experiments have been performed for different air central channel diameters and liquid ports, as well as for several experimental conditions (air and liquid mass flow rates), in order to understand the influence of the flow conditions at the mixing chamber on the size of the droplets produced. It has been demonstrated that under certain experimental conditions the atomizing fluid discharged to the internal chamber is choked. The sonic condition is achieved for different air and liquid mass flow rates as a function of the air central channel diameter. It has also been obtained that to achieve the best results with moderate atomizing fluid flow rates, it is convenient to operate in choked conditions. This is an important result that will help in the optimum design of this type of nozzles. (author)

Target fabrication using laser and spark erosion machining

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clement, X.; Coudeville, A.; Eyharts, P.; Perrine, J.P.; Rouillard, R.

1982-01-01

Fabrication of laser fusion targets requires a number of special techniques. We have developed both laser and spark erosion machining to produce minute parts of complex targets. A high repetition rate YAG laser at double frequency is used to etch various materials. For example, marks or patterns are often necessary on structured or advanced targets. The laser is also used to thin down plastic coated stalks. A spark erosion system has proved to be a versatile tool and we describe current fabrication processes like cutting, drilling, and ultra precise machining. Spark erosion has interesting features for target fabrication: it is a highly controllable and reproducible technique as well as relatively inexpensive

Evaluation of Rheological Properties and Swelling Behaviour of Sonicated Scleroglucan Samples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siddique Akber Ansari

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Scleroglucan is a natural polysaccharide that has been proposed for various applications. However there is no investigation on its property variations when the molecular weight of this polymer is reduced. Scleroglucan was sonicated at two different polymer concentrations for different periods of time and the effect of sonication was investigated with respect to molecular weight variations and rheological properties. Molar mass, estimated by viscometric measurements, was drastically reduced already after a sonication for a few min. Sonicated samples were used for the preparation of gels in the presence of borate ions. The effect of borax on the new samples was investigated by recording the mechanical spectra and the flow curves. A comparison with the system prepared with the dialysed polymer was also carried out. The anisotropic elongation, observed with tablets of scleroglucan and borax, was remarkably reduced when the sonicated samples were used for the preparation of the gels.

Formation of small sparks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barreto, E.; Jurenka, H.; Reynolds, S.I.

1977-01-01

The formation of a small incendiary spark at atmospheric pressure is identified with the transition from a weakly to a strongly ionized plasma. It is shown that initial gaseous ionization produced by avalanches and/or streamers always creates a high-temperature ideal electron gas that can shield the applied voltage difference and reduce ionization in the volume of the gas. The electron gas is collision dominated but able to maintain its high temperature, for times long compared to discharge events, through long-range Coulomb forces. In fact, electrons in the weakly ionized plasma constitute a collisionless independent fluid with a thermodynamic state that can be affected directly by field or density changes. Accordingly, with metal electrodes, cathode spot emission is always associated with the transition to a strongly ionized plasma. Neutral heating can be accomplished in two different ways. Effective dispersal of the electrons from the cathode leads to electron heating dominated by diffusion effects. Conversely, a fast rate of emission or rapid field changes can produce nonlinear wave propagation. It is shown that solitary waves are possible, and it is suggested that some spark transitions are associated with shock waves in the collisionless electron gas. In either the diffuse or nonlinear regime, neutral gas heating is controlled by collisions of ions with isotropic thermal electrons. This interaction is always subsequent to changes in state of the electron gas population. The basic results obtained should apply to all sparks

Laser ignition - Spark plug development and application in reciprocating engines

Science.gov (United States)

Pavel, Nicolaie; Bärwinkel, Mark; Heinz, Peter; Brüggemann, Dieter; Dearden, Geoff; Croitoru, Gabriela; Grigore, Oana Valeria

2018-03-01

Combustion is one of the most dominant energy conversion processes used in all areas of human life, but global concerns over exhaust gas pollution and greenhouse gas emission have stimulated further development of the process. Lean combustion and exhaust gas recirculation are approaches to improve the efficiency and to reduce pollutant emissions; however, such measures impede reliable ignition when applied to conventional ignition systems. Therefore, alternative ignition systems are a focus of scientific research. Amongst others, laser induced ignition seems an attractive method to improve the combustion process. In comparison with conventional ignition by electric spark plugs, laser ignition offers a number of potential benefits. Those most often discussed are: no quenching of the combustion flame kernel; the ability to deliver (laser) energy to any location of interest in the combustion chamber; the possibility of delivering the beam simultaneously to different positions, and the temporal control of ignition. If these advantages can be exploited in practice, the engine efficiency may be improved and reliable operation at lean air-fuel mixtures can be achieved, making feasible savings in fuel consumption and reduction in emission of exhaust gasses. Therefore, laser ignition can enable important new approaches to address global concerns about the environmental impact of continued use of reciprocating engines in vehicles and power plants, with the aim of diminishing pollutant levels in the atmosphere. The technology can also support increased use of electrification in powered transport, through its application to ignition of hybrid (electric-gas) engines, and the efficient combustion of advanced fuels. In this work, we review the progress made over the last years in laser ignition research, in particular that aimed towards realizing laser sources (or laser spark plugs) with dimensions and properties suitable for operating directly on an engine. The main envisaged

High-resolution proton and carbon-13 NMR of membranes: why sonicate?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oldfield, E.; Bowers, J.L.; Forbes, J.

1987-01-01

The authors have obtained high-field (11.7-T) proton and carbon-13 Fourier transform (FT) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of egg lecithin and egg lecithin-chloresterol (1:1) multibilayers, using magic-angle sample spinning (MASS) techniques, and sonicated egg lecithin and egg lecithin-cholesterol (1:1) vesicles, using conventional FT NMR methods. Resolution of the proton and carbon-13 MASS NMR spectra of the pure egg lecithin samples is essentially identical with that of sonicated samples, but spectra of the unsonicated lipid, using MASS, can be obtained very much faster than with the more dilute, sonicated systems. With the 1:1 lecithin-cholesterol system, proton MASS NMR spectra are virtually identical with conventional FT spectra of sonicated samples, while the 13 C NMR, the authors demonstrate that most 13 C nuclei in the cholesterol moiety can be monitored, even though these same nuclei are essentially invisible, i.e., are severely broadened, in the corresponding sonicated systems. In addition, 13 C MASS NMR spectra can again be recorded much faster than with sonicated samples, due to concentration effects. Taken together, these results strongly suggest there will seldom be need in the future to resort to ultransonic disruption of lipid bilayer membranes in order to obtain high-resolution proton or carbon-13 NMR spectra

Sparking protection for MFTF-B Neutral Beam Power Supplies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cummings, D.B.

1983-01-01

This paper describes the upgrade of MFTF-B Neutral Beam Power Supplies for sparking protection. High performance ion sources spark repeatedly so ion source power supplies must be insensitive to sparking. The hot deck houses the series tetrode, arc and filament supplies, and controls. Hot deck shielding has been upgraded and a continuous shield around the arc, filament, gradient grid, and control cables now extends from the hot deck, through the core snubber, to the source. The shield carries accelerating current and connects only to the source. Shielded source cables go through an outer duct which now connects to a ground plane under the hot deck. This hybrid transmission line is a low inductance path for sparks discharging the stray capacitance of the hot deck and isolation transformers, reducing coupling to building steel. Parallel DC current return cables inside the duct lower inductance to reduce inductive turn-off transients. MOVs to ground further limit surges in the remote power supply return. Single point grounding is at the source. No control or rectifier components have been damaged nor are there any known malfunctions due to sparking up to 80 kV output

Sparking protection for MFTF-B neutral beam power supplies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cummings, D.B.

1983-01-01

This paper describes the upgrade of MFTF-B Neutral Beam Power Supplies for sparking protection. High performance ion sources spark repeatedly so ion source power supplies must be insensitive to sparking. The hot deck houses the series tetrode, arc and filament supplies, and controls. Hot deck shielding has been upgraded and a continuous shield around the arc, filament, gradient grid, and control cables now extends from the hot deck, through the core snubber, to the source. The shield carries accelerating current and connects only to the source. Shielded source cables go through an outer duct which now connects to a ground plane under the hot deck. This hybrid transmission line is a low inductance path for sparks discharging the stray capacitance of the hot deck and isolation transformers, reducing coupling to building steel. Parallel dc current return cables inside the duct lower inductance to reduce inductive turn-off transients. MOVs to ground further limit surges in the remote power supply return. Single point grounding is at the source. No control or rectifier components have been damaged nor are there any known malfunctions due to sparking up to 80 kV output

Spark Ignition Characteristics of a L02/LCH4 Engine at Altitude Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinhenz, Julie; Sarmiento, Charles; Marshall, William

2012-01-01

The use of non-toxic propellants in future exploration vehicles would enable safer, more cost effective mission scenarios. One promising "green" alternative to existing hypergols is liquid methane/liquid oxygen. To demonstrate performance and prove feasibility of this propellant combination, a 100lbf LO2/LCH4 engine was developed and tested under the NASA Propulsion and Cryogenic Advanced Development (PCAD) project. Since high ignition energy is a perceived drawback of this propellant combination, a test program was performed to explore ignition performance and reliability versus delivered spark energy. The sensitivity of ignition to spark timing and repetition rate was also examined. Three different exciter units were used with the engine s augmented (torch) igniter. Propellant temperature was also varied within the liquid range. Captured waveforms indicated spark behavior in hot fire conditions was inconsistent compared to the well-behaved dry sparks (in quiescent, room air). The escalating pressure and flow environment increases spark impedance and may at some point compromise an exciter s ability to deliver a spark. Reduced spark energies of these sparks result in more erratic ignitions and adversely affect ignition probability. The timing of the sparks relative to the pressure/flow conditions also impacted the probability of ignition. Sparks occurring early in the flow could trigger ignition with energies as low as 1-6mJ, though multiple, similarly timed sparks of 55-75mJ were required for reliable ignition. An optimum time interval for spark application and ignition coincided with propellant introduction to the igniter and engine. Shifts of ignition timing were manifested by changes in the characteristics of the resulting ignition.

Spark Ignition Characteristics of a LO2/LCH4 Engine at Altitude Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinhenz, Julie; Sarmiento, Charles; Marshall, William

2012-01-01

The use of non-toxic propellants in future exploration vehicles would enable safer, more cost effective mission scenarios. One promising "green" alternative to existing hypergols is liquid methane/liquid oxygen. To demonstrate performance and prove feasibility of this propellant combination, a 100lbf LO2/LCH4 engine was developed and tested under the NASA Propulsion and Cryogenic Advanced Development (PCAD) project. Since high ignition energy is a perceived drawback of this propellant combination, a test program was performed to explore ignition performance and reliability versus delivered spark energy. The sensitivity of ignition to spark timing and repetition rate was also examined. Three different exciter units were used with the engine's augmented (torch) igniter. Propellant temperature was also varied within the liquid range. Captured waveforms indicated spark behavior in hot fire conditions was inconsistent compared to the well-behaved dry sparks (in quiescent, room air). The escalating pressure and flow environment increases spark impedance and may at some point compromise an exciter.s ability to deliver a spark. Reduced spark energies of these sparks result in more erratic ignitions and adversely affect ignition probability. The timing of the sparks relative to the pressure/flow conditions also impacted the probability of ignition. Sparks occurring early in the flow could trigger ignition with energies as low as 1-6mJ, though multiple, similarly timed sparks of 55-75mJ were required for reliable ignition. An optimum time interval for spark application and ignition coincided with propellant introduction to the igniter and engine. Shifts of ignition timing were manifested by changes in the characteristics of the resulting ignition.

Using SPARK as a Solver for Modelica

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wetter, Michael; Wetter, Michael; Haves, Philip; Moshier, Michael A.; Sowell, Edward F.

2008-06-30

Modelica is an object-oriented acausal modeling language that is well positioned to become a de-facto standard for expressing models of complex physical systems. To simulate a model expressed in Modelica, it needs to be translated into executable code. For generating run-time efficient code, such a translation needs to employ algebraic formula manipulations. As the SPARK solver has been shown to be competitive for generating such code but currently cannot be used with the Modelica language, we report in this paper how SPARK's symbolic and numerical algorithms can be implemented in OpenModelica, an open-source implementation of a Modelica modeling and simulation environment. We also report benchmark results that show that for our air flow network simulation benchmark, the SPARK solver is competitive with Dymola, which is believed to provide the best solver for Modelica.

SciSpark's SRDD : A Scientific Resilient Distributed Dataset for Multidimensional Data

Science.gov (United States)

Palamuttam, R. S.; Wilson, B. D.; Mogrovejo, R. M.; Whitehall, K. D.; Mattmann, C. A.; McGibbney, L. J.; Ramirez, P.

2015-12-01

Remote sensing data and climate model output are multi-dimensional arrays of massive sizes locked away in heterogeneous file formats (HDF5/4, NetCDF 3/4) and metadata models (HDF-EOS, CF) making it difficult to perform multi-stage, iterative science processing since each stage requires writing and reading data to and from disk. We have developed SciSpark, a robust Big Data framework, that extends ApacheTM Spark for scaling scientific computations. Apache Spark improves the map-reduce implementation in ApacheTM Hadoop for parallel computing on a cluster, by emphasizing in-memory computation, "spilling" to disk only as needed, and relying on lazy evaluation. Central to Spark is the Resilient Distributed Dataset (RDD), an in-memory distributed data structure that extends the functional paradigm provided by the Scala programming language. However, RDDs are ideal for tabular or unstructured data, and not for highly dimensional data. The SciSpark project introduces the Scientific Resilient Distributed Dataset (sRDD), a distributed-computing array structure which supports iterative scientific algorithms for multidimensional data. SciSpark processes data stored in NetCDF and HDF files by partitioning them across time or space and distributing the partitions among a cluster of compute nodes. We show usability and extensibility of SciSpark by implementing distributed algorithms for geospatial operations on large collections of multi-dimensional grids. In particular we address the problem of scaling an automated method for finding Mesoscale Convective Complexes. SciSpark provides a tensor interface to support the pluggability of different matrix libraries. We evaluate performance of the various matrix libraries in distributed pipelines, such as Nd4jTM and BreezeTM. We detail the architecture and design of SciSpark, our efforts to integrate climate science algorithms, parallel ingest and partitioning (sharding) of A-Train satellite observations from model grids. These

Scattering profiles of sparks and combustibility of filter against hot sparks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tobita, Noriyuki; Okada, Takashi; Kashiro, Kashio

2004-12-01

An event that a pre-filter burned on fire took place in the glove box dismantlement facility of Plutonium Production Facility, on April 21, 2003. The direct cause of this event was considered to be sparks generated by an abrasive wheel cutter, some of which reached the pre-filter and eventually burned the pre-filter. Further investigation revealed that there exist other deficiencies those of which formed indirect causes of the event, i.e., the wheel cutter was used without protective cover and adequate shield against sparks was not installed during the operation. To prevent similar event in the future, following corrective actions were introduced. Wheel cutter will not be used without protective cover; Incombustible pre-filter will be used; Shield will be place at the front of the pre-filter. We have conducted series of experimental tests in order to evaluate and confirm the validity of these corrective actions as well as determine the cause of the fire. This report present the results of these tests. (author)

Sintering, consolidation, reaction and crystal growth by the spark plasma system (SPS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Omori, M. [Tohoku Univ., Sendai (Japan). Inst. for Materials Research

2000-08-15

The graphite die set in spark plasma system (SPS) is heated by a pulse direct current. Weak plasma, discharge impact, electric field and electric current, which are based on this current, induce good effects on materials in the die. The surface films of aluminum and pure WC powders are ruptured by the spark plasma. Pure AlN powder is sintered without sintering additives in the electric field. The spark plasma leaves discharge patterns on insulators. Organic fibers are etched by the spark plasma. Thermosetting polyimide is consolidated by the spark plasma. Insoluble polymonomethylsilane is rearranged into the soluble one by the spark plasma. A single crystal of CoSb{sub 3} is grown from the compound powders in the electric field by slow heating. Coupled crystals of eutectic powder are connected with each other in the electric field. (orig.)

An Intermediate in the evolution of superfast sonic muscles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mok Hin-Kiu

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Intermediate forms in the evolution of new adaptations such as transitions from water to land and the evolution of flight are often poorly understood. Similarly, the evolution of superfast sonic muscles in fishes, often considered the fastest muscles in vertebrates, has been a mystery because slow bladder movement does not generate sound. Slow muscles that stretch the swimbladder and then produce sound during recoil have recently been discovered in ophidiiform fishes. Here we describe the disturbance call (produced when fish are held and sonic mechanism in an unrelated perciform pearl perch (Glaucosomatidae that represents an intermediate condition in the evolution of super-fast sonic muscles. Results The pearl perch disturbance call is a two-part sound produced by a fast sonic muscle that rapidly stretches the bladder and an antagonistic tendon-smooth muscle combination (part 1 causing the tendon and bladder to snap back (part 2 generating a higher-frequency and greater-amplitude pulse. The smooth muscle is confirmed by electron microscopy and protein analysis. To our knowledge smooth muscle attachment to a tendon is unknown in animals. Conclusion The pearl perch, an advanced perciform teleost unrelated to ophidiiform fishes, uses a slow type mechanism to produce the major portion of the sound pulse during recoil, but the swimbladder is stretched by a fast muscle. Similarities between the two unrelated lineages, suggest independent and convergent evolution of sonic muscles and indicate intermediate forms in the evolution of superfast muscles.

SPARK Version 1.1 user manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weissenburger, D.W.

1988-01-01

This manual describes the input required to use Version 1.1 of the SPARK computer code. SPARK 1.1 is a library of FORTRAN main programs and subprograms designed to calculate eddy currents on conducting surfaces where current flow is assumed zero in the direction normal to the surface. Surfaces are modeled with triangular and/or quadrilateral elements. Lorentz forces produced by the interaction of eddy currents with background magnetic fields can be output at element nodes in a form compatible with most structural analysis codes. In addition, magnetic fields due to eddy currents can be determined at points off the surface. Version 1.1 features eddy current streamline plotting with optional hidden-surface-removal graphics and topological enhancements that allow essentially any orientable surface to be modeled. SPARK also has extensive symmetry specification options. In order to make the manual as self-contained as possible, six appendices are included that present summaries of the symmetry options, topological options, coil options and code algorithms, with input and output examples. An edition of SPARK 1.1 is available on the Cray computers at the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center at Livermore, California. Another more generic edition is operational on the VAX computers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and is available on magnetic tape by request. The generic edition requires either the GKS or PLOT10 graphics package and the IMSL or NAG mathematical package. Requests from outside the United States will be subject to applicable federal regulations regarding dissemination of computer programs. 22 refs

SPARK Version 1. 1 user manual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weissenburger, D.W.

1988-01-01

This manual describes the input required to use Version 1.1 of the SPARK computer code. SPARK 1.1 is a library of FORTRAN main programs and subprograms designed to calculate eddy currents on conducting surfaces where current flow is assumed zero in the direction normal to the surface. Surfaces are modeled with triangular and/or quadrilateral elements. Lorentz forces produced by the interaction of eddy currents with background magnetic fields can be output at element nodes in a form compatible with most structural analysis codes. In addition, magnetic fields due to eddy currents can be determined at points off the surface. Version 1.1 features eddy current streamline plotting with optional hidden-surface-removal graphics and topological enhancements that allow essentially any orientable surface to be modeled. SPARK also has extensive symmetry specification options. In order to make the manual as self-contained as possible, six appendices are included that present summaries of the symmetry options, topological options, coil options and code algorithms, with input and output examples. An edition of SPARK 1.1 is available on the Cray computers at the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center at Livermore, California. Another more generic edition is operational on the VAX computers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and is available on magnetic tape by request. The generic edition requires either the GKS or PLOT10 graphics package and the IMSL or NAG mathematical package. Requests from outside the United States will be subject to applicable federal regulations regarding dissemination of computer programs. 22 refs.

Research on Test-bench for Sonic Logging Tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xianping Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the test-bench for sonic logging tool is proposed and designed to realize automatic calibration and testing of the sonic logging tool. The test-bench System consists of Host Computer, Embedded Controlling Board, and functional boards. The Host Computer serves as the Human Machine Interface (HMI and processes uploaded data. The software running on Host Computer is designed on VC++, which is developed based on multithreading, Dynamic Linkable Library (DLL and Multiple Document Interface (MDI techniques. The Embedded Controlling Board uses ARM7 as the microcontroller and communicates with Host Computer via Ethernet. The Embedded Controlling Board software is realized based on embedded uclinux operating system with a layered architecture. The functional boards are designed based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA and provide test interfaces for the logging tool. The functional board software is divided into independent sub-modules that can repeatedly be used by various functional boards and then integrated those sub-modules in the top layer. With the layered architecture and modularized design, the software system is highly reliable and extensible. With the help of designed system, a test has been conducted quickly and successfully on the electronic receiving cabin of the sonic logging tool. It demonstrated that the system could greatly improve the production efficiency of the sonic logging tool.

INFLUENCE OF ELECTRIC SPARK ON HARDNESS OF CARBON STEEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. O. Vakulenko

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The purpose of work is an estimation of influence of an electric spark treatment on the state of mouldable superficial coverage of carbon steel. Methodology. The steel of fragment of railway wheel rim served as material for research with chemical composition 0.65% С, 0.67% Mn, 0.3% Si, 0.027% P, 0.028% S. Structural researches were conducted with the use of light microscopy and methods of quantitative metallography. The structural state of the probed steel corresponded to the state after hot plastic deformation. The analysis of hardness distribution in the micro volumes of cathode metal was carried out with the use of microhardness tester of type of PMT-3. An electric spark treatment of carbon steel surface was executed with the use of equipment type of EFI-25M. Findings. After electric spark treatment of specimen surface from carbon steel the forming of multi-layered coverage was observed. The analysis of microstructure found out the existence of high-quality distinctions in the internal structure of coverage metal, depending on the probed area. The results obtained in the process are confirmed by the well-known theses, that forming of superficial coverage according to technology of electric spark is determined by the terms of transfer and crystallization of metal. The gradient of structures on the coverage thickness largely depends on development of structural transformation processes similar to the thermal character influence. Originality. As a result of electric spark treatment on the condition of identical metal of anode and cathode, the first formed layer of coverage corresponds to the monophase state according to external signs. In the volume of coverage metal, the appearance of carbide phase particles is accompanied by the decrease of microhardness values. Practical value. Forming of multi-layered superficial coverage during electric spark treatment is accompanied by the origin of structure gradient on a thickness. The effect

Sonic Hedgehog Signaling Promotes Tumor Growth

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bushman, Wade

2007-01-01

... of the DOD New Investigator award indicate that Shh signaling promotes tumor growth. This proposal addresses the hypothesis that Sonic hedgehog signaling promotes tumor growth by activating stromal cell gene expression...

Sonic journeys with the dead

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sabra, Jakob Borrits

This audio-paper is a site-specific investigation of relations between a gravesite at Vor Frelser Cemetery (Cemetery of Our Saviour), Copenhagen, Denmark, its cultural history and publicly co-constructed memories. The audio-paper follows a non-representational approach to sonic media and the meta...

Chalk porosity and sonic velocity versus burial depth

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fabricius, Ida Lykke; Gommesen, Lars; Krogsbøll, Anette Susanne

2008-01-01

Seventy chalk samples from four formations in the overpressured Danish central North Sea have been analyzed to investigate how correlations of porosity and sonic velocity with burial depth are affected by varying mineralogy, fluid pressure, and early introduction of petroleum. The results show th...... for fluid pressure because the cementing ions originate from stylolites, which are mechanically similar to fractures. We find that cementation occurs over a relatively short depth interval.......Seventy chalk samples from four formations in the overpressured Danish central North Sea have been analyzed to investigate how correlations of porosity and sonic velocity with burial depth are affected by varying mineralogy, fluid pressure, and early introduction of petroleum. The results show...... that porosity and sonic velocity follow the most consistent depth trends when fluid pressure and pore-volume compressibility are considered. Quartz content up to 10% has no marked effect, but more than 5% clay causes lower porosity and velocity. The mineralogical effect differs between P-wave and shear velocity...

USAF Flight Test Investigation of Focused Sonic Booms: Project Have Bears

Science.gov (United States)

Downing, Micah; Zamot, Noel; Moss, Chris; Morin, Daniel; Wolski, Ed; Chung, Sukhwan; Plotkin, Kenneth; Maglieri, Domenic

1996-01-01

Supersonic operations from military aircraft generate sonic booms that can affect people, animals and structures. A substantial experimental data base exists on sonic booms for aircraft in steady flight and confidence in the predictive techniques has been established. All the focus sonic boom data that are in existence today were collected during the 60's and 70's as part of the information base to the US Supersonic Transport program and the French Jericho studies for the Concorde. These experiments formed the data base to develop sonic boom propagation and prediction theories for focusing. There is a renewed interest in high-speed transports for civilian application. Moreover, today's fighter aircraft have better performance capabilities, and supersonic flights ars more common during air combat maneuvers. Most of the existing data on focus booms are related to high-speed civil operations such as transitional linear accelerations and mild turns. However, military aircraft operating in training areas perform more drastic maneuvers such as dives and high-g turns. An update and confirmation of USAF prediction capabilities is required to demonstrate the ability to predict and control sonic boom impacts, especially those produced by air combat maneuvers.

A miniature spark counter for public communication and education

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mao, C.H.; Weng, P.S.

1987-01-01

The fabrication of a miniature spark counter for public communication and education using naturally occurring radon as a radioactive source without involving any man-made radioactivity is described. The battery-powered miniature spark counter weighs 2.07 kg with a volume of 4.844 x 10/sup -4/ m/sup 3/. The circuitry consists of seven major components: timer, high-voltage power supply, attenuator, noninverting amplifier, low-pass filter, one-shot generator, and counter. Cellulose nitrate films irradiated with alpha particles from radon emanating from soil were etched and counted. The visible sparks during counting are rather heuristic, which can be used to demonstrate naturally occurring radioactivity in classrooms or showplaces

Sonic mediations: body, sound, technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Birdsall, C.; Enns, A.

2008-01-01

Sonic Mediations: Body, Sound, Technology is a collection of original essays that represents an invaluable contribution to the burgeoning field of sound studies. While sound is often posited as having a bridging function, as a passive in-between, this volume invites readers to rethink the concept of

Exploring the Performance of Spark for a Scientific Use Case

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sehrish, Saba [Fermilab; Kowalkowski, Jim [Fermilab; Paterno, Marc [Fermilab

2016-01-01

We present an evaluation of the performance of a Spark implementation of a classification algorithm in the domain of High Energy Physics (HEP). Spark is a general engine for in-memory, large-scale data processing, and is designed for applications where similar repeated analysis is performed on the same large data sets. Classification problems are one of the most common and critical data processing tasks across many domains. Many of these data processing tasks are both computation- and data-intensive, involving complex numerical computations employing extremely large data sets. We evaluated the performance of the Spark implementation on Cori, a NERSC resource, and compared the results to an untuned MPI implementation of the same algorithm. While the Spark implementation scaled well, it is not competitive in speed to our MPI implementation, even when using significantly greater computational resources.

Knock investigation by flame and radical species detection in spark ignition engine for different fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merola, Simona S.; Vaglieco, Bianca M.

2007-01-01

The present paper aims to evaluate the phenomena of normal combustion and knocking in a single cylinder, ported fuel injection, four-stroke spark-ignition engine with a four-valve production head. All the measurements were realized in an optically accessible engine equipped with a wide quartz window in the bottom of the chamber. The study was carried out using optical techniques based on flame natural emission imaging and spectroscopy from UV to visible. Radical species such as OH and HCO were detected and correlated to the onset and the duration of knock and presence of hot-spots in end-gas. Measurements were carried out at 1000 rpm with wide-open throttle and stoichiometric mixture. Pure iso-octane, suitable mixtures of iso-octane and n-heptane and commercial gasoline were used

Effect of sonication on technological properties of beef

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. J. Dolatowski

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Ultrasound treatment during rigor mortis period led to an acceleration of aging processes. No significant influence of sonication on acidity during ageing was observed. Ultrasound treatment did not influence the lightness, but according to the shear force measurements, improve meat tenderness. Differentiated technological properties of examined samples may result from influence of ultrasound on protein structures of meat. As a result of ultrasound treatment an increase of free calcium ions concentration occurred. Obtained results pointed out that sonication may be an effective method of formation of technological properties of beef during ageing.

Measurements of Radon Concentration in Yemen Using Spark Counter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arafa, W.; Abou-Leila, M.; Hafiz, M.E.; Al-Glal, N.

2011-01-01

Spark counter has been designed and realized and the optimum applied voltage was found to be 600 V. Excellent consistent agreements was observed between counted number of tracks by spark counter and reading by optical microscope. Radon concentration in some houses in Sana'a and Hodeidah cities in Yemen had been performed using LR-115 SSNTD and spark counter system. The average radon concentration in both cities was far lower the alert value. The results showed that radon concentration in the metropolitan area Sana'a was higher than that in Hodeidah city. Also, it was observed that old residential houses had higher levels of radon concentrations have compared to newly built houses in the metropolitan area Sana'a

Neutron bursts from long laboratory sparks

Science.gov (United States)

Kochkin, P.; Lehtinen, N. G.; Montanya, J.; Van Deursen, A.; Ostgaard, N.

2016-12-01

Neutron emission in association with thunderstorms and lightning discharges was reported by different investigators from ground-based observation platforms. In both cases such emission is explained by photonuclear reaction, since high-energy gamma-rays in sufficient fluxes are routinely detected from both, lightning and thunderclouds. The required gamma-rays are presumably generated by high-energy electrons in Bremsstrahlung process after their acceleration via cold and/or relativistic runaway mechanisms. This phenomenon attracted moderate scientific attention until fast neutron bursts (up to 10 MeV) from long 1 MV laboratory sparks have been reported. Clearly, with such relatively low applied voltage the electrons are unable to accelerate to the energies required for photo/electro disintegration. Moreover, all known elementary neutron generation processes are not capable to explain this emission right away. We performed an independent laboratory experiment on long sparks with the aim to confirm or disprove the neutron emission from them. The experimental setup was assembled at High-Voltage Laboratory in Barcelona and contained a Marx generator in a cone-cone spark gap configuration. The applied voltage was as low as 800 kV and the gap distance was only 60 cm. Two ns-fast cameras were located near the gap capturing short-exposure images of the pre-breakdown phenomenon at the expected neutron generation time. A plastic scintillation detector sensitive to neutrons was covered in 11 cm of lead and placed near the spark gap. The detector was calibrated and showed good performance in neutron detection. Apart of it, voltage, currents through both electrodes, and three X-ray detectors were also monitored in sophisticated measuring system. We will give an overview of the previous experimental and theoretical work in this topic, and present the results of our new experimental campaign. The conclusions are based on good signal-to-noise ratio measurements and are

ResonantSonic drilling: History, progress and advances in environmental restoration programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Volk, B.W.; McLellan, G.W.; Moak, D.J.; Lerch, R.E.; Thompson, K.M.; Barrow, J.C.

1993-01-01

ResonantSonic SM drilling is being used in the environmental industry to drill faster, cheaper, and safer than conventional drilling methodologies. ResonantSonic is a registered service mark of the Water Development Corporation, Woodland, California. The ResonantSonic drilling method, requires no mud, air or water for rapid penetration through geologic materials ranging from rock and clay to sand and boulders. The specialized drill head imparts high frequency vibrations into a steel drill pipe creating a drilling action which allows the retrieval of continuous, undisturbed cores. An added benefit is that the method can be used for angle drilling. The ReasonantSonic method has been used in the past for projects ranging from pile driving to horizontal drilling. Current programs are utilizing the technique as a valuable tool for obtaining in situ, pristine environmental samples. In the future, this drilling technology could be used for remote, automated sampling at hazardous waste sites

Performance of automated multiplex PCR using sonication fluid for diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection: a prospective cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Renz, Nora; Feihl, Susanne; Cabric, Sabrina; Trampuz, Andrej

2017-12-01

Sonication of explanted prostheses improved the microbiological diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infections (PJI). We evaluated the performance of automated multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using sonication fluid for the microbiological diagnosis of PJI. In a prospective cohort using uniform definition criteria for PJI, explanted joint prostheses were investigated by sonication and the resulting sonication fluid was analyzed by culture and multiplex PCR. McNemar's Chi-squared test was used to compare the performance of diagnostic tests. Among 111 patients, PJI was diagnosed in 78 (70%) and aseptic failure in 33 (30%). For the diagnosis of PJI, the sensitivity and specificity of periprosthetic tissue culture was 51 and 100%, of sonication fluid culture 58 and 100%, and of sonication fluid PCR 51 and 94%, respectively. Among 70 microorganisms, periprosthetic tissue culture grew 52 (74%), sonication fluid culture grew 50 (71%) and sonication fluid PCR detected 37 pathogens (53%). If only organisms are considered, for which primers are included in the test panel, PCR detected 37 of 58 pathogens (64%). The sonication fluid PCR missed 19 pathogens (predominantly oral streptococci and anaerobes), whereas 7 additional microorganisms were detected only by PCR (including Cutibacterium spp. and coagulase-negative staphylococci). The performance of multiplex PCR using sonication fluid is comparable to culture of periprosthetic tissue or sonication fluid. The advantages of PCR are short processing time (PCR, especially of low-virulent organisms.

Controlling spark timing for consecutive cycles to reduce the cyclic variations of SI engines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaleli, Alirıza; Ceviz, Mehmet Akif; Erenturk, Köksal

2015-01-01

Minimization of the cyclic variations is one of the most important design goal for spark-ignited engines. Primary motivation of this study is to reduce the cyclic variations in spark ignition engines by controlling the spark timing for consecutive cycles. A stochastic model was performed between spark timing and in–cylinder maximum pressure by using the system identification techniques. The incylinder maximum pressure of the next cycle was predicted with this model. Minimum variance and generalized minimum variance controllers were designed to regulate the in–cylinder maximum pressure by changing the spark timing for consecutive cycles of the test engine. The produced control algorithms were built in LabView environment and installed to the Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) chassis. According to the test results, the in–cylinder maximum pressure of the next pressure cycle can be predicted fairly well, and the spark timing can be regulated to keep the in–cylinder maximum pressure in a desired band to reduce the cyclic variations. At fixed spark timing experiments, the COV Pmax and COV imep were 3.764 and 0.677%, whereas they decreased to 3.208 and 0.533% when GMV controller was applied, respectively. - Highlights: • Cycle per cycle spark timing control was carried out. • A stochastic process model was described between P max and the spark timing. • The cyclic variations in P max was decreased by keeping it in a desired band. • Different controllers were used to adjust spark timing signal of the next cycle. • COV Pmax was decreased by about 15% by using GMV controller

Effects of tetracaine on voltage-activated calcium sparks in frog intact skeletal muscle fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hollingworth, Stephen; Chandler, W Knox; Baylor, Stephen M

2006-03-01

The properties of Ca(2+) sparks in frog intact skeletal muscle fibers depolarized with 13 mM [K(+)] Ringer's are well described by a computational model with a Ca(2+) source flux of amplitude 2.5 pA (units of current) and duration 4.6 ms (18 degrees C; Model 2 of Baylor et al., 2002). This result, in combination with the values of single-channel Ca(2+) current reported for ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in bilayers under physiological ion conditions, 0.5 pA (Kettlun et al., 2003) to 2 pA (Tinker et al., 1993), suggests that 1-5 RyR Ca(2+) release channels open during a voltage-activated Ca(2+) spark in an intact fiber. To distinguish between one and greater than one channel per spark, sparks were measured in 8 mM [K(+)] Ringer's in the absence and presence of tetracaine, an inhibitor of RyR channel openings in bilayers. The most prominent effect of 75-100 microM tetracaine was an approximately sixfold reduction in spark frequency. The remaining sparks showed significant reductions in the mean values of peak amplitude, decay time constant, full duration at half maximum (FDHM), full width at half maximum (FWHM), and mass, but not in the mean value of rise time. Spark properties in tetracaine were simulated with an updated spark model that differed in minor ways from our previous model. The simulations show that (a) the properties of sparks in tetracaine are those expected if tetracaine reduces the number of active RyR Ca(2+) channels per spark, and (b) the single-channel Ca(2+) current of an RyR channel is normal voltage-activated sparks (i.e., in the absence of tetracaine) are produced by two or more active RyR Ca(2+) channels. The question of how the activation of multiple RyRs is coordinated is discussed.

Improving the sludge disintegration efficiency of sonication by combining with alkalization and thermal pre-treatment methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Şahinkaya, S; Sevimli, M F; Aygün, A

2012-01-01

One of the most serious problems encountered in biological wastewater treatment processes is the production of waste activated sludge (WAS). Sonication, which is an energy-intensive process, is the most powerful sludge pre-treatment method. Due to lack of information about the combined pre-treatment methods of sonication, the combined pre-treatment methods were investigated and it was aimed to improve the disintegration efficiency of sonication by combining sonication with alkalization and thermal pre-treatment methods in this study. The process performances were evaluated based on the quantities of increases in soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD), protein and carbohydrate. The releases of soluble COD, carbohydrate and protein by the combined methods were higher than those by sonication, alkalization and thermal pre-treatment alone. Degrees of sludge disintegration in various options of sonication were in the following descending order: sono-alkalization > sono-thermal pre-treatment > sonication. Therefore, it was determined that combining sonication with alkalization significantly improved the sludge disintegration and decreased the required energy to reach the same yield by sonication. In addition, effects on sludge settleability and dewaterability and kinetic mathematical modelling of pre-treatment performances of these methods were investigated. It was proven that the proposed model accurately predicted the efficiencies of ultrasonic pre-treatment methods.

Erosion on spark plug electrodes; Funkenerosion an Zuendkerzenelektroden

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rager, J.

2006-07-01

Durability of spark plugs is mainly determined by spark gap widening, caused by electrode wear. Knowledge about the erosion mechanisms of spark plug materials is of fundamental interest for the development of materials with a high resistance against electrode erosion. It is therefore crucial to identify those parameters which significantly influence the erosion behaviour of a material. In this work, a reliable and reproducible testing method is presented which produces and characterizes electrode wear under well-defined conditions and which is capable of altering parameters specifically. Endurance tests were carried out to study the dependence of the wear behaviour of pure nickel and platinum on the electrode temperature, gas, electrode gap, electrode diameter, atmospheric pressure, and partial pressure of oxygen. It was shown that erosion under nitrogen is negligible, irrespective of the material. This disproves all common mechanism discussed in the literature explaining material loss of spark plug electrodes. Based on this observation and the variation of the mentioned parameters a new erosion model was deduced. This relies on an oxidation of the electrode material and describes the erosion of nickel and platinum separately. For nickel, electrode wear is caused by the removal of an oxide layer by the spark. In the case of platinum, material loss occurs due to the plasma-assisted formation and subsequent evaporation of volatile oxides in the cathode spot. On the basis of this mechanism a new composite material was developed whose erosion resistance is superior to pure platinum. Oxidation resistant metal oxide particles were added to a platinum matrix, thus leading to a higher erosion resistance of the composite. However, this can be decreased by a side reaction, the separation of oxygen from the metal oxides, which effectively assists the oxidation of the matrix. This reaction can be suppressed by using highly stable oxides, characterized by a large negative Gibbs

Ultrasonic/Sonic Rotary-Hammer Drills

Science.gov (United States)

Badescu, Mircea; Sherrit, Stewart; Bar-Cohen, Yoseph; Bao, Xiaoqi; Kassab, Steve

2010-01-01

Ultrasonic/sonic rotary-hammer drill (USRoHD) is a recent addition to the collection of apparatuses based on ultrasonic/sonic drill corer (USDC). As described below, the USRoHD has several features, not present in a basic USDC, that increase efficiency and provide some redundancy against partial failure. USDCs and related apparatuses were conceived for boring into, and/or acquiring samples of, rock or other hard, brittle materials of geological interest. They have been described in numerous previous NASA Tech Briefs articles. To recapitulate: A USDC can be characterized as a lightweight, lowpower, piezoelectrically driven jackhammer in which ultrasonic and sonic vibrations are generated and coupled to a tool bit. A basic USDC includes a piezoelectric stack, an ultrasonic transducer horn connected to the stack, a free mass ( free in the sense that it can bounce axially a short distance between hard stops on the horn and the bit), and a tool bit. The piezoelectric stack creates ultrasonic vibrations that are mechanically amplified by the horn. The bouncing of the free mass between the hard stops generates the sonic vibrations. The combination of ultrasonic and sonic vibrations gives rise to a hammering action (and a resulting chiseling action at the tip of the tool bit) that is more effective for drilling than is the microhammering action of ultrasonic vibrations alone. The hammering and chiseling actions are so effective that unlike in conventional twist drilling, little applied axial force is needed to make the apparatus advance into the material of interest. There are numerous potential applications for USDCs and related apparatuses in geological exploration on Earth and on remote planets. In early USDC experiments, it was observed that accumulation of cuttings in a drilled hole causes the rate of penetration of the USDC to decrease steeply with depth, and that the rate of penetration can be increased by removing the cuttings. The USRoHD concept provides for

Contribution to the study of an lpg jet in the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine; Contribution a l'etude d'un jet de gpl dans la chambre de combustion d'un moteur a allumage commande, pour differentes strategies d'injection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duong Viet, D.

2002-07-01

It appears tempting to combine the less polluting combustion of LPG with the energy performances of a direct injection spark-ignition engine. To this aim the study of high pressure injection of a liquid LPG jet, directly inside the combustion chamber of an engine was performed in two ways: Experimental studies: one with fast cinematography and another with the method of Doppler phases in an one-cylinder 'transparent' engine for various conditions of injection and without combustion. They respectively deliver empirical laws for the jet development and some informations about size and speed of the droplets of LPG. A modeling of the jet could then be made on the basis of a turbulent and deviated jet the parameters of which could be adjusted using results of the preceding experimental study. (author)

Intensification of transesterification via sonication numerical simulation and sensitivity study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janajreh, Isam; ElSamad, Tala; Noorul Hussain, Mohammed

2017-01-01

Highlights: • 3D numerical simulation of transesterification is accomplished. • A non-isothermal, reactive Navier–stokes was carried out. • Conventional and sonicated process was compared as far as reaction kinetics and yield. • Higher kinetic rates are achieved at lower molar ratios in sonicated process. • It validates feasibility of numerical simulation for transesterification assessment. - Abstract: Transesterification is known as slow reaction that can take over several hours to complete. The process involves two immiscible reactants to produce the biodiesel and the byproduct glycerol. Biodiesel commercialization has always been hindered by the long process times of the transesterification reaction. Catalyzing the process and increasing the agitation rate is the mode of intensifying the process additional to the increase of the molar ratio, temperature, circulation that all penalize the overall process metrics. Finding shorter path by reducing the reaction into a few minutes and ensures high quality biodiesel, in economically viable way is coming along with sonication. This drastic reduction moves the technology from the slow batch process into the high throughput continuous process. In a practical sense this means a huge optimization for the biodiesel production process which opens pathways for faster, voluminous and cheaper production. The mechanism of sonication assisted reaction is explained by the creation of microbubbles which increases the interfacial surface reaction areas and the presence of high localized temperature and turbulence as these microbubbles implode. As a result the reaction kinetics of sonicated transesterification as inferred by several authors is much faster. The aim of this work is to implement the inferred rates in a high fidelity numerical reactive flow simulation model while considering the reactor geometry. It is based on Navier–Stokes equations coupled with energy equation for non-isothermal flow and the transport

The Results of a Randomized Control Trial Evaluation of the SPARK Literacy Program

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Curtis J.; Christian, Michael; Rice, Andrew

2016-01-01

The purpose of this report is to present the results of a two-year randomized control trial evaluation of the SPARK literacy program. SPARK is an early grade literacy program developed by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. In 2010, SPARK was awarded an Investing in Innovation (i3) Department of Education grant to further develop the…

Nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges in air at atmospheric pressure-the spark regime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pai, David Z; Lacoste, Deanna A; Laux, Christophe O

2010-01-01

Nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) spark discharges have been studied in atmospheric pressure air preheated to 1000 K. Measurements of spark initiation and stability, plasma dynamics, gas temperature and current-voltage characteristics of the spark regime are presented. Using 10 ns pulses applied repetitively at 30 kHz, we find that 2-400 pulses are required to initiate the spark, depending on the applied voltage. Furthermore, about 30-50 pulses are required for the spark discharge to reach steady state, following initiation. Based on space- and time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy, the spark discharge in steady state is found to ignite homogeneously in the discharge gap, without evidence of an initial streamer. Using measured emission from the N 2 (C-B) 0-0 band, it is found that the gas temperature rises by several thousand Kelvin in the span of about 30 ns following the application of the high-voltage pulse. Current-voltage measurements show that up to 20-40 A of conduction current is generated, which corresponds to an electron number density of up to 10 15 cm -3 towards the end of the high-voltage pulse. The discharge dynamics, gas temperature and electron number density are consistent with a streamer-less spark that develops homogeneously through avalanche ionization in volume. This occurs because the pre-ionization electron number density of about 10 11 cm -3 produced by the high frequency train of pulses is above the critical density for streamer-less discharge development, which is shown to be about 10 8 cm -3 .

Nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges in air at atmospheric pressure—the spark regime

Science.gov (United States)

Pai, David Z.; Lacoste, Deanna A.; Laux, Christophe O.

2010-12-01

Nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) spark discharges have been studied in atmospheric pressure air preheated to 1000 K. Measurements of spark initiation and stability, plasma dynamics, gas temperature and current-voltage characteristics of the spark regime are presented. Using 10 ns pulses applied repetitively at 30 kHz, we find that 2-400 pulses are required to initiate the spark, depending on the applied voltage. Furthermore, about 30-50 pulses are required for the spark discharge to reach steady state, following initiation. Based on space- and time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy, the spark discharge in steady state is found to ignite homogeneously in the discharge gap, without evidence of an initial streamer. Using measured emission from the N2 (C-B) 0-0 band, it is found that the gas temperature rises by several thousand Kelvin in the span of about 30 ns following the application of the high-voltage pulse. Current-voltage measurements show that up to 20-40 A of conduction current is generated, which corresponds to an electron number density of up to 1015 cm-3 towards the end of the high-voltage pulse. The discharge dynamics, gas temperature and electron number density are consistent with a streamer-less spark that develops homogeneously through avalanche ionization in volume. This occurs because the pre-ionization electron number density of about 1011 cm-3 produced by the high frequency train of pulses is above the critical density for streamer-less discharge development, which is shown to be about 108 cm-3.

Nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges in air at atmospheric pressure-the spark regime

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pai, David Z; Lacoste, Deanna A; Laux, Christophe O [Laboratoire EM2C, CNRS UPR288, Ecole Centrale Paris, 92295 Chatenay-Malabry (France)

2010-12-15

Nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) spark discharges have been studied in atmospheric pressure air preheated to 1000 K. Measurements of spark initiation and stability, plasma dynamics, gas temperature and current-voltage characteristics of the spark regime are presented. Using 10 ns pulses applied repetitively at 30 kHz, we find that 2-400 pulses are required to initiate the spark, depending on the applied voltage. Furthermore, about 30-50 pulses are required for the spark discharge to reach steady state, following initiation. Based on space- and time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy, the spark discharge in steady state is found to ignite homogeneously in the discharge gap, without evidence of an initial streamer. Using measured emission from the N{sub 2} (C-B) 0-0 band, it is found that the gas temperature rises by several thousand Kelvin in the span of about 30 ns following the application of the high-voltage pulse. Current-voltage measurements show that up to 20-40 A of conduction current is generated, which corresponds to an electron number density of up to 10{sup 15} cm{sup -3} towards the end of the high-voltage pulse. The discharge dynamics, gas temperature and electron number density are consistent with a streamer-less spark that develops homogeneously through avalanche ionization in volume. This occurs because the pre-ionization electron number density of about 10{sup 11} cm{sup -3} produced by the high frequency train of pulses is above the critical density for streamer-less discharge development, which is shown to be about 10{sup 8} cm{sup -3}.

Flow tilt angles near forest edges – Part 1: Sonic anemometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Dellwik

2010-05-01

Full Text Available An analysis of flow tilt angles from a fetch-limited beech forest site with clearings is presented in the context of vertical advection of carbon dioxide. Flow angles and vertical velocities from two sonic anemometers by different manufacturers were analyzed. Instead of using rotations, where zero-flow angles were assumed for neutral flow, the data was interpreted in relation to upstream and downstream forest edges.

Uncertainties caused by flow distortion, vertical misalignment and limited sampling time (statistical uncertainty were evaluated and found to be highly significant. Since the attack angle distribution of the wind on the sonic anemometer is a function of atmospheric stratification, an instrumental error caused by imperfect flow distortion correction is also a function of the atmospheric stratification. In addition, it is discussed that the sonic anemometers have temperature dependent off-sets. These features of the investigated sonic anemometers make them unsuitable for measuring vertical velocities over highly turbulent forested terrain. By comparing the sonic anemometer results to that of a conically scanning Doppler lidar (Dellwik et al., 2010b, sonic anemometer accuracy for measuring mean flow tilt angles was estimated to between 2° and 3°. Use of planar fit algorithms, where the mean vertical velocity is calculated as the difference between the neutral and non-neutral flow, does not solve this problem of low accuracy and is not recommended.

Because of the large uncertainties caused by flow distortion and vertical alignment, it was only possible to a limited extent to relate sonic anemometer flow tilt angles to upwind forest edges, but the results by the lidar indicated that an internal boundary layer affect flow tilt angles at 21m above the forest. This is in accordance with earlier studies at the site.

Since the mean flow tilt angles do not follow the terrain, an estimate of the vertical advection

SparkText: Biomedical Text Mining on Big Data Framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Zhan; Tafti, Ahmad P; He, Karen Y; Wang, Kai; He, Max M

Many new biomedical research articles are published every day, accumulating rich information, such as genetic variants, genes, diseases, and treatments. Rapid yet accurate text mining on large-scale scientific literature can discover novel knowledge to better understand human diseases and to improve the quality of disease diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. In this study, we designed and developed an efficient text mining framework called SparkText on a Big Data infrastructure, which is composed of Apache Spark data streaming and machine learning methods, combined with a Cassandra NoSQL database. To demonstrate its performance for classifying cancer types, we extracted information (e.g., breast, prostate, and lung cancers) from tens of thousands of articles downloaded from PubMed, and then employed Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Logistic Regression to build prediction models to mine the articles. The accuracy of predicting a cancer type by SVM using the 29,437 full-text articles was 93.81%. While competing text-mining tools took more than 11 hours, SparkText mined the dataset in approximately 6 minutes. This study demonstrates the potential for mining large-scale scientific articles on a Big Data infrastructure, with real-time update from new articles published daily. SparkText can be extended to other areas of biomedical research.

Multi-spark discharge system for preparation of nutritious water

Science.gov (United States)

Nakaso, Tetsushi; Harigai, Toru; Kusumawan, Sholihatta Aziz; Shimomura, Tomoya; Tanimoto, Tsuyoshi; Suda, Yoshiyuki; Takikawa, Hirofumi

2018-01-01

The nitrogen compound concentration in water is increased by atmospheric-pressure plasma discharge treatment. A rod-to-water electrode discharge treatment system using plasma discharge has been developed by our group to obtain water with a high concentration of nitrogen compounds, and this plasma-treated water improves the growth of chrysanthemum roots. However, it is difficult to apply the system to the agriculture because the amount of treated water obtained by using the system too small. In this study, a multi-spark discharge system (MSDS) equipped multiple spark plugs is presented to obtain a large amount of plasma-treated water. The MSDS consisted of inexpensive parts in order to reduce the system introduction cost for agriculture. To suppress the temperature increase of the spark plugs, the 9 spark plugs were divided into 3 groups, which were discharged in order. The plasma-treated water with a NO3- concentration of 50 mg/L was prepared using the MSDS for 90 min, and the treatment efficiency was about 6 times higher than that of our previous system. It was confirmed that the NO2-, O3, and H2O2 concentrations in the water were also increased by treating the water using the MSDS.

Development of a SPARK Training Dataset

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sayre, Amanda M.; Olson, Jarrod R.

2015-01-01

In its first five years, the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI) sponsored more than 400 undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students in internships and research positions (Wyse 2012). In the past seven years, the NGSI program has, and continues to produce a large body of scientific, technical, and policy work in targeted core safeguards capabilities and human capital development activities. Not only does the NGSI program carry out activities across multiple disciplines, but also across all U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/NNSA locations in the United States. However, products are not readily shared among disciplines and across locations, nor are they archived in a comprehensive library. Rather, knowledge of NGSI-produced literature is localized to the researchers, clients, and internal laboratory/facility publication systems such as the Electronic Records and Information Capture Architecture (ERICA) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). There is also no incorporated way of analyzing existing NGSI literature to determine whether the larger NGSI program is achieving its core safeguards capabilities and activities. A complete library of NGSI literature could prove beneficial to a cohesive, sustainable, and more economical NGSI program. The Safeguards Platform for Automated Retrieval of Knowledge (SPARK) has been developed to be a knowledge storage, retrieval, and analysis capability to capture safeguards knowledge to exist beyond the lifespan of NGSI. During the development process, it was necessary to build a SPARK training dataset (a corpus of documents) for initial entry into the system and for demonstration purposes. We manipulated these data to gain new information about the breadth of NGSI publications, and they evaluated the science-policy interface at PNNL as a practical demonstration of SPARK's intended analysis capability. The analysis demonstration sought to answer

Cleaning technologies with sonic horns and gas explosions at the waste-fired power plant in Offenbach (Germany); Reinigung mit Schall und Explosionsgenerator im Muellheizkraftwerk Offenbach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fuele, Tibor Horst [Energieversorgung Offenbach AG, Offenbach am Main (Germany). Abt. Betrieb Kraftwerke

2013-10-01

During the operation of boiler systems, fouling (dirt, slag, ash, and soot deposits) appears to be inevitable in the combustion chamber and the flue gas path of power plants. The paper informs about the practical operating experience made in the waste incineration power plant in Offenbach with two not too well-known online cleaning technologies that can be easily retrofitted, i.e. acoustic sonic soot cleaning that can be used e.g. at air preheaters, economisers, catalysers and electrostatic precipitators, and explosion generator which is an automatic cleaning system that operates with controlled gas explosions to clean e.g. superheaters and evaporisers. (orig.)

Sonication assisted Agrobacterium -mediated transformation of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this study, a protocol was developed to obtain stable lines of the Spring Dendrobium cultivar 'Sanya' via sonication assisted Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (SAAT) of protocorm-like bodies (PLBs). Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 was used with the binary vector AG205 containing the chalcone ...

Dog-Bone Horns for Piezoelectric Ultrasonic/Sonic Actuators

Science.gov (United States)

Sherrit, Stewart; Bar-Cohen, Yoseph; Chang, Zensheu; Bao, Xiaoqi

2007-01-01

A shape reminiscent of a dog bone has been found to be superior to other shapes for mechanical-amplification horns that are components of piezoelectrically driven actuators used in a series of related devices denoted generally as ultrasonic/sonic drill/corers (USDCs). The first of these devices was reported in Ultrasonic/Sonic Drill/Corers With Integrated Sensors (NPO-20856), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 1 (January 2001), page 38. The dog-bone shape was conceived especially for use in a more recent device in the series, denoted an ultrasonic/ sonic gopher, that was described in Ultrasonic/Sonic Mechanisms for Drilling and Coring (NPO-30291), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 27, No. 9 (September 2003), page 65. The figure shows an example of a dog-bone-shaped horn and other components of an ultrasonic gopher. Prerequisite to a meaningful description of this development is an unavoidably lengthy recapitulation of the principle of operation of a USDC and, more specifically, of the ultrasonic/sonic gopher as described previously in NASA Tech Briefs. The ultrasonic actuator includes a stack of piezoelectric rings, the horn, a metal backing, and a bolt that connects the aforementioned parts and provides compressive pre-strain to the piezoelectric stack to prevent breakage of the rings during extension. The stack of piezoelectric rings is excited at the resonance frequency of the overall ultrasonic actuator. Through mechanical amplification by the horn, the displacement in the ultrasonic vibration reaches tens of microns at the tip of the horn. The horn hammers an object that is denoted the free mass because it is free to move longitudinally over a limited distance between hard stops: The free mass bounces back and forth between the ultrasonic horn and a tool bit (a drill bit or a corer). Because the longitudinal speed of the free mass is smaller than the longitudinal speed of vibration of the tip of the horn, contact between the free mass and the horn tip usually occurs at a

2-Methylfuran: A bio-derived octane booster for spark-ignition engines

KAUST Repository

Sarathy, Mani; Shankar, Vijai; Tripathi, Rupali; Pitsch, Heinz; Sarathy, Mani

2018-01-01

The efficiency of spark-ignition engines is limited by the phenomenon of knock, which is caused by auto-ignition of the fuel-air mixture ahead of the spark-initiated flame front. The resistance of a fuel to knock is quantified by its octane index

A note on preserving the spark of a matrix

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcin Skrzynski

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Let Mm× n(F be the vector space of all m× n matrices over a field F. In the case where m ≥ n, char (F ≠ 2 and F has at least five elements, we give a complete characterization of linear maps Φ : Mm× n(F → Mm× n(F such that spark(Φ (A = spark(A for any A ∈ Mm× n(F.

Experimental study of a spark-gap

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruzzone, H.; Moreno, C.; Vieytes, R.

1990-01-01

Some experimental results concerning to the resistance of an atmospheric pressure spark-gap, operating in the self breakdown regime are presented. The influence of the energy discharging through the gap on this resistance is discussed. (Author)

Measurements of some parameters of thermal sparks with respect to their ability to ignite aviation fuel/air mixtures

Science.gov (United States)

Haigh, S. J.; Hardwick, C. J.; Baldwin, R. E.

1991-01-01

A method used to generate thermal sparks for experimental purposes and methods by which parameters of the sparks, such as speed, size, and temperature, were measured are described. Values are given of the range of such parameters within these spark showers. Titanium sparks were used almost exclusively, since it is particles of this metal which are found to be ejected during simulation tests to carbon fiber composite (CFC) joints. Tests were then carried out in which titanium sparks and spark showers were injected into JP4/(AVTAG F40) mixtures with air. Single large sparks and dense showers of small sparks were found to be capable of causing ignition. Tests were then repeated using ethylene/air mixtures, which were found to be more easily ignited by thermal sparks than the JP4/ air mixtures.

Design methodology for a community response questionnaire on sonic boom exposure

Science.gov (United States)

Farbry, John E., Jr.; Fields, James M.; Molino, John A.; Demiranda, Gwendolyn A.

1991-01-01

A preliminary draft questionnaire concerning community response to sonic booms was developed. Interviews were conducted in two communities that had experienced supersonic overflights of the SR-71 airplane for several years. Even though the overflights had ceased about 6 months prior to the interviews, people clearly remembered hearing sonic booms. A total of 22 people living in central Utah and 23 people living along Idaho/Washington state border took part in these interviews. The draft questionnaire was constantly modified during the study in order to evaluate different versions. Questions were developed which related to annoyance, startle, sleep disturbance, building vibration, and building damage. Based on the data collected, a proposed community response survey response instrument was developed for application in a full-scale sonic boom study.

Damping Resonant Current in a Spark-Gap Trigger Circuit to Reduce Noise

Science.gov (United States)

2009-06-01

DAMPING RESONANT CURRENT IN A SPARK- GAP TRIGGER CIRCUIT TO REDUCE NOISE E. L. Ruden Air Force Research Laboratory, Directed Energy Directorate, AFRL...REPORT TYPE N/A 3. DATES COVERED - 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Damping Resonant Current In A Spark- Gap Trigger Circuit To Reduce Noise 5a...thereby triggering 2 after delay 0, is 1. Each of the two rail- gaps (represented by 2) is trig- gered to close after the spark- gap (1) in the

Numerical Predictions of Sonic Boom Signatures for a Straight Line Segmented Leading Edge Model

Science.gov (United States)

Elmiligui, Alaa A.; Wilcox, Floyd J.; Cliff, Susan; Thomas, Scott

2012-01-01

A sonic boom wind tunnel test was conducted on a straight-line segmented leading edge (SLSLE) model in the NASA Langley 4- by 4- Foot Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT). The purpose of the test was to determine whether accurate sonic boom measurements could be obtained while continuously moving the SLSLE model past a conical pressure probe. Sonic boom signatures were also obtained using the conventional move-pause data acquisition method for comparison. The continuous data acquisition approach allows for accurate signatures approximately 15 times faster than a move-pause technique. These successful results provide an incentive for future testing with greatly increased efficiency using the continuous model translation technique with the single probe to measure sonic boom signatures. Two widely used NASA codes, USM3D (Navier-Stokes) and CART3D-AERO (Euler, adjoint-based adaptive mesh), were used to compute off-body sonic boom pressure signatures of the SLSLE model at several different altitudes below the model at Mach 2.0. The computed pressure signatures compared well with wind tunnel data. The effect of the different altitude for signature extraction was evaluated by extrapolating the near field signatures to the ground and comparing pressure signatures and sonic boom loudness levels.

Loss of Sonic hedgehog leads to alterations in intestinal secretory cell maturation and autophagy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica Gagné-Sansfaçon

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Intestinal epithelial cells express the Sonic and Indian hedgehog ligands. Despite the strong interest in gut hedgehog signaling in GI diseases, no studies have specifically addressed the singular role of intestinal epithelial cell Sonic hedgehog signaling. The aim of this study was to investigate the specific role of Sonic hedgehog in adult ileal epithelial homeostasis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A Sonic hedgehog intestinal epithelial conditional knockout mouse model was generated. Assessment of ileal histological abnormalities, crypt epithelial cell proliferation, epithelial cell fate, junctional proteins, signaling pathways, as well as ultrastructural analysis of intracellular organelles were performed in control and mutant mice. Mice lacking intestinal epithelial Sonic Hedgehog displayed decreased ileal crypt/villus length, decreased crypt proliferation as well as a decrease in the number of ileal mucin-secreting goblet cells and antimicrobial peptide-secreting Paneth cells during adult life. These secretory cells also exhibited disruption of their secretory products in mutant mice. Ultrastructural microscopy analysis revealed a dilated ER lumen in secretory cells. This phenotype was also associated with a decrease in autophagy. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Altogether, these findings indicate that the loss of Sonic hedgehog can lead to ileal secretory cell modifications indicative of endoplasmic reticulum stress, accompanied by a significant reduction in autophagy.

Spark PRM: Using RRTs within PRMs to efficiently explore narrow passages

KAUST Repository

Shi, Kensen; Denny, Jory; Amato, Nancy M.

2014-01-01

© 2014 IEEE. Probabilistic RoadMaps (PRMs) have been successful for many high-dimensional motion planning problems. However, they encounter difficulties when mapping narrow passages. While many PRM sampling methods have been proposed to increase the proportion of samples within narrow passages, such difficult planning areas still pose many challenges. We introduce a novel algorithm, Spark PRM, that sparks the growth of Rapidly-expanding Random Trees (RRTs) from narrow passage samples generated by a PRM. The RRT rapidly generates further narrow passage samples, ideally until the passage is fully mapped. After reaching a terminating condition, the tree stops growing and is added to the roadmap. Spark PRM is a general method that can be applied to all PRM variants. We study the benefits of Spark PRM with a variety of sampling strategies in a wide array of environments. We show significant speedups in computation time over RRT, Sampling-based Roadmap of Trees (SRT), and various PRM variants.

Spark PRM: Using RRTs within PRMs to efficiently explore narrow passages

KAUST Repository

Shi, Kensen

2014-05-01

© 2014 IEEE. Probabilistic RoadMaps (PRMs) have been successful for many high-dimensional motion planning problems. However, they encounter difficulties when mapping narrow passages. While many PRM sampling methods have been proposed to increase the proportion of samples within narrow passages, such difficult planning areas still pose many challenges. We introduce a novel algorithm, Spark PRM, that sparks the growth of Rapidly-expanding Random Trees (RRTs) from narrow passage samples generated by a PRM. The RRT rapidly generates further narrow passage samples, ideally until the passage is fully mapped. After reaching a terminating condition, the tree stops growing and is added to the roadmap. Spark PRM is a general method that can be applied to all PRM variants. We study the benefits of Spark PRM with a variety of sampling strategies in a wide array of environments. We show significant speedups in computation time over RRT, Sampling-based Roadmap of Trees (SRT), and various PRM variants.

Influence of Chair Vibrations on Indoor Sonic Boom Annoyance

Science.gov (United States)

Rathsam, Jonathan; Klos, Jacob; Loubeau, Alexandra

2015-01-01

One goal of NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project is to identify candidate noise metrics suitable for regulating quiet sonic boom aircraft. A suitable metric must consider the short duration and pronounced low frequency content of sonic booms. For indoor listeners, rattle and creaking sounds and floor and chair vibrations may also be important. The current study examined the effect of such vibrations on the annoyance of test subjects seated indoors. The study involved two chairs exposed to nearly identical acoustic levels: one placed directly on the floor, and the other isolated from floor vibrations by pneumatic elastomeric mounts. All subjects experienced both chairs, sitting in one chair for the first half of the experiment and the other chair for the remaining half. Each half of the experiment consisted of 80 impulsive noises played at the exterior of the sonic boom simulator. When all annoyance ratings were analyzed together there appeared to be no difference in mean annoyance with isolation condition. When the apparent effect of transfer bias was removed, a subtle but measurable effect of vibration on annoyance was identified.

A Flight Research Overview of WSPR, a Pilot Project for Sonic Boom Community Response

Science.gov (United States)

Cliatt, Larry James; Haering, Ed; Jones, Thomas P.; Waggoner, Erin R.; Flattery, Ashley K.; Wiley, Scott L.

2014-01-01

In support of NASAs ongoing effort to bring supersonic commercial travel to the public, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with other industry organizations, conducted a flight research experiment to identify the methods, tools, and best practices for a large-scale quiet (or low) sonic boom community human response test. The name of the effort was Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response. Such tests will go towards building a dataset that governing agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization will use to establish regulations for acceptable sound levels of overland sonic booms. Until WSPR, there had never been an effort that studied the response of people in their own homes and performing daily activities to non-traditional, low sonic booms.WSPR was a NASA collaborative effort with several industry partners, in response to a NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Research Opportunities in Aeronautics. The primary contractor was Wyle. Other partners included Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Pennsylvania State University, Tetra Tech, and Fidell Associates, Inc.A major objective of the effort included exposing a community with the sonic boom magnitudes and occurrences expected in high-air traffic regions with a network of supersonic commercial aircraft in place. Low-level sonic booms designed to simulate those produced by the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft were generated over a small residential community. The sonic boom footprint was recorded with an autonomous wireless microphone array that spanned the entire community. Human response data was collected using multiple survey methods. The research focused on essential elements of community response testing including subject recruitment, survey methods, instrumentation systems, flight planning and operations, and data analysis methods.This paper focuses on NASAs role in the efforts

Negative refractions by triangular lattice sonic crystals in partial band gaps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alagoz, S.; Sahin, A.; Alagoz, B. B.; Nur, S.

2015-01-01

This study numerically demonstrates the effects of partial band gaps on the negative refraction properties of sonic crystal. The partial band gap appearing at the second band edge leads to the efficient transmissions of scattered wave envelopes in the transverse directions inside triangular lattice sonic crystal, and therefore enhances the refraction property of sonic crystal. Numerical simulation results indicate a diagonal guidance of coupled scattered wave envelopes inside crystal structure at the partial band gap frequencies and then output waves are restored in the vicinity of the output interface of sonic crystal by combining phase coherent scattered waves according to Huygens’ principles. This mechanism leads to two operations for wavefront engineering: one is spatial wavefront shifting operation and the other is convex–concave wavefront inversion operation. The effects of this mechanism on the negative refraction and wave focalization are investigated by using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations. This study contributes to a better understanding of negative refraction and wave focusing mechanisms at the band edge frequencies, and shows the applications of the slab corner beam splitting and SC-air multilayer acoustic system. (paper)

Phase characterisation in spark plasma sintered TiPt alloy

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Chikosha, S

2011-12-01

Full Text Available stream_source_info chikosha_2011.pdf.txt stream_content_type text/plain stream_size 4354 Content-Encoding UTF-8 stream_name chikosha_2011.pdf.txt Content-Type text/plain; charset=UTF-8 PHASE CHARACTERISATION IN SPARK... to form “necks”  Radiant Joule heat and pressure drives “neck” growth and material transfer © CSIR 2006 www.csir.co.za Page 6 Objective  Produce TiPt alloy compacts by Spark plasma sintering (SPS) of equiatomic...

Mechanism of inhibition of the tumor suppressor Patched by Sonic Hedgehog.

Science.gov (United States)

Tukachinsky, Hanna; Petrov, Kostadin; Watanabe, Miyako; Salic, Adrian

2016-10-04

The Hedgehog cell-cell signaling pathway is crucial for animal development, and its misregulation is implicated in numerous birth defects and cancers. In unstimulated cells, pathway activity is inhibited by the tumor suppressor membrane protein, Patched. Hedgehog signaling is triggered by the secreted Hedgehog ligand, which binds and inhibits Patched, thus setting in motion the downstream events in signal transduction. Despite its critical importance, the mechanism by which Hedgehog antagonizes Patched has remained unknown. Here, we show that vertebrate Patched1 inhibition is caused by direct, palmitate-dependent interaction with the Sonic Hedgehog ligand. We find that a short palmitoylated N-terminal fragment of Sonic Hedgehog binds Patched1 and, strikingly, is sufficient to inhibit it and to activate signaling. The rest of Sonic Hedgehog confers high-affinity Patched1 binding and internalization through a distinct binding site, but, surprisingly, it is not absolutely required for signaling. The palmitate-dependent interaction with Patched1 is specifically impaired in a Sonic Hedgehog mutant causing human holoprosencephaly, the most frequent congenital brain malformation, explaining its drastically reduced potency. The palmitate-dependent interaction is also abolished in constitutively inhibited Patched1 point mutants causing the Gorlin cancer syndrome, suggesting that they might adopt a conformation distinct from the wild type. Our data demonstrate that Sonic Hedgehog signals via the palmitate-dependent arm of a two-pronged contact with Patched1. Furthermore, our results suggest that, during Hedgehog signaling, ligand binding inhibits Patched by trapping it in an inactive conformation, a mechanism that explains the dramatically reduced activity of oncogenic Patched1 mutants.

Development of 2024 AA-Yttrium composites by Spark Plasma Sintering

Science.gov (United States)

Vidyasagar, CH S.; Karunakar, D. B.

2018-04-01

The method of fabrication of MMNCs is quite a challenge, which includes advanced processing techniques like Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), etc. The objective of the present work is to fabricate aluminium based MMNCs with the addition of small amounts of yttrium using Spark Plasma Sintering and to evaluate their mechanical and microstructure properties. Samples of 2024 AA with yttrium ranging from 0.1% to 0.5 wt% are fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). Hardness of the samples is determined using Vickers hardness testing machine. The metallurgical characterization of the samples is evaluated by Optical Microscopy (OM), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). Unreinforced 2024 AA sample is also fabricated as a benchmark to compare its properties with those of the composite developed. It is found that the yttrium addition increases the above mentioned properties by altering the precipitation kinetics and intermetallic formation to some extent and then decreases gradually when yttrium wt% increases beyond 0.3 wt%. High density (˂ 99.75) is achieved in the samples and highest hardness achieved is 114 Hv, fabricated by spark plasma sintering and uniform distribution of yttrium is observed.

Experimental evaluation of a spark-ignited engine using biogas as fuel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Miguel Mantilla González

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Different CH4 and CO2 mixtures were used as fuel in this work; they were fed into a spark-ignited engine equipped with devices allowing spark advance, gas delivery and gas consumption to be measured. Engine bench-tests re-vealed changes in the main operation parameters and emissions. The results showed that increasing CO2 percen-tage in the mixture increased the spark angle, reduced maximum power and torque and reduced exhaust emissions (by 90% in some cases when DAMA resolution 1015/2005 was applied. The main components to be considered when an engine of this type operates with gas fuel were also recognised.

SparkText: Biomedical Text Mining on Big Data Framework

Science.gov (United States)

He, Karen Y.; Wang, Kai

2016-01-01

Background Many new biomedical research articles are published every day, accumulating rich information, such as genetic variants, genes, diseases, and treatments. Rapid yet accurate text mining on large-scale scientific literature can discover novel knowledge to better understand human diseases and to improve the quality of disease diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Results In this study, we designed and developed an efficient text mining framework called SparkText on a Big Data infrastructure, which is composed of Apache Spark data streaming and machine learning methods, combined with a Cassandra NoSQL database. To demonstrate its performance for classifying cancer types, we extracted information (e.g., breast, prostate, and lung cancers) from tens of thousands of articles downloaded from PubMed, and then employed Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Logistic Regression to build prediction models to mine the articles. The accuracy of predicting a cancer type by SVM using the 29,437 full-text articles was 93.81%. While competing text-mining tools took more than 11 hours, SparkText mined the dataset in approximately 6 minutes. Conclusions This study demonstrates the potential for mining large-scale scientific articles on a Big Data infrastructure, with real-time update from new articles published daily. SparkText can be extended to other areas of biomedical research. PMID:27685652

SparkText: Biomedical Text Mining on Big Data Framework.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhan Ye

Full Text Available Many new biomedical research articles are published every day, accumulating rich information, such as genetic variants, genes, diseases, and treatments. Rapid yet accurate text mining on large-scale scientific literature can discover novel knowledge to better understand human diseases and to improve the quality of disease diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.In this study, we designed and developed an efficient text mining framework called SparkText on a Big Data infrastructure, which is composed of Apache Spark data streaming and machine learning methods, combined with a Cassandra NoSQL database. To demonstrate its performance for classifying cancer types, we extracted information (e.g., breast, prostate, and lung cancers from tens of thousands of articles downloaded from PubMed, and then employed Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine (SVM, and Logistic Regression to build prediction models to mine the articles. The accuracy of predicting a cancer type by SVM using the 29,437 full-text articles was 93.81%. While competing text-mining tools took more than 11 hours, SparkText mined the dataset in approximately 6 minutes.This study demonstrates the potential for mining large-scale scientific articles on a Big Data infrastructure, with real-time update from new articles published daily. SparkText can be extended to other areas of biomedical research.

Characterization of sonicated natural zeolite/ferric chloride hexahydrate by infrared spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Prasetyo, T. A. B.; Soegijono, B.

2018-03-01

The characteristics of sonicated Bayah natural zeolite with and without ferric chloride hexahydrate solution using infrared method has been studied. High intensity ultrasonic waves were exposed to the samples for 40 min, 80 min and 120 min. Infra red spectra analysis was conducted to evaluate zeolite vibrational spectrum contributions, namely, the vibrations from the framework of the zeolite, from the charge-balancing cations, and from the relatively isolated groups, such as the surface OH groups and their behavior after sonication process. An addition of FeCl3.6H2O and sonication process on natural zeolite improved secondary building units link by forming oxygen bridges and also close relationship with duration of applied high intensity ultrasonic process. Longer ultrasonic process resulted in more increment of O-H absorbance.

Generation of Nanoparticles by Spark Discharge

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Salman Tabrizi, N.

2009-01-01

Spark discharge is a method for producing nanoparticles from conductive materials. Besides the general advantages of nanoparticle synthesis in the gas phase, the method offers additional advantages like simplicity, compactness and versatility. The synthesis process is continuous and is performed at

Spark Ignition LPG for Hydrogen Gas Combustion the Reduction Furnace ME-11 Process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Achmad Suntoro

2007-01-01

Reverse engineering method for automatic spark-ignition system of LPG to burn hydrogen gaseous in the reducing process of ME-11 furnace has been successfully implemented using local materials. A qualitative study to the initial behaviour of the LPG flame system has created an idea by modification to install an automatic spark-ignition of the LPG on the reducing furnace ME-11. The automatic spark-ignition system has been tested and proved working well. (author)

Effect of sonication on particle dispersion, administered dose and metal release of non-functionalized, non-inert metal nanoparticles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pradhan, Sulena; Hedberg, Jonas, E-mail: jhed@kth.se; Blomberg, Eva [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Division of Surface and Corrosion Science, Department of Chemistry (Sweden); Wold, Susanna [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Division of Applied Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry (Sweden); Odnevall Wallinder, Inger [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Division of Surface and Corrosion Science, Department of Chemistry (Sweden)

2016-09-15

In this study, we elucidate the effect of different sonication techniques to efficiently prepare particle dispersions from selected non-functionalized NPs (Cu, Al, Mn, ZnO), and corresponding consequences on the particle dose, surface charge and release of metals. Probe sonication was shown to be the preferred method for dispersing non-inert, non-functionalized metal NPs (Cu, Mn, Al). However, rapid sedimentation during sonication resulted in differences between the real and the administered doses in the order of 30–80 % when sonicating in 1 and 2.56 g/L NP stock solutions. After sonication, extensive agglomeration of the metal NPs resulted in rapid sedimentation of all particles. DLVO calculations supported these findings, showing the strong van der Waals forces of the metal NPs to result in significant NP agglomeration. Metal release from the metal NPs was slightly increased by increased sonication. The addition of a stabilizing agent (bovine serum albumin) had an accelerating effect on the release of metals in sonicated solutions. For Cu and Mn NPs, the extent of particle dissolution increased from <1.6 to ~5 % after sonication for 15 min. A prolonged sonication time (3–15 min) had negligible effects on the zeta potential of the studied NPs. In all, it is shown that it is of utmost importance to carefully investigate how sonication influences the physico-chemical properties of dispersed metal NPs. This should be considered in nanotoxicology investigations of metal NPs.Graphical Abstract.

Uranium carbide dissolution in nitric solution: Sonication vs. silent conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Virot, Matthieu; Szenknect, Stéphanie; Chave, Tony; Dacheux, Nicolas; Moisy, Philippe; Nikitenko, Sergey I.

2013-01-01

The dissolution of uranium carbide (UC) in nitric acid media is considered by means of power ultrasound (sonication) or magnetic stirring. The induction period required to initiate UC dissolution was found to be dramatically shortened when sonicating a 3 M nitric solution (Ar, 20 kHz, 18 W cm −2 , 20 °C). At higher acidity, magnetic stirring offers faster dissolution kinetics compared to sonication. Ultrasound-assisted UC dissolution is found to be passivated after ∼60% dissolution and remains incomplete whatever the acidity which is confirmed by ICP–AES, LECO and SEM–EDX analyses. In general, the kinetics of UC dissolution is linked to the in situ generation of nitrous acid in agreement with the general mechanism of UC dissolution; the nitrous acid formation is reported to be faster under ultrasound at low acidity due to the nitric acid sonolysis. The carbon balance shared between the gaseous, liquid, and solid phases is strongly influenced by the applied dissolution procedure and HNO 3 concentration

Uranium carbide dissolution in nitric solution: Sonication vs. silent conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Virot, Matthieu; Szenknect, Stéphanie; Chave, Tony; Dacheux, Nicolas; Moisy, Philippe; Nikitenko, Sergey I.

2013-10-01

The dissolution of uranium carbide (UC) in nitric acid media is considered by means of power ultrasound (sonication) or magnetic stirring. The induction period required to initiate UC dissolution was found to be dramatically shortened when sonicating a 3 M nitric solution (Ar, 20 kHz, 18 W cm-2, 20 °C). At higher acidity, magnetic stirring offers faster dissolution kinetics compared to sonication. Ultrasound-assisted UC dissolution is found to be passivated after ∼60% dissolution and remains incomplete whatever the acidity which is confirmed by ICP-AES, LECO and SEM-EDX analyses. In general, the kinetics of UC dissolution is linked to the in situ generation of nitrous acid in agreement with the general mechanism of UC dissolution; the nitrous acid formation is reported to be faster under ultrasound at low acidity due to the nitric acid sonolysis. The carbon balance shared between the gaseous, liquid, and solid phases is strongly influenced by the applied dissolution procedure and HNO3 concentration.

Hydrogen storage in sonicated carbon materials

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hirscher, M.; Becher, M.; Haluska, M.; Dettlaff-Weglikowska, U.; Quintel, A.; Duesberg, G.S.; Choi, Y.J.; Downes, P.; Hulman, M.; Roth, S.; Stepanek, I.; Bernier, P.

2001-01-01

The hydrogen storage in purified single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), graphite and diamond powder was investigated at room temperature and ambient pressure. The samples were sonicated in 5 M HNO3 for various periods of time using an ultrasonic probe of the alloy Ti-6Al-4V. The goal of this

Test plan for sonic drilling at the Hanford Site in FY 1993

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLellan, G.W.

1993-01-01

This test plan describes the field demonstration of the sonic drilling system being conducted as a coordinated effort between the VOC-Arid ID (Integrated Demonstration) and the 200 West Area Carbon Tetrachloride ERA (Expedited Response Action) programs at Hanford. The purpose of this test is to evaluate the Water Development Corporation's drilling system, modify components as necessary and determine compatible drilling applications for the sonic drilling method for use at facilities in the DOE complex. The sonic demonstration is being conducted as the first field test under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) which involves the US Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Westinghouse Hanford Company and Water Development Corporation. The sonic drilling system will be used to drill a 45 degree vadose zone well, two vertical wells at the VOC-Arid ID site, and several test holes at the Drilling Technology Test Site north of the 200 Area fire station. Testing at other locations will depend on the performance of the drilling method. Performance of this technology will be compared to the baseline drilling method (cable-tool)

Experimental Investigation of Augmented Spark Ignition of a LO2/LCH4 Reaction Control Engine at Altitude Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinhenz, Julie; Sarmiento, Charles; Marshall, William

2012-01-01

The use of nontoxic propellants in future exploration vehicles would enable safer, more cost-effective mission scenarios. One promising green alternative to existing hypergols is liquid methane (LCH4) with liquid oxygen (LO2). A 100 lbf LO2/LCH4 engine was developed under the NASA Propulsion and Cryogenic Advanced Development project and tested at the NASA Glenn Research Center Altitude Combustion Stand in a low pressure environment. High ignition energy is a perceived drawback of this propellant combination; so this ignition margin test program examined ignition performance versus delivered spark energy. Sensitivity of ignition to spark timing and repetition rate was also explored. Three different exciter units were used with the engine s augmented (torch) igniter. Captured waveforms indicated spark behavior in hot fire conditions was inconsistent compared to the well-behaved dry sparks. This suggests that rising pressure and flow rate increase spark impedance and may at some point compromise an exciter s ability to complete each spark. The reduced spark energies of such quenched deliveries resulted in more erratic ignitions, decreasing ignition probability. The timing of the sparks relative to the pressure/flow conditions also impacted the probability of ignition. Sparks occurring early in the flow could trigger ignition with energies as low as 1 to 6 mJ, though multiple, similarly timed sparks of 55 to 75 mJ were required for reliable ignition. Delayed spark application and reduced spark repetition rate both correlated with late and occasional failed ignitions. An optimum time interval for spark application and ignition therefore coincides with propellant introduction to the igniter.

Mechanism of inhibition of the tumor suppressor Patched by Sonic Hedgehog

OpenAIRE

Tukachinsky, Hanna; Petrov, Kostadin; Watanabe, Miyako; Salic, Adrian

2016-01-01

The Hedgehog-signaling pathway plays key roles in animal development and physiology. Insufficient Hedgehog signaling causes birth defects, whereas uncontrolled signaling is implicated in cancer. Signaling is triggered by the secreted protein, Sonic Hedgehog, which inhibits the membrane protein Patched1, leading to pathway activation. Despite its fundamental importance, we do not understand how Sonic Hedgehog inhibits Patched1. Here, we uncover a critical interaction between the fatty-acid?mod...

Research on retailer data clustering algorithm based on Spark

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Qiuman; Zhou, Feng

2017-03-01

Big data analysis is a hot topic in the IT field now. Spark is a high-reliability and high-performance distributed parallel computing framework for big data sets. K-means algorithm is one of the classical partition methods in clustering algorithm. In this paper, we study the k-means clustering algorithm on Spark. Firstly, the principle of the algorithm is analyzed, and then the clustering analysis is carried out on the supermarket customers through the experiment to find out the different shopping patterns. At the same time, this paper proposes the parallelization of k-means algorithm and the distributed computing framework of Spark, and gives the concrete design scheme and implementation scheme. This paper uses the two-year sales data of a supermarket to validate the proposed clustering algorithm and achieve the goal of subdividing customers, and then analyze the clustering results to help enterprises to take different marketing strategies for different customer groups to improve sales performance.

A new spark detection system for the electrostatic septa of the SPS North (experimental) Area

CERN Document Server

Barlow, R A; Borburgh, J; Carlier, E; Chanavat, C; Fowler, T; Pinget, B

2014-01-01

Electrostatic septa (ZS) are used in the extraction of the particle beams from the CERN SPS to the North Area experimental zone. These septa employ high electric fields, generated from a 300 kV power supply, and are particularly prone to internal sparking around the cathode structure. This sparking degrades the electric field quality, consequently affecting the extracted beam, vacuum and equipment performance. To mitigate these effects, a Spark Detection System (SDS) has been realised, which is based on an industrial SIEMENS S7-400 programmable logic controller and deported Boolean processor modules interfaced through a PROFINET fieldbus. The SDS interlock logic uses a moving average spark rate count to determine if the ZS performance is acceptable. Below a certain spark rate it is probable that the ZS septa tank vacuum can recover, thus avoiding transition into a state where rapid degradation would occur. Above this level an interlock is raised and the high voltage is switched off. Additionally, all spark si...

A Flight Research Overview of WSPR, a Pilot Project for Sonic Boom Community Response

Science.gov (United States)

Cliatt, Larry J., II; Haering, Edward A., Jr.; Jones, Thomas P.; Waggoner, Erin R.; Flattery, Ashley K.; Wiley, Scott L.

2014-01-01

In support of the ongoing effort by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to bring supersonic commercial travel to the public, the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and the NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with other industry organizations, conducted a flight research experiment to identify the methods, tools, and best practices for a large-scale quiet (or low) sonic boom community human response test. The name of the effort was Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response (WSPR). Such tests will be applied to building a dataset that governing agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization will use to establish regulations for acceptable sound levels of overland sonic booms. The WSPR test was the first such effort that studied responses to non-traditional low sonic booms while the subject persons were in their own homes and performing daily activities.The WSPR test was a NASA collaborative effort with several industry partners, in response to a NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Research Opportunities in Aeronautics. The primary contractor was Wyle (El Segundo, California). Other partners included Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (Savannah, Georgia); Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pennsylvania); Tetra Tech, Inc. (Pasadena, California); and Fidell Associates, Inc. (Woodland Hills, California).A major objective of the effort included exposing a community to the sonic boom magnitudes and occurrences that would be expected to occur in high-air traffic regions having a network of supersonic commercial aircraft in place. Low-level sonic booms designed to simulate those produced by the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft were generated over a small residential community. The sonic boom footprint was recorded with an autonomous wireless microphone array that spanned the entire community. Human response data were collected using multiple

Ultra Fast, High Rep Rate, High Voltage Spark Gap Pulser

Science.gov (United States)

1995-07-01

current rise time. The spark gap was designed to have a coaxial geometry reducing its inductance. Provisions were made to pass flowing gas between the...ULTRA FAST, HIGH REP RATE, HIGH VOLTAGE SPARK GAP PULSER Robert A. Pastore Jr., Lawrence E. Kingsley, Kevin Fonda, Erik Lenzing Electrophysics and...Modeling Branch AMSRL-PS-EA Tel.: (908)-532-0271 FAX: (908)-542-3348 U.S. Army Research Laboratory Physical Sciences Directorate Ft. Monmouth

Sonication technique improves microbiological diagnosis in patients treated with antibiotics before surgery for prosthetic joint infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Scorzolini, Laura; Lichtner, Miriam; Iannetta, Marco; Mengoni, Fabio; Russo, Gianluca; Panni, Alfredo Schiavone; Vasso, Michele; Vasto, Michele; Bove, Marco; Villani, Ciro; Mastroianni, Claudio M; Vullo, Vincenzo

2014-07-01

Microbiological diagnosis is crucial for the appropriate management of implant-associated orthopedic infections (IAOIs). Sonication of biomaterials for microbiological diagnosis has not yet been introduced in routine clinical practice. Aim of this study was to describe the advantages and feasibility of this procedure in the clinical setting. We prospectively studied 56 consecutive patients undergoing revision because of IAOI and compared the sensitivity of sonication of explanted orthopedic implants with standard cultures. Patients were divided into two groups: those with foreign body infection (FBI, 15 patients) and those with prosthetic joint infection (PJI, 41 patients). Clinical, radiological and microbiological features were recorded. In the PJI group the sensitivity of sonication in detecting bacterial growth was higher than conventional culture (77% vs 34.1% respectively, p0.05). Coagulase-negative Staphylococci accounted for 90% of the bacteria detected by sonication. Moreover, we found that in the PJI group the sensitivity of sonication was not affected by the timing of antibiotic interruption before surgery. Sonication remains an important tool to improve microbiological diagnosis in PJIs, especially in patients who received previous antimicrobial treatment.

Spark counting technique of alpha tracks on an aluminium oxide film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morishima, Hiroshige; Koga, Taeko; Niwa, Takeo; Kawai, Hiroshi

1984-01-01

We have tried to use aluminium oxide film as a neutron detector film with a spark counter for neutron monitoring in the mixed field of neutron and gamma-rays near a reactor. The merits of this method are that (1) aluminium oxide is good electric insulator, (2) any desired thickness of the film can be prepared, (3) chemical etching of the thin film can be dispensed with. The relation between spark counts and numbers of alpha-particles which entered the aluminium oxide film 1 μm thick was linear in the range of 10 5 -10 7 alpha-particles. The sensitivity(ratio of the spark counts to irradiated numbers of alpha-particles) was approximately 10 -3 . (author)

The Effect of Sonic Bloom Fertilizing Technology on The Seed Germination and Growth of Acacia mangium Willd Seedling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mulyadi A T

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Acacia mangium Willd is one of the promising wood species, it is a fast growing species and can be used as raw materials for pulp, furniture and wood working. Musi Hutan Persada Company has planted Acacia mangium Willd in large scale for pulp processing raw materials and for wood working industry. The faculty of forestry of the Nusa Bangsa University in collaboration with the Musi Hutan Persada have examined  the effect of “Sonic Bloom” to the Acacia mangium Willd germination and seedling growth. The results of the research are the following : (1 The seed germination with “Sonic Bloom” provided percented of germination of 82%, better than those without “Sonic Bloom”, i.e. only 34%; (2 With Sonic Bloom,  the height of 80-days old seedling is 129.6 cm higher than those without “Sonic Bloom”of only 90.7 cm  ; (3 the diameter of 80-days old seedling with “Sonic Bloom” is 0,24 cm higher than those without “Sonic Bloom” harving diameters of only 0.19 cm.The study concludes that sonic bloom treatment is very useful for the seed germination and the growth of Acacia mangium Willd seedling Key Words : Sonic Bloom, persemaian, Acacia mangium, perkecambahan, bibit   Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE

ResonantSonic drilling: History, progress, and advances in environmental restoration programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moak, D.J.

1995-01-01

ResonantSonic drilling is being used in the environmental industry to drill faster, cheaper, and safer than conventional drilling methodologies. The ResonantSonic drilling method requires no mud, air, or water for rapid penetration through geologic materials ranging from rock and clay to sand and boulders. A specialized drill head imparts high frequency vibrations into steel drill pipe and creates a drilling action which allows the retrieval of continuous, undisturbed cores. An added benefit is that the method can be used for angle drilling. The ResonantSonic method has been used in the past for projects ranging from pile driving to horizontal drilling. Current programs utilize the technique as a valuable tool for obtaining in situ, pristine environmental samples. In the future, this drilling technology could be used for remote, automated sampling at hazardous waste sites

PRODUCTION WELL PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT USING SONICATION TECHNOLOGY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Michael A. Adewumi; M. Thaddeus Ityokumbul; Robert W. Watson; Mario Farias; Glenn Heckman; Johnson Olanrewaju; Eltohami Eltohami; Bruce G. Miller; W. Jack Hughes; Thomas C. Montgomery

2003-12-17

The objective of this project is to develop a sonic well performance enhancement technology that focuses on near wellbore formations. In order to successfully achieve this objective, a three-year project has been defined with each year consisting of four tasks. The first task is the laboratory-scale study whose goal is to determine the underlying principles of the technology. The second task will develop a scale-up mathematical model to serve as the design guide for tool development. The third task is to develop effective transducers that can operate with variable frequency so that the most effective frequencies can be applied in any given situation. The system, assembled as part of the production string, ensures delivery of sufficient sonic energy to penetrate the near-wellbore formation. The last task is the actual field testing of the tool. The first year of the project has been completed.

Self-collimated slow sound in sonic crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaya, Olgun Adem; Cicek, Ahmet; Ulug, Bulent

2012-01-01

Self-collimated slow-sound propagation in a two-dimensional rectangular sonic crystal composed of elliptical scatterers in air is numerically demonstrated. The group velocity at the centre and the edges of the fourth acoustic band is reduced to 45 m s -1 and 30 m s -1 , corresponding to 1/8 and 1/12 of the speed of sound in air, respectively. Elimination of omni-directional reflections encountered in linear waveguides and the reduction of group-velocity dispersion at the mid-band frequencies lead to preservation of pulse shape and amplitude upon traversal of the sonic crystal. Wave transmission is increased from approximately -20 to -2.5 dB, with almost an order of magnitude enhancement, via injector layers optimized through a pattern search algorithm. Self-collimating performance of the system is not degraded under oblique incidence, except for pulse broadening due to increased effective source width.

Spark igniter having precious metal ground electrode inserts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryan, N.A.

