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Sample records for strategy tracing present

  1. Divided multimodal attention sensory trace and context coding strategies in spatially congruent auditory and visual presentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristjánsson, Tómas; Thorvaldsson, Tómas Páll; Kristjánsson, Arni

    2014-01-01

    Previous research involving both unimodal and multimodal studies suggests that single-response change detection is a capacity-free process while a discriminatory up or down identification is capacity-limited. The trace/context model assumes that this reflects different memory strategies rather than inherent differences between identification and detection. To perform such tasks, one of two strategies is used, a sensory trace or a context coding strategy, and if one is blocked, people will automatically use the other. A drawback to most preceding studies is that stimuli are presented at separate locations, creating the possibility of a spatial confound, which invites alternative interpretations of the results. We describe a series of experiments, investigating divided multimodal attention, without the spatial confound. The results challenge the trace/context model. Our critical experiment involved a gap before a change in volume and brightness, which according to the trace/context model blocks the sensory trace strategy, simultaneously with a roaming pedestal, which should block the context coding strategy. The results clearly show that people can use strategies other than sensory trace and context coding in the tasks and conditions of these experiments, necessitating changes to the trace/context model.

  2. Serum Trace Element Presentation in Female Wistar Rats ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Serum Trace Element Presentation in Female Wistar Rats administered with Paracetamol & Paracetamol/Methionine. AA Iyanda, FAA Adeniyi. Abstract. A number of therapeutic agents are known to alter serum trace element levels with dangerous consequences. An earlier study had demonstrated significant alteration in the ...

  3. Present and Future Challenges in Trace and Ultra-Trace Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toulhoat, P.

    2005-01-01

    The analysis of trace and ultra-trace elements is continuously stimulating the progress in analytical chemistry. Environmental chemistry, radiochemistry, biology, health, agri-food are prescribers of trace analyses, with continuously increasing exigencies: lowering detection limits, lowering costs and analysis time, improving the quality of analytical information. Precise data about the chemical identity and chemical environment of analytes are now requested. Such pieces of information, beyond simple numerical data and confidence intervals, are necessary to understand studied systems, and to predict their evolution. From environmental contamination cases, one can envisage the various aspects of a problem, with for each of them its own exigencies and specificities in terms of analytical methods and approaches. The detection of traces and ultra-traces of actinides and fission products has been recently revisited and stimulates new technological developments (non proliferation issues, waste management). Data on their speciation in geological and biological media are essential for evaluating the safety of nuclear waste repositories. Various techniques are now used to determine speciation in liquid samples or on surfaces, with tremendous spatial resolutions or sensitivities. A new revolution in analytical chemistry is expected with the development of micro- or nano-analytical technologies. (author)

  4. Advanced Presentation of BETHSY 6.2TC Test Results Calculated by RELAP5 and TRACE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrej Prošek

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Today most software applications come with a graphical user interface, including U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission TRAC/RELAP Advanced Computational Engine (TRACE best-estimate reactor system code. The graphical user interface is called Symbolic Nuclear Analysis Package (SNAP. The purpose of the present study was to assess the TRACE computer code and to assess the SNAP capabilities for input deck preparation and advanced presentation of the results. BETHSY 6.2 TC test was selected, which is 15.24 cm equivalent diameter horizontal cold leg break. For calculations the TRACE V5.0 Patch 1 and RELAP5/MOD3.3 Patch 4 were used. The RELAP5 legacy input deck was converted to TRACE input deck using SNAP. The RELAP5 and TRACE comparison to experimental data showed that TRACE results are as good as or better than the RELAP5 calculated results. The developed animation masks were of great help in comparison of results and investigating the calculated physical phenomena and processes.

  5. Two-step source tracing strategy of Yersinia pestis and its historical epidemiology in a specific region.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanfeng Yan

    Full Text Available Source tracing of pathogens is critical for the control and prevention of infectious diseases. Genome sequencing by high throughput technologies is currently feasible and popular, leading to the burst of deciphered bacterial genome sequences. Utilizing the flooding genomic data for source tracing of pathogens in outbreaks is promising, and challenging as well. Here, we employed Yersinia pestis genomes from a plague outbreak at Xinghai county of China in 2009 as an example, to develop a simple two-step strategy for rapid source tracing of the outbreak. The first step was to define the phylogenetic position of the outbreak strains in a whole species tree, and the next step was to provide a detailed relationship across the outbreak strains and their suspected relatives. Through this strategy, we observed that the Xinghai plague outbreak was caused by Y. pestis that circulated in the local plague focus, where the majority of historical plague epidemics in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau may originate from. The analytical strategy developed here will be of great help in fighting against the outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, by pinpointing the source of pathogens rapidly with genomic epidemiological data and microbial forensics information.

  6. Guanaco traces and hunting strategies at Alto Patache North Chilean fog oasis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larrain, H.; Cereceda, P.; Pérez, L.

    2010-07-01

    1. In foregoing Fog Conferences, some of us have made explicit the rich botanic and faunistic inventory to be found at this Chilean Fog site. This was specially apparent under strong ENSO conditions, as it happened in 1997/98 in the area. Among the mammal biggest species represented, the guanaco (Lama guanicoe Müller) merits special mention. Clear traces of their presence and eventual hunting and slaughtering by primitive populations have survived until present times. Among them, the myriads of guanaco trails still covering practically all the slopes along the foggy area, close to the sea, and their wollowing and defecating places are found. Also, although less studied, plant eating traces left behind by roaming camelids can be seen. 2. Guanaco hunting traces still visible at Alto Patache can be portrayed differently through : A) Analysis of lithic artifacts used as arms in hunting operations; B) Botanic response to animal attack; C) Examination of topographic traits used by primitive man in guanaco hunting strategies. A. Hundreds of lithic instruments made of stone, were abandoned by hunters in situ, some of them were intact, some fragmented, which would demonstrate a direct relationship with hunting and slaughtering, and also their elaboration in workshops at place. Lithic points, scrapers and knives were found at places specially apt for hunting or slaughtering activities. Total isolation of the mountain fog site previous to our arrival in 1996, favoured their conservation at place. B. Careful observation of some local plants showed clear traces of guanaco feeding habits. As a proof thereof, old cactus of the species Eulychnia iquiquensis show in their basal portions clear signals in the forms of scars, caused by the eating by guanacos. Guanaco faeces were found at the foot of Ephedra plants. Many dead Stipa ichu plants (Gramineae), in different areas of the oasis provide evidence of cutting close to their basis, caused by sharp guanaco tooth under severe food

  7. Epidemic contact tracing via communication traces.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katayoun Farrahi

    Full Text Available Traditional contact tracing relies on knowledge of the interpersonal network of physical interactions, where contagious outbreaks propagate. However, due to privacy constraints and noisy data assimilation, this network is generally difficult to reconstruct accurately. Communication traces obtained by mobile phones are known to be good proxies for the physical interaction network, and they may provide a valuable tool for contact tracing. Motivated by this assumption, we propose a model for contact tracing, where an infection is spreading in the physical interpersonal network, which can never be fully recovered; and contact tracing is occurring in a communication network which acts as a proxy for the first. We apply this dual model to a dataset covering 72 students over a 9 month period, for which both the physical interactions as well as the mobile communication traces are known. Our results suggest that a wide range of contact tracing strategies may significantly reduce the final size of the epidemic, by mainly affecting its peak of incidence. However, we find that for low overlap between the face-to-face and communication interaction network, contact tracing is only efficient at the beginning of the outbreak, due to rapidly increasing costs as the epidemic evolves. Overall, contact tracing via mobile phone communication traces may be a viable option to arrest contagious outbreaks.

  8. Epidemic contact tracing via communication traces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrahi, Katayoun; Emonet, Rémi; Cebrian, Manuel

    2014-01-01

    Traditional contact tracing relies on knowledge of the interpersonal network of physical interactions, where contagious outbreaks propagate. However, due to privacy constraints and noisy data assimilation, this network is generally difficult to reconstruct accurately. Communication traces obtained by mobile phones are known to be good proxies for the physical interaction network, and they may provide a valuable tool for contact tracing. Motivated by this assumption, we propose a model for contact tracing, where an infection is spreading in the physical interpersonal network, which can never be fully recovered; and contact tracing is occurring in a communication network which acts as a proxy for the first. We apply this dual model to a dataset covering 72 students over a 9 month period, for which both the physical interactions as well as the mobile communication traces are known. Our results suggest that a wide range of contact tracing strategies may significantly reduce the final size of the epidemic, by mainly affecting its peak of incidence. However, we find that for low overlap between the face-to-face and communication interaction network, contact tracing is only efficient at the beginning of the outbreak, due to rapidly increasing costs as the epidemic evolves. Overall, contact tracing via mobile phone communication traces may be a viable option to arrest contagious outbreaks.

  9. The Effect of Summarizing and Presentation Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hooshang Khoshsima

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The present study aimed to find out the effect of summarizing and presentation strategies on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension. 61 students were selected and divided into two experimental and control groups. The homogeneity of their proficiency level was established using a TOEFL proficiency test. The experimental group used the two strategies three sessions each week for twenty weeks, while the control group was not trained on the strategies. After every two-week instruction, an immediate posttest was administered. At the end of the study, a post-test was administered to both groups. Paired-sample t-test and Independent sample t-test were used for analysis. The results of the study revealed that summarizing and presentation strategies had significant effect on promoting reading comprehension of intermediate EFL learners. It also indicated that the presentation strategy was significantly more effective on students’ reading comprehension.

  10. Trace-based post-silicon validation for VLSI circuits

    CERN Document Server

    Liu, Xiao

    2014-01-01

    This book first provides a comprehensive coverage of state-of-the-art validation solutions based on real-time signal tracing to guarantee the correctness of VLSI circuits.  The authors discuss several key challenges in post-silicon validation and provide automated solutions that are systematic and cost-effective.  A series of automatic tracing solutions and innovative design for debug (DfD) techniques are described, including techniques for trace signal selection for enhancing visibility of functional errors, a multiplexed signal tracing strategy for improving functional error detection, a tracing solution for debugging electrical errors, an interconnection fabric for increasing data bandwidth and supporting multi-core debug, an interconnection fabric design and optimization technique to increase transfer flexibility and a DfD design and associated tracing solution for improving debug efficiency and expanding tracing window. The solutions presented in this book improve the validation quality of VLSI circuit...

  11. Management strategies for trace organic chemicals in water - A review of international approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bieber, Stefan; Snyder, Shane A; Dagnino, Sonia; Rauch-Williams, Tanja; Drewes, Jörg E

    2018-03-01

    To ensure an appropriate management of potential health risks and uncertainties from the release of trace organic chemicals (TOrCs) into the aqueous environment, many countries have evaluated and implemented strategies to manage TOrCs. The aim of this study was to evaluate existing management strategies for TOrCs in different countries to derive and compare underlying core principles and paradigms and to develop suggestions for more holistic management strategies to protect the environment and drinking water supplies from the discharge of undesired TOrCs. The strategies in different industrial countries were summarized and subsequently compared with regards to three particular questions: 1) Do the approaches different countries have implemented manage all or only specific portions of the universe of chemicals; 2) What implementation and compliance strategies are used to manage aquatic and human health risk and what are their pros and cons; and 3) How are site-specific watershed differences being addressed? While management strategies of the different countries target similar TOrCs, the programs differ in several important aspects, including underlying principles, the balance between aquatic or human health protection, implementation methods, and financing mechanisms used to fund regulatory programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Modeling of contact tracing in social networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsimring, Lev S.; Huerta, Ramón

    2003-07-01

    Spreading of certain infections in complex networks is effectively suppressed by using intelligent strategies for epidemic control. One such standard epidemiological strategy consists in tracing contacts of infected individuals. In this paper, we use a recently introduced generalization of the standard susceptible-infectious-removed stochastic model for epidemics in sparse random networks which incorporates an additional (traced) state. We describe a deterministic mean-field description which yields quantitative agreement with stochastic simulations on random graphs. We also discuss the role of contact tracing in epidemics control in small-world and scale-free networks. Effectiveness of contact tracing grows as the rewiring probability is reduced.

  13. Academic Self-Presentation Strategies and Popularity in Middle School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zook, Joan M.; Russotti, Justin M.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined early adolescents' beliefs about which academic self-presentation strategies hypothetical hard-working, high-achieving students should use with popular peers, adolescents' own use of self-presentation strategies, and links between popularity and self-presentation strategies. In response to scenarios in which popular classmates…

  14. Police, managerialization and presentational strategies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Terpstra, J.; Trommel, W.A.

    2009-01-01

    Purpose - The managerialization of the police may be seen as an effort to restore the legitimacy of the police. This paper aims to show that the managerialist strategy presently occurring within police forces creates new pitfalls and unintended consequences. Design/methodology/approach - The paper

  15. Tracing the transition path between optimal strategies combinations within a competitive market of innovative industrial products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batzias, Dimitris F.; Pollalis, Yannis A.

    2012-12-01

    In several cases, a competitive market can be simulated by a game, where each company/opponent is referred to as a player. In order to accommodate the fact that each player (alone or with alliances) is working against some others' interest, the rather conservative maximin criterion is frequently used for selecting the strategy or the combination of strategies that yield the best of the worst possible outcomes for each one of the players. Under this criterion, an optimal solution is obtained when neither player finds it beneficial to alter his strategy, which means that an equilibrium has been achieved, giving also the value of the game. If conditions change as regards a player, e.g., because of either achieving an unexpected successful result in developing an innovative industrial product or obtaining higher liquidity permitting him to increase advertisement in order to acquire a larger market share, then a new equilibrium is reached. The identification of the path between the old and the new equilibrium points may prove to be valuable for investigating the robustness of the solution by means of sensitivity analysis, since uncertainty plays a critical role in this situation, where evaluation of the payoff matrix is usually based on experts' estimates. In this work, the development of a standard methodology (including 16 activity stages and 7 decision nodes) for tracing this path is presented while a numerical implementation follows to prove its functionality.

  16. Trace conditioning in insects-keep the trace!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dylla, Kristina V; Galili, Dana S; Szyszka, Paul; Lüdke, Alja

    2013-01-01

    Trace conditioning is a form of associative learning that can be induced by presenting a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) following each other, but separated by a temporal gap. This gap distinguishes trace conditioning from classical delay conditioning, where the CS and US overlap. To bridge the temporal gap between both stimuli and to form an association between CS and US in trace conditioning, the brain must keep a neural representation of the CS after its termination-a stimulus trace. Behavioral and physiological studies on trace and delay conditioning revealed similarities between the two forms of learning, like similar memory decay and similar odor identity perception in invertebrates. On the other hand differences were reported also, like the requirement of distinct brain structures in vertebrates or disparities in molecular mechanisms in both vertebrates and invertebrates. For example, in commonly used vertebrate conditioning paradigms the hippocampus is necessary for trace but not for delay conditioning, and Drosophila delay conditioning requires the Rutabaga adenylyl cyclase (Rut-AC), which is dispensable in trace conditioning. It is still unknown how the brain encodes CS traces and how they are associated with a US in trace conditioning. Insects serve as powerful models to address the mechanisms underlying trace conditioning, due to their simple brain anatomy, behavioral accessibility and established methods of genetic interference. In this review we summarize the recent progress in insect trace conditioning on the behavioral and physiological level and emphasize similarities and differences compared to delay conditioning. Moreover, we examine proposed molecular and computational models and reassess different experimental approaches used for trace conditioning.

  17. Trace conditioning in insects – Keep the trace!

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristina V Dylla

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Trace conditioning is a form of associative learning that can be induced by presenting a conditioned stimulus (CS and an unconditioned stimulus (US following each other, but separated by a temporal gap. This gap distinguishes trace conditioning from classical delay conditioning, where the CS and US overlap. To bridge the temporal gap between both stimuli and to form an association between CS and US in trace conditioning, the brain must keep a neural representation of the CS after its termination – a stimulus trace. Behavioral and physiological studies on trace and delay conditioning revealed similarities between the two forms of learning, like similar memory decay and similar odor identity perception in invertebrates. On the other hand differences were reported also, like the requirement of distinct brain structures in vertebrates or disparities in molecular mechanisms in both vertebrates and invertebrates. For example, in commonly used vertebrate conditioning paradigms the hippocampus is necessary for trace but not for delay conditioning, and Drosophila delay conditioning requires the Rutabaga adenylyl cyclase, which is dispensable in trace conditioning. It is still unknown how the brain encodes CS traces and how they are associated with a US in trace conditioning. Insects serve as powerful models to address the mechanisms underlying trace conditioning, due to their simple brain anatomy, behavioral accessibility and established methods of genetic interference. In this review we summarize the recent progress in insect trace conditioning on the behavioral and physiological level and emphasize similarities and differences compared to delay conditioning. Moreover, we examine proposed molecular and computational models and reassess different experimental approaches used for trace conditioning.

  18. A comparison of sample preparation strategies for biological tissues and subsequent trace element analysis using LA-ICP-MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonta, Maximilian; Török, Szilvia; Hegedus, Balazs; Döme, Balazs; Limbeck, Andreas

    2017-03-01

    Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is one of the most commonly applied methods for lateral trace element distribution analysis in medical studies. Many improvements of the technique regarding quantification and achievable lateral resolution have been achieved in the last years. Nevertheless, sample preparation is also of major importance and the optimal sample preparation strategy still has not been defined. While conventional histology knows a number of sample pre-treatment strategies, little is known about the effect of these approaches on the lateral distributions of elements and/or their quantities in tissues. The technique of formalin fixation and paraffin embedding (FFPE) has emerged as the gold standard in tissue preparation. However, the potential use for elemental distribution studies is questionable due to a large number of sample preparation steps. In this work, LA-ICP-MS was used to examine the applicability of the FFPE sample preparation approach for elemental distribution studies. Qualitative elemental distributions as well as quantitative concentrations in cryo-cut tissues as well as FFPE samples were compared. Results showed that some metals (especially Na and K) are severely affected by the FFPE process, whereas others (e.g., Mn, Ni) are less influenced. Based on these results, a general recommendation can be given: FFPE samples are completely unsuitable for the analysis of alkaline metals. When analyzing transition metals, FFPE samples can give comparable results to snap-frozen tissues. Graphical abstract Sample preparation strategies for biological tissues are compared with regard to the elemental distributions and average trace element concentrations.

  19. Gender Differences in the Strategies and Tactics of Self-Presentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kurysheva Olga Vasilyevna

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The article represents the results of empirical study of gender differences in the strategies, tactics, importance and effectiveness of self-presentation. Participants (25 women and 25 men completed self-report measures of self-presentation (self-presentation tactics scale, self-control (self-monitoring scale, importance of self-presentation in various fields of communication. The results indicated that feminine individuals are significantly more likely to use defensive tactics of self-presentation, such as an “apology” and a “supplication”. They also use the strategies of “attractive behavior”. Masculine individuals are more likely to use the strategy “power influence” and the corresponding tactic “intimidation”. Androgynous individuals are significantly more likely to use the strategy “refusal” and some other tactics, such as “excuse”, “justification” and “denying responsibility”. It was revealed that the self-presentation is more important for feminine and androgynous individuals, than masculine individuals. In addition to this, self-presentation in the family is more important for androgynous individuals, while in professional and interpersonal spheres self-presentation is very important for feminine individuals. Gender differences do not affect the effectiveness of self-presentation. The results reflect the stereotypical characteristics and social expectations regarding the conduct of a person of a particular gender.

  20. Game changing - tracing the positions, strategies and interaction modes of the German Länder towards the (ever expanding?) European Union

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Mads Christian Dagnis

    2014-01-01

    This article investigates how the positions, strategies and modes of interaction of the German Länder have changed over time in response to the process of Europeanization. By applying the method of process tracing within a theoretical framework of rational choice institutionalism, the article...... resulted in a more sceptical attitude of the Länder towards (the perceived ever expanding) European Union....

  1. Release kinetics and mechanisms of trace heavy metals from cement based material; Cinetiques et mecanismes de relargage des metaux lourds presents en traces dans les matrices cimentaires

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moudilou, E.

    2002-12-15

    Chemical species contained in a solid matrix may be transferred to the environment through water leaching. Previous studies of trace metals released from building materials (particularly cement-based ones) highlight an important analytical difficulty. The aim of this study is to determine the kinetics and the mechanisms involved in the release of trace heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, V and Zn) from industrial cement pastes (usually ranging from 20 to 300 ppm). The development of a dynamic leaching system, named CTG-LEACHCRETE, (used at pH=5, 20 C) which permits the evaluation of the kinetics of trace heavy metals is presented in the first part. Also, innovative solid analysis techniques (ICP-MS-Laser Ablation, local and Grazing Incidence X-rays Diffraction (GIXD) technique) were used to characterise the cement-degraded layers formed during leaching experiments. These techniques enable to monitor the mineralogical evolution and the distribution of trace metals in these areas. The confrontation of these two approaches, kinetic and solid analysis, coupled with a thorough investigation of previously developed models, lead to proposals concerning the mechanisms of release of the trace heavy metals studied. In all the cement pastes studied (CPA-CEM I, CPJ-CEM II/A and CLC-CEM V/A), chromium is trapped in ettringite by substitution SO{sub 4}{sup 2-}(U)CrO{sub 4}{sup 2-} and its release is then controlled by the dissolution of this hydrate. The behaviour of copper, nickel and zinc in degraded areas and in leachates, are correlated to the silicon of the hydrated calcium silicate (CSH), which imply that they are localised there. Lead, was never detected in the leachates. But it is also correlated to the silicon in the degraded layers. (author)

  2. Present and New Treatment Strategies in the Management of Glaucoma

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kolko, Miriam

    2015-01-01

    risk factor for progression of the disease. However, it is clear that a significant number of glaucoma patients show disease progression despite of pressure lowering treatments. Much attention has been given to the development of neuroprotective treatment strategies, but the identification of such has...... of RGCs. In this matter, recent approaches aim to rescue RGCs and regenerate axons in order to restore visual function in glaucoma. The present review seeks to provide an overview of the present and new treatment strategies in the management of glaucoma. The treatment strategies are divided into current...

  3. Traces of Terror, Signs of Trauma. Practices of (Re-)Presentation of Collective Memories in Space in Contemporary Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Laarse, R.; Reijnen, C.; Mazzucchelli, F.

    2014-01-01

    Traces of Terror, Signs of Trauma. Practices of (Re)Presentation of Collective Memory in Space in Contemporary Europe Edited by Rob van der Laarse, Francesco Mazzucchelli, Carlos Reijnen This special issue of Vs. – Quaderni di studi semiotici edited by Rob van der Laarse, Francesco Mazzucchelli and

  4. GPU-accelerated ray-tracing for real-time treatment planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heinrich, H; Ziegenhein, P; Kamerling, C P; Oelfke, U; Froening, H

    2014-01-01

    Dose calculation methods in radiotherapy treatment planning require the radiological depth information of the voxels that represent the patient volume to correct for tissue inhomogeneities. This information is acquired by time consuming ray-tracing-based calculations. For treatment planning scenarios with changing geometries and real-time constraints this is a severe bottleneck. We implemented an algorithm for the graphics processing unit (GPU) which implements a ray-matrix approach to reduce the number of rays to trace. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of different strategies of accessing memory in kernel implementations as well as strategies for rapid data transfers between main memory and memory of the graphics device. Our study included the overlapping of computations and memory transfers to reduce the overall runtime using Hyper-Q. We tested our approach on a prostate case (9 beams, coplanar). The measured execution times for a complete ray-tracing range from 28 msec for the computations on the GPU to 99 msec when considering data transfers to and from the graphics device. Our GPU-based algorithm performed the ray-tracing in real-time. The strategies efficiently reduce the time consumption of memory accesses and data transfer overhead. The achieved runtimes demonstrate the viability of this approach and allow improved real-time performance for dose calculation methods in clinical routine.

  5. Practical applications of trace minerals for dairy cattle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Overton, T R; Yasui, T

    2014-02-01

    Trace minerals have critical roles in the key interrelated systems of immune function, oxidative metabolism, and energy metabolism in ruminants. To date, the primary trace elements of interest in diets for dairy cattle have included Zn, Cu, Mn, and Se although data also support potentially important roles of Cr, Co, and Fe in diets. Trace minerals such as Zn, Cu, Mn, and Se are essential with classically defined roles as components of key antioxidant enzymes and proteins. Available evidence indicates that these trace minerals can modulate aspects of oxidative metabolism and immune function in dairy cattle, particularly during the transition period and early lactation. Chromium has been shown to influence both immune function and energy metabolism of cattle; dairy cows fed Cr during the transition period and early lactation have evidence of improved immune function, increased milk production, and decreased cytological endometritis. Factors that complicate trace mineral nutrition at the farm level include the existence of a large number of antagonisms affecting bioavailability of individual trace minerals and uncertainty in terms of requirements under all physiological and management conditions; therefore, determining the optimum level and source of trace minerals under each specific situation continues to be a challenge. Typical factorial approaches to determine requirements for dairy cattle do not account for nuances in biological function observed with supplementation with various forms and amounts of trace minerals. Trace mineral nutrition modulates production, health, and reproduction in cattle although both formal meta-analysis and informal survey of the literature reveal substantial heterogeneity of response in these outcome variables. The industry has largely moved away from oxide-based programs toward sulfate-based programs; however, some evidence favors shifting supplementation strategies further toward more bioavailable forms of inorganic and organic trace

  6. Significantly improving trace thallium removal from surface waters during coagulation enhanced by nanosized manganese dioxide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huangfu, Xiaoliu; Ma, Chengxue; Ma, Jun; He, Qiang; Yang, Chun; Jiang, Jin; Wang, Yaan; Wu, Zhengsong

    2017-02-01

    Thallium (Tl) is an element of high toxicity and significant accumulation in human body. There is an urgent need for the development of appropriate strategies for trace Tl removal in drinking water treatment plants. In this study, the efficiency and mechanism of trace Tl (0.5 μg/L) removal by conventional coagulation enhanced by nanosized manganese dioxide (nMnO 2 ) were explored in simulated water and two representative surface waters (a river water and a reservoir water obtained from Northeast China). Experimental results showed that nMnO 2 significantly improve Tl(I) removal from selected waters. The removal efficiency was dramatically higher in the simulated water, demonstrating by less than 0.1 μg/L Tl residual. The enhancement of trace Tl removal in the surface waters decreased to a certain extent. Both adjusting water pH to alkaline condition and preoxidation of Tl(I) to Tl(III) benefit trace Tl removal from surface waters. Data also indicated that competitive cation of Ca 2+ decreased the efficiency of trace Tl removal, resulting from the reduction of Tl adsorption on nMnO 2 . Humic acid could largely low Tl removal efficiency during nMnO 2 enhanced coagulation processes. Trace elemental Tl firstly adsorbed on nMnO 2 and then removed accompanying with nMnO 2 settling. The information obtained in the present study may provide a potential strategy for drinking water treatment plants threatened by trace Tl. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Trace analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Warner, M.

    1987-01-01

    What is the current state of quantitative trace analytical chemistry? What are today's research efforts? And what challenges does the future hold? These are some of the questions addressed at a recent four-day symposium sponsored by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) entitled Accuracy in Trace Analysis - Accomplishments, Goals, Challenges. The two plenary sessions held on the first day of the symposium reviewed the history of quantitative trace analysis, discussed the present situation from academic and industrial perspectives, and summarized future needs. The remaining three days of the symposium consisted of parallel sessions dealing with the measurement process; quantitation in materials; environmental, clinical, and nutrient analysis; and advances in analytical techniques

  8. Visual, Algebraic and Mixed Strategies in Visually Presented Linear Programming Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shama, Gilli; Dreyfus, Tommy

    1994-01-01

    Identified and classified solution strategies of (n=49) 10th-grade students who were presented with linear programming problems in a predominantly visual setting in the form of a computerized game. Visual strategies were developed more frequently than either algebraic or mixed strategies. Appendix includes questionnaires. (Contains 11 references.)…

  9. Sensitive Multi-Species Emissions Monitoring: Infrared Laser-Based Detection of Trace-Level Contaminants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steill, Jeffrey D. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Huang, Haifeng [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Hoops, Alexandra A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Patterson, Brian D. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Birtola, Salvatore R. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Jaska, Mark [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Strecker, Kevin E. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Chandler, David W. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Bisson, Soott [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2014-09-01

    This report summarizes our development of spectroscopic chemical analysis techniques and spectral modeling for trace-gas measurements of highly-regulated low-concentration species present in flue gas emissions from utility coal boilers such as HCl under conditions of high humidity. Detailed spectral modeling of the spectroscopy of HCl and other important combustion and atmospheric species such as H 2 O, CO 2 , N 2 O, NO 2 , SO 2 , and CH 4 demonstrates that IR-laser spectroscopy is a sensitive multi-component analysis strategy. Experimental measurements from techniques based on IR laser spectroscopy are presented that demonstrate sub-ppm sensitivity levels to these species. Photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy is used to detect and quantify HCl at ppm levels with extremely high signal-to-noise even under conditions of high relative humidity. Additionally, cavity ring-down IR spectroscopy is used to achieve an extremely high sensitivity to combustion trace gases in this spectral region; ppm level CH 4 is one demonstrated example. The importance of spectral resolution in the sensitivity of a trace-gas measurement is examined by spectral modeling in the mid- and near-IR, and efforts to improve measurement resolution through novel instrument development are described. While previous project reports focused on benefits and complexities of the dual-etalon cavity ring-down infrared spectrometer, here details on steps taken to implement this unique and potentially revolutionary instrument are described. This report also illustrates and critiques the general strategy of IR- laser photodetection of trace gases leading to the conclusion that mid-IR laser spectroscopy techniques provide a promising basis for further instrument development and implementation that will enable cost-effective sensitive detection of multiple key contaminant species simultaneously.

  10. Trace Gas Retrievals from the GeoTASO Aircraft Instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nowlan, C. R.; Liu, X.; Leitch, J. W.; Liu, C.; Gonzalez Abad, G.; Chance, K.; Cole, J.; Delker, T.; Good, W. S.; Murcray, F.; Ruppert, L.; Soo, D.; Loughner, C.; Follette-Cook, M. B.; Janz, S. J.; Kowalewski, M. G.; Pickering, K. E.; Zoogman, P.; Al-Saadi, J. A.

    2015-12-01

    The Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (GeoTASO) instrument is a passive remote sensing instrument capable of making 2-D measurements of trace gases and aerosols from aircraft. The instrument measures backscattered UV and visible radiation, allowing the retrieval of trace gas amounts below the aircraft at horizontal resolutions on the order of 250 m x 250 m. GeoTASO was originally developed under NASA's Instrument Incubator Program as a test-bed instrument for the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) decadal survey mission, and is now also part of risk reduction for the upcoming Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) and Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) geostationary satellite missions. We present spatially resolved observations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide over urban areas and power plants from flights during the DISCOVER-AQ field campaigns in Texas and Colorado, as well as comparisons with observations made by ground-based Pandora spectrometers, in situ monitoring instruments and other aircraft instruments deployed during these campaigns. These measurements at various times of day are providing a very useful data set for testing and improving TEMPO and GEMS retrieval algorithms, as well as demonstrating prototype validation strategies.

  11. Spoken word recognition without a TRACE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannagan, Thomas; Magnuson, James S.; Grainger, Jonathan

    2013-01-01

    How do we map the rapid input of spoken language onto phonological and lexical representations over time? Attempts at psychologically-tractable computational models of spoken word recognition tend either to ignore time or to transform the temporal input into a spatial representation. TRACE, a connectionist model with broad and deep coverage of speech perception and spoken word recognition phenomena, takes the latter approach, using exclusively time-specific units at every level of representation. TRACE reduplicates featural, phonemic, and lexical inputs at every time step in a large memory trace, with rich interconnections (excitatory forward and backward connections between levels and inhibitory links within levels). As the length of the memory trace is increased, or as the phoneme and lexical inventory of the model is increased to a realistic size, this reduplication of time- (temporal position) specific units leads to a dramatic proliferation of units and connections, begging the question of whether a more efficient approach is possible. Our starting point is the observation that models of visual object recognition—including visual word recognition—have grappled with the problem of spatial invariance, and arrived at solutions other than a fully-reduplicative strategy like that of TRACE. This inspires a new model of spoken word recognition that combines time-specific phoneme representations similar to those in TRACE with higher-level representations based on string kernels: temporally independent (time invariant) diphone and lexical units. This reduces the number of necessary units and connections by several orders of magnitude relative to TRACE. Critically, we compare the new model to TRACE on a set of key phenomena, demonstrating that the new model inherits much of the behavior of TRACE and that the drastic computational savings do not come at the cost of explanatory power. PMID:24058349

  12. Strategies for making oral presentations about clinical issues: Part I. At the workplace.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Janet M; Schmidt, Nola A

    2009-04-01

    This column offers strategies that clinicians can use to make effective oral presentations at work. Part II, which will be published next month, will offer strategies for making oral presentations at professional conferences.

  13. Effects of elevated CO2 and trace ethylene present throughout the storage season on the processing colour of stored potatoes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Daniels-Lake, B.J.

    2012-01-01

    Previous short-term trials (9-week duration) have shown that the fry colour of stored potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) can be negatively affected by simultaneous exposure to elevated CO2 plus a trace concentration of ethylene gas. In the present study, trials were conducted during each of two storage

  14. Nuclear traces in glass

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Segovia A, M. de N.

    1978-01-01

    The charged particles produce, in dielectric materials, physical and chemical effects which make evident the damaged zone along the trajectory of the particle. This damaged zone is known as the latent trace. The latent traces can be enlarged by an etching of the detector material. This treatment attacks preferently the zones of the material where the charged particles have penetrated, producing concavities which can be observed through a low magnification optical microscope. These concavities are known as developed traces. In this work we describe the glass characteristics as a detector of the fission fragments traces. In the first chapter we present a summary of the existing basic theories to explain the formation of traces in solids. In the second chapter we describe the etching method used for the traces development. In the following chapters we determine some chatacteristics of the traces formed on the glass, such as: the development optimum time; the diameter variation of the traces and their density according to the temperature variation of the detector; the glass response to a radiation more penetrating than that of the fission fragments; the distribution of the developed traces and the existing relation between this ditribution and the fission fragments of 252 Cf energies. The method which has been used is simple and cheap and can be utilized in laboratories whose resources are limited. The commercial glass which has been employed allows the registration of the fission fragments and subsequently the realization of experiments which involve the counting of the traces as well as the identification of particles. (author)

  15. The transition region and coronal explorer (TRACE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Title, Alan; Bruner, M.; Jurcevich, B.; Lemen, J.; Strong, K.; Tarbell, Ted; Wolfson, C. Jacob; Golub, L.; Bookbinder, J.; Fisher, R.

    1995-01-01

    The transition region and coronal explorer (TRACE) NASA small explorer mission and instrument are presented. The TRACE scientific investigation explores the relationships between fine-scale magnetic fields and the associated solar plasma structures. The instrument collects images of solar plasmas at temperatures from 10(exp 4) to 10(exp 7) K with one arcsec spatial resolution. The design specifications of the trace instrument are presented.

  16. Diagnosing MOV problems using comparative trace analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leon, R.L.

    1992-01-01

    The paper presents the concept of comparative trace analysis and shows it to be very effective in diagnosing motor operated valve (MOV) problems. Comparative trace analysis is simply the process of interpreting simultaneously gathered traces, each presenting a different perspective on the same series of events. The opening and closing of a motor operated valve is such a series of events. The simultaneous traces are obtained using Liberty Technologies' Valve Operation Test and Evaluation System (VOTES)reg-sign. The traces include stem thrust, motor current, motor power factor, motor power, switch actuations, vibration in three different frequency bands, spring pack displacement, and spring pack force. Spare and auxiliary channels enable additional key parameters to be measured, such as differential pressure and stem displacement. Though not specifically illustrated in this paper, the VOTES system also provides for FFT analysis on all traces except switches

  17. Gender Differences in the Strategies and Tactics of Self-Presentation

    OpenAIRE

    Kurysheva Olga Vasilyevna; Voznesenskaya Anastasiya Vitalyevna

    2015-01-01

    The article represents the results of empirical study of gender differences in the strategies, tactics, importance and effectiveness of self-presentation. Participants (25 women and 25 men) completed self-report measures of self-presentation (self-presentation tactics scale), self-control (self-monitoring scale), importance of self-presentation in various fields of communication. The results indicated that feminine individuals are significantly more likely to use defensive tactics of self-pre...

  18. The Effect of Presentation Strategy on Reading Comprehension of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hooshang Khoshsima

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The present experimental study primarily aimed at examining the effect of presentation strategy on reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To determine the effect of this strategy, 61 students who enrolled in English Language Center of Chabahar Maritime University were initially selected and then divided randomly into two classes one as an experimental group and the other one as the control group. The homogeneity of their proficiency level was established via the administration of a TOEFL (the PBT proficiency test. A reading comprehension test as pre-test administered to the subjects of both groups one week before the initiation of the study. The experimental group used the strategy three sessions each week for ten weeks, while the control group was trained based on the ordinary approaches of teaching reading comprehension. Presentation strategy was worked for every two weeks during the experiment and then at the end of each two-week instruction, an immediate posttest was administered according to the strategy worked. At the end of the study, a post-test was administered to both groups. The statistical techniques being applied were Paired Sample t-test and Independent Sample t-test. The results of the study revealed that presentation strategy had significant effect on promoting reading comprehension of intermediate EFL learners.

  19. Trends in trace element emission legislation - an international overview

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sloss, L.L.

    2003-07-01

    Emissions of trace elements have decreased for a variety of reasons in many developed countries. However, the application of more successful control strategies in other industry sectors means that coal combustion is still a relatively important source of some trace elements, especially mercury. International and national legislation is increasingly being applied to trace element emissions. International programmes for trace element reduction are generally in the form of voluntary action plans with recommendations and targets for reduction. National legislation in Europe is commonly in the form of emission limits for specific sources. New legislation in the USA may take the form of best available technology or a minimum emission reduction requirement. It is also possible that mercury could be included in multi-pollutant emissions trading schemes. 52 refs., 4 tabs.

  20. The efficient presentation - obstacles, strategies, success

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela-Elena Radu

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available The making of presentations has become an omnipresent act of communication in the companies practice, but also in the didactic one. The notoriety and the increase of the importance of an efficient presentation lie in the transformations felt by a society of knowledge, communication being the answer in front of a constant information wave.Business people look in fear at the preparation of a presentation, the interaction with the audience andtheir feedback, all these leading to a low efficiency in transmitting the message.The speaker must overcome a group of obstacles, the most important being the reduced human capacityto capture the information transmitted orally; in this respect, he has available a group of visual instruments and strategies to capture the attention. In order to achieve efficiency one needs mental and emotional preparation, knowing the audience and the presentation’s objective and eliminating the old listing format in PowerPoint, for focusing the communication of the audience’s necessities. The present essay aims to analyze the verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal communication act that constitutes the base of any presentation, the reasons that lead to failure and the ways to increase efficiency, in order to succeed in transmitting a well structured and easy to remember message.Many researchers and practice workers within the communication, economic but also IT fields, have tried to find the solution for organizing and transmitting the message during a presentation, in accordance with the new technologies. In elaborating the present paper, we have used our personal experience and data obtained through 30 in-depth interviews,with managers in companies such Bostina Asociatii Skoda, Petrom etc.; we have used in our research articles of honored professors in social sciences from the Harvard and Stanford Universities , researches of the Minnesota and Ulster Universities, as well as works of specialists in marketing and information

  1. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in phytoremediation of contaminated areas by trace elements: mechanisms and major benefits of their applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabral, Lucélia; Soares, Claúdio Roberto Fonsêca Sousa; Giachini, Admir José; Siqueira, José Oswaldo

    2015-11-01

    In recent decades, the concentration of trace elements has increased in soil and water, mainly by industrialization and urbanization. Recovery of contaminated areas is generally complex. In that respect, microorganisms can be of vital importance by making significant contributions towards the establishment of plants and the stabilization of impacted areas. Among the available strategies for environmental recovery, bioremediation and phytoremediation outstand. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are considered the most important type of mycorrhizae for phytoremediation. AMF have broad occurrence in contaminated soils, and evidences suggest they improve plant tolerance to excess of certain trace elements. In this review, the use of AMF in phytoremediation and mechanisms involved in their trace element tolerance are discussed. Additionally, we present some techniques used to study the retention of trace elements by AMF, as well as a summary of studies showing major benefits of AMF for phytoremediation.

  2. NSF-RANN trace contaminants abstracts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Copenhaver, E.D.; Harnden, D.S.

    1976-10-01

    Specific areas of interest of the Environmental Aspects of Trace Contaminants Program are organic chemicals of commerce, metals and organometallic compounds, air-borne contaminants, and environmental assay methodology. Fifty-three abstracts of literature on trace contaminants are presented. Author, keyword, and permuted title indexes are included

  3. Tracing sediment sources in Royal Drainage basin, Iran

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feiznia, S.; Kouhpelma, A.; Ahmadi, H.; Hashemi, S. A.

    2009-01-01

    For successful soil conservation measures, obtaining information about the relative importance of sediment source and their shares in sediment production is required. Tracing or source studies are emphasized in recent years due to their privileges. In this research, sediment sources were identified using tracing method. A small earth dam is constructed at the outlet of Royan Drainage Basin in 1993. In this study, sediments were sampled from dam reservoir, different sources were also sampled. The results of this research can be used in soil conservation projects for execution of suitable management strategies. (Author) 6 refs.

  4. Tracing sediment sources in Royal Drainage basin, Iran

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Feiznia, S.; Kouhpelma, A.; Ahmadi, H.; Hashemi, S. A.

    2009-07-01

    For successful soil conservation measures, obtaining information about the relative importance of sediment source and their shares in sediment production is required. Tracing or source studies are emphasized in recent years due to their privileges. In this research, sediment sources were identified using tracing method. A small earth dam is constructed at the outlet of Royan Drainage Basin in 1993. In this study, sediments were sampled from dam reservoir, different sources were also sampled. The results of this research can be used in soil conservation projects for execution of suitable management strategies. (Author) 6 refs.

  5. Present and future strategies for neutrinoless double beta decay ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The scope of this paper is not only to review the present results reached in the field by the different groups and technologies worldwide, but also to illustrate and comment on the (near and long-term) future strategies that experimentalists are trying to pursue to reach the needed sensitivity required to explore the inverted ...

  6. The effects of trace element content on pyrite oxidation rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory, D. D.; Lyons, T.; Cliff, J. B.; Perea, D. E.; Johnson, A.; Romaniello, S. J.; Large, R. R.

    2017-12-01

    Pyrite acts as both an important source and sink for many different metals and metalloids in the environment, including many that are toxic. Oxidation of pyrite can release these elements while at the same time producing significant amounts of sulfuric acid. Such issues are common in the vicinity of abandoned mines and smelters, but, as pyrite is a common accessory mineral in many different lithologies, significant pyrite oxidation can occur whenever pyritic rocks are exposed to oxygenated water or the atmosphere. Accelerated exposure to oxygen can occur during deforestation, fracking for petroleum, and construction projects. Geochemical models for pyrite oxidation can help us develop strategies to mitigate these deleterious effects. An important component of these models is an accurate pyrite oxidation rate; however, current pyrite oxidation rates have been determined using relatively pure pyrite. Natural pyrite is rarely pure and has a wide range of trace element concentrations that may affect the oxidation rate. Furthermore, the position of trace elements within the mineral lattice can also affect the oxidation rate. For example, elements such as Ni and Co, which substitute into the pyrite lattice, are thought to stabilize the lattice and thus prevent pyrite oxidation. Alternatively, trace elements that are held within inclusions of other minerals could form a galvanic cell with the surrounding pyrite, thus enhancing pyrite oxidation rates. In this study, we present preliminary analyses from three different pyrite oxidation experiments each using natural pyrite with different trace element compositions. These results show that the pyrite with the highest trace element concentration has approximately an order of magnitude higher oxidation rate compared to the lowest trace element sample. To further elucidate the mechanisms, we employed microanalytical techniques to investigate how the trace elements are held within the pyrite. LA-ICPMS was used to determine the

  7. Identifying decision strategies in a consumer choice situation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nils Reisen

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available In two studies on mobile phone purchase decisions, we investigated consumers' decision strategies with a newly developed process tracing tool called extit{InterActive Process Tracing} (IAPT. This tool is a combination of several process tracing techniques (Active Information Search, Mouselab, and retrospective verbal protocol. After repeatedly choosing one of four mobile phones, participants formalized their strategy so that it could be used to make choices for them. The choices made by the identified strategies correctly predicted the observed choices in 73\\% (Experiment 1 and 67\\% (Experiment 2 of the cases. Moreover, in Experiment 2 we directly compared Mouselab and eye tracking with respect to their impact on information search and strategy description. We found only minor differences between these two methods. We conclude that IAPT is a useful research tool to identify choice strategies, and that using eye tracking technology did not increase its validity beyond that gained with Mouselab.

  8. Trace formulae for arithmetical systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bogomolny, E.B.; Georgeot, B.; Giannoni, M.J.; Schmit, C.

    1992-09-01

    For quantum problems on the pseudo-sphere generated by arithmetic groups there exist special trace formulae, called trace formulae for Hecke operators, which permit the reconstruction of wave functions from the knowledge of periodic orbits. After a short discussion of this subject, the Hecke operators trace formulae are presented for the Dirichlet problem on the modular billiard, which is a prototype of arithmetical systems. The results of numerical computations for these semiclassical type relations are in good agreement with the directly computed eigenfunctions. (author) 23 refs.; 2 figs

  9. Trace Elements in Human Tooth Enamel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nixon, G. S. [Turner Dental School, University Of Manchester, Manchester (United Kingdom); Smith, H.; Livingston, H. D. [Department of Forensic Medicine, University Of Glasgow, Glasgow (United Kingdom)

    1967-10-15

    The trace elements are considered to play a role in the resistance of teeth to dental caries. The exact mechanism by which they act has not yet been fully established. Estimations of trace elements have been undertaken in sound human teeth. By means of activation analysis it has been possible to determine trace element concentrations in different layers of enamel in the same tooth. The concentrations of the following elements have been determined: arsenic, antimony, copper, zinc, manganese, mercury, molybdenum and vanadium. The distribution of trace elements in enamel varies from those with a narrow range, such as manganese, to those with a broad range, such as antimony. The elements present in the broad range are considered to be non-essential and their presence is thought to result from a chance incorporation into the enamel. Those in the narrow range appear to be essential trace elements and are present in amounts which do not vary unduly from other body tissues. Only manganese and zinc were found in higher concentrations in the surface layer of enamel compared with the inner layers. The importance of the concentration of trace elements on this surface layer of enamel is emphasized as this layer is the site of the first attack by the carious process. (author)

  10. Development of an approach for qualitative and quantitative analysis of trace elements present in canine breast tumors by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cozer, Thamara C.; Conceicao, Andre L.C.; Paschuk, Sergei A.; Rocha, Anna S.S. da; Fagundes, Alana C.F.; Maciel, Karla F.R.; Pimentel, Gustavo R.O.; Badelli, Juliana C.

    2015-01-01

    Studies performed with canines indicate that one of the main neoplasia which affect these animals are the breast tumors, representing from 25% to 50% of all kinds of tumors. Moreover, half of them are classified as malignant. In this sense, recent researches on humans have been associated the presence of certain trace elements with the development of breast neoplasia in those individuals. Then, as the breast tissue composition in canines is very similar to the humans, it is expected the same behavior. In this direction, a very effective technique to identify and to determinate trace elements concentration is the EDXRF. However, studies on this area are scarce in the literature. Therefore, in this work it was developed an approach to quantify the main trace elements present into these tumors with high sensitivity. For this purpose, it was determined calibration curves of standards samples diluted in water, with concentrations of Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn, ranging from 400mg/kg to 35mg/kg, from 20mg/kg to 2mg/kg, from 10mg/kg to 1mg/kg and from 100mg/kg to 10mg/kg, respectively. All calibration curves were linearly fitted and on basis in this behavior it was determined the sensitivity of our approach to quantify the concentration of the trace elements mentioned above. In addition, it is important to mention that studies in this area are of great potential, because EDXRF represents a quickly practical and non-destructive alternative to quantify trace elements. (author)

  11. Development of an approach for qualitative and quantitative analysis of trace elements present in canine breast tumors by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cozer, Thamara C.; Conceicao, Andre L.C.; Paschuk, Sergei A.; Rocha, Anna S.S. da; Fagundes, Alana C.F.; Maciel, Karla F.R.; Pimentel, Gustavo R.O.; Badelli, Juliana C., E-mail: thamara.cozer@gmail.com, E-mail: alconceicao@utfpr.edu.br, E-mail: sergei@utfpr.edu.br, E-mail: anna@utfpr.edu.br, E-mail: alanacarolinef@gmail.com, E-mail: karla_rimanski@hotmail.com, E-mail: g_rop@hotmail.com, E-mail: jubadellin@gmail.com [Universidade Tecnologica Federal do Parana (UTFPR), Curitiba, PR (Brazil). Lab. de Espectroscopia de Raio-X

    2015-07-01

    Studies performed with canines indicate that one of the main neoplasia which affect these animals are the breast tumors, representing from 25% to 50% of all kinds of tumors. Moreover, half of them are classified as malignant. In this sense, recent researches on humans have been associated the presence of certain trace elements with the development of breast neoplasia in those individuals. Then, as the breast tissue composition in canines is very similar to the humans, it is expected the same behavior. In this direction, a very effective technique to identify and to determinate trace elements concentration is the EDXRF. However, studies on this area are scarce in the literature. Therefore, in this work it was developed an approach to quantify the main trace elements present into these tumors with high sensitivity. For this purpose, it was determined calibration curves of standards samples diluted in water, with concentrations of Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn, ranging from 400mg/kg to 35mg/kg, from 20mg/kg to 2mg/kg, from 10mg/kg to 1mg/kg and from 100mg/kg to 10mg/kg, respectively. All calibration curves were linearly fitted and on basis in this behavior it was determined the sensitivity of our approach to quantify the concentration of the trace elements mentioned above. In addition, it is important to mention that studies in this area are of great potential, because EDXRF represents a quickly practical and non-destructive alternative to quantify trace elements. (author)

  12. PENGEMBANGAN MODEL TRACKING DAN TRACING DALAM DISTRIBUSI KOMODITI PERTANIAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yandra Rahadian Perdana

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Kegagalan distribusi komoditi pertanian dapat berdampak pada penurunan dan kehilangan nilai baik secara kualitas dan kuantitas karena suatu perubahan dimensi waktu-jarak atau suhu serta sarana pengangkutan dalam setiap mata rantai aktivitas distribusi. Model tracking dan tracing system dapat menjadi strategi untuk menjamin keberhasilan distribusi komoditi pertanian secara tepat baik kuantitas maupun kualitas. Model tracking dan tracing komoditi pertanian adalah sebuah sistem proaktif yang real time yang dilengkapi dengan komponen pendukung proses distribusi dengan data yang akurat, terpercaya, berguna, dan cepat dengan memberikan informasi posisi barang atau sarana moda transportasinya.

  13. THE EFFECT OF SUMMARIZATION INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES AND PRESENTATION FORMATS ON THE OUTCOMES OF HISTORICAL ARGUMENTATIVE REASONING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susanto Yunus Alfian

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of summarization instructional strategies and presentation formats on the learning outcomes of history argumentative reasoning. This study is designed as a factorial design. The subjects were the students enrolled in four state-owned sehior high school in Malang Regency. The main conclusions are presented as follow: (1 A significant difference existed for students who used the cause-effect graphic organizer summarization strategy to answer history argumentative reasoning post-test questions when compared to the written summarizing strategy, (2 There is no difference between those who were presented with present-subheadings presentation format and those who were presented absent-subheadings on answering history argumentative reasoning posttest questions, and (3 There is a significant interaction between the summarization instructional strategies and the presentation formats. The students who used cause-effect graphic organizer summarization strategy and were given with the present-subheadings presentation format significantly outperformed in the historical  argumentative reasoning post-test scores than the other groups (graphic organizer and absent-subheadings group, written summarizing and with-subheadings group, and written summarizing and without-subheadings group.Key Words:  summarization instructional strategy, presentation format, cause-effect graphic organizer, written summarizing, present-subheadings, historical argumentative reasoning.Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh strategi pembelajaran summarization dan format presentasi tentang hasil belajar sejarah penalaran argumentatif. Penelitian ini dirancang sebagai desain faktorial. Subjek penelitian adalah siswa terdaftar di empat sekolah SMA di Kabupaten Malang. Kesimpulan utama disajikan sebagai berikut: (1 Sebuah perbedaan yang signifikan ada bagi siswa yang menggunakan strategi peringkasan untuk menjawab

  14. Chemical characteristics and trace element concentration of non ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The present study investigates the details on the aspects of Coal quality such as proximate, ultimate, calorific value and trace element concentration and its impact on human health. Trace elements are present in very low percentage in coal but their concentration increases manifold after coal combustion and utilization.

  15. Disposal of radioactive waste in Romania. Present and future strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodna, A.; Garlea, C.

    2002-01-01

    The paper begins with the presentation of the actual situation of radioactive waste management in Romania. The organizations responsible for radioactive waste management and their capabilities are described, including radioactive waste disposal. The main provisions of the 'Draft law regarding the management of nuclear spent fuel and radioactive waste, in view of their final disposal' are also presented, with accent on the responsibilities of the National Radioactive Waste Agency (ANDRAD) and on the fund for radioactive waste and spent fuel management and for decommissioning. The paper ends with the presentation of the future radioactive waste and spent fuel management strategy. (author)

  16. TCP Packet Trace Analysis. M.S. Thesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepard, Timothy J.

    1991-01-01

    Examination of a trace of packets collected from the network is often the only method available for diagnosing protocol performance problems in computer networks. This thesis explores the use of packet traces to diagnose performance problems of the transport protocol TCP. Unfortunately, manual examination of these traces can be so tedious that effective analysis is not possible. The primary contribution of this thesis is a graphical method of displaying the packet trace which greatly reduce, the tediousness of examining a packet trace. The graphical method is demonstrated by the examination of some packet traces of typical TCP connections. The performance of two different implementations of TCP sending data across a particular network path is compared. Traces many thousands of packets long are used to demonstrate how effectively the graphical method simplifies examination of long complicated traces. In the comparison of the two TCP implementations, the burstiness of the TCP transmitter appeared to be related to the achieved throughput. A method of quantifying this burstiness is presented and its possible relevance to understanding the performance of TCP is discussed.

  17. Visualizing topography: Effects of presentation strategy, gender, and spatial ability

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAuliffe, Carla

    2003-10-01

    This study investigated the effect of different presentation strategies (2-D static visuals, 3-D animated visuals, and 3-D interactive, animated visuals) and gender on achievement, time-spent-on visual treatment, and attitude during a computer-based science lesson about reading and interpreting topographic maps. The study also examined the relationship of spatial ability and prior knowledge to gender, achievement, and time-spent-on visual treatment. Students enrolled in high school chemistry-physics were pretested and given two spatial ability tests. They were blocked by gender and randomly assigned to one of three levels of presentation strategy or the control group. After controlling for the effects of spatial ability and prior knowledge with analysis of covariance, three significant differences were found between the versions: (a) the 2-D static treatment group scored significantly higher on the posttest than the control group; (b) the 3-D animated treatment group scored significantly higher on the posttest than the control group; and (c) the 2-D static treatment group scored significantly higher on the posttest than the 3-D interactive animated treatment group. Furthermore, the 3-D interactive animated treatment group spent significantly more time on the visual screens than the 2-D static treatment group. Analyses of student attitudes revealed that most students felt the landform visuals in the computer-based program helped them learn, but not in a way they would describe as fun. Significant differences in attitude were found by treatment and by gender. In contrast to findings from other studies, no gender differences were found on either of the two spatial tests given in this study. Cognitive load, cognitive involvement, and solution strategy are offered as three key factors that may help explain the results of this study. Implications for instructional design include suggestions about the use of 2-D static, 3-D animated and 3-D interactive animations as well

  18. Contact tracing of tuberculosis: a systematic review of transmission modelling studies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matt Begun

    Full Text Available The WHO recommended intervention of Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course (DOTS appears to have been less successful than expected in reducing the burden of TB in some high prevalence settings. One strategy for enhancing DOTS is incorporating active case-finding through screening contacts of TB patients as widely used in low-prevalence settings. Predictive models that incorporate population-level effects on transmission provide one means of predicting impacts of such interventions. We aim to identify all TB transmission modelling studies addressing contact tracing and to describe and critically assess their modelling assumptions, parameter choices and relevance to policy. We searched MEDLINE, SCOPUS, COMPENDEX, Google Scholar and Web of Science databases for relevant English language publications up to February 2012. Of the 1285 studies identified, only 5 studies met our inclusion criteria of models of TB transmission dynamics in human populations designed to incorporate contact tracing as an intervention. Detailed implementation of contact processes was only present in two studies, while only one study presented a model for a high prevalence, developing world setting. Some use of relevant data for parameter estimation was made in each study however validation of the predicted impact of interventions was not attempted in any of the studies. Despite a large body of literature on TB transmission modelling, few published studies incorporate contact tracing. There is considerable scope for future analyses to make better use of data and to apply individual based models to facilitate more realistic patterns of infectious contact. Combined with a focus on high burden settings this would greatly increase the potential for models to inform the use of contract tracing as a TB control policy. Our findings highlight the potential for collaborative work between clinicians, epidemiologists and modellers to gather data required to enhance model development

  19. Contact tracing of tuberculosis: a systematic review of transmission modelling studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Begun, Matt; Newall, Anthony T; Marks, Guy B; Wood, James G

    2013-01-01

    The WHO recommended intervention of Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course (DOTS) appears to have been less successful than expected in reducing the burden of TB in some high prevalence settings. One strategy for enhancing DOTS is incorporating active case-finding through screening contacts of TB patients as widely used in low-prevalence settings. Predictive models that incorporate population-level effects on transmission provide one means of predicting impacts of such interventions. We aim to identify all TB transmission modelling studies addressing contact tracing and to describe and critically assess their modelling assumptions, parameter choices and relevance to policy. We searched MEDLINE, SCOPUS, COMPENDEX, Google Scholar and Web of Science databases for relevant English language publications up to February 2012. Of the 1285 studies identified, only 5 studies met our inclusion criteria of models of TB transmission dynamics in human populations designed to incorporate contact tracing as an intervention. Detailed implementation of contact processes was only present in two studies, while only one study presented a model for a high prevalence, developing world setting. Some use of relevant data for parameter estimation was made in each study however validation of the predicted impact of interventions was not attempted in any of the studies. Despite a large body of literature on TB transmission modelling, few published studies incorporate contact tracing. There is considerable scope for future analyses to make better use of data and to apply individual based models to facilitate more realistic patterns of infectious contact. Combined with a focus on high burden settings this would greatly increase the potential for models to inform the use of contract tracing as a TB control policy. Our findings highlight the potential for collaborative work between clinicians, epidemiologists and modellers to gather data required to enhance model development and validation and

  20. The Impacts of Self-Presentation Strategies and Social Support on Tourism Experience

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kim, Jeongmi; Tussyadiah, Iis

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of how tourists’ self-presentation is managed on Social Networking Sites (SNS). Specifically, the study investigated the effects of SNS use on social support and tourism experience and the moderating role of the different tourists’ self......-presentation strategies. The results emphasize the importance of SNS use for tourists to seek support from their social network while traveling. The study clarifies the importance of SNS use for tourism experience, in that the more engaged tourists are in social interaction facilitated with SNS while traveling, the more...... likely they are to have a positive tourism experience. Also, it is argued that social support does not always directly result from the intense SNS use, but rather moderated by tourists’ self-presentation strategies....

