continuous process window: Topics by Science.gov

Sample records for continuous process window

Window and Overlap Processing Effects on Power Estimates from Spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trethewey, M. W.

2000-03-01

Fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectral processing is based on the assumption of stationary ergodic data. In engineering practice, the assumption is often violated and non-stationary data processed. Data windows are commonly used to reduce leakage by decreasing the signal amplitudes near the boundaries of the discrete samples. With certain combinations of non-stationary signals and windows, the temporal weighting may attenuate important signal characteristics to adversely affect any subsequent processing. In other words, the window artificially reduces a significant section of the time signal. Consequently, spectra and overall power estimated from the affected samples are unreliable. FFT processing can be particularly problematic when the signal consists of randomly occurring transients superimposed on a more continuous signal. Overlap processing is commonly used in this situation to improve the estimates. However, the results again depend on the temporal character of the signal in relation to the window weighting. A worst-case scenario, a short-duration half sine pulse, is used to illustrate the relationship between overlap percentage and resulting power estimates. The power estimates are shown to depend on the temporal behaviour of the square of overlapped window segments. An analysis shows that power estimates may be obtained to within 0.27 dB for the following windows and overlap combinations: rectangular (0% overlap), Hanning (62.5% overlap), Hamming (60.35% overlap) and flat-top (82.25% overlap).
Remembering the Important Things: Semantic Importance in Stream Reasoning

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yan, Rui; Greaves, Mark T.; Smith, William P.

Reasoning and querying over data streams rely on the abil- ity to deliver a sequence of stream snapshots to the processing algo- rithms. These snapshots are typically provided using windows as views into streams and associated window management strategies. Generally, the goal of any window management strategy is to preserve the most im- portant data in the current window and preferentially evict the rest, so that the retained data can continue to be exploited. A simple timestamp- based strategy is rst-in-rst-out (FIFO), in which items are replaced in strict order of arrival. All timestamp-based strategies implicitly assume that a temporalmore » ordering reliably re ects importance to the processing task at hand, and thus that window management using timestamps will maximize the ability of the processing algorithms to deliver accurate interpretations of the stream. In this work, we explore a general no- tion of semantic importance that can be used for window management for streams of RDF data using semantically-aware processing algorithms like deduction or semantic query. Semantic importance exploits the infor- mation carried in RDF and surrounding ontologies for ranking window data in terms of its likely contribution to the processing algorithms. We explore the general semantic categories of query contribution, prove- nance, and trustworthiness, as well as the contribution of domain-specic ontologies. We describe how these categories behave using several con- crete examples. Finally, we consider how a stream window management strategy based on semantic importance could improve overall processing performance, especially as available window sizes decrease.« less
The use of computational inspection to identify process window limiting hotspots and predict sub-15nm defects with high capture rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ham, Boo-Hyun; Kim, Il-Hwan; Park, Sung-Sik; Yeo, Sun-Young; Kim, Sang-Jin; Park, Dong-Woon; Park, Joon-Soo; Ryu, Chang-Hoon; Son, Bo-Kyeong; Hwang, Kyung-Bae; Shin, Jae-Min; Shin, Jangho; Park, Ki-Yeop; Park, Sean; Liu, Lei; Tien, Ming-Chun; Nachtwein, Angelique; Jochemsen, Marinus; Yan, Philip; Hu, Vincent; Jones, Christopher

2017-03-01

As critical dimensions for advanced two dimensional (2D) DUV patterning continue to shrink, the exact process window becomes increasingly difficult to determine. The defect size criteria shrink with the patterning critical dimensions and are well below the resolution of current optical inspection tools. As a result, it is more challenging for traditional bright field inspection tools to accurately discover the hotspots that define the process window. In this study, we use a novel computational inspection method to identify the depth-of-focus limiting features of a 10 nm node mask with 2D metal structures (single exposure) and compare the results to those obtained with a traditional process windows qualification (PWQ) method based on utilizing a focus modulated wafer and bright field inspection (BFI) to detect hotspot defects. The method is extended to litho-etch litho-etch (LELE) on a different test vehicle to show that overlay related bridging hotspots also can be identified.
Does Wildfire Open a Policy Window? Local Government and Community Adaptation After Fire in the United States

Treesearch

Miranda H. Mockrin; Hillary K. Fishler; Susan I Stewart

2018-01-01

Becoming a fire adapted community that can coexist with wildfire is envisioned as a continuous, iterative process of adaptation, but it is unclear how communities may pursue adaptation. Experience with wildfire and other natural hazards suggests that disasters may open a "window of opportunity" leading to local government policy changes. We examined how...
Continuous Fiber Ceramic Composites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fareed, Ali; Craig, Phillip A.

2002-09-01

Fiber-reinforced ceramic composites demonstrate the high-temperature stability of ceramics--with an increased fracture toughness resulting from the fiber reinforcement of the composite. The material optimization performed under the continuous fiber ceramic composites (CFCC) included a series of systematic optimizations. The overall goals were to define the processing window, to increase the robustinous of the process, to increase process yield while reducing costs, and to define the complexity of parts that could be fabricated.
Flow chemistry using milli- and microstructured reactors-from conventional to novel process windows.

PubMed

Illg, Tobias; Löb, Patrick; Hessel, Volker

2010-06-01

The terminology Novel Process Window unites different methods to improve existing processes by applying unconventional and harsh process conditions like: process routes at much elevated pressure, much elevated temperature, or processing in a thermal runaway regime to achieve a significant impact on process performance. This paper is a review of parts of IMM's works in particular the applicability of above mentioned Novel Process Windows on selected chemical reactions. First, general characteristics of microreactors are discussed like excellent mass and heat transfer and improved mixing quality. Different types of reactions are presented in which the use of microstructured devices led to an increased process performance by applying Novel Process Windows. These examples were chosen to demonstrate how chemical reactions can benefit from the use of milli- and microstructured devices and how existing protocols can be changed toward process conditions hitherto not applicable in standard laboratory equipment. The used milli- and microstructured reactors can also offer advantages in other areas, for example, high-throughput screening of catalysts and better control of size distribution in a particle synthesis process by improved mixing, etc. The chemical industry is under continuous improvement. So, a lot of research is being done to synthesize high value chemicals, to optimize existing processes in view of process safety and energy consumption and to search for new routes to produce such chemicals. Leitmotifs of such undertakings are often sustainable development(1) and Green Chemistry(2).
Technical improvements in 19th century Belgian window glass production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lauriks, Leen; Collette, Quentin; Wouters, Ine; Belis, Jan

Glass was used since the Roman age in the building envelope, but it became widely applied together with iron since the 19th century. Belgium was a major producer of window glass during the nineteenth century and the majority of the produced window glass was exported all over the world. Investigating the literature on the development of 19th century Belgian window glass production is therefore internationally relevant. In the 17th century, wood was replaced as a fuel by coal. In the 19th century, the regenerative tank furnace applied gas as a fuel in a continuous glass production process. The advantages were a clean production, a more constant and higher temperature in the furnace and a fuel saving. The French chemist Nicolas Leblanc (1787-1793) and later the Belgian chemist Ernest Solvay (1863) invented processes to produce alkali out of common salt. The artificial soda ash improved the quality and aesthetics of the glass plates. During the 19th century, the glass production was industrialized, influencing the operation of furnaces, the improvement of raw materials as well as the applied energy sources. Although the production process was industrialized, glassblowing was still the work of an individual. By improving his work tools, he was able to create larger glass plates. The developments in the annealing process followed this evolution. The industry had to wait until the invention of the drawn glass in the beginning of the 20th century to fully industrialise the window glass manufacture process.
KSC-2009-3681

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Work continues on removing the louvers and replacing the windows on the Firing Room windows in the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. New, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers. The old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Polyphase-discrete Fourier transform spectrum analysis for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence sky survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zimmerman, G. A.; Gulkis, S.

1991-01-01

The sensitivity of a matched filter-detection system to a finite-duration continuous wave (CW) tone is compared with the sensitivities of a windowed discrete Fourier transform (DFT) system and an ideal bandpass filter-bank system. These comparisons are made in the context of the NASA Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) microwave observing project (MOP) sky survey. A review of the theory of polyphase-DFT filter banks and its relationship to the well-known windowed-DFT process is presented. The polyphase-DFT system approximates the ideal bandpass filter bank by using as few as eight filter taps per polyphase branch. An improvement in sensitivity of approx. 3 dB over a windowed-DFT system can be obtained by using the polyphase-DFT approach. Sidelobe rejection of the polyphase-DFT system is vastly superior to the windowed-DFT system, thereby improving its performance in the presence of radio frequency interference (RFI).
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Process Flow Features as a Host-Based Event Knowledge Representation

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-14

an executing process during a window of time called a process flow. Process flows are calculated from key process data structures extracted from...for Cluster 98. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 4.9. Davies- Boldin Dunn Index Sliding Window 5 on Windows 7...82 4.10. Davies- Boldin Dunn Index Sliding Window 10 on Windows 7 . 83 4.11. Davies- Boldin Dunn Index Sliding Window 20 on Windows 7 . 83 ix List of
Creating a Parallel Version of VisIt for Microsoft Windows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Whitlock, B J; Biagas, K S; Rawson, P L

2011-12-07

VisIt is a popular, free interactive parallel visualization and analysis tool for scientific data. Users can quickly generate visualizations from their data, animate them through time, manipulate them, and save the resulting images or movies for presentations. VisIt was designed from the ground up to work on many scales of computers from modest desktops up to massively parallel clusters. VisIt is comprised of a set of cooperating programs. All programs can be run locally or in client/server mode in which some run locally and some run remotely on compute clusters. The VisIt program most able to harness today's computing powermore » is the VisIt compute engine. The compute engine is responsible for reading simulation data from disk, processing it, and sending results or images back to the VisIt viewer program. In a parallel environment, the compute engine runs several processes, coordinating using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) library. Each MPI process reads some subset of the scientific data and filters the data in various ways to create useful visualizations. By using MPI, VisIt has been able to scale well into the thousands of processors on large computers such as dawn and graph at LLNL. The advent of multicore CPU's has made parallelism the 'new' way to achieve increasing performance. With today's computers having at least 2 cores and in many cases up to 8 and beyond, it is more important than ever to deploy parallel software that can use that computing power not only on clusters but also on the desktop. We have created a parallel version of VisIt for Windows that uses Microsoft's MPI implementation (MSMPI) to process data in parallel on the Windows desktop as well as on a Windows HPC cluster running Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Initial desktop parallel support for Windows was deployed in VisIt 2.4.0. Windows HPC cluster support has been completed and will appear in the VisIt 2.5.0 release. We plan to continue supporting parallel VisIt on Windows so our users will be able to take full advantage of their multicore resources.« less
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Processing activities for STS-91 continue in OPF Bay 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Processing activities for STS-91 continue in KSC's Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2. Two Get Away Special (GAS) canisters are shown after their installation into Discovery's payload bay. At left is G-648, an Canadian Space Agency-sponsored study of manufactured organic thin film by the physical vapor transport method, and the can on the right contains commemorative flags to be flown during the mission. STS-91 is scheduled to launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for the ninth and final docking with the Russian Space Station Mir from KSC's Launch Pad 39A on June 2 with a launch window opening around 6:04 p.m. EDT.

Radiation/Catalytic Augmented Combustion.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-05-01

enhanced combustion processes, utilizing pulsed and continuous VUV light- serces . Similarly, the catalytic technique has provided efficient combustion...tures we had a pl /cx LiF lens with a focal length of 200 nm, and a MgF2 window 2 nmn in thickness. Although these materials are considered to be among
Design Guidance for New Windows | Efficient Windows Collaborative

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Measuring floodplain spatial patterns using continuous surface metrics at multiple scales

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scown, Murray W.; Thoms, Martin C.; DeJager, Nathan R.

2015-01-01

Interactions between fluvial processes and floodplain ecosystems occur upon a floodplain surface that is often physically complex. Spatial patterns in floodplain topography have only recently been quantified over multiple scales, and discrepancies exist in how floodplain surfaces are perceived to be spatially organised. We measured spatial patterns in floodplain topography for pool 9 of the Upper Mississippi River, USA, using moving window analyses of eight surface metrics applied to a 1 × 1 m2 DEM over multiple scales. The metrics used were Range, SD, Skewness, Kurtosis, CV, SDCURV,Rugosity, and Vol:Area, and window sizes ranged from 10 to 1000 m in radius. Surface metric values were highly variable across the floodplain and revealed a high degree of spatial organisation in floodplain topography. Moran's I correlograms fit to the landscape of each metric at each window size revealed that patchiness existed at nearly all window sizes, but the strength and scale of patchiness changed within window size, suggesting that multiple scales of patchiness and patch structure exist in the topography of this floodplain. Scale thresholds in the spatial patterns were observed, particularly between the 50 and 100 m window sizes for all surface metrics and between the 500 and 750 m window sizes for most metrics. These threshold scales are ~ 15–20% and 150% of the main channel width (1–2% and 10–15% of the floodplain width), respectively. These thresholds may be related to structuring processes operating across distinct scale ranges. By coupling surface metrics, multi-scale analyses, and correlograms, quantifying floodplain topographic complexity is possible in ways that should assist in clarifying how floodplain ecosystems are structured.
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Fenestration system energy performance research, implementation, and international harmonization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McGowan, Raymond F

The research conducted by the NFRC and its contractors adds significantly to the understanding of several areas of investigation. NFRC enables manufacturers to rate fenestration energy performance to comply with building energy codes, participate in ENERGY STAR, and compete fairly. NFRC continuously seeks to improve its ratings and also seeks to simplify the rating process. Several research projects investigated rating improvement potential such as • Complex Product VT Rating Research • Window 6 and Therm 6 Validation Research Project • Complex Product VT Rating Research Conclusions from these research projects led to important changes and increased confidence in the existingmore » NFRC rating process. Conclusions from the Window 6/Therm 6 project will enable window manufacturers to rate an expanded array of products and improve existing ratings. Some research lead to an improved new rating method called the Component Modeling Approach. A primary goal of the CMA was a simplification of the commercial energy rating process to increase participation and make the commercial industry more competitive and code compliant. The project below contributed towards CMA development: • Component Modeling Approach Condensation Resistance Research NFRC continues to implement the Component Modeling Approach program. The program includes the CMA software tool, CMAST, and several procedural documents to govern the certification process. This significant accomplishment was a response the commercial fenestration industry’s need for a simplification of the present NFRC energy rating method (named site built). To date, most commercial fenestration is self-rated by a variety of techniques. The CMA enables commercial fenestration manufacturers to rate according to the NFRC 100/200 as most commercial energy codes require. International Harmonization NFRC achieved significant international harmonization success by continuing its licensing agreements with the Australian Fenestration Rating Council and the Association of Architectural Aluminum Manufacturers of South Africa (AAAMSA) to produce NFRC certified product ratings in their respective nations. NFRC worked in several other nations to introduce the NFRC ratings system: • India • China • Japan • Canada • Thailand • South Africa • Brazil • Korea NFRC attended or hosted several meetings in each of these nations establishing academic, commercial, industrial, and governmental contacts. NFRC presented the NFRC process and then necessary infrastructure steps necessary to achieve harmonization with the NFRC labeling system. NFRC looks forward to continued work toward harmonization in these nations and potentially others.« less
LACIE performance predictor final operational capability program description, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

The program EPHEMS computes the orbital parameters for up to two vehicles orbiting the earth for up to 549 days. The data represents a continuous swath about the earth, producing tables which can be used to determine when and if certain land segments will be covered. The program GRID processes NASA's climatology tape to obtain the weather indices along with associated latitudes and longitudes. The program LUMP takes substrata historical data and sample segment ID, crop window, crop window error and statistical data, checks for valid input parameters and generates the segment ID file, crop window file and the substrata historical file. Finally, the System Error Executive (SEE) Program checks YES error and truth data, CAMS error data, and signature extension data for validity and missing elements. A message is printed for each error found.
Cross-stiffened continuous fiber structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ewen, John R.; Suarez, Jim A.

1993-01-01

Under NASA's Novel Composites for Wing and Fuselage Applications (NCWFA) program, Contract NAS1-18784, Grumman is evaluating the structural efficiency of graphite/epoxy cross-stiffened panel elements fabricated using innovative textile preforms and cost effective Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) and Resin Film Infusion (RFI) processes. Two three-dimensional woven preform assembly concepts have been defined for application to a representative window belt design typically found in a commercial transport airframe. The 3D woven architecture for each of these concepts is different; one is vertically woven in the plane of the window belt geometry and the other is loom woven in a compressed state similar to an unfolded eggcrate. The feasibility of both designs has been demonstrated in the fabrication of small test element assemblies. These elements and the final window belt assemblies will be structurally tested, and results compared.
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airtight fit and avoid water leakage. Always follow manufacturers installation guidelines and use trained professionals for window installation. Proper installation will: Protect from water damage. Windows should form a continuous water barrier where they meet the wall. With improper installation, water may penetrate
Temporal Integration Windows in Neural Processing and Perception Aligned to Saccadic Eye Movements.

PubMed

Wutz, Andreas; Muschter, Evelyn; van Koningsbruggen, Martijn G; Weisz, Nathan; Melcher, David

2016-07-11

When processing dynamic input, the brain balances the opposing needs of temporal integration and sensitivity to change. We hypothesized that the visual system might resolve this challenge by aligning integration windows to the onset of newly arriving sensory samples. In a series of experiments, human participants observed the same sequence of two displays separated by a brief blank delay when performing either an integration or segregation task. First, using magneto-encephalography (MEG), we found a shift in the stimulus-evoked time courses by a 150-ms time window between task signals. After stimulus onset, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) decoding of task in occipital-parietal sources remained above chance for almost 1 s, and the task-decoding pattern interacted with task outcome. In the pre-stimulus period, the oscillatory phase in the theta frequency band was informative about both task processing and behavioral outcome for each task separately, suggesting that the post-stimulus effects were caused by a theta-band phase shift. Second, when aligning stimulus presentation to the onset of eye fixations, there was a similar phase shift in behavioral performance according to task demands. In both MEG and behavioral measures, task processing was optimal first for segregation and then integration, with opposite phase in the theta frequency range (3-5 Hz). The best fit to neurophysiological and behavioral data was given by a dampened 3-Hz oscillation from stimulus or eye fixation onset. The alignment of temporal integration windows to input changes found here may serve to actively organize the temporal processing of continuous sensory input. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
Airborne target tracking algorithm against oppressive decoys in infrared imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Xiechang; Zhang, Tianxu

2009-10-01

This paper presents an approach for tracking airborne target against oppressive infrared decoys. Oppressive decoy lures infrared guided missile by its high infrared radiation. Traditional tracking algorithms have degraded stability even come to tracking failure when airborne target continuously throw out many decoys. The proposed approach first determines an adaptive tracking window. The center of the tracking window is set at a predicted target position which is computed based on uniform motion model. Different strategies are applied for determination of tracking window size according to target state. The image within tracking window is segmented and multi features of candidate targets are extracted. The most similar candidate target is associated to the tracking target by using a decision function, which calculates a weighted sum of normalized feature differences between two comparable targets. Integrated intensity ratio of association target and tracking target, and target centroid are examined to estimate target state in the presence of decoys. The tracking ability and robustness of proposed approach has been validated by processing available real-world and simulated infrared image sequences containing airborne targets and oppressive decoys.
Lagrangian technique to calculate window interface velocity from shock velocity measurements: Application for quartz windows

DOE PAGES

McCoy, Chad A.; Knudson, Marcus D.

2017-08-24

Measurement of the window interface velocity is a common technique for investigating the dynamic response materials at high strain rates. However, these measurements are limited in pressure to the range where the window remains transparent. The most common window material for this application is lithium fluoride, which under single shock compression becomes opaque at ~200 GPa. To date, no other window material has been identified for use at higher pressures. Here, we present a Lagrangian technique to calculate the interface velocity from a continuously measured shock velocity, with application to quartz. The quartz shock front becomes reflective upon melt, atmore » ~100 GPa, enabling the use of velocity interferometry to continuously measure the shock velocity. This technique overlaps with the range of pressures accessible with LiF windows and extends the region where wave profile measurements are possible to pressures in excess of 2000 GPa. Lastly, we show through simulated data that the technique accurately reproduces the interface velocity within 20% of the initial state, and that the Lagrangian technique represents a significant improvement over a simple linear approximation.« less
Lagrangian technique to calculate window interface velocity from shock velocity measurements: Application for quartz windows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McCoy, Chad A.; Knudson, Marcus D.

Measurement of the window interface velocity is a common technique for investigating the dynamic response materials at high strain rates. However, these measurements are limited in pressure to the range where the window remains transparent. The most common window material for this application is lithium fluoride, which under single shock compression becomes opaque at ~200 GPa. To date, no other window material has been identified for use at higher pressures. Here, we present a Lagrangian technique to calculate the interface velocity from a continuously measured shock velocity, with application to quartz. The quartz shock front becomes reflective upon melt, atmore » ~100 GPa, enabling the use of velocity interferometry to continuously measure the shock velocity. This technique overlaps with the range of pressures accessible with LiF windows and extends the region where wave profile measurements are possible to pressures in excess of 2000 GPa. Lastly, we show through simulated data that the technique accurately reproduces the interface velocity within 20% of the initial state, and that the Lagrangian technique represents a significant improvement over a simple linear approximation.« less
Electrophysiological correlates of aesthetic processing of webpages: a comparison of experts and laypersons

PubMed Central

Hösker, Thomas M.; Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Thielsch, Meinald T.

2017-01-01

We investigated whether design experts or laypersons evaluate webpages differently. Twenty participants, 10 experts and 10 laypersons, judged the aesthetic value of a webpage in an EEG-experiment. Screenshots of 150 webpages, judged as aesthetic or as unaesthetic by another 136 participants, served as stimulus material. Behaviorally, experts and laypersons evaluated unaesthetic webpages similarly, but they differed in their evaluation of aesthetic ones: experts evaluated aesthetic webpages as unaesthetic more often than laypersons did. The ERP-data show main effects of level of expertise and of aesthetic value only. There was no interaction of expertise and aesthetics. In a time-window of 110–130 ms after stimulus onset, aesthetic webpages elicited a more negative EEG-amplitude than unaesthetic webpages. In the same time window, experts had more negative EEG-amplitudes than laypersons. This patterning of results continued until a time window of 600–800 ms in which group and aesthetic differences diminished. An interaction of perceiver characteristics and object properties that several interactionist theories postulate was absent in the EEG-data. Experts seem to process the stimuli in a more thorough manner than laypersons. The early activation differences between aesthetic and unaesthetic webpages is in contrast with some theories of aesthetic processing and has not been reported before. PMID:28603676
Electrophysiological correlates of aesthetic processing of webpages: a comparison of experts and laypersons.

PubMed

Bölte, Jens; Hösker, Thomas M; Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Thielsch, Meinald T

2017-01-01

We investigated whether design experts or laypersons evaluate webpages differently. Twenty participants, 10 experts and 10 laypersons, judged the aesthetic value of a webpage in an EEG-experiment. Screenshots of 150 webpages, judged as aesthetic or as unaesthetic by another 136 participants, served as stimulus material. Behaviorally, experts and laypersons evaluated unaesthetic webpages similarly, but they differed in their evaluation of aesthetic ones: experts evaluated aesthetic webpages as unaesthetic more often than laypersons did. The ERP-data show main effects of level of expertise and of aesthetic value only. There was no interaction of expertise and aesthetics. In a time-window of 110-130 ms after stimulus onset, aesthetic webpages elicited a more negative EEG-amplitude than unaesthetic webpages. In the same time window, experts had more negative EEG-amplitudes than laypersons. This patterning of results continued until a time window of 600-800 ms in which group and aesthetic differences diminished. An interaction of perceiver characteristics and object properties that several interactionist theories postulate was absent in the EEG-data. Experts seem to process the stimuli in a more thorough manner than laypersons. The early activation differences between aesthetic and unaesthetic webpages is in contrast with some theories of aesthetic processing and has not been reported before.
Due-Window Assignment Scheduling with Variable Job Processing Times

PubMed Central

Wu, Yu-Bin

2015-01-01

We consider a common due-window assignment scheduling problem jobs with variable job processing times on a single machine, where the processing time of a job is a function of its position in a sequence (i.e., learning effect) or its starting time (i.e., deteriorating effect). The problem is to determine the optimal due-windows, and the processing sequence simultaneously to minimize a cost function includes earliness, tardiness, the window location, window size, and weighted number of tardy jobs. We prove that the problem can be solved in polynomial time. PMID:25918745
TQM: A Flavor-of-the-Month Buzzword or Step One to Designing Processes that Deliver Continuous Value to the Customer?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Secor, John R.

Often when total quality management (TQM) does not live up to expectations, that failure is a sign that implementation of TQM was simply fashionable "management hype" or "window dressing" without strong organizational underpinnings. TQM can have staying power when it is backed up by leadership basics of training people…
Scale up of large ALON® and spinel windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldman, Lee M.; Kashalikar, Uday; Ramisetty, Mohan; Jha, Santosh; Sastri, Suri

2017-05-01

Aluminum Oxynitride (ALON® Transparent Ceramic) and Magnesia Aluminate Spinel (Spinel) combine broadband transparency with excellent mechanical properties. Their cubic structure means that they are transparent in their polycrystalline form, allowing them to be manufactured by conventional powder processing techniques. Surmet has scaled up its ALON® production capability to produce and deliver windows as large as 4.4 sq ft. We have also produced our first 6 sq ft window. We are in the process of producing 7 sq ft ALON® window blanks for armor applications; and scale up to even larger, high optical quality blanks for Recce window applications is underway. Surmet also produces spinel for customers that require superior transmission at the longer wavelengths in the mid wave infra-red (MWIR). Spinel windows have been limited to smaller sizes than have been achieved with ALON. To date the largest spinel window produced is 11x18-in, and windows 14x20-in size are currently in process. Surmet is now scaling up its spinel processing capability to produce high quality window blanks as large as 19x27-in for sensor applications.

Transplant Image Processing Technology under Windows into the Platform Based on MiniGUI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, Lan; Zhang, Xu; Lv, Wenya; Yu, Jia

MFC has a large number of digital image processing-related API functions, object-oriented and class mechanisms which provides image processing technology strong support in Windows. But in embedded systems, image processing technology dues to the restrictions of hardware and software do not have the environment of MFC in Windows. Therefore, this paper draws on the experience of image processing technology of Windows and transplants it into MiniGUI embedded systems. The results show that MiniGUI/Embedded graphical user interface applications about image processing which used in embedded image processing system can be good results.
Processing activities for STS-91 continue in OPF Bay 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Processing activities for STS-91 continue in KSC's Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2. The payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery is relatively empty as installation of the Get Away Special (GAS) canisters begins. Two GAS canisters can be seen in the center of the photograph. On the left is G-648, a Canadian Space Agency-sponsored study on manufactured organic thin film by the physical vapor transport method, and on the right is a can with hundreds of commemorative flags to be flown on the mission. STS-91 is scheduled to launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for the ninth and final docking with the Russian Space Station Mir from KSC's Launch Pad 39A on June 2 with a launch window opening around 6:04 p.m. EDT.
The impact of hunger on food cue processing: an event-related brain potential study.

PubMed

Stockburger, Jessica; Schmälzle, Ralf; Flaisch, Tobias; Bublatzky, Florian; Schupp, Harald T

2009-10-01

The present study used event-related brain potentials to examine deprivation effects on visual attention to food stimuli at the level of distinct processing stages. Thirty-two healthy volunteers (16 females) were tested twice 1 week apart, either after 24 h of food deprivation or after normal food intake. Participants viewed a continuous stream of food and flower images while dense sensor ERPs were recorded. As revealed by distinct ERP modulations in relatively earlier and later time windows, deprivation affected the processing of food and flower pictures. Between 300 and 360 ms, food pictures were associated with enlarged occipito-temporal negativity and centro-parietal positivity in deprived compared to satiated state. Of main interest, in a later time window (approximately 450-600 ms), deprivation increased amplitudes of the late positive potential elicited by food pictures. Conversely, flower processing varied by motivational state with decreased positive potentials in the deprived state. Minimum-Norm analyses provided further evidence that deprivation enhanced visual attention to food cues in later processing stages. From the perspective of motivated attention, hunger may induce a heightened state of attention for food stimuli in a processing stage related to stimulus recognition and focused attention.
KSC-2009-3683

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A new window is lowered toward the existing Firing Room windows in the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. New, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers. The old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
KSC-2009-3682

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A new window is lowered toward the existing Firing Room windows in the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. New, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers. The old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
KSC-2009-3684

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Alongside the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a new window is prepared to be lifted up to the existing Firing Room windows. New, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers. The old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
KSC-2009-3685

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A new window is raised toward the existing Firing Room windows in the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. New, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers. The old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Input-output characterization of an ultrasonic testing system by digital signal analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, J. H., Jr.; Lee, S. S.; Karagulle, H.

1986-01-01

Ultrasonic test system input-output characteristics were investigated by directly coupling the transmitting and receiving transducers face to face without a test specimen. Some of the fundamentals of digital signal processing were summarized. Input and output signals were digitized by using a digital oscilloscope, and the digitized data were processed in a microcomputer by using digital signal-processing techniques. The continuous-time test system was modeled as a discrete-time, linear, shift-invariant system. In estimating the unit-sample response and frequency response of the discrete-time system, it was necessary to use digital filtering to remove low-amplitude noise, which interfered with deconvolution calculations. A digital bandpass filter constructed with the assistance of a Blackman window and a rectangular time window were used. Approximations of the impulse response and the frequency response of the continuous-time test system were obtained by linearly interpolating the defining points of the unit-sample response and the frequency response of the discrete-time system. The test system behaved as a linear-phase bandpass filter in the frequency range 0.6 to 2.3 MHz. These frequencies were selected in accordance with the criterion that they were 6 dB below the maximum peak of the amplitude of the frequency response. The output of the system to various inputs was predicted and the results were compared with the corresponding measurements on the system.
KSC-2009-3687

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Workers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida secure a new window on the Firing Room in the Launch Control Center. New, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers. The old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
KSC-2009-3553

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, new, hurricane-rated window systems for the Launch Control Center's four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts, the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers, and the old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs
KSC-2009-3548

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, new, hurricane-rated window systems for the Launch Control Center's four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts, the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers, and the old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs
KSC-2009-3550

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, new, hurricane-rated window systems for the Launch Control Center's four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts, the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers, and the old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs
KSC-2009-3547

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, new, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts, the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers, and the old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs
KSC-2009-3551

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, new, hurricane-rated window systems for the Launch Control Center's four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts, the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers, and the old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs
KSC-2009-3549

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, new, hurricane-rated window systems for the Launch Control Center's four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts, the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers, and the old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs
KSC-2009-3552

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-05

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, new, hurricane-rated window systems for the Launch Control Center's four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts, the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers, and the old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs
KSC-2009-3686

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-06-10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Workers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carefully place a new window on the Firing Room in the Launch Control Center. New, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 & 2 and Firing Rooms 3 & 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers. The old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
KSC-2009-5806

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-10-23

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – This aerial view of the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida shows the installation of new windows nearing completion. New, hurricane-rated window systems for the four Firing Rooms and the vestibule areas between Firing Rooms 1 and 2 and Firing Rooms 3 and 4 are being installed. In order to avoid operational impacts the new windows are being installed on the outside of the existing windows, enclosing the space formerly occupied by the louvers. The old windows will remain in place until the new windows are completely installed and leak tested. This approach will continue to keep the firing rooms from being exposed to the elements. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Ultrafast chirped optical waveform recorder using a time microscope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bennett, Corey Vincent

2015-04-21

A new technique for capturing both the amplitude and phase of an optical waveform is presented. This technique can capture signals with many THz of bandwidths in a single shot (e.g., temporal resolution of about 44 fs), or be operated repetitively at a high rate. That is, each temporal window (or frame) is captured single shot, in real time, but the process may be run repeatedly or single-shot. By also including a variety of possible demultiplexing techniques, this process is scalable to recoding continuous signals.
Conformal ALON® and spinel windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldman, Lee M.; Smith, Mark; Ramisetty, Mohan; Jha, Santosh; Sastri, Suri

2017-05-01

The requirements for modern aircraft based reconnaissance systems are driving the need for conformal windows for future sensor systems. However, limitations on optical systems and the ability to produce windows in complex geometries currently limit the geometry of existing windows and window assemblies to faceted assemblies of flat windows. ALON consists primarily of aluminum and oxygen, similar to that of alumina, with a small amount of nitrogen added to help stabilize the cubic gamma-AlON phase. ALON's chemical similarity to alumina, translates into a robust manufacturing process. This ease of processing has allowed Surmet to produce ALON windows and domes in a wide variety of geometries and sizes. Spinel (MgAl2O4) contains equal molar amounts of MgO and Al2O3, and is a cubic material, that transmits further into the Infrared than ALON. Spinel is produced via powder processing techniques similar to those used to produce ALON. Surmet is now applying the lessons learned with ALON to produce conformal spinel windows and domes as well.

Seismpol_ a visual-basic computer program for interactive and automatic earthquake waveform analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patanè, Domenico; Ferrari, Ferruccio

1997-11-01

A Microsoft Visual-Basic computer program for waveform analysis of seismic signals is presented. The program combines interactive and automatic processing of digital signals using data recorded by three-component seismic stations. The analysis procedure can be used in either an interactive earthquake analysis or an automatic on-line processing of seismic recordings. The algorithm works in the time domain using the Covariance Matrix Decomposition method (CMD), so that polarization characteristics may be computed continuously in real time and seismic phases can be identified and discriminated. Visual inspection of the particle motion in hortogonal planes of projection (hodograms) reduces the danger of misinterpretation derived from the application of the polarization filter. The choice of time window and frequency intervals improves the quality of the extracted polarization information. In fact, the program uses a band-pass Butterworth filter to process the signals in the frequency domain by analysis of a selected signal window into a series of narrow frequency bands. Significant results supported by well defined polarizations and source azimuth estimates for P and S phases are also obtained for short-period seismic events (local microearthquakes).
Single-machine common/slack due window assignment problems with linear decreasing processing times

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xingong; Lin, Win-Chin; Wu, Wen-Hsiang; Wu, Chin-Chia

2017-08-01

This paper studies linear non-increasing processing times and the common/slack due window assignment problems on a single machine, where the actual processing time of a job is a linear non-increasing function of its starting time. The aim is to minimize the sum of the earliness cost, tardiness cost, due window location and due window size. Some optimality results are discussed for the common/slack due window assignment problems and two O(n log n) time algorithms are presented to solve the two problems. Finally, two examples are provided to illustrate the correctness of the corresponding algorithms.
Generalized serial search code acquisition - The equivalent circular state diagram approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polydoros, A.; Simon, M. K.

1984-01-01

A transform-domain method for deriving the generating function of the acquisition process resulting from an arbitrary serial search strategy is presented. The method relies on equivalent circular state diagrams, uses Mason's formula from flow-graph theory, and employs a minimum number of required parameters. The transform-domain approach is briefly described and the concept of equivalent circular state diagrams is introduced and exploited to derive the generating function and resulting mean acquisition time for three particular cases of interest, the continuous/center Z search, the broken/center Z search, and the expanding window search. An optimization of the latter technique is performed whereby the number of partial windows which minimizes the mean acquisition time is determined. The numerical results satisfy certain intuitive predictions and provide useful design guidelines for such systems.
Low-Rank Matrix Recovery Approach for Clutter Rejection in Real-Time IR-UWB Radar-Based Moving Target Detection

PubMed Central

Sabushimike, Donatien; Na, Seung You; Kim, Jin Young; Bui, Ngoc Nam; Seo, Kyung Sik; Kim, Gil Gyeom

2016-01-01

The detection of a moving target using an IR-UWB Radar involves the core task of separating the waves reflected by the static background and by the moving target. This paper investigates the capacity of the low-rank and sparse matrix decomposition approach to separate the background and the foreground in the trend of UWB Radar-based moving target detection. Robust PCA models are criticized for being batched-data-oriented, which makes them inconvenient in realistic environments where frames need to be processed as they are recorded in real time. In this paper, a novel method based on overlapping-windows processing is proposed to cope with online processing. The method consists of processing a small batch of frames which will be continually updated without changing its size as new frames are captured. We prove that RPCA (via its Inexact Augmented Lagrange Multiplier (IALM) model) can successfully separate the two subspaces, which enhances the accuracy of target detection. The overlapping-windows processing method converges on the optimal solution with its batch counterpart (i.e., processing batched data with RPCA), and both methods prove the robustness and efficiency of the RPCA over the classic PCA and the commonly used exponential averaging method. PMID:27598159
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peeler, D; Tommy Edwards, T; Kevin Fox, K

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has developed, and continues to enhance, its integrated capability to evaluate the impact of proposed sludge preparation plans on the Defense Waste Processing Facility's (DWPF's) operation. One of the components of this integrated capability focuses on frit development which identifies a viable frit or frits for each sludge option being contemplated for DWPF processing. A frit is considered viable if its composition allows for economic fabrication and if, when it is combined with the sludge option under consideration, the DWPF property/composition models (the models of DWPF's Product Composition Control System (PCCS)) indicate that themore » combination has the potential for an operating window (a waste loading (WL) interval over which the sludge/frit glass system satisfies processability and durability constraints) that would allow DWPF to meet its goals for waste loading and canister production. This report documents the results of SRNL's efforts to identify candidate frit compositions and corresponding predicted operating windows (defined in terms of WL intervals) for the February 2007 compositional projection of Sludge Batch 4 (SB4) developed by the Liquid Waste Organization (LWO). The nominal compositional projection was used to assess projected operating windows (in terms of a waste loading interval over which all predicted properties were classified as acceptable) for various frits, evaluate the applicability of the 0.6 wt% SO{sub 4}{sup =} PCCS limit to the glass systems of interest, and determine the impact (or lack thereof) to the previous SB4 variability studies. It should be mentioned that the information from this report will be coupled with assessments of melt rate to recommend a frit for SB4 processing. The results of this paper study suggest that candidate frits are available to process the nominal SB4 composition over attractive waste loadings of interest to DWPF. Specifically, two primary candidate frits for SB4 processing, Frit 510 and Frit 418, have projected operating windows that should allow for successful processing at DWPF. While Frit 418 has been utilized at DWPF, Frit 510 is a higher B{sub 2}O{sub 3} based frit which could lead to improvements in melt rate. These frits provide relatively large operating windows and demonstrate robustness to possible sludge compositional variation while avoiding potential nepheline formation issues. In addition, assessments of SO{sub 4}{sup =} solubility indicate that the 0.6 wt% SO{sub 4}{sup =} limit in PCCS is applicable for the Frit 418 and the Frit 510 based SB4 glass systems.« less
75 FR 11889 - Request for Comments on Proposed NIH, AHRQ and CDC Process Change for Electronic Submission of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-12

... impact of eliminating the correction window from the electronic grant application submission process on... process a temporary error correction window to ensure a smooth and successful transition for applicants. This window provides applicants a period of time beyond the grant application due date to correct any...
Using Signal Detection Theory and Time Window-based Human-In-The-Loop simulation as a tool for assessing the effectiveness of different qualitative shapes in continuous monitoring tasks.

PubMed

Kim, Jung Hyup; Rothrock, Ling; Laberge, Jason

2014-05-01

This paper provides a case study of Signal Detection Theory (SDT) as applied to a continuous monitoring dual-task environment. Specifically, SDT was used to evaluate the independent contributions of sensitivity and bias to different qualitative gauges used in process control. To assess detection performance in monitoring the gauges, we developed a Time Window-based Human-In-The-Loop (TWHITL) simulation bed. Through this test bed, we were able to generate a display similar to those monitored by console operators in oil and gas refinery plants. By using SDT and TWHITL, we evaluated the sensitivity, operator bias, and response time of flow, level, pressure, and temperature gauge shapes developed by Abnormal Situation Management(®) (ASM(®)) Consortium (www.asmconsortium.org). Our findings suggest that display density influences the effectiveness of participants in detecting abnormal shapes. Furthermore, results suggest that some shapes elicit better detection performance than others. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.
Design and fabrication of absorber coupled TES microbolometers on continuous silicon-nitride windows.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chang, C. L.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Datesman, A.

2008-04-01

The implementation of TES based microbolometer arrays will achieve unprecedented sensitivities for mm and sub-mm astronomy through fabrication of large format arrays and improved linearity and stability arising from strong electro-thermal feedback. We report on progress in developing TES microbolometers using Mo/Au thin films and Au absorbing structures. We present measurements of suppressing the thermal conductance through the etching of features on a continuous Silicon-Nitride window.
Further Automate Planned Cluster Maintenance to Minimize System Downtime during Maintenance Windows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Springmeyer, R.

This report documents the integration and testing of the automated update process of compute clusters in LC to minimize impact to user productivity. Description: A set of scripts will be written and deployed to further standardize cluster maintenance activities and minimize downtime during planned maintenance windows. Completion Criteria: When the scripts have been deployed and used during planned maintenance windows and a timing comparison is completed between the existing process and the new more automated process, this milestone is complete. This milestone was completed on Aug 23, 2016 on the new CTS1 cluster called Jade when a request to upgrademore » the version of TOSS 3 was initiated while SWL jobs and normal user jobs were running. Jobs that were running when the update to the system began continued to run to completion. New jobs on the cluster started on the new release of TOSS 3. No system administrator action was required. Current update procedures in TOSS 2 begin by killing all users jobs. Then all diskfull nodes are updated, which can take a few hours. Only after the updates are applied are all nodes are rebooted, and then finally put back into service. A system administrator is required for all steps. In terms of human time spent during a cluster OS update, the TOSS 3 automated procedure on Jade took 0 FTE hours. Doing the same update without the Toss Update Tool would have required 4 FTE hours.« less
Method and apparatus for removing and preventing window deposition during photochemical vapor deposition (photo-CVD) processes

DOEpatents

Tsuo, S.; Langford, A.A.

1989-03-28

Unwanted build-up of the film deposited on the transparent light-transmitting window of a photochemical vacuum deposition (photo-CVD) chamber is eliminated by flowing an etchant into the part of the photolysis region in the chamber immediately adjacent the window and remote from the substrate and from the process gas inlet. The respective flows of the etchant and the process gas are balanced to confine the etchant reaction to the part of the photolysis region proximate to the window and remote from the substrate. The etchant is preferably one that etches film deposit on the window, does not etch or affect the window itself, and does not produce reaction by-products that are deleterious to either the desired film deposited on the substrate or to the photolysis reaction adjacent the substrate. 3 figs.
Method and apparatus for removing and preventing window deposition during photochemical vapor deposition (photo-CVD) processes

DOEpatents

Tsuo, Simon; Langford, Alison A.

1989-01-01

Unwanted build-up of the film deposited on the transparent light-transmitting window of a photochemical vacuum deposition (photo-CVD) chamber is eliminated by flowing an etchant into the part of the photolysis region in the chamber immediately adjacent the window and remote from the substrate and from the process gas inlet. The respective flows of the etchant and the process gas are balanced to confine the etchant reaction to the part of the photolysis region proximate to the window and remote from the substrate. The etchant is preferably one that etches film deposit on the window, does not etch or affect the window itself, and does not produce reaction by-products that are deleterious to either the desired film deposited on the substrate or to the photolysis reaction adjacent the substrate.
How to be smart and energy efficient: A general discussion on thermochromic windows

PubMed Central

Long, Linshuang; Ye, Hong

2014-01-01

A window is a unique element in a building because of its simultaneous properties of being “opaque” to inclement weather yet transparent to the observer. However, these unique features make the window an element that can reduce the energy efficiency of buildings. A thermochromic window is a type of smart window whose solar radiation properties vary with temperature. It is thought that the solar radiation gain of a room can be intelligently regulated through the use of thermochromic windows, resulting in lower energy consumption than with standard windows. Materials scientists have made many efforts to improve the performance of thermochromic materials. Despite these efforts, fundamental problems continue to confront us. How should a “smart” window behave? Is a “smart” window really the best candidate for energy-efficient applications? What is the relationship between smartness and energy performance? To answer these questions, a general discussion of smartness and energy performance is provided. PMID:25233891
Dynamically re-configurable CMOS imagers for an active vision system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Guang (Inventor); Pain, Bedabrata (Inventor)

2005-01-01

A vision system is disclosed. The system includes a pixel array, at least one multi-resolution window operation circuit, and a pixel averaging circuit. The pixel array has an array of pixels configured to receive light signals from an image having at least one tracking target. The multi-resolution window operation circuits are configured to process the image. Each of the multi-resolution window operation circuits processes each tracking target within a particular multi-resolution window. The pixel averaging circuit is configured to sample and average pixels within the particular multi-resolution window.
ARTIP: Automated Radio Telescope Image Processing Pipeline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Ravi; Gyanchandani, Dolly; Kulkarni, Sarang; Gupta, Neeraj; Pathak, Vineet; Pande, Arti; Joshi, Unmesh

2018-02-01

The Automated Radio Telescope Image Processing Pipeline (ARTIP) automates the entire process of flagging, calibrating, and imaging for radio-interferometric data. ARTIP starts with raw data, i.e. a measurement set and goes through multiple stages, such as flux calibration, bandpass calibration, phase calibration, and imaging to generate continuum and spectral line images. Each stage can also be run independently. The pipeline provides continuous feedback to the user through various messages, charts and logs. It is written using standard python libraries and the CASA package. The pipeline can deal with datasets with multiple spectral windows and also multiple target sources which may have arbitrary combinations of flux/bandpass/phase calibrators.
MapEdit: solution to continuous raster map creation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rančić, Dejan; Djordjevi-Kajan, Slobodanka

2003-03-01

The paper describes MapEdit, MS Windows TM software for georeferencing and rectification of scanned paper maps. The software produces continuous raster maps which can be used as background in geographical information systems. Process of continuous raster map creation using MapEdit "mosaicking" function is also described as well as the georeferencing and rectification algorithms which are used in MapEdit. Our approach for georeferencing and rectification using four control points and two linear transformations for each scanned map part, together with nearest neighbor resampling method, represents low cost—high speed solution that produce continuous raster maps with satisfactory quality for many purposes (±1 pixel). Quality assessment of several continuous raster maps at different scales that have been created using our software and methodology, has been undertaken and results are presented in the paper. For the quality control of the produced raster maps we referred to three wide adopted standards: US Standard for Digital Cartographic Data, National Standard for Spatial Data Accuracy and US National Map Accuracy Standard. The results obtained during the quality assessment process are given in the paper and show that our maps meat all three standards.
A biological inspired fuzzy adaptive window median filter (FAWMF) for enhancing DNA signal processing.

PubMed

Ahmad, Muneer; Jung, Low Tan; Bhuiyan, Al-Amin

2017-10-01

Digital signal processing techniques commonly employ fixed length window filters to process the signal contents. DNA signals differ in characteristics from common digital signals since they carry nucleotides as contents. The nucleotides own genetic code context and fuzzy behaviors due to their special structure and order in DNA strand. Employing conventional fixed length window filters for DNA signal processing produce spectral leakage and hence results in signal noise. A biological context aware adaptive window filter is required to process the DNA signals. This paper introduces a biological inspired fuzzy adaptive window median filter (FAWMF) which computes the fuzzy membership strength of nucleotides in each slide of window and filters nucleotides based on median filtering with a combination of s-shaped and z-shaped filters. Since coding regions cause 3-base periodicity by an unbalanced nucleotides' distribution producing a relatively high bias for nucleotides' usage, such fundamental characteristic of nucleotides has been exploited in FAWMF to suppress the signal noise. Along with adaptive response of FAWMF, a strong correlation between median nucleotides and the Π shaped filter was observed which produced enhanced discrimination between coding and non-coding regions contrary to fixed length conventional window filters. The proposed FAWMF attains a significant enhancement in coding regions identification i.e. 40% to 125% as compared to other conventional window filters tested over more than 250 benchmarked and randomly taken DNA datasets of different organisms. This study proves that conventional fixed length window filters applied to DNA signals do not achieve significant results since the nucleotides carry genetic code context. The proposed FAWMF algorithm is adaptive and outperforms significantly to process DNA signal contents. The algorithm applied to variety of DNA datasets produced noteworthy discrimination between coding and non-coding regions contrary to fixed window length conventional filters. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Processing activities for STS-91 continue in OPF Bay 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Processing activities for STS-91 continue in Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2. Two Get Away Special (GAS) canisters are shown after their installation into Discovery's payload bay. The GAS payload G-765, in the canister on the left, is sponsored by the Canadian Space Agency and managed by C-CORE/Memorial University of Newfoundland. It is a study to understand the transport of fluids in porous media as it pertains to improving methods for enhanced oil recovery. The GAS canister on the right houses the Space Experiment Module (SEM-05), part of an educational initiative of NASA's Shuttle Small Payloads Project. STS-91 is scheduled to launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for the ninth and final docking with the Russian Space Station Mir from KSC's Launch Pad 39A on June 2 with a launch window opening around 6:04 p.m. EDT.
Letter-sound processing deficits in children with developmental dyslexia: An ERP study.

PubMed

Moll, Kristina; Hasko, Sandra; Groth, Katharina; Bartling, Jürgen; Schulte-Körne, Gerd

2016-04-01

The time course during letter-sound processing was investigated in children with developmental dyslexia (DD) and typically developing (TD) children using electroencephalography. Thirty-eight children with DD and 25 TD children participated in a visual-auditory oddball paradigm. Event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by standard and deviant stimuli in an early (100-190 ms) and late (560-750 ms) time window were analysed. In the early time window, ERPs elicited by the deviant stimulus were delayed and less left lateralized over fronto-temporal electrodes for children with DD compared to TD children. In the late time window, children with DD showed higher amplitudes extending more over right frontal electrodes. Longer latencies in the early time window and stronger right hemispheric activation in the late time window were associated with slower reading and naming speed. Additionally, stronger right hemispheric activation in the late time window correlated with poorer phonological awareness skills. Deficits in early stages of letter-sound processing influence later more explicit cognitive processes during letter-sound processing. Identifying the neurophysiological correlates of letter-sound processing and their relation to reading related skills provides insight into the degree of automaticity during letter-sound processing beyond behavioural measures of letter-sound-knowledge. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Replacement Windows for Existing Homes Homes | Efficient Windows

Science.gov Websites

Design Guidance Installation Replacement Windows Window Selection Tool Assessing Options Selection Process Design Guidance Installation Understanding Windows Benefits Design Considerations Measuring Selection Tool will take you through a series of design conditions pertaining to your design and location
Illusory displacement of equiluminous kinetic edges.

PubMed

Ramachandran, V S; Anstis, S M

1990-01-01

A stationary window was cut out of a stationary random-dot pattern. When a field of dots was moved continuously behind the window (a) the window appeared to move in the same direction even though it was stationary, (b) the position of the 'kinetic edges' defining the window was also displaced along the direction of dot motion, and (c) the edges of the window tended to fade on steady fixation even though the dots were still clearly visible. The illusory displacement was enhanced considerably if the kinetic edge was equiluminous and if the 'window' region was seen as 'figure' rather than 'ground'. Since the extraction of kinetic edges probably involves the use of direction-selective cells, the illusion may provide insights into how the visual system uses the output of these cells to localize the kinetic edges.

Computed Tomography Window Blending: Feasibility in Thoracic Trauma.

PubMed

Mandell, Jacob C; Wortman, Jeremy R; Rocha, Tatiana C; Folio, Les R; Andriole, Katherine P; Khurana, Bharti

2018-02-07

This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of processing computed tomography (CT) images with a custom window blending algorithm that combines soft-tissue, bone, and lung window settings into a single image; to compare the time for interpretation of chest CT for thoracic trauma with window blending and conventional window settings; and to assess diagnostic performance of both techniques. Adobe Photoshop was scripted to process axial DICOM images from retrospective contrast-enhanced chest CTs performed for trauma with a window-blending algorithm. Two emergency radiologists independently interpreted the axial images from 103 chest CTs with both blended and conventional windows. Interpretation time and diagnostic performance were compared with Wilcoxon signed-rank test and McNemar test, respectively. Agreement with Nexus CT Chest injury severity was assessed with the weighted kappa statistic. A total of 13,295 images were processed without error. Interpretation was faster with window blending, resulting in a 20.3% time saving (P < .001), with no difference in diagnostic performance, within the power of the study to detect a difference in sensitivity of 5% as determined by post hoc power analysis. The sensitivity of the window-blended cases was 82.7%, compared to 81.6% for conventional windows. The specificity of the window-blended cases was 93.1%, compared to 90.5% for conventional windows. All injuries of major clinical significance (per Nexus CT Chest criteria) were correctly identified in all reading sessions, and all negative cases were correctly classified. All readers demonstrated near-perfect agreement with injury severity classification with both window settings. In this pilot study utilizing retrospective data, window blending allows faster preliminary interpretation of axial chest CT performed for trauma, with no significant difference in diagnostic performance compared to conventional window settings. Future studies would be required to assess the utility of window blending in clinical practice. Copyright © 2018 The Association of University Radiologists. All rights reserved.
Predictive Simulation of Process Windows for Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing: Influence of the Powder Bulk Density.