1988-01-01

This patent describes an igniter comprising a shell of a shell metal alloy which is resistant to spark erosion and corrosion, the shell having a firing end which terminates at its lower end in an annular ring, an insulator sealed within the metal shell and having a central bore and a surface extending inwardly toward the bore from the annular ring, a center electrode sealed within the bore of the insulator and having a firing end which is in spark gap relation with the annular ring of the shell and so positioned that a spark discharge between the firing end and the annular ring occurs along the inwardly extending surface of the insulator, and a plurality of oxidation and erosion resistant inserts, each of the inserts comprising a body of a metal selected from the group consisting of iridium, osmium, ruthenium, rhodium, platinum, and tungsten or an alloy or a ductile alloy of one of the foregoing metals, each of the bodies being embedded within a matching opening which extends from the exterior of the shell through the annular ring, being bonded to the shell

[Significance of various implantate localizations of Sparks prostheses, experimental studies in rats].

Science.gov (United States)

Brieler, H S; Parwaresch, R; Thiede, A

1976-01-01

Our investigations show that Sparks prostheses after subcutaneous implantation are suitable for vascular grafting. At the end of the organization period the connective tissue becomes strong, and after the third and fourth weeks collagenous and elastic fibers can be seen. Ten weeks after s.c. implantation, collagenous fibers predominate. After this the Sparks prostheses can be used as a vascular graft. Intraperitoneal implantation, however, shows a histologically different picture with characteristic findings: only fat cells can be observed, a strong granulation tissue with elastic and collagenous fibers is not present. After intraperitoneal implantation Sparks prostheses are therefore unsuitable for vascular grafts.

Defatting and Sonication Enhances Protein Extraction from Edible Insects.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Byoung Deug; Wong, Nathan A K; Auh, Joong-Hyuck

2017-01-01

Edible insects are attracting growing interest as a sustainable source of protein for addition to processed meat and dairy products. The current study investigated the optimal method for protein extraction from mealworm larvae ( Tenebrio molitor ), cricket adults ( Gryllus bimaculatus ), and silkworm pupae ( Bombyx mori ), for use in further applications. After defatting with n-hexane for up to 48 h, sonication was applied for 1-20 min and the protein yield was measured. All samples showed a total residual fat percentage below 1.36%, and a 35% to 94% improvement in protein yield (%). In conclusion, defatting with n-hexane combined with sonication improves the protein yield from insect samples.

Analysis of Plant Breeding on Hadoop and Spark

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuangxi Chen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Analysis of crop breeding technology is one of the important means of computer-assisted breeding techniques which have huge data, high dimensions, and a lot of unstructured data. We propose a crop breeding data analysis platform on Spark. The platform consists of Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS and cluster based on memory iterative components. With this cluster, we achieve crop breeding large data analysis tasks in parallel through API provided by Spark. By experiments and tests of Indica and Japonica rice traits, plant breeding analysis platform can significantly improve the breeding of big data analysis speed, reducing the workload of concurrent programming.

Synthesis of PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite nanocomposite through sonication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sitompul, Johnner; Setyawan, Daru; Kim, Daniel Young Joon; Lee, Hyung Woo

2016-01-01

This paper concerns the synthesis of poly(D,L-lactic acid)/poly(L-lactic acid) bentonite nanocomposites. Poly (D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLA) was synthesized using lactic acid through the ZnO-catalyzed direct polycondensation method at vacuum pressure and poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) was synthesized with L-lactide by ring-opening polymerization method. The PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite nanocomposite films were synthesized using the solvent casting method. The nanoclay, bentonite, was prepared using the solution-intercalation method by dissolving the nanoparticles into chloroform before sonication. In this study, PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite nanocomposite films were produced using variable amounts of nanoclay and sonication times during the mixing of PDLLA/PLLA and bentonite. The properties of the PDLLA/PLLA nanocomposites were then characterized using the X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Universal Testing Machine (UTM), Water Vapor Permeability (WVP) tests, and the enzymatic biodegradability test. The XRD test was used to measure the intercalation of nanoclay layers in the PDLLA/PLLA matrix and the PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite intercalated nanocomposite films. It was found through these various tests that adding bentonite to the PDLLA/PLLA increases tensile strength to 56.76 MP. Furthermore, the biodegradability increases as well as the barrier properties of the polymers The different sonication time used during the mixing of the polymer solution with bentonite also affected the properties of the PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite nanocomposite films.

Synthesis of PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite nanocomposite through sonication

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sitompul, Johnner, E-mail: sitompul@che.itb.ac.id; Setyawan, Daru, E-mail: daru.setyawan@gmail.com; Kim, Daniel Young Joon, E-mail: daniel.kim12321@gmail.com [Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Institute of Technology Bandung Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, West Java, 40132 (Indonesia); Lee, Hyung Woo, E-mail: leehw@che.itb.ac.id [Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Institute of Technology Bandung Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, West Java, 40132 (Indonesia); Research and Business Foundation, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi, 440-746 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-04-19

This paper concerns the synthesis of poly(D,L-lactic acid)/poly(L-lactic acid) bentonite nanocomposites. Poly (D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLA) was synthesized using lactic acid through the ZnO-catalyzed direct polycondensation method at vacuum pressure and poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) was synthesized with L-lactide by ring-opening polymerization method. The PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite nanocomposite films were synthesized using the solvent casting method. The nanoclay, bentonite, was prepared using the solution-intercalation method by dissolving the nanoparticles into chloroform before sonication. In this study, PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite nanocomposite films were produced using variable amounts of nanoclay and sonication times during the mixing of PDLLA/PLLA and bentonite. The properties of the PDLLA/PLLA nanocomposites were then characterized using the X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Universal Testing Machine (UTM), Water Vapor Permeability (WVP) tests, and the enzymatic biodegradability test. The XRD test was used to measure the intercalation of nanoclay layers in the PDLLA/PLLA matrix and the PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite intercalated nanocomposite films. It was found through these various tests that adding bentonite to the PDLLA/PLLA increases tensile strength to 56.76 MP. Furthermore, the biodegradability increases as well as the barrier properties of the polymers The different sonication time used during the mixing of the polymer solution with bentonite also affected the properties of the PDLLA/PLLA-bentonite nanocomposite films.

Practice and Exploration of New Rural Construction in West Bank of Taiwan Strait Led by Spark Science and Technology

OpenAIRE

Li, Chaocan

2013-01-01

According to practice and exploration of spark program for 26 years in Quanzhou, the main model and their effects of new rural construction in west bank of Taiwan Strait led by spark science and technology were expounded. Six spark program systems were established, consisting of policy support guide, science and technology project lead, experts’ intelligence support, spark science and technology training, sci-tech information service and spark program demonstration. Five spark projects were...

Apparatus and method for the spectrochemical analysis of liquids using the laser spark

Science.gov (United States)

Cremers, David A.; Radziemski, Leon J.; Loree, Thomas R.

1990-01-01

A method and apparatus for the qualitative and quantitative spectroscopic investigation of elements present in a liquid sample using the laser spark. A series of temporally closely spaced spark pairs is induced in the liquid sample utilizing pulsed electromagnetic radiation from a pair of lasers. The light pulses are not significantly absorbed by the sample so that the sparks occur inside of the liquid. The emitted light from the breakdown events is spectrally and temporally resolved, and the time period between the two laser pulses in each spark pair is adjusted to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the emitted signals. In comparison with the single pulse technique, a substantial reduction in the limits of detectability for many elements has been demonstrated. Narrowing of spectral features results in improved discrimination against interfering species.

Investigation of Spark Ignition and Autoignition in Methane and Air Using Computational Fluid Dynamics and Chemical Reaction Kinetics. A numerical Study of Ignition Processes in Internal Combustion Engines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nordrik, R.

1993-12-01

The processes in the combustion chamber of internal combustion engines have received increased attention in recent years because their efficiencies are important both economically and environmentally. This doctoral thesis studies the ignition phenomena by means of numerical simulation methods. The fundamental physical relations include flow field conservation equations, thermodynamics, chemical reaction kinetics, transport properties and spark modelling. Special attention is given to the inclusion of chemical kinetics in the flow field equations. Using his No Transport of Radicals Concept method, the author reduces the computational efforts by neglecting the transport of selected intermediate species. The method is validated by comparison with flame propagation data. A computational method is described and used to simulate spark ignition in laminar premixed methane-air mixtures and the autoignition process of a methane bubble surrounded by hot air. The spark ignition simulation agrees well with experimental results from the literature. The autoignition simulation identifies the importance of diffusive and chemical processes acting together. The ignition delay times exceed the experimental values found in the literature for premixed ignition delay, presumably because of the mixing process and lack of information on low temperature reactions in the skeletal kinetic mechanism. Transient turbulent methane jet autoignition is simulated by means of the KIVA-II code. Turbulent combustion is modelled by the Eddy Dissipation Concept. 90 refs., 81 figs., 3 tabs.

Spark discharge and flame inception analysis through spectroscopy in a DISI engine fuelled with gasoline and butanol

Science.gov (United States)

Irimescu, A.; Merola, S. S.

2017-10-01

Extensive application of downsizing, as well as the application of alternative combustion control with respect to well established stoichiometric operation, have determined a continuous increase in the energy that is delivered to the working fluid in order to achieve stable and repeatable ignition. Apart from the complexity of fluid-arc interactions, the extreme thermodynamic conditions of this initial combustion stage make its characterization difficult, both through experimental and numerical techniques. Within this context, the present investigation looks at the analysis of spark discharge and flame kernel formation, through the application of UV-visible spectroscopy. Characterization of the energy transfer from the spark plug’s electrodes to the air-fuel mixture was achieved by the evaluation of vibrational and rotational temperatures during ignition, for stoichiometric and lean fuelling of a direct injection spark ignition engine. Optical accessibility was ensured from below the combustion chamber through an elongated piston design, that allowed the central region of the cylinder to be investigated. Fuel effects were evaluated for gasoline and n-butanol; roughly the same load was investigated in throttled and wide-open throttle conditions for both fuels. A brief thermodynamic analysis confirmed that significant gains in efficiency can be obtained with lean fuelling, mainly due to the reduction of pumping losses. Minimal effect of fuel type was observed, while mixture strength was found to have a stronger influence on calculated temperature values, especially during the initial stage of ignition. In-cylinder pressure was found to directly determine emission intensity during ignition, but the vibrational and rotational temperatures featured reduced dependence on this parameter. As expected, at the end of kernel formation, temperature values converged towards those typically found for adiabatic flames. The results show that indeed only a relatively small part

Development of a SPARK Training Dataset

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sayre, Amanda M. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Olson, Jarrod R. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-03-01

In its first five years, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI) sponsored more than 400 undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students in internships and research positions (Wyse 2012). In the past seven years, the NGSI program has, and continues to produce a large body of scientific, technical, and policy work in targeted core safeguards capabilities and human capital development activities. Not only does the NGSI program carry out activities across multiple disciplines, but also across all U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/NNSA locations in the United States. However, products are not readily shared among disciplines and across locations, nor are they archived in a comprehensive library. Rather, knowledge of NGSI-produced literature is localized to the researchers, clients, and internal laboratory/facility publication systems such as the Electronic Records and Information Capture Architecture (ERICA) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). There is also no incorporated way of analyzing existing NGSI literature to determine whether the larger NGSI program is achieving its core safeguards capabilities and activities. A complete library of NGSI literature could prove beneficial to a cohesive, sustainable, and more economical NGSI program. The Safeguards Platform for Automated Retrieval of Knowledge (SPARK) has been developed to be a knowledge storage, retrieval, and analysis capability to capture safeguards knowledge to exist beyond the lifespan of NGSI. During the development process, it was necessary to build a SPARK training dataset (a corpus of documents) for initial entry into the system and for demonstration purposes. We manipulated these data to gain new information about the breadth of NGSI publications, and they evaluated the science-policy interface at PNNL as a practical demonstration of SPARK’s intended analysis capability. The analysis demonstration sought to answer the

An innovative system for supplying air and fuel mixture to a combustion chamber of an engine

Science.gov (United States)

Saikumar, G. R. Bharath

2018-04-01

Conventional carburetors are being used since decades to ensure that the desired ratio of air and fuel enters the combustion chamber for combustion for the purpose of generating power in an Spark Ignition(SI) internal combustion engine. However to increase the efficiency, the carburetor system is gradually being replaced by fuel injection systems. Fuel injection systems use injectors to supply pressurized fuel into the combustion chamber. Owing to the high initial and maintenance cost, carburetors are still ruling in the low cost vehicle domain. An innovative concept is conceived, which is an alternative method to the carburetor system to supply the air and fuel mixture to a combustion chamber of an engine. This system comprises of an inner hollow cylinder with minute holes drilled along its length with an outer cylinder capable of sliding along its length or its longitudinal axis. This system is placed in the venturi instead of the conventional carburetor system. Fuel enters from the bottom inlet of the inner cylinder and flows out through the holes provided along its length. The fuel flow from the inner cylinder is dependent on the size and the number of holes exposed at that instance by the sliding outer cylinder which in turn is connected to the throttle or accelerator.

ClimateSpark: An in-memory distributed computing framework for big climate data analytics

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Fei; Yang, Chaowei; Schnase, John L.; Duffy, Daniel Q.; Xu, Mengchao; Bowen, Michael K.; Lee, Tsengdar; Song, Weiwei

2018-06-01

The unprecedented growth of climate data creates new opportunities for climate studies, and yet big climate data pose a grand challenge to climatologists to efficiently manage and analyze big data. The complexity of climate data content and analytical algorithms increases the difficulty of implementing algorithms on high performance computing systems. This paper proposes an in-memory, distributed computing framework, ClimateSpark, to facilitate complex big data analytics and time-consuming computational tasks. Chunking data structure improves parallel I/O efficiency, while a spatiotemporal index is built for the chunks to avoid unnecessary data reading and preprocessing. An integrated, multi-dimensional, array-based data model (ClimateRDD) and ETL operations are developed to address big climate data variety by integrating the processing components of the climate data lifecycle. ClimateSpark utilizes Spark SQL and Apache Zeppelin to develop a web portal to facilitate the interaction among climatologists, climate data, analytic operations and computing resources (e.g., using SQL query and Scala/Python notebook). Experimental results show that ClimateSpark conducts different spatiotemporal data queries/analytics with high efficiency and data locality. ClimateSpark is easily adaptable to other big multiple-dimensional, array-based datasets in various geoscience domains.

CMS Analysis and Data Reduction with Apache Spark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gutsche, Oliver [Fermilab; Canali, Luca [CERN; Cremer, Illia [Magnetic Corp., Waltham; Cremonesi, Matteo [Fermilab; Elmer, Peter [Princeton U.; Fisk, Ian [Flatiron Inst., New York; Girone, Maria [CERN; Jayatilaka, Bo [Fermilab; Kowalkowski, Jim [Fermilab; Khristenko, Viktor [CERN; Motesnitsalis, Evangelos [CERN; Pivarski, Jim [Princeton U.; Sehrish, Saba [Fermilab; Surdy, Kacper [CERN; Svyatkovskiy, Alexey [Princeton U.

2017-10-31

Experimental Particle Physics has been at the forefront of analyzing the world's largest datasets for decades. The HEP community was among the first to develop suitable software and computing tools for this task. In recent times, new toolkits and systems for distributed data processing, collectively called "Big Data" technologies have emerged from industry and open source projects to support the analysis of Petabyte and Exabyte datasets in industry. While the principles of data analysis in HEP have not changed (filtering and transforming experiment-specific data formats), these new technologies use different approaches and tools, promising a fresh look at analysis of very large datasets that could potentially reduce the time-to-physics with increased interactivity. Moreover these new tools are typically actively developed by large communities, often profiting of industry resources, and under open source licensing. These factors result in a boost for adoption and maturity of the tools and for the communities supporting them, at the same time helping in reducing the cost of ownership for the end-users. In this talk, we are presenting studies of using Apache Spark for end user data analysis. We are studying the HEP analysis workflow separated into two thrusts: the reduction of centrally produced experiment datasets and the end-analysis up to the publication plot. Studying the first thrust, CMS is working together with CERN openlab and Intel on the CMS Big Data Reduction Facility. The goal is to reduce 1 PB of official CMS data to 1 TB of ntuple output for analysis. We are presenting the progress of this 2-year project with first results of scaling up Spark-based HEP analysis. Studying the second thrust, we are presenting studies on using Apache Spark for a CMS Dark Matter physics search, comparing Spark's feasibility, usability and performance to the ROOT-based analysis.

SparkJet characterizations in quiescent and supersonic flowfields

Science.gov (United States)

Emerick, T.; Ali, M. Y.; Foster, C.; Alvi, F. S.; Popkin, S.

2014-12-01

The aerodynamic community has studied active flow control actuators for some time, and developments have led to a wide variety of devices with various features and operating mechanisms. The design requirements for a practical actuator used for active flow control include reliable operation, requisite frequency and amplitude modulation capabilities, and a reasonable lifespan while maintaining minimal cost and design complexity. An active flow control device called the SparkJet actuator has been developed for high-speed flight control and incorporates no mechanical/moving parts, zero net mass flux capabilities and the ability to tune the operating frequency and momentum throughput. This actuator utilizes electrical power to deliver high-momentum flow with a very fast response time. The SparkJet actuator was characterized on the benchtop using a laser-based microschlieren visualization technique and maximum blast wave and jet front velocities of ~400 and ~310 m/s were, respectively, measured in the flowfield. An increase in jet front velocity from 240 to 310 m/s during subatmospheric (60 kPa) testing reveals that the actuator may have greater control authority at lower ambient pressures, which correspond to high-altitude flight conditions for air vehicles. A SparkJet array was integrated into a flat plate and tested in a Mach 1.5 crossflow. Phase-conditioned shadowgraph results revealed a maximum flow deflection angle of 5° created by the SparkJet 275 µs after the actuator was triggered in single-shot mode. Burst mode operation of frequencies up to 700 Hz revealed similar results during wind tunnel testing. Following these tests, the actuator trigger mechanism was improved and the ability of the actuator to be discharged in burst mode at a frequency of 1 kHz was achieved.

A new spark detection system for the electrostatic septa of the SPS North (experimental) Area

CERN Multimedia

Barlow, R A; Borburgh, J; Carlier, E; Chanavat, C; Pinget, B

2013-01-01

Electrostatic septa (ZS) are used in the extraction of the particle beams from the CERN SPS to the North Area experimental zone. These septa employ high electric fields, generated from a 300 kV power supply, and are particularly prone to internal sparking around the cathode structure. This sparking degrades the electric field quality, consequently affecting the extracted beam, vacuum and equipment performance. To mitigate these effects, a Spark Detection System (SDS) has been realised, which is based on an industrial SIEMENS S7-400 programmable logic controller and deported Boolean processors modules interfaced through a PROFINET fieldbus. The SDS interlock logic uses a moving average spark rate count to determine if the ZS performance is acceptable. Below a certain spark rate it is probable that the ZS septa tank vacuum can recover, thus avoiding transition into a\

Photoluminescence of MoS2 Prepared by Effective Grinding-Assisted Sonication Exfoliation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing-Yuan Wu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Exfoliation of bulk molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 using sonication in appropriate solvent is a promising route to large-scale preparation of few-layered or monolayered crystals. Grinding-assisted sonication exfoliation was used for preparing monolayered MoS2 nanosheets from natural mineral molybdenite. By controlling the sonication time, larger crystallites could be further exfoliated to smaller as well as thinner nanosheets without damaging their structures. The concentration of 1.6 mg mL−1 of final solution could be achieved. Several microscopic techniques like scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy were employed to evaluate the exfoliation results. Strong photoluminescence with the peak centered at 440 nm was also observed in the resulting dispersion which included several small lateral-sized (~3 nm nanostructures.

100 kV reliable accurately-synchronized spark gap

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bosamykin, V.S.; Gerasimov, A.I.; Zenkov, D.I.

1987-01-01

100 kV three-electrode spark gap filled with 40% SF 6 +60% N 2 mixture under the pressure of ∼ 1 MPa, which has spread Δt ≤ ± 5 ns of operating time delay in the range of 10 4 triggerings and commutation energy of 2.5 kJ, providing electric strength is 100%, is described; at 10 kJ Δt is less than ± 10 ns for 10 3 triggerings. Parallel connection of 16 groups, each consisting of 5 spark gaps with series connection, electric strength being 100%, in the pulse charging unit of Arkadiev-Marx generator being in operation for several years manifested their high efficiency; mutual group spread is ≤ ± 15 ns

ACCUWIND - Accurate wind speed measurements in wind energy - Summary report[Cup and sonic anemometers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Friis Pedersen, T.; Dahlberg, J.Aa.; Cuerva, A.; Mouzakis, F.; Busche, P.; Eecen, P.; Sanz-Andres, A.; Franchini, S.; Markkilde Petersen, S.

2006-07-15

The cup anemometer is at present the standard instrument used for mean wind speed measurement in wind energy. It is being applied in high numbers around the world for wind energy assessments. It is also applied exclusively for accredited power performance measurements for certification and verification purposes, and for purposes of optimisation in research and development. The revised IEC standard on power performance measurements has now included requirements for classification of cup anemometers. The basis for setting up such requirements of cup anemometers is two EU projects SITEPARIDEN and CLASSCUP from which the proposed classification method for cup anemometers was developed for the IEC standard. While cup anemometers at present are the standard anemometer being used for average wind speed measurements, sonic anemometers have been developed significantly over the last years, and prices have come down. The application of sonic anemometers may increase in wind energy if they prove to have comparable or better operational characteristics compared to cup anemometers, and if similar requirements to sonic anemometers are established as for cup anemometers. Sonic anemometers have historically been used by meteorologists for turbulence measurements, but have also found a role on wind turbine nacelles for wind speed and yaw control purposes. The report on cup and sonic anemometry deals with establishment of robustness in assessment and classification by focus on methods and procedures for analysis of characteristics of cup and sonic anemometers. The methods and procedures provide a platform, hopefully for use in meeting the requirements of the IEC standard on power performance measurements, as well as for development of improved instruments. (au)

Meter of dynamics of restoring the electrical strength of spark gaps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuznetsov, E.A.; Kravchenko, S.A.; Yagnov, V.A.; Shipuk, I.Ya.

1997-01-01

Method for diagnostics of the dynamics spark gap electric strength restoration and an electric device for its realization are described. The electric strength measurement error, conditioned by the breakdown current through electric probes or the contacts of a spark gap under investigation, is reduced to minimum due to fast switching off the probe voltage if the breakdown current exceeds some established value (1 mA). 1 ref

The Social and Sonic Semantics of Reggae

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Levisen, Carsten

2017-01-01

This study breaks new ground into the emerging discipline of sonic semantics and the study of language ideologies in postcolonial contexts. The case in point is the reggae sociality in Port Vila, Vanuatu, where young Pacific Islanders are forming new ways of socializing on the fragments of kastom...

1995 NASA High-Speed Research Program Sonic Boom Workshop. Volume 2; Configuration Design, Analysis, and Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Baize, Daniel G. (Editor)

1999-01-01

The High-Speed Research Program and NASA Langley Research Center sponsored the NASA High-Speed Research Program Sonic Boom Workshop on September 12-13, 1995. The workshop was designed to bring together NASAs scientists and engineers and their counterparts in industry, other Government agencies, and academia working together in the sonic boom element of NASAs High-Speed Research Program. Specific objectives of this workshop were to: (1) report the progress and status of research in sonic boom propagation, acceptability, and design; (2) promote and disseminate this technology within the appropriate technical communities; (3) help promote synergy among the scientists working in the Program; and (4) identify technology pacing, the development C, of viable reduced-boom High-Speed Civil Transport concepts. The Workshop was organized in four sessions: Sessions 1 Sonic Boom Propagation (Theoretical); Session 2 Sonic Boom Propagation (Experimental); Session 3 Acceptability Studies-Human and Animal; and Session 4 - Configuration Design, Analysis, and Testing.

Electro-spark machining of cadmium antimonide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanovskij, V.N.; Stepakhina, K.A.

1975-01-01

Experimental data on electrical erosion of the semiconductor material (cadmium antimonide) alloyed with tellurium are given. The potentialisies and expediency of using the electric-spark method of cutting cadmium antimonide ingots with the resistivity of 1 ohm is discussed. Cutting has been carried out in distilled water and in the air

Personality Traits Bias the Perceived Quality of Sonic Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PerMagnus Lindborg

2016-12-01

Full Text Available There have been few empirical investigations of how individual differences influence the perception of the sonic environment. The present study included the Big Five traits and noise sensitivity as personality factors in two listening experiments (n = 43, n = 45. Recordings of urban and restaurant soundscapes that had been selected based on their type were rated for Pleasantness and Eventfulness using the Swedish Soundscape Quality Protocol. Multivariate multiple regression analysis showed that ratings depended on the type and loudness of both kinds of sonic environments and that the personality factors made a small yet significant contribution. Univariate models explained 48% (cross-validated adjusted R2 of the variation in Pleasantness ratings of urban soundscapes, and 35% of Eventfulness. For restaurant soundscapes the percentages explained were 22% and 21%, respectively. Emotional stability and noise sensitivity were notable predictors whose contribution to explaining the variation in quality ratings was between one-tenth and nearly half of the soundscape indicators, as measured by squared semipartial correlation. Further analysis revealed that 36% of noise sensitivity could be predicted by broad personality dimensions, replicating previous research. Our study lends empirical support to the hypothesis that personality traits have a significant though comparatively small influence on the perceived quality of sonic environments.

Gas temperature of capacitance spark discharge in air

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ono, Ryo; Nifuku, Masaharu; Fujiwara, Shuzo; Horiguchi, Sadashige; Oda, Tetsuji

2005-01-01

Capacitance spark discharge has been widely used for studying the ignition of flammable gas caused by electrostatic discharge. In the present study, the gas temperature of capacitance spark discharge is measured. The gas temperature is an important factor in understanding the electrostatic ignition process because it influences the reaction rate of ignition. Spark discharge is generated in air with a pulse duration shorter than 100 ns. The discharge energy is set to 0.03-1 mJ. The rotational and vibrational temperatures of the N 2 molecule are measured using the emission spectrum of the N 2 second positive system. The rotational and vibrational temperatures are estimated to be 500 and 5000 K, respectively, which are independent of the discharge energy. This result indicates that most of the electron energy is consumed in the excitation of vibrational levels of molecules rather than the heating of the gas. The gas temperature after discharge is also measured by laser-induced fluorescence of OH radicals. It is shown that the gas temperature increases after discharge and reaches approximately 1000 K at 3 μs after discharge. Then the temperature decreases at a rate in the range of 8-35 K/μs depending on the discharge energy

Reconfigurable origami sonic barriers with tunable bandgaps for traffic noise mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Thota, M.; Wang, K. W.

2017-10-01

An origami sonic barrier composed of cylindrical inclusions attached onto an origami sheet is proposed. The idea allows for tunable sound blocking properties for application in attenuating complex traffic noise spectra. Folding of the underlying origami sheet transforms the periodicity of the inclusions between different Bravais lattices, viz. between a square and a hexagonal lattice, and such significant lattice re-configuration leads to drastic tuning of dispersion characteristics. The wave tuning capabilities are corroborated via performing theoretical and numerical investigations using a plane wave expansion method and an acoustic simulation package of COMSOL, while experiments are performed on a one-seventh scaled-down model of origami sonic barrier to demonstrate the lattice re-configuration between different Bravais lattices and the associated bandgap adaptability. Good sound blocking performance in the frequency range of traffic noise spectra combined with less efforts, required for actuating one-degree of freedom folding mechanism, makes the origami sonic barrier a potential candidate for mitigating complex traffic noise.

Synthesis of biodiesel from castor oil: Silent versus sonicated methylation and energy studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sáez-Bastante, J.; Pinzi, S.; Jiménez-Romero, F.J.; Luque de Castro, M.D.; Priego-Capote, F.; Dorado, M.P.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Sonicated transesterification leads to higher conversion than conventional one. • Energy consumption required by conventional and ultrasound-assisted transesterification was compared. • Ultrasound-assisted methylation is more competitive in terms of energy than conventional one. - Abstract: In recent years, biodiesel is evolving to be one of the most employed biofuels for partial replacement of petrodiesel. The most widely used feedstocks for biodiesel production are vegetable oils. Among them, castor oil presents two interesting features as biodiesel raw material; on one hand, it does not compete with edible oils; on the other, the cultivar does not require high inputs. In this research, a comparison between conventional and ultrasound-assisted transesterification was carried out in terms of castor oil methyl ester (COME) yield and energy efficiency. Results show that sonicated transesterification leads to higher COME yields under lower methanol-to-oil molar ratio, lower amount of catalyst, shorter reaction time and lower amount of energy required. Ultrasound-assisted transesterification parameters were optimized resulting in the following optimum conditions: 20 kHz fixed frequency, 70% duty cycle, 40% sonication amplitude, 4.87 methanol-to-oil molar ratio, 1.4% w/w amount of catalyst and 3 sonication cycles (3 min 48 s) that provided 86.57% w/w COME yield. The energy required along each type of transesterification was measured leading to the conclusion that sonicated transesterification consumes a significant lower amount of energy than conventional one, thus achieving higher COME yield

The Omega spectrometer

CERN Multimedia

1972-01-01

The Omega spectrometer which came into action during the year. An array of optical spark chambers can be seen withdrawn from the magnet aperture. In the 'igloo' above the magnet is located the Plumbicon camera system which collects information from the spark chambers.

Extraction of glutathione from EFB fermentation waste using methanol with sonication process

Science.gov (United States)

Muryanto, Muryanto; Alvin, Nurdin, Muhammad; Hanifah, Ummu; Sudiyani, Yanni

2017-11-01

Glutathione is important compound on the human body. Glutathione have a widely use at pharmacy and cosmetics as detoxification, skin whitening agent, antioxidant and many other. This study aims to obtain glutathione from Saccharomyces cerevisiae in fermentation waste of second generation bioethanol. The remaining yeast in the empty fruit bunch (EFB) fermentation was separated from the fermentation solution use centrifugation process and then extracted using a methanol-water solution. The extraction process was done by maceration which was assisted by sonication process. Solvent concentration and time of sonication were varied to see its effect on glutathione concentration. The concentration of glutathione from the extraction process was analyzed using alloxan method with UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The results show that the highest glutathione concentration was approximately 1.32 g/L obtained with methanol solvent at 90 minutes of maceration following with 15 minutes sonication.

A brief argument for, and summary of, the concept of Sonic Virtuality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grimshaw, Mark

2015-01-01

Sonic virtuality is a conceptualization of sound devised with several purposes in mind. First, it provides a holistic definition of sound that takes account of factors beyond the bare physics of sound waves and their propagation. Second, in providing such a definition, it attempts to explain...... a number of sonic anomalies that existing definitions of sound, of which there are several, do not satisfactorily explain. Third, in its concept of sound as an emergent perception sited within the mind, it provides the conceptual framework to work with sound in the context of new and developing...... technologies. The essay begins with an enumeration of several existing definitions of sound and problems with them, focussing in particular upon the western world’s dominant definition of sound as a sound wave, and then provides a brief exposition of sonic virtuality before concluding with a speculative...

Improving the Tribological Properties of Spark-Anodized Titanium by Magnetron Sputtered Diamond-Like Carbon

OpenAIRE

Zhaoxiang Chen; Xipeng Ren; Limei Ren; Tengchao Wang; Xiaowen Qi; Yulin Yang

2018-01-01

Spark-anodization of titanium can produce adherent and wear-resistant TiO2 film on the surface, but the spark-anodized titanium has lots of surface micro-pores, resulting in an unstable and high friction coefficient against many counterparts. In this study, the diamond-like carbon (DLC) was introduced into the micro-pores of spark-anodized titanium by the magnetron sputtering technique and a TiO2/DLC composite coating was fabricated. The microstructure and tribological properties of TiO2/DLC ...

Development of ClearPEM-Sonic, a multimodal mammography system for PET and Ultrasound

Science.gov (United States)

Cucciati, G.; Auffray, E.; Bugalho, R.; Cao, L.; Di Vara, N.; Farina, F.; Felix, N.; Frisch, B.; Ghezzi, A.; Juhan, V.; Jun, D.; Lasaygues, P.; Lecoq, P.; Mensah, S.; Mundler, O.; Neves, J.; Paganoni, M.; Peter, J.; Pizzichemi, M.; Siles, P.; Silva, J. C.; Silva, R.; Tavernier, S.; Tessonnier, L.; Varela, J.

2014-03-01

ClearPEM-Sonic is an innovative imaging device specifically developed for breast cancer. The possibility to work in PEM-Ultrasound multimodality allows to obtain metabolic and morphological information increasing the specificity of the exam. The ClearPEM detector is developed to maximize the sensitivity and the spatial resolution as compared to Whole-Body PET scanners. It is coupled with a 3D ultrasound system, the SuperSonic Imagine Aixplorer that improves the specificity of the exam by providing a tissue elasticity map. This work describes the ClearPEM-Sonic project focusing on the technological developments it has required, the technical merits (and limits) and the first multimodal images acquired on a dedicated phantom. It finally presents selected clinical case studies that confirm the value of PEM information.

Development of ClearPEM-Sonic, a multimodal mammography system for PET and Ultrasound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cucciati, G; Vara, N Di; Ghezzi, A; Paganoni, M; Pizzichemi, M; Auffray, E; Frisch, B; Lecoq, P; Bugalho, R; Neves, J; Cao, L; Peter, J; Farina, F; Felix, N; Juhan, V; Mundler, O; Siles, P; Jun, D; Lasaygues, P; Mensah, S

2014-01-01

ClearPEM-Sonic is an innovative imaging device specifically developed for breast cancer. The possibility to work in PEM-Ultrasound multimodality allows to obtain metabolic and morphological information increasing the specificity of the exam. The ClearPEM detector is developed to maximize the sensitivity and the spatial resolution as compared to Whole-Body PET scanners. It is coupled with a 3D ultrasound system, the SuperSonic Imagine Aixplorer that improves the specificity of the exam by providing a tissue elasticity map. This work describes the ClearPEM-Sonic project focusing on the technological developments it has required, the technical merits (and limits) and the first multimodal images acquired on a dedicated phantom. It finally presents selected clinical case studies that confirm the value of PEM information

Acoustic energy harvesting by piezoelectric curved beams in the cavity of a sonic crystal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Wei-Chung; Wu, Liang-Yu; Chen, Lien-Wen; Liu, Chia-Ming

2010-01-01

Acoustic energy harvesting by piezoelectric curved beams in the cavity of a sonic crystal is investigated. A resonant cavity of the sonic crystal is used to localize the acoustic wave as the acoustic waves are incident into the sonic crystal at the resonant frequency. The piezoelectric curved beam is placed in the resonant cavity and vibrated by the acoustic wave. The energy harvesting can be achieved as the acoustic waves are incident at the resonant frequency. A model for energy harvesting of the piezoelectric curved beam is also developed to predict the output voltage and power of the energy harvesting. The experimental results are compared with the theoretical

Modelling of spark to ignition transition in gas mixtures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akram, M.

1996-10-01

This thesis pertains to the models for studying sparking in chemically inert gases. The processes taking place in a spark to flame transition can be segregated into physical and chemical processes, and this study is focused on physical processes. The plasma is regarded as a single-substance material. One and two-dimensional models are developed. The transfer of electrical energy into thermal energy of the gas and its redistribution in space and time along with the evolution of a plasma kernel is studied in the time domain ranging from 10 ns to 40 micros. In the case of ultra-fast sparks, the propagation of the shock and its reflection from a rigid wall is presented. The influence of electrode shape and the gap size on the flow structure development is found to be a dominating factor. It is observed that the flow structure that has developed in the early stage more or less prevails at later stages and strongly influences the shape and evolution of the hot kernel. The electrode geometry and configuration are responsible for the development of the flow structure. The strength of the vortices generated in the flow field is influenced by the power input to the gap and their location of emergence is dictated by the electrode shape and configuration. The heat transfer after 2 micros in the case of ultra-fast sparks is dominated by convection and diffusion. The strong mixing produced by hydrodynamic effects and the electrode geometry give the indication that the magnetic pinch effect might be negligible. Finally, a model for a multicomponent gas mixture is presented. The chemical kinetics mechanism for dissociation and ionization is introduced. 56 refs

Using homogenization, sonication and thermo-sonication to inactivate fungi

Science.gov (United States)

Bevilacqua, Antonio; Sinigaglia, Milena; Corbo, Maria Rosaria

2016-01-01

Ultrasound (US), Thermo-sonication (TS) and High Pressure Homogenization (HPH) were studied as tools to inactivate the spores of Penicillium spp. and Mucor spp. inoculated in distilled water. For US, the power ranged from 40% to 100%, pulse from 2 to 10 s, and duration of the treatment from 2 to 10 min. TS was performed combining US (40–80% of power, for 8 min and pulse of 2 s) with a thermal treatment (50, 55 and 60°C at 4, 8 and 12 min). Homogenization was done at 30–150 MPa for 1, 2 and 3 times. Power was the most important factors to determine the antifungal effect of US and TS towards the conidia of Penicillium spp.; on the other hand, in US treatments Mucor spp. was also affected by pulse and time. HPH exerted a significant antifungal effect only if the highest pressures were applied for 2–3 times. PMID:27375964

The relative effects of fuel concentration, residual-gas fraction, gas motion, spark energy and heat losses to the electrodes on flame-kernel development in a lean-burn spark ignition engine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aleiferis, P.G.; Taylor, A.M.K.P. [Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; Ishii, K. [Honda International Technical School, Saitama (Japan); Urata, Y. [Honda R and D Co., Ltd., Tochigi (Japan). Tochigi R and D Centre

2004-04-01

The potential of lean combustion for the reduction in exhaust emissions and fuel consumption in spark ignition engines has long been established. However, the operating range of lean-burn spark ignition engines is limited by the level of cyclic variability in the early-flame development stage that typically corresponds to the 0-5 per cent mass fraction burned duration. In the current study, the cyclic variations in early flame development were investigated in an optical stratified-charge spark ignition engine at conditions close to stoichiometry [air-to-fuel ratio (A/F) = 15] and to the lean limit of stable operation (A/F = 22). Flame images were acquired through either a pentroof window ('tumble plane' of view) or the piston crown ('swirl plane' of view) and these were processed to calculate the intra-cycle flame-kernel radius evolution. In order to quantify the relative effects of local fuel concentration, gas motion, spark-energy release and heat losses to the electrodes on the flame-kernel growth rate, a zero-dimensional flame-kernel growth model, in conjunction with a one-dimensional spark ignition model, was employed. Comparison of the calculated flame-radius evolutions with the experimental data suggested that a variation in A/F around the spark plug of {delta}(A/F) {approx} 4 or, in terms of equivalence ratio {phi}, a variation in {delta}{phi} {approx} 0.15 at most was large enough to account for 100 per cent of the observed cyclic variability in flame-kernel radius. A variation in the residual-gas fraction of about 20 per cent around the mean was found to account for up to 30 per cent of the variability in flame-kernel radius at the timing of 5 per cent mass fraction burned. The individual effect of 20 per cent variations in the 'mean' in-cylinder velocity at the spark plug at ignition timing was found to account for no more than 20 per cent of the measured cyclic variability in flame kernel radius. An individual effect of

Programmable spark counter of tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denisov, A.E.; Nikolaev, V.A.; Vorobjev, I.B.

2005-01-01

For the purpose, a new set-the programmable all-automatic spark counter AIST-4-has been developed and manufactured. Compared to our previous automated spark counter ISTRA, which was operated by the integrated fixed program, the new set is operated completely by a personal computer. The mechanism for pressing and pulling the aluminized foil is put into action by a step motor operated by a microcontroller. The step motor turns an axle. The axle has two eccentrics. One of them moves a pressing plate up and down. The second eccentric moves the aluminized foil by steps of ∼15mm after the end of each pulse counting. One turnover of the axle corresponds to one pulse count cycle. The step motor, the high-voltage block and the pulse count block are operated by the microcontroller PIC 16C84 (Microstar). The set can be operated either manually by keys on the front panel or by a PC using dialogue windows for radon or neutron measurements (for counting of alpha or fission fragment tracks). A number of algorithms are developed: the general procedures, the automatic stopping of the pulse counting, the calibration curve, determination of the count characteristics and elimination of the short circuit in a track

Effect of the SPARK Program on Physical Activity, Cardiorespiratory Endurance, and Motivation in Middle-School Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, You; Gao, Zan; Hannon, James C; Burns, Ryan D; Brusseau, Timothy A

2016-05-01

This study aimed to examine the effect of a 9-week SPARK program on physical activity (PA), cardiorespiratory endurance (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run; PACER), and motivation in middle-school students. 174 students attended baseline and posttests and change scores computed for each outcome. A MANOVA was employed to examine change score differences using follow-up ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests. MANOVA yielded a significant interaction for Grade × Gender × Group (Wilks's Λ = 0.89, P interactions with perceived competence differences between SPARK grades 6 and 8 (Mean Δ = 0.38, P < .05), Enjoyment differences between SPARK grades 6 and 7 (Mean Δ = 0.67, P < .001), and SPARK grades 6 and 8 (Mean Δ = 0.81, P < .001). Following the intervention, SPARK displayed greater increases on PA and motivation measures in younger students compared with the Traditional program.

Living Melodies - Coevolution Of Sonic Communication

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahlstedt, Palle; Nordahl, Mats G.

2001-01-01

The authors have constructed an artificial world of coevolving communicating agents. The behavior of the agents is described in terms of a simple genetic programming framework, which allows the evolution of foraging behavior and movement in order to reproduce, as well as sonic communication....... The sound of the entire world is used as musical raw material for the work. Musically interesting and useful structures are found to emerge....

ClimateSpark: An In-memory Distributed Computing Framework for Big Climate Data Analytics

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, F.; Yang, C. P.; Duffy, D.; Schnase, J. L.; Li, Z.

2016-12-01

Massive array-based climate data is being generated from global surveillance systems and model simulations. They are widely used to analyze the environment problems, such as climate changes, natural hazards, and public health. However, knowing the underlying information from these big climate datasets is challenging due to both data- and computing- intensive issues in data processing and analyzing. To tackle the challenges, this paper proposes ClimateSpark, an in-memory distributed computing framework to support big climate data processing. In ClimateSpark, the spatiotemporal index is developed to enable Apache Spark to treat the array-based climate data (e.g. netCDF4, HDF4) as native formats, which are stored in Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) without any preprocessing. Based on the index, the spatiotemporal query services are provided to retrieve dataset according to a defined geospatial and temporal bounding box. The data subsets will be read out, and a data partition strategy will be applied to equally split the queried data to each computing node, and store them in memory as climateRDDs for processing. By leveraging Spark SQL and User Defined Function (UDFs), the climate data analysis operations can be conducted by the intuitive SQL language. ClimateSpark is evaluated by two use cases using the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) climate reanalysis dataset. One use case is to conduct the spatiotemporal query and visualize the subset results in animation; the other one is to compare different climate model outputs using Taylor-diagram service. Experimental results show that ClimateSpark can significantly accelerate data query and processing, and enable the complex analysis services served in the SQL-style fashion.

Synthesis and characterization of aluminium–alumina micro- and nano-composites by spark plasma sintering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dash, K.; Chaira, D.; Ray, B.C.

2013-01-01

Graphical abstract: The evolution of microstructure by varying the particle size of reinforcement in the matrix employing spark plasma sintering has been demonstrated here in Al–Al 2 O 3 system. An emphasis has been laid on varying the reinforcement particle size and evaluating the microstructural morphologies and their implications on mechanical performance of the composites. Nanocomposites of 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 7 volume % alumina (average size 2 O 3 micro- and nano-composites fabricated by spark plasma sintering. • Better matrix-reinforcement integrity in nanocomposites than microcomposites. • Spark plasma sintering method results in higher density and hardness values. • High density and hardness values of nanocomposites than microcomposites. • High dislocation density in spark plasma sintered Al–Al 2 O 3 composites. - Abstract: In the present study, an emphasis has been laid on evaluation of the microstructural morphologies and their implications on mechanical performance of the composites by varying the reinforcement particle size. Nanocomposites of 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 7 volume % alumina (average size 2 O 3 nancomposites respectively. Spark plasma sintering imparts enhanced densification and matrix-reinforcement proximity which have been corroborated with the experimental results

Improve the Recovery of Fermentable Sugar from Rice Straw by Sonication and Its Mathematical Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharyya, Saurav; Dutta, Somenath; Datta, Sidhartha; Bhattacharjee, Chiranjib

2012-08-01

Rice straw is waste renewable agricultural biomass, which contains sufficient amount of fermentable sugars like glucose, galactose fructose, xylose etc. These sugars can be treated with fermentation pathway to produce ethanol. Hydrolysis of pretreated rice straw in dilute sulfuric acid was investigated at different acid concentrations (0.25-0.75 % w/v), and sonication was carried out to improve the extent of sugar extraction. The current work examines the effect of sonication on extraction of total reducing sugar (TRS) and an empirical mathematical model has been established to predict it. Effects of various operating variables of sonication, including amplitude (60-100 %), cycle (0.6-1.0), treatment time (0-15 min) have been analyzed for each acid concentration. Observation shows that on optimization of the sonication conditions (100 % amplitude, 0.8 cycle and 10 min) around 90 % improvement of TRS extraction occurs at 0.5 % (w/v) acid concentration.

Novel quantitative autophagy analysis by organelle flow cytometry after cell sonication.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Degtyarev

Full Text Available Autophagy is a dynamic process of bulk degradation of cellular proteins and organelles in lysosomes. Current methods of autophagy measurement include microscopy-based counting of autophagic vacuoles (AVs in cells. We have developed a novel method to quantitatively analyze individual AVs using flow cytometry. This method, OFACS (organelle flow after cell sonication, takes advantage of efficient cell disruption with a brief sonication, generating cell homogenates with fluorescently labeled AVs that retain their integrity as confirmed with light and electron microscopy analysis. These AVs could be detected directly in the sonicated cell homogenates on a flow cytometer as a distinct population of expected organelle size on a cytometry plot. Treatment of cells with inhibitors of autophagic flux, such as chloroquine or lysosomal protease inhibitors, increased the number of particles in this population under autophagy inducing conditions, while inhibition of autophagy induction with 3-methyladenine or knockdown of ATG proteins prevented this accumulation. This assay can be easily performed in a high-throughput format and opens up previously unexplored avenues for autophagy analysis.

Environmental Pollution: Noise Pollution - Sonic Boom. Volume I.

Science.gov (United States)

Defense Documentation Center, Alexandria, VA.

The unclassified, annotated bibliography is Volume I of a two-volume set on Noise Pollution - Sonic Boom in a series of scheduled bibliographies on Environmental Pollution. Volume II is Confidential. Corporate author-monitoring agency, subject, title, contract, and report number indexes are included. (Author/JR)

ResonantSonic drilling. Innovative technology summary report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-04-01

The technology of ResonantSonic drilling is described. This technique has been demonstrated and deployed as an innovative tool to access the subsurface for installation of monitoring and/or remediation wells and for collection of subsurface materials for environmental restoration applications. The technology uses no drilling fluids, is safe and can be used to drill slant holes

Possibility of surface carburization of refractory metals of electric spark alloying

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verkhoturov, A.D.; Isaeva, L.P.; Timofeeva, I.I.; Tsyban', V.A.