  1. Classification of conductance traces with recurrent neural networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lauritzen, Kasper P.; Magyarkuti, András; Balogh, Zoltán; Halbritter, András; Solomon, Gemma C.

    2018-02-01

    We present a new automated method for structural classification of the traces obtained in break junction experiments. Using recurrent neural networks trained on the traces of minimal cross-sectional area in molecular dynamics simulations, we successfully separate the traces into two classes: point contact or nanowire. This is done without any assumptions about the expected features of each class. The trained neural network is applied to experimental break junction conductance traces, and it separates the classes as well as the previously used experimental methods. The effect of using partial conductance traces is explored, and we show that the method performs equally well using full or partial traces (as long as the trace just prior to breaking is included). When only the initial part of the trace is included, the results are still better than random chance. Finally, we show that the neural network classification method can be used to classify experimental conductance traces without using simulated results for training, but instead training the network on a few representative experimental traces. This offers a tool to recognize some characteristic motifs of the traces, which can be hard to find by simple data selection algorithms.

  2. Reverse ray tracing for transformation optics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Chia-Yu; Lin, Chun-Hung

    2015-06-29

    Ray tracing is an important technique for predicting optical system performance. In the field of transformation optics, the Hamiltonian equations of motion for ray tracing are well known. The numerical solutions to the Hamiltonian equations of motion are affected by the complexities of the inhomogeneous and anisotropic indices of the optical device. Based on our knowledge, no previous work has been conducted on ray tracing for transformation optics with extreme inhomogeneity and anisotropicity. In this study, we present the use of 3D reverse ray tracing in transformation optics. The reverse ray tracing is derived from Fermat's principle based on a sweeping method instead of finding the full solution to ordinary differential equations. The sweeping method is employed to obtain the eikonal function. The wave vectors are then obtained from the gradient of that eikonal function map in the transformed space to acquire the illuminance. Because only the rays in the points of interest have to be traced, the reverse ray tracing provides an efficient approach to investigate the illuminance of a system. This approach is useful in any form of transformation optics where the material property tensor is a symmetric positive definite matrix. The performance and analysis of three transformation optics with inhomogeneous and anisotropic indices are explored. The ray trajectories and illuminances in these demonstration cases are successfully solved by the proposed reverse ray tracing method.

  3. Atom trap trace analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Z.-T.; Bailey, K.; Chen, C.-Y.; Du, X.; Li, Y.-M.; O'Connor, T. P.; Young, L.

    2000-01-01

    A new method of ultrasensitive trace-isotope analysis has been developed based upon the technique of laser manipulation of neutral atoms. It has been used to count individual 85 Kr and 81 Kr atoms present in a natural krypton sample with isotopic abundances in the range of 10 -11 and 10 -13 , respectively. The atom counts are free of contamination from other isotopes, elements,or molecules. The method is applicable to other trace-isotopes that can be efficiently captured with a magneto-optical trap, and has a broad range of potential applications

  4. National strategies in managing radioactive wastes in the Philippines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cabalfin, Edilberto A.

    2001-01-01

    Radioactive waste management in the Philippines is described. The paper traces the historical development of the program along with the development of nuclear energy in the country itself. Present strategies are described in response to the situation obtaining in the country. Lessons learned from the experience are also identified and some observations in resolving issues delaying problem are mentioned. (author)

  5. Tracers and tracing methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leclerc, J.P.

    2001-01-01

    The first international congress on 'Tracers and tracing methods' took place in Nancy in May 2001. The objective of this second congress was to present the current status and trends on tracing methods and their applications. It has given the opportunity to people from different fields to exchange scientific information and knowledge about tracer methodologies and applications. The target participants were the researchers, engineers and technologists of various industrial and research sectors: chemical engineering, environment, food engineering, bio-engineering, geology, hydrology, civil engineering, iron and steel production... Two sessions have been planned to cover both fundamental and industrial aspects: 1)fundamental development (tomography, tracer camera visualization and particles tracking; validation of computational fluid dynamics simulations by tracer experiments and numerical residence time distribution; new tracers and detectors or improvement and development of existing tracing methods; data treatments and modeling; reactive tracer experiments and interpretation) 2)industrial applications (geology, hydrogeology and oil field applications; civil engineering, mineral engineering and metallurgy applications; chemical engineering; environment; food engineering and bio-engineering). The program included 5 plenary lectures, 23 oral communications and around 50 posters. Only 9 presentations are interested for the INIS database

  6. Trace element analysis: a diagnostic tool

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qureshi, I.H.; Cheema, M.N.

    1976-09-01

    The human mody continuously assimilates a variety of elements from the environment, and the concentration of these elements in the blood is regulated by means of various homeostatic mechanisms. Some of the elements, though present in very small amounts, have highly specialized functions in initiating many biochemical reactions. These elements, known as essential trace elements, are closely related to human diseases since their deficiency or excess induces physiological changes. Many diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes, etc., are related to an imbalance in trace element. The measurement of trace elements in body fluids and tissues can, therefore, be effectively employed for diagnostic tests

  7. Climate-chemical interactions and effects of changing atmospheric trace gases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramanathan, V.; Callis, L.; Cess, R.; Hansen, J.; Isaksen, I.

    1987-01-01

    The paper considers trace gas-climate effects including the greenhouse effect of polyatomic trace gases, the nature of the radiative-chemical interactions, and radiative-dynamical interactions in the stratosphere, and the role of these effects in governing stratospheric climate change. Special consideration is given to recent developments in the investigations of the role of oceans in governing the transient climate responses, and a time-dependent estimate of the potential trace gas warming from the preindustrial era to the early 21st century. The importance of interacting modeling and observational efforts is emphasized. One of the problems remaining on the observational front is the lack of certainty in current estimates of the rate of growth of CO, O3, and NOx; the primary challenge is the design of a strategy that will minimize the sampling errors.

  8. Reading Time Allocation Strategies and Working Memory Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busler, Jessica N.; Lazarte, Alejandro A.

    2017-01-01

    Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) is a useful method for controlling the timing of text presentations and studying how readers' characteristics, such as working memory (WM) and reading strategies for time allocation, influence text recall. In the current study, a modified version of RSVP (Moving Window RSVP [MW-RSVP]) was used to induce…

  9. Determination of trace and ultra-trace elements in Dergaon meteorite by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balaram, V.; Gnaneswara Rao, T.; Anjaiah, K.V.; Phukon, N.; Majumdar, A.C.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper, a detailed methodology for high precision measurement of several trace and ultra-trace elements including REE and PGE have been presented using effective sample preparation techniques and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Discussion is focussed on aspects, such as total dissolution and recovery of all elements, minimization of oxide and doubly-charged and other polyatomic ion interferences, calibration by matrix matching standards, accuracy and precision

  10. Atom trap trace analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lu, Z.-T.; Bailey, K.; Chen, C.-Y.; Du, X.; Li, Y.-M.; O' Connor, T. P.; Young, L.

    2000-05-25

    A new method of ultrasensitive trace-isotope analysis has been developed based upon the technique of laser manipulation of neutral atoms. It has been used to count individual {sup 85}Kr and {sup 81}Kr atoms present in a natural krypton sample with isotopic abundances in the range of 10{sup {minus}11} and 10{sup {minus}13}, respectively. The atom counts are free of contamination from other isotopes, elements,or molecules. The method is applicable to other trace-isotopes that can be efficiently captured with a magneto-optical trap, and has a broad range of potential applications.

  11. The establishment and analysis of TRACE model for ultimate response guideline of Chinshan nuclear power plant - 15448

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, J.J.; Wang, J.R.; Shih, C.; Chen, S.W.; Liao, L.Y.; Lin, H.T.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this research is to use TRACE code to perform a simulation that executes the procedures of URG (Ultimate Response Guidelines) to deal with Fukushima-like accidents. TRACE is an advanced thermal hydraulic code that has been developed by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission for NPP safety analysis. In this work TRACE has been used to analyze the thermal hydraulic model for the URG of the Chinshan nuclear power plant that is composed of 2 BWR-type reactors. URG includes 2-stage depressurization, alternative water injection and removing decay heat through the ejection from containment. The 2-stage depressurization strategy includes controlled depressurization and emergency depressurization to replace traditional one-stage depressurization. Results show that by comparing with one-stage depressurization strategy, 2-stage depressurization strategy is able to reduce peak cladding temperature (PCT) effectively and needs much less minimum flow rate of alternative water injection in the accident

  12. Geometry-invariant GRIN lens: finite ray tracing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahrami, Mehdi; Goncharov, Alexander V

    2014-11-17

    The refractive index distribution of the geometry-invariant gradient refractive index lens (GIGL) model is derived as a function of Cartesian coordinates. The adjustable external geometry of the GIGL model aims to mimic the shape of the human and animal crystalline lens. The refractive index distribution is based on an adjustable power-law profile, which provides additional flexibility of the model. An analytical method for layer-by-layer finite ray tracing through the GIGL model is developed and used to calculate aberrations of the GIGL model. The result of the finite ray tracing aberrations of the GIGL model are compared to those obtained with paraxial ray tracing. The derived analytical expression for the refractive index distribution can be employed in the reconstruction processes of the eye using the conventional ray tracing methods. The layer-by-layer finite ray tracing approach would be an asset in ray tracing through a modified GIGL model, where the refractive index distribution cannot be described analytically. Using the layer-by-layer finite ray-tracing method, the potential of the GIGL model in representing continuous as well as shell-like layered structures is illustrated and the results for both cases are presented and analysed.

  13. Detecting Learning Strategies with Analytics: Links with Self-Reported Measures and Academic Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaševic, Dragan; Jovanovic, Jelena; Pardo, Abelardo; Dawson, Shane

    2017-01-01

    The use of analytic methods for extracting learning strategies from trace data has attracted considerable attention in the literature. However, there is a paucity of research examining any association between learning strategies extracted from trace data and responses to well-established self-report instruments and performance scores. This paper…

  14. On the trace anomaly of a Weyl fermion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bastianelli, Fiorenzo; Martelli, Riccardo [Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna,via Irnerio 46, I-40126 Bologna (Italy); INFN - Sezione di Bologna,via Irnerio 46, I-40126 Bologna (Italy)

    2016-11-29

    We calculate the trace anomaly of a Weyl fermion coupled to gravity by using Fujikawa’s method supplemented by a consistent regulator. The latter is constructed out of Pauli-Villars regulating fields. The motivation for presenting such a calculation stems from recent studies that suggest that the trace anomaly of chiral fermions in four dimensions might contain an imaginary part proportional to the Pontryagin density. We find that the trace anomaly of a Weyl fermion is given by half the trace anomaly of a Dirac fermion, so that no imaginary part proportional to the Pontryagin density is seen to arise.

  15. Trace elements in human milk

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Parr, R M [International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria). Div. of Life Sciences

    1983-06-01

    Trace elements are those elements having a concentration lower than 10 ppm in body fluids or tissues. A total of 24 elements, both trace and minor elements, present in human milk have been analysed in this study, employing neutron activation analysis and absorption spectroscopy. The analyses have been carried out collaboratively by several different laboratories and the Agency which has also served as a coordinating centre. Although the evaluation of the results, altogether 8500 separate values, is still in progress, enough evidence is already available, however, to show some very interesting differences between different study areas and, in some cases, between different socio-economic groups within a single country. The main value of these data will probably be to throw new light on the nutritional requirements of young babies for trace elements.

  16. Trace element analysis of nail polishes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Misra, G.; Mittal, V.K.; Sahota, H.S.

    1999-01-01

    Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) technique was used to measure the concentrations of various trace elements in nail polishes of popular Indian and foreign brands. The aim of the present experiment was to see whether trace elements could distinguish nail polishes of different Indian and foreign brands from forensic point of view. It was found that cesium can act as a marker to differentiate foreign and Indian brands. (author)

  17. TraceContract

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kavelund, Klaus; Barringer, Howard

    2012-01-01

    TraceContract is an API (Application Programming Interface) for trace analysis. A trace is a sequence of events, and can, for example, be generated by a running program, instrumented appropriately to generate events. An event can be any data object. An example of a trace is a log file containing events that a programmer has found important to record during a program execution. Trace - Contract takes as input such a trace together with a specification formulated using the API and reports on any violations of the specification, potentially calling code (reactions) to be executed when violations are detected. The software is developed as an internal DSL (Domain Specific Language) in the Scala programming language. Scala is a relatively new programming language that is specifically convenient for defining such internal DSLs due to a number of language characteristics. This includes Scala s elegant combination of object-oriented and functional programming, a succinct notation, and an advanced type system. The DSL offers a combination of data-parameterized state machines and temporal logic, which is novel. As an extension of Scala, it is a very expressive and convenient log file analysis framework.

  18. The politics of defining and alleviating poverty: State strategies and their impacts in rural Kerala

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Williams, G.; Thampi, B.V.; Narayana, D.; Nandigama, S.; Bhattacharyya, D.

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents a relational approach to the study of poverty (Mosse, 2010), and uses this to critically evaluate state strategies for identifying and alleviating poverty in Kerala, India. It traces these from national planning documents through to their point of implementation, drawing on

  19. Memory for Verbally Presented Routes: A Comparison of Strategies Used by Blind and Sighted People.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Easton, R. D.; Bentzen, B. L.

    1987-01-01

    Congenitally-blind (N=16) and sighted (N=16) young adults listened to descriptions of routes and then finger traced routes through a raised line matrix. Route tracing speed and accuracy revealed that spatial sentence verification interfered with route memory more than abstract/verbal sentence verification for all subjects. (Author/CB)

  20. Trace and ultratrace level elemental and speciation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arunachalam, J.

    2012-01-01

    Accurate determination of elements present at parts per million and billion levels in various matrices is a growing requirement in different fields. In environmental sciences various trace elements need to be analyzed so as establish the dispersal models of pollutants or the adequacy of effluent treatment prior to discharge into water bodies. The issues of bioaccumulation and magnification are important in aquatic systems. In nutrition and biochemistry one has to establish the bio-availability of essential and toxic elemental species as toxic elements prevent assimilation of essential elements. Fission and fusion technologies use a variety of structural materials requiring many trace elements to be present at levels strictly below the specified levels. Ultra-pure bulk semiconductor materials are required for fabrication devices. In metallurgy and materials sciences too, various trace elements are known to influence the properties. In the emerging fields like nanotechnology, it is necessary to understand the passage and accumulation of nano-particles inside the cells, through trace analysis. Many analytical techniques exist which can provide the concentration information in the bulk materials with good accuracy. They include ICP-AES, FAAS, and ICP-MS, which are solution based techniques. Direct solid state analytical techniques are Glow Discharge Mass Spectrometry (GDMS) and XRF. Accelerator based ion-beam analysis techniques can provide information on concentration and depth profiles of different elements in layered structures. Hyphenated techniques such as HPLC/lC-ICPMS, are helpful in identifying various chemical oxidation states in which a given element might be present in a matrix, which is termed as speciation analysis. This presentation will include the existing analytical competencies and the laboratory requirements for trace and ultra trace element elemental and speciation analyses and their applications. (author)

  1. TraceLink: A model of amnesia and consolidation.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meeter, M.; Murre, J.M.J.

    2005-01-01

    A connectionist model is presented, the TraceLink model, that implements an autonomous "off-line" consolidation process. The model consists of three subsystems: (1) a trace system (neocortex), (2) a link system (hippocampus and adjacent regions), and (3) a modulatory system (basal forebrain and

  2. A Rotor Tip Vortex Tracing Algorithm for Image Post-Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Overmeyer, Austin D.

    2015-01-01

    A neurite tracing algorithm, originally developed for medical image processing, was used to trace the location of the rotor tip vortex in density gradient flow visualization images. The tracing algorithm was applied to several representative test images to form case studies. The accuracy of the tracing algorithm was compared to two current methods including a manual point and click method and a cross-correlation template method. It is shown that the neurite tracing algorithm can reduce the post-processing time to trace the vortex by a factor of 10 to 15 without compromising the accuracy of the tip vortex location compared to other methods presented in literature.

  3. Trace elements in sera from patients with visceral leishmaniasis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mukhopadhyay, R.; Bhattacharya, A. [Department of Zoology, Calcutta University, Calcutta (India); Chakraborty, A.; Sudarshan, M.; Jal, P.K.; Chintalapudi, S.N. [Inter University Consortium for DAE Facilities, Calcutta Centre 3/LB-8, Bidhan Nagar, Calcutta (India); Dutta, R.K. [Schonland Research Centre for Nuclear Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa)

    2000-07-01

    Trace elements are known to have pivotal role in human health and disease. Present investigation employed PIXE analysis to probe into the elemental profile of patients suffering from visceral Leishmaniasis. Remarkable alternations were observed in concentration of elements like Cl, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn. The pattern of enhancement of elemental concentration corresponds to the progression of the disease. Additionally, our present data reflect probable correlation between alteration in trace elemental status and other pathological syndromes associated with Leishmaniasis. The possibility of considering trace elements as a diagnostic marker for a better understanding of the disease is discussed. (author)

  4. Trace elements in sera from patients with visceral leishmaniasis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mukhopadhyay, R.; Bhattacharya, A.; Chakraborty, A.; Sudarshan, M.; Jal, P.K.; Chintalapudi, S.N.; Dutta, R.K.

    2000-01-01

    Trace elements are known to have pivotal role in human health and disease. Present investigation employed PIXE analysis to probe into the elemental profile of patients suffering from visceral Leishmaniasis. Remarkable alternations were observed in concentration of elements like Cl, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn. The pattern of enhancement of elemental concentration corresponds to the progression of the disease. Additionally, our present data reflect probable correlation between alteration in trace elemental status and other pathological syndromes associated with Leishmaniasis. The possibility of considering trace elements as a diagnostic marker for a better understanding of the disease is discussed. (author)

  5. Tracing Translations of ICT Policies in Higher Education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cifuentes Alvarez, Gary Alberto; Duenas, Paola Ximena Valero

    2016-01-01

    , material actants and activities. The analytical strategy is deployed in the case of three Colombian higher education institutions working with ICT policies for teacher development. The cases show that agency is distributed among different entities constituting assemblages that enact policies in unexpected......Educational policy enactment is a matter of policy translation. A Latourian sociomaterial perspective is proposed to challenge traditional policy implementation frameworks. We offer analytical tools to trace processes of policy translation in practice settings as entanglements of human agents...... pathways. Equally, in all these cases routine activities or unobserved artifacts were key to trace such translations of policies. Our analysis and findings provide a critical review of hermeneutics of policies, one of the dimensions of Stephen Ball´s policy enactment theory. In doing so, a more nuanced...

  6. Hierarchical Traces for Reduced NSM Memory Requirements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahl, Torbjørn S.

    This paper presents work on using hierarchical long term memory to reduce the memory requirements of nearest sequence memory (NSM) learning, a previously published, instance-based reinforcement learning algorithm. A hierarchical memory representation reduces the memory requirements by allowing traces to share common sub-sequences. We present moderated mechanisms for estimating discounted future rewards and for dealing with hidden state using hierarchical memory. We also present an experimental analysis of how the sub-sequence length affects the memory compression achieved and show that the reduced memory requirements do not effect the speed of learning. Finally, we analyse and discuss the persistence of the sub-sequences independent of specific trace instances.

  7. Can liming change root anatomy, biomass allocation and trace element distribution among plant parts of Salix × smithiana in trace element-polluted soils?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vondráčková, Stanislava; Tlustoš, Pavel; Száková, Jiřina

    2017-08-01

    Willows (Salix spp.) are considered to be effective for the phytoremediation of trace elements from contaminated soils, but their efficiency is limited in heavily polluted soils because of poor growth. Liming can be a desirable measure to decrease the plant availability of elements, resulting in improved plant development. Notably, large root area and maximum soil penetration are basic parameters that improve the efficiency of phytoremediation. The impact of soil chemical properties on willow root anatomy and the distribution of trace elements below-ground have rarely been studied. The effect of liming on root parameters, biomass allocation and trace element distribution in non-harvestable (coarse roots, fine roots, stumps) and harvestable plant parts (twigs and leaves) of Salix × smithiana was assessed at the end of a 4-year pot experiment with two trace element-polluted soils that differed in terms of soil pH. Stump biomass predominated in weakly acidic soil. In neutral soil, the majority of biomass was located in fine roots and stumps; the difference from other plant parts was minor. Trace elements were the most concentrated in fine roots. Translocation to above-ground biomass increased as follows: Pb roots roots). Lime application decreased the concentrations of mobile Cd and Zn and related levels in plants, improved biomass production and root parameters and increased the removal of all trace elements in weakly acidic soil. None or minimum differences in the monitored parameters were recorded for dolomite treatments in both soils. The dose and source of liming had crucial effects on root anatomy. Growing willows in limed trace element-polluted soils is a suitable measure for combination of two remediation strategies, i.e. phytoextraction of Cd and Zn and assisted phytostabilization of As and Pb.

  8. Trace element supplementation in the biogas production from wheat stillage--optimization of metal dosing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Thomas; Nelles, Michael; Scholwin, Frank; Pröter, Jürgen

    2014-09-01

    A trace element dosing strategy for the anaerobic digestion of wheat stillage was developed in this study. Mesophilic CSTR reactors were operated with the sulfuric substrate wheat stillage in some cases under trace element deficiency. After supplementing trace elements during the start-up, one of the elements of Fe, Ni, Co, Mo, and W were depleted in one digester while still augmenting the other elements to determine minimum requirements for each element. The depletion of Fe and Ni resulted in a rapid accumulation of volatile fatty acids while Co and W seem to have a long-term effect. Based on the results it was possible to reduce the dosing of trace elements, which is positive with reference to economic and environmental aspects. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Fate of trace element haps when applying mercury control technologies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nyberg, Carolyn M.; Thompson, Jeffrey S.; Zhuang, Ye; Pavlish, John H. [University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center 15 North 23rd Street, Stop 9018, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202-9018 (United States); Brickett, Lynn; Pletcher, Sara [U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory 626 Cochrans Mill Road, PO Box 10940, MS 922-273C, Pittsburgh, PA 15236-0940 (United States)

    2009-11-15

    During the past several years, and particularly since the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) was promulgated in June of 2005, the electric utility industry, product vendors, and the research community have been working diligently to develop and test Hg control strategies for a variety of coal types and plant configurations. Some of these strategies include sorbent injection and chemical additives designed to increase mercury capture efficiency in particulate control devices. These strategies have the potential to impact the fate of other inorganic hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), which typically include As, Be, Cd, Cr, Co, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, and Sb. To evaluate this impact, flue gas samples using EPA Method 29, along with representative coal and ash samples, were collected during recent pilot-scale and field test projects that were evaluating Hg control technologies. These test programs included a range of fuel types with varying trace element concentrations, along with different combustion systems and particulate control devices. The results show that the majority of the trace element HAPs are associated with the particulate matter in the flue gas, except for Se. However, for five of the six projects, Se partitioning was shifted to the particulate phase and total emissions reduced when Hg control technologies were applied. (author)

  10. A sensitive method to extract DNA from biological traces present on ammunition for the purpose of genetic profiling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dieltjes, Patrick; Mieremet, René; Zuniga, Sofia; Kraaijenbrink, Thirsa; Pijpe, Jeroen; de Knijff, Peter

    2011-07-01

    Exploring technological limits is a common practice in forensic DNA research. Reliable genetic profiling based on only a few cells isolated from trace material retrieved from a crime scene is nowadays more and more the rule rather than the exception. On many crime scenes, cartridges, bullets, and casings (jointly abbreviated as CBCs) are regularly found, and even after firing, these potentially carry trace amounts of biological material. Since 2003, the Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research is routinely involved in the forensic investigation of CBCs in the Netherlands. Reliable DNA profiles were frequently obtained from CBCs and used to match suspects, victims, or other crime scene-related DNA traces. In this paper, we describe the sensitive method developed by us to extract DNA from CBCs. Using PCR-based genotyping of autosomal short tandem repeats, we were able to obtain reliable and reproducible DNA profiles in 163 out of 616 criminal cases (26.5%) and in 283 out of 4,085 individual CBC items (6.9%) during the period January 2003-December 2009. We discuss practical aspects of the method and the sometimes unexpected effects of using cell lysis buffer on the subsequent investigation of striation patterns on CBCs.

  11. From trace chemistry to single atom chemistry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adloff, J.P.

    1993-01-01

    Hot atom chemistry in the vast majority of experimental works deals with the trace amount of radioactive matters. Accordingly, the concept of trace chemistry is at the heart of hot atom chemistry. Some aspects of the chemistry at trace scale and at subtrace scale are presented together with the related problems of speciation and the complication which may arise due to the formation of radio colloids. The examples of 127 I(n,γ) 128 I and 132 Te (β - ) 132 I are shown, and the method based on radioactivity was used. The procedure of separating the elements in pitchblende is shown as the example of the chemistry of traces. 13 27 Al+ 2 4 He→ 0 1 n+ 15 30 P and 15 30 P→ 14 30 Si+e + +V are shown, and how to recognize the presence of radioactive colloids is explained. The formation of radiocolloids is by the sorption of a trace radioelement on pre-existing colloidal impurity or the self-condensation of monomeric species. The temporal parameters of the nature of reactions at trace concentration are listed. The examples of Class A and Class B reactions are shown. The kinetics of reactions at trace level, radon concentration, anthropogenic Pu and natural Pu in environment, the behavior of Pu atoms and so on are described. (K.I.)

  12. Modulation of capillary condensation by trace component

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shiqi Zhou

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Impact of trace component on capillary condensation (CC is investigated systematically using a classical density functional theory. It is discovered that (i presence of the trace component makes the CC to occur at much lower condensation pressure than when its absence; (ii Lennard-Jones potential parameters like size parameter and energy parameter of the trace component, and its concentration in the bulk adsorption system, show their effects the most remarkably within a particular range beyond which the effects eventually become insignificant. The present discoveries have implications in low pressure storage of gases, separation and enrichment of low concentration component, and easy control of CC transition, etc.

  13. Inorganic and organic trace mineral supplementation in weanling pig diets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MARIA C. THOMAZ

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary inorganic and organic trace minerals in two levels of supplementation regarding performance, diarrhea occurrence, hematological parameters, fecal mineral excretion and mineral retention in metacarpals and liver of weanling pigs. Seventy piglets weaned at 21 days of age with an average initial body weight of 6.70 ± 0.38 kg were allotted in five treatments: control diet (no added trace mineral premix; 50% ITMP (control diet with inorganic trace mineral premix supplying only 50% of trace mineral requirements; 50% OTMP (control diet with organic trace mineral premix supplying only 50% of trace mineral requirements; 100% ITMP (control diet with inorganic trace mineral premix supplying 100% of trace mineral requirements; and 100% OTMP (control diet with organic trace mineral premix supplying 100% of trace mineral requirements. Feed intake and daily weight gain were not affected by treatments, however, piglets supplemented by trace minerals presented better gain:feed ratio. No differences were observed at calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, sodium and sulfur excreted in feces per kilogram of feed intake. Treatments did not affect calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur and iron content in metacarpals. Trace mineral supplementation, regardless of level and source, improved the performance of piglets.

  14. Anisotropic ray trace

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lam, Wai Sze Tiffany

    anisotropic ray tracing. x. Chapter 4 presents the data reduction of the P matrix of a crystal waveplate. The diattenuation is embedded in the singular values of P. The retardance is divided into two parts: (A) The physical retardance induced by OPLs and surface interactions, and (B) the geometrical transformation induced by geometry of a ray path, which is calculated by the geometrical transform Q matrix. The Q matrix of an anisotropic intercept is derived from the generalization of s- and p-bases at the anisotropic intercept; the p basis is not confined to the plane of incidence due to the anisotropic refraction or reflection. Chapter 5 shows how the multiple P matrices associated with the eigenmodes resulting from propagation through multiple anisotropic surfaces can be combined into one P matrix when the multiple modes interfere in their overlapping regions. The resultant P matrix contains diattenuation induced at each surface interaction as well as the retardance due to ray propagation and total internal reflections. The polarization aberrations of crystal waveplates and crystal polarizers are studied in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. A wavefront simulated by a grid of rays is traced through the anisotropic system and the resultant grid of rays is analyzed. The analysis is complicated by the ray doubling effects and the partially overlapping eigen-wavefronts propagating in various directions. The wavefront and polarization aberrations of each eigenmode can be evaluated from the electric field distributions. The overall polarization at the plane of interest or the image quality at the image plane are affected by each of these eigen-wavefronts. Isotropic materials become anisotropic due to stress, strain, or applied electric or magnetic fields. In Chapter 8, the P matrix for anisotropic materials is extended to ray tracing in stress birefringent materials which are treated as spatially varying anisotropic materials. Such simulations can predict the spatial retardance variation

  15. A Virtual Reality Visualization Tool for Neuron Tracing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Usher, Will; Klacansky, Pavol; Federer, Frederick; Bremer, Peer-Timo; Knoll, Aaron; Yarch, Jeff; Angelucci, Alessandra; Pascucci, Valerio

    2018-01-01

    Tracing neurons in large-scale microscopy data is crucial to establishing a wiring diagram of the brain, which is needed to understand how neural circuits in the brain process information and generate behavior. Automatic techniques often fail for large and complex datasets, and connectomics researchers may spend weeks or months manually tracing neurons using 2D image stacks. We present a design study of a new virtual reality (VR) system, developed in collaboration with trained neuroanatomists, to trace neurons in microscope scans of the visual cortex of primates. We hypothesize that using consumer-grade VR technology to interact with neurons directly in 3D will help neuroscientists better resolve complex cases and enable them to trace neurons faster and with less physical and mental strain. We discuss both the design process and technical challenges in developing an interactive system to navigate and manipulate terabyte-sized image volumes in VR. Using a number of different datasets, we demonstrate that, compared to widely used commercial software, consumer-grade VR presents a promising alternative for scientists.

  16. Image Tracing: An Analysis of Its Effectiveness in Children's Pictorial Discrimination Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levin, Joel R.; And Others

    1977-01-01

    A total of 45 fifth grade students were the subjects of an experiment offering support for a component of learning strategy (memory imagery). Various theoretical explanations of the image-tracing phenomenon are considered, including depth of processing, dual coding and frequency. (MS)

  17. Social Utility versus Social Desirability of Students' Attributional Self-Presentation Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matteucci, Maria Cristina

    2014-01-01

    Research on impression management has shown that students can manage their social images by providing attributional self-presentation strategies (ASPSs). Based on the distinction between social desirability judgments and social utility judgments, two studies were conducted to examine the students' understanding of the impact of ASPSs both on…

  18. Consumer perception of Brazilian traced beef

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Júlio Otávio Jardim Barcellos

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to determine consumers understanding of beef traceability, identifying how consumers value this meat and traceability elements to be presented on retail shelves. The method used in this study was a survey through the internet applying the Sphinx software. The sample consisted of 417 consumers, mostly living in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Consumers are aware of certified beef, consider it important, but this is not a demand. As to traced beef, most consumers (62.4% are in favor of mandatory traceability of beef cattle in Brazil, but 86.6% disagree with the destination of traced beef only to the foreign market. The majority of people are willing to pay more for traced beef and consider traceability a market opportunity, used as a differentiating tool.

  19. Trace metal speciation: Finally, correctly addressing trace metal issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Donard, O.F.X.

    2001-01-01

    The history of the development of trace metal speciation was discussed and the reasons behind the relatively slow widespread acceptance of its importance were presented. Partially, this was due to the lack of availability of commercial instrumentation and partly to the drive towards improving sensitivity in analytical chemistry which had focused attention on total concentration determinations. The sophistication and control of analytical instrumentation is now such that the spotlight must be turned onto the chemical species of an element present in a sample since this is what governs its behaviour in the biosphere. Indeed, several companies are currently considering the introduction of instrumentation specifically designed for metal species determination

  20. A Computer Library for Ray Tracing in Analytical Media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miqueles, Eduardo; Coimbra, Tiago A; Figueiredo, J J S de

    2013-01-01

    Ray tracing technique is an important tool not only for forward but also for inverse problems in Geophysics, which most of the seismic processing steps depends on. However, implementing ray tracing codes can be very time consuming. This article presents a computer library to trace rays in 2.5D media composed by stack of layers. The velocity profile inside each layer is such that the eikonal equation can be analitically solved. Therefore, the ray tracing within such profile is made fast and accurately. The great advantage of an analytical ray tracing library is the numerical precision of the quantities computed and the fast execution of the implemented codes. Although ray tracing programs already exist for a long time, for example the seis package by Cervený, with a numerical approach to compute the ray. Regardless of the fact that numerical methods can solve more general problems, the analytical ones could be part of a more sofisticated simulation process, where the ray tracing time is completely relevant. We demonstrate the feasibility of our codes using numerical examples.

  1. Trace elements in glucometabolic disorders: an update

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wiernsperger Nicolas

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Many trace elements, among which metals, are indispensable for proper functioning of a myriad of biochemical reactions, more particularly as enzyme cofactors. This is particularly true for the vast set of processes involved in regulation of glucose homeostasis, being it in glucose metabolism itself or in hormonal control, especially insulin. The role and importance of trace elements such as chromium, zinc, selenium, lithium and vanadium are much less evident and subjected to chronic debate. This review updates our actual knowledge concerning these five trace elements. A careful survey of the literature shows that while theoretical postulates from some key roles of these elements had led to real hopes for therapy of insulin resistance and diabetes, the limited experience based on available data indicates that beneficial effects and use of most of them are subjected to caution, given the narrow window between safe and unsafe doses. Clear therapeutic benefit in these pathologies is presently doubtful but some data indicate that these metals may have a clinical interest in patients presenting deficiencies in individual metal levels. The same holds true for an association of some trace elements such as chromium or zinc with oral antidiabetics. However, this area is essentially unexplored in adequate clinical trials, which are worth being performed.

  2. Trace Metal Requirements and Interactions in Symbiodinium kawagutii

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene B. Rodriguez

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Photosynthetic organisms need trace metals for various biological processes and different groups of microalgae have distinctive obligate necessities due to their respective biochemical requirements and ecological niches. We have previously shown that the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium kawagutii requires high concentrations of bioavailable Fe to achieve optimum growth. Here, we further explored the trace metal requirements of S. kawagutii with intensive focus on the effect of individual metal and its interaction with other divalent metals. We found that low Zn availability significantly decreases growth rates and results in elevated intracellular Mn, Co, Ni, and Fe quotas in the dinoflagellate. The results highlight the complex interaction among trace metals in S. kawagutii and suggest either metal replacement strategy to counter low Zn availability or enhanced uptake of other metals by non-specific divalent metal transporters. In this work, we also examined the Fe requirement of S. kawagutii using continuous cultures. We validated that 500 pM of Fe′ was sufficient to support maximum cell density during steady state growth period either at 26 or 28°C. This study shows that growth of S. kawagutii was limited by metal availability in the following order, Fe > Zn > Mn > Cu > Ni > Co. The fundamental information obtained for the free-living Symbiodinium shall provide insights into how trace metal availability, either from ambient seawater or hosts, affects growth and proliferation of symbiotic dinoflagellates and the interaction between symbiont and their hosts.

  3. Outlines of a multiple trace theory of temporal preparation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Los, Sander A; Kruijne, Wouter; Meeter, Martijn

    2014-01-01

    We outline a new multiple trace theory of temporal preparation (MTP), which accounts for behavior in reaction time (RT) tasks in which the participant is presented with a warning stimulus (S1) followed by a target stimulus (S2) that requires a speeded response. The theory assumes that during the foreperiod (FP; the S1-S2 interval) inhibition is applied to prevent premature response, while a wave of activation occurs upon the presentation of S2. On each trial, these actions are stored in a separate memory trace, which, jointly with earlier formed memory traces, starts contributing to preparation on subsequent trials. We show that MTP accounts for classic effects in temporal preparation, including mean RT-FP functions observed under a variety of FP distributions and asymmetric sequential effects. We discuss the advantages of MTP over other accounts of these effects (trace-conditioning and hazard-based explanations) and suggest a critical experiment to empirically distinguish among them.

  4. Outlines of a Multiple Trace Theory of Temporal Preparation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sander A. Los

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available We outline a new multiple trace theory of temporal preparation (MTP, which accounts for behavior in reaction time tasks in which the participant is presented with a warning stimulus (S1 followed by a target stimulus (S2 that requires a speeded response. The theory assumes that during the foreperiod (the S1 – S2 interval inhibition is applied to prevent premature response, while a wave of activation occurs upon the presentation of S2. On each trial, these actions are stored in a separate memory trace, which, jointly with earlier formed memory traces, starts contributing to preparation on subsequent trials. We show that MTP accounts for classic effects in temporal preparation, including mean reaction time – foreperiod functions observed under a variety of foreperiod distributions and asymmetric sequential effects. We discuss the advantages of MTP over other accounts of these effects (trace-conditioning and hazard-based explanations and suggest a critical experiment to empirically distinguish among them.

  5. Sampling solution traces for the problem of sorting permutations by signed reversals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Traditional algorithms to solve the problem of sorting by signed reversals output just one optimal solution while the space of all optimal solutions can be huge. A so-called trace represents a group of solutions which share the same set of reversals that must be applied to sort the original permutation following a partial ordering. By using traces, we therefore can represent the set of optimal solutions in a more compact way. Algorithms for enumerating the complete set of traces of solutions were developed. However, due to their exponential complexity, their practical use is limited to small permutations. A partial enumeration of traces is a sampling of the complete set of traces and can be an alternative for the study of distinct evolutionary scenarios of big permutations. Ideally, the sampling should be done uniformly from the space of all optimal solutions. This is however conjectured to be ♯P-complete. Results We propose and evaluate three algorithms for producing a sampling of the complete set of traces that instead can be shown in practice to preserve some of the characteristics of the space of all solutions. The first algorithm (RA) performs the construction of traces through a random selection of reversals on the list of optimal 1-sequences. The second algorithm (DFALT) consists in a slight modification of an algorithm that performs the complete enumeration of traces. Finally, the third algorithm (SWA) is based on a sliding window strategy to improve the enumeration of traces. All proposed algorithms were able to enumerate traces for permutations with up to 200 elements. Conclusions We analysed the distribution of the enumerated traces with respect to their height and average reversal length. Various works indicate that the reversal length can be an important aspect in genome rearrangements. The algorithms RA and SWA show a tendency to lose traces with high average reversal length. Such traces are however rare, and qualitatively our results

  6. 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

  7. Muscarinic receptors in amygdala control trace fear conditioning.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amber N Baysinger

    Full Text Available Intelligent behavior requires transient memory, which entails the ability to retain information over short time periods. A newly-emerging hypothesis posits that endogenous persistent firing (EPF is the neurophysiological foundation for aspects or types of transient memory. EPF is enabled by the activation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs and is triggered by suprathreshold stimulation. EPF occurs in several brain regions, including the lateral amygdala (LA. The present study examined the role of amygdalar mAChRs in trace fear conditioning, a paradigm that requires transient memory. If mAChR-dependent EPF selectively supports transient memory, then blocking amygdalar mAChRs should impair trace conditioning, while sparing delay and context conditioning, which presumably do not rely upon transient memory. To test the EPF hypothesis, LA was bilaterally infused, prior to trace or delay conditioning, with either a mAChR antagonist (scopolamine or saline. Computerized video analysis quantified the amount of freezing elicited by the cue and by the training context. Scopolamine infusion profoundly reduced freezing in the trace conditioning group but had no significant effect on delay or context conditioning. This pattern of results was uniquely anticipated by the EPF hypothesis. The present findings are discussed in terms of a systems-level theory of how EPF in LA and several other brain regions might help support trace fear conditioning.

  8. Muscarinic receptors in amygdala control trace fear conditioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baysinger, Amber N; Kent, Brianne A; Brown, Thomas H

    2012-01-01

    Intelligent behavior requires transient memory, which entails the ability to retain information over short time periods. A newly-emerging hypothesis posits that endogenous persistent firing (EPF) is the neurophysiological foundation for aspects or types of transient memory. EPF is enabled by the activation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) and is triggered by suprathreshold stimulation. EPF occurs in several brain regions, including the lateral amygdala (LA). The present study examined the role of amygdalar mAChRs in trace fear conditioning, a paradigm that requires transient memory. If mAChR-dependent EPF selectively supports transient memory, then blocking amygdalar mAChRs should impair trace conditioning, while sparing delay and context conditioning, which presumably do not rely upon transient memory. To test the EPF hypothesis, LA was bilaterally infused, prior to trace or delay conditioning, with either a mAChR antagonist (scopolamine) or saline. Computerized video analysis quantified the amount of freezing elicited by the cue and by the training context. Scopolamine infusion profoundly reduced freezing in the trace conditioning group but had no significant effect on delay or context conditioning. This pattern of results was uniquely anticipated by the EPF hypothesis. The present findings are discussed in terms of a systems-level theory of how EPF in LA and several other brain regions might help support trace fear conditioning.

  9. Removal of trace element by isolates of Aspergillus brasiliensis ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Coffee beans processing generates a large volume of wastewater composed of trace elements which can be detrimental to human health. The present study aimed at evaluating the capacity of strains of Aspergillus brasiliensis and Penicillium citrinum in tolerating and removing trace elements namely: Cu, Mn and Zn from ...

  10. Role of contact tracing in containing the 2014 Ebola outbreak: a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Results: Contact tracing is an important strategy in epidemiology and refers to the identification and diagnosis of those individ- uals who have come in contact with ... and allied sectors towards timely implementation of ade- quate and appropriate ..... fled to the nearby forest, raising a concern of spread of the infection to the ...

  11. Aerodynamic sampling for landmine trace detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Settles, Gary S.; Kester, Douglas A.

    2001-10-01

    Electronic noses and similar sensors show promise for detecting buried landmines through the explosive trace signals they emit. A key step in this detection is the sampler or sniffer, which acquires the airborne trace signal and presents it to the detector. Practicality demands no physical contact with the ground. Further, both airborne particulates and molecular traces must be sampled. Given a complicated minefield terrain and microclimate, this becomes a daunting chore. Our prior research on canine olfactory aerodynamics revealed several ways that evolution has dealt with such problems: 1) proximity of the sniffer to the scent source is important, 2) avoid exhaling back into the scent source, 3) use an aerodynamic collar on the sniffer inlet, 4) use auxiliary airjets to stir up surface particles, and 5) manage the 'impedance mismatch' between sniffer and sensor airflows carefully. Unfortunately, even basic data on aerodynamic sniffer performance as a function of inlet-tube and scent-source diameters, standoff distance, etc., have not been previously obtained. A laboratory-prototype sniffer was thus developed to provide guidance for landmine trace detectors. Initial experiments with this device are the subject of this paper. For example, a spike in the trace signal is observed upon starting the sniffer airflow, apparently due to rapid depletion of the available signal-laden air. Further, shielding the sniffer from disruptive ambient airflows arises as a key issue in sampling efficiency.

  12. Metrology of trace radionuclides in environment. Standardization and traceability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Calmet, D.

    1999-01-01

    Widespread concern over radioactive substances in the environment regularly requires environmental and public health assessments. The credibility of an assessment will depend on the quality and reliability on measurement results that often are of paramount significance in the environmental domain. Those man made radionuclides present in the various environmental components of the French territory are however found at trace, even ultra-trace levels. This article gives an overview of standardization work and required reference materials and rules for measuring radionuclides in environmental matrices as well as the international and national systems to manage standardization and traceability. Some achievements as well as the many difficulties that the metrologist must overcome when using nuclear techniques to measure trace quantities of radionuclides are presented. (author)

  13. A dual-trace model for visual sensory memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cappiello, Marcus; Zhang, Weiwei

    2016-11-01

    Visual sensory memory refers to a transient memory lingering briefly after the stimulus offset. Although previous literature suggests that visual sensory memory is supported by a fine-grained trace for continuous representation and a coarse-grained trace of categorical information, simultaneous separation and assessment of these traces can be difficult without a quantitative model. The present study used a continuous estimation procedure to test a novel mathematical model of the dual-trace hypothesis of visual sensory memory according to which visual sensory memory could be modeled as a mixture of 2 von Mises (2VM) distributions differing in standard deviation. When visual sensory memory and working memory (WM) for colors were distinguished using different experimental manipulations in the first 3 experiments, the 2VM model outperformed Zhang and Luck (2008) standard mixture model (SM) representing a mixture of a single memory trace and random guesses, even though SM outperformed 2VM for WM. Experiment 4 generalized 2VM's advantages of fitting visual sensory memory data over SM from color to orientation. Furthermore, a single trace model and 4 other alternative models were ruled out, suggesting the necessity and sufficiency of dual traces for visual sensory memory. Together these results support the dual-trace model of visual sensory memory and provide a preliminary inquiry into the nature of information loss from visual sensory memory to WM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  14. Trace DNA Sampling Success from Evidence Items Commonly Encountered in Forensic Casework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dziak, Renata; Peneder, Amy; Buetter, Alicia; Hageman, Cecilia

    2018-05-01

    Trace DNA analysis is a significant part of a forensic laboratory's workload. Knowing optimal sampling strategies and item success rates for particular item types can assist in evidence selection and examination processes and shorten turnaround times. In this study, forensic short tandem repeat (STR) casework results were reviewed to determine how often STR profiles suitable for comparison were obtained from "handler" and "wearer" areas of 764 items commonly submitted for examination. One hundred and fifty-five (155) items obtained from volunteers were also sampled. Items were analyzed for best sampling location and strategy. For casework items, headwear and gloves provided the highest success rates. Experimentally, eyeglasses and earphones, T-shirts, fabric gloves and watches provided the highest success rates. Eyeglasses and latex gloves provided optimal results if the entire surfaces were swabbed. In general, at least 10%, and up to 88% of all trace DNA analyses resulted in suitable STR profiles for comparison. © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

  15. TraceContract: A Scala DSL for Trace Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barringer, Howard; Havelund, Klaus

    2011-01-01

    In this paper we describe TRACECONTRACT, an API for trace analysis, implemented in the SCALA programming language. We argue that for certain forms of trace analysis the best weapon is a high level programming language augmented with constructs for temporal reasoning. A trace is a sequence of events, which may for example be generated by a running program, instrumented appropriately to generate events. The API supports writing properties in a notation that combines an advanced form of data parameterized state machines with temporal logic. The implementation utilizes SCALA's support for defining internal Domain Specific Languages (DSLs). Furthermore SCALA's combination of object oriented and functional programming features, including partial functions and pattern matching, makes it an ideal host language for such an API.

  16. Light Source Estimation with Analytical Path-tracing

    OpenAIRE

    Kasper, Mike; Keivan, Nima; Sibley, Gabe; Heckman, Christoffer

    2017-01-01

    We present a novel algorithm for light source estimation in scenes reconstructed with a RGB-D camera based on an analytically-derived formulation of path-tracing. Our algorithm traces the reconstructed scene with a custom path-tracer and computes the analytical derivatives of the light transport equation from principles in optics. These derivatives are then used to perform gradient descent, minimizing the photometric error between one or more captured reference images and renders of our curre...

  17. The use of transgenic plants in the bioremediation of soils contaminated with trace elements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kraemer, U. [Max Planck Inst. of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam (Germany); Chardonnens, A.N. [Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld Univ. (Germany)

    2001-07-01

    The use of plants to clean-up soils contaminated with trace elements could provide a cheap and sustainable technology for bioremediation. Field trials suggested that the rate of contaminant removal using conventional plants and growth conditions is insufficient. The introduction of novel traits into high biomass plants in a transgenic approach is a promising strategy for the development of effective phytoremediation technologies. This has been exemplified by generating plants able to convert organic and ionic forms of mercury into the less toxic, volatile, elemental mercury, a trait that occurs naturally only in some bacteria and not at all in plants. The engineering of a phytoremediator plant requires the optimization of a number of processes, including trace element mobilization in the soil, uptake into the root, detoxification and allocation within the plant. A number of transgenic plants have been generated in an attempt to modify the tolerance, uptake or homeostasis of trace elements. The phenotypes of these plants provide important insights for the improvement of engineering strategies. A better understanding, both of micronutrient acquisition and homeostasis, and of the genetic, biochemical and physiological basis of metal hyperaccumulation in plants, will be of key importance for the success of phytoremediation. (orig.)

  18. Trace elements in oral health and disease: An updated review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noopur Kulkarni

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Enzymes of trace elements are an important part of certain biological and chemical reactions. They work in harmony with proteins and often with certain other co enzymes. They attract substrate molecules and enable their conversion to a specific end product. Some trace elements are involved in redox reactions. Modern day diet, comprising of refined foods is a cause of concern, as it may not have a sufficient amount of these trace elements. Dietary supplements may be of required to combat this shortage. The present paper has thoroughly discussed trace elements, as this area of research has not received the deserved attention. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of these trace elements is essential and significant for disease control and for maintaining optimal health.

  19. Biomonitor-Reflection of Large-Distance Air Mass Transported Trace Elements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Henriques Vieira, B.J.

    2017-01-01

    The present thesis’ topic is the biomonitoring of atmospheric trace elements with attention focused on the long-range transported trace elements. The aim was to provide improved understanding of aerosol characteristics under the atmospheric transport dynamics of Central North Atlantic at different

  20. Theoretical estimation of proton induced X-ray emission yield of the trace elements present in the lung and breast cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manjunatha, H.C.; Sowmya, N.

    2013-01-01

    X-rays may be produced following the excitation of target atoms induced by an energetic incident ion beam of protons. Proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) analysis has been used for many years for the determination of elemental composition of materials using X-rays. Recent interest in the proton induced X-ray emission cross section has arisen due to their importance in the rapidly expanding field of PIXE analysis. One of the steps in the analysis is to fit the measured X-ray spectrum with theoretical spectrum. The theoretical cross section and yields are essential for the evaluation of spectrum. We have theoretically evaluated the PIXE cross sections for trace elements in the lung and breast cancer tissues such as Cl, K, Ca,Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, P, S, Sr, Hg and Pb. The estimated cross section is used in the evaluation of Proton induced X-ray emission spectrum for the given trace elements.We have also evaluated the Proton induced X-ray emission yields in the thin and thick target of the given trace elements. The evaluated Proton induced X-ray emission cross-section, spectrum and yields are graphically represented. Some of these values are also tabulated. Proton induced X-ray emission cross sections and a yield for the given trace elements varies with the energy. PIXE yield depends on a real density and does not on thickness of the target. (author)

  1. Optimum off-line trace synchronization of computer clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jabbarifar, Masoume; Dagenais, Michel; Roy, Robert; Sendi, Alireza Shameli

    2012-01-01

    A tracing and monitoring framework produces detailed execution trace files for a system. Each trace file contains events with associated timestamps based on the local clock of their respective system, which are not perfectly synchronized. To monitor all behavior in multi-core distributed systems, a global time reference is required, thus the need for traces synchronization techniques. The synchronization is time consuming when there is a cluster of many computers. In this paper we propose an optimized technique to reduce the total synchronization time. Compared with related techniques that have been used on kernel level traces, this method improves the performance while maintaining a high accuracy. It uses the packet rate and the hop count as two major criteria to focus the computation on more accurate network links during synchronization. These criteria, tested in real-word experiments, were identified as most important features of a network. Furthermore, we present numerical and analytical evaluation results, and compare these with previous methods demonstrating the accuracy and the performance of the method.

  2. Richard M. Nixon's Rhetorical Strategies in His Public Statements on Watergate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benoit, William L.

    1982-01-01

    Identifies nine rhetorical strategies in Nixon's public utterances on Watergate and traces their development through four phases. Examines polls which reveal that these strategies failed to stem the tide of negative opinion. (PD)

  3. Thermal reactor strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1981-01-01

    This statement sets down briefly the CEGB's views on the requirement for nuclear power and outlines current progress in the implementation of the CEGB's thermal reactor strategy. The programme is traced historically, together with statements of Government policy. The place of Magnox, AGR, SGHWR, PWR and fast breeder reactors is discussed. Advantages and problems associated with the various types are outlined. (U.K.)

  4. Spectrographic determination of traces of halogens; Dosage de traces d'halogenes par la methode spectrographique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Melamed, J [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1961-07-01

    Hollow cathode source is employed for determining traces of halogens (fluorine - chlorine) in the uranium oxide U{sub 3}O{sub 8} qualitatively, detection of at least 40 ppm of fluorine, as alkali fluoride and 125 ppm of chlorine, is possible. (author) [French] Un tube a decharge a cathode creuse a ete utilise pour la determination spectrographique des halogenes (fluor - chlore) presentes a l'etat de traces dans un oxyde d'uranium U{sub 3}O{sub 8}. On a pu deceler qualitativement des teneurs de 40 ppm de fluor sous forme de fluorures alcalins. En ce qui concerne le chlore, la plus faible teneur decelee a ete de 125 ppm. (auteur)

  5. Trace elemental analysis of human breast cancerous blood by advanced PC-WDXRF technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Ranjit; Kainth, Harpreet Singh; Prasher, Puneet; Singh, Tejbir

    2018-03-01

    The objective of this work is to quantify the trace elements of healthy and non-healthy blood samples by using advanced polychromatic source based wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (PC-WDXRF) technique. The imbalances in trace elements present in the human blood directly or indirectly lead to the carcinogenic process. The trace elements 11Na, 12Mg, 15P, 16S, 17Cl, 19K, 20Ca, 26Fe, 29Cu and 30Zn are identified and their concentrations are estimated. The experimental results clearly discuss the variation and role of various trace elements present in the non-healthy blood samples relative to the healthy blood samples. These results establish future guidelines to probe the possible roles of essential trace elements in the breast carcinogenic processes. The instrumental sensitivity and detection limits for measuring the elements in the atomic range 11 ≤ Z ≤ 30 have also been discussed in the present work.

  6. Approximate P-wave ray tracing and dynamic ray tracing in weakly orthorhombic media of varying symmetry orientation

    KAUST Repository

    Masmoudi, Nabil; Pšenčí k, Ivan

    2014-01-01

    We present an approximate, but efficient and sufficiently accurate P-wave ray tracing and dynamic ray tracing procedure for 3D inhomogeneous, weakly orthorhombic media with varying orientation of symmetry planes. In contrast to commonly used approaches, the orthorhombic symmetry is preserved at any point of the model. The model is described by six weak-anisotropy parameters and three Euler angles, which may vary arbitrarily, but smoothly, throughout the model. We use the procedure for the calculation of rays and corresponding two-point traveltimes in a VSP experiment in a part of the BP benchmark model generalized to orthorhombic symmetry.

  7. Traces of Drosophila Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Ronald L.

    2012-01-01

    Summary Studies using functional cellullar imaging of living flies have identified six memory traces that form in the olfactory nervous system after conditioning with odors. These traces occur in distinct nodes of the olfactory nervous system, form and disappear across different windows of time, and are detected in the imaged neurons as increased calcium influx or synaptic release in response to the conditioned odor. Three traces form at, or near acquisition and co-exist with short-term behavioral memory. One trace forms with a delay after learning and co-exists with intermediate-term behavioral memory. Two traces form many hours after acquisition and co-exist with long-term behavioral memory. The transient memory traces may support behavior across the time-windows of their existence. The experimental approaches for dissecting memory formation in the fly, ranging from the molecular to the systems, make it an ideal system for dissecting the logic by which the nervous system organizes and stores different temporal forms of memory. PMID:21482352

  8. Trace elements in coloured opals using neutron activation analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McOrist, G D; Smallwood, A [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia)

    1997-12-31

    Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a technique particularly suited to analysing opals since it is non-destructive and the silica matrix of opals is not prone to significant activation. It was used to determine the concentration of trace elements in 50 samples of orange, yellow, green, blue and pink opals as well as 18 samples of colourless opals taken from a number of recognised fields in Australia, Peru, Mexico and USA. The results were then evaluated to determine if a relationship existed between trace element content and opal colour. The mean concentration of most of the elements found in orange, yellow and colourless opals were similar with few exceptions. This indicated that, for these samples, colour is not related to the trace elements present. However, the trace element profile of the green, pink and blue opals was found to be significantly different with each colour having a much higher concentration of certain trace elements when compared with all other opals analysed. 7 refs.

  9. Trace elements in coloured opals using neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McOrist, G.D.; Smallwood, A.

    1996-01-01

    Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a technique particularly suited to analysing opals since it is non-destructive and the silica matrix of opals is not prone to significant activation. It was used to determine the concentration of trace elements in 50 samples of orange, yellow, green, blue and pink opals as well as 18 samples of colourless opals taken from a number of recognised fields in Australia, Peru, Mexico and USA. The results were then evaluated to determine if a relationship existed between trace element content and opal colour. The mean concentration of most of the elements found in orange, yellow and colourless opals were similar with few exceptions. This indicated that, for these samples, colour is not related to the trace elements present. However, the trace element profile of the green, pink and blue opals was found to be significantly different with each colour having a much higher concentration of certain trace elements when compared with all other opals analysed. 7 refs

  10. Trace elements in coloured opals using neutron activation analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McOrist, G.D.; Smallwood, A. [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia)

    1996-12-31

    Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a technique particularly suited to analysing opals since it is non-destructive and the silica matrix of opals is not prone to significant activation. It was used to determine the concentration of trace elements in 50 samples of orange, yellow, green, blue and pink opals as well as 18 samples of colourless opals taken from a number of recognised fields in Australia, Peru, Mexico and USA. The results were then evaluated to determine if a relationship existed between trace element content and opal colour. The mean concentration of most of the elements found in orange, yellow and colourless opals were similar with few exceptions. This indicated that, for these samples, colour is not related to the trace elements present. However, the trace element profile of the green, pink and blue opals was found to be significantly different with each colour having a much higher concentration of certain trace elements when compared with all other opals analysed. 7 refs.