PubMed

Rausch, Alexander M; Küng, Vera E; Pobel, Christoph; Markl, Matthias; Körner, Carolin

2017-09-22

The resulting properties of parts fabricated by powder bed fusion additive manufacturing processes are determined by their porosity, local composition, and microstructure. The objective of this work is to examine the influence of the stochastic powder bed on the process window for dense parts by means of numerical simulation. The investigations demonstrate the unique capability of simulating macroscopic domains in the range of millimeters with a mesoscopic approach, which resolves the powder bed and the hydrodynamics of the melt pool. A simulated process window reveals the influence of the stochastic powder layer. The numerical results are verified with an experimental process window for selective electron beam-melted Ti-6Al-4V. Furthermore, the influence of the powder bulk density is investigated numerically. The simulations predict an increase in porosity and surface roughness for samples produced with lower powder bulk densities. Due to its higher probability for unfavorable powder arrangements, the process stability is also decreased. This shrinks the actual parameter range in a process window for producing dense parts.
Predictive Simulation of Process Windows for Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing: Influence of the Powder Bulk Density

PubMed Central

Rausch, Alexander M.; Küng, Vera E.; Pobel, Christoph; Körner, Carolin

2017-01-01

The resulting properties of parts fabricated by powder bed fusion additive manufacturing processes are determined by their porosity, local composition, and microstructure. The objective of this work is to examine the influence of the stochastic powder bed on the process window for dense parts by means of numerical simulation. The investigations demonstrate the unique capability of simulating macroscopic domains in the range of millimeters with a mesoscopic approach, which resolves the powder bed and the hydrodynamics of the melt pool. A simulated process window reveals the influence of the stochastic powder layer. The numerical results are verified with an experimental process window for selective electron beam-melted Ti-6Al-4V. Furthermore, the influence of the powder bulk density is investigated numerically. The simulations predict an increase in porosity and surface roughness for samples produced with lower powder bulk densities. Due to its higher probability for unfavorable powder arrangements, the process stability is also decreased. This shrinks the actual parameter range in a process window for producing dense parts. PMID:28937633
46 CFR 127.420 - Strength.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Strength. 127.420 Section 127.420 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) OFFSHORE SUPPLY VESSELS CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENTS Construction of Windows, Visibility, and Operability of Coverings § 127.420 Strength. Each window or porthole...
46 CFR 127.420 - Strength.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Strength. 127.420 Section 127.420 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) OFFSHORE SUPPLY VESSELS CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENTS Construction of Windows, Visibility, and Operability of Coverings § 127.420 Strength. Each window or porthole...
Large Acrylic Spherical Windows In Hyperbaric Underwater Photography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lones, Joe J.; Stachiw, Jerry D.

1983-10-01

Both acrylic plastic and glass are common materials for hyperbaric optical windows. Although glass continues to be used occasionally for small windows, virtually all large viewports are made of acrylic. It is easy to uderstand the wide use of acrylic when comparing design properties of this plastic with those of glass, and glass windows are relatively more difficult to fabricate and use. in addition there are published guides for the design and fabrication of acrylic windows to be used in the hyperbaric environment of hydrospace. Although these procedures for fabricating the acrylic windows are somewhat involved, the results are extremely reliable. Acrylic viewports are now fabricated to very large sizes for manned observation or optical quality instrumen tation as illustrated by the numerous acrylic submersible vehicle hulls for hu, an occupancy currently in operation and a 3600 large optical window recently developed for the Walt Disney Circle Vision under-water camera housing.
Measured Rattle Threshold of Residential House Windows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sizov, Natalia; Schultz, Troy; Hobbs, Christopher; Klos, Jacob

2008-01-01

Window rattle is a common indoor noise effect in houses exposed to low frequency noise from such sources as railroads, blast noise and sonic boom. Human perception of rattle can be negative that is a motivating factor of the current research effort to study sonic boom induced window rattle. A rattle study has been conducted on residential houses containing windows of different construction at a variety of geographic locations within the United States. Windows in these houses were excited by a portable, high-powered loudspeaker and enclosure specifically designed to be mounted on the house exterior to cover an entire window. Window vibration was measured with accelerometers placed on different window components. Reference microphones were also placed inside the house and inside of the loudspeaker box. Swept sine excitation was used to identify the vibration threshold at which the response of the structure becomes non-linear and begins to rattle. Initial results from this study are presented and discussed. Future efforts will continue to explore the rattle occurrence in windows of residential houses exposed to sonic booms.
Integrating seismic reflection and geological data and interpretations across an internal basement massif: The southern Appalachian Pine Mountain window, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

McBride, J.H.; Hatcher, R.D.; Stephenson, W.J.; Hooper, R.J.

2005-01-01

The southern Appalachian Pine Mountain window exposes 1.1 Ga Grenvillian basement and its metasedimentary Paleozoic(?) cover through the allochthonous Inner Piedmont. The issue of whether the crustal block inside the window was either transported above the master Appalachian (late Alleghanian) de??collement or is an autochthonous block that was overridden by the de??collement has been debated for some time. New detrital zircon geochronologic data from the cover rocks inside the window suggest this crustal block was derived from Gondwana but docked with Laurentia before the Alleghanian event. Reprocessed deep seismic reflection data from west-central Georgia (pre- and poststack noise reduction, amplitude variation analysis, and prestack depth migration) indicate that a significant band of subhorizontal reflections occurs almost continuously beneath the window collinear with the originally recognized de??collement reflections north of the window. A marked variation in the de??collement image, from strong and coherent north of the window to more diffuse directly beneath the window, is likely a partial consequence of the different geology between the Inner Piedmont and the window. The more diffuse image beneath the window may also result from imaging problems related to changes in topography and fold of cover (i.e., signal-to-noise ratio). Two alternative tectonic models for the Pine Mountain window can partially account for the observed variation in the de??collement reflectivity. (1) The Pine Mountain block could be truncated below by a relatively smooth continuation of the de??collement. The window would thus expose an allochthonous basement duplex or horse-block thrust upward from the south along the Late Proterozoic rifted continental margin. (2) The window represents localized exhumation of autochthonous basement and cover along a zone of distributed intrabasement shearing directly beneath the window. Either model is viable if only reflector geometry is considered; model (1) is favored if both geometry and kinematics of Blue Ridge-Piedmont thrust sheet emplacement are incorporated. In either model, the southern margin of the window merges to the west with the Iapetan early Alleghanian Central Piedmont suture, which juxtaposes North American-affinity Piedmont rocks to the north and exotic Panafrican rocks of the Carolina (Avalon) terrane to the south. Immediately south of the window, this suture dips southward and merges in the lower crust with the late Alleghanian suture joining the Appalachians with Gondwana. ?? 2005 Geological Society of America.
Single-shot Monitoring of Ultrafast Processes via X-ray Streaking at a Free Electron Laser.

PubMed

Buzzi, Michele; Makita, Mikako; Howald, Ludovic; Kleibert, Armin; Vodungbo, Boris; Maldonado, Pablo; Raabe, Jörg; Jaouen, Nicolas; Redlin, Harald; Tiedtke, Kai; Oppeneer, Peter M; David, Christian; Nolting, Frithjof; Lüning, Jan

2017-08-03

The advent of x-ray free electron lasers has extended the unique capabilities of resonant x-ray spectroscopy techniques to ultrafast time scales. Here, we report on a novel experimental method that allows retrieving with a single x-ray pulse the time evolution of an ultrafast process, not only at a few discrete time delays, but continuously over an extended time window. We used a single x-ray pulse to resolve the laser-induced ultrafast demagnetisation dynamics in a thin cobalt film over a time window of about 1.6 ps with an excellent signal to noise ratio. From one representative single shot measurement we extract a spin relaxation time of (130 ± 30) fs with an average value, based on 193 single shot events of (113 ± 20) fs. These results are limited by the achieved experimental time resolution of 120 fs, and both values are in excellent agreement with previous results and theoretical modelling. More generally, this new experimental approach to ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy paves the way to the study of non-repetitive processes that cannot be investigated using traditional repetitive pump-probe schemes.
Possible disruption of remote viewing by complex weak magnetic fields around the stimulus site and the possibility of accessing real phase space: a pilot study.

PubMed

Koren, S A; Persinger, M A

2002-12-01

In 2002 Persinger, Roll, Tiller, Koren, and Cook considered whether there are physical processes by which recondite information exists within the space and time of objects or events. The stimuli that compose this information might be directly detected within the whole brain without being processed by the typical sensory modalities. We tested the artist Ingo Swann who can reliably draw and describe randomly selected photographs sealed in envelopes in another room. In the present experiment the photographs were immersed continuously in repeated presentations (5 times per sec.) of one of two types of computer-generated complex magnetic field patterns whose intensities were less than 20 nT over most of the area. WINDOWS-generated but not DOS-generated patterns were associated with a marked decrease in Mr. Swann's accuracy. Whereas the DOS software generated exactly the same pattern, WINDOWS software phase-modulated the actual wave form resulting in an infinite bandwidth and complexity. We suggest that information obtained by processes attributed to "paranormal" phenomena have physical correlates that can be masked by weak, infinitely variable magnetic fields.
The suppression effect of a periodic surface with semicircular grooves on the high power microwave long pill-box window multipactor phenomenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xue; Wang, Yong; Fan, Junjie; Zhong, Yong; Zhang, Rui

2014-09-01

To improve the transmitting power in an S-band klystron, a long pill-box window that has a disk with grooves with a semicircular cross section is theoretically investigated and simulated. A Monte-Carlo algorithm is used to track the secondary electron trajectories and analyze the multipactor scenario in the long pill-box window and on the grooved surface. Extending the height of the long-box window can decrease the normal electric field on the surface of the window disk, but the single surface multipactor still exists. It is confirmed that the window disk with periodic semicircular grooves can explicitly suppress the multipactor and predominantly depresses the local field enhancement and the bottom continuous multipactor. The difference between semicircular and sharp boundary grooves is clarified numerically and analytically.
An efficient reversible privacy-preserving data mining technology over data streams.

PubMed

Lin, Chen-Yi; Kao, Yuan-Hung; Lee, Wei-Bin; Chen, Rong-Chang

2016-01-01

With the popularity of smart handheld devices and the emergence of cloud computing, users and companies can save various data, which may contain private data, to the cloud. Topics relating to data security have therefore received much attention. This study focuses on data stream environments and uses the concept of a sliding window to design a reversible privacy-preserving technology to process continuous data in real time, known as a continuous reversible privacy-preserving (CRP) algorithm. Data with CRP algorithm protection can be accurately recovered through a data recovery process. In addition, by using an embedded watermark, the integrity of the data can be verified. The results from the experiments show that, compared to existing algorithms, CRP is better at preserving knowledge and is more effective in terms of reducing information loss and privacy disclosure risk. In addition, it takes far less time for CRP to process continuous data than existing algorithms. As a result, CRP is confirmed as suitable for data stream environments and fulfills the requirements of being lightweight and energy-efficient for smart handheld devices.
Broadband continuous-variable entanglement source using a chirped poling nonlinear crystal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, J. S.; Sun, L.; Yu, X. Q.

2010-01-15

Aperiodically poled nonlinear crystal can be used as a broadband continuous-variable entanglement source and has strong stability under perturbations. We study the conversion dynamics of the sum-frequency generation and the quantum correlation of the two pump fields in a chirped-structure nonlinear crystal using the quantum stochastic method. The results show that there exists a frequency window for the pumps where two optical fields can perform efficient upconversion. The two pump fields are demonstrated to be entangled in the window and the chirped-structure crystal can be used as a continuous-variable entanglement source with a broad response bandwidth.
Is the comprehension of idiomatic sentences indeed impaired in paranoid Schizophrenia? A window into semantic processing deficits

PubMed Central

Pesciarelli, Francesca; Gamberoni, Tania; Ferlazzo, Fabio; Lo Russo, Leo; Pedrazzi, Francesca; Melati, Ermanno; Cacciari, Cristina

2014-01-01

Schizophrenia patients have been reported to be more impaired in comprehending non-literal than literal language since early studies on proverbs. Preference for literal rather than figurative interpretations continues to be documented. The main aim of this study was to establish whether patients are indeed able to use combinatorial semantic processing to comprehend literal sentences and both combinatorial analysis, and retrieval of pre-stored meanings to comprehend idiomatic sentences. The study employed a sentence continuation task in which subjects were asked to decide whether a target word was a sensible continuation of a previous sentence fragment to investigate idiomatic and literal sentence comprehension in patients with paranoid schizophrenia. Patients and healthy controls were faster in accepting sensible continuations than in rejecting non-sensible ones in both literal and idiomatic sentences. Patients were as accurate as controls in comprehending literal and idiomatic sentences, but they were overall slower than controls in all conditions. Once the contribution of cognitive covariates was partialled out, the response times (RTs) to sensible idiomatic continuations of patients did not significantly differ from those of controls. This suggests that the state of residual schizophrenia did not contribute to slower processing of sensible idioms above and beyond the cognitive deficits that are typically associated with schizophrenia. PMID:25346676
Nanosheet-assembled NiO microstructures for high-performance supercapacitors.

PubMed

Purushothaman, Kamatchi Kamaraj; Babu, Inbamani Manohara; Sethuraman, Balasubramanian; Muralidharan, Gopalan

2013-11-13

Nanosheet-assembled NiO microstructures have been synthesized via a hydrothermal method. The presence of anionic surfactant in the fabrication process initiates the formation of lamellar micelles and a self-assembling process. This leads to the formation of NiO nanosheets and organizes it into microstructures. The effect of preparation temperature on the morphological, structural, and electrochemical properties and stability upon continuous charge/discharge cycles has been examined for supercapacitor applications. Electrochemical analysis demonstrated that NiO nanosheets prepared at 160 °C are capable of delivering a specific capacitance of 989 F g(-1) at a scan rate of 3 mV s(-1) for the potential window of 0-0.6 V. The nanosheets exhibit excellent capacity retention, 97% retention after 1000 continuous charge/discharge cycles, and an energy density of 49.45 W h kg(-1).
46 CFR 177.1020 - Strength.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Strength. 177.1020 Section 177.1020 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) SMALL PASSENGER VESSELS (UNDER 100 GROSS TONS) CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT Window Construction and Visibility § 177.1020 Strength. Each window, port hole, and its means of...
46 CFR 177.1020 - Strength.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Strength. 177.1020 Section 177.1020 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) SMALL PASSENGER VESSELS (UNDER 100 GROSS TONS) CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT Window Construction and Visibility § 177.1020 Strength. Each window, port hole, and its means of...
46 CFR 177.1020 - Strength.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Strength. 177.1020 Section 177.1020 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) SMALL PASSENGER VESSELS (UNDER 100 GROSS TONS) CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT Window Construction and Visibility § 177.1020 Strength. Each window, port hole, and its means of...
46 CFR 177.1020 - Strength.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Strength. 177.1020 Section 177.1020 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) SMALL PASSENGER VESSELS (UNDER 100 GROSS TONS) CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT Window Construction and Visibility § 177.1020 Strength. Each window, port hole, and its means of...
46 CFR 177.1020 - Strength.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Strength. 177.1020 Section 177.1020 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) SMALL PASSENGER VESSELS (UNDER 100 GROSS TONS) CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT Window Construction and Visibility § 177.1020 Strength. Each window, port hole, and its means of...

The Attention Window: A Narrative Review of Limitations and Opportunities Influencing the Focus of Attention.

PubMed

Hüttermann, Stefanie; Memmert, Daniel

2017-06-01

Visual attention is essential in many areas ranging from everyday life situations to the workplace. Different circumstances such as driving in traffic or participating in sports require immediate adaptation to constantly changing situations and frequently the conscious perception of 2 objects or scenes at the same time. The attention window task, a measure of attentional breadth, in which people must attend to 2 equally attention-demanding stimuli simultaneously, was introduced. This article provides a narrative review of studies using this task and outlines different factors that might influence the attention window. Differences in the spatial distribution of attention result, for example, from effects of age or physical activities as well as from emotional processes and those affected by current motivation, while gender does not have any influence. The window is represented as an ellipse with greater attentional breadth along the horizontal axis than the vertical axis, and it is about 5 to 6 times smaller than the human visual field. Not only everyday occurrences but also situations in sport games-for example, having an overview of the opponent, teammates, and the ball-require the ability to pay visual attention to 2 peripheral objects and continuously changing situations. Therefore, the application or avoidance of different strategies and factors is discussed to improve and adjust behavior in those situations.
The impact of short term synaptic depression and stochastic vesicle dynamics on neuronal variability

PubMed Central

Reich, Steven

2014-01-01

Neuronal variability plays a central role in neural coding and impacts the dynamics of neuronal networks. Unreliability of synaptic transmission is a major source of neural variability: synaptic neurotransmitter vesicles are released probabilistically in response to presynaptic action potentials and are recovered stochastically in time. The dynamics of this process of vesicle release and recovery interacts with variability in the arrival times of presynaptic spikes to shape the variability of the postsynaptic response. We use continuous time Markov chain methods to analyze a model of short term synaptic depression with stochastic vesicle dynamics coupled with three different models of presynaptic spiking: one model in which the timing of presynaptic action potentials are modeled as a Poisson process, one in which action potentials occur more regularly than a Poisson process (sub-Poisson) and one in which action potentials occur more irregularly (super-Poisson). We use this analysis to investigate how variability in a presynaptic spike train is transformed by short term depression and stochastic vesicle dynamics to determine the variability of the postsynaptic response. We find that sub-Poisson presynaptic spiking increases the average rate at which vesicles are released, that the number of vesicles released over a time window is more variable for smaller time windows than larger time windows and that fast presynaptic spiking gives rise to Poisson-like variability of the postsynaptic response even when presynaptic spike times are non-Poisson. Our results complement and extend previously reported theoretical results and provide possible explanations for some trends observed in recorded data. PMID:23354693
Platform for Postprocessing Waveform-Based NDE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, Don

2008-01-01

Taking advantage of the similarities that exist among all waveform-based non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods, a common software platform has been developed containing multiple- signal and image-processing techniques for waveforms and images. The NASA NDE Signal and Image Processing software has been developed using the latest versions of LabVIEW, and its associated Advanced Signal Processing and Vision Toolkits. The software is useable on a PC with Windows XP and Windows Vista. The software has been designed with a commercial grade interface in which two main windows, Waveform Window and Image Window, are displayed if the user chooses a waveform file to display. Within these two main windows, most actions are chosen through logically conceived run-time menus. The Waveform Window has plots for both the raw time-domain waves and their frequency- domain transformations (fast Fourier transform and power spectral density). The Image Window shows the C-scan image formed from information of the time-domain waveform (such as peak amplitude) or its frequency-domain transformation at each scan location. The user also has the ability to open an image, or series of images, or a simple set of X-Y paired data set in text format. Each of the Waveform and Image Windows contains menus from which to perform many user actions. An option exists to use raw waves obtained directly from scan, or waves after deconvolution if system wave response is provided. Two types of deconvolution, time-based subtraction or inverse-filter, can be performed to arrive at a deconvolved wave set. Additionally, the menu on the Waveform Window allows preprocessing of waveforms prior to image formation, scaling and display of waveforms, formation of different types of images (including non-standard types such as velocity), gating of portions of waves prior to image formation, and several other miscellaneous and specialized operations. The menu available on the Image Window allows many further image processing and analysis operations, some of which are found in commercially-available image-processing software programs (such as Adobe Photoshop), and some that are not (removing outliers, Bscan information, region-of-interest analysis, line profiles, and precision feature measurements).
Interior of processing room showing the passthrough window from the ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Interior of processing room showing the pass-through window from the shucking room. Tally board on the wall was used to keep track of the output of each shucker. Skimming table for rinsing the oyster meat is located under the pass-through window. - J.C. Lore Oyster House, 14430 Solomons Island Road, Solomons, Calvert County, MD
Continuous-flow technology—a tool for the safe manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

PubMed

Gutmann, Bernhard; Cantillo, David; Kappe, C Oliver

2015-06-01

In the past few years, continuous-flow reactors with channel dimensions in the micro- or millimeter region have found widespread application in organic synthesis. The characteristic properties of these reactors are their exceptionally fast heat and mass transfer. In microstructured devices of this type, virtually instantaneous mixing can be achieved for all but the fastest reactions. Similarly, the accumulation of heat, formation of hot spots, and dangers of thermal runaways can be prevented. As a result of the small reactor volumes, the overall safety of the process is significantly improved, even when harsh reaction conditions are used. Thus, microreactor technology offers a unique way to perform ultrafast, exothermic reactions, and allows the execution of reactions which proceed via highly unstable or even explosive intermediates. This Review discusses recent literature examples of continuous-flow organic synthesis where hazardous reactions or extreme process windows have been employed, with a focus on applications of relevance to the preparation of pharmaceuticals. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
New machining method of high precision infrared window part

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Haicheng; Su, Ying; Xu, Zengqi; Guo, Rui; Li, Wenting; Zhang, Feng; Liu, Xuanmin

2016-10-01

Most of the spherical shell of the photoelectric multifunctional instrument was designed as multi optical channel mode to adapt to the different band of the sensor, there were mainly TV, laser and infrared channels. Without affecting the optical diameter, wind resistance and pneumatic performance of the optical system, the overall layout of the spherical shell was optimized to save space and reduce weight. Most of the shape of the optical windows were special-shaped, each optical window directly participated in the high resolution imaging of the corresponding sensor system, and the optical axis parallelism of each sensor needed to meet the accuracy requirement of 0.05mrad.Therefore precision machining of optical window parts quality will directly affect the photoelectric system's pointing accuracy and interchangeability. Processing and testing of the TV and laser window had been very mature, while because of the special nature of the material, transparent and high refractive rate, infrared window parts had the problems of imaging quality and the control of the minimum focal length and second level parallel in the processing. Based on years of practical experience, this paper was focused on how to control the shape and parallel difference precision of infrared window parts in the processing. Single pass rate was increased from 40% to more than 95%, the processing efficiency was significantly enhanced, an effective solution to the bottleneck problem in the actual processing, which effectively solve the bottlenecks in research and production.
Determination of injection molding process windows for optical lenses using response surface methodology.

PubMed

Tsai, Kuo-Ming; Wang, He-Yi

2014-08-20

This study focuses on injection molding process window determination for obtaining optimal imaging optical properties, astigmatism, coma, and spherical aberration using plastic lenses. The Taguchi experimental method was first used to identify the optimized combination of parameters and significant factors affecting the imaging optical properties of the lens. Full factorial experiments were then implemented based on the significant factors to build the response surface models. The injection molding process windows for lenses with optimized optical properties were determined based on the surface models, and confirmation experiments were performed to verify their validity. The results indicated that the significant factors affecting the optical properties of lenses are mold temperature, melt temperature, and cooling time. According to experimental data for the significant factors, the oblique ovals for different optical properties on the injection molding process windows based on melt temperature and cooling time can be obtained using the curve fitting approach. The confirmation experiments revealed that the average errors for astigmatism, coma, and spherical aberration are 3.44%, 5.62%, and 5.69%, respectively. The results indicated that the process windows proposed are highly reliable.
Space station proximity operations windows: Human factors design guidelines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haines, Richard F.

1987-01-01

Proximity operations refers to all activities outside the Space Station which take place within a 1-km radius. Since there will be a large number of different operations involving manned and unmanned vehicles, single- and multiperson crews, automated and manually controlled flight, a wide variety of cargo, and construction/repair activities, accurate and continuous human monitoring of these operations from a specially designed control station on Space Station will be required. Total situational awareness will be required. This paper presents numerous human factors design guidelines and related background information for control windows which will support proximity operations. Separate sections deal with natural and artificial illumination geometry; all basic rendezvous vector approaches; window field-of-view requirements; window size; shape and placement criteria; window optical characteristics as they relate to human perception; maintenance and protection issues; and a comprehensive review of windows installed on U.S. and U.S.S.R. manned vehicles.
The suppression effect of a periodic surface with semicircular grooves on the high power microwave long pill-box window multipactor phenomenon

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Xue, E-mail: zhangxue.iecas@yahoo.com; Wang, Yong; Fan, Junjie

2014-09-15

To improve the transmitting power in an S-band klystron, a long pill-box window that has a disk with grooves with a semicircular cross section is theoretically investigated and simulated. A Monte-Carlo algorithm is used to track the secondary electron trajectories and analyze the multipactor scenario in the long pill-box window and on the grooved surface. Extending the height of the long-box window can decrease the normal electric field on the surface of the window disk, but the single surface multipactor still exists. It is confirmed that the window disk with periodic semicircular grooves can explicitly suppress the multipactor and predominantlymore » depresses the local field enhancement and the bottom continuous multipactor. The difference between semicircular and sharp boundary grooves is clarified numerically and analytically.« less
Frequency domain analysis of errors in cross-correlations of ambient seismic noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xin; Ben-Zion, Yehuda; Zigone, Dimitri

2016-12-01

We analyse random errors (variances) in cross-correlations of ambient seismic noise in the frequency domain, which differ from previous time domain methods. Extending previous theoretical results on ensemble averaged cross-spectrum, we estimate confidence interval of stacked cross-spectrum of finite amount of data at each frequency using non-overlapping windows with fixed length. The extended theory also connects amplitude and phase variances with the variance of each complex spectrum value. Analysis of synthetic stationary ambient noise is used to estimate the confidence interval of stacked cross-spectrum obtained with different length of noise data corresponding to different number of evenly spaced windows of the same duration. This method allows estimating Signal/Noise Ratio (SNR) of noise cross-correlation in the frequency domain, without specifying filter bandwidth or signal/noise windows that are needed for time domain SNR estimations. Based on synthetic ambient noise data, we also compare the probability distributions, causal part amplitude and SNR of stacked cross-spectrum function using one-bit normalization or pre-whitening with those obtained without these pre-processing steps. Natural continuous noise records contain both ambient noise and small earthquakes that are inseparable from the noise with the existing pre-processing steps. Using probability distributions of random cross-spectrum values based on the theoretical results provides an effective way to exclude such small earthquakes, and additional data segments (outliers) contaminated by signals of different statistics (e.g. rain, cultural noise), from continuous noise waveforms. This technique is applied to constrain values and uncertainties of amplitude and phase velocity of stacked noise cross-spectrum at different frequencies, using data from southern California at both regional scale (˜35 km) and dense linear array (˜20 m) across the plate-boundary faults. A block bootstrap resampling method is used to account for temporal correlation of noise cross-spectrum at low frequencies (0.05-0.2 Hz) near the ocean microseismic peaks.
Novel process windows for enabling, accelerating, and uplifting flow chemistry.

PubMed

Hessel, Volker; Kralisch, Dana; Kockmann, Norbert; Noël, Timothy; Wang, Qi

2013-05-01

Novel Process Windows make use of process conditions that are far from conventional practices. This involves the use of high temperatures, high pressures, high concentrations (solvent-free), new chemical transformations, explosive conditions, and process simplification and integration to boost synthetic chemistry on both the laboratory and production scale. Such harsh reaction conditions can be safely reached in microstructured reactors due to their excellent transport intensification properties. This Review discusses the different routes towards Novel Process Windows and provides several examples for each route grouped into different classes of chemical and process-design intensification. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
Mechanisms Underlying Decision-Making as Revealed by Deep-Brain Stimulation in Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Herz, Damian M; Little, Simon; Pedrosa, David J; Tinkhauser, Gerd; Cheeran, Binith; Foltynie, Tom; Bogacz, Rafal; Brown, Peter

2018-04-23

To optimally balance opposing demands of speed and accuracy during decision-making, we must flexibly adapt how much evidence we require before making a choice. Such adjustments in decision thresholds have been linked to the subthalamic nucleus (STN), and therapeutic STN deep-brain stimulation (DBS) has been shown to interfere with this function. Here, we performed continuous as well as closed-loop DBS of the STN while Parkinson's disease patients performed a perceptual decision-making task. Closed-loop STN DBS allowed temporally patterned STN stimulation and simultaneous recordings of STN activity. This revealed that DBS only affected patients' ability to adjust decision thresholds if applied in a specific temporally confined time window during deliberation. Only stimulation in that window diminished the normal slowing of response times that occurred on difficult trials when DBS was turned off. Furthermore, DBS eliminated a relative, time-specific increase in STN beta oscillations and compromised its functional relationship with trial-by-trial adjustments in decision thresholds. Together, these results provide causal evidence that the STN is involved in adjusting decision thresholds in distinct, time-limited processing windows during deliberation. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
Moments in Time

PubMed Central

Wittmann, Marc

2011-01-01

It has been suggested that perception and action can be understood as evolving in temporal epochs or sequential processing units. Successive events are fused into units forming a unitary experience or “psychological present.” Studies have identified several temporal integration levels on different time scales which are fundamental for our understanding of behavior and subjective experience. In recent literature concerning the philosophy and neuroscience of consciousness these separate temporal processing levels are not always precisely distinguished. Therefore, empirical evidence from psychophysics and neuropsychology on these distinct temporal processing levels is presented and discussed within philosophical conceptualizations of time experience. On an elementary level, one can identify a functional moment, a basic temporal building block of perception in the range of milliseconds that defines simultaneity and succession. Below a certain threshold temporal order is not perceived, individual events are processed as co-temporal. On a second level, an experienced moment, which is based on temporal integration of up to a few seconds, has been reported in many qualitatively different experiments in perception and action. It has been suggested that this segmental processing mechanism creates temporal windows that provide a logistical basis for conscious representation and the experience of nowness. On a third level of integration, continuity of experience is enabled by working memory in the range of multiple seconds allowing the maintenance of cognitive operations and emotional feelings, leading to mental presence, a temporal window of an individual’s experienced presence. PMID:22022310
Microeconomics of process control in semiconductor manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monahan, Kevin M.

2003-06-01

Process window control enables accelerated design-rule shrinks for both logic and memory manufacturers, but simple microeconomic models that directly link the effects of process window control to maximum profitability are rare. In this work, we derive these links using a simplified model for the maximum rate of profit generated by the semiconductor manufacturing process. We show that the ability of process window control to achieve these economic objectives may be limited by variability in the larger manufacturing context, including measurement delays and process variation at the lot, wafer, x-wafer, x-field, and x-chip levels. We conclude that x-wafer and x-field CD control strategies will be critical enablers of density, performance and optimum profitability at the 90 and 65nm technology nodes. These analyses correlate well with actual factory data and often identify millions of dollars in potential incremental revenue and cost savings. As an example, we show that a scatterometry-based CD Process Window Monitor is an economically justified, enabling technology for the 65nm node.
KSC-98pc521

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-04-21

Processing activities for STS-91 continue in KSC's Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2. Two Get Away Special (GAS) canisters are shown after their installation into Discovery's payload bay. At left is G-090, containing three educational experiments sponsored by Utah State University, and at right is G-743, an experiment sponsored by Broward Community College in Florida to test DNA exposed to cosmic radiation in a microgravity environment. STS-91 is scheduled to launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for the ninth and final docking with the Russian Space Station Mir from KSC's Launch Pad 39A on June 2 with a launch window opening around 6:04 p.m. EDT
Differential Immunotoxicity Induced by Two Different Windows of Developmental Trichloroethylene Exposure

PubMed Central

Gilbert, Kathleen M.; Woodruff, William; Blossom, Sarah J.

2014-01-01

Developmental exposure to environmental toxicants may induce immune system alterations that contribute to adult stage autoimmune disease. We have shown that continuous exposure of MRL+/+ mice to trichloroethylene (TCE) from gestational day (GD) 0 to postnatal day (PND) 49 alters several aspects of CD4+ T cell function. This window of exposure corresponds to conception-adolescence/young adulthood in humans. More narrowly defining the window of TCE developmental exposure causes immunotoxicity that would establish the stage at which avoidance and/or intervention would be most effective. The current study divided continuous TCE exposure into two separate windows, namely, gestation only (GD0 to birth (PND0)) and early-life only (PND0-PND49). The mice were examined for specific alterations in CD4+ T cell function at PND49. One potentially long-lasting effect of developmental exposure, alterations in retrotransposon expression indicative of epigenetic alterations, was found in peripheral CD4+ T cells from both sets of developmentally exposed mice. Interestingly, certain other effects, such as alterations in thymus cellularity, were only found in mice exposed to TCE during gestation. In contrast, expansion of memory/activation cell subset of peripheral CD4+ T cells were only found in mice exposed to TCE during early life. Different windows of developmental TCE exposure can have different functional consequences. PMID:24696780
Three-dimensional laser window formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verhoff, Vincent G.

1992-01-01

The NASA Lewis Research Center has developed and implemented a unique process for forming flawless three-dimensional laser windows. These windows represent a major part of specialized, nonintrusive laser data acquisition systems used in a variety of compressor and turbine research test facilities. This report discusses in detail the aspects of three-dimensional laser window formation. It focuses on the unique methodology and the peculiarities associated with the formation of these windows. Included in this discussion are the design criteria, bonding mediums, and evaluation testing for three-dimensional laser windows.
Compound curvature laser window development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verhoff, Vincent G.

1993-01-01

The NASA Lewis Research Center has developed and implemented a unique process for forming flawless compound curvature laser windows. These windows represent a major part of specialized, nonintrusive laser data acquisition systems used in a variety of compressor and turbine research test facilities. This report summarizes the main aspects of compound curvature laser window development. It is an overview of the methodology and the peculiarities associated with the formulation of these windows. Included in this discussion is new information regarding procedures for compound curvature laser window development.
Proper Installation of Replacement Windows | Efficient Windows

Science.gov Websites

. Quality installation is critical for an airtight fit and a continuous water barrier to prevent drafts , water damage and condensation. The complexity of the installation depends on whether you are considering and specifications. Install level, plumb, and square. Install water tight: water must be prevented
Sealed symmetric multilayered microelectronic device package with integral windows

DOEpatents

Peterson, Kenneth A.; Watson, Robert D.

2002-01-01

A sealed symmetric multilayered package with integral windows for housing one or more microelectronic devices. The devices can be a semiconductor chip, a CCD chip, a CMOS chip, a VCSEL chip, a laser diode, a MEMS device, or a IMEMS device. The multilayered package can be formed of a low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) or high-temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) multilayer processes with the windows being simultaneously joined (e.g. cofired) to the package body during LTCC or HTCC processing. The microelectronic devices can be flip-chip bonded and oriented so that the light-sensitive sides are optically accessible through the windows. The result is a compact, low-profile, sealed symmetric package, having integral windows that can be hermetically-sealed.

Layerless fabrication with continuous liquid interface production.

PubMed

Janusziewicz, Rima; Tumbleston, John R; Quintanilla, Adam L; Mecham, Sue J; DeSimone, Joseph M

2016-10-18

Despite the increasing popularity of 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), the technique has not developed beyond the realm of rapid prototyping. This confinement of the field can be attributed to the inherent flaws of layer-by-layer printing and, in particular, anisotropic mechanical properties that depend on print direction, visible by the staircasing surface finish effect. Continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) is an alternative approach to AM that capitalizes on the fundamental principle of oxygen-inhibited photopolymerization to generate a continual liquid interface of uncured resin between the growing part and the exposure window. This interface eliminates the necessity of an iterative layer-by-layer process, allowing for continuous production. Herein we report the advantages of continuous production, specifically the fabrication of layerless parts. These advantages enable the fabrication of large overhangs without the use of supports, reduction of the staircasing effect without compromising fabrication time, and isotropic mechanical properties. Combined, these advantages result in multiple indicators of layerless and monolithic fabrication using CLIP technology.
Layerless fabrication with continuous liquid interface production

PubMed Central

Janusziewicz, Rima; Tumbleston, John R.; Quintanilla, Adam L.; Mecham, Sue J.; DeSimone, Joseph M.

2016-01-01

Despite the increasing popularity of 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), the technique has not developed beyond the realm of rapid prototyping. This confinement of the field can be attributed to the inherent flaws of layer-by-layer printing and, in particular, anisotropic mechanical properties that depend on print direction, visible by the staircasing surface finish effect. Continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) is an alternative approach to AM that capitalizes on the fundamental principle of oxygen-inhibited photopolymerization to generate a continual liquid interface of uncured resin between the growing part and the exposure window. This interface eliminates the necessity of an iterative layer-by-layer process, allowing for continuous production. Herein we report the advantages of continuous production, specifically the fabrication of layerless parts. These advantages enable the fabrication of large overhangs without the use of supports, reduction of the staircasing effect without compromising fabrication time, and isotropic mechanical properties. Combined, these advantages result in multiple indicators of layerless and monolithic fabrication using CLIP technology. PMID:27671641
Inter-aquifer Dynamics in and Near a Confining Unit Window in Shelby County, Tennessee, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gentry, R. W.; McKay, L. D.; Larsen, D.; Carmichael, J. K.; Solomon, D. K.; Thonnard, N.; Anderson, J. L.

2003-12-01

An interdisplinary research team is investigating the interaction between the surficial alluvial aquifer and the deeper confined Memphis aquifer in the Memphis area, Shelby County, Tennessee. Previous research has identified a window in the clay-rich, upper Claiborne confining unit that separates the two aquifers near a closed municipal landfill in east-central Shelby County, an area undergoing rapid urbanization. For this investigation, a combination of environmental tracers (tritium/helium-3), major and trace ion geochemistry, hydraulic response testing, measurement of hydraulic gradients, and groundwater flow modeling is being used to quantify recharge of young water from the alluvial aquifer through the window to the Memphis aquifer. The research will provide results to better understand how windows were formed and how they influence recharge and water quality in otherwise confined parts of the Memphis aquifer downdip of its outcrop/subcrop area. Examination of continuous core samples and geophysical logs from wells installed for the study using Rotasonic drilling methods confirmed the existence of a sand-dominated window that may be as much as 1 km in diameter in the upper Claiborne confining unit. The upper Claiborne confining unit is 15 to 20 m thick in most of the study area and is overlain by a 10 to 12 m thick alluvial aquifer. The window is interpreted to have formed as a result of depositional and incisional processes in an Eocene-age deltaic system. Hydraulic gradients of several feet exist vertically between the alluvial and Memphis aquifers within the window, indicating downward flow. Groundwater age-dates from tritium/helium-3 analyses indicate that groundwater in the window at the depth of the base of the surrounding confining unit (approximately 30 m) has an apparent age of 19.8 years, which confirms the occurrence of downward flow. Young groundwater age dates (less than 32 years) also were obtained from wells in the Memphis aquifer at confined sites downgradient of the window, suggesting that a plume of young water is spreading outwards from the window and mixing with the older Memphis aquifer water. Preliminary inverse modeling of the site using a genetic algorithm coupled with a central finite difference flow model indicates a probable steady-state downward flux of about 12,000 m3/d through the window. Collection and analysis of additional groundwater samples are planned to examine geochemical conditions in the confining unit and in the Memphis aquifer upgradient of the window. These analyses will aid in developing a final conceptual model and in subsequent numerical modeling of mixing of the young recharge water with the older Memphis aquifer water.
Robotic Attention Processing And Its Application To Visual Guidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barth, Matthew; Inoue, Hirochika

1988-03-01

This paper describes a method of real-time visual attention processing for robots performing visual guidance. This robot attention processing is based on a novel vision processor, the multi-window vision system that was developed at the University of Tokyo. The multi-window vision system is unique in that it only processes visual information inside local area windows. These local area windows are quite flexible in their ability to move anywhere on the visual screen, change their size and shape, and alter their pixel sampling rate. By using these windows for specific attention tasks, it is possible to perform high speed attention processing. The primary attention skills of detecting motion, tracking an object, and interpreting an image are all performed at high speed on the multi-window vision system. A basic robotic attention scheme using the attention skills was developed. The attention skills involved detection and tracking of salient visual features. The tracking and motion information thus obtained was utilized in producing the response to the visual stimulus. The response of the attention scheme was quick enough to be applicable to the real-time vision processing tasks of playing a video 'pong' game, and later using an automobile driving simulator. By detecting the motion of a 'ball' on a video screen and then tracking the movement, the attention scheme was able to control a 'paddle' in order to keep the ball in play. The response was faster than that of a human's, allowing the attention scheme to play the video game at higher speeds. Further, in the application to the driving simulator, the attention scheme was able to control both direction and velocity of a simulated vehicle following a lead car. These two applications show the potential of local visual processing in its use for robotic attention processing.
The lateral infratrigeminal transpontine window to deep pontine lesions.

PubMed

Ferroli, Paolo; Schiariti, Marco; Cordella, Roberto; Boffano, Carlo; Nava, Simone; La Corte, Emanuele; Cavallo, Claudio; Bauer, Dario; Castiglione, Melina; Broggi, Morgan; Acerbi, Francesco; Broggi, Giovanni

2015-09-01

Surgery of brainstem lesions is increasingly performed despite the fact that surgical indications and techniques continue to be debated. The deep pons, in particular, continues to be a critical area in which the specific risks related to different surgical strategies continue to be examined. With the intention of bringing new knowledge into this important arena, the authors systematically examined the results of brainstem surgeries that have been performed through the lateral infratrigeminal transpontine window. Between 1990 and 2013, 29 consecutive patients underwent surgery through this window for either biopsy sampling or for removal of a deep pontine lesion. All of this work was performed at the Department of Neurosurgery of the Istituto Nazionale Neurologico "Carlo Besta", in Milan, Italy. A retrospective analysis of the findings was conducted with the intention of bringing further clarity to this important surgical strategy. The lateral infratrigeminal transpontine window was exposed through 4 different approaches: 1) classic retrosigmoid (15 cases), 2) minimally invasive keyhole retrosigmoid (10 cases), 3) translabyrinthine (1 case), and 4) combined petrosal (3 cases). No deaths occurred during the entire clinical study. The surgical complications that were observed included hydrocephalus (2 cases) and CSF leakage (1 case). In 6 (20.7%) of 29 patients the authors encountered new neurological deficits during the immediate postoperative period. All 6 of these patients had undergone lesion removal. In only 2 of these 6 patients were permanent sequelae observed at 3 months follow-up. These findings show that 93% of the patients studied did not report any permanent worsening of their neurological condition after this surgical intervention. This retrospective study supports the idea that the lateral infratrigeminal transpontine window is both a low-risk and safe corridor for either biopsy sampling or for removal of deep pontine lesions.
COMPASS Final Report: Lunar Network Satellite-High Rate (LNS-HR)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

oleson, Steven R.; McGuire, Melissa L.

2012-01-01

Two design options were explored to address the requirement to provide lunar piloted missions with continuous communications for outpost and sortie missions. Two unique orbits were assessed, along with the appropriate spacecraft (S/C) to address these requirements. Both constellations (with only two S/C each) provide full time coverage (24 hr/7 d) for a south polar base and also provide continuous 7 day coverage for sorties for specified sites and periodic windows. Thus a two-satellite system can provide full coverage for sorties for selected windows of opportunity without reconfiguring the constellation.
Novel windowing technique realized in FPGA for radar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Escamilla-Hernandez, E.; Kravchenko, V. F.; Ponomaryov, V. I.; Ikuo, Arai

2006-02-01

To improve the weak target detection ability in radar applications a pulse compression is usually used that in the case linear FM modulation can improve the SNR. One drawback in here is that it can add the range side-lobes in reflectivity measurements. Using weighting window processing in time domain it is possible to decrease significantly the side-lobe level (SLL) and resolve small or low power targets those are masked by powerful ones. There are usually used classical windows such as Hamming, Hanning, etc. in window processing. Additionally to classical ones in this paper we also use a novel class of windows based on atomic functions (AF) theory. For comparison of simulation and experimental results we applied the standard parameters, such as coefficient of amplification, maximum level of side-lobe, width of main lobe, etc. To implement the compression-windowing model on hardware level it has been employed FPGA. This work aims at demonstrating a reasonably flexible implementation of FM-linear signal, pulse compression and windowing employing FPGA's. Classical and novel AF window technique has been investigated to reduce the SLL taking into account the noise influence and increasing the detection ability of the small or weak targets in the imaging radar. Paper presents the experimental hardware results of windowing in pulse compression radar resolving several targets for rectangular, Hamming, Kaiser-Bessel, (see manuscript for formula) functions windows. The windows created by use the atomic functions offer sufficiently better decreasing of the SLL in case of noise presence and when we move away of the main lobe in comparison with classical windows.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, J.; Moon, T.J.; Howell, J.R.

This paper presents an analysis of the heat transfer occurring during an in-situ curing process for which infrared energy is provided on the surface of polymer composite during winding. The material system is Hercules prepreg AS4/3501-6. Thermoset composites have an exothermic chemical reaction during the curing process. An Eulerian thermochemical model is developed for the heat transfer analysis of helical winding. The model incorporates heat generation due to the chemical reaction. Several assumptions are made leading to a two-dimensional, thermochemical model. For simplicity, 360{degree} heating around the mandrel is considered. In order to generate the appropriate process windows, the developedmore » heat transfer model is combined with a simple winding time model. The process windows allow for a proper selection of process variables such as infrared energy input and winding velocity to give a desired end-product state. Steady-state temperatures are found for each combination of the process variables. A regression analysis is carried out to relate the process variables to the resulting steady-state temperatures. Using regression equations, process windows for a wide range of cylinder diameters are found. A general procedure to find process windows for Hercules AS4/3501-6 prepreg tape is coded in a FORTRAN program.« less
Automated Diagnosis Of Conditions In A Plant-Growth Chamber

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clinger, Barry R.; Damiano, Alfred L.

1995-01-01

Biomass Production Chamber Operations Assistant software and hardware constitute expert system that diagnoses mechanical failures in controlled-environment hydroponic plant-growth chamber and recommends corrective actions to be taken by technicians. Subjects of continuing research directed toward development of highly automated closed life-support systems aboard spacecraft to process animal (including human) and plant wastes into food and oxygen. Uses Microsoft Windows interface to give technicians intuitive, efficient access to critical data. In diagnostic mode, system prompts technician for information. When expert system has enough information, it generates recovery plan.
A Window Into the Bright Side of Psychology: Interview With Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

PubMed Central

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly; Lebuda, Izabela

2017-01-01

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of the most eminent psychologists of the modern era. His ideas, such as flow, or the systems model of creativity, have inspired numerous studies, theoretical analyses as well as pedagogic and psychological interventions. Alongside Martin Seligman, he founded positive psychology and continues to work to promote it. In this interview, he shares the stories behind his scientific interests, sources of scientific ideas and the process of promoting the concepts he had written about. He also shares his thoughts about academic work performance. PMID:29358990
Critical developmental windows for morphology and hematology revealed by intermittent and continuous hypoxic incubation in embryos of quail (Coturnix coturnix)

PubMed Central

Elmonoufy, Nourhan A.

2017-01-01

Hypoxia during embryonic growth in embryos is frequently a powerful determinant of development, but at least in avian embryos the effects appear to show considerable intra- and inter-specific variation. We hypothesized that some of this variation may arise from different protocols that may or may not result in exposure during the embryo’s critical window for hypoxic effects. To test this hypothesis, quail embryos (Coturnix coturnix) in the intact egg were exposed to hypoxia (~15% O2) during “early” (Day 0 through Day 5, abbreviated as D0-D5), “middle” (D6-D10) or “late” (D11-D15) incubation or for their entire 16–18 day incubation (“continuous hypoxia”) to determine critical windows for viability and growth. Viability, body mass, beak and toe length, heart mass, and hematology (hematocrit and hemoglobin concentration) were measured on D5, D10, D15 and at hatching typically between D16 and D18 Viability rate was ~50–70% immediately following the exposure period in the early, middle and late hypoxic groups, but viability improved in the early and late groups once normoxia was restored. Middle hypoxia groups showed continuing low viability, suggesting a critical period from D6-D10 for embryo viability. The continuous hypoxia group experienced viability reaching <10% after D15. Hypoxia, especially during late and continuous hypoxia, also inhibited growth of body, beak and toe when measured at D15. Full recovery to normal body mass upon hatching occurred in all other groups except for continuous hypoxia. Contrary to previous avian studies, heart mass, hematocrit and hemoglobin concentration were not altered by any hypoxic incubation pattern. Although hypoxia can inhibit embryo viability and organ growth during most incubation periods, the greatest effects result from continuous or middle incubation hypoxic exposure. Hypoxic inhibition of growth can subsequently be “repaired” by catch-up growth if a final period of normoxic development is available. Collectively, these data indicate a critical developmental window for hypoxia susceptibility during the mid-embryonic period of development. PMID:28926567
Critical developmental windows for morphology and hematology revealed by intermittent and continuous hypoxic incubation in embryos of quail (Coturnix coturnix).

PubMed

Burggren, Warren W; Elmonoufy, Nourhan A

2017-01-01

Hypoxia during embryonic growth in embryos is frequently a powerful determinant of development, but at least in avian embryos the effects appear to show considerable intra- and inter-specific variation. We hypothesized that some of this variation may arise from different protocols that may or may not result in exposure during the embryo's critical window for hypoxic effects. To test this hypothesis, quail embryos (Coturnix coturnix) in the intact egg were exposed to hypoxia (~15% O2) during "early" (Day 0 through Day 5, abbreviated as D0-D5), "middle" (D6-D10) or "late" (D11-D15) incubation or for their entire 16-18 day incubation ("continuous hypoxia") to determine critical windows for viability and growth. Viability, body mass, beak and toe length, heart mass, and hematology (hematocrit and hemoglobin concentration) were measured on D5, D10, D15 and at hatching typically between D16 and D18 Viability rate was ~50-70% immediately following the exposure period in the early, middle and late hypoxic groups, but viability improved in the early and late groups once normoxia was restored. Middle hypoxia groups showed continuing low viability, suggesting a critical period from D6-D10 for embryo viability. The continuous hypoxia group experienced viability reaching <10% after D15. Hypoxia, especially during late and continuous hypoxia, also inhibited growth of body, beak and toe when measured at D15. Full recovery to normal body mass upon hatching occurred in all other groups except for continuous hypoxia. Contrary to previous avian studies, heart mass, hematocrit and hemoglobin concentration were not altered by any hypoxic incubation pattern. Although hypoxia can inhibit embryo viability and organ growth during most incubation periods, the greatest effects result from continuous or middle incubation hypoxic exposure. Hypoxic inhibition of growth can subsequently be "repaired" by catch-up growth if a final period of normoxic development is available. Collectively, these data indicate a critical developmental window for hypoxia susceptibility during the mid-embryonic period of development.
Evaluation of the Exceedance Rate of a Stationary Stochastic Process by Statistical Extrapolation Using the Envelope Peaks over Threshold (EPOT) Method

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-01

this limitation the length of the windows needs to be shortened. It is also leads to a narrower confidence interval, see Figure 2.9. 82 The " big ...least one event will occur within the window. The windows are then grouped in sets of two and the process is reapeated for a window size twice as big ...0 505 T. Fu 1 506 D. Walden 1 508 J. Brown 1 55 T.Applebee 0 55 M. Dipper 1 551 T. Smith I 551 C. Bassler 3 3 551 V. Belenky 1 551 W. Belknap
Process for selectively patterning epitaxial film growth on a semiconductor substrate

DOEpatents

Sheldon, P.; Hayes, R.E.

1984-12-04

Disclosed is a process for selectively patterning epitaxial film growth on a semiconductor substrate. The process includes forming a masking member on the surface of the substrate, the masking member having at least two layers including a first layer disposed on the substrate and the second layer covering the first layer. A window is then opened in a selected portion of the second layer by removing that portion to expose the first layer thereunder. The first layer is then subjected to an etchant introduced through the window to dissolve the first layer a sufficient amount to expose the substrate surface directly beneath the window, the first layer being adapted to preferentially dissolve at a substantially greater rate than the second layer so as to create an overhanging ledge portion with the second layer by undercutting the edges thereof adjacent the window. The epitaxial film is then deposited on the exposed substrate surface directly beneath the window. Finally, an etchant is introduced through the window to dissolve the remainder of the first layer so as to lift-off the second layer and materials deposited thereon to fully expose the balance of the substrate surface.
Process for selectively patterning epitaxial film growth on a semiconductor substrate

DOEpatents

Sheldon, Peter; Hayes, Russell E.

1986-01-01

A process is disclosed for selectively patterning epitaxial film growth on a semiconductor substrate. The process includes forming a masking member on the surface of the substrate, the masking member having at least two layers including a first layer disposed on the substrate and the second layer covering the first layer. A window is then opened in a selected portion of the second layer by removing that portion to expose the first layer thereunder. The first layer is then subjected to an etchant introduced through the window to dissolve a sufficient amount of the first layer to expose the substrate surface directly beneath the window, the first layer being adapted to preferentially dissolve at a substantially greater rate than the second layer so as to create an overhanging ledge portion with the second layer by undercutting the edges thereof adjacent to the window. The epitaxial film is then deposited on the exposed substrate surface directly beneath the window. Finally, an etchant is introduced through the window to dissolve the remainder of the first layer so as to lift-off the second layer and materials deposited thereon to fully expose the balance of the substrate surface.
Continuation of research into software for space operations support: Conversion of the display manager to X Windows/Motif, volume 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collier, Mark D.; Killough, Ronnie; Martin, Nancy L.

1990-01-01

NASA is currently using a set of applications called the Display Builder and Display Manager. They run on Concurrent systems and heavily depend on the Graphic Kernel System (GKS). At this time however, these two applications would more appropriately be developed in X Windows, in which a low X is used for all actual text and graphics display and a standard widget set (such as Motif) is used for the user interface. Use of the X Windows will increase performance, improve the user interface, enhance portability, and improve reliability. Prototype of X Window/Motif based Display Manager provides the following advantages over a GKS based application: improved performance by using a low level X Windows, display of graphic and text will be more efficient; improved user interface by using Motif; Improved portability by operating on both Concurrent and Sun workstations; and Improved reliability.
Off-Line Quality Control In Integrated Circuit Fabrication Using Experimental Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phadke, M. S.; Kackar, R. N.; Speeney, D. V.; Grieco, M. J.