1981-01-01

The paper is concerned with a study in the alloying layer formation under electric spark alloying of refractory (Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, W, Co, Fe) metals with graphite in argon and in air using the EhFI-46A installation. It is shown that in electric spark alloying with graphite there appear certain specific conditions for the alloying layer formation manifested in the cathode mass decrease during treatment. In this case an alloying layer consisting of carbides, oxides of the corresponding metals and material of the base is formed on the metal surface. The best carburization conditions in the process of electric spark alloying are realized for group 4 metals when treating them in ''soft'' regime, specific time of alloying being 1-3 min/sm 2 and for group 5 and 6 metals - in ''rigid'' regime of treatment and specific time of alloying 3-5 min/cm 2 [ru

In Situ Monitoring of Dispersion Dynamics of Carbon Nanotubes during Sonication Using Electrical Conductivity Measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Sadiq Ali

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The main challenge in the fabrication of carbon nanotube- (CNT- based composite materials is the optimization of the sonication time in order to obtain homogenous and uniform dispersion of CNTs. Past studies mostly relied on postprocessing characterization techniques to address this issue. In the present, however, in situ monitoring of dispersion dynamics of CNTs in distilled water is carried out using instantaneous conductivity measurements. Using a computer controlled data acquisition system, the time evolution of the solution conductivity was carefully recorded. The data were then used to evaluate the intensity of turbulent fluctuations, which clearly highlighted the existence of three distinct sonication phases. During the first phase, the conductivity fluctuations initially increased attaining ultimately a maximum, thus indicating the occurrence of large agglomerates of CNTs. During the second phase of sonication, the solution conductivity showed a rather steep increase while fluctuations steadily declined. This phenomenon can be attributed to the breakdown of large CNT agglomerates, resulting in greater dispersion homogeneity of CNTs. During the third phase, after almost 650 kJ/L of sonication energy, the conductivity increase was almost negligible. The fluctuation intensity also remained constant during this phase signifying that the further sonication was no longer required.

Physico-chemical parameters, bioactive compounds and microbial quality of thermo-sonicated carrot juice during storage.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Flores, Héctor E; Garnica-Romo, Ma Guadalupe; Bermúdez-Aguirre, Daniela; Pokhrel, Prashant Raj; Barbosa-Cánovas, Gustavo V

2015-04-01

Thermosonication has been successfully tested in food for microbial inactivation; however, changes in bioactive compounds and shelf-life of treated products have not been thoroughly investigated. Carrot juice was thermo-sonicated (24 kHz, 120 μm amplitude) at 50 °C, 54 °C and 58 °C for 10 min (acoustic power 2204.40, 2155.72, 2181.68 mW/mL, respectively). Quality parameters and microbial growth were evaluated after processing and during storage at 4 °C. Control and sonicated treatments at 50 °C and 54 °C had 10, 12 and 14 d of shelf-life, respectively. Samples sonicated at 58 °C had the best quality; microbial growth remained low at around 3-log for mesophiles, 4.5-log for yeasts and molds and 2-log for enterobacteria after 20 d of storage. Furthermore, thermo-sonicated juice at 58 °C retained >98% of carotenoids and 100% of ascorbic acid. Phenolic compounds increased in all stored, treated juices. Thermo-sonication is therefore a promising technology for preserving the quality of carrot juice by minimising the physicochemical changes during storage, retarding microbial growth and retaining the bioactive compounds. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

River water remediation using pulsed corona, pulsed spark or ozonation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Izdebski, T.; Dors, M. [Polish Academy of Sciences, Szewalski Inst. of Fluid Flow Machiney, Fiszera (Poland). Centre for Plasma and Laser Engineering; Mizeraczyk, J. [Polish Academy of Sciences, Szewalski Inst. of Fluid Flow Machiney, Fiszera (Poland). Centre for Plasma and Laser Engineering; Gdynia Maritime Univ., Morska (Poland). Dept. of Marine Electronics

2010-07-01

The most common reason for epidemic formation is the pollution of surface and drinking water by wastewater bacteria. Pathogenic microorganisms that form the largest part of this are fecal bacteria, such as escherichia coli (E. coli). Wastewater treatment plants reduce the amount of the fecal bacteria by 1-3 orders of magnitude, depending on the initial number of bacteria. There is a lack of data on waste and drinking water purification by the electrohydraulic discharges method, which causes the destruction and inactivation of viruses, yeast, and bacteria. This paper investigated river water cleaning from microorganisms using pulsed corona, spark discharge and ozonization. The paper discussed the experimental setup and results. It was concluded that ozonization is the most efficient method of water disinfection as compared with pulsed spark and pulsed corona discharges. The pulsed spark discharge in water was capable of killing all microorganism similarly to ozonization, but with much lower energy efficiency. The pulsed corona discharge was found to be the less effective method of water disinfection. 21 refs., 4 figs.

Material machining with pseudo-spark electron beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benker, W.; Christiansen, J.; Frank, K.; Gundel, H.; Redel, T.; Stetter, M.

1989-01-01

The authors give a brief description of the production of pseudo-spark (low pressure gas discharge) electron beams. They illustrate the use of these electron beams for machining not only conducting, semiconducting and insulating materials, but also thin layers of such materials as high temperature superconducting ceramics

The optimization of some of the conditions for analysis by spark-source mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pearton, D.C.P.; Sobiecki, A.

1980-01-01

The need for improved precision in spark-source mass spectrometry is highlighted. Several parameters, such as photoplate-development technique, instrumental stability and focus, and sparking conditions, were optimized. Measurements made under these optimum conditions attained precisions of more than 12 per cent

Ca2+ sparks act as potent regulators of excitation-contraction coupling in airway smooth muscle.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuge, Ronghua; Bao, Rongfeng; Fogarty, Kevin E; Lifshitz, Lawrence M

2010-01-15

Ca2+ sparks are short lived and localized Ca2+ transients resulting from the opening of ryanodine receptors in sarcoplasmic reticulum. These events relax certain types of smooth muscle by activating big conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels to produce spontaneous transient outward currents (STOCs) and the resultant closure of voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels. But in many smooth muscles from a variety of organs, Ca2+ sparks can additionally activate Ca2+-activated Cl(-) channels to generate spontaneous transient inward current (STICs). To date, the physiological roles of Ca2+ sparks in this latter group of smooth muscle remain elusive. Here, we show that in airway smooth muscle, Ca2+ sparks under physiological conditions, activating STOCs and STICs, induce biphasic membrane potential transients (BiMPTs), leading to membrane potential oscillations. Paradoxically, BiMPTs stabilize the membrane potential by clamping it within a negative range and prevent the generation of action potentials. Moreover, blocking either Ca2+ sparks or hyperpolarization components of BiMPTs activates voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels, resulting in an increase in global [Ca2+](i) and cell contraction. Therefore, Ca2+ sparks in smooth muscle presenting both STICs and STOCs act as a stabilizer of membrane potential, and altering the balance can profoundly alter the status of excitability and contractility. These results reveal a novel mechanism underlying the control of excitability and contractility in smooth muscle.

High-Speed Research: 1994 Sonic Boom Workshop. Configuration, Design, Analysis and Testing

Science.gov (United States)

McCurdy, David A. (Editor)

1999-01-01

The third High-Speed Research Sonic Boom Workshop was held at NASA Langley Research Center on June 1-3, 1994. The purpose of this workshop was to provide a forum for Government, industry, and university participants to present and discuss progress in their research. The workshop was organized into sessions dealing with atmospheric propagation; acceptability studies; and configuration design, and testing. Attendance at the workshop was by invitation only. The workshop proceedings include papers on design, analysis, and testing of low-boom high-speed civil transport configurations and experimental techniques for measuring sonic booms. Significant progress is noted in these areas in the time since the previous workshop a year earlier. The papers include preliminary results of sonic boom wind tunnel tests conducted during 1993 and 1994 on several low-boom designs. Results of a mission performance analysis of all low-boom designs are also included. Two experimental methods for measuring near-field signatures of airplanes in flight are reported.

Increasing low frequency sound attenuation using compounded single layer of sonic crystal

Science.gov (United States)

Gulia, Preeti; Gupta, Arpan

2018-05-01

Sonic crystals (SC) are man-made periodic structures where sound hard scatterers are arranged in a crystalline manner. SC reduces noise in a particular range of frequencies called as band gap. Sonic crystals have a promising application in noise shielding; however, the application is limited due to the size of structure. Particularly for low frequencies, the structure becomes quite bulky, restricting its practical application. This paper presents a compounded model of SC, which has the same overall area and filling fraction but with increased low frequency sound attenuation. Two cases have been considered, a three layer SC and a compounded single layer SC. Both models have been analyzed using finite element simulation and plane wave expansion method. Band gaps for periodic structures have been obtained using both methods which are in good agreement. Further, sound transmission loss has been evaluated using finite element method. The results demonstrate the use of compounded model of Sonic Crystal for low frequency sound attenuation.

Experimental investigation of the vibrational and thermal response of a laser spark plug

Science.gov (United States)

Yoder, Gregory S.

A study was conducted in order to evaluate the external thermal and vibrational effects on the operation of a laser ignition system for internal combustion (IC) engine applications. West Virginia University (WVU) in conjunction with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have constructed a prototype laser spark plug which has been designed to mount directly onto the head of a natural gas engine for the purpose of igniting an air/fuel (A/F) mixture in the engine's combustion chamber. To be considered as a viable replacement for the conventional electrode-based ignition system, integrity, durability and reliability must be justified. Thermal and oscillatory perturbations induced upon the ignition system are major influences that affect laser spark plug (LSP) operation and, therefore, quantifying these effects is necessary to further the advancement and development of this technology. The passively q-switched Nd:YAG laser was mounted on Bruel & Kjaer (B&K) Vibration Exciter Type 4808 Shaker in conjunction with at B&K Power Amplifier Type 2719, which was oscillated in 10 Hz intervals from 0 to 60 Hz using a sine wave to mimic natural gas engine operation. The input signal simulated the rotational velocity of the engine operating from 0 to 3600 RPM with the laser mounted in three different axial orientations. The laser assembly was wrapped with medium-temperature heat tape, outfitted with thermocouples and heated from room temperature to 140 ºF to simulate the temperatures that the LSP may experience when installed on an engine. The acceleration of the payload was varied between 50% and 100% of the oscillator's maximum allowable acceleration in each mounting orientation resulting in a total of 294 total setpoints. For each setpoint, pulse width, pulse width variation, q-switch delay, jitter and output energy were measured and recorded. Each of these dependent variables plays a critical role in multi photon ionization and precise control is necessary to limit

Sonication-Induced Modification of Carbon Nanotubes: Effect on the Rheological and Thermo-Oxidative Behaviour of Polymer-Based Nanocomposites.

Science.gov (United States)

Arrigo, Rossella; Teresi, Rosalia; Gambarotti, Cristian; Parisi, Filippo; Lazzara, Giuseppe; Dintcheva, Nadka Tzankova

2018-03-05

The aim of this work is the investigation of the effect of ultrasound treatment on the structural characteristics of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and the consequent influence that the shortening induced by sonication exerts on the morphology, rheological behaviour and thermo-oxidative resistance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)-based nanocomposites. First, CNTs have been subjected to sonication for different time intervals and the performed spectroscopic and morphological analyses reveal that a dramatic decrease of the CNT's original length occurs with increased sonication time. The reduction of the initial length of CNTs strongly affects the nanocomposite rheological behaviour, which progressively changes from solid-like to liquid-like as the CNT sonication time increases. The study of the thermo-oxidative behaviour of the investigated nanocomposites reveals that the CNT sonication has a detrimental effect on the thermo-oxidative stability of nanocomposites, especially for long exposure times. The worsening of the thermo-oxidative resistance of sonicated CNT-containing nanocomposites could be attributed to the lower thermal conductivity of low-aspect-ratio CNTs, which causes the increase of the local temperature at the polymer/nanofillers interphase, with the consequent acceleration of the degradative phenomena.

Sonication-Induced Modification of Carbon Nanotubes: Effect on the Rheological and Thermo-Oxidative Behaviour of Polymer-Based Nanocomposites

Science.gov (United States)

Teresi, Rosalia; Gambarotti, Cristian; Dintcheva, Nadka Tzankova

2018-01-01

The aim of this work is the investigation of the effect of ultrasound treatment on the structural characteristics of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and the consequent influence that the shortening induced by sonication exerts on the morphology, rheological behaviour and thermo-oxidative resistance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)-based nanocomposites. First, CNTs have been subjected to sonication for different time intervals and the performed spectroscopic and morphological analyses reveal that a dramatic decrease of the CNT’s original length occurs with increased sonication time. The reduction of the initial length of CNTs strongly affects the nanocomposite rheological behaviour, which progressively changes from solid-like to liquid-like as the CNT sonication time increases. The study of the thermo-oxidative behaviour of the investigated nanocomposites reveals that the CNT sonication has a detrimental effect on the thermo-oxidative stability of nanocomposites, especially for long exposure times. The worsening of the thermo-oxidative resistance of sonicated CNT-containing nanocomposites could be attributed to the lower thermal conductivity of low-aspect-ratio CNTs, which causes the increase of the local temperature at the polymer/nanofillers interphase, with the consequent acceleration of the degradative phenomena. PMID:29510595

Low frequency sonic waves assisted cloud point extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoate from Cupriavidus necator.

Science.gov (United States)

Murugesan, Sivananth; Iyyaswami, Regupathi

2017-08-15

Low frequency sonic waves, less than 10kHz were introduced to assist cloud point extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoate from Cupriavidus necator present within the crude broth. Process parameters including surfactant system variables and sonication parameters were studied for their effect on extraction efficiency. Introduction of low frequency sonic waves assists in the dissolution of microbial cell wall by the surfactant micelles and release of cellular content, polyhydroxyalkanoate granules released were encapsulated by the micelle core which was confirmed by crotonic acid assay. In addition, sonic waves resulted in the separation of homogeneous surfactant and broth mixture into two distinct phases, top aqueous phase and polyhydroxyalkanoate enriched bottom surfactant rich phase. Mixed surfactant systems showed higher extraction efficiency compared to that of individual Triton X-100 concentrations, owing to increase in the hydrophobicity of the micellar core and its interaction with polyhydroxyalkanoate. Addition of salts to the mixed surfactant system induces screening of charged surfactant head groups and reduces inter-micellar repulsion, presence of ammonium ions lead to electrostatic repulsion and weaker cation sodium enhances the formation of micellar network. Addition of polyethylene glycol 8000 resulted in increasing interaction with the surfactant tails of the micelle core there by reducing the purity of polyhydroxyalkanoate. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Auscultation of concrete hydraulic dams by sonic tomography; Auscultation des structures hydrauliques en beton par tomographie sonique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kharrat, Y.; Rhazi, J.; Ballivy, G. [Sherbrooke Univ., PQ (Canada). Dept. de Genie Civil; Cote, P. [Centre de Nantes, Bouguenais (France)

1995-12-31

Sonic tomography, a new nondestructive testing method, was described to document the aging and internal degradation of concrete structures. The method is based on the transmission of sonic waves through concrete structures. New tomographic methodology similar to that used in medical or geophysical imaging was applied to existing sonic auscultation techniques used in civil engineering. In the process the speed of propagation of sonic waves in structures is measured with arrays of detectors. Fissures or zones of degradation can be spatially localized and an internal image of the structure can be constructed. Case studies of two hydraulic dams, one from France, the other in Quebec were presented as illustrations. . The theory and experimental procedures involved were described. 16 refs., 1 tab., 12 figs.

Sound absorption enhancement of nonwoven felt by using coupled membrane - sonic crystal inclusion

Science.gov (United States)

Fitriani, M. C.; Yahya, I.; Harjana; Ubaidillah; Aditya, F.; Siregar, Y.; Moeliono, M.; Sulaksono, S.

2016-11-01

The experimental results from laboratory test on the sound absorption performance of nonwoven felt with an array thin tubes and sonic crystal inclusions reported in this paper. The nonwoven felt sample was produced by a local company with 15 mm in its thickness and 900 gsm. The 6.4 mm diameter plastic straw was used to construct the thin tubes array while the sonic crystal is arranged in a 4 × 4 lattice crystal formation. It made from a PVC cylinder with 17 mm and 50 mm in diameter and length respectively. All cylinders have two holes positioned on 10 mm and 25 mm from the base. The results show that both treatments, array of thin tube and sonic crystal inclusions are effectively increased the sound absorption coefficient of the nonwoven felt significantly especially in the low frequency range starting from 200Hz.

Diagnosis of Persistent Infection in Prosthetic Two-Stage Exchange: Evaluation of the Effect of Sonication on Antibiotic Release from Bone Cement Spacers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mariaux, Sandrine; Furustrand Tafin, Ulrika; Borens, Olivier

2018-01-01

Introduction : When treating periprosthetic joint infection with a two-stage procedure, antibiotic-impregnated spacers can be used in the interval between prosthetic removal and reimplantation. In our experience, cultures of sonicated spacers are most often negative. The objective of the study was to assess whether that sonication causes an elution of antibiotics, leading to elevated antibiotic concentrations in the sonication fluid inhibiting bacterial growth and thus causing false-negative cultures. Methods : A prospective monocentric study was performed from September 2014 to March 2016. Inclusion criteria were a two-stage procedure for prosthetic infection and agreement of the patient to participate in the study. Spacers were made of gentamicin-containing cement to which tobramycin and vancomycin were added. Antibiotic concentrations in the sonication fluid were determined by mass-spectometry (LC-MS). Results : 30 patients were identified (15 hip and 14 knee and 1 ankle arthroplasties). No cases of culture positive sonicated spacer fluid were observed in our serie. In the sonication fluid median concentrations of 13.2µg/ml, 392 µg/ml and 16.6 µg/ml were detected for vancomycin, tobramycin and gentamicin, respectively. According to the European Committee on antimicrobial susceptibility testing (EUCAST), these concentrations released from cement spacer during sonication are higher than the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for most bacteria relevant in prosthetic joint infections. Conclusion: Spacer sonication cultures remained sterile in all of our cases. Elevated concentrations of antibiotics released during sonication could explain partly negative-cultured sonicated spacers. Indeed, the absence of antibiotic free interval during the two-stages can also contribute to false-negative spacers sonicated cultures.

Theory of elementary excitations in unstable Bose-Einstein condensates and the instability of sonic horizons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leonhardt, U.; Kiss, T.; Oehberg, P.

2003-01-01

Like classical fluids, quantum gases may suffer from hydrodynamic instabilities. Our paper develops a quantum version of the classical stability analysis in fluids, the Bogoliubov theory of elementary excitations in unstable Bose-Einstein condensates. In unstable condensates the excitation modes have complex frequencies. We derive the normalization conditions for unstable modes such that they can serve in a mode decomposition of the noncondensed component. Furthermore, we develop approximative techniques to determine the spectrum and the mode functions. Finally, we apply our theory to sonic horizons - sonic black and white holes. For sonic white holes the spectrum of unstable modes turns out to be intrinsically discrete, whereas black holes may be stable

Silicon nanoparticles produced by spark discharge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vons, Vincent A.; Smet, Louis C. P. M. de; Munao, David; Evirgen, Alper; Kelder, Erik M.; Schmidt-Ott, Andreas

2011-01-01

On the example of silicon, the production of nanoparticles using spark discharge is shown to be feasible for semiconductors. The discharge circuit is modelled as a damped oscillator circuit. This analysis reveals that the electrode resistance should be kept low enough to limit energy loss by Joule heating and to enable effective nanoparticle production. The use of doped electrodes results in a thousand-fold increase in the mass production rate as compared to intrinsic silicon. Pure and oxidised uniformly sized silicon nanoparticles with a primary particle diameter of 3–5 nm are produced. It is shown that the colour of the particles can be used as a good indicator of the oxidation state. If oxygen and water are banned from the spark generation system by (a) gas purification, (b) outgassing and (c) by initially using the particles produced as getters, unoxidised Si particles are obtained. They exhibit pyrophoric behaviour. This continuous nanoparticle preparation method can be combined with other processing techniques, including surface functionalization or the immediate impaction of freshly prepared nanoparticles onto a substrate for applications in the field of batteries, hydrogen storage or sensors.

The sonic window: second generation results

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, William F.; Fuller, Michael I.; Brush, Edward V.; Eames, Matthew D. C.; Owen, Kevin; Ranganathan, Karthik; Blalock, Travis N.; Hossack, John A.

2006-03-01

Medical Ultrasound Imaging is widely used clinically because of its relatively low cost, portability, lack of ionizing radiation, and real-time nature. However, even with these advantages ultrasound has failed to permeate the broad array of clinical applications where its use could be of value. A prime example of this untapped potential is the routine use of ultrasound to guide intravenous access. In this particular application existing systems lack the required portability, low cost, and ease-of-use required for widespread acceptance. Our team has been working for a number of years to develop an extremely low-cost, pocket-sized, and intuitive ultrasound imaging system that we refer to as the "Sonic Window." We have previously described the first generation Sonic Window prototype that was a bench-top device using a 1024 element, fully populated array operating at a center frequency of 3.3 MHz. Through a high degree of custom front-end integration combined with multiplexing down to a 2 channel PC based digitizer this system acquired a full set of RF data over a course of 512 transmit events. While initial results were encouraging, this system exhibited limitations resulting from low SNR, relatively coarse array sampling, and relatively slow data acquisition. We have recently begun assembling a second-generation Sonic Window system. This system uses a 3600 element fully sampled array operating at 5.0 MHz with a 300 micron element pitch. This system extends the integration of the first generation system to include front-end protection, pre-amplification, a programmable bandpass filter, four sample and holds, and four A/D converters for all 3600 channels in a set of custom integrated circuits with a combined area smaller than the 1.8 x 1.8 cm footprint of the transducer array. We present initial results from this front-end and present benchmark results from a software beamformer implemented on the Analog Devices BF-561 DSP. We discuss our immediate plans for further

DNS of spark ignition and edge flame propagation in turbulent droplet-laden mixing layers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neophytou, A.; Mastorakos, E.; Cant, R.S. [Hopkinson Laboratory, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)

2010-06-15

A parametric study of forced ignition at the mixing layer between air and air carrying fine monosized fuel droplets is done through one-step chemistry direct numerical simulations to determine the influence of the size and volatility of the droplets, the spark location, the droplet-air mixing layer initial thickness and the turbulence intensity on the ignition success and the subsequent flame propagation. The propagation is analyzed in terms of edge flame displacement speed, which has not been studied before for turbulent edge spray flames. Spark ignition successfully resulted in a tribrachial flame if enough fuel vapour was available at the spark location, which occurred when the local droplet number density was high. Ignition was achieved even when the spark was offset from the spray, on the air side, due to the diffusion of heat from the spark, provided droplets evaporated rapidly. Large kernels were obtained by sparking close to the spray, since fuel was more readily available. At long times after the spark, for all flames studied, the probability density function of the displacement speed was wide, with a mean value in the range 0.55-0.75S{sub L}, with S{sub L} the laminar burning velocity of a stoichiometric gaseous premixed flame. This value is close to the mean displacement speed in turbulent edge flames with gaseous fuel. The displacement speed was negatively correlated with curvature. The detrimental effect of curvature was attenuated with a large initial kernel and by increasing the thickness of the mixing layer. The mixing layer was thicker when evaporation was slow and the turbulence intensity higher. However, high turbulence intensity also distorted the kernel which could lead to high values of curvature. The edge flame reaction component increased when the maximum temperature coincided with the stoichiometric contour. The results are consistent with the limited available experimental evidence and provide insights into the processes associated with

Study on combined effects of acidification and sonication on selected quality attributes of carrot juice during storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jabbar, S.; Hu, B.; Ali, S.

2014-01-01

This study evaluated the combined effects of acid blanching and sonication treatments on selected quality parameters of carrot juice stored at 4 degree C for 18 days. Carrots were blanched in acidified water (40g/L citric acid) at 100 degree C for 4 min and the juice was then extracted. Sonication of the juice was done at an amplitude level of 70% and a frequency of 20 kHz for 2 min at 15 degree C, keeping the pulse duration of 5 Sec on and 5 Sec off. As results, the combined treatment of acidification and sonication of carrot juice showed a significant decrease in pH and increase (P < 0.05) in acidity which remained stable during storage period. No significant changes were observed in Brix. Color values (L, a, b) and non enzymatic browning (NEB) influenced significantly in acidified and sonicated carrot juice during storage period. Maximum stability of total phenol, total antioxidant capacity, cloud value and ascorbic acid were also observed in the combined treatment of acidification and sonication. The findings of this study indicated that the combined treatments of acidification and sonication may successfully be utilized for the production of high quality carrot juice with improved stability of total phenol, total antioxidant capacity, cloud value and ascorbic acid during 18 days of storage. (author)

Antibacterial Efficacy of Calcium Hypochlorite with Vibringe Sonic Irrigation System on Enterococcus faecalis: An In Vitro Study

Science.gov (United States)

Dumani, Aysin; Guvenmez, Hatice Korkmaz; Yilmaz, Sehnaz; Yoldas, Oguz; Kurklu, Zeliha Gonca Bek

2016-01-01

Aim. The purpose of this study was to compare the in vitro efficacy of calcium hypochlorite (Ca[OCl]2) and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) associated with sonic (Vibringe) irrigation system in root canals which were contaminated with Enterococcus faecalis. Material and Methods. The root canals of 84 single-rooted premolars were enlarged up to a file 40, autoclaved, inoculated with Enterococcus faecalis, and incubated for 21 days. The samples were divided into 7 groups according to the irrigation protocol: G0: no treatment; G1: distilled water; G2: 2.5% NaOCl; G3: 2.5% Ca(OCl)2; G4: distilled water with sonic activation; G5: 2.5% NaOCl with sonic activation; and G6: 2.5% Ca(OCl)2 with sonic activation. Before and after decontamination procedures microbiological samples were collected and the colony-forming units were counted and the percentages of reduction were calculated. Results. Distilled water with syringe irrigation and sonic activation groups demonstrated poor antibacterial effect on Enterococcus faecalis compared to other experimental groups (p irrigation systems with Ca(OCl)2 and NaOCl. Conclusion. The antimicrobial property of Ca(OCl)2 has been investigated and compared with that of NaOCl. Both conventional syringe irrigation and sonic irrigation were found effective at removing E. faecalis from the root canal of extracted human teeth. PMID:27218106

Apparatus for atmospheric pressure pin-to-hole spark discharge and uses thereof

Science.gov (United States)

Dobrynin, Danil V.; Fridman, Alexander; Cho, Young I.; Fridman, Gregory; Friedman, Gennady

2016-12-06

Disclosed herein are atmospheric pressure pin-to-hole pulsed spark discharge devices and methods for creating plasma. The devices include a conduit for fluidically communicating a gas, a plasma, or both, therethrough, portion of the conduit capable of being connected to a gas supply, and a second portion of the conduit capable of emitting a plasma; a positive electrode comprising a sharp tip; and a ground plate electrode. Disclosed are methods for treating a skin ulcer using non-thermal plasma include flowing a gas through a cold spark discharge zone simultaneously with the creation of a pulsed spark discharge to give rise to a non-thermal plasma emitted from a conduit, the non-thermal plasma comprising NO; and contacting a skin ulcer with said non-thermal plasma for sufficient time and intensity to give rise to treatment of the skin ulcer.

The detectability of cracks using sonic IR

Science.gov (United States)

Morbidini, Marco; Cawley, Peter

2009-05-01

This paper proposes a methodology to study the detectability of fatigue cracks in metals using sonic IR (also known as thermosonics). The method relies on the validation of simple finite-element thermal models of the cracks and specimens in which the thermal loads have been defined by means of a priori measurement of the additional damping introduced in the specimens by each crack. This estimate of crack damping is used in conjunction with a local measurement of the vibration strain during ultrasonic excitation to retrieve the power released at the crack; these functions are then input to the thermal model of the specimens to find the resulting temperature rises (sonic IR signals). The method was validated on mild steel beams with two-dimensional cracks obtained in the low-cycle fatigue regime as well as nickel-based superalloy beams with three-dimensional "thumbnail" cracks generated in the high-cycle fatigue regime. The equivalent 40kHz strain necessary to obtain a desired temperature rise was calculated for cracks in the nickel superalloy set, and the detectability of cracks as a function of length in the range of 1-5mm was discussed.

Computer method to detect and correct cycle skipping on sonic logs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muller, D.C.

1985-01-01

A simple but effective computer method has been developed to detect cycle skipping on sonic logs and to replace cycle skips with estimates of correct traveltimes. The method can be used to correct observed traveltime pairs from the transmitter to both receivers. The basis of the method is the linearity of a plot of theoretical traveltime from the transmitter to the first receiver versus theoretical traveltime from the transmitter to the second receiver. Theoretical traveltime pairs are calculated assuming that the sonic logging tool is centered in the borehole, that the borehole diameter is constant, that the borehole fluid velocity is constant, and that the formation is homogeneous. The plot is linear for the full range of possible formation-rock velocity. Plots of observed traveltime pairs from a sonic logging tool are also linear but have a large degree of scatter due to borehole rugosity, sharp boundaries exhibiting large velocity contrasts, and system measurement uncertainties. However, this scatter can be reduced to a level that is less than scatter due to cycle skipping, so that cycle skips may be detected and discarded or replaced with estimated values of traveltime. Advantages of the method are that it can be applied in real time, that it can be used with data collected by existing tools, that it only affects data that exhibit cycle skipping and leaves other data unchanged, and that a correction trace can be generated which shows where cycle skipping occurs and the amount of correction applied. The method has been successfully tested on sonic log data taken in two holes drilled at the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

Ionization chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jilbert, P.H.

1975-01-01

The invention concerns ionization chambers with particular reference to air-equivalent ionization chambers. In order to ensure that similar chambers have similar sensitivities and responses the surface of the chamber bounding the active volume carries a conducting material, which may be a colloidal graphite, arranged in the form of lines so that the area of the conducting material occupies only a small proportion of the area of said surface. (U.S.)

knock characteristics analysis of a supercharged spark ignition

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

The power output of a spark ignition engine could be improved by boosting the ... that the presence of aromatics was responsible for the better anti-knock ..... System, a Master's Thesis in the Institutionen för ... Maintenance and Reliability, Vol.

A Phase-Locked Loop Continuous Wave Sonic Anemometer-Thermometer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Søren Ejling; Weller, F. W.; Busings, J. A.

1979-01-01

A continuous wake sonic anemometer-thermometer has been developed for simultaneous measurements of vertical velocity and temperature. The phase angle fluctuations are detected by means of a monolithic integrated phase-locked loop, the latter feature providing for inexpensive and accurate...

Multiple refraction switches realized by stretching elastomeric scatterers in sonic crystals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Huang

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The effect of out-of-plane pre-stretch on the 2D sonic crystal with stretchable elastomeric scatterers is explored. The hyperelastic scatterers are characterized by a compressible neo-Hookean model. The Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DtN map is adopted to obtain the band structure and equi-frequency contours. We focus on the first passband and find that a variety of switching functionalities for refraction behaviors can be realized in selected frequencies under a specific pre-stretch range. These refraction switches enable an active control of wave propagation and are applicable in advanced technologies where switchable and multifunctional sonic crystals are required.

Ambient fields generated by a laser spark

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Rohlena, Karel; Mašek, Martin

2016-01-01

Roč. 61, č. 2 (2016), s. 119-124 ISSN 0029-5922 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LD14089; GA MŠk(CZ) LG13031 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : laser spark * radiation chemistry * field generation Subject RIV: BL - Plasma and Gas Discharge Physics Impact factor: 0.760, year: 2016

Synergic effect of tungstophosphoric acid and sonication for rapid synthesis of crystalline nanocellulose.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamid, Sharifah Bee Abd; Zain, Siti Khadijah; Das, Rasel; Centi, Gabriele

2016-03-15

The utilization of sonication in combination with tungstophosphoric acid (PWA) catalyst reduces dramatically the time of operations from 30h to 10min by using an optimum sonication power of 225W. The basic cellulosic structure is maintained, allowing preparing high-quality nanocellulose. The size of the nanocellulose obtained was in the range from 15 to 35nm in diameter and several hundred nanometers in length, with a high crystallinity of about 88%. The nanocellulose shows a surface charge of -38.2mV which allows to obtaina stable colloidal suspension. The surface tension of the stable, swollen aqueous nanocellulose was close to that of water. These characteristics, together with the fast procedure allowed from the synergic combination of PWA and sonication, evidence the high potential of the proposed method for the industrial production of nanocellulose having the properties required in many applications. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Sonic Virtuality, Environment, and Presence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grimshaw, Mark

2018-01-01

The article presents a brief introduction to the concept of sonic virtuality, a view of sound as a multi-modal, emergent perception that provides a framework that has since been used to provide an explanation of the formation of environments. Additionally, the article uses such concepts to explain...... the phenomenon of presence, not only in virtual worlds but also in actual worlds. The view put forward is that environment is an emergent perception, formed from the hypothetical modelling of salient worlds of sensory things, and it is in the environment that we feel present. The article ends with some thoughts...

Broadband Transmission Loss Using the Overlap of Resonances in 3D Sonic Crystals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandre Lardeau

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The acoustic properties of a three-dimensional sonic crystal made of square-rod rigid scatterers incorporating a periodic arrangement of quarter wavelength resonators are theoretically and experimentally reported in this work. The periodicity of the system produces Bragg band gaps that can be tuned in frequency by modifying the orientation of the square-rod scatterers with respect to the incident wave. In addition, the quarter wavelength resonators introduce resonant band gaps that can be tuned by coupling the neighbor resonators. Bragg and resonant band gaps can overlap allowing the wave propagation control inside the periodic resonant medium. In particular, we show theoretically and experimentally that this system can produce a broad frequency band gap exceeding two and a half octaves (from 590 Hz to 3220 Hz with transmission lower than 3%. Finite element methods were used to calculate the dispersion relation of the locally resonant system. The visco-thermal losses were accounted for in the quarter wavelength resonators to simulate the wave propagation in the semi-infinite structures and to compare the numerical results with the experiments performed in an echo-free chamber. The simulations and the experimental results are in good agreement. This work motivates interesting applications of this system as acoustic audible filters.

Effects of thermal treatment and sonication on quality attributes of Chokanan mango (Mangifera indica L.) juice.

Science.gov (United States)

Santhirasegaram, Vicknesha; Razali, Zuliana; Somasundram, Chandran

2013-09-01

Ultrasonic treatment is an emerging food processing technology that has growing interest among health-conscious consumers. Freshly squeezed Chokanan mango juice was thermally treated (at 90 °C for 30 and 60s) and sonicated (for 15, 30 and 60 min at 25 °C, 40 kHz frequency, 130 W) to compare the effect on microbial inactivation, physicochemical properties, antioxidant activities and other quality parameters. After sonication and thermal treatment, no significant changes occurred in pH, total soluble solids and titratable acidity. Sonication for 15 and 30 min showed significant improvement in selected quality parameters except color and ascorbic acid content, when compared to freshly squeezed juice (control). A significant increase in extractability of carotenoids (4-9%) and polyphenols (30-35%) was observed for juice subjected to ultrasonic treatment for 15 and 30 min, when compared to the control. In addition, enhancement of radical scavenging activity and reducing power was observed in all sonicated juice samples regardless of treatment time. Thermal and ultrasonic treatment exhibited significant reduction in microbial count of the juice. The results obtained support the use of sonication to improve the quality of Chokanan mango juice along with safety standard as an alternative to thermal treatment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SciSpark: Highly Interactive and Scalable Model Evaluation and Climate Metrics for Scientific Data and Analysis

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We will construct SciSpark, a scalable system for interactive model evaluation and for the rapid development of climate metrics and analyses. SciSpark directly...

40 CFR 89.2 - Definitions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... valve timing to increase the amount of residual exhaust gas in the combustion chamber(s) that is mixed... or assembly is being carried out in a facility. Post-manufacture marinizer means a person who.... Spark-ignition means relating to a gasoline-fueled engine or other engines with a spark plug (or other...

Impulse tests on distribution transformers protected by means of spark gaps

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pykaelae, M L; Palva, V [Helsinki Univ. of Technology, Otaniemi (Finland). High Voltage Institute; Niskanen, K [ABB Corporate Research, Vaasa (Finland)

1998-12-31

Distribution transformers in rural networks have to cope with transient overvoltages, even with those caused by the direct lightning strokes to the lines. In Finland the 24 kV network conditions, such as wooden pole lines, high soil resistivity and isolated neutral network, lead into fast transient overvoltages. Impulse testing of pole-mounted distribution transformers ({<=} 200 kVA) protected by means of spark gaps were studied. Different failure detection methods were used. Results can be used as background information for standardization work dealing with distribution transformers protected by means of spark gaps. (orig.) 9 refs.

Impulse tests on distribution transformers protected by means of spark gaps

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pykaelae, M.L.; Palva, V. [Helsinki Univ. of Technology, Otaniemi (Finland). High Voltage Institute; Niskanen, K. [ABB Corporate Research, Vaasa (Finland)

1997-12-31

Distribution transformers in rural networks have to cope with transient overvoltages, even with those caused by the direct lightning strokes to the lines. In Finland the 24 kV network conditions, such as wooden pole lines, high soil resistivity and isolated neutral network, lead into fast transient overvoltages. Impulse testing of pole-mounted distribution transformers ({<=} 200 kVA) protected by means of spark gaps were studied. Different failure detection methods were used. Results can be used as background information for standardization work dealing with distribution transformers protected by means of spark gaps. (orig.) 9 refs.

Graphene-induced strengthening in spark plasma sintered tantalum carbide–nanotube composite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lahiri, Debrupa; Khaleghi, Evan; Bakshi, Srinivasa Rao; Li, Wei; Olevsky, Eugene A.; Agarwal, Arvind

2013-01-01

Transverse rupture strength of spark plasma sintered tantalum carbide (TaC) composites reinforced with long and short carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reported. The rupture strength depends on the transformation behavior of the CNTs during spark plasma sintering, which is dependent on their length. The TaC composite with short nanotubes shows the highest specific rupture strength. Shorter CNTs transform into multi-layered graphene sheets between TaC grains, whereas long ones retain the tubular structure. Two-dimensionsal graphene platelets offer higher resistance to pull-out, resulting in delayed fracture and higher strength.

Vacuum spark breakdown model based on exploding metal wire phenomena

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haaland, J.

1984-06-01

Spark source mass spectra (SSMS) indicates that ions are extracted from an expanding and decaying plasma. The intensity distribution shows no dependance on vaporization properties of individual elements which indicates explosive vapour formation. This seems further to be a requirement for bridging a vacuum gap. A model including plasma ejection from a superheated anode spot by a process similar to that of an exploding metal wire is proposed. The appearance of hot plasma points in low inductance vacuum sparks can then be explained as exploding micro particles ejected from a final central anode spot. The phenomenological model is compared with available experimental results from literature, but no extensive quantification is attempted

Pilot Test of a Novel Method for Assessing Community Response to Low-Amplitude Sonic Booms

Science.gov (United States)

Fidell, Sanford; Horonjeff, Richard D.; Harris, Michael

2012-01-01

A pilot test of a novel method for assessing residents annoyance to sonic booms was performed. During a two-week period, residents of the base housing area at Edwards Air Force Base provided data on their reactions to sonic booms using Smartphone-based interviews. Noise measurements were conducted at the same time. The report presents information about data collection methods and about test participants reactions to low-amplitude sonic booms. The latter information should not be viewed as definitive for several reasons. It may not be reliably generalized to the wider U.S. residential population (because it was not derived from a representative random sample) and the sample itself was not large.

Glucose sensing on graphite screen-printed electrode modified by sparking of copper nickel alloys.

Science.gov (United States)

Riman, Daniel; Spyrou, Konstantinos; Karantzalis, Alexandros E; Hrbac, Jan; Prodromidis, Mamas I

2017-04-01

Electric spark discharge was employed as a green, fast and extremely facile method to modify disposable graphite screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) with copper, nickel and mixed copper/nickel nanoparticles (NPs) in order to be used as nonenzymatic glucose sensors. Direct SPEs-to-metal (copper, nickel or copper/nickel alloys with 25/75, 50/50 and 75/25wt% compositions) sparking at 1.2kV was conducted in the absence of any solutions under ambient conditions. Morphological characterization of the sparked surfaces was performed by scanning electron microscopy, while the chemical composition of the sparked NPs was evaluated with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The performance of the various sparked SPEs towards the electro oxidation of glucose in alkaline media and the critical role of hydroxyl ions were evaluated with cyclic voltammetry and kinetic studies. Results indicated a mixed charge transfer- and hyroxyl ion transport-limited process. Best performing sensors fabricated by Cu/Ni 50/50wt% alloy showed linear response over the concentration range 2-400μM glucose and they were successfully applied to the amperometric determination of glucose in blood. The detection limit (S/N 3) and the relative standard deviation of the method were 0.6µM and green methods in sensor's development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Glove box chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cox, M.E.; Cox, M.E.

1975-01-01

An environmental chamber is described which enables an operator's hands to have direct access within the chamber without compromising a special atmosphere within such chamber. A pair of sleeves of a flexible material are sealed to the chamber around associated access apertures and project outwardly from such chamber. Each aperture is closed by a door which is openable from within the sleeve associated therewith so that upon an operator inserting his hand and arm through the sleeve, the operator can open the door to have access to the interior of the chamber. A container which is selectively separable from the remainder of the chamber is also provided to allow objects to be transferred from the chamber without such objects having to pass through the ambient atmosphere. An antechamber permitting objects to be passed directly into the chamber from the ambient atmosphere is included. (auth)

Diagnosis Of Persistent Infection In Prosthetic Two-Stage Exchange: PCR analysis of Sonication fluid From Bone Cement Spacers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mariaux, Sandrine; Tafin, Ulrika Furustrand; Borens, Olivier

2017-01-01

Introduction: When treating periprosthetic joint infections with a two-stage procedure, antibiotic-impregnated spacers are used in the interval between removal of prosthesis and reimplantation. According to our experience, cultures of sonicated spacers are most often negative. The objective of our study was to investigate whether PCR analysis would improve the detection of bacteria in the spacer sonication fluid. Methods: A prospective monocentric study was performed from September 2014 to January 2016. Inclusion criteria were two-stage procedure for prosthetic infection and agreement of the patient to participate in the study. Beside tissues samples and sonication, broad range bacterial PCRs, specific S. aureus PCRs and Unyvero-multiplex PCRs were performed on the sonicated spacer fluid. Results: 30 patients were identified (15 hip, 14 knee and 1 ankle replacements). At reimplantation, cultures of tissue samples and spacer sonication fluid were all negative. Broad range PCRs were all negative. Specific S. aureus PCRs were positive in 5 cases. We had two persistent infections and four cases of infection recurrence were observed, with bacteria different than for the initial infection in three cases. Conclusion: The three different types of PCRs did not detect any bacteria in spacer sonication fluid that was culture-negative. In our study, PCR did not improve the bacterial detection and did not help to predict whether the patient will present a persistent or recurrent infection. Prosthetic 2-stage exchange with short interval and antibiotic-impregnated spacer is an efficient treatment to eradicate infection as both culture- and molecular-based methods were unable to detect bacteria in spacer sonication fluid after reimplantation.

Focused ultrasound-mediated noninvasive blood-brain barrier modulation: preclinical examination of efficacy and safety in various sonication parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Jaewoo; Kong, Chanho; Cho, Jae Sung; Lee, Jihyeon; Koh, Chin Su; Yoon, Min-Sik; Na, Young Cheol; Chang, Won Seok; Chang, Jin Woo

2018-02-01

OBJECTIVE The application of pharmacological therapeutics in neurological disorders is limited by the ability of these agents to penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Focused ultrasound (FUS) has recently gained attention for its potential application as a method for locally opening the BBB and thereby facilitating drug delivery into the brain parenchyma. However, this method still requires optimization to maximize its safety and efficacy for clinical use. In the present study, the authors examined several sonication parameters of FUS influencing BBB opening in small animals. METHODS Changes in BBB permeability were observed during transcranial sonication using low-intensity FUS in 20 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. The authors examined the effects of FUS sonication with different sonication parameters, varying acoustic pressure, center frequency, burst duration, microbubble (MB) type, MB dose, pulse repetition frequency (PRF), and total exposure time. The focal region of BBB opening was identified by Evans blue dye. Additionally, H & E staining was used to identify blood vessel damage. RESULTS Acoustic pressure amplitude and burst duration were closely associated with enhancement of BBB opening efficiency, but these parameters were also highly correlated with tissue damage in the sonicated region. In contrast, MB types, MB dose, total exposure time, and PRF had an influence on BBB opening without conspicuous tissue damage after FUS sonication. CONCLUSIONS The study aimed to identify these influential conditions and provide safety and efficacy values for further studies. Future work based on the current results is anticipated to facilitate the implementation of FUS sonication for drug delivery in various CNS disease states in the near future.

Passenger Spaceplanes and Airplanes that Have Variable Configuration for Sonic Boom Reduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constantin SANDU

2018-06-01

Full Text Available In the last time, the interest for passenger space plane, supersonic passenger aircraft and supersonic business jets is increasing. For reducing sonic boom effects at ground level, some companies proposed airplanes having fuselage with small traversal section or having curved fuselage. This paper presents a new practical method for exciting vibrations in the leading edge of wing, tail and airplane's nose surfaces in order to scatter the shock wave and to reduce the sonic boom impact at ground level. The leading edges of wing, tail and airplane nose are covered with thin elastic fairings made of carbon fiber composite material which are separated through small gaps by the adjacent surfaces of wing, tail and nose. When the aircraft flies over populated areas, compressed air bleed from the engine compressors excites the vibration of carbon fiber fairings. The air is released through calibrated nozzles and directly impinges on the fairing surface generating their vibration. Thus, the shock waves are scattered and the impact of sonic boom on ground is much reduced.

Stability of sonicated aqueous suspensions of phospholipids under air.

Science.gov (United States)

Almog, R; Forward, R; Samsonoff, C

1991-12-01

The stability of phospholipids in liposomal aqueous suspension against oxidative degradation in air was investigated using spectrophotometric indices, glutathione peroxidase reactivity and thin layer chromatography. Zwitterionic phospholipid was found to be susceptible to degradation via oxidation of polyunsaturated hydrocarbon chains and ester hydrolysis, producing oxidized lysophosphatide and free fatty acid derivatives. These products were characterized as hydroperoxides based on their reactivity with the selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase isolated from human erythrocytes. Lecithin in Tris buffer was more resistant to hydrolysis than in water. The sonication of 8.0 mM of soybean phosphatidylcholine (SB-PC) suspension in 0.1 M Tris (pH 7.5) in the presence of air produced relatively high concentration of conjugated diene hydroperoxide, but a small amount of hydrolyzed products. Anionic phospholipids, such as egg-phosphatidylglycerol (egg-PG), demonstrated higher resistance to air oxidation than the zwitterionic lecithin, but its oxidation was promoted by sonication.

wire chamber

CERN Multimedia

Proportional multi-wire chamber. Multi-wire detectors contain layers of positively and negatively charged wires enclosed in a chamber full of gas. A charged particle passing through the chamber knocks negatively charged electrons out of atoms in the gas, leaving behind positive ions. The electrons are pulled towards the positively charged wires. They collide with other atoms on the way, producing an avalanche of electrons and ions. The movement of these electrons and ions induces an electric pulse in the wires which is collected by fast electronics. The size of the pulse is proportional to the energy loss of the original particle. Proportional wire chambers allow a much quicker reading than the optical or magnetoscriptive readout wire chambers.