  11. Neural population-level memory traces in the mouse hippocampus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Guifen; Wang, L Phillip; Tsien, Joe Z

    2009-12-16

    One of the fundamental goals in neurosciences is to elucidate the formation and retrieval of brain's associative memory traces in real-time. Here, we describe real-time neural ensemble transient dynamics in the mouse hippocampal CA1 region and demonstrate their relationships with behavioral performances during both learning and recall. We employed the classic trace fear conditioning paradigm involving a neutral tone followed by a mild foot-shock 20 seconds later. Our large-scale recording and decoding methods revealed that conditioned tone responses and tone-shock association patterns were not present in CA1 during the first pairing, but emerged quickly after multiple pairings. These encoding patterns showed increased immediate-replay, correlating tightly with increased immediate-freezing during learning. Moreover, during contextual recall, these patterns reappeared in tandem six-to-fourteen times per minute, again correlating tightly with behavioral recall. Upon traced tone recall, while various fear memories were retrieved, the shock traces exhibited a unique recall-peak around the 20-second trace interval, further signifying the memory of time for the expected shock. Therefore, our study has revealed various real-time associative memory traces during learning and recall in CA1, and demonstrates that real-time memory traces can be decoded on a moment-to-moment basis over any single trial.

  12. Neural population-level memory traces in the mouse hippocampus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guifen Chen

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available One of the fundamental goals in neurosciences is to elucidate the formation and retrieval of brain's associative memory traces in real-time. Here, we describe real-time neural ensemble transient dynamics in the mouse hippocampal CA1 region and demonstrate their relationships with behavioral performances during both learning and recall. We employed the classic trace fear conditioning paradigm involving a neutral tone followed by a mild foot-shock 20 seconds later. Our large-scale recording and decoding methods revealed that conditioned tone responses and tone-shock association patterns were not present in CA1 during the first pairing, but emerged quickly after multiple pairings. These encoding patterns showed increased immediate-replay, correlating tightly with increased immediate-freezing during learning. Moreover, during contextual recall, these patterns reappeared in tandem six-to-fourteen times per minute, again correlating tightly with behavioral recall. Upon traced tone recall, while various fear memories were retrieved, the shock traces exhibited a unique recall-peak around the 20-second trace interval, further signifying the memory of time for the expected shock. Therefore, our study has revealed various real-time associative memory traces during learning and recall in CA1, and demonstrates that real-time memory traces can be decoded on a moment-to-moment basis over any single trial.

  13. Improved backward ray tracing with stochastic sampling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryu, Seung Taek; Yoon, Kyung-Hyun

    1999-03-01

    This paper presents a new technique that enhances the diffuse interreflection with the concepts of backward ray tracing. In this research, we have modeled the diffuse rays with the following conditions. First, as the reflection from the diffuse surfaces occurs in all directions, it is impossible to trace all of the reflected rays. We confined the diffuse rays by sampling the spherical angle out of the reflected rays around the normal vector. Second, the traveled distance of reflected energy from the diffuse surface differs according to the object's property, and has a comparatively short reflection distance. Considering the fact that the rays created on the diffuse surfaces affect relatively small area, it is very inefficient to trace all of the sampled diffused rays. Therefore, we set a fixed distance as the critical distance and all the rays beyond this distance are ignored. The result of this research is that as the improved backward ray tracing can model the illumination effects such as the color bleeding effects, we can replace the radiosity algorithm under the limited environment.

  14. Trace fossil analysis of lacustrine facies and basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buatois, L.A.; Mangano, M.G.

    1998-01-01

    Two ichnofacies are typical of lacustrine depositional systems. The Scoyenia ichnofacies characterizes transitional terrestrial/nonmarine aquatic substrates, periodically inundated or desiccated, and therefore is commonly present in lake margin facies. The Mermia ichnofacies is associated with well oxygenated, permanent subaqueous, fine-grained substrates of hydrologically open, perennial lakes. Bathymetric zonations within the Mermia ichnofacies are complicated by the wide variability of lacustrine systems. Detected proximal-distal trends are useful within particular lake basins, but commonly difficult to extrapolate to other lakes. Other potential ichnofacies include the typically marine Skolithos ichnofacies for high-energy zones of lakes and substrate-controlled, still unnamed ichnofacies, associated to lake margin deposits. Trace fossils are useful for sedimentologic analysis of event beds. Lacustrine turbidites are characterized by low-diversity suites, reflecting colonization by opportunistic organisms after the turbidite event. Underflow current beds record animal activity contemporaneous with nearly continuous sedimentation. Ichnologic studies may also help to distinguish between marine and lacustrine turbidites. Deep-marine turbidites host the Nereites ichnofacies that consists of high diversity of ornate grazing traces and graphoglyptids, recording highly specialized feeding strategies developed to solve the problem of the scarcity of food in the deep sea. Deep lacustrine environments contain the Mermia ichnofacies, which is dominated by unspecialized grazing and feeding traces probably related to the abundance and accessibility of food in lacustrine systems. The lower diversity of lacustrine ichnofaunas in comparison with deep-sea assemblages more likely reflects lower species diversity as a consequence of less stable conditions. Increase of depth and extent of bioturbation through geologic time produced a clear signature in the ichnofabric record of

  15. Management: A Strategy for Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Herbert S.

    1978-01-01

    Traces the recent history of libraries and mentions loss of status, insufficient funds, insufficient evaluation methods, and unspecified goals as major contributors to contemporary management problems. Also outlined is a management strategy, which includes public relations, long-range and short-range goals, and budget and financing. (JVP)

  16. A hard tissue cephalometric comparative study between hand tracing and computerized tracing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramachandra Prabhakar

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Aims: To analyze and compare the angular and linear hard tissue cephalometric measurements using hand-tracing and computerized tracings with Nemoceph and Dolphin software systems. Subjects and Methods: A total of 30 cephalograms were randomly chosen for study with the following criteria, cephalograms of patients with good contrast, no distortion, and minimal radiographic artifacts were considered using the digital method (Kodak 8000 C with 12 angular and nine linear parameters selected for the study. Comparisons were determined by post-hoc test using Tukey HSD method. The N-Par tests were performed using Kruskal-Walli′s method. Statistical Analysis Used: ANOVA and post-hoc. Results: The results of this study show that there is no significant difference in the angular and linear measurements recorded. The P values were significant at 0.05 levels for two parameters, Co-A and Co-Gn with the hand-tracing method. This was significant in ANOVA and post-hoc test by Tukey HSD method. Conclusions: This study of comparison provides support for transition from digital hand to computerized tracing methodology. In fact, digital computerized tracings were easier and less time consuming, with the same reliability irrespective of each method of tracing.

  17. Numerical simulation and comparison of nonlinear self-focusing based on iteration and ray tracing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiaotong; Chen, Hao; Wang, Weiwei; Ruan, Wangchao; Zhang, Luwei; Cen, Zhaofeng

    2017-05-01

    Self-focusing is observed in nonlinear materials owing to the interaction between laser and matter when laser beam propagates. Some of numerical simulation strategies such as the beam propagation method (BPM) based on nonlinear Schrödinger equation and ray tracing method based on Fermat's principle have applied to simulate the self-focusing process. In this paper we present an iteration nonlinear ray tracing method in that the nonlinear material is also cut into massive slices just like the existing approaches, but instead of paraxial approximation and split-step Fourier transform, a large quantity of sampled real rays are traced step by step through the system with changing refractive index and laser intensity by iteration. In this process a smooth treatment is employed to generate a laser density distribution at each slice to decrease the error caused by the under-sampling. The characteristics of this method is that the nonlinear refractive indices of the points on current slice are calculated by iteration so as to solve the problem of unknown parameters in the material caused by the causal relationship between laser intensity and nonlinear refractive index. Compared with the beam propagation method, this algorithm is more suitable for engineering application with lower time complexity, and has the calculation capacity for numerical simulation of self-focusing process in the systems including both of linear and nonlinear optical media. If the sampled rays are traced with their complex amplitudes and light paths or phases, it will be possible to simulate the superposition effects of different beam. At the end of the paper, the advantages and disadvantages of this algorithm are discussed.

  18. Particle tracing code for multispecies gas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eaton, R.R.; Fox, R.L.; Vandevender, W.H.

    1979-06-01

    Details are presented for the development of a computer code designed to calculate the flow of a multispecies gas mixture using particle tracing techniques. The current technique eliminates the need for a full simulation by utilizing local time averaged velocity distribution functions to obtain the dynamic properties for probable collision partners. The development of this concept reduces statistical scatter experienced in conventional Monte Carlo simulations. The technique is applicable to flow problems involving gas mixtures with disparate masses and trace constituents in the Knudsen number, Kn, range from 1.0 to less than 0.01. The resulting code has previously been used to analyze several aerodynamic isotope enrichment devices

  19. Mathematical considerations regarding the stability of the trace element systems by linear regressions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mihai, Maria; Popescu, I.V.

    2002-01-01

    In this paper we present a mathematical model that would describe the stability and instability conditions, respectively of the organs of human body assumed as a living cybernetic system with feedback. We tested the theoretical model on the following trace elements: Mn, Zn and As. The trace elements were determined from the nose-pharyngeal carcinoma. We utilise the linear approximation to describe the dependencies between the trace elements determined in the hair of the patient. We present the results graphically. (authors)

  20. On Trace Zero Matrices

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    In this note, we shall try to present an elemen- tary proof of a couple of closely related results which have both proved quite useful, and al~ indicate possible generalisations. The results we have in mind are the following facts: (a) A complex n x n matrix A has trace 0 if and only if it is expressible in the form A = PQ - Q P.

  1. Retrograde tracing and toe spreading after experimental autologous nerve transplantation and crush injury of the sciatic nerve: a descriptive methodological study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van Neerven Sabien GA

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Evaluation of functional and structural recovery after peripheral nerve injury is crucial to determine the therapeutic effect of a nerve repair strategy. In the present study, we examined the relationship between the structural evaluation of regeneration by means of retrograde tracing and the functional analysis of toe spreading. Two standardized rat sciatic nerve injury models were used to address this relationship. As such, animals received either a 2 cm sciatic nerve defect (neurotmesis followed by autologous nerve transplantation (ANT animals or a crush injury with spontaneous recovery (axonotmesis; CI animals. Functional recovery of toe spreading was observed over an observation period of 84 days. In contrast to CI animals, ANT animals did not reach pre-surgical levels of toe spreading. After the observation period, the lipophilic dye DiI was applied to label sensory and motor neurons in dorsal root ganglia (DRG; sensory neurons and spinal cord (motor neurons, respectively. No statistical difference in motor or sensory neuron counts could be detected between ANT and CI animals. In the present study we could indicate that there was no direct relationship between functional recovery (toe spreading measured by SSI and the number of labelled (motor and sensory neurons evaluated by retrograde tracing. The present findings demonstrate that a multimodal approach with a variety of independent evaluation tools is essential to understand and estimate the therapeutic benefit of a nerve repair strategy.

  2. Service-Oriented Strategies for Manufacturing Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tan, Adrian; McAloone, Tim C.; Matzen, Detlef

    2009-01-01

    This chapter establishes PSS (Product/Service-Systems) approaches in the context of manufacturing firms and their existing product-oriented business. PSS can be seen as a strategy for manufacturing firms to gain competitive advantage in the market, but what market conditions and organisational......, customers and partners in business planning and strategy to reap the full benefits. Finally a path to how manufacturers can make the change from product to service-orientation is traced....

  3. Testing Linear Temporal Logic Formulae on Finite Execution Traces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Havelund, Klaus; Rosu, Grigore; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    We present an algorithm for efficiently testing Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) formulae on finite execution traces. The standard models of LTL are infinite traces, reflecting the behavior of reactive and concurrent systems which conceptually may be continuously alive. In most past applications of LTL. theorem provers and model checkers have been used to formally prove that down-scaled models satisfy such LTL specifications. Our goal is instead to use LTL for up-scaled testing of real software applications. Such tests correspond to analyzing the conformance of finite traces against LTL formulae. We first describe what it means for a finite trace to satisfy an LTL property. We then suggest an optimized algorithm based on transforming LTL formulae. The work is done using the Maude rewriting system. which turns out to provide a perfect notation and an efficient rewriting engine for performing these experiments.

  4. Investigations of Trace Oxygenates in Middle Distillate Fuels using Gas Chromatography

    OpenAIRE

    RENEE LOUISE WEBSTER

    2017-01-01

    There can be up to one million different compounds in aviation or diesel fuels, making the analysis of trace components within the complex matrix highly challenging. Many trace oxygenated compounds may be present in fuels and can have dramatic effects on the fuel’s properties. Advanced analytical chemistry techniques have been used to contribute a critical understanding of the role of trace oxygenates on the chemistry of both emerging alternate and fossil fuels. Knowledge of these molecular s...

  5. New challenges in ray tracing simulations of X-ray optics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Río, M Sánchez del

    2013-01-01

    The construction of new synchrotron sources and the refurbishment and upgrade of existing ones has boosted in the last years the interest in X-ray optics simulations for beamline design and optimization. In the last years we conducted a full renewal of the well established SHADOW ray tracing code, ending with a modular version SHADOW3 interfaced to multiple programming languages (C, C++, IDL, Python). Some of the new features of SHADOW3 are presented. From the physics point of view, SHADOW3 has been upgraded for dealing with lens systems. X-ray partial coherence applications demand an extension of traditional ray tracing methods into a hybrid ray-tracing wave-optics approach. The software development is essential for fulfilling the requests of the ESRF Upgrade Programme, and some examples of calculations are also presented.

  6. Marketing Strategy for Community College Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coffee, Linda; Miller, Bob W.

    1980-01-01

    Traces the expansion of marketing in postsecondary education. Enumerates the goals of Prince George's Community College's marketing task force. Defines marketing and suggests strategies for targeting marketing efforts toward high school students, business and industry, the general public, and students within the college. (AYC)

  7. Analysis of trace metals in various brands of cigarettes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iqbal, M.

    1996-01-01

    The present work deals with the analysis of trace metals in various brands of cigarettes belonging to four different countries. In the present research seven trace elements have been determined spectrophotometrically by the use of suitable analytical reagent of the respective metal ions. The metals which has been analysed quantitatively in forty one brand of cigarettes are aluminium, copper, chromium, nickel, iron titanium and zinc. The concentration per cigarette of these metals are in tolerable range. The concentration of above mentioned metal ions is highest in Pakistani cigarettes tobacco while the concentration of nickel is highest in American cigarettes. (author) 221 refs

  8. Integrating cross-case analyses and process tracing in set-theoretic research: Strategies and parameters of debate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beach, Derek; Rohlfing, Ingo

    2018-01-01

    In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the combination of two methods on the basis of set theory. In our introduction and this special issue, we focus on two variants of cross-case set-theoretic methods - Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and typological theory...... – and their combination with process tracing. Our goal is to broaden and deepen set-theoretic empirical research and equip scholars with guidance on how to implement it in multi-method research (MMR). At first glance, set-theoretic cross-case methods and process tracing seem to be highly compatible when causal...... relationships are conceptualized in terms of set-theory. However, multiple issues have not so far been thoroughly addressed. Our paper builds on the emerging MMR literature and seeks to enhance it in four ways. First, we offer a comprehensive and coherent elaboration of the two sequences in which case studies...

  9. Trace elements in the atmosphere over South Africa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wells, R.B.; Van As, D.

    1976-01-01

    Natural sources of trace elements in the atmosphere are suspended soil particles, the evaporation of sea spray and smoke from veld fires. In urban and industrialised areas the main sources are fossil-fuel power plants, metallurgical smelters, blast furnaces, incinerators, automobiles, fossil-fueled locomotives and open fires in the Black townships. Often a source can be recognised by the relative concentrations of particular trace elements. A monitoring programme was established in 1974 by the Air Pollution Research Group of the CSIR and the Isotope and Radiation Division of the Atomic Energy Board in order to study the levels of trace elements in urban areas such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, to measure the effects of industrialisation on trace elements levels in developing areas such as Richards Bay and Saldanha Bay and also to determine baseline values in rural areas. Extremely sensitive analytical techniques, e.g. neutron activation and atomic absorption were used for the analyses of filter samples. Methods of sampling and analysis are discussed and the preliminary results of this programme are presented

  10. Social Networking and Social Support in Tourism Experience: The Moderating Role of Online Self-Presentation Strategies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kim, Jeongmi; Tussyadiah, Iis

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of how tourists' self-presentation is managed on social networking sites (SNS). Specifically, the study investigated the effects of SNS use on social support and tourism experience and the moderating role of the different tourists' self......-presentation strategies. The results emphasize the importance of SNS use for tourists to seek support from their social network while traveling. The study clarifies the importance of SNS use for tourism experience, in that the more tourists are engaged in social activities through SNS while traveling, the more social...... support they will get, which will contribute positively to their tourism experience. Also, it is argued that social support does not always directly result from the intense SNS use, but rather moderated by tourists' self-presentation strategies....

  11. Charged particle activation analysis: present status and future perspectives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chowdhury, D.P.

    2006-01-01

    Charged particle activation analysis is a highly sensitive nuclear analytical technique for the determination of elements at trace and ultra trace levels. CPAA involves the irradiation of samples with high energy charged particles, both light ions and heavy ions, from an accelerator in the energy range of 10 to 100 MeV. CPAA has been developed and standardized for the determination of several elements at trace levels in various types of materials using high energy ion beams from VEC machine at Kolkata. A brief review on CPAA is presented here based on our present works and its applications in future. (author)

  12. Understanding Obstacles to Peace: Actors, Interests, and Strategies ...

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

    2011-02-24

    Feb 24, 2011 ... Understanding Obstacles to Peace: Actors, Interests, and Strategies in Africa's ... The case studies all employ methods of “thick description” process tracing ... Addressing Africa's unmet need for family planning by intensifying ...

  13. Olfactory memory traces in Drosophila.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry, Jacob; Krause, William C; Davis, Ronald L

    2008-01-01

    In Drosophila, the fruit fly, coincident exposure to an odor and an aversive electric shock can produce robust behavioral memory. This behavioral memory is thought to be regulated by cellular memory traces within the central nervous system of the fly. These molecular, physiological, or structural changes in neurons, induced by pairing odor and shock, regulate behavior by altering the neurons' response to the learned environment. Recently, novel in vivo functional imaging techniques have allowed researchers to observe cellular memory traces in intact animals. These investigations have revealed interesting temporal and spatial dynamics of cellular memory traces. First, a short-term cellular memory trace was discovered that exists in the antennal lobe, an early site of olfactory processing. This trace represents the recruitment of new synaptic activity into the odor representation and forms for only a short period of time just after training. Second, an intermediate-term cellular memory trace was found in the dorsal paired medial neuron, a neuron thought to play a role in stabilizing olfactory memories. Finally, a long-term protein synthesis-dependent cellular memory trace was discovered in the mushroom bodies, a structure long implicated in olfactory learning and memory. Therefore, it appears that aversive olfactory associations are encoded by multiple cellular memory traces that occur in different regions of the brain with different temporal domains.

  14. The reliability of head film measurements. 3. Tracing superimposition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumrind, S; Miller, D; Molthen, R

    1976-12-01

    The superimposition of tracings from lateral skull x-ray films taken at different timepoints is an important method for assessing developmental and treatment changes through time. The usefulness of the data derived is, however, limited by the fact that the physical act of superimposing tracings is performed with some error. The magnitudes of error for superimpositions on different "planes" have not been amenable to quantitation by previously available methods. Using newly developed computer-aided techniques, we have been able to quantitate both the primary errors of tracing superimposition and the associated secondary landmark displacements for four conventionally employed anatomic reference "planes". For each reference "plane," twenty-five independent film pairs were examined independently by each of four judges. Therefore, 100 acts of tracing superimposition were available for each reference "plane." Output data are presented which appear to support the conclusion that measurement errors in tracing superimposition are a consequential factor affecting the confidence which should be placed in head film comparisons, particularly with regard to individual cases. Some consequences of this conclusion with respect to growth prediction and to the evaluation of treatment effects are considered.

  15. Trace analysis of semiconductor materials

    CERN Document Server

    Cali, J Paul; Gordon, L

    1964-01-01

    Trace Analysis of Semiconductor Materials is a guidebook concerned with procedures of ultra-trace analysis. This book discusses six distinct techniques of trace analysis. These techniques are the most common and can be applied to various problems compared to other methods. Each of the four chapters basically includes an introduction to the principles and general statements. The theoretical basis for the technique involved is then briefly discussed. Practical applications of the techniques and the different instrumentations are explained. Then, the applications to trace analysis as pertaining

  16. Hydrocarbons and conflicts in the world - Energy strategies and present stakes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ardillier-Carras, Francoise; Boulanger, Philippe; Ortolland, Didier

    2012-01-01

    This document briefly presents a book in which the authors discuss the role of energy resources as factors of tension or conflicts between countries. After an overview of the issue of energy geo-strategy, they describe the geography of conflict sources in terms of territories, energy fields, reserves and exploitation. Then, they address the case hydrocarbons which are a matter of conflicts and strategic tensions in the world, and notably between States and non-State actors. They identify different types of conflicts about hydrocarbons, and their role in peace and reconstruction. In a third part, they address the issue of energy routes: the big game about pipelines, and maritime routes

  17. The research of electrical tracing system construction management and related questions of BOP project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Lining; Li Jingmin; Ma Ding; Tu Haitao

    2015-01-01

    Based on Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in Liaoning province, the paper studies the anti-freeze and heat tracing work of BOP project. It compares several different heat tracing solutions in terms of technicality and applicability, and gave the most suitable scheme by using electrical tracing. It also presents the construction details of the electrical tracing system, analyzes the key points of the construction management from quantity, safety and schedule aspects, and gave the improvement suggestions. (authors)

  18. Interactive influences of bioactive trace metals on biological production in oceanic waters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruland, K.W.; Donat, J.R.; Hutchins, D.A.

    1991-01-01

    The authors present an overview of the oceanic chemistries of the bioactive trace metals, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn; the authors combine field data with results from laboratory phytoplankton culture-trace metal studies and speculate on the potential influences of these trace metals on oceanic plankton production and species composition. Most field studies have focused on the effects of single metals. However, they propose that synergistic and antagonistic interactions between multiple trace metals could be very important in the oceans. Trace metal antagonisms that may prove particularly important are those between Cu and the potential biolimiting metals Fe, Mn, and Zn. These antagonistic interactions could have the greatest influence on biological productivity in areas of the open ocean isolated from terrestrial inputs, such as the remote high nutrient regions of the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans. The emerging picture of trace metal-biota interactions in these oceanic areas is one in which biology strongly influences distribution and chemical speciation of all these bioactive trace metals. It also seems likely that many of these bioactive trace metals and their speciation may influence levels of primary productivity, species composition, and trophic structure. Future investigations should give more complete consideration to the interactive effects of biologically important trace metals

  19. Effective removal of trace thallium from surface water by nanosized manganese dioxide enhanced quartz sand filtration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huangfu, Xiaoliu; Ma, Chengxue; Ma, Jun; He, Qiang; Yang, Chun; Zhou, Jian; Jiang, Jin; Wang, Yaan

    2017-12-01

    Thallium (Tl) has drawn wide concern due to its high toxicity even at extremely low concentrations, as well as its tendency for significant accumulation in the human body and other organisms. The need to develop effective strategies for trace Tl removal from drinking water is urgent. In this study, the removal of trace Tl (0.5 μg L -1 ) by conventional quartz sand filtration enhanced by nanosized manganese dioxide (nMnO 2 ) has been investigated using typical surface water obtained from northeast China. The results indicate that nMnO 2 enhanced quartz sand filtration could remove trace Tl(I) and Tl(III) efficiently through the adsorption of Tl onto nMnO 2 added to a water matrix and onto nMnO 2 attached on quartz sand surfaces. Tl(III)-HA complexes might be responsible for higher residual Tl(III) in the effluent compared to residual Tl(I). Competitive Ca 2+ cations inhibit Tl removal to a certain extent because the Ca 2+ ions will occupy the Tl adsorption site on nMnO 2 . Moreover, high concentrations of HA (10 mgTOC L -1 ), which notably complexes with and dissolves nMnO 2 (more than 78%), resulted in higher residual Tl(I) and Tl(III). Tl(III)-HA complexes might also enhance Tl(III) penetration to a certain extent. Additionally, a higher pH level could enhance the removal of trace Tl from surface water. Finally, a slight increase of residual Tl was observed after backwash, followed by the reduction of the Tl concentration in the effluent to a "steady" state again. The knowledge obtained here may provide a potential strategy for drinking water treatment plants threatened by trace Tl. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  20. Trace elements in agroecosystems and impacts on the environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Zhenli L; Yang, Xiaoe E; Stoffella, Peter J

    2005-01-01

    Trace elements mean elements present at low concentrations (mg kg-1 or less) in agroecosystems. Some trace elements, including copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), and boron (B) are essential to plant growth and are called micronutrients. Except for B, these elements are also heavy metals, and are toxic to plants at high concentrations. Some trace elements, such as cobalt (Co) and selenium (Se), are not essential to plant growth but are required by animals and human beings. Other trace elements such as cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), mercury (Hg), and arsenic (As) have toxic effects on living organisms and are often considered as contaminants. Trace elements in an agroecosystem are either inherited from soil parent materials or inputs through human activities. Soil contamination with heavy metals and toxic elements due to parent materials or point sources often occurs in a limited area and is easy to identify. Repeated use of metal-enriched chemicals, fertilizers, and organic amendments such as sewage sludge as well as wastewater may cause contamination at a large scale. A good example is the increased concentration of Cu and Zn in soils under long-term production of citrus and other fruit crops. Many chemical processes are involved in the transformation of trace elements in soils, but precipitation-dissolution, adsorption-desorption, and complexation are the most important processes controlling bioavailability and mobility of trace elements in soils. Both deficiency and toxicity of trace elements occur in agroecosystems. Application of trace elements in fertilizers is effective in correcting micronutrient deficiencies for crop production, whereas remediation of soils contaminated with metals is still costly and difficult although phytoremediation appears promising as a cost-effective approach. Soil microorganisms are the first living organisms subjected to the impacts of metal contamination. Being responsive and

  1. Mobilisation of toxic trace elements under various beach nourishments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pit, Iris R.; Dekker, Stefan C.; Kanters, Tobias J.; Wassen, Martin J.; Griffioen, Jasper

    2017-01-01

    To enhance protection and maintain wide beaches for recreation, beaches are replenished with sand: so-called beach nourishments. We compared four sites: two traditional beach nourishments, a mega beach nourishment and a reference without beach nourishment. Two sites contain calcareous-rich sand, whereas the other two sites have calcareous-poor sand. We aimed to understand hydrogeochemical processes to indicate factors critical for the mobility of trace elements at nourishments. We therefore analysed the chemical characteristics of sediment and pore water to ascertain the main drivers that mobilise toxic trace elements. With Dutch Quality Standards for soil and groundwater, the characteristics of sediment and pore water were compared to Target Values (the values at which there is a sustainable soil quality) and Intervention Values (the threshold above which the soil's functions are at risk). The pore water characteristics revealed that Target Values were regularly exceeded, especially for the nourishment sites and mainly for Mo (78%), Ni (24%), Cr (55%), and As (21%); Intervention Values for shallow groundwater were occasionally exceeded for As (2%), Cr (2%) and Zn (2%). The sediment characteristics did not exceed the Target Values and showed that trace elements were mainly present in the fine fraction of <150 μm. The oxidation of sulphide minerals such as pyrite resulted into the elevated concentration for all nourishment sites, especially when an unsaturated zone was present and influence of rainwater was apparent. To prevent trace metal mobility at a mega beach nourishment it is important to retain seawater influences and limit oxidation processes. In this respect, a shoreface nourishment is recommended rather than a mega beach nourishment with a thick unsaturated zone. Consequently, we conclude that whether a site is carbonate-rich or carbonate-poor is unimportant, as the influence of seawater will prevent decalcification, creating a low risk of

  2. Computer ray tracing speeds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robb, P; Pawlowski, B

    1990-05-01

    The results of measuring the ray trace speed and compilation speed of thirty-nine computers in fifty-seven configurations, ranging from personal computers to super computers, are described. A correlation of ray trace speed has been made with the LINPACK benchmark which allows the ray trace speed to be estimated using LINPACK performance data. The results indicate that the latest generation of workstations, using CPUs based on RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) technology, are as fast or faster than mainframe computers in compute-bound situations.

  3. Volatile characteristic of trace elements during microwave pyrolysis of oil shale

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bai, Jing-ru; Wang, Qing; Kong, Ling-wen; Bai, Zhang [Northeast Dianli Univ., Jilin (China). Engineering Research Centre

    2013-07-01

    Oil shale is abundant in the world. Today, the industry of oil shale retorting for producing shale oil is developing owing to high price of oil in the world. In order to study migratory behavior of trace elements in oil shale at microwave pyrolysis, tests were performed in laboratory with oil shale of the Huadian deposit of China at different powers from 400 to 700 W. The trace elements As, Cd, Hg, Mo, Pb, Se, Cr, Cu, Ni, V, Zn, Ba, Co, Mn present in oil shale and shale char were determined by the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). By comparing the content of trace elements in oil shale and shale char, distribution characteristics of trace elements at retorting were studied. The overall trends of volatile ratio of trace elements are ascending with higher microwave power and higher than the conventional pyrolysis. The differences in the volatile ratio indicate that the trace elements investigated are bound with the oil shale kerogen and its mineral matter in different manner. So Float-sink experiments (FSE) were performed on oil shale. Huadian oil shale has more included mineral. The volatilization of organic matter is not the main reason for the volatilization of trace elements in oil shale. The trace elements combined with the mineral elements may be also certain volatility.

  4. BETHSY 9.1b Test Calculation with TRACE Using 3D Vessel Component

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berar, O.; Prosek, A.

    2012-01-01

    Recently, several advanced multidimensional computational tools for simulating reactor system behaviour during real and hypothetical transient scenarios were developed. One of such advanced, best-estimate reactor systems codes is TRAC/RELAP Advanced Computational Engine (TRACE), developed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The advanced TRACE comes with a graphical user interface called SNAP (Symbolic Nuclear Analysis Package). It is intended for pre- and post-processing, running codes, RELAP5 to TRACE input deck conversion, input deck database generation etc. The TRACE code is still not fully development and it will have all the capabilities of RELAP5. The purpose of the present study was therefore to assess the 3D capability of the TRACE on BETHSY 9.1b test. The TRACE input deck was semi-converted (using SNAP and manual corrections) from the RELAP5 input deck. The 3D fluid dynamics within reactor vessel was modelled and compared to 1D fluid dynamics. The 3D calculation was compared both to TRACE 1D calculation and RELAP5 calculation. Namely, the geometry used in TRACE is basically the same, what gives very good basis for the comparison of the codes. The only exception is 3D reactor vessel model in case of TRACE 3D calculation. The TRACE V5.0 Patch 1 and RELAP5/MOD3.3 Patch 4 were used for calculations. The BETHSY 9.1b test (International Standard Problem no. 27 or ISP-27) was 5.08 cm equivalent diameter cold leg break without high pressure safety injection and with delayed ultimate procedure. BETHSY facility was a 3-loop replica of a 900 MWe FRAMATOME pressurized water reactor. For better presentation of the calculated physical phenomena and processes, an animation model using SNAP was developed. In general, the TRACE 3D code calculation is in good agreement with the BETHSY 9.1b test. The TRACE 3D calculation results are as good as or better than the RELAP5 calculated results. Also, the TRACE 3D calculation is not significantly different from TRACE 1D

  5. Effects of trace metal concentrations on the growth of the coral endosymbiont Symbiodinium kawagutii

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene Barra Rodriguez

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Symbiodinium is an indispensable endosymbiont in corals and the most important primary producer in coral reef ecosystems. During the past decades, coral bleaching attributed to the disruption of the symbiosis has frequently occurred resulting in reduction of coral reef coverage globally. Growth and proliferation of corals require some specific trace metals that are essential components of pertinent biochemical processes, such as in photosynthetic systems and electron transport chains. In addition, trace metals are vital in the survival of corals against oxidative stress because these metals serve as enzymatic cofactors in antioxidative defense mechanisms. The basic knowledge about trace metal requirement of Symbiodinium is lacking. Here we show that the requirement of S. kawagutii for antioxidant-associated trace metals exhibits the following order: Fe >> Cu/Zn/Mn >> Ni. In growth media with Cu, Zn, Mn and varying Fe concentrations, we observed that Cu, Zn and Mn cellular quotas were inversely related to Fe concentrations. In the absence of Cu, Zn and Mn, growth rates increased with increasing inorganic Fe concentrations up to 1250 pM, indicating the relatively high Fe requirement for Symbiodinium growth and potential functional complementarity of these metals. These results demonstrate the relative importance of trace metals to sustain Symbiodinium growth and a potential metal interreplacement strategy in Symbiodinium to ensure survival of coral reefs in an oligotrophic and stressful environment.

  6. Tracking explicit and implicit long-lasting traces of fearful memories in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Packard, Pau Alexander; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Stein, Lilian Milnitsky; Nicolás, Berta; Fuentemilla, Lluís

    2014-12-01

    Recent accounts of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) suggest that the encoding of an episode within a fearful context generates different implicit and explicit memory representations. Whilst implicit memory traces include the associated emotional states, explicit traces include a recoding into an abstract or gist-based structural context of the episode. Theoretically, the long-term preservation of implicit memory traces may facilitate the often untreatable memory intrusions in PTSD. Here, we tracked in two experiments how implicit and explicit memory traces for fearful episodes dissociate and evolve over time. Subjects (N=86) were presented with semantically-related word-lists in a contextual fear paradigm and tested for explicit memories either immediately (i.e., 30 min) or after a delay (i.e., 1 or 2 weeks) with a verbal recognition task. Skin Conductance Response (SCR) was used to assess implicit memory responses. Subjects showed high memory accuracy for words when tested immediately after encoding. At test, SCR was higher during the presentation of verbatim but not gist-based words encoded in a fearful context, and remained unchanged after 2 weeks, despite subjects being unaware of words' encoding context. We found no clear evidence of accurate explicit memory traces for the fearful or neutral contexts of words presented during encoding, either 30 min or 2 weeks afterwards. These findings indicate that the implicit, but not the explicit, memory trace of a fearful context of an episode can be detected at long-term through SCR and is dissociated from the gist-based memory. They may have implicationstowards the understanding of how the processing of fearful memoriescould lead to PTSD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Influence of trace elements in human tissue in low-energy photon brachytherapy dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, Shane A; Landry, Guillaume; Van Gils, Francis; Verhaegen, Frank; Reniers, Brigitte

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to determine the dosimetric impact of trace elements in human tissues for low-energy photon sources used in brachytherapy. Monte Carlo dose calculations were used to investigate the dosimetric effect of trace elements present in normal or cancerous human tissues. The effect of individual traces (atomic number Z = 11–30) was studied in soft tissue irradiated by low-energy brachytherapy sources. Three other tissue types (prostate, adipose and mammary gland) were also simulated with varying trace concentrations to quantify the contribution of each trace to the dose distribution. The dose differences between cancerous and healthy prostate tissues were calculated in single- and multi-source geometries. The presence of traces in a tissue produces a difference in the dose distribution that is dependent on Z and the concentration of the trace. Low-Z traces (Na) have a negligible effect ( 3%). There is a potentially significant difference in the dose distribution between cancerous and healthy prostate tissues (4%) and even larger if compared to the trace-free composition (15%) in both single- and multi-sourced geometries. Trace elements have a non-negligible (up to 8% in prostate D 90 ) effect on the dose in tissues irradiated with low-energy photon sources. This study underlines the need for further investigation into accurate determination of the trace composition of tissues associated with low-energy brachytherapy. Alternatively, trace elements could be incorporated as a source of uncertainty in dose calculations. (paper)

  8. Determination of trace impurities in iron-based alloy using neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaidi, J.H.; Waheed, S.; Ahmad, S.

    2000-01-01

    A radiochemical neutron activation analysis procedure has been developed and applied to investigate 40 major, minor, and trace impurities in iron-based alloy. A comparison of RNAA and INAA indicated a significant improvement in the detection limits. The extensive use of these alloys in the heavy mechanical industry, manufacturing of aircraft engines, nuclear applications, medical devices and chemical equipment requires their precise characterization. The concentration of iron in the iron-based alloy was found to be 86.7%, whereas Ca, Cr, K, Mg, Mn, V and W were the other constituents of the alloy, which constituted to around 12.89%. The rest of the elements were present in minor or trace levels. Most of the rare earth elements were also present in trace amounts. (orig.)

  9. Integrating Cross-Case Analyses and Process Tracing in Set-Theoretic Research: Strategies and Parameters of Debate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beach, Derek; Rohlfing, Ingo

    2018-01-01

    In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the combination of two methods on the basis of set theory. In our introduction and this special issue, we focus on two variants of cross-case set-theoretic methods--"qualitative comparative analysis" (QCA) and typological theory (TT)--and their combination with process tracing (PT).…

  10. Polymers on the crime scene forensic analysis of polymeric trace evidence

    CERN Document Server

    Causin, Valerio

    2015-01-01

    This book approaches the analysis of forensic contact traces from a polymer science perspective. The development of characterization methods of new or unusual traces and the improvement of existing protocols is described. The book starts with a general introduction to polymers and the issues related to transfer, persistence and recovery of polymeric traces. The chapters present a distinctive feature of polymers, discussing how it can be measured, what the practical difficulties which can be encountered in the analysis, and how useful that information is for comparison or identification purposes. Practical tips for the realization of the forensic analyses are included.

  11. Measurements of trace contaminants in closed-type plant cultivation chambers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tani, A.; Kiyota, M.; Aiga, I.; Nitta, K.; Tako, Y.; Ashida, A.; Otsubo, K.; Saito, T.

    Trace contaminants generated in closed facilities can cause abnormal plant growth. We present measurement data of trace contaminants released from soils, plants, and construction materials. We mainly used two closed chambers, a Closed-type Plant and Mushroom Cultivation Chamber (PMCC) and Closed-type Plant Cultivation Equipment (CPCE). Although trace gas budgets from soils obtained in this experiment are only one example, the results indicate that the budgets of trace gases, as well as CO_2 and O_2, change greatly with the degree of soil maturation and are dependent on the kind of substances in the soil. Both in the PMCC and in the CPCE, trace gases such as dioctyl phthalate (DOP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene and xylene were detected. These gases seemed to be released from various materials used in the construction of these chambers. The degree of increase in these trace gas levels was dependent on the relationship between chamber capacity and plant quantity. Results of trace gas measurement in the PMCC, in which lettuce and shiitake mushroom were cultivated, showed that ethylene was released both from lettuce and from the mushroom culture bed. The release rates were about 90 ng bed^-1 h^-1 for the shiitake mushroom culture bed (volume is 1700 cm^3) and 4.1 ~ 17.3 ng dm^-2h^-1 (leaf area basis) for lettuce. Higher ethylene release rates per plant and per unit leaf area were observed in mature plants than in young plants.

  12. An image analyzer system for the analysis of nuclear traces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cuapio O, A.

    1990-10-01

    Inside the project of nuclear traces and its application techniques to be applied in the detection of nuclear reactions of low section (non detectable by conventional methods), in the study of accidental and personal neutron dosemeters, and other but, are developed. All these studies are based on the fact that the charged particles leave latent traces of dielectric that if its are engraved with appropriate chemical solutions its are revealed until becoming visible to the optical microscope. From the analysis of the different trace forms, it is possible to obtain information of the characteristic parameters of the incident particles (charge, mass and energy). Of the density of traces it is possible to obtain information of the flow of the incident radiation and consequently of the received dose. For carry out this analysis has been designed and coupled different systems, that it has allowed the solution of diverse outlined problems. Notwithstanding it has been detected that to make but versatile this activity is necessary to have an Image Analyzer System that allow us to digitize, to process and to display the images with more rapidity. The present document, presents the proposal to carry out the acquisition of the necessary components for to assembling an Image Analyzing System, like support to the mentioned project. (Author)

  13. Interactive Stable Ray Tracing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dal Corso, Alessandro; Salvi, Marco; Kolb, Craig

    2017-01-01

    Interactive ray tracing applications running on commodity hardware can suffer from objectionable temporal artifacts due to a low sample count. We introduce stable ray tracing, a technique that improves temporal stability without the over-blurring and ghosting artifacts typical of temporal post-pr...

  14. Trace element evaluation of different varieties of chewing gum by radiochemical neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaidi, J.H.; Arif, M.; Fatima, I.; Ahmad, S.; Qureshi, I.H.

    2000-01-01

    Extensive use of chewing gums, by children in particular, entails the evaluation of trace element contents in them. Radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA) was successfully employed to determine the concentration of 35 trace elements (essential, toxic and nonessential) in eight different brands of chewing gum generally consumed in Rawalpindi/Islamabad area. Comparison of trace element data of our work with literature has been presented. None of the elements detected in the brands of chewing gum examined was found to be present at a level representing a substantial contribution to the total dietary intake of the element. (author)

  15. Manual tracing versus smartphone application (app) tracing: a comparative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sayar, Gülşilay; Kilinc, Delal Dara

    2017-11-01

    This study aimed to compare the results of conventional manual cephalometric tracing with those acquired with smartphone application cephalometric tracing. The cephalometric radiographs of 55 patients (25 females and 30 males) were traced via the manual and app methods and were subsequently examined with Steiner's analysis. Five skeletal measurements, five dental measurements and two soft tissue measurements were managed based on 21 landmarks. The durations of the performances of the two methods were also compared. SNA (Sella, Nasion, A point angle) and SNB (Sella, Nasion, B point angle) values for the manual method were statistically lower (p < .001) than those for the app method. The ANB value for the manual method was statistically lower than that of app method. L1-NB (°) and upper lip protrusion values for the manual method were statistically higher than those for the app method. Go-GN/SN, U1-NA (°) and U1-NA (mm) values for manual method were statistically lower than those for the app method. No differences between the two methods were found in the L1-NB (mm), occlusal plane to SN, interincisal angle or lower lip protrusion values. Although statistically significant differences were found between the two methods, the cephalometric tracing proceeded faster with the app method than with the manual method.

  16. A new method for automated discontinuity trace mapping on rock mass 3D surface model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiaojun; Chen, Jianqin; Zhu, Hehua

    2016-04-01

    This paper presents an automated discontinuity trace mapping method on a 3D surface model of rock mass. Feature points of discontinuity traces are first detected using the Normal Tensor Voting Theory, which is robust to noisy point cloud data. Discontinuity traces are then extracted from feature points in four steps: (1) trace feature point grouping, (2) trace segment growth, (3) trace segment connection, and (4) redundant trace segment removal. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to identify optimal values for the parameters used in the proposed method. The optimal triangular mesh element size is between 5 cm and 6 cm; the angle threshold in the trace segment growth step is between 70° and 90°; the angle threshold in the trace segment connection step is between 50° and 70°, and the distance threshold should be at least 15 times the mean triangular mesh element size. The method is applied to the excavation face trace mapping of a drill-and-blast tunnel. The results show that the proposed discontinuity trace mapping method is fast and effective and could be used as a supplement to traditional direct measurement of discontinuity traces.

  17. [Psychological femininity and masculinity, self-appeal, attachment styles, coping styles and strategies of self-presentation among women with suicide attempts].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandal, Eugenia; Zalewska, Karolina

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this study was to diagnose particular personality characteristics of women with suicide attempts: psychological femininity and masculinity, self-appeal, attachment styles, self-presentation strategies and coping styles. A group of 35 adult women who attempted suicide and the control group (35 women) were submitted to a research. The following measures were used: Inventory of Gender Identity (IPP), Strategies of Self-presentation Questionnaire (KSA), Attachment Style Test, Sense of Self-Appeal Scale (SPWA), Coping Inventory of Stressful Situations (CISS). Female suicide-attempters had a lower index of psychological masculinity and a lower sense of self-appeal than women in the control group. They were characterised by an avoidant attachment style, used a strategy of self-depreciation in self-presentation and an emotion-oriented style of coping. The predictors of risk of suicide behaviours that mainly showed: avoidant-attachment style and strategy of self-depreciation in self-presentation. Parasuicides were characterised by lower self-esteem and weak interpersonal skills, which reduced their ways of coping in difficult situations.

  18. Automated addition of Chelex solution to tubes containing trace items

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stangegaard, Michael; Hansen, Thomas Møller; Hansen, Anders Johannes

    2011-01-01

    Extraction of DNA from trace items for forensic genetic DNA typing using a manual Chelex based extraction protocol requires addition of Chelex solution to sample tubes containing trace items. Automated of addition of Chelex solution may be hampered by high viscosity of the solution and fast...... sedimentation rate of the Chelex beads. Here, we present a simple method that can be used on an Eppendorf epMotion liquid handler resolving these issues...

  19. Log-stable concentration distributions of trace elements in biomedical samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kubala-Kukus, A.; Kuternoga, E.; Braziewicz, J.; Pajek, M.

    2004-01-01

    In the present paper, which follows our earlier observation that the asymmetric and long-tailed concentration distributions of trace elements in biomedical samples, measured by the X-ray fluorescence techniques, can be modeled by the log-stable distributions, further specific aspects of this observation are discussed. First, we demonstrate that, typically, for a quite substantial fraction (10-20%) of trace elements studied in different kinds of biomedical samples, the measured concentration distributions are described in fact by the 'symmetric' log-stable distributions, i.e. the asymmetric distributions which are described by the symmetric stable distributions. This observation is, in fact, expected for the random multiplicative process, which models the concentration distributions of trace elements in the biomedical samples. The log-stable nature of concentration distribution of trace elements results in several problems of statistical nature, which have to be addressed in XRF data analysis practice. Consequently, in the present paper, the following problems, namely (i) the estimation of parameters for stable distributions and (ii) the testing of the log-stable nature of the concentration distribution by using the Anderson-Darling (A 2 ) test, especially for symmetric stable distributions, are discussed in detail. In particular, the maximum likelihood estimation and Monte Carlo simulation techniques were used, respectively, for estimation of stable distribution parameters and calculation of the critical values for the Anderson-Darling test. The discussed ideas are exemplified by the results of the study of trace element concentration distributions in selected biomedical samples, which were obtained by using the X-ray fluorescence (XRF, TXRF) methods

  20. Trace-element deposition in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela Shelf, under sulfate-reducing conditions: a history of the local hydrography and global climate, 20 ka to the present

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piper, David Z.; Dean, Walter E.

    2002-01-01

    the last 20 kyr. The accumulation rate of the marine fraction of Mo increased abruptly at about 14.8 ka (calendar years), from less than 0.5 µg cm-2 yr-1 to greater than 4 µg cm-2 yr-1. Its accumulation rate remained high but variable until 8.6 ka, when it decreased sharply to 1 µg cm-2 yr-1. It continued to decrease to 4.0 ka, to its lowest value for the past 15 kyr, before gradually increasing to the present. Between 14.8 ka and 8.6 ka, its accumulation rate exhibited strong maxima at 14.4, 13.0, and 9.9 ka. The oldest maximum corresponds to melt-water pulse IA into the Gulf of Mexico. A relative minimum, centered at about 11.1 ka, corresponds to melt-water pulse IB; a strong maximum occurs in the immediately overlying sediment. The maximum at 13.0 ka corresponds to onset of the Younger Dryas cold event. This pattern to the accumulation rate of Mo (and V) can be interpreted in terms of its deposition from bottom water of the basin, the hydrogenous fraction, under SO42- -reducing conditions, during times of intense bottom-water advection 14.8 ka to 11.1 ka and significantly less intense bottom-water advection 11 ka to the present. The accumulation rate of Cd shows a pattern that is only slightly different from that of Mo, although its deposition was determined largely by the rain rate of organic matter into the bottom water, a biogenic fraction whose deposition was driven by upwelling of nutrient-enriched water into the photic zone. Its accumulation exhibits only moderately high rates, on average, during both melt-water pulses. Its highest rate, and that of upwelling, occurred during the Younger Dryas, and again following melt-water pulse IB. The marine fractions of Cu, Ni, and Zn also have a strong biogenic signal. The siliciclastic terrigenous debris, however, represents the dominant source, and host, of Cu, Ni, and Zn. All four trace elements have a consid-erably weaker hydrogenous signal than biogenic signal. Accumulation rates of the terrigenous fraction, as

  1. Abnormal Returns and Contrarian Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivana Dall'Agnol

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available We test the hypothesis that strategies which are long on portfolios of looser stocks and short on portfolios of winner stocks generate abnormal returns in Brazil. This type of evidence for the US stock market was interpreted by The Bondt and Thaler (1985 as reflecting systematic evaluation mistakes caused by investors overreaction to news related to the firm performance. We found evidence of contrarian strategies profitability for horizons from 3 months to 3 years in a sample of stock returns from BOVESPA and SOMA from 1986 to 2000. The strategies are more profitable for shorter horizons. Therefore, there was no trace of the momentum effect found by Jagadeesh and Titman (1993 for the same horizons with US data. There are remaing unexplained positive returns for contrarian strategies after accounting for risk, size, and liquidity. We also found that the strategy profitability is reduced after the Real Plan, which suggests that the Brazilian stock market became more efficient after inflation stabilization.

  2. Trace metal physiology in normal and pathological tissues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamer, C.J.A. van den; Nooijen, J.L.

    1979-01-01

    Many of the ionic tumour seeking radiopharmaceuticals consist of a metal ion combined with an anion. The choice of metal depends on the existence of radionuclides with suitable radiological properties, and on their availability. Because several of the metal complexes used in nuclear medicine are of rather recent interest, information about their metabolism is scarce. Although nuclear medicine is limited to those metals which radiochemists can produce, we can manipulate the chemical form in which the metals are introduced into the organism to some extent. The relation between chemical form and biological pathway, e.g., the extent of accumulation in certain tissues, is subject of study related to trace metal physiology. It is the purpose of this paper to try and bridge the gap between nuclear medicine and trace metal physiology by showing the progress made by the latter in the study of the metabolism of copper and zinc. Few trace metals have been studied as thoroughly as these, although iron could have been chosen just as well. This presentation is limited to a study of the fate of a metal derivative after its intravenous injection. Where possible the results obtained are related to the behaviour of metals presently of interest to nuclear medicine. (Auth.)

  3. Study of trace elements in milk by nuclear analytical techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gharib, A.; Rahimi, H.; Pyrovan, H.; Raoffi, N.J.; Taherpoor, H.

    1985-01-01

    This work is part of project with the IAEA in a coordinated program on 'Trace Elements in Human and Bio-environmental Systems' to evaluate their nutritional requierements, interrelations and the role of trace elements in health, metabolism, etc. Cow's milk is regarded to be one of the most important and most nutritious foodstuffs of mankind. Hence, as a first step, an elemental analysis for milk was carried out: a few samples of pasteurized milk and local samples were investigated for essential and toxic trace elements. The secondary aim of the project was the assessment of various analytical techniques involved. AAS, PIXE and NAA are presented here. The latter was applied both instrumentally and radiochemically. Although the results pertaining to the various methods employed are not in good agreement, there is, however, some justification to clarify this internal inconsistency. PIXE analysis is very fast and rather routine, but the technique for trace element analysis needs certain adaptations and improvement. (author)

  4. Traces generating what was there

    CERN Document Server

    2017-01-01

    Traces keep time contained and make visible what was there. Going back to the art of trace-reading, they continue to be a fundamental resource for scientific knowledge production. The contributions study, from the biology laboratory to the large colliders of particle physics, techniques involved in the production of material traces. Following their changes over two centuries, this collection shows the continuities they have in the digital age.

  5. Consolidation and restoration of memory traces in working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Schrijver, Sébastien; Barrouillet, Pierre

    2017-10-01

    Consolidation is the process through which ephemeral sensory traces are transformed into more stable short-term memory traces. It has been shown that consolidation plays a crucial role in working memory (WM) performance, by strengthening memory traces that then better resist interference and decay. In a recent study, Bayliss, Bogdanovs, and Jarrold (Journal of Memory and Language, 81, 34-50, 2015) argued that this process is separate from the processes known to restore WM traces after degradation, such as attentional refreshing and verbal rehearsal. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between the two types of processes in the context of WM span tasks. Participants were presented with series of letters for serial recall, each letter being followed by four digits for parity judgment. Consolidation opportunity was manipulated by varying the delay between each letter and the first digit to be processed, while opportunities for restoration were manipulated by varying the pace at which the parity task had to be performed (i.e., its cognitive load, or CL). Increasing the time available for either consolidation or restoration resulted in higher WM spans, with some substitutability between the two processes. Accordingly, when consolidation time was added to restoration time in the calculation of CL, the new resulting index, called extended CL, proved a very good predictor of recall performance, a finding also observed when verbal rehearsal was prevented by articulatory suppression. This substitutability between consolidation and restoration suggests that both processes may rely on the same mechanisms.

  6. Trace Metals Bioaccumulation Potentials of Three Indigenous ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The rapid increase in the number of industries may have increased the levels of trace metals in the soil. Phytoremediation of these polluted soils using indigenous grasses is now considered an alternative method in remediating these polluted soils. The present study investigated and compared the ability of three ...

  7. Unravelling the App Store: towards an interpretative perspective on tracing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grenz, Tilo; Kirschner, Heiko

    2018-01-01

    to be contextualized. This seems even more important since all types of digital traces are molded by specific operations, procedures as well as methods inscribed into digital infrastructures. These infrastructures are the necessary precondition for the emergence of digital traces, yet they pose a challenge...... capabilities are the result of continuous negotiation processes. The presented methodology of the paper thereby bridges the debates on the moving architectures of digital media and the search for suitable process-driven approaches....

  8. The fossil record of crocodilian tracks and traces: an overview

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lockley, Martin G.; Lucas, Spencer; Milàn, Jesper

    2010-01-01

    This volume fills a gap in the ichnological literature on crocodylian tracks and other traces (bite marks and coprolites). The definition of Crocodylia is presently in flux as both crown-based and stem-based definitions are present in the literature. The present volume provides articles focused o...

  9. Phytostabilization of semiarid soils residually contaminated with trace elements using by-products: Sustainability and risks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perez-de-Mora, Alfredo, E-mail: perezdemora@gmail.com [Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, PO Box 1052, 41080 Sevilla (Spain); Madejon, Paula; Burgos, Pilar; Cabrera, Francisco [Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, PO Box 1052, 41080 Sevilla (Spain); Lepp, Nicholas W. [35, Victoria Road, Formby, Liverpool L37 7DH (United Kingdom); Madejon, Engracia [Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, PO Box 1052, 41080 Sevilla (Spain)

    2011-10-15

    We investigated the efficiency of various by-products (sugarbeet lime, biosolid compost and leonardite), based on single or repeated applications to field plots, on the establishment of a vegetation cover compatible with a stabilization strategy on a multi-element (As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) contaminated soil 4-6 years after initial amendment applications. Results indicate that the need for re-treatment is amendment- and element-dependent; in some cases, a single application may reduce trace element concentrations in above-ground biomass and enhance the establishment of a healthy vegetation cover. Amendment performance as evaluated by % cover, biomass and number of colonizing taxa differs; however, changes in plant community composition are not necessarily amendment-specific. Although the translocation of trace elements to the plant biotic compartment is greater in re-vegetated areas, overall loss of trace elements due to soil erosion and plant uptake is usually smaller compared to that in bare soil. - Highlights: > By-products enhance vegetation dynamics in contaminated semiarid soils. > Depending on the situation single or repeated incorporations may be required. > The structure of the plant community established is not amendment-dependent. > Phytostabilization reduces overall loss of trace elements in semiarid soils. - Phytostabilization using by-products as amendments is a suitable approach for long-term immobilization of various trace elements in semiarid contaminated soils.

  10. Phytostabilization of semiarid soils residually contaminated with trace elements using by-products: Sustainability and risks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perez-de-Mora, Alfredo; Madejon, Paula; Burgos, Pilar; Cabrera, Francisco; Lepp, Nicholas W.; Madejon, Engracia

    2011-01-01

    We investigated the efficiency of various by-products (sugarbeet lime, biosolid compost and leonardite), based on single or repeated applications to field plots, on the establishment of a vegetation cover compatible with a stabilization strategy on a multi-element (As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) contaminated soil 4-6 years after initial amendment applications. Results indicate that the need for re-treatment is amendment- and element-dependent; in some cases, a single application may reduce trace element concentrations in above-ground biomass and enhance the establishment of a healthy vegetation cover. Amendment performance as evaluated by % cover, biomass and number of colonizing taxa differs; however, changes in plant community composition are not necessarily amendment-specific. Although the translocation of trace elements to the plant biotic compartment is greater in re-vegetated areas, overall loss of trace elements due to soil erosion and plant uptake is usually smaller compared to that in bare soil. - Highlights: → By-products enhance vegetation dynamics in contaminated semiarid soils. → Depending on the situation single or repeated incorporations may be required. → The structure of the plant community established is not amendment-dependent. → Phytostabilization reduces overall loss of trace elements in semiarid soils. - Phytostabilization using by-products as amendments is a suitable approach for long-term immobilization of various trace elements in semiarid contaminated soils.

  11. Present Status and Future Growth of Advanced Maintenance Technology and Strategy in US Manufacturing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Xiaoning; Weiss, Brian A; Siegel, David; Lee, Jay

    2016-01-01

    The goals of this paper are to 1) examine the current practices of diagnostics, prognostics, and maintenance employed by United States (U.S.) manufacturers to achieve productivity and quality targets and 2) to understand the present level of maintenance technologies and strategies that are being incorporated into these practices. A study is performed to contrast the impact of various industry-specific factors on the effectiveness and profitability of the implementation of prognostics and health management technologies, and maintenance strategies using both surveys and case studies on a sample of U.S. manufacturing firms ranging from small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) to large-sized manufacturing enterprises in various industries. The results obtained provide important insights on the different impacts of specific factors on the successful adoption of these technologies between SMEs and large manufacturing enterprises. The varying degrees of success with respect to current maintenance programs highlight the opportunity for larger manufacturers to improve maintenance practices and consider the use of advanced prognostics and health management (PHM) technology. This paper also provides the existing gaps, barriers, future trends, and roadmaps for manufacturing PHM technology and maintenance strategy.