1987-04-01

Off-line quality control is a systematic method of optimizing production processes and product designs. It is widely used in Japan to produce high quality products at low cost. The method was introduced to us by Professor Genichi Taguchi who is a Deming-award winner and a former Director of the Japanese Academy of Quality. In this paper we will i) describe the off-line quality control method, and ii) document our efforts to optimize the process for forming contact windows in 3.5 Aim CMOS circuits fabricated in the Murray Hill Integrated Circuit Design Capability Laboratory. In the fabrication of integrated circuits it is critically important to produce contact windows of size very near the target dimension. Windows which are too small or too large lead to loss of yield. The off-line quality control method has improved both the process quality and productivity. The variance of the window size has been reduced by a factor of four. Also, processing time for window photolithography has been substantially reduced. The key steps of off-line quality control are: i) Identify important manipulatable process factors and their potential working levels. ii) Perform fractional factorial experiments on the process using orthogonal array designs. iii) Analyze the resulting data to determine the optimum operating levels of the factors. Both the process mean and the process variance are considered in this analysis. iv) Conduct an additional experiment to verify that the new factor levels indeed give an improvement.
Rigid thin windows for vacuum applications

DOEpatents

Meyer, Glenn Allyn; Ciarlo, Dino R.; Myers, Booth Richard; Chen, Hao-Lin; Wakalopulos, George

1999-01-01

A thin window that stands off atmospheric pressure is fabricated using photolithographic and wet chemical etching techniques and comprises at least two layers: an etch stop layer and a protective barrier layer. The window structure also comprises a series of support ribs running the width of the window. The windows are typically made of boron-doped silicon and silicon nitride and are useful in instruments such as electron beam guns and x-ray detectors. In an electron beam gun, the window does not impede the electrons and has demonstrated outstanding gun performance and survivability during the gun tube manufacturing process.
MEA-Tools: an open source toolbox for the analysis of multi-electrode data with MATLAB.

PubMed

Egert, U; Knott, Th; Schwarz, C; Nawrot, M; Brandt, A; Rotter, S; Diesmann, M

2002-05-30

Recent advances in electrophysiological techniques have created new tools for the acquisition and storage of neuronal activity recorded simultaneously with numerous electrodes. These techniques support the analysis of the function as well as the structure of individual electrogenic cells in the context of surrounding neuronal or cardiac network. Commercially available tools for the analysis of such data, however, cannot be easily adapted to newly emerging requirements for data analysis and visualization, and cross compatibility between them is limited. In this report we introduce a free open source toolbox called microelectrode array tools (MEA-Tools) for the analysis of multi-electrode data based on the common data analysis environment MATLAB (version 5.3-6.1, The Mathworks, Natick, MA). The toolbox itself is platform independent. The file interface currently supports files recorded with MCRack (Multi Channel Systems, Reutlingen, Germany) under Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, and 2000, but can be adapted to other data acquisition systems. Functions are controlled via command line input and graphical user interfaces, and support common requirements for the analysis of local field potentials, extracellular spike activity, and continuous recordings, in addition to supplementary data acquired by additional instruments, e.g. intracellular amplifiers. Data may be processed as continuous recordings or time windows triggered to some event.
Organizational effects of the antiandrogen, Vinclozolin, on penis development in the mouse.

PubMed

Amato, Ciro M; Boyd, Morgan; Yang, Joshua; McCoy, Krista A

2018-04-14

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are pollutants found throughout the environment that disrupt normal endocrine processes. In mice, penis development is thought to be most susceptible to EDCs during a critical developmental window occurring on embryonic days (E) 15.5-17.5. However, androgen signaling begins on E13.5 when Androgen Receptor (AR) protein is found in the genitalia and testosterone is circulating. We hypothesize that disrupting androgen signaling prior to the established critical window sensitizes the penis to future androgen disruption. To test this hypothesis, CD1 dams were exposed to Vinclozolin or a corn oil solvent control on E13.5 and E14.5 and AR levels were measured with immunohistochemistry on E14.5. Early antiandrogen exposure reduced AR within nuclei and decreased intensity of AR expression within E14.5 genitalia. To evaluate the influence of antiandrogen exposure before the known critical window of penis development, two groups of pregnant dams (n = 3) were exposed to Vinclozolin starting at either E13.5 or E14.5 and continued exposure through E16.5. Histology and M.O.U.S.E. scoring were used to quantify penis abnormalities. To account for differences in total doses mice experienced due to differences in length of dosing time, we compared animals that received the same total doses. Exposure to antiandrogens on E13.5 exacerbated malformations when exposure was continued through sexually dimorphic development. Both exposure time and Vinclozolin dose are important for severity of Vinclozolin-induced penis abnormalities in mice. This work shows, antiandrogen exposure prior to sensitive periods can exacerbate the effects of later antiandrogen exposure on reproductive development.

Valence interacts with the early ERP old/new effect and arousal with the sustained ERP old/new effect for affective pictures.

PubMed

Van Strien, Jan W; Langeslag, Sandra J E; Strekalova, Nadja J; Gootjes, Liselotte; Franken, Ingmar H A

2009-01-28

To examine whether valence and arousal influence recognition memory during early automatic or during more sustained processes, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of 21 women were recorded while they made old/new judgments in a continuous recognition task with pictures from the International Affective Picture System. The pictures were presented twice and differed in emotional valence and arousal. The P1 peak and four time windows were investigated: 200-300 ms, 300-400 ms, 400-600 ms, and 750-1000 ms after stimulus onset. There was a robust old/new effect starting in the 200-300 ms epoch and lasting all time windows. The valence effect was mainly present in the P1 peak and the 200-400 ms epoch, whereas the arousal effect was found in the 300-1000 ms epoch. Exploratory sLORETA analyses dissociated valence-dependent ventromedial prefrontal activity and arousal-dependent occipital activity in the 350-380 ms time window. Valence interacted with the 200-400 ms old/new effect at central and frontal sites. Arousal interacted with the 750-1000 ms old/new effect at posterior sites. It is concluded that valence influences fast recognition memory, while arousal may influence sustained encoding.
Switchable Materials for Smart Windows.

PubMed

Wang, Yang; Runnerstrom, Evan L; Milliron, Delia J

2016-06-07

This article reviews the basic principles of and recent developments in electrochromic, photochromic, and thermochromic materials for applications in smart windows. Compared with current static windows, smart windows can dynamically modulate the transmittance of solar irradiation based on weather conditions and personal preferences, thus simultaneously improving building energy efficiency and indoor human comfort. Although some smart windows are commercially available, their widespread implementation has not yet been realized. Recent advances in nanostructured materials provide new opportunities for next-generation smart window technology owing to their unique structure-property relations. Nanomaterials can provide enhanced coloration efficiency, faster switching kinetics, and longer lifetime. In addition, their compatibility with solution processing enables low-cost and high-throughput fabrication. This review also discusses the importance of dual-band modulation of visible and near-infrared (NIR) light, as nearly 50% of solar energy lies in the NIR region. Some latest results show that solution-processable nanostructured systems can selectively modulate the NIR light without affecting the visible transmittance, thus reducing energy consumption by air conditioning, heating, and artificial lighting.
VIS-IR transmitting BGG glass windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayya, Shyam S.; Chin, Geoff D.; Sanghera, Jasbinder S.; Aggarwal, Ishwar D.

2003-09-01

BaO-Ga2O3-GeO2 (BGG) glasses have the desired properties for various window applications in the 0.5-5 μm wavelength region. These glasses are low cost alternatives to the currently used window materials. Fabrication of a high optical quality 18" diameter BGG glass window has been demonstrated with a transmitted wave front error of λ/10 at 632 nm. BGG substrates have also been successfully tested for environmental weatherability (MIL-F-48616) and rain erosion durability up to 300 mph. Preliminary EMI grids have been successfully applied on BGG glasses demonstrating attenuation of 20dB in X and Ku bands. Although the mechanical properties of BGG glasses are acceptable for various window applications, it is demonstrated here that the properties can be further improved significantly by the glassceramization process. The ceramization process does not add any significant cost to the final window material. The crystallite size in the present glass-ceramic limits its transmission to the 2-5 μm region.
Side-by-Side Field Evaluation of Highly Insulating Windows in the PNNL Lab Homes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Widder, Sarah H.; Parker, Graham B.; Baechler, Michael C.

2012-08-01

To examine the energy, air leakage, and thermal performance of highly insulating windows, a field evaluation was undertaken in a matched pair of all-electric, factory-built “Lab Homes” located on the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) campus in Richland, Washington. The “baseline” Lab Home B was retrofitted with “standard” double-pane clear aluminum-frame slider windows and patio doors, while the “experimental” Lab Home A was retrofitted with Jeld-Wen® triple-pane vinyl-frame slider windows and patio doors with a U-factor of 0.2 and solar heat gain coefficient of 0.19. To assess the window, the building shell air leakage, energy use, and interior temperatures ofmore » each home were compared during the 2012 winter heating and summer cooling seasons. The measured energy savings in Lab Home B averaged 5,821 watt-hours per day (Wh/day) during the heating season and 6,518 Wh/day during the cooling season. The overall whole-house energy savings of Lab Home B compared to Lab Home A are 11.6% ± 1.53% for the heating season and 18.4 ± 2.06% for the cooling season for identical occupancy conditions with no window coverings deployed. Extrapolating these energy savings numbers based on typical average heating degree days and cooling degree days per year yields an estimated annual energy savings of 12.2%, or 1,784 kWh/yr. The data suggest that highly insulating windows are an effective energy-saving measure that should be considered for high-performance new homes and in existing retrofits. However, the cost effectiveness of the measure, as determined by the simple payback period, suggests that highly insulating window costs continue to make windows difficult to justify on a cost basis alone. Additional reductions in costs via improvements in manufacturing and/or market penetration that continue to drive down costs will make highly insulating windows much more viable as a cost-effective energy efficiency measure. This study also illustrates that highly insulating windows have important impacts on peak load, occupant comfort, and condensation potential, which are not captured in the energy savings calculation. More consistent and uniform interior temperature distributions suggest that highly insulated windows, as part of a high performance building envelope, may enable more centralized duct design and downsized HVAC systems. Shorter, more centralized duct systems and smaller HVAC systems to yield additional cost savings, making highly insulating windows more cost effective as part of a package of new construction or retrofit measures which achieve significant reductions in home energy use.« less
Is human sentence parsing serial or parallel? Evidence from event-related brain potentials.

PubMed

Hopf, Jens-Max; Bader, Markus; Meng, Michael; Bayer, Josef

2003-01-01

In this ERP study we investigate the processes that occur in syntactically ambiguous German sentences at the point of disambiguation. Whereas most psycholinguistic theories agree on the view that processing difficulties arise when parsing preferences are disconfirmed (so-called garden-path effects), important differences exist with respect to theoretical assumptions about the parser's recovery from a misparse. A key distinction can be made between parsers that compute all alternative syntactic structures in parallel (parallel parsers) and parsers that compute only a single preferred analysis (serial parsers). To distinguish empirically between parallel and serial parsing models, we compare ERP responses to garden-path sentences with ERP responses to truly ungrammatical sentences. Garden-path sentences contain a temporary and ultimately curable ungrammaticality, whereas truly ungrammatical sentences remain so permanently--a difference which gives rise to different predictions in the two classes of parsing architectures. At the disambiguating word, ERPs in both sentence types show negative shifts of similar onset latency, amplitude, and scalp distribution in an initial time window between 300 and 500 ms. In a following time window (500-700 ms), the negative shift to garden-path sentences disappears at right central parietal sites, while it continues in permanently ungrammatical sentences. These data are taken as evidence for a strictly serial parser. The absence of a difference in the early time window indicates that temporary and permanent ungrammaticalities trigger the same kind of parsing responses. Later differences can be related to successful reanalysis in garden-path but not in ungrammatical sentences. Copyright 2003 Elsevier Science B.V.
Hardware Implementation of a Bilateral Subtraction Filter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huertas, Andres; Watson, Robert; Villalpando, Carlos; Goldberg, Steven

2009-01-01

A bilateral subtraction filter has been implemented as a hardware module in the form of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). In general, a bilateral subtraction filter is a key subsystem of a high-quality stereoscopic machine vision system that utilizes images that are large and/or dense. Bilateral subtraction filters have been implemented in software on general-purpose computers, but the processing speeds attainable in this way even on computers containing the fastest processors are insufficient for real-time applications. The present FPGA bilateral subtraction filter is intended to accelerate processing to real-time speed and to be a prototype of a link in a stereoscopic-machine- vision processing chain, now under development, that would process large and/or dense images in real time and would be implemented in an FPGA. In terms that are necessarily oversimplified for the sake of brevity, a bilateral subtraction filter is a smoothing, edge-preserving filter for suppressing low-frequency noise. The filter operation amounts to replacing the value for each pixel with a weighted average of the values of that pixel and the neighboring pixels in a predefined neighborhood or window (e.g., a 9 9 window). The filter weights depend partly on pixel values and partly on the window size. The present FPGA implementation of a bilateral subtraction filter utilizes a 9 9 window. This implementation was designed to take advantage of the ability to do many of the component computations in parallel pipelines to enable processing of image data at the rate at which they are generated. The filter can be considered to be divided into the following parts (see figure): a) An image pixel pipeline with a 9 9- pixel window generator, b) An array of processing elements; c) An adder tree; d) A smoothing-and-delaying unit; and e) A subtraction unit. After each 9 9 window is created, the affected pixel data are fed to the processing elements. Each processing element is fed the pixel value for its position in the window as well as the pixel value for the central pixel of the window. The absolute difference between these two pixel values is calculated and used as an address in a lookup table. Each processing element has a lookup table, unique for its position in the window, containing the weight coefficients for the Gaussian function for that position. The pixel value is multiplied by the weight, and the outputs of the processing element are the weight and pixel-value weight product. The products and weights are fed to the adder tree. The sum of the products and the sum of the weights are fed to the divider, which computes the sum of products the sum of weights. The output of the divider is denoted the bilateral smoothed image. The smoothing function is a simple weighted average computed over a 3 3 subwindow centered in the 9 9 window. After smoothing, the image is delayed by an additional amount of time needed to match the processing time for computing the bilateral smoothed image. The bilateral smoothed image is then subtracted from the 3 3 smoothed image to produce the final output. The prototype filter as implemented in a commercially available FPGA processes one pixel per clock cycle. Operation at a clock speed of 66 MHz has been demonstrated, and results of a static timing analysis have been interpreted as suggesting that the clock speed could be increased to as much as 100 MHz.
Roll-to-Roll Production of Transparent Silver-Nanofiber-Network Electrodes for Flexible Electrochromic Smart Windows.

PubMed

Lin, Sen; Bai, Xiaopeng; Wang, Haiyang; Wang, Haolun; Song, Jianan; Huang, Kai; Wang, Chang; Wang, Ning; Li, Bo; Lei, Ming; Wu, Hui

2017-11-01

Electrochromic smart windows (ECSWs) are considered as the most promising alternative to traditional dimming devices. However, the electrode technology in ECSWs remains stagnant, wherein inflexible indium tin oxide and fluorine-doped tin oxide are the main materials being used. Although various complicated production methods, such as high-temperature calcination and sputtering, have been reported, the mass production of flexible and transparent electrodes remains challenging. Here, a nonheated roll-to-roll process is developed for the continuous production of flexible, extralarge, and transparent silver nanofiber (AgNF) network electrodes. The optical and mechanical properties, as well as the electrical conductivity of these products (i.e., 12 Ω sq -1 at 95% transmittance) are comparable with those AgNF networks produced via high-temperature sintering. Moreover, the as-prepared AgNF network is successfully assembled into an A4-sized ECSW with short switching time, good coloration efficiency, and flexibility. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
A simple method for the generation of organ and vessel contours from roentgenographic or fluoroscopic images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newell, J. D.; Keller, R. A.; Baily, N. A.

1974-01-01

A simple method for outlining or contouring any area defined by a change in film density or fluoroscopic screen intensity is described. The entire process, except for the positioning of an electronic window, is accomplished using a small computer having appropriate softwave. The electronic window is operator positioned over the area to be processed. The only requirement is that the window be large enough to encompass the total area to be considered.
Determining Window Placement and Configuration for the Small Pressurized Rover (SPR)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Shelby; Litaker, Harry; Howard, Robert

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the process of the evaluation of window placement and configuration for the cockpit of the Lunar Electric Rover (LER). The purpose of the evaluation was to obtain human-in-the-loop data on window placement and configuration for the cockpit of the LER.
47 CFR 73.870 - Processing of LPFM broadcast station applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Notice a window filing period for applications for new LPFM stations and major modifications in the... authorized LPFM stations will be accepted only during the appropriate window. Applications submitted prior to the window opening date identified in the Public Notice will be returned as premature. Applications...
Bi-level multilayered microelectronic device package with an integral window

DOEpatents

Peterson, Kenneth A.; Watson, Robert D.

2002-01-01

A bi-level, multilayered package with an integral window for housing a microelectronic device. The device can be a semiconductor chip, a CCD chip, a CMOS chip, a VCSEL chip, a laser diode, a MEMS device, or a IMEMS device. The multilayered package can be formed of a low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) or high-temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) multilayer processes with the window being simultaneously joined (e.g. cofired) to the package body during LTCC or HTCC processing. The microelectronic device can be flip-chip bonded and oriented so that the light-sensitive side is optically accessible through the window. A second chip can be bonded to the backside of the first chip, with the second chip being wirebonded to the second level of the bi-level package. The result is a compact, low-profile package, having an integral window that can be hermetically-sealed.
Experimental studies on a novel roll-to-roll powder hot embossing for large-area fabrication of micropyramid arrays on polymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yi, Peiyun; Deng, Yujun; Shu, Yunyi; Peng, Linfa

2018-08-01

Roll-to-roll (R2R) hot embossing is regarded as a cost-effective replication technology to fabricate microstructures on polymer films. However, the characteristics of continuous and fast forming for the R2R hot embossing process limits material flow during the filling stage and results in significant springback during the demolding stage. To resolve this issue, this study proposed a novel R2R powder hot embossing process, which combines the merits of the continuous fabrication of R2R hot embossing and near-net-shape forming of powder sintering and also decreases the whole cycle of the fabrication from films to microstructures. First, the relation between the molten layer thickness and processing parameters was discussed and an analytical model was established to predict the feed of the polymeric powder during R2R powder hot embossing. Then, with the use of a micro-pyramid array mold, the impact of the process parameters including mold temperature, feeding speed and applied force on the geometrical dimension of the patterned microstructures was discussed. Last, based on the response surface analysis, a process window, in terms of the mold temperature of 132 °C –145 °C, feeding speed of 0.1–1.4 m min‑1 and applied force of 15–50 kgf was determined for the continuous fabrication of completely-filled micropyramid arrays with the R2R powder hot embossing process. This research demonstrated the feasibility and superiority of the proposed R2R powder hot embossing process in continuously fabricating micropatterned structures on polymeric films.
Investigation of gas stripping and pervaporation for improved feasibility of two-stage butanol production process.

PubMed

Setlhaku, Mpho; Heitmann, Sebastian; Górak, Andrzej; Wichmann, Rolf

2013-05-01

Gas stripping and pervaporation are investigated for butanol recovery in a two-stage acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation process. The first stage is operated in a continuous mode and the second stage as a fed-batch. Gas stripping coupled to the second stage and operated intermittently enabled additional glucose feeding in the second stage and up to 59 g/L butanol and 73 g/L total ABE solvents in the condensate. Concentration of 167 g/L butanol and 269 g/L ABE in the permeate was measured in ex situ pervaporation experiments using a PDMS membrane at temperature of 37 °C and pressure of 10mbars. The "operating window" tool is introduced to evaluate the feasibility of the existing ABE fermentations operated as continuous with cell recycle, as two-stages, with biomass immobilization or with integrated product removal. This tool enables the identification of the most favorable process configuration, which is the combination of cell immobilization and integrated product removal. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sol-gel antireflective spin-coating process for large-size shielding windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belleville, Philippe F.; Prene, Philippe; Mennechez, Francoise; Bouigeon, Christian

2002-10-01

The interest of the antireflective coatings applied onto large-area glass components increases everyday for the potential application such as building or shop windows. Today, because of the use of large size components, sol-gel process is a competitive way for antireflective coating mass production. The dip-coating technique commonly used for liquid-deposition, implies a safety hazard due to coating solution handling and storage in the case of large amounts of highly flammable solvent use. On the other hand, spin-coating is a liquid low-consumption technique. Mainly devoted to coat circular small-size substrate, we have developed a spin-coating machine able to coat large-size rectangular windows (up to 1 x 1.7 m2). Both solutions and coating conditions have been optimized to deposit optical layers with accurate and uniform thickness and to highly limit the edge effects. Experimental single layer antireflective coating deposition process onto large-area shielding windows (1000 x 1700 x 20 mm3) is described. Results show that the as-developed process could produce low specular reflection value (down to 1% one side) onto white-glass windows over the visible range (460-750 nm). Low-temperature curing process (120°C) used after sol-gel deposition enables antireflective-coating to withstand abrasion-resistance properties in compliance to US-MIL-C-0675C moderate test.
Secure Design Patterns

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

the Distrustful Decomposition pattern: • a number of separate programs, each running in a separate process . For more complete sepa- ration, each...be used in place of fork(). For example, under various versions of Windows, the CreateProcess() func- tion is used to spawn a child process . Figure...list contains the SIDs of the client processes that are allowed to connect to the server, that is, the Windows service. For more information about
[Online endpoint detection algorithm for blending process of Chinese materia medica].

PubMed

Lin, Zhao-Zhou; Yang, Chan; Xu, Bing; Shi, Xin-Yuan; Zhang, Zhi-Qiang; Fu, Jing; Qiao, Yan-Jiang

2017-03-01

Blending process, which is an essential part of the pharmaceutical preparation, has a direct influence on the homogeneity and stability of solid dosage forms. With the official release of Guidance for Industry PAT, online process analysis techniques have been more and more reported in the applications in blending process, but the research on endpoint detection algorithm is still in the initial stage. By progressively increasing the window size of moving block standard deviation (MBSD), a novel endpoint detection algorithm was proposed to extend the plain MBSD from off-line scenario to online scenario and used to determine the endpoint in the blending process of Chinese medicine dispensing granules. By online learning of window size tuning, the status changes of the materials in blending process were reflected in the calculation of standard deviation in a real-time manner. The proposed method was separately tested in the blending processes of dextrin and three other extracts of traditional Chinese medicine. All of the results have shown that as compared with traditional MBSD method, the window size changes according to the proposed MBSD method (progressively increasing the window size) could more clearly reflect the status changes of the materials in blending process, so it is suitable for online application. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.
Lithographic process window optimization for mask aligner proximity lithography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voelkel, Reinhard; Vogler, Uwe; Bramati, Arianna; Erdmann, Andreas; Ünal, Nezih; Hofmann, Ulrich; Hennemeyer, Marc; Zoberbier, Ralph; Nguyen, David; Brugger, Juergen

2014-03-01

We introduce a complete methodology for process window optimization in proximity mask aligner lithography. The commercially available lithography simulation software LAB from GenISys GmbH was used for simulation of light propagation and 3D resist development. The methodology was tested for the practical example of lines and spaces, 5 micron half-pitch, printed in a 1 micron thick layer of AZ® 1512HS1 positive photoresist on a silicon wafer. A SUSS MicroTec MA8 mask aligner, equipped with MO Exposure Optics® was used in simulation and experiment. MO Exposure Optics® is the latest generation of illumination systems for mask aligners. MO Exposure Optics® provides telecentric illumination and excellent light uniformity over the full mask field. MO Exposure Optics® allows the lithography engineer to freely shape the angular spectrum of the illumination light (customized illumination), which is a mandatory requirement for process window optimization. Three different illumination settings have been tested for 0 to 100 micron proximity gap. The results obtained prove, that the introduced process window methodology is a major step forward to obtain more robust processes in mask aligner lithography. The most remarkable outcome of the presented study is that a smaller exposure gap does not automatically lead to better print results in proximity lithography - what the "good instinct" of a lithographer would expect. With more than 5'000 mask aligners installed in research and industry worldwide, the proposed process window methodology might have significant impact on yield improvement and cost saving in industry.
Evolution of oxygenated cadmium sulfide (CdS:O) during high-temperature CdTe solar cell fabrication

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meysing, Daniel M.; Reese, Matthew O.; Warren, Charles W.

Oxygenated cadmium sulfide (CdS:O) produced by reactive sputtering has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional CdS for use as the n-type window layer in CdTe solar cells. Here, complementary techniques are used to expose the window layer (CdS or CdS:O) in completed superstrate devices and combined with a suite of materials characterization to elucidate its evolution during high temperature device processing. During device fabrication amorphous CdS:O undergoes significant interdiffusion with CdTe and recrystallization, forming CdS1-yTey nanocrystals whose Te fraction approaches solubility limits. Significant oxygen remains after processing, concentrated in sulfate clusters dispersed among the CdS1-yTey alloy phase, accounting formore » ~30% of the post-processed window layer based on cross-sectional microscopy. Interdiffusion and recrystallization are observed in devices with un-oxygenated CdS, but to a much lesser extent. Etching experiments suggest that the CdS thickness is minimally changed during processing, but the CdS:O window layer is reduced from 100 nm to 60-80 nm, which is confirmed by microscopy. Alloying reduces the band gap of the CdS:O window layer to 2.15 eV, but reductions in thickness and areal density improve its transmission spectrum, which is well matched to device quantum efficiency. The changes to the window layer in the reactive environments of device fabrication are profoundly different than what occurs by thermal annealing in an inert environment, which produced films with a band gap of 2.4 eV for both CdS and CdS:O. These results illustrate for the first time the significant changes that occur to the window layer during processing that are critical to the performance of CdTe solar cells.« less
Challenger Center's Window on the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Livengood, T. A.; Goldstein, J. J.; Smith, S.; Bobrowsky, M.; Radnofsky, M.; Perelmuter, J.-M.; Jaggar, L.

2001-11-01

Challenger Center for Space Science Education's Window on the Universe program aims to create a network of under-served communities across the nation dedicated to sustained science, math, and technology education. Window communities presently include Broken Arrow, OK; Muncie, IN; Moscow, ID; Nogales, AZ; Tuskegee, AL; Marquette, MI; Altamont, KS; Washington, D.C.; and other emerging sites. Window uses themes of human space flight and the space sciences as interdisciplinary means to inspire entire communities. Practicing scientists and engineers engaged in these disciplines are invited to volunteer to become a part of these communities for a week, each visitor reaching roughly 2000 K-12 students through individual classroom visits and Family Science Night events during an intense Window on the Universe Week. In the same Window Week, Challenger Center scientists and educators present a workshop for local educators to provide training in the use of a K-12 educational module built around a particular space science and exploration theme. Window communities follow a 3-year development: Year 1, join the network, experience Window Week presented by Challenger Center and visiting researchers; Year 2, same as Year 1 plus workshop on partnering with local organizations to develop sources of visiting researchers and to enhance connections with local resources; Year 3 and subsequent, the community stages its own Window Week, with Challenger Center providing new education modules and training workshops for "master educators" from the Window community, after which the master educators return home to conduct training workshops of their own. Challenger Center remains a resource and clearinghouse for Window communities to acquire experience, technical information, and opportunities for distance collaboration with other Window communities. Window on the Universe is dedicated to assessing degree of success vs. failure in each program component and as a whole, using pre- and post-assessment questionnaires to develop a sound basis for continual improvement. Window on the Universe is funded by NASA's Office of Space Flight and the Office of Space Science.
Continuous-wave infrared optical gain and amplified spontaneous emission at ultralow threshold by colloidal HgTe quantum dots.

PubMed

Geiregat, Pieter; Houtepen, Arjan J; Sagar, Laxmi Kishore; Infante, Ivan; Zapata, Felipe; Grigel, Valeriia; Allan, Guy; Delerue, Christophe; Van Thourhout, Dries; Hens, Zeger

2018-01-01

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) raise more and more interest as solution-processable and tunable optical gain materials. However, especially for infrared active QDs, optical gain remains inefficient. Since stimulated emission involves multifold degenerate band-edge states, population inversion can be attained only at high pump power and must compete with efficient multi-exciton recombination. Here, we show that mercury telluride (HgTe) QDs exhibit size-tunable stimulated emission throughout the near-infrared telecom window at thresholds unmatched by any QD studied before. We attribute this unique behaviour to surface-localized states in the bandgap that turn HgTe QDs into 4-level systems. The resulting long-lived population inversion induces amplified spontaneous emission under continuous-wave optical pumping at power levels compatible with solar irradiation and direct current electrical pumping. These results introduce an alternative approach for low-threshold QD-based gain media based on intentional trap states that paves the way for solution-processed infrared QD lasers and amplifiers.

Continuous-wave infrared optical gain and amplified spontaneous emission at ultralow threshold by colloidal HgTe quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geiregat, Pieter; Houtepen, Arjan J.; Sagar, Laxmi Kishore; Infante, Ivan; Zapata, Felipe; Grigel, Valeriia; Allan, Guy; Delerue, Christophe; van Thourhout, Dries; Hens, Zeger

2018-01-01

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) raise more and more interest as solution-processable and tunable optical gain materials. However, especially for infrared active QDs, optical gain remains inefficient. Since stimulated emission involves multifold degenerate band-edge states, population inversion can be attained only at high pump power and must compete with efficient multi-exciton recombination. Here, we show that mercury telluride (HgTe) QDs exhibit size-tunable stimulated emission throughout the near-infrared telecom window at thresholds unmatched by any QD studied before. We attribute this unique behaviour to surface-localized states in the bandgap that turn HgTe QDs into 4-level systems. The resulting long-lived population inversion induces amplified spontaneous emission under continuous-wave optical pumping at power levels compatible with solar irradiation and direct current electrical pumping. These results introduce an alternative approach for low-threshold QD-based gain media based on intentional trap states that paves the way for solution-processed infrared QD lasers and amplifiers.
Window of visibility - A psychophysical theory of fidelity in time-sampled visual motion displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, A. B.; Ahumada, A. J., Jr.; Farrell, J. E.

1986-01-01

A film of an object in motion presents on the screen a sequence of static views, while the human observer sees the object moving smoothly across the screen. Questions related to the perceptual identity of continuous and stroboscopic displays are examined. Time-sampled moving images are considered along with the contrast distribution of continuous motion, the contrast distribution of stroboscopic motion, the frequency spectrum of continuous motion, the frequency spectrum of stroboscopic motion, the approximation of the limits of human visual sensitivity to spatial and temporal frequencies by a window of visibility, the critical sampling frequency, the contrast distribution of staircase motion and the frequency spectrum of this motion, and the spatial dependence of the critical sampling frequency. Attention is given to apparent motion, models of motion, image recording, and computer-generated imagery.
Window of Opportunity? Adolescence, Music, and Algebra

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helmrich, Barbara H.

2010-01-01

Research has suggested that musicians process music in the same cortical regions that adolescents process algebra. An early adolescence synaptogenesis might present a window of opportunity during middle school for music to create and strengthen enduring neural connections in those regions. Six school districts across Maryland provided scores from…
A test of multiple correlation temporal window characteristic of non-Markov processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arecchi, F. T.; Farini, A.; Megna, N.

2016-03-01

We introduce a sensitive test of memory effects in successive events. The test consists of a combination K of binary correlations at successive times. K decays monotonically from K = 1 for uncorrelated events as a Markov process. For a monotonic memory fading, K<1 always. Here we report evidence of a K>1 temporal window in cognitive tasks consisting of the visual identification of the front face of the Necker cube after a previous presentation of the same. We speculate that memory effects provide a temporal window with K>1 and this experiment could be a possible first step towards a better comprehension of this phenomenon. The K>1 behaviour is maximal at an inter-measurement time τ around 2s with inter-subject differences. The K>1 persists over a time window of 1s around τ; outside this window the K<1 behaviour is recovered. The universal occurrence of a K>1 window in pairs of successive perceptions suggests that, at variance with single visual stimuli eliciting a suitable response, a pair of stimuli shortly separated in time displays mutual correlations.
Window encapsulation in car industry by using the 50 {Omega} RF technology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bernard, J.P.; Barboteau, M.; Collet, L.

Throughout the world car industry has been using window encapsulation for a few years now. This technology is mainly used in production lines and is called RIM for polyurethane reaction injection moulding. This technology, however brings about some problems such as: glass breaking during mould closure, high production cost, systematic rough edges. The PSA Group (Peugeot-Citroen), a pioneer in this field, in collaboration with SAIREM has launched a new innovating process for window encapsulation by using the 50 {Omega} RF technology for gelling PVC Plastisol. The study was followed by an industrial prototype. Industrial equipment was then installed at WEBASTOmore » HEULIEZ for window encapsulation of the sunshine roof for the Citroen Xantia. The authors describe the principle of window encapsulation and the different existing processes. They describe the 50 {Omega} RF technology, an industrial installation and the constraints of this technology in order to get maximum efficiency. In the conclusion they present a technical and economical analysis of the different solutions for window encapsulation. They also present the advantages of the 50 {Omega} RF technology and the new opportunities it offers.« less
High performance sapphire windows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bates, Stephen C.; Liou, Larry

1993-01-01

High-quality, wide-aperture optical access is usually required for the advanced laser diagnostics that can now make a wide variety of non-intrusive measurements of combustion processes. Specially processed and mounted sapphire windows are proposed to provide this optical access to extreme environment. Through surface treatments and proper thermal stress design, single crystal sapphire can be a mechanically equivalent replacement for high strength steel. A prototype sapphire window and mounting system have been developed in a successful NASA SBIR Phase 1 project. A large and reliable increase in sapphire design strength (as much as 10x) has been achieved, and the initial specifications necessary for these gains have been defined. Failure testing of small windows has conclusively demonstrated the increased sapphire strength, indicating that a nearly flawless surface polish is the primary cause of strengthening, while an unusual mounting arrangement also significantly contributes to a larger effective strength. Phase 2 work will complete specification and demonstration of these windows, and will fabricate a set for use at NASA. The enhanced capabilities of these high performance sapphire windows will lead to many diagnostic capabilities not previously possible, as well as new applications for sapphire.
High performance sapphire windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bates, Stephen C.; Liou, Larry

1993-02-01

High-quality, wide-aperture optical access is usually required for the advanced laser diagnostics that can now make a wide variety of non-intrusive measurements of combustion processes. Specially processed and mounted sapphire windows are proposed to provide this optical access to extreme environment. Through surface treatments and proper thermal stress design, single crystal sapphire can be a mechanically equivalent replacement for high strength steel. A prototype sapphire window and mounting system have been developed in a successful NASA SBIR Phase 1 project. A large and reliable increase in sapphire design strength (as much as 10x) has been achieved, and the initial specifications necessary for these gains have been defined. Failure testing of small windows has conclusively demonstrated the increased sapphire strength, indicating that a nearly flawless surface polish is the primary cause of strengthening, while an unusual mounting arrangement also significantly contributes to a larger effective strength. Phase 2 work will complete specification and demonstration of these windows, and will fabricate a set for use at NASA. The enhanced capabilities of these high performance sapphire windows will lead to many diagnostic capabilities not previously possible, as well as new applications for sapphire.
Simplified Computation for Nonparametric Windows Method of Probability Density Function Estimation.

PubMed

Joshi, Niranjan; Kadir, Timor; Brady, Michael

2011-08-01

Recently, Kadir and Brady proposed a method for estimating probability density functions (PDFs) for digital signals which they call the Nonparametric (NP) Windows method. The method involves constructing a continuous space representation of the discrete space and sampled signal by using a suitable interpolation method. NP Windows requires only a small number of observed signal samples to estimate the PDF and is completely data driven. In this short paper, we first develop analytical formulae to obtain the NP Windows PDF estimates for 1D, 2D, and 3D signals, for different interpolation methods. We then show that the original procedure to calculate the PDF estimate can be significantly simplified and made computationally more efficient by a judicious choice of the frame of reference. We have also outlined specific algorithmic details of the procedures enabling quick implementation. Our reformulation of the original concept has directly demonstrated a close link between the NP Windows method and the Kernel Density Estimator.
Low-Absorption Laser Windows

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-04-01

Amount of Contract; $80K The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as...ST A T E_|«l£.NÄW.-lfc*«-«4por(; Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. 17 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (ol the abatract entered In ...Order 3066. Improvements have continued in methods for prepa-ition, surface Finishing, and characterization of low-loss laser- window materials
Dye laser amplifier including an improved window configuration for its dye beam

DOEpatents

O'Neil, R.W.; Davin, J.M.

1992-12-01

A dye laser amplifier in which a continuously replenished supply of dye is excited with a first light beam in order to amplify the intensity of a second different light beam passing therethrough is disclosed herein. This amplifier includes a cell though which a continuous stream of the dye is caused to pass, and means for directing the first beam into the cell while the second beam is directed into and through the same cell. There is also disclosed herein a specific improvement to this amplifier which resides in the use of a pair of particularly configured windows through which the second beam passes along fixed paths as the second beam enters and exits the dye cell. Each of these windows has a relatively thick main section which is substantially larger in dimensions transverse to its beam path than the cross section of the second beam itself, whereby to add structural integrity to the overall window. At the same time, the latter includes a second section which is disposed entirely within the confines of the main section and through which the second beam is intended to pass in its entirety. This second section is made substantially thinner than the main section in order to reduce optical distortion as the second beam passes therethrough. 4 figs.
Dye laser amplifier including an improved window configuration for its dye beam

DOEpatents

O'Neil, Richard W.; Davin, James M.

1992-01-01

A dye laser amplifier in which a continuously replenished supply of dye is excited with a first light beam in order to amplify the intensity of a second different light beam passing therethrough is disclosed herein. This amplifier includes a cell though which a continuous stream of the dye is caused to pass, and means for directing the first beam into the cell while the second beam is directed into and through the same cell. There is also disclosed herein a specific improvement to this amplifier which resides in the use of a pair of particularly configured windows through which the second beam passes along fixed paths as the second beam enters and exits the dye cell. Each of these windows has a relatively thick main section which is substantially larger in dimensions transverse to its beam path than the cross section of the second beam itself, whereby to add structural integrity to the overall window. At the same time, the latter includes a second section which is disposed entirely within the confines of the main section and through which the second beam is intended to pass in its entirety. This second section is made substantially thinner than the main section in order to reduce optical distortion as the second beam passes therethrough.
LEVERAGING AGING MATERIALS DATA TO SUPPORT EXTENSION OF TRANSPORTATION SHIPPING PACKAGES SERVICE LIFE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dunn, K.; Bellamy, S.; Daugherty, W.

Nuclear material inventories are increasingly being transferred to interim storage locations where they may reside for extended periods of time. Use of a shipping package to store nuclear materials after the transfer has become more common for a variety of reasons. Shipping packages are robust and have a qualified pedigree for performance in normal operation and accident conditions but are only certified over an approved transportation window. The continued use of shipping packages to contain nuclear material during interim storage will result in reduced overall costs and reduced exposure to workers. However, the shipping package materials of construction must maintainmore » integrity as specified by the safety basis of the storage facility throughout the storage period, which is typically well beyond the certified transportation window. In many ways, the certification processes required for interim storage of nuclear materials in shipping packages is similar to life extension programs required for dry cask storage systems for commercial nuclear fuels. The storage of spent nuclear fuel in dry cask storage systems is federally-regulated, and over 1500 individual dry casks have been in successful service up to 20 years in the US. The uncertainty in final disposition will likely require extended storage of this fuel well beyond initial license periods and perhaps multiple re-licenses may be needed. Thus, both the shipping packages and the dry cask storage systems require materials integrity assessments and assurance of continued satisfactory materials performance over times not considered in the original evaluation processes. Test programs for the shipping packages have been established to obtain aging data on materials of construction to demonstrate continued system integrity. The collective data may be coupled with similar data for the dry cask storage systems and used to support extending the service life of shipping packages in both transportation and storage.« less
Photorefractive-based adaptive optical windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yuexin; Yang, Yi; Wang, Bo; Fu, John Y.; Yin, Shizhuo; Guo, Ruyan; Yu, Francis T.

2004-10-01

Optical windows have been widely used in optical spectrographic processing system. In this paper, various window profiles, such as rectangular, triangular, Hamming, Hanning, and Blackman etc., have been investigated in detail, regarding their effect on the generated spectrograms, such as joint time-frequency resolution ΔtΔw, the sidelobe amplitude attenuation etc.. All of these windows can be synthesized in a photorefractive crystal by angular multiplexing holographic technique, which renders the system more adaptive. Experimental results are provided.
Microwave window breakdown experiments and simulations on the UM/L-3 relativistic magnetron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoff, B. W.; Mardahl, P. J.; Gilgenbach, R. M.; Haworth, M. D.; French, D. M.; Lau, Y. Y.; Franzi, M.

2009-09-01

Experiments have been performed on the UM/L-3 (6-vane, L-band) relativistic magnetron to test a new microwave window configuration designed to limit vacuum side breakdown. In the baseline case, acrylic microwave windows were mounted between three of the waveguide coupling cavities in the anode block vacuum housing and the output waveguides. Each of the six 3 cm deep coupling cavities is separated from its corresponding anode cavity by a 1.75 cm wide aperture. In the baseline case, vacuum side window breakdown was observed to initiate at single waveguide output powers close to 20 MW. In the new window configuration, three Air Force Research Laboratory-designed, vacuum-rated directional coupler waveguide segments were mounted between the coupling cavities and the microwave windows. The inclusion of the vacuum side power couplers moved the microwave windows an additional 30 cm away from the anode apertures. Additionally, the Lucite microwave windows were replaced with polycarbonate windows and the microwave window mounts were redesigned to better maintain waveguide continuity in the region around the microwave windows. No vacuum side window breakdown was observed in the new window configuration at single waveguide output powers of 120+MW (a factor of 3 increase in measured microwave pulse duration and factor of 3 increase in measured peak power over the baseline case). Simulations were performed to investigate likely causes for the window breakdown in the original configuration. Results from these simulations have shown that in the original configuration, at typical operating voltage and magnetic field ranges, electrons emitted from the anode block microwave apertures strike the windows with a mean kinetic energy of 33 keV with a standard deviation of 14 keV. Calculations performed using electron impact angle and energy data predict a first generation secondary electron yield of 65% of the primary electron population. The effects of the primary aperture electron impacts, combined with multiplication of the secondary populations, were determined to be the likely causes of the poor microwave window performance in the original configuration.
Apparatus for insulating windows and the like

DOEpatents

Mitchell, R.A.

1984-06-19

Apparatus for insulating window openings through walls and the like includes a thermal shutter, a rail for mounting the shutter adjacent to the window opening and a coupling for connecting the shutter to the rail. The thermal shutter includes an insulated panel adhered to frame members which surround the periphery of the panel. The frame members include a hard portion for providing the frame and a soft portion for providing a seal with that portion of the wall adjacent to the periphery of the opening. The coupling means is preferably integral with the attachment rail. According to a preferred embodiment, the coupling means includes a continuous hinge of reduced thickness. The thermal shutter can be permanently attached, hinged, bi-folded, or sliding with respect to the window and wall. A distribution method is to market the apparatus in kit'' form. 11 figs.
Apparatus for insulating windows and the like

DOEpatents

Mitchell, Robert A.

1984-01-01

Apparatus for insulating window openings through walls and the like includes a thermal shutter, a rail for mounting the shutter adjacent to the window opening and a coupling for connecting the shutter to the rail. The thermal shutter includes an insulated panel adhered to frame members which surround the periphery of the panel. The frame members include a hard portion for providing the frame and a soft portion for providing a seal with that portion of the wall adjacent to the periphery of the opening. The coupling means is preferably integral with the attachment rail. According to a preferred embodiment, the coupling means includes a continuous hinge of reduced thickness. The thermal shutter can be permanently attached, hinged, bi-folded, or sliding with respect to the window and wall. A distribution method is to market the apparatus in "kit" form.
Windows to the Universe: Earth Science Enterprise Education Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

Over the past year, Windows to the Universe has continued a multifaceted program of support to the Earth Science Enterprise Education program. Areas of activity include continued maintenance of the W2U website and user traffic analysis, development of new and revised content and activities on the website, implementation of new tools to facilitate website development and maintenance, response to users questions and comments, professional development for educators through workshops at the National Science Teachers Association meetings and at NCAR, and dissemination of information about the project through materials distribution at NSTAs, AGUs, AMS and other venues. This report provides some background on the project and summarizes progress for the third and final year of the project.
A low-frequency near-field interferometric-TOA 3-D Lightning Mapping Array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyu, Fanchao; Cummer, Steven A.; Solanki, Rahulkumar; Weinert, Joel; McTague, Lindsay; Katko, Alex; Barrett, John; Zigoneanu, Lucian; Xie, Yangbo; Wang, Wenqi

2014-11-01

We report on the development of an easily deployable LF near-field interferometric-time of arrival (TOA) 3-D Lightning Mapping Array applied to imaging of entire lightning flashes. An interferometric cross-correlation technique is applied in our system to compute windowed two-sensor time differences with submicrosecond time resolution before TOA is used for source location. Compared to previously reported LF lightning location systems, our system captures many more LF sources. This is due mainly to the improved mapping of continuous lightning processes by using this type of hybrid interferometry/TOA processing method. We show with five station measurements that the array detects and maps different lightning processes, such as stepped and dart leaders, during both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground flashes. Lightning images mapped by our LF system are remarkably similar to those created by VHF mapping systems, which may suggest some special links between LF and VHF emission during lightning processes.
HRCT Correlation with Round Window Identification during Cochlear Implantation in Children.

PubMed

Pendem, Sai Kiran; Rangasami, Rajeswaran; Arunachalam, Ravi Kumar; Mohanarangam, Venkata Sai Pulivadulu; Natarajan, Paarthipan

2014-01-01

To determine the accuracy of High Resolution Computer Tomography (HRCT) temporal bone measurements in predicting the actual visualization of round window niche as viewed through posterior tympanotomy (i.e. facial recess). This is a prospective study of 37 cochlear implant candidates, aged between 1and 6 years, who were referred for HRCT temporal bone during the period December 2013 to July 2014. Cochlear implantation was done in 37 children (25 in the right ear and 12 in the left ear). The distance between the short process of incus and the round window niche and the distance between the oval window and the round window niche were measured preoperatively on sub-millimeter (0.7 mm) HRCT images. We classified the visibility of round window niche based on the surgical view (i.e. through posterior tympanotomy) during surgery into three types: 1) Type 1- fully visible, 2) Type 2- partially visible, and 3) Type 3- difficult to visualize. The preoperative HRCT measurements were used to predict the type of visualization of round window niche before surgery and correlated with the findings during surgery. The mean and standard deviation for the distance between the short process of incus and the round window niche and for the distance between the oval window and the round window niche for Types 1, 2, and 3 were 8.5 ± 0.2 mm and 3.2 ± 0.2 mm, 8.0 ± 0.4 mm and 3.8 ± 0.2 mm, 7.5 ± 0.2 mm and 4.4 ± 0.2 mm respectively, and showed statistically significant difference (P < 0.01) between them. The preoperative HRCT measurements had a sensitivity and specificity of 92.3% and 96.2%, respectively, in determining the actual visualization of round window niche. This study shows preoperative HRCT temporal bone measurements are useful in predicting the actual visualization of round window niche as viewed through posterior tympanotomy.
Imaging windows for long-term intravital imaging

PubMed Central

Alieva, Maria; Ritsma, Laila; Giedt, Randy J; Weissleder, Ralph; van Rheenen, Jacco

2014-01-01

Intravital microscopy is increasingly used to visualize and quantitate dynamic biological processes at the (sub)cellular level in live animals. By visualizing tissues through imaging windows, individual cells (e.g., cancer, host, or stem cells) can be tracked and studied over a time-span of days to months. Several imaging windows have been developed to access tissues including the brain, superficial fascia, mammary glands, liver, kidney, pancreas, and small intestine among others. Here, we review the development of imaging windows and compare the most commonly used long-term imaging windows for cancer biology: the cranial imaging window, the dorsal skin fold chamber, the mammary imaging window, and the abdominal imaging window. Moreover, we provide technical details, considerations, and trouble-shooting tips on the surgical procedures and microscopy setups for each imaging window and explain different strategies to assure imaging of the same area over multiple imaging sessions. This review aims to be a useful resource for establishing the long-term intravital imaging procedure. PMID:28243510

Imaging windows for long-term intravital imaging: General overview and technical insights.

PubMed

Alieva, Maria; Ritsma, Laila; Giedt, Randy J; Weissleder, Ralph; van Rheenen, Jacco

2014-01-01

Intravital microscopy is increasingly used to visualize and quantitate dynamic biological processes at the (sub)cellular level in live animals. By visualizing tissues through imaging windows, individual cells (e.g., cancer, host, or stem cells) can be tracked and studied over a time-span of days to months. Several imaging windows have been developed to access tissues including the brain, superficial fascia, mammary glands, liver, kidney, pancreas, and small intestine among others. Here, we review the development of imaging windows and compare the most commonly used long-term imaging windows for cancer biology: the cranial imaging window, the dorsal skin fold chamber, the mammary imaging window, and the abdominal imaging window. Moreover, we provide technical details, considerations, and trouble-shooting tips on the surgical procedures and microscopy setups for each imaging window and explain different strategies to assure imaging of the same area over multiple imaging sessions. This review aims to be a useful resource for establishing the long-term intravital imaging procedure.
Processing Cones: A Computational Structure for Image Analysis.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-12-01

image analysis applications, referred to as a processing cone, is described and sample algorithms are presented. A fundamental characteristic of the structure is its hierarchical organization into two-dimensional arrays of decreasing resolution. In this architecture, a protypical function is defined on a local window of data and applied uniformly to all windows in a parallel manner. Three basic modes of processing are supported in the cone: reduction operations (upward processing), horizontal operations (processing at a single level) and projection operations (downward
Negative electro-mechanical windows are required for drug-induced Torsades de Pointes in the anesthetized guinea pig.

PubMed

Guns, P-J; Johnson, D M; Weltens, E; Lissens, J

2012-09-01

Assessment of the propensity of novel drugs to cause proarrhythmia is essential in the drug development process. It is increasingly recognized, however, that QT prolongation alone is an imperfect surrogate marker for Torsades de Pointes (TdP) arrhythmia prediction. In the present study we investigated the behavior of a novel surrogate marker for TdP, the electro-mechanical (E-M) window, prior to triggering of TdP episodes with sympathetic stimulation after administration of a number of reference compounds. Experiments were carried out in closed chest pentobarbital anesthetized guinea pigs. Test compounds were administered intravenously together with a specific I(Ks) blocker (JNJ303; 0.2 mgkg(-1)min(-1) for 3 min) and adrenaline (0.06 mgkg(-1)min(-1) for 2 min) was applied to trigger TdP. ECG, blood- and left ventricular pressure signals were measured continuously throughout the experiments. The E-M window i.e. the duration of the mechanical systole (QLVP(end) interval) minus the duration of the electrical activity (QT interval) was assessed for individual beats. Drugs with documented TdP liability (quinidine, haloperidol, domperidone, terfenadine, moxifloxacin, ciprofloxacin and dofetilide) produced TdP in the protocol after adrenaline infusion, whereas negative control compounds (verapamil, ranolazine, amiodarone and saline) did not cause TdP arrhythmia, even though increases in repolarization times were observed. TdP were typically preceded by large (greater than -50 ms) negative electro-mechanical windows and were accompanied by aftercontractions. The present study in anesthetized guinea pigs indicates that negative E-M windows are a prerequisite for sympathetically-driven TdP induction after the administration of various agents with known proarrhythmic potential. These data are a first step in the validation of this novel protocol; however we believe that this proarrhythmia model in small animals might be a valuable additional tool in the prediction of TdP risk of new chemical entities at the early stages of drug discovery. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Simulation-based process windows simultaneously considering two and three conflicting criteria in injection molding

PubMed Central

Rodríguez-Yáñez, Alicia Berenice; Méndez-Vázquez, Yaileen

2014-01-01

Process windows in injection molding are habitually built with only one performance measure in mind. In reality, a more realistic picture can be obtained when considering multiple performance measures at a time, especially in the presence of conflict. In this work, the construction of process windows for injection molding (IM) is undertaken considering two and three performance measures in conflict simultaneously. The best compromises between the criteria involved are identified through the direct application of the concept of Pareto-dominance in multiple criteria optimization. The aim is to provide a formal and realistic strategy to set processing conditions in IM operations. The resulting optimization approach is easily implementable in MS Excel. The solutions are presented graphically to facilitate their use in manufacturing plants. PMID:25530927
Simulation-based process windows simultaneously considering two and three conflicting criteria in injection molding.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Yáñez, Alicia Berenice; Méndez-Vázquez, Yaileen; Cabrera-Ríos, Mauricio

2014-01-01

Process windows in injection molding are habitually built with only one performance measure in mind. In reality, a more realistic picture can be obtained when considering multiple performance measures at a time, especially in the presence of conflict. In this work, the construction of process windows for injection molding (IM) is undertaken considering two and three performance measures in conflict simultaneously. The best compromises between the criteria involved are identified through the direct application of the concept of Pareto-dominance in multiple criteria optimization. The aim is to provide a formal and realistic strategy to set processing conditions in IM operations. The resulting optimization approach is easily implementable in MS Excel. The solutions are presented graphically to facilitate their use in manufacturing plants.
Multilayered microelectronic device package with an integral window

DOEpatents

Peterson, Kenneth A.; Watson, Robert D.