Particle formation induced by sonication during yogurt fermentation - Impact of exopolysaccharide-producing starter cultures on physical properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Körzendörfer, Adrian; Nöbel, Stefan; Hinrichs, Jörg

2017-07-01

Two major quality defects of yogurt are syneresis and the presence of large particles, and several reasons have been extensively discussed. Vibrations during fermentation, particularly generated by pumps, must be considered as a further cause as latest research showed that both ultrasound and low frequencies induced visible particles. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of sonication during fermentation with starter cultures differing in exopolysaccharide (EPS) synthesis on the physical properties of set (syneresis, firmness) and stirred yogurt (large particles, laser diffraction, rheology). Skim milk was fermented with starter cultures YC-471 (low EPS) or YF-L 901 (high EPS) (Chr. Hansen) and sonicated for 5min at pH5.2. Sonicated set gels exhibited syneresis and were softer than respective controls. The mechanical treatment was adjusted to quantify visible particles (d≥0.9mm) in stirred yogurts properly. Sonication significantly increased particle numbers, however, the effect was less pronounced when YF-L 901 was used, indicating EPS as a tool to reduce syneresis and particle formation due to vibrations. Rheological parameters and size of microgel particles were rather influenced by starter cultures than by sonication. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Binding Mode of the Sonic Hedgehog Inhibitor Robotnikinin, a Combined Docking and QM/MM MD Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Hitzenberger

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Erroneous activation of the Hedgehog pathway has been linked to a great amount of cancerous diseases and therefore a large number of studies aiming at its inhibition have been carried out. One leverage point for novel therapeutic strategies targeting the proteins involved, is the prevention of complex formation between the extracellular signaling protein Sonic Hedgehog and the transmembrane protein Patched 1. In 2009 robotnikinin, a small molecule capable of binding to and inhibiting the activity of Sonic Hedgehog has been identified, however in the absence of X-ray structures of the Sonic Hedgehog-robotnikinin complex, the binding mode of this inhibitor remains unknown. In order to aid with the identification of novel Sonic Hedgehog inhibitors, the presented investigation elucidates the binding mode of robotnikinin by performing an extensive docking study, including subsequent molecular mechanical as well as quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical molecular dynamics simulations. The attained configurations enabled the identification of a number of key protein-ligand interactions, aiding complex formation and providing stabilizing contributions to the binding of the ligand. The predicted structure of the Sonic Hedgehog-robotnikinin complex is provided via a PDB file as Supplementary Material and can be used for further reference.

SciDB versus Spark: A Preliminary Comparison Based on an Earth Science Use Case

Science.gov (United States)

Clune, T.; Kuo, K. S.; Doan, K.; Oloso, A.

2015-12-01

We compare two Big Data technologies, SciDB and Spark, for performance, usability, and extensibility, when applied to a representative Earth science use case. SciDB is a new-generation parallel distributed database management system (DBMS) based on the array data model that is capable of handling multidimensional arrays efficiently but requires lengthy data ingest prior to analysis, whereas Spark is a fast and general engine for large scale data processing that can immediately process raw data files and thereby avoid the ingest process. Once data have been ingested, SciDB is very efficient in database operations such as subsetting. Spark, on the other hand, provides greater flexibility by supporting a wide variety of high-level tools including DBMS's. For the performance aspect of this preliminary comparison, we configure Spark to operate directly on text or binary data files and thereby limit the need for additional tools. Arguably, a more appropriate comparison would involve exploring other configurations of Spark which exploit supported high-level tools, but that is beyond our current resources. To make the comparison as "fair" as possible, we export the arrays produced by SciDB into text files (or converting them to binary files) for the intake by Spark and thereby avoid any additional file processing penalties. The Earth science use case selected for this comparison is the identification and tracking of snowstorms in the NASA Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis data. The identification portion of the use case is to flag all grid cells of the MERRA high-resolution hourly data that satisfies our criteria for snowstorm, whereas the tracking portion connects flagged cells adjacent in time and space to form a snowstorm episode. We will report the results of our comparisons at this presentation.

Sonic anemometry to measure natural ventilation in greenhouses.

Science.gov (United States)

López, Alejandro; Valera, Diego Luis; Molina-Aiz, Francisco

2011-01-01

The present work has developed a methodology for studying natural ventilation in Mediterranean greenhouses by means of sonic anemometry. In addition, specific calculation programmes have been designed to enable processing and analysis of the data recorded during the experiments. Sonic anemometry allows us to study the direction of the airflow at all the greenhouse vents. Knowing through which vents the air enters and leaves the greenhouse enables us to establish the airflow pattern of the greenhouse under natural ventilation conditions. In the greenhouse analysed in this work for Poniente wind (from the southwest), a roof vent designed to open towards the North (leeward) could allow a positive interaction between the wind and stack effects, improving the ventilation capacity of the greenhouse. The cooling effect produced by the mass of turbulent air oscillating between inside and outside the greenhouse at the side vents was limited to 2% (for high wind speed, u(o) ≥ 4 m s(-1)) reaching 36.3% when wind speed was lower (u(o) = 2 m s(-1)).

Inversion of Supramolecular Chirality by Sonication-Induced Organogelation

Science.gov (United States)

Maity, Sibaprasad; Das, Priyadip; Reches, Meital

2015-01-01

Natural helical structures have inspired the formation of well-ordered peptide-based chiral nanostructures in vitro. These structures have drawn much attention owing to their diverse applications in the area of asymmetric catalysts, chiral photonic materials, and nanoplasmonics. The self-assembly of two enantiomeric fluorinated aromatic dipeptides into ordered chiral fibrillar nanostructures upon sonication is described. These fibrils form organogels. Our results clearly indicate that fluorine-fluorine interactions play an important role in self-assembly. Circular dichroism analysis revealed that both peptides (peptides 1 and 2), containing two fluorines, depicted opposite cotton effects in their monomeric form compared with their aggregated form. This shows that supramolecular chirality inversion took place during the stimuli-responsive self-aggregation process. Conversely, peptide 3, containing one fluorine, did not exhibit chirality inversion in sonication-induced organogelation. Therefore, our results clearly indicate that fluorination plays an important role in the organogelation process of these aromatic dipeptides. Our findings may have broad implications regarding the design of chiral nanostructures for possible applications such as chiroptical switches, asymmetric catalysis, and chiral recognitions. PMID:26553508

Test chamber

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leferink, Frank Bernardus Johannes

2009-01-01

A test chamber for measuring electromagnetic radiation emitted by an apparatus to be tested or for exposing an apparatus to be tested to an electromagnetic radiation field. The test chamber includes a reverberation chamber made of a conductive tent fabric. To create a statistically uniform field in

Evaluating the Impact of Data Placement to Spark and SciDB with an Earth Science Use Case

Science.gov (United States)

Doan, Khoa; Oloso, Amidu; Kuo, Kwo-Sen; Clune, Thomas; Yu, Hongfeng; Nelson, Brian; Zhang, Jian

2016-01-01

We investigate the impact of data placement for two Big Data technologies, Spark and SciDB, with a use case from Earth Science where data arrays are multidimensional. Simultaneously, this investigation provides an opportunity to evaluate the performance of the technologies involved. Two datastores, HDFS and Cassandra, are used with Spark for our comparison. It is found that Spark with Cassandra performs better than with HDFS, but SciDB performs better yet than Spark with either datastore. The investigation also underscores the value of having data aligned for the most common analysis scenarios in advance on a shared nothing architecture. Otherwise, repartitioning needs to be carried out on the fly, degrading overall performance.

Towards constrained optimal control of spark-ignition engines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Feru, E.; Luo, X.

2015-01-01

In this paper, the torque control problem for spark-ignition engines is considered. The objective is to provide good output torque tracking with minimum fuel consumption, while avoiding engine knock and misre. To this end, three control strategies are proposed: a feed-forward controller with

Bacterial recovery using sonication versus swabbing of titanium and stainless steel implants inoculated with Staphylococcus pseudintermedius or Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Keeshen, Thomas; Case, J Brad; Wellehan, James F; Dujowich, Mauricio

2017-09-12

To evaluate the use of sonication to improve recovery of bacteria from metal discs infected with bacteria commonly associated with implant infections in veterinary medicine. In vitro study in which sterile titanium (Ti6Al4V) and stainless steel (AIS1316-L) discs were incubated with either Staphylococcus pseudintermedius or Pseudomonas aeruginosa for 24 hours. The following three groups were compared: 1) the sonication group involved immersing the discs in sterile saline and sonicating for five minutes; 2) the sham group was considered a negative control in which the discs were immersed in saline for five minutes without sonication; and 3) the swab group involved systematically swabbing the implant with a sterile culturette. All samples were plated on blood agar and incubated for 24 hours. Colonies were then counted and compared. For both species of bacteria, there was a significant increase in bacterial colonies isolated using sonication compared to the other two study groups (p = 0.0001). No differences in bacterial growth were found between the two types of metal implants. There was a significant increase in bacterial colony counts for S. pseudintermedius when comparing the swab group versus the sham group, but this was not significant for P. aeruginosa. Sonication significantly improves recovery of bacteria commonly associated with veterinary implant-associated surgical site infections compared to swabbing of implants in vitro. A prospective clinical evaluation is indicated to determine the in vivo efficacy of sonication in veterinary patients.

Experimental study on surface properties of the PMMA used in high power spark gaps

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Ruoyu; Wu, Jiawei; Ding, Weidong; Liu, Yunfei; Gou, Yang

2017-10-01

This paper studies the surface properties of the Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) insulator samples used in high power spark gaps. Experiments on surface morphology, surface profile, surface chemical composition and surface leakage current were performed. Metal particles ejected in tangent direction of discharge spots were researched on the sample surface. Three kinds of distinct bands were found on the surface after 1500 shots: colorless and transparent sinking band, black band, and grey powdered coating band. The thickness of the coating band was tens of microns and the maximum radial erosion rate was about 10 μm/C. Surface content analysis indicated that the powdered coating was a mixture of decomposed insulator material and electrode material oxides. In addition, leakage current significantly depended on water content in the chamber and presented an U-shape curve distribution along the insulator surface, in keeping with the amount of powdered coating due to shock waves. Possible reasons of the surface property changes were discussed. Electroconductive oxides of low valence states of Cu and W produced by the reactions between electrode materials and arc plasmas were considered to be the cause of dielectric performance degradation.

Sonic Fiction as the Mapping of Difference

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holmboe, Rasmus; Stricker, Jan Høgh

2015-01-01

The here proposed audio paper/audio lecture performance is an iteration of a site-specific participatory performance piece by Danish artist, composer and musician, Andreas Führer. The piece, which has the title THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY D’OR, is a scored sound walk, which shows a map designati......) as a discussion and contextualisation of sonic materialist (Cox, 2011) and signifying representationalist (Kim-Cohen, 2009) positions....

Sonic branding: a framework for understanding sound branding and an overview of its most noticeable practices across industries

OpenAIRE

Bollue, Sebastien

2015-01-01

This thesis presents the importance and relevance of sound in branding, as very few studies on sonic branding have been conducted so far. The aim of this thesis is to lay out a framework for understanding sonic branding as a phenomenon and for getting an overview of the most notable practices of sonic branding across various industries. The study is commissioned by the advertising agency Wondergarden for who a workshop was also created. Additionally this thesis hopefully can inspire other...

Large area spark counters with fine time and position resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogawa, A.; Atwood, W.B.; Fujiwara, N.; Pestov, Yu.N.; Sugahara, R.

1983-10-01

Spark counters trace their history back over three decades but have been used in only a limited number of experiments. The key properties of these devices include their capability of precision timing (at the sub 100 ps level) and of measuring the position of the charged particle to high accuracy. At SLAC we have undertaken a program to develop these devices for use in high energy physics experiments involving large detectors. A spark counter of size 1.2 m x 0.1 m has been constructed and has been operating continuously in our test setup for several months. In this talk I will discuss some details of its construction and its properties as a particle detector. 14 references

Advances in the electro-spark deposition coating process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, R.N.; Sheldon, G.L.

1986-04-01

Electro-spark deposition (ESD) is a pulsed-arc micro-welding process using short-duration, high-current electrical pulses to deposit an electrode material on a metallic substrate. It is one of the few methods available by which a fused, metallurgically bonded coating can be applied with such a low total heat input that the bulk substrate material remains at or near ambient temperatures. The short duration of the electrical pulse allows an extremely rapid solidification of the deposited material and results in an exceptionally fine-grained, homogenous coating that approaches (and with some materials, actually is) an amorphous structure. This structure is believed to contribute to the good tribological and corrosion performance observed for hardsurfacing materials used in the demanding environments of high temperatures, liquid metals, and neutron irradiation. A brief historical review of the process is provided, followed by descriptions of the present state-of-the-art and of the performance and applications of electro-spark deposition coatings in liquid-metal-cooled nuclear reactors

Mathematical modeling and optimization of sonication remediation of soil polluted with 2-methylpropane-2-thiol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

pejman roohi

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Existence of 2-methylpropane-2-thiol as an organosulfur and odorant compound in the soil could causes environmental problem and social dissatisfaction. In this study, remediation of this type of thiol using ultrasound is investigated. Central Composite Design (CCD based on Response Surface Model (RSM was used to obtain effects of the main factor (Power, sonication time and amount of water and their interactions. Analysis of variance and Pareto analysis shows that all main factors are effective (the percentage effects of 43.30%, 30.35% and 9.62% on removal efficiency for power, sonication time and amount of water respectively. Moreover, interaction between water content and power, and sonication time and power are effective interaction (with P-values of 0.025 and 0.007 respectively. Base on experiment results and analysis of variance effects of the daylight is not significant (P-value=0.825. P-value of lack of fit (0.176 suggested model assessed as a good model and adequately fits data. Highest levels of power and sonication time (86 watt and 38 minute respectively and water content in lower level (27 ml in studied interval lead to maximum removal efficiency (82.83%.

Six propositions on the sonics of pornography

OpenAIRE

Mowlabocus, Sharif; Medhurst, Andy

2017-01-01

Pornography (and all its contentious pleasures, contested politics and attendant problematics) is enjoying a fresh wave of academic attention. The overwhelming majority of these studies, however, focus on the visual discourses of sexually explicit material. This risks the sonic dimensions of pornography being overlooked entirely. Yet porn is anything but silent. This speculative article maps out some of the ways in which the sounds of pornography (and the pornography of sound) might be approa...

Development of spark cathode E-guns. Draft final reprt, Phase I, July--October 1978

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loda, G.; Lindstrand, R.

1979-01-01

A 12 sided spark cathode is designed and constructed to replace the bladed, cold cathode structure in the electron gun of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Antares prototype power amplifier. Design work includes computer modeling and full scale low voltage modeling. Life testing to 100,000 pulses is documented. The spark cathode offers precise control of emission site location and a high reliability

SPARK RttT: Year One Fidelity and Implementation

Science.gov (United States)

Rochford, Joseph A.; O'Neill, Adrienne; Gelb, Adele; Ross, Kimberly

2014-01-01

Developed in 2003 by the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton with a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, "Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids" ("SPARK Ohio") is a family-centered kindergarten readiness program that works with families, schools, and the community. From its initial sites in Stark County, "SPARK…

Effect of spark plug and fuel injector location on mixture stratification in a GDI engine - A CFD analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Saw, O. P.; Mallikarjuna, J. M.

2017-09-01

The mixture preparation in gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines operating at stratified condition plays an important role in deciding the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of the engine. In a wall-guided GDI engine, with a late fuel injection strategy, piston top surface is designed in such a way that the injected fuel is directed towards the spark plug to form a combustible mixture at the time of ignition. In addition, in these engines, location of spark-plug and fuel injector, fuel injection pressure and timing are also important to create a combustible mixture near the spark plug. Therefore, understanding the mixture formation under the influence of the location of spark plug and fuel injector is very essential for the optimization of the engine parameters. In this study, an attempt is made to understand the effect of spark plug and fuel injector location on the mixture preparation in a four-stroke, four-valve and wall-guided GDI engine operating under a stratified condition by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. All the CFD simulations are carried out at an engine speed of 2000 rev/min., and compression ratio of 10.6, at an overall equivalence ratio (ER) of about 0.65. The fuel injection and spark timings are maintained at 605 and 710 CADs respectively. Finally, it is concluded that, combination of central spark plug and side fuel injector results in better combustion and performance.

Sonication reduces the attachment of Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC 14028 cells to bacterial cellulose-based plant cell wall models and cut plant material.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Michelle S F; Rahman, Sadequr; Dykes, Gary A

2017-04-01

This study investigated the removal of bacterial surface structures, particularly flagella, using sonication, and examined its effect on the attachment of Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC 14028 cells to plant cell walls. S. Typhimurium ATCC 14028 cells were subjected to sonication at 20 kHz to remove surface structures without affecting cell viability. Effective removal of flagella was determined by staining flagella of sonicated cells with Ryu's stain and enumerating the flagella remaining by direct microscopic counting. The attachment of sonicated S. Typhimurium cells to bacterial cellulose-based plant cell wall models and cut plant material (potato, apple, lettuce) was then evaluated. Varying concentrations of pectin and/or xyloglucan were used to produce a range of bacterial cellulose-based plant cell wall models. As compared to the non-sonicated controls, sonicated S. Typhimurium cells attached in significantly lower numbers (between 0.5 and 1.0 log CFU/cm 2 ) to all surfaces except to the bacterial cellulose-only composite without pectin and xyloglucan. Since attachment of S. Typhimurium to the bacterial cellulose-only composite was not affected by sonication, this suggests that bacterial surface structures, particularly flagella, could have specific interactions with pectin and xyloglucan. This study indicates that sonication may have potential applications for reducing Salmonella attachment during the processing of fresh produce. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

I cristalli sonici come barriere antirumore - Sonic crystals as tunable noise barriers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federica Morandi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Il presente contributo riporta un'introduzione al tema della propagazione del suono nei cristalli sonici e un excursus sulla letteratura scientifica più recente. Si discutono i risultati di alcune indagini sperimentali condotte presso l’Università di Bologna inerenti misure di Insertion Loss, misure effettuate all’interno del reticolo e misure di intensimetria. Infine i valori di Sound Insulation misurati per un cristallo sonico sono confrontati con valori misurati su barriere tradizionali, evidenziando come il cristallo sonico permetta di raggiungere un isolamento confrontabile con il valore soglia di Insertion Loss raggiungibile a causa della diffrazione del bordo superiore della barriera. ------ This work reports an introduction to the topic of wave propagation in sonic crystals and a review of the recent scientific literature. The paper presents the results of some experimental investigations carried out at the University of Bologna by discussing Insertion Loss measurements, measurements performed inside the lattice and sound intensity measurements. Finally, the Sound Insulation Index measured for a sonic crystal is compared to the values measured for common noise barriers, pointing out that sonic crystals reach insulation values comparable to the maximum Insertion Loss achievable due to the top edge diffraction.

Methodology on quantification of sonication duration for safe application of MR guided focused ultrasound for liver tumour ablation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mihcin, Senay; Karakitsios, Ioannis; Le, Nhan; Strehlow, Jan; Demedts, Daniel; Schwenke, Michael; Haase, Sabrina; Preusser, Tobias; Melzer, Andreas

2017-12-01

Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) for liver tumour ablation is a challenging task due to motion caused by breathing and occlusion due the ribcage between the transducer and the tumour. To overcome these challenges, a novel system for liver tumour ablation during free breathing has been designed. The novel TRANS-FUSIMO Treatment System (TTS, EUFP7) interacts with a Magnetic Resonance (MR) scanner and a focused ultrasound transducer to sonicate to a moving target in liver. To meet the requirements of ISO 13485; a quality management system for medical device design, the system needs to be tested for certain process parameters. The duration of sonication and, the delay after the sonication button is activated, are among the parameters that need to be quantified for efficient and safe ablation of tumour tissue. A novel methodology is developed to quantify these process parameters. A computerised scope is programmed in LabVIEW to collect data via hydrophone; where the coordinates of fiber-optic sensor assembly was fed into the TRANS-FUSIMO treatment software via Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to sonicate to the tip of the sensor, which is synchronised with the clock of the scope, embedded in a degassed water tank via sensor assembly holder. The sonications were executed for 50 W, 100 W, 150 W for 10 s to quantify the actual sonication duration and the delay after the emergency stop by two independent operators for thirty times. The deviation of the system from the predefined specs was calculated. Student's-T test was used to investigate the user dependency. The duration of sonication and the delay after the sonication were quantified successfully with the developed method. TTS can sonicate with a maximum deviation of 0.16 s (Std 0.32) from the planned duration and with a delay of 14 ms (Std 0.14) for the emergency stop. Student's T tests indicate that the results do not depend on operators (p > .05). The evidence obtained via this

Acoustic pressure in cavity of variously sized two-dimensional sonic crystals with various filling fractions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Liangyu; Chen Lienwen; Liu Chiaming

2009-01-01

This study theoretically and experimentally investigates the acoustic pressure in the cavity of a 2D sonic crystal. Such crystals are composed of polymethyl methacrylate cylinders with a square array embedded in air background. The plane wave expansion method and the supercell calculation are employed to calculate the band structure and obtain the defect band. The finite element method is adopted to simulate the pressure field in the sonic crystal and calculate the pressure in the middle of the cavity as a function of frequency. The effects of sizes and filling fractions are investigated, and the quality factor of the cavity is discussed. The measured spectra and pressures in the defect of the sonic crystal demonstrate that the acoustic waves can be localized in the defect at the resonant frequency

Atmospheric stability and turbulence fluxes at Horns Rev—an intercomparison of sonic, bulk and WRF model data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pena Diaz, Alfredo; Hahmann, Andrea N.

2012-01-01

anemometer at 15 m height and potential temperature differences between the water and the air above. Surface flux estimations from the advanced weather research and forecast (WRF) model are also validated against the sonic and bulk data. The correlation between the sonic and bulk estimates of friction...... to the surface, not only from a systematic bulk and WRF under‐prediction of the friction velocity when compared with the sonic value but also because of the lower magnitude of the sonic heat flux compared with that from the WRF simulations. Although they are not measured but parameterized or estimated, the bulk......–WRF comparisons of friction velocity and 10 m wind speed show good agreement. It is also shown that on a long‐term basis, the WRF and bulk estimates of stability are nearly equal and that a correction towards a slightly stable atmospheric condition has to be applied to the long‐term wind profile at Horns Rev...

The Mobile Chamber

Science.gov (United States)

Scharfstein, Gregory; Cox, Russell

2012-01-01

A document discusses a simulation chamber that represents a shift from the thermal-vacuum chamber stereotype. This innovation, currently in development, combines the capabilities of space simulation chambers, the user-friendliness of modern-day electronics, and the modularity of plug-and-play computing. The Mobile Chamber is a customized test chamber that can be deployed with great ease, and is capable of bringing payloads at temperatures down to 20 K, in high vacuum, and with the desired metrology instruments integrated to the systems control. Flexure plans to lease Mobile Chambers, making them affordable for smaller budgets and available to a larger customer base. A key feature of this design will be an Apple iPad-like user interface that allows someone with minimal training to control the environment inside the chamber, and to simulate the required extreme environments. The feedback of thermal, pressure, and other measurements is delivered in a 3D CAD model of the chamber's payload and support hardware. This GUI will provide the user with a better understanding of the payload than any existing thermal-vacuum system.

Cyclic variations of fuel-droplet distribution during the early intake stroke of a lean-burn stratified-charge spark-ignition engine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aleiferis, P.G. [Imperial College London, Department of Mechanical Engineering, London (United Kingdom); University College London, Department of Mechanical Engineering, London (United Kingdom); Hardalupas, Y.; Taylor, A.M.K.P. [Imperial College London, Department of Mechanical Engineering, London (United Kingdom); Ishii, K. [Honda International Technical School, Saitama (Japan); Urata, Y. [Tochigi R and D Centre, Honda R and D Co., Ltd, Tochigi (Japan)

2005-11-01

Lean-burn spark-ignition engines exhibit higher efficiency and lower specific emissions in comparison with stoichiometrically charged engines. However, as the air-to-fuel (A/F) ratio of the mixture is made leaner than stoichiometric, cycle-by-cycle variations in the early stages of in-cylinder combustion, and subsequent indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), become more pronounced and limit the range of lean-burn operation. Viable lean-burn engines promote charge stratification, the mixture near the spark plug being richer than the cylinder volume averaged value. Recent work has shown that cycle-by-cycle variations in the early stages of combustion in a stratified-charge engine can be associated with variations in both the local value of A/F ratio near the spark plug around ignition timing, as well as in the volume averaged value of the A/F ratio. The objective of the current work was to identify possible sources of such variability in A/F ratio by studying the in-cylinder field of fuel-droplet distribution during the early intake stroke. This field was visualised in an optical single-cylinder 4-valve pentroof-type spark-ignition engine by means of laser-sheet illumination in planes parallel to the cylinder head gasket 6 and 10 mm below the spark plug. The engine was run with port-injected isooctane at 1500 rpm with 30% volumetric efficiency and air-to-fuel ratio corresponding to both stoichiometric firing (A/F=15, {phi} =1.0) and mixture strength close to the lean limit of stable operation (A/F=22, {phi} =0.68). Images of Mie intensity scattered by the cloud of fuel droplets were acquired on a cycle-by-cycle basis. These were studied in order to establish possible correlations between the cyclic variations in size, location and scattered-light intensity of the cloud of droplets with the respective variations in IMEP. Because of the low level of Mie intensity scattered by the droplets and because of problems related to elastic scattering on the walls of the

Overcurrent protection for the TFTR neutral beam sources during spark down

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Praeg, W.F.

1979-01-01

The accelerating grid of a neutral beam source (NBS) of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) operates at 120 kV and 65 A. The capacitance to ground between the switch tube (ST) and the NBS is C 1 approx. 5 nF (approx. 36 J). The arc and filament power supplies for the NBS float at 120 kV and have a capacitance to ground of C 2 approx. 2 nF (approx. 14 J). When the NBS sparks to ground, C 2 begins to discharge immediately. The ST impedance limits the fault current from the high voltage (HV) power supply to approx. 100 A until it disconnects the power source 1 begins to discharge. During spark down, fault currents are limited with a saturated time-delay transformer (STDT) connected between the ST and the NBS and with a snubber, which is in the arc and filament power leads, in connection with a spark gap. Alternatively, STDT's can be used for the HV and for the arc and filament power leads. This paper presents design details and experimental results of the overcurrent protection circuits

Preliminary investigation into the simulation of a laser-induced plasma by means of a floating object in a spark gap

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

West, NJ

2007-08-01

Full Text Available In this research, an orthogonally laser-triggered spark gap is investigated. The laser beam is directed in the region of a 30mm spark gap at 90 degrees to the gap and focused on the axis. The influence of plasma position within the spark gap...

Generation of toxic degradation products by sonication of Pluronic® dispersants: implications for nanotoxicity testing

OpenAIRE

Wang, Ruhung; Hughes, Tyler; Beck, Simon; Vakil, Samee; Li, Synyoung; Pantano, Paul; Draper, Rockford K.

2012-01-01

Poloxamers (known by the trade name Pluronic®) are triblock copolymer surfactants that contain two polyethylene glycol blocks and one polypropylene glycol block of various sizes. Poloxamers are widely used as nanoparticle dispersants for nanotoxicity studies wherein nanoparticles are sonicated with a dispersant to prepare suspensions. It is known that poloxamers can be degraded during sonication and that reactive oxygen species contribute to the degradation process. However, the possibility t...

Striated filamentary sparks produced by a CO2 TEA laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmieder, R.W.

1979-01-01

Sparks in the form of long, thin filaments having quasi-periodic longitudinal light and dark regions (striations) in time-integrated images have been ovserved in various gases using a CO 2 TEA laser. Typically, a 50-mJ pulse will produce a filament 1 cm long and 130 μm in diameter, with more than 150 striations spaced 50 μm apart in atmospheric air. Each striation is associated with the formation of a plasma region by one pulse in train of pulses from the mode-locked laser, and the filament results from the formation of successive (nearly identical) region, each displaced from the previous one toward the laser. The possible use of these sparks as a light source in diagnostics is noted

Breakdown characteristics in DC spark experiments of copper focusing on purity and hardness

CERN Document Server

Yokoyama, Kazue; Higashi, Yasuo; Higo, Toshi; Matsumoto, Shuji; Santiago-Kern, Ana Rocia; Pasquino, Chiara; Calatroni, Sergio; Wuensch, Walter

2010-01-01

The breakdown characteristics related to the differences in purity and hardness were investigated for several types of copper using a DC spark test system. Three types of oxygen-free copper (OFC) materials, usual class 1 OFC 7-nine large-grain copper and 6-nine hot-isotropic-pressed (HIP) copper with/without diamond finish, were tested with the DC spark test system. The measurements of the beta, breakdown fields, and breakdown probability are presented and discussed in this paper.

Analyzing large data sets from XGC1 magnetic fusion simulations using apache spark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Churchill, R. Michael [Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

2016-11-21

Apache Spark is explored as a tool for analyzing large data sets from the magnetic fusion simulation code XGCI. Implementation details of Apache Spark on the NERSC Edison supercomputer are discussed, including binary file reading, and parameter setup. Here, an unsupervised machine learning algorithm, k-means clustering, is applied to XGCI particle distribution function data, showing that highly turbulent spatial regions do not have common coherent structures, but rather broad, ring-like structures in velocity space.

Structure and characteristics of functional powder composite materials obtained by spark plasma sintering

Science.gov (United States)

Oglezneva, S. A.; Kachenyuk, M. N.; Kulmeteva, V. B.; Ogleznev, N. B.

2017-07-01

The article describes the results of spark plasma sintering of ceramic materials based on titanium carbide, titanium carbosilicide, ceramic composite materials based on zirconium oxide, strengthened by carbon nanostructures and composite materials of electrotechnical purpose based on copper with addition of carbon structures and titanium carbosilicide. The research shows that the spark plasma sintering can achieve relative density of the material up to 98%. The effect of sintering temperature on the phase composition, density and porosity of the final product has been studied. It was found that with addition of carbon nanostructures the relative density and hardness decrease, but the fracture strength of ZrO2 increases up to times 2. The relative erosion resistance of the electrodes made of composite copper-based powder materials, obtained by spark plasma sintering during electroerosion treatment of tool steel exceeds that parameter of pure copper up to times 15.

Combustion visualization and experimental study on spark induced compression ignition (SICI) in gasoline HCCI engines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Zhi; He Xu; Wang Jianxin; Shuai Shijin; Xu Fan; Yang Dongbo

2010-01-01

Spark induced compression ignition (SICI) is a relatively new combustion control technology and a promising combustion mode in gasoline engines with high efficiency. SICI can be divided into two categories, SACI and SI-CI. This paper investigated the SICI combustion process using combustion visualization and engine experiment respectively. Ignition process of SICI was captured by high speed photography in an optical engine with different compression ratios. The results show that SICI is a combustion mode combined with partly flame propagation and main auto-ignition. The spark ignites the local mixture near spark electrodes and the flame propagation occurs before the homogeneous mixture is auto-ignited. The heat release from central burned zone due to the flame propagation increases the in-cylinder pressure and temperature, resulting in the unburned mixture auto-ignition. The SICI combustion process can be divided into three stages of the spark induced stage, the flame propagation stage and the compression ignition stage. The SICI combustion mode is different from the spark ignition (SI) knocking in terms of the combustion and emission characteristics. Furthermore, three typical combustion modes including HCCI, SICI, SI, were compared on a gasoline direct injection engine with higher compression ratio and switchable cam-profiles. The results show that SICI has an obvious combustion characteristic with two-stage heat release and lower pressure rise rate. The SICI combustion mode can be controlled by spark timings and EGR rates and utilized as an effective method for high load extension on the gasoline HCCI engine. The maximum IMEP of 0.82 MPa can be achieved with relatively low NO x emission and high thermal efficiency. The SICI combustion mode can be applied in medium-high load region for high efficiency gasoline engines.

Combustion visualization and experimental study on spark induced compression ignition (SICI) in gasoline HCCI engines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang Zhi, E-mail: wangzhi@tsinghua.edu.c [State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); He Xu; Wang Jianxin; Shuai Shijin; Xu Fan; Yang Dongbo [State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

2010-05-15

Spark induced compression ignition (SICI) is a relatively new combustion control technology and a promising combustion mode in gasoline engines with high efficiency. SICI can be divided into two categories, SACI and SI-CI. This paper investigated the SICI combustion process using combustion visualization and engine experiment respectively. Ignition process of SICI was captured by high speed photography in an optical engine with different compression ratios. The results show that SICI is a combustion mode combined with partly flame propagation and main auto-ignition. The spark ignites the local mixture near spark electrodes and the flame propagation occurs before the homogeneous mixture is auto-ignited. The heat release from central burned zone due to the flame propagation increases the in-cylinder pressure and temperature, resulting in the unburned mixture auto-ignition. The SICI combustion process can be divided into three stages of the spark induced stage, the flame propagation stage and the compression ignition stage. The SICI combustion mode is different from the spark ignition (SI) knocking in terms of the combustion and emission characteristics. Furthermore, three typical combustion modes including HCCI, SICI, SI, were compared on a gasoline direct injection engine with higher compression ratio and switchable cam-profiles. The results show that SICI has an obvious combustion characteristic with two-stage heat release and lower pressure rise rate. The SICI combustion mode can be controlled by spark timings and EGR rates and utilized as an effective method for high load extension on the gasoline HCCI engine. The maximum IMEP of 0.82 MPa can be achieved with relatively low NO{sub x} emission and high thermal efficiency. The SICI combustion mode can be applied in medium-high load region for high efficiency gasoline engines.

High repetition rate burst-mode spark gap

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faltens, A.; Reginato, L.; Hester, R.; Chesterman, A.; Cook, E.; Yokota, T.; Dexter, W.

1978-01-01

Results are presented on the design and testing of a pressurized gas blown spark gap switch capable of high repetition rates in a burst mode of operation. The switch parameters which have been achieved are as follows: 220-kV, 42-kA, a five pulse burst at 1-kHz, 12-ns risetime, 2-ns jitter at a pulse width of 50-ns

Drift chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inagaki, Yosuke

1977-01-01

Drift chamber is becoming an important detector in high energy physics as a precision and fast position detector because of its high spatial resolution and count-rate. The basic principle is that it utilizes the drift at constant speed of electrons ionized along the tracks of charged particles towards the anode wire in the nearly uniform electric field. The method of measuring drift time includes the analog and digital ones. This report describes about the construction of and the application of electric field to the drift chamber, mathematical analysis on the electric field and equipotential curve, derivation of spatial resolution and the factor for its determination, and selection of gas to be used. The performance test of the chamber was carried out using a small test chamber, the collimated β source of Sr-90, and 500 MeV/C electron beam from the 1.3 GeV electron synchrotron in the Institute of Nuclear Study, University of Tokyo. Most chambers to date adopted one dimensional read-out, but it is very advantageous if the two dimensional read-out is feasible with one chamber when the resolution in that direction is low. The typical methods of delay line and charge division for two dimensional read-out are described. The development of digital read-out system is underway, which can process the signal of a large scale drift chamber at high speed. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

Multiple chamber ionization detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solomon, E.E.

1980-01-01

A multi-chambered ionisation detector enables the amount of radiation entering each chamber from a single radioactive, eg β, source to be varied by altering the proportion of the source protruding into each chamber. Electrodes define chambers and an extended radioactive source is movable to alter the source length in each chamber. Alternatively, the source is fixed relative to outer electrodes but the central electrode may be adjusted by an attached support altering the chamber dimensions and hence the length of source in each. Also disclosed are a centrally mounted source tiltable towards one or other chamber and a central electrode tiltable to alter chamber dimensions. (U.K.)

The secular and the supernatural: madness and psychiatry in the short stories of Muriel Spark.

Science.gov (United States)

Beveridge, A W

2015-01-01

Edinburgh-born Muriel Spark is one of modern Scotland's greatest writers. Examination of her work reveals that the subjects of madness and psychiatry are recurrent themes in her writing. She herself had a mental breakdown when she was a young woman and she took an interest in the world of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. In her short stories, Spark approaches the subject of madness in a variety of ways: she relates it to the supernatural; to writing fiction; and to religion. She frequently juxtaposes secular and supernatural explanations of mental disturbance. Spark adopts a sceptical and, at times, mocking view of psychiatrists and psychiatric treatment. Both psychoanalysis and pills are seen as problematic.

Prediction of sonic flow conditions at drill bit nozzles to minimize complications in UBD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guo, B.; Ghalambor, A. [Louisiana Univ., Lafayette, LA (United States); Al-Bemani, A.S. [Sultan Qaboos Univ. (Oman)

2002-06-01

Sonic flow at drill bit nozzles can complicate underbalanced drilling (UBD) operations, and should be considered when choosing bit nozzles and fluid injection rates. The complications stem from pressure discontinuity and temperature drop at the nozzle. UBD refers to drilling operations where the drilling fluid pressures in the borehole are maintained at less than the pore pressure in the formation rock in the open-hole section. UBD has become a popular drilling method because it offers minimal lost circulation and reduces formation damage. This paper presents an analytical model for calculating the critical pressure ratio where two-phase sonic flow occurs. In particular, it describes how Sachdeva's two-phase choke model can be used to estimate the critical pressure ratio at nozzles that cause sonic flow. The critical pressure ratio charts can be coded in spreadsheets. The critical pressure ratio depends on the in-situ volumetric gas content, or gas-liquid ratio, which depends on gas injection and pressure. 6 refs., 2 tabs., 5 figs.

Doriot Climatic Chambers

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Doriot Climatic Chambers are two, 60-feet long, 11-feet high, 15-feet wide chambers that are owned and operated by NSRDEC. The Doriot Climatic Chambers are among...

Comparison of 3D turbulence measurements using three staring wind lidars and a sonic anemometer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Jakob; Cariou, J.-P.; Courtney, Michael

2008-01-01

Three pulsed lidars were used in staring, non-scanning mode, placed so that their beams crossed close to a 3D sonic anemometer. The goal is to compare lidar volume averaged wind measurement with point measurement reference sensors and to demonstrate the feasibility of performing 3D turbulence mea...... measurements with lidars. The results show a very good correlation between the lidar and the sonic times series. The variance of the velocity measured by the Mar is attenuated due to spatial filtering, and the amount of attenuation can be predicted theoretically.......Three pulsed lidars were used in staring, non-scanning mode, placed so that their beams crossed close to a 3D sonic anemometer. The goal is to compare lidar volume averaged wind measurement with point measurement reference sensors and to demonstrate the feasibility of performing 3D turbulence...

Spark plasma sintering of tantalum carbide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khaleghi, Evan; Lin, Yen-Shan; Meyers, Marc A.; Olevsky, Eugene A.

2010-01-01

A tantalum carbide powder was consolidated by spark plasma sintering. The specimens were processed under various temperature and pressure conditions and characterized in terms of relative density, grain size, rupture strength and hardness. The results are compared to hot pressing conducted under similar settings. It is shown that high densification is accompanied by substantial grain growth. Carbon nanotubes were added to mitigate grain growth; however, while increasing specimens' rupture strength and final density, they had little effect on grain growth.

Simulated UO{sub 2} fuel containing CsI by spark plasma sintering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wangle, T. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), Postfach 2340, 76125 Karlsruhe (Germany); Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Břehová 7, Praha 1, 115 19 (Czech Republic); Tyrpekl, V. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), Postfach 2340, 76125 Karlsruhe (Germany); Cologna, M., E-mail: marco.cologna@ec.europa.eu [European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), Postfach 2340, 76125 Karlsruhe (Germany); Somers, J. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), Postfach 2340, 76125 Karlsruhe (Germany)

2015-11-15

Herein, an innovative preparation procedure has been deployed enabling, for the first time, the incorporation of volatile fission product simulant into highly dense nuclear fuel pellets. Highly volatile fission products were embedded in a dense UO{sub 2} matrix in the form of CsI by simply mixing starting materials and consolidation in a Spark Plasma Sintering step at 1000 °C with a 5 min dwell time. CsI particles were evenly distributed throughout the pellet and were located at the grain boundaries. The sintering rate is dependent on the O/U ratio of the powder. Addition of CsI also acts as a sintering aid, reducing the temperature of maximum densification. - Highlights: • A new method was developed to incorporation of volatile fission products simulants into dense nuclear fuel pellets. • CsI doped UO{sub 2} pellets were synthetized for the first time, by Spark Plasma Sintering. • The sintering rate in Spark Plasma Sintering is dependent on the O/U ratio of UO{sub 2+x}.

Ionization chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-01-01

An improved ionization chamber type X-ray detector comprises a heavy gas at high pressure disposed between an anode and a cathode. An open grid structure is placed next to the anode and is maintained at a voltage intermediate between the cathode and anode potentials. The electric field which is produced by positive ions drifting towards the cathode is thus shielded from the anode. Current measuring circuits connected to the anode are, therefore, responsive only to electron current flow within the chamber and the recovery time of the chamber is shortened. The grid structure also serves to shield the anode from electrical currents which might otherwise be induced by mechanical vibrations in the ionization chamber structure

Sonic boom predictions using a modified Euler code

Science.gov (United States)

Siclari, Michael J.

1992-04-01

The environmental impact of a next generation fleet of high-speed civil transports (HSCT) is of great concern in the evaluation of the commercial development of such a transport. One of the potential environmental impacts of a high speed civilian transport is the sonic boom generated by the aircraft and its effects on the population, wildlife, and structures in the vicinity of its flight path. If an HSCT aircraft is restricted from flying overland routes due to excessive booms, the commercial feasibility of such a venture may be questionable. NASA has taken the lead in evaluating and resolving the issues surrounding the development of a high speed civilian transport through its High-Speed Research Program (HSRP). The present paper discusses the usage of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) nonlinear code in predicting the pressure signature and ultimately the sonic boom generated by a high speed civilian transport. NASA had designed, built, and wind tunnel tested two low boom configurations for flight at Mach 2 and Mach 3. Experimental data was taken at several distances from these models up to a body length from the axis of the aircraft. The near field experimental data serves as a test bed for computational fluid dynamic codes in evaluating their accuracy and reliability for predicting the behavior of future HSCT designs. Sonic boom prediction methodology exists which is based on modified linear theory. These methods can be used reliably if near field signatures are available at distances from the aircraft where nonlinear and three dimensional effects have diminished in importance. Up to the present time, the only reliable method to obtain this data was via the wind tunnel with costly model construction and testing. It is the intent of the present paper to apply a modified three dimensional Euler code to predict the near field signatures of the two low boom configurations recently tested by NASA.

Observation of a spark channel generated in water with shock wave assistance in plate-to-plate electrode configuration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stelmashuk, V., E-mail: vitalij@ipp.cas.cz [Institute of Plasma Physics, Za Slovankou 3, 182 00 Prague 8 (Czech Republic)

2014-01-15

When a high voltage pulse with an amplitude of 30 kV is applied to a pair of disk electrodes at a time when a shock wave is passing between them, an electrical spark is generated. The dynamic changes in the spark morphology are studied here using a high-speed framing camera. The primary result of this work is the provision of experimental evidence of plasma instability that was observed in the channel of the electric spark.

STM-excited luminescence of porous and spark-processed silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrienko, I.; Kuznetsov, V.; Yuan, J.; Haneman, D.

1998-01-01

Full text: Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) permits highly local electronic excitation of light emission (LE) from the surface of silicon. Measuring STM LE, one can study simultaneously both the topography and the luminescence properties of areas down to nm dimensions and thus make conclusions about the luminescence mechanism of the material. We have built an STM spectroscopy system which allows measurement of spectra of visible light emitted from areas as small as 13 x 13 nm 2 (porous silicon) and 10 x 10 nm 2 (spark-processed silicon). Porous silicon shows a broad emission band centered at 630 nm, and spark-processed silicon, one at 690 nm. The STM LE spectra of spark-processed silicon obtained for the first time. We have found that visible light is emitted only from areas containing nanometer-scale structures down to around 2 nm in diameter. STM LE occurs under negative bias voltage applied to the tip, i.e. when electrons are injected into the sample. Other workers used p-type silicon for the sample preparations, but it has been found that STM LE can be induced also from n-type silicon. Furthermore, we have shown that STM LE spectra can be resolved using much lover voltages and tunneling currents: -(7-9) V and 25 - 50 nA vs -(25-50) V and 100 nA. To consider different excitation mechanisms, the STM LE measurements are compared with photoluminescence and electroluminescence spectra of similar samples. We suggest that excitation of individual quantum confinement structures has been observed

A dynamic re-partitioning strategy based on the distribution of key in Spark

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Tianyu; Lian, Xin

2018-05-01

Spark is a memory-based distributed data processing framework, has the ability of processing massive data and becomes a focus in Big Data. But the performance of Spark Shuffle depends on the distribution of data. The naive Hash partition function of Spark can not guarantee load balancing when data is skewed. The time of job is affected by the node which has more data to process. In order to handle this problem, dynamic sampling is used. In the process of task execution, histogram is used to count the key frequency distribution of each node, and then generate the global key frequency distribution. After analyzing the distribution of key, load balance of data partition is achieved. Results show that the Dynamic Re-Partitioning function is better than the default Hash partition, Fine Partition and the Balanced-Schedule strategy, it can reduce the execution time of the task and improve the efficiency of the whole cluster.

OPACITY BROADENING OF {sup 13}CO LINEWIDTHS AND ITS EFFECT ON THE VARIANCE-SONIC MACH NUMBER RELATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Correia, C.; De Medeiros, J. R. [Departamento de Física Teórica e Experimental, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 59072-970 (Brazil); Burkhart, B.; Lazarian, A. [Astronomy Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 475 North Charter Street, WI 53711 (United States); Ossenkopf, V.; Stutzki, J. [Physikalisches Institut der Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Strasse 77, D-50937 Köln (Germany); Kainulainen, J. [Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Kowal, G., E-mail: caioftc@dfte.ufrn.br [Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-090 (Brazil)

2014-04-10

We study how the estimation of the sonic Mach number (M{sub s} ) from {sup 13}CO linewidths relates to the actual three-dimensional sonic Mach number. For this purpose we analyze MHD simulations that include post-processing to take radiative transfer effects into account. As expected, we find very good agreement between the linewidth estimated sonic Mach number and the actual sonic Mach number of the simulations for optically thin tracers. However, we find that opacity broadening causes M{sub s} to be overestimated by a factor of ≈1.16-1.3 when calculated from optically thick {sup 13}CO lines. We also find that there is a dependence on the magnetic field: super-Alfvénic turbulence shows increased line broadening compared with sub-Alfvénic turbulence for all values of optical depth for supersonic turbulence. Our results have implications for the observationally derived sonic Mach number-density standard deviation (σ{sub ρ/(ρ)}) relationship, σ{sub ρ/〈ρ〉}{sup 2}=b{sup 2}M{sub s}{sup 2}, and the related column density standard deviation (σ {sub N/(N)}) sonic Mach number relationship. In particular, we find that the parameter b, as an indicator of solenoidal versus compressive driving, will be underestimated as a result of opacity broadening. We compare the σ {sub N/(N)}-M{sub s} relation derived from synthetic dust extinction maps and {sup 13}CO linewidths with recent observational studies and find that solenoidally driven MHD turbulence simulations have values of σ {sub N/(N)}which are lower than real molecular clouds. This may be due to the influence of self-gravity which should be included in simulations of molecular cloud dynamics.