  12. Tracing source and migration of Pb during waste incineration using stable Pb isotopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Yang [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Zhang, Hua, E-mail: zhanghua_tj@tongji.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Shao, Li-Ming; He, Pin-Jing [Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China); Research and Training Center on Rural Waste Management, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of P.R. China, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China)

    2017-04-05

    Highlights: • The migration of Pb during waste incineration was investigated using Pb isotopes. • Source tracing of Pb during incineration by isotopic technology was feasible. • Contributions of MSW components were measured to trace Pb sources quantitatively. • Isotopic technology helps understand the migration of Pb during thermal treatment. - Abstract: Emission of Pb is a significant environmental concern during solid waste incineration. To target Pb emission control strategies effectively, the major sources of Pb in the waste incineration byproducts must be traced and quantified. However, identifying the migration of Pb in each waste component is difficult because of the heterogeneity of the waste. This study used a laboratory-scale incinerator to simulate the incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW). The Pb isotope ratios of the major waste components ({sup 207}Pb/{sup 206}Pb = 0.8550–0.8627 and {sup 208}Pb/{sup 206}Pb = 2.0957–2.1131) and their incineration byproducts were measured to trace sources and quantify the Pb contribution of each component to incineration byproducts. As the proportions of food waste (FW), newspaper (NP), and polyethylene bag (PE) in the artificial MSW changed, the contribution ratios of FW and PE to Pb in fly ash changed accordingly, ranging from 31.2% to 50.6% and from 35.0% to 41.8%, respectively. The replacement of PE by PVC significantly increased the partitioning and migration ratio of Pb. The use of Pb isotope ratios as a quantitative tool for tracing Pb from raw waste to incineration byproducts is a feasible means for improving Pb pollution control.

  13. Occurrence of trace elements in respirable coal dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sahoo, B.N.

    1991-01-01

    Inhalation of fine particles of coal dust contributes significantly to the occurrence of the disease, pneumoconiosis, prevailing in coal mining community. It is not presently known whether only the coal dust or specific chemical compounds or synergistic effects of several compounds associated with respirable coal dust is responsible for the disease, pneumoconiosis. The present paper describes the quantitative determination of ten minor and trace elements in respirable coal dust particles by atomic absorption spectrophotometric methods. The respirable coal dust samples are collected at the mine atmosphere during drilling in coal scams by using Messrs. Casella's Hexlet apparatus specially designed and fitted with horizontal elutriator to collect the respirable coal dust fraction simulating as near as possible to the lung's retention of the coal miners. After destruction of organic matter by wet oxidation and filtering off clay and silica, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Ni were determined directly in the resulting solution by atomic absorption spectrophotometric procedures. The results show that the trace metals are more acute in lower range of size spectrum. Correlation coefficient, enrichment factor and linear regression values and their inverse relationship between the slope and EF values suggest that, in general, the trace metals in respirable particulates are likely to be from coal derived source if their concentrations are likewise high in the coal. The trace metal analytical data of respirable particulates fitted well to the linear regressive equation. The results of the studies are of importance as it may throw some light on the respirable lung disease 'pneumoconiosis' which are predominant in coal mining community. (author). 13 refs., 6 tabs

  14. Particulate Trace Element Cycling in a Diatom Bloom at Station ALOHA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weisend, R.; Morton, P. L.; Landing, W. M.; Fitzsimmons, J. N.; Hayes, C. T.; Boyle, E. A.

    2014-12-01

    Phytoplankton in oligotrophic marine deserts depend on remote sources to supply trace nutrients. To examine these sources, marine particulate matter samples from the central North Pacific (Station ALOHA) were collected during the July-August 2012 HOE-DYLAN cruises and analyzed for a suite of trace (e.g., Fe, Mn) and major (e.g. Al, P) elements. Daily surface SPM samples were examined for evidence of atmospheric deposition and biological uptake, while five vertical profiles were examined for evidence of surface vertical export and subsurface horizontal transport from nearby sources (e.g., margin sediments, hydrothermal plumes). Maxima in surface particulate P (a biological tracer) corresponded with a diatom bloom, and surprisingly also coincided with maxima in particulate Al (typically a tracer for lithogenic inputs). The surface particulate Al distributions likely result from the adsorption of dissolved Al onto diatom silica frustules, not from atmospheric dust deposition. In addition, a subsurface maximum in particulate Al and P was observed four days later at 75m, possibly resulting from vertical export of the surface diatom bloom. The distributions of other bioactive trace elements (e.g. Cd, Co, Cu) will be presented in the context of the diatom bloom and other biological, chemical and physical features. A second, complementary poster is also being presented which examines the cycling of trace elements in lithogenic particles (Morton et al., "Trace Element Cycling in Lithogenic Particles at Station ALOHA").

  15. Mantle End-Members: The Trace Element Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willbold, M.; Stracke, A.; Hofmann, A. W.

    2004-12-01

    On the basis of their isotopic composition, ocean island basalts (OIB) have been classified into three to four end-members; HIMU with the most radiogenic Pb isotope ratios of OIB and Enriched Mantle 1 and 2 (EM1, EM2) with less radiogenic but variable Pb isotope and highly radiogenic Sr isotope signatures. It has also been argued that each of these isotopic families has common trace element characteristics that distinguish them from one another and so substantiated this classification. Here, we present new high-precision trace element data for samples from St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Gough in the Atlantic Ocean. The overall data-set is augmented by OIB data from the GEOROC database and includes data from all major isotopic families (HIMU: St. Helena, Mangaia, Tubuai, and Rururtu; EM1: Tristan da Cunha, Gough, Pitcairn; and EM2: Samoa, Marquesas, and Society). For each locality we use only islands defining the most extreme isotopic compositions. The entire data-set has been screened to exclude altered and highly differentiated samples. HIMU basalts have a very uniform trace element composition. Compared to HIMU-type basalts, EM-type basalts are enriched in Rb, Ba, and K, and depleted in U, Nb, and Ta, relative to La. Different EM-type OIBs from the same isotopic family (EM1 or EM2), have distinct trace element characteristics that can ultimately only be caused by different source compositions. For example, Ba/Th ratios in samples from both Tristan da Cunha (EM1) and Samoa (EM2) are similarly high (ca. 110) whereas Ba/Th ratios in samples from Pitcairn (EM1) and Society (EM2) samples are consistently lower (ca. 70). Thus on the basis of their trace element composition, EM-type OIB cannot be classified into EM1 and EM2 type basalts, nor can any other grouping be identified. The remarkably uniform isotopic and trace element composition of HIMU-type basalts suggests derivation from a single common source reservoir, most likely subduction-modified oceanic crust

  16. Measuring Strategy by Tracing Political Media Relations Tactics – A Conceptualization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christin Schink

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Conceptualizing the strategic interplay of communication experts with political journalists is like being in the middle of so far conflicting approaches. The mostly economic science based literature on strategic communication management often implies a prescriptive and rational approach of decision making and behavior. From a social sciences perspective, however, the empirical transfer of mere economic rational choice models has been reasonably challenged. Although many rational choice theorists accept actor rationality to be limited rather than total and the metaphor of a “game” between the two groups is frequently used, only tentative efforts of social sciences to integrate rational choice models into the concept of strategy can be observed. This article seeks to make a case for network analysis to be applied in political media relations, as it enables the integration of approaches of strategy that have been kept separate so far. Doing so would allow strategic interactions to act as infrastructure for a descriptive analysis and environment for testing cost-benefits with the help of game theory. In this way, it allows for both a systematic integration of different strategy concepts and a comparative evaluation of their validity and explanatory power for empirical ex-post analysis in different social contexts. Developed in the German context, a possible comparative approach will be exemplified by the Russian Federation in accordance with the most different systems design.

  17. Measurement of Selected Organic Trace Gases During TRACE-P

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atlas, Elliot

    2004-01-01

    Major goals of the TRACE-P mission were: 1) to investigate the chemical composition of radiatively important gases, aerosols, and their precursors in the Asian outflow over the western Pacific, and 2) to describe and understand the chemical evolution of the Asian outflow as it is transported and mixed into the global troposphere. The research performed as part of this proposal addressed these major goals with a study of the organic chemical composition of gases in the TRACE-P region. This work was a close collaboration with the Blake/Rowland research group at UC-Irvine, and they have provided a separate report for their funded effort.

  18. Applicability of analytical instrument in trace evidence analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, Mukesh; Jha, Shailendra

    2014-01-01

    In the present paper, we explain the importance of the analytical instrument used in the field of forensic science for the analysis of the trace evidences collected from the scene of occurrence. The forensic scientist has to rely upon these instrumental analyses of trace amounts of materials like drugs, toxicological specimens, GSR, fibres, glass, paints, soil etc. Through this paper, reviews on these techniques which are extensively used in forensic sciences are reported. Our report summaries on the basis of analytical problem facing for a forensic expert and techniques employed to tackle them like XRD/XRF, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) techniques, Raman spectroscopy and microscopy (optical, GRIM, electron microscopy, TEM). (author)

  19. Trace metal fronts in European shelf waters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kremling, K.

    1983-01-01

    The Hebrides shelf edge area is characterized by strong horizontal salinity gradients (fronts) which mark the boundary between Scottish coastal and oceanic waters. The results presented here, obtained in summer 1981 on a transect between the open north Atlantic and the German Bight, confirm that the hydrographical front is accompanied by dramatic increases in inorganic nutrients (phosphate, silicate) and dissolved trace elements such as Cd, Cu, Mn, and 226 Ra. These data (together with measurements from North Sea regions) suggest that the trace metals are mobilized from partly reduced (organic-rich) sediments and vertically mixed into the surface waters. The regional variations evident from the transect are interpreted as being the result of the hydrography prevailing in waters around the British Isles. (author)

  20. Massively parallel algorithms for trace-driven cache simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicol, David M.; Greenberg, Albert G.; Lubachevsky, Boris D.

    1991-01-01

    Trace driven cache simulation is central to computer design. A trace is a very long sequence of reference lines from main memory. At the t(exp th) instant, reference x sub t is hashed into a set of cache locations, the contents of which are then compared with x sub t. If at the t sup th instant x sub t is not present in the cache, then it is said to be a miss, and is loaded into the cache set, possibly forcing the replacement of some other memory line, and making x sub t present for the (t+1) sup st instant. The problem of parallel simulation of a subtrace of N references directed to a C line cache set is considered, with the aim of determining which references are misses and related statistics. A simulation method is presented for the Least Recently Used (LRU) policy, which regradless of the set size C runs in time O(log N) using N processors on the exclusive read, exclusive write (EREW) parallel model. A simpler LRU simulation algorithm is given that runs in O(C log N) time using N/log N processors. Timings are presented of the second algorithm's implementation on the MasPar MP-1, a machine with 16384 processors. A broad class of reference based line replacement policies are considered, which includes LRU as well as the Least Frequently Used and Random replacement policies. A simulation method is presented for any such policy that on any trace of length N directed to a C line set runs in the O(C log N) time with high probability using N processors on the EREW model. The algorithms are simple, have very little space overhead, and are well suited for SIMD implementation.

  1. Enabling Event Tracing at Leadership-Class Scale through I/O Forwarding Middleware

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ilsche, Thomas [Technische Universitat Dresden; Schuchart, Joseph [Technische Universitat Dresden; Cope, Joseph [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Kimpe, Dries [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Jones, Terry R [ORNL; Knuepfer, Andreas [Technische Universitat Dresden; Iskra, Kamil [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Ross, Robert [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Nagel, Wolfgang E. [Technische Universitat Dresden; Poole, Stephen W [ORNL

    2012-01-01

    Event tracing is an important tool for understanding the performance of parallel applications. As concurrency increases in leadership-class computing systems, the quantity of performance log data can overload the parallel file system, perturbing the application being observed. In this work we present a solution for event tracing at leadership scales. We enhance the I/O forwarding system software to aggregate and reorganize log data prior to writing to the storage system, significantly reducing the burden on the underlying file system for this type of traffic. Furthermore, we augment the I/O forwarding system with a write buffering capability to limit the impact of artificial perturbations from log data accesses on traced applications. To validate the approach, we modify the Vampir tracing tool to take advantage of this new capability and show that the approach increases the maximum traced application size by a factor of 5x to more than 200,000 processors.

  2. Software for computerised analysis of cardiotocographic traces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romano, M; Bifulco, P; Ruffo, M; Improta, G; Clemente, F; Cesarelli, M

    2016-02-01

    Despite the widespread use of cardiotocography in foetal monitoring, the evaluation of foetal status suffers from a considerable inter and intra-observer variability. In order to overcome the main limitations of visual cardiotocographic assessment, computerised methods to analyse cardiotocographic recordings have been recently developed. In this study, a new software for automated analysis of foetal heart rate is presented. It allows an automatic procedure for measuring the most relevant parameters derivable from cardiotocographic traces. Simulated and real cardiotocographic traces were analysed to test software reliability. In artificial traces, we simulated a set number of events (accelerations, decelerations and contractions) to be recognised. In the case of real signals, instead, results of the computerised analysis were compared with the visual assessment performed by 18 expert clinicians and three performance indexes were computed to gain information about performances of the proposed software. The software showed preliminary performance we judged satisfactory in that the results matched completely the requirements, as proved by tests on artificial signals in which all simulated events were detected from the software. Performance indexes computed in comparison with obstetricians' evaluations are, on the contrary, not so satisfactory; in fact they led to obtain the following values of the statistical parameters: sensitivity equal to 93%, positive predictive value equal to 82% and accuracy equal to 77%. Very probably this arises from the high variability of trace annotation carried out by clinicians. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Double-trace deformations of conformal correlations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giombi, Simone; Kirilin, Vladimir; Perlmutter, Eric

    2018-02-01

    Large N conformal field theories often admit unitary renormalization group flows triggered by double-trace deformations. We compute the change in scalar four-point functions under double-trace flow, to leading order in 1/ N. This has a simple dual in AdS, where the flow is implemented by a change of boundary conditions, and provides a physical interpretation of single-valued conformal partial waves. We extract the change in the conformal dimensions and three-point coefficients of infinite families of double-trace composite operators. Some of these quantities are found to be sign-definite under double-trace flow. As an application, we derive anomalous dimensions of spinning double-trace operators comprised of non-singlet constituents in the O( N) vector model.

  4. The mysterious trace amines: protean neuromodulators of synaptic transmission in mammalian brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burchett, Scott A; Hicks, T Philip

    2006-08-01

    The trace amines are a structurally related group of amines and their isomers synthesized in mammalian brain and peripheral nervous tissues. They are closely associated metabolically with the dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin neurotransmitter systems in mammalian brain. Like dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin the trace amines have been implicated in a vast array of human disorders of affect and cognition. The trace amines are unique as they are present in trace concentrations, exhibit high rates of metabolism and are distributed heterogeneously in mammalian brain. While some are synthesized in their parent amine neurotransmitter systems, there is also evidence to suggest other trace amines may comprise their own independent neurotransmitter systems. A substantial body of evidence suggests that the trace amines may play very significant roles in the coordination of biogenic amine-based synaptic physiology. At high concentrations, they have well-characterized presynaptic "amphetamine-like" effects on catecholamine and indolamine release, reuptake and biosynthesis; at lower concentrations, they possess postsynaptic modulatory effects that potentiate the activity of other neurotransmitters, particularly dopamine and serotonin. The trace amines also possess electrophysiological effects that are in opposition to these neurotransmitters, indicating to some researchers the existence of receptors specific for the trace amines. While binding sites or receptors for a few of the trace amines have been advanced, the absence of cloned receptor protein has impeded significant development of their detailed mechanistic roles in the coordination of catecholamine and indolamine synaptic physiology. The recent discovery and characterization of a family of mammalian G protein-coupled receptors responsive to trace amines such as beta-phenylethylamine, tyramine, and octopamine, including socially ingested psychotropic drugs such as amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, N

  5. A zig-zag oscilloscope presentation for detonation velocity measurement in explosives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leger, E. G.; Park, K.

    1958-01-15

    Cathode ray tube presentations of various types, including zig-zag, raster, and spiral were devised over the past decade to increase the time resolution of discrete events recorded on the trace. The object of these presentations is to lengthen the effective trace by folding it in various ways across the face of the cathode ray tube.

  6. Radiotherapy of brain metastases of a breast cancer: present strategies, technological innovations and biological perspectives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chargari, C.; Vedrine, L.; Bauduceau, O.; Jacob, J.; Fayolle, M.; Chargari, C.; Campana, F.; Pierga, J.Y.; Idrissi, H.R.; Fourquet, A.; Kirova, Y.

    2010-01-01

    The authors propose an overview of strategies which are presently used for the treatment of brain metastases related to a breast cancer. They outline the perspectives and recent developments of encephalic irradiation with new technologies allowing an increased conformation to be obtained, and also in terms of radiosensitization and radioprotection experiences. Short communication

  7. Environmental lichenology: Biomonitoring of trace element air pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sukhodub, L.S.; Sulkio-Cleff, B.

    2001-01-01

    The review of application of lichens and mosses as biomonitors of air pollution have been presented. The neutron activation analysis and atomic absorption spectroscopy have been used for trace element content determination in lichens and mosses taken from different regions of Europe

  8. Polarization ray tracing in anisotropic optically active media. I. Algorithms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McClain, S.C.; Hillman, L.W.; Chipman, R.A.

    1993-01-01

    Procedures for performing polarization ray tracing through birefringent media are presented in a form compatible with the standard methods of geometrical ray tracing. The birefringent materials treated include the following: anisotropic optically active materials such as quartz, non-optically active uniaxial materials such as calcite, and isotropic optically active materials such as mercury sulfide and organic liquids. Refraction and reflection algorithms are presented that compute both ray directions and wave directions. Methods for computing polarization modes, refractive indices, optical path lengths, and Fresnel transmission and reflection coefficients are also specified. A numerical example of these algorithms is given for analyzing the field of view of a quartz rotator. 37 refs., 3 figs

  9. Linking genes to ecosystem trace gas fluxes in a large-scale model system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meredith, L. K.; Cueva, A.; Volkmann, T. H. M.; Sengupta, A.; Troch, P. A.

    2017-12-01

    Soil microorganisms mediate biogeochemical cycles through biosphere-atmosphere gas exchange with significant impact on atmospheric trace gas composition. Improving process-based understanding of these microbial populations and linking their genomic potential to the ecosystem-scale is a challenge, particularly in soil systems, which are heterogeneous in biodiversity, chemistry, and structure. In oligotrophic systems, such as the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) at Biosphere 2, atmospheric trace gas scavenging may supply critical metabolic needs to microbial communities, thereby promoting tight linkages between microbial genomics and trace gas utilization. This large-scale model system of three initially homogenous and highly instrumented hillslopes facilitates high temporal resolution characterization of subsurface trace gas fluxes at hundreds of sampling points, making LEO an ideal location to study microbe-mediated trace gas fluxes from the gene to ecosystem scales. Specifically, we focus on the metabolism of ubiquitous atmospheric reduced trace gases hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO), and methane (CH4), which may have wide-reaching impacts on microbial community establishment, survival, and function. Additionally, microbial activity on LEO may facilitate weathering of the basalt matrix, which can be studied with trace gas measurements of carbonyl sulfide (COS/OCS) and carbon dioxide (O-isotopes in CO2), and presents an additional opportunity for gene to ecosystem study. This work will present initial measurements of this suite of trace gases to characterize soil microbial metabolic activity, as well as links between spatial and temporal variability of microbe-mediated trace gas fluxes in LEO and their relation to genomic-based characterization of microbial community structure (phylogenetic amplicons) and genetic potential (metagenomics). Results from the LEO model system will help build understanding of the importance of atmospheric inputs to

  10. Tire traces - discrimination and classification of pyrolysis-GC/MS profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gueissaz, Line; Massonnet, Geneviève

    2013-07-10

    Tire traces can be observed on several crime scenes as vehicles are often used by criminals. The tread abrasion on the road, while braking or skidding, leads to the production of small rubber particles which can be collected for comparison purposes. This research focused on the statistical comparison of Py-GC/MS profiles of tire traces and tire treads. The optimisation of the analytical method was carried out using experimental designs. The aim was to determine the best pyrolysis parameters regarding the repeatability of the results. Thus, the pyrolysis factor effect could also be calculated. The pyrolysis temperature was found to be five time more important than time. Finally, a pyrolysis at 650°C during 15s was selected. Ten tires of different manufacturers and models were used for this study. Several samples were collected on each tire, and several replicates were carried out to study the variability within each tire (intravariability). More than eighty compounds were integrated for each analysis and the variability study showed that more than 75% presented a relative standard deviation (RSD) below 5% for the ten tires, thus supporting a low intravariability. The variability between the ten tires (intervariability) presented higher values and the ten most variant compounds had a RSD value above 13%, supporting their high potential of discrimination between the tires tested. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was able to fully discriminate the ten tires with the help of the first three principal components. The ten tires were finally used to perform braking tests on a racetrack with a vehicle equipped with an anti-lock braking system. The resulting tire traces were adequately collected using sheets of white gelatine. As for tires, the intravariability for the traces was found to be lower than the intervariability. Clustering methods were carried out and the Ward's method based on the squared Euclidean distance was able to correctly group all of the tire traces

  11. Béatrice Galinon-Mélénec (dir., L’Homme trace : perspectives anthropologiques des traces contemporaines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annick Monseigne

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available En première de couverture, une photographie qui a marqué un tournant dans l’histoire de l’Homme du XXème siècle : l’empreinte du premier pas d’un homme sur la Lune. Deux chapitres liminaires (pp. 15-55 où le directeur de l’ouvrage pose la question de la mise en place de traces symboliques, de la polysémie des traces, de l’absence de trace comme indice, du rôle de l’indexation pour lever la polysémie des signes et enfin de l’enjeu de la traçabilité des traces ouvrent les questions relatives ...

  12. The role of high-energy synchrotron radiation in biomedical trace element research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pounds, J.G.; Long, G.J.; Kwiatek, W.M.; Jones, K.W.; Gordon, B.M.; Hanson, A.L.

    1987-01-01

    This paper will present the results of an investigation of the distribution of essential elements in the normal hepatic lobule. the liver is the organ responsible for metabolism and storage of most trace elements. Although parenchymal hepatocytes are rather uniform histologically, morphometry, histochemistry, immunohistochemistry, and microdissection with microchemical investigations have revealed marked heterogeneity on a functional and biochemical level. Hepatocytes from the periportal and perivenous zones of the liver parrenchyma differ in oxidative energy metabolism, glucose uptake and output, unreagenesis, biotransformation, bile acid secretion, and palsma protein synthesis and secretion. Although trace elements are intimately involved in the regulation and maintenance of these functions, little is known regarding the heterogeneity of trace element localization of the liver parenchyma. Histochemical techniques for trace elements generally give high spatial resolution, but lack specificity and stoichiometry. Microdissection has been of marginal usefulness for trace element analyses due to the very small size of the dissected parenchyma. The characteristics of the high-energy x-ray microscope provide an effective approach for elucidating the trace element content of these small biological structures or regions. 5 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

  13. Identifiability and Identification of Trace Continuous Pollutant Source

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongquan Qu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Accidental pollution events often threaten people’s health and lives, and a pollutant source is very necessary so that prompt remedial actions can be taken. In this paper, a trace continuous pollutant source identification method is developed to identify a sudden continuous emission pollutant source in an enclosed space. The location probability model is set up firstly, and then the identification method is realized by searching a global optimal objective value of the location probability. In order to discuss the identifiability performance of the presented method, a conception of a synergy degree of velocity fields is presented in order to quantitatively analyze the impact of velocity field on the identification performance. Based on this conception, some simulation cases were conducted. The application conditions of this method are obtained according to the simulation studies. In order to verify the presented method, we designed an experiment and identified an unknown source appearing in the experimental space. The result showed that the method can identify a sudden trace continuous source when the studied situation satisfies the application conditions.

  14. Application of hair as an indicator for trace element exposure in man. A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    The report presents a comprehensive summary of what is known from the literature on the use of hair as a bioindicator for trace elements. It is split into two parts: The use of hair as a biopsy tissue for trace elements in the human body and the contribution of studies in animals to the application of hair as an indicator for metals and trace elements in man. A separate abstract is prepared for each part. Refs, figs and tabs

  15. Quantitative numerical method for analysing slip traces observed by AFM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Veselý, J; Cieslar, M; Coupeau, C; Bonneville, J

    2013-01-01

    Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used more and more routinely to study, at the nanometre scale, the slip traces produced on the surface of deformed crystalline materials. Taking full advantage of the quantitative height data of the slip traces, which can be extracted from these observations, requires however an adequate and robust processing of the images. In this paper an original method is presented, which allows the fitting of AFM scan-lines with a specific parameterized step function without any averaging treatment of the original data. This yields a quantitative and full description of the changes in step shape along the slip trace. The strength of the proposed method is established on several typical examples met in plasticity by analysing nano-scale structures formed on the sample surface by emerging dislocations. (paper)

  16. A Web System Trace Model and Its Application to Web Design

    OpenAIRE

    Kong, Xiaoying; Liu, Li; Lowe, David

    2007-01-01

    Traceability analysis is crucial to the development of web-centric systems, particularly those with frequent system changes, fine-grained evolution and maintenance, and high level of requirements uncertainty. A trace model at the level of the web system architecture is presented in this paper to address the specific challenges of developing web-centric systems. The trace model separates the concerns of different stakeholders in the web development life cycle into viewpoints; and c...

  17. Methods Research about Accuracy Loss Tracing of Dynamic Measurement System Based on WNN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, S-W; Fei, Y T; Jiang, M L; Tsai, C-Y; Cheng Hsinyu

    2006-01-01

    The paper presents a method of achieving accuracy loss of the dynamic measurement system according to change of errors on different period of the system. WNN, used to trace the accuracy loss of dynamic measurement system, traces the total precision loss during a certain period to every part of the system, and the accuracy loss of every part can be get, so retaining the accuracy and optimum design of the system is possible. Take tracing the accuracy loss of a simulated system for an example to testify the method

  18. Trace element geochemistry of Amba Dongar carbonatite complex ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

    the present study we have made an attempt to accomplish this by modeling the trace element con- tents of carbonatites ... fact that they represent a very small fraction of all the magmatic ... 2km north of the Narmada river in the state of. Gujarat ...

  19. Computer program for optical systems ray tracing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferguson, T. J.; Konn, H.

    1967-01-01

    Program traces rays of light through optical systems consisting of up to 65 different optical surfaces and computes the aberrations. For design purposes, paraxial tracings with astigmation and third order tracings are provided.

  20. Brain trace elements and aging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hebbrecht, Geert; Maenhaut, Willy; Reuck, Jacques de

    1999-01-01

    Degenerative mechanisms involved in the aging process of the brain are to a certain extent counteracted by repair mechanisms. In both degenerative and recovery processes, trace elements are involved. The present study focused on the role of two minor (i.e., K and Ca) and six trace elements (i.e., Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se and Rb) in the aging process. The elements were determined by PIXE in cerebral cortex and white matter, basal ganglia, brainstem and cerebellar cortex of 18 postmortem human brains, from persons without a history of neurologic or psychiatric disease who deceased between the age of 7 and 79. This age range allowed us to study the relationship between elemental concentrations and age. The most prominent findings were a concentration decrease for K and Rb and a concentration increase for the elements Ca, Fe, Zn and Se. The study supports recent findings that Ca and Fe are involved in brain degenerative processes initiated by oxygen free radicals, whereas Zn and Se are involved in immunological reactions counteracting the aging process

  1. Holographic models and the QCD trace anomaly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goity, Jose L.; Trinchero, Roberto C.

    2012-01-01

    Five dimensional dilaton models are considered as possible holographic duals of the pure gauge QCD vacuum. In the framework of these models, the QCD trace anomaly equation is considered. Each quantity appearing in that equation is computed by holographic means. Two exact solutions for different dilaton potentials corresponding to perturbative and non-perturbative β-functions are studied. It is shown that in the perturbative case, where the β-function is the QCD one at leading order, the resulting space is not asymptotically AdS. In the non-perturbative case, the model considered presents confinement of static quarks and leads to a non-vanishing gluon condensate, although it does not correspond to an asymptotically free theory. In both cases analyses based on the trace anomaly and on Wilson loops are carried out.

  2. Ray-tracing toroidal axisymmetric devices. 1. theoretical analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cardinali, A.; Brambilla, M.

    1981-06-01

    Ray tracing technique for lower hybrid waves is used to obtain informations about accessibility, power deposition profiles and eventually electric field distribution. In the first part a critical discussion to establish the meaning and validity of this technique is presented, while in the second part of this work applications to small and to large, fat tokamaks are presented, which support and explain the theoretical arguments

  3. Some Chemical Group Separations of Radioactive Trace Elements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Samsahl, K

    1962-06-15

    As a pretreatment for gamma spectrometric analysis methods have been developed for the chemical separation of traces of P, Sc, Ge, As, Se, Br, Zr, Nb, Ru, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, I, Hf, Ta, Re, Os, Au and Hg into 9 different groups. By combining the present methods with already existing chemical group separation methods for traces of Na, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Rb, Sr, Mo, In, Fe, Cs, Ba, L.a, the rare earths, W and Ir, a complete separation scheme comprising 15 groups of elements has been worked out. The chemical 15-group separation method has been advantageously used in gamma spectrometric routine analysis of biological materials.

  4. Some Chemical Group Separations of Radioactive Trace Elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samsahl, K.

    1962-06-01

    As a pretreatment for gamma spectrometric analysis methods have been developed for the chemical separation of traces of P, Sc, Ge, As, Se, Br, Zr, Nb, Ru, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, I, Hf, Ta, Re, Os, Au and Hg into 9 different groups. By combining the present methods with already existing chemical group separation methods for traces of Na, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Rb, Sr, Mo, In, Fe, Cs, Ba, L.a, the rare earths, W and Ir, a complete separation scheme comprising 15 groups of elements has been worked out. The chemical 15-group separation method has been advantageously used in gamma spectrometric routine analysis of biological materials

  5. Trace elements in the human endometrium and decidua

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hagenfeldt, K.; Landgren, B.-M.; Plantin, L.-O.; Diczfalusy, E.

    1977-01-01

    By means of neutron activation analysis, 25 trace elements, which are usually present in biological material, were estimated in 31 specimens of human endometrial tissue obtained at various phases of the menstrual cycle and in 14 specimens of decidua from the 12th to 18th week of pregnancy. Among the 13 trace elements invariably found in all specimens, the levels of copper, potassium, rubidium, antimony and zinc were significantly higher and those of bromine, selenium and sodium significantly lower in the endometrium than in the decidua. No difference was found in the levels of gold, calcium, cobalt, cesiuj and iron. Among the 12 trace elements which were found only occasionally, chromium, mercury, silver and cadmium were detected in approximately half and cerium and scandium in approximately one-fourth of the 45 samples studied. Arsenic, barium, lanthanum, molybdenum, samarium and strontium were detected only rarely. The cyclic variations in the endometrial levels of calcium, rubidium and copper were highly significant and those in the levels of gold, cesium, iron, potassium and zinc probably significant. (author)

  6. Trace element determination in beauty products by k0-instrumental neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sneyers, L.; Verheyen, L.; Vermaercke, P.; Bruggeman, M.

    2009-01-01

    A recent study on trace elements in beauty products and cosmetics sold on the Asian market has shown the presence of high levels of U, Th and rare earth elements in so called 'Hormesis cosmetics'. For the purpose of comparison, some more information about trace elements in European cosmetics would be useful. In this paper the results obtained using k 0 -standardised Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (k 0 -INAA) for more than 20 trace elements in 20 different beauty products collected from the European market are presented. We found traces of Ba, As and Sb which is in breach with European legislation. For some of the other elements like Cr and Co further speciation is needed in order to evaluate their presence in beauty products. (author)

  7. Offset Trace-Based Video Quality Evaluation Network Transport

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Seeling, P.; Reisslein, M.; Fitzek, Frank

    2006-01-01

    Video traces contain information about encoded video frames, such as frame sizes and qualities, and provide a convenient method to conduct multimedia networking research. Although wiedely used in networking research, these traces do not allow to determine the video qaulityin an accurate manner...... after networking transport that includes losses and delays. In this work, we provide (i) an overview of frame dependencies that have to be taken into consideration when working with video traces, (ii) an algorithmic approach to combine traditional video traces and offset distortion traces to determine...... the video quality or distortion after lossy network transport, (iii) offset distortion and quality characteristics and (iv) the offset distortion trace format and tools to create offset distortion traces....

  8. Loess as an environmental archive of atmospheric trace element deposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blazina, T.; Winkel, L. H.

    2013-12-01

    Environmental archives such as ice cores, lake sediment cores, and peat cores have been used extensively to reconstruct past atmospheric deposition of trace elements. These records have provided information about how anthropogenic activities such as mining and fossil fuel combustion have disturbed the natural cycles of various atmospherically transported trace elements (e.g. Pb, Hg and Se). While these records are invaluable for tracing human impacts on such trace elements, they often provide limited information about the long term natural cycles of these elements. An assumption of these records is that the observed variations in trace element input, prior to any assumed anthropogenic perturbations, represent the full range of natural variations. However, records such as those mentioned above which extend back to a maximum of ~400kyr may not capture the potentially large variations of trace element input occurring over millions of years. Windblown loess sediments, often representing atmospheric deposition over time scales >1Ma, are the most widely distributed terrestrial sediments on Earth. These deposits have been used extensively to reconstruct continental climate variability throughout the Quaternary and late Neogene periods. In addition to being a valuable record of continental climate change, loess deposits may represent a long term environmental archive of atmospheric trace element deposition and may be combined with paleoclimate records to elucidate how fluctuations in climate have impacted the natural cycle of such elements. Our research uses the loess-paleosol deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) to quantify how atmospheric deposition of trace elements has fluctuated in central China over the past 6.8Ma. The CLP has been used extensively to reconstruct past changes of East Asian monsoon system (EAM). We present a suite of trace element concentration records (e.g. Pb, Hg, and Se) from the CLP which exemplifies how loess deposits can be used as an

  9. Trace formulae and spectral statistics for discrete Laplacians on regular graphs (I)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oren, Idan; Godel, Amit; Smilansky, Uzy [Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 (Israel)], E-mail: idan.oren@weizmann.ac.il, E-mail: amit.godel@weizmann.ac.il, E-mail: uzy.smilansky@weizmann.ac.il

    2009-10-16

    Trace formulae for d-regular graphs are derived and used to express the spectral density in terms of the periodic walks on the graphs under consideration. The trace formulae depend on a parameter w which can be tuned continuously to assign different weights to different periodic orbit contributions. At the special value w = 1, the only periodic orbits which contribute are the non-back-scattering orbits, and the smooth part in the trace formula coincides with the Kesten-McKay expression. As w deviates from unity, non-vanishing weights are assigned to the periodic walks with backscatter, and the smooth part is modified in a consistent way. The trace formulae presented here are the tools to be used in the second paper in this sequence, for showing the connection between the spectral properties of d-regular graphs and the theory of random matrices.

  10. Application of trace element analysis to determine trace element concentrations in the field of medicine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasperek, K.; Feinendegen, L.E.

    1976-01-01

    Applied trace elements research in medicine requires a sensitive and efficient technique of trace elements analysis such as, e.g., neutron activation analysis. Essential trace elements act as stabilisators (iron in haem), structural elements (silicium in fibrous tissue), in hormones (iodine in thyroid hormone), in vitamins (cobalt in vitamin B 12), and in enzymes. Most of the essential trace elements act as coenzymes or in coenzymes or directly as metabolic catalysators. For example, selenium deficiency in PKU and maple syrup patients receiving dietary treatment can be detected by determining the selenium content of the serum, while low selenium values in the whole blood indicate liver cirrhosis. Acrodermatitis enteropathica can be diagnosed by determinig zinc in the serum, and pancreatic insufficiency by determining zinc in the pancreatic juice. Zinc also plays a part in disturbances of growth, in the healing of wounds, and in the insulin metabolism. Cobalt is important in some types of anaemia and in myocardiopathies. Trace elements are also necessary in the treatment of diseases, e.g. iron cobalt in some types of anaemia, and zinc in the delayed healing of wounds in the postoperative phase and in acrodermatitis enteropathica. Chromium is now being tested for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, and fluorides may be of interest in the treatment of osteoporosis. Finally, trace elements are important in the aetiology of acute poisoning, in nutrition, and in environmental protection. (orig./AK) [de

  11. Major and trace elements in coal bottom ash at different oxy coal combustion conditions

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Oboirien, BO

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a detailed study on the effect of temperature on the concentration of 27 major and trace elements in bottom ash generated from oxy fuel-combustion. The major elements are Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca and Fe and the minor and trace elements...

  12. Study of heavy trace metals in some medicinal-herbal plants of Pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khattak, M.I.

    2011-01-01

    The paper presents heavy trace metals analysis in some widely used medicinal- herbal plants of Pakistan by using Inductively Coupled Plasma. Because these commonly used medicinal- herbal plants from Pakistan are being specifically utilized for the treatment of various diseases, so samples of medicinal-herbal plants were collected from open market and from the fields. Collected samples were digested and analyzed for their nutritional trace metals (Pb, Cd, Fe, Zn, Ni, Cu and Mn) composition and then the results obtained were compared to international and national standards as required by World Health Organizations. The deficiency or excess of the samples for essential trace metals are reported. (author)

  13. Nonequilibrium relaxation method – An alternative simulation strategy

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    One well-established simulation strategy to study the thermal phases and transitions of a given microscopic model system is the so-called equilibrium method, in which one first realizes the equilibrium ensemble of a finite system and then extrapolates the results to infinite system. This equilibrium method traces over the ...

  14. Mobilisation of toxic trace elements under various beach nourishments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pit, Iris R; Dekker, Stefan C; Kanters, Tobias J; Wassen, Martin J; Griffioen, Jasper

    2017-12-01

    To enhance protection and maintain wide beaches for recreation, beaches are replenished with sand: so-called beach nourishments. We compared four sites: two traditional beach nourishments, a mega beach nourishment and a reference without beach nourishment. Two sites contain calcareous-rich sand, whereas the other two sites have calcareous-poor sand. We aimed to understand hydrogeochemical processes to indicate factors critical for the mobility of trace elements at nourishments. We therefore analysed the chemical characteristics of sediment and pore water to ascertain the main drivers that mobilise toxic trace elements. With Dutch Quality Standards for soil and groundwater, the characteristics of sediment and pore water were compared to Target Values (the values at which there is a sustainable soil quality) and Intervention Values (the threshold above which the soil's functions are at risk). The pore water characteristics revealed that Target Values were regularly exceeded, especially for the nourishment sites and mainly for Mo (78%), Ni (24%), Cr (55%), and As (21%); Intervention Values for shallow groundwater were occasionally exceeded for As (2%), Cr (2%) and Zn (2%). The sediment characteristics did not exceed the Target Values and showed that trace elements were mainly present in the fine fraction of <150 μm. The oxidation of sulphide minerals such as pyrite resulted into the elevated concentration for all nourishment sites, especially when an unsaturated zone was present and influence of rainwater was apparent. To prevent trace metal mobility at a mega beach nourishment it is important to retain seawater influences and limit oxidation processes. In this respect, a shoreface nourishment is recommended rather than a mega beach nourishment with a thick unsaturated zone. Consequently, we conclude that whether a site is carbonate-rich or carbonate-poor is unimportant, as the influence of seawater will prevent decalcification, creating a low risk of mobilisation

  15. Distribution of particulate trace metals in the western Bay of Bengal

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Satyanarayana, D.; Murty, P.V.S.P.; Sarma, V.V.

    continuous increase from surface to bottom in the case ofFe, Ni, which appeared to be related to a combination offactors suchas authigenicprecipita tion/scavenging, rcsuspension of bottom rich sediments, and diffusion followed by precipitation at sedimcnt... ), most of these studies do not provide information onthe interaction of trace elements with particulate matter. The present study deals with the distribution of particulate trace metals (Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd) and their possible interactions...

  16. Survey of reference materials. V. 2: Environmentally related reference materials for trace elements, nuclides and microcontaminants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-05-01

    The present report presently contains over 250 reference materials with trace element and organic contaminant information on fuel, geological and mineral, anthropogenic disposal, soil reference and miscellaneous reference materials. Not included in the current report is information on most biological and environmental reference materials with trace element, stable isotope, radioisotope and organic contaminant information. 8 refs, tabs

  17. Investigating learning strategies in a dispositional learning analytics context: the case of worked examples

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tempelaar, Dirk; Rienties, Bart; Nguyen, Quan

    2018-01-01

    This study aims to contribute to recent developments in empirical studies on students’ learning strategies, whereby the use of trace data is combined with self-report data to distinguish profiles of learning strategy use [3–5]. We do so in the context of an application of dispositional learning

  18. Trace maps of general substitutional sequences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolar, M.; Nori, F.

    1990-01-01

    It is shown that for arbitrary n, there exists a trace map for any n-letter substitutional sequence. Trace maps are explicitly obtained for the well-known circle and Rudin-Shapiro sequences which can be defined by means of substitution rules on three and four letters, respectively. The properties of the two trace maps and their consequences for various spectral properties are briefly discussed

  19. Fast voxel and polygon ray-tracing algorithms in intensity modulated radiation therapy treatment planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fox, Christopher; Romeijn, H. Edwin; Dempsey, James F.

    2006-01-01

    We present work on combining three algorithms to improve ray-tracing efficiency in radiation therapy dose computation. The three algorithms include: An improved point-in-polygon algorithm, incremental voxel ray tracing algorithm, and stereographic projection of beamlets for voxel truncation. The point-in-polygon and incremental voxel ray-tracing algorithms have been used in computer graphics and nuclear medicine applications while the stereographic projection algorithm was developed by our group. These algorithms demonstrate significant improvements over the current standard algorithms in peer reviewed literature, i.e., the polygon and voxel ray-tracing algorithms of Siddon for voxel classification (point-in-polygon testing) and dose computation, respectively, and radius testing for voxel truncation. The presented polygon ray-tracing technique was tested on 10 intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment planning cases that required the classification of between 0.58 and 2.0 million voxels on a 2.5 mm isotropic dose grid into 1-4 targets and 5-14 structures represented as extruded polygons (a.k.a. Siddon prisms). Incremental voxel ray tracing and voxel truncation employing virtual stereographic projection was tested on the same IMRT treatment planning cases where voxel dose was required for 230-2400 beamlets using a finite-size pencil-beam algorithm. Between a 100 and 360 fold cpu time improvement over Siddon's method was observed for the polygon ray-tracing algorithm to perform classification of voxels for target and structure membership. Between a 2.6 and 3.1 fold reduction in cpu time over current algorithms was found for the implementation of incremental ray tracing. Additionally, voxel truncation via stereographic projection was observed to be 11-25 times faster than the radial-testing beamlet extent approach and was further improved 1.7-2.0 fold through point-classification using the method of translation over the cross product technique

  20. Determination of trace element contents in grass samples for cattle feeding using NAA techniques

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yusof, Alias Mohamad; Jagir Singh, Jasbir Kaur

    1987-09-01

    An investigation on trace elements contents in six types of grass samples used for cattle feeding have been carried out using NAA techniques. The grass samples, Mardi Digit, African Star, Signal, Guinea, Setaria and Setaria Splendida were found to contain at least 19 trace elements in varying concentrations. The results were compared to the figures obtained from available sources to ascertain the status as to whether the grass samples studied would satisfy the minimum requirements of trace elements present in grass for cattle feeding or otherwise. Preference made on the suitability of the grass samples for cattle feeding was based on the availability and abundance of the trace elements, taking into account factors such as the degree of toxicity, inadequate amounts and contamination due to the presence of other trace elements not essential for cattle feeding.

  1. Determination of trace element contents in grass samples for cattle feeding using NAA techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alias Mohamad Yusof; Jasbir Kaur Jagir Singh

    1987-01-01

    An investigation on trace elements contents in six types of grass samples used for cattle feeding have been carried out using NAA techniques. The grass samples, Mardi Digit, African Star, Signal, Guinea, Setaria and Setaria Splendida were found to contain at least 19 trace elements in varying concentrations. The results were compared to the figures obtained from available sources to ascertain the status as to whether the grass samples studied would satisfy the minimum requirements of trace elements present in grass for cattle feeding or otherwise. Preference made on the suitability of the grass samples for cattle feeding was based on the availability and abundance of the trace elements, taking into account factors such as the degree of toxicity, inadequate amounts and contamination due to the presence of other trace elements not essential for cattle feeding. (author)

  2. Trace interpolation by slant-stack migration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Novotny, M.

    1990-01-01

    The slant-stack migration formula based on the radon transform is studied with respect to the depth steep Δz of wavefield extrapolation. It can be viewed as a generalized trace-interpolation procedure including wave extrapolation with an arbitrary step Δz. For Δz > 0 the formula yields the familiar plane-wave decomposition, while for Δz > 0 it provides a robust tool for migration transformation of spatially under sampled wavefields. Using the stationary phase method, it is shown that the slant-stack migration formula degenerates into the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral in the far-field approximation. Consequently, even a narrow slant-stack gather applied before the diffraction stack can significantly improve the representation of noisy data in the wavefield extrapolation process. The theory is applied to synthetic and field data to perform trace interpolation and dip reject filtration. The data examples presented prove that the radon interpolator works well in the dip range, including waves with mutual stepouts smaller than half the dominant period

  3. Sampling strategy and analysis of trace element concentrations by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry on medieval human bones--the concept of chemical life history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skytte, Lilian; Rasmussen, Kaare Lund

    2013-07-30

    Medieval human bones have the potential to reveal diet, mobility and treatment of diseases in the past. During the last two decades trace element chemistry has been used extensively in archaeometric investigations revealing such data. Many studies have reported the trace element inventory in only one sample from each skeleton - usually from the femur or a tooth. It cannot a priori be assumed that all bones or teeth in a skeleton will have the same trace element concentrations. Six different bone and teeth samples from each individual were carefully decontaminated by mechanical means. Following dissolution of ca. 20 mg sample in nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide the assays were performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) with quadropole detection. We describe the precise sampling technique as well as the analytical methods and parameters used for the ICPMS analysis. The places of sampling in the human skeleton did exhibit varying trace element concentrations. Although the samples are contaminated by Fe, Mn and Al from the surrounding soil where the bones have been residing for more than 500 years, other trace elements are intact within the bones. It is shown that the elemental ratios Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca can be used as indicators of provenance. The differences in trace element concentrations can be interpreted as indications of varying diet and provenance as a function of time in the life of the individual - a concept which can be termed chemical life history. A few examples of the results of such analyses are shown, which contains information about provenance and diagenesis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. Determination of trace elements in total particulate matter of cigarette smoke by instrumental neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mishra, U.C.; Shaikh, G.N.

    1985-01-01

    Cigarette smoke contains many trace elements hazardous for human body. Tobacco samples were analyzed for their trace element contents and the results were reported earlier. This paper presents results on the trace element content analyzed in cigarette smoke using an automatic smoking machine developed in laboratory to simulate actual smoking pattern. The trace element levels in the total particulate matter samples of the cigarette smoke collected on filter papers were measured and compared with those of cigarette smoke condensate reported in the literature. Both methods of collection give comparable results. (author)

  5. Soil-atmosphere trace gas exchange in semiarid and arid zones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galbally, Ian E; Kirstine, Wayne V; Meyer, C P Mick; Wang, Ying Ping

    2008-01-01

    A review is presented on trace gas exchange of CH4, CO, N2O, and NOx arising from agriculture and natural sources in the world's semiarid and arid zones due to soil processes. These gases are important contributors to the radiative forcing and the chemistry of the atmosphere. Quantitative information is summarized from the available studies. Between 5 and 40% of the global soil-atmosphere exchange for these gases (CH4, CO, N2O, and NOx) may occur in semiarid and arid zones, but for each of these gases there are fewer than a dozen studies to support the individual estimates, and these are from a limited number of locations. Significant differences in the biophysical and chemical processes controlling these trace gas exchanges are identified through the comparison of semiarid and arid zones with the moist temperate or wet/dry savanna land regions. Therefore, there is a poorly quantified understanding of the contribution of these regions to the global trace gas cycles and atmospheric chemistry. More importantly, there is a poor understanding of the feedback between these exchanges, global change, and regional land use and air pollution issues. A set of research issues is presented.

  6. Real time ray tracing of skeletal implicit surfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rouiller, Olivier; Bærentzen, Jakob Andreas

    Modeling and rendering in real time is usually done via rasterization of polygonal meshes. We present a method to model with skeletal implicit surfaces and an algorithm to ray trace these surfaces in real time in the GPU. Our skeletal representation of the surfaces allows to create smooth models...

  7. Tracing Geothermal Fluids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Michael C. Adams; Greg Nash

    2004-03-01

    Geothermal water must be injected back into the reservoir after it has been used for power production. Injection is critical in maximizing the power production and lifetime of the reservoir. To use injectate effectively the direction and velocity of the injected water must be known or inferred. This information can be obtained by using chemical tracers to track the subsurface flow paths of the injected fluid. Tracers are chemical compounds that are added to the water as it is injected back into the reservoir. The hot production water is monitored for the presence of this tracer using the most sensitive analytic methods that are economically feasible. The amount and concentration pattern of the tracer revealed by this monitoring can be used to evaluate how effective the injection strategy is. However, the tracers must have properties that suite the environment that they will be used in. This requires careful consideration and testing of the tracer properties. In previous and parallel investigations we have developed tracers that are suitable from tracing liquid water. In this investigation, we developed tracers that can be used for steam and mixed water/steam environments. This work will improve the efficiency of injection management in geothermal fields, lowering the cost of energy production and increasing the power output of these systems.

  8. Application of trace element analysis to determine trace element concentrations in the field of medicine. [Neutrons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kasperek, K; Feinendegen, L E

    1976-01-01

    Applied trace elements research in medicine requires a sensitive and efficient technique of trace elements analysis, such as neutron activation analysis. Essential trace elements act as stabilizators (iron in haem), structural elements (silicon in fibrous tissue), in hormones (iodine in thyroid hormone), in vitamins (cobalt in vitamin B 12), and in enzymes. Most of the essential trace elements act as coenzymes or in coenzymes or directly as metabolic catalyzers. For example, selenium deficiency in PKU and maple syrup patients receiving dietary treatment can be detected by determining the selenium content of the serum, while low selenium values in the whole blood indicate liver cirrhosis. Acrodermatitis enteropathica can be diagnosed by determinig zinc in the serum, and pancreatic insufficiency by determining zinc in the pancreatic juice. Zinc also plays a part in disturbances of growth, in the healing of wounds, and in the insulin metabolism. Cobalt is important in some types of anaemia and in myocardiopathies. Trace elements are also necessary in the treatment of diseases, e.g. iron cobalt in some types of anaemia, and zinc in the delayed healing of wounds in the postoperative phase and in acrodermatitis enteropathica. Chromium is now being tested for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, and fluorides may be of interest in the treatment of osteoporosis. Finally, trace elements are important in the aetiology of acute poisoning, in nutrition, and in environmental protection.

  9. A trace-based model for multiparty contracts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hvitved, Tom; Klaedtke, Felix; Zălinescu, Eugen

    2012-01-01

    In this article we present a model for multiparty contracts in which contract conformance is defned abstractly as a property on traces. A key feature of our model is blame assignment, which means that for a given contract, every breach is attributed to a set of parties. We show that blame...... assignment is compositional by de¿ning contract conjunction and contract disjunction. Moreover, to specify real-world contracts, we introduce the contract speci¿cation language CSL with an operational semantics. We show that each CSL contract has a counterpart in our trace-based model and from...... the operational semantics we derive a run-time monitor. CSL overcomes limitations of previously proposed formalisms for specifying contracts by supporting: (history sensitive and conditional) commitments, parametrised contract templates, relative and absolute temporal constraints, potentially in¿nite contracts...

  10. Three-dimensional ray tracing in spherical and elliptical generalized Luneburg lenses for application in the human eye lens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez-Correa, J E; Coello, V; Garza-Rivera, A; Puente, N P; Chávez-Cerda, S

    2016-03-10

    Ray tracing in spherical Luneburg lenses has always been represented in 2D. All propagation planes in a 3D spherical Luneburg lens generate the same ray tracing, due to its radial symmetry. A geometry without radial symmetry generates a different ray tracing. For this reason, a new ray tracing method in 3D through spherical and elliptical Luneburg lenses using 2D methods is proposed. The physics of the propagation is shown here, which allows us to make a ray tracing associated with a vortex beam. A 3D ray tracing in a composite modified Luneburg lens that represents the human eye lens is also presented.

  11. EpiContactTrace: an R-package for contact tracing during livestock disease outbreaks and for risk-based surveillance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nöremark, Maria; Widgren, Stefan

    2014-03-17

    During outbreak of livestock diseases, contact tracing can be an important part of disease control. Animal movements can also be of relevance for risk-based surveillance and sampling, i.e. both when assessing consequences of introduction or likelihood of introduction. In many countries, animal movement data are collected with one of the major objectives to enable contact tracing. However, often an analytical step is needed to retrieve appropriate information for contact tracing or surveillance. In this study, an open source tool was developed to structure livestock movement data to facilitate contact-tracing in real time during disease outbreaks and for input in risk-based surveillance and sampling. The tool, EpiContactTrace, was written in the R-language and uses the network parameters in-degree, out-degree, ingoing contact chain and outgoing contact chain (also called infection chain), which are relevant for forward and backward tracing respectively. The time-frames for backward and forward tracing can be specified independently and search can be done on one farm at a time or for all farms within the dataset. Different outputs are available; datasets with network measures, contacts visualised in a map and automatically generated reports for each farm either in HTML or PDF-format intended for the end-users, i.e. the veterinary authorities, regional disease control officers and field-veterinarians. EpiContactTrace is available as an R-package at the R-project website (http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/EpiContactTrace/). We believe this tool can help in disease control since it rapidly can structure essential contact information from large datasets. The reproducible reports make this tool robust and independent of manual compilation of data. The open source makes it accessible and easily adaptable for different needs.

  12. Distributed trace using central performance counter memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satterfield, David L.; Sexton, James C.

    2013-01-22

    A plurality of processing cores, are central storage unit having at least memory connected in a daisy chain manner, forming a daisy chain ring layout on an integrated chip. At least one of the plurality of processing cores places trace data on the daisy chain connection for transmitting the trace data to the central storage unit, and the central storage unit detects the trace data and stores the trace data in the memory co-located in with the central storage unit.

  13. Proceedings of the 6. International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements. CD ed.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2001-07-01

    This international conference provided a forum for researchers from around the world to exchange research notes of subjects dealing with the biogeochemistry of trace elements. The conference proceedings included 456 papers, of which 34 have been indexed separately for inclusion in the database. Each presentation included an introduction to a study, materials and methods, results and discussion and a conclusion. The conference was divided into special oral symposia (SO), general oral sessions (GO), a special poster session (SP) and a general poster session (GP). A wide range of topics were presented including: biosorption of trace elements and the bioavailability of metals for uptake and effects; chemical remediation; adsorption reactions on soils and sediments; fractionation of metals in soils; diagenetic transformations; arsenic content and distribution; metal speciation; the role of metal-organic interactions; phytoremediation; contents and distribution in soils and waters; soil amendments; mercury and human and animal health; mercury in the environment; aqueous speciation; phyto-, microbial and chemical remediation tools for metal contaminated soils and groundwater; geochemical surface controls on trace element fate; temporal trends of trace metals in biota; biomonitoring; transport in soils and waters; analytical techniques; metal/mineral interactions with microorganisms; the chemistry of trace elements in fly ash; ecotoxicology; groundwater; and, soil amendments. refs., tabs., figs.

  14. Chirped laser dispersion spectroscopy for remote open-path trace-gas sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikodem, Michal; Wysocki, Gerard

    2012-11-28

    In this paper we present a prototype instrument for remote open-path detection of nitrous oxide. The sensor is based on a 4.53 μm quantum cascade laser and uses the chirped laser dispersion spectroscopy (CLaDS) technique for molecular concentration measurements. To the best of our knowledge this is the first demonstration of open-path laser-based trace-gas detection using a molecular dispersion measurement. The prototype sensor achieves a detection limit down to the single-ppbv level and exhibits excellent stability and robustness. The instrument characterization, field deployment performance, and the advantages of applying dispersion sensing to sensitive trace-gas detection in a remote open-path configuration are presented.

  15. Study of trace elements in milk by nuclear analytical techniques

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gharib, A.; Rahimi, H.; Peyrovan, H.; Raofei, H.N.J.; Taherpour, H. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Teheran. Nuclear Research Centre)

    This work is part of a project with the IAEA, in a coordinated programme on ''trace elements in Human Nutrition and Bio-Environmental Systems'' to evaluate their nutritional requirements, interrelations and the role of trace elements in health, metabolism etc. Cow's milk is regarded as one of the most important and nutritious foodstuffs consumed by people. Hence, as a first step, an elemental analysis for milk was carried out for this purpose so a few samples of pasteurized milk and local samples were investigated for essential and toxic trace elements. The secondary aim of this project was the assessment of various analytical techniques involved. However, in the present work, the methods involved were AAS, PIXE and NAA. The latter method applied, both instrumentally and radiochemically. Although the results pertaining to the various methods employed are not in good agreement, there is however, some justification to clarify this internal inconsistency. The precision for NAA and AAS allows greater degree of acceptance respectively. Although PIXE is very fast and rather routine, the technique of trace element analysis needs certain adaptations and developments.

  16. Use your eyes - metallographic versus superficial traces of the crafting of Bronze Age ornaments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nørgaard, Heide Wrobel

    and superficial archaeological examinations can be used to understand prehistoric craft. Furthermore, it will show that with an intensive knowledge about previous scientific investigations the superficial traces preserved can reveal a great amount of information and could talk for themselves. Taking as an example...... the early and middle Bronze Age bronze ornaments from North Germany, superficial traces of the metal crafting process, visible with the naked eye, will be compared with metallographic images. The aim of this presentation is to give an overview over the crafting traces everybody could see (with a bit...

  17. Climate-chemical interactions and effects of changing atmospheric trace gases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramanathan, V.; Callis, L.; Cess, R.; Hansen, J.; Isaksen, I.; Lacis, A.; Kuhn, W.; Luther, F.; Mahlman, J.; Reck, R.; Schlesinger, M.