2003-01-01

An apparatus for packaging of microelectronic devices is disclosed, wherein the package includes an integral window. The microelectronic device can be a semiconductor chip, a CCD chip, a CMOS chip, a VCSEL chip, a laser diode, a MEMS device, or a IMEMS device. The package can comprise, for example, a cofired ceramic frame or body. The package has an internal stepped structure made of a plurality of plates, with apertures, which are patterned with metallized conductive circuit traces. The microelectronic device can be flip-chip bonded on the plate to these traces, and oriented so that the light-sensitive side is optically accessible through the window. A cover lid can be attached to the opposite side of the package. The result is a compact, low-profile package, having an integral window that can be hermetically-sealed. The package body can be formed by low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) or high-temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) multilayer processes with the window being simultaneously joined (e.g. cofired) to the package body during LTCC or HTCC processing. Multiple chips can be located within a single package, according to some embodiments. The cover lid can include a window. The apparatus is particularly suited for packaging of MEMS devices, since the number of handling steps is greatly reduced, thereby reducing the potential for contamination. The integral window can further include a lens for optically transforming light passing through the window. The package can include an array of binary optic lenslets made integral with the window. The package can include an electrically-switched optical modulator, such as a lithium niobate window attached to the package, for providing a very fast electrically-operated shutter.
Flat-plate collector research area: Silicon material task

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lutwack, R.

1982-01-01

Silane decomposition in a fluidized-bed reactor (FBR) process development unit (PDU) to make semiconductor-grade Si is reviewed. The PDU was modified by installation of a new heating system to provide the required temperature profile and better control, and testing was resumed. A process for making trichlorosilane by the hydrochlorination of metallurgical-grade Si and silicon tetrachloride is reported. Fabrication and installation of the test system employing a new 2-in.-dia reactor was completed. A process that converts trichlorosilane to dichlorosilane (DCS), which is reduced by hydrogen to make Si by a chemical vapor deposition step in a Siemens-type reactor is described. Testing of the DCS PDU integraled with Si deposition reactors continued. Experiments in a 2-in.-dia reactor to define the operating window and to investigate the Si deposition kinetics were completed.
Interior of processing room. Scale is in front of windows ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Interior of processing room. Scale is in front of windows for weighing shuckers' buckets of oyster meat. Blow tank for thoroughly cleaning the oyster meat and two skimming tables for rinsing and draining can also be seen. - J.C. Lore Oyster House, 14430 Solomons Island Road, Solomons, Calvert County, MD
Self spectrum window method in wigner-ville distribution.

PubMed

Liu, Zhongguo; Liu, Changchun; Liu, Boqiang; Lv, Yangsheng; Lei, Yinsheng; Yu, Mengsun

2005-01-01

Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) is an important type of time-frequency analysis in biomedical signal processing. The cross-term interference in WVD has a disadvantageous influence on its application. In this research, the Self Spectrum Window (SSW) method was put forward to suppress the cross-term interference, based on the fact that the cross-term and auto-WVD- terms in integral kernel function are orthogonal. With the Self Spectrum Window (SSW) algorithm, a real auto-WVD function was used as a template to cross-correlate with the integral kernel function, and the Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) spectrum of the signal was used as window function to process the WVD in time-frequency plane. The SSW method was confirmed by computer simulation with good analysis results. Satisfactory time- frequency distribution was obtained.
Design and implementation of laser target simulator in hardware-in-the-loop simulation system based on LabWindows/CVI and RTX

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, Qiujie; Wang, Qianqian; Li, Xiaoyang; Shan, Bin; Cui, Xuntai; Li, Chenyu; Peng, Zhong

2016-11-01

In order to satisfy the requirements of the real-time and generality, a laser target simulator in semi-physical simulation system based on RTX+LabWindows/CVI platform is proposed in this paper. Compared with the upper-lower computers simulation platform architecture used in the most of the real-time system now, this system has better maintainability and portability. This system runs on the Windows platform, using Windows RTX real-time extension subsystem to ensure the real-time performance of the system combining with the reflective memory network to complete some real-time tasks such as calculating the simulation model, transmitting the simulation data, and keeping real-time communication. The real-time tasks of simulation system run under the RTSS process. At the same time, we use the LabWindows/CVI to compile a graphical interface, and complete some non-real-time tasks in the process of simulation such as man-machine interaction, display and storage of the simulation data, which run under the Win32 process. Through the design of RTX shared memory and task scheduling algorithm, the data interaction between the real-time tasks process of RTSS and non-real-time tasks process of Win32 is completed. The experimental results show that this system has the strongly real-time performance, highly stability, and highly simulation accuracy. At the same time, it also has the good performance of human-computer interaction.
SWIMRT: A graphical user interface using the sliding window algorithm to construct a fluence map machine file

PubMed Central

Chow, James C.L.; Grigorov, Grigor N.; Yazdani, Nuri

2006-01-01

A custom‐made computer program, SWIMRT, to construct “multileaf collimator (MLC) machine” file for intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) fluence maps was developed using MATLAB® and the sliding window algorithm. The user can either import a fluence map with a graphical file format created by an external treatment‐planning system such as Pinnacle3 or create his or her own fluence map using the matrix editor in the program. Through comprehensive calibrations of the dose and the dimension of the imported fluence field, the user can use associated image‐processing tools such as field resizing and edge trimming to modify the imported map. When the processed fluence map is suitable, a “MLC machine” file is generated for our Varian 21 EX linear accelerator with a 120‐leaf Millennium MLC. This machine file is transferred to the MLC console of the LINAC to control the continuous motions of the leaves during beam irradiation. An IMRT field is then irradiated with the 2D intensity profiles, and the irradiated profiles are compared to the imported or modified fluence map. This program was verified and tested using film dosimetry to address the following uncertainties: (1) the mechanical limitation due to the leaf width and maximum traveling speed, and (2) the dosimetric limitation due to the leaf leakage/transmission and penumbra effect. Because the fluence map can be edited, resized, and processed according to the requirement of a study, SWIMRT is essential in studying and investigating the IMRT technique using the sliding window algorithm. Using this program, future work on the algorithm may include redistributing the time space between segmental fields to enhance the fluence resolution, and readjusting the timing of each leaf during delivery to avoid small fields. Possible clinical utilities and examples for SWIMRT are given in this paper. PACS numbers: 87.53.Kn, 87.53.St, 87.53.Uv PMID:17533330
Low-complexity image processing for real-time detection of neonatal clonic seizures.

PubMed

Ntonfo, Guy Mathurin Kouamou; Ferrari, Gianluigi; Raheli, Riccardo; Pisani, Francesco

2012-05-01

In this paper, we consider a novel low-complexity real-time image-processing-based approach to the detection of neonatal clonic seizures. Our approach is based on the extraction, from a video of a newborn, of an average luminance signal representative of the body movements. Since clonic seizures are characterized by periodic movements of parts of the body (e.g., the limbs), by evaluating the periodicity of the extracted average luminance signal it is possible to detect the presence of a clonic seizure. The periodicity is investigated, through a hybrid autocorrelation-Yin estimation technique, on a per-window basis, where a time window is defined as a sequence of consecutive video frames. While processing is first carried out on a single window basis, we extend our approach to interlaced windows. The performance of the proposed detection algorithm is investigated, in terms of sensitivity and specificity, through receiver operating characteristic curves, considering video recordings of newborns affected by neonatal seizures.
Identification and classification of transient pulses observed in magnetometer array data by time-domain principal component analysis filtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kappler, Karl N.; Schneider, Daniel D.; MacLean, Laura S.; Bleier, Thomas E.

2017-08-01

A method for identification of pulsations in time series of magnetic field data which are simultaneously present in multiple channels of data at one or more sensor locations is described. Candidate pulsations of interest are first identified in geomagnetic time series by inspection. Time series of these "training events" are represented in matrix form and transpose-multiplied to generate time-domain covariance matrices. The ranked eigenvectors of this matrix are stored as a feature of the pulsation. In the second stage of the algorithm, a sliding window (approximately the width of the training event) is moved across the vector-valued time-series comprising the channels on which the training event was observed. At each window position, the data covariance matrix and associated eigenvectors are calculated. We compare the orientation of the dominant eigenvectors of the training data to those from the windowed data and flag windows where the dominant eigenvectors directions are similar. This was successful in automatically identifying pulses which share polarization and appear to be from the same source process. We apply the method to a case study of continuously sampled (50 Hz) data from six observatories, each equipped with three-component induction coil magnetometers. We examine a 90-day interval of data associated with a cluster of four observatories located within 50 km of Napa, California, together with two remote reference stations-one 100 km to the north of the cluster and the other 350 km south. When the training data contains signals present in the remote reference observatories, we are reliably able to identify and extract global geomagnetic signals such as solar-generated noise. When training data contains pulsations only observed in the cluster of local observatories, we identify several types of non-plane wave signals having similar polarization.
Safety of intraparenchymal convection-enhanced delivery of cintredekin besudotox in early-phase studies.

PubMed

Kunwar, Sandeep; Chang, Susan M; Prados, Michael D; Berger, Mitchel S; Sampson, John H; Croteau, David; Sherman, Jeffrey W; Grahn, Amy Y; Shu, Vince S; Dul, Jeanne L; Husain, Syed R; Joshi, Bharat H; Pedain, Christoph; Puri, Raj K

2006-04-15

Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is an increasingly used novel local/regional delivery method targeted directly to tissue. It relies on a continuous pressure gradient for distribution of therapeutic agents into the interstitial space, with administration of the infusate over a few days. Cintredekin besudotox (also known as IL13- PE38QQR) is a recombinant chimeric cytotoxin consisting of interleukin-13 and a truncated exotoxin produced by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium, which targets malignant glioma cells. Cintredekin besudotox was administered via intraparenchymal CED after resection of supratentorial recurrent malignant glioma. The safety and toxicity profile was reviewed for 53 patients in whom infusion catheters had been placed; 51 of them received CED of the study drug. Adverse events were categorized based on time of onset in relation to CED, and the causal relationship with catheter placement or delivery of cintredekin besudotox. Catheters were placed in 53 patients, although only 51 of them received cintredekin besudotox. Most adverse events related to catheter placement or the study drug originated from the central nervous system. Three symptomatic windows were defined: the first one was between surgical procedure and CED; the second was during CED and up to 1 week after its completion; and the third window was 2 to 10 weeks after treatment. Those windows generally reflected adverse events related to surgical procedures, mass effect from infusate, and drug effect on tumor-infiltrated and normal brain parenchyma, respectively. The symptomatic windows identified in this study apply to any CED clinical trials, particularly those in which chimeric cytotoxins are used, and will help to determine the most likely underlying pathophysiological process causing symptoms. This information, in turn, will help to prevent adverse events or minimize their severity. Those events also have implications for dose escalation and outcome measures.
The energy radiated by the 26 December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake estimated from 10-minute P-wave windows

USGS Publications Warehouse

Choy, G.L.; Boatwright, J.

2007-01-01

The rupture process of the Mw 9.1 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake lasted for approximately 500 sec, nearly twice as long as the teleseismic time windows between the P and PP arrival times generally used to compute radiated energy. In order to measure the P waves radiated by the entire earthquake, we analyze records that extend from the P-wave to the S-wave arrival times from stations at distances ?? >60??. These 8- to 10-min windows contain the PP, PPP, and ScP arrivals, along with other multiply reflected phases. To gauge the effect of including these additional phases, we form the spectral ratio of the source spectrum estimated from extended windows (between TP and TS) to the source spectrum estimated from normal windows (between TP and TPP). The extended windows are analyzed as though they contained only the P-pP-sP wave group. We analyze four smaller earthquakes that occurred in the vicinity of the Mw 9.1 mainshock, with similar depths and focal mechanisms. These smaller events range in magnitude from an Mw 6.0 aftershock of 9 January 2005 to the Mw 8.6 Nias earthquake that occurred to the south of the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake on 28 March 2005. We average the spectral ratios for these four events to obtain a frequency-dependent operator for the extended windows. We then correct the source spectrum estimated from the extended records of the 26 December 2004 mainshock to obtain a complete or corrected source spectrum for the entire rupture process (???600 sec) of the great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. Our estimate of the total seismic energy radiated by this earthquake is 1.4 ?? 1017 J. When we compare the corrected source spectrum for the entire earthquake to the source spectrum from the first ???250 sec of the rupture process (obtained from normal teleseismic windows), we find that the mainshock radiated much more seismic energy in the first half of the rupture process than in the second half, especially over the period range from 3 sec to 40 sec.
Reduced cost and improved figure of sapphire optical components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walters, Mark; Bartlett, Kevin; Brophy, Matthew R.; DeGroote Nelson, Jessica; Medicus, Kate

2015-10-01

Sapphire presents many challenges to optical manufacturers due to its high hardness and anisotropic properties. Long lead times and high prices are the typical result of such challenges. The cost of even a simple 'grind and shine' process can be prohibitive. The high precision surfaces required by optical sensor applications further exacerbate the challenge of processing sapphire thereby increasing cost further. Optimax has demonstrated a production process for such windows that delivers over 50% time reduction as compared to traditional manufacturing processes for sapphire, while producing windows with less than 1/5 wave rms figure error. Optimax's sapphire production process achieves significant improvement in cost by implementation of a controlled grinding process to present the best possible surface to the polishing equipment. Following the grinding process is a polishing process taking advantage of chemical interactions between slurry and substrate to deliver excellent removal rates and surface finish. Through experiments, the mechanics of the polishing process were also optimized to produce excellent optical figure. In addition to reducing the cost of producing large sapphire sensor windows, the grinding and polishing technology Optimax has developed aids in producing spherical sapphire components to better figure quality. In addition to reducing the cost of producing large sapphire sensor windows, the grinding and polishing technology Optimax has developed aids in producing spherical sapphire components to better figure quality. Through specially developed polishing slurries, the peak-to-valley figure error of spherical sapphire parts is reduced by over 80%.
Bi-level microelectronic device package with an integral window

DOEpatents

Peterson, Kenneth A.; Watson, Robert D.

2004-01-06

A package with an integral window for housing a microelectronic device. The integral window is bonded directly to the package without having a separate layer of adhesive material disposed in-between the window and the package. The device can be a semiconductor chip, CCD chip, CMOS chip, VCSEL chip, laser diode, MEMS device, or IMEMS device. The multilayered package can be formed of a LTCC or HTCC cofired ceramic material, with the integral window being simultaneously joined to the package during LTCC or HTCC processing. The microelectronic device can be flip-chip bonded so that the light-sensitive side is optically accessible through the window. The package has at least two levels of circuits for making electrical interconnections to a pair of microelectronic devices. The result is a compact, low-profile package having an integral window that is hermetically sealed to the package prior to mounting and interconnecting the microelectronic device(s).
State-of-the-art software for window energy-efficiency rating and labeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arasteh, D.; Finlayson, E.; Huang, J.

1998-07-01

Measuring the thermal performance of windows in typical residential buildings is an expensive proposition. Not only is laboratory testing expensive, but each window manufacturer typically offers hundreds of individual products, each of which has different thermal performance properties. With over a thousand window manufacturers nationally, a testing-based rating system would be prohibitively expensive to the industry and to consumers. Beginning in the early 1990s, simulation software began to be used as part of a national program for rating window U-values. The rating program has since been expanded to include Solar Hear Gain Coefficients and is now being extended to annualmore » energy performance. This paper describes four software packages available to the public from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). These software packages are used to evaluate window thermal performance: RESFEN (for evaluating annual energy costs), WINDOW (for calculating a product`s thermal performance properties), THERM (a preprocessor for WINDOW that determines two-dimensional heat-transfer effects), and Optics (a preprocessor for WINDOW`s glass database). Software not only offers a less expensive means than testing to evaluate window performance, it can also be used during the design process to help manufacturers produce windows that will meet target specifications. In addition, software can show small improvements in window performance that might not be detected in actual testing because of large uncertainties in test procedures.« less
Experimental evaluation of the Continuous Risk Profile (CRP) approach to the current Caltrans methodology for high collision concentration location identification

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-03-31

This report evaluates the performance of Continuous Risk Profile (CRP) compared with the : Sliding Window Method (SWM) and Peak Searching (PS) methods. These three network : screening methods all require the same inputs: traffic collision data and Sa...
Experimental evaluation of the Continuous Risk Profile (CRP) approach to the current Caltrans methodology for high collision concentration location identification.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-03-01

This report evaluates the performance of Continuous Risk Profile (CRP) compared with the : Sliding Window Method (SWM) and Peak Searching (PS) methods. These three network : screening methods all require the same inputs: traffic collision data and Sa...

Manufacturing of hybrid aluminum copper joints by electromagnetic pulse welding - Identification of quantitative process windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Psyk, Verena; Scheffler, Christian; Linnemann, Maik; Landgrebe, Dirk

2017-10-01

Compared to conventional joining techniques, electromagnetic pulse welding offers important advantages especially when it comes to dissimilar material connections as e.g. copper aluminum welds. However, due to missing guidelines and tools for process design, the process has not been widely implemented in industrial production, yet. In order to contribute to overcoming this obstacle, a combined numerical and experimental process analysis for electromagnetic pulse welding of Cu-DHP and EN AW-1050 was carried out and the results were consolidated in a quantitative collision parameter based process window.
Transition Metal Switchable Mirror

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-29

The switchable-mirrors technology was developed by Tom Richardson and Jonathan Slack of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. By using transition metals rather than the rare earth metals used in the first metal-hydride switchable mirrors, Richardson and Slack were able to lower the cost and simplify the manufacturing process. Energy performance is improved as well, because the new windows can reflect or transmit both visible and infrared light. Besides windows for offices and homes, possible applications include automobile sunroofs, signs and displays, aircraft windows, and spacecraft. More information at: http://windows.lbl.gov/materials/chromogenics/default.htm
Advances in low-cost long-wave infrared polymer windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weimer, Wayne A.; Klocek, Paul

1999-07-01

Recent improvements in engineered polymeric material compositions and advances in processing methodologies developed and patented at Raytheon Systems Company have produced long wave IR windows at exceptionally low costs. These UV stabilized, high strength windows incorporating subwavelength structured antireflection surfaces are enabling IR imaging systems to penetrate commercial markets and will reduce the cost of systems delivered to the military. The optical and mechanical properties of these windows will be discussed in detail with reference to the short and long-term impact on military IR imaging systems.
Transition Metal Switchable Mirror

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2009-08-21

The switchable-mirrors technology was developed by Tom Richardson and Jonathan Slack of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. By using transition metals rather than the rare earth metals used in the first metal-hydride switchable mirrors, Richardson and Slack were able to lower the cost and simplify the manufacturing process. Energy performance is improved as well, because the new windows can reflect or transmit both visible and infrared light. Besides windows for offices and homes, possible applications include automobile sunroofs, signs and displays, aircraft windows, and spacecraft. More information at: http://windows.lbl.gov/materials/chromogenics/default.htm
Dynamic modeling of potentially conflicting energy reduction strategies for residential structures in semi-arid climates.

PubMed

Hester, Nathan; Li, Ke; Schramski, John R; Crittenden, John

2012-04-30

Globally, residential energy consumption continues to rise due to a variety of trends such as increasing access to modern appliances, overall population growth, and the overall increase of electricity distribution. Currently, residential energy consumption accounts for approximately one-fifth of total U.S. energy consumption. This research analyzes the effectiveness of a range of energy-saving measures for residential houses in semi-arid climates. These energy-saving measures include: structural insulated panels (SIP) for exterior wall construction, daylight control, increased window area, efficient window glass suitable for the local weather, and several combinations of these. Our model determined that energy consumption is reduced by up to 6.1% when multiple energy savings technologies are combined. In addition, pre-construction technologies (structural insulated panels (SIPs), daylight control, and increased window area) provide roughly 4 times the energy savings when compared to post-construction technologies (window blinds and efficient window glass). The model also illuminated the importance variations in local climate and building configuration; highlighting the site-specific nature of this type of energy consumption quantification for policy and building code considerations. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Continuation of research into software for space operations support, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collier, Mark D.; Killough, Ronnie; Martin, Nancy L.

1990-01-01

A prototype workstation executive called the Hardware Independent Software Development Environment (HISDE) was developed. Software technologies relevant to workstation executives were researched and evaluated and HISDE was used as a test bed for prototyping efforts. New X Windows software concepts and technology were introduced into workstation executives and related applications. The four research efforts performed included: (1) Research into the usability and efficiency of Motif (an X Windows based graphic user interface) which consisted of converting the existing Athena widget based HISDE user interface to Motif demonstrating the usability of Motif and providing insight into the level of effort required to translate an application from widget to another; (2) Prototype a real time data display widget which consisted of research methods for and prototyping the selected method of displaying textual values in an efficient manner; (3) X Windows performance evaluation which consisted of a series of performance measurements which demonstrated the ability of low level X Windows to display textural information; (4) Convert the Display Manager to X Window/Motif which is the application used by NASA for data display during operational mode.
Ultrafast chirped optical waveform recording using referenced heterodyning and a time microscope

DOEpatents

Bennett, Corey Vincent

2010-06-15

A new technique for capturing both the amplitude and phase of an optical waveform is presented. This technique can capture signals with many THz of bandwidths in a single shot (e.g., temporal resolution of about 44 fs), or be operated repetitively at a high rate. That is, each temporal window (or frame) is captured single shot, in real time, but the process may be run repeatedly or single-shot. This invention expands upon previous work in temporal imaging by adding heterodyning, which can be self-referenced for improved precision and stability, to convert frequency chirp (the second derivative of phase with respect to time) into a time varying intensity modulation. By also including a variety of possible demultiplexing techniques, this process is scalable to recoding continuous signals.
Ultrafast chirped optical waveform recorder using referenced heterodyning and a time microscope

DOEpatents

Bennett, Corey Vincent [Livermore, CA

2011-11-22

A new technique for capturing both the amplitude and phase of an optical waveform is presented. This technique can capture signals with many THz of bandwidths in a single shot (e.g., temporal resolution of about 44 fs), or be operated repetitively at a high rate. That is, each temporal window (or frame) is captured single shot, in real time, but the process may be run repeatedly or single-shot. This invention expands upon previous work in temporal imaging by adding heterodyning, which can be self-referenced for improved precision and stability, to convert frequency chirp (the second derivative of phase with respect to time) into a time varying intensity modulation. By also including a variety of possible demultiplexing techniques, this process is scalable to recoding continuous signals.
Recovery after mass extinction: evolutionary assembly in large-scale biosphere dynamics.

PubMed Central

Solé, Ricard V; Montoya, José M; Erwin, Douglas H

2002-01-01

Biotic recoveries following mass extinctions are characterized by a process in which whole ecologies are reconstructed from low-diversity systems, often characterized by opportunistic groups. The recovery process provides an unexpected window to ecosystem dynamics. In many aspects, recovery is very similar to ecological succession, but important differences are also apparently linked to the innovative patterns of niche construction observed in the fossil record. In this paper, we analyse the similarities and differences between ecological succession and evolutionary recovery to provide a preliminary ecological theory of recoveries. A simple evolutionary model with three trophic levels is presented, and its properties (closely resembling those observed in the fossil record) are compared with characteristic patterns of ecological response to disturbances in continuous models of three-level ecosystems. PMID:12079530
A novel configurable VLSI architecture design of window-based image processing method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Hui; Sang, Hongshi; Shen, Xubang

2018-03-01

Most window-based image processing architecture can only achieve a certain kind of specific algorithms, such as 2D convolution, and therefore lack the flexibility and breadth of application. In addition, improper handling of the image boundary can cause loss of accuracy, or consume more logic resources. For the above problems, this paper proposes a new VLSI architecture of window-based image processing operations, which is configurable and based on consideration of the image boundary. An efficient technique is explored to manage the image borders by overlapping and flushing phases at the end of row and the end of frame, which does not produce new delay and reduce the overhead in real-time applications. Maximize the reuse of the on-chip memory data, in order to reduce the hardware complexity and external bandwidth requirements. To perform different scalar function and reduction function operations in pipeline, this can support a variety of applications of window-based image processing. Compared with the performance of other reported structures, the performance of the new structure has some similarities to some of the structures, but also superior to some other structures. Especially when compared with a systolic array processor CWP, this structure at the same frequency of approximately 12.9% of the speed increases. The proposed parallel VLSI architecture was implemented with SIMC 0.18-μm CMOS technology, and the maximum clock frequency, power consumption, and area are 125Mhz, 57mW, 104.8K Gates, respectively, furthermore the processing time is independent of the different window-based algorithms mapped to the structure
Apparatus for preventing particle deposition from process streams on optical access windows

DOEpatents

Logan, Ronald G.; Grimm, Ulrich

1993-01-01

An electrostatic precipitator is disposed inside and around the periphery of the window of a viewing port communicating with a housing through which a particle-laden gas stream is being passed. The precipitator includes a pair of electrodes around the periphery of the window, spaced apart and connected to a unidirectional voltage source. Application of high voltage from the source to the electrodes causes air molecules in the gas stream to become ionized, attaching to solid particles and causing them to be deposited on a collector electrode. This prevents the particles from being deposited on the window and keeps the window clean for viewing and making optical measurements.
Brain functional connectivity during the experience of thought blocks in schizophrenic patients with persistent auditory verbal hallucinations: an EEG study.

PubMed

Angelopoulos, Elias; Koutsoukos, Elias; Maillis, Antonis; Papadimitriou, George N; Stefanis, Costas

2014-03-01

Thought blocks (TBs) are characterized by regular interruptions in the stream of thought. Outward signs are abrupt and repeated interruptions in the flow of conversation or actions while subjective experience is that of a total and uncontrollable emptying of the mind. In the very limited bibliography regarding TB, the phenomenon is thought to be conceptualized as a disturbance of consciousness that can be attributed to stoppages of continuous information processing due to an increase in the volume of information to be processed. In an attempt to investigate potential expression of the phenomenon on the functional properties of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, an EEG study was contacted in schizophrenic patients with persisting auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) who additionally exhibited TBs. In this case, we hypothesized that the persistent and dense AVHs could serve the role of an increased information flow that the brain is unable to process, a condition that is perceived by the person as TB. Phase synchronization analyses performed on EEG segments during the experience of TBs showed that synchrony values exhibited a long-range common mode of coupling (grouped behavior) among the left temporal area and the remaining central and frontal brain areas. These common synchrony-fluctuation schemes were observed for 0.5 to 2s and were detected in a 4-s window following the estimated initiation of the phenomenon. The observation was frequency specific and detected in the broad alpha band region (6-12Hz). The introduction of synchrony entropy (SE) analysis applied on the cumulative synchrony distribution showed that TB states were characterized by an explicit preference of the system to be functioned at low values of synchrony, while the synchrony values are broadly distributed during the recovery state. Our results indicate that during TB states, the phase locking of several brain areas were converged uniformly in a narrow band of low synchrony values and in a distinct time window, impeding thus the ability of the system to recruit and to process information during this time window. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Kerfless epitaxial silicon wafers with 7 ms carrier lifetimes and a wide lift-off process window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gemmel, Catherin; Hensen, Jan; David, Lasse; Kajari-Schröder, Sarah; Brendel, Rolf

2018-04-01

Silicon wafers contribute significantly to the photovoltaic module cost. Kerfless silicon wafers that grow epitaxially on porous silicon (PSI) and are subsequently detached from the growth substrate are a promising lower cost drop-in replacement for standard Czochralski (Cz) wafers. However, a wide technological processing window appears to be a challenge for this process. This holds in particularly for the etching current density of the separation layer that leads to lift-off failures if it is too large or too low. Here we present kerfless PSI wafers of high electronic quality that we fabricate on weakly reorganized porous Si with etch current densities varying in a wide process window from 110 to 150 mA/cm2. We are able to detach all 17 out of 17 epitaxial wafers. All wafers exhibit charge carrier lifetimes in the range of 1.9 to 4.3 ms at an injection level of 1015 cm-3 without additional high-temperature treatment. We find even higher lifetimes in the range of 4.6 to 7.0 ms after applying phosphorous gettering. These results indicate that a weak reorganization of the porous layer can be beneficial for a large lift-off process window while still allowing for high carrier lifetimes.
EUV patterning improvement toward high-volume manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuwahara, Yuhei; Matsunaga, Koichi; Kawakami, Shinichiro; Nafus, Kathleen; Foubert, Philippe; Goethals, Anne-Marie

2015-03-01

Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) technology is a promising candidate for a semiconductor process for 18nm half pitch and beyond. So far, the studies of EUV for manufacturability have been focused on particular aspects. It still requires fine resolution, uniform and smooth patterns, and low defectivity, not only after lithography but also after the etch process. Tokyo Electron Limited and imec are continuously collaborating to improve manufacturing quality of the process of record (POR) on a CLEAN TRACKTM LITHIUS ProTMZ-EUV. This next generation coating/developing system has been upgraded with defectivity reduction enhancements which are applied along with TELTM best known methods. We have evaluated process defectivity post lithography and post etch. Apart from defectivity, FIRMTM rinse material and application compatibility with sub 18nm patterning is improved to prevent line pattern collapse and increase process window on next generation resist materials. This paper reports on the progress of defectivity and patterning performance optimization towards the NXE:3300 POR.
Outcompeting nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in single-stage nitrogen removal in sewage treatment plants: a model-based study.

PubMed

Pérez, Julio; Lotti, Tommaso; Kleerebezem, Robbert; Picioreanu, Cristian; van Loosdrecht, Mark C M

2014-12-01

This model-based study investigated the mechanisms and operational window for efficient repression of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in an autotrophic nitrogen removal process. The operation of a continuous single-stage granular sludge process was simulated for nitrogen removal from pretreated sewage at 10 °C. The effects of the residual ammonium concentration were explicitly analyzed with the model. Competition for oxygen between ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and NOB was found to be essential for NOB repression even when the suppression of nitrite oxidation is assisted by nitrite reduction by anammox (AMX). The nitrite half-saturation coefficient of NOB and AMX proved non-sensitive for the model output. The maximum specific growth rate of AMX bacteria proved a sensitive process parameter, because higher rates would provide a competitive advantage for AMX. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Microflow High-p,T Intensification of Vitamin D3 Synthesis Using an Ultraviolet Lamp

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Herewith a new process concept for synthesis is presented which combines both UV-photoirradiation and high-p,T intensification (photo-high-p,T) in continuous flow. The application of this procedure to Vitamin D3 synthesis promotes thermal shifting of the equilibrium from the reaction intermediate to the product. This is enabled by microreactors which allow operation under harsh conditions such as the high temperature used here. This provides, to our best knowledge, a new kind of process combination (novel process window). As a result, in less than 1 min, 42% conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol can be achieved giving a 17% yield and 40% selectivity of Vitamin D3. This approach enhances productivity by up to 2 orders of magnitude compared with the current capillary based vitamin D3 synthesis, because, under the microflow conditions, photochemistry can be performed at fairly high concentration and up to 20 times faster. PMID:29503521
2.5-month-old infants' reasoning about when objects should and should not be occluded.

PubMed

Aguiar, A; Baillargeon, R

1999-09-01

The present research examined 2.5-month-old infants' reasoning about occlusion events. Three experiments investigated infants' ability to predict whether an object should remain continuously hidden or become temporarily visible when passing behind an occluder with an opening in its midsection. In Experiment 1, the infants were habituated to a short toy mouse that moved back and forth behind a screen. Next, the infants saw two test events that were identical to the habituation event except that a portion of the screen's midsection was removed to create a large window. In one event (high-window event), the window extended from the screen's upper edge; the mouse was shorter than the bottom of the window and thus did not become visible when passing behind the screen. In the other event (low-window event), the window extended from the screen's lower edge; although the mouse was shorter than the top of the window and hence should have become fully visible when passing behind the screen, it never appeared in the window. The infants tended to look equally at the high- and low-window events, suggesting that they were not surprised when the mouse failed to appear in the low window. However, positive results were obtained in Experiment 2 when the low-window event was modified: a portion of the screen above the window was removed so that the left and right sections of the screen were no longer connected (two-screens event). The infants looked reliably longer at the two-screens than at the high-window event. Together, the results of Experiments 1 and 2 suggested that, at 2.5 months of age, infants possess only very limited expectations about when objects should and should not be occluded. Specifically, infants expect objects (1) to become visible when passing between occluders and (2) to remain hidden when passing behind occluders, irrespective of whether these have openings extending from their upper or lower edges. Experiment 3 provided support for this interpretation. The implications of these findings for models of the origins and development of infants' knowledge about occlusion events are discussed. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.
[Real-time detection and processing of medical signals under windows using Lcard analog interfaces].

PubMed

Kuz'min, A A; Belozerov, A E; Pronin, T V

2008-01-01

Multipurpose modular software for an analog interface based on Lcard 761 is considered. Algorithms for pipeline processing of medical signals under Windows with dynamic control of computational resources are suggested. The software consists of user-friendly completable modifiable modules. The module hierarchy is based on object-oriented heritage principles, which make it possible to construct various real-time systems for long-term detection, processing, and imaging of multichannel medical signals.
Neurodynamics of executive control processes in bilinguals: evidence from ERP and source reconstruction analyses.

PubMed

Heidlmayr, Karin; Hemforth, Barbara; Moutier, Sylvain; Isel, Frédéric

2015-01-01

The present study was designed to examine the impact of bilingualism on the neuronal activity in different executive control processes namely conflict monitoring, control implementation (i.e., interference suppression and conflict resolution) and overcoming of inhibition. Twenty-two highly proficient but non-balanced successive French-German bilingual adults and 22 monolingual adults performed a combined Stroop/Negative priming task while event-related potential (ERP) were recorded online. The data revealed that the ERP effects were reduced in bilinguals in comparison to monolinguals but only in the Stroop task and limited to the N400 and the sustained fronto-central negative-going potential time windows. This result suggests that bilingualism may impact the process of control implementation rather than the process of conflict monitoring (N200). Critically, our study revealed a differential time course of the involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in conflict processing. While the ACC showed major activation in the early time windows (N200 and N400) but not in the latest time window (late sustained negative-going potential), the PFC became unilaterally active in the left hemisphere in the N400 and the late sustained negative-going potential time windows. Taken together, the present electroencephalography data lend support to a cascading neurophysiological model of executive control processes, in which ACC and PFC may play a determining role.
Neurodynamics of executive control processes in bilinguals: evidence from ERP and source reconstruction analyses

PubMed Central

Heidlmayr, Karin; Hemforth, Barbara; Moutier, Sylvain; Isel, Frédéric

2015-01-01

The present study was designed to examine the impact of bilingualism on the neuronal activity in different executive control processes namely conflict monitoring, control implementation (i.e., interference suppression and conflict resolution) and overcoming of inhibition. Twenty-two highly proficient but non-balanced successive French–German bilingual adults and 22 monolingual adults performed a combined Stroop/Negative priming task while event-related potential (ERP) were recorded online. The data revealed that the ERP effects were reduced in bilinguals in comparison to monolinguals but only in the Stroop task and limited to the N400 and the sustained fronto-central negative-going potential time windows. This result suggests that bilingualism may impact the process of control implementation rather than the process of conflict monitoring (N200). Critically, our study revealed a differential time course of the involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in conflict processing. While the ACC showed major activation in the early time windows (N200 and N400) but not in the latest time window (late sustained negative-going potential), the PFC became unilaterally active in the left hemisphere in the N400 and the late sustained negative-going potential time windows. Taken together, the present electroencephalography data lend support to a cascading neurophysiological model of executive control processes, in which ACC and PFC may play a determining role. PMID:26124740

Fabrication of MgF2 and LiF windows for the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gormley, Daphne; Bottema, Murk; Darnell, Barbara; Fowler, Walter; Medenica, Walter

1988-01-01

Two prototype test windows (MgF2 and LiF) to be used on the 75-mm UV MAMA detector tubes for the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph are described. The spatial and optical constraints of this instrument dictate that the thickness of the window materials be no greater than 2-3 mm to achieve a minimum 50-percent transmission at hydrogen Lyman alpha (121.6 nm), and that the window must be domed to minimize optical aberrations and provide structural strength. The detector window has an input diameter of about 100 mm with a radius-of-curvature of 70 mm. The manufacturing processes involved in the fabrication of these windows is discussed, as well as test programs (optical and structural) to be performed at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Windowing technique in FM radar realized by FPGA for better target resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ponomaryov, Volodymyr I.; Escamilla-Hernandez, Enrique; Kravchenko, Victor F.

2006-09-01

Remote sensing systems, such as SAR usually apply FM signals to resolve nearly placed targets (objects) and improve SNR. Main drawbacks in the pulse compression of FM radar signal that it can add the range side-lobes in reflectivity measurements. Using weighting window processing in time domain it is possible to decrease significantly the side-lobe level (SLL) of output radar signal that permits to resolve small or low power targets those are masked by powerful ones. There are usually used classical windows such as Hamming, Hanning, Blackman-Harris, Kaiser-Bessel, Dolph-Chebyshev, Gauss, etc. in window processing. Additionally to classical ones in here we also use a novel class of windows based on atomic functions (AF) theory. For comparison of simulation and experimental results we applied the standard parameters, such as coefficient of amplification, maximum level of side-lobe, width of main lobe, etc. In this paper we also proposed to implement the compression-windowing model on a hardware level employing Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) that offers some benefits like instantaneous implementation, dynamic reconfiguration, design, and field programmability. It has been investigated the pulse compression design on FPGA applying classical and novel window technique to reduce the SLL in absence and presence of noise. The paper presents simulated and experimental examples of detection of small or nearly placed targets in the imaging radar. Paper also presents the experimental hardware results of windowing in FM radar demonstrating resolution of the several targets for classical rectangular, Hamming, Kaiser-Bessel, and some novel ones: Up(x), fup 4(x)•D 3(x), fup 6(x)•G 3(x), etc. It is possible to conclude that windows created on base of the AFs offer better decreasing of the SLL in cases of presence or absence of noise and when we move away of the main lobe in comparison with classical windows.
Spatial-temporal modeling of the association between air pollution exposure and preterm birth: identifying critical windows of exposure.

PubMed

Warren, Joshua; Fuentes, Montserrat; Herring, Amy; Langlois, Peter

2012-12-01

Exposure to high levels of air pollution during the pregnancy is associated with increased probability of preterm birth (PTB), a major cause of infant morbidity and mortality. New statistical methodology is required to specifically determine when a particular pollutant impacts the PTB outcome, to determine the role of different pollutants, and to characterize the spatial variability in these results. We develop a new Bayesian spatial model for PTB which identifies susceptible windows throughout the pregnancy jointly for multiple pollutants (PM(2.5) , ozone) while allowing these windows to vary continuously across space and time. We geo-code vital record birth data from Texas (2002-2004) and link them with standard pollution monitoring data and a newly introduced EPA product of calibrated air pollution model output. We apply the fully spatial model to a region of 13 counties in eastern Texas consisting of highly urban as well as rural areas. Our results indicate significant signal in the first two trimesters of pregnancy with different pollutants leading to different critical windows. Introducing the spatial aspect uncovers critical windows previously unidentified when space is ignored. A proper inference procedure is introduced to correctly analyze these windows. © 2012, The International Biometric Society.
Oscillatory integration windows in neurons

PubMed Central

Gupta, Nitin; Singh, Swikriti Saran; Stopfer, Mark

2016-01-01

Oscillatory synchrony among neurons occurs in many species and brain areas, and has been proposed to help neural circuits process information. One hypothesis states that oscillatory input creates cyclic integration windows: specific times in each oscillatory cycle when postsynaptic neurons become especially responsive to inputs. With paired local field potential (LFP) and intracellular recordings and controlled stimulus manipulations we directly test this idea in the locust olfactory system. We find that inputs arriving in Kenyon cells (KCs) sum most effectively in a preferred window of the oscillation cycle. With a computational model, we show that the non-uniform structure of noise in the membrane potential helps mediate this process. Further experiments performed in vivo demonstrate that integration windows can form in the absence of inhibition and at a broad range of oscillation frequencies. Our results reveal how a fundamental coincidence-detection mechanism in a neural circuit functions to decode temporally organized spiking. PMID:27976720
Defense Information Systems Agency Technical Integration Support (DISA- TIS). MUMPS Study.

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

usable in DoD, MUMPS must continue to improve in its support of DoD and OSE standards such as SQL , X-Windows, POSIX, PHIGS, etc. MUMPS and large AlSs...Language ( SQL ), X-Windows, and Graphical Kernel Services (GKS)) 2.2.2.3 FIPS Adoption by NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST...many of the performance tuning mechanisms that must be performed explicitly with other systems. The VA looks forward to the SQL binding (1993 ANS) that
Microelectronic device package with an integral window

DOEpatents

Peterson, Kenneth A.; Watson, Robert D.

2002-01-01

An apparatus for packaging of microelectronic devices, including an integral window. The microelectronic device can be a semiconductor chip, a CCD chip, a CMOS chip, a VCSEL chip, a laser diode, a MEMS device, or a IMEMS device. The package can include a cofired ceramic frame or body. The package can have an internal stepped structure made of one or more plates, with apertures, which are patterned with metallized conductive circuit traces. The microelectronic device can be flip-chip bonded on the plate to these traces, and oriented so that the light-sensitive side is optically accessible through the window. A cover lid can be attached to the opposite side of the package. The result is a compact, low-profile package, having an integral window that can be hermetically-sealed. The package body can be formed by low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) or high-temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) multilayer processes with the window being simultaneously joined (e.g. cofired) to the package body during LTCC or HTCC processing. Multiple chips can be located within a single package. The cover lid can include a window. The apparatus is particularly suited for packaging of MEMS devices, since the number of handling steps is greatly reduced, thereby reducing the potential for contamination.
Closeup view of the upper exterior of the forward fuselage ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Close-up view of the upper exterior of the forward fuselage of the Orbiter Discovery in the Orbiter Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The view show a detail of the flight deck windows with protective covers installed to protect the window surfaces during processing. - Space Transportation System, Orbiter Discovery (OV-103), Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX
A large, switchable optical clearing skull window for cerebrovascular imaging

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chao; Feng, Wei; Zhao, Yanjie; Yu, Tingting; Li, Pengcheng; Xu, Tonghui; Luo, Qingming; Zhu, Dan

2018-01-01

Rationale: Intravital optical imaging is a significant method for investigating cerebrovascular structure and function. However, its imaging contrast and depth are limited by the turbid skull. Tissue optical clearing has a great potential for solving this problem. Our goal was to develop a transparent skull window, without performing a craniotomy, for use in assessing cerebrovascular structure and function. Methods: Skull optical clearing agents were topically applied to the skulls of mice to create a transparent window within 15 min. The clearing efficacy, repeatability, and safety of the skull window were then investigated. Results: Imaging through the optical clearing skull window enhanced both the contrast and the depth of intravital imaging. The skull window could be used on 2-8-month-old mice and could be expanded from regional to bi-hemispheric. In addition, the window could be repeatedly established without inducing observable inflammation and metabolic toxicity. Conclusion: We successfully developed an easy-to-handle, large, switchable, and safe optical clearing skull window. Combined with various optical imaging techniques, cerebrovascular structure and function can be observed through this optical clearing skull window. Thus, it has the potential for use in basic research on the physiopathologic processes of cortical vessels. PMID:29774069
Continuous imaging of the blood vessels in tumor mouse dorsal skin window chamber model by using SD-OCT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Xiao; Yang, Shaozhuang; Yu, Bin; Wang, Qi; Lin, Danying; Gao, Jian; Zhang, Peiqi; Ma, Yiqun; Qu, Junle; Niu, Hanben

2016-03-01

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has been widely applied into microstructure imaging of tissues or blood vessels with a series of advantages, including non-destructiveness, real-time imaging, high resolution and high sensitivity. In this study, a Spectral Domain OCT (SD-OCT) system with higher sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was built up, which was used to observe the blood vessel distribution and blood flow in the dorsal skin window chamber of the nude mouse tumor model. In order to obtain comparable data, the distribution images of blood vessels were collected from the same mouse before and after tumor injection. In conclusion, in vivo blood vessel distribution images of the tumor mouse model have been continuously obtained during around two weeks.
Three-dimensional laser window formation for industrial application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verhoff, Vincent G.; Kowalski, David

1993-01-01

The NASA Lewis Research Center has developed and implemented a unique process for forming flawless three-dimensional, compound-curvature laser windows to extreme accuracies. These windows represent an integral component of specialized nonintrusive laser data acquisition systems that are used in a variety of compressor and turbine research testing facilities. These windows are molded to the flow surface profile of turbine and compressor casings and are required to withstand extremely high pressures and temperatures. This method of glass formation could also be used to form compound-curvature mirrors that would require little polishing and for a variety of industrial applications, including research view ports for testing devices and view ports for factory machines with compound-curvature casings. Currently, sodium-alumino-silicate glass is recommended for three-dimensional laser windows because of its high strength due to chemical strengthening and its optical clarity. This paper discusses the main aspects of three-dimensional laser window formation. It focuses on the unique methodology and the peculiarities that are associated with the formation of these windows.
Resource Sharing in a Network of Personal Computers.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

magnetic card, or a more secure identifier such as a machine-read fingerprint or voiceprint. Security and Protection 57 (3) (R, key) (5) (RB’ B, key) (B...operations are invoked via messages, a program and its terminal can easily be located on separate machines. In Spice, an interface process called Canvas ...request of a process. In Canvas , a process can only subdivide windows that it already has. On the other hand, the window manager treats the screen as a
[Applied anatomy of scala tympani inlet related to cochlear implantation].

PubMed

Zou, Tuanming; Guo, Menghe; Zhang, Hongzheng; Shu, Fan; Xie, Nanping

2012-06-01

To investigate the related parameters of the temporal bone structure for determining the position of implanting electrode into the scala tympani in cochlear implantation surgery through the facial recess and epitympanum approach. In a surgical simulation experiment, 20 human temporal bones were studied and measured to determine the related parameters of the temporal bone structure. The distance 5.91∓0.29 mm between the short process of the incus and the round window niche, 2.11∓0.18 mm between the stapes and the round window niche, 6.70∓0.19 mm between the facial nerve in the perpendicular paragraph and the round window niche, 2.22∓0.21 mm from the pyramidal eminence to the round window, and 2.16∓0.14 mm between the stapes and the round window. The minimal distance between the implanting electrode and the vestibular window was 2.12∓0.19 mm. The distance between the cochleariform process and the round window niche was 3.79∓0.17 mm. The position of the cochlear electrode array insertion into the second cochlear turn was 2.25∓0.13 mm under the stapes. The location of the cochlear electrode array insertion into the second cochlear turn was 2.28∓0.20 mm inferior to the pyramidal eminence. These parameters provide a reference value to determine the different positions of cochlear electrode array insertion into the scale tympani in different patients.
Monitoring of a steep rockfall area experiencing fast displacements in Kåfjord, Northern Norway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dreiås Majala, Gudrun; Harald Blikra, Lars; Skrede, Ingrid; Kristensen, Lene

2016-04-01

An unstable rockfall area in Kåfjord, Northern Norway, was recognized during periodic monitoring campaigns in July and early September 2015. The LiSALab ground based Interferometric Synthethic Aperture Radar (GB InSAR) from Ellegi were used. A relatively sharply defined steep area of 1200 m2 (6.000 - 12.000 m3) was documented to be in movement. Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) was at this point performing mitigation work in terms of an embarkment within the rockfall run-out area. The monitoring system was reinstalled and adjusted to perform continuous monitoring with an early-warning aim. The section for rockslide management in NVE was responsible for the monitoring and the warning to the municipality and Police. The displacements increased from about 1 mm/day in July to 3 cm/day in mid September. People were evalcuated due to increased velocities the 16th of September. The displacements continued to increase in several stages, and with a distinct accelleration the 2nd of October. The velocity peaked in a short window to more than 200 cm/day, and it ended with a partly frontal and sideway collapse of the unstable area. However, large parts of the area stabilized again, and the run-out lengths from the small rockfalls were limited. The GB InSAR system operated exceptionally well during the event, and were able to follow continuously the displacements during the accelleration stage until collapse as the processing time window was frequently adjusted to the changes in velocity. We were also able to follow inidividual rockfalls from the images - primarily as the rockfall impact points on the slope below showed up clearly on the radar images. The area continued to stabilize due to falling temperatures, and the mitigation work were finished during the fall. The displacements seem to be correlated to the increasing temperatures in late summer and precipitation events.
Optical signal processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Casasent, D.

1978-01-01

The article discusses several optical configurations used for signal processing. Electronic-to-optical transducers are outlined, noting fixed window transducers and moving window acousto-optic transducers. Folded spectrum techniques are considered, with reference to wideband RF signal analysis, fetal electroencephalogram analysis, engine vibration analysis, signal buried in noise, and spatial filtering. Various methods for radar signal processing are described, such as phased-array antennas, the optical processing of phased-array data, pulsed Doppler and FM radar systems, a multichannel one-dimensional optical correlator, correlations with long coded waveforms, and Doppler signal processing. Means for noncoherent optical signal processing are noted, including an optical correlator for speech recognition and a noncoherent optical correlator.
Method and apparatus for monitoring the flow of mercury in a system

DOEpatents

Grossman, Mark W.

1987-01-01

An apparatus and method for monitoring the flow of mercury in a system. The equipment enables the entrainment of the mercury in a carrier gas e.g., an inert gas, which passes as mercury vapor between a pair of optically transparent windows. The attenuation of the emission is indicative of the quantity of mercury (and its isotopes) in the system. A 253.7 nm light is shone through one of the windows and the unabsorbed light is detected through the other window. The absorption of the 253.7 nm light is thereby measured whereby the quantity of mercury passing between the windows can be determined. The apparatus includes an in-line sensor for measuring the quantity of mercury. It includes a conduit together with a pair of apertures disposed in a face to face relationship and arranged on opposite sides of the conduit. A pair of optically transparent windows are disposed upon a pair of viewing tubes. A portion of each of the tubes is disposed inside of the conduit and within each of the apertures. The two windows are disposed in a face to face relationship on the ends of the viewing tubes and the entire assembly is hermetically sealed from the atmosphere whereby when 253.7 nm ultraviolet light is shone through one of the windows and detected through the other, the quantity of mercury which is passing by can be continuously monitored due to absorption which is indicated by attenuation of the amplitude of the observed emission.
First 65nm tape-out using inverse lithography technology (ILT)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hung, Chi-Yuan; Zhang, Bin; Tang, Deming; Guo, Eric; Pang, Linyong; Liu, Yong; Moore, Andrew; Wang, Kechang

2005-11-01

This paper presents SMIC's first 65nm tape out results, in particularly, using ILT. ILT mathematically determines the mask features that produce the desired on-wafer results with best wafer pattern fidelity, largest process window or both. SMIC applied it to its first 65nm tape-out to study ILT performance and benefits for deep sub-wavelength lithography. SMIC selected 3 SRAM designs as the first test case, because SRAM bit-cells contain features which are challenging lithographically. Mask patterns generated from both conventional OPC and ILT were placed on the mask side-by-side. Mask manufacturability (including fracturing, writing time, inspection, and metrology) and wafer print performance of ILT were studied. The results demonstrated that ILT achieved better CD accuracy, produced substantially larger process window than conventional OPC, and met SMIC's 65nm process window requirements.
Ferroelectric and reliability properties of metal-organic chemical vapor deposited Pb(Zr0.15Ti0.85)O3 thin films grown in the self-regulation process window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Jin Shi; Lee, Hyun Ju; Sim, Joon Seop; Lee, Keun; Hwang, Cheol Seong

2006-04-01

Ferroelectric reliability of Pb(Zr0.15Ti0.85)O3 films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition at 570°C on an Ir electrode in the self-regulation process window [constant Pb concentration irrespective of the precursor input ratio (Pb /(Zr+Ti), PIR)] was studied. Although the Pb composition and crystallinity of the films grown under different PIR were almost identical, the film grown under a PIR which was near the center of the process window showed the best ferroelectric performance. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the films grown at lower and higher PIR have residual ZrO2 and metallic Pb, respectively, which resulted in reduced remanent polarization and reliability.
Lithography hotspot discovery at 70nm DRAM 300mm fab: process window qualification using design base binning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Daniel; Chen, Damian; Yen, Ray; Cheng, Mingjen; Lan, Andy; Ghaskadvi, Rajesh

2008-11-01

Identifying hotspots--structures that limit the lithography process window--become increasingly important as the industry relies heavily on RET to print sub-wavelength designs. KLA-Tencor's patented Process Window Qualification (PWQ) methodology has been used for this purpose in various fabs. PWQ methodology has three key advantages (a) PWQ Layout--to obtain the best sensitivity (b) Design Based Binning--for pattern repeater analysis (c) Intelligent sampling--for the best DOI sampling rate. This paper evaluates two different analysis strategies for SEM review sampling successfully deployed at Inotera Memories, Inc. We propose a new approach combining the location repeater and pattern repeaters. Based on a recent case study the new sampling flow reduces the data analysis and sampling time from 6 hours to 1.5 hour maintaining maximum DOI sample rate.
A method for energy window optimization for quantitative tasks that includes the effects of model-mismatch on bias: application to Y-90 bremsstrahlung SPECT imaging.