Non-sparking anodization process of AZ91D magnesium alloy under low AC voltage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Weiping; Li, Wen; Zhu, Liqun; Liu, Huicong; Wang, Xiaofang

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Four different processes appear on magnesium alloys with applied voltage increase. ► Non-sparking film formation process occurred in the range of 6–10 V AC. ► The film was composed of Mg 2 SiO 4 with a stable growth rate in 30 min. ► Film growth was a balance of electrochemical dissolution and chemical deposition. -- Abstract: Anodization is widely recognized as one of the most important surface treatments for magnesium alloys. However, since high voltage oxidation films are limited in some applications due to porosity and brittleness, it is worthwhile to explore the non-sparking oxidizing process. In this work, AZ91D was electrochemically anodized at different AC voltages in an electrolyte containing 120 g/L NaOH and 80 g/L Na 2 SiO 3 ·9H 2 O. The effects of voltage on the surface morphology, composition and reaction process, especially the non-sparking discharge anodic film formation process, were investigated. The results showed that four different processes would appear according to the applied voltage variation from 6 V to 40 V, and that the non-sparking film formation process occurred in the range of 6–10 V. The film formed on the AZ91D surface under 10 V AC was mainly composed of Mg 2 SiO 4 with a lamellar structure. The horizontal and vertical expansion of the lamellar structure resulted in the formation of a multi-layered structure with a stable, linear growth rate for 30 min. The non-sparking film formation process can be considered to be the result of a balance of electrochemical dissolution and chemical deposition reaction

Saffman-Taylor streamers: Mutual finger interaction in spark formation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luque, A.; Brau, F.; Ebert, U.

2008-01-01

Bunches of streamers form the early stages of sparks and lightning but theory presently concentrates on single streamers or on coarse approximations of whole breakdown trees. Here a periodic array of interacting streamer discharges in a strong homogeneous electric field is studied in density or

Pseudo-spark switch (PSS) characteristics under different operation conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hamad, B. H., E-mail: dr.bassmahussain@gmail.com; Ahmad, A. K., E-mail: ahmad.kamal@sc.nahrainuniv.edu.iq [College of Science, Al Nahrain University, Jadria, Baghdad (Iraq); Lateef, K. H., E-mail: kamalhlatif@yahoo.com [Ministry of Science and Technology, Jadria, Baghdad (Iraq)

2016-08-15

The present paper concentrates on the characteristics of the pseudospark switch (PSS) designed in a previous work. The special characteristics of PSS make it a replacement for other high voltage switches such as thyratrons and ordinary high-pressure spark gaps. PSS is characterized by short rise time and small jitter time. The pseudo park chamber consists of two hollow cylindrical electrodes made of a stainless steel material (type 306L) separated by an insulator. The insulator used in our design is a glazed ceramic 70 mm in diameter and 3.5 mm in thickness. A PSS with an anode voltage of 29.2 kV, and a current of 3.6 kA and 11 ns rise time was achieved and used successfully at a repetition rate of about 2.2 kHz. A simple trigger circuit designed, built, and used effectively reaching more than 1.56 kV trigger pulse which is sufficient to ignite the argon gas inside the cathode to cause a breakdown. A non-inductive dummy load is designed to be a new technique to find the accurate value of the PSS inductance. A jitter time of ±10 ns pulses is observed to occur in a reliable manner for more than 6 h of continuous operation. In this research, the important parameters of this switch like rise time, peak current, and anode voltage were studied at various values of charging capacitance. The lifetime of this system is depending on the kind of the electrode material and on the type of insulation material in the main gap of the pseudospark switch.

Development And Testing Of Biogas-Petrol Blend As An Alternative Fuel For Spark Ignition Engine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Awogbemi

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract This research is on the development and testing of a biogas-petrol blend to run a spark ignition engine. A2080 ratio biogaspetrol blend was developed as an alternative fuel for spark ignition engine test bed. Petrol and biogas-petrol blend were comparatively tested on the test bed to determine the effectiveness of the fuels. The results of the tests showed that biogas petrol blend generated higher torque brake power indicated power brake thermal efficiency and brake mean effective pressure but lower fuel consumption and exhaust temperature than petrol. The research concluded that a spark ignition engine powered by biogas-petrol blend was found to be economical consumed less fuel and contributes to sanitation and production of fertilizer.

DETECTORS USED IN PARTICLE PHYSICS RESEARCH

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melissines, A. C.

1963-10-15

Detectors used in particle physics are discussed, and their specific properties are compared. With the pictorial'' devices are included nuclear emulsions, cloud and bubble chambers, and spark chambers. Included in the digital'' devices are counters, e.g., the Geiger counter, scintillation counters, solid-state detectors, Cherenkov counters, and spark counters. Sensitivity, resolving power, time resolutions, saturation level, and energy detection are discussed. (R.E.U.)

COMPARISON OF CULTURE OF SYNOVIAL FLUID, PERIPROSTHETIC TISSUE AND PROSTHESIS SONICATE FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF KNEE PROSTHESIS INFECTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrej Trampuž

2003-03-01

Full Text Available Background. Synovial fluid and periprosthetic tissue specimens are the standard specimens cultured for the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI. We hypothesize that ultrasonication of the explanted prosthesis may improve diagnosis of PJI by dislodging biofilm bacteria from the prosthesis surface and improve the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis of PJI.Methods. Included were patients undergoing knee prosthesis exchange for septic or biomechanical failure and have not received antimicrobial therapy in the last 2 weeks prior specimen collection. Cultures of synovial fluid and periprosthetic tissue specimens were performed per the usual clinical practice. Additionally, explanted joint components were sonicated for 5 minutes at frequency 40 kHz in sterile Ringer’s solution; aliquots of 0.5 ml sonicate were plated onto five aerobic and five anaerobic blood agar plates, and incubated at 37 °C and examined for the next seven days. The number and identity of each colony morphology was recorded.Results. 35 patients undergoing knee replacement have been studied (24 for aseptic biomechanical failure and 11 for suspected PJI. In patients with PJI, coagulase-negative staphylococci (7 cases, Corynebacterium spp. (2 cases, Staphylococcus aureus (1 case, and viridans group streptococcus (1 case were recovered. Culture sensitivity and specificity were for synovial fluid 88% and 100%, for periprosthetic tissue 83% and 81%, and for explant sonicate 91% and 100%, respectively. In sonicate cultures higher numbers of microorganisms than in periprosthetic tissue cultures were consistently detected.Conclusions. Using synovial fluid, periprosthetic tissue, and explant sonicate cultures, 12%, 17% and 9% of PJI were missed, respectively. Explant sonicate cultures were the most sensitive with respect to the diagnosis of PJI, indicating that explant ultrasonication may improve bacterial recovery. In sonicate cultures, infecting organisms were detected in

Interdisciplinarity in Medialogy with applications to Sonic Interaction Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nordahl, Rolf; Serafin, Stefania

2009-01-01

Medialogy is a novel education developed in Denmark since 2002, whose goal is to combine technology and creativity in the design, contextualization and evaluation of media technology. In this paper we describe the progression of the sonic interaction design curriculum in the Medialogy education, ......, stressing the importance of a transdisciplinary training for engineers working on interactive sound....

CERN, World's largest particle physics lab, selects Progress SonicMQ

CERN Document Server

2007-01-01

"Progress Software Corporation (NADAQ: PRGS), a global supplier of application insfrastructure software used to develop, deploy, integrate and manage business applications, today announced that CERN the world's largest physis laboratory and particle accelerator, has chosen Progress® SonicMQ® for mission-critical message delivery." (1 page)

101-SY waste sample speed of sound/rheology testing for sonic probe program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cannon, N.S.

1994-01-01

One problem faced in the clean-up operation at Hanford is that a number of radioactive waste storage tanks are experiencing a periodic buildup and release of potentially explosive gases. The best known example is Tank 241-SY-101 (commonly referred to as 101-SY) in which hydrogen gas periodically built up within the waste to the point that increased buoyancy caused a roll-over event, in which the gas was suddenly released in potentially explosive concentrations (if an ignition source were present). The sonic probe concept is to generate acoustic vibrations in the 101-SY tank waste at nominally 100 Hz, with sufficient amplitude to cause the controlled release of hydrogen bubbles trapped in the waste. The sonic probe may provide a potentially cost-effective alternative to large mixer pumps now used for hydrogen mitigation purposes. Two important parameters needed to determine sonic probe effectiveness and design are the speed of sound and yield stress of the tank waste. Tests to determine these parameters in a 240 ml sample of 101-SY waste (obtained near the tank bottom) were performed, and the results are reported

Power source with spark-safe outlet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsesarenko, N P; Alekhin, A V

1982-01-01

The invention refers to the technique of electrical monitoring and control in systems operating in a spark-safe medium (for example, in coal mines). A more accurate area of application is mobile objects with autonomous source of electricity (mine diesel locomotives, battery electric locomotives etc.). The purpose of the invention is to simplify and to improve the reliability of the planned device, and also to expand the area of application for conditions when it is powered from an autonomous generator of direct voltage. This goal is achieved because the power source with spark-safe outlet (the source contains a thyristor of advance disconnection, connected by anode to the delimiting throttle, one outlet of which is connected to the capacitor included between the controlling electrode and the anode of the thyristor, and the capacitor is connected through the resistor parallel to the outlet clamps of the source, while the thyristor of emergency protection connected parallel to the inlet clamps of the power source) is additionally equipped with a current sensor, hercon, transistor key (included in series in the power circuit) and optron, whose emitter is connected parallel to the current sensor connected in series to the inlet of the power source, while the receiver of the optron is connected in a circuit for controlling the thyristor of emergency protection. Hercon is built into the core of the delimiting throttle and is connected to the circuit for controlling the transistor key.

Spark plasma sintering and microwave electromagnetic properties of MnFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} ceramics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Penchal Reddy, M., E-mail: drlpenchal@gmail.com [Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha 2713 (Qatar); Mohamed, A.M.A. [Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha 2713 (Qatar); Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez 4372 (Egypt); Venkata Ramana, M. [Department of Physics, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 11677, Taiwan (China); Zhou, X.B.; Huang, Q. [Division of Functional Materials and Nanodevices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Ningbo 315201 (China)

2015-12-01

MnFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} ferrite powder was synthesized by a facile one-pot hydrothermal route and then consolidated into dense nanostructured compacts by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The effect of sintering temperature, on densification, morphology, magnetic and microwave absorption properties was examined. Spark plasma sintering resulted in uniform microstructure, as well as maximum relative density of 98%. The magnetic analysis indicated that the MnFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} ferrite nanoparticles showed ferrimagnetic behavior. Moreover, the dielectric loss and magnetic loss properties of MnFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} ferrite nanoparticles were both enhanced due to its better dipole polarization, interfacial polarization and shape anisotropy. It is believed that such spark plasma sintered ceramic material will be applied widely in microwave absorbing area. - Highlights: • Successful synthesis of dense MnFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} ceramics using spark plasma sintering. • Lower temperature and shorter sintering time, compared to conventional methods. • Optimal sintering condition was achieved. • The magnetic properties of the sintered samples are sensitive to the density and microstructure.

Silver carbonate and stability in colloidal silver: A by-product of the electric spark discharge method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tseng, Kuo-Hsiung; Liao, Chih-Yu; Tien, Der-Chi

2010-01-01

Many methods of producing colloidal silver (CS) include the introduction of surfactants to improve the suspensivity of the silver particles. The electric spark discharge method (ESDM) which involves pulses of direct current being passed through a silver electrode submerged in deionized water has been shown to successfully produce colloidal silver in a stable suspension without the use of chemical additives. A by-product of the electric spark discharge method, a silver ion compound (AgX), is shown to be the cause of the high suspensivity of the silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The silver ion compound has been identified as Ag 2 CO 3 using X-ray diffraction, and it has been determined that the Ag 2 CO 3 is formed during the electric spark discharge process through a reaction with atmospheric CO 2 . It has been shown that an Ag 2 CO 3 concentration of 10 ppm or more is sufficient to generate a stable suspension of silver particles. Because of the occurrence of Ag 2 CO 3 , the electric spark discharge method can produce stable colloidal silver.

Peltier-based cloud chamber

Science.gov (United States)

Nar, Sevda Yeliz; Cakir, Altan

2018-02-01

Particles produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation and reactions can be identified through various methods. One of these methods that has been effective in the last century is the cloud chamber. The chamber makes visible cosmic particles that we are exposed to radiation per second. Diffusion cloud chamber is a kind of cloud chamber that is cooled by dry ice. This traditional model has some application difficulties. In this work, Peltier-based cloud chamber cooled by thermoelectric modules is studied. The new model provided uniformly cooled base of the chamber, moreover, it has longer lifetime than the traditional chamber in terms of observation time. This gain has reduced the costs which spent each time for cosmic particle observation. The chamber is an easy-to-use system according to traditional diffusion cloud chamber. The new model is portable, easier to make, and can be used in the nuclear physics experiments. In addition, it would be very useful to observe Muons which are the direct evidence for Lorentz contraction and time expansion predicted by Einsteins special relativity principle.

Trace amount analysis using spark mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefani, Rene

1975-01-01

Characteristics of spark mass spectrometers (ion source, properties of the ion beam, ion optics, and performance) and their use in qualitative and quantitative analysis are described. This technique is very interesting for the semi-quantitative analysis of trace amounts, down to 10 -8 atoms. Examples of applications such as the analysis of high purity materials and non-conducting mineral samples, and determination of carbon and gas trace amounts are presented. (50 references) [fr

Design of creep machine and creep specimen chamber for carrying out creep tests in flowing liquid sodium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ravi, S., E-mail: sravi@igcar.gov.in; Laha, K.; Sakthy, S.; Mathew, M.D.; Jayakumar, T.

2014-02-15

Highlights: • Design of a lever type creep machine for carrying out creep test in flowing sodium. • Leveling of lever during creep was achieved by automated movement of fulcrum. • Design of creep chamber for providing constant sodium flow rate across creep specimen. • Minimum use of bellow in chamber for sodium containment and mechanical isolation. • Mini-lever mechanism to counter balance load reduction on specimen due to bellow stiffness. - Abstract: A creep testing system has been designed, fabricated, installed and validated for carrying out creep tests in flowing liquid sodium. The testing system consists of two sections namely creep testing machine and an environmental chamber. The testing system has the ability of (i) applying tensile load to the test specimen through a lever, (ii) monitoring continuously the creep elongation and (iii) allowing sodium to flow around the creep specimen at constant velocity. The annular space between the creep specimen and the environmental chamber has been suitably designed to maintain constant sodium flow velocity. Primary and secondary bellows are employed in the environmental chamber to (i) mechanically isolate the creep specimen, (ii) prevent the flowing sodium in contact with air and (iii) maintain an argon gas cover to the leaking sodium if any from primary bellow, with a provision to an alarm get activated by a spark plug. The lever-horizontality during creep test has been maintained by automatically lifting up the fulcrum instead of lowering down the pull rod as conventionally used. A mini lever mechanism has been incorporated in the load train to counter balance the load reduction on specimen from the changing stiffness of the bellows. The validation of the testing system has been established by carrying out creep tests on 316L(N) stainless steel at 873 K over a wide stress range and comparing the results with those obtained in air by employing the developed and conventional creep testing machines.

Spark-safe power source

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mester, I M; Konushkin, N A; Nevozinskiy, A K; Rubinshteyn, B Sh; Serov, V I; Vasnev, M A

1981-01-01

A shortcoming of the known power sources is their low reliability. The purpose of the invention is to improve the reliability of the device. This is achieved because the spark-safe power source is equipped with a by-passing transistor and potentiometer, and also a generator of control interruptions in the circuit, an I-element, first separating transformer, control block, second separating transformer whose secondary winding has a relay winding whose contacts are connected to the load circuit are connected in series. The generator of control separations of the circuit is connected to the base of the by-passing transistor and to the power source outlet, the potentiometer is connected in series to the main thyristor. The middle point of the potentiometer is connected to the second inlet of the I-element.

Determination of knock characteristics in spark ignition engines: an approach based on ensemble empirical mode decomposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Ning; Liang, Caiping; Yang, Jianguo; Zhou, Rui

2016-01-01

Knock is one of the major constraints to improve the performance and thermal efficiency of spark ignition (SI) engines. It can also result in severe permanent engine damage under certain operating conditions. Based on the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), this paper proposes a new approach to determine the knock characteristics in SI engines. By adding a uniformly distributed and finite white Gaussian noise, the EEMD can preserve signal continuity in different scales and therefore alleviates the mode-mixing problem occurring in the classic empirical mode decomposition (EMD). The feasibilities of applying the EEMD to detect the knock signatures of a test SI engine via the pressure signal measured from combustion chamber and the vibration signal measured from cylinder head are investigated. Experimental results show that the EEMD-based method is able to detect the knock signatures from both the pressure signal and vibration signal, even in initial stage of knock. Finally, by comparing the application results with those obtained by short-time Fourier transform (STFT), Wigner–Ville distribution (WVD) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT), the superiority of the EEMD method in determining knock characteristics is demonstrated. (paper)

A seasonal copula mixture for hedging the clean spark spread with wind power futures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Troels Sønderby; Pircalabu, Anca; Høg, Esben

2018-01-01

The recently introduced German wind power futures have brought the opportunity to address the problem of volume risk in wind power generation directly. In this paper we study the hedging benefits of these instruments in the context of gas-fired power plants by employing a strategy that allows...... and the dependence structure, while being straightforward and easy to implement. Based on Monte Carlo simulations from the proposed model, the results indicate that significant benefits can be achieved by using wind power futures to hedge the spot clean spark spread. Moreover, a comparison study shows...... trading in the spot clean spark spread and wind power futures. To facilitate hedging decisions, we propose a time-varying copula mixture for the joint behavior of the spot clean spark spread and the daily wind index. The model describes the data surprisingly well, both in terms of the marginals...

Studies on the characteristics of nuclear track spark counting for neutron monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawai, H.; Koga, T.; Morishima, H.; Niwa, T.; Nishiwaki, Y.

1979-01-01

The fission-track counting method using polycarbonate foil is known to be very effective for neutron monitoring. The detection system consists of a track detector foil placed in contact with a thin layer of fissile material. When the unit is irradiated with neutrons, fission fragments from the fissile material produce tracks in the foil. The foil is then etched chemically to enlarge the tracks to etch-pits, which are counted by an automatic spark counting method suggested by Cross and Tommasino. Spark counting characteristics of the above system using polycarbonate detector foils of different thicknesses and aluminized polyester sheets having different thicknesses of the aluminium which serves as an electrode, and etch-pit sizes in relation to spark counting have been studied. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. A growth in etch-pit sizes was observed for etching times of 10 to 50 minutes with Makrofol KG (10 μm thick) and Panlite foils (18 μm thick). As the etching time increased, the number of etch-pits which appeared as round pits increased and the number which appeared rod-like decreased; 2. Round etch-pits seemed to be easily spark-punched; 3. Major and minor diameters of etch-pits produced by fission fragments from the uranium fissile target were larger than those from the thorium target; 4. As the thickness of the Makrofol KG foil increased, the minor diameters of the etch-pits appeared to become smaller and major diameters larger; 5. The foils that appeared to be best suited for routine use were 10 μm thick Makrofol KG or 6 μm thick Lumirror foils. (author)

Evolution of Spark plasma using nitrogen laser shadowgraphy system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishiekwene, G.C.

1994-07-01

A simple, low cost, home built high power nitrogen laser is used as the light source for a shadowgraphy system. A series of shadowgrams depicting the temporal growth of a spark plasma discharge is obtained. The results could be useful in plasma diagnostic studies. (author). 5 refs, 6 figs

Non-sparking anodization process of AZ91D magnesium alloy under low AC voltage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Weiping, E-mail: liweiping@buaa.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Aerospace Materials and Performance (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Li, Wen [AVIC Beijing Aeronautical Manufacturing Technology Research Institue, Beijing 100024 (China); Zhu, Liqun; Liu, Huicong; Wang, Xiaofang [Key Laboratory of Aerospace Materials and Performance (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China)

2013-04-20

Highlights: ► Four different processes appear on magnesium alloys with applied voltage increase. ► Non-sparking film formation process occurred in the range of 6–10 V AC. ► The film was composed of Mg{sub 2}SiO{sub 4} with a stable growth rate in 30 min. ► Film growth was a balance of electrochemical dissolution and chemical deposition. -- Abstract: Anodization is widely recognized as one of the most important surface treatments for magnesium alloys. However, since high voltage oxidation films are limited in some applications due to porosity and brittleness, it is worthwhile to explore the non-sparking oxidizing process. In this work, AZ91D was electrochemically anodized at different AC voltages in an electrolyte containing 120 g/L NaOH and 80 g/L Na{sub 2}SiO{sub 3}·9H{sub 2}O. The effects of voltage on the surface morphology, composition and reaction process, especially the non-sparking discharge anodic film formation process, were investigated. The results showed that four different processes would appear according to the applied voltage variation from 6 V to 40 V, and that the non-sparking film formation process occurred in the range of 6–10 V. The film formed on the AZ91D surface under 10 V AC was mainly composed of Mg{sub 2}SiO{sub 4} with a lamellar structure. The horizontal and vertical expansion of the lamellar structure resulted in the formation of a multi-layered structure with a stable, linear growth rate for 30 min. The non-sparking film formation process can be considered to be the result of a balance of electrochemical dissolution and chemical deposition reaction.

Magnetic field influence on substructure formed by electric spark treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reza Rahbari, G.; Ivanov, A.N.

1996-01-01

The substructure of surface layer (about 10 microns thick) has been studied by x-ray line broadening technique in the samples of plain carbon steel (0.45%C) after electric spark doping with and without magnetic field (MF). The applied spark pulse energy was 0.12 J and MF induction varied from 0 to 0.08 T. The electrode material was the same as that of the treated sample. It has been observed that the MF reduces the tensile residual surface stresses from 660 ± 15MPa (no MF) to 260 ± 15MPa (B=0.053 T). The analysis of x-ray line broadening has revealed only the existence of microstrains, which are dependent of the MF magnitude. The microstrains have been related to the randomly distributed dislocation with the density of about 3x10 sup 11 cm sup -2

Quantitative mapping of zinc fluxes in the mammalian egg reveals the origin of fertilization-induced zinc sparks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Que, Emily L.; Bleher, Reiner; Duncan, Francesca E.; Kong, Betty Y.; Gleber, Sophie C.; Vogt, Stefan; Chen, Si; Garwin, Seth A.; Bayer, Amanda R.; Dravid, Vinayak P.; Woodruff, Teresa K.; O' Halloran, Thomas V.

2014-12-15

Fertilization of a mammalian egg initiates a series of 'zinc sparks' that are necessary to induce the egg-to-embryo transition. Despite the importance of these zinc-efflux events little is known about their origin. To understand the molecular mechanism of the zinc spark we combined four physical approaches that resolve zinc distributions in single cells: a chemical probe for dynamic live-cell fluorescence imaging and a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence microscopy and three-dimensional elemental tomography for high-resolution elemental mapping. We show that the zinc spark arises from a system of thousands of zinc-loaded vesicles, each of which contains, on average, 10(6) zinc atoms. These vesicles undergo dynamic movement during oocyte maturation and exocytosis at the time of fertilization. The discovery of these vesicles and the demonstration that zinc sparks originate from them provides a quantitative framework for understanding how zinc fluxes regulate cellular processes

Value of PCR in sonication fluid for the diagnosis of orthopedic hardware-associated infections: Has the molecular era arrived?

Science.gov (United States)

Renz, Nora; Cabric, Sabrina; Morgenstern, Christian; Schuetz, Michael A; Trampuz, Andrej

2018-04-01

Bone healing disturbance following fracture fixation represents a continuing challenge. We evaluated a novel fully automated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using sonication fluid from retrieved orthopedic hardware to diagnose infection. In this prospective diagnostic cohort study, explanted orthopedic hardware materials from consecutive patients were investigated by sonication and the resulting sonication fluid was analyzed by culture (standard procedure) and multiplex PCR (investigational procedure). Hardware-associated infection was defined as visible purulence, presence of a sinus tract, implant on view, inflammation in peri-implant tissue or positive culture. McNemar's chi-squared test was used to compare the performance of diagnostic tests. For the clinical performance all pathogens were considered, whereas for analytical performance only microorganisms were considered for which primers are included in the PCR assay. Among 51 patients, hardware-associated infection was diagnosed in 38 cases (75%) and non-infectious causes in 13 patients (25%). The sensitivity for diagnosing infection was 66% for peri-implant tissue culture, 84% for sonication fluid culture, 71% (clinical performance) and 77% (analytical performance) for sonication fluid PCR, the specificity of all tests was >90%. The analytical sensitivity of PCR was higher for gram-negative bacilli (100%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (89%) and Staphylococcus aureus (75%) than for Cutibacterium (formerly Propionibacterium) acnes (57%), enterococci (50%) and Candida spp. (25%). The performance of sonication fluid PCR for diagnosis of orthopedic hardware-associated infection was comparable to culture tests. The additional advantage of PCR was short processing time (PCR has the potential to complement conventional cultures. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrated test plan ResonantSonic drilling system technology demonstration-1995, at the Hanford Site: Revision 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLellan, G.W.

1994-01-01

This integrated test plan describes the demonstration test of the ResonantSonic drilling system. This demonstration is part of the Office of Technology Development's Volatile Organic Compound Arid Integrated Demonstration (VOC-Arid ID). Two main purposes of this demonstration are (1) to continue testing the ResonantSonic drilling system compatibility with the Hanford Site waste characterization programs, and (2) to transfer this method for use at the Hanford Site, other government sites, and the private sector. The ResonantSonic method is a dry drilling technique. Field testing of this method began in July 1993. During the next four months, nine holes were drilled, and continuous core samples were retrieved. Penetration rates were 2 to 3 times the baseline, and the operational downtime rate was less than 10%. Successfully demonstrated equipment refinements included a prototype 300 series ResonantSonic head, a new drill rod design for 18-centimeter diameter pipe, and an automated pipe handling system. Various configurations of sampling equipment and drill bits were tested, depending on geologic conditions. The principal objective of the VOC-Arid ID is to determine the viability of emerging technologies that can be used to characterize, remediate, and/or monitor arid or semiarid sites containing VOCs (e.g., carbon tetrachloride) with or without associated metal and radionuclide contamination

Loits skandaalitses gaalal. Sparks Rabarockil. Pärimusmuusika Ait

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2008-01-01

Pärnu Kontserdimajas Eesti muusikaauhindade galal üle astunud rockansambel Loits röövis koostöös kultuskirjaniku Sven Kivisildnikuga aasta metal/punk-artisti auhinna, mis pidi minema industrial-metal-artistile Finish Me Off. Ameerika bänd Sparks 14. juunil Järvakandis Rabarockil. Viljandis Tasuja pst.6 avati Eesti Pärimusmuusika Keskuse uus kodu - Pärimusmuusika Ait

Generation of toxic degradation products by sonication of Pluronic® dispersants: implications for nanotoxicity testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ruhung; Hughes, Tyler; Beck, Simon; Vakil, Samee; Li, Synyoung; Pantano, Paul; Draper, Rockford K

2013-11-01

Poloxamers (known by the trade name Pluronic®) are triblock copolymer surfactants that contain two polyethylene glycol blocks and one polypropylene glycol block of various sizes. Poloxamers are widely used as nanoparticle dispersants for nanotoxicity studies wherein nanoparticles are sonicated with a dispersant to prepare suspensions. It is known that poloxamers can be degraded during sonication and that reactive oxygen species contribute to the degradation process. However, the possibility that poloxamer degradation products are toxic to mammalian cells has not been well studied. We report here that aqueous solutions of poloxamer 188 (Pluronic® F-68) and poloxamer 407 (Pluronic® F-127) sonicated in the presence or absence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) can became highly toxic to cultured cells. Moreover, toxicity correlated with the sonolytic degradation of the polymers. These findings suggest that caution should be used in interpreting the results of nanotoxicity studies where the potential sonolytic degradation of dispersants was not controlled.

Cálculo del exponente de Hurst utilizando Spark Streaming: enfoque experimental sobre un flujo de transacciones de criptomonedas

OpenAIRE

Basgall, María José; Hasperué, Waldo; Naiouf, Marcelo; Bariviera, Aurelio F.

2017-01-01

Actualmente es cada vez más común encontrarse con problemas de Big Data, donde las aplicaciones desarrolladas para resolver dichos problemas son implementadas en frameworks específicos. Uno de los que más se utiliza es Apache Spark, que posee el módulo Spark Streaming el cual permite el tratamiento de datos provenientes de un flujo de información potencialmente infinito. En este trabajo se presenta una aplicación implementada en Spark Streaming que realiza el cálculo del exponente de Hurst, u...

Dual ionization chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mallory, J.; Turlej, Z.

1981-01-01

Dual ionization chambers are provided for use with an electronic smoke detector. The chambers are separated by electrically-conductive partition. A single radiation source extends through the partition into both chambers, ionizing the air in each. The mid-point current of the device may be balanced by adjusting the position of the source

Formation and properties of two-phase bulk metallic glasses by spark plasma sintering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xie Guoqiang, E-mail: xiegq@imr.tohoku.ac.jp [Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan); Louzguine-Luzgin, D.V. [WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan); Inoue, Akihisa [Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan); WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan)

2011-06-15

Research highlights: > Two-phase bulk metallic glasses with high strength and good soft magnetic properties as well as satisfying large-size requirements were produced by spark plasma sintering. > Effects of sintering temperature on thermal stability, microstructure, mechanical and magnetic properties were investigated. > Densified samples were obtained by the spark plasma sintering at above 773 K. - Abstract: Using a mixture of the gas-atomized Ni{sub 52.5}Nb{sub 10}Zr{sub 15}Ti{sub 15}Pt{sub 7.5} and Fe{sub 73}Si{sub 7}B{sub 17}Nb{sub 3} glassy alloy powders, we produced the two-phase bulk metallic glass (BMG) with high strength and good soft magnetic properties as well as satisfying large-size requirements by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. Two kinds of glassy particulates were homogeneously dispersed each other. With an increase in sintering temperature, density of the produced samples increased, and densified samples were obtained by the SPS process at above 773 K. Good bonding state among the Ni- and Fe-based glassy particulates was achieved.

High Tensile Strength of Engineered β-Solenoid Fibrils via Sonication and Pulling.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Zeyu; Parker, Amanda S; Peralta, Maria D R; Ravikumar, Krishnakumar M; Cox, Daniel L; Toney, Michael D

2017-11-07

We present estimates of ultimate tensile strength (UTS) for two engineered β-solenoid protein mutant fibril structures (spruce budworm and Rhagium inquisitor antifreeze proteins) derived from sonication-based measurements and from force pulling molecular dynamics simulations, both in water. Sonication experiments generate limiting scissioned fibrils with a well-defined length-to-width correlation for the mutant spruce budworm protein and the resultant UTS estimate is 0.66 ± 0.08 GPa. For fibrils formed from engineered R. inquisitor antifreeze protein, depending upon geometry, we estimate UTSs of 3.5 ± 3.2-5.5 ± 5.1 GPa for proteins with interfacial disulfide bonds, and 1.6 ± 1.5-2.5 ± 2.3 GPa for the reduced form. The large error bars for the R. inquisitor structures are intrinsic to the broad distribution of limiting scission lengths. Simulations provide pulling velocity-dependent UTSs increasing from 0.2 to 1 GPa in the available speed range, and 1.5 GPa extrapolated to the speeds expected in the sonication experiments. Simulations yield low-velocity values for the Young's modulus of 6.0 GPa. Without protein optimization, these mechanical parameters are similar to those of spider silk and Kevlar, but in contrast to spider silk, these proteins have a precisely known sequence-structure relationship. Copyright © 2017 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploratory studies on a passively triggered vacuum spark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rout, R.K. [High Pressure Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)]. E-mail: rkrout@apsara.barc.ernet.in; Auluck, S.K.H.; Kulkarni, L.V. [High Pressure Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India (India); Nagpal, J.S. [Radiation Standards and Instrumentation Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)

1999-12-07

The results of an experimental investigation on a passively triggered vacuum spark device are presented. The diagnostics include the current, x-ray and optical emission measurements. The sharp dips in the current derivative signal indicate the occurrence of pinching at an early stage of the discharge (at current {approx} 5 kA). A well-confined plasma with a central hot region was recorded using a streak camera. The pinched plasma was observed to undergo kink-type oscillations with a time period of 10-15 ns. Repeated plasma fronts were seen to move from the anode to the cathode with an average velocity of {approx}5x10{sup 6} cm s{sup -1}. Soft x-ray emission having a radiation intensity of a few hundred mR per discharge was observed. The x-ray signals obtained using photodiodes showed multiple bursts. A soft x-ray pinhole camera recorded micro-pinches of {approx}100 {mu}m. The x-ray emitting regions were confined to the inter-electrode gap. The x-ray emission characteristics were influenced by the electrolytic resistance, which was connected across the spark gap to initiate discharge. (author)

Internal combustion engines a detailed introduction to the thermodynamics of spark and compression ignition engines, their design and development

CERN Document Server

Benson, Rowland S

1979-01-01

Internal Combustion of Engines: A Detailed Introduction to the Thermodynamics of Spark and Compression Ignition Engines, Their Design and Development focuses on the design, development, and operations of spark and compression ignition engines. The book first describes internal combustion engines, including rotary, compression, and indirect or spark ignition engines. The publication then discusses basic thermodynamics and gas dynamics. Topics include first and second laws of thermodynamics; internal energy and enthalpy diagrams; gas mixtures and homocentric flow; and state equation. The text ta

Generating Carbon Tubes and Films from Lead and Cadmium Wires During Underwater Spark Discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taka-aki Matsumoto

2000-01-01

In general, no nuclear reactions between charged particles would be possible in a low-energy region. However, many experimental data of nuclear transmutation with low energy were recently reported related to so-called cold fusion. This paper describes some kinds of low-energy nuclear reactions (LENRs), which could be induced during an underwater spark discharge (USD) with only(approx)120 V. The mechanisms of the extraordinary nuclear transmutation can be explained by the Nattoh model. The electron bonding of sparks, which was a special state of atomic clusters, was so strong that multibody nuclear reactions such as nuclear collapse[called electro-nuclear collapse (ENC)] could take place in the spark. Because of ENC, completely broken materials could be again regenerated as conventional elements. The film product was considered to be made by a spherical explosion of a small black hole and the tube by a rotational eruption of a small white hole, both of which resulted from ENC

A Simple Sonication Improves Protein Signal in Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Li-En; Su, Pin-Rui; Wu, Hsin-Yi; Hsu, Cheng-Chih

2018-02-01

Proper matrix application is crucial in obtaining high quality matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). Solvent-free sublimation was essentially introduced as an approach of homogeneous coating that gives small crystal size of the organic matrix. However, sublimation has lower extraction efficiency of analytes. Here, we present that a simple sonication step after the hydration in standard sublimation protocol significantly enhances the sensitivity of MALDI MSI. This modified procedure uses a common laboratory ultrasonicator to immobilize the analytes from tissue sections without noticeable delocalization. Improved imaging quality with additional peaks above 10 kDa in the spectra was thus obtained upon sonication treatment. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Effect of sonication treatment on fibrilating snake fruit (Sallaca) frond fiber

Science.gov (United States)

Darmanto, Seno; Rochardjo, Heru S. B.; Jamasri, Widyorini, Ragil

2018-02-01

Aim of this research is to investigate influence of chemical and sonication treatment on fibrillating and mechanical properties of snake fruit frond fiber. The presence of surface impurities and the large amount of hydroxyl groups in natural fibers make less attractive for polymeric materials reinforcement. Effort to remove the impurities can be done by few treatments that consist of physical, chemical and mechanical treatment. Snake fruit frond bundle fiber were firstly subjected to chemical treatments with alkali solution, steaming at 2 bar and steam explosion at 6 bar by 40 times releasing of steam. Advanced treatment is done by flowing ultrasonic wave at 20 kHz by 90 - 210 watt. The output of fibrillation can reach fiber in range 10 - 25 nm compared with 10.72 µm in diameter for sonication and 6 bar in pressure of steam with 40x of rapidly steam release respectively.

Wire Chamber

CERN Multimedia

Magnetoscriptive readout wire chamber. Multi-wire detectors contain layers of positively and negatively charged wires enclosed in a chamber full of gas. A charged particle passing through the chamber knocks negatively charged electrons out of atoms in the gas, leaving behind positive ions. The electrons are pulled towards the positively charged wires. They collide with other atoms on the way, producing an avalanche of electrons and ions. The movement of these electrons and ions induces an electric pulse in the wires which is collected by fast electronics. The size of the pulse is proportional to the energy loss of the original particle.

Wire chamber

CERN Multimedia

1967-01-01

Magnetoscriptive readout wire chamber.Multi-wire detectors contain layers of positively and negatively charged wires enclosed in a chamber full of gas. A charged particle passing through the chamber knocks negatively charged electrons out of atoms in the gas, leaving behind positive ions. The electrons are pulled towards the positively charged wires. They collide with other atoms on the way, producing an avalanche of electrons and ions. The movement of these electrons and ions induces an electric pulse in the wires which is collected by fast electronics. The size of the pulse is proportional to the energy loss of the original particle.

Effect of sonic agitation, manual dynamic agitation on removal of Enterococcus faecalis biofilm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rajshekhar Chatterjee

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare manual dynamic agitation with sonic agitation on removal of intra radicular Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis biofilm. Material and Methods: Extracted mandibular premolars for orthodontic purpose were sectioned at cervical level and divided into three groups (n = 30. The root canals were instrumented using Protaper rotary instruments up to apical file F4. Roots were sterilized and E. faecalis bacteria were incubated within their root canal space for four weeks. Confirmation of biofilm was done using scanning electron microscopy and Gram staining. All groups were irrigated with side vented needle by using three percent sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl for 60 seconds. Two experimental groups were agitated with manual dynamic agitation (with master gutta-percha cone and sonic agitation (EndoActivator. Remaining bacteria were collected using sterile paper point, which were incubated inside brain-heart infusion (BHI broth to check turbidity. The turbid broth was streaked on blood agar plate for colony counts. Result: Both experimental groups showed highly significant difference in their mean colony count when compared with control group; with P < 0.001. Conclusion: Passive sonic agitation with EndoActivator has proven to be the best irrigating system followed by manual dynamic agitation and conventional needle irrigation.

Comparison of 3D turbulence measurements using three staring wind lidars and a sonic anemometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mann, J; Courtney, M S; Mikkelsen, T; Wagner, R; Lindeloew, P; Sjoeholm, M; Enevoldsen, K; Cariou, J-P; Parmentier, R

2008-01-01

Three pulsed lidars were used in staring, non-scanning mode, placed so that their beams crossed close to a 3D sonic anemometer. The goal is to compare lidar volume averaged wind measurement with point measurement reference sensors and to demonstrate the feasibility of performing 3D turbulence measurements with lidars. The results show a very good correlation between the lidar and the sonic times series. The variance of the velocity measured by the lidar is attenuated due to spatial filtering, and the amount of attenuation can be predicted theoretically

Electron microscopy investigation of spark-eroded Ni-Mn-Ga ferromagnetic shape-memory alloy particles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Solomon, Virgil C. [School of Materials, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States)], E-mail: virgil.solomon@asu.edu; Hong, J.-I. [Center for Magnetic Recording Research, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 (United States); Tang, Y.J. [Center for Magnetic Recording Research, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 (United States); Berkowitz, Ami E. [Center for Magnetic Recording Research, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 (United States); Smith, David J. [School of Materials, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States); Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States)

2007-04-15

The microstructural and chemical characteristics of Ni-Mn-Ga particles produced by spark-erosion using liquid argon or liquid nitrogen dielectrics were investigated by electron microscopy techniques. The particles were predominantly micron-sized spheres; those obtained in argon were solid, whereas those obtained in nitrogen were primarily hollow. The investigation of annealed particles revealed twinned microstructure and provided evidence supporting the cryogen solubility model of hollow particle formation, as well as possibly explaining the non-homogeneous structure of particles formed by spark-erosion in liquid nitrogen.

Development of Augmented Spark Impinging Igniter System for Methane Engines

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, William M.; Osborne, Robin J.; Greene, Sandra E.

2017-01-01

The Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) program is establishing multiple no-funds-exchanged Space Act Agreement (SAA) partnerships with U.S. private sector entities. The purpose of this program is to encourage the development of robotic lunar landers that can be integrated with U.S. commercial launch capabilities to deliver payloads to the lunar surface. NASA can share technology and expertise under the SAA for the benefit of the CATALYST partners. MSFC seeking to vacuum test Augmented Spark Impinging (ASI) igniter with methane and new exciter units to support CATALYST partners and NASA programs. ASI has previously been used/tested successfully at sea-level, with both O2/CH4 and O2/H2 propellants. Conventional ignition exciter systems historically experienced corona discharge issues in vacuum. Often utilized purging or atmospheric sealing on high voltage lead to remedy. Compact systems developed since PCAD could eliminate the high-voltage lead and directly couple the exciter to the spark igniter. MSFC developed Augmented Spark Impinging (ASI) igniter. Successfully used in several sea-level test programs. Plasma-assisted design. Portion of ox flow is used to generate hot plasma. Impinging flows downstream of plasma. Additional fuel flow down torch tube sleeve for cooling near stoichiometric torch flame. Testing done at NASA GRC Altitude Combustion Stand (ACS) facility 2000-lbf class facility with altitude simulation up to around 100,000 ft. (0.2 psia [10 Torr]) via nitrogen driven ejectors. Propellant conditioning systems can provide temperature control of LOX/CH4 up to test article.

Ionization chambers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boag, J.W.

1987-01-01

Although a variety of solid-state and chemical methods for measuring radiation dose have been developed in recent decades and calorimetry can now provide an absolute standard of reference, ionization dosimetry retains its position as the most widely used, most convenient, and, in most situations, most accurate method of measuring either exposure or absorbed dose. The ionization chamber itself is the central element in this system of dosimetry. In this chapter the principles governing the construction and operation of ionization chambers of various types are examined. Since the ionization chambers now in general use are nearly all of commercial manufacture, the emphasis is on operating characteristics and interpretation of measurements rather than on details of construction, although some knowledge of the latter is often required when applying necessary corrections to the measured quantities. Examples are given of the construction of typical chambers designed for particular purposes, and the methods of calibrating them are discussed

Generation of mixed metallic nanoparticles from immiscible metals by spark discharge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tabrizi, N. S.; Xu, Q.; Pers, N. M. van der; Schmidt-Ott, A.

2010-01-01

Using a spark discharge system, we synthesized Ag-Cu, Pt-Au and Cu-W mixed particles a few nanometers in size. These combinations have miscibility gaps in the bulk form. The microsecond sparks between electrodes consisting of the respective materials, form a vapour cloud. Very fast quenching of the mixed vapour results in the formation of nanoparticles. To investigate the morphology, size, composition and structure of the particles, TEM, XRD analyses and EDS elemental mapping were performed on the samples. The average compositions were measured by ICP and the specific surface areas were determined by the BET. Our method produces Ag-Cu and Au-Pt mixed crystalline phases that do not exist in macroscopic samples. For Cu-W, alloying is not observed, and the metals are mixed on a scale of about 1 nm.

Ignition system for an internal combustion engine with rotary system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hochstein, P A

1977-05-18

In the Wankel engine, the sparking plugs spark three times per rotation of the rotor and are never cooled by the incoming mixture. This constant high temperature environment necessitates the use of special sparking plugs. The covered top of the sparking plug is particularly liable to carbon deposits. This invention makes it possible to use sparking plugs on the rotor, without the disadvantages due to the use of high voltage. Further, the use of distributors or mechanical devices determining the ignition timing is no longer necessary. The fuel/air mixture is ignited in a combustion chamber, which is limited by first and second components moving relative to one another in repeated cycles. A generator device is fitted to the first components and an ignition device to the second components. The magnetic flux linking takes place in a predetermined area of the relative movement between the first and second components in a repeated cycle. An ignition signal is produced in the combustion chamber by the magnetic flux linking.

Gas microstrip chambers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McIntyre, P.M.; Barasch, E.F.; Bowcock, T.J.V.; Demroff, H.P.; Elliott, S.M.; Howe, M.R.; Lee, B.; Mazumdar, T.K.; Pang, Y.; Smith, D.D.; Wahl, J.; Wu, Y.; Yue, W.K.; Gaedke, R.M.; Vanstraelen, G.

1992-01-01

The gas microstrip chamber has been developed from concept to experimental system during the past three years. A pattern of anode and grid lines are microfabricated onto a dielectric substrate and configured as a high-resolution MWPC. Four recent developments are described: Suitable plastic substrates and lithography techniques for large-area chambers; non-planar silicon-based chambers for 20 μm resolution; integrated on-board synchronous front-end electronics and data buffering; and a porous silicon active cathode for enhanced efficiency and time response. The microstrip chamber appears to be a promising technology for applications in microvertex, tracking spectrometer, muon spectrometer, and transition radiation detection. (orig.)

Biodiesel from waste cooking oils via direct sonication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gude, Veera Gnaneswar; Grant, Georgene Elizabeth

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Thermal effects of direct sonication on transesterification reaction were studied. • Ultrasonics may effectively transesterify waste oils without external heating. • Intense mixing with temperature rise completes transesterification instantly. • Plug flow process reactor design with ultrasound may prove energy efficient. • Process optimization and biodiesel conversion analysis was presented. - Abstract: This study investigates the effect of direct sonication in conversion of waste cooking oil into biodiesel. Waste cooking oils may cause environmental hazards if not disposed properly. However, waste cooking oils can serve as low-cost feedstock for biodiesel production. Ultrasonics, a non-conventional process technique, was applied to directly convert waste cooking oil into biodiesel in a single step. Ultrasonics transesterify waste cooking oils very efficiently due to increased mass/heat transfer phenomena and specific thermal/athermal effects at molecular levels. Thus, energy and chemical consumption in the overall process is greatly reduced compared to conventional biodiesel processes. Specific to this research, thermal effects of ultrasonics in transesterification reaction without external conventional heating along with effects of different ultrasonic, energy intensities and energy density are reported. Optimization of process parameters such as methanol to oil ratio, catalyst concentration and reaction time are also presented. It was observed that small reactor design such as plug-flow or contact-type reactor design may improve overall ultrasonic utilization in the transesterification reaction due to increased energy density and ultrasonic intensity

Morphology and crystallinity of sisal nanocellulose after sonication

Science.gov (United States)

Sosiati, H.; Wijayanti, D. A.; Triyana, K.; Kamiel, B.