    1992-01-01

    The problem concerning the greenhouse effects of human activities has broadened in scope from the CO 2 -climate problem to the trace gas-climate problem. The climate effects of non-CO 2 trace gases are strongly governed by interactions between chemistry, radiation, and dynamics. The authors discuss in detail the nature of the trace gas radiative heating and describe the importance of radiative-chemical interactions within the troposphere and the stratosphere. They make an assessment of the trace gas effects on troposphere-stratosphere temperature trends for the period covering the preindustrial era to the present and for the next several decades. Non-CO 2 greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are now adding to the greenhouse effect by an amount comparable to the effect of CO 2 . The rate of decadal increase of the total greenhouse forcing is now 3-6 times greater than the mean rate for the period 1850-1960. Time-dependent calculations with a simplified one-dimensional diffusive ocean model suggest that a surface warming about 0.4-0.8 K should have occurred during 1850 to 1980. For the various trace gas scenarios considered in this study, the equilibrium surface warming for the period 1980 to 2030 ranges from 0.8 to 4.1 K. This wide range in the projected warming is due to the range in the assumed scenario as well as due to the threefold uncertainty in the sensitivity of climate models. For the 180-year period from 1850 to 2030, their analysis suggests a trace gas-induced cumulative equilibrium surface warming in the range of 1.5 to 6.1 K

  18. Uptake of trace elements in adult and suckling rat lenses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nabekura, Tomohiro; Ito, Yoshimasa; Minami, Takeshi; Hirunuma, Rieko; Enomoto, Shuichi

    2001-01-01

    The uptake of trace elements in the lens was compared in adult and suckling rat lenses. Multitracers, including 15 trace elements, As, Be, Co, Fe, Mn, Rb, Rh, Ru, Sc, Se, Sr, Y, V, Zn, and Zr, were incubated with the lenses for 4 hr and their concentrations in the lens were measured. A high uptake rate of Zn was observed in the lenses of both adult and suckling rats in comparison with those of the other elements, and the Zn concentration in the lens of suckling rats was higher than that of adult rats. The uptake rate of Sr was higher in adult rats than in suckling rats. On the other contrary, Rb and Se concentrations in the lens were higher in suckling rats than in adult rats. The present study suggests that the different mechanisms depending on development serve to transport trace elements into the lens. (author)

  19. Concentration distribution of trace elements: from normal distribution to Levy flights

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kubala-Kukus, A.; Banas, D.; Braziewicz, J.; Majewska, U.; Pajek, M.

    2003-01-01

    The paper discusses a nature of concentration distributions of trace elements in biomedical samples, which were measured by using the X-ray fluorescence techniques (XRF, TXRF). Our earlier observation, that the lognormal distribution well describes the measured concentration distribution is explained here on a more general ground. Particularly, the role of random multiplicative process, which models the concentration distributions of trace elements in biomedical samples, is discussed in detail. It is demonstrated that the lognormal distribution, appearing when the multiplicative process is driven by normal distribution, can be generalized to the so-called log-stable distribution. Such distribution describes the random multiplicative process, which is driven, instead of normal distribution, by more general stable distribution, being known as the Levy flights. The presented ideas are exemplified by the results of the study of trace element concentration distributions in selected biomedical samples, obtained by using the conventional (XRF) and (TXRF) X-ray fluorescence methods. Particularly, the first observation of log-stable concentration distribution of trace elements is reported and discussed here in detail

  20. The study of trace elements in milk by nuclear analytical techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gharib, A.; Rahimi, H.; Peyrovan, H.; Raofei, H.N.J.; Taherpour, H.

    1983-01-01

    This work is part of a project with the IAEA, in a coordinated programme on ''Trace Elements in Human Nutrition and Bio-Environmental Systems'' to evaluate their nutritional requirements, interrelations and the role of Trace Elements in health, metabolism etc. Cow's milk being regarded as one of the most important and nutritious foodstuffs consumed by people. Hence as a first step, an elemental analysis for milk was carried out for this purpose so a few samples of pasteurized milk and local samples were investigated for essential and toxic trace elements. The secondary aim of this project was the assessment of various analytical techniques involved. However, in the present work, the methods involved were AAS, PIXE and NAA. The latter method applied, both instrumentally and radiochemically. Although the results pertaining to the various methods employed are not in good agreement, there is however, some justification to clarify this internal inconsistency. The precision for NAA and AAS allows greater degree of acceptance respectively. Although PIXE is a very fast and rather a routine but the technique of trace element analysis needs certain adaptations and developments

  1. A Theory of Network Tracing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acharya, Hrishikesh B.; Gouda, Mohamed G.

    Traceroute is a widely used program for computing the topology of any network in the Internet. Using Traceroute, one starts from a node and chooses any other node in the network. Traceroute obtains the sequence of nodes that occur between these two nodes, as specified by the routing tables in these nodes. Each use of Traceroute in a network produces a trace of nodes that constitute a simple path in this network. In every trace that is produced by Traceroute, each node occurs either by its unique identifier, or by the anonymous identifier"*". In this paper, we introduce the first theory aimed at answering the following important question. Is there an algorithm to compute the topology of a network N from a trace set T that is produced by using Traceroute in network N, assuming that each edge in N occurs in at least one trace in T, and that each node in N occurs by its unique identifier in at least one trace in T? We prove that the answer to this question is "No" if N is an even ring or a general network. However, it is "Yes" if N is a tree or an odd ring. The answer is also "No" if N is mostly-regular, but "Yes" if N is a mostly-regular even ring.

  2. Presence of trace elements in fishes from the Chaco-Pampeana plain (Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejandra V. Volpedo

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The Chaco-Pampean plain is one of the greatest plains worldwide; present a wetland macro system (lagoons, marshes, rivers, streams, channels. The water quality of these environments is diverse and has different trace elements natural (As, F, Mo and V and anthropogenic (Cr, Cu and Pb. The Chaco Pampean plain has an important diversity of fish species however the species of commercial importance are limited. This paper presents the reviews of the studies related to the presence of trace elements in tissues of commercial fishes (shad Prochilodus lineatus and silversides Odontesthes bonariensis in the Chaco-Pampean plain in recent decades and a discussion about associated information gaps is presented. The presence of trace elements in commercial fish muscle is a major problem for food security. The results showed that most of the elements present in shad are in lower levels than the maximum limits set by the Argentine Food Code (CAA, 2014. In the case of Pb present in the muscle of the shad, the determined values exceed those considered by the European Food Safety Authority. In the case of silversides the values of As, Pb, Hg are mostly lower than those maximum recommended by the Argentine Food Code. However, according to the European Food Safety Authority, the lower limit on the benchmark dose for a 10% response (BMDL values associated with health risk for As.

  3. Automated computer analysis of plasma-streak traces from SCYLLAC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whitman, R.L.; Jahoda, F.C.; Kruger, R.P.

    1977-01-01

    An automated computer analysis technique that locates and references the approximate centroid of single- or dual-streak traces from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory SCYLLAC facility is described. The technique also determines the plasma-trace width over a limited self-adjusting region. The plasma traces are recorded with streak cameras on Polaroid film, then scanned and digitized for processing. The analysis technique uses scene segmentation to separate the plasma trace from a reference fiducial trace. The technique employs two methods of peak detection; one for the plasma trace and one for the fiducial trace. The width is obtained using an edge-detection, or slope, method. Timing data are derived from the intensity modulation of the fiducial trace. To smooth (despike) the output graphs showing the plasma-trace centroid and width, a technique of ''twicing'' developed by Tukey was employed. In addition, an interactive sorting algorithm allows retrieval of the centroid, width, and fiducial data from any test shot plasma for post analysis. As yet, only a limited set of sixteen plasma traces has been processed using this technique

  4. Automated computer analysis of plasma-streak traces from SCYLLAC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whiteman, R.L.; Jahoda, F.C.; Kruger, R.P.

    1977-11-01

    An automated computer analysis technique that locates and references the approximate centroid of single- or dual-streak traces from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory SCYLLAC facility is described. The technique also determines the plasma-trace width over a limited self-adjusting region. The plasma traces are recorded with streak cameras on Polaroid film, then scanned and digitized for processing. The analysis technique uses scene segmentation to separate the plasma trace from a reference fiducial trace. The technique employs two methods of peak detection; one for the plasma trace and one for the fiducial trace. The width is obtained using an edge-detection, or slope, method. Timing data are derived from the intensity modulation of the fiducial trace. To smooth (despike) the output graphs showing the plasma-trace centroid and width, a technique of ''twicing'' developed by Tukey was employed. In addition, an interactive sorting algorithm allows retrieval of the centroid, width, and fiducial data from any test shot plasma for post analysis. As yet, only a limited set of the plasma traces has been processed with this technique

  5. Greenhouse effects due to man-made perturbations of trace gases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, W. C.; Yung, Y. L.; Lacis, A. A.; Mo, T.; Hansen, J. E.

    1976-01-01

    Nitrous oxide, methane, ammonia, and a number of other trace constituents of the earth's atmosphere have infrared absorption bands in the spectral range from 7 to 14 microns. Despite their small amounts, these gases can have a significant effect on the thermal structure of the atmosphere by transmitting most of the thermal radiation from the earth's surface to the lower atmosphere. In the present paper, this greenhouse effect is computed for a number of trace gases. The nature and climatic implications of possible changes in the concentrations of N2O, CH4, NH3, and HNO3 are discussed.

  6. Sorption of trace cesium on 21 Hanford Site sediment types

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Routson, R.C.; Barney, G.S.; Smith, R.M.; Delegard, C.A.

    1980-03-01

    Sorption of trace cesium (Cs) was measured on 21 Hanford Site sediment types. A Box-Behnken statistical design was used to develop empirical-statistical equations predicting 137 Cs sorption as a function of the equilibrium concentrations of macroions Na + , K + , and Ca +2 in solution over the concentration ranges of 3.0 to 0.001M, 0.2 to 0.002M, and 0.2 to 0.002M, respectively. These equations are required to estimate trace Cs transport from Hanford ground disposal sites. Average Cs sorption equations for the 21 sediments will be presented and discussed

  7. Application of ray-traced tropospheric slant delays to geodetic VLBI analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmeister, Armin; Böhm, Johannes

    2017-08-01

    The correction of tropospheric influences via so-called path delays is critical for the analysis of observations from space geodetic techniques like the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). In standard VLBI analysis, the a priori slant path delays are determined using the concept of zenith delays, mapping functions and gradients. The a priori use of ray-traced delays, i.e., tropospheric slant path delays determined with the technique of ray-tracing through the meteorological data of numerical weather models (NWM), serves as an alternative way of correcting the influences of the troposphere on the VLBI observations within the analysis. In the presented research, the application of ray-traced delays to the VLBI analysis of sessions in a time span of 16.5 years is investigated. Ray-traced delays have been determined with program RADIATE (see Hofmeister in Ph.D. thesis, Department of Geodesy and Geophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Geoinformation, Technische Universität Wien. http://resolver.obvsg.at/urn:nbn:at:at-ubtuw:1-3444, 2016) utilizing meteorological data provided by NWM of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). In comparison with a standard VLBI analysis, which includes the tropospheric gradient estimation, the application of the ray-traced delays to an analysis, which uses the same parameterization except for the a priori slant path delay handling and the used wet mapping factors for the zenith wet delay (ZWD) estimation, improves the baseline length repeatability (BLR) at 55.9% of the baselines at sub-mm level. If no tropospheric gradients are estimated within the compared analyses, 90.6% of all baselines benefit from the application of the ray-traced delays, which leads to an average improvement of the BLR of 1 mm. The effects of the ray-traced delays on the terrestrial reference frame are also investigated. A separate assessment of the RADIATE ray-traced delays is carried out by comparison to the ray-traced delays from the

  8. State of the art in sample preparation for trace element analysis (M1)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnes, R.M.

    2002-01-01

    Full text: The accelerated capabilities of modern trace element analysis techniques, especially inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), have challenged the sample preparation competence of most laboratories. Exceptional analytical sensitivity, remarkable analysis speed, automated sample presentation, and intelligent sample sequencing of modern spectroscopic instrumentation have lead to demanding requirements for appropriate sample preparation steps needed for ultra trace concentration and speciation measurements. Contamination control, reliable digestion and extraction techniques, presentation of chemical forms, sample matrix management, and intelligent sample processing available today are often inadequate for the most demanding measurements. Some commercial instrumentation provides convenient implementation of well-established contamination control measures, and reagent and container purity are steadily being improved. Direct sample introduction approaches offer alternatives to conventional solution samples, but achieving calibration reliability is difficult. Developing new sample preparation chemistry is especially arduous and rare, yet progress exists in characterizing microwave-assisted reactions. This presentation will describe contemporary targets for modern sample preparation approaches for ultra trace elemental analysis and the likelihood that they can be reasonably achieved. (author)

  9. Contaminant transport, revegetation, and trace element studies at inactive uranium mill tailings piles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dreesen, D.R.; Marple, M.L.; Kelley, N.E.

    1978-01-01

    The stabilization of inactive uranium mill tailings piles is presently under study. These studies have included investigations of stabilizing tailings by attempting to establish native vegetation without applying irrigation. Examination of processes which transport tailings or associated contaminants into the environment has been undertaken to better understand the containment provided by various stabilization methods. The uptake of toxic trace elements and radionuclides by vegetation has been examined as a mechanism of contaminant transport. The source terms of 222 Rn from inactive piles have been determined as well as the attenuation of radon flux provided by shallow soil covers. The possibility of shallow ground water contamination around an inactive pile has been examined to determine the significance of ground water transport as a mode of contaminant migration. The rationale in support of trace element studies related to uranium milling activities is presented including the enrichment, migration, and toxicities of trace elements often associated with uranium deposits. Some concepts for the stabilization of inactive piles are presented to extrapolate from research findings to practical applications. 25 references, 8 tables

  10. Anterograde or Retrograde Transsynaptic Circuit Tracing in Vertebrates with Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Vectors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beier, Kevin T; Mundell, Nathan A; Pan, Y Albert; Cepko, Constance L

    2016-01-04

    Viruses have been used as transsynaptic tracers, allowing one to map the inputs and outputs of neuronal populations, due to their ability to replicate in neurons and transmit in vivo only across synaptically connected cells. To date, their use has been largely restricted to mammals. In order to explore the use of such viruses in an expanded host range, we tested the transsynaptic tracing ability of recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vectors in a variety of organisms. Successful infection and gene expression were achieved in a wide range of organisms, including vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms. Moreover, rVSV enabled transsynaptic tracing of neural circuitry in predictable directions dictated by the viral envelope glycoprotein (G), derived from either VSV or rabies virus (RABV). Anterograde and retrograde labeling, from initial infection and/or viral replication and transmission, was observed in Old and New World monkeys, seahorses, jellyfish, zebrafish, chickens, and mice. These vectors are widely applicable for gene delivery, afferent tract tracing, and/or directional connectivity mapping. Here, we detail the use of these vectors and provide protocols for propagating virus, changing the surface glycoprotein, and infecting multiple organisms using several injection strategies. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  11. Trace elements in the urban aerosol of Sao Paulo

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Orsini, C.M.Q.; Artaxo Netto, P.E.; Tabacniks, M.H.

    1983-07-01

    The first trace-element data-set measured on the atmosphere aerosol of Sao Paulo City, Brazil, is presented. These measurements have been based on samplings by 6-stage cascade impactors combined with the analytical procedure by the PIXE method of elementary analysis. (L.C.) [pt

  12. Simulations Of Neutron Beam Optic For Neutron Radiography Collimator Using Ray Tracing Methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norfarizan Mohd Said; Muhammad Rawi Mohamed Zin

    2014-01-01

    Ray- tracing is a technique for simulating the performance of neutron instruments. McStas, the open-source software package based on a meta-language, is a tool for carrying out ray-tracing simulations. The program has been successfully applied in investigating neutron guide design, flux optimization and other related areas with high complexity and precision. The aim of this paper is to discuss the implementation of ray-tracing technique with McStas for simulating the performance of neutron collimation system developed for imaging system of TRIGA RTP reactor. The code for the simulation was developed and the results are presented. The analysis of the performance is reported and discussed. (author)

  13. Lectures on the Arthur-Selberg trace formula

    CERN Document Server

    Gelbart, Stephen

    1996-01-01

    The Arthur-Selberg trace formula is an equality between two kinds of traces: the geometric terms given by the conjugacy classes of a group and the spectral terms given by the induced representations. In general, these terms require a truncation in order to converge, which leads to an equality of truncated kernels. The formulas are difficult in general and even the case of GL(2) is nontrivial. The book gives proof of Arthur's trace formula of the 1970s and 1980s, with special attention given to GL(2). The problem is that when the truncated terms converge, they are also shown to be polynomial in the truncation variable and expressed as "weighted" orbital and "weighted" characters. In some important cases the trace formula takes on a simple form over G. The author gives some examples of this, and also some examples of Jacquet's relative trace formula. This work offers for the first time a simultaneous treatment of a general group with the case of GL(2). It also treats the trace formula with the example of Jacque...

  14. RAY TRACING IMPLEMENTATION IN JAVA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aybars UĞUR

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper realism in computer graphics and components providing realism are discussed at first. It is mentioned about illumination models, surface rendering methods and light sources for this aim. After that, ray tracing which is a technique for creating two dimensional image of a three-dimensional virtual environment is explained briefly. A simple ray tracing algorithm was given. "SahneIzle" which is a ray tracing program implemented in Java programming language which can be used on the internet is introduced. As a result, importance of network-centric ray tracing software is discussed.

  15. Aerotrace. Measurement of trace species in the exhaust of aero engines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cottington, R V [DRA, Farnborough (United Kingdom)

    1998-12-31

    There is growing evidence that trace species, both gaseous and particulate, play an important role in the chemistry of the atmosphere. Very little is currently known about the nature and concentration of these species emitted by aircraft engines. The purpose of AEROTRACE, therefore, is to make representative measurements of trace species emissions, such as particulates, hydrocarbon constituents and various nitrogen compounds, from engine combustors over the entire flight altitude range from ground level to cruise conditions. An overview of the programme and progress to date is presented. (author)

  16. Aerotrace. Measurement of trace species in the exhaust of aero engines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cottington, R.V. [DRA, Farnborough (United Kingdom)

    1997-12-31

    There is growing evidence that trace species, both gaseous and particulate, play an important role in the chemistry of the atmosphere. Very little is currently known about the nature and concentration of these species emitted by aircraft engines. The purpose of AEROTRACE, therefore, is to make representative measurements of trace species emissions, such as particulates, hydrocarbon constituents and various nitrogen compounds, from engine combustors over the entire flight altitude range from ground level to cruise conditions. An overview of the programme and progress to date is presented. (author)

  17. Self-presentation Strategy Language Realization in Hilary Clinton’s Campaign Speech

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valerya A. Trofimova

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes the phenomenon of verbal strategies in the political discourse. The authors consider the ways of language self-realization strategy on the material of pre-election speeches by Hillary Clinton. Within the study it has been revealed the most typical means of linguistic expression, as well as the method of operation in question. The performance peculiarity of the presidential candidate speech, as it has been noted, is her ability to combine the expressive potential of syntactic and lexical and grammatical means.

  18. Intraoral gothic arch tracing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubel, Barry; Hill, Edward E

    2011-01-01

    In order to create optimum esthetics, function and phonetics in complete denture fabrication, it is necessary to record accurate maxillo-mandibular determinants of occlusion. This requires clinical skill to establish an accurate, verifiable and reproducible vertical dimension of occlusion (VDO) and centric relation (CR). Correct vertical relation depends upon a consideration of several factors, including muscle tone, inter-dental arch space and parallelism of the ridges. Any errors made while taking maxillo-mandibular jaw relation records will result in dentures that are uncomfortable and, possibly, unwearable. The application of a tracing mechanism such as the Gothic arch tracer (a central bearing device) is a demonstrable method of determining centric relation. Intraoral Gothic arch tracers provide the advantage of capturing VDO and CR in an easy-to-use technique for practitioners. Intraoral tracing (Gothic arch tracing) is a preferred method of obtaining consistent positions of the mandible in motion (retrusive, protrusive and lateral) at a comfortable VDO.

  19. Speciation of trace elements in the environmental studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reddy, A.V.R.

    2012-01-01

    Elements present at trace levels, often referred as trace elements, play an important role in the environment and in the functioning of life on our planet. Trace elements in environment present as free metal ions or incorporated into colloids or attached to particulate matter or exist in different physical and chemical forms. It is well established that some elements are highly toxic and some are essential, but can become toxic at higher doses. It is also now known that the forms of elements (speciation) and their amounts are more important than the chemical dose of the elements as their interaction depends on different species. For example, Cr(VI) ions are considered far more toxic than Cr(III), whereas As(III) is more toxic than As(V). Similarly, in the case of mercury, both methylmercury and inorganic mercury are toxic but they show different levels of toxicity. Thus the adverse effects depend on the nature of species of the elements and therefore speciation studies are of paramount importance in many areas like toxicology, environmental chemistry and geochemisty. In view of this, speciation studies is a challenge to analytical chemists as the measurement methodologies have to be carefully developed, validated and applied. The grand challenge is to obtain quality data ensuring traceability, as the data obtained will be used in modeling for predicting the environmental impacts. In this talk importance of speciation and challenges to environmental analytical chemists will be discussed along with the following three speciation studies on Cr, U and Hg which were carried out in our laboratories

  20. [Determination and correlation analysis of trace elements in Boletus tomentipes].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Tao; Wang, Yuan-zhong; Zhang, Ji; Zhao, Yan-li; Liu, Hong-gao

    2011-07-01

    The contents of eleven trace elements in Boletus tomentipes were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The results showed that the fruiting bodies of B. tomentipes were very rich in Mg and Fe (>100 mg x kg(-1)) and rich in Mn, Zn and Cu (>10 mg x kg(-1)). Cr, Pb, Ni, Cd, and As were relatively minor contents (0.1-10.0 mg x kg(-1)) of this species, while Hg occurred at the smallest content (< 0.1 mg x kg(-1)). Among the determined 11 trace elements, Zn-Cu had significantly positive correlation (r = 0.659, P < 0.05), whereas, Hg-As, Ni-Fe, and Zn-Mg had significantly negative correlation (r = -0.672, -0.610, -0.617, P < 0.05). This paper presented the trace elements properties of B. tomentipes, and is expected to be useful for exploitation and quality evaluation of this species.

  1. A remote tracing facility for distributed systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ehm, F.; Dworak, A.

    2012-01-01

    Today, CERN's control system is built upon a large number of C++ and Java services producing log events. In such a largely distributed environment these log messages are essential for problem recognition and tracing. Tracing is therefore vital for operation as understanding an issue in a subsystem means analysing log events in an efficient and fast manner. At present 3150 device servers are deployed on 1600 disk-less front-ends and they send their log messages via the network to an in-house developed central server which, in turn, saves them to files. However, this solution is not able to provide several highly desired features and has performance limitations which led to the development of a new solution. The new distributed tracing facility fulfills these requirements by taking advantage of the Streaming Text Oriented Messaging Protocol (STOMP) and ActiveMQ as the transport layer. The system not only allows storing critical log events centrally in files or in a database but also allows other clients (e.g. graphical interfaces) to read the same events concurrently by using the provided Java API. Thanks to the ActiveMQ broker technology the system can easily be extended to clients implemented in other languages and it is highly scalable in terms of performance. Long running tests have shown that the system can handle up to 10.000 messages/second. (authors)

  2. Particle induced X-ray emission for quantitative trace-element analysis using the Eindhoven cyclotron

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kivits, H.

    1980-01-01

    Development of a multi-elemental trace analysis technique using PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission), was started almost five years ago at the Eindhoven University of Technology, in the Cyclotron Applications Group of the Physics Department. The aim of the work presented is to improve the quantitative aspects of trace-element analysis with PIXE, as well as versatility, speed and simplicity. (Auth.)

  3. Heavy metals and related trace elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leland, H.V.; Luoma, S.N.; Wilkes, D.J.

    1977-01-01

    A review is given of heavy metals and related trace elements in the aquatic environment. Other reviews and bibliographies are cited, dealing with the metabolism and transport of metal ions and with the toxic effects of stable and radioactive trace metals on aquatic organisms. The sources of trace elements in natural waters are discussed. It is suggested that atmospheric inputs of several trace metals comprise sizable fractions of total inputs to the Great Lakes and continental shelf waters. Information on stack emissions of trace elements from a coal-fired steam plant was used to estimate the likely range of air concentrations and inputs to a forested watershed in Tennessee. Some basic concepts of cycling of elements through aquatic communities were examined, such as the Pb, Mn and Zn concentrations in sediment and estuarine plants and animals colonizing dredge-spoil disposal areas. The use of plants as biological indicators of trace element contamination was outlined, as well as bioaccumulation in aquatic fauna. The effects of environmental factors on the kinetics of element exchange were noted, for example the influx rates of Cs 137 in tubificid worms, and Co 60 and Zn 65 in shrimp were shown to be temperature dependent. The toxicity of heavy metals on aquatic fauna was discussed, such as the histopathological lesions in the kidney and liver of fishes caused by heavy metals, and the effects of Hg and Cu on the olfactory response of rainbow trout

  4. Trace element concentrations in higher fungi

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byrne, A.R.; Ravnik, V.; Kosta, L.

    1976-01-01

    The concentrations of ten trace elements, As, Br, Cd, Cu, Hg, I, Mn, Se, Zn and V, have been determined in up to 27 species of higher fungi from several sites in Slovenia, Yugoslavia. Analyses were based on destructive neutron activation techniques. Data are presented and compared with the concentrations found in soils. Previously values were non-existent or scanty for these elements, so that the data represent typical levels for basidiomycetes. In addition to confirming high levels of mercury in many species, the survey also found that cadmium is accumulated to a surprising extent by most fungi, the average value being 5 ppm. Among other accumulations found was bromine by the genus Amanita, and selenium by edible Boletus. Correlation analysis between all pairs of trace elements gave values for r of from 0.75 to 0.43 for 7 pairs (Cu and Hg, 0.75; Se and As, 0.69). As well as these features of biochemical interest, the values found and the pattern of accumulation suggest potential uses of fungi in environmental studies

  5. Apparatus comprising trace element dosage and method for treating raw water in biofilter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2015-01-01

    the inlet (2) to the outlet (3) or in the reverse direction, - the trace element dosage device (13) is positioned upstream of the porous filter material and microbial biomass and is configured to dose trace element(s) to the water flowing through the filter. A method for treating raw water by microbial......Apparatus for treating raw water in a biofilter The present invention relates to an apparatus in which raw water is treated through microbial activity where microbial activity is controlled by nutrients and other parameters. Some of the nutrients controlling the microbial activity are trace...... elements such as certain metals (Cu, Co, Cr, Mo, Ni, W, Zn or a mixture thereof). The apparatus comprising - a volume provided with an inlet (2) for raw water and an outlet (3) for water having been subjected to microbial activity, a filter and a trace element dosage device (13) are placed in this volume...

  6. Report on intercomparison IAEA/W-4 of the determination of trace elements in simulated fresh water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pszonicki, L.; Hanna, A.N.; Suschny, O.

    1985-05-01

    The report presents results of a laboratory intercomparison on the determination of trace elements in simulated fresh water. 20 trace elements were analyzed by 38 laboratories from 21 countries. The results of the reported comparison confirm the agreement of the nominal concentration values of trace elements in the IAEA/W-4 simulated fresh water with the determined values of these elements. They also confirm that concentrated solutions of this type can be stored in quartz ampoules without any noticeable changes due to the adsorption of trace components on the quartz wall of vessels for considerable time. The concentration values of trace elements could be certified and the material IAEA/W-4 simulated fresh water issued as a reference material. 84% of all results were obtained either by atomic absorption or by atomic emission spectroscopy

  7. Assessment of TRACE code against CHF experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Audrius Jasiulevicius; Rafael Macian-Juan; Paul Coddington

    2005-01-01

    Full text of publication follows: This paper reports on the validation of the USNRC 'consolidate' code TRACE with data obtained during Critical Heat Flux (CHF) experiments in single channels and round and annular tubes. CHF is one of the key reactor safety parameters, because it determines the conditions for the onset of transition boiling in the core rod bundles, leading to the low heat transfer rates characteristics of the post-CHF heat transfer regime. In the context of the participation of PSI in the the International Programme for uncertainty analysis BEMUSE, we have carried out extensive work for the validation of some important TRACE models. The present work is aimed at assessing the range of validity for the CHF correlations and post-CHF heat transfer models currently included in TRACE. The heat transfer experiments selected for the assessment were performed at the Royal Institute of Technology (RIT) in Stockholm, Sweden and at the Atomic Energy Establishment in Winfrith, UK. The experimental investigations of the CHF and post-CHF heat transfer at RIT for flow of water in vertical tubes and annulus were performed at pressures ranging from 1 to 20 MPa and coolant mass fluxes from 500 to 3000 kg/m 2 s. The liquid was subcooled by 10 deg. C and 40 deg. C at the inlet of the test section. The experiments were performed on two different types of test sections. Experiments with uniformly heated single 7.0 m long tubes were carried out with three different inner tube diameters of 10, 14.9 and 24.7 mm. A series of experiments with non-uniform axial power distribution were also conducted in order to study the effect of the axial heat flux distribution on the CHF conditions in both 7.0 m long single tubes and 3.65 long annulus. Several different axial power profiles were employed with bottom, middle and top power peaks as well as the double-humped axial power profiles. In total more than 100 experiments with uniform axial heat flux distribution and several hundreds

  8. Estuaries as filters: the role of tidal marshes in trace metal removal.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johannes Teuchies

    Full Text Available Flux calculations demonstrate that many estuaries are natural filters for trace metals. Yet, the underlying processes are poorly investigated. In the present study, it was hypothesized that intertidal marshes contribute significantly to the contaminant filter function of estuaries. Trace metal concentrations and sediment characteristics were measured along a transect from the subtidal, over an intertidal flat and marsh to a restored marsh with controlled reduced tide. Metal concentrations in the intertidal and restored marsh were found to be a factor two to five higher than values in the subtidal and intertidal flat sediments. High metal concentrations and high accretion rates indicate a high metal accumulation capacity of the intertidal marshes. Overbank sedimentation in the tidal marshes of the entire estuary was calculated to remove 25% to 50% of the riverine metal influx, even though marshes comprise less than 8% of the total surface of the estuary. In addition, the large-scale implementation of planned tidal marsh restoration projects was estimated to almost double the trace metal storage capacity of the present natural tidal marshes in the estuary.

  9. Estuaries as Filters: The Role of Tidal Marshes in Trace Metal Removal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teuchies, Johannes; Vandenbruwaene, Wouter; Carpentier, Roos; Bervoets, Lieven; Temmerman, Stijn; Wang, Chen; Maris, Tom; Cox, Tom J. S.; Van Braeckel, Alexander; Meire, Patrick

    2013-01-01

    Flux calculations demonstrate that many estuaries are natural filters for trace metals. Yet, the underlying processes are poorly investigated. In the present study, it was hypothesized that intertidal marshes contribute significantly to the contaminant filter function of estuaries. Trace metal concentrations and sediment characteristics were measured along a transect from the subtidal, over an intertidal flat and marsh to a restored marsh with controlled reduced tide. Metal concentrations in the intertidal and restored marsh were found to be a factor two to five higher than values in the subtidal and intertidal flat sediments. High metal concentrations and high accretion rates indicate a high metal accumulation capacity of the intertidal marshes. Overbank sedimentation in the tidal marshes of the entire estuary was calculated to remove 25% to 50% of the riverine metal influx, even though marshes comprise less than 8% of the total surface of the estuary. In addition, the large-scale implementation of planned tidal marsh restoration projects was estimated to almost double the trace metal storage capacity of the present natural tidal marshes in the estuary. PMID:23950927

  10. Reaalsuse re/presenteerimise strateegiad etenduskunstides / Strategies to Re-(Present Reality in the Performing Arts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anneli Saro

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary theatre, and performing arts in general, no longer seems to be interested in the representation of illusion and reality. There seems to be an increasing emphasis on free play or/and an immediate presentation of reality. And, thus, the mainstream is moving towards the aesthetics of performance art and happenings, where recurrence is shunned and improvisation is emphasized on one hand, while the boundary between performance and reality is obscured on the other. This means that representative theatre, where performers and objects signify someone/something other, is retreating to give way to presentative theatre, where the performers and objects primarily signify themselves.  In the light of the aforementioned, this paper attempts to answer the following questions: how has the presentation of reality in theatre changed over the last forty years, how does presentative theatre differ from representative theatre and does presentative theatre arrive at a deeper/more objective understanding of reality or merely create yet another illusion? In order to answer these questions, the complicated relationship between art and reality as well as issues intrinsic to realist theatre are analysed. The author attempts to prove that it is difficult to find anything fundamentally new in 21st century theatre practice. A lot of the currently fashionable strategies are further developments of older waves, such as realism, or experiments placed in a new temporal and cultural context.  Considering the physical relationship between performing arts and reality, the third section of the paper analyses three strategies of (re-presenting reality: 1. Presenting the elements of reality on stage: performances of documentary material in as authentic a manner as possible, i.e. the self-presentations of so-called regular people or actors, etc. 2. Giving reality an artistic framework: audience tours through the city led by guide(s/performer(s or audio guides. 3

  11. [Trace elements of bone tumors].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalashnikov, V M; Zaĭchik, V E; Bizer, V A

    1983-01-01

    Due to activation analysis involving the use of neutrons from a nuclear reactor, the concentrations of 11 trace elements: scandium, iron, cobalt, mercury, rubidium, selenium, silver, antimony, chrome, zinc and terbium in intact bone and skeletal tumors were measured. 76 specimens of bioptates and resected material of operations for bone tumors and 10 specimens of normal bone tissue obtained in autopsies of cases of sudden death were examined. The concentrations of trace elements and their dispersion patterns in tumor tissue were found to be significantly higher than those in normal bone tissue. Also, the concentrations of some trace elements in tumor differed significantly from those in normal tissue; moreover, they were found to depend on the type and histogenesis of the neoplasm.

  12. A Global Overview of Exposure Levels and Biological Effects of Trace Elements in Penguins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espejo, Winfred; Celis, José E; GonzÃlez-Acuña, Daniel; Banegas, Andiranel; Barra, Ricardo; Chiang, Gustavo

    2018-01-01

    Trace elements are chemical contaminants that can be present almost anywhere on the planet. The study of trace elements in biotic matrices is a topic of great relevance for the implications that it can have on wildlife and human health. Penguins are very useful, since they live exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere and represent about 90% of the biomass of birds of the Southern Ocean. The levels of trace elements (dry weight) in different biotic matrices of penguins were reviewed here. Maps of trace element records in penguins were included. Data on exposure and effects of trace elements in penguins were collected from the literature. The most reported trace elements in penguins are aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, copper, zinc, and manganese. Trace elements have been measured in 11 of the 18 species of penguins. The most studied biotic matrices are feathers and excreta. Most of the studies have been performed in Antarctica and subantarctic Islands. Little is known about the interaction among metals, which could provide better knowledge about certain mechanisms of detoxification in penguins. Future studies of trace elements in penguins must incorporate other metals such as vanadium, cobalt, nickel, and chromium. Data of metals in the species such as Eudyptes pachyrhynchus, Eudyptes moseleyi, Eudyptes sclateri, Eudyptes robustus, Eudyptes schlegeli, Spheniscus demersus, Spheniscus mendiculus, and Megadyptes antipodes are urged. It is important to correlate levels of metals in different biotic matrices with the effects on different species and in different geographic locations.

  13. Searching for biological traces on different materials using a forensic light source and infrared photography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sterzik, V; Panzer, S; Apfelbacher, M; Bohnert, M

    2016-05-01

    Because biological traces often play an important role in the investigation process of criminal acts, their detection is essential. As they are not always visible to the human eye, tools like a forensic light source or infrared photography can be used. The intention of the study presented was to give advice how to visualize biological traces best. Which wavelengths and/or filters give the best results for different traces on different fabrics of different colors? Therefore, blood (undiluted and diluted), semen, urine, saliva, and perspiration have been examined on 29 different materials.

  14. Ray Tracing for Real-time Games

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bikker, J.

    2012-01-01

    This thesis describes efficient rendering algorithms based on ray tracing, and the application of these algorithms to real-time games. Compared to rasterizationbased approaches, rendering based on ray tracing allows elegant and correct simulation of important global effects, such as shadows,

  15. Event-related brain potentials reflect traces of echoic memory in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winkler, I; Reinikainen, K; Näätänen, R

    1993-04-01

    In sequences of identical auditory stimuli, infrequent deviant stimuli elicit an event-related brain potential component called mismatch negativity (MMN). MMN is presumed to reflect the existence of a memory trace of the frequent stimulus at the moment of presentation of the infrequent stimulus. This hypothesis was tested by applying the recognition-masking paradigm of cognitive psychology. In this paradigm, a masking sound presented shortly before or after a test stimulus diminishes the recognition memory of this stimulus, the more so the shorter the interval between the test and masking stimuli. This interval was varied in the present study. It was found that the MMN amplitude strongly correlated with the subject's ability to discriminate between frequent and infrequent stimuli. This result strongly suggests that MMN provides a measure for a trace of sensory memory, and further, that with MMN, this memory can be studied without performance-related distortions.

  16. Tracing the 'grey literature' of poster presentations: a mapping review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowe, Nicholas

    2017-04-06

    Posters are a popular way of presenting information at conferences. However, little research has been conducted into their development, and the patterns and extent of their use are unclear. A mapping review was performed to chart the development and utilisation of the poster medium, and to highlight the main literature themes and contributions. A search for the term 'poster presentation' was conducted simultaneously in 249 databases. Results were categorised by discipline and analysed by decade. The results were used to form an informetric-based mapping review. (i) Medicine and health care disciplines are the predominant poster users and since 1990 have accounted for 68-75% of the overall published data. (ii) Over 99% of the returns led only to abstract or title citations for conference posters. (iii) Poster presentations offer much potentially useful information, but remain difficult to access. If the aim of poster presentation is to share and discuss information with others, then the limitations of poster abstracts and questions raised in the retrieved literature suggest that further efforts are required to make this more effective. Library and information specialists of all disciplines are likely to play a key role in such developments, and especially those from the medicine and health care disciplines which feature so prominently. © 2017 Health Libraries Group.

  17. Effective Tolman temperature induced by trace anomaly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eune, Myungseok; Gim, Yongwan; Kim, Wontae

    2017-01-01

    Despite the finiteness of stress tensor for a scalar field on the four-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole in the Israel-Hartle-Hawking vacuum, the Tolman temperature in thermal equilibrium is certainly divergent on the horizon due to the infinite blue-shift of the Hawking temperature. The origin of this conflict is due to the fact that the conventional Tolman temperature was based on the assumption of a traceless stress tensor, which is, however, incompatible with the presence of the trace anomaly responsible for the Hawking radiation. Here, we present an effective Tolman temperature which is compatible with the presence of the trace anomaly by using the modified Stefan-Boltzmann law. Eventually, the effective Tolman temperature turns out to be finite everywhere outside the horizon, and so an infinite blue-shift of the Hawking temperature at the event horizon does not appear any more. In particular, it is vanishing on the horizon, so that the equivalence principle is exactly recovered at the horizon. (orig.)

  18. Effective Tolman temperature induced by trace anomaly

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eune, Myungseok [Sangmyung University, Department of Civil Engineering, Cheonan (Korea, Republic of); Gim, Yongwan [Sogang University, Department of Physics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Sogang University, Research Institute for Basic Science, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Wontae [Sogang University, Department of Physics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-04-15

    Despite the finiteness of stress tensor for a scalar field on the four-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole in the Israel-Hartle-Hawking vacuum, the Tolman temperature in thermal equilibrium is certainly divergent on the horizon due to the infinite blue-shift of the Hawking temperature. The origin of this conflict is due to the fact that the conventional Tolman temperature was based on the assumption of a traceless stress tensor, which is, however, incompatible with the presence of the trace anomaly responsible for the Hawking radiation. Here, we present an effective Tolman temperature which is compatible with the presence of the trace anomaly by using the modified Stefan-Boltzmann law. Eventually, the effective Tolman temperature turns out to be finite everywhere outside the horizon, and so an infinite blue-shift of the Hawking temperature at the event horizon does not appear any more. In particular, it is vanishing on the horizon, so that the equivalence principle is exactly recovered at the horizon. (orig.)

  19. Trace elemental analysis of bituminous coals using the Heidelberg proton microprobe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, J R; Kneis, H; Martin, B; Nobiling, R; Traxel, K [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany, F.R.); Heidelberg Univ. (Germany, F.R.). Physikalisches Inst.); Chao, E C.T.; Minkin, J A [Geological Survey, Reston, VA (USA)

    1981-03-01

    Trace elements in coal can occur as components of either the organic constituents (macerals) or the inorganic constituents (minerals). Studies of the concentrations and distribution of the trace elements are vital to understanding the geochemical milieu in which the coal was formed and in evaluating the attempts to recover rare but technologically valuable metals. In addition, information on the trace element concentrations is important in predicting the environmental impact of burning particular coals, as many countries move toward greater utilization of coal reserves for energy production. Traditionally, the optical and the electron microscopes and more recently the electron microprobe have been used in studying the components of coal. The proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) microprobe offers a new complementary approach with an order of magnitude or more better minimum detection limit. We present the first measurements with a PIXE microprobe of the trace element concentrations of bituminous coal samples. Elemental analyses of the coal macerals-vitrinite, exinite, and inertinite - are discussed for three coal samples from the Eastern U.S.A., three samples from the Western U.S.A., and one sample from the Peoples Republic of China.

  20. Application of ray tracing towards a correction for refracting effects in computed tomography with diffracting sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersen, A.H.

    1983-01-01

    Ray tracing methods are investigated in forward and inverse processes and applied for image restoration and resolution enhancement in computed tomography with diffracting sources. Within the geometrical optics approximation for a given refractive field, a mathematical model for the forward propagation and inverse reconstruction process is presented. For a finite set of rays in a discrete image representation, an algebraic reconstruction technique is derived which is analogous to the inverse process for a continuum of rays. The geometrical theory of diffraction is invoked to describe ray patterns arising from the introduction of object discontinuity surfaces. We have compared the performance of existing recursive ray tracing techniques for the reconstruction of objects exhibiting discontinuity boundaries. A novel ray tracing and reconstruction technique is presented which enjoys significant computational savings over traditional implementations incorporating tedious ray linking procedures. Simulation studies illustrate the macro-structural distortion and loss of fine resolution when ray refraction is unaccounted for. Restoration and resolution enhancement is achieved with a recursive ray tracing approach. Successful experimental studies with tissue equivalent phantoms are presented. The comparison of simulation and experimental results demonstrated the reasonable assumption of the geometrical optics approximation. Simulation results for larger refractive deviations are encouraging

  1. Octanol-solubility of dissolved and particulate trace metals in contaminated rivers: implications for metal reactivity and availability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turner, Andrew; Mawji, Edward

    2005-01-01

    The lipid-like, amphiphilic solvent, n-octanol, has been used to determine a hydrophobic fraction of dissolved and particulate trace metals (Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) in contaminated rivers. In a sample from the River Clyde, southwest Scotland, octanol-solubility was detected for all dissolved metals except Co, with conditional octanol-water partition coefficients, D ow , ranging from about 0.2 (Al and Cu) to 1.25 (Pb). In a sample taken from the River Mersey, northwest England, octanol-solubility was detected for dissolved Al and Pb, but only after sample aliquots had been spiked with individual ionic metal standards and equilibrated. Spiking of the River Clyde sample revealed competition among different metals for hydrophobic ligands. Metal displacement from hydrophobic complexes was generally most significant following the addition of ionic Al or Pb, although the addition of either of these metals had little effect on the octanol-solubility of the other. In both river water samples hydrophobic metals were detected on the suspended particles retained by filtration following their extraction in n-octanol. In general, particulate Cu and Zn (up to 40%) were most available, and Al, Co and Pb most resistant ( 3.3 -10 5.3 ml g -1 . The presence of hydrophobic dissolved and particulate metal species has implications for our understanding of the biogeochemical behaviour of metals in aquatic environments. Specifically, such species are predicted to exhibit characteristics of non-polar organic contaminants, including the potential to penetrate the lipid bilayer. Current strategies for assessing the bioavailability and toxicity of dissolved and particulate trace metals in natural waters may, therefore, require revision. - New approaches are presented for fractionating trace metals in natural waters

  2. SOLFAST, a Ray-Tracing Monte-Carlo software for solar concentrating facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roccia, J P; Piaud, B; Coustet, C; Caliot, C; Guillot, E; Flamant, G; Delatorre, J

    2012-01-01

    In this communication, the software SOLFAST is presented. It is a simulation tool based on the Monte-Carlo method and accelerated Ray-Tracing techniques to evaluate efficiently the energy flux in concentrated solar installations.

  3. Tracing Utopia in 'Utopia Station'

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schwarzbart, Judith

    This paper will discuss how avant-garde rhetoric and working methods are used to rethink exhibition-making in the wake of the ‘relational aesthetics’ and visual art of the 90s. With Utopia Station curated by Molly Nesbit, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Rirkrit Tiravanija as key example, we will look...... at the many layers of discourse, ‘thinking-in-process’ and collaboration. These processes led to particular presentational formats (display) and architectural frameworks for activities, and gave way to a variety of other material and situated performative modes of audience encounters. Here, we can trace avant...

  4. Trace elements in oil shale. Progress report, 1976--1979

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chappell, W.R.

    1979-01-01

    The overall objective of the program is to evaluate the environmental and health consequences of the release of toxic trace elements (As, B, F, Mo, Se) by shale oil production and use. Some of the particularly significant results are: The baseline geochemical survey shows that stable trace elements maps can be constructed for numerous elements and that the trends observed are related to geologic and climatic factors. Shale retorted by above-ground processes tends to be very homogeneous (both in space and in time) in trace element content. This implies that the number of analytical determinations required of processed shales is not large. Leachate studies show that significant amounts of B, F, And Mo are released from retorted shales and while B and Mo are rapidly flushed out, F is not. On the other hand, As, Se, and most other trace elements ae not present in significant quantities. Significant amounts of F and B are also found in leachates of raw shales. Very large concentrations of reduced sulfur species are found in leachates of processed shale. Upon oxidation a drastic lowering in pH is observed. Preliminary data indicates that this oxidation is catalyzed by bacteria. Very high levels of B and Mo are taken up in some plants growing on processed shale with and without soil cover. These amounts depend upon the process and various site specific characteristics. In general, the amounts taken up decrease with increasing soil cover. On the other hand, we have not observed significant uptake of As, Se, and F into plants. There is a tendency for some trace elements to associate with specific organic fractions, indicating that organic chelation or complexation may play an important role. In particular, most of the Cd, Se, and Cr in shale oil is associated with the organic fraction containing most of the nitrogen-containing compounds.

  5. Robust Adaptive Photon Tracing using Photon Path Visibility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hachisuka, Toshiya; Jensen, Henrik Wann

    2011-01-01

    We present a new adaptive photon tracing algorithm which can handle illumination settings that are considered difficult for photon tracing approaches such as outdoor scenes, close-ups of a small part of an illuminated region, and illumination coming through a small gap. The key contribution in our...... algorithm is the use of visibility of photon path as the importance function which ensures that our sampling algorithm focuses on paths that are visible from the given viewpoint. Our sampling algorithm builds on two recent developments in Markov chain Monte Carlo methods: adaptive Markov chain sampling...... and replica exchange. Using these techniques, each photon path is adaptively mutated and it explores the sampling space efficiently without being stuck at a local peak of the importance function. We have implemented this sampling approach in the progressive photon mapping algorithm which provides visibility...

  6. Levels of trace elements in MWSS drinking water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andal, T.T.

    1998-01-01

    As a water supplier for the metropolis, vigilance over the water quality has not been taken for granted at the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). By the early 1980's, a control laboratory equipped with modern facilities had been set up to supplement the already existing control laboratory at Filter Plant II handling physical, chemical, bacteriological, biological and mineral analyses and examinations, efficiently. The new central laboratory is intended to monitor trace elements, organic constituents and other elements with health related impact so as to assure the consumers of a safe drinking water supply at all times. This presentation reviews the levels of trace element pollution in MWSS tap water, then and now, in justification of the rehabilitation projects along the distribution network, in the treatment plants and other pertinent innovations corresponding to budgeted capital outlays as invested by the system. (author)

  7. Outlines of a Multiple Trace Theory of Temporal Preparation.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Los, S.A.; Kruijne, W.; Meeter, M.

    2014-01-01

    We outline a new multiple trace theory of temporal preparation (MTP), which accounts for behavior in reaction time (RT) tasks in which the participant is presented with a warning stimulus (S1) followed by a target stimulus (S2) that requires a speeded response. The theory assumes that during the

  8. Trace determination of uranium in fertilizer samples by total ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Uranium is reported to be present in phosphate fertilizers. The recovery of uranium from the fertilizers is important because it can be used as fuel in nuclear reactors and also because of environmental concerns. For both these activities suitable method of uranium determinations at trace levels in these fertilizers are required.

  9. Assessing the risks of trace elements in environmental materials under selected greenhouse vegetable production systems of China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Yong; Huang, Biao; Hu, Wenyou; Weindorf, David C.; Liu, Xiaoxiao; Niedermann, Silvana

    2014-01-01

    The risk assessment of trace elements of different environmental media in conventional and organic greenhouse vegetable production systems (CGVPS and OGVPS) can reveal the influence of different farming philosophy on the trace element accumulations and their effects on human health. These provide important basic data for the environmental protection and human health. This paper presents trace element accumulation characteristics of different land uses; reveals the difference of soil trace element accumulation both with and without consideration of background levels; compares the trace element uptake by main vegetables; and assesses the trace element risks of soils, vegetables, waters and agricultural inputs, using two selected greenhouse vegetable systems in Nanjing, China as examples. Results showed that greenhouse vegetable fields contained significant accumulations of Zn in CGVPS relative to rice–wheat rotation fields, open vegetable fields, and geochemical background levels, and this was the case for organic matter in OGVPS. The comparative analysis of the soil medium in two systems with consideration of geochemical background levels and evaluation of the geo-accumulation pollution index achieved a more reasonable comparison and accurate assessment relative to the direct comparison analysis and the evaluation of the Nemerow pollution index, respectively. According to the Chinese food safety standards and the value of the target hazard quotient or hazard index, trace element contents of vegetables were safe for local residents in both systems. However, the spatial distribution of the estimated hazard index for producers still presented certain specific hotspots which may cause potential risk for human health in CGVPS. The water was mainly influenced by nitrogen, especially for CGVPS, while the potential risk of Cd and Cu pollution came from sediments in OGVPS. The main inputs for trace elements were fertilizers which were relatively safe based on relevant

  10. Assessing the risks of trace elements in environmental materials under selected greenhouse vegetable production systems of China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Yong [Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Huang, Biao, E-mail: bhuang@issas.ac.cn [Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Hu, Wenyou [Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Weindorf, David C.; Liu, Xiaoxiao [Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX (United States); Niedermann, Silvana [Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Agricultural Science, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland)

    2014-02-01

    The risk assessment of trace elements of different environmental media in conventional and organic greenhouse vegetable production systems (CGVPS and OGVPS) can reveal the influence of different farming philosophy on the trace element accumulations and their effects on human health. These provide important basic data for the environmental protection and human health. This paper presents trace element accumulation characteristics of different land uses; reveals the difference of soil trace element accumulation both with and without consideration of background levels; compares the trace element uptake by main vegetables; and assesses the trace element risks of soils, vegetables, waters and agricultural inputs, using two selected greenhouse vegetable systems in Nanjing, China as examples. Results showed that greenhouse vegetable fields contained significant accumulations of Zn in CGVPS relative to rice–wheat rotation fields, open vegetable fields, and geochemical background levels, and this was the case for organic matter in OGVPS. The comparative analysis of the soil medium in two systems with consideration of geochemical background levels and evaluation of the geo-accumulation pollution index achieved a more reasonable comparison and accurate assessment relative to the direct comparison analysis and the evaluation of the Nemerow pollution index, respectively. According to the Chinese food safety standards and the value of the target hazard quotient or hazard index, trace element contents of vegetables were safe for local residents in both systems. However, the spatial distribution of the estimated hazard index for producers still presented certain specific hotspots which may cause potential risk for human health in CGVPS. The water was mainly influenced by nitrogen, especially for CGVPS, while the potential risk of Cd and Cu pollution came from sediments in OGVPS. The main inputs for trace elements were fertilizers which were relatively safe based on relevant

  11. Remediation using trace element humate surfactant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Riddle, Catherine Lynn; Taylor, Steven Cheney; Bruhn, Debra Fox

    2016-08-30

    A method of remediation at a remediation site having one or more undesirable conditions in which one or more soil characteristics, preferably soil pH and/or elemental concentrations, are measured at a remediation site. A trace element humate surfactant composition is prepared comprising a humate solution, element solution and at least one surfactant. The prepared trace element humate surfactant composition is then dispensed onto the remediation site whereby the trace element humate surfactant composition will reduce the amount of undesirable compounds by promoting growth of native species activity. By promoting native species activity, remediation occurs quickly and environmental impact is minimal.

  12. Real time ray tracing based on shader

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gui, JiangHeng; Li, Min

    2017-07-01

    Ray tracing is a rendering algorithm for generating an image through tracing lights into an image plane, it can simulate complicate optical phenomenon like refraction, depth of field and motion blur. Compared with rasterization, ray tracing can achieve more realistic rendering result, however with greater computational cost, simple scene rendering can consume tons of time. With the GPU's performance improvement and the advent of programmable rendering pipeline, complicated algorithm can also be implemented directly on shader. So, this paper proposes a new method that implement ray tracing directly on fragment shader, mainly include: surface intersection, importance sampling and progressive rendering. With the help of GPU's powerful throughput capability, it can implement real time rendering of simple scene.

  13. Trace Dynamics and a non-commutative special relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lochan, Kinjalk; Singh, T.P.

    2011-01-01

    Trace Dynamics is a classical dynamical theory of non-commuting matrices in which cyclic permutation inside a trace is used to define the derivative with respect to an operator. We use the methods of Trace Dynamics to construct a non-commutative special relativity. We define a line-element using the Trace over space-time coordinates which are assumed to be operators. The line-element is shown to be invariant under standard Lorentz transformations, and is used to construct a non-commutative relativistic dynamics. The eventual motivation for constructing such a non-commutative relativity is to relate the statistical thermodynamics of this classical theory to quantum mechanics. -- Highlights: → Classical time is external to quantum mechanics. → This implies need for a formulation of quantum theory without classical time. → A starting point could be a non-commutative special relativity. → Such a relativity is developed here using the theory of Trace Dynamics. → A line-element is defined using the Trace over non-commuting space-time operators.

  14. Use of mosses as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition of trace elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steinnes, E.

    2000-01-01

    Some basic facts about the use of mosses as biomonitors of atmospheric trace element deposition are reviewed, and advantages and limitations of this approach are discussed, largely on the basis of experience from regular use of this technique in Norway over the last 20 years. Topics discussed include different versions of the moss technique, mechanisms and efficiencies of trace element uptake, conversion of concentrations in moss to bulk deposition rates, and contribution from sources other than air pollution to the elemental composition of different elements. Suggestions are presented for further work in order to extend the use of mosses as biomonitors. (author)

  15. Method for detecting trace impurities in gases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freund, S.M.; Maier, W.B. II; Holland, R.F.; Beattie, W.H.

    A technique for considerably improving the sensitivity and specificity of infrared spectrometry as applied to quantitative determination of trace impurities in various carrier or solvent gases is presented. A gas to be examined for impurities is liquefied and infrared absorption spectra of the liquid are obtained. Spectral simplification and number densities of impurities in the optical path are substantially higher than are obtainable in similar gas-phase analyses. Carbon dioxide impurity (approx. 2 ppM) present in commercial Xe and ppM levels of Freon 12 and vinyl chloride added to liquefied air are used to illustrate the method.

  16. Efektifitas Strategi Pemasaran Produk Wisata Minat Khusus Gua Cerme, Imogiri, Bantul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cahya Purnomo

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available This research is aimed to recognize the marketing strategy for special interest tourism product of Cerme Cave located in Imogiri Subdistrict, Bantul Regency. The method used in this research is a descriptive survey method. Purposive sampling is used to determine sample. Findings found that the market characteristics of the respondens are young men, well educated, like to do adventure people, unemployment, group visitors; spend less expenditure and local people. Their main activities are tracing along the cave and doing the relaxation. The marketing strategy is recommended with 7P.Keyword: karakteristik pasar, kualitas produk, strategi marketing, stakeholders, gua cerme, Bantul

  17. Evaluation of motion management strategies based on required margins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sawkey, D; Svatos, M; Zankowski, C

    2012-01-01

    Strategies for delivering radiation to a moving lesion each require a margin to compensate for uncertainties in treatment. These motion margins have been determined here by separating the total uncertainty into components. Probability density functions for the individual sources of uncertainty were calculated for ten motion traces obtained from the literature. Motion margins required to compensate for the center of mass motion of the clinical treatment volume were found by convolving the individual sources of uncertainty. For measurements of position at a frequency of 33 Hz, system latency was the dominant source of positional uncertainty. Averaged over the ten motion traces, the motion margin for tracking with a latency of 200 ms was 4.6 mm. Gating with a duty cycle of 33% required a mean motion margin of 3.2–3.4 mm, and tracking with a latency of 100 ms required a motion margin of 3.1 mm. Feasible reductions in the effects of the sources of uncertainty, for example by using a simple prediction algorithm to anticipate the lesion position at the end of the latency period, resulted in a mean motion margin of 1.7 mm for tracking with a latency of 100 ms, 2.4 mm for tracking with a latency of 200 ms, and 2.1–2.2 mm for the gating strategies with duty cycles of 33%. A crossover tracking latency of 150 ms was found, below which tracking strategies could take advantage of narrower motion margins than gating strategies. The methods described here provide a means to guide selection of a motion management strategy for a given patient. (paper)

  18. RAY TRACING IMPLEMENTATION IN JAVA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

    OpenAIRE

    Aybars UĞUR; Mustafa TÜRKSEVER

    2002-01-01

    In this paper realism in computer graphics and components providing realism are discussed at first. It is mentioned about illumination models, surface rendering methods and light sources for this aim. After that, ray tracing which is a technique for creating two dimensional image of a three-dimensional virtual environment is explained briefly. A simple ray tracing algorithm was given. "SahneIzle" which is a ray tracing program implemented in Java programming language which ...