PubMed

Rong, Xing; Du, Yong; Frey, Eric C

2012-06-21

Quantitative Yttrium-90 ((90)Y) bremsstrahlung single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging has shown great potential to provide reliable estimates of (90)Y activity distribution for targeted radionuclide therapy dosimetry applications. One factor that potentially affects the reliability of the activity estimates is the choice of the acquisition energy window. In contrast to imaging conventional gamma photon emitters where the acquisition energy windows are usually placed around photopeaks, there has been great variation in the choice of the acquisition energy window for (90)Y imaging due to the continuous and broad energy distribution of the bremsstrahlung photons. In quantitative imaging of conventional gamma photon emitters, previous methods for optimizing the acquisition energy window assumed unbiased estimators and used the variance in the estimates as a figure of merit (FOM). However, for situations, such as (90)Y imaging, where there are errors in the modeling of the image formation process used in the reconstruction there will be bias in the activity estimates. In (90)Y bremsstrahlung imaging this will be especially important due to the high levels of scatter, multiple scatter, and collimator septal penetration and scatter. Thus variance will not be a complete measure of reliability of the estimates and thus is not a complete FOM. To address this, we first aimed to develop a new method to optimize the energy window that accounts for both the bias due to model-mismatch and the variance of the activity estimates. We applied this method to optimize the acquisition energy window for quantitative (90)Y bremsstrahlung SPECT imaging in microsphere brachytherapy. Since absorbed dose is defined as the absorbed energy from the radiation per unit mass of tissues in this new method we proposed a mass-weighted root mean squared error of the volume of interest (VOI) activity estimates as the FOM. To calculate this FOM, two analytical expressions were derived for calculating the bias due to model-mismatch and the variance of the VOI activity estimates, respectively. To obtain the optimal acquisition energy window for general situations of interest in clinical (90)Y microsphere imaging, we generated phantoms with multiple tumors of various sizes and various tumor-to-normal activity concentration ratios using a digital phantom that realistically simulates human anatomy, simulated (90)Y microsphere imaging with a clinical SPECT system and typical imaging parameters using a previously validated Monte Carlo simulation code, and used a previously proposed method for modeling the image degrading effects in quantitative SPECT reconstruction. The obtained optimal acquisition energy window was 100-160 keV. The values of the proposed FOM were much larger than the FOM taking into account only the variance of the activity estimates, thus demonstrating in our experiment that the bias of the activity estimates due to model-mismatch was a more important factor than the variance in terms of limiting the reliability of activity estimates.
Optimized retrievals of precipitable water from the VAS 'split window'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chesters, Dennis; Robinson, Wayne D.; Uccellini, Louis W.

1987-01-01

Precipitable water fields have been retrieved from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) using a radiation transfer model for the differential water vapor absorption between the 11- and 12-micron 'split window' channels. Previous moisture retrievals using only the split window channels provided very good space-time continuity but poor absolute accuracy. This note describes how retrieval errors can be significantly reduced from plus or minus 0.9 to plus or minus 0.6 gm/sq cm by empirically optimizing the effective air temperature and absorption coefficients used in the two-channel model. The differential absorption between the VAS 11- and 12-micron channels, empirically estimated from 135 colocated VAS-RAOB observations, is found to be approximately 50 percent smaller than the theoretical estimates. Similar discrepancies have been noted previously between theoretical and empirical absorption coefficients applied to the retrieval of sea surface temperatures using radiances observed by VAS and polar-orbiting satellites. These discrepancies indicate that radiation transfer models for the 11-micron window appear to be less accurate than the satellite observations.

Changes in seasonal streamflow extremes experienced in rivers of Northwestern South America (Colombia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierini, J. O.; Restrepo, J. C.; Aguirre, J.; Bustamante, A. M.; Velásquez, G. J.

2017-04-01

A measure of the variability in seasonal extreme streamflow was estimated for the Colombian Caribbean coast, using monthly time series of freshwater discharge from ten watersheds. The aim was to detect modifications in the streamflow monthly distribution, seasonal trends, variance and extreme monthly values. A 20-year length time moving window, with 1-year successive shiftments, was applied to the monthly series to analyze the seasonal variability of streamflow. The seasonal-windowed data were statistically fitted through the Gamma distribution function. Scale and shape parameters were computed using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) and the bootstrap method for 1000 resample. A trend analysis was performed for each windowed-serie, allowing to detect the window of maximum absolute values for trends. Significant temporal shifts in seasonal streamflow distribution and quantiles (QT), were obtained for different frequencies. Wet and dry extremes periods increased significantly in the last decades. Such increase did not occur simultaneously through the region. Some locations exhibited continuous increases only at minimum QT.
10 CFR 452.5 - Bidding procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION PRODUCTION INCENTIVES FOR CELLULOSIC BIOFUELS § 452.5 Bidding... producer auction process open only to pre-auction eligible cellulosic biofuels producers. The following... cellulosic biofuels producers during the open window established in the solicitation. The open window shall...
10 CFR 452.5 - Bidding procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION PRODUCTION INCENTIVES FOR CELLULOSIC BIOFUELS § 452.5 Bidding... producer auction process open only to pre-auction eligible cellulosic biofuels producers. The following... cellulosic biofuels producers during the open window established in the solicitation. The open window shall...
10 CFR 452.5 - Bidding procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION PRODUCTION INCENTIVES FOR CELLULOSIC BIOFUELS § 452.5 Bidding... producer auction process open only to pre-auction eligible cellulosic biofuels producers. The following... cellulosic biofuels producers during the open window established in the solicitation. The open window shall...
10 CFR 452.5 - Bidding procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION PRODUCTION INCENTIVES FOR CELLULOSIC BIOFUELS § 452.5 Bidding... producer auction process open only to pre-auction eligible cellulosic biofuels producers. The following... cellulosic biofuels producers during the open window established in the solicitation. The open window shall...
Assessment of post-tsunami disaster recovery of Banda Aceh city of Indonesia as window of opportunities for sustainable development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meilianda, E.; Munadi, K.; Azmeri; Safrida; Direzkia, Y.; Syamsidik; Oktari, R. S.

2017-02-01

Post-tsunami recovery process at Banda Aceh city of Indonesia were assessed in this study. Several actions and programs implemented during the recovery process were exercised and examined through several FGDs, to identify any windows of opportunities to change were captured in the aspects of infrastructure and housing, economic revitalization of the affected community, mental health and psychosocial condition and development, establishment and implementation of disaster risk reduction programs and community preparedness. Subsequently, whether or not those changes fit into the principle criteria of sustainability were examined. The results give insights on the dynamics of recovery process after more than a decade since the tsunami was affected the area. Some success and not-so-success stories of actions and program implementations during the recovery process were captured. On the aspect of livelihoods and public finance, the local government seems to have seen a window of opportunity and subsequently seize the opportunity to revitalize the administrative system of financing the micro-finance for communities. In contrast, on the aspect of socio-ecological systems integrity toward preserving the natural environment, the case of housing development at the coastal areas against the blueprint city masterplan exemplifies the failure in seizing the window of opportunity to “build back better”.
Insights into shallow magmatic processes at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaíi, from a multiyear continuous gravity time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poland, Michael P.; Carbone, Daniele

2016-07-01

Continuous gravity data collected near the summit eruptive vent at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaíi, during 2011-2015 show a strong correlation with summit-area surface deformation and the level of the lava lake within the vent over periods of days to weeks, suggesting that changes in gravity reflect variations in volcanic activity. Joint analysis of gravity and lava level time series data indicates that over the entire time period studied, the average density of the lava within the upper tens to hundreds of meters of the summit eruptive vent remained low—approximately 1000-1500 kg/m3. The ratio of gravity change (adjusted for Earth tides and instrumental drift) to lava level change measured over 15 day windows rose gradually over the course of 2011-2015, probably reflecting either (1) a small increase in the density of lava within the eruptive vent or (2) an increase in the volume of lava within the vent due to gradual vent enlargement. Superimposed on the overall time series were transient spikes of mass change associated with inflation and deflation of Kīlauea's summit and coincident changes in lava level. The unexpectedly strong mass variations during these episodes suggest magma flux to and from the shallow magmatic system without commensurate deformation, perhaps indicating magma accumulation within, and withdrawal from, void space—a process that might not otherwise be apparent from lava level and deformation data alone. Continuous gravity data thus provide unique insights into magmatic processes, arguing for continued application of the method at other frequently active volcanoes.
MSNoise: Not Only dv/v! A Framework for Continuous Seismic Data Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mordret, A.; Lecocq, T.; De Plaen, R.; Caudron, C.; Brenguier, F.

2015-12-01

MSNoise is an Open and Free Python package known to be the only complete integrated workflow designed to analyse ambient seismic noise and study relative velocity changes (dv/v) in the crust. It is based on state of the art and well maintained Python modules, among which ObsPy plays an important role. To our knowledge, it is officially used for continuous monitoring at least in three notable places: the Observatory of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano (OVPF, France), the Auckland Volcanic Field (New Zealand) and on the South Napa earthquake (Berkeley, USA). It is also used by many researchers to process archive data, e.g. focussing on fault zones, intraplate Europe, geothermal exploitations or Antarctica. We first present the general working of MSNoise, originally written in 2010 to automatically scan data archives and process seismic data in order to produce dv/v time series. We demonstrate that its modularity provides a new potential to easily test new algorithms for each processing step. For example, to experiment new methods of cross-correlation (done by default in the frequency domain), stacking (default is linear stacking, averaging), or dt/t or dv/v estimation (default is moving window cross-spectrum "MWCS", so-called "doublet"), etc. Finally, we present the last major evolution of MSNoise, from a "single workflow: data archive to dv/v" to a framework system that allows plugins and modules to be developed and integrated into the MSNoise ecosystem. Examples of plugins in development such as continuous PPSD (à la McNamarra & Buland) or continuous RSAM/SSAM (Endo & Murray, Stephens) will be presented.
Polarization gating of high harmonic generation in the water window

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Jie; Ren, Xiaoming; Yin, Yanchun

2016-06-06

We implement the polarization gating (PG) technique with a two-cycle, 1.7 μm driving field to generate an attosecond supercontinuum extending to the water window spectral region. The ellipticity dependence of the high harmonic yield over a photon energy range much broader than previous work is measured and compared with a semi-classical model. When PG is applied, the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) is swept to study its influence on the continuum generation. PG with one-cycle (5.7 fs) and two-cycle (11.3 fs) delay are tested, and both give continuous spectra spanning from 50 to 450 eV under certain CEP values, strongly indicating the generation ofmore » isolated attosecond pulses in the water window region.« less
Multilayered Microelectronic Device Package With An Integral Window

DOEpatents

Peterson, Kenneth A.; Watson, Robert D.

2004-10-26

A microelectronic package with an integral window mounted in a recessed lip for housing a microelectronic device. The device can be a semiconductor chip, a CCD chip, a CMOS chip, a VCSEL chip, a laser diode, a MEMS device, or a IMEMS device. The package can be formed of a low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) or high temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) multilayered material, with the integral window being simultaneously joined (e.g. co-fired) to the package body during LTCC or HTCC processing. The microelectronic device can be flip-chip bonded and oriented so that a light-sensitive side is optically accessible through the window. The result is a compact, low profile package, having an integral window mounted in a recessed lip, that can be hermetically sealed.
Study of wavefront error and polarization of a side mounted infrared window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jiaguo; Li, Lin; Hu, Xinqi; Yu, Xin

2008-03-01

The wavefront error and polarization of a side mounted infrared window made of ZnS are studied. The Infrared windows suffer from temperature gradient and stress during their launch process. Generally, the gradient in temperature changes the refractive index of the material whereas stress produces deformation and birefringence. In this paper, a thermal finite element analysis (FEA) of an IR window is presented. For this purpose, we employed an FEA program Ansys to obtain the time-varying temperature field. The deformation and stress of the window are derived from a structural FEA with the aerodynamic force and the temperature field previously obtained as being the loads. The deformation, temperature field, stress field, ray tracing and Jones Calculus are used to calculate the wavefront error and the change of polarization state.
High-Temperature Optical Window Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roeloffs, Norman; Taranto, Nick

1995-01-01

A high-temperature optical window is essential to the optical diagnostics of high-temperature combustion rigs. Laser Doppler velocimetry, schlieren photography, light sheet visualization, and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy are a few of the tests that require optically clear access to the combustor flow stream. A design was developed for a high-temperature window that could withstand the severe environment of the NASA Lewis 3200 F Lean Premixed Prevaporized (LPP) Flame Tube Test Rig. The development of this design was both time consuming and costly. This report documents the design process and the lessons learned, in an effort to reduce the cost of developing future designs for high-temperature optical windows.
Smart windows based on cholesteric liquid crystals (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khandelwal, Hitesh; Debije, Michael G.; Schenning, Albert P. H. J.

2017-02-01

With increase in global warming, use of active cooling and heating devices are continuously increasing to maintain interior temperature of built environment, greenhouses and cars. To reduce the consumption of tremendous amount of energy on cooling and heating devices we need an improved control of transparent features (i.e. windows). In this respect, smart window which is capable for reflecting solar infrared energy without interfering with the visible light would be very attractive. Most of the technologies developed so far are to control the visible light. These technologies block visual contact to the outside world which cause negative effects on human health. An appealing method to selectively control infrared transmission is via utilizing the reflection properties of cholesteric liquid crystals. In our research, we have fabricated a smart window which is capable of reflecting different amount of solar infrared energy depending on the specific climate conditions. The reflection bandwidth can be tuned from 120 nm to 1100 nm in the infrared region without interfering with the visible solar radiations. Calculations reveal that between 8% and 45% of incident solar infrared light can be reflected with a single cell. Simulation studies predicted that more than 12% of the energy spent on heating, cooling and lighting in the built environment can be saved by using the fabricated smart window compared to standard double glazing window.
Accessing thermoplastic processing windows in metallic glasses using rapid capacitive discharge

PubMed Central

Kaltenboeck, Georg; Harris, Thomas; Sun, Kerry; Tran, Thomas; Chang, Gregory; Schramm, Joseph P.; Demetriou, Marios D.; Johnson, William L.

2014-01-01

The ability of the rapid-capacitive discharge approach to access optimal viscosity ranges in metallic glasses for thermoplastic processing is explored. Using high-speed thermal imaging, the heating uniformity and stability against crystallization of Zr35Ti30Cu7.5Be27.5 metallic glass heated deeply into the supercooled region is investigated. The method enables homogeneous volumetric heating of bulk samples throughout the entire supercooled liquid region at high rates (~105 K/s) sufficient to bypass crystallization throughout. The crystallization onsets at temperatures in the vicinity of the “crystallization nose” were identified and a Time-Temperature-Transformation diagram is constructed, revealing a “critical heating rate” for the metallic glass of ~1000 K/s. Thermoplastic process windows in the optimal viscosity range of 100–104 Pa·s are identified, being confined between the glass relaxation and the eutectic crystallization transition. Within this process window, near-net forging of a fine precision metallic glass part is demonstrated. PMID:25269892
DSA process window expansion with novel DSA track hardware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harumoto, Masahiko; Stokes, Harold; Tanaka, Yuji; Kaneyama, Koji; Pieczulewski, Chalres; Asai, Masaya; Argoud, Maxime; Servin, Isabelle; Chamiot-Maitral, Gaëlle; Claveau, Guillaume; Tiron, Raluca; Cayrefourcq, Ian

2017-03-01

PS-b-PMMA block copolymer is a well-known DSA material, and there are many DSA patterning methods that make effective the use of such 1st generation materials. Consequently, this variety of patterning methods opens a wide array of possibilities for DSA application[1-4]. Last year, during the inaugural International DSA Symposium, researchers and lithographers concurred on common key issues for DSA patterning methods such as: defect density, LWR, placement error, etc. Defect density was specifically expressed as the biggest obstacle for new processes. Coat-Develop track systems contribute to the DSA pattern fabrication and also influence the DSA pattern performances[4]. In this study, defectivity was investigated using an atmosphere-controlled chamber on the SOKUDO DUO track. As an initial step for expanding the DSA process window, fingerprint patterns were used for various atmospheric conditions during DSA self-assembly annealing. In this study, we will demonstrate an improved DSA process window, and then we will discuss the mechanism for this atmospheric effect.
Automated Ground-based Time-lapse Camera Monitoring of West Greenland ice sheet outlet Glaciers: Challenges and Solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahn, Y.; Box, J. E.; Balog, J.; Lewinter, A.

2008-12-01

Monitoring Greenland outlet glaciers using remotely sensed data has drawn a great attention in earth science communities for decades and time series analysis of sensory data has provided important variability information of glacier flow by detecting speed and thickness changes, tracking features and acquiring model input. Thanks to advancements of commercial digital camera technology and increased solid state storage, we activated automatic ground-based time-lapse camera stations with high spatial/temporal resolution in west Greenland outlet and collected one-hour interval data continuous for more than one year at some but not all sites. We believe that important information of ice dynamics are contained in these data and that terrestrial mono-/stereo-photogrammetry can provide theoretical/practical fundamentals in data processing along with digital image processing techniques. Time-lapse images over periods in west Greenland indicate various phenomenon. Problematic is rain, snow, fog, shadows, freezing of water on camera enclosure window, image over-exposure, camera motion, sensor platform drift, and fox chewing of instrument cables, and the pecking of plastic window by ravens. Other problems include: feature identification, camera orientation, image registration, feature matching in image pairs, and feature tracking. Another obstacle is that non-metric digital camera contains large distortion to be compensated for precise photogrammetric use. Further, a massive number of images need to be processed in a way that is sufficiently computationally efficient. We meet these challenges by 1) identifying problems in possible photogrammetric processes, 2) categorizing them based on feasibility, and 3) clarifying limitation and alternatives, while emphasizing displacement computation and analyzing regional/temporal variability. We experiment with mono and stereo photogrammetric techniques in the aide of automatic correlation matching for efficiently handling the enormous data volumes.
A Javascript library that uses Windows Script Host (WSH) to analyze prostate motion data fragmented across a multitude of Excel files by the Calypso 4D Localization System.

PubMed

Vali, Faisal S; Hsi, Alex; Cho, Paul; Parsai, Homayon; Garver, Elizabeth; Garza, Richard

2008-11-06

The Calypso 4D Localization System records prostate motion continuously during radiation treatment. It stores the data across thousands of Excel files. We developed Javascript (JScript) libraries for Windows Script Host (WSH) that use ActiveX Data Objects, OLE Automation and SQL to statistically analyze the data and display the results as a comprehensible Excel table. We then leveraged these libraries in other research to perform vector math on data spread across multiple access databases.
Gamma ray spectroscopy employing divalent europium-doped alkaline earth halides and digital readout for accurate histogramming

DOEpatents

Cherepy, Nerine Jane; Payne, Stephen Anthony; Drury, Owen B.; Sturm, Benjamin W.

2016-02-09

According to one embodiment, a scintillator radiation detector system includes a scintillator, and a processing device for processing pulse traces corresponding to light pulses from the scintillator, where the processing device is configured to: process each pulse trace over at least two temporal windows and to use pulse digitization to improve energy resolution of the system. According to another embodiment, a scintillator radiation detector system includes a processing device configured to: fit digitized scintillation waveforms to an algorithm, perform a direct integration of fit parameters, process multiple integration windows for each digitized scintillation waveform to determine a correction factor, and apply the correction factor to each digitized scintillation waveform.
Theory of Turing Patterns on Time Varying Networks.

PubMed

Petit, Julien; Lauwens, Ben; Fanelli, Duccio; Carletti, Timoteo

2017-10-06

The process of pattern formation for a multispecies model anchored on a time varying network is studied. A nonhomogeneous perturbation superposed to an homogeneous stable fixed point can be amplified following the Turing mechanism of instability, solely instigated by the network dynamics. By properly tuning the frequency of the imposed network evolution, one can make the examined system behave as its averaged counterpart, over a finite time window. This is the key observation to derive a closed analytical prediction for the onset of the instability in the time dependent framework. Continuously and piecewise constant periodic time varying networks are analyzed, setting the framework for the proposed approach. The extension to nonperiodic settings is also discussed.
Bayesian distributed lag interaction models to identify perinatal windows of vulnerability in children's health.

PubMed

Wilson, Ander; Chiu, Yueh-Hsiu Mathilda; Hsu, Hsiao-Hsien Leon; Wright, Robert O; Wright, Rosalind J; Coull, Brent A

2017-07-01

Epidemiological research supports an association between maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and adverse children's health outcomes. Advances in exposure assessment and statistics allow for estimation of both critical windows of vulnerability and exposure effect heterogeneity. Simultaneous estimation of windows of vulnerability and effect heterogeneity can be accomplished by fitting a distributed lag model (DLM) stratified by subgroup. However, this can provide an incomplete picture of how effects vary across subgroups because it does not allow for subgroups to have the same window but different within-window effects or to have different windows but the same within-window effect. Because the timing of some developmental processes are common across subpopulations of infants while for others the timing differs across subgroups, both scenarios are important to consider when evaluating health risks of prenatal exposures. We propose a new approach that partitions the DLM into a constrained functional predictor that estimates windows of vulnerability and a scalar effect representing the within-window effect directly. The proposed method allows for heterogeneity in only the window, only the within-window effect, or both. In a simulation study we show that a model assuming a shared component across groups results in lower bias and mean squared error for the estimated windows and effects when that component is in fact constant across groups. We apply the proposed method to estimate windows of vulnerability in the association between prenatal exposures to fine particulate matter and each of birth weight and asthma incidence, and estimate how these associations vary by sex and maternal obesity status in a Boston-area prospective pre-birth cohort study. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluation of workers' exposure to methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) in an automobile manufacturing company, Iran.

PubMed

Kakooei, Hossein; Shahtaheri, Seyed Jamaleddin; Karbasi, Hossein-Ali

2006-01-01

Evaluation of personal inhalation exposure to methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) among 39 employees, working in the window fixation and window glue processes in an automobile manufacturing company was performed. This study was conducted for both case and control groups. After sampling and sample preparation processes, MDI was determined with a UV-VIS spectrophotometer at 590 nm; the lung function was assessed with a digital spirometer, too. The average concentration of MDI in the window fixation, and window glue workplaces were 34.53 and 27.37 micro g/m3, respectively, which was lower than the threshold limit value (TLV) recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) (51 micro g/m3). Respiratory symptoms in the exposed group were significantly different compared to the unexposed group (p < .05). Lung capacities in the case group were lower than in the control group (p < .05). Therefore, MDI can be easily measured making it possible to evaluate the adverse effects caused by occupational exposure.
Design and Verification of Critical Pressurised Windows for Manned Spaceflight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamoure, Richard; Busto, Lara; Novo, Francisco; Sinnema, Gerben; Leal, Mendes M.

2014-06-01

The Window Design for Manned Spaceflight (WDMS) project was tasked with establishing the state-of-art and explore possible improvements to the current structural integrity verification and fracture control methodologies for manned spacecraft windows.A critical review of the state-of-art in spacecraft window design, materials and verification practice was conducted. Shortcomings of the methodology in terms of analysis, inspection and testing were identified. Schemes for improving verification practices and reducing conservatism whilst maintaining the required safety levels were then proposed.An experimental materials characterisation programme was defined and carried out with the support of the 'Glass and Façade Technology Research Group', at the University of Cambridge. Results of the sample testing campaign were analysed, post-processed and subsequently applied to the design of a breadboard window demonstrator.Two Fused Silica glass window panes were procured and subjected to dedicated analyses, inspection and testing comprising both qualification and acceptance programmes specifically tailored to the objectives of the activity.Finally, main outcomes have been compiled into a Structural Verification Guide for Pressurised Windows in manned spacecraft, incorporating best practices and lessons learned throughout this project.
Qualitative Features Extraction from Sensor Data using Short-time Fourier Transform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amini, Abolfazl M.; Figueroa, Fernando

2004-01-01

The information gathered from sensors is used to determine the health of a sensor. Once a normal mode of operation is established any deviation from the normal behavior indicates a change. This change may be due to a malfunction of the sensor(s) or the system (or process). The step-up and step-down features, as well as sensor disturbances are assumed to be exponential. An RC network is used to model the main process, which is defined by a step-up (charging), drift, and step-down (discharging). The sensor disturbances and spike are added while the system is in drift. The system runs for a period of at least three time-constants of the main process every time a process feature occurs (e.g. step change). The Short-Time Fourier Transform of the Signal is taken using the Hamming window. Three window widths are used. The DC value is removed from the windowed data prior to taking the FFT. The resulting three dimensional spectral plots provide good time frequency resolution. The results indicate distinct shapes corresponding to each process.
Change detection technique for muscle tone during static stretching by continuous muscle viscoelasticity monitoring using wearable indentation tester.

PubMed

Okamura, Naomi; Kobayashi, Yo; Sugano, Shigeki; Fujie, Masakatsu G

2017-07-01

Static stretching is widely performed to decrease muscle tone as a part of rehabilitation protocols. Finding out the optimal duration of static stretching is important to minimize the time required for rehabilitation therapy and it would be helpful for maintaining the patient's motivation towards daily rehabilitation tasks. Several studies have been conducted for the evaluation of static stretching; however, the recommended duration of static stretching varies widely between 15-30 s in general, because the traditional methods for the assessment of muscle tone do not monitor the continuous change in the target muscle's state. We have developed a method to monitor the viscoelasticity of one muscle continuously during static stretching, using a wearable indentation tester. In this study, we investigated a suitable signal processing method to detect the time required to change the muscle tone, utilizing the data collected using a wearable indentation tester. By calculating a viscoelastic index with a certain time window, we confirmed that the stretching duration required to bring about a decrease in muscle tone could be obtained with an accuracy in the order of 1 s.
Towards an implantable bio-sensor platform for continuous real-time monitoring of anti-epileptic drugs.

PubMed

Hammoud, Abbas; Chamseddine, Ahmad; Nguyen, Dang K; Sawan, Mohamad

2016-08-01

The need of continuous real-time monitoring device for in-vivo drug level detection has been widely articulated lately. Such monitoring could guide drug posology and timing of intake, detect low or high drug levels, in order to take adequate measures, and give clinicians a valuable window into patients' health and their response to therapeutics. This paper presents a novel implantable bio-sensor based on impedance measurement capable of continuously monitoring various antiepileptic drug levels. This portable point-of-care microsystem replaces large and stationary conventional macrosystems, and is a one of a kind system designed with an array of electrodes to monitor various anti-epileptic drugs rather than one drug. The micro-system consists of (i) the front-end circuit including an inductive coil to receive energy from an external base station, and to exchange data with the latter; (ii) the power management block; (iii) the readout and control block; and (iv) the biosensor array. The electrical circuitry was designed using the 0.18-um CMOS process technology intended to be miniature and consume ultra-low power.
Flight Test Measurements From The Tu-144LL Structure/Cabin Noise Follow-On Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rizzi, Stephen A.; Rackl, Robert G.; Andrianov, Eduard V.

2000-01-01

This follow-on flight experiment on the TU-144LL Supersonic Flying Laboratory, conducted during the period September 1998 to April 1999, was a continuation of previous Structure/Cabin Noise Experiment 2.1. Data was obtained over a wide range of altitudes and Mach numbers. Measured were: turbulent boundary layer pressure fluctuations on the fuselage over its length; structural response on skin panels using accelerometers; and flow direction over three windows using 'flow cones'. The effect of steps in the flow was also measured using two window blank pairs; each pair bridged by a plate which created small sharp forward and aft facing steps. The effect of transducer flushness with the exterior surface was also measured during flight. Height test points were chosen to cover much of the TU-144's flight envelope, as well as to obtain as large a unit Reynolds number range as possible at various Mach numbers: takeoff, subsonic, transonic, and supersonic cruise conditions up to Mach 2. Data on engine runups and background noise were acquired on the ground. The data in the form of time histories of the acoustic signals, together with auxiliary data and basic MATLAB processing modules, are available on CD-R disks.
Continuous Time Level Crossing Sampling ADC for Bio-Potential Recording Systems

PubMed Central

Tang, Wei; Osman, Ahmad; Kim, Dongsoo; Goldstein, Brian; Huang, Chenxi; Martini, Berin; Pieribone, Vincent A.

2013-01-01

In this paper we present a fixed window level crossing sampling analog to digital convertor for bio-potential recording sensors. This is the first proposed and fully implemented fixed window level crossing ADC without local DACs and clocks. The circuit is designed to reduce data size, power, and silicon area in future wireless neurophysiological sensor systems. We built a testing system to measure bio-potential signals and used it to evaluate the performance of the circuit. The bio-potential amplifier offers a gain of 53 dB within a bandwidth of 200 Hz-20 kHz. The input-referred rms noise is 2.8 µV. In the asynchronous level crossing ADC, the minimum delta resolution is 4 mV. The input signal frequency of the ADC is up to 5 kHz. The system was fabricated using the AMI 0.5 µm CMOS process. The chip size is 1.5 mm by 1.5 mm. The power consumption of the 4-channel system from a 3.3 V supply is 118.8 µW in the static state and 501.6 µW with a 240 kS/s sampling rate. The conversion efficiency is 1.6 nJ/conversion. PMID:24163640
Transition Metal Switchable Mirror

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-09

The switchable-mirrors technology was developed by Tom Richardson and Jonathan Slack of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. By using transition metals rather than the rare earth metals used in the first metal-hydride switchable mirrors, Richardson and Slack were able to lower the cost and simplify the manufacturing process. Energy performance is improved as well, because the new windows can reflect or transmit both visible and infrared light. Besides windows for offices and homes, possible applications include automobile sunroofs, signs and displays, aircraft windows, and spacecraft.
Transition Metal Switchable Mirror

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2009-08-21

The switchable-mirrors technology was developed by Tom Richardson and Jonathan Slack of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. By using transition metals rather than the rare earth metals used in the first metal-hydride switchable mirrors, Richardson and Slack were able to lower the cost and simplify the manufacturing process. Energy performance is improved as well, because the new windows can reflect or transmit both visible and infrared light. Besides windows for offices and homes, possible applications include automobile sunroofs, signs and displays, aircraft windows, and spacecraft.
Method and apparatus for monitoring the flow of mercury in a system

DOEpatents

Grossman, M.W.

1987-12-15

An apparatus and method for monitoring the flow of mercury in a system are disclosed. The equipment enables the entrainment of the mercury in a carrier gas e.g., an inert gas, which passes as mercury vapor between a pair of optically transparent windows. The attenuation of the emission is indicative of the quantity of mercury (and its isotopes) in the system. A 253.7 nm light is shone through one of the windows and the unabsorbed light is detected through the other window. The absorption of the 253.7 nm light is thereby measured whereby the quantity of mercury passing between the windows can be determined. The apparatus includes an in-line sensor for measuring the quantity of mercury. It includes a conduit together with a pair of apertures disposed in a face to face relationship and arranged on opposite sides of the conduit. A pair of optically transparent windows are disposed upon a pair of viewing tubes. A portion of each of the tubes is disposed inside of the conduit and within each of the apertures. The two windows are disposed in a face to face relationship on the ends of the viewing tubes and the entire assembly is hermetically sealed from the atmosphere whereby when 253.7 nm ultraviolet light is shone through one of the windows and detected through the other, the quantity of mercury which is passing by can be continuously monitored due to absorption which is indicated by attenuation of the amplitude of the observed emission. 4 figs.
Inference for Continuous-Time Probabilistic Programming

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

Parzen window density estimator to jointly model the inter-camera travel time intervals, locations of exit/entrances, and velocities of ob- jects...asked to travel across the scene multiple times . Even in such a scenario they formed groups and made social interactions, which Fig. 7: Topology of...INFERENCE FOR CONTINUOUS- TIME PROBABILISTIC PROGRAMMING UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE DECEMBER 2017 FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT APPROVED FOR
To electrify bilingualism: Electrophysiological insights into bilingual metaphor comprehension

PubMed Central

Jankowiak, Katarzyna; Rataj, Karolina; Naskręcki, Ryszard

2017-01-01

Though metaphoric language comprehension has previously been investigated with event-related potentials, little attention has been devoted to extending this research from the monolingual to the bilingual context. In the current study, late proficient unbalanced Polish (L1)–English (L2) bilinguals performed a semantic decision task to novel metaphoric, conventional metaphoric, literal, and anomalous word pairs presented in L1 and L2. The results showed more pronounced P200 amplitudes to L2 than L1, which can be accounted for by differences in the subjective frequency of the native and non-native lexical items. Within the early N400 time window (300–400 ms), L2 word dyads evoked delayed and attenuated amplitudes relative to L1 word pairs, possibly indicating extended lexical search during foreign language processing, and weaker semantic interconnectivity for L2 compared to L1 words within the memory system. The effect of utterance type was observed within the late N400 time window (400–500 ms), with smallest amplitudes evoked by literal, followed by conventional metaphoric, novel metaphoric, and anomalous word dyads. Such findings are interpreted as reflecting more resource intensive cognitive mechanisms governing novel compared to conventional metaphor comprehension in both the native and non-native language. Within the late positivity time window (500–800 ms), Polish novel metaphors evoked reduced amplitudes relative to literal utterances. In English, on the other hand, this effect was observed for both novel and conventional metaphoric word dyads. This finding might indicate continued effort in information retrieval or access to the non-literal route during novel metaphor comprehension in L1, and during novel and conventional metaphor comprehension in L2. Altogether, the present results point to decreased automaticity of cognitive mechanisms engaged in non-native and non-dominant language processing, and suggest a decreased sensitivity to the levels of conventionality of metaphoric meanings in late proficient unbalanced bilingual speakers. PMID:28414742
In Situ Optical Observation of High-Temperature Geological Processes With the Moissanite Cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walte, N.; Keppler, H.

2005-12-01

A major drawback of existing techniques in experimental earth and material sciences is the inability to observe ongoing high-temperature processes in situ during an experiment. Examples for important time-dependent processes include the textural development of rocks and oxide systems during melting and crystallization, solid-state and melt-present recrystallization and Ostwald ripening, and bubble nucleation and growth during degassing of glasses and melts. The investigation of these processes by post-mortem analysis of a quenched microstructure is time consuming and often unsatisfactory. Here, we introduce the moissanite cell that allows optical in situ observation of long-term experiments at high temperatures. Moissanite is a transparent gem-quality type of SiC that is characterized by its hardness and superior chemical and thermal resistance. Two moissanite windows with a thickness and diameter of several millimeters are placed into sockets of fired pyrophyllite and fixed onto two opposite metal plates. The sockets are wrapped with heating wire and each window is connected to a thermocouple for temperature control. The sample is placed directly between the moissanite windows and the cell is assembled similarly to a large diamond anvil cell. In situ observation of the sample is done with a microscope through observation windows and movies are recorded with an attached digital camera. Our experiments with the new cell show that temperatures above 1200°C can be maintained and observed in a sample for several days without damaging the cell nor the windows. Time-lapse movies of melting and crystallizing natural and synthetic rocks and of degassing glasses and melts will be presented to show the potential of the new technique for experimental earth and material science.
A tale of CIN--the Cannabis infringement notice scheme in Western Australia.

PubMed

Lenton, Simon; Allsop, Steve

2010-05-01

To describe the development and enactment of the Western Australian (WA) Cannabis Infringement Notice scheme and reflect on the lessons for researchers and policy-makers interested in the translation of policy research to policy practice. An insiders' description of the background research, knowledge transfer strategies and political and legislative processes leading to the enactment and implementation of the WA Cannabis Control Act 2003. Lenton and Allsop were involved centrally in the process as policy-researcher and policy-bureaucrat. In March 2004, Western Australia became the fourth Australian jurisdiction to adopt a 'prohibition with civil penalties' scheme for possession and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis. We reflect upon: the role of research evidence in the policy process; windows for policy change; disseminating findings when apparently no one is listening; the risks and benefits of the researcher as advocate; the differences between working on the inside and outside of government; and the importance of relationships, trust and track record. There was a window of opportunity and change was influenced by research that was communicated by a reliable and trusted source. Those who want to conduct research that informs policy need to understand the policy process more clearly, look for and help create emerging windows that occur in the problem and political spheres, and make partnerships with key stakeholders in the policy arena. The flipside of the process is that, when governments change, policy born in windows of opportunity can be a casualty.
Infrared sensor and window system issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hargraves, Charles H., Jr.; Martin, James M.

1992-12-01

EO/IR windows are a significant challenge for the weapon system sensor designer who must design for high EO performance, low radar cross section (RCS), supersonic flight, durability, producibility and affordable initial and life cycle costs. This is particularly true in the 8 to 12 micron IR band at which window materials and coating choices are limited by system design requirements. The requirements also drive the optimization of numerous mechanical, optical, materials, and electrical parameters. This paper addresses the EO/IR window as a system design challenge. The interrelationship of the optical, mechanical, and system design processes are examined. This paper presents a summary of the test results, trade studies and analyses that were performed for multi-segment, flight-worthy optical windows with superior optical performance at subsonic and supersonic aircraft velocities and reduced radar cross section. The impact of the window assembly on EO system modulation transfer function (MTF) and sensitivity will be discussed. The use of conductive coatings for shielding/signature control will be discussed.
Adaptive Sequential Monte Carlo for Multiple Changepoint Analysis

DOE PAGES

Heard, Nicholas A.; Turcotte, Melissa J. M.

2016-05-21

Process monitoring and control requires detection of structural changes in a data stream in real time. This paper introduces an efficient sequential Monte Carlo algorithm designed for learning unknown changepoints in continuous time. The method is intuitively simple: new changepoints for the latest window of data are proposed by conditioning only on data observed since the most recent estimated changepoint, as these observations carry most of the information about the current state of the process. The proposed method shows improved performance over the current state of the art. Another advantage of the proposed algorithm is that it can be mademore » adaptive, varying the number of particles according to the apparent local complexity of the target changepoint probability distribution. This saves valuable computing time when changes in the changepoint distribution are negligible, and enables re-balancing of the importance weights of existing particles when a significant change in the target distribution is encountered. The plain and adaptive versions of the method are illustrated using the canonical continuous time changepoint problem of inferring the intensity of an inhomogeneous Poisson process, although the method is generally applicable to any changepoint problem. Performance is demonstrated using both conjugate and non-conjugate Bayesian models for the intensity. Lastly, appendices to the article are available online, illustrating the method on other models and applications.« less
Analysis of real-time vibration data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Safak, E.

2005-01-01

In recent years, a few structures have been instrumented to provide continuous vibration data in real time, recording not only large-amplitude motions generated by extreme loads, but also small-amplitude motions generated by ambient loads. The main objective in continuous recording is to track any changes in structural characteristics, and to detect damage after an extreme event, such as an earthquake or explosion. The Fourier-based spectral analysis methods have been the primary tool to analyze vibration data from structures. In general, such methods do not work well for real-time data, because real-time data are mainly composed of ambient vibrations with very low amplitudes and signal-to-noise ratios. The long duration, linearity, and the stationarity of ambient data, however, allow us to utilize statistical signal processing tools, which can compensate for the adverse effects of low amplitudes and high noise. The analysis of real-time data requires tools and techniques that can be applied in real-time; i.e., data are processed and analyzed while being acquired. This paper presents some of the basic tools and techniques for processing and analyzing real-time vibration data. The topics discussed include utilization of running time windows, tracking mean and mean-square values, filtering, system identification, and damage detection.
Updated WORF patch

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-16

This patch represents the essential elements associated with pressurized Earth science research aboard the International Space Station. At the top of the patch Klingon script spells out the acronym WORF making reference to the famed Star Trek character of the same name. In doing so it attests to the foresight, honor, integrity, and persistence of all those who made the WORF possible. To the right of the Klingon script is a single four pointed star in the form of a cross to honor the late Dr. Jack Estes and Dr. Dave Amsbury, the individuals most responsible for seeing to it that an optical quality, Earth science research window was added to the United States laboratory module, Destiny. The "flying eyeball" represents the ability of the ISS to allow scientists and astronauts to make and record continuous observations of natural and manmade processes on the surface of the Earth. The Destiny laboratory is depicted on the right of the patch above the Flag of the United States of America and highlights the position of the nadir looking, optical quality, science window in the module. The light emanating from the window from the lighted interior of the module appropriately illuminates the National Ensign for display during both day and night time. In the center of the patch, below the flying eyeball is a graphic representation of the WORF rack. A science instrument is mounted on the WORF payload shelf and is recording data of the Earth's surface through the nadir looking, science window over which the WORF rack is mounted. An astronaut represented by Mario Runco Jr., a designer, developer, and manager of the WORF and depicted as Star Trek's Mr. Spock, is to the left of the WORF rack and is shown in his flight suit with his STS-44 mission patch operating an imaging instrument, emphasizing the importance of astronaut participation to achieve the maximum scientific return from orbital research.
Optical Distortion Evaluation in Large Area Windows using Interferometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Youngquist, Robert C.; Skow, Miles; Nurge, Mark A.

2015-01-01

It is important that imagery seen through large area windows, such as those used on space vehicles, not be substantially distorted. Many approaches are described in the literature for measuring the distortion of an optical window, but most suffer from either poor resolution or processing difficulties. In this paper a new definition of distortion is presented, allowing accurate measurement using an optical interferometer. This new definition is shown to be equivalent to the definitions provided by the military and the standards organizations. In order to determine the advantages and disadvantages of this new approach the distortion of an acrylic window is measured using three different methods; image comparison, Moiré interferometry, and phase-shifting interferometry.
A Comparison of Three Methods for Measuring Distortion in Optical Windows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Youngquist, Robert C.; Nurge, Mark A.; Skow, Miles

2015-01-01

It's important that imagery seen through large-area windows, such as those used on space vehicles, not be substantially distorted. Many approaches are described in the literature for measuring the distortion of an optical window, but most suffer from either poor resolution or processing difficulties. In this paper a new definition of distortion is presented, allowing accurate measurement using an optical interferometer. This new definition is shown to be equivalent to the definitions provided by the military and the standards organizations. In order to determine the advantages and disadvantages of this new approach, the distortion of an acrylic window is measured using three different methods: image comparison, moiré interferometry, and phase-shifting interferometry.

Updating appetitive memory during reconsolidation window: critical role of cue-directed behavior and amygdala central nucleus.

PubMed

Olshavsky, Megan E; Song, Bryan J; Powell, Daniel J; Jones, Carolyn E; Monfils, Marie-H; Lee, Hongjoo J

2013-01-01

When presented with a light cue followed by food, some rats simply approach the foodcup (Nonorienters), while others first orient to the light in addition to displaying the food-cup approach behavior (Orienters). Cue-directed orienting may reflect enhanced attentional and/or emotional processing of the cue, suggesting divergent natures of cue-information processing in Orienters and Nonorienters. The current studies investigate how differences in cue processing might manifest in appetitive memory retrieval and updating using a paradigm developed to persistently attenuate fear responses (Retrieval-extinction paradigm; Monfils et al., 2009). First, we examined whether the retrieval-extinction paradigm could attenuate appetitive responses in Orienters and Nonorienters. Next, we investigated if the appetitive memory could be updated using reversal learning (fear conditioning) during the reconsolidation window (as opposed to repeated unreinforced trials, i.e., extinction). Both extinction and new fear learning given within the reconsolidation window were effective at persistently updating the initial appetitive memory in the Orienters, but not the Nonorienters. Since conditioned orienting is mediated by the amygdala central nucleus (CeA), our final experiment examined the CeA's role in the retrieval-extinction process. Bilateral CeA lesions interfered with the retrieval-extinction paradigm-did not prevent spontaneous recovery of food-cup approach. Together, our studies demonstrate the critical role of conditioned orienting behavior and the CeA in updating appetitive memory during the reconsolidation window.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Window Observational Research Facility (WORF), seen in the Space Station Processing Facility, was designed and built by the Boeing Co. at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. WORF will be delivered to the International Space Station and placed in the rack position in front of the Destiny lab window, providing locations for attaching cameras, multi-spectral scanners and other instruments. WORF will support a variety of scientific and commercial experiments in areas of Earth systems and processes, global ecological changes in Earth’s biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and climate system, Earth resources, natural hazards, and education. After installation, it will become a permanent focal point for Earth Science research aboard the space station.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-09-08

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Window Observational Research Facility (WORF), seen in the Space Station Processing Facility, was designed and built by the Boeing Co. at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. WORF will be delivered to the International Space Station and placed in the rack position in front of the Destiny lab window, providing locations for attaching cameras, multi-spectral scanners and other instruments. WORF will support a variety of scientific and commercial experiments in areas of Earth systems and processes, global ecological changes in Earth’s biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and climate system, Earth resources, natural hazards, and education. After installation, it will become a permanent focal point for Earth Science research aboard the space station.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility check out the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF), designed and built by the Boeing Co. at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. WORF will be delivered to the International Space Station and placed in the rack position in front of the Destiny lab window, providing locations for attaching cameras, multi-spectral scanners and other instruments. WORF will support a variety of scientific and commercial experiments in areas of Earth systems and processes, global ecological changes in Earth’s biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and climate system, Earth resources, natural hazards, and education. After installation, it will become a permanent focal point for Earth Science research aboard the space station.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-09-08

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility check out the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF), designed and built by the Boeing Co. at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. WORF will be delivered to the International Space Station and placed in the rack position in front of the Destiny lab window, providing locations for attaching cameras, multi-spectral scanners and other instruments. WORF will support a variety of scientific and commercial experiments in areas of Earth systems and processes, global ecological changes in Earth’s biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and climate system, Earth resources, natural hazards, and education. After installation, it will become a permanent focal point for Earth Science research aboard the space station.
Investigation of a large power water-cooled microwave resonance window for application with the ECR ion source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Guo; Guo, Junwei; Niu, Xinjian; Liu, Yinghui; Wang, Hui; Wei, Yanyu

2017-06-01

A large power water-cooled microwave resonance window used for the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source is investigated in this paper. The microwave characteristic simulation, thermal analysis, and structure design are deeply and successively carried out before fabrication. After the machining and welding of the components, the window is cold and hot tested. The application results demonstrate that when the input power is 2000 W, the reflected power is only 5 W. The vacuum is below 10-10 Pa, and the high power microwave operation can last 30 h continuously and reliably, which indicates that the design and assembling can achieve the high efficiency of the microwave transmission. Finally, the performance of the ECR ion source is enhanced by the improvement of the injected microwave power to the ECR plasma.
Measurement of the Perception of Control during Continuous Movement using Electroencephalography

PubMed Central

Wen, Wen; Yamashita, Atsushi; Asama, Hajime

2017-01-01

“Sense of control” refers to the subjective feeling of control over external events. Numerous neuropsychological studies have investigated the neural basis of the sense of control during action performance; however, most previous studies have focused on responses to a single discrete action outcome rather than real-time processing of action-outcome sequences. In the present study, we aimed to identify whether certain patterns of brain activation are associated with the perceived control during continuous movement. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) signals while participants continuously moved a right-handed mouse in an attempt to control multiple visual stimuli. When participants perceived a sense of control over the stimuli, we observed a positive potential approximately 550 ms after the onset of movement, while no similar potential was observed when participants reported a lack of control. The appearance of this potential was consistent with the time window of awareness of control in a behavioral test using the same task, and likely reflected the explicit allocation of attention to control. Moreover, we found that the alpha-mu rhythm, which is linked to sensorimotor processing, was significantly suppressed after participants came to a conclusion regarding the level of control, regardless of whether control or lack of control was perceived. In summary, our results suggest that the late positive potential after the onset of the movement and the suppression of alpha-mu rhythm can be used as markers of the perception of control during continuous action performance and feedback monitoring. PMID:28798677
Tough, processable simultaneous semi-interpenetrating polyimides

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pater, Ruth H. (Inventor)

1996-01-01

A high temperature semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) was developed which had significantly improved processability, damage tolerance and mechanical performance, when compared to the commercial Thermid.RTM. materials. This simultaneous semi-IPN was prepared by mixing a thermosetting polyimide with a thermoplastic monomer precursor solution (NR-15082) and allowing them to react upon heating. This reaction occurs at a rate which decreases the flow and broadens the processing window. Upon heating at a higher temperature, there is an increase in flow. Because of the improved flow properties, broadened processing window and enhanced toughness, high strength polymer matrix composites, adhesives and molded articles can now be prepared from the acetylene endcapped polyimides which were previously inherently brittle and difficult to process.
Global field synchronization in gamma range of the sleep EEG tracks sleep depth: Artifact introduced by a rectangular analysis window.

PubMed

Rusterholz, Thomas; Achermann, Peter; Dürr, Roland; Koenig, Thomas; Tarokh, Leila

2017-06-01

Investigating functional connectivity between brain networks has become an area of interest in neuroscience. Several methods for investigating connectivity have recently been developed, however, these techniques need to be applied with care. We demonstrate that global field synchronization (GFS), a global measure of phase alignment in the EEG as a function of frequency, must be applied considering signal processing principles in order to yield valid results. Multichannel EEG (27 derivations) was analyzed for GFS based on the complex spectrum derived by the fast Fourier transform (FFT). We examined the effect of window functions on GFS, in particular of non-rectangular windows. Applying a rectangular window when calculating the FFT revealed high GFS values for high frequencies (>15Hz) that were highly correlated (r=0.9) with spectral power in the lower frequency range (0.75-4.5Hz) and tracked the depth of sleep. This turned out to be spurious synchronization. With a non-rectangular window (Tukey or Hanning window) these high frequency synchronization vanished. Both, GFS and power density spectra significantly differed for rectangular and non-rectangular windows. Previous papers using GFS typically did not specify the applied window and may have used a rectangular window function. However, the demonstrated impact of the window function raises the question of the validity of some previous findings at higher frequencies. We demonstrated that it is crucial to apply an appropriate window function for determining synchronization measures based on a spectral approach to avoid spurious synchronization in the beta/gamma range. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Radiologists' preferences for digital mammographic display. The International Digital Mammography Development Group.

PubMed

Pisano, E D; Cole, E B; Major, S; Zong, S; Hemminger, B M; Muller, K E; Johnston, R E; Walsh, R; Conant, E; Fajardo, L L; Feig, S A; Nishikawa, R M; Yaffe, M J; Williams, M B; Aylward, S R

2000-09-01

To determine the preferences of radiologists among eight different image processing algorithms applied to digital mammograms obtained for screening and diagnostic imaging tasks. Twenty-eight images representing histologically proved masses or calcifications were obtained by using three clinically available digital mammographic units. Images were processed and printed on film by using manual intensity windowing, histogram-based intensity windowing, mixture model intensity windowing, peripheral equalization, multiscale image contrast amplification (MUSICA), contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization, Trex processing, and unsharp masking. Twelve radiologists compared the processed digital images with screen-film mammograms obtained in the same patient for breast cancer screening and breast lesion diagnosis. For the screening task, screen-film mammograms were preferred to all digital presentations, but the acceptability of images processed with Trex and MUSICA algorithms were not significantly different. All printed digital images were preferred to screen-film radiographs in the diagnosis of masses; mammograms processed with unsharp masking were significantly preferred. For the diagnosis of calcifications, no processed digital mammogram was preferred to screen-film mammograms. When digital mammograms were preferred to screen-film mammograms, radiologists selected different digital processing algorithms for each of three mammographic reading tasks and for different lesion types. Soft-copy display will eventually allow radiologists to select among these options more easily.
Classroom Amplification: Not Just for the Hearing Impaired Anymore.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahlquist, Lori Hubble

This paper discusses the difficulties that children with central auditory processing difficulties can have in the classroom environment. Classroom acoustics that can hinder a child's accessibility to instruction are discussed, including open windows or windows not designed to be acoustic barriers, increased reverberation time in rooms with high…
Interview with Violet Oaklander, Author of "Windows to Our Children."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Chari A.

1993-01-01

Presents interview with Dr. Violent Oaklander, experienced child therapist and author of "Windows to Our Children: A Gestalt Therapy with Children and Adolescents." Discusses critical components of successful therapy with children. Explains how developmental stage of child affects therapeutic process, and provides specific examples of working with…
Split-remerge method for eliminating processing window artifacts in recursive hierarchical segmentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tilton, James C. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A method, computer readable storage, and apparatus for implementing recursive segmentation of data with spatial characteristics into regions including splitting-remerging of pixels with contagious region designations and a user controlled parameter for providing a preference for merging adjacent regions to eliminate window artifacts.
A risk-informed decision framework for setting environmental windows for dredging projects.

PubMed

Suedel, Burton C; Kim, Jongbum; Clarke, Douglas G; Linkov, Igor

2008-09-15

Sediment dredging is necessary to sustain navigation infrastructure in ports and harbor areas. In the United States alone between 250 and 300 million cubic yards of sediment are dredged annually. Dredging activities may cause stress on aquatic biota by locally increasing turbidity and suspended sediment concentrations, physically disturbing habitat by elevated sedimentation rates, interfering in migratory behaviors, and hydraulically entraining bottom dwelling organisms. Environmental windows are a management practice used to alleviate such stresses on resident and transient biota by placing temporal restrictions on the conduct of dredging operations. Adherence to environmental windows can significantly inflate costs for project sponsors and local stakeholders. Since their inception following passage of NEPA in 1969 the process for setting environmental windows has not followed structured procedures and represents an example of the difficulty inherent in achieving a balance between biological resource protection and cost-effective construction and maintenance of navigation infrastructure. Recent developments in the fields of risk assessment for non-chemical stressors as well as experience in implementing structured risk-informed decision-making tools for sediment and natural resource management are summarized in this paper in relation to setting environmental windows. Combining risk assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis allows development of a framework for an objective process consistent with recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences for setting environmental windows. A hypothetical application of the framework for protection of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) in San Francisco Bay is discussed.
The Extended Oxygen Window Concept for Programming Saturation Decompressions Using Air and Nitrox

PubMed Central

Kot, Jacek; Sicko, Zdzislaw

2015-01-01

Saturation decompression is a physiological process of transition from one steady state, full saturation with inert gas at pressure, to another one: standard conditions at surface. It is defined by the borderline condition for time spent at a particular depth (pressure) and inert gas in the breathing mixture (nitrogen, helium). It is a delicate and long lasting process during which single milliliters of inert gas are eliminated every minute, and any disturbance can lead to the creation of gas bubbles leading to decompression sickness (DCS). Most operational procedures rely on experimentally found parameters describing a continuous slow decompression rate. In Poland, the system for programming of continuous decompression after saturation with compressed air and nitrox has been developed as based on the concept of the Extended Oxygen Window (EOW). EOW mainly depends on the physiology of the metabolic oxygen window—also called inherent unsaturation or partial pressure vacancy—but also on metabolism of carbon dioxide, the existence of water vapor, as well as tissue tension. Initially, ambient pressure can be reduced at a higher rate allowing the elimination of inert gas from faster compartments using the EOW concept, and maximum outflow of nitrogen. Then, keeping a driving force for long decompression not exceeding the EOW allows optimal elimination of nitrogen from the limiting compartment with half-time of 360 min. The model has been theoretically verified through its application for estimation of risk of decompression sickness in published systems of air and nitrox saturation decompressions, where DCS cases were observed. Clear dose-reaction relation exists, and this confirms that any supersaturation over the EOW creates a risk for DCS. Using the concept of the EOW, 76 man-decompressions were conducted after air and nitrox saturations in depth range between 18 and 45 meters with no single case of DCS. In summary, the EOW concept describes physiology of decompression after saturation with nitrogen-based breathing mixtures. PMID:26111113
Informed baseline subtraction of proteomic mass spectrometry data aided by a novel sliding window algorithm.