2017-09-01

Different preparation methods on the natural fibers resulted in different morphology. However, the relationships between type of natural fibers, preparation methods and the morphology of produced nanocellulose could not be exactly defined. The sisal nanocellulose was presently prepared by alkalization and bleaching followed by sonication to verify changes in the morphology and crystallinity of nanocellulose related to the formation mechanism. The extracted microcellulose was subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The isolated cellulose nanospheres were examined with respect to morphology by SEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and, to crystallinity by electron diffraction analysis. Bleaching after alkalization made the microfibrils clearly separated from each other to the individual fiber whose width of the single fiber was ranging from 6 to 13 µm. The XRD crystallinity index (CI) of microcellulose gradually increased after the chemical treatments; 83.12% for raw sisal fiber, 88.57% for alkali treated fiber and 94.03% for bleached fibers. The ultrasonic agitation after bleaching that was carried out at 750 Watt, 20 kHz and amplitude of 39% for 2 h produces homogeneous cellulose nanospheres less than 50 nm in diameter with relatively low crystallinity. The electron diffraction analysis confirmed that the low crystallinity of produced nnocellulose is related to the effect of chemical treatment done before sonication.

Air spark-like plasma source for antimicrobial NOx generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pavlovich, M J; Galleher, C; Curtis, B; Clark, D S; Graves, D B; Ono, T; Machala, Z

2014-01-01

We demonstrate and analyse the generation of nitrogen oxides and their antimicrobial efficacy using atmospheric air spark-like plasmas. Spark-like discharges in air in a 1 L confined volume are shown to generate NO x at an initial rate of about 1.5  ×  10 16 NO x molecules/J dissipated in the plasma. Such a discharge operating in this confined volume generates on the order of 6000 ppm NO x in 10 min. Around 90% of the NO x is in the form of NO 2 after several minutes of operation in the confined volume, suggesting that NO 2 is the dominant antimicrobial component. The strong antimicrobial action of the NO x mixture after several minutes of plasma operation is demonstrated by measuring rates of E. coli disinfection on surfaces and in water exposed to the NO x mixture. Some possible applications of plasma generation of NO x (perhaps followed by dissolution in water) include disinfection of surfaces, skin or wound antisepsis, and sterilization of medical instruments at or near room temperature. (paper)

Effect of the ohmic drop in a RPC-LIKE chamber for measurements of electron transport parameters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Petri, Anna R.; Gonçalves, Josemary A.C.; Bueno, Carmen C., E-mail: annapetri@usp.br, E-mail: josemary@ipen.br, E-mail: ccbueno@ipen.br [Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Mangiarotti, Alessio, E-mail: alessio@if.usp.br [Universidade de São Paulo (IF/USP), SP (Brazil). Instituto de Física

2017-07-01

The main advantage of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs), applied, for instance, in High-Energy Experiments and Positron Emission Tomography (PET), is that it is spark-protected due to the presence of, at least, one high resistive electrode. However, the ohmic drop across the latter can affect the charge multiplication significantly. In this work, we investigate this effect in a RPC-like chamber. The counter was filled with nitrogen at atmospheric pressure and the primary ionization was produced by the incidence of nitrogen pulsed laser beam on an aluminum cathode. The illumination area of the cathode was measured using a foil of millimetric paper overlaid on this electrode. In this way, the resistance of the glass anode could be estimated using the known resistivity of the glass (ρ=2×10{sup 12} Ω.cm). Therefore, the voltage drop across the dielectric was calculated by the product of the current across the gas gap and the anode resistance. In order to mitigate the effect of the resistive electrode, the laser beam intensity was limited by interposing metallic meshes between the laser and the chamber window. The dependence of the ohmic drop from the applied voltage was analyzed. The results obtained shown that, without the meshes, the ohmic drop corresponds up to 7% of the applied voltage, preventing the detection system to reach values of density-normalized electric fields in the gas gap (E{sub eff}/N) higher than 166 Td. By minimizing the laser beam intensity and, consequently, the primary ionization, the ohmic drop represented only 0.2% of the applied voltage, extending the E{sub eff} /N range up to 175 Td. (author)

Effective delivery of sonication energy to fast settling and agglomerating nanomaterial suspensions for cellular studies: Implications for stability, particle kinetics, dosimetry and toxicity.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Joel M; Beltran-Huarac, Juan; Pyrgiotakis, Georgios; Demokritou, Philip

2018-04-01

Typical in vitro assays used for high throughput toxicological screening and measuring nano-bio interactions are conducted by pipetting suspensions of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) dispersed in nutrient-rich culture media directly onto cells. In order to achieve fairly monodisperse and stable suspensions of small agglomerates, ultrasonic energy is usually applied to break apart large agglomerates that can form upon suspension in liquid. Lack of standardized protocols and methods for delivering sonication energy can introduce variability in the ENM suspension properties ( e.g . agglomerate size, polydispersity, suspension stability over time), and holds significant implications for in vitro dosimetry, toxicity, and other nano-bio interactions. Careful assessment of particle transformations during dispersion preparation and sonication is therefore critical for accurate interpretation of in vitro toxicity studies. In this short communication, the difficulties of preparing stable suspensions of rapidly settling ENMs are presented. Furthermore, methods to optimize the delivery of the critical sonication energy required to break large agglomerates and prepare stable, fairly monodispersed suspensions of fast settling ENMs are presented. A methodology for the efficient delivery of sonication energy in a discrete manner is presented and validated using various rapidly agglomerating and settling ENMs. The implications of continuous vs. discrete sonication on average hydrodynamic diameter, and polydispersity was also assessed for both fast and slow settling ENMs. For the rapidly agglomerating and settling ENMs (Ag15%/SiO 2 , Ag and CeO 2 ), the proposed discrete sonication achieved a significant reduction in the agglomerate diameter and polydispersity. In contrast, the relatively slow agglomerating and settling Fe 2 O 3 suspension did not exhibit statistically significant differences in average hydrodynamic diameter or polydispersity between the continuous and discrete

Improving the Tribological Properties of Spark-Anodized Titanium by Magnetron Sputtered Diamond-Like Carbon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaoxiang Chen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Spark-anodization of titanium can produce adherent and wear-resistant TiO2 film on the surface, but the spark-anodized titanium has lots of surface micro-pores, resulting in an unstable and high friction coefficient against many counterparts. In this study, the diamond-like carbon (DLC was introduced into the micro-pores of spark-anodized titanium by the magnetron sputtering technique and a TiO2/DLC composite coating was fabricated. The microstructure and tribological properties of TiO2/DLC composite coating were investigated and compared with the anodic TiO2 mono-film and DLC mono-film. Results show that the DLC deposition significantly decreased the surface roughness and porosity of spark-anodized titanium. The fabricated TiO2/DLC composite coating exhibited a more stable and much lower friction coefficient than anodic TiO2 mono-film. Although the friction coefficient of the composite coating and the DLC mono-film was similar under both light load and heavy load conditions, the wear life of the composite coating was about 43% longer than that of DLC mono-film under heavy load condition. The wear rate of titanium with protective composite coating was much lower than that of titanium with DLC mono-film. The superior low friction coefficient and wear rate of the TiO2/DLC composite coating make it a good candidate as protective coating on titanium alloys.

Performance enhancement of a spark ignition engine fed by different fuel types

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hedfi, Hachem; Jbara, Abdessalem; Jedli, Hedi; Slimi, Khalifa; Stoppato, Anna

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Biogas mixed with hydrogen is checked for a spark ignition engine. • An engine fed by biogas, hydrogen, natural gas or liquid petroleum gas is studied. • Efficiency is optimized with respect to consumption and exhaust gas recirculation. • Combustion reaction progress is characterized in real time. - Abstract: A numerical model based on thermodynamic and kinetic analyses has been established in order to evaluate biogas, hydrogen, natural gas or liquid petroleum gas as fuels in a spark ignition engine. For each fuel type, consumption as well as efficiency have been compared to gasoline in order to generate the same engine work (in the range of 0.28–0.43 W h/cycle). It was found that the spark ignition engine can be fed by an equimolar mixture of biogas and hydrogen. Moreover, thermal efficiency has been enhanced with respect to fuel consumption and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). It was shown that an equimolar mixture between biogas and hydrogen increases the ITE by around 2.2% and decreases the mass consumption by less than 0.01 g/cycle. In addition, the combustion reaction progresses as well as CO and CO_2 emissions have been characterized in real time.

AFSC/RACE/SAP/Cummiskey: Red king crab sonic tagging and dive database

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This is data from a long-term monitoring project which utilized sonic tags to follow aggregations of red king crab in Womens Bay near Kodiak Alaska. The database...

Double chamber ion source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uman, M.F.; Winnard, J.R.; Winters, H.F.

1978-01-01

The ion source is comprised of two discharge chambers one of which is provided with a filament and an aperture leading into the other chamber which in turn has an extraction orifice. A low voltage arc discharge is operated in an inert gas atmosphere in the filament chamber while an arc of higher voltage is operated in the second ionization chamber which contains a vapor which will give the desired dopant ion species. The entire source is immersed in an axial magnetic field parallel to a line connecting the filament, the aperture between the two chambers and the extraction orifice. (author)

Ussing Chamber

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Westerhout, J.; Wortelboer, H.; Verhoeckx, K.

2015-01-01

The Ussing chamber system is named after the Danish zoologist Hans Ussing, who invented the device in the 1950s to measure the short-circuit current as an indicator of net ion transport taking place across frog skin (Ussing and Zerahn, Acta Physiol Scand 23:110-127, 1951). Ussing chambers are

The spark counting of etched fission-fragment tracks in polycarbonate for a personal neutron dosimetry system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harrison, K.G.; Hancock, I.B.; Holt, P.D.; Wylie, J.W.

1977-10-01

A new type of personal neutron dosimeter, in which neutron-induced fissions in a thin 237 Np foil are detected by a polycarbonate track-detector, is under development at Harwell for use in a nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant. As part of the development programme, an experimental dosimeter, etching facility and spark counter have been used to study the spark-counting method for counting fission-fragment tracks in polycarbonate. Emphasis has been placed on developing operating procedures for the counter consistent with good overall reproducibility. Existing methods for the optimizing and testing of spark counters is briefly reviewed and a practical operational testing procedure is devised. The optimized system is found to be relatively foolproof in operation and gives good results in unskilled use as well as under carefully-controlled laboratory conditions. (author)

Effect of Spark Motor Program on the development of gross motor skills in intellectually disabled educable boys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hashem Faal Moganloo

2013-11-01

Results: Spark Program caused significant changes in all the variables of the study, except speed and agility, in the experimental group after 24 sessions. The changes included: agility and speed (P=0.731, balance (P=0, strength (P=0.002, and bilateral coordination (P=0. Conclusion: Spark Motor Program can improve gross motor skills in intellectually disabled educable students.

DELPHI Barrel Muon Chamber Module

CERN Multimedia

1989-01-01

The module was used as part of the muon identification system on the barrel of the DELPHI detector at LEP, and was in active use from 1989 to 2000. The module consists of 7 individual muons chambers arranged in 2 layers. Chambers in the upper layer are staggered by half a chamber width with respect to the lower layer. Each individual chamber is a drift chamber consisting of an anode wire, 47 microns in diameter, and a wrapped copper delay line. Each chamber provided 3 signal for each muon passing through the chamber, from which a 3D space-point could be reconstructed.

Effects of rust in the crack face on crack detection based on Sonic-IR method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harai, Y.; Izumi, Y.; Tanabe, H.; Takamatsu, T.; Sakagami, T.

2015-01-01

Sonic-IR, which is based on the thermographic detection of the temperature rise due to frictional heating at the defect faces under ultrasonic excitation, has an advantage in the detection of closed and small defects. However, this method has a lot of nuclear factors relating to heat generation. In this study, effects of rust in the crack faces on the crack detection based on the sonic-IR method is experimentally investigated by using crack specimens. The heat generation by ultrasonic excitation was observed regularly during rust accelerated test using original device. The distribution of temperature change around the crack was changed with the progress of rust. This change in heat generation, it believed to be due to change in the contact state of the crack surface due to rust. As a result, it was found that heat generation by ultrasonic excitation is affected by rust in the crack faces. And it was also found that crack detection can be conducted by sonic-IR even if rust was generated in the crack faces. (author)

Production of uranium-molybdenum particles by spark-erosion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cabanillas, E.D.; Lopez, M.; Pasqualini, E.E.; Cirilo Lombardo, D.J.

2004-01-01

With the spark-erosion method we have produced spheroidal particles of an uranium-molybdenum alloy using pure water as dielectric. The particles were characterized by optical metallography, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. Mostly spherical particles of UO 2 with a distinctive size distribution with peaks centered at 70 and 10 μm were obtained. The particles have central inclusions of U and Mo compounds

Production of uranium-molybdenum particles by spark-erosion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cabanillas, E.D. E-mail: cabanill@cnea.gov.ar; Lopez, M.; Pasqualini, E.E.; Cirilo Lombardo, D.J

2004-01-01

With the spark-erosion method we have produced spheroidal particles of an uranium-molybdenum alloy using pure water as dielectric. The particles were characterized by optical metallography, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. Mostly spherical particles of UO{sub 2} with a distinctive size distribution with peaks centered at 70 and 10 {mu}m were obtained. The particles have central inclusions of U and Mo compounds.

Mixing volume determination in batch transfers through sonic detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baptista, Renan Martins [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas]. E-mail: renan@cenpes.petrobras.com.br; Rachid, Felipe Bastos de Freitas [Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niteroi, RJ (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Mecanica]. E-mail: rachid@mec.uff.br; Araujo, Jose Henrique Carneiro de [Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niteroi, RJ (Brazil). Dept. de Ciencia da Computacao]. E-mail: jhca@dcc.ic.uff.br

2000-07-01

An experimental methodology to evaluate mixing volumes in batch transfers by means of sonic detectors has been reported in this paper. Mixing volumes have then been computed in a transfer of diesel/gasoline carried out through a pipeline operated by Petrobras for different interface points. It has been shown that an adequate choice of the interface points is crucial for keeping the mixing volume uncertainty within acceptable limits. (author)

Gridded ionization chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Houston, J.M.

1977-01-01

An improved ionization chamber type x-ray detector comprises a heavy gas at high pressure disposed between an anode and a cathode. An open grid structure is disposed adjacent the anode and is maintained at a voltsge intermediate between the cathode and anode potentials. The electric field which is produced by positive ions drifting toward the cathode is thus shielded from the anode. Current measuring circuits connected to the anode are, therefore, responsive only to electron current flow within the chamber and the recovery time of the chamber is shortened. The grid structure also serves to shield the anode from electrical currents which might otherwise be induced by mechanical vibrations in the ionization chamber structure

Geophysical borehole logging in Lavia borehole - results and interpretation of sonic and tube wave measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andersson, P.; Stenberg, L.

1985-02-01

Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co, SKB has been contracted by Industrial Power Company LTD, TVO to perform geophysical logging in a borehole at Lavia in Western Finland. The logging has been conducted by Swedish Geological Co, SGAB in accordance with an agreement for cooperation with SKB. The depth of the borehole is 1001 m, diameter 56 mm and inclination 10-20 degrees to the vertical. The aim of the logging was to determine the various geophysical parameters in the borehole in order to interpret and understand the rock mass properties in the vicinity of the borehole. According to the contract the report covers the following main objectives: a technical description of the field work and the equipment used; a review of the theoretical base for the sonic and tube wave methods; an interpretation and presentation of the results obtained by sonic and tube wave mesurements. The evaluation of the sonic and tube wave measurements shows good correlation. On a qualitative basis there seems to be a correlation between tube wave generating points, the relative tube wave amplitudes and the hydraulic conductivity measurements performed as hydraulical tests between packers in the borehole. The low velocity anamalies in the sonic log are mainly caused by tectonic features like fractures and fracture zones but to some extent also by contacts between granite and diorite. The estimation of elastic properties of the rock mass from observation of tube wave velocity are in accordance with laboratory determinations made on core samples. (author)

Floral Sonication is an Innate Behaviour in Bumblebees that can be Fine-Tuned with Experience in Manipulating Flowers.

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, Tan; Whitehorn, Penelope; Lye, Gillian C; Vallejo-Marín, Mario

Bumblebees demonstrate an extensive capacity for learning complex motor skills to maximise exploitation of floral rewards. This ability is well studied in nectar collection but its role in pollen foraging is less well understood. Floral sonication is used by bees to extract pollen from some plant species with anthers which must be vibrated (buzzed) to release pollen. Pollen removal is determined by sonication characteristics including frequency and amplitude, and thus the ability to optimise sonication should allow bees to maximise the pollen collection. We investigated the ability of the buff-tailed bumblebee ( Bombus terrestris ) to modify the frequency and amplitude of their buzzes with increasing experience manipulating flowers of the buzz-pollinated plant Solanum rostratum . We analysed flight and feeding vibrations generated by naïve workers across feeding bouts. Feeding buzzes were of a higher frequency and a lower amplitude than flight buzzes. Both flight and feeding buzzes had reduced amplitudes with increasing number of foraging trips. However, the frequency of their feeding buzzes was reduced significantly more than their flight buzzes as bumblebee workers gained experience manipulating flowers. These results suggest that bumblebees are able to modify the characteristics of their buzzes with experience manipulating buzz-pollinated flowers. We discuss our findings in the context of bumblebee learning, and the current understanding of the optimal sonication characteristics for releasing pollen in buzz-pollinated species. Our results present a tantalising insight into the potential role of learning in floral sonication, paving the way for future research in this area.

Spark gap produced plasma diagnostics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, H.Y.

1990-01-01

A Spark Gap (Applied voltage : 2-8KV, Capacitor : 4 Micro F. Dia of the tube : 1 inch, Electrode distance : .3 ∼.5 inch) was made to generate a small size dynamic plasma. To measure the plasma density and temperature as a function of time and position, we installed and have been installing four detection systems - Mach-Zehnder type Interferometer for the plasma refractivity, Expansion speed detector using two He-Ne laser beams, Image Processing using Lens and A Optical-Fiber Array for Pointwise Radiation Sensing, Faraday Rotation of a Optical Fiber to measure the azimuthal component of B-field generated by the plasma drift. These systems was used for the wire explosion diagnostics, and can be used for the Laser driven plasma also

Exploratory studies on a passively triggered vacuum spark

Science.gov (United States)

Rout, R. K.; Auluck, S. K. H.; Nagpal, J. S.; Kulkarni, L. V.

1999-12-01

The results of an experimental investigation on a passively triggered vacuum spark device are presented. The diagnostics include the current, x-ray and optical emission measurements. The sharp dips in the current derivative signal indicate the occurrence of pinching at an early stage of the discharge (at current icons/Journals/Common/approx" ALT="approx" ALIGN="TOP"/>5 kA). A well-confined plasma with a central hot region was recorded using a streak camera. The pinched plasma was observed to undergo kink-type oscillations with a time period of 10-15 ns. Repeated plasma fronts were seen to move from the anode to the cathode with an average velocity of icons/Journals/Common/approx" ALT="approx" ALIGN="TOP"/>5 × 106 cm s-1. Soft x-ray emission having a radiation intensity of a few hundred mR per discharge was observed. The x-ray signals obtained using photodiodes showed multiple bursts. A soft x-ray pinhole camera recorded micro-pinches of icons/Journals/Common/approx" ALT="approx" ALIGN="TOP"/>100 µm. The x-ray emitting regions were confined to the inter-electrode gap. The x-ray emission characteristics were influenced by the electrolytic resistance, which was connected across the spark gap to initiate discharge.

Influence of hydrox on spark ignition engine performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naude, A.F.

2003-01-01

An experimental investigation was performed on the influence of the addition of small quantities of Hydrox (hydrogen and oxygen) as generated through electrolysis of water on the performance of a spark ignition engine. A Mazda 1600 cc fuel injected engine connected to a Superflow SF901 dynamometer system was used in this project. The engine was also equipped with a Unichip engine management system in order to enable changes in the spark timing and the amount of fuel injected. Hydrox was generated by an electrolysis process that could either be powered by the engine's alternator or from a separate power source. This hydrox gas produced from the electrolyzer was introduced into the engine's intake manifold and the influence of this was measured on the engine's performance, emissions and fuel consumption. For these tests a typical load condition as experienced for a light passenger car vehicle driven at 100 km/h on the open road was simulated. Typical results for the change in emissions with the hydrox introduction showed a significant reduction in hydrocarbons at lean air-fuel ratio operation of the engine. Additionally with the electrolysis process being driven by the engine a small improvement in fuel consumption was experienced. (author)

A multi-platform evaluation of the randomized CX low-rank matrix factorization in Spark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gittens, Alex; Kottalam, Jey; Yang, Jiyan; Ringenburg, Michael, F.; Chhugani, Jatin; Racah, Evan; Singh, Mohitdeep; Yao, Yushu; Fischer, Curt; Ruebel, Oliver; Bowen, Benjamin; Lewis, Norman, G.; Mahoney, Michael, W.; Krishnamurthy, Venkat; Prabhat, Mr

2017-07-27

We investigate the performance and scalability of the randomized CX low-rank matrix factorization and demonstrate its applicability through the analysis of a 1TB mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) dataset, using Apache Spark on an Amazon EC2 cluster, a Cray XC40 system, and an experimental Cray cluster. We implemented this factorization both as a parallelized C implementation with hand-tuned optimizations and in Scala using the Apache Spark high-level cluster computing framework. We obtained consistent performance across the three platforms: using Spark we were able to process the 1TB size dataset in under 30 minutes with 960 cores on all systems, with the fastest times obtained on the experimental Cray cluster. In comparison, the C implementation was 21X faster on the Amazon EC2 system, due to careful cache optimizations, bandwidth-friendly access of matrices and vector computation using SIMD units. We report these results and their implications on the hardware and software issues arising in supporting data-centric workloads in parallel and distributed environments.

Consolidation of W–Ta composites: Hot isostatic pressing and spark and pulse plasma sintering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dias, M., E-mail: marta.dias@itn.pt [Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Guerreiro, F. [Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Correia, J.B. [LNEG, Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia, Estrada do Paço do Lumiar, 1649-038 Lisboa (Portugal); Galatanu, A. [National Institute of Materials Physics, Atomistilor 105 bis Bucharest-Magurele, 077125 Ilfov (Romania); Rosiński, M. [Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Warsaw (Poland); Monge, M.A.; Munoz, A. [Departamento de Física, Univerdidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avd. de la Universidad 30, 28911 Madrid (Spain); Alves, E. [Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Carvalho, P.A. [Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); CeFEMA, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • Consolidation of W–Ta composites using three techniques: HIP, SPS and PPS. • Comparison of consolidation methods in terms of W–Ta interdiffusion and densification. • Microstructure analysis in terms of oxides formation. - Abstract: Composites consisting of tantalum fiber/powder dispersed in a nanostructured W matrix have been consolidated by spark and pulse plasma sintering as well as by hot isostatic pressing. The microstructural observations revealed that the tungsten–tantalum fiber composites consolidated by hot isostatic pressing and pulse plasma sintering presented a continuous layer of Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5} phase at the W/Ta interfaces, while the samples consolidated by spark plasma sintering evidenced a Ta + Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5} eutectic mixture due to the higher temperature of this consolidation process. Similar results have been obtained for the tungsten–tantalum powder composites. A (W, Ta) solid solution was detected around the prior nanostructured W particles in tungsten–tantalum powder composites consolidated by spark and pulse plasma sintering. Higher densifications were obtained for composites consolidated by hot isostatic pressing and pulse plasma sintering.

Spark discharge formation in an inhomogeneous electric field under conditions of runaway electron generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shao Tao; Zhang Cheng; Yan Ping; Tarasenko, Victor F.; Lomaev, Mikhail I.; Sorokin, Dmitrii A.; Kozyrev, Andrei V.; Baksht, Evgeni Kh.

2012-01-01

In this article we report on work where the formation of a spark in nanosecond high-voltage discharges was studied in nitrogen, nitrogen-methane mixtures, and air at increased pressures under the conditions of runaway electron generation. Voltage pulses of amplitude ∼90 and ∼250 kV were applied to a point-to-plane gap with a planar anode and a cathode of small curvature radius. Cathode spots appeared early in the discharge, within ∼200 ps of a corona discharge at high rate of rise of the voltage (∼5 x 10 14 V/s) across centimeter point-to-plane gap spacing. The spark leader that bridged the point-to-plane gap propagated from the planar anode with cathode spots and a voltage pulse rise time of less than 1 ns. The discharge from diffuse clouds took the form of diffuse jets with increasing pulse repetition rate, thus achieving the accumulation effect in a repetitively pulsed discharge. Characteristic emission spectra are presented for spark diffuse and corona discharges.

Spark discharge formation in an inhomogeneous electric field under conditions of runaway electron generation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shao Tao; Zhang Cheng; Yan Ping [Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Key Laboratory of Power Electronics and Electric Drive, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Tarasenko, Victor F.; Lomaev, Mikhail I.; Sorokin, Dmitrii A.; Kozyrev, Andrei V.; Baksht, Evgeni Kh. [Institute of High Current Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk 634055 (Russian Federation)

2012-01-15

In this article we report on work where the formation of a spark in nanosecond high-voltage discharges was studied in nitrogen, nitrogen-methane mixtures, and air at increased pressures under the conditions of runaway electron generation. Voltage pulses of amplitude {approx}90 and {approx}250 kV were applied to a point-to-plane gap with a planar anode and a cathode of small curvature radius. Cathode spots appeared early in the discharge, within {approx}200 ps of a corona discharge at high rate of rise of the voltage ({approx}5 x 10{sup 14} V/s) across centimeter point-to-plane gap spacing. The spark leader that bridged the point-to-plane gap propagated from the planar anode with cathode spots and a voltage pulse rise time of less than 1 ns. The discharge from diffuse clouds took the form of diffuse jets with increasing pulse repetition rate, thus achieving the accumulation effect in a repetitively pulsed discharge. Characteristic emission spectra are presented for spark diffuse and corona discharges.

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF VARIABLE VALVE TIMING ON THE PERFORMANCE IN SPARK IGNITION ENGINE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali AKBAŞ

2001-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, an alternative prototype has been designed and constructed for variable valve timing systems which are used in spark ignition engines. The effects of intake valve timing and lift changing on engine performance have been investigated without changing the opening duration of the valves. A four stroke, single cylinder, spark ignition engine has been used for these experiments.

π0 detection system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Yoichiro

1977-01-01

A π-zero meson detection system used for the measurement of charge exchange reaction is described. The detection of π-zero is made by observing the coincidence events of two gamma-ray emission following the decay of π-zero meson. The angles of the emitted gamma-rays are detected with a wire spark chamber system, and the energies of the gamma-rays are measured with hodoscope type lead glass Cherenkov counters. In front of the π-zero counter system, a lead converter is set, and the incident gamma-rays convert to electron positron pairs, which can be detected with the wire spark chambers. The system is a multi-track detection system. The high voltage pulser of the wire spark chamber system is a charge line thyratron pulser, and the chamber itself is a transmission line type. Read-out can be made by a mag-line system. Wave forms and efficiencies were measured. The three-track efficiency was about 90% by the condenser method and 95% by the charge line method. (Kato, T.)

High speed streak techniques for measuring the growth of spark channels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suleebka, P.

1975-01-01

The manner of expansion of an electric spark channel is of interest in the understanding of such phenomena as lightning. The development of a camera suitable for photography of this expansion is described, with some results for hydrogen. (author)

A cinema for the unborn: moving pictures, mental pictures and Electra Sparks's New Thought film theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Patrick

2017-09-01

In the 1910s, New York suffragette Electra Sparks wrote a series of essays in the Moving Picture News that advocated for cine-therapy treatments for pregnant women. Film was, in her view, the great democratizer of beautiful images, providing high-cultural access to the city's poor. These positive 'mental pictures' were important for her because, she claimed, in order to produce an attractive, healthy child, the mother must be exposed to quality cultural material. Sparks's championing of cinema during its 'second birth' was founded upon the premise of New Thought. This metaphysical Christian doctrine existed alongside the self-help and esoteric publishing domains and testified, above all, to the possibility of the 'mind-cure' of the body through the positive application of 'mental pictures'. Physiologically, their method began best in the womb, where the thoughts of the mother were of utmost importance: the eventual difference between birthing an Elephant Man or an Adonis. This positive maternal impression was commonplace in New Thought literature; it was Sparks's innovation to apply it to cinema. Investigating Sparks's film theory, practice and programming reveals her to be a harbinger of the abiding analogy between mind and motion picture that occupies film theorists to this day.

Contribution to the study of 'Pseudo-spark' discharges applied to the realisation of latch devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bauville, Gerard

1994-01-01

The objective of this research thesis is to study discharges growing from a hollow geometry of electrodes for pressures on the left side of the Paschen minimum. The study characterises the main conduction phase by experimentally determining the discharge voltage and current. Based on a numerical analysis, the author deduces some macroscopic characteristics such as voltage mean value, dissipated energy, with respect to the variation of various parameters such as gas pressure and nature, discharge duration, and electrode cavity geometries. After a first part on switches (technological applications, switches, pseudo-spark breakers), the author addresses the discharges (presentation of a 'pseudo-spark'-type discharge, involved physical mechanisms, methods of initiation of pseudo-spark discharges, triggering by a magnetic field pulse). The next part describes the test bench in a detailed way (electrodes, triggering system, electric configurations), and the last part reports the experimental study. It addresses the following issues: distribution of magnetic field lines, voltage drop, conjunction phase, discharge footprints on the surfaces, propagation rate, disjunction [fr

Interferometric fiber-optic sensor embedded in a spark plug for in-cylinder pressure measurement in engines.

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Taehan; Atkins, Robert A; Taylor, Henry F; Gibler, William N

2003-02-20

Pressure sensing in an internal combustion engine with an intrinsic fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FFPI) integrated with a spark plug is demonstrated for the first time. The spark plug was used for the ignition of the cylinder in which it was mounted. The FFPI element, protected with a copper/gold coating, was embedded in a groove in the spark-plug housing. Gas pressure inthe engine induced longitudinal strain in this housing, which was also experienced by the fiber-optic sensing element. The sensor was monitored with a signal conditioning unit containing a chirped distributed-feedback laser. Pressure sensitivities as high as 0.00339 radians round-trip phase shift per pounds per square inch of pressure were observed. Measured pressure versus time traces showed good agreement with those from a piezoelectric reference sensor mounted in the same engine cylinder.

Development of a semi-empirical convective heat transfer correlation based on thermodynamic and optical measurements in a spark ignition engine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irimescu, Adrian; Merola, Simona Silvia; Tornatore, Cinzia; Valentino, Gerardo

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A new convective heat transfer correlation was developed for spark ignition engines. • Measurements in an experimental optical power unit were used for validation. • Fuel effects were correctly modeled and verified with methane and hydrogen. • Results were compared to two other widely used correlations. • Calibration was found to be easier for the proposed model. - Abstract: Internal combustion engines are still the main technology for energy conversion in automotive transport and are set to remain the main choice of propulsion solutions for some time to come. Development and design of these power units in the quest for improved efficiency and reduced environmental impact is increasingly reliant on simulations in order to reduce costs. Therefore, continuous improvement of sub-models used for numerical investigation is required so that correct and pertinent results are obtained. Convective heat transfer is receiving much attention in this respect, especially as direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engines can feature abnormal combustion phenomena such as mega-knock, mainly driven by local hot spots in the combustion chamber, that can be extremely damaging as they cannot be mitigated with existing control procedures. As a result, thermal stratification is more and more investigated through both quasi-dimensional and more complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes. Alternative fuels are also extensively studied, especially as their specific properties that are different from those of gasoline can make their application challenging, thus requiring further insight in order to identify suitable injection and ignition control strategies. A new convective heat transfer correlation was developed for application in quasi-dimensional models, with a more fundamental basis combined with the application of a flow field model; results were compared to existing and extensively used empirical equations. Assessments were based on in-cylinder pressure

Using sonic anemometer temperature to measure sensible heat flux in strong winds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. P. Burns

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Sonic anemometers simultaneously measure the turbulent fluctuations of vertical wind (w' and sonic temperature (T_s', and are commonly used to measure sensible heat flux (H. Our study examines 30-min heat fluxes measured with a Campbell Scientific CSAT3 sonic anemometer above a subalpine forest. We compared H calculated with T_s to H calculated with a co-located thermocouple and found that, for horizontal wind speed (U less than 8 m s⁻¹, the agreement was around ±30 W m⁻². However, for U ≈ 8 m s⁻¹, the CSAT H had a generally positive deviation from H calculated with the thermocouple, reaching a maximum difference of ≈250 W m⁻² at U ≈ 18 m s⁻¹. With version 4 of the CSAT firmware, we found significant underestimation of the speed of sound and thus T_s in high winds (due to a delayed detection of the sonic pulse, which resulted in the large CSAT heat flux errors. Although this T_s error is qualitatively similar to the well-known fundamental correction for the crosswind component, it is quantitatively different and directly related to the firmware estimation of the pulse arrival time. For a CSAT running version 3 of the firmware, there does not appear to be a significant underestimation of T_s; however, a T_s error similar to that of version 4 may occur if the CSAT is sufficiently out of calibration. An empirical correction to the CSAT heat flux that is consistent with our conceptual understanding of the T_s error is presented. Within a broader context, the surface energy balance is used to evaluate the heat flux measurements, and the usefulness of side-by-side instrument comparisons is discussed.

Utilization of Alcohol Fuel in Spark Ignition and Diesel Engines.

Science.gov (United States)

Berndt, Don; Stengel, Ron

These five units comprise a course intended to prepare and train students to conduct alcohol fuel utilization seminars in spark ignition and diesel engines. Introductory materials include objectives and a list of instructor requirements. The first four units cover these topics: ethanol as an alternative fuel (technical and economic advantages,…

Sparking investment in Ontario's power generation industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, J.

2004-01-01

This paper discusses the business strategy needed to spark investment in Ontario's power generation industry. It examines the process of decision making and investing in an uncertain environment. The paper suggests that any strategy based on one view of the future courts trouble and that strategic flexibility can prepare for what cannot be predicted. Finally the paper suggests that Ontario needs to create a stable policy and regulatory environment that allows investors to fulfill reasonable expectations and investors need to place bets that provide the flexibility to respond quickly to changing market conditions

Electromagnetic reverberation chambers

CERN Document Server

Besnier, Philippe

2013-01-01

Dedicated to a complete presentation on all aspects of reverberation chambers, this book provides the physical principles behind these test systems in a very progressive manner. The detailed panorama of parameters governing the operation of electromagnetic reverberation chambers details various applications such as radiated immunity, emissivity, and shielding efficiency experiments.In addition, the reader is provided with the elements of electromagnetic theory and statistics required to take full advantage of the basic operational rules of reverberation chambers, including calibration proc

Development and sexual dimorphism of the sonic system in deep sea neobythitine fishes: The upper continental slope

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Heba A.; Mok, Hin-Kiu; Fine, Michael L.

2016-09-01

The anatomy of sound production in continental-slope fishes has been ignored since the work of NB Marshall in the 1960s. Due to food scarcity at great depths, we hypothesize that sonic muscles will be reduced in deep-water neobythitine cusk-eels (family Ophidiidae). Here we describe and quantify dimensions of the swimbladder and sonic muscles of three species from the upper slope. They have four pairs of well-developed sonic muscles (two medial and two lateral) with origins on the skull and insertions on the medial swimbladder (medial pair) or on modified epineural ribs that attach to the lateral swimbladder (lateral pair). Despite minor differences, relatively similar swimbladder dimensions, muscle length and external morphology suggest a conservative body plan. However, there are major differences in sonic muscle mass: medial muscles are heavier in males and made of relatively small fibers (ca 10 μm in diameter). Lateral muscles are generally larger in females and consist of larger fibers, as in epaxial trunk muscle. Muscle weight varies between species, and we suggest males produce advertisement calls that vary in amplitude and duration in different species. Due to differences in fiber size, we hypothesize that lateral muscles with larger fibers remain contracted during sound production, and medial muscles with smaller fibers will oscillate to drive swimbladder sound production.

Background Pressure Profiles for Sonic Boom Vehicle Testing in the NASA Glenn 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel

Science.gov (United States)

Castner, Raymond; Shaw, Stephen; Adamson, Eric; Simerly, Stephanie

2013-01-01

In an effort to identify test facilities that offer sonic boom measurement capabilities, an exploratory test program was initiated using wind tunnels at NASA research centers. The subject of this report is the sonic boom pressure rail data collected in the Glenn Research Center 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel. The purpose is to summarize the lessons learned based on the test activity, specifically relating to collecting sonic boom data which has a large amount of spatial pressure variation. The wind tunnel background pressure profiles are presented as well as data which demonstrated how both wind tunnel Mach number and model support-strut position affected the wind tunnel background pressure profile. Techniques were developed to mitigate these effects and are presented.

200 kHz Sonication of Mixed-Algae Suspension from a Eutrophic Lake: The Effect on the Caution vs. Outbreak Bloom Alert Levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andinet Tekile

2017-11-01

Full Text Available For effective ultrasonic algae removal, several studies have considered the ultrasound equipment linked factors, such as power and frequency. However, studies on the response of mixed algal cultures and associated water quality parameters to ultrasound are limited. In this lab-scale sonication, the removal of cyanobacteria at a pre-set frequency of 200 kHz on mixed algae suspensions collected from a eutrophic lake was investigated. The caution (17.5 µg/L and outbreak (1450 µg/L alert levels in terms of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a concentrations of the initial samples were each sonicated for 10, 15, and 20 min, and then kept in an incubator. Fifteen minutes of sonication resulted in best removal efficiency of 0.94 and 0.77, at an ultrasonic dose of 30 kWh/m3 at the outbreak and caution level concentrations, respectively. Immediately after 15 min sonication, and after standing in the incubator for a day, chlorophyll-a removal efficiencies of 0.28 and 0.90 were achieved in the outbreak level, respectively, and the matching removal efficiencies for the caution level were 0.23 and 0.64. Even though the removal was substantial in both cases, the final 147 µg/L chlorophyll-a concentration of the outbreak, which is itself still in the outbreak level range, shows that ultrasonication is not effective to satisfactorily remove algae from a concentrated suspension. Total dissolved nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand were reduced, overall, due to sonication. However, total dissolved phosphorus of the concentrated level was increased during the treatment. Although sonication needs further replicated experimental testing in whole-lake systems, our results show that 200 kHz sonication was able to reduce chlorophyll-a concentrations in small-scale laboratory tests.

Dorsal skinfold chamber models in mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schreiter, Jeannine

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Background/purpose: The use of dorsal skinfold chamber models has substantially improved the understanding of micro-vascularisation in pathophysiology over the last eight decades. It allows pathophysiological studies of vascularisation over a continuous period of time. The dorsal skinfold chamber is an attractive technique for monitoring the vascularisation of autologous or allogenic transplants, wound healing, tumorigenesis and compatibility of biomaterial implants. To further reduce the animals’ discomfort while carrying the dorsal skinfold chamber, we developed a smaller chamber (the Leipzig Dorsal Skinfold Chamber and summarized the commercial available chamber models. In addition we compared our model to the common chamber. Methods: The Leipzig Dorsal Skinfold Chamber was applied to female mice with a mean weight of 22 g. Angiogenesis within the dorsal skinfold chamber was evaluated after injection of fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran with an Axio Scope microscope. The mean vessel density within the dorsal skinfold chamber was assessed over a period of 21 days at five different time points. The gained data were compared to previous results using a bigger and heavier dorsal skinfold model in mice. A PubMed and a patent search were performed and all papers related to “dorsal skinfold chamber” from 1 of January 2006 to 31 of December 2015 were evaluated regarding the dorsal skinfold chamber models and their technical improvements. The main models are described and compared to our titanium Leipzig Dorsal Skinfold Chamber model.Results: The Leipzig Dorsal Skinfold Chamber fulfils all requirements of continuous models known from previous chamber models while reducing irritation to the mice. Five different chamber models have been identified showing substantial regional diversity. The newly elaborated titanium dorsal skinfold chamber may replace the pre-existing titanium chamber model used in Germany so far, as it is smaller and lighter

High-performance Electrochemical Energy Storage Electrodes Based on Nickel Oxide-coated Nickel Foam Prepared by Sparking Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chuminjak, Yaowamarn; Daothong, Suphaporn; Kuntarug, Aekapong; Phokharatkul, Ditsayut; Horprathum, Mati; Wisitsoraat, Anurat; Tuantranont, Adisorn; Jakmunee, Jaroon; Singjai, Pisith

2017-01-01

Highlights: • NiO particles (3-10 nm) were sparked on Ni foams with varying times (45-180 min). • Larger NiO nanoparticles were aggregated to foam-like structure at a longer time. • The optimal time of 45 min led to a high specific capacity of 920 C/g at 1 A/g. • The specific capacity remained as high as 699 (76% of 920) C/g at 20 A/g. • The optimal electrode exhibited 96% capacity retention after 1000 cycles at 4 A/g. - Abstract: In this work, high-performance electrochemical energy storage electrodes were developed based on nickel oxide (NiO)-coated nickel (Ni) foams prepared by a sparking method. NiO nanoparticles deposited on Ni foams with varying sparking times from 45 to 180 min were structurally characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, the electrochemical energy storage characteristics of the electrodes were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. It was found that NiO nanoparticles sparked on Ni foam with a longer time would be agglomerated and formed a foam-like network with large pore sizes and a lower surface area, leading to inferior charge storage behaviors. The NiO/Ni foam electrode prepared with the shortest sparking of 45 min displayed high specific capacities of 920 C g"-"1 (1840 F g"-"1) at 1 A g"-"1 and 699 (76% of 920) C g"-"1 at 20 A g"-"1 in a potential window of 0-0.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl as well as a good cycling performance with 96% capacity retention at 4 A g"-"1 after 1000 cycles and a low equivalent series resistance of 0.4 Ω. Therefore, NiO/Ni foam electrodes prepared by the sparking method are highly promising for high-capacity energy storage applications.

A combination drift chamber/pad chamber for very high readout rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spiegel, L.; Cataldi, G.; Elia, V.; Mazur, P.; Murphy, C.T.; Smith, R.P.; Yang, W.; Alexopoulos, T.; Durandet, C.; Erwin, A.; Jennings, J.; Antoniazzi, L.; Introzzi, G.; Lanza, A.; Liguori, G.; Torre, P.; Arenton, M.; Conetti, S.; Cox, B.; Dukes, E.; Golovatyuk, V.; Hanlet, P.; McManus, A.; Nelson, K.; Recagni, M.; Segal, J.; Sun, J.; Ballagh, C.; Bingham, H.; Kaeding, T.; Lys, J.; Misawa, S.; Blankman, A.; Borodin, S.; Kononenko, W.; Newcomer, M.; Selove, W.; Trojak, T.; VanBerg, R.; Zhang, S.N.; Block, M.; Corti, G.; LeCompte, T.; Rosen, J.; Yao, T.; Boden, A.; Cline, D.; Ramachandran, S.; Rhoades, J.; Tokar, S.; Budagov, J.; Tsyganov, E.; Cao, Z.L.; He, M.; Wang, C.; Wei, C.; Zhang, N.; Chen, T.Y.; Yao, N.; Clark, K.; Jenkins, M.; Cooper, M.; Creti, P.; Gorini, E.; Grancagnolo, F.; Panareo, M.; Fortney, L.; Kowald, W.; Haire, M.; Judd, D.; Turnbull, L.; Wagoner, D.; Lau, K.; Mo, G.; Trischuk, J.

1991-11-01

Six medium-sized (∼1 x 2 m 2 ) drift chambers with pad and stripe readout have been constructed for and are presently operating in Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory experiment E-771. Each chamber module actually represents a pair of identical planes: two sets of anode wires, two sets of stripes, and two sets of pads. The wire planes are read out separately and represent X measurements in the coordinate system of the experiment. The twin stripe and pad planes are internally paired within the chamber modules; stripe signals represent Y measurements and pad signals combination X and Y measurements. Signals which develop on the stripes and pads are mirror (but inverted) images of what is seen on the wires. In addition to being used in the off-line pattern recognition, pad signals are also used as inputs to an on-line high transverse momentum (pt) trigger processor. While the techniques involved in the design and construction of the chambers are not novel, they may be of interest to experiments contemplating very large area, high rate chambers for future spectrometers

A combination drift chamber/pad chamber for very high readout rates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Spiegel, L.; Cataldi, G.; Elia, V.; Mazur, P.; Murphy, C.T.; Smith, R.P.; Yang, W. (Fermi National Accelerator Lab., Batavia, IL (United States)); Alexopoulos, T.; Durandet, C.; Erwin, A.; Jennings, J. (Wisconsin Univ., Madison, WI (United States)); Antoniazzi, L.; Introzzi, G.; Lanza, A.; Liguori, G.; Torre, P. (Pavia Univ. (Italy) Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Rome (Italy)); Arenton, M.; Conetti, S.

1991-11-01

Six medium-sized ({approx}1 {times} 2 m{sup 2}) drift chambers with pad and stripe readout have been constructed for and are presently operating in Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory experiment E-771. Each chamber module actually represents a pair of identical planes: two sets of anode wires, two sets of stripes, and two sets of pads. The wire planes are read out separately and represent X measurements in the coordinate system of the experiment. The twin stripe and pad planes are internally paired within the chamber modules; stripe signals represent Y measurements and pad signals combination X and Y measurements. Signals which develop on the stripes and pads are mirror (but inverted) images of what is seen on the wires. In addition to being used in the off-line pattern recognition, pad signals are also used as inputs to an on-line high transverse momentum (pt) trigger processor. While the techniques involved in the design and construction of the chambers are not novel, they may be of interest to experiments contemplating very large area, high rate chambers for future spectrometers.

Commissioning of an automated microphotometer used in spark-source mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pearton, D.C.G.; Heron, C.

1983-01-01

A description of the automated microphotometer and its operation is given, which includes measurement under computer control. Speed and precision tests indicate that the system is superior in every respect to that in which an analyst reads photoplates in spark-source mass spectrometry

Cellular and molecular effects of electromagnetic radiation and sonic waves

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Froes Meyer

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Electromagnetic radiation (in the form of pulsed magnetic fields, radiofrequency and intense pulsed light and mechanical agents (such as sonic waves have been used in physical therapy. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of low-intensity magnetic fields, sonic and radiofrequency waves, and intense pulsed light on the survival of Escherichia coli cultures and on the electrophoretic mobility of plasmid DNA. Exponentially growing E. coli AB1157 cultures and plasmid DNA samples were exposed to these physical agents and 0.9% NaCl (negative control and SnCl2 (positive control solutions. Aliquots of the cultures were diluted and spread onto a solidified rich medium. The colony-forming units were counted after overnight incubation and the survival fraction was calculated. Agarose gel electrophoresis was performed to visualise and quantify the plasmid topological forms. The results suggest that these agents do not alter the survival of E. coli cells or plasmid DNA electrophoresis mobility. Moreover, they do not protect against the lesive action of SnCl2. These physical agents therefore had no cytotoxic or genotoxic effects under the conditions studied.