  19. Searching for evidence: Knowledge and search strategies used by forensic scientists

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schraagen, J.M.C.; Leijenhorst, H.

    2001-01-01

    The Forensic Science Laboratory of The Netherlands is suffering from a growing backlog due to an increasing number of cases, which results in long delivery times of research reports within a number of departments. The project, "Strategies for Searching Trace Evidence," was started by the Forensic

  20. Use of World Wide Web-based directories for tracing subjects in epidemiologic studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koo, M M; Rohan, T E

    2000-11-01

    The recent availability of World Wide Web-based directories has opened up a new approach for tracing subjects in epidemiologic studies. The completeness of two World Wide Web-based directories (Canada411 and InfoSpace Canada) for subject tracing was evaluated by using a randomized crossover design for 346 adults randomly selected from respondents in an ongoing cohort study. About half (56.4%) of the subjects were successfully located by using either Canada411 or InfoSpace. Of the 43.6% of the subjects who could not be located using either directory, the majority (73.5%) were female. Overall, there was no clear advantage of one directory over the other. Although Canada411 could find significantly more subjects than InfoSpace, the number of potential matches returned by Canada411 was also higher, which meant that a longer list of potential matches had to be examined before a true match could be found. One strategy to minimize the number of potential matches per true match is to first search by InfoSpace with the last name and first name, then by Canada411 with the last name and first name, and finally by InfoSpace with the last name and first initial. Internet-based searches represent a potentially useful approach to tracing subjects in epidemiologic studies.

  1. Temporally rendered automatic cloud extraction (TRACE) system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodrero, Dennis M.; Yale, James G.; Davis, Roger E.; Rollins, John M.

    1999-10-01

    Smoke/obscurant testing requires that 2D cloud extent be extracted from visible and thermal imagery. These data are used alone or in combination with 2D data from other aspects to make 3D calculations of cloud properties, including dimensions, volume, centroid, travel, and uniformity. Determining cloud extent from imagery has historically been a time-consuming manual process. To reduce time and cost associated with smoke/obscurant data processing, automated methods to extract cloud extent from imagery were investigated. The TRACE system described in this paper was developed and implemented at U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, UT by the Science and Technology Corporation--Acuity Imaging Incorporated team with Small Business Innovation Research funding. TRACE uses dynamic background subtraction and 3D fast Fourier transform as primary methods to discriminate the smoke/obscurant cloud from the background. TRACE has been designed to run on a PC-based platform using Windows. The PC-Windows environment was chosen for portability, to give TRACE the maximum flexibility in terms of its interaction with peripheral hardware devices such as video capture boards, removable media drives, network cards, and digital video interfaces. Video for Windows provides all of the necessary tools for the development of the video capture utility in TRACE and allows for interchangeability of video capture boards without any software changes. TRACE is designed to take advantage of future upgrades in all aspects of its component hardware. A comparison of cloud extent determined by TRACE with manual method is included in this paper.

  2. Infant word recognition: Insights from TRACE simulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayor, Julien; Plunkett, Kim

    2014-02-01

    The TRACE model of speech perception (McClelland & Elman, 1986) is used to simulate results from the infant word recognition literature, to provide a unified, theoretical framework for interpreting these findings. In a first set of simulations, we demonstrate how TRACE can reconcile apparently conflicting findings suggesting, on the one hand, that consonants play a pre-eminent role in lexical acquisition (Nespor, Peña & Mehler, 2003; Nazzi, 2005), and on the other, that there is a symmetry in infant sensitivity to vowel and consonant mispronunciations of familiar words (Mani & Plunkett, 2007). In a second series of simulations, we use TRACE to simulate infants' graded sensitivity to mispronunciations of familiar words as reported by White and Morgan (2008). An unexpected outcome is that TRACE fails to demonstrate graded sensitivity for White and Morgan's stimuli unless the inhibitory parameters in TRACE are substantially reduced. We explore the ramifications of this finding for theories of lexical development. Finally, TRACE mimics the impact of phonological neighbourhoods on early word learning reported by Swingley and Aslin (2007). TRACE offers an alternative explanation of these findings in terms of mispronunciations of lexical items rather than imputing word learning to infants. Together these simulations provide an evaluation of Developmental (Jusczyk, 1993) and Familiarity (Metsala, 1999) accounts of word recognition by infants and young children. The findings point to a role for both theoretical approaches whereby vocabulary structure and content constrain infant word recognition in an experience-dependent fashion, and highlight the continuity in the processes and representations involved in lexical development during the second year of life.

  3. Air pollution implications of Nigeria's present strategy on improved electricity generation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sonibare, J.A. [Environmental Engineering Research Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (Nigeria)

    2010-10-15

    One of the strategies being developed in Nigeria to increase the presently installed electricity generation of 6159 MW to the required 30,000 MW is the adoption of electric thermal plants. An emission factor approach is used in this paper to study the emission of uncontrolled air pollutants from all the existing and proposed thermal plants in the country. Calculations are performed to study the distribution of carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NO{sub X}), particulate matters (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO{sub 2}), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The estimated emissions ranges are 978-24,607, 1635-41,148, 37-924, 19-472, and 11-286 ton/annum for CO, NO{sub X}, PM, SO{sub 2}, and VOCs, respectively. The present locations of these plants across the country are characterized by skewed emission distribution both per capita and across the land. Given the potential environmental and health impacts of these emissions, several measures are suggested to reduce future impacts and assist the country in achieving sustainable development. (author)

  4. Trace gas fluxes from northern peatlands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moore, T [McGill Univ., Montreal (Canada). Geography Dept.

    1997-12-31

    Peatlands cover large areas in northern environments: 1.1, 0.1 and 1.7 x 10{sup 4} km{sup 2} in Canada, Finland and the former Soviet Union, respectively. Interest has been generated into the role these extensive areas of peatlands play in controlling the chemistry of the atmosphere. In particular, it has become established that peatlands can be a source of methane (CH{sub 4}) and nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O), and a sink of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), the latter through the rates of plant production exceeding the rate of decomposition of plant material and peat. In this presentation the recent advances in trace gas flux measurements in northern peatlands are presented. (16 refs.)

  5. Trace gas fluxes from northern peatlands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moore, T. [McGill Univ., Montreal (Canada). Geography Dept.

    1996-12-31

    Peatlands cover large areas in northern environments: 1.1, 0.1 and 1.7 x 10{sup 4} km{sup 2} in Canada, Finland and the former Soviet Union, respectively. Interest has been generated into the role these extensive areas of peatlands play in controlling the chemistry of the atmosphere. In particular, it has become established that peatlands can be a source of methane (CH{sub 4}) and nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O), and a sink of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), the latter through the rates of plant production exceeding the rate of decomposition of plant material and peat. In this presentation the recent advances in trace gas flux measurements in northern peatlands are presented. (16 refs.)

  6. Accuracy of trace element determinations in alternate fuels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenbauer-Seng, L. A.

    1980-01-01

    A review of the techniques used at Lewis Research Center (LeRC) in trace metals analysis is presented, including the results of Atomic Absorption Spectrometry and DC Arc Emission Spectrometry of blank levels and recovery experiments for several metals. The design of an Interlaboratory Study conducted by LeRC is presented. Several factors were investigated, including: laboratory, analytical technique, fuel type, concentration, and ashing additive. Conclusions drawn from the statistical analysis will help direct research efforts toward those areas most responsible for the poor interlaboratory analytical results.

  7. Mapping of trace elements with photon microprobes: x-ray fluorescence with focussed synchrotron radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanson, A.L.; Jones, K.W.; Gordon, B.M.; Pounds, J.G.; Rivers, M.L.; Schidlovsky, G.

    1985-04-01

    High energy electron synchrotron storage rings provide copious quantities of polarized photons that make possible the mapping of many trace elements with sensitivities at the parts per billion (ppB) level with spatial resolutions in the micrometer range. The brightness of the x-ray ring of the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), presently being commissioned, will be five orders of magnitude larger than that of the bremsstrahlung spectrum of state-of-the-art rotating anode tubes. We will discuss mapping trace elements with a photon microprobe presently being constructed for use at the NSLS. This microprobe will have micrometer spatial resolution

  8. A New Curve Tracing Algorithm Based on Local Feature in the Vectorization of Paper Seismograms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maofa Wang

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available History paper seismograms are very important information for earthquake monitoring and prediction. The vectorization of paper seismograms is an import problem to be resolved. Auto tracing of waveform curves is a key technology for the vectorization of paper seismograms. It can transform an original scanning image into digital waveform data. Accurately tracing out all the key points of each curve in seismograms is the foundation for vectorization of paper seismograms. In the paper, we present a new curve tracing algorithm based on local feature, applying to auto extraction of earthquake waveform in paper seismograms.

  9. Analysis of trace gases at ppb levels by proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindinger, W.; Hansel, A.

    1996-01-01

    A proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) system has been developed which allows for on-line measurements of trace gas components with concentrations as low as 1 ppb. The method is based on reactions of H 3 O + ions, which perform non-dissociative proton transfer to most of the common organic trace constituents but do not react with any of the components present in clean air. Examples of medical information obtained by means of breath analysis, of environmental trace analysis, and examples in the field of food chemistry demonstrate the wide applicability of the method. (Authors)

  10. Dissociative effects of true and false recall as a function of different encoding strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodwin, Kerri A

    2007-01-01

    Goodwin, Meissner, and Ericsson (2001) proposed a path model in which elaborative encoding predicted the likelihood of verbalisation of critical, nonpresented words at encoding, which in turn predicted the likelihood of false recall. The present study tested this model of false recall experimentally with a manipulation of encoding strategy and the implementation of the process-tracing technique of protocol analysis. Findings indicated that elaborative encoding led to more verbalisations of critical items during encoding than rote rehearsal of list items, but false recall rates were reduced under elaboration conditions (Experiment 2). Interestingly, false recall was more likely to occur when items were verbalised during encoding than not verbalised (Experiment 1), and participants tended to reinstate their encoding strategies during recall, particularly after elaborative encoding (Experiment 1). Theoretical implications for the interplay of encoding and retrieval processes of false recall are discussed.

  11. Source apportionment of trace metals in river sediments: A comparison of three methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Haiyang; Teng, Yanguo; Li, Jiao; Wu, Jin; Wang, Jinsheng

    2016-01-01

    Increasing trace metal pollution in river sediment poses a significant threat to watershed ecosystem health. Identifying potential sources of sediment metals and apportioning their contributions are of key importance for proposing prevention and control strategies of river pollution. In this study, three advanced multivariate receptor models, factor analysis with nonnegative constraints (FA-NNC), positive matrix factorization (PMF), and multivariate curve resolution weighted-alternating least-squares (MCR-WALS), were comparatively employed for source apportionment of trace metals in river sediments and applied to the Le'an River, a main tributary of Poyang Lake which is the largest freshwater lake in China. The pollution assessment with contamination factor and geoaccumulation index suggested that the river sediments in Le'an River were contaminated severely by trace metals due to human activities. With the three apportionment tools, similar source profiles of trace metals in sediments were extracted. Especially, the MCR-WALS and PMF models produced essentially the same results. Comparatively speaking, the weighted schemes might give better solutions than the unweighted FA-NNC because the uncertainty information of environmental data was considered by PMF and MCR-WALS. Anthropogenic sources were apportioned as the most important pollution sources influencing the sediment metals in Le'an River with contributions of about 90%. Among them, copper tailings occupied the largest contribution (38.4–42.2%), followed by mining wastewater (29.0–33.5%), and agricultural activities (18.2–18.7%). To protect the ecosystem of Le'an River and Poyang Lake, special attention should be paid to the discharges of mining wastewater and the leachates of copper tailing ponds in that region. - Highlights: • Three advanced receptor models were comparatively employed for source apportionment. • The MCR-WALS and PMF models produce essentially same source profiles. • Copper

  12. Trace element fingerprinting of emeralds by PIXE/PIGE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ma Xinpei; MacArthur, J.D.; Roeder, P.L.; Mariano, A.N.

    1993-01-01

    Gemologists consider the mineral beryl, beryllium aluminium silicate, to be the gem, emerald, when it contains sufficient chromium, >0.1%, to colour it a strong green. Emeralds usually contain other trace elements. To investigate the feasibility of distinguishing an emerald's country of origin through its trace content, the trace elements in emeralds and a few beryls from sixteen locations have been determined with a single nondestructive measurement using PIXE and PIGE. From the database established with this limited number of samples, distinguishing trace element patterns were found. (orig.)

  13. Present Status and Near Term Activities for the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Svedhem, H.; Vago, J. L.

    2017-12-01

    The ExoMars 2016 mission was launched on a Proton rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 14 March 2016 and arrived at Mars on 19 October 2016. The spacecraft is now performing aerobraking to reduce its orbital period from initial post-insertion orbital period of one Sol to the final science orbit with a 2 hours period. The orbital inclination will be 74 degrees. During the aerobraking a wealth of data has been acquired on the state of the atmosphere along the tracks between 140km and the lowest altitude at about 105 km. These data are now being analysed and compared with existing models. In average TGO measures a lower atmospheric density than predicted, but the numbers lay within the expected variability. ExoMars is a joint programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos, Russia. It consists of the ExoMars 2016 mission with the Trace Gas Orbiter, TGO, and the Entry Descent and Landing Demonstrator, EDM, named Schiaparelli, and the ExoMars 2020 mission, which carries a lander and a rover. The TGO scientific payload consists of four instruments: ACS and NOMAD, both infrared spectrometers for atmospheric measurements in solar occultation mode and in nadir mode, CASSIS, a multichannel camera with stereo imaging capability, and FREND, an epithermal neutron detector to search for subsurface hydrogen (as proxy for water ice and hydrated minerals). The launch mass of the TGO was 3700 kg, including fuel. In addition to its scientific measurements TGO will act as a relay orbiter for NASA's landers on Mars and as from 2021 for the ESA-Roscosmos Rover and Surface Station.

  14. Trace elements levels in centenarian ‘dodgers’

    OpenAIRE

    Alis, Rafael; Santos-Lozano, Alejandro; Sanchís-Gomar, Fabián; Pareja Galeano, Helios; Fiuza Luces, María del Carmen; Garatachea, Nuria; Lucía Mulas, Alejandro; Emanuele, Enzo

    2016-01-01

    Trace element bioavailability can play a role in several metabolic and physiological pathways known to be altered during the aging process. We aimed to explore the association of trace elements with increased lifespan by analyzing the circulating levels of seven trace elements (Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Se and Zn) in a cohort of healthy centenarians or ‘dodgers’ (≥100 years, free of major age-related diseases) in comparison with sex-matched younger elderly controls. Centenarians showed significant ...

  15. Anion-exchange Studies of Radioactive Trace Elements in Sulphuric Acid Solutions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Samsahl, K

    1963-01-15

    As part of a chemical group separation procedure used as a pretreatment in gamma spectrometric analysis, a study has been made of the adsorption from sulphuric acid solutions on strongly basic anion exchange resins, prepared in the hydroxide and the sulphate forms, of trace activities of Na, P, K, Ca, Sc, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Rb, Sr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ag, Cd, In, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Hf, Ta, W, Ir, Pa and Np. Besides adsorbing some of the trace elements in the solution, the anion exchange resin in the hydroxide form will neutralize the bulk of the sulphuric acid. This makes possible the subsequent sequential separation of chloride complexes on short anion-exchange columns by a stepwise increasing of the HCl concentration of the solution. On the basis of the results obtained in the present and earlier experiments, a new improved chemical group-separation procedure for mixtures of radioactive trace elements is outlined.

  16. Infant word recognition: Insights from TRACE simulations☆

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayor, Julien; Plunkett, Kim

    2014-01-01

    The TRACE model of speech perception (McClelland & Elman, 1986) is used to simulate results from the infant word recognition literature, to provide a unified, theoretical framework for interpreting these findings. In a first set of simulations, we demonstrate how TRACE can reconcile apparently conflicting findings suggesting, on the one hand, that consonants play a pre-eminent role in lexical acquisition (Nespor, Peña & Mehler, 2003; Nazzi, 2005), and on the other, that there is a symmetry in infant sensitivity to vowel and consonant mispronunciations of familiar words (Mani & Plunkett, 2007). In a second series of simulations, we use TRACE to simulate infants’ graded sensitivity to mispronunciations of familiar words as reported by White and Morgan (2008). An unexpected outcome is that TRACE fails to demonstrate graded sensitivity for White and Morgan’s stimuli unless the inhibitory parameters in TRACE are substantially reduced. We explore the ramifications of this finding for theories of lexical development. Finally, TRACE mimics the impact of phonological neighbourhoods on early word learning reported by Swingley and Aslin (2007). TRACE offers an alternative explanation of these findings in terms of mispronunciations of lexical items rather than imputing word learning to infants. Together these simulations provide an evaluation of Developmental (Jusczyk, 1993) and Familiarity (Metsala, 1999) accounts of word recognition by infants and young children. The findings point to a role for both theoretical approaches whereby vocabulary structure and content constrain infant word recognition in an experience-dependent fashion, and highlight the continuity in the processes and representations involved in lexical development during the second year of life. PMID:24493907

  17. Analytical analysis of soil-moisture and trace-contaminant transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Larson, N.M.; Reeves, M.

    1976-03-01

    A transport model is presented which predicts the coupled movement of both water and trace contaminants through a layered and unsaturated soil-moisture zone. In order to achieve computation speeds suitable for watershed implementations, moisture properties are approximated as exponential functions of pressure head, and lateral flows are treated as sinks in a basically vertical one-dimensional analysis. In addition, only advection by the Darcy-flow velocities and linear adsorption by the soil matrix are considered in depicting movement of the trace contaminant. Formal solution of the resulting transport equations is obtained through use of both eigenfunction-expansion and coordinate-transformation methods. Numerical solution is effected by means of a program written in FORTRAN IV and implemented on an IBM 360/91 computer. Two example calculations illustrate both strengths and weaknesses of our model

  18. Trace elements in nail polish as a source of contamination of nail clippings when used in epidemiological studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Favaro, P.C.; Bode, P.; De Nadai Fernandes, E.A.

    2005-01-01

    Trace elements were determined in 27 brands of nail polish using INAA so as to estimate the impact of nail polish remainders when using (finger, toe) nail clippings as a bioindicator for epidemiological studies. Fe was found to be present up to almost 1.7% in one brand. No unambiguous correlation between trace elements and color was established, though transparent polish has the lowest trace element concentrations. An estimate of the maximum effect (no removal of the paint) indicates that over-estimates of some trace element levels in nail with more than 200.000% may occur. If nail clippings will be used to study trace elements, very high demands have to be set to the efficiency and selectivity of the cleaning procedure. (author)

  19. Multidimensional Raman spectroscopic signatures as a tool for forensic identification of body fluid traces: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sikirzhytski, Vitali; Sikirzhytskaya, Aliaksandra; Lednev, Igor K

    2011-11-01

    The analysis of body fluid traces during forensic investigations is a critical step in determining the key details of a crime. Several confirmatory and presumptive biochemical tests are currently utilized. However, these tests are all destructive, and no single method can be used to analyze all body fluids. This review outlines recent progress in the development of a novel universal approach for the nondestructive, confirmatory identification of body fluid traces using Raman spectroscopy. The method is based on the use of multidimensional spectroscopic signatures of body fluids and accounts for the intrinsic heterogeneity of dry traces and donor variation. The results presented here demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy has potential for identifying traces of semen, blood, saliva, sweat, and vaginal fluid with high confidence.

  20. Trace Gas Evolution in the Present and Past Atmosphere

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winther, Malte Nordmann

    .Continuous incubation experiments are presented with nitrifying bacteria Nitrosomonasmobilis revealing strong indications of N2O production from different chemical reactions.The measurements revealed a three step site preference pattern in the range of nitricationand denitrication and we therefore suggest...... performed 1) on the Arctictundra and 2) on an inclined temperate slope. 1) Previous studies has shown that largeamounts of N2O is being emitted after thawing of permafrost. We investigated a downslopesite covering a moisture gradient area in the arctic tundra. Moss-covered sites revealed highnitrication...

  1. Foundations for Survivable System Development: Service Traces, Intrusion Traces, and Evaluation Models

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Linger, Richard

    2001-01-01

    .... On the system side, survivability specifications can be defined by essential-service traces that map essential-service workflows, derived from user requirements, into system component dependencies...

  2. Colorimetric detection of trace copper ions based on catalytic leaching of silver-coated gold nanoparticles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lou, Tingting; Chen, Lingxin; Chen, Zhaopeng; Wang, Yunqing; Chen, Ling; Li, Jinhua

    2011-11-01

    A colorimetric, label-free, and nonaggregation-based silver coated gold nanoparticles (Ag/Au NPs) probe has been developed for detection of trace Cu(2+) in aqueous solution, based on the fact that Cu(2+) can accelerate the leaching rate of Ag/Au NPs by thiosulfate (S(2)O(3)(2-)). The leaching of Ag/Au NPs would lead to dramatic decrease in the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption as the size of Ag/Au NPs decreased. This colorimetric strategy based on size-dependence of nanoparticles during their leaching process provided a highly sensitive (1.0 nM) and selective detection toward Cu(2+), with a wide linear detection range (5-800 nM) over nearly 3 orders of magnitude. The cost-effective probe allows rapid and sensitive detection of trace Cu(2+) ions in water samples, indicating its potential applicability for the determination of copper in real samples.

  3. Studies of trace element imbalances in Alzheimer's disease using sequential NAA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ehmann, W.D.; Markesbery, W.R.; Thompson, C.M.; Vance, D.E.; Mao, Y.

    1986-01-01

    Evidence has accumulated in the literature that trace elements may be implicated in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other age-related neurological diseases. Even if elemental imbalances do not prove to be causative factors, observed perturbations may be markers that could aid in diagnosis, or help elucidate pathological processes. In this paper the authors present new data for trace element levels in three areas of the human brain most severely affected by AD (hippocampus, amygdala, and nucleus basalis) and in AD hair and nail samples. In some cases the specific imbalances seen previously in the bulk brain analyses are amplified in these regions. Elevated bromine levels seen in AD brain are also observed in AD hair and nail. Significant alkali metal and mercury imbalances with respect to controls occur in AD nail samples. The role of these trace element alterations in the etiology of AD has still not been determined. However, some possible physiological effects include: membrane dysfunction (alkali metals), enzyme inhibition (mercury and bromine), and interference with neurotransmitter functions (mercury, bromine, and alkali metals). The simultaneous multielement capability of this sequential NAA procedure also permits interelement correlation studies. Elemental associations may help identify potential environmental factors that could contribute to the observed trace element imbalances

  4. Concentrations of trace elements in human tissues and relation of ratios of mutual metals to the human health

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ling-wei, X.; Shao-xian, L.; Xiao-juan, Z.

    1989-01-01

    According to the experimental results, the concentrations and concentrations in order, of trace elements in human tissues among Changsha's People in China are reported. The authors particularly present that the ratios of mutual metals (M/N) in normal physiological tissues and fluids are very important factors which indicate the metabolic situations of trace elements in the body and as the indices which evaluate the situation of human health. (M and N mean the concentrations of different trace elements in the tissues or fluids, respectively.) Up to now, it is still an interesting field to study the functions of trace elements for the human health. There are previously some reports about the concentrations of trace elements in normal physiological tissues/ or organs and fluids of human body. These provide very valuable data for biological medicine. In the study presented atomic absorption method was adopted in order to determine the concentrations of Zn, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Cd in human tissues (liver, spleen, kidney, bone, lung, pancreas, heart and artery and muscle) at autopsy. The authors suggest that trace elements, are contained in the body in an aproportional way, in normal physiological tissues and fluids, and the ratios may directly indicate metabolic situation of trace elements in the body which further reveal the mystery of trace elements for human health. Therefore, the ratios M/N as an indicator of health is more proper than that only using concentrations of trace elements. Schroeder (1973) reported that incidence of heart disease is related to the imbalance of ration Zn/Cd and Zn/Cu rather than the concentrations of Zn, Cd, Cu, and the intellectual development also depends on the proper proportion among copper, cadmium, lead, zinc in the body

  5. SolTrace: A Ray-Tracing Code for Complex Solar Optical Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wendelin, Tim [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Dobos, Aron [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lewandowski, Allan [Allan Lewandowski Solar Consulting LLC, Evergreen, CO (United States)

    2013-10-01

    SolTrace is an optical simulation tool designed to model optical systems used in concentrating solar power (CSP) applications. The code was first written in early 2003, but has seen significant modifications and changes since its inception, including conversion from a Pascal-based software development platform to C++. SolTrace is unique in that it can model virtually any optical system utilizingthe sun as the source. It has been made available for free and as such is in use worldwide by industry, universities, and research laboratories. The fundamental design of the code is discussed, including enhancements and improvements over the earlier version. Comparisons are made with other optical modeling tools, both non-commercial and commercial in nature. Finally, modeled results are shownfor some typical CSP systems and, in one case, compared to measured optical data.

  6. Assessment and source identification of trace metals in the soils of greenhouse vegetable production in eastern China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Lanqin; Huang, Biao; Hu, Wenyou; Chen, Yong; Mao, Mingcui

    2013-11-01

    Worldwide concern about the occurrence of trace metals in greenhouse vegetable production soils (GVPS) is growing. In this study, a total of 385 surface GVPS samples were collected in Shouguang and four vegetable production bases in Nanjing, Eastern China, for the determination of As and Hg using atomic fluorescence spectrometry and Pb, Cu, Cd, and Zn using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Geo-accumulation indices and factor analysis were used to investigate the accumulation and sources of the trace metals in soils in Eastern China. The results revealed that greenhouse production practices increased accumulation of the trace metals, particularly Cd, Zn, and Cu in soils and their accumulation became significant with increasing years of cultivation. Accumulation of Cd and Zn was also found in soils from organic greenhouses. The GVPS was generally less polluted or moderately polluted by As, Cu, Zn, and Pb but heavily polluted by Cd and Hg in some locations. Overall, accumulation of Cd, Zn, and Cu in GVPS was primarily associated with anthropogenic activities, particularly, application of manure. The high level of Hg found in some sites was related to historical heavy application of Hg containing pesticides. However, further identification of Hg sources is needed. To reduce accumulation of the trace metals in GVPS, organic fertilizer application should be suggested through development and implementation of reasonable and sustainable strategies. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Calibration techniques and strategies for the present and future LHC electromagnetic calorimeters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleksa, M.

    2018-02-01

    This document describes the different calibration strategies and techniques applied by the two general purpose experiments at the LHC, ATLAS and CMS, and discusses them underlining their respective strengths and weaknesses from the view of the author. The resulting performances of both calorimeters are described and compared on the basis of selected physics results. Future upgrade plans for High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) are briefly introduced and planned calibration strategies for the upgraded detectors are shown.

  8. Urban environmental geochemistry of trace metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wong, Coby S.C.; Li Xiangdong; Thornton, Iain

    2006-01-01

    As the world's urban population continues to grow, it becomes increasingly imperative to understand the dynamic interactions between human activities and the urban environment. The development of urban environmental geochemistry has yielded a significant volume of scientific information about geochemical phenomena found uniquely in the urban environment, such as the distribution, dispersion, and geochemical characteristics of some toxic and potentially toxic trace metals. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the development of urban environmental geochemistry as a field of scientific study and highlight major transitions during the course of its development from its establishment to the major scientific interests in the field today. An extensive literature review is also conducted of trace metal contamination of the urban terrestrial environment, in particular of urban soils, in which the uniqueness of the urban environment and its influences on trace metal contamination are elaborated. Potential areas of future development in urban environmental geochemistry are identified and discussed. - Urban environmental geochemistry as a scientific discipline provides valuable information on trace metal contamination of the urban environment and its associated health effects

  9. Evaluation Strategy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Coto Chotto, Mayela; Wentzer, Helle; Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Lone

    2009-01-01

    The paper presents an evaluation strategy based on deliberate ideals and principles of dialogue design. The evaluation strategy is based on experiential phenomenology taking the point of departure for design and evaluation processes in the experienced practitioners themselves. The article present...... the evaluation strategy and methodology of a research project Making Online Path to Enter new Markets, MOPEM. It is an EU-research project with partners from different Educational Institutions of Technology and Business in five European Countries.......The paper presents an evaluation strategy based on deliberate ideals and principles of dialogue design. The evaluation strategy is based on experiential phenomenology taking the point of departure for design and evaluation processes in the experienced practitioners themselves. The article presents...

  10. Elemental analysis of biological materials. Current problems and techniques with special reference to trace elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-01-01

    Selected techniques were reviewed for the assay of trace and minor elements in biological materials. Other relevant information is also presented on the need for such analyses, sampling, sample preparation and analytical quality control. In order to evaluate and compare the applicability of the various analytical techniques on a meaningful and objective basis, the materials chosen for consideration were intended to be typical of a wide range of biological matrics of different elemental compositions, namely Bowen's kale, representing a plant material, and NBS bovine liver, IAEA animal muscle, and blood serum, representing animal tissues. The subject is reviewed under the following headings: on the need for trace element analyses in the life sciences (4 papers); sampling and sample preparation for trace element analysis (2 papers); analytical techniques for trace and minor elements in biological materials (7 papers); analytical quality control (2 papers)

  11. False Memory for Orthographically versus Semantically Similar Words in Adolescents with Dyslexia: A Fuzzy-Trace Theory Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obidzinski, Michal; Nieznanski, Marek

    2017-01-01

    The presented research was conducted in order to investigate the connections between developmental dyslexia and the functioning of verbatim and gist memory traces--assumed in the fuzzy-trace theory. The participants were 71 high school students (33 with dyslexia and 38 without learning difficulties). The modified procedure and multinomial model of…

  12. Limitation of productivity by trace metals in the sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morel, F.M.M.; Price, N.M.; Hudson, R.J.M.

    1991-01-01

    Some trace metals such as Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn are essential for the growth of phytoplankton. The concentrations of these essential trace elements in seawater are so low as to limit their availability to aquatic microbiota. Trace element uptake is ultimately limited by kinetics of reaction with transport ligands or by diffusion to the cell. From what the authors know of the characteristics of the uptake systems of phytoplankton and their trace metal requirements they can estimate that Fe and Zn may at some times in some place limit phytoplankton productivity, which is in accord with available field data on trace metal enrichments

  13. Can echoic memory store two traces simultaneously? A study of event-related brain potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winkler, I; Paavilainen, P; Näätänen, R

    1992-05-01

    The mismatch negativity, a component of the event-related brain potential elicited by infrequent deviants in sequences of auditory stimuli, is presumably generated by an automatic mismatch process in a mechanism that compares the current stimulus to the trace of the previous one. The present study addressed the possible simultaneous existence of two such traces. Two equiprobable (45% each) frequent stimuli ("standards"), one of 600 Hz and the other of 700 Hz, were presented together with an infrequent (10%), "deviant" stimulus which was of different frequency in different blocks. These deviants elicited a mismatch negativity, though a smaller one than that obtained in corresponding blocks with only one standard stimulus. Two aspects of the present results from the blocks with two standard stimuli implicate two parallel stimulus traces in these blocks: 1) deviants elicited a mismatch negativity (MMN) of approximately the same amplitude when preceded by sequences of four identical standards as when preceded by sequences of four stimuli containing both standards; 2) in contrast to the one-standard condition, the magnitude of stimulus deviance did not affect the MMN component elicited by the different deviants.

  14. Investigation of trace element mobility in river sediments using ICP ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In this study, the column method was used to determine the leachable trace metals present in selected river sediments. In addition the sediments were investigated using a shaker method and these two methods were compared for reliability. For both these methods extract solutions associated with a sequential extraction ...

  15. Scandium - problem of ultra-trace-element essentiality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kist, A.A.; Zkuk, L.I.; Danilova, E.A.; Makhmudov, E.A.

    2006-01-01

    manifestations of the dysfunction after addition of deficient element. This is very convincing criterion but hardly acceptable for ultra trace elements as follows from the model given in the present paper. It is very simple to prepare diet with decreased level for constitutional essential and some trace-elements according to this criterion. It is enough to reduce some constitutional elements uptake for 50% to observe the organism dysfunction. For such trace elements like Mn, Cu, Zn it is enough to reduce its intake 1.5 - 5 times to reach the same effect. For Sc the factor of removal for humans should be about 500-1000. It is clear that preparation of nutrition which removal of ultra-trace elements with a purification factor of hundreds and thousands is practically impossible and there is a necessity to elaborate additional criteria for ultra-trace elements. (author)

  16. Use of trace elements as indicators for underground fluid circulations in karstic environment; Utilisation des elements en trace comme traceurs des circulations souterraines en milieu karstique (site du Lamalou, Herault)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pane-Escribe, M B

    1995-06-29

    The geochemical study of the trace element behaviour in karstic groundwaters has been carried out over the experimental site of Lamalou (Herault, France). Routine measurements of the physico-chemical parameters and of the dissolved elements concentrations have been achieved during two hydrological cycles. Radon has been monitored by passive detectors and by automatic electronic probes. Trace elements (Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As Rb, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Cs, Ba, Th, U) were analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The first part of this work presents the methodologies employed with in particular the improvement of the analytical performances of ICP-MS for water samples analysis. The detection limit for each considered element has been determined. The short and long term reproducibility for the samples analysis has also been tested. The second part of this study presents the treatment and interpretation of the results. This analysis has pointed our the influence of the aquifer structure on the chemical elements distribution. The trace and major elements concentrations are effectively related to the fracturing state of the reservoir and allow to individualize the high transmissivity zones from zones with a lower transmissivity in this mono-lithological context, trace elements appear to be particularly efficient tracers for determining the water origin and circulation their spatial and temporal behaviour leads to identify three different origins for the water mineralization over the studied area: limestones, clays and external sources (rainfalls and occasional pollutions). (author). 154 refs.

  17. Trace element analysis of soy sauce

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tomita, Michio; Haruyama, Yoichi; Saito, Manabu

    1994-01-01

    Trace elements in soy sauce have been measured by means of in-air PIXE. Six kinds of trace elements were detected, such as Mu, Fe, Ni, Zn, Cu and Br. Concentrations of Mn, Fe, Zn and Br which were observed in all samples, have been determined. Each analyzed sample contained considerable amount of bromine about 160 ppm. (author)

  18. Process modeling for Humanities: tracing and analyzing scientific processes

    OpenAIRE

    Hug , Charlotte; Salinesi , Camille; Deneckere , Rebecca; Lamasse , Stéphane

    2011-01-01

    International audience; This paper concerns epistemology and the understanding of research processes in Humanities, such as Archaeology. We believe that to properly understand research processes, it is essential to trace them. The collected traces depend on the process model established, which has to be as accurate as possible to exhaustively record the traces. In this paper, we briefly explain why the existing process models for Humanities are not sufficient to represent traces. We then pres...

  19. High-efficiency photorealistic computer-generated holograms based on the backward ray-tracing technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yuan; Chen, Zhidong; Sang, Xinzhu; Li, Hui; Zhao, Linmin

    2018-03-01

    Holographic displays can provide the complete optical wave field of a three-dimensional (3D) scene, including the depth perception. However, it often takes a long computation time to produce traditional computer-generated holograms (CGHs) without more complex and photorealistic rendering. The backward ray-tracing technique is able to render photorealistic high-quality images, which noticeably reduce the computation time achieved from the high-degree parallelism. Here, a high-efficiency photorealistic computer-generated hologram method is presented based on the ray-tracing technique. Rays are parallelly launched and traced under different illuminations and circumstances. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Compared with the traditional point cloud CGH, the computation time is decreased to 24 s to reconstruct a 3D object of 100 ×100 rays with continuous depth change.

  20. Demonstration of synthesis of beta-trace protein in different tissues of squirrel monkey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olsson, J E; Sandberg, M [Department of Neurology, University Hospital, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden

    1975-01-01

    The sites of synthesis of the low molwculat weight beta-trace protein, present in a seven times higher concentration in normal human CSF than in normal human serum, have been studied by means of a radioactive immunoprecipitation method. Adult squirrel monkey tissue were cultured in Eagle's minium essential medium in the presence of /sup 14/C-labelled valine, threonine and leucine for 24 hours. Synthesis could be demonstrated in cultures of white CNS matter, whereas cultures of grey CNS matter, peripheral nerve, skeletal muscle, kidney and ovary did not show any signs of synthesis. Some cultures of spinal cord, basal ganglia, genital organs except ovary, and liver showed a probable synthesis of beta-trace protein. By means of autoradiography, the synthesis of beta-trace protein in white CNS matter could be confirmed.

  1. Demonstration of synthesis of beta-trace protein in different tissues of squirrel monkey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olsson, J.-E.; Sandberg, M.

    1975-01-01

    The sites of synthesis of the low molwculat weight beta-trace protein, present in a seven times higher concentration in normal human CSF than in normal human serum, have been studied by means of a radioactive immunoprecipitation method. Adult squirrel monkey tissue were cultured in Eagle's minium essential medium in the presence of 14 C-labelled valine, threonine and leucine for 24 hours. Synthesis could be demonstrated in cultures of white CNS matter, whereas cultures of grey CNS matter, peripheral nerve, skeletal muscle, kidney and ovary did not show any signs of synthesis. Some cultures of spinal cord, basal ganglia, genital organs except ovary, and liver showed a probable synthesis of beta-trace protein. By means of autoradiography, the synthesis of beta-trace protein in white CNS matter could be confirmed. (author)

  2. Method development for trace and ultratrace analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    Method development, that is, selection of a mode of chromatography and the right column and mobile-phase combination for trace and ultratrace analysis, requires several main considerations. The method should be useful for resolving various trace and ultratrace components present in the sample. If the nature of these components is known, the choice of method may be straightforward, that is, a selection can be made from the following modes of HPLC: (1) adsorption chromatography; (2) normal-phase chromatography; (3) reversed-phase chromatography; (4) ion-pair chromatography; (5) ion-exchange chromatography; (6) ion chromatography. Unfortunately, the nature of all of the components is frequently unknown. However, several intelligent judgments can be made on the nature of impurities. This chapter deals with some basic approaches to mobile-phase selection and optimization. More detailed information may be found in basic texts. Techniques for separation of high-molecular-weight compounds (macromolecules) and chiral compounds may be found elsewhere. Mainly compounds with molecular weight lower than 2,000 are discussed here. 123 refs

  3. Web-based communication tools in a European research project: the example of the TRACE project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baeten V.

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The multi-disciplinary and international nature of large European projects requires powerful managerial and communicative tools to ensure the transmission of information to the end-users. One such project is TRACE entitled “Tracing Food Commodities in Europe”. One of its objectives is to provide a communication system dedicated to be the central source of information on food authenticity and traceability in Europe. This paper explores the web tools used and communication vehicles offered to scientists involved in the TRACE project to communicate internally as well as to the public. Two main tools have been built: an Intranet and a public website. The TRACE website can be accessed at http://www.trace.eu.org. A particular emphasis was placed on the efficiency, the relevance and the accessibility of the information, the publicity of the website as well as the use of the collaborative utilities. The rationale of web space design as well as integration of proprietary software solutions are presented. Perspectives on the using of web tools in the research projects are discussed.

  4. The Effect of Nitrous Oxide Psychosedation on Pantographic Tracings; A preliminary study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fareed, Kamal

    1989-01-01

    The form and reproducibility of pantographic tracings under the influence of relaxant drugs and in patients with muscle dysfunction and TMJ disorders, tend to emphasize the dominance of the neuromuscular factors. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effect of nitrous oxide induced psychosedation, on the reproducibility of pantographic tracings of border movements of the mandible. This study included four male subjects (with no signs and symptoms of muscular dysfunction and temporomandibular joint problems). Operator guided border tracings were recorded using the Denar pantograph. Three sets of tracings were recorded: (1) three tracings prior to sedation (Tracing I); (2) one tracing prior to sedation and two after sedation (Tracing II); (3) three tracings after psychosedation (Tracing III). The coincidence of tracings I, II, and 111 were statistically analyzed applying the chi-square (X2) analysis. There was a significant difference in the coincidence of tracings between Tracings 1 and II (X2 = 14.892). There was no significant difference in the coincidence of tracings between Tracings I and III (X2 = 1.338). This suggests that nitrous oxide psychosedation produces a centrally induced relaxation of the musculature, by possibly eliminating the extraneous anxiety producing factors. (author)

  5. Quantitative Modelling of Trace Elements in Hard Coal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smoliński, Adam; Howaniec, Natalia

    2016-01-01

    The significance of coal in the world economy remains unquestionable for decades. It is also expected to be the dominant fossil fuel in the foreseeable future. The increased awareness of sustainable development reflected in the relevant regulations implies, however, the need for the development and implementation of clean coal technologies on the one hand, and adequate analytical tools on the other. The paper presents the application of the quantitative Partial Least Squares method in modeling the concentrations of trace elements (As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sr, V and Zn) in hard coal based on the physical and chemical parameters of coal, and coal ash components. The study was focused on trace elements potentially hazardous to the environment when emitted from coal processing systems. The studied data included 24 parameters determined for 132 coal samples provided by 17 coal mines of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland. Since the data set contained outliers, the construction of robust Partial Least Squares models for contaminated data set and the correct identification of outlying objects based on the robust scales were required. These enabled the development of the correct Partial Least Squares models, characterized by good fit and prediction abilities. The root mean square error was below 10% for all except for one the final Partial Least Squares models constructed, and the prediction error (root mean square error of cross-validation) exceeded 10% only for three models constructed. The study is of both cognitive and applicative importance. It presents the unique application of the chemometric methods of data exploration in modeling the content of trace elements in coal. In this way it contributes to the development of useful tools of coal quality assessment.

  6. Inhibition and promotion of trace pollutant adsorption within electrostatic precipitators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clack, Herek L

    2017-08-01

    Among the technologies available for reducing mercury emissions from coal-fired electric utilities is the injection of a powdered sorbent, often some form of activated carbon, into the flue gas upstream of the particulate control device, most commonly an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). Detailed measurements of mercury removal within ESPs are lacking due to the hazardous environment they pose, increasing the importance of analysis and numerical simulation in understanding the mechanisms involved. Our previous analyses revealed that mercury adsorption by particles suspended in the gas and mercury adsorption by particles collected on internal ESP surfaces are not additive removal mechanisms but rather are competitive. The present study expands on this counterintuitive finding. Presented are results from numerical simulations reflecting the complete range of possible mass transfer boundary conditions representing mercury adsorption by the accumulated dust cake covering internal ESP collection electrodes. Using the two mercury removal mechanisms operating concurrently and interdependently always underperforms the sum of the two mechanisms' individual contributions. The dual use of electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) for particulate removal and adsorption of trace gaseous pollutants such as mercury is increasing as mercury regulations become more widespread. Under such circumstances, mercury adsorption by particles suspended in the gas and mercury adsorption by particles collected on internal ESP surfaces are competitive. Together, the two mercury removal mechanisms always underperform the sum of their two independent contributions. These findings can inform strategies sought by electric utilities for reducing the usage costs of mercury sorbents.

  7. Octanol-solubility of dissolved and particulate trace metals in contaminated rivers: implications for metal reactivity and availability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Turner, Andrew [School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom)]. E-mail: aturner@plymouth.ac.uk; Mawji, Edward [School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom)

    2005-05-01

    The lipid-like, amphiphilic solvent, n-octanol, has been used to determine a hydrophobic fraction of dissolved and particulate trace metals (Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) in contaminated rivers. In a sample from the River Clyde, southwest Scotland, octanol-solubility was detected for all dissolved metals except Co, with conditional octanol-water partition coefficients, D{sub ow}, ranging from about 0.2 (Al and Cu) to 1.25 (Pb). In a sample taken from the River Mersey, northwest England, octanol-solubility was detected for dissolved Al and Pb, but only after sample aliquots had been spiked with individual ionic metal standards and equilibrated. Spiking of the River Clyde sample revealed competition among different metals for hydrophobic ligands. Metal displacement from hydrophobic complexes was generally most significant following the addition of ionic Al or Pb, although the addition of either of these metals had little effect on the octanol-solubility of the other. In both river water samples hydrophobic metals were detected on the suspended particles retained by filtration following their extraction in n-octanol. In general, particulate Cu and Zn (up to 40%) were most available, and Al, Co and Pb most resistant (<1%) to octanol extraction. Distribution coefficients defining the concentration ratio of octanol-soluble particle-bound metal to octanol-soluble dissolved metal were in the range 10{sup 3.3}-10{sup 5.3} ml g{sup -1}. The presence of hydrophobic dissolved and particulate metal species has implications for our understanding of the biogeochemical behaviour of metals in aquatic environments. Specifically, such species are predicted to exhibit characteristics of non-polar organic contaminants, including the potential to penetrate the lipid bilayer. Current strategies for assessing the bioavailability and toxicity of dissolved and particulate trace metals in natural waters may, therefore, require revision. - New approaches are presented for fractionating

  8. Subtask 4.8 - Fate and Control of Mercury and Trace Elements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pavlish, John; Lentz, Nicholas; Martin, Christopher; Ralston, Nicholas; Zhuang, Ye; Hamre, Lucinda

    2011-12-31

    -conditioning methods, to understand mercury interactions, develop better control strategies and, in some cases, prevent mercury from being reemitted. This research also addressed stakeholder concerns and questions related to sampling and analytical methods for mercury, especially for continuous mercury monitors and sorbent trap methods for future compliance. Advancements were made toward the development of a much simpler dry-based method for measurement of halogens and trace metals. Finally, this research resulted in significant outcomes related to mercury and selenium concentrations in freshwater fish and how it is associated with other elements, thereby potentially impacting health; this has greatly enhanced the understanding of the second-order mechanism of mercury toxicity. The outcomes of this research have been shared with stakeholders in various domestic and international forums, working groups, conferences, educational settings, and published documents, with information available and accessible to those most impacted or interested in timely and current results on toxic metals. This subtask was funded through the EERC–DOE Joint Program on Research and Development for Fossil Energy-Related Resources Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC26-08NT43291.

  9. Status of GeoTASO Trace Gas Data Analysis for the KORUS-AQ Campaign

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janz, S. J.; Nowlan, C. R.; Lamsal, L. N.; Kowalewski, M. G.; Judd, L. M.; Wang, J.

    2017-12-01

    The Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (GeoTASO) instrument measures spectrally resolved backscattered solar radiation at high spatial resolution. The instrument completed 30 sorties on board the NASA LaRC UC-12 aircraft during the KORUS-AQ deployment in May-June of 2016. GeoTASO collects spatially resolved spectra with sufficient sensitivity to retrieve column amounts of the trace gas molecules NO2, SO2, H2CO, O3, and C2H2O2 as well as aerosol products. Typical product retrievals are done in 250 m2 bins with multiple overpasses of key ground sites, allowing for detailed spatio-temporal analysis. Flight patterns consisted of both contiguous overlapping grid patterns to simulate satellite observational strategies in support of future geostationary satellite algorithm development, and "race-track" sampling to perform calibration and validation with the in-situ DC-8 platform as well as ground based assets. We will summarize the status of the radiance data set as well as ongoing analysis from our co-Investigators.

  10. Trace Metals Bioaccumulation Potentials of Three Indigenous ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    User

    grasses as bioaccumulators of trace metals from polluted soils. Seeds of ... transfer factor (TF) showed that Zn was the most bioaccumulated trace metals by all the grasses followed by. Pb, Mn ... was used to de-contaminate copper (Cu) and.

  11. Model with Peach Bottom Turbine trip and thermal-Hydraulic code TRACE V5P3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mesado, C.; Miro, R.; Barrachina, T.; Verdu, G.

    2014-01-01

    This work is the continuation of the work presented previously in the thirty-ninth meeting annual of the Spanish Nuclear society. The semi-automatic translation of the Thermo-hydraulic model TRAC-BF1 Peach Bottom Turbine Trip to TRACE was presented in such work. This article is intended to validate the model obtained in TRACE, why compare the model results result from the translation with the Benchmark results: NEA/OECD BWR Peach Bottom Turbine Trip (PBTT), in particular is of the extreme scenario 2 of exercise 3, in which there is SCRAM in the reactor. Among other data present in the (transitional) Benchmark , are: total power, axial profile of power, pressure Dome, total reactivity and its components. (Author)

  12. Grasp: Tracing, visualizing and measuring the behavior of real-time systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Holenderski, M.J.; Heuvel, van den M.M.H.P.; Bril, R.J.; Lukkien, J.J.; Lipari, G.; Cucinotta, T.

    2010-01-01

    Understanding and validating the timing behavior of real-time systems is not trivial. Many real-time operating systems and their development environments do not provide tracing support, and provide only limited visualization, measurements and analysis tools. This paper presents Grasp, a tool for

  13. (U) Second-Order Sensitivity Analysis of Uncollided Particle Contributions to Radiation Detector Responses Using Ray-Tracing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Favorite, Jeffrey A. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-11-30

    The Second-Level Adjoint Sensitivity System (2nd-LASS) that yields the second-order sensitivities of a response of uncollided particles with respect to isotope densities, cross sections, and source emission rates is derived in Refs. 1 and 2. In Ref. 2, we solved problems for the uncollided leakage from a homogeneous sphere and a multiregion cylinder using the PARTISN multigroup discrete-ordinates code. In this memo, we derive solutions of the 2nd-LASS for the particular case when the response is a flux or partial current density computed at a single point on the boundary, and the inner products are computed using ray-tracing. Both the PARTISN approach and the ray-tracing approach are implemented in a computer code, SENSPG. The next section of this report presents the equations of the 1st- and 2nd-LASS for uncollided particles and the first- and second-order sensitivities that use the solutions of the 1st- and 2nd-LASS. Section III presents solutions of the 1st- and 2nd-LASS equations for the case of ray-tracing from a detector point. Section IV presents specific solutions of the 2nd-LASS and derives the ray-trace form of the inner products needed for second-order sensitivities. Numerical results for the total leakage from a homogeneous sphere are presented in Sec. V and for the leakage from one side of a two-region slab in Sec. VI. Section VII is a summary and conclusions.

  14. Tracing the spatiotemporally resolved inactivation of optically arranged bacteria by photofunctional microparticles at the single-cell level (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barroso Peña, Alvaro; Grüner, Malte; Forbes, Taylor; Denz, Cornelia; Strassert, Cristian A.

    2016-09-01

    Antimicrobial Photodynamic Inactivation (PDI) represents an attractive alternative in the treatment of infections by antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria. In PDI a photosensitizer (PS) is administered to the site of the biological target in order to generate cytotoxic singlet oxygen which reacts with the biological membrane upon application of harmless visible light. Established methods for testing the photoinduced cytotoxicity of PSs rely on the observation of the whole bacterial ensemble providing only a population-averaged information about the overall produced toxicity. However, for a deeper understanding of the processes that take place in PDI, new methods are required that provide simultaneous regulation of the ROS production, monitoring the subsequent damage induced in the bacteria cells, and full control of the distance between the bacteria and the center of the singlet oxygen production. Herein we present a novel method that enables the quantitative spatio-time-resolved analysis at the single cell level of the photoinduced damage produced by transparent microspheres functionalized with PSs. For this purpose, a methodology was introduced to monitor phototriggered changes with spatiotemporal resolution employing holographic optical tweezers and functional fluorescence microscopy. The defined distance between the photoactive particles and individual bacteria can be fixed under the microscope before the photosensitization process, and the photoinduced damage is monitored by tracing the fluorescence turn-on of a suitable marker. Our methodology constitutes a new tool for the in vitro design and analysis of photosensitizers, as it enables a quantitative response evaluation of living systems towards oxidative stress.

  15. Inter-hemispheric gradient of atmospheric trace gases in the Pacific

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lowe, D.; Manning, M.; Brailsford, G.; Bromley, T.; Moss, R.; Ferretti, D.

    1997-01-01

    Measurements of atmospheric trace gases show that the concentrations and isotopic compositions of these species can change dramatically across the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) separating the two hemispheres. Because the anthropogenic sources of virtually all trace gases are greater in the northern than in the southern hemisphere, concentrations of the species are lower in the southern hemisphere. Typically the concentration gradient is inversely proportional to the lifetime of the trace gas in the atmosphere. Hence understanding the transport across the ITCZ is crucial to determining the variation of important trace gases in the New Zealand region. Container ships are being used to collect large clean air samples on voyages across the Pacific on great circle routes between Auckland (New Zealand), Honolulu (Hawaii) and Los Angeles and Seattle on the US West coast. Measurements on these samples are being used to supplement extensive carbon isotope measurements of atmospheric methane made at fixed sites in the southern hemisphere: Baring Head (New Zealand), Suva (Fiji) and Scott Base (Antarctica) to provide information on the global methane cycle. The authors present the first results of high precision measurements of the stable isotopes of atmospheric carbon monoxide and methane in transects across the equator. These have been obtained using a Finnigan MAT 252 high precision isotope ratio mass spectrometer with a modified miniature inlet system and a stringent calibration protocol. Overall precision for δ 13 C in ambient methane and carbon monoxide in clean air approaches 0.02 per thousand which helps provide information on several subtle processes controlling the abundance of the trace gases in the atmosphere. The 13 C in methane and carbon dioxide data show remarkable seasonal variations across the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and may be used to infer aspects of transport of gases to extra tropical regions in the southern hemisphere

  16. Markov trace on the Yokonuma-Hecke algebra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Juyumaya, J.

    2002-11-01

    The objective of this note is to prove that there exists a Markov trace on the Yokonuma-Hecke algebra. A motivation to define a Markov trace is to get polynomial invariants for knots in the sense of Jones construction. (author)

  17. Ion Formation Resulting from Freezing, Thawing, and Collisional Processes in Plumes Emitted from Planetary Bodies: Implications for Plume Chemistry and the Detection of Trace Organics Present in Enceladus Geysers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beauchamp, J. L.; Wiley, J. S.; Thomas, D. A.

    2014-12-01

    Icy plumes emitted into space from Enceladus and other planetary bodies offer the intriguing possibility of sampling the composition of subsurface liquid reservoirs that may comprise habitable zones of particular astrobiological significance in our solar system. Mass spectrometric sampling of plume materials enables the detection of molecules that facilitate an assessment of the extent of chemical and biological evolution that may have occurred in a subsurface sea. In laboratory experiments we have investigated the physical and chemical processes that occur in the complex plume environment that lead to ionization of trace organic constituents, both as a result of the freezing of liquid droplets and the thawing of icy particles. We also demonstrate that collisions between icy particles lead to triboelectric charging. Subsequent discharges between oppositely charged particles result not only in the ionization of trace organics but to chemical reactions between molecular components present in the particles. For example, nitriles react with water to form amides and acids. In particular, icy particles doped with small amounts of aminoacetonitrile and water lead to the formation of the simplest amino acid glycine. The implications which these observations may have for sampling plume composition from orbit in a future mission to Enceladus will be discussed.

  18. HMM based automated wheelchair navigation using EOG traces in EEG

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aziz, Fayeem; Arof, Hamzah; Mokhtar, Norrima; Mubin, Marizan

    2014-10-01

    This paper presents a wheelchair navigation system based on a hidden Markov model (HMM), which we developed to assist those with restricted mobility. The semi-autonomous system is equipped with obstacle/collision avoidance sensors and it takes the electrooculography (EOG) signal traces from the user as commands to maneuver the wheelchair. The EOG traces originate from eyeball and eyelid movements and they are embedded in EEG signals collected from the scalp of the user at three different locations. Features extracted from the EOG traces are used to determine whether the eyes are open or closed, and whether the eyes are gazing to the right, center, or left. These features are utilized as inputs to a few support vector machine (SVM) classifiers, whose outputs are regarded as observations to an HMM. The HMM determines the state of the system and generates commands for navigating the wheelchair accordingly. The use of simple features and the implementation of a sliding window that captures important signatures in the EOG traces result in a fast execution time and high classification rates. The wheelchair is equipped with a proximity sensor and it can move forward and backward in three directions. The asynchronous system achieved an average classification rate of 98% when tested with online data while its average execution time was less than 1 s. It was also tested in a navigation experiment where all of the participants managed to complete the tasks successfully without collisions.

  19. Trace metallic elements in Helix aspersa terrestrial snails of a semiarid ecosystem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaso P, M.I.; Segovia, N.; Zarazua, G.; Montes, F.; Morton, O.; Armienta, M.A.; Hernandez, E.

    2001-01-01

    The concentration of some major elements and traces in soil samples and of Helix aspersa eatable terrestrial snails were analysed at the Radioactive Wastes Storage Center (CADER) and in other reference sites. The methodology includes the use of an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, an X-ray fluorescence equipment and an Icp-mass spectroscope. The concentrations of some toxic elements (Ba, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and V) in the soft tissue of the snails were greater than the toxic levels reported in the literature for such trace elements. The snails compared with another wild eatable foods present transfer coefficients soil-snail high relatively. (Author)

  20. Trace metal determinations by total-reflection x-ray fluorescence analysis in the open Atlantic Ocean

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmidt, D.; Gerwinski, W.; Radke, I.

    1993-01-01

    The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), as a major component of its programme ''Global Investigation of Pollution in the Marine Environment'' (GIPME), maintains a long-standing project on ''Open Ocean Baseline Studies of Trace Contaminants''. Initially, the Atlantic Ocean and trace metals were selected. Four deep-water stations in the Cape Basin, Angola Basin, Cape Verde Abyssal Plain and Seine Abyssal Plain were regularly sampled for at least 36 depths. Additional samples were taken between stations. Samples were distributed to participants and a similar number of additional laboratories. As a central part of our own contribution to the project, we determined the trace heavy metals manganese, nickel, copper, zinc and lead and the lighter selenium by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis. For the TXRF, the pre-enrichment of the trace metals and the separation from the salt matrix were performed by complexation with sodium dibenzyldithiocarbamate and reverse-phase chromatography. Generally, very low levels of trace elements were found in filtered and unfiltered water samples from these remote areas of the open Atlantic Ocean. Typical examples of the distributions of trace metal concentrations on depth profiles from the four deep-water stations as well as intercomparisons between the stations are presented. (author)

  1. Determination of trace elements in seawater using Mg-scavenger as preconcentration agent, and neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersen, B.