PubMed

Stanford, Tyman E; Bagley, Christopher J; Solomon, Patty J

2016-01-01

Proteomic matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) linear time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) may be used to produce protein profiles from biological samples with the aim of discovering biomarkers for disease. However, the raw protein profiles suffer from several sources of bias or systematic variation which need to be removed via pre-processing before meaningful downstream analysis of the data can be undertaken. Baseline subtraction, an early pre-processing step that removes the non-peptide signal from the spectra, is complicated by the following: (i) each spectrum has, on average, wider peaks for peptides with higher mass-to-charge ratios ( m / z ), and (ii) the time-consuming and error-prone trial-and-error process for optimising the baseline subtraction input arguments. With reference to the aforementioned complications, we present an automated pipeline that includes (i) a novel 'continuous' line segment algorithm that efficiently operates over data with a transformed m / z -axis to remove the relationship between peptide mass and peak width, and (ii) an input-free algorithm to estimate peak widths on the transformed m / z scale. The automated baseline subtraction method was deployed on six publicly available proteomic MS datasets using six different m/z-axis transformations. Optimality of the automated baseline subtraction pipeline was assessed quantitatively using the mean absolute scaled error (MASE) when compared to a gold-standard baseline subtracted signal. Several of the transformations investigated were able to reduce, if not entirely remove, the peak width and peak location relationship resulting in near-optimal baseline subtraction using the automated pipeline. The proposed novel 'continuous' line segment algorithm is shown to far outperform naive sliding window algorithms with regard to the computational time required. The improvement in computational time was at least four-fold on real MALDI TOF-MS data and at least an order of magnitude on many simulated datasets. The advantages of the proposed pipeline include informed and data specific input arguments for baseline subtraction methods, the avoidance of time-intensive and subjective piecewise baseline subtraction, and the ability to automate baseline subtraction completely. Moreover, individual steps can be adopted as stand-alone routines.
Critical Windows of Cardiovascular Susceptibility to Developmental Hypoxia in Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) Embryos.

PubMed

Tate, Kevin B; Kohl, Zachary F; Eme, John; Rhen, Turk; Crossley, Dane A

2015-01-01

Environmental conditions fluctuate dramatically in some reptilian nests. However, critical windows of environmental sensitivity for cardiovascular development have not been identified. Continuous developmental hypoxia has been shown to alter cardiovascular form and function in embryonic snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), and we used this species to identify critical periods during which hypoxia modifies the cardiovascular phenotype. We hypothesized that incubation in 10% O2 during specific developmental periods would have differential effects on the cardiovascular system versus overall somatic growth. Two critical windows were identified with 10% O2 from 50% to 70% of incubation, resulting in relative heart enlargement, either via preservation of or preferential growth of this tissue, while exposure to 10% O2 from 20% to 70% of incubation resulted in a reduction in arterial pressure. The deleterious or advantageous aspects of these embryonic phenotypes in posthatching snapping turtles have yet to be explored. However, identification of these critical windows has provided insight into how the developmental environment alters the phenotype of reptiles and will also be pivotal in understanding its impact on the fitness of egg-laying reptiles.
Observations on the effects of image processing functions on fingermark data in the Fourier domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bramble, Simon K.; Fabrizi, Paola M.

1995-09-01

One of the image processing functions used for the enhancement of laten fingermark images is the Fourier transform. This paper describes some effects of spatial resolution, zero-filling and windowing on fingermark data in the Fourier domain. It is shown that with an understanding of the fingermark structure it is possible to determine the approximate prosition of the frequency data in the Fourier domain corresponding to the fingermark image detail. The effect of attenuation of frequency data on a zero-filled image is shown to be different to the same attenuation on a non-zero-filled image. The effects of windowing spatial data on the frequency data are also highlighted and compared with the same data after the application of a Hanning window.
Surface Transient Binding-Based Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (STB-FCS), a Simple and Easy-to-Implement Method to Extend the Upper Limit of the Time Window to Seconds.

PubMed

Peng, Sijia; Wang, Wenjuan; Chen, Chunlai

2018-05-10

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy is a powerful single-molecule tool that is able to capture kinetic processes occurring at the nanosecond time scale. However, the upper limit of its time window is restricted by the dwell time of the molecule of interest in the confocal detection volume, which is usually around submilliseconds for a freely diffusing biomolecule. Here, we present a simple and easy-to-implement method, named surface transient binding-based fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (STB-FCS), which extends the upper limit of the time window to seconds. We further demonstrated that STB-FCS enables capture of both intramolecular and intermolecular kinetic processes whose time scales cross several orders of magnitude.
NEURODEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES

EPA Science Inventory

Neurodevelopmental Effects of Environmental Exposures
Sherry G. Selevan, Pauline Mendola, Deborah C. Rice (US EPA, Washington,
DC)

The nervous system starts development early in gestation and continues to develop through adolescence. Thus, critical windows of vuln...
Detection system for high-resolution gamma radiation spectroscopy with neutron time-of-flight filtering

DOEpatents

Dioszegi, Istvan; Salwen, Cynthia; Vanier, Peter

2014-12-30

A .gamma.-radiation detection system that includes at least one semiconductor detector such as HPGe-Detector, a position-sensitive .alpha.-Detector, a TOF Controller, and a Digitizer/Integrator. The Digitizer/Integrator starts to process the energy signals of a .gamma.-radiation sent from the HPGe-Detector instantly when the HPGe-Detector detects the .gamma.-radiation. Subsequently, it is determined whether a coincidence exists between the .alpha.-particles and .gamma.-radiation signal, based on a determination of the time-of-flight of neutrons obtained from the .alpha.-Detector and the HPGe-Detector. If it is determined that the time-of-flight falls within a predetermined coincidence window, the Digitizer/Integrator is allowed to continue and complete the energy signal processing. If, however, there is no coincidence, the Digitizer/Integrator is instructed to be clear and reset its operation instantly.
Multitarget detection algorithm for automotive FMCW radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hyun, Eugin; Oh, Woo-Jin; Lee, Jong-Hun

2012-06-01

Today, 77 GHz FMCW (Frequency Modulation Continuous Wave) radar has strong advantages of range and velocity detection for automotive applications. However, FMCW radar brings out ghost targets and missed targets in multi-target situations. In this paper, in order to resolve these limitations, we propose an effective pairing algorithm, which consists of two steps. In the proposed method, a waveform with different slopes in two periods is used. In the 1st pairing processing, all combinations of range and velocity are obtained in each of two wave periods. In the 2nd pairing step, using the results of the 1st pairing processing, fine range and velocity are detected. In that case, we propose the range-velocity windowing technique in order to compensate for the non-ideal beat-frequency characteristic that arises due to the non-linearity of the RF module. Based on experimental results, the performance of the proposed algorithm is improved compared with that of the typical method.

Hybrid enabled thin film metrology using XPS and optical

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaid, Alok; Iddawela, Givantha; Mahendrakar, Sridhar; Lenahan, Michael; Hossain, Mainul; Timoney, Padraig; Bello, Abner F.; Bozdog, Cornel; Pois, Heath; Lee, Wei Ti; Klare, Mark; Kwan, Michael; Kang, Byung Cheol; Isbester, Paul; Sendelbach, Matthew; Yellai, Naren; Dasari, Prasad; Larson, Tom

2016-03-01

Complexity of process steps integration and material systems for next-generation technology nodes is reaching unprecedented levels, the appetite for higher sampling rates is on the rise, while the process window continues to shrink. Current thickness metrology specifications reach as low as 0.1A for total error budget - breathing new life into an old paradigm with lower visibility for past few metrology nodes: accuracy. Furthermore, for advance nodes there is growing demand to measure film thickness and composition on devices/product instead of surrogate planar simpler pads. Here we extend our earlier work in Hybrid Metrology to the combination of X-Ray based reference technologies (high performance) with optical high volume manufacturing (HVM) workhorse metrology (high throughput). Our stated goal is: put more "eyes" on the wafer (higher sampling) and enable move to films on pattern structure (control what matters). Examples of 1X front-end applications are used to setup and validate the benefits.
Downsampling Photodetector Array with Windowing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patawaran, Ferze D.; Farr, William H.; Nguyen, Danh H.; Quirk, Kevin J.; Sahasrabudhe, Adit

2012-01-01

In a photon counting detector array, each pixel in the array produces an electrical pulse when an incident photon on that pixel is detected. Detection and demodulation of an optical communication signal that modulated the intensity of the optical signal requires counting the number of photon arrivals over a given interval. As the size of photon counting photodetector arrays increases, parallel processing of all the pixels exceeds the resources available in current application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and gate array (GA) technology; the desire for a high fill factor in avalanche photodiode (APD) detector arrays also precludes this. Through the use of downsampling and windowing portions of the detector array, the processing is distributed between the ASIC and GA. This allows demodulation of the optical communication signal incident on a large photon counting detector array, as well as providing architecture amenable to algorithmic changes. The detector array readout ASIC functions as a parallel-to-serial converter, serializing the photodetector array output for subsequent processing. Additional downsampling functionality for each pixel is added to this ASIC. Due to the large number of pixels in the array, the readout time of the entire photodetector is greater than the time between photon arrivals; therefore, a downsampling pre-processing step is done in order to increase the time allowed for the readout to occur. Each pixel drives a small counter that is incremented at every detected photon arrival or, equivalently, the charge in a storage capacitor is incremented. At the end of a user-configurable counting period (calculated independently from the ASIC), the counters are sampled and cleared. This downsampled photon count information is then sent one counter word at a time to the GA. For a large array, processing even the downsampled pixel counts exceeds the capabilities of the GA. Windowing of the array, whereby several subsets of pixels are designated for processing, is used to further reduce the computational requirements. The grouping of the designated pixel frame as the photon count information is sent one word at a time to the GA, the aggregation of the pixels in a window can be achieved by selecting only the designated pixel counts from the serial stream of photon counts, thereby obviating the need to store the entire frame of pixel count in the gate array. The pixel count se quence from each window can then be processed, forming lower-rate pixel statistics for each window. By having this processing occur in the GA rather than in the ASIC, future changes to the processing algorithm can be readily implemented. The high-bandwidth requirements of a photon counting array combined with the properties of the optical modulation being detected by the array present a unique problem that has not been addressed by current CCD or CMOS sensor array solutions.
[Design and implementation of real-time continuous glucose monitoring instrument].

PubMed

Huang, Yonghong; Liu, Hongying; Tian, Senfu; Jia, Ziru; Wang, Zi; Pi, Xitian

2017-12-01

Real-time continuous glucose monitoring can help diabetics to control blood sugar levels within the normal range. However, in the process of practical monitoring, the output of real-time continuous glucose monitoring system is susceptible to glucose sensor and environment noise, which will influence the measurement accuracy of the system. Aiming at this problem, a dual-calibration algorithm for the moving-window double-layer filtering algorithm combined with real-time self-compensation calibration algorithm is proposed in this paper, which can realize the signal drift compensation for current data. And a real-time continuous glucose monitoring instrument based on this study was designed. This real-time continuous glucose monitoring instrument consisted of an adjustable excitation voltage module, a current-voltage converter module, a microprocessor and a wireless transceiver module. For portability, the size of the device was only 40 mm × 30 mm × 5 mm and its weight was only 30 g. In addition, a communication command code algorithm was designed to ensure the security and integrity of data transmission in this study. Results of experiments in vitro showed that current detection of the device worked effectively. A 5-hour monitoring of blood glucose level in vivo showed that the device could continuously monitor blood glucose in real time. The relative error of monitoring results of the designed device ranged from 2.22% to 7.17% when comparing to a portable blood meter.
Thirty years of stapes surgery.

PubMed

Shea, J J

1988-01-01

The modern stapedectomy with prosthesis insertion and living oval window seal, like the modern cataract extraction with lens replacement, is now performed, very much the same, throughout the world. I have reviewed the evolution of stapes surgery during these last thirty years and tried to gain some agreement for several important facts about otosclerosis and several basic principals of stapes surgery. While a well-performed stapedectomy can eliminate the conductive component, the sensorineural hearing loss continues and, in about one-third, will progress till the patient, after age 65, must return to a hearing aid. A piston prosthesis gives the best hearing results: 0.6 mm diameter, when half the footplate is removed and a living oval window seal interposed, and 0.6 mm diameter when a small opening is made in the footplate obliterated by otosclerosis. I prefer a teflon prosthesis to stainless steel because it can be altered by the surgeon at operation, and vein as an oval window seal. I have presented a rare group of patients who develop facial palsy 5-1/2 days after uncomplicated stapedectomy, of whom all recover quickly and completely. I am confident that progress will continue to be made in the understanding of otosclerosis, and the performance of stapes surgery, but in these last thirty years we have made a good beginning.
Insights into shallow magmatic processes at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, from a multiyear continuous gravity time series

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poland, Michael P.; Carbone, Daniele

2016-01-01

Continuous gravity data collected near the summit eruptive vent at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, during 2011–2015 show a strong correlation with summit-area surface deformation and the level of the lava lake within the vent over periods of days to weeks, suggesting that changes in gravity reflect variations in volcanic activity. Joint analysis of gravity and lava level time series data indicates that over the entire time period studied, the average density of the lava within the upper tens to hundreds of meters of the summit eruptive vent remained low—approximately 1000–1500 kg/m3. The ratio of gravity change (adjusted for Earth tides and instrumental drift) to lava level change measured over 15 day windows rose gradually over the course of 2011–2015, probably reflecting either (1) a small increase in the density of lava within the eruptive vent or (2) an increase in the volume of lava within the vent due to gradual vent enlargement. Superimposed on the overall time series were transient spikes of mass change associated with inflation and deflation of Kīlauea's summit and coincident changes in lava level. The unexpectedly strong mass variations during these episodes suggest magma flux to and from the shallow magmatic system without commensurate deformation, perhaps indicating magma accumulation within, and withdrawal from, void space—a process that might not otherwise be apparent from lava level and deformation data alone. Continuous gravity data thus provide unique insights into magmatic processes, arguing for continued application of the method at other frequently active volcanoes.
Superconductive radiofrequency window assembly

DOEpatents

Phillips, Harry Lawrence; Elliott, Thomas S.

1998-01-01

The present invention is a superconducting radiofrequency window assembly for use in an electron beam accelerator. The srf window assembly (20) has a superconducting metal-ceramic design. The srf window assembly (20) comprises a superconducting frame (30), a ceramic plate (40) having a superconducting metallized area, and a superconducting eyelet (50) for sealing plate (40) into frame (30). The plate (40) is brazed to eyelet (50) which is then electron beam welded to frame (30). A method for providing a ceramic object mounted in a metal member to withstand cryogenic temperatures is also provided. The method involves a new metallization process for coating a selected area of a ceramic object with a thin film of a superconducting material. Finally, a method for assembling an electron beam accelerator cavity utilizing the srf window assembly is provided. The procedure is carried out within an ultra clean room to minimize exposure to particulates which adversely affect the performance of the cavity within the electron beam accelerator.
Superconductive radiofrequency window assembly

DOEpatents

Phillips, H.L.; Elliott, T.S.

1998-05-19

The present invention is a superconducting radiofrequency window assembly for use in an electron beam accelerator. The SRF window assembly has a superconducting metal-ceramic design. The SRF window assembly comprises a superconducting frame, a ceramic plate having a superconducting metallized area, and a superconducting eyelet for sealing plate into frame. The plate is brazed to eyelet which is then electron beam welded to frame. A method for providing a ceramic object mounted in a metal member to withstand cryogenic temperatures is also provided. The method involves a new metallization process for coating a selected area of a ceramic object with a thin film of a superconducting material. Finally, a method for assembling an electron beam accelerator cavity utilizing the SRF window assembly is provided. The procedure is carried out within an ultra clean room to minimize exposure to particulates which adversely affect the performance of the cavity within the electron beam accelerator. 11 figs.
Superconducting radiofrequency window assembly

DOEpatents

Phillips, Harry L.; Elliott, Thomas S.

1997-01-01

The present invention is a superconducting radiofrequency window assembly for use in an electron beam accelerator. The srf window assembly (20) has a superconducting metal-ceramic design. The srf window assembly (20) comprises a superconducting frame (30), a ceramic plate (40) having a superconducting metallized area, and a superconducting eyelet (50) for sealing plate (40) into frame (30). The plate (40) is brazed to eyelet (50) which is then electron beam welded to frame (30). A method for providing a ceramic object mounted in a metal member to withstand cryogenic temperatures is also provided. The method involves a new metallization process for coating a selected area of a ceramic object with a thin film of a superconducting material. Finally, a method for assembling an electron beam accelerator cavity utilizing the srf window assembly is provided. The procedure is carried out within an ultra clean room to minimize exposure to particulates which adversely affect the performance of the cavity within the electron beam accelerator.
Superconducting radiofrequency window assembly

DOEpatents

Phillips, H.L.; Elliott, T.S.

1997-03-11

The present invention is a superconducting radiofrequency window assembly for use in an electron beam accelerator. The srf window assembly has a superconducting metal-ceramic design. The srf window assembly comprises a superconducting frame, a ceramic plate having a superconducting metallized area, and a superconducting eyelet for sealing plate into frame. The plate is brazed to eyelet which is then electron beam welded to frame. A method for providing a ceramic object mounted in a metal member to withstand cryogenic temperatures is also provided. The method involves a new metallization process for coating a selected area of a ceramic object with a thin film of a superconducting material. Finally, a method for assembling an electron beam accelerator cavity utilizing the srf window assembly is provided. The procedure is carried out within an ultra clean room to minimize exposure to particulates which adversely affect the performance of the cavity within the electron beam accelerator. 11 figs.
Double exposure using 193nm negative tone photoresist

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Ryoung-han; Wallow, Tom; Kye, Jongwook; Levinson, Harry J.; White, Dave

2007-03-01

Double exposure is one of the promising methods for extending lithographic patterning into the low k I regime. In this paper, we demonstrate double patterning of k 1-effective=0.25 with improved process window using a negative resist. Negative resist (TOK N- series) in combination with a bright field mask is proven to provide a large process window in generating 1:3 = trench:line resist features. By incorporating two etch transfer steps into the hard mask material, frequency doubled patterns could be obtained.
Optimization of energy window and evaluation of scatter compensation methods in MPS using the ideal observer with model mismatch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghaly, Michael; Links, Jonathan M.; Frey, Eric

2015-03-01

In this work, we used the ideal observer (IO) and IO with model mismatch (IO-MM) applied in the projection domain and an anthropomorphic Channelized Hotelling Observer (CHO) applied to reconstructed images to optimize the acquisition energy window width and evaluate various scatter compensation methods in the context of a myocardial perfusion SPECT defect detection task. The IO has perfect knowledge of the image formation process and thus reflects performance with perfect compensation for image-degrading factors. Thus, using the IO to optimize imaging systems could lead to suboptimal parameters compared to those optimized for humans interpreting SPECT images reconstructed with imperfect or no compensation. The IO-MM allows incorporating imperfect system models into the IO optimization process. We found that with near-perfect scatter compensation, the optimal energy window for the IO and CHO were similar; in its absence the IO-MM gave a better prediction of the optimal energy window for the CHO using different scatter compensation methods. These data suggest that the IO-MM may be useful for projection-domain optimization when model mismatch is significant, and that the IO is useful when followed by reconstruction with good models of the image formation process.
Air Traffic Complexity Measurement Environment (ACME): Software User's Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

A user's guide for the Air Traffic Complexity Measurement Environment (ACME) software is presented. The ACME consists of two major components, a complexity analysis tool and user interface. The Complexity Analysis Tool (CAT) analyzes complexity off-line, producing data files which may be examined interactively via the Complexity Data Analysis Tool (CDAT). The Complexity Analysis Tool is composed of three independently executing processes that communicate via PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) and Unix sockets. The Runtime Data Management and Control process (RUNDMC) extracts flight plan and track information from a SAR input file, and sends the information to GARP (Generate Aircraft Routes Process) and CAT (Complexity Analysis Task). GARP in turn generates aircraft trajectories, which are utilized by CAT to calculate sector complexity. CAT writes flight plan, track and complexity data to an output file, which can be examined interactively. The Complexity Data Analysis Tool (CDAT) provides an interactive graphic environment for examining the complexity data produced by the Complexity Analysis Tool (CAT). CDAT can also play back track data extracted from System Analysis Recording (SAR) tapes. The CDAT user interface consists of a primary window, a controls window, and miscellaneous pop-ups. Aircraft track and position data is displayed in the main viewing area of the primary window. The controls window contains miscellaneous control and display items. Complexity data is displayed in pop-up windows. CDAT plays back sector complexity and aircraft track and position data as a function of time. Controls are provided to start and stop playback, adjust the playback rate, and reposition the display to a specified time.
Simplified formulations with high drug loads for continuous twin-screw granulation.

PubMed

Meier, R; Thommes, M; Rasenack, N; Krumme, M; Moll, K-P; Kleinebudde, P

2015-12-30

As different batches of the same excipients will be intermixed during continuous processes, the traceability of batches is complicated. Simplified formulations may help to reduce problems related to batch intermixing and traceability. Twin-screw granulation with subsequent tableting was used to produce granules and tablets, containing drug, disintegrant and binder (binary and ternary mixtures), only. Drug loads up to 90% were achieved and five different disintegrants were screened for keeping their disintegration suitability after wetting. Granule size distributions were consistently mono-modal and narrow. Granule strength reached higher values, using ternary mixtures. Tablets containing croscarmellose-Na as disintegrant displayed tensile strengths up to 3.1MPa and disintegration times from 400 to 466s, resulting in the most robust disintegrant. Dissolution was overall complete and above 96% within 30 min. Na-starch glycolate offers tensile strengths up to 2.8MPa at disintegration times from 25s to 1031s, providing the broadest application window, as it corresponds in some parts to different definitions of orodispersible tablets. Tablets containing micronized crospovidone are not suitable for immediate release, but showed possibilities to produce highly drug loaded, prolonged release tablets. Tablets and granules from simplified formulations offer great opportunities to improve continuous processes, present performances comparable to more complicated formulations and are able to correspond to requirements of the authorities. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Evaluation of Building Energy Saving Through the Development of Venetian Blinds' Optimal Control Algorithm According to the Orientation and Window-to-Wall Ratio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwon, Hyuk Ju; Yeon, Sang Hun; Lee, Keum Ho; Lee, Kwang Ho

2018-02-01

As various studies focusing on building energy saving have been continuously conducted, studies utilizing renewable energy sources, instead of fossil fuel, are needed. In particular, studies regarding solar energy are being carried out in the field of building science; in order to utilize such solar energy effectively, solar radiation being brought into the indoors should be acquired and blocked properly. Blinds are a typical solar radiation control device that is capable of controlling indoor thermal and light environments. However, slat-type blinds are manually controlled, giving a negative effect on building energy saving. In this regard, studies regarding the automatic control of slat-type blinds have been carried out for the last couple of decades. Therefore, this study aims to provide preliminary data for optimal control research through the controlling of slat angle in slat-type blinds by comprehensively considering various input variables. The window area ratio and orientation were selected as input variables. It was found that an optimal control algorithm was different among each window-to-wall ratio and window orientation. In addition, through comparing and analyzing the building energy saving performance for each condition by applying the developed algorithms to simulations, up to 20.7 % energy saving was shown in the cooling period and up to 12.3 % energy saving was shown in the heating period. In addition, building energy saving effect was greater as the window area ratio increased given the same orientation, and the effects of window-to-wall ratio in the cooling period were higher than those of window-to-wall ratio in the heating period.
Noise normalization and windowing functions for VALIDAR in wind parameter estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beyon, Jeffrey Y.; Koch, Grady J.; Li, Zhiwen

2006-05-01

The wind parameter estimates from a state-of-the-art 2-μm coherent lidar system located at NASA Langley, Virginia, named VALIDAR (validation lidar), were compared after normalizing the noise by its estimated power spectra via the periodogram and the linear predictive coding (LPC) scheme. The power spectra and the Doppler shift estimates were the main parameter estimates for comparison. Different types of windowing functions were implemented in VALIDAR data processing algorithm and their impact on the wind parameter estimates was observed. Time and frequency independent windowing functions such as Rectangular, Hanning, and Kaiser-Bessel and time and frequency dependent apodized windowing function were compared. The briefing of current nonlinear algorithm development for Doppler shift correction subsequently follows.
Graphene oxide windows for in situ environmental cell photoelectron spectroscopy.

PubMed

Kolmakov, Andrei; Dikin, Dmitriy A; Cote, Laura J; Huang, Jiaxing; Abyaneh, Majid Kazemian; Amati, Matteo; Gregoratti, Luca; Günther, Sebastian; Kiskinova, Maya

2011-08-28

The performance of new materials and devices often depends on processes taking place at the interface between an active solid element and the environment (such as air, water or other fluids). Understanding and controlling such interfacial processes require surface-specific spectroscopic information acquired under real-world operating conditions, which can be challenging because standard approaches such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy generally require high-vacuum conditions. The state-of-the-art approach to this problem relies on unique and expensive apparatus including electron analysers coupled with sophisticated differentially pumped lenses. Here, we develop a simple environmental cell with graphene oxide windows that are transparent to low-energy electrons (down to 400 eV), and demonstrate the feasibility of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements on model samples such as gold nanoparticles and aqueous salt solution placed on the back side of a window. These proof-of-principle results show the potential of using graphene oxide, graphene and other emerging ultrathin membrane windows for the fabrication of low-cost, single-use environmental cells compatible with commercial X-ray and Auger microprobes as well as scanning or transmission electron microscopes.
Interoperability through standardization: Electronic mail, and X Window systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amin, Ashok T.

1993-01-01

Since the introduction of computing machines, there has been continual advances in computer and communication technologies and approaching limits. The user interface has evolved from a row of switches, character based interface using teletype terminals and then video terminals, to present day graphical user interface. It is expected that next significant advances will come in the availability of services, such as electronic mail and directory services, as the standards for applications are developed and in the 'easy to use' interfaces, such as Graphical User Interface for example Window and X Window, which are being standardized. Various proprietary electronic mail (email) systems are in use within organizations at each center of NASA. Each system provides email services to users within an organization, however the support for email services across organizations and across centers exists at centers to a varying degree and is often easy to use. A recent NASA email initiative is intended 'to provide a simple way to send email across organizational boundaries without disruption of installed base.' The initiative calls for integration of existing organizational email systems through gateways connected by a message switch, supporting X.400 and SMTP protocols, to create a NASA wide email system and for implementation of NASA wide email directory services based on OSI standard X.500. A brief overview of MSFC efforts as a part of this initiative are described. Window based graphical user interfaces make computers easy to use. X window protocol has been developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984/1985 to provide uniform window based interface in a distributed computing environment with heterogenous computers. It has since become a standard supported by a number of major manufacturers. Z Windows systems, terminals and workstations, and X Window applications are becoming available. However impact of its use in the Local Area Network environment on the network traffic are not well understood. It is expected that the use of X Windows systems will increase at MSFC especially for Unix based systems. An overview of X Window protocol is presented and its impact on the network traffic is examined. It is proposed that an analytical model of X Window systems in the network environment be developed and validated through the use of measurements to generate application and user profiles.
Reading impairments in schizophrenia relate to individual differences in phonological processing and oculomotor control: evidence from a gaze-contingent moving window paradigm.

PubMed

Whitford, Veronica; O'Driscoll, Gillian A; Pack, Christopher C; Joober, Ridha; Malla, Ashok; Titone, Debra

2013-02-01

Language and oculomotor disturbances are 2 of the best replicated findings in schizophrenia. However, few studies have examined skilled reading in schizophrenia (e.g., Arnott, Sali, Copland, 2011; Hayes & O'Grady, 2003; Revheim et al., 2006; E. O. Roberts et al., 2012), and none have examined the contribution of cognitive and motor processes that underlie reading performance. Thus, to evaluate the relationship of linguistic processes and oculomotor control to skilled reading in schizophrenia, 20 individuals with schizophrenia and 16 demographically matched controls were tested using a moving window paradigm (McConkie & Rayner, 1975). Linguistic skills supporting reading (phonological awareness) were assessed with the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (R. K. Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1999). Eye movements were assessed during reading tasks and during nonlinguistic tasks tapping basic oculomotor control (prosaccades, smooth pursuit) and executive functions (predictive saccades, antisaccades). Compared with controls, schizophrenia patients exhibited robust oculomotor markers of reading difficulty (e.g., reduced forward saccade amplitude) and were less affected by reductions in window size, indicative of reduced perceptual span. Reduced perceptual span in schizophrenia was associated with deficits in phonological processing and reduced saccade amplitudes. Executive functioning (antisaccade errors) was not related to perceptual span but was related to reading comprehension. These findings suggest that deficits in language, oculomotor control, and cognitive control contribute to skilled reading deficits in schizophrenia. Given that both language and oculomotor dysfunction precede illness onset, reading may provide a sensitive window onto cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia vulnerability and be an important target for cognitive remediation. 2013 APA, all rights reserved
Tough, processable simultaneous semi-interpenetrating polyimides

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pater, Ruth H. (Inventor)

1994-01-01

A high temperature semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) was developed which had significantly improved processability, damage tolerance, and mechanical performance when compared to the commercial Thermid materials. This simultaneous semi-IPN was prepared by mixing a thermosetting polyimide with a thermoplastic monomer precursor solution (NR150B2) and allowing them to react upon heating. This reaction occurs at a rate which decreases the flow and broadens the processing window. Upon heating at a higher temperature, there is an increase in flow. Because of the improved flow properties, broadened processing window and enhanced toughness, high strength polymer matrix composites, adhesives and molded articles can now be prepared from the acetylene endcapped polyimides which were previously inherently brittle and difficult to process.
Pharmacogenomics in the assessment of therapeutic risks versus benefits: inside the United States Food and Drug Administration.

PubMed

Zineh, Issam; Pacanowski, Michael A

2011-08-01

Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genetic variations influence responses to drugs, diagnostics, or biologic agents. The field of pharmacogenomics has significant potential to enhance drug development and aid in making regulatory decisions. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has supported pharmacogenomics for nearly a decade by providing regulatory advice and reviewing applications, with the intent of discovering and applying genetic determinants of treatment effects. The FDA will continue to develop policies and processes centered on genomics and individualized therapeutics to guide rational drug development. It will also continue to inform the public of clinically relevant pharmacogenomic issues through various mechanisms of communication, such as drug labeling. In this review, we provide a perspective on several pharmacogenomic activities at the FDA. In addition, we attempt to clarify what we believe are several misperceptions regarding the FDA's pharmacogenomic initiatives. We hope this perspective provides a window into some ways in which the FDA is enabling individualized therapeutics through its mission-critical activities.

Fabrication of Multi-point Side-Firing Optical Fiber by Laser Micro-ablation

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Hoang; Arnob, Md Masud Parvez; Becker, Aaron T; Wolfe, John C; Hogan, Matthew K; Horner, Philip J; Shih, Wei-Chuan

2018-01-01

A multi-point, side-firing design enables an optical fiber to output light at multiple desired locations along the fiber body. This provides advantages over traditional end-to-end fibers, especially in applications requiring fiber bundles such as brain stimulation or remote sensing. This paper demonstrates that continuous wave (CW) laser micro-ablation can controllably create conical-shaped cavities, or side windows, for outputting light. The dimensions of these cavities determine the amount of firing light and their firing angle. Experimental data show that a single side window on a 730 μm fiber can deliver more than 8 % of the input light. This was increased to more than 19 % on a 65 μm fiber with side windows created using femtosecond (fs) laser ablation and chemical etching. Fine control of light distribution along an optical fiber is critical for various biomedical applications such as light activated drug-release and optogenetics studies. PMID:28454166
Options for reducing carbon dioxide emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenfeld, Arthur H.; Price, Lynn

1992-03-01

Improvements in energy efficiency can significantly reduce the annual growth in greenhouse gas emissions. Such improvements occur when energy intensity is reduced; no reduction in energy services is required. Using the concept of ``cost of conserved energy'' to develop conservation supply curves similar to resource supply curves, researchers consistently find that electricity and natural gas savings of nearly 50% of current consumption are possible for U.S. buildings. Such reductions in energy consumption directly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. To capture these savings, we must continue to develop energy-efficient technologies and strategies. This paper describes three recent energy-efficient technologies that benefitted from energy conservation research and development (R&D) funding: high-frequency ballasts, compact fluorescent lamps, and low-emissivity windows. Other advanced technologies and strategies of spectrally selective windows, superwindows, electrochromic windows, advanced insulation, low-flow showerheads, improved recessed lamp fixtures, whitening surfaces and planting urban trees, daylighting, and thermal energy storage are also discussed.
Fabrication of multipoint side-firing optical fiber by laser micro-ablation.

PubMed

Nguyen, Hoang; Parvez Arnob, Md Masud; Becker, Aaron T; Wolfe, John C; Hogan, Matthew K; Horner, Philip J; Shih, Wei-Chuan

2017-05-01

A multipoint, side-firing design enables an optical fiber to output light at multiple desired locations along the fiber body. This provides advantages over traditional end-to-end fibers, especially in applications requiring fiber bundles such as brain stimulation or remote sensing. This Letter demonstrates that continuous wave (CW) laser micro-ablation can controllably create conical-shaped cavities, or side windows, for outputting light. The dimensions of these cavities determine the amount of firing light and their firing angle. Experimental data show that a single side window on a 730 μm fiber can deliver more than 8% of the input light. This can be increased to more than 19% on a 65 μm fiber with side windows created using femtosecond laser ablation and chemical etching. Fine control of light distribution along an optical fiber is critical for various biomedical applications such as light-activated drug-release and optogenetics studies.
Application of resist-profile-aware source optimization in 28 nm full chip optical proximity correction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Jun; Zhang, David Wei; Kuo, Chinte; Wang, Qing; Wei, Fang; Zhang, Chenming; Chen, Han; He, Daquan; Hsu, Stephen D.

2017-07-01

As technology node shrinks, aggressive design rules for contact and other back end of line (BEOL) layers continue to drive the need for more effective full chip patterning optimization. Resist top loss is one of the major challenges for 28 nm and below technology nodes, which can lead to post-etch hotspots that are difficult to predict and eventually degrade the process window significantly. To tackle this problem, we used an advanced programmable illuminator (FlexRay) and Tachyon SMO (Source Mask Optimization) platform to make resistaware source optimization possible, and it is proved to greatly improve the imaging contrast, enhance focus and exposure latitude, and minimize resist top loss thus improving the yield.
Mothering and midwifery: sometimes a challenge.

PubMed

Fenwick, J

1998-12-01

This paper attempts to present two levels of argument. Firstly it argues that the use of story, in its entirety, is a valid, relevant and useful tool for informing personal and professional knowing. The second level of debate is elicited by the story itself and the discourse surrounding the challenges of implementing continuity of midwifery care models within the mainstream maternity care system. The author hopes that the telling of the story provides a window through which others can share her experience. It is argued that 'identification' with the challenges involved in implementing innovative models of care is an important and vital step in the process, if these models are to begin, survive and achieve their aim of providing women-centred health care.
Effects of global and local contexts on chord processing: An ERP study.

PubMed

Zhang, Jingjing; Zhou, Xuefeng; Chang, Ruohan; Yang, Yufang

2018-01-31

In real life, the processing of an incoming event is continuously influenced by prior information at multiple timescales. The present study investigated how harmonic contexts at both local and global levels influence the processing of an incoming chord in an event-related potentials experiment. Chord sequences containing two phrases were presented to musically trained listeners, with the last critical chord either harmonically related or less related to its preceding context at local and/or global levels. ERPs data showed an ERAN-like effect for local context in early time window and a N5-like component for later interaction between the local context and global context. These results suggest that both the local and global contexts influence the processing of an incoming music event, and the local effect happens earlier than the global. Moreover, the interaction between the local context and global context in N5 may suggest that music syntactic integration at local level takes place prior to the integration at global level. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Influence of coatings on the thermal and mechanical processes at insulating glass units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penkova, Nina; Krumov, Kalin; Surleva, Andriana; Geshkova, Zlatka

2017-09-01

Different coatings on structural glass are used in the advances transparent facades and window systems in order to increase the thermal performance of the glass units and to regulate their optical properties. Coated glass has a higher absorptance in the solar spectrum which leads to correspondent higher temperature in the presence of solar load compared to the uncoated one. That process results in higher climatic loads at the insulating glass units (IGU) and in thermal stresses in the coated glass elements. Temperature fields and gradients in glass panes and climatic loads at IGU in window systems are estimated at different coating of glazed system. The study is implemented by numerical simulation of conjugate heat transfer in the window systems at summer time and presence of solar irradiation, as well as during winter night time.
Temporal relation between top-down and bottom-up processing in lexical tone perception

PubMed Central

Shuai, Lan; Gong, Tao

2013-01-01

Speech perception entails both top-down processing that relies primarily on language experience and bottom-up processing that depends mainly on instant auditory input. Previous models of speech perception often claim that bottom-up processing occurs in an early time window, whereas top-down processing takes place in a late time window after stimulus onset. In this paper, we evaluated the temporal relation of both types of processing in lexical tone perception. We conducted a series of event-related potential (ERP) experiments that recruited Mandarin participants and adopted three experimental paradigms, namely dichotic listening, lexical decision with phonological priming, and semantic violation. By systematically analyzing the lateralization patterns of the early and late ERP components that are observed in these experiments, we discovered that: auditory processing of pitch variations in tones, as a bottom-up effect, elicited greater right hemisphere activation; in contrast, linguistic processing of lexical tones, as a top-down effect, elicited greater left hemisphere activation. We also found that both types of processing co-occurred in both the early (around 200 ms) and late (around 300–500 ms) time windows, which supported a parallel model of lexical tone perception. Unlike the previous view that language processing is special and performed by dedicated neural circuitry, our study have elucidated that language processing can be decomposed into general cognitive functions (e.g., sensory and memory) and share neural resources with these functions. PMID:24723863
Variational estimation of process parameters in a simplified atmospheric general circulation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, Guokun; Koehl, Armin; Stammer, Detlef

2016-04-01

Parameterizations are used to simulate effects of unresolved sub-grid-scale processes in current state-of-the-art climate model. The values of the process parameters, which determine the model's climatology, are usually manually adjusted to reduce the difference of model mean state to the observed climatology. This process requires detailed knowledge of the model and its parameterizations. In this work, a variational method was used to estimate process parameters in the Planet Simulator (PlaSim). The adjoint code was generated using automatic differentiation of the source code. Some hydrological processes were switched off to remove the influence of zero-order discontinuities. In addition, the nonlinearity of the model limits the feasible assimilation window to about 1day, which is too short to tune the model's climatology. To extend the feasible assimilation window, nudging terms for all state variables were added to the model's equations, which essentially suppress all unstable directions. In identical twin experiments, we found that the feasible assimilation window could be extended to over 1-year and accurate parameters could be retrieved. Although the nudging terms transform to a damping of the adjoint variables and therefore tend to erases the information of the data over time, assimilating climatological information is shown to provide sufficient information on the parameters. Moreover, the mechanism of this regularization is discussed.
Lifestyle and Pregnancy Loss in a Contemporary Cohort of Women Recruited Prior to Conception, LIFE Study

PubMed Central

Buck Louis, Germaine M.; Sapra, Katherine J.; Schisterman, Enrique F.; Lynch, Courtney D.; Maisog, José M.; Grantz, Katherine L.; Sundaram, Rajeshwari

2016-01-01

Objective To estimate pregnancy loss incidence in a contemporary cohort of couples whose lifestyles were measured during sensitive windows of reproduction to identify factors associated with pregnancy loss for the continual refinement of preconception guidance. Design Prospective cohort with preconception enrollment. Setting 16 counties in Michigan and Texas. Patients 344 couples with a singleton pregnancy followed daily through 7 post-conception weeks of gestation. Interventions None. Daily, couples recorded use of cigarettes, caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, and multivitamins. Women used fertility “monitors” for ovulation detection and digital pregnancy tests. Pregnancy loss was denoted by conversion to a negative pregnancy test, onset of menses or clinical confirmation depending upon gestation. Using proportional hazards regression and accounting for right censoring, we estimated adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (aHR; 95% CI) for couples’ lifestyles (cigarette smoking, alcoholic and caffeinated drinks, multivitamins) during three sensitive windows: preconception, early pregnancy and periconception. Main outcomes measured Incidence and risk factors for pregnancy loss. Results 98/344 (28%) women with a singleton pregnancy experienced an observed pregnancy loss. In the preconception window, loss was associated with female age ≥35 years (1.96; 1.13-3.38) accounting for couples’ ages, female and male consumption >2 daily caffeinated beverages (1.74; 1.07-2.81 and 1.73; 1.10-2.72, respectively), and females’ vitamin adherence (0.45; 0.25-0.80). The findings were similar for lifestyle during the early pregnancy and periconception windows. Conclusions Couples’ preconception lifestyle factors were associated with pregnancy loss, though women’s multivitamin adherence dramatically reduced risk. The findings support continual refinement and implementation of preconception guidance. PMID:27016456
Lifestyle and pregnancy loss in a contemporary cohort of women recruited before conception: The LIFE Study.

PubMed

Buck Louis, Germaine M; Sapra, Katherine J; Schisterman, Enrique F; Lynch, Courtney D; Maisog, José M; Grantz, Katherine L; Sundaram, Rajeshwari

2016-07-01

To estimate pregnancy loss incidence in a contemporary cohort of couples whose lifestyles were measured during sensitive windows of reproduction to identify factors associated with pregnancy loss for the continual refinement of preconception guidance. Prospective cohort with preconception enrollment. Sixteen counties in Michigan and Texas. Three hundred forty-four couples with a singleton pregnancy followed daily through 7 postconception weeks of gestation. None. Couples daily recorded use of cigarettes, caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, and multivitamins. Women used fertility monitors for ovulation detection and digital pregnancy tests. Pregnancy loss was denoted by conversion to a negative pregnancy test, onset of menses, or clinical confirmation depending upon gestation. Using proportional hazards regression and accounting for right censoring, we estimated adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (aHR, 95% CI) for couples' lifestyles (cigarette smoking, alcoholic and caffeinated drinks, multivitamins) during three sensitive windows: preconception, early pregnancy, and periconception. Incidence and risk factors for pregnancy loss. Ninety-eight of 344 (28%) women with a singleton pregnancy experienced an observed pregnancy loss. In the preconception window, loss was associated with female age ≥35 years (1.96, 1.13-3.38) accounting for couples' ages, women's and men's consumption of >2 daily caffeinated beverages (1.74, 1.07-2.81; and 1.73, 1.10-2.72, respectively), and women's vitamin adherence (0.45, 0.25-0.80). The findings were similar for lifestyle during the early pregnancy and periconception windows. Couples' preconception lifestyle factors were associated with pregnancy loss, although women's multivitamin adherence dramatically reduced risk. The findings support continual refinement and implementation of preconception guidance. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Image-guided adaptive gating of lung cancer radiotherapy: a computer simulation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aristophanous, Michalis; Rottmann, Joerg; Park, Sang-June; Nishioka, Seiko; Shirato, Hiroki; Berbeco, Ross I.

2010-08-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect that image-guided adaptation of the gating window during treatment could have on the residual tumor motion, by simulating different gated radiotherapy techniques. There are three separate components of this simulation: (1) the 'Hokkaido Data', which are previously measured 3D data of lung tumor motion tracks and the corresponding 1D respiratory signals obtained during the entire ungated radiotherapy treatments of eight patients, (2) the respiratory gating protocol at our institution and the imaging performed under that protocol and (3) the actual simulation in which the Hokkaido Data are used to select tumor position information that could have been collected based on the imaging performed under our gating protocol. We simulated treatments with a fixed gating window and a gating window that is updated during treatment. The patient data were divided into different fractions, each with continuous acquisitions longer than 2 min. In accordance to the imaging performed under our gating protocol, we assume that we have tumor position information for the first 15 s of treatment, obtained from kV fluoroscopy, and for the rest of the fractions the tumor position is only available during the beam-on time from MV imaging. The gating window was set according to the information obtained from the first 15 s such that the residual motion was less than 3 mm. For the fixed gating window technique the gate remained the same for the entire treatment, while for the adaptive technique the range of the tumor motion during beam-on time was measured and used to adapt the gating window to keep the residual motion below 3 mm. The algorithm used to adapt the gating window is described. The residual tumor motion inside the gating window was reduced on average by 24% for the patients with regular breathing patterns and the difference was statistically significant (p-value = 0.01). The magnitude of the residual tumor motion depended on the regularity of the breathing pattern suggesting that image-guided adaptive gating should be combined with breath coaching. The adaptive gating window technique was able to track the exhale position of the breathing cycle quite successfully. Out of a total of 53 fractions the duty cycle was greater than 20% for 42 fractions for the fixed gating window technique and for 39 fractions for the adaptive gating window technique. The results of this study suggest that real-time updating of the gating window can result in reliably low residual tumor motion and therefore can facilitate safe margin reduction.
Development of new S-band RF window for stable high-power operation in linear accelerator RF system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joo, Youngdo; Lee, Byung-Joon; Kim, Seung-Hwan; Kong, Hyung-Sup; Hwang, Woonha; Roh, Sungjoo; Ryu, Jiwan

2017-09-01

For stable high-power operation, a new RF window is developed in the S-band linear accelerator (Linac) RF systems of the Pohang Light Source-II (PLS-II) and the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free-Electron Laser (PAL-XFEL). The new RF window is designed to mitigate the strength of the electric field at the ceramic disk and also at the waveguide-cavity coupling structure of the conventional RF window. By replacing the pill-box type cavity in the conventional RF window with an overmoded cavity, the electric field component perpendicular to the ceramic disk that caused most of the multipacting breakdowns in the ceramic disk was reduced by an order of magnitude. The reduced electric field at the ceramic disk eliminated the Ti-N coating process on the ceramic surface in the fabrication procedure of the new RF window, preventing the incomplete coating from spoiling the RF transmission and lowering the fabrication cost. The overmoded cavity was coupled with input and output waveguides through dual side-wall coupling irises to reduce the electric field strength at the waveguide-cavity coupling structure and the possibility of mode competitions in the overmoded cavity. A prototype of the new RF window was fabricated and fully tested with the Klystron peak input power, pulse duration and pulse repetition rate of 75 MW, 4.5 μs and 10 Hz, respectively, at the high-power test stand. The first mass-produced new RF window installed in the PLS-II Linac is running in normal operation mode. No fault is reported to date. Plans are being made to install the new RF window to all S-band accelerator RF modules of the PLS-II and PAL-XFEL Linacs. This new RF window may be applied to the output windows of S-band power sources like Klystron as wells as the waveguide windows of accelerator facilities which operate in S-band.
Moving Rivers, Shifting Streams: Perspectives on the Existence of a Policy Window

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galligan, Ann M.; Burgess, Chris N.

2005-01-01

This article represents differing perspectives on the creation and establishment of the Rhode Island Arts Learning Network (ALN). At the heart of this discussion is whether or not the Rhode Island task force in charge of this process took advantage of what noted public policy analyst John Kingdon refers to as a "policy window" where…
Closeup view of the exterior of the starboard side of ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Close-up view of the exterior of the starboard side of the forward fuselage of the Orbiter Discovery looking at the forward facing observation windows of the flight deck. Note the High-temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (HRSI) surrounding the window openings, the Low-temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (LRSI) immediately beyond the HRSI tiles and the Advanced Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation blankets just beyond the LRSI tiles. The holes in the tiles are injection points for the application of waterproofing material. The windows are composed of redundant pressure window panes of thermal glass. This image was taken from a service platform in the Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center - Space Transportation System, Orbiter Discovery (OV-103), Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX
Cubic spline interpolation with overlapped window and data reuse for on-line Hilbert Huang transform biomedical microprocessor.

PubMed

Chang, Nai-Fu; Chiang, Cheng-Yi; Chen, Tung-Chien; Chen, Liang-Gee

2011-01-01

On-chip implementation of Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) has great impact to analyze the non-linear and non-stationary biomedical signals on wearable or implantable sensors for the real-time applications. Cubic spline interpolation (CSI) consumes the most computation in HHT, and is the key component for the HHT processor. In tradition, CSI in HHT is usually performed after the collection of a large window of signals, and the long latency violates the realtime requirement of the applications. In this work, we propose to keep processing the incoming signals on-line with small and overlapped data windows without sacrificing the interpolation accuracy. 58% multiplication and 73% division of CSI are saved after the data reuse between the data windows.
Small-window parametric imaging based on information entropy for ultrasound tissue characterization

PubMed Central

Tsui, Po-Hsiang; Chen, Chin-Kuo; Kuo, Wen-Hung; Chang, King-Jen; Fang, Jui; Ma, Hsiang-Yang; Chou, Dean

2017-01-01

Constructing ultrasound statistical parametric images by using a sliding window is a widely adopted strategy for characterizing tissues. Deficiency in spatial resolution, the appearance of boundary artifacts, and the prerequisite data distribution limit the practicability of statistical parametric imaging. In this study, small-window entropy parametric imaging was proposed to overcome the above problems. Simulations and measurements of phantoms were executed to acquire backscattered radiofrequency (RF) signals, which were processed to explore the feasibility of small-window entropy imaging in detecting scatterer properties. To validate the ability of entropy imaging in tissue characterization, measurements of benign and malignant breast tumors were conducted (n = 63) to compare performances of conventional statistical parametric (based on Nakagami distribution) and entropy imaging by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The simulation and phantom results revealed that entropy images constructed using a small sliding window (side length = 1 pulse length) adequately describe changes in scatterer properties. The area under the ROC for using small-window entropy imaging to classify tumors was 0.89, which was higher than 0.79 obtained using statistical parametric imaging. In particular, boundary artifacts were largely suppressed in the proposed imaging technique. Entropy enables using a small window for implementing ultrasound parametric imaging. PMID:28106118
Next generation smart window display using transparent organic display and light blocking screen.

PubMed

Kim, Gyeong Woo; Lampande, Raju; Choe, Dong Cheol; Ko, Ik Jang; Park, Jin Hwan; Pode, Ramchandra; Kwon, Jang Hyuk

2018-04-02

Transparent organic light emitting diodes (TOLED) have widespread applications in the next-generation display devices particularly in the large size transparent window and interactive displays. Herein, we report high performance and stable attractive smart window displays using facile process. Advanced smart window display is realized by integrating the high performance light blocking screen and highly transparent white OLED panel. The full smart window display reveals a maximum transmittance as high as 64.2% at the wavelength of 600 nm and extremely good along with tunable ambient contrast ratio (171.94:1) compared to that of normal TOLED (4.54:1). Furthermore, the performance decisive light blocking screen has demonstrated an excellent optical and electrical characteristics such as i) high transmittance (85.56% at 562nm) at light-penetrating state, ii) superior absorbance (2.30 at 562nm) in light interrupting mode, iii) high optical contrast (85.50 at 562 nm), iv) high optical stability for more than 25,000 cycle of driving, v) fast switching time of 1.9 sec, and vi) low driving voltage of 1.7 V. The experimental results of smart window display are also validated using optical simulation. The proposed smart window display technology allows us to adjust the intensity of daylight entering the system quickly and conveniently.
Small-window parametric imaging based on information entropy for ultrasound tissue characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsui, Po-Hsiang; Chen, Chin-Kuo; Kuo, Wen-Hung; Chang, King-Jen; Fang, Jui; Ma, Hsiang-Yang; Chou, Dean

2017-01-01

Constructing ultrasound statistical parametric images by using a sliding window is a widely adopted strategy for characterizing tissues. Deficiency in spatial resolution, the appearance of boundary artifacts, and the prerequisite data distribution limit the practicability of statistical parametric imaging. In this study, small-window entropy parametric imaging was proposed to overcome the above problems. Simulations and measurements of phantoms were executed to acquire backscattered radiofrequency (RF) signals, which were processed to explore the feasibility of small-window entropy imaging in detecting scatterer properties. To validate the ability of entropy imaging in tissue characterization, measurements of benign and malignant breast tumors were conducted (n = 63) to compare performances of conventional statistical parametric (based on Nakagami distribution) and entropy imaging by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The simulation and phantom results revealed that entropy images constructed using a small sliding window (side length = 1 pulse length) adequately describe changes in scatterer properties. The area under the ROC for using small-window entropy imaging to classify tumors was 0.89, which was higher than 0.79 obtained using statistical parametric imaging. In particular, boundary artifacts were largely suppressed in the proposed imaging technique. Entropy enables using a small window for implementing ultrasound parametric imaging.
Windows of sensitivity to toxic chemicals in the motor effects development.