A new and efficient mechanism for spark ignition engines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shadloo, M.S.; Poultangari, R.; Abdollahzadeh Jamalabadi, M.Y.; Rashidi, M.M.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A new slider–crank mechanism, with superior performance is presented. • Thermodynamic processes as well as vibration and internal forces have been modeled. • Comparison with the conventional four-stroke spark ignition engines is made. • Advantages and disadvantages of the proposed mechanism are discussed. - Abstract: In this paper a new symmetrical crank and slider mechanism is proposed and a zero dimensional model is utilized to study its combustion performance enhancement in a four-stroke spark ignition (SI) engine. The main features of this new mechanism are superior thermodynamic efficiency, lower internal frictions, and lower pollutants. Comparison is made between its performance and that of the conventional four-stroke SI engines. Presented mechanism is designed to provide better fuel consumption of internal combustion engines. These advantages over standard engine are achieved through synthesis of new mechanism. Numerical calculation have been performed for several cases of different mechanism parameters, compression ratio and engine speed. A comprehensive comparison between their thermodynamic processes as well as vibration and internal forces has been done. Calculated efficiency and power diagrams are plotted and compared with performance of a conventional SI engine. Advantages and disadvantages of the proposed mechanism are discussed in details

Review of wire chamber aging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Va'Vra, J.

1986-02-01

This paper makes an overview of the wire chamber aging problems as a function of various chamber design parameters. It emphasizes the chemistry point of view and many examples are drawn from the plasma chemistry field as a guidance for a possible effort in the wire chamber field. The paper emphasizes the necessity of variable tuning, the importance of purity of the wire chamber environment, as well as it provides a practical list of presently known recommendations. In addition, several models of the wire chamber aging are qualitatively discussed. The paper is based on a summary talk given at the Wire Chamber Aging Workshop held at LBL, Berkeley on January 16-17, 1986. Presented also at Wire Chamber Conference, Vienna, February 25-28, 1986. 74 refs., 18 figs., 11 tabs

Effect of sonic application mode on the resin-dentin bond strength and dentin permeability of self-etching systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Mena-Serrano, Alexandra; Costa, Thays Regina Ferreira da; Patzlaff, Rafael Tiago; Loguercio, Alessandro Dourado; Reis, Alessandra

2014-10-01

To compare manual and sonic adhesive application modes in terms of the permeability and microtensile bond strength of a self-etching adhesive applied in the one-step or two-step protocol. Self-etching All Bond SE (Bisco) was applied as a one- or a two-step adhesive under manual or sonic vibration modes on flat occlusal dentin surfaces of 64 human molars. Half of the teeth were used to measure the hydraulic conductance of dentin at 200 cm H₂O hydrostatic pressure for 5 min immediately after the adhesive application. In the other half, composite buildups (Opallis) were constructed incrementally to create resin-dentin sticks with a cross-sectional area of 0.8 mm² to be tested in tension (0.5 mm/min) immediately after restoration placement. Data were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (α = 0.05). The fluid conductance of dentin was significantly reduced by the sonic vibration mode for both adhesives, but no effect on the bond strength values was observed for either adhesive. The sonic application mode at an oscillating frequency of 170 Hz can reduce the fluid conductance of the one- and two-step All Bond SE adhesive when applied on dentin.

Intercostal high intensity focused ultrasound for liver ablation: The influence of beam shaping on sonication efficacy and near-field risks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Greef, M. de, E-mail: m.degreef@umcutrecht.nl; Wijlemans, J. W.; Bartels, L. W.; Moonen, C. T. W.; Ries, M. [Imaging Division, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht 3508GA (Netherlands); Schubert, G.; Koskela, J. [Philips Healthcare, Vantaa FI-01511 (Finland)

2015-08-15

Purpose: One of the major issues in high intensity focused ultrasound ablation of abdominal lesions is obstruction of the ultrasound beam by the thoracic cage. Beam shaping strategies have been shown by several authors to increase focal point intensity while limiting rib exposure. However, as rib obstruction leaves only part of the aperture available for energy transmission, conserving total emitted acoustic power, the intensity in the near-field tissues inherently increases after beam shaping. Despite of effective rib sparing, those tissues are therefore subjected to increased risk of thermal damage. In this study, for a number of clinically representative intercostal sonication geometries, modeling clinically available hardware, the effect of beam shaping on both the exposure of the ribs and near-field to acoustic energy was evaluated and the implications for the volumetric ablation rate were addressed. Methods: A relationship between rib temperature rise and acoustic energy density was established by means of in vivo MR thermometry and simulations of the incident acoustic energy for the corresponding anatomies. This relationship was used for interpretation of rib exposure in subsequent numerical simulations in which rib spacing, focal point placement, and the focal point trajectory were varied. The time required to heat a targeted region to 65 °C was determined without and with the application of beam shaping. The required sonication time was used to calculate the acoustic energy density at the fat–muscle interface and at the surface of the ribs. At the fat–muscle interface, exposure was compared to available literature data and rib exposure was interpreted based on the earlier obtained relation between measured temperature rise and simulated acoustic energy density. To estimate the volumetric ablation rate, the cool-down time between periods of energy exposure was estimated using a time-averaged power limit of 100 kJ/h. Results: At the level of the ribs

Radiation-MHD simulations for the development of a spark discharge channel.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Niederhaus, John Henry; Jorgenson, Roy E.; Warne, Larry K.; Chen, Kenneth C.

2017-04-01

The growth of a cylindrical s park discharge channel in water and Lexan is studied using a series of one - dimensional simulations with the finite - element radiation - magnetohydrodynamics code ALEGRA. Computed solutions are analyzed in order to characterize the rate of growth and dynamics of the spark c hannels during the rising - current phase of the drive pulse. The current ramp rate is varied between 0.2 and 3.0 kA/ns, and values of the mechanical coupling coefficient K p are extracted for each case. The simulations predict spark channel expansion veloc ities primarily in the range of 2000 to 3500 m/s, channel pressures primarily in the range 10 - 40 GPa, and K p values primarily between 1.1 and 1.4. When Lexan is preheated, slightly larger expansion velocities and smaller K p values are predicted , but the o verall behavior is unchanged.

The physics of photoconductive spark gap switching : pushing the frontiers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hendriks, J.

2006-01-01

Photoconductive switching of an atmospheric, air-¯lled spark gap by a high-power fem- tosecond laser is a novel approach for switching high voltages into pulses with a very fast rise time (order ps) and almost no shot-to-shot time variation (jitter). Such a switch makes it possible to synchronize

Development and sexual dimorphism of the sonic system in three deep-sea neobythitine fishes and comparisons between upper mid and lower continental slope

Science.gov (United States)

Fine, Michael L.; Ali, Heba A.; Nguyen, Thanh Kim; Mok, Hin-Kiu; Parmentier, Eric

2018-01-01

Based on morphology, NB Marshall identified cusk-eels (family Ophidiidae) as one of the chief sound-producing groups on the continental slope. Due to food scarcity, we hypothesized that sonic systems will be reduced at great depths despite their potential importance in sexual reproduction. We examined this hypothesis in the cusk-eel subfamily Neobythitinae by comparing sonic morphology in Atlantic species from the upper-mid (Dicrolene intronigra) and deeper continental slope (Porogadus miles and Bathyonus pectoralis) with three Taiwanese species previously described from the upper slope (Hoplobrotula armatus, Neobythites longipes and N. unimaculatus). In all six species, medial muscles are heavier in males than in females. Dicrolene has four pairs of sonic muscles similar to the shallow Pacific species, suggesting neobythitine sonic anatomy is conservative and sufficient food exists to maintain a well-developed system at depths exceeding 1 km. The sonic system in Porogadus and Bathyonus was reduced to a single pair of ventral medial muscles that connects to a smaller and thinner swimbladder via a long tendon. Small muscle fiber diameters, a likely indicator of rapid contraction, were present in males of five of the species. However, in Bathyonus, the deepest species (pale coloration, reduced eye size, shorter sonic muscles and longer tendons), muscle fibers were larger suggesting an adaptation to facilitate rapid bladder movement for sound production while using slower contractions and less metabolic energy. The six species separate into three groups in length-weight regressions: the three upper slope species have the greatest weights per unit length, Dicrolene is lower, and the two deep species are further reduced consistent with the hypothesis that food limitation affects sonic anatomy at great depths.

Choice of optimal conditions for layer-by-layer analysis of semiconductor structures on spark mass spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerasimov, V.A.; Saprykin, A.I.; Shelpakova, I.R.; Yudelevich, I.G.

1978-01-01

Criteria of choosing counter-electrode-configuration, size and material have been determined. A tantalum counter-electrode with rectangular cross-section (3.5-4.5) mmx(0.05-0.08) mm 2 is proposed for layer-by-layer analysis of Si, Ge, GaAs, InSb. A scanning velocity has been chosen and spark generator operating conditions have been optimized which ensure the surface roughness of 0.5-0.8 μ after sparking. A systematic study has been made of the effect of ballast elements in the discharge circuit on the basic characteristics of the layer-by-layer analysis: ionic current intensity, counter-electrode contribution to the total ionic current, intensity of dicharged ions and surface roughness. A ballast ohmic resistance inside the ion source decreases a correction for the blank by one order of magnitude and the sparked surface roughness by 2-3 times

Beats, Flesh, and Grain : Sonic Tactility and Affect in Electronic Dance Music

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Garcia, Luis-Manuel

2015-01-01

This essay sets out to explore the tactilization of sound in electronic dance music (EDM), which offers an important sensory-affective bridge between touch, sonic experience, and an expansive sense of connection in dancing crowds. EDM events tend to engender spaces of heightened tactility and

Particular bi-fuel application of spark ignition engines

Science.gov (United States)

Raţiu, S.; Alexa, V.; Kiss, I.

2016-02-01

This paper presents a comparative test concerning the operation of a spark-ignition engine, make: Dacia 1300, model: 810.99, fuelled alternatively with gasoline and LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). The tests carried out show, on the one hand, the maintenance of power and torque performances in both engine fuelling cases, for all the engine operation regimes, and, on the other hand, a considerable decrease in CO and HC emissions when using poor mixtures related to LPG fuelling.

Change of Pressing Chamber Conicalness at Briquetting Process in Briquetting Machine Pressing Chamber

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Križan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we will present the impact of the conical shape of a pressing chamber, an important structural parameter. Besides the known impact of the technological parameters of pressing chambers, it is also very important to pay attention to their structural parameters. In the introduction, we present a theoretical analysis of pressing chamber conicalness. An experiment aimed at detecting this impact was performed at our institute, and it showed that increasing the conicalness of a pressing chamber improves the quality of the final briquettes. The conicalness of the pressing chamber has a significanteffect on the final briquette quality and on the construction of briquetting machines. The experimental findings presented here show the importance of this parameter in the briquetting process.

Final environmental statement concerning rule making. Exemption from licensing requirements for spark-gap irradiators that contain cobalt-60. Docket No. PRM 30-54

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-12-01

The potential environmental impacts and adverse environmental effects from distribution, use only in commercial-sized oil burners, and disposal of 6000 spark-gap irradiators per year that contain 60 Co are summarized. On the basis of the analysis and evaluation set forth in this statement and after weighing the environmental, economic, technical, and other benefits against environmental costs and after considering available alternatives, it is concluded that the action called for under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and 10 CFR Part 51 is the issuance of an exemption from licensing requirements for spark-gap irradiators that contain 60 Co, subject to the following conditions for the protection of the environment: persons who apply 60 Co to, or persons who incorporate 60 Co into, spark-gap irradiators or persons who import for sale or distribution spark-gap irradiators containing 60 Co are not exempt from the requirements for a license; each spark-gap irradiator shall contain no more than 1 μCi of 60 Co; and the 60 Co shall be applied to the spark-gap irradiators for use in electrically ignited fuel-oil burners having a firing rate of at least 3 gal/h

Influence of sintering temperature on mechanical properties of spark plasma sintered pre-alloyed Ti-6Al-4 V powder

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muthuchamy, A.; Patel, Paridh; Rajadurai, M. [VIT Univ., Vellore, Tamil Nadu (India); Chaurisiya, Jitendar K. [NIT, Suratkal (India); Annamalai, A. Raja [VIT Univ., Vellore, Tamil Nadu (India). Centre for Innovative Manufacturing Research

2018-04-01

Spark plasma sintering provides faster heating that can create fully, or near fully, dense samples without significant grain growth. In this study, pre-alloyed Ti-6Al-4 V powder compact samples produced through field assisted sintering in a spark plasma sintering machine are compared as a function of consolidation temperature. The effect of sintering temperature on the densification mechanism, microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of spark plasma sintered Ti-6Al-4 V alloy compacts was investigated in detail. The compact, sintered at 1100 C, exhibited near net density, highest hardness and strength as compared to the other compacts processed at a temperature lower than 1100 C.

Preparation of Ni-Ti shape memory alloy by spark plasma sintering method

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Salvetr, P.; Kubatík, Tomáš František; Novák, P.

2016-01-01

Roč. 16, č. 4 (2016), s. 804-808 ISSN 1213-2489 Institutional support: RVO:61389021 Keywords : Ni-Ti alloy * Powder metallurgy * Reactive sintering * Spark plasma sintering Subject RIV: JK - Corrosion ; Surface Treatment of Materials

Vienna wirechamber conference 98

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-02-01

This volume of the Vienna wirechamber conference 1998 contains abstracts of lectures and abstracts of poster sessions of the following topics: high energy physics, gaseous detectors, radiation detectors, calorimetry, drift chambers, wire spark chambers, tracking chambers, neutron detectors, particle detection, muon spectrometry, nuclear medicine. (Suda)

Thermodynamic analysis of EGR effects on the first and second law efficiencies of a boosted spark-ignited direct-injection gasoline engine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Tie; Wu, Da; Xu, Min

2013-01-01

Highlights: • We clarified the mechanism of EGR improving fuel economy of gasoline engines. • At constant air–fuel ratio, reduction of heat transfer loss is most significant. • At full load, elimination of fuel enrichment is dominant. • Combustion irreversibility increases with EGR. • Availability in the exhaust and heat transfer losses is smaller than energy losses. - Abstract: Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is effective to improve fuel economy of spark-ignition gasoline engines, but the detailed mechanism needs to be further investigated. In this paper, an in-depth analysis of the effects of cooled EGR on the fuel conversion efficiency of a boosted, spark-ignited, direct-injection, gasoline engines operated at the full, medium and low loads is conducted with the engine experiment and 1-D cycle simulation based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics. For all the operating loads, EGR increases the ratio of specific heat of working gas, reduces the fraction of heat transfer through the combustion chamber walls, and improves the pumping work during the gas exchanging stroke. Besides, EGR may replace the fuel enrichment at high load, advance the combustion phasing and increase the degree of constant volume heat release at the medium and high loads. As a result, about 1.1–4.1% improvements in the brake thermal efficiency are obtained by the 12–17% EGR at different loads. Despite the increased fraction of combustion-generated irreversibility (destruction in availability or exergy), the fraction of indicated work in the total availability increases with EGR for all the operating loads. Among the influencing factors, the effect of reduction in the heat transfer loss owing to EGR is dominant in improvement of the fuel conversion efficiency at constant air–fuel ratio, while replacement of the fuel enrichment with EGR is most effective at full load

Towards the Industrial Application of Spark Ablation for Nanostructured Functional Materials

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pfeiffer, T.V.

2014-01-01

Nanostructuring of functional materials is an essential part in the design of energy related devices – but the industrial tools we have to make these materials are lacking. This dissertation explores the green, flexible, and scalable spark discharge process for the fabrication of complex

Sleeve reaction chamber system

Science.gov (United States)

Northrup, M Allen [Berkeley, CA; Beeman, Barton V [San Mateo, CA; Benett, William J [Livermore, CA; Hadley, Dean R [Manteca, CA; Landre, Phoebe [Livermore, CA; Lehew, Stacy L [Livermore, CA; Krulevitch, Peter A [Pleasanton, CA

2009-08-25

A chemical reaction chamber system that combines devices such as doped polysilicon for heating, bulk silicon for convective cooling, and thermoelectric (TE) coolers to augment the heating and cooling rates of the reaction chamber or chambers. In addition the system includes non-silicon-based reaction chambers such as any high thermal conductivity material used in combination with a thermoelectric cooling mechanism (i.e., Peltier device). The heat contained in the thermally conductive part of the system can be used/reused to heat the device, thereby conserving energy and expediting the heating/cooling rates. The system combines a micromachined silicon reaction chamber, for example, with an additional module/device for augmented heating/cooling using the Peltier effect. This additional module is particularly useful in extreme environments (very hot or extremely cold) where augmented heating/cooling would be useful to speed up the thermal cycling rates. The chemical reaction chamber system has various applications for synthesis or processing of organic, inorganic, or biochemical reactions, including the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or other DNA reactions, such as the ligase chain reaction.

Sparking deposited ZnO nanoparticles as double-layered photoelectrode in ZnO dye-sensitized solar cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hongsith, Kritsada [Department of Physics and Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200 (Thailand); Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP center), CHE, Bangkok 10400 (Thailand); Hongsith, Niyom [Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP center), CHE, Bangkok 10400 (Thailand); School of Science, University of Phayao, Phayao 56000 (Thailand); Wongratanaphisan, Duangmanee; Gardchareon, Atcharawon; Phadungdhitidhada, Surachet [Department of Physics and Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200 (Thailand); Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP center), CHE, Bangkok 10400 (Thailand); Singjai, Pisith [Department of Physics and Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200 (Thailand); Choopun, Supab, E-mail: supab99@gmail.com [Department of Physics and Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200 (Thailand); Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics (ThEP center), CHE, Bangkok 10400 (Thailand)

2013-07-31

The semiconducting layers of ZnO nanoparticles (ZN), ZnO powder (ZP) and ZnO nanopowder (ZNP) were designed and fabricated for double-layered semiconducting photoelectrode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The under-layer was ZN, which was prepared by simple and cost-effective sparking technique onto F-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate and its thickness was controlled by number of sparking cycles for 0, 10, 25, 50 and 100 rounds under atmospheric pressure. Then, ZP or ZNP was screened on to ZN to form double-layered photoelectrode. Here, the DSSC structures were FTO/double-layered ZnO/Eosin Y/electrolyte/Pt counterelectrode. The best results of DSSCs were observed with J{sub sc} of 4.71 mA/cm{sup 2} and 5.56 mA/cm{sup 2} and photoconversion efficiency of 1.11% and 1.14% at 50 sparking cycles for ZP and ZNP over-layers, respectively. The efficiency enhancement can be explained by combination effects of electron and light scattering. Moreover, the modified equation of short circuit current density was developed and effectively used to explain the efficiency enhancement. - Highlights: • Effect of under-layer thickness is investigated. • Simple and cost-effective sparking technique is used for ZnO nanoparticles. • Efficiency enhancement can be explained by both electron and light scattering. • Modified equation of short circuit current density was developed for enhancement.

Sparking deposited ZnO nanoparticles as double-layered photoelectrode in ZnO dye-sensitized solar cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hongsith, Kritsada; Hongsith, Niyom; Wongratanaphisan, Duangmanee; Gardchareon, Atcharawon; Phadungdhitidhada, Surachet; Singjai, Pisith; Choopun, Supab

2013-01-01

The semiconducting layers of ZnO nanoparticles (ZN), ZnO powder (ZP) and ZnO nanopowder (ZNP) were designed and fabricated for double-layered semiconducting photoelectrode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The under-layer was ZN, which was prepared by simple and cost-effective sparking technique onto F-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate and its thickness was controlled by number of sparking cycles for 0, 10, 25, 50 and 100 rounds under atmospheric pressure. Then, ZP or ZNP was screened on to ZN to form double-layered photoelectrode. Here, the DSSC structures were FTO/double-layered ZnO/Eosin Y/electrolyte/Pt counterelectrode. The best results of DSSCs were observed with J sc of 4.71 mA/cm 2 and 5.56 mA/cm 2 and photoconversion efficiency of 1.11% and 1.14% at 50 sparking cycles for ZP and ZNP over-layers, respectively. The efficiency enhancement can be explained by combination effects of electron and light scattering. Moreover, the modified equation of short circuit current density was developed and effectively used to explain the efficiency enhancement. - Highlights: • Effect of under-layer thickness is investigated. • Simple and cost-effective sparking technique is used for ZnO nanoparticles. • Efficiency enhancement can be explained by both electron and light scattering. • Modified equation of short circuit current density was developed for enhancement

Effect of sonication on the colloidal stability of iron oxide nanoparticles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sodipo, Bashiru Kayode [Nano-Optoelectronics Research and Technology (NOR) Lab, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Pulau Pinang (Malaysia); Aziz, Azlan Abdul [Nano-Biotechnology Research and Innovation (NanoBRI), Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Pulau Pinang (Malaysia)

2015-04-24

Colloidal stability of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles’ (SPION) suspensions, ultrasonically irradiated at various pH was studied. Electrophoresis measurement of the sonicated SPION showed that the shock waves and other unique conditions generated from the acoustic cavitation process (formation, growth and collapse of bubbles) affect the zeta potential value of the suspension. In this work, stabled colloidal suspensions of SPION were prepared and their pH is varied between 3 and 5. Prior to ultrasonic irradiation of the suspensions, their initial zeta potential values were determined. After ultrasonic irradiation of the suspensions, we observed that the sonication process interacts with colloidal stability of the nanoparticles. The results demonstrated that only suspensions with pH less 4 were found stable and able to retain more than 90% of its initial zeta potential value. However, at pH greater than 4, the suspensions were found unstable. The result implies that good zeta potential value of SPION can be sustained in sonochemical process as long as the pH of the mixture is kept below 4.

Dual-chamber inflatable oil boom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blair, R.M.; Tedeschi, E.T.

1993-01-01

An elongated floating material containment boom section is described having a normally vertical ballasted skirt depending from flotation means, and convertible from a flattened collapsed condition to a deployable condition wherein buoyancy chamber means extending along the upper edge of said skirt are inflated to expanded buoyant configuration, including: a gas-impervious sleeve extending along the upper edge of said normally vertical skirt forming a first outer collapsible and inflatable flotation chamber, a first inflation valve connecting the interior of said sleeve with the ambient atmosphere, through which gas under pressure may be introduced into said sleeve to inflate said first buoyant outer flotation chamber, elongated gas-impervious tube means positioned inside said outer flotation chamber and forming second collapsible and inflatable internal flotation bladder chamber means, second inflation valve means connecting the interior of said bladder means through said outer flotation chamber to the ambient atmosphere through which gas under pressure may be introduced into said bladder means to inflate it forming said second flotation chamber means inside said outer flotation chamber

BEBC bubble chamber

CERN Multimedia

CERN PhotoLab

1972-01-01

Looking up into the interior of BEBC bubble chamber from the expansion cylinder. At the top of the chamber two fish-eye lenses are installed and three other fish-eye ports are blanked off. In the centre is a heat exchanger.

Climatic chamber ergometer

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Atkins, AR

1968-01-01

Full Text Available The design and calibration of an ergometer for exercising subjects during calorimetric studies in the climate chamber, are described. The ergometer is built into the climatic chamber and forms an integral part of the whole instrumentation system foe...

Accelerating Relevance Vector Machine for Large-Scale Data on Spark

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Fang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Relevance vector machine (RVM is a machine learning algorithm based on a sparse Bayesian framework, which performs well when running classification and regression tasks on small-scale datasets. However, RVM also has certain drawbacks which restricts its practical applications such as (1 slow training process, (2 poor performance on training large-scale datasets. In order to solve these problem, we propose Discrete AdaBoost RVM (DAB-RVM which incorporate ensemble learning in RVM at first. This method performs well with large-scale low-dimensional datasets. However, as the number of features increases, the training time of DAB-RVM increases as well. To avoid this phenomenon, we utilize the sufficient training samples of large-scale datasets and propose all features boosting RVM (AFB-RVM, which modifies the way of obtaining weak classifiers. In our experiments we study the differences between various boosting techniques with RVM, demonstrating the performance of the proposed approaches on Spark. As a result of this paper, two proposed approaches on Spark for different types of large-scale datasets are available.

MV controlled spark gap

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evdokimovich, V.M.; Evlampiev, S.B.; Korshunov, G.S.; Nikolaev, V.A.; Sviridov, Yu.F.; Khmyrov, V.V.

1980-01-01

A megavolt gas-filled trigatron gap with a sectional gas-discharge chamber having a more than three-fold range of operating voltages is described. The discharge chamber consists of ten sections, each 70 mm thick, made of organic glass. The sections are separated one from another by aluminium gradient rings to which ohmic voltage divider is connected. Insulational sections and gradient rings are braced between themselves by means of metal flanges through gaskets made of oil-resistant rubber with the help of fiberglass-laminate pins. The gap has two electrodes 110 mm in diameter. The trigatron ignition assembly uses a dielectric bushing projecting over the main electrode plane. Use has been made of a gas mixture containing 10% of SF 6 and 90% of air making possible to ensure stable gap operation without readjusting in the voltage range from 0.4 to 1.35 MV. The operation time lag in this range is equal to 10 μs at a spread of [ru

Suppression of the sonic heat transfer limit in high-temperature heat pipes

Science.gov (United States)

Dobran, Flavio

1989-08-01

The design of high-performance heat pipes requires optimization of heat transfer surfaces and liquid and vapor flow channels to suppress the heat transfer operating limits. In the paper an analytical model of the vapor flow in high-temperature heat pipes is presented, showing that the axial heat transport capacity limited by the sonic heat transfer limit depends on the working fluid, vapor flow area, manner of liquid evaporation into the vapor core of the evaporator, and lengths of the evaporator and adiabatic regions. Limited comparisons of the model predictions with data of the sonic heat transfer limits are shown to be very reasonable, giving credibility to the proposed analytical approach to determine the effect of various parameters on the axial heat transport capacity. Large axial heat transfer rates can be achieved with large vapor flow cross-sectional areas, small lengths of evaporator and adiabatic regions or a vapor flow area increase in these regions, and liquid evaporation in the evaporator normal to the main flow.

Sparking limits, cavity loading, and beam breakup instability associated with high-current rf linacs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faehl, R.J.; Lemons, D.S.; Thode, L.E.

1982-01-01

The limitations on high-current rf linacs due to gap sparking, cavity loading, and the beam breakup instability are studied. It appears possible to achieve cavity accelerating gradients as high as 35 MV/m without sparking. Furthermore, a linear analysis, as well as self-consistent particle simulations of a multipulsed 10 kA beam, indicated that only a negligible small fraction of energy is radiated into nonfundamental cavity modes. Finally, the beam breakup instability is analyzed and found to be able to magnify initial radial perturbations by a factor of no more than about 20 during the beam transit time through a 1 GeV accelerator

Use of sonic tomography to detect and quantify wood decay in living trees.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Gregory S; Ballesteros, Javier O; Barrios-Rodriguez, Cesar A; Bonadies, Ernesto F; Cedeño-Sánchez, Marjorie L; Fossatti-Caballero, Nohely J; Trejos-Rodríguez, Mariam M; Pérez-Suñiga, José Moises; Holub-Young, Katharine S; Henn, Laura A W; Thompson, Jennifer B; García-López, Cesar G; Romo, Amanda C; Johnston, Daniel C; Barrick, Pablo P; Jordan, Fulvia A; Hershcovich, Shiran; Russo, Natalie; Sánchez, Juan David; Fábrega, Juan Pablo; Lumpkin, Raleigh; McWilliams, Hunter A; Chester, Kathleen N; Burgos, Alana C; Wong, E Beatriz; Diab, Jonathan H; Renteria, Sonia A; Harrower, Jennifer T; Hooton, Douglas A; Glenn, Travis C; Faircloth, Brant C; Hubbell, Stephen P

2016-12-01

Field methodology and image analysis protocols using acoustic tomography were developed and evaluated as a tool to estimate the amount of internal decay and damage of living trees, with special attention to tropical rainforest trees with irregular trunk shapes. Living trunks of a diversity of tree species in tropical rainforests in the Republic of Panama were scanned using an Argus Electronic PiCUS 3 Sonic Tomograph and evaluated for the amount and patterns of internal decay. A protocol using ImageJ analysis software was used to quantify the proportions of intact and compromised wood. The protocols provide replicable estimates of internal decay and cavities for trees of varying shapes, wood density, and bark thickness. Sonic tomography, coupled with image analysis, provides an efficient, noninvasive approach to evaluate decay patterns and structural integrity of even irregularly shaped living trees.

Vacuum Chambers for LEP sections

CERN Multimedia

1983-01-01

The picture shows sections of the LEP vacuum chambers to be installed in the dipole magnets (left) and in the quadrupoles (right). The dipole chamber has three channels: the beam chamber, the pumping duct where the NEG (non-evaporabe getter) is installed and the water channel for cooling (on top in the picture). The pumping duct is connected to the beam chamber through holes in the separating wall. The thick lead lining to shield radiation can also be seen. These chambers were manufactured as extruded aluminium alloy profiles.

The development of Sonic Pi and its use in educational partnerships: Co-creating pedagogies for learning computer programming

OpenAIRE

Aaron, S; Blackwell, Alan Frank; Burnard, Pamela Anne

2017-01-01

Sonic Pi is a new open source software tool and platform originally developed for the Raspberry Pi computer, designed to enable school children to learn programming by creating music. In this article we share insights from a scoping study on the development of Sonic Pi and its use in educational partnerships. Our findings draw attention to the importance of collaborative relationships between teacher and computer scientist and the value of creative pedagogies for learning computer programming...

Reference ionization chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golnik, N.; Zielczynski, M.

1999-01-01

The paper presents the design of ionization chamber devoted for the determination of the absolute value of the absorbed dose in tissue-equivalent material. The special attention was paid to ensure that the volume of the active gas cavity was constant and well known. A specific property of the chamber design is that the voltage insulators are 'invisible' from any point of the active volume. Such configuration ensures a very good time stability of the electrical field and defines the active volume. The active volume of the chamber was determined with accuracy of 0.3%. This resulted in accuracy of 0.8% in determination of the absorbed dose in the layer of material adherent to the gas cavity. The chamber was applied for calibration purposes at radiotherapy facility in Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna (Russia) and in the calibration laboratory of the Institute of Atomic Energy in Swierk. (author)

Multi-point laser spark generation for internal combustion engines using a spatial light modulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyon, Elliott; Kuang, Zheng; Dearden, Geoff; Cheng, Hua; Page, Vincent; Shenton, Tom

2014-01-01

This paper reports on a technique demonstrating for the first time successful multi-point laser-induced spark generation, which is variable in three dimensions and derived from a single laser beam. Previous work on laser ignition of internal combustion engines found that simultaneously igniting in more than one location resulted in more stable and faster combustion – a key potential advantage over conventional spark ignition. However, previous approaches could only generate secondary foci at fixed locations. The work reported here is an experimental technique for multi-point laser ignition, in which several sparks with arbitrary spatial location in three dimensions are created by variable diffraction of a pulsed single laser beam source and transmission through an optical plug. The diffractive multi-beam arrays and patterns are generated using a spatial light modulator on which computer generated holograms are displayed. A gratings and lenses algorithm is used to accurately modulate the phase of the input laser beam and create multi-beam output. The underpinning theory, experimental arrangement and results obtained are presented and discussed. (paper)

Effect of electric-spark alloying and subsequent annealing on the thermal stability of metallic structural materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vdovin, S.F.; Reshetnikov, S.M.

2000-01-01

The effect of annealing on resistive properties of electric-spark coatings on the carbon steels is studied. The steels 10 and 20 samples with electric spark coatings of various compositions and control ones without annealing and coating are chosen for the study. The steels cr27 and 12cr18ni10ti, the nichrome (cr20ni80) alloy, aluminium as well as compositions of these materials: aluminium + cr27 and aluminium + nichrome were used as coating materials. It is shown that aluminium coatings increase the steel 10 heat resistance more them by 4 times, the aluminium + nichrome coatings - more than by 6 times and aluminium + cr27 coatings - more than by 6 times. In contrast to the electric-spark coating of the carbon steel surface by chromium-nickel alloys, the composition aluminium-containing coatings with annealing in vacuum provide for reliability of long-term protection of these steels from air oxidation with the temperature above the aluminium melting [ru

MnBi particles with high energy density made by spark erosion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nguyen, Phi-Khanh, E-mail: phi@ucsd.edu; Jin, Sungho [Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States); Center for Magnetic Recording Research, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States); Berkowitz, Ami E. [Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States); Center for Magnetic Recording Research, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States)

2014-05-07

We report on the properties of low-temperature phase (LTP)-MnBi particles produced by the rapid-quenching technique of spark-erosion. The as-prepared powder consists of amorphous, crystalline, and superparamagnetic particles, mostly as porous aggregates. The major fraction of the powder consists of 20–30 nm particles. A short anneal crystallizes the amorphous particles producing a high moment, >90% of theoretical M{sub S}, albeit with H{sub C} of a few kOe. If lightly milled, the agglomerates are broken up to yield H{sub C} of 1 T. These findings are supported by the x-ray diffraction pattern showing broadened peaks of the predominant LTP-MnBi phase. The combination of spark erosion, milling, and annealing has produced randomly oriented particles with (BH){sub MAX} ∼ 3.0 MGOe. The particles are expected to show record energy product when aligned along their crystallographic easy axes.

submitter Triggering of a pressurized spark gap by a laser beam

CERN Document Server

Deutsch, F

1968-01-01

A delay line was discharged into a terminating resistor by a spark gap of coaxial design. The spark gap was triggered by a focused laser beam, introduced along the axis; a Q-switched ruby laser giving pulses of 20 ns duration and up to 50 MW power was used. The range of operation of the gap, formative time of the breakdown and jitter were investigated for different gases at pressures above atmospheric, gap widths of 4-10 mm and voltages of up to 120 kv. Mixtures of argon and nitrogen were found to have certain advantages, such as a low threshold for ionization by the laser beam, sufficient dielectric strength, low values of the formative-time jitter and chemical inertness. Formative times of down to about 1 ns and jitters below 1 ns were found. The laser power can be relatively low (0centerdot5-5 MW). An explanation for the breakdown mechanism is proposed.

Effects of spark plug configuration on combustion and emission characteristics of a LPG fuelled lean burn SI engine

Science.gov (United States)

Ravi, K.; Khan, Manazir Ahmed; Pradeep Bhasker, J.; Porpatham, E.

2017-11-01

Introduction of technological innovation in automotive engines in reducing pollution and increasing efficiency have been under contemplation. Gaseous fuels have proved to be a promising way to reduce emissions in Spark Ignition (SI) engines. In particular, LPG settled to be a favourable fuel for SI engines because of their higher hydrogen to carbon ratio, octane rating and lower emissions. Wide ignition limits and efficient combustion characteristics make LPG suitable for lean burn operation. But lean combustion technology has certain drawbacks like poor flame propagation, cyclic variations etc. Based on copious research it was found that location, types and number of spark plug significantly influence in reducing cyclic variations. In this work the influence of single and dual spark plugs of conventional and surface discharge electrode type were analysed. Dual surface discharge electrode spark plug enhanced the brake thermal efficiency and greatly reduced the cyclic variations. The experimental results show that rate of heat release and pressure rise was more and combustion duration was shortened in this configuration. On the emissions front, the NOx emission has increased whereas HC and CO emissions were reduced under lean condition.

Thermoelectric property of fine-grained CoSb3 skutterudite compound fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Weishu; Zhang Boping; Li Jingfeng; Zhao Lidong

2007-01-01

Skutterudite CoSb 3 polycrystalline materials were prepared using a combined process of mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The influence of SPS temperature on the thermoelectric properties was focused in this work with a special emphasis on the analysis of the size effects of grains. The average grain sizes decreased from 300 to 50 nm with decreasing SPS temperatures from 600 to 300 deg. C. The electrical resistivities of samples spark plasma sintered at 300-600 deg. C all decreased with increasing temperature, indicating a classic intrinsic conduction behaviour of semiconductors. The samples spark plasma sintered at 300-500 deg. C showed a positive Seebeck coefficient while the sample spark plasma sintered at 600 deg. C showed a negative Seebeck coefficient. The room-temperature thermal conductivities were reduced from 4.30 to 2.92 W m -1 K -1 as the grain sizes were decreased from 300 to 100 nm corresponding to SPS at 600 and 400 deg. C, respectively. The present work indicates that MA and SPS is a good combination for fabricating fine-grained CoSb 3 thermoelectric materials

A Close Association of RyRs with Highly Dense Clusters of Ca2+-activated Cl− Channels Underlies the Activation of STICs by Ca2+ Sparks in Mouse Airway Smooth Muscle

Science.gov (United States)

Bao, Rongfeng; Lifshitz, Lawrence M.; Tuft, Richard A.; Bellvé, Karl; Fogarty, Kevin E.; ZhuGe, Ronghua

2008-01-01

Ca2+ sparks are highly localized, transient releases of Ca2+ from sarcoplasmic reticulum through ryanodine receptors (RyRs). In smooth muscle, Ca2+ sparks trigger spontaneous transient outward currents (STOCs) by opening nearby clusters of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels, and also gate Ca2+-activated Cl− (Cl(Ca)) channels to induce spontaneous transient inward currents (STICs). While the molecular mechanisms underlying the activation of STOCs by Ca2+ sparks is well understood, little information is available on how Ca2+ sparks activate STICs. In the present study, we investigated the spatial organization of RyRs and Cl(Ca) channels in spark sites in airway myocytes from mouse. Ca2+ sparks and STICs were simultaneously recorded, respectively, with high-speed, widefield digital microscopy and whole-cell patch-clamp. An image-based approach was applied to measure the Ca2+ current underlying a Ca2+ spark (ICa(spark)), with an appropriate correction for endogenous fixed Ca2+ buffer, which was characterized by flash photolysis of NPEGTA. We found that ICa(spark) rises to a peak in 9 ms and decays with a single exponential with a time constant of 12 ms, suggesting that Ca2+ sparks result from the nonsimultaneous opening and closure of multiple RyRs. The onset of the STIC lags the onset of the ICa(spark) by less than 3 ms, and its rising phase matches the duration of the ICa(spark). We further determined that Cl(Ca) channels on average are exposed to a [Ca2+] of 2.4 μM or greater during Ca2+ sparks. The area of the plasma membrane reaching this level is <600 nm in radius, as revealed by the spatiotemporal profile of [Ca2+] produced by a reaction-diffusion simulation with measured ICa(spark). Finally we estimated that the number of Cl(Ca) channels localized in Ca2+ spark sites could account for all the Cl(Ca) channels in the entire cell. Taken together these results lead us to propose a model in which RyRs and Cl(Ca) channels in Ca2+ spark sites localize

A close association of RyRs with highly dense clusters of Ca2+-activated Cl- channels underlies the activation of STICs by Ca2+ sparks in mouse airway smooth muscle.

Science.gov (United States)

Bao, Rongfeng; Lifshitz, Lawrence M; Tuft, Richard A; Bellvé, Karl; Fogarty, Kevin E; ZhuGe, Ronghua

2008-07-01

Ca(2+) sparks are highly localized, transient releases of Ca(2+) from sarcoplasmic reticulum through ryanodine receptors (RyRs). In smooth muscle, Ca(2+) sparks trigger spontaneous transient outward currents (STOCs) by opening nearby clusters of large-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels, and also gate Ca(2+)-activated Cl(-) (Cl((Ca))) channels to induce spontaneous transient inward currents (STICs). While the molecular mechanisms underlying the activation of STOCs by Ca(2+) sparks is well understood, little information is available on how Ca(2+) sparks activate STICs. In the present study, we investigated the spatial organization of RyRs and Cl((Ca)) channels in spark sites in airway myocytes from mouse. Ca(2+) sparks and STICs were simultaneously recorded, respectively, with high-speed, widefield digital microscopy and whole-cell patch-clamp. An image-based approach was applied to measure the Ca(2+) current underlying a Ca(2+) spark (I(Ca(spark))), with an appropriate correction for endogenous fixed Ca(2+) buffer, which was characterized by flash photolysis of NPEGTA. We found that I(Ca(spark)) rises to a peak in 9 ms and decays with a single exponential with a time constant of 12 ms, suggesting that Ca(2+) sparks result from the nonsimultaneous opening and closure of multiple RyRs. The onset of the STIC lags the onset of the I(Ca(spark)) by less than 3 ms, and its rising phase matches the duration of the I(Ca(spark)). We further determined that Cl((Ca)) channels on average are exposed to a [Ca(2+)] of 2.4 microM or greater during Ca(2+) sparks. The area of the plasma membrane reaching this level is <600 nm in radius, as revealed by the spatiotemporal profile of [Ca(2+)] produced by a reaction-diffusion simulation with measured I(Ca(spark)). Finally we estimated that the number of Cl((Ca)) channels localized in Ca(2+) spark sites could account for all the Cl((Ca)) channels in the entire cell. Taken together these results lead us to propose a model in which

Plastic flashtube chambers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frisken, W.R.

1977-01-01

A brief discussion is given of the use and operation of plastic flashtube chambers. Gas leaks, electric pulsing, the glow discharge, and readout methods are considered. Three distinct problems with high rate applications deal with resolving time, dead time, and polarization/neutralization of the chamber

Jumping spark evaluation of α-radiograms taken on strippable LR-115 film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.; Hunyadi, I.; Varga, Zs.

1978-01-01

Jumping spark counting was used for the automatic measurement of α-ray tracks on Kodak Pathe LR-115 type special cellulose nitrate films. The effect of temperature and interruptions on the etching rate was observed during the etching of the α track detectors. The recommended parameters for the etching are the following: 10% NaOH solution, 60 +- 0.1 deg C, 1.5 h etching time, 20 rotations/min. The final thickness is 6-7 μm. The counting efficiency of the jumping spark evaluation in the function of the track density and the α energy was carefully studied. The angular distribution of the α particles from the Al(p, α) 24 Mg reaction was determined. This method can be effectively used for the measurement of environmental α activity as for 222 Rn release from 226 Ra. (V.N.)

A study of sonic boom overpressure trends with respect to weight, altitude, Mach number, and vehicle shaping

Science.gov (United States)

Needleman, Kathy E.; Mack, Robert J.

1990-01-01

This paper presents and discusses trends in nose shock overpressure generated by two conceptual Mach 2.0 configurations. One configuration was designed for high aerodynamic efficiency, while the other was designed to produce a low boom, shaped-overpressure signature. Aerodynamic lift, sonic boom minimization, and Mach-sliced/area-rule codes were used to analyze and compute the sonic boom characteristics of both configurations with respect to cruise Mach number, weight, and altitude. The influence of these parameters on the overpressure and the overpressure trends are discussed and conclusions are given.

“Mood-modules”: Interconnected Wireless Toy Units for Studies of Social Play through Musical and Sonic Games

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anne-Marie; Andersen, Hans Jørgen

This paper outlines the research background, focus and methods that will be used in the study of musical and sonic games that are embedded in interconnected wireless toy modules. Seen in the light of the idea: “The ensemble as a musical and social experience”, an approach for designing electronic...... toys for children will be discussed. Five electronic toy units function as test objects. These sensor devices will contain musical and sonic games. Children manipulate sound parameters, when they interact with each sensor, or rather, combinations of sensors. When two or more children interact...

Sonic hedgehog expression correlates with fundic gland differentiation in the adult gastrointestinal tract

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Brink, G. R.; Hardwick, J. C. H.; Nielsen, C.; Xu, C.; ten Kate, F. J.; Glickman, J.; van Deventer, S. J. H.; Roberts, D. J.; Peppelenbosch, M. P.

2003-01-01

Background: Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is an important endodermal morphogenetic signal during the development of the vertebrate gut. It controls gastrointestinal patterning in general, and gastric gland formation in particular. We have previously shown that Shh regulates gastric gland proliferation in the

Wire chambers: Trends and alternatives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Regler, Meinhard

1992-05-15

The subtitle of this year's Vienna Wire Chamber Conference - 'Recent Trends and Alternative Techniques' - signalled that it covered a wide range of science and technology. While an opening Vienna talk by wire chamber pioneer Georges Charpak many years ago began 'Les funerailles des chambres a fils (the burial of wire chambers)', the contrary feeling this year was that wire chambers are very much alive!.

Optical sensor system for time-resolved quantification of methane densities in CH4-fueled spark ignition engines.

Science.gov (United States)

Golibrzuch, Kai; Digulla, Finn-Erik; Bauke, Stephan; Wackerbarth, Hainer; Thiele, Olaf; Berg, Thomas

2017-08-01

We present the development and the first application of an optical sensor system that allows single-cycle determination of methane (CH 4 ) concentration inside internal combustion (IC) engines. We use non-dispersive infrared absorption spectroscopy to detect the CH 4 density with a time resolution up to 33 μs at acquisition rates of 30 kHz. The measurement scheme takes advantage of the strong temperature dependence of the absorption band applying two detection channels for CH 4 that detect different spectral regions of the ν 3 anti-symmetric C-H-stretch absorption. The strategy allows the simultaneous determination of fuel concentration as well as gas temperature. We show the proof-of-concept by validation of the measurement strategy in static pressure cell experiments as well as its application to a methane-fueled IC engine using a modified spark plug probe. Our results clearly demonstrate that it is crucial to determine the CH 4 temperature in the probe volume. Due to thermal influences of the sensor probe, the temperature needed to calculate the desired quantities (fuel density, fuel concentration) significantly differs from the gas phase temperature in the rest of the combustion chamber and estimations from standard thermodynamic models, e.g., polytropic compression, will fail.

Spark-safe mechanical fluctuation sensor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Retek, S; Galisz, T

1979-04-20

The subject of the invention is a mechanical fluctuation sensor in a spark-safe design for use at mines which are dangerous for gas, as an element of different systems for remote control information transfer. The patented sensor of mechanical fluctuations contains: magnetic-induction transformer characterized by the fact that its inert mass consists of a plane permanent magnet placed in the suspended state on springs between 2 coils, which together with their cores are rigidly fixed to the walls of the ferromagnetic vessels. The ends of the coil windings are interconnected, while the beginnings of the windings are lead out with connection to the outlet of the electronic amplifier with binary outlet signal. The electronic amplifier is placed between the transformer in the common ferromagnetic housing which is a screen for protection from the effect of external magnetic fields.

Passenger Car Spark Ignition Data Base : Volume 3. Miscellaneous Data. Part 2.

Science.gov (United States)

1979-12-01

Test data was obtained from spark ignition production and preproduction engines at the engine and vehicle level. The engines were applicable for vehicles 2000 to 3000 pounds in weight. The data obtained provided trade-offs between fuel economy, power...

Passenger Car Spark Ignition Data Base : Volume 3. Miscellaneous Data. Part 1.