    1986-01-01

    In order to determine trace elements in seawater, a preconsentration method based on coprecipitation on Mg(OH) 2 is presented. Different parameters influencing the carrying effects have been investigated using model solutions and radioactive tracers. The deposit and solution are separated by filtration. Filter with deposit is stored in quarts ampules for later determination of trace elements by means of neutron activation analysis

  2. High precision ray tracing in cylindrically symmetric electrostatics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Edwards Jr, David, E-mail: dej122842@gmail.com

    2015-11-15

    Highlights: • High precision ray tracing is formulated using power series techniques. • Ray tracing is possible for fields generated by solution to laplace's equation. • Spatial and temporal orders of 4–10 are included. • Precisions in test geometries of hemispherical deflector analyzer of ∼10{sup −20} have been obtained. • This solution offers a considerable extension to the ray tracing accuracy over the current state of art. - Abstract: With the recent availability of a high order FDM solution to the curved boundary value problem, it is now possible to determine potentials in such geometries with considerably greater accuracy than had been available with the FDM method. In order for the algorithms used in the accurate potential calculations to be useful in ray tracing, an integration of those algorithms needs to be placed into the ray trace process itself. The object of this paper is to incorporate these algorithms into a solution of the equations of motion of the ray and, having done this, to demonstrate its efficacy. The algorithm incorporation has been accomplished by using power series techniques and the solution constructed has been tested by tracing the medial ray through concentric sphere geometries. The testing has indicated that precisions of ray calculations of 10{sup −20} are now possible. This solution offers a considerable extension to the ray tracing accuracy over the current state of art.

  3. Comparative Study of Trace Metrics between Bibliometrics and Patentometrics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fred Y. Ye

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: To comprehensively evaluate the overall performance of a group or an individual in both bibliometrics and patentometrics. Design/methodology/approach: Trace metrics were applied to the top 30 universities in the 2014 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU — computer sciences, the top 30 ESI highly cited papers in the computer sciences field in 2014, as well as the top 30 assignees and the top 30 most cited patents in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER computer hardware and software category. Findings: We found that, by applying trace metrics, the research or marketing impact efficiency, at both group and individual levels, was clearly observed. Furthermore, trace metrics were more sensitive to the different publication-citation distributions than the average citation and h-index were. Research limitations: Trace metrics considered publications with zero citations as negative contributions. One should clarify how he/she evaluates a zero-citation paper or patent before applying trace metrics. Practical implications: Decision makers could regularly examinine the performance of their university/company by applying trace metrics and adjust their policies accordingly. Originality/value: Trace metrics could be applied both in bibliometrics and patentometrics and provide a comprehensive view. Moreover, the high sensitivity and unique impact efficiency view provided by trace metrics can facilitate decision makers in examining and adjusting their policies.

  4. Trace maps for arbitrary substitution sequences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avishai, Y.

    1993-01-01

    The discovery of quasi-crystals and their 1-dimensional modeling have led to a deep mathematical study of Schroedinger operators with an arbitrary deterministic potential sequence. In this work we address this problem and find trace maps for an arbitrary substitution sequence. our trace maps have lower dimensionality than those of Kolar and Nori, which make them quite attractive for actual applications. (authors)

  5. Integrated method for the measurement of trace nitrogenous atmospheric bases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Key

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Nitrogenous atmospheric bases are thought to play a key role in the global nitrogen cycle, but their sources, transport, and sinks remain poorly understood. Of the many methods available to measure such compounds in ambient air, few meet the current need of being applicable to the complete range of potential analytes and fewer still are convenient to implement using instrumentation that is standard to most laboratories. In this work, an integrated approach to measuring trace, atmospheric, gaseous nitrogenous bases has been developed and validated. The method uses a simple acid scrubbing step to capture and concentrate the bases as their phosphite salts, which then are derivatized and analyzed using GC/MS and/or LC/MS. The advantages of both techniques in the context of the present measurements are discussed. The approach is sensitive, selective, reproducible, as well as convenient to implement and has been validated for different sampling strategies. The limits of detection for the families of tested compounds are suitable for ambient measurement applications (e.g., methylamine, 1 pptv; ethylamine, 2 pptv; morpholine, 1 pptv; aniline, 1 pptv; hydrazine, 0.1 pptv; methylhydrazine, 2 pptv, as supported by field measurements in an urban park and in the exhaust of on-road vehicles.

  6. WORD-MAKING IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH.

    Science.gov (United States)

    SIMONINI, R.C., JR.

    WORDS CAN BE STUDIED BY DESCRIBING THEIR ORIGIN INDUCTIVELY OR DEDUCTIVELY. EITHER WAY, A PRECISE DEFINITION OF ETYMOLOGICAL CLASSES WHICH ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE IS NEEDED. PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH IS CLASSIFIED INTO--(1) NATIVE WORDS WHICH CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE WORD STOCK OF OLD ENGLISH, (2) LOAN WORDS NEW TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WHICH HAD…

  7. Use of trace elements as indicators for underground fluid circulations in karstic environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pane-Escribe, M.B.

    1995-01-01

    The geochemical study of the trace element behaviour in karstic groundwaters has been carried out over the experimental site of Lamalou (Herault, France). Routine measurements of the physico-chemical parameters and of the dissolved elements concentrations have been achieved during two hydrological cycles. Radon has been monitored by passive detectors and by automatic electronic probes. Trace elements (Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As Rb, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Cs, Ba, Th, U) were analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The first part of this work presents the methodologies employed with in particular the improvement of the analytical performances of ICP-MS for water samples analysis. The detection limit for each considered element has been determined. The short and long term reproducibility for the samples analysis has also been tested. The second part of this study presents the treatment and interpretation of the results. This analysis has pointed our the influence of the aquifer structure on the chemical elements distribution. The trace and major elements concentrations are effectively related to the fracturing state of the reservoir and allow to individualize the high transmissivity zones from zones with a lower transmissivity in this mono-lithological context, trace elements appear to be particularly efficient tracers for determining the water origin and circulation their spatial and temporal behaviour leads to identify three different origins for the water mineralization over the studied area: limestones, clays and external sources (rainfalls and occasional pollutions). (author)

  8. Sustainability Strategy and Management Control Systems in Family Firms. Evidence from a Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Caputo

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to investigate how the integration of new forms of sustainable control systems (SCSs and traditional management control systems (MCSs, and the use of these control systems affect the integration of sustainability within organizational strategy. A qualitative case study based on a longitudinal investigation of an Italian family firm operating in an environment-sensitive context, the intermodal transport industry, has been used to trace the company’s pathway to sustainability integration based on the Gond et al. framework. The paper enriches the Gond et al. conceptualization providing evidence of the external and internal factors relevant in affecting the organization’s pathway towards sustainability integration. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first analysis that investigates the integration of sustainability into organizational strategy in the context of family firms, from the point of view of performance management systems (PMSs.

  9. Dynamic Load Balancing Based on Constrained K-D Tree Decomposition for Parallel Particle Tracing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Jiang; Guo, Hanqi; Yuan, Xiaoru; Hong, Fan; Peterka, Tom

    2018-01-01

    Particle tracing is a fundamental technique in flow field data visualization. In this work, we present a novel dynamic load balancing method for parallel particle tracing. Specifically, we employ a constrained k-d tree decomposition approach to dynamically redistribute tasks among processes. Each process is initially assigned a regularly partitioned block along with duplicated ghost layer under the memory limit. During particle tracing, the k-d tree decomposition is dynamically performed by constraining the cutting planes in the overlap range of duplicated data. This ensures that each process is reassigned particles as even as possible, and on the other hand the new assigned particles for a process always locate in its block. Result shows good load balance and high efficiency of our method.

  10. Entities of interest : Discovery in digital traces

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Graus, D.P.

    2017-01-01

    In the era of big data, we continuously — and at times unknowingly — leave behind digital traces, by browsing, sharing, posting, liking, searching, watching, and listening to online content. Aggregated, these digital traces can provide powerful insights into the behavior, preferences, activities,

  11. Trace elements as paradigms of developmental neurotoxicants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grandjean, Philippe; Herz, Katherine T

    2015-01-01

    Trace elements have contributed unique insights into developmental neurotoxicity and serve as paradigms for such adverse effects. Many trace elements are retained in the body for long periods and can be easily measured to assess exposure by inexpensive analytical methods that became available...

  12. Trace element inhibition of phytase activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, T; Connolly, C; Murphy, R

    2015-02-01

    Nowadays, 70 % of global monogastric feeds contains an exogenous phytase. Phytase supplementation has enabled a more efficient utilisation of phytate phosphorous (P) and reduction of P pollution. Trace minerals, such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn) are essential for maintaining health and immunity as well as being involved in animal growth, production and reproduction. Exogenous sources of phytase and trace elements are regularly supplemented to monogastric diets and usually combined in a premix. However, the possibility for negative interaction between individual components within the premix is high and is often overlooked. Therefore, this initial study focused on assessing the potential in vitro interaction between inorganic and organic chelated sources of Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn with three commercially available phytase preparations. Additionally, this study has investigated if the degree of enzyme inhibition was dependent of the type of chelated sources. A highly significant relationship between phytase inhibition, trace mineral type as well as mineral source and concentration, p phytases for Fe and Zn, as well as for Cu with E. coli and Aspergillus niger phytases. Different chelate trace mineral sources demonstrated diversifying abilities to inhibit exogenous phytase activity.

  13. Double-trace flows and the swampland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giombi, Simone; Perlmutter, Eric

    2018-03-01

    We explore the idea that large N, non-supersymmetric conformal field theories with a parametrically large gap to higher spin single-trace operators may be obtained as infrared fixed points of relevant double-trace deformations of superconformal field theories. After recalling the AdS interpretation and some potential pathologies of such flows, we introduce a concrete example that appears to avoid them: the ABJM theory at finite k, deformed by \\int O^2, where O is the superconformal primary in the stress-tensor multiplet. We address its relation to recent conjectures based on weak gravity bounds, and discuss the prospects for a wider class of similarly viable flows. Next, we proceed to analyze the spectrum and correlation functions of the putative IR CFT, to leading non-trivial order in 1 /N. This includes analytic computations of the change under double-trace flow of connected four-point functions of ABJM superconformal primaries; and of the IR anomalous dimensions of infinite classes of double-trace composite operators. These would be the first analytic results for anomalous dimensions of finite-spin composite operators in any large N CFT3 with an Einstein gravity dual.

  14. In situ dating of the oldest morphological traces of life on Earth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fliegel, D.; McLoughlin, N.; Simonetti, A.; de Wit, M.; Furnes, H.

    2008-12-01

    Sea floor pillow basalts contain tubular and granular bioalteration micro textures in their glassy margins1,2 created by microbes etching the rock3,4, hypothetically to get access to nutrients and electrons donors5. The etched pits in the rock can be regarded as trace fossils6 that later become mineralized by titanite (CaTiSiO5). Such trace fossils are known from recent oceanic crust to some of the oldest preserved Archean ocean floor, in the Barberton greenstone belt (BGB), in S-Africa7. However, the antiquity of BGB trace fossils has been questioned by some since only the host rock was dated until now8. Here, we report for the first time in situ U-Pb radiometric dating of titanite mineralizing the BGB trace fossils using LA-MC-ICPMS. An U-Pb date of of approx. 3.15 ± 0.05 Ga (95.4 % confidence) for the titanite demonstrates the antiquity of the BGB trace fossils. This result confirms the BGB trace fossils as the oldest directly dated morphological trace of life on Earth. We will present addition data to reveal the mineralization of trace fossils by titanite, comparing the BGB trace fossils to other similar tubular titanite mineralized textures from different locations and younger ages. Our data confirms that a sub-oceanic biosphere was already established in the early Archean by at least 3.2 Ga. Further the results highlight the importance of the sub-ocean habitats for the development and possibly refuge for life on (early) Earth. 1. Furnes, H. et al. Bioalteration of basaltic glass in the oceanic crust. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 2, (2001). 2. Staudigel, H. et al. 3.5 billion years of glass bioalteration: vulcanic rocks as a basis for microbial life. Earth-Science Reviews 89, 156-176 (2008). 3. Furnes, H. et al. Links Between Geological Processes, Microbial Activeties and Evolution of Life. Dilek, Y., Furnes, H. and Muehlenbachs, K. (eds.), pp. 1-68 (Springer,2008). 4. McLoughlin, N. et al. Current Developments in Bioerosion (Erlangen Earth Conference

  15. The reincorporation and redistribution of trace geoforensic particulates on clothing: an introductory study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, R M; French, J C; O'Donnell, L; Bull, P A

    2010-12-01

    Two experimental studies were undertaken to investigate the processes of reincorporation and redistribution of trace evidence on garments when worn by a suspect or a victim (reincorporation) or after the garments have been seized and packaged for subsequent forensic analysis (redistribution). The first experiment utilised UV powder, an established proxy for geoforensic trace particulates and the second experiment utilised daffodil pollen transferred onto garments under conditions that mimicked forensic reality. It was demonstrated that reincorporation of trace particulates occurs from upper to lower parts of the same garment and also from upper garments to lower garments. Reincorporation also occurred to all areas of the lower garments, however the highest concentration of particulates was found to be the lap area of the jeans. Particulates also tended to be preserved around technical details such as stitching or relief design features of the garments. Thus the decay of particulates after a contact has been made does not necessarily involve a loss of those particulates from the entire system. These findings have implications for the interpretation of trace evidence when seeking to establish the source of initial contacts or the chronology of pertinent events. The second study demonstrated that folding and packaging items of clothing leads to a redistribution of any trace particulate evidence that is present thereby eliciting an alteration in the spatial distribution of that evidence. There is therefore a necessity to take the context of trace evidence into account and also to follow protocols that are sensitive to these aspects of trace evidence behaviour as a failure to do so may have consequences for the correct interpretation of such evidence. Copyright © 2010 Forensic Science Society. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Some aspects of emission and volatization of trace elements on coal combustion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanchez, J.C.D.; Formoso, M.L.L.; Bristoti, A.

    1987-01-01

    The present research work was carried out an industrial plant which uses a mixture of coals from Leao and Recreio mines for steam generation in a bioler with a capacity of 160t/h of steam. Coal samples from Leao, Recreio and the correspondent mixture were taken, as well as samples from the products of combustion. The present study fundamentally aims at assessing the emission of trace elements and major components of mineral matter, present in coal, in order to bring subsidies for a more efficient control over atmospheric, terrestrial and water pollution. Emissions of trace elements: As, B, Be, Cd, Cl, Co, Cr, Cu, F, Ga, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, S, Sn, V, Zn, Zr, and major elements: Si, Al, Ca, Mg, Ti, Fe, K and P, were calculated. Moreover, the average emission of particulate matter to the atmosphere was evaluated. In the present work, analytical procedures as X-ray spectroscopy and absorption spectroscopy and techniques used for the determination of F and Cl in Brazilian coals are cited. (author) [pt

  17. Investigation of propagation algorithms for ray-tracing simulation of polarized neutrons

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bergbäck Knudsen, Erik; Tranum-Rømer, A.; Willendrup, Peter Kjær

    2014-01-01

    Ray-tracing of polarized neutrons faces a challenge when the neutron propagates through an inhomogeneous magnetic field. This affects simulations of novel instruments using encoding of energy or angle into the neutron spin. We here present a new implementation of propagation of polarized neutrons...

  18. Hyperspectral to multispectral imaging for detection of tree nuts and peanut traces in wheat flour

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Puneet Mishra

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available In current industrial environments there is an increasing need for practical and inexpensive quality control systems to detect the foreign food materials in powder food processing lines. This demand is especially important for the detection of product adulteration with traces of highly allergenic products, such as peanuts and tree nuts. Manufacturing industries dealing with the processing of multiple powder food products present a substantial risk for the contamination of powder foods with traces of tree nuts and other adulterants, which might result in unintentional ingestion of nuts by the sensitised population. Hence, the need for an in-line system to detect nut traces at the early stages of food manufacturing is of crucial importance. In this present work, a feasibility study of a spectral index for revealing adulteration of tree nut and peanut traces in wheat flour samples with hyperspectral images is reported. The main nuts responsible for allergenic reactions considered in this work were peanut, hazelnut and walnut. Enhanced contrast between nuts and wheat flour was obtained after the application of the index. Furthermore, the segmentation of these images by selecting different thresholds for different nut and flour mixtures allowed the identification of nut traces in the samples. Pixels identified as nuts were counted and compared with the actual percentage of peanut adulteration. As a result, the multispectral system was able to detect and provide good visualisation of tree nut and peanut trace levels down to 0.01% by weight. In this context, multispectral imaging could operate in conjuction with chemical procedures, such as Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay to save time, money and skilled labour on product quality control. This approach could enable not only a few selected samples to be assessed but also to extensively incorporate quality control surveyance on product processing lines.

  19. A new method for calculation of traces of Dirac γ-matrices in Minkowski space

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bondarev, Alexander L.

    2006-01-01

    This paper presents some relations for orthonormal bases in the Minkowski space and isotropic tetrads constructed from the vectors of these bases. As an example of an application of the obtained formulae, in particular recursion relations, a new method is proposed to calculate traces of Dirac γ-matrices in the Minkowski space. Compared to the classical algorithms, the new method results in more compact expressions for the traces. Specifically, it may be easily implemented as a simple yet efficient computer algorithm

  20. Tracing a planar algebraic curve

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Falai; Kozak, J.

    1994-09-01

    In this paper, an algorithm that determines a real algebraic curve is outlined. Its basic step is to divide the plane into subdomains that include only simple branches of the algebraic curve without singular points. Each of the branches is then stably and efficiently traced in the particular subdomain. Except for the tracing, the algorithm requires only a couple of simple operations on polynomials that can be carried out exactly if the coefficients are rational, and the determination of zeros of several polynomials of one variable. (author). 5 refs, 4 figs

  1. Trace-Element Analysis by Use of PIXE Technique on Agricultural Products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takagi, A.; Yokoyama, R.; Makisaka, K.; Kisamori, K.; Kuwada, Y.; Nishimura, D.; Matsumiya, R.; Fujita, Y.; Mihara, M.; Matsuta, K.; Fukuda, M.

    2009-10-01

    In order to examine whether a trace-element analysis by PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) gives a clue to identify production area of agricultural products, we carried out a study on soy beans as an example. In the present study, a proton beam at the energy of 2.3MeV was provided by Van de Graaff accelerator at Osaka University. We used a Ge detector with Be window to measure X-ray spectra. We prepared sample soy beans from China, Thailand, Taiwan, and 7 different areas in Japan. As a result of PIXE analysis, 5 elements, potassium, iron, zinc, arsenic and rubidium, have been identified. There are clear differences in relative amount of trace-elements between samples from different international regions. Chinese beans contain much more Rb than the others, while there are significant differences in Fe and Zn between beans of Thailand and Taiwan. There are relatively smaller differences among Japanese beans. This result shows that trace-elements bring us some practical information of the region where the product grown.

  2. Liquid phase microextraction for the analysis of trace elements and their speciation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu, Bin; He, Man; Chen, Beibei; Xia, Linbo

    2013-01-01

    Trace/ultra-trace elements and their speciation analysis in complex matrices usually require sample preparation procedures to achieve sample clean-up and analyte preconcentration. Sample preparation is often the bottleneck in trace elements and their speciation analysis which has a direct impact on accuracy, precision and limits of detection and is often the rate-determining step of the analytical process. Recent trends in sample preparation include miniaturization, automation, high-throughput performance and reduction in solvent/sample consumption and operation time. Liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) technique as a novel and promising alternative in sample preparation can meet these requirements and has become a very efficient sample preparation technique. This review updates the state of art of LPME for trace elements and their speciation analysis and discusses its promising prospects. The major thrust of the article highlights the applications of LPME including single-drop microextraction (SDME), hollow fiber-liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME), dispersive liquid liquid microextraction (DLLME) and solidified floating organic drop microextraction (SFODME) to the fields of elemental and their speciation analysis by atomic spectrometry-based methods, especially inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. General and specific concepts, different extraction formats and characteristics of LPME are described and compared, along with examples of recent innovations and applications presented to demonstrate its potential for trace elements and their speciation analysis in biological and environmental fields. Moreover, the application potential and an outlook on the combination of LPME and atomic spectrometry-based techniques for inorganic analysis are commentated. - Highlights: • The state of art of LPME for trace elements and their speciation analysis is updated. • Different extraction formats of LPME are described. • The application potential and future

  3. Consilience and Life History Theory: From Genes to Brain to Reproductive Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Figueredo, Aurelio Jose; Vasquez, Geneva; Brumbach, Barbara H.; Schneider, Stephanie M. R.; Sefcek, Jon A.; Tal, Ilanit R.; Hill, Dawn; Wenner, Christopher J.; Jacobs, W. Jake

    2006-01-01

    We describe an integrated theory of individual differences that traces the behavioral development of life history from genes to brain to reproductive strategy. We provide evidence that a single common factor, the K-Factor, underpins a variety of life-history parameters, including an assortment of sexual, reproductive, parental, familial, and…

  4. Life Support Systems: Trace Contaminant and Particulate Control

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Life Support Systems project Trace Contaminant and Particulate Control task: Work in the area of trace contamination and...

  5. Cost-effectiveness of different strategies for diagnosis of uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women presenting in primary care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coupé, Veerle M. H.; Knottnerus, Bart J.; Geerlings, Suzanne E.; Moll van Charante, Eric P.; ter Riet, Gerben

    2017-01-01

    Background Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are common in primary care resulting in substantial costs. Since antimicrobial resistance against antibiotics for UTIs is rising, accurate diagnosis is needed in settings with low rates of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Objective To compare the cost-effectiveness of different strategies to diagnose UTIs in women who contacted their general practitioner (GP) with painful and/or frequent micturition between 2006 and 2008 in and around Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Methods This is a model-based cost-effectiveness analysis using data from 196 women who underwent four tests: history, urine stick, sediment, dipslide, and the gold standard, a urine culture. Decision trees were constructed reflecting 15 diagnostic strategies comprising different parallel and sequential combinations of the four tests. Using the decision trees, for each strategy the costs and the proportion of women with a correct positive or negative diagnosis were estimated. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was used to estimate uncertainty surrounding costs and effects. Uncertainty was presented using cost-effectiveness planes and acceptability curves. Results Most sequential testing strategies resulted in higher proportions of correctly classified women and lower costs than parallel testing strategies. For different willingness to pay thresholds, the most cost-effective strategies were: 1) performing a dipstick after a positive history for thresholds below €10 per additional correctly classified patient, 2) performing both a history and dipstick for thresholds between €10 and €17 per additional correctly classified patient, 3) performing a dipstick if history was negative, followed by a sediment if the dipstick was negative for thresholds between €17 and €118 per additional correctly classified patient, 4) performing a dipstick if history was negative, followed by a dipslide if the dipstick was negative for thresholds above €118 per

  6. Cost-effectiveness of different strategies for diagnosis of uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women presenting in primary care.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judith E Bosmans

    Full Text Available Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs are common in primary care resulting in substantial costs. Since antimicrobial resistance against antibiotics for UTIs is rising, accurate diagnosis is needed in settings with low rates of multidrug-resistant bacteria.To compare the cost-effectiveness of different strategies to diagnose UTIs in women who contacted their general practitioner (GP with painful and/or frequent micturition between 2006 and 2008 in and around Amsterdam, The Netherlands.This is a model-based cost-effectiveness analysis using data from 196 women who underwent four tests: history, urine stick, sediment, dipslide, and the gold standard, a urine culture. Decision trees were constructed reflecting 15 diagnostic strategies comprising different parallel and sequential combinations of the four tests. Using the decision trees, for each strategy the costs and the proportion of women with a correct positive or negative diagnosis were estimated. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was used to estimate uncertainty surrounding costs and effects. Uncertainty was presented using cost-effectiveness planes and acceptability curves.Most sequential testing strategies resulted in higher proportions of correctly classified women and lower costs than parallel testing strategies. For different willingness to pay thresholds, the most cost-effective strategies were: 1 performing a dipstick after a positive history for thresholds below €10 per additional correctly classified patient, 2 performing both a history and dipstick for thresholds between €10 and €17 per additional correctly classified patient, 3 performing a dipstick if history was negative, followed by a sediment if the dipstick was negative for thresholds between €17 and €118 per additional correctly classified patient, 4 performing a dipstick if history was negative, followed by a dipslide if the dipstick was negative for thresholds above €118 per additional correctly classified

  7. Cost-effectiveness of different strategies for diagnosis of uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women presenting in primary care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosmans, Judith E; Coupé, Veerle M H; Knottnerus, Bart J; Geerlings, Suzanne E; Moll van Charante, Eric P; Ter Riet, Gerben

    2017-01-01

    Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are common in primary care resulting in substantial costs. Since antimicrobial resistance against antibiotics for UTIs is rising, accurate diagnosis is needed in settings with low rates of multidrug-resistant bacteria. To compare the cost-effectiveness of different strategies to diagnose UTIs in women who contacted their general practitioner (GP) with painful and/or frequent micturition between 2006 and 2008 in and around Amsterdam, The Netherlands. This is a model-based cost-effectiveness analysis using data from 196 women who underwent four tests: history, urine stick, sediment, dipslide, and the gold standard, a urine culture. Decision trees were constructed reflecting 15 diagnostic strategies comprising different parallel and sequential combinations of the four tests. Using the decision trees, for each strategy the costs and the proportion of women with a correct positive or negative diagnosis were estimated. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was used to estimate uncertainty surrounding costs and effects. Uncertainty was presented using cost-effectiveness planes and acceptability curves. Most sequential testing strategies resulted in higher proportions of correctly classified women and lower costs than parallel testing strategies. For different willingness to pay thresholds, the most cost-effective strategies were: 1) performing a dipstick after a positive history for thresholds below €10 per additional correctly classified patient, 2) performing both a history and dipstick for thresholds between €10 and €17 per additional correctly classified patient, 3) performing a dipstick if history was negative, followed by a sediment if the dipstick was negative for thresholds between €17 and €118 per additional correctly classified patient, 4) performing a dipstick if history was negative, followed by a dipslide if the dipstick was negative for thresholds above €118 per additional correctly classified patient

  8. Self-presentation and Discreditation – the Key Strategies of the Preelection Political Discourse (as Exemplified in the Pre-election Tweets of D. Trump and H. Clinton

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana S. Sergeeva

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The strategy of self-presentation and discreditation are considered as the main strategies of the pre-election virtual discourse. The language units, used at tactics realization of communicative strategies, promote necessary political image formation during the election campaign. Tactics of «incrimination» (strategy of discreditation is frequently used in D. Trump’s tweets, whereas H. Clinton prefers tactics «consolidation» (strategy of selfpresentation.

  9. Edge Detection and Feature Line Tracing in 3D-Point Clouds by Analyzing Geometric Properties of Neighborhoods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huan Ni

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an automated and effective method for detecting 3D edges and tracing feature lines from 3D-point clouds. This method is named Analysis of Geometric Properties of Neighborhoods (AGPN, and it includes two main steps: edge detection and feature line tracing. In the edge detection step, AGPN analyzes geometric properties of each query point’s neighborhood, and then combines RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC and angular gap metric to detect edges. In the feature line tracing step, feature lines are traced by a hybrid method based on region growing and model fitting in the detected edges. Our approach is experimentally validated on complex man-made objects and large-scale urban scenes with millions of points. Comparative studies with state-of-the-art methods demonstrate that our method obtains a promising, reliable, and high performance in detecting edges and tracing feature lines in 3D-point clouds. Moreover, AGPN is insensitive to the point density of the input data.

  10. The development and assessment of TRACE/PARCS model for Lungmen ABWR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Hao-Tzu, E-mail: htlin@iner.gov.tw [Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, R.O.C., 1000, Wenhua Road, Jiaan Village, Longtan Township, Taoyuan County, 32546, Taiwan, ROC (China); Wang, Jong-Rong, E-mail: jrwang@iner.gov.tw [Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, R.O.C., 1000, Wenhua Road, Jiaan Village, Longtan Township, Taoyuan County, 32546, Taiwan, ROC (China); Chen, Hsiung-Chih, E-mail: km8385@gmail.com [Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang Fu Road, HsinChu 30013, Taiwan, ROC (China); Shih, Chunkuan, E-mail: ckshih@ess.nthu.edu.tw [Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang Fu Road, HsinChu 30013, Taiwan, ROC (China)

    2014-07-01

    Highlights: • The development of a TRACE/PARCS model of Lungmen (ABWR). • Thermal-hydraulics model of TRACE is coupling with 3-D neutronics model of PARCS. • The 3-D geometry vessel component of TRACE is used in this study. • The parameters responses of Lungmen TRACE/PARCS model are consistent with FSAR data. - Abstract: This study consists of two steps. The first step is the development of a TRACE (TRAC/RELAP Advanced Computational Engine)/PARCS (Purdue Advanced Reactor Core Simulator) model of Lungmen nuclear power plant (NPP) which includes the vessel, reactor internal pumps (RIPs), main steam lines, and important control systems (such as the feedwater control system, steam bypass and pressure control system, and recirculation flow control system), etc. Key parameters were identified to refine the TRACE/PARCS model further in the frame of a steady state analysis. The second step is the performance of Lungmen NPP TRACE/PARCS model transient analyses. The transient data of Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) chapter 15th were used to compare with the results of Lungmen NPP TRACE/PARCS model. The trends of TRACE/PARCS analysis results were consistent with the FSAR data. It indicated that there was a respectable accuracy in the Lungmen NPP TRACE/PARCS model and it also depicted that the Lungmen NPP TRACE/PARCS model was satisfying for the purpose of Lungmen NPP safety analyses.

  11. Linking trace element variations with macronutrients and major cations in marine mussels Mytilus edulis and Perna viridis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Fengjie; Wang, Wen-Xiong

    2015-09-01

    Marine mussels have long been used as biomonitors of contamination of trace elements, but little is known about whether variation in tissue trace elements is significantly associated with those of macronutrients and major cations. The authors examined the variability of macronutrients and major cations and their potential relationships with bioaccumulation of trace elements. The authors analyzed the concentrations of macronutrients (C, N, P, S), major cations (Na, Mg, K, Ca), and trace elements (Al, V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Ba, Pb) in the whole soft tissues of marine mussels Mytilus edulis and Perna viridis collected globally from 21 sites. The results showed that 12% to 84% of the variances in the trace elements was associated with major cations, and the tissue concentration of major cations such as Na and Mg in mussels was a good proxy for ambient seawater concentrations of the major cations. Specifically, bioaccumulation of most of the trace elements was significantly associated with major cations, and the relationships of major cations with trace cations and trace oxyanions were totally opposite. Furthermore, 14% to 69% of the variances in the trace elements were significantly associated with macronutrients. Notably, more than half of the variance in the tissue concentrations of As, Cd, V, Ba, and Pb was explained by the variance in macronutrients in one or both species. Because the tissue macronutrient concentrations were strongly associated with animal growth and reproduction, the observed coupling relationships indicated that these biological processes strongly influenced the bioaccumulation of some trace elements. The present study indicated that simultaneous quantification of macronutrients and major cations with trace elements can improve the interpretation of biomonitoring data. © 2015 SETAC.

  12. From Bows to Sound-Chests: Tracing the Ancestry of the Violin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janelle R. Finley

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The ancestry of the violin is a subject that has been studied, researched, debated, and written about in great detail. However, despite all of the research and study, the ancestry of the violin is still not certain. This paper presents two schools of thought that propose different theories as to how the ancestry of the violin should be determined and what instruments should be included in the ancestry of the violin. The first school of thought proposes that the violin’s ancestry should be traced through the bow. The second theory proposes that the violin’s ancestry should be traced through the sound-chest of the violin. This paper also presents the different arguments for and against each theory, the importance of this topic, and the paper’s position on this topic. Research for this paper was accomplished through the use of scholarly books on the subject of the history of the violin.

  13. Animate tracings in Michelangelo’s paper modani at San Lorenzo

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foote, Jonathan

    2016-01-01

    exhibit no evidence of the use of compass or rule, a realization that has led scholars to conclude that he drew them free-hand. However, new observations reveal that his modani were constructed by means of a deliberate and highly ordered working method linked through cutting and tracing. Although...... Michelangelo did not rely on instruments of geometry or mathematics, manipulative tracing nevertheless generated a sequential order of guide marks, ticks, and smears. While tracing, he would freely shift, rotate, or flip the template, trace only part of it, or combine it with other sketches or tracings. Far...

  14. Trace element measurements with synchrotron radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanson, A.L.; Kraner, H.W.; Jones, K.W.; Gordon, B.M.; Mills, R.E.

    1982-01-01

    Aspects of the application of synchrotron radiation to trace element determinations by x-ray fluorescence have been investigated using beams from the Cornell facility, CHESS. Fluoresced x rays were detected with a Si(Li) detector placed 4 cm from the target at 90 0 to the beam. Thick samples of NBS Standard Reference Materials were used to calibrate trace element sensitivity and estimate minimum detectable limits for this method

  15. TRACE/PARCS modelling of rips trip transients for Lungmen ABWR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, C. Y. [Inst. of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing-Hua Univ., No.101, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China); Lin, H. T.; Wang, J. R. [Inst. of Nuclear Energy Research, No. 1000, Wenhua Rd., Longtan Township, Taoyuan County 32546, Taiwan (China); Shih, C. [Inst. of Nuclear Engineering and Science, Dept. of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing-Hua Univ., No.101, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan (China)

    2012-07-01

    The objectives of this study are to examine the performances of the steady-state results calculated by the Lungmen TRACE/PARCS model compared to SIMULATE-3 code, as well as to use the analytical results of the final safety analysis report (FSAR) to benchmark the Lungmen TRACE/PARCS model. In this study, three power generation methods in TRACE were utilized to analyze the three reactor internal pumps (RIPs) trip transient for the purpose of validating the TRACE/PARCS model. In general, the comparisons show that the transient responses of key system parameters agree well with the FSAR results, including core power, core inlet flow, reactivity, etc. Further studies will be performed in the future using Lungmen TRACE/PARCS model. After the commercial operation of Lungmen nuclear power plant, TRACE/PARCS model will be verified. (authors)

  16. Radwaste disposal strategy in Bangladesh: Present status and future trends

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jalil, A.; Rabbani, G.

    2002-01-01

    Significant amounts of radioactive solid liquid and mixed wastes are generated in Bangladesh from peaceful uses of atomic energy including disused sealed sources and spent fuel from the research reactor and other hot laboratories in the country. At present these wastes are being collected, segregated, labeled and stored in an interim safe storage. A Central Waste Processing and Storage Facility (CWPSF) is fast nearing completion in the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), Savar campus where the TRIGA Research Reactor, Isotope Production Laboratory, 14 MeV Neutron Generator, 37 x 10 2 TBq commercial irradiator and other hot facilities are situated. A national strategy exists for the management and disposal of various types of radioactive wastes. Gaseous and liquid wastes are discharged in the environment in a controlled manner following delay decay procedure. Short-lived low and intermediate level wastes (SL-LILW) and disused/spent sealed radioactive sources are being stored in an interim storage before storage in the CWPSF following short treatment and conditioning. As regards their disposal, the currently preferred option is engineered near surface repository. Site investigation work has progressed far enough toward the goal of establishing a demonstration repository at AERE, Savar by the year 2010. For small amount of long-lived highly active problem wastes including spent radium needles and disused radioactive sources, the safe management option is a long-term storage in the CWPSF after conditioning and treatment. But this is not considered as a sustainable solution. The real emphasis is placed on the development of inexpensive disposal methods and availing regional/international repositories. (author)

  17. A methodology for calculating photovoltaic field output and effect of solar tracking strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu, Yeguang; Yao, Yingxue

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A new methodology for calculating PV field output is proposed. • The reduction of diffuse radiation and albedo due to shading is considered. • The shadow behavior is accurately analyzed at a cell level. • Several simplified measures are taken to reduce the calculation work. • The field outputs with different solar tracking strategies are compared. - Abstract: This paper proposes an effective methodology for calculating the photovoltaic field output. A combination of two methods is first presented for optical performance calculation: point projection method for direction radiation, and Monte Carlo ray-tracing method for both diffuse radiation and albedo radiation. Based on the optical calculation, an accurate output of the photovoltaic field can be obtained through a cell-level simulation of PV system. Several simplified measures are taken to reduce the large amount of calculation work. The proposed methodology has been validated for accurate and fast calculation of field output. With the help of the developed code, this paper deals with the performance comparison between four typical tracking strategies. Through the comparative analysis, the field output is proved to be related to the tracking strategy. For a regular photovoltaic field, the equatorial and elevation-rolling tracking show the superior performance in annual field output to the azimuth-elevation and rolling-elevation tracking. A reasonable explanation for this difference has been presented in this paper.

  18. Trace metal in surface water and groundwater and its transfer in a Yellow River alluvial fan: Evidence from isotopes and hydrochemistry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Jing; Li, Fadong, E-mail: lifadong@igsnrr.ac.cn; Liu, Qiang; Zhang, Yan

    2014-02-01

    Metals are ubiquitous in the environment. The aim of sustainable management of the agro-ecosystem includes ensuring that water continues to fulfill its function in agricultural production, cycling of elements, and as a habitat of numerous organisms. There is no doubt that the influence of large-scale irrigation projects has impacted the regional surface–groundwater interactions in the North China Plain (NCP). Given these concerns, the aim of this study is to evaluate the pollution, identify the sources of trace metals, analyze the influence of surface–groundwater interactions on trace metal distribution, and to propose urgent management strategies for trace metals in the agriculture area in China. Trace metals, hydrochemical indicators (EC, pH, concentrations of Na{sup +}, K{sup +}, Mg{sup 2+}, Ca{sup 2+}, Cl{sup −}, SO{sub 4}{sup 2−}, and HCO{sub 3}{sup −}) and stable isotopic composition (δ{sup 18}O and δ{sup 2}H) were determined for surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) samples. Trace metals were detected in all samples. Concentrations of Fe, Se, B, Mn, and Zn in SW exceeded drinking water standards by 14.8%, 29.6%, 25.9%, 11.1%, and 14.8% higher, respectively, and by 3.8%, 23.1%, 11.5%, 11.5%, and 7.7% in GW. The pollution of trace metals in surface water was more serious than that in groundwater, and was also higher than in common irrigation areas in NCP. Trace metals were found to have a combined origin of geogenic and agriculture and industrial activities. Their distribution varied greatly and exhibited a certain relationship with the water flow direction, with the exception of a number of singular sites. Hydrochemical and environmental isotopic evidence indicates surface–groundwater interactions influence the spatial distribution of trace metal in the study area. Facing the ongoing serious pollution, management practices for source control, improved control technologies, and the construction of a monitoring net to warn of increased risk are

  19. Trace explosives sensor testbed (TESTbed)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, Greg E.; Malito, Michael P.; Tamanaha, Cy R.; Hammond, Mark H.; Giordano, Braden C.; Lubrano, Adam L.; Field, Christopher R.; Rogers, Duane A.; Jeffries, Russell A.; Colton, Richard J.; Rose-Pehrsson, Susan L.

    2017-03-01

    A novel vapor delivery testbed, referred to as the Trace Explosives Sensor Testbed, or TESTbed, is demonstrated that is amenable to both high- and low-volatility explosives vapors including nitromethane, nitroglycerine, ethylene glycol dinitrate, triacetone triperoxide, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, pentaerythritol tetranitrate, and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine. The TESTbed incorporates a six-port dual-line manifold system allowing for rapid actuation between a dedicated clean air source and a trace explosives vapor source. Explosives and explosives-related vapors can be sourced through a number of means including gas cylinders, permeation tube ovens, dynamic headspace chambers, and a Pneumatically Modulated Liquid Delivery System coupled to a perfluoroalkoxy total-consumption microflow nebulizer. Key features of the TESTbed include continuous and pulseless control of trace vapor concentrations with wide dynamic range of concentration generation, six sampling ports with reproducible vapor profile outputs, limited low-volatility explosives adsorption to the manifold surface, temperature and humidity control of the vapor stream, and a graphical user interface for system operation and testing protocol implementation.

  20. Neutron activation analysis of trace elements in biological tissue

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Velandia, J A; Perkons, A K

    1974-01-01

    Thermal Neutron Activation Analysis with Instrumental Ge(Li) Gamma Spectrometry was used to determine the amounts of more than 30 trace constituents in heart tissue of rats and kidney tissue of rabbits. The results were confirmed by a rapid ion-exchange group separation method in the initial stages of the experiments. The samples were exposed to thermal neutrons for periods between 3 minutes and 14 hours. Significant differences in the amounts and types of trace elements in the two different tissue types are apparent, however, are probably due to specific diets. Tables of relevant nuclear data, standard concentrations, radiochemical separation recoveries, and quantitative analytical results are presented. The ion-exchange group separation scheme and typical examples of the instrumental gamma ray spectra are shown. The techniques developed in this study are being used for a large scale constituent survey of various diseased and healthy human tissues.

  1. Radionuclides and selected trace elements in marine protein concentrates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beasley, T M; Jokela, T A; Eagle, R J

    1971-12-01

    The concentrations of various trace elements and radionuclides have been measured in marine protein concentrates prepared from surface feeding fishes. As with concentrates prepared from benthic fishes, the /sup 210/Pb-/sup 210/Po pair are the most significant radionuclides present. Concentrations of stable Pb, Co and Ag in certain concentrates are sufficiently high to contribute substantially to estimated current intakes of these elements.

  2. Evaluation of Heliostat Standby Aiming Strategies to Reduce Avian Flux Hazards and Impacts on Operational Performance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wendelin, Timothy J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ho, Clifford K. [Sandia National Laboratories; Horstman, Luke [Sandia National Laboratories

    2017-06-03

    This paper presents a study of alternative heliostat standby aiming strategies and their impact on avian flux hazards and operational performance of a concentrating solar power plant. A mathematical model was developed that predicts the bird-feather temperature as a function of solar irradiance, thermal emittance, convection, and thermal properties of the feather. The irradiance distribution in the airspace above the Ivanpah Unit 2 heliostat field was simulated using a ray-trace model for two different times of the day, four days of the year, and nine different standby aiming strategies. The impact of the alternative aiming strategies on operational performance was assessed by comparing the heliostat slew times from standby position to the receiver for the different aiming strategies. Increased slew times increased a proxy start-up time that reduced the simulated annual energy production. Results showed that spreading the radial aim points around the receiver to a distance of ~150 m or greater reduced the hazardous exposure times that the feather temperature exceeded the hazard metric of 160 degrees C. The hazardous exposure times were reduced by ~23% and 90% at a radial spread of aim points extending to 150 m and 250 m, respectively, but the simulated annual energy production decreased as a result of increased slew times. Single point-focus aiming strategies were also evaluated, but these strategies increased the exposure hazard relative to other aiming strategies.

  3. Trace element metabolism in man and animals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirchgessner, M.

    1977-01-01

    Uptake, distribution, storage, excretion of different trace elements and resulting disturbances are investigated in blood and organs in animal experiments and in human diagnostics with the aid of radioisotopes. Apart from this, untritional disturbances are mentioned. Finally, future aspects of physiological trace element examinations are listed. (AJ) 891 AJ [de

  4. Preconcentration and Speciation of Trace Elements and Trace-Element Analogues of Radionuclides by Neutron Activation Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chatt, A.

    1999-01-01

    We have developed a number of preconcentration neutron activation analysis (PNAA) methods in our laboratory for the determination of trace elements in a variety of complex sample matrices. We developed a number of cocrystallization and coprecipitation methods for the determination of trace elements in water samples. We developed several methods for the determination of I in foods and diets. We have developed a number of PNAA methods in our laboratory We determined As and Sb in geological materials and natural waters by coprecipitation with Se and Au in silicate rocks and ores by coprecipitation with Te followed by NAA. We developed an indirect NAA method for the determination of B in leachates of borosilicate glass. We have been interested in studying the speciation of Am, Tc, and Np in simulated vitrified groundwater leachates of high-level wastes under oxid and anoxic conditions using a number of techniques. We then used PNAA methods to study speciation of trace-element analogues of radionuclides. We have been able to apply biochemical techniques and NAA for the separation, preconcentration, and characterization of metalloprotein and protein-bound trace-element species in subcellular fractions of bovine kidneys. Lately, we have concentrated our efforts to develop chemical and biochemical methods in conjunction with NAA, NMR, and MS for the separation and identification of extractable organohalogens (EOX) in tissues of beluga whales, cod, and northern pink shrimp

  5. La formule des traces locale tordue

    CERN Document Server

    Moeglin, Colette

    2018-01-01

    A note to readers: This book is in French. The text has two chapters. The first one, written by Waldspurger, proves a twisted version of the local trace formula of Arthur over a local field. This formula is an equality between two expressions, one involving weighted orbital integrals, the other one involving weighted characters. The authors follow Arthur's proof, but the treatement of the spectral side is more complicated in the twisted situation. They need to use the combinatorics of the "Morning Seminar". The authors' local trace formula has the same consequences as in Arthur's paper on elliptic characters. The second chapter, written by Moeglin, gives a symmetric form of the local trace formula as in Arthur's paper on Fourier Transform of Orbital integral and describes any twisted orbital integral, in the p-adic case, as integral of characters.

  6. Interleaved Practice with Multiple Representations: Analyses with Knowledge Tracing Based Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rau, Martina A.; Pardos, Zachary A.

    2012-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to use Knowledge Tracing to augment the results obtained from an experiment that investigated the effects of practice schedules using an intelligent tutoring system for fractions. Specifically, this experiment compared different practice schedules of multiple representations of fractions: representations were presented to…

  7. Contact Tracing during an Outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in the Western Area Districts of Sierra Leone: Lessons for Future Ebola Outbreak Response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olu, Olushayo Oluseun; Lamunu, Margaret; Nanyunja, Miriam; Dafae, Foday; Samba, Thomas; Sempiira, Noah; Kuti-George, Fredson; Abebe, Fikru Zeleke; Sensasi, Benjamin; Chimbaru, Alexander; Ganda, Louisa; Gausi, Khoti; Gilroy, Sonia; Mugume, James

    2016-01-01

    Contact tracing is a critical strategy required for timely prevention and control of Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks. Available evidence suggests that poor contact tracing was a driver of the EVD outbreak in West Africa, including Sierra Leone. In this article, we answered the question as to whether EVD contact tracing, as practiced in Western Area (WA) districts of Sierra Leone from 2014 to 2015, was effective. The goal is to describe contact tracing and identify obstacles to its effective implementation. Mixed methods comprising secondary data analysis of the EVD case and contact tracing data sets collected from WA during the period from 2014 to 2015, key informant interviews of contact tracers and their supervisors, and a review of available reports on contact tracing were implemented to obtain data for this study. During the study period, 3,838 confirmed cases and 32,706 contacts were listed in the viral hemorrhagic fever and contact databases for the district (mean 8.5 contacts per case). Only 22.1% (852) of the confirmed cases in the study area were listed as contacts at the onset of their illness, which indicates incomplete identification and tracing of contacts. Challenges associated with effective contact tracing included lack of community trust, concealing of exposure information, political interference with recruitment of tracers, inadequate training of contact tracers, and incomplete EVD case and contact database. While the tracers noted the usefulness of community quarantine in facilitating their work, they also reported delayed or irregular supply of basic needs, such as food and water, which created resistance from the communities. Multiple gaps in contact tracing attributed to a variety of factors associated with implementers, and communities were identified as obstacles that impeded timely control of the EVD outbreak in the WA of Sierra Leone. In future outbreaks, early community engagement and participation in contact tracing, establishment of

  8. An Efficient Format for Nearly Constant-Time Access to Arbitrary Time Intervals in Large Trace Files

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony Chan

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available A powerful method to aid in understanding the performance of parallel applications uses log or trace files containing time-stamped events and states (pairs of events. These trace files can be very large, often hundreds or even thousands of megabytes. Because of the cost of accessing and displaying such files, other methods are often used that reduce the size of the tracefiles at the cost of sacrificing detail or other information. This paper describes a hierarchical trace file format that provides for display of an arbitrary time window in a time independent of the total size of the file and roughly proportional to the number of events within the time window. This format eliminates the need to sacrifice data to achieve a smaller trace file size (since storage is inexpensive, it is necessary only to make efficient use of bandwidth to that storage. The format can be used to organize a trace file or to create a separate file of annotations that may be used with conventional trace files. We present an analysis of the time to access all of the events relevant to an interval of time and we describe experiments demonstrating the performance of this file format.

  9. Expected net present value of pure and mixed sexed semen artificial insemination strategies in dairy heifers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olynk, N J; Wolf, C A

    2007-05-01

    Sexed semen has been a long-anticipated tool for dairy farmers to obtain more heifer calves, but challenges exist for integrating sexed semen into commercial dairy farm reproduction programs. The decreased conception rates (CR) experienced with sexed semen make virgin heifers better suited for insemination with sexed semen than lactating dairy cows. This research sought to identify when various sexed semen breeding strategies provided higher expected net present value (NPV) than conventional artificial insemination (AI) breeding schemes, indicating which breeding scheme is advisable under various scenarios. Budgets were developed to calculate the expected NPV of various AI breeding strategies incorporating conventional (non-sexed) and sexed semen. In the base budgets, heifer and bull calf values were held constant at $500 and $110, respectively. The percentage of heifers expected to be born after breeding with conventional and sexed semen used was 49.2 and 90%, respectively. Breeding costs per AI were held constant at $15.00 per AI for conventional semen and $45.00 per AI for sexed semen of approximately the same genetic value. Conventional semen CR of 58 and 65% were used, and an AI submission rate was set at 100%. Breeding strategies with sexed semen were assessed for breakeven heifer calf values and sexed semen costs to obtain a NPV equal to that achieved with conventional semen. Breakeven heifer calf values for pure sexed semen strategies with a constant 58 and 65% base CR in which sexed semen achieved 53% of the base CR are $732.11 and $664.26, respectively. Breakeven sexed semen costs per AI of $17.16 and $22.39, compared with $45.00 per AI, were obtained to obtain a NPV equal to that obtained with pure conventional semen for base CR of 58 and 65%, respectively. The strategy employing purely sexed semen, with base CR of both 58 and 65%, yielded a lower NPV than purely conventional semen in all but the best-case scenario in which sexed semen provides 90% of

  10. Trace Metals Concentration Assessment in Urban Particulate Matter ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ADOWIE PERE

    Principal component analysis revealed that major sources of trace metals in ambient air ... contributed by earth crust and windblown soil .... Source Apportionment: To probe the origin of trace .... atmospheric accumulation of heavy metals and.

  11. Concentration of trace elements in marine organisms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishii, Takaaki; Suzuki, Hamaji; Iimura, Mitsue; Koyanagi, Taku

    1976-01-01

    Information on the quality and quantity of stable trace elements in marine environments is frequently required to analyze the radioecological behavior of radionuclides released from nuclear facilities into the sea. In the present work, special attention was concentrated in determination of stable Mn, Fe, Co, Zn, Rb and Cs in marine organisms to estimate the concentration factors for these elements and corresponding radionuclides. Marine organisms (fishes, marine invertebrates and seaweeds) were collected at the seashore of Ibaragi prefecture and provided for chemical analysis after dry-ashing and wet-ashing. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry and neutron activation analysis were applied to determine the concentration of elements. The concentration of stable elements in fish muscle was independent on species of the fishes though slightly higher trends were observed in ''Usumebaru'', Sebastes nivosus for Cs, ''Ishimochi'', Nibea mitsukurii for Zn and Fe compared with other species. The concentration of Co, Zn and Fe in muscle of marine invertebrates was one order of magnitude higher than fish muscles especially in shellfishes for Co. Seaweeds showed peculiar species specificity for the concentration of stable trace elements and remarkable differences was observed between the species even among the same genus. (auth.)

  12. Environmental responsibilities of livestock feeding using trace mineral supplements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Brugger

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Trace elements are essential dietary components for livestock species. However, they also exhibit a strong toxic potential. Therefore, their fluxes through the animal organism are tightly regulated by a complex molecular machinery that controls the rate of absorption from the gut lumen as well as the amount of excretion via faeces, urine and products (e.g., milk in order to maintain an internal equilibrium. When supplemented in doses above the gross requirement trace elements accumulate in urine and faeces and, hence, manure. Thereby, trace element emissions represent a potential threat to the environment. This fact is of particular importance in regard to the widely distributed feeding practice of pharmacological zinc and copper doses for the purpose of performance enhancement. Adverse environmental effects have been described, like impairment of plant production, accumulation in edible animal products and the water supply chain as well as the correlation between increased trace element loads and antimicrobial resistance. In the light of discussions about reducing the allowed upper limits for trace element loads in feed and manure from livestock production in the European Union excessive dosing needs to be critically reconsidered. Moreover, the precision in trace element feeding has to be increased in order to avoid unnecessary supplementation and, thereby, heavy metal emissions from livestock production. Keywords: Trace element, Livestock, Homeostasis, Pharmacological supplementation, Accumulation, Environment

  13. Preserving objects, preserving memories: Repair professionals and object owners on the relation between traces on personal possessions and memories

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zijlema, A.F.; van den Hoven, E.A.W.H.; Eggen, J.H.; Bakker, C.; Mugge, R.

    2017-01-01

    Traces of ageing and use on the material of products, and memories associated with products, have been found to contribute to product attachment and can stimulate product longevity. We present findings of a qualitative study that focused on the relation between traces of ageing and use on personal

  14. Small cosmological constant from the QCD trace anomaly?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schuetzhold, Ralf

    2002-01-01

    According to recent astrophysical observations the large scale mean pressure of our present Universe is negative suggesting a positive cosmological constant-like term. The issue of whether nonperturbative effects of self-interacting quantum fields in curved space-times may yield a significant contribution is addressed. Focusing on the trace anomaly of quantum chromodynamics, a preliminary estimate of the expected order of magnitude yields a remarkable coincidence with the empirical data, indicating the potential relevance of this effect

  15. studies on trace metal concentration pseudotolithus elongatus from ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    DJFLEX

    KEY WORDS: Trace metals, Lead Pollution, Pseudotolithus elongatus, Mbo coastal waters, ..... Analysis of soil heavy metal pollution and ... Pekey, H., Karakas, D., and Bakog'lu, M., 2004. Source apportionment of trace metals in the surface.

  16. Trace gases and other potential perturbations to global climate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, W.; Wuebbles, D.J.; Washington, W.M.; Isaacs, R.G.; Molnar, G.

    1986-01-01

    We review the various natural and anthropogenic factors that may affect the climate. The purpose is to summarize our understanding of these factors and their potential future climatic effects so that CO 2 -induced climate change can be viewed in a proper context. The factors we discuss include trace gases, anthropogenic and volcanic aerosols, variation of solar constant, change of surface characteristics, and releases of waste heat. We discuss the origins of the various natural and anthropogenic perturbations, the physical and chemical processes and their interactions, model sensitivity calculations, and model projections of their potential future climatic effects. The discussions center on trace gases because of their potentially large climatic effects. It appears that the increases of atmospheric trace gases of other kinds in addition to CO 2 could have important climatic effects. The model calculations suggest that the combined effect of these other trace gases, and the associated change of atmospheric ozone and water vapor distributions, could potentially warm the climate by an amount comparable in magnitude to the effect of doubling the CO 2 . Aerosols of anthropogenic origins may have substantial effects on regional climate, while the volcanic aerosols may have an effect on large-scale climate for up to a few years after injection. Changes of surface characteristics and releases of waste heat may also have substantial effects on the regional climate, but these effects are most likely to be small when compared with the effect of CO 2 increase. Changes of solar constant could have an effect on the global scale, but the time scale is much longer. There is much more that needs to be learned with regard to the above mentioned natural and anthropogenic factors that may affect the climate. A brief summary of those needs is presented

  17. Impact of traffic routes on the content of trace elements in soils in Warsaw agglomeration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Komorowski Artur

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This article presents the results of a study on the content of selected trace metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd in soils near the main traffic routes of the Warsaw agglomeration. The aim of the study was to determine the extent of soil contamination with trace metals at different distances from the road (by the side the road and 50 meters away from the road. In the soil 50 m away from the road in Łomianki ‘low contamination’ was found for zinc and ‘elevated content’ for copper according to the IUNG guidelines, but the amounts of the trace elements were not found to exceed the permissible levels as specified in the Regulation of the Minister for the Environment of 1 September 2016.

  18. Evaluation of toxic trace metals Cd and Pb in Arabian Sea waters

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Sanzgiri, S.; Mesquita, A.; Kureishy, T.W.; SenGupta, R.

    An attempt has been made to present a picture of the distribution of toxic trace elements Cd and Pb in the Northern Arabian Sea by applying an improved analytical technique for the detection of dissolved forms of the metals at nanogram levels...

  19. Application of LIBS in Detection of Antihyperglycemic Trace Elements in Momordica charantia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rai, N.K.; Rai, P.K.; Pandhija, S.; Watal, G.; Rai, A.K.; Bicanic, D.D.

    2009-01-01

    The present study exploits the information based on concentration of trace elements and minerals in understanding the role/mechanism of action of freeze-dried fruit powder suspended in distilled water of Momordica charantia (family: Cucurbitaceae) in diabetes treatment. Laser-induced break down

  20. the evolution of strategy: thinking war from antiquity to the present

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ismith

    historical sources to anchor the theoretical departure of the work further, and ... critical stances about the utility of armed forces seem to have entered a growth ... of strategy within the politico-military environment, although Heuser argues that it ... discussions influence decision-making that ultimately affects and in fact tailors.

  1. [Routine comparison of trace element deficiencies during parenteral alimentation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    du Cailar, J; Mathieu-Daudé, J C; Kienlen, J; Béssou, D; Griffe, O; Bélé-Binda

    1977-01-01

    In 50 patients aged between 3 and 84 years treated in a multidisciplinary Intensive Care Unit and receiving parenteral alimentation, deficiency in certain trace elements or electrolytes (Cu++, Zn++, Mn++, Co++, PO-4, Mg++) was prevented or treated by the administration of a glucose solution (MB 147 G) enriched in trace elements. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate, on the basis of assay of serum levels of the trace elements involved, with the exception of Mn and Co, the effectiveness of treatment. Reference values were determined on the one hand in healthy individuals for normal figures and secondly on subjects included in the study, already on parenteral alimentation for several days, before treatment with MB 147 G, in order to demonstrate the existence of a deficiency (patient control values). In the case of PO--4, however, the patient control values concerned at one and the same time subjects in the study before treatment with MB 147 G and other patients receiving parenteral alimentation who were not part of the trial. MB 147 G solution was presented in units of 500 ml associated with glucose of varying concentrations (15 p. 100, 30 p. 100, 50 p. 100). The average daily amount administered, over a period of 236 days, was 3 unites per 24 hours, corresponding to an intake of copper of 3.78 mg, 3.90 mg of zinc, 0.20 mg of manganese, 0.24 mg of cobalt, 363 mg of magnesium, 240 mg of calcium and 15 mEz of phosphates. The results show that levels of copper, zinc, magnesium and phosphates were low during parenteral alimentation. The administration of MB 147 G resulted in a significant increase in these values, without there being any evidence of accumulation.