PubMed

Ingber, Susan Z; Pohl, Hana R

2016-02-01

Many chemicals currently used are known to elicit nervous system effects. In addition, approximately 2000 new chemicals introduced annually have not yet undergone neurotoxicity testing. This review concentrated on motor development effects associated with exposure to environmental neurotoxicants to help identify critical windows of exposure and begin to assess data needs based on a subset of chemicals thoroughly reviewed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in Toxicological Profiles and Addenda. Multiple windows of sensitivity were identified that differed based on the maturity level of the neurological system at the time of exposure, as well as dose and exposure duration. Similar but distinct windows were found for both motor activity (GD 8-17 [rats], GD 12-14 and PND 3-10 [mice]) and motor function performance (insufficient data for rats, GD 12-17 [mice]). Identifying specific windows of sensitivity in animal studies was hampered by study designs oriented towards detection of neurotoxicity that occurred at any time throughout the developmental process. In conclusion, while this investigation identified some critical exposure windows for motor development effects, it demonstrates a need for more acute duration exposure studies based on neurodevelopmental windows, particularly during the exposure periods identified in this review. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Windows of sensitivity to toxic chemicals in the motor effects development✩

PubMed Central

Ingber, Susan Z.; Pohl, Hana R.

2017-01-01

Many chemicals currently used are known to elicit nervous system effects. In addition, approximately 2000 new chemicals introduced annually have not yet undergone neurotoxicity testing. This review concentrated on motor development effects associated with exposure to environmental neurotoxicants to help identify critical windows of exposure and begin to assess data needs based on a subset of chemicals thoroughly reviewed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in Toxicological Profiles and Addenda. Multiple windows of sensitivity were identified that differed based on the maturity level of the neurological system at the time of exposure, as well as dose and exposure duration. Similar but distinct windows were found for both motor activity (GD 8–17 [rats], GD 12–14 and PND 3–10 [mice]) and motor function performance (insufficient data for rats, GD 12–17 [mice]). Identifying specific windows of sensitivity in animal studies was hampered by study designs oriented towards detection of neurotoxicity that occurred at any time throughout the developmental process. In conclusion, while this investigation identified some critical exposure windows for motor development effects, it demonstrates a need for more acute duration exposure studies based on neurodevelopmental windows, particularly during the exposure periods identified in this review. PMID:26686904
Structural and chemical evolution of the CdS:O window layer during individual CdTe solar cell processing steps

DOE PAGES

Abbas, A.; Meysing, D. M.; Reese, M. O.; ...

2017-12-01

Oxygenated cadmium sulfide (CdS:O) is often used as the n-type window layer in high-performance CdTe heterojunction solar cells. The as-deposited layer prepared by reactive sputtering is XRD amorphous, with a bulk composition of CdS0.8O1.2. Recently it was shown that this layer undergoes significant transformation during device fabrication, but the roles of the individual high temperature processing steps was unclear. In this work high resolution transmission electron microscopy coupled to elemental analysis was used to understand the evolution of the heterojunction region through the individual high temperature fabrication steps of CdTe deposition, CdCl2 activation, and back contact activation. It is foundmore » that during CdTe deposition by close spaced sublimation at 600 degrees C the CdS:O film undergoes recrystallization, accompanied by a significant (~30%) reduction in thickness. It is observed that oxygen segregates during this step, forming a bi-layer morphology consisting of nanocrystalline CdS adjacent to the tin oxide contact and an oxygen-rich layer adjacent to the CdTe absorber. This bilayer structure is then lost during the 400 degrees C CdCl2 treatment where the film transforms into a heterogeneous structure with cadmium sulfate clusters distributed randomly throughout the window layer. The thickness of window layer remains essentially unchanged after CdCl2 treatment, but a ~25 nm graded interfacial layer between CdTe and the window region is formed. Finally, the rapid thermal processing step used to activate the back contact was found to have a negligible impact on the structure or composition of the heterojunction region.« less
Structural and chemical evolution of the CdS:O window layer during individual CdTe solar cell processing steps

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abbas, A.; Meysing, D. M.; Reese, M. O.

Oxygenated cadmium sulfide (CdS:O) is often used as the n-type window layer in high-performance CdTe heterojunction solar cells. The as-deposited layer prepared by reactive sputtering is XRD amorphous, with a bulk composition of CdS0.8O1.2. Recently it was shown that this layer undergoes significant transformation during device fabrication, but the roles of the individual high temperature processing steps was unclear. In this work high resolution transmission electron microscopy coupled to elemental analysis was used to understand the evolution of the heterojunction region through the individual high temperature fabrication steps of CdTe deposition, CdCl2 activation, and back contact activation. It is foundmore » that during CdTe deposition by close spaced sublimation at 600 degrees C the CdS:O film undergoes recrystallization, accompanied by a significant (~30%) reduction in thickness. It is observed that oxygen segregates during this step, forming a bi-layer morphology consisting of nanocrystalline CdS adjacent to the tin oxide contact and an oxygen-rich layer adjacent to the CdTe absorber. This bilayer structure is then lost during the 400 degrees C CdCl2 treatment where the film transforms into a heterogeneous structure with cadmium sulfate clusters distributed randomly throughout the window layer. The thickness of window layer remains essentially unchanged after CdCl2 treatment, but a ~25 nm graded interfacial layer between CdTe and the window region is formed. Finally, the rapid thermal processing step used to activate the back contact was found to have a negligible impact on the structure or composition of the heterojunction region.« less
Tough, processable semi-interpenetrating polymer networks from monomer reactants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pater, Ruth H. (Inventor)

1994-01-01

A high temperature semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) was developed which had significantly improved processability, damage tolerance, and mechanical performance, when compared to the commercial Thermid materials. This simultaneous semi-IPN was prepared by mixing the monomer precursors of Thermid AL-600 (a thermoset) and NR-150B2 (a thermoplastic) and allowing the monomers to react randomly upon heating. This reaction occurs at a rate which decreases the flow and broadens the processing window. Upon heating at a higher temperature, there is an increase in flow. Because of the improved flow properties, broadened processing window and enhanced toughness, high strength polymer matrix composites, adhesives and molded articles can now be prepared from the acetylene end-capped polyimides which were previously inherently brittle and difficult to process.
A new RF window designed for high-power operation in an S-band LINAC RF system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joo, Youngdo; Kim, Seung-Hwan; Hwang, Woonha; Ryu, Jiwan; Roh, Sungjoo

2016-09-01

A new RF window is designed for high-power operation at the Pohang Light Source-II (PLSII) S-band linear accelerator (LINAC) RF system. In order to reduce the strength of the electric field component perpendicular to the ceramic disk, which is commonly known as the main cause of most discharge breakdowns in ceramic disk, we replace the pill-box type cavity in the conventional RF window with an overmoded cavity. The overmoded cavity is coupled with input and output waveguides through dual side-wall coupling irises to reduce the electric field strength at the iris and the number of possible mode competitions. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation, CST MWS, was used in the design process. The simulated maximum electric field component perpendicular to the ceramic for the new RF window is reduced by an order of magnitude compared with taht for the conventional RF window, which holds promise for stable high-power operation.
Final Technical Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stoessel, Chris

2013-11-13

This project developed a new high-performance R-10/high SHGC window design, reviewed market positioning and evaluated manufacturing solutions required for broad market adoption. The project objectives were accomplished by: identifying viable technical solutions based on modeling of modern and potential coating stacks and IGU designs; development of new coating material sets for HM thin film stacks, as well as improved HM IGU designs to accept multiple layers of HM films; matching promising new coating designs with new HM IGU designs to demonstrate performance gains; and, in cooperation with a window manufacturer, assess the potential for high-volume manufacturing and cost efficiency ofmore » a HM-based R-10 window with improved solar heat gain characteristics. A broad view of available materials and design options was applied to achieve the desired improvements. Gated engineering methodologies were employed to guide the development process from concept generation to a window demonstration. The project determined that a slightly de-rated window performance allows formulation of a path to achieve the desired cost reductions to support end consumer adoption.« less
Multi-window PIV measurements around a breathing manikin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marr, David

2005-11-01

The presented work includes multi-scale measurements via a stereo article Image Velocimetry (PIV) system to view a pair of two-component windows of dissimilar scale using a varied focal length. These measurements are taken in the breathing zone of an isothermal breathing manikin (from mouth) in an environmental chamber of average office cubicle dimensions without ventilation and are analogous to an oscillatory jet. From these phase-averaged measurements, we can extract information concerning length scales, turbulence quantities and low dimensional information in order to both determine correlation between data at different length scales as well as continuing research in exposure assessment for the indoor environment. In this talk we will present these turbulence quantities and interpret their influence on the breathing zone. While the largest scale is that of the room itself, we find that the relevant spatial scales associated with the breathing zone are much lower in magnitude. In future experiments, we will expand the multi window PIV technique to include PIV window configured to obtain scales of order the cubicle simultaneously with those of the breathing zone. This will aid in our understanding of the combined impact of these multiple scales on occupant exposure in the indoor environment.
News: Good chemical manufacturing process criteria

EPA Science Inventory

This news column covers topics relating to manufacturing criteria, machine to machine technology, novel process windows, green chemistry indices, business resilience, immobilized enzymes, and Bt crops.
PYROLASER - PYROLASER OPTICAL PYROMETER OPERATING SYSTEM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, F. E.

1994-01-01

The PYROLASER package is an operating system for the Pyrometer Instrument Company's Pyrolaser. There are 6 individual programs in the PYROLASER package: two main programs, two lower level subprograms, and two programs which, although independent, function predominantly as macros. The package provides a quick and easy way to setup, control, and program a standard Pyrolaser. Temperature and emissivity measurements may be either collected as if the Pyrolaser were in the manual operations mode, or displayed on real time strip charts and stored in standard spreadsheet format for post-test analysis. A shell is supplied to allow macros, which are test-specific, to be easily added to the system. The Pyrolaser Simple Operation program provides full on-screen remote operation capabilities, thus allowing the user to operate the Pyrolaser from the computer just as it would be operated manually. The Pyrolaser Simple Operation program also allows the use of "quick starts". Quick starts provide an easy way to permit routines to be used as setup macros for specific applications or tests. The specific procedures required for a test may be ordered in a sequence structure and then the sequence structure can be started with a simple button in the cluster structure provided. One quick start macro is provided for continuous Pyrolaser operation. A subprogram, Display Continuous Pyr Data, is used to display and store the resulting data output. Using this macro, the system is set up for continuous operation and the subprogram is called to display the data in real time on strip charts. The data is simultaneously stored in a spreadsheet format. The resulting spreadsheet file can be opened in any one of a number of commercially available spreadsheet programs. The Read Continuous Pyrometer program is provided as a continuously run subprogram for incorporation of the Pyrolaser software into a process control or feedback control scheme in a multi-component system. The program requires the Pyrolaser to be set up using the Pyrometer String Transfer macro. It requires no inputs and provides temperature and emissivity as outputs. The Read Continuous Pyrometer program can be run continuously and the data can be sampled as often or as seldom as updates of temperature and emissivity are required. PYROLASER is written using the Labview software for use on Macintosh series computers running System 6.0.3 or later, Sun Sparc series computers running OpenWindows 3.0 or MIT's X Window System (X11R4 or X11R5), and IBM PC or compatibles running Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later. Labview requires a minimum of 5Mb of RAM on a Macintosh, 24Mb of RAM on a Sun, and 8Mb of RAM on an IBM PC or compatible. The Labview software is a product of National Instruments (Austin,TX; 800-433-3488), and is not included with this program. The standard distribution medium for PYROLASER is a 3.5 inch 800K Macintosh format diskette. It is also available on a 3.5 inch 720K MS-DOS format diskette, a 3.5 inch diskette in UNIX tar format, and a .25 inch streaming magnetic tape cartridge in UNIX tar format. An electronic copy of the documentation in Macintosh WordPerfect version 2.0.4 format is included on the distribution medium. Printed documentation is included in the price of the program. PYROLASER was developed in 1992.
Prolonged in vivo imaging of Xenopus laevis.

PubMed

Hamilton, Paul W; Henry, Jonathan J

2014-08-01

While live imaging of embryonic development over long periods of time is a well established method for embryos of the frog Xenopus laevis, once development has progressed to the swimming stages, continuous live imaging becomes more challenging because the tadpoles must be immobilized. Current imaging techniques for these advanced stages generally require bringing the tadpoles in and out of anesthesia for short imaging sessions at selected time points, severely limiting the resolution of the data. Here we demonstrate that creating a constant flow of diluted tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222) over a tadpole greatly improves their survival under anesthesia. Based on this result, we describe a new method for imaging stage 48 to 65 X. laevis, by circulating the anesthetic using a peristaltic pump. This supports the animal during continuous live imaging sessions for at least 48 hr. The addition of a stable optical window allows for high quality imaging through the anesthetic solution. This automated imaging system provides for the first time a method for continuous observations of developmental and regenerative processes in advanced stages of Xenopus over 2 days. Developmental Dynamics 243:1011-1019, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
All-fibre optical gating system for measuring a complex-shaped periodic broadband signal with picosecond resolution in a nanosecond time window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrianov, A. V.

2018-04-01

We have developed an optical gating system for continuously monitoring a complex-shaped periodic optical signal with picosecond resolution in a nanosecond time window using an all-fibre optical gate in the form of a nonlinear loop mirror and a passively mode-locked femtosecond laser. The distinctive features of the system are the possibility of characterizing signals with a very large spectral bandwidth, the possibility of using a gating pulse source with a wavelength falling in the band of the signal under study and its all-fibre design with the use of standard fibres and telecom components.
Determination of design and operation parameters for upper atmospheric research instrumentation to yield optimum resolution with deconvolution, appendix 4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ioup, George E.; Ioup, Juliette W.

1989-01-01

The power spectrum for a stationary random process can be defined with the Wiener-Khintchine Theorem, which says that the power spectrum and the auto correlation function are a Fourier transform pair. To implement this theorem for signals that are discrete and of finite length we can use the Blackman-Tukey method. Blackman and Tukey (1958) show that a function w(tau), called a lag window, can be applied to the auto correlation estimates to obtain power spectrum estimates that are statistically stable. The Fourier transform of w(r) is called a spectral window. Typical choices for spectral windows show a distinct trade-off between the main lobe width and side lobe strength. A new idea for designing windows by taking linear combinations of the standard windows to produce hybrid windows was introduced by Smith (1985). We implement Smith's idea to obtain spectral windows with narrow main lobes and smaller (compared with typical windows) near side lobes. One of the main contributions of this thesis is that we show that Smith's problem is equivalent to a Quadratic Programming (QP) problem with linear equality and inequality constraints. A computer program was written to produce hybrid windows by setting up and solving the QP problem. We also developed and solved two variations of the original problem. The two variations involved changing the inequality constraints in both cases from non negativity on the combination coefficients to non negativity on the hybrid lag window itself. For the second variation, the window functions used to construct the hybrid window were changed to a frequency-variable set of truncated cosinusoids. A series of tests was run with the three computer programs to investigate the behavior of the hybrid spectral and lag windows. Emphasis was put on obtaining spectral windows with both relatively narrow main lobes and the lowest possible (for these algorithms) near side lobes. Some success was achieved for this goal. A 10 dB peak side lobe reduction over the rectangular spectral window without significant main lobe broadening was achieved. Also, average side lobe levels of -117 dB were reached at a cost of doubling the main lobe width (at the -3 dB point).
Self Validation of Radiance Measurements from the CERES (TRMM)Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paden, Jack; Pandey, Dhirendra K.; Lee, Robert B., III; Priestley, Kory J.

1999-01-01

Eight continuous months of earth-nadir-viewing radiance measurements from the 3-channel Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM,) Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) scanning radiometric measurement instrument, have been analyzed. While previous remote sensing satellites, such as the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) covered all subsets of the broadband radiance spectrum (total, longwave and shortwave.) CERES has two subset channels (window and shortwave) which do not give continuous frequency coverage over the total band. Previous experience with ERBE indicated the need for us to model the equivalent daytime longwave radiance using a window channel regression, which will allow us to validate the performance of the instrument using a three-channel inter-comparison. Limiting our consideration to the fixed azimuth plane, cross-track, scanning mode (FAPS), each nadir-viewing measurement was averaged into three subjective categories called daytime, nighttime, and twilight. Daytime was defined as any measurement taken when the solar zenith angle (SZA) was less than 90 ; nighttime was taken to be any measurement where the SZA was greater than 117 ; and twilight was everything else. Our analysis indicates that there are only two distinct categories of nadir-view data; daytime, and non-daytime (i.e., the union of the nighttime and twilight sets); and that the CERES longwave radiance is predictable to an accuracy of 1%, based on the SZA, and window channel measurements.
Shrinking windows of opportunity for oak seedling establishment in southern California mountains

USGS Publications Warehouse

Davis, Frank W.; Sweet, Lynn C.; Serra-Diaz, Josep M.; Franklin, Janet; McCullough, Ian M.; Flint, Alan L.; Flint, Lorraine E.; Dingman, John; Regan, Helen M.; Syphard, Alexandra D.; Hannah, Lee; Redmond, Kelly; Moritz, Max A.

2016-01-01

Seedling establishment is a critical step that may ultimately govern tree species’ distribution shifts under environmental change. Annual variation in the location of seed rain and microclimates results in transient “windows of opportunity” for tree seedling establishment across the landscape. These establishment windows vary at fine spatiotemporal scales that are not considered in most assessments of climate change impacts on tree species range dynamics and habitat displacement. We integrate field seedling establishment trials conducted in the southern Sierra Nevada and western Tehachapi Mountains of southern California with spatially downscaled grids of modeled water-year climatic water deficit (CWDwy) and mean August maximum daily temperature (Tmax) to map historical and projected future microclimates suitable for establishment windows of opportunity for Quercus douglasii, a dominant tree species of warm, dry foothill woodlands, and Q. kelloggii, a dominant of cooler, more mesic montane woodlands and forests. Based on quasi-binomial regression models, Q. douglasii seedling establishment is significantly associated with modeled CWDwy and to a lesser degree with modeled Tmax. Q. kelloggii seedling establishment is most strongly associated with Tmax and best predicted by a two-factor model including CWDwy and Tmax. Establishment niche models are applied to explore recruitment window dynamics in the western Tehachapi Mountains, where these species are currently widespread canopy dominants. Establishment windows are projected to decrease by 50–95%, shrinking locally to higher elevations and north-facing slopes by the end of this century depending on the species and climate scenario. These decreases in establishment windows suggest the potential for longer-term regional population declines of the species. While many additional processes regulate seedling establishment and growth, this study highlights the need to account for topoclimatic controls and interannual climatic variation when assessing how seedling establishment and colonization processes could be affected by climate change.
Timing of decontamination and treatment in case of percutaneous VX poisoning: a mini review.

PubMed

Joosen, Marloes J A; van der Schans, Marcel J; Kuijpers, Willem C; van Helden, Herman P M; Noort, Daan

2013-03-25

Low volatile organophosphorous nerve agents such as VX, will most likely enter the body via the skin. The pharmacokinetics of drugs such as oximes, atropine and diazepam, are not aligned with the variable and persistent toxicokinetics of the agent. Repeated administration of these drugs showed to improve treatment efficacy compared to a single injection treatment. Because of the effectiveness of continuous treatment, it was investigated to what extent a subchronic pretreatment with carbamate (pyridostigmine or physostigmine combined with either procyclidine or scopolamine) would protect against percutaneous VX exposure. Inclusion of scopolamine in the pretreatment prevented seizures in all animals, but none of the pretreatments affected survival time or the onset time of cholinergic signs. These results indicate that percutaneous poisoning with VX requires additional conventional treatment in addition to the current pretreatment regimen. Decontamination of VX-exposed skin is one of the most important countermeasures to mitigate the effects of the exposure. To evaluate the window of opportunity for decontamination, the fielded skin decontaminant Reactive Skin Decontaminant Lotion (RSDL) was tested at different times in hairless guinea pigs percutaneously challenged with 4× LD50 VX in IPA. The results showed that RSDL decontamination at 15 min after exposure could not prevent progressive blood cholinesterase inhibition and therefore would still require additional treatment. A similar decontamination regimen with RSDL at 90 min showed that it still might effectively increase the time window of opportunity for treatment. In conclusion, the delay in absorption presents a window of opportunity for decontamination and treatment. The continuous release of VX from the skin presents a significant challenge for efficacious therapy, which should ideally consist of thorough decontamination and continuous treatment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Development of a Simple Image Processing Application that Makes Abdominopelvic Tumor Visible on Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Image.

PubMed

Pandey, Anil Kumar; Saroha, Kartik; Sharma, Param Dev; Patel, Chetan; Bal, Chandrashekhar; Kumar, Rakesh

2017-01-01

In this study, we have developed a simple image processing application in MATLAB that uses suprathreshold stochastic resonance (SSR) and helps the user to visualize abdominopelvic tumor on the exported prediuretic positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) images. A brainstorming session was conducted for requirement analysis for the program. It was decided that program should load the screen captured PET/CT images and then produces output images in a window with a slider control that should enable the user to view the best image that visualizes the tumor, if present. The program was implemented on personal computer using Microsoft Windows and MATLAB R2013b. The program has option for the user to select the input image. For the selected image, it displays output images generated using SSR in a separate window having a slider control. The slider control enables the user to view images and select one which seems to provide the best visualization of the area(s) of interest. The developed application enables the user to select, process, and view output images in the process of utilizing SSR to detect the presence of abdominopelvic tumor on prediuretic PET/CT image.
Continuous-cyclic variations in the b-value of the earthquake frequency-magnitude distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Isa, Z. H.

2013-10-01

Seismicity of the Earth ( M ≥ 4.5) was compiled from NEIC, IRIS and ISC catalogues and used to compute b-value based on various time windows. It is found that continuous cyclic b-variations occur on both long and short time scales, the latter being of much higher value and sometimes in excess of 0.7 of the absolute b-value. These variations occur not only yearly or monthly, but also daily. Before the occurrence of large earthquakes, b-values start increasing with variable gradients that are affected by foreshocks. In some cases, the gradient is reduced to zero or to a negative value a few days before the earthquake occurrence. In general, calculated b-values attain maxima 1 day before large earthquakes and minima soon after their occurrence. Both linear regression and maximum likelihood methods give correlatable, but variable results. It is found that an expanding time window technique from a fixed starting point is more effective in the study of b-variations. The calculated b-variations for the whole Earth, its hemispheres, quadrants and the epicentral regions of some large earthquakes are of both local and regional character, which may indicate that in such cases, the geodynamic processes acting within a certain region have a much regional effect within the Earth. The b-variations have long been known to vary with a number of local and regional factors including tectonic stresses. The results reported here indicate that geotectonic stress remains the most significant factor that controls b-variations. It is found that for earthquakes with M w ≥ 7, an increase of about 0.20 in the b-value implies a stress increase that will result in an earthquake with a magnitude one unit higher.
KSC-06pd0316

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-02-18

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In NASA Kennedy Space Center's Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3, United Space Alliance shuttle technicians remove the hard cover from a window on Space Shuttle Discovery to enable STS-121 crew members to inspect the window from the cockpit. Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-121, the second return-to-flight mission, is scheduled no earlier than May.
New Window into the Human Body

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

Michael Vannier, MD, a former NASA engineer, recognized the similarity between NASA's computerized image processing technology and nuclear magnetic resonance. With technical assistance from Kennedy Space Center, he developed a computer program for Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology enabling Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to scan body tissue for earlier diagnoses. Dr. Vannier feels that "satellite imaging" has opened a new window into the human body.
Centralized Monitoring of the Microsoft Windows-based computers of the LHC Experiment Control Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varela Rodriguez, F.

2011-12-01

The control system of each of the four major Experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is distributed over up to 160 computers running either Linux or Microsoft Windows. A quick response to abnormal situations of the computer infrastructure is crucial to maximize the physics usage. For this reason, a tool was developed to supervise, identify errors and troubleshoot such a large system. Although the monitoring of the performance of the Linux computers and their processes was available since the first versions of the tool, it is only recently that the software package has been extended to provide similar functionality for the nodes running Microsoft Windows as this platform is the most commonly used in the LHC detector control systems. In this paper, the architecture and the functionality of the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) client developed to provide centralized monitoring of the nodes running different flavour of the Microsoft platform, as well as the interface to the SCADA software of the control systems are presented. The tool is currently being commissioned by the Experiments and it has already proven to be very efficient optimize the running systems and to detect misbehaving processes or nodes.

Iconic Meaning in Music: An Event-Related Potential Study.

PubMed

Cai, Liman; Huang, Ping; Luo, Qiuling; Huang, Hong; Mo, Lei

2015-01-01

Although there has been extensive research on the processing of the emotional meaning of music, little is known about other aspects of listeners' experience of music. The present study investigated the neural correlates of the iconic meaning of music. Event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded while a group of 20 music majors and a group of 20 non-music majors performed a lexical decision task in the context of implicit musical iconic meaning priming. ERP analysis revealed a significant N400 effect of congruency in time window 260-510 ms following the onset of the target word only in the group of music majors. Time-course analysis using 50 ms windows indicated significant N400 effects both within the time window 410-460 ms and 460-510 ms for music majors, whereas only a partial N400 effect during time window 410-460 ms was observed for non-music majors. There was also a trend for the N400 effects in the music major group to be stronger than those in the non-major group in the sub-windows of 310-360 ms and 410-460 ms. Especially in the sub-window of 410-460 ms, the topographical map of the difference waveforms between congruent and incongruent conditions revealed different N400 distribution between groups; the effect was concentrated in bilateral frontal areas for music majors, but in central-parietal areas for non-music majors. These results imply probable neural mechanism differences underlying automatic iconic meaning priming of music. Our findings suggest that processing of the iconic meaning of music can be accomplished automatically and that musical training may facilitate the understanding of the iconic meaning of music.
Iconic Meaning in Music: An Event-Related Potential Study

PubMed Central

Luo, Qiuling; Huang, Hong; Mo, Lei

2015-01-01

Although there has been extensive research on the processing of the emotional meaning of music, little is known about other aspects of listeners’ experience of music. The present study investigated the neural correlates of the iconic meaning of music. Event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded while a group of 20 music majors and a group of 20 non-music majors performed a lexical decision task in the context of implicit musical iconic meaning priming. ERP analysis revealed a significant N400 effect of congruency in time window 260-510 ms following the onset of the target word only in the group of music majors. Time-course analysis using 50 ms windows indicated significant N400 effects both within the time window 410-460 ms and 460-510 ms for music majors, whereas only a partial N400 effect during time window 410-460 ms was observed for non-music majors. There was also a trend for the N400 effects in the music major group to be stronger than those in the non-major group in the sub-windows of 310-360ms and 410-460ms. Especially in the sub-window of 410-460 ms, the topographical map of the difference waveforms between congruent and incongruent conditions revealed different N400 distribution between groups; the effect was concentrated in bilateral frontal areas for music majors, but in central-parietal areas for non-music majors. These results imply probable neural mechanism differences underlying automatic iconic meaning priming of music. Our findings suggest that processing of the iconic meaning of music can be accomplished automatically and that musical training may facilitate the understanding of the iconic meaning of music. PMID:26161561
Printing of structures less than 0,3 μm by i-line exposure using resists TDMR-AR80 and TDMR-AR95

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behrendt, A.; Dow, T.; Stoeflin, K.

2007-03-01

There is increasing interest in high resolution i-line resists which allow the printing of structures smaller than 0.3μm. We have evaluated the resists TDMR-AR80 und TDMR-AR95 from TOK Company in order to check their potential concerning minimum line sizes with sufficient process window in regard to focus/exposure process latitude, with our main focus on trench structures. The Bossung Plots of dense lines and semi-dense lines were determined. The resist and etch profiles were characterised both by inline-SEM measurements and cross-sections. The influence of several stepper illumination modes and Off Axis Illumination (OAI) on the focus/exposure process window was investigated. The resists TDMR-AR80 and TDMR-AR95 enable printing of trench structures less than 0.3μm. For 0.3μm lines, our specification limit of 0.3μm +/- 10% was reached within a focus range from - 0.1 to 1.0 microns. OAI illumination mode enlarged the focus window by 20% in comparison to the standard illumination mode. Structures of 0.28μm and 0.26μm were printed with a focus window of 0.7μm which shows the high potential of this resist generation. The implementation of the resist in production provides large amounts of data which enable the calculation of parameters related to process stability (wafer to wafer and lot to lot CD-standard deviation, Cp-, Cpk-values etc.).
Optimization of RET flow using test layout

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yunqiang; Sethi, Satyendra; Lucas, Kevin

2008-11-01

At advanced technology nodes with extremely low k1 lithography, it is very hard to achieve image fidelity requirements and process window for some layout configurations. Quite often these layouts are within simple design rule constraints for a given technology node. It is important to have these layouts included during early RET flow development. Most of RET developments are based on shrunk layout from the previous technology node, which is possibly not good enough. A better methodology in creating test layout is required for optical proximity correction (OPC) recipe and assists feature development. In this paper we demonstrate the application of programmable test layouts in RET development. Layout pattern libraries are developed and embedded in a layout tool (ICWB). Assessment gauges are generated together with patterns for quick correction accuracy assessment. Several groups of test pattern libraries have been developed based on learning from product patterns and a layout DOE approach. The interaction between layout patterns and OPC recipe has been studied. Correction of a contact layer is quite challenge because of poor convergence and low process window. We developed test pattern library with many different contact configurations. Different OPC schemes are studied on these test layouts. The worst process window patterns are pinpointed for a given illumination condition. Assist features (AF) are frequently placed according to pre-determined rules to improve lithography process window. These rules are usually derived from lithographic models and experiments. Direct validation of AF rules is required at development phase. We use the test layout approach to determine rules in order to eliminate AF printability problem.
Seismic signal time-frequency analysis based on multi-directional window using greedy strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yingpin; Peng, Zhenming; Cheng, Zhuyuan; Tian, Lin

2017-08-01

Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) is an important time-frequency analysis technology with a high energy distribution in seismic signal processing. However, it is interfered by many cross terms. To suppress the cross terms of the WVD and keep the concentration of its high energy distribution, an adaptive multi-directional filtering window in the ambiguity domain is proposed. This begins with the relationship of the Cohen distribution and the Gabor transform combining the greedy strategy and the rotational invariance property of the fractional Fourier transform in order to propose the multi-directional window, which extends the one-dimensional, one directional, optimal window function of the optimal fractional Gabor transform (OFrGT) to a two-dimensional, multi-directional window in the ambiguity domain. In this way, the multi-directional window matches the main auto terms of the WVD more precisely. Using the greedy strategy, the proposed window takes into account the optimal and other suboptimal directions, which also solves the problem of the OFrGT, called the local concentration phenomenon, when encountering a multi-component signal. Experiments on different types of both the signal models and the real seismic signals reveal that the proposed window can overcome the drawbacks of the WVD and the OFrGT mentioned above. Finally, the proposed method is applied to a seismic signal's spectral decomposition. The results show that the proposed method can explore the space distribution of a reservoir more precisely.
Design and fabrication of a large area freestanding compressive stress SiO2 optical window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Toan, Nguyen; Sangu, Suguru; Ono, Takahito

2016-07-01

This paper reports the design and fabrication of a 7.2 mm × 9.6 mm freestanding compressive stress SiO2 optical window without buckling. An application of the SiO2 optical window with and without liquid penetration has been demonstrated for an optical modulator and its optical characteristic is evaluated by using an image sensor. Two methods for SiO2 optical window fabrication have been presented. The first method is a combination of silicon etching and a thermal oxidation process. Silicon capillaries fabricated by deep reactive ion etching (deep RIE) are completely oxidized to form the SiO2 capillaries. The large compressive stress of the oxide causes buckling of the optical window, which is reduced by optimizing the design of the device structure. A magnetron-type RIE, which is investigated for deep SiO2 etching, is the second method. This method achieves deep SiO2 etching together with smooth surfaces, vertical shapes and a high aspect ratio. Additionally, in order to avoid a wrinkling optical window, the idea of a Peano curve structure has been proposed to achieve a freestanding compressive stress SiO2 optical window. A 7.2 mm × 9.6 mm optical window area without buckling integrated with an image sensor for an optical modulator has been successfully fabricated. The qualitative and quantitative evaluations have been performed in cases with and without liquid penetration.
Hybrid RTM process: Monitoring and processing of composites based on reactive thermoplastic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dkier, Mohamed; Lamnawar, Khalid; Maazouz, Abderrahim

2017-10-01

In this work, hybrid process coupling "Reactive Extrusion" and "Resin Transfer Molding" machine (T-ERTM) equipped with an instrumented mold was designed and developed. Polyamides model matrix according to two kinds of polymerizations were studied as well anionic and chain extension reactions. For the former, different ratios of catalyst and activator were investigated. For the latter, various formulations of prepolymer with chain extender (CA) were studied at different stoichiometry ratios and temperatures. Since that both reaction kinetics are very fast to be monitored at short times by usual technics, the chemo-rheological evolutions were firstly studied ex-situ by coupling rheology with FTIR and dielectric spectroscopy (DRS). Secondly, the T-ERTM process with an "instrumented mold" was developed with specific dielectric sensors in order to in-situ track viscosity and reaction evolution. The in-situ results corroborate the ex-situ ones aforementioned. Overall, a processing window was obtained for each reactive system to ensure a good preform impregnation for the manufacturing of complex and continuous glass fiber-reinforced parts. Herein, the Time-Temperature-Transformation-equivalent diagrams were established to obtain Thermoplastic composites with tailored mechanical and physical properties.
Assessment of windows on noise intrusion, energy efficiency, and indoor air quality for residential buildings near airports.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

The continuing increase in air traffic has implications for the preservation of our common : resources and causes global and micro-environmental pollution. This pollution affects public : health and causes damage to the prospects of future generation...
Rotation Periods and Photometric Amplitudes for Cool Stars with TESS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrews, Hannah; Dominguez, Zechariah; Johnson, Sara; Buzasi, Derek L.

2018-06-01

The original Kepler mission observed 200000 stars in the same field nearly continuously for over four years, generating an unparalleled set of stellar rotation curves and new insights into the correlation between rotation periods and photometric variability on the lower main sequence. The continuation of Kepler in the guise of K2 has allowed us to examine a stellar sample comparable in size to that observed with Kepler, but drawn from new stellar populations. However, K2 observed each field for at most three months, limiting the inferences that can be drawn, particularly for older, slower-rotating stars. The upcoming TESS spacecraft will provide light curves for perhaps two orders of magnitude more stars, but with time windows as short as 27 days. In this work, we resample Kepler light curves using the TESS observing window, and study what can be learned from high-precision light curves of such short lengths, and how to compare those results to what we have learned from Kepler.
Efficient full-chip SRAF placement using machine learning for best accuracy and improved consistency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shibing; Baron, Stanislas; Kachwala, Nishrin; Kallingal, Chidam; Sun, Dezheng; Shu, Vincent; Fong, Weichun; Li, Zero; Elsaid, Ahmad; Gao, Jin-Wei; Su, Jing; Ser, Jung-Hoon; Zhang, Quan; Chen, Been-Der; Howell, Rafael; Hsu, Stephen; Luo, Larry; Zou, Yi; Zhang, Gary; Lu, Yen-Wen; Cao, Yu

2018-03-01

Various computational approaches from rule-based to model-based methods exist to place Sub-Resolution Assist Features (SRAF) in order to increase process window for lithography. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks, and typically requires the user to make a trade-off between time of development, accuracy, consistency and cycle time. Rule-based methods, used since the 90 nm node, require long development time and struggle to achieve good process window performance for complex patterns. Heuristically driven, their development is often iterative and involves significant engineering time from multiple disciplines (Litho, OPC and DTCO). Model-based approaches have been widely adopted since the 20 nm node. While the development of model-driven placement methods is relatively straightforward, they often become computationally expensive when high accuracy is required. Furthermore these methods tend to yield less consistent SRAFs due to the nature of the approach: they rely on a model which is sensitive to the pattern placement on the native simulation grid, and can be impacted by such related grid dependency effects. Those undesirable effects tend to become stronger when more iterations or complexity are needed in the algorithm to achieve required accuracy. ASML Brion has developed a new SRAF placement technique on the Tachyon platform that is assisted by machine learning and significantly improves the accuracy of full chip SRAF placement while keeping consistency and runtime under control. A Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) is trained using the target wafer layout and corresponding Continuous Transmission Mask (CTM) images. These CTM images have been fully optimized using the Tachyon inverse mask optimization engine. The neural network generated SRAF guidance map is then used to place SRAF on full-chip. This is different from our existing full-chip MB-SRAF approach which utilizes a SRAF guidance map (SGM) of mask sensitivity to improve the contrast of optical image at the target pattern edges. In this paper, we demonstrate that machine learning assisted SRAF placement can achieve a superior process window compared to the SGM model-based SRAF method, while keeping the full-chip runtime affordable, and maintain consistency of SRAF placement . We describe the current status of this machine learning assisted SRAF technique and demonstrate its application to full chip mask synthesis and discuss how it can extend the computational lithography roadmap.
[Near infrared analysis of blending homogeneity of Chinese medicine formula particles based on moving window F test method].

PubMed

Yang, Chan; Xu, Bing; Zhang, Zhi-Qiang; Wang, Xin; Shi, Xin-Yuan; Fu, Jing; Qiao, Yan-Jiang

2016-10-01

Blending uniformity is essential to ensure the homogeneity of Chinese medicine formula particles within each batch. This study was based on the blending process of ebony spray dried powder and dextrin(the proportion of dextrin was 10%),in which the analysis of near infrared (NIR) diffuse reflectance spectra was collected from six different sampling points in combination with moving window F test method in order to assess the blending uniformity of the blending process.The method was validated by the changes of citric acid content determined by the HPLC. The results of moving window F test method showed that the ebony spray dried powder and dextrin was homogeneous during 200-300 r and was segregated during 300-400 r. An advantage of this method is that the threshold value is defined statistically, not empirically and thus does not suffer from threshold ambiguities in common with the moving block standard deviatiun (MBSD). And this method could be employed to monitor other blending process of Chinese medicine powders on line. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.
Fused silica windows for solar receiver applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hertel, Johannes; Uhlig, Ralf; Söhn, Matthias; Schenk, Christian; Helsch, Gundula; Bornhöft, Hansjörg

2016-05-01

A comprehensive study of optical and mechanical properties of quartz glass (fused silica) with regard to application in high temperature solar receivers is presented. The dependence of rupture strength on different surface conditions as well as high temperature is analyzed, focussing particularly on damage by devitrification and sandblasting. The influence of typical types of contamination in combination with thermal cycling on the optical properties of fused silica is determined. Cleaning methods are compared regarding effectiveness on contamination-induced degradation for samples with and without antireflective coating. The FEM-aided design of different types of receiver windows and their support structure is presented. A large-scale production process has been developed for producing fused silica dome shaped windows (pressurized window) up to a diameter of 816 mm. Prototypes were successfully pressure-tested in a test bench and certified according to the European Pressure Vessel Directive.
The origin of blue-green window and the propagation of radiation in ocean waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reghunath, A. T.; Venkataramanan, V.; Suviseshamuthu, D. Victor; Krishnamohan, R.; Prasad, B. Raghavendra

1991-01-01

A review of the present knowledge about the origin of blue-green window in the attenuation spectrum of ocean waters is presented. The various physical mechanisms which contribute to the formation of the window are dealt separately and discussed. The typical values of attenuation coefficient arising out of the various processes are compiled to obtain the total beam attenuation coefficient. These values are then compared with measured values of attenuation coefficient for ocean waters collected from Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal. The region of minimum attenuation in pure particle-free sea water is found to be at 450 to 500 nm. It is shown that in the presence of suspended particles and chlorophyll, the window shifts to longer wavelength side. Some suggestions for future work in this area are also given in the concluding section.
Neuropsychological basic deficits in preschoolers at risk for ADHD: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Pauli-Pott, Ursula; Becker, Katja

2011-06-01

Widely accepted neuropsychological theories on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assume that the complex symptoms of the disease arise from developmentally preceding neuropsychological basic deficits. These deficits in executive functions and delay aversion are presumed to emerge in the preschool period. The corresponding normative developmental processes include phases of relative stability and rapid change. These non-linear developmental processes might have implications for concurrent and predictive associations between basic deficits and ADHD symptoms. To derive a description of the nature and strength of these associations, a meta-analysis was conducted. It is assumed that weighted mean effect sizes differ between basic deficits and depend on age. The meta-analysis included 25 articles (n=3005 children) in which associations between assessments of basic deficits (i.e. response inhibition, interference control, delay aversion, working memory, flexibility, and vigilance/arousal) in the preschool period and concurrent or subsequent ADHD symptoms or diagnosis of ADHD had been analyzed. For response inhibition and delay aversion, mean effect sizes were of medium to large magnitude while the mean effect size for working memory was small. Meta-regression analyses revealed that effect sizes of delay aversion tasks significantly decreased with increasing age while effect sizes of interference control tasks and Continuous Performance Tests (CPTs) significantly increased. Depending on the normative maturational course of each skill, time windows might exist that allow for a more or less valid assessment of a specific deficit. In future research these time windows might help to describe early developing forms of ADHD and to identify children at risk. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Drug concentration heterogeneity facilitates the evolution of drug resistance.

PubMed

Kepler, T B; Perelson, A S

1998-09-29

Pathogenic microorganisms use Darwinian processes to circumvent attempts at their control through chemotherapy. In the case of HIV-1 infection, in which drug resistance is a continuing problem, we show that in one-compartment systems, there is a relatively narrow window of drug concentrations that allows evolution of resistant variants. When the system is enlarged to two spatially distinct compartments held at different drug concentrations with transport of virus between them, the range of average drug concentrations that allow evolution of resistance is significantly increased. For high average drug concentrations, resistance is very unlikely to arise without spatial heterogeneity. We argue that a quantitative understanding of the role played by heterogeneity in drug levels and pathogen transport is crucial for attempts to control re-emergent infectious disease.
Cultural diversity: family path through terminal illness.

PubMed

Baider, L

2012-04-01

In trying to comprehend a culture and its ways of structuring the world, much can be learned from addressing the manner in which intimate family relationships are ordered and family crises channeled toward care. A family's experience with illness cannot be considered in isolation from the cultural milieu in which it occurs. Family adaptation to cancer diagnosis is a continuous motion between many critical strata--a fragile oscillation between hope and desperation. Processes for optimal functioning and the well-being of members are seen to vary over time, as challenges unfold and families evolve across the life cycle and illness trajectory. The manner in which the healthcare system and family manage illness and terminal care is a particularly helpful window into the cultural, religious and traditional values of every family in a particular society.
Microeconomics of advanced process window control for 50-nm gates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monahan, Kevin M.; Chen, Xuemei; Falessi, Georges; Garvin, Craig; Hankinson, Matt; Lev, Amir; Levy, Ady; Slessor, Michael D.

2002-07-01

Fundamentally, advanced process control enables accelerated design-rule reduction, but simple microeconomic models that directly link the effects of advanced process control to profitability are rare or non-existent. In this work, we derive these links using a simplified model for the rate of profit generated by the semiconductor manufacturing process. We use it to explain why and how microprocessor manufacturers strive to avoid commoditization by producing only the number of dies required to satisfy the time-varying demand in each performance segment. This strategy is realized using the tactic known as speed binning, the deliberate creation of an unnatural distribution of microprocessor performance that varies according to market demand. We show that the ability of APC to achieve these economic objectives may be limited by variability in the larger manufacturing context, including measurement delays and process window variation.
Wide memory window in graphene oxide charge storage nodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shuai; Pu, Jing; Chan, Daniel S. H.; Cho, Byung Jin; Loh, Kian Ping

2010-04-01

Solution-processable, isolated graphene oxide (GO) monolayers have been used as a charge trapping dielectric in TaN gate/Al2O3/isolated GO sheets/SiO2/p-Si memory device (TANOS). The TANOS type structure serves as memory device with the threshold voltage controlled by the amount of charge trapped in the GO sheet. Capacitance-Voltage hysteresis curves reveal a 7.5 V memory window using the sweep voltage of -5-14 V. Thermal reduction in the GO to graphene reduces the memory window to 1.4 V. The unique charge trapping properties of GO points to the potential applications in flexible organic memory devices.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Uplink Analysis Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khanampompan, Teerapat; Gladden, Roy; Fisher, Forest; Hwang, Pauline

2008-01-01

This software analyzes Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) orbital geometry with respect to Mars Exploration Rover (MER) contact windows, and is the first tool of its kind designed specifically to support MRO-MER interface coordination. Prior to this automated tool, this analysis was done manually with Excel and the UNIX command line. In total, the process would take approximately 30 minutes for each analysis. The current automated analysis takes less than 30 seconds. This tool resides on the flight machine and uses a PHP interface that does the entire analysis of the input files and takes into account one-way light time from another input file. Input flies are copied over to the proper directories and are dynamically read into the tool s interface. The user can then choose the corresponding input files based on the time frame desired for analysis. After submission of the Web form, the tool merges the two files into a single, time-ordered listing of events for both spacecraft. The times are converted to the same reference time (Earth Transmit Time) by reading in a light time file and performing the calculations necessary to shift the time formats. The program also has the ability to vary the size of the keep-out window on the main page of the analysis tool by inputting a custom time for padding each MRO event time. The parameters on the form are read in and passed to the second page for analysis. Everything is fully coded in PHP and can be accessed by anyone with access to the machine via Web page. This uplink tool will continue to be used for the duration of the MER mission's needs for X-band uplinks. Future missions also can use the tools to check overflight times as well as potential site observation times. Adaptation of the input files to the proper format, and the window keep-out times, would allow for other analyses. Any operations task that uses the idea of keep-out windows will have a use for this program.
Computing an optimal time window of audiovisual integration in focused attention tasks: illustrated by studies on effect of age and prior knowledge.

PubMed

Colonius, Hans; Diederich, Adele

2011-07-01

The concept of a "time window of integration" holds that information from different sensory modalities must not be perceived too far apart in time in order to be integrated into a multisensory perceptual event. Empirical estimates of window width differ widely, however, ranging from 40 to 600 ms depending on context and experimental paradigm. Searching for theoretical derivation of window width, Colonius and Diederich (Front Integr Neurosci 2010) developed a decision-theoretic framework using a decision rule that is based on the prior probability of a common source, the likelihood of temporal disparities between the unimodal signals, and the payoff for making right or wrong decisions. Here, this framework is extended to the focused attention task where subjects are asked to respond to signals from a target modality only. Evoking the framework of the time-window-of-integration (TWIN) model, an explicit expression for optimal window width is obtained. The approach is probed on two published focused attention studies. The first is a saccadic reaction time study assessing the efficiency with which multisensory integration varies as a function of aging. Although the window widths for young and older adults differ by nearly 200 ms, presumably due to their different peripheral processing speeds, neither of them deviates significantly from the optimal values. In the second study, head saccadic reactions times to a perfectly aligned audiovisual stimulus pair had been shown to depend on the prior probability of spatial alignment. Intriguingly, they reflected the magnitude of the time-window widths predicted by our decision-theoretic framework, i.e., a larger time window is associated with a higher prior probability.

Mandating influenza vaccinations for health care workers: analysing opportunities for policy change using Kingdon's agenda setting framework.

PubMed

Jackson-Lee, Angela; Barr, Neil G; Randall, Glen E

2016-09-29

The consequences of annual influenza outbreaks are often underestimated by the general public. Influenza poses a serious public health threat around the world, particularly for the most vulnerable populations. Fortunately, vaccination can mitigate the negative effects of this common infectious disease. Although inoculating frontline health care workers (HCWs) helps minimize disease transmission, some HCWs continue to resist participating in voluntary immunization programs. A potential solution to this problem is government-mandated vaccination for HCWs; however, in practice, there are substantial barriers to the adoption of such policies. The purpose of this paper is to identify the likelihood of adopting a policy for mandatory immunization of HCWs in Ontario based on a historical review of barriers to the agenda setting process. Documents from secondary data sources were analysed using Kingdon's agenda setting framework of three converging streams leading to windows of opportunity for possible policy adoption. The problems, politics, and policies streams of Kingdon's framework have converged and diverged repeatedly over an extended period (policy windows have opened and closed several times). In each instance, a technically feasible solution was available. However, despite the evidence supporting the value of HCW immunization, alignment of the three agenda setting streams occurred for very short periods of time, during which, opposition lobby groups reacted, making the proposed solution less politically acceptable. Prior to the adoption of any new policies, issues must reach a government's decision agenda. Based on Kingdon's agenda setting framework, this only occurs when there is alignment of the problems, politics, and policies streams. Understanding this process makes it easier to predict the likelihood of a policy being adopted, and ultimately implemented. Such learning may be applied to policy issues in other jurisdictions. In the case of mandatory influenza vaccinations for HCWs in Ontario, it seems highly unlikely that a new policy will be adopted until perception of the problem's importance is sufficient to overcome the political opposition to implementing a solution and thus, create a window of opportunity that is open long enough to support change.
The emergence of the vertical birth in Ecuador: an analysis of agenda setting and policy windows for intercultural health

PubMed Central

Llamas, Ana; Mayhew, Susannah

2016-01-01

Maternal mortality continues to claim the lives of thousands of women in Latin America despite the availability of effective treatments to avert maternal death. In the past, efforts to acknowledge cultural diversity in birth practices had not been clearly integrated into policy. However, in Otavalo (Ecuador) a local hospital pioneered the implementation of the ‘Vertical Birth’—a practical manifestation of an intercultural health policy aimed at increasing indigenous women’s access to maternity care. Drawing on agenda-setting theory, this qualitative research explores how the vertical birth practice made it onto the local policy agenda and the processes that allowed actors to seize a window of opportunity allowing the vertical birth practice to emerge. Our results show that the processes that brought about the vertical birth practice took place over a prolonged period of time and resulted from the interplay between various factors. Firstly, a maternal health policy community involving indigenous actors played a key role in identifying maternal mortality as a policy problem, defining its causes and framing it as an indigenous rights issue. Secondly, previous initiatives to address maternal mortality provided a wealth of experience that gave these actors the knowledge and experience to formulate a feasible policy solution and consolidate support from powerful actors. Thirdly, the election of a new government that had incorporated the demands of the indigenous movement opened up a window of opportunity to push intercultural health policies such as the vertical birth. We conclude that the socioeconomic and political changes at both national and local level allowed the meaningful participation of indigenous actors that made a critical contribution to the emergence of the vertical birth practice. These findings can help us advance our knowledge of strategies to set the agenda for intercultural maternal health policy and inform future policy in similar settings. Our results also show that Kingdon’s model was useful in explaining how the VB practice emerged but also that it needs modifications when applied to low and middle income countries. PMID:26758539
Advanced Terrain Representation for the Microticcit Workstation: System Maintenance Manual

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-02-01

enter the */ /* password. */ /* Inputs: passwd - password to compare userfs entry to */ /* Outputs: TRUE - if password entered correctly...include "atrdefs.h" #include "ctype.h" extern char window[]; /* useable portion of screen */ 1 i getpw( passwd ) char passwd []; { int c...blank input window */ pcvgcp(&row,*col); curs_off(); nchars - ntries - 0; len « strlen( passwd ); pcvwca(len,• *,REVIDEO); /* process keys till user
Inter-Comparison of GOES-8 Imager and Sounder Skin Temperature Retrievals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haines, Stephanie L.; Suggs, Ronnie J.; Jedlovec, Gary J.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Skin temperature (ST) retrievals derived from geostationary satellite observations have both high temporal and spatial resolutions and are therefore useful for applications such as assimilation into mesoscale forecast models, nowcasting, and diagnostic studies. Our retrieval method uses a Physical Split Window technique requiring at least two channels within the longwave infrared window. On current GOES satellites, including GOES-11, there are two Imager channels within the required spectral interval. However, beginning with the GOES-M satellite the 12-um channel will be removed, leaving only one longwave channel. The Sounder instrument will continue to have three channels within the longwave window, and therefore ST retrievals will be derived from Sounder measurements. This research compares retrievals from the two instruments and evaluates the effects of the spatial resolution and sensor calibration differences on the retrievals. Both Imager and Sounder retrievals are compared to ground-truth data to evaluate the overall accuracy of the technique. An analysis of GOES-8 and GOES-11 intercomparisons is also presented.
Combining Temporal and Spectral Information with Spatial Mapping to Identify Differences between Phonological and Semantic Networks: A Magnetoencephalographic Approach.

PubMed

McNab, Fiona; Hillebrand, Arjan; Swithenby, Stephen J; Rippon, Gina

2012-01-01

Early, lesion-based models of language processing suggested that semantic and phonological processes are associated with distinct temporal and parietal regions respectively, with frontal areas more indirectly involved. Contemporary spatial brain mapping techniques have not supported such clear-cut segregation, with strong evidence of activation in left temporal areas by both processes and disputed evidence of involvement of frontal areas in both processes. We suggest that combining spatial information with temporal and spectral data may allow a closer scrutiny of the differential involvement of closely overlapping cortical areas in language processing. Using beamforming techniques to analyze magnetoencephalography data, we localized the neuronal substrates underlying primed responses to nouns requiring either phonological or semantic processing, and examined the associated measures of time and frequency in those areas where activation was common to both tasks. Power changes in the beta (14-30 Hz) and gamma (30-50 Hz) frequency bands were analyzed in pre-selected time windows of 350-550 and 500-700 ms In left temporal regions, both tasks elicited power changes in the same time window (350-550 ms), but with different spectral characteristics, low beta (14-20 Hz) for the phonological task and high beta (20-30 Hz) for the semantic task. In frontal areas (BA10), both tasks elicited power changes in the gamma band (30-50 Hz), but in different time windows, 500-700 ms for the phonological task and 350-550 ms for the semantic task. In the left inferior parietal area (BA40), both tasks elicited changes in the 20-30 Hz beta frequency band but in different time windows, 350-550 ms for the phonological task and 500-700 ms for the semantic task. Our findings suggest that, where spatial measures may indicate overlapping areas of involvement, additional beamforming techniques can demonstrate differential activation in time and frequency domains.
Rapid update of discrete Fourier transform for real-time signal processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sherlock, Barry G.; Kakad, Yogendra P.