  2. Trace element analysis of soil type collected from the Manjung and central Perak

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Azman, Muhammad Azfar, E-mail: m-azfar@nuclearmalaysia.gov.my; Hamzah, Suhaimi; Rahman, Shamsiah Abdul; Elias, Md Suhaimi; Abdullah, Nazaratul Ashifa; Hashim, Azian; Shukor, Shakirah Abd; Kamaruddin, Ahmad Hasnulhadi Che [Blok 18, Makmal Analisis Kimia (Aca/Bas), Agensi Nuklear Malaysia, 43000 Kajang, Selangor (Malaysia)

    2015-04-29

    Trace elements in soils primarily originated from their parent materials. Parents’ material is the underlying geological material that has been undergone different types of chemical weathering and leaching processes. Soil trace elements concentrations may be increases as a result of continuous input from various human activities, including power generation, agriculture, mining and manufacturing. This paper describes the Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) method used for the determination of trace elements concentrations in part per million (ppm) present in the terrestrial environment soil in Perak. The data may indicate any contamination of trace elements contributed from human activities in the area. The enrichment factors were used to check if there any contamination due to the human activities (power plants, agricultural, mining, etc.) otherwise the values would serve as a baseline data for future study. The samples were collected from 27 locations of different soil series in the area at two different depths: the top soil (0-15cm) and the sub soil (15-30cm). The collected soil samples were air dried at 60°C and passed through 2 µm sieve. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) has been used for the determination of trace elements. Samples were activated in the Nuclear Malaysia TRIGA Mark II reactor followed by gamma spectrometric analysis. By activating the stable elements in the samples, the elements can be determined from the intensities of gamma energies emitted by the respected radionuclides.

  3. Influence of trace elements on fluoride uptake by teeth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chaudhri, M A [Austin Hospital, Heidelberg (Australia). Dept. of Medical Physics; Melbourne Univ., Austin (Australia). Dept. of Medicine); Crawford, A [Melbourne Univ., Parkville (Australia). School of Physics

    1981-03-01

    To investigate the effect of various trace elements on fluoride uptake by teeth, the concentrations of F and other trace elements have been simultaneously determined in different regions of the teeth from children of South Australia. Teeth cross sectioned along the median plane have been used in these investigations, and their inside enamel, dentine and amelodentinal junctions investigated separately for the trace elemental composition. Fluoride has been determined by observing the 6-7 MeV gammas for the /sup 19/F(p,..cap alpha gamma..)/sup 16/O reaction, C by activation through the /sup 12/C(/sup 3/He,n)/sup 14/O reaction, while other trace elements have been measured by the thick target PIXE technique. Linear correlation coefficients have been calculated between the F concentrations in teeth and those of other trace elements observed. Fluoride is found to correlate best with C, Cu and Pb, poorly with Fe, Sr, Ni and Ag, while with Br and Zn it has-ve coefficients. Student's t-test has been applied to the data to examine the significance of the variation of Fand other trace elements amongst different dental tissues from healthy and diseased teeth.

  4. Sources and distribution of trace elements in Estonian peat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orru, Hans; Orru, Mall

    2006-10-01

    This paper presents the results of the distribution of trace elements in Estonian mires. Sixty four mires, representative of the different landscape units, were analyzed for the content of 16 trace elements (Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb using AAS; Cd by GF-AAS; Hg by the cold vapour method; and V, Co, As, Sr, Mo, Th, and U by XRF) as well as other peat characteristics (peat type, degree of humification, pH and ash content). The results of the research show that concentrations of trace elements in peat are generally low: V 3.8 ± 0.6, Cr 3.1 ± 0.2, Mn 35.1 ± 2.7, Co 0.50 ± 0.05, Ni 3.7 ± 0.2, Cu 4.4 ± 0.3, Zn 10.0 ± 0.7, As 2.4 ± 0.3, Sr 21.9 ± 0.9, Mo 1.2 ± 0.2, Cd 0.12 ± 0.01, Hg 0.05 ± 0.01, Pb 3.3 ± 0.2, Th 0.47 ± 0.05, U 1.3 ± 0.2 μg g - 1 and S 0.25 ± 0.02%. Statistical analyses on these large database showed that Co has the highest positive correlations with many elements and ash content. As, Ni, Mo, ash content and pH are also significantly correlated. The lowest abundance of most trace elements was recorded in mires fed only by precipitation (ombrotrophic), and the highest in mires fed by groundwater and springs (minerotrophic), which are situated in the flood plains of river valleys. Concentrations usually differ between the superficial, middle and bottom peat layers, but the significance decreases depending on the type of mire in the following order: transitional mires - raised bogs - fens. Differences among mire types are highest for the superficial but not significant for the basal peat layers. The use of peat with high concentrations of trace elements in agriculture, horticulture, as fuel, for water purification etc., may pose a risk for humans: via the food chain, through inhalation, drinking water etc.

  5. Instantons and the trace anomaly condition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dowrick, N.; McDougall, N.A.

    1988-01-01

    In the past, it has been claimed that instanton dynamics evaluated using the dilute-gas-approximation with a cut-off do not satisfy the trace anomaly condition, and that inter-instanton interactions were required to correct this. However, they show that any model for instanton dynamics automatically satisfies the trace anomlay condition provided no dimensionful parameter other than the QCD scale Λ is introduced during the calculation, and they explain the origin of the previous (incorrect) conclusion

  6. Commuting quantum traces: the case of reflection algebras

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Avan, Jean [Laboratory of Theoretical Physics and Modelization, University of Cergy, 5 mail Gay-Lussac, Neuville-sur-Oise, F-95031, Cergy-Pontoise Cedex (France); Doikou, Anastasia [Theoretical Physics Laboratory of Annecy-Le-Vieux, LAPTH, BP 110, Annecy-Le-Vieux, F-74941 (France)

    2004-02-06

    We formulate a systematic construction of commuting quantum traces for reflection algebras. This is achieved by introducing two dual sets of generalized reflection equations with associated consistent fusion procedures. Products of their respective solutions yield commuting quantum traces.

  7. Trace elements levels in centenarian 'dodgers'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alis, Rafael; Santos-Lozano, Alejandro; Sanchis-Gomar, Fabian; Pareja-Galeano, Helios; Fiuza-Luces, Carmen; Garatachea, Nuria; Lucia, Alejandro; Emanuele, Enzo

    2016-05-01

    Trace element bioavailability can play a role in several metabolic and physiological pathways known to be altered during the aging process. We aimed to explore the association of trace elements with increased lifespan by analyzing the circulating levels of seven trace elements (Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Se and Zn) in a cohort of healthy centenarians or 'dodgers' (≥100 years, free of major age-related diseases) in comparison with sex-matched younger elderly controls. Centenarians showed significant lower Cu (783.7 (76.7, 1608.9) vs 962.5 (676.3, 2064.4)μg/mL, Pdodgers', and, therefore, at least partly, be involved in the healthy aging phenotype shown by these subjects. These results should be confirmed in larger cohorts of other geographic/ethnic origin and the potential cause-effect association tested in mechanistic experimental settings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  8. Trace elements distribution in environmental compartments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Queiroz, Juliana C. de; Peres, Sueli da Silva; Godoy, Maria Luiza D.P., E-mail: suelip@ird.gov.br [Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2017-11-01

    Trace elements term defines the presence of low concentrations metals at environment. Some of them are considered biologically essential, as Co, Cu and Mn. Others can cause detriment to environment and human health, as Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Ti and U. A large number of them have radioactive isotopes, implying the evaluation of risks for human health should be done considering the precepts of environmental radiological protection. The ecosystem pollution with trace elements generates changes at the geochemistry cycle of these elements and in environmental quality. Soils have single characteristics when compared with another components of biosphere (air, water and biota), cause they introduce themselves not only as a drain towards contaminants, but also as natural buffer that control the transport of chemical elements and other substances for atmosphere, hydrosphere and biota. The main purpose of environmental monitoring program is to evaluate the levels of contaminants in the various compartments of the environment: natural or anthropogenic, and to assess the contribution of a potential contaminant source on the environment. Elemental Composition for the collected samples was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. The main objective of this work was to evaluate the map baseline of concentration of interest trace elements in environmental samples of water, sediment and soil from Environmental Monitoring Program of Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD). The samples were analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) at IRD. >From the knowledge of trace elements concentrations, could be evaluated the environmental quality parameters at the studied ecosystems. The data allowed evaluating some relevant aspects of the study of trace elements in soil and aquatic systems, with emphasis at the distribution, concentration and identification of main anthropic sources of contamination at environment. (author)

  9. Trace elements distribution in environmental compartments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Queiroz, Juliana C. de; Peres, Sueli da Silva; Godoy, Maria Luiza D.P.

    2017-01-01

    Trace elements term defines the presence of low concentrations metals at environment. Some of them are considered biologically essential, as Co, Cu and Mn. Others can cause detriment to environment and human health, as Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Ti and U. A large number of them have radioactive isotopes, implying the evaluation of risks for human health should be done considering the precepts of environmental radiological protection. The ecosystem pollution with trace elements generates changes at the geochemistry cycle of these elements and in environmental quality. Soils have single characteristics when compared with another components of biosphere (air, water and biota), cause they introduce themselves not only as a drain towards contaminants, but also as natural buffer that control the transport of chemical elements and other substances for atmosphere, hydrosphere and biota. The main purpose of environmental monitoring program is to evaluate the levels of contaminants in the various compartments of the environment: natural or anthropogenic, and to assess the contribution of a potential contaminant source on the environment. Elemental Composition for the collected samples was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. The main objective of this work was to evaluate the map baseline of concentration of interest trace elements in environmental samples of water, sediment and soil from Environmental Monitoring Program of Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD). The samples were analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) at IRD. >From the knowledge of trace elements concentrations, could be evaluated the environmental quality parameters at the studied ecosystems. The data allowed evaluating some relevant aspects of the study of trace elements in soil and aquatic systems, with emphasis at the distribution, concentration and identification of main anthropic sources of contamination at environment. (author)

  10. Computation and analysis of backward ray-tracing in aero-optics flow fields.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Liang; Xue, Deting; Lv, Xiaoyi

    2018-01-08

    A backward ray-tracing method is proposed for aero-optics simulation. Different from forward tracing, the backward tracing direction is from the internal sensor to the distant target. Along this direction, the tracing in turn goes through the internal gas region, the aero-optics flow field, and the freestream. The coordinate value, the density, and the refractive index are calculated at each tracing step. A stopping criterion is developed to ensure the tracing stops at the outer edge of the aero-optics flow field. As a demonstration, the analysis is carried out for a typical blunt nosed vehicle. The backward tracing method and stopping criterion greatly simplify the ray-tracing computations in the aero-optics flow field, and they can be extended to our active laser illumination aero-optics study because of the reciprocity principle.

  11. Trace elements in a dated ice core from Antarctica

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keshin, S.S.; Xudong Huang; Olmez, I.; Langway, C.C. Jr.

    1992-01-01

    Aerosol particles from both natural and anthropogenic sources are emitted into the atmosphere and transported by wind systems by various mechanisms. Once airborne, the particles, which contain various trace elements, accumulate on the earth's surface as either condensation nuclei or by dry fallout processes. In the polar regions, these particles are incorporated and deposited in snow layers in sequential time-unit increments. The trace analysis of elements contained in dated annual snow layers provides a measure of the elemental chemistry content of the atmosphere for the same time interval. A 164-m-deep, 10-cm-diam ice core was obtained at Byrd Station, Antarctica, in November 1989. Other physical and chemistry studies on this ice core have identified its detailed chronology in annual increments for the past 1360 yr. This study presents the results of the instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) measurements made on 26 individually dated samples of this core, selected between the 6.43- and 118.15-m depths

  12. TRACKING AND TRACING SOLUTION FOR DANGEROUS GOODS CARRIED BY INTERMODAL TRANSPORT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marek Kvet

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with the problem of designing a complex tracking and tracing solution for dangerous goods transportation with the support of modern information technologies. This research activity presents a part of the “ChemLogTT” [2] project solved at the University of Žilina. The main goal of our contribution is to present basic conception of a complex developed software tool for monitoring and analyzing mentioned dangerous goods transportation.

  13. Reconstructing Early Industrial Contributions to Legacy Trace Metal Contamination in Southwestern Pennsylvania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossi, R.; Bain, D.; Hillman, A. L.; Pompeani, D. P.; Abbott, M. B.

    2015-12-01

    The remobilization of legacy contamination stored in floodplain sediments remains a threat to ecosystem and human health, particularly with potential changes in global precipitation patterns and flooding regimes. Vehicular and industrial emissions are often the dominant, recognized source of anthropogenic trace metal loadings to ecosystems today. However, loadings from early industrial activities are poorly characterized and potential sources of trace metal inputs. While potential trace metal contamination from these activities is recognized (e.g., the historical use of lead arsenate as a pesticide), the magnitude and distribution of legacy contamination is often unknown. This presentation reconstructs a lake sediment record of trace metal inputs from an oxbow lake in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Sediment cores were analyzed for major and trace metal chemistry, carbon to nitrogen ratios, bulk density, and magnetic susceptibility. Sediment trace metal chemistry in this approximately 250 year record (180 cm) record changes in land use and industry both in the 19th century and the 20th century. Of particular interest is early 19th century loadings of arsenic and calcium to the lake, likely attributable to pesticides and lime used in tanning processes near the lake. After this period of tanning dominated inputs, sediment barium concentrations rise, likely reflecting the onset of coal mining operations and resulting discharge of acid mine drainage to surface waters. In the 20th century portion of our record (70 -20 cm), patterns in sediment zinc, cadmium, and lead concentrations are dominated by the opening and closing of the nearby Donora Zinc Works and the American Steel & Wire Works, infamous facilities in the history of air quality regulation. The most recent sediment chemistry records periods include the enactment of air pollution legislation (~ 35 cm), and the phase out of tetraethyl leaded gasoline (~30 cm). Our study documents the impact of early industry in the

  14. Trace Contaminant Control During the International Space Station's On-Orbit Assembly and Outfitting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, J. L.

    2017-01-01

    Achieving acceptable cabin air quality must balance competing elements during spacecraft design, assembly, ground processing, and flight operations. Among the elements that contribute to the trace chemical contaminant load and, therefore, the cabin air quality aboard crewed spacecraft are the vehicle configuration, crew size and activities, mission duration and objectives, materials selection, and vehicle manufacturing and preflight ground processing methods. Trace chemical contaminants produced from pervasive sources such as equipment offgassing, human metabolism, and cleaning fluids during preflight ground processing present challenges to maintaining acceptable cabin air quality. To address these challenges, both passive and active contamination control techniques are used during a spacecraft's design, manufacturing, preflight preparation, and operational phases. Passive contamination control methods seek to minimize the equipment offgassing load by selecting materials, manufacturing processes, preflight preparation processes, and in-flight operations that have low chemical offgassing characteristics. Passive methods can be employed across the spacecraft's entire life cycle from conceptual design through flight operations. However, because the passive contamination control techniques cannot fully eliminate the contaminant load, active contamination control equipment must be deployed aboard the spacecraft to purify and revitalize the cabin atmosphere during in-flight operations. Verifying that the passive contamination control techniques have successfully maintained the total trace contaminant load within the active contamination control equipment's capabilities occurs late in the preflight preparation stages. This verification consists of subjecting the spacecraft to an offgassing test to determine the trace contaminant load. This load is then assessed versus the active contamination control equipment's capabilities via trace contaminant control (TCC) engineering

  15. ICP-AES determination of trace elements in carbon steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sengupta, Arijit; Rajeswari, B.; Kadam, R.M.; Babu, Y.; Godbole, S.V.

    2010-01-01

    Full text: Carbon steel, a combination of the elements iron and carbon, can be classified into four types as mild, medium, high and very high depending on the carbon content which varies from 0.05% to 2.1%. Carbon steel of different types finds application in medical devices, razor blades, cutlery and spring. In the nuclear industry, it is used in feeder pipes in the reactor. A strict quality control measure is required to monitor the trace elements, which have deleterious effects on the mechanical properties of the carbon steel. Thus, it becomes imperative to check the purity of carbon steel as a quality control measure before it is used in feeder pipes in the reactor. Several methods have been reported in literature for trace elemental determination in high purity iron. Some of these include neutron activation analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry and atomic emission spectrometry. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) is widely recognized as a sensitive technique for the determination of trace elements in various matrices, its major advantages being good accuracy and precision, high sensitivity, multi-element capability, large linear dynamic range and relative freedom from matrix effects. The present study mainly deals with the direct determination of trace elements in carbon steel using ICP-AES. An axially viewing ICP spectrometer having a polychromator with 35 fixed analytical channels and limited sequential facility to select any analytical line within 2.2 nm of a polychromator line was used in these studies. Iron, which forms one of the main constituents of carbon steel, has a multi electronic configuration with line rich emission spectrum and, therefore, tends to interfere in the determination of trace impurities in carbon steel matrix. Spectral interference in ICP-AES can be seriously detrimental to the accuracy and reliability of trace element determinations, particularly when they are performed in the presence of high

  16. Greenhouse effect of chlorofluorocarbons and other trace gases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, James; Lacis, Andrew; Prather, Michael

    1989-01-01

    A comparison is made of the radiative (greenhouse) forcing of the climate system due to changes of atmospheric chlorofluorocarbons and other trace gases. It is found that CFCs, defined to include chlorofluorocarbons, chlorocarbons, and fluorocarbons, now provide about one-quater of current annual increases in anthropogenic greenhouse climate forcing. If the growth rates of CFC production in the early 1970s had continued to the present, current annual growth of climate forcing due to CFCs would exceed that due to CO2.

  17. Efficiency and Privacy Enhancement for a Track and Trace System of RFID-Based Supply Chains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xunjun Chen

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available One of the major applications of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID technology is in supply chain management as it promises to provide real-time visibility based on the function of track and trace. However, such an RFID-based track and trace system raises new security and privacy challenges due to the restricted resource of tags. In this paper, we refine three privacy related models (i.e., the privacy, path unlinkability, and tag unlinkability of RFID-based track and trace systems, and clarify the relations among these privacy models. Specifically, we have proven that privacy is equivalent to path unlinkability and tag unlinkability implies privacy. Our results simplify the privacy concept and protocol design for RFID-based track and trace systems. Furthermore, we propose an efficient track and trace scheme, Tracker+, which allows for authentic and private identification of RFID-tagged objects in supply chains. In the Tracker+, no computational ability is required for tags, but only a few bytes of storage (such as EPC Class 1 Gen 2 tags are needed to store the tag state. Indeed, Tracker+ reduces the memory requirements for each tag by one group element compared to the Tracker presented in other literature. Moreover, Tracker+ provides privacy against supply chain inside attacks.

  18. Trace elements record complex histories in diogenites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balta, J. B.; Beck, A. W.; McSween, H. Y.

    2012-12-01

    Diogenite meteorites are cumulate rocks composed mostly of orthopyroxene and chemically linked to eucrites (basaltic) and howardites (brecciated mixtures of diogenites and eucrites). Together, they represent the largest single family of achondrite meteorites delivered to Earth, and have been spectrally linked to the asteroid 4 Vesta, the largest remaining basaltic protoplanet. However, this spectral link is non-unique as many basaltic asteroids likely formed and were destroyed in the early solar system. Recent work suggested that Vesta may be an unlikely parent body for the diogenites based on correlations between trace elements and short-lived isotope decay products, which would be unlikely to survive on a body as large as Vesta due to its long cooling history [1]. Recent analyses of terrestrial and martian olivines have demonstrated that trace element spatial distributions can preserve evidence of their crystallization history even when major elements have been homogenized [2]. We have mapped minor elements including Cr, Al, and Ti in seemingly homogeneous diogenite orthopyroxenes and found a variety of previously unobserved textures. The pyroxenes in one sample (GRA 98108) are seemingly large grains of variable shapes and sizes, but the trace elements reveal internal grain boundaries between roughly-equal sized original subgrains, with equilibrated metamorphic triple junctions between them and trace element depletions at the boundaries. These trends suggest extraction of trace elements by a magma along those relict grain boundaries during a reheating event. Two other samples show evidence of fracturing and annealing, with trace element mobility within grains. One sample appears to have remained a closed system during annealing (MET 01084), while the other has interacted with a fluid or magma to move elements along annealed cracks (LEW 88679). These relict features establish that the history of diogenite pyroxenes is more complex than their homogeneous major

  19. The Patrimonial Heritage of Uranium: From a Trace to a Contested Memory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bretesche, Sophie

    2014-01-01

    Industrial heritage of uranium mines is a sensitive question dealing with both traces issued from operations and long term management of territories. This paper investigates the recognition of a specific heritage issued from former uranium mines. Indeed, the issue of the heritage of uranium mines is debated with two stories. On the one hand, risks of territories are related to traces and remnants from the industrial period. On the other hand, the cultural heritage of territories is highlighted to be part of the national history it embodies. Tensions between the two perceptions of the territories conduct to the need of qualifying territories. A memory work, within the meaning of Ricoeur may establish a mediation between past and present

  20. A review of methods for assessment of trace element bioavailability in humans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmad, T.; Bilal, R.

    2001-01-01

    Deficiency of micronutrients is widespread among the low socio-economic strata of population. Different intervention strategies are used to eradicate these deficiencies. The most important step in the confirmation of the efficacy/success of an intervention is bioavailability. There are a number of methods for determining the bioavailability, involving both nuclear and non-nuclear techniques. Traditionally, bioavailability of different micronutrients was determined using the chemical balance method, that is, amount excreted subtracted from the amount ingested. Nowadays, methodologies have been developed for measuring the bioavailability of different trace elements incorporating the use of isotopes. The isotopic techniques are very accurate and highly specific. This paper summarizes the various methodologies available with special emphasis on nuclear methods. (author)

  1. Composition of Trace Metals in Dust Samples Collected from Selected High Schools in Pretoria, South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. O. Olowoyo

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Potential health risks associated with trace metal pollution have necessitated the importance of monitoring their levels in the environment. The present study investigated the concentrations and compositions of trace metals in dust samples collected from classrooms and playing ground from the selected high schools In Pretoria. Schools were selected from Pretoria based on factors such as proximity to high traffic ways, industrial areas, and residential areas. Thirty-two dust samples were collected from inside and outside the classrooms, where learners often stay during recess period. The dust samples were analysed for trace metal concentrations using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS. The composition of the elements showed that the concentrations of Zn were more than all other elements except from one of the schools. There were significant differences in the concentrations of trace metals from the schools (p<0.05. Regular cleaning, proximity to busy road, and well maintained gardens seem to have positive effects on the concentrations of trace metals recorded from the classrooms dust. The result further revealed a positive correlation for elements such as Pb, Cu, Zn, Mn, and Sb, indicating that the dust might have a common source.

  2. Vertex shading of the three-dimensional model based on ray-tracing algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Xiaoming; Sang, Xinzhu; Xing, Shujun; Yan, Binbin; Wang, Kuiru; Dou, Wenhua; Xiao, Liquan

    2016-10-01

    Ray Tracing Algorithm is one of the research hotspots in Photorealistic Graphics. It is an important light and shadow technology in many industries with the three-dimensional (3D) structure, such as aerospace, game, video and so on. Unlike the traditional method of pixel shading based on ray tracing, a novel ray tracing algorithm is presented to color and render vertices of the 3D model directly. Rendering results are related to the degree of subdivision of the 3D model. A good light and shade effect is achieved by realizing the quad-tree data structure to get adaptive subdivision of a triangle according to the brightness difference of its vertices. The uniform grid algorithm is adopted to improve the rendering efficiency. Besides, the rendering time is independent of the screen resolution. In theory, as long as the subdivision of a model is adequate, cool effects as the same as the way of pixel shading will be obtained. Our practical application can be compromised between the efficiency and the effectiveness.

  3. Trace-element speciation and partitioning in environmental geochemistry and health

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Farmer, J.G.; Gibson, M.J.; Lovell, M.A.

    1983-09-01

    Establishment of the chemical form and associations of trace elements is important in the scientifc and medical fields related to environmental geochemistry and health. Fundamental understanding of trace-element behavior, the realistic formulation of historical perspectives of trace-element contamination, an assessment of environmental transformation processes and a thorough appraisal of environment-related ill health and disease all depend on knowledge of the chemical speciation and partitioning of trace elements. These topics and the development of analytical speciation techniques and procedures are discussed with reference to trace-element studies in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Science, University of Glasgow, on lacustrine sediments and water, the atmosphere, soil and street dirt of an urban environment, and human biological fluids. 206 references, 4 figures.

  4. Present and future position of neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    de Bruin, M.

    1992-01-01

    Results are presented of the performance of INAA and RNAA and when compared with other spectrometric methods for trace element analysis. Indications are given for further developments aiming at exploiting the advantage and reducing the drawbacks of these two analysis technique. (author) 12 refs.; 2 figs.; 1 tab

  5. Composite Phymatoderma from Neogene deep-marine deposits in Japan: Implications for Phanerozoic benthic interactions between burrows and the trace-makers of Chondrites and Phycosiphon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kentaro Izumi

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Among composite trace fossils, one of the most common structures throughout the Phanerozoic are structures (e.g., dwelling trace, feeding trace reworked by Chondrites and/or Phycosiphon. However, differences in the nature of the reworking behaviors of these two ichnogenera remain unknown. Thus, in this study, composite Phymatoderma specimens from the Neogene deep-marine Shiramazu Formation in Japan, particularly those reworked by Chondrites and Phycosiphon, were analyzed to reveal the specific conditions that might control the activities of these trace-makers. Phymatoderma reworked by Phycosiphon is significantly larger than non-reworked Phymatoderma, whereas Phymatoderma reworked by Chondrites shows no significant difference in burrow diameter compared with non-reworked Phymatoderma. The recognized size selectivity (i.e., preference for larger burrows by the Phycosiphon trace-maker can be explained by considering the different feeding strategies of these two ichnogenera; namely deposit-feeding Phycosiphon-makers, which must have processed a significant mass of sediment to obtain sufficient organic matter, whereas chemosymbiotic Chondrites-producers did not require a lot of sediment to obtain nutrients. In order to test these interpretations, a dataset of Phanerozoic trace fossils reworked by Chondrites/Phycosiphon were compiled. Consequently, the Phycosiphon-producers’ preference toward relatively larger burrows was recognized, quantitatively supporting the results of this study. The compilation also indicates that the burrow size might have become one of the important limiting factors for the Phycosiphon-producers that tried to rework the sediments within previous subsurface burrows, at least for 80 million years.

  6. Recent trends in nanomaterial-based microanalytical systems for the speciation of trace elements: A critical review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Wei-Chang; Hsu, Keng-Chang; Shiea, Christopher Stephen; Huang, Yeou-Lih

    2015-07-16

    Trace element speciation in biomedical and environmental science has gained increasing attention over the past decade as researchers have begun to realize its importance in toxicological studies. Several nanomaterials, including titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO2), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), have been used as sorbents to separate and preconcentrate trace element species prior to detection through mass spectrometry or optical spectroscopy. Recently, these nanomaterial-based speciation techniques have been integrated with microfluidics to minimize sample and reagent consumption and simplify analyses. This review provides a critical look into the present state and recent applications of nanomaterial-based microanalytical systems in the speciation of trace elements. The adsorption and preconcentration efficiencies, sample volume requirements, and detection limits of these nanomaterial-based speciation techniques are detailed, and their applications in environmental and biological analyses are discussed. Current perspectives and future trends into the increasing use of nanomaterial-based microfluidic techniques for trace element speciation are highlighted. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Trace metal concentrations in tropical mangrove sediments, NE Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miola, Brígida; Morais, Jáder Onofre de; Pinheiro, Lidriana de Souza

    2016-01-15

    Sediment cores were taken from the mangroves of the Coreaú River estuary off the northeast coast of Brazil. They were analyzed for grain size, CaCO3, organic matter, and trace metal (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Al, and Fe) contents. Mud texture was the predominant texture. Levels of trace metals in surface sediments indicated strong influence of anthropogenic processes, and diagenetic processes controlled the trace metal enrichment of core sediments of this estuary. The positive relationships between trace metals and Al and Fe indicate that Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd concentrations are associated mainly with Al and Fe oxy-hydroxides and have natural sources. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Radioactivity and trace element contents of commercial chewing tobacco

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dafauti, S.; Pulhani, V.; Dahiya, S.; Hegde, A.G.

    2007-01-01

    Radioactive elements uranium, thorium and their daughters are present ubiquitously in the environment and are transferred to man through various pathways. Both, U and Th can cause radiological and toxic hazards. The ingestion dose pathway calculations involve analysis of all kinds of food or edible materials. A large population in India and Asian subcontinent are addicted to commercially available chewing tobacco. This practice is reported to have lead to increased consequences of cancer. Trace elements (Fe, Co, Mn, Zn etc.) are essential but may also prove to be toxic if present in excess. Besides these the hazards of heavy elements like Pb and Cd have also increased in the current polluted environment. In this study most of the commercially available brands of gutkha and chewing tobacco were collected. The radioactive elements U and Th were analyzed in them by Radiochemical Neutron Activation Analysis technique. Trace elements Fe, Co, Mn, Zn, and toxic heavy elements Pb, Cd, Ni etc. were analyzed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. The levels of Th and U were in the range 0.02-0.11 mg/g and 0.02-0.08 mg/g respectively. The cancer risk due to U, Th, Pb and Cd were calculated and are found to be low. (author)

  9. Report on intercomparison air-3/1 of the determination of trace elements in simulated air filters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pszonicki, L.; Veglia, A.; Suschny, O.

    1982-06-01

    The report is a sum up of an intercomparison experiment organized by the Analytical Quality Control Service of the IAEA, for simulated air filters (Air-3/1) spiked with 17 trace elements. The purpose was twofold: to assist participating laboratories in controlling their own performance, and to characterize exactly the prepared batch of air filters in order to be able to use them as reference filters for elemental trace analysis. The results submitted by 29 laboratories from 20 countries are presented and statistically processed. The analytical methods used are also specified. Conclusions concerning the use of filters Air-3/1 as certified reference filters are presented

  10. Electric discharge for treatment of trace contaminants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flamm, D. L.; Wydeven, T. J. (Inventor)

    1978-01-01

    A radio frequency glow discharge reactor is described for removing trace oxidizable contaminants from an oxygen bearing atmosphere. The reaction chamber is defined by an inner metal electrode facing a dielectric backed by an outer conductive electrode. In one embodiment, a conductive liquid forms the conductor of an outer electrode and cools the dielectric. A resonator coupled to a variable radio frequency source generates the high voltages for creating a glow discharge in the chamber at a predetermined pressure whereby the trace contaminants are oxidized into a few simple non-toxic products that may be easily recovered. The corresponding process for removal of trace contaminants from an oxygen-bearing atmosphere with high efficiency independent of the concentration level is also disclosed.

  11. Newer trace elements measured by RNAA and AAS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gharib, A.G.

    2004-01-01

    Very recently, quite attention has been made on a few more trace elements in foodstuff as essential for animal and human health in certain ranges of concentration or intake. These traces are: aluminum, nickel, vanadium and tin. Al and Ni have been measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), and the two latter ones measured by radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA) in few references laboratories. Here, scandium was also analysed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). These measurements were made for the most of the Iranian diets and other participant countries' diets under the framework of a co-ordinated research project (CRP) of the IAEA during the period 1986-1994, but practically it took more years. Here in this work the daily dietary intakes of above mentioned trace elements are given and discussed while the results of 20 other nutritionally important trace elements appeared somewhere else. (author)

  12. Nutritional values of trace elements in dried desserts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kyritsis, A.; Kanias, G.D.; Tzia, C.

    1997-01-01

    Desserts are the most aromatic and delicious parts of meals, and also a source of nutrient trace elements for the human body. In this work, instrumental neutron activation analysis has been applied to determine the trace elements antimony, chromium, cobalt, iron, manganese, potassium, rubidium, scandium, sodium and zinc in creme caramel, ice-creams, jellies and mousse dried desserts from the Greek market. According to our results, their classification as nutrient trace element sources for the human body is: mousse>ice-cream> creme caramel> jelly. Among the different studied flavours, chocolate and its derivatives are the richest in nutrient trace elements. Moreover, the consumption of one portion of a chocolate mousse dessert can offer to the human body about 60% of the daily required chromium, 40% of the daily required iron, 10% of the daily required manganese and potassium and 4% of the daily required sodium. (author)

  13. Newer trace elements measured by RNNA and AAS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gharib, A.G.

    2004-01-01

    Very recently, special attention has been made on a few more trace elements in foodstuff as newer essential for animal and human health in certain ranges of concentration or intakes. These traces are namely: Aluminium, Nickel, Vanadium and Tin. A1 and Ni have been measured by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy and two latter ones measured by Radiochemical Neutron Activation Analysis in some references laboratories. Here also scandium was analyzed by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis as well. These measurements were made for the most of Iranian diets and other participant countries' diets in frame of coordinated research project led by International Atomic Energy Agency period of 1986-1994, but practically it took more years. Here in this work the daily dietary intakes of aforesaid trace elements are given and discussed while the results of other 20 more nutritionally important trace elements were appeared somewhere else

  14. GTSO: Global Trace Synchronization and Ordering Mechanism for Wireless Sensor Network Monitoring Platforms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navia, Marlon; Campelo, José Carlos; Bonastre, Alberto; Ors, Rafael

    2017-12-23

    Monitoring is one of the best ways to evaluate the behavior of computer systems. When the monitored system is a distributed system-such as a wireless sensor network (WSN)-the monitoring operation must also be distributed, providing a distributed trace for further analysis. The temporal sequence of occurrence of the events registered by the distributed monitoring platform (DMP) must be correctly established to provide cause-effect relationships between them, so the logs obtained in different monitor nodes must be synchronized. Many of synchronization mechanisms applied to DMPs consist in adjusting the internal clocks of the nodes to the same value as a reference time. However, these mechanisms can create an incoherent event sequence. This article presents a new method to achieve global synchronization of the traces obtained in a DMP. It is based on periodic synchronization signals that are received by the monitor nodes and logged along with the recorded events. This mechanism processes all traces and generates a global post-synchronized trace by scaling all times registered proportionally according with the synchronization signals. It is intended to be a simple but efficient offline mechanism. Its application in a WSN-DMP demonstrates that it guarantees a correct ordering of the events, avoiding the aforementioned issues.

  15. GTSO: Global Trace Synchronization and Ordering Mechanism for Wireless Sensor Network Monitoring Platforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonastre, Alberto; Ors, Rafael

    2017-01-01

    Monitoring is one of the best ways to evaluate the behavior of computer systems. When the monitored system is a distributed system—such as a wireless sensor network (WSN)—the monitoring operation must also be distributed, providing a distributed trace for further analysis. The temporal sequence of occurrence of the events registered by the distributed monitoring platform (DMP) must be correctly established to provide cause-effect relationships between them, so the logs obtained in different monitor nodes must be synchronized. Many of synchronization mechanisms applied to DMPs consist in adjusting the internal clocks of the nodes to the same value as a reference time. However, these mechanisms can create an incoherent event sequence. This article presents a new method to achieve global synchronization of the traces obtained in a DMP. It is based on periodic synchronization signals that are received by the monitor nodes and logged along with the recorded events. This mechanism processes all traces and generates a global post-synchronized trace by scaling all times registered proportionally according with the synchronization signals. It is intended to be a simple but efficient offline mechanism. Its application in a WSN-DMP demonstrates that it guarantees a correct ordering of the events, avoiding the aforementioned issues. PMID:29295494

  16. National Inventories and Management Strategies for Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste. Extended Methodology for the Common Presentation of Data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Volckaert, Geert; Dionisi, Mario; Heath, Maurice; Kugel, Karin; Garamszeghy, Miklos; Leclaire, Arnaud; Deryabin, Sergey; Hedberg, Bengt; Dapei, Dominic; Lebedev, Vladimir; )

    2017-01-01

    Radioactive waste inventory data are an important element in the development of a national radioactive waste management program since these data affect the design and selection of the ultimate disposal methods. Inventory data are generally presented as an amount of radioactive waste under various waste classes, according to the waste classification scheme developed and adopted by the country or national program in question. Various waste classification schemes have evolved in most countries, and these schemes classify radioactive waste according to its origin, to criteria related to the protection of workers or to the physical, chemical and radiological properties of the waste and the planned disposal method(s). The diversity in classification schemes across countries has restricted the possibility of comparing waste inventories and led to difficulties in interpreting waste management practices, both nationally and internationally. To help improve this situation, the Nuclear Energy Agency developed a methodology that ensures consistency of national radioactive waste and spent fuel inventory data when presenting them in a common scheme in direct connection with accepted management strategy and disposal routes. This report is a follow up to the 2016 report that introduced the methodology and presenting scheme for spent fuel, and it now extends this methodology and presenting scheme to all types of radioactive waste and corresponding management strategies

  17. The holographic dictionary for Beta functions of multi-trace coupling constants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aharony, Ofer [Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics,Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001 (Israel); Gur-Ari, Guy [Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics,Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001 (Israel); Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Klinghoffer, Nizan [Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics,Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001 (Israel)

    2015-05-06

    Field theories with weakly coupled holographic duals, such as large N gauge theories, have a natural separation of their operators into ‘single-trace operators’ (dual to single-particle states) and ‘multi-trace operators’ (dual to multi-particle states). There are examples of large N gauge theories where the beta functions of single-trace coupling constants all vanish, but marginal multi-trace coupling constants have non-vanishing beta functions that spoil conformal invariance (even when all multi-trace coupling constants vanish). The holographic dual of such theories should be a classical solution in anti-de Sitter space, in which the boundary conditions that correspond to the multi-trace coupling constants depend on the cutoff scale, in a way that spoils conformal invariance. We argue that this is realized through specific bulk coupling constants that lead to a running of the multi-trace coupling constants. This fills a missing entry in the holographic dictionary.

  18. Trace Elements in Teeth by ICPMS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zahran, N.F.; Helal, A.I.; Amr, M.A.; Amr, M.A.; Al-saad, K.A.

    2008-01-01

    Teeth are reported to be suitable indicators of trace element exposure from environment and nutritional status. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used to compare the trace element content of children's primary teeth and adult teeth. Primary teeth are collected from 28 children and 42 adult from non-industrial City. The data are assessed statistically using t-tests. The adult teeth contained significantly greater concentrations of Na, Mg, Al, Fe, Ni, Cu, Sr, Cd, Ba, Pb and U and significantly less Mn, Co, As, Se, Mo and Bi than the children teeth. Additional measurements on adult teeth pulps are performed. Comparison between trace element concentrations in health and caries teeth pulps show that the mean concentrations of Na, Al, K, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Mo, Ag, Bi and U are lower in caries than healthy teeth pulps. On the other hand, the mean concentrations of Mg, Cd and Pb are higher in caries samples than healthy teeth pulps

  19. Seasonal variations of trace elements in precipitation at the largest city in Tibet, Lhasa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Junming; Kang, Shichang; Huang, Jie; Zhang, Qianggong; Tripathee, Lekhendra; Sillanpää, Mika

    2015-02-01

    Precipitation samples were collected from March 2010 to August 2012 at an urban site in Lhasa, the capital and largest city of Tibet. The volume weighted mean (VWM) concentrations of 17 trace elements in precipitation were higher during the non-monsoon season than in the monsoon season, but inverse seasonal variations occurred for wet deposition fluxes of most of the trace elements. Concentrations for most of trace elements were negatively correlated with precipitation amount, indicating that below-cloud scavenging of trace elements was an important mechanism contributing to wet deposition of these elements. The elements Al, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Mn, Ni, and U displayed low crustal enrichment factors (EFs), whereas Co, Cu, Zn, As, Cd Sn, Pb, and Bi showed high EF values in precipitation, suggesting that anthropogenic activities might be important contributors of these elements at Lhasa. However, this present work indicates a much lower anthropogenic emission at Lhasa than in seriously polluted regions. Our study will not only provide insights for assessing the current status of the atmospheric environment in Lhasa but also enhance our understanding for updating the baseline for environmental protection over the Tibetan Plateau.

  20. A single-trace dual-process model of episodic memory: a novel computational account of familiarity and recollection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greve, Andrea; Donaldson, David I; van Rossum, Mark C W

    2010-02-01

    Dual-process theories of episodic memory state that retrieval is contingent on two independent processes: familiarity (providing a sense of oldness) and recollection (recovering events and their context). A variety of studies have reported distinct neural signatures for familiarity and recollection, supporting dual-process theory. One outstanding question is whether these signatures reflect the activation of distinct memory traces or the operation of different retrieval mechanisms on a single memory trace. We present a computational model that uses a single neuronal network to store memory traces, but two distinct and independent retrieval processes access the memory. The model is capable of performing familiarity and recollection-based discrimination between old and new patterns, demonstrating that dual-process models need not to rely on multiple independent memory traces, but can use a single trace. Importantly, our putative familiarity and recollection processes exhibit distinct characteristics analogous to those found in empirical data; they diverge in capacity and sensitivity to sparse and correlated patterns, exhibit distinct ROC curves, and account for performance on both item and associative recognition tests. The demonstration that a single-trace, dual-process model can account for a range of empirical findings highlights the importance of distinguishing between neuronal processes and the neuronal representations on which they operate.

  1. A technique to stabilize record bases for Gothic arch tracings in patients with implant-retained complete dentures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raigrodski, A J; Sadan, A; Carruth, P L

    1998-12-01

    Clinicians have long expressed concern about the accuracy of the Gothic arch tracing for recording centric relation in edentulous patients. With the use of dental implants to assist in retaining complete dentures, the problem of inaccurate recordings, made for patients without natural teeth, can be significantly reduced. This article presents a technique that uses healing abutments to stabilize the record bases so that an accurate Gothic arch tracing can be made.

  2. An evaluation of trace element release associated with acid mine drainage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sullivan, P.J.; Yelton, J.L.

    1988-01-01

    The determination of trace element release from geologic materials, such as oil shale and coal overburden, is important for proper solid waste management planning. The objective of this study was to determine a correlation between release using the following methods: (1) sequential selective dissolution for determining trace element residencies, (2) toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), and (3) humidity cell weathering study simulating maximum trace element release. Two eastern oil shales were used, a New Albany shale that contains 4.6 percent pyrite, and a Chattanooga shale that contains 1.5 percent pyrite. Each shale was analyzed for elemental concentrations by soluble, adsorbed, organic, carbonate, and sulfide phases. The results of the results of the selective dissolution studies show that each trace element has a unique distribution between the various phases. Thus, it is possible to predict trace element release based on trace element residency. The TCLP results show that this method is suitable for assessing soluble trace element release but does not realistically assess potential hazards. The results of the humidity cell studies do demonstrate a more reasonable method for predicting trace element release and potential water quality hazards. The humidity cell methods, however, require months to obtain the required data with a large number of analytical measurements. When the selective dissolution data are compared to the trace element concentrations in the TCLP and humidity cell leachates, it is shown that leachate concentrations are predicted by the selective dissolution data. Therefore, selective dissolution may represent a rapid method to assess trace element release associated with acid mine drainage

  3. Active fault traces along Bhuj Fault and Katrol Hill Fault, and ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    face, passing through the alluvial-colluvial fan at location 2. The gentle warping of the surface was completely modified because of severe cultivation practice. Therefore, it was difficult to confirm it in field. To the south ... scarp has been modified by present day farming. At location 5 near Wandhay village, an active fault trace ...

  4. Instrumental trace element analysis of California market milk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ragaini, R.C.; Langhorst, A.L.; Ralston, H.R.; Heft, R.

    1975-01-01

    Trace element analysis for 15 elements (Zn, Na, Br, Rb, Sr, Mg, Al, Ca, Cl, I, K, Fe, Co, Se, Cs) was carried out on 32 samples of California market milk and 6 samples of Colorado milk in a pilot study of toxic and nutrient trace elements in the soil-forage-cow-milk food chain. The techniques of instrumental neutron activation analysis and x-ray fluorescence analysis are described. Sample collection, preparation, analysis, and data reduction procedures are discussed. The mean values and variations of trace element concentrations in milk are compared to data from other studies. (U.S.)

  5. Plasma trace metals during total parenteral alimentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomons, N W; Layden, T J; Rosenberg, I H; Vo-Khactu, K; Sandstead, H H

    1976-06-01

    The plasma concentrations of the trace metals zinc and copper were studied prospectively in 13 patients with gastrointestinal diseases treated with parenteral alimentation (TPA) for periods of from 8 days to 7 1/2 weeks. Plasma copper levels fell rapidly and consistently in all patients, with an overall rate of - 11 mug per 100 ml per week. Zinc concentrations declined in 10 of 13 patients at a more gradual rate. Analysis of the standard parenteral alimentation fluids revealed zinc content equivalent to 50% of the daily requirement and a negligible content of copper. From combined analysis of plasma zinc, hair zinc, and taste acuity, there is evidence that increased utilization or redistribution within the body may effect plasma concentrations in some patients. Neither an increase in urinary excretion nor a primary decrease in plasma binding proteins appeared to be a major factor in lowering plasma trace metal concentrations. These findings indicate that a marked decrease in plasma copper is regular and a decline in plasma zinc is common during TPA using fluids unsupplemented with trace metals. Supplementation of parenteral alimentation fluids with the trace metals zinc and copper is recommended.

  6. Tracing light propagation to the intrinsic accuracy of spacetime geometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crosta, Mariateresa

    2011-01-01

    Advancement in astronomical observations requires codification of light propagation and of the processes of its physical measurement at a high level of accuracy. This could unveil a new window of several subtle relativistic effects suffered by light while propagating. Indeed, light modeling and its subsequent detection should be conceived in a fully relativistic context, in order to interpret the outcome of the observing process in accordance with the geometrical environment affecting light propagation itself and the precepts of measurement. This paper deals with the complexity of such a topic by showing how the geometrical framework of RAMOD, a relativistic model initially developed for astrometric observations in the visible, constitutes an appropriate environment for back-tracing photons. Through gauging the energy content of a given gravitationally bound system, the geometrical aspects that match the required accuracy of present and future observational capabilities are evidenced. Then, by comparing different formulations of the null geodesic, their domain of validity within the given geometrical scheme is refined. Finally, by proving its ability in retrieving recent literature cases, RAMOD is promoted as a measurement-based general relativistic method for any present and future advancement in the light-tracing problem. (paper)

  7. POSITIONING STRATEGIES DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shakhshir Ghassan

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The positioning strategy has suffered serious changes in the last few decades, being influenced by the rapid development of competition and the growing focus on specific traits belonging to the market, to the consumer or to the product. The purpose of this paper is to present the developments of theoretical positioning strategies and the orientation from more simple, product oriented strategies, to ones more oriented towards the client and with a briefer period of time. The world is moving in a much faster pace than in the past, thanks to communication development so companies are obliged to adopt more specific strategies in order for them to be effective. This essay represents a literary review presenting a documentary research within the scientific articles and strategy and positioning books. The paper begins with the analysis of company strategies and the marketing strategies in general. The first author to group the product positioning strategies is Porter with his three generic strategies. Following the development of brands and because of the lack of competitiveness in the simple generic positioning strategies, this paper has also presented the newer positioning strategies proposed by Kotler, Treacy & Wiersema, and also more complex ones such as Bowman's Strategy Clock and Blankson and Kalafatis positioning strategy based on the type of the consumer. The fast expansion of local brands in all categories has led to mistakes in positioning strategies, categories also presented in the current essay. The results of this study show that new positioning strategies are more and more based on the consumer and market segments and on the product specification - which have also evolved in the last decades. Adaptability to fast changes in the competitive market will represent the future positioning strategies.

  8. Tracing contacts of TB patients in Malaysia: costs and practicality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atif, Muhammad; Sulaiman, Syed Azhar Syed; Shafie, Asrul Akmal; Ali, Irfhan; Asif, Muhammad

    2012-01-01

    Tuberculin skin testing (TST) and chest X-ray are the conventional methods used for tracing suspected tuberculosis (TB) patients. The purpose of the study was to calculate the cost incurred by Penang General Hospital on performing one contact tracing procedure using an activity based costing approach. Contact tracing records (including the demographic profile of contacts and outcome of the contact tracing procedure) from March 2010 until February 2011 were retrospectively obtained from the TB contact tracing record book. The human resource cost was calculated by multiplying the mean time spent (in minutes) by employees doing a specific activity by their per-minute salaries. The costs of consumables, Purified Protein Derivative vials and clinical equipment were obtained from the procurement section of the Pharmacy and Radiology Departments. The cost of the building was calculated by multiplying the area of space used by the facility with the unit cost of the public building department. Straight-line deprecation with a discount rate of 3% was assumed for the calculation of equivalent annual costs for the building and machines. Out of 1024 contact tracing procedures, TST was positive (≥10 mm) in 38 suspects. However, chemoprophylaxis was started in none. Yield of contact tracing (active tuberculosis) was as low as 0.5%. The total unit cost of chest X-ray and TST was MYR 9.23 (2.90 USD) & MYR 11.80 (USD 3.70), respectively. The total cost incurred on a single contact tracing procedure was MYR 21.03 (USD 6.60). Our findings suggest that the yield of contact tracing was very low which may be attributed to an inappropriate prioritization process. TST may be replaced with more accurate and specific methods (interferon gamma release assay) in highly prioritized contacts; or TST-positive contacts should be administered 6H therapy (provided that the chest radiography excludes TB) in accordance with standard protocols. The unit cost of contact tracing can be significantly

  9. Optimization of experimental conditions in uranium trace determination using laser time-resolved fluorimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baly, L.; Garcia, M.A.

    1996-01-01

    At the present paper a new sample excitation geometry is presented for the uranium trace determination in aqueous solutions by the Time-Resolved Laser-Induced Fluorescence. This new design introduces the laser radiation through the top side of the cell allowing the use of cells with two quartz sides, less expensive than commonly used at this experimental set. Optimization of the excitation conditions, temporal discrimination and spectral selection are presented

  10. Zeta functions and regularized determinants related to the Selberg trace formula

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Momeni, Arash; Venkov, Alexei

    determinants of one dimensional Schroedinger operator for harmonic oscillator. We decompose the determinant of the automorphic Laplacian into a product of the determinants where each factor is a determinant representation of a zeta function related to Selberg's trace formula. Then we derive an identity...... connecting the determinants of the automorphic Laplacians on different Riemannian surfaces related to the arithmetical groups. Finally, by using the Jacquet-Langlands correspondence we connect the determinant of the automorphic Laplacian for the unit group of quaternions to the product of the determinants......For a general Fuchsian group of the first kind with an arbitrary unitary representation we define the zeta functions related to the contributions of the identity, hyperbolic, elliptic and parabolic conjugacy classes in Selberg's trace formula. We present Selberg's zeta function in terms...

  11. RayTrace: A Simplified Ray Tracing Software for use in AutoCad

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reimann, Gregers Peter; Tang, C.K.

    2005-01-01

    A design aid tool for testing and development of daylighting systems was developed. A simplified ray tracing software was programmed in Lisp for AutoCad. Only fully specularly reflective, fully transparent and fully absorbant surfaces can be defined in the software. The software is therefore best...

  12. Trace elements in wild and orchard honeys

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Almeida-Silva, M.; Canha, N.; Galinha, C.; Dung, H.M. [Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear, URSN, E.N. 10, 2686-953 Sacavem (Portugal); Freitas, M.C., E-mail: cfreitas@itn.pt [Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear, URSN, E.N. 10, 2686-953 Sacavem (Portugal); Sitoe, T. [Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear, URSN, E.N. 10, 2686-953 Sacavem (Portugal)

    2011-11-15

    The present study aims the identification and quantification of trace elements in two types of honey samples: Orchard honey and Wild honey from mainland Portugal. Chemical elements content was assessed by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA). Concentrations were determinated for Ag, As, Br, Ca, Cl, Cs, Cu, Fe, K, La, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, U, V and Zn. The nutritional values of both honey types were evaluated since this product contains some elements that are essential dietary nutrients for humans. Physical properties of the honey samples, such as electrical conductivy and pH, were assessed as well.

  13. Topological Hochschild homology and the Bass trace conjecture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Berrick, A. J.; Hesselholt, Lars

    2015-01-01

    We use the methods of topological Hochschild homology to shed new light on groups satisfying the Bass trace conjecture. Factorization of the Hattori–Stallings rank map through the Bökstedt–Hsiang–Madsen cyclotomic trace map leads to Linnell's restriction on such groups. As a new consequence...

  14. Photodensitometric tracing of Mach bands and its significance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Shi Joon; Cho, Kyung Sik; Kang, Heung Sik; Cho, Byung Jae

    1984-01-01

    Mach bands, a visual phenomenon resulting from lateral inhibitory impulses in the retina, are recognized as lucent or dense lines at the borders of different radiographic densities. A number of clinical situations have been described in which Mach bands may cause difficulty in radiographic diagnosis. Photodensitometric measurement of the film can differentiate the true change in film density from the Mach band which is an optical illusion. Authors present several examples of photodensitometric tracings of Mach bands, with the brief review of the mechanism of their production

  15. Radionuclides, Trace Metals, and Organic Compounds in Shells of Native Freshwater Mussels Along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River: 6000 Years Before Present to Current Times

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    B. L. Tiller; T. E. Marceau

    2006-01-25

    This report documents concentrations of radionuclides, trace metals, and semivolatile organic compounds measured in shell samples of the western pearl shell mussel collected along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River.

  16. Application of environmental isotope tracing technology to geothermal geochemistry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shang Yingnan

    2006-01-01

    This paper reviews the recent application and development of environmental isotope tracing technology to geothermal geochemistry in the following aspects: gas isotopes (He, C) tracing of warm springs; H, O isotope tracing on the origin and cause of geothermal water, environmental isotope dating of geothermal water, and the advantage of excess parameter of deuterium (d) in geothermal research. The author also suggests that isotope method should combine with other geological methods to expand its advantage. (authors)

  17. Strategi Preservasi Digital di Perpustakaan UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Musrifah Musrifah

    2017-06-01

    Preservation activities increasingly need special attention. So to speak, in the digital environmen, is an absolute preservation  activities, especially given the growth of digital products very rapidly, and the use of computers in society is increasingly widespread. In this context, the preservation of all types, including digital preservation in libraries, are activities that are planned and managed to ensure that an object (collection digital can continue to be used and accessed as long possible. This is what lies behind the writer to reveal the strategy of digital preservation in the library of UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta. As this research aims to determine the general digital preservation strategy and the challenges faced in conducting digital preservation in the library of UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta. Based on the results of this research concluded that, digital preservation strategy done of technology preservation strategy, the strategy of  backing up, and re-format migration strategies, as well as refreshment strategy. The challenges faced in implementing digital preservation, that is information in digital form is difficult to survive in the long time, the files are preserved to virus attacks and hackers, file corrupted digital collection, and; digital collection of material is lost suddenly and without a trace.

  18. Trace gas emissions from burning Florida wetlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cofer, Wesley R.; Levine, Joel S.; Winstead, Edward L.; Lebel, Peter J.; Koller, Albert M.; Hinkle, C. Ross

    1990-02-01

    Measurements of biomass burn-produced trace gases are presented that were obtained using a helicopter at low altitudes above burning Florida wetlands on November 9, 1987, and from both helicopter and light-aircraft samplings on November 7, 1988. Carbon dioxide (CO2) normalized emission ratios (ΔX/ΔCO2; V/V; where X is trace gas) for carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), total nonmethane hydrocarbons (TNMHC), and nitrous oxide (N2O) were obtained over burning graminoid wetlands consisting primarily of Spartina bakeri and Juncus roemerianus. Some interspersed scrub oak (Quercus spp) and saw palmetto (Screnoa repens) were also burned. No significant differences were observed in the emission ratios determined for these gases from samples collected over flaming, mixed, and smoldering phases of combustion during the 1987 fire. Combustion-categorized differences in emission ratios were small for the 1988 fire. Combustion efficiency was relatively good (low emission ratios for reduced gases) for both fires. We believe that the consistently low emission ratios were a unique result of graminoid wetlands fires, in which the grasses and rushes (both small-size fuels) burned rapidly down to standing water and were quickly extinguished. Consequently, the efficiency of the combustion was good and the amount and duration of smoldering combustion was greatly diminished.

  19. Determination of Trace Elements in Thai Cereal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Permnamtip, Vorapot; Busamongkol, Arporn; Laoharojanaphand, Sirinart; Chaiyasith, Suwan

    2007-08-01

    Full text: Trace elements were analyzed in Thai cereal, e.g. rice and bean, by using neutron activation analysis (NAA). The selected cereals are major food items for Thai population. The data obtained from this work will be useful for nutrition and safety consumption of Thai cereal. Trace elements verified include Al, As, Br, Ca, Cd, Cl, Cr, Cu, Fe, I, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Se, Sn, V and Zn. It was found that Al, As, Br, Cl, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Ca, K and Mg are presented in the range of 2.2 to 35.7, 0.15 to 0.21, 0.44 to 13.5, 55.6 to 640.3, 16.3 to 16.5, 158.9 to 161.1, 12.2 to 55.7, 8.2 to 58.1 (g/g (ppm) , 0.02 to 0.28, 0.09 to 1.99 and 0.03 to 0.26 %, respectively. For Cd, Cr, I, Mo, Se, Sn and V were not found in sample because the concentrations were lower than detection limit. Precision and accuracy were determined by analyzing standard reference materials: NIST 1568a, NIST 8704, ACSP DORM-1, NIES No.9 and NMIJ 7302 to a

  20. Analysis of Hair Trace Elements in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Communication Disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skalny, Anatoly V; Simashkova, Natalia V; Klyushnik, Tatiana P; Grabeklis, Andrei R; Radysh, Ivan V; Skalnaya, Margarita G; Tinkov, Alexey A

    2017-06-01

    The primary objective of the present study is analysis of hair trace elements content in children with communication disorder (CD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A total of 99 children from control, CD, and ASD groups (n = 33) were examined. All children were additionally divided into two subgroups according to age. Hair levels of trace elements were assessed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The difference was considered significant at p elements including the toxic ones, it can be proposed that children suffering from ASD are characterized by more profound alteration of metal handling and excretion in comparison to CD.