2001-10-01

In many identification and target recognition applications, the incoming signal will have properties that render it amenable to analysis or processing in the Fourier domain. In such applications, however, it is usually essential that the identification or target recognition be performed in real time. An important constraint upon real-time processing in the Fourier domain is the time taken to perform the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). Ideally, a new Fourier transform should be obtained after the arrival of every new data point. However, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm requires on the order of N log2 N operations, where N is the length of the transform, and this usually makes calculation of the transform for every new data point computationally prohibitive. In this paper, we develop an algorithm to update the existing DFT to represent the new data series that results when a new signal point is received. Updating the DFT in this way uses less computational order by a factor of log2 N. The algorithm can be modified to work in the presence of data window functions. This is a considerable advantage, because windowing is often necessary to reduce edge effects that occur because the implicit periodicity of the Fourier transform is not exhibited by the real-world signal. Versions are developed in this paper for use with the boxcar window, the split triangular, Hanning, Hamming, and Blackman windows. Generalization of these results to 2D is also presented.
Endpoint in plasma etch process using new modified w-multivariate charts and windowed regression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakour, Sihem Ben; Taleb, Hassen

2017-09-01

Endpoint detection is very important undertaking on the side of getting a good understanding and figuring out if a plasma etching process is done in the right way, especially if the etched area is very small (0.1%). It truly is a crucial part of supplying repeatable effects in every single wafer. When the film being etched has been completely cleared, the endpoint is reached. To ensure the desired device performance on the produced integrated circuit, the high optical emission spectroscopy (OES) sensor is employed. The huge number of gathered wavelengths (profiles) is then analyzed and pre-processed using a new proposed simple algorithm named Spectra peak selection (SPS) to select the important wavelengths, then we employ wavelet analysis (WA) to enhance the performance of detection by suppressing noise and redundant information. The selected and treated OES wavelengths are then used in modified multivariate control charts (MEWMA and Hotelling) for three statistics (mean, SD and CV) and windowed polynomial regression for mean. The employ of three aforementioned statistics is motivated by controlling mean shift, variance shift and their ratio (CV) if both mean and SD are not stable. The control charts show their performance in detecting endpoint especially W-mean Hotelling chart and the worst result is given by CV statistic. As the best detection of endpoint is given by the W-Hotelling mean statistic, this statistic will be used to construct a windowed wavelet Hotelling polynomial regression. This latter can only identify the window containing endpoint phenomenon.
A novel microfluidic mixer based on dual-hydrodynamic focusing for interrogating the kinetics of DNA-protein interaction.

PubMed

Li, Ying; Xu, Fei; Liu, Chao; Xu, Youzhi; Feng, Xiaojun; Liu, Bi-Feng

2013-08-21

Kinetic measurement of biomacromolecular interaction plays a significant role in revealing the underlying mechanisms of cellular activities. Due to the small diffusion coefficient of biomacromolecules, it is difficult to resolve the rapid kinetic process with traditional analytical methods such as stopped-flow or laminar mixers. Here, we demonstrated a unique continuous-flow laminar mixer based on microfluidic dual-hydrodynamic focusing to characterize the kinetics of DNA-protein interactions. The time window of this mixer for kinetics observation could cover from sub-milliseconds to seconds, which made it possible to capture the folding process with a wide dynamic range. Moreover, the sample consumption was remarkably reduced to <0.55 μL min⁻¹, over 1000-fold saving in comparison to those reported previously. We further interrogated the interaction kinetics of G-quadruplex and the single-stranded DNA binding protein, indicating that this novel micromixer would be a useful approach for analyzing the interaction kinetics of biomacromolecules.
The Snow Data System at NASA JPL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laidlaw, R.; Painter, T. H.; Mattmann, C. A.; Ramirez, P.; Bormann, K.; Brodzik, M. J.; Burgess, A. B.; Rittger, K.; Goodale, C. E.; Joyce, M.; McGibbney, L. J.; Zimdars, P.

2014-12-01

NASA JPL's Snow Data System has a data-processing pipeline powered by Apache OODT, an open source software tool. The pipeline has been running for several years and has successfully generated a significant amount of cryosphere data, including MODIS-based products such as MODSCAG, MODDRFS and MODICE, with historical and near-real time windows and covering regions such as the Artic, Western US, Alaska, Central Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand. The team continues to improve the pipeline, using monitoring tools such as Ganglia to give an overview of operations, and improving fault-tolerance with automated recovery scripts. Several alternative adaptations of the Snow Covered Area and Grain size (SCAG) algorithm are being investigated. These include using VIIRS and Landsat TM/ETM+ satellite data as inputs. Parallel computing techniques are being considered for core SCAG processing, such as using the PyCUDA Python API to utilize multi-core GPU architectures. An experimental version of MODSCAG is also being developed for the Google Earth Engine platform, a cloud-based service.
Exploring Windows Domain-Level Defenses Against Authentication Attacks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nichols, Jeff A.; Curtis, Laura

2016-01-01

We investigated the security resilience of the current Windows Active Directory (AD) environments to Pass-the-Hash and Pass- the-Ticket credential theft attacks. While doing this, we discovered a way to trigger the removal of all previously issued authentication credentials for a client, thus preventing their use by attackers. After triggered, the user is forced to contact the domain administrators and to authenticate to the AD to continue. This could become the basis for a response that arrests the spread of a detected attack. Operating in a virtualized XenServer environment, we were able to carefully determine and recreate the conditions necessary tomore » cause this response.« less
Creation of aorto-pulmonary window with pulmonary artery band is not good palliation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

PubMed

Hosein, Riad B M; Mehta, Chetan; Stickley, John; Mcguirk, Simon P; Jones, Timothy J; Brawn, William J; Barron, David J

2007-11-01

A small sub-group of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) have normal-sized ascending aorta and arch. An alternative to the Norwood I procedure in these patients is the creation of an aorto-pulmonary (AP) window with a distal pulmonary artery band (PAB). We reviewed our experience with this technique and compared outcomes to the Norwood procedure for HLHS. All patients treated for HLHS in a single institution between 1992 and 2005 were analysed. This identified 13 patients treated with AP window and PAB compared to 333 patients undergoing stage I Norwood procedure. An unrestrictive AP window was created and the main PA was banded. Patient records and echocardiograms were analysed. Median follow-up was 10 (IQR 0-655) days and 100% complete. There were seven early deaths (54%) in the AP window group and two conversions to Norwood circulation. This was a significantly worse outcome than for the Norwood procedure over the same period, which had an early mortality of 29% (p=0.03). Kaplan-Meier actuarial analysis demonstrated a continued survival benefit of the Norwood group at 6 months (p=0.0005). Deaths were due to either low cardiac output syndrome (n=4) or sudden unheralded arrest (n=3). This occurred despite aortic cross-clamp and circulatory arrest times being significantly lower in the AP window group compared to the Norwood group (35+/-27 vs 55+/-16 min, p<0.01 and 16+/-29 vs 55+/-20 min, p<0.01, respectively). No differences in arterial saturations or systolic blood pressure existed between the groups, but diastolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the AP window group at 27+/-10 mmHg compared to 42+/-8 mmHg in the Norwood group (p=0.01) with evidence of flow reversal in the descending aorta. Differences in diastolic blood pressure between groups were abolished after conversion to stage II. Despite favourable anatomy and shorter ischaemic times, the AP window/PAB technique has a poor outcome compared to the Norwood procedure for HLHS. Low diastolic blood pressure with reversal of descending aortic flow in diastole was a feature of the AP window/PAB circulation. We recommend the Norwood procedure for these sub-types. This may have implications for newer 'hybrid' procedures for HLHS which create a similar palliative circulation.
Use of photovoltaics for waste heat recovery

DOEpatents

Polcyn, Adam D

2013-04-16

A device for recovering waste heat in the form of radiated light, e.g. red visible light and/or infrared light includes a housing having a viewing window, and a photovoltaic cell mounted in the housing in a relationship to the viewing window, wherein rays of radiated light pass through the viewing window and impinge on surface of the photovoltaic cell. The housing and/or the cell are cooled so that the device can be used with a furnace for an industrial process, e.g. mounting the device with a view of the interior of the heating chamber of a glass making furnace. In this manner, the rays of the radiated light generated during the melting of glass batch materials in the heating chamber pass through the viewing window and impinge on the surface of the photovoltaic cells to generate electric current which is passed onto an electric load.
Single-agent parallel window search

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Powley, Curt; Korf, Richard E.

1991-01-01

Parallel window search is applied to single-agent problems by having different processes simultaneously perform iterations of Iterative-Deepening-A(asterisk) (IDA-asterisk) on the same problem but with different cost thresholds. This approach is limited by the time to perform the goal iteration. To overcome this disadvantage, the authors consider node ordering. They discuss how global node ordering by minimum h among nodes with equal f = g + h values can reduce the time complexity of serial IDA-asterisk by reducing the time to perform the iterations prior to the goal iteration. Finally, the two ideas of parallel window search and node ordering are combined to eliminate the weaknesses of each approach while retaining the strengths. The resulting approach, called simply parallel window search, can be used to find a near-optimal solution quickly, improve the solution until it is optimal, and then finally guarantee optimality, depending on the amount of time available.
A fast algorithm for vertex-frequency representations of signals on graphs

PubMed Central

Jestrović, Iva; Coyle, James L.; Sejdić, Ervin

2016-01-01

The windowed Fourier transform (short time Fourier transform) and the S-transform are widely used signal processing tools for extracting frequency information from non-stationary signals. Previously, the windowed Fourier transform had been adopted for signals on graphs and has been shown to be very useful for extracting vertex-frequency information from graphs. However, high computational complexity makes these algorithms impractical. We sought to develop a fast windowed graph Fourier transform and a fast graph S-transform requiring significantly shorter computation time. The proposed schemes have been tested with synthetic test graph signals and real graph signals derived from electroencephalography recordings made during swallowing. The results showed that the proposed schemes provide significantly lower computation time in comparison with the standard windowed graph Fourier transform and the fast graph S-transform. Also, the results showed that noise has no effect on the results of the algorithm for the fast windowed graph Fourier transform or on the graph S-transform. Finally, we showed that graphs can be reconstructed from the vertex-frequency representations obtained with the proposed algorithms. PMID:28479645
Manufacturing process scale-up of optical grade transparent spinel ceramic at ArmorLine Corporation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spilman, Joseph; Voyles, John; Nick, Joseph; Shaffer, Lawrence

2013-06-01

While transparent Spinel ceramic's mechanical and optical characteristics are ideal for many Ultraviolet (UV), visible, Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR), Mid-Wave Infrared (MWIR), and multispectral sensor window applications, commercial adoption of the material has been hampered because the material has historically been available in relatively small sizes (one square foot per window or less), low volumes, unreliable supply, and with unreliable quality. Recent efforts, most notably by Technology Assessment and Transfer (TA and T), have scaled-up manufacturing processes and demonstrated the capability to produce larger windows on the order of two square feet, but with limited output not suitable for production type programs. ArmorLine Corporation licensed the hot-pressed Spinel manufacturing know-how of TA and T in 2009 with the goal of building the world's first dedicated full-scale Spinel production facility, enabling the supply of a reliable and sufficient volume of large Transparent Armor and Optical Grade Spinel plates. With over $20 million of private investment by J.F. Lehman and Company, ArmorLine has installed and commissioned the largest vacuum hot press in the world, the largest high-temperature/high-pressure hot isostatic press in the world, and supporting manufacturing processes within 75,000 square feet of manufacturing space. ArmorLine's equipment is capable of producing window blanks as large as 50" x 30" and the facility is capable of producing substantial volumes of material with its Lean configuration and 24/7 operation. Initial production capability was achieved in 2012. ArmorLine will discuss the challenges that were encountered during scale-up of the manufacturing processes, ArmorLine Optical Grade Spinel optical performance, and provide an overview of the facility and its capabilities.
Windows on Achievement and Inequality. Policy Information Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barton, Paul E.; Coley, Richard J.

2008-01-01

Shifting focus from typical data and information about the status of educational achievement in the United States and about gaps in achievement among the nation's students, this report undertakes investigation of less-frequently-asked questions. As required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), educators are continuously monitoring whether more…
46 CFR 116.1020 - Strength.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Strength. 116.1020 Section 116.1020 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) SMALL PASSENGER VESSELS CARRYING MORE THAN 150 PASSENGERS OR WITH... Visibility § 116.1020 Strength. Each window, port hole, and its means of attachment to the hull or deck house...
Variable orifice using an iris shutter

DOEpatents

Beeman, Raymond; Brajkovich, Steven J.

1978-01-01

A variable orifice forming mechanism utilizing an iris shutter arrangement adapted to control gas flow, conductance in vacuum systems, as a heat shield for furnace windows, as a beam shutter in sputtering operations, and in any other application requiring periodic or continuously-variable control of material, gas, or fluid flow.
PRISM Software: Processing and Review Interface for Strong‐Motion Data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones, Jeanne M.; Kalkan, Erol; Stephens, Christopher D.; Ng, Peter

2017-01-01

A continually increasing number of high‐quality digital strong‐motion records from stations of the National Strong Motion Project (NSMP) of the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as data from regional seismic networks within the United States, calls for automated processing of strong‐motion records with human review limited to selected significant or flagged records. The NSMP has developed the Processing and Review Interface for Strong Motion data (PRISM) software to meet this need. In combination with the Advanced National Seismic System Quake Monitoring System (AQMS), PRISM automates the processing of strong‐motion records. When used without AQMS, PRISM provides batch‐processing capabilities. The PRISM software is platform independent (coded in Java), open source, and does not depend on any closed‐source or proprietary software. The software consists of two major components: a record processing engine composed of modules for each processing step, and a review tool, which is a graphical user interface for manual review, edit, and processing. To facilitate use by non‐NSMP earthquake engineers and scientists, PRISM (both its processing engine and review tool) is easy to install and run as a stand‐alone system on common operating systems such as Linux, OS X, and Windows. PRISM was designed to be flexible and extensible to accommodate implementation of new processing techniques. All the computing features have been thoroughly tested.
A new methodology for monitoring wood fluxes in rivers using a ground camera: Potential and limits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benacchio, Véronique; Piégay, Hervé; Buffin-Bélanger, Thomas; Vaudor, Lise

2017-02-01

Ground imagery, which produces large amounts of valuable data at high frequencies, is increasingly used by fluvial geomorphologists to survey and understand processes. While such technology provides immense quantities of information, it can be challenging to analyze and requires automatization and associated development of new methodologies. This paper presents a new approach to automate the processing of image analysis to monitor wood delivery from the upstream Rhône River (France). The Génissiat dam is used as an observation window; all pieces of wood coming from the catchment are trapped here, hence a wood raft accumulates over time. In 2011, we installed an Axis 211W camera to acquire oblique images of the reservoir every 10 min with the goal of automatically detecting a wood raft area, in order to transform it to wood weight (t) and flux (t/d). The methodology we developed is based on random forest classification to detect the wood raft surface over time, which provided a good classification rate of 97.2%. Based on 14 mechanical wood extractions that included weight of wood removed each time, conducted during the survey period, we established a relationship between wood weight and wood raft surface area observed just before the extraction (R2 = 0.93). We found that using such techniques to continuously monitor wood flux is difficult because the raft undergoes very significant changes through time in terms of density, with a very high interday and intraday variability. Misclassifications caused by changes in weather conditions can be mitigated as well as errors from variation in pixel resolution (owing to camera position or window size), but a set of effects on raft density and mobility must still be explored (e.g., dam operation effects, wind on the reservoir surface). At this stage, only peak flow contribution to wood delivery can be well calculated, but determining an accurate, continuous series of wood flux is not possible. Several recommendations are made in terms of maximizing the potential benefit of such monitoring.

Region of interest and windowing-based progressive medical image delivery using JPEG2000

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagaraj, Nithin; Mukhopadhyay, Sudipta; Wheeler, Frederick W.; Avila, Ricardo S.

2003-05-01

An important telemedicine application is the perusal of CT scans (digital format) from a central server housed in a healthcare enterprise across a bandwidth constrained network by radiologists situated at remote locations for medical diagnostic purposes. It is generally expected that a viewing station respond to an image request by displaying the image within 1-2 seconds. Owing to limited bandwidth, it may not be possible to deliver the complete image in such a short period of time with traditional techniques. In this paper, we investigate progressive image delivery solutions by using JPEG 2000. An estimate of the time taken in different network bandwidths is performed to compare their relative merits. We further make use of the fact that most medical images are 12-16 bits, but would ultimately be converted to an 8-bit image via windowing for display on the monitor. We propose a windowing progressive RoI technique to exploit this and investigate JPEG 2000 RoI based compression after applying a favorite or a default window setting on the original image. Subsequent requests for different RoIs and window settings would then be processed at the server. For the windowing progressive RoI mode, we report a 50% reduction in transmission time.
Varying behavior of different window sizes on the classification of static and dynamic physical activities from a single accelerometer.

PubMed

Fida, Benish; Bernabucci, Ivan; Bibbo, Daniele; Conforto, Silvia; Schmid, Maurizio

2015-07-01

Accuracy of systems able to recognize in real time daily living activities heavily depends on the processing step for signal segmentation. So far, windowing approaches are used to segment data and the window size is usually chosen based on previous studies. However, literature is vague on the investigation of its effect on the obtained activity recognition accuracy, if both short and long duration activities are considered. In this work, we present the impact of window size on the recognition of daily living activities, where transitions between different activities are also taken into account. The study was conducted on nine participants who wore a tri-axial accelerometer on their waist and performed some short (sitting, standing, and transitions between activities) and long (walking, stair descending and stair ascending) duration activities. Five different classifiers were tested, and among the different window sizes, it was found that 1.5 s window size represents the best trade-off in recognition among activities, with an obtained accuracy well above 90%. Differences in recognition accuracy for each activity highlight the utility of developing adaptive segmentation criteria, based on the duration of the activities. Copyright © 2015 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Cutoff for the East Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganguly, S.; Lubetzky, E.; Martinelli, F.

2015-05-01

The East process is a 1 d kinetically constrained interacting particle system, introduced in the physics literature in the early 1990s to model liquid-glass transitions. Spectral gap estimates of Aldous and Diaconis in 2002 imply that its mixing time on L sites has order L. We complement that result and show cutoff with an -window. The main ingredient is an analysis of the front of the process (its rightmost zero in the setup where zeros facilitate updates to their right). One expects the front to advance as a biased random walk, whose normal fluctuations would imply cutoff with an -window. The law of the process behind the front plays a crucial role: Blondel showed that it converges to an invariant measure ν, on which very little is known. Here we obtain quantitative bounds on the speed of convergence to ν, finding that it is exponentially fast. We then derive that the increments of the front behave as a stationary mixing sequence of random variables, and a Stein-method based argument of Bolthausen (`82) implies a CLT for the location of the front, yielding the cutoff result. Finally, we supplement these results by a study of analogous kinetically constrained models on trees, again establishing cutoff, yet this time with an O(1)-window.
Use of UV-protective windows and window films to aid in the prevention of skin cancer.

PubMed

Edlich, Richard F; Winters, Kathryne L; Cox, Mary Jude; Becker, Daniel G; Horowitz, Jed H; Nichter, Larry S; Britt, L D; Long, William B; Edlic, Elizabeth C

2004-01-01

People are exposed to ambient solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation throughout their daily routine, intentionally and unintentionally. Cumulative and excessive exposure to UV radiation is the behavioral cause to skin cancers, skin damage, premature skin aging, and sun-related eye disorders. More than one million new cases of skin cancer were diagnosed in the United States this year. UV radiates directly and diffusely scattered by the various environmental and atmospheric conditions and has access to the skin from all directions. Because of this diffuse UV radiation, a person situated under a covering, such as the roof of a car or house, is not completely protected from the sun's rays. Because shade structures do not protect effectively against UV radiation, there have been major advances in photoprotection of glass by the development of specially designed photoprotective windows and films. It is the purpose of this collective review to highlight the photoprotective windows and films that should be incorporated into residential, commercial, and school glass windows to reduce sun exposure. Low-emittence (low-E) coatings are microscopically thin, virtually invisible, metal or metallic oxide layers deposited on a window or skylight glazing surface to reduce the U-factor by suppressing radiative heat flow as well as to limit UV radiation. The exclusive Thermaflect coating uses the most advanced, double-layer soft coat technology to continue to deliver top performance for UV protection as well as prevent heat loss in the home. This product blocks 87% of UV radiation and has an Energy Star certification in all climate zones. Tints and films have been another important advance in glass photoprotection, especially in automobiles. Quality widow film products are high-tech laminates of polyester and metallized coatings bonded by distortion-free adhesives. The International Window Film Association provides members with accreditation in solar control films, safety films, and automotive films in an effort to increase consumer awareness and demand for all professionally installed film window products. The Skin Cancer Foundation has also played a leadership role in certifying window films that limit UV transmission. The Panorama Designer and Safety Films are currently recommended for UV photoprotection by The Skin Cancer Foundation. On the basis of these innovative scientific and industrial advances in window and film photoprotective products, we recommend that they be used in all residential, commercial, and school facilities to provide photoprotection in an effort to reduce skin cancer.
Reading strategies of fast and slow readers.

PubMed

Haberlandt, K F; Graesser, A C; Schneider, N J

1989-09-01

In three subject-paced experiments we evaluated reading patterns at the word, line, and sentence level for fast and slow readers. A moving-window method was used to collect word reading times for natural texts. At the word level, reading times of word N were influenced by features of word N-1 for fast readers but not for slow readers. The lag effect exhibited by fast readers indicates that they continue to process a word when it is no longer in view, thus limiting the notion of immediate processing. Contrary to our initial expectation that fast readers would process only a single new argument from a sentence, whereas slow readers would process several new arguments, we found that both reader groups adopted a many-argument strategy. However, fast and slow readers differed in terms of the text units (lines vs. sentences) defining the new-argument effects: Fast readers exhibited greater new-argument effects relative to lines, whereas slow readers exhibited greater new-argument effects relative to sentences. Specifically, slow readers integrated the new arguments primarily at the end of the sentence, whereas fast readers did so at line boundaries. These results are discussed in terms of a buffer-and-integrate model of reading comprehension.
Energy Conservation Strategies for Windows and Glazed Surfaces

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-07-01

When activated, photochromies reduce only the visual transmittance, not the infrared, so much of the solar heat gain is unaffected. • Thermochromic ...Strategies Windows and Glazed Surfaces by Brian M. Deal, Robert J. Nemeth, and Lee P. DeBaille for Solar Radiation Reflected Transmitted Absorbed...10 Fenestration Design 12 3 Heat Transfer Fundamentals 14 Mechanisms of Heat Transfer 14 Heat Transfer Process Through Glass 16 Solar Heat Gain
Implementation and benefits of advanced process control for lithography CD and overlay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zavyalova, Lena; Fu, Chong-Cheng; Seligman, Gary S.; Tapp, Perry A.; Pol, Victor

2003-05-01

Due to the rapidly reduced imaging process windows and increasingly stingent device overlay requirements, sub-130 nm lithography processes are more severely impacted than ever by systamic fault. Limits on critical dimensions (CD) and overlay capability further challenge the operational effectiveness of a mix-and-match environment using multiple lithography tools, as such mode additionally consumes the available error budgets. Therefore, a focus on advanced process control (APC) methodologies is key to gaining control in the lithographic modules for critical device levels, which in turn translates to accelerated yield learning, achieving time-to-market lead, and ultimately a higher return on investment. This paper describes the implementation and unique challenges of a closed-loop CD and overlay control solution in high voume manufacturing of leading edge devices. A particular emphasis has been placed on developing a flexible APC application capable of managing a wide range of control aspects such as process and tool drifts, single and multiple lot excursions, referential overlay control, 'special lot' handling, advanced model hierarchy, and automatic model seeding. Specific integration cases, including the multiple-reticle complementary phase shift lithography process, are discussed. A continuous improvement in the overlay and CD Cpk performance as well as the rework rate has been observed through the implementation of this system, and the results are studied.
In-line monitoring of pellet coating thickness growth by means of visual imaging.

PubMed

Oman Kadunc, Nika; Sibanc, Rok; Dreu, Rok; Likar, Boštjan; Tomaževič, Dejan

2014-08-15

Coating thickness is the most important attribute of coated pharmaceutical pellets as it directly affects release profiles and stability of the drug. Quality control of the coating process of pharmaceutical pellets is thus of utmost importance for assuring the desired end product characteristics. A visual imaging technique is presented and examined as a process analytic technology (PAT) tool for noninvasive continuous in-line and real time monitoring of coating thickness of pharmaceutical pellets during the coating process. Images of pellets were acquired during the coating process through an observation window of a Wurster coating apparatus. Image analysis methods were developed for fast and accurate determination of pellets' coating thickness during a coating process. The accuracy of the results for pellet coating thickness growth obtained in real time was evaluated through comparison with an off-line reference method and a good agreement was found. Information about the inter-pellet coating uniformity was gained from further statistical analysis of the measured pellet size distributions. Accuracy and performance analysis of the proposed method showed that visual imaging is feasible as a PAT tool for in-line and real time monitoring of the coating process of pharmaceutical pellets. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Dynamic sample size detection in learning command line sequence for continuous authentication.

PubMed

Traore, Issa; Woungang, Isaac; Nakkabi, Youssef; Obaidat, Mohammad S; Ahmed, Ahmed Awad E; Khalilian, Bijan

2012-10-01

Continuous authentication (CA) consists of authenticating the user repetitively throughout a session with the goal of detecting and protecting against session hijacking attacks. While the accuracy of the detector is central to the success of CA, the detection delay or length of an individual authentication period is important as well since it is a measure of the window of vulnerability of the system. However, high accuracy and small detection delay are conflicting requirements that need to be balanced for optimum detection. In this paper, we propose the use of sequential sampling technique to achieve optimum detection by trading off adequately between detection delay and accuracy in the CA process. We illustrate our approach through CA based on user command line sequence and naïve Bayes classification scheme. Experimental evaluation using the Greenberg data set yields encouraging results consisting of a false acceptance rate (FAR) of 11.78% and a false rejection rate (FRR) of 1.33%, with an average command sequence length (i.e., detection delay) of 37 commands. When using the Schonlau (SEA) data set, we obtain FAR = 4.28% and FRR = 12%.
Broadband turbulent spectra in gamma-ray burst light curves

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Van Putten, Maurice H. P. M.; Guidorzi, Cristiano; Frontera, Filippo, E-mail: mvp@sejong.ac.kr

2014-05-10

Broadband power density spectra offer a window to understanding turbulent behavior in the emission mechanism and, at the highest frequencies, in the putative inner engines powering long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We describe a chirp search method alongside Fourier analysis for signal detection in the Poisson noise-dominated, 2 kHz sampled, BeppoSAX light curves. An efficient numerical implementation is described in O(Nnlog n) operations, where N is the number of chirp templates and n is the length of the light-curve time series, suited for embarrassingly parallel processing. For the detection of individual chirps over a 1 s duration, the method is onemore » order of magnitude more sensitive in signal-to-noise ratio than Fourier analysis. The Fourier-chirp spectra of GRB 010408 and GRB 970816 show a continuation of the spectral slope with up to 1 kHz of turbulence identified in low-frequency Fourier analysis. The same continuation is observed in an average spectrum of 42 bright, long GRBs. An outlook on a similar analysis of upcoming gravitational wave data is included.« less
Surface transmission enhancement of ZnS via continuous-wave laser microstructuring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Major, Kevin J.; Florea, Catalin M.; Poutous, Menelaos K.; Busse, Lynda E.; Sanghera, Jasbinder S.; Aggarwal, Ishwar D.

2014-03-01

Fresnel reflectivity at dielectric boundaries between optical components, lenses, and windows is a major issue for the optics community. The most common method to reduce the index mismatch and subsequent surface reflection is to apply a thin film or films of intermediate indices to the optical materials. More recently, surface texturing or roughening has been shown to approximate a stepwise refractive index thin-film structure, with a gradient index of refraction transition from the bulk material to the surrounding medium. Short-pulse laser ablation is a recently-utilized method to produce such random anti-reflective structured surfaces (rARSS). Typically, high-energy femtosecond pulsed lasers are focused on the surface of the desired optical material to produce periodic or quasi-periodic assemblies of nanostructures which provide reduced surface reflection. This technique is being explored to generate a variety of structures across multiple optical materials. However, femtosecond laser systems are relatively expensive and more difficult to maintain. We present here a low power and low-cost alternative to femtosecond laser ablation, demonstrating random antireflective structures on the surface of Cleartran ZnS windows produced with a continuous-wave laser. In particular, we find that irradiation with a low-powered (<10 mW), defocused, CW 325nm-wavelength laser produces a random surface with significant roughness on ZnS substrates. The transmission through the structured ZnS windows is shown to increase by up to 9% across a broad wavelength range from the visible to the near-infrared.
Artificial Intelligence for Pathologists Is Not Near--It Is Here: Description of a Prototype That Can Transform How We Practice Pathology Tomorrow.

PubMed

Ye, Jay J

2015-07-01

Pathologists' daily tasks consist of both the professional interpretation of slides and the secretarial tasks of translating these interpretations into final pathology reports, the latter of which is a time-consuming endeavor for most pathologists. To describe an artificial intelligence that performs secretarial tasks, designated as Secretary-Mimicking Artificial Intelligence (SMILE). The underling implementation of SMILE is a collection of computer programs that work in concert to "listen to" the voice commands and to "watch for" the changes of windows caused by slide bar code scanning; SMILE responds to these inputs by acting upon PowerPath Client windows (Sunquest Information Systems, Tucson, Arizona) and its Microsoft Word (Microsoft, Redmond, Washington) Add-In window, eventuating in the reports being typed and finalized. Secretary-Mimicking Artificial Intelligence also communicates relevant information to the pathologist via the computer speakers and message box on the screen. Secretary-Mimicking Artificial Intelligence performs many secretarial tasks intelligently and semiautonomously, with rapidity and consistency, thus enabling pathologists to focus on slide interpretation, which results in a marked increase in productivity, decrease in errors, and reduction of stress in daily practice. Secretary-Mimicking Artificial Intelligence undergoes encounter-based learning continually, resulting in a continuous improvement in its knowledge-based intelligence. Artificial intelligence for pathologists is both feasible and powerful. The future widespread use of artificial intelligence in our profession is certainly going to transform how we practice pathology.
Fabrication of glass gas cells for the HALOE and MAPS satellite experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sullivan, E. M.; Walthall, H. G.

1984-01-01

The Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) and the Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites (MAPS) experiment are satellite-borne experiments which measure trace constituents in the Earth's atmosphere. The instruments which obtain the data for these experiments are based on the gas filter correlation radiometer measurement technique. In this technique, small samples of the gases of interest are encapsulated in glass cylinders, called gas cells, which act as very selective optical filters. This report describes the techniques employed in the fabrication of the gas cells for the HALOE and MAPS instruments. Details of the method used to fuse the sapphire windows (required for IR transmission) to the glass cell bodies are presented along with detailed descriptions of the jigs and fixtures used during the assembly process. The techniques and equipment used for window inspection and for pairing the HALOE windows are discussed. Cell body materials and the steps involved in preparing the cell bodies for the glass-to-sapphire fusion process are given.
Spectrometric investigation of the weathering process affecting historical glasses of León Cathedral, Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castro, M. A.; Pereira, F. J.; Aller, A. J.; Littlejohn, D.

2014-12-01

Atmospheric pollution plays important roles in the weathering of the historical buildings and glass windows. Samples of white powdered weathering products, recovered during restoration of the stained-glass windows of León Cathedral in Spain, were characterised using a combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive-X ray spectrometry (ED-XRS), Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and Raman spectrometry. The presence of sulphates, and to a lesser extent carbonates, in the white powdered product is clear indication of the participation of atmospheric acidifying gases, particularly SOx, in the weathering process. It is interesting to note that there was no indication of the participation of NOx gases. There was, however, evidence that the putty and mortar used to seal/join the glasses were major sources of the weathering products. In this way, this study suggests sealants more resistant to oxidation, such as silicone- and zirconia-based materials, should be considered for repairing glass windows in historic buildings to avoid exacerbating degradation.
"Smart inhibition": electrophysiological evidence for the suppression of conflict-generating task rules during task switching.

PubMed

Meiran, Nachshon; Hsieh, Shulan; Chang, Chi-Chih

2011-09-01

A major challenge for task switching is maintaining a balance between high task readiness and effectively ignoring irrelevant task rules. This calls for finely tuned inhibition that targets only the source of interference without adversely influencing other task-related representations. The authors show that irrelevant task rules generating response conflict are inhibited, causing their inefficient execution on the next trial (indicating the presence of competitor rule suppression[CRS];Meiran, Hsieh, & Dimov, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 36, 992-1002, 2010). To determine whether CRS influences task rules, rather than target stimuli or responses, the authors focused on the processing of the task cue before the target stimulus was presented and before the response could be chosen. As was predicted, CRS was found in the event-related potentials in two time windows during task cue processing. It was also found in three time windows after target presentation. Source localization analyses suggest the involvement of the right dorsal prefrontal cortex in all five time windows.
The FEM Simulation on End Mill of Plastic Doors and Windows Corner Cleaning Based on Deform-3D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Guoping; Huang, Zhenyong; Wang, Xiaohui

2017-12-01

In the plastic doors and windows corner cleaning process, the rotating speed, the feed rate and the milling cutter diameter are the main factors that affect the efficiency and quality of the of corner cleaning. In this paper, SolidWorks will be used to establish the 3D model of end mills, and use Deform-3D to research the end mill milling process. And using orthogonal experiment design method to analyze the effect of rotating speed, the feed rate and the milling cutter diameter on the axial force variation, and to get the overall trend of axial force and the selection of various parameters according to the influence of axial force change. Finally, simulate milling experiment used to get the actual axial force data to verify the reliability of the FEM simulation model. And the conclusion obtained in this paper has important theoretical value in improving the plastic doors and windows corner cleaning efficiency and quality.
Predicting progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia using neuropsychological data: a supervised learning approach using time windows.

PubMed

Pereira, Telma; Lemos, Luís; Cardoso, Sandra; Silva, Dina; Rodrigues, Ana; Santana, Isabel; de Mendonça, Alexandre; Guerreiro, Manuela; Madeira, Sara C

2017-07-19

Predicting progression from a stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment to dementia is a major pursuit in current research. It is broadly accepted that cognition declines with a continuum between MCI and dementia. As such, cohorts of MCI patients are usually heterogeneous, containing patients at different stages of the neurodegenerative process. This hampers the prognostic task. Nevertheless, when learning prognostic models, most studies use the entire cohort of MCI patients regardless of their disease stages. In this paper, we propose a Time Windows approach to predict conversion to dementia, learning with patients stratified using time windows, thus fine-tuning the prognosis regarding the time to conversion. In the proposed Time Windows approach, we grouped patients based on the clinical information of whether they converted (converter MCI) or remained MCI (stable MCI) within a specific time window. We tested time windows of 2, 3, 4 and 5 years. We developed a prognostic model for each time window using clinical and neuropsychological data and compared this approach with the commonly used in the literature, where all patients are used to learn the models, named as First Last approach. This enables to move from the traditional question "Will a MCI patient convert to dementia somewhere in the future" to the question "Will a MCI patient convert to dementia in a specific time window". The proposed Time Windows approach outperformed the First Last approach. The results showed that we can predict conversion to dementia as early as 5 years before the event with an AUC of 0.88 in the cross-validation set and 0.76 in an independent validation set. Prognostic models using time windows have higher performance when predicting progression from MCI to dementia, when compared to the prognostic approach commonly used in the literature. Furthermore, the proposed Time Windows approach is more relevant from a clinical point of view, predicting conversion within a temporal interval rather than sometime in the future and allowing clinicians to timely adjust treatments and clinical appointments.
(111)-oriented Pb(Zr ,Ti)O3 films deposited on SrRuO3/Pt electrodes: Reproducible preparation by metal organic chemical vapor deposition, top electrode influence, and reliability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menou, Nicolas; Funakubo, Hiroshi

2007-12-01

(111)-textured Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O3 films (thickness of ˜120nm) were deposited on (111)-oriented SrRuO3 bottom electrodes by pulse metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). PZT single phase was evidenced over a large range of Pb precursor input rate into the MOCVD chamber. In this process window, the good control of the (111) texture of PZT films was confirmed. It is shown that the control of both the composition and orientation of PZT films leads to reproducible electric properties (Pr, Vc, resistance to fatigue) across the process window. Furthermore, the impact of the top electrode chemical nature, elaboration process, and annealing process upon the electric properties was studied systematically.
Integral window/photon beam position monitor and beam flux detectors for x-ray beams

DOEpatents

Shu, Deming; Kuzay, Tuncer M.

1995-01-01

A monitor/detector assembly in a synchrotron for either monitoring the position of a photon beam or detecting beam flux may additionally function as a vacuum barrier between the front end and downstream segment of the beamline in the synchrotron. A base flange of the monitor/detector assembly is formed of oxygen free copper with a central opening covered by a window foil that is fused thereon. The window foil is made of man-made materials, such as chemical vapor deposition diamond or cubic boron nitrate and in certain configurations includes a central opening through which the beams are transmitted. Sensors of low atomic number materials, such as aluminum or beryllium, are laid on the window foil. The configuration of the sensors on the window foil may be varied depending on the function to be performed. A contact plate of insulating material, such as aluminum oxide, is secured to the base flange and is thereby clamped against the sensor on the window foil. The sensor is coupled to external electronic signal processing devices via a gold or silver lead printed onto the contact plate and a copper post screw or alternatively via a copper screw and a copper spring that can be inserted through the contact plate and coupled to the sensors. In an alternate embodiment of the monitor/detector assembly, the sensors are sandwiched between the window foil of chemical vapor deposition diamond or cubic boron nitrate and a front foil made of similar material.
Real-Time Detection of Dust Devils from Pressure Readings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagstaff, Kiri

2009-01-01

A method for real-time detection of dust devils at a given location is based on identifying the abrupt, temporary decreases in atmospheric pressure that are characteristic of dust devils as they travel through that location. The method was conceived for use in a study of dust devils on the Martian surface, where bandwidth limitations encourage the transmission of only those blocks of data that are most likely to contain information about features of interest, such as dust devils. The method, which is a form of intelligent data compression, could readily be adapted to use for the same purpose in scientific investigation of dust devils on Earth. In this method, the readings of an atmospheric- pressure sensor are repeatedly digitized, recorded, and processed by an algorithm that looks for extreme deviations from a continually updated model of the current pressure environment. The question in formulating the algorithm is how to model current normal observations and what minimum magnitude deviation can be considered sufficiently anomalous as to indicate the presence of a dust devil. There is no single, simple answer to this question: any answer necessarily entails a compromise between false detections and misses. For the original Mars application, the answer was sought through analysis of sliding time windows of digitized pressure readings. Windows of 5-, 10-, and 15-minute durations were considered. The windows were advanced in increments of 30 seconds. Increments of other sizes can also be used, but computational cost increases as the increment decreases and analysis is performed more frequently. Pressure models were defined using a polynomial fit to the data within the windows. For example, the figure depicts pressure readings from a 10-minute window wherein the model was defined by a third-degree polynomial fit to the readings and dust devils were identified as negative deviations larger than both 3 standard deviations (from the mean) and 0.05 mbar in magnitude. An algorithm embodying the detection scheme of this example was found to yield a miss rate of just 8 percent and a false-detection rate of 57 percent when evaluated on historical pressure-sensor data collected by the Mars Pathfinder lander. Since dust devils occur infrequently over the course of a mission, prioritizing observations that contain successful detections could greatly conserve bandwidth allocated to a given mission. This technique can be used on future Mars landers and rovers, such as Mars Phoenix and the Mars Science Laboratory.

New Frontiers in Characterization of Sub-Catalog Microseismicity: Utilizing Inter-Event Waveform Cross Correlation for Estimating Precise Locations, Magnitudes, and Focal Mechanisms of Tiny Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellsworth, W. L.; Shelly, D. R.; Hardebeck, J.; Hill, D. P.

2017-12-01

Microseismicity often conveys the most direct information about active processes in the earth's subsurface. However, routine network processing typically leaves most earthquakes uncharacterized. These "sub-catalog" events can provide critical clues to ongoing processes in the source region. To address this issue, we have developed waveform-based processing that leverages the existing routine catalog of earthquakes to detect and characterize "sub-catalog" events (those absent in routine catalogs). By correlating waveforms of cataloged events with the continuous data stream, we 1) identify events with similar waveform signatures in the continuous data across multiple stations, 2) precisely measure relative time lags across these stations for both P- and S-wave time windows, and 3) estimate the relative polarity between events by the sign of the peak absolute value correlations and its height above the secondary peak. When combined, these inter-event comparisons yield robust measurements, which enable sensitive event detection, relative relocation, and relative magnitude estimation. The most recent addition, focal mechanisms derived from correlation-based relative polarities, addresses a significant shortcoming in microseismicity analyses (see Shelly et al., JGR, 2016). Depending on the application, we can characterize 2-10 times as many events as included in the initial catalog. This technique is particularly well suited for compact zones of active seismicity such as seismic swarms. Application to a 2014 swarm in Long Valley Caldera, California, illuminates complex patterns of faulting that would have otherwise remained obscured. The prevalence of such features in other environments remains an important, as yet unresolved, question.
Chemistry, physics and time: the computer modelling of glassmaking.

PubMed

Martlew, David

2003-01-01

A decade or so ago the remains of an early flat glass furnace were discovered in St Helens. Continuous glass production only became feasible after the Siemens Brothers demonstrated their continuous tank furnace at Dresden in 1870. One manufacturer of flat glass enthusiastically adopted the new technology and secretly explored many variations on this theme during the next fifteen years. Study of the surviving furnace remains using today's computer simulation techniques showed how, in 1887, that technology was adapted to the special demands of window glass making. Heterogeneous chemical reactions at high temperatures are required to convert the mixture of granular raw materials into the homogeneous glass needed for windows. Kinetics (and therefore the economics) of glassmaking is dominated by heat transfer and chemical diffusion as refractory grains are converted to highly viscous molten glass. Removal of gas bubbles in a sufficiently short period of time is vital for profitability, but the glassmaker must achieve this in a reaction vessel which is itself being dissolved by the molten glass. Design and operational studies of today's continuous tank furnaces need to take account of these factors, and good use is made of computer simulation techniques to shed light on the way furnaces behave and how improvements may be made. This paper seeks to show how those same techniques can be used to understand how the early Siemens continuous tank furnaces were designed and operated, and how the Victorian entrepreneurs succeeded in managing the thorny problems of what was, in effect, a vulnerable high temperature continuous chemical reactor.
Research and development of CdTe based thin film PV solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diso, Dahiru Garba

The motivation behind this research is to bring cheap, low-cost and clean energy technologies to the society. Colossal use of fossil fuel has created noticeable pollution problems contributing to climate change and health hazards. Silicon based solar cells have dominated the market but it is cost is high due to the manufacturing process. Therefore, the way forward is to develop thin films solar cells using low-cost attractive materials, grown by cheaper, scalable and manufacturable techniques.The aim and objectives of this work is to develop low-cost, high efficiency solar cell using electrodeposition (ED) technique. The material layers include CdS and ZnTe as the window materials, while the absorber material is CdTe. Fabricating a suitable devices for solar energy conversion (i.e. glass/conducting glass/window material/absorber material/metal) structure. Traditional way of fabricating this structure is to grow window material (CdS) using chemical bath deposition (CBD) and absorber material (CdTe) using electrodeposition. However, CBD is a batch process and therefore creates large volumes of Cd-containing waste solutions each time adding high cost in manufacturing process. This research programme is therefore on development of an "All ED-solar cells" structure.Material studies were carried out using photoelectrochemical (PEC) studies, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Furthermore, the electrical characterisation of fully fabricated devices was performed using current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements.This research programme has demonstrated that CdS and ZnTe window materials can be electrodeposited and used in thin film solar cell devices. The CdS electrolytic bath can be used for a period of 7 months without discarding it like in the CBD process which usually has life-time of 2-3 days. Further work should be carried out to increase the life-time of this bath, so that there can be used continuously minimising waste solution production in a manufacturing line.An efficiencies showing up to 7% was achieved for complete devices. However, the consistency and reproducibility remains un-resolved due to production of efficiencies between (2 - 7)% efficient devices varying from batch to batch. One of the reasons has been identified as the growth of CdS nano-rods with spacing between them. This is the first observation of CdS nano-rods and could open up many applications in nanodevices area. In order to improve the consistency of the solar cell efficiency, CdS layers should be grown with nano-rods aligned perpendicular to the glass surface and with tight packing without gaps, or with uniform coverage of CdS over the conducting glass surface.The possibility of growth of CdTe absorber layers with n- and p-type electrical conduction using change of stoichiometry was confirmed using the results presented in this thesis. This is a key finding, important to form multi-layer solar cell structures in the future.
Local characteristics of cross-unit contamination around high-rise building due to wind effect: mean concentration and infection risk assessment.

PubMed

Liu, X P; Niu, J L; Kwok, K C S; Wang, J H; Li, B Z

2011-08-15

In this present work, the characteristics of hazardous gas dispersion and possible cross-unit contamination around a complex-shaped high-rise residential building due to wind effect are thoroughly studied using physical modeling method. Experiments were performed in a boundary layer wind tunnel for a 1:30 scale model that represented a 10-story residential building in prototype. Tracer gas, simulating exhausted room air, was continuously released from different floor levels, and its concentrations on the adjacent envelope surfaces were measured using fast flame ionization detectors. The mean concentration fields were reported and analyzed under different configurations during the experiment to consider the effects on pollutant dispersion behavior due to changes in source position and approaching wind condition, with the main emphasis on the differences between open-window and closed-window conditions. In particular, the measured concentration fields were further examined from a practical point of view, with respect to hazard assessment. Understanding these hazardous plume dispersion features is useful for employing effective intervention strategies in modern residential building environment in case of hazardous substance release. The study on this physical process is not only helpful to reduce the hazardous effect of routine release of harmful pollutant near the building, but also useful for the purpose of prevention and control of accidental infectious diseases outbreak. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Biological Response of Cancer and Normal Cells on Irradiation from Electrons with Energies up to 200 keV.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prilepskiy, Yuriy

2007-03-01

This paper presents continuation data of the series of experiments with the electron gun of the CEBAF machine at Jefferson Lab (Newport News, VA), which is capable of delivering electrons with energies up to 200 keV. This 1.5 GHz beam permits to generate cellular damage within minutes. We have performed irradiation of cancer and normal cells with different electron energies and currents to investigate cell biological responses. The biological response is measured through proteomics analysis before and after irradiation. The living cells are encased in special air containers allowing proper positioning in vacuum where the electrons are present. The containers receive the irradiation from the mono energetic electrons with energy up to 120 keV, resulting in an irradiation from both electrons and a small number of photons from the original beam passing through the thin container window. This window allows approximately half of the beam to come through. The study will permit to address the physical processes involved in the RBE and LET at a level that supersedes current data listed in the literature. We will discuss the experimental setup and the second stage of data collected with the new more developed system. This research is part of a global program to provide detailed information for the understanding of radiation based cancer treatments.
Assessing Thermal Comfort Due to a Ventilated Double Window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlos, Jorge S.; Corvacho, Helena

2017-10-01

Building design and its components are the result of a complex process, which should provide pleasant conditions to its inhabitants. Therefore, indoor acceptable comfort is influenced by the architectural design. ISO and ASHRAE standards define thermal comfort as the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment. The energy demand for heating, beside the building’s physical properties, also depend on human behaviour, like opening or closing windows. Generally, windows are the weakest façade element concerning to thermal performance. A lower thermal resistance allows higher thermal conduction through it. When a window is very hot or cold, and the occupant is very close to it, it may result in thermal discomfort. The functionality of a ventilated double window introduces new physical considerations to a traditional window. In consequence, it is necessary to study the local effect on human comfort in function of the boundary conditions. Wind, solar availability, air temperature and therefore heating and indoor air quality conditions will affect the relationship between this passive system and the indoor environment. In the present paper, the influence of thermal performance and ventilation on human comfort resulting from the construction and geometry solutions is shown, helping to choose the best solution. The presented approach shows that in order to save energy it is possible to reduce the air changes of a room to the minimum, without compromising air quality, enhancing simultaneously local thermal performance and comfort. The results of the study on the effect of two parallel windows with a ventilated channel in the same fenestration on comfort conditions for several different room dimensions, are also presented. As the room dimensions’ rate changes so does the window to floor rate; therefore, under the same climatic conditions and same construction solution, different results are obtained.
Continuous detection of weak sensory signals in afferent spike trains: the role of anti-correlated interspike intervals in detection performance.

PubMed

Goense, J B M; Ratnam, R

2003-10-01

An important problem in sensory processing is deciding whether fluctuating neural activity encodes a stimulus or is due to variability in baseline activity. Neurons that subserve detection must examine incoming spike trains continuously, and quickly and reliably differentiate signals from baseline activity. Here we demonstrate that a neural integrator can perform continuous signal detection, with performance exceeding that of trial-based procedures, where spike counts in signal- and baseline windows are compared. The procedure was applied to data from electrosensory afferents of weakly electric fish (Apteronotus leptorhynchus), where weak perturbations generated by small prey add approximately 1 spike to a baseline of approximately 300 spikes s(-1). The hypothetical postsynaptic neuron, modeling an electrosensory lateral line lobe cell, could detect an added spike within 10-15 ms, achieving near ideal detection performance (80-95%) at false alarm rates of 1-2 Hz, while trial-based testing resulted in only 30-35% correct detections at that false alarm rate. The performance improvement was due to anti-correlations in the afferent spike train, which reduced both the amplitude and duration of fluctuations in postsynaptic membrane activity, and so decreased the number of false alarms. Anti-correlations can be exploited to improve detection performance only if there is memory of prior decisions.
JPRS Report, Soviet Union, International Affairs

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-05-17

was built to produce enriched uranium , and work has been completed on a plant to refine plutonium received from the nuclear electric power plant in... oil . "Have a look," Mikhail Aleksandrovich couldn’t resist saying, summoning his visitor to the window. The latter approached the window slowly...would like to exchange 1,200 metric tons of processed sunflower-seed oil for imports of common consumer goods. But without the permission of the
High temperature solar thermal receiver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

A design concept for a high temperature solar thermal receiver to operate at 3 atmospheres pressure and 2500 F outlet was developed. The performance and complexity of windowed matrix, tube-header, and extended surface receivers were evaluated. The windowed matrix receiver proved to offer substantial cost and performance benefits. An efficient and cost effective hardware design was evaluated for a receiver which can be readily interfaced to fuel and chemical processes or to heat engines for power generation.
Antireflective surface structures on optics for high energy lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Busse, Lynda E.; Florea, Catalin M.; Shaw, L. Brandon; Frantz, Jesse; Bayya, Shyam; Poutous, Menelaos K.; Joshi, Rajendra; Aggarwal, Ishwar D.; Sanghera, Jas S.

2014-02-01

We report results for antireflective surface structures (ARSS) fabricated directly into the surface of optics and lenses which are important as high energy (multi-kW) laser components, including fused silica windows and lenses, YAG crystals and ceramics and spinel ceramics. Very low reflection losses as well as high laser damage thresholds have been measured for optics with ARSS. Progress to scale up the process for large size windows will also be presented..
Nonyellowing Polycarbonate for Outdoor Use

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gupta, A.; Liang, R. H.; Yavrouian, A.; Clayton, A.

1985-01-01

Two-step photochemical process prevents yellowing of polycarbonate plastics. Use of polycarbonate plastics growing in windows, aircraft glazing, and streetlight globes. New photochemical process causes formation of stabilizers bound to polymer chains and therefore cannot be leached out.
Single-mode interband cascade laser multiemitter structure for two-wavelength absorption spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheuermann, Julian; Weih, Robert; Becker, Steffen; Fischer, Marc; Koeth, Johannes; Höfling, Sven

2018-01-01

An interband cascade laser multiemitter with single-mode distributed feedback (DFB) emission at two wavelengths is presented. Continuous-wave laser operation is measured from 0°C to 40°C with threshold currents of around 25 mA and output powers of around 9 mW at 20°C. The ridge waveguide DFB structures are monolithically integrated with a spacing of 70 μm and each is provided with an individual metal DFB grating to select specific single-mode wavelengths of interest for absorption spectroscopy. The emission windows at 3.92 and 4.01 μm are targeting hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, which are of importance for industrial applications since both gases are reagents of the Claus process in sulfur recovery units, recovering elemental sulfur from gaseous hydrogen sulfide.
Image pre-processing method for near-wall PIV measurements over moving curved interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, L. C.; Zhu, Y. D.; Jia, Y. X.; Yuan, H. J.; Lee, C. B.

2017-03-01

PIV measurements near a moving interface are always difficult. This paper presents a PIV image pre-processing method that returns high spatial resolution velocity profiles near the interface. Instead of re-shaping or re-orientating the interrogation windows, interface tracking and an image transformation are used to stretch the particle image strips near a curved interface into rectangles. Then the adaptive structured interrogation windows can be arranged at specified distances from the interface. Synthetic particles are also added into the solid region to minimize interfacial effects and to restrict particles on both sides of the interface. Since a high spatial resolution is only required in high velocity gradient region, adaptive meshing and stretching of the image strips in the normal direction is used to improve the cross-correlation signal-to-noise ratio (SN) by reducing the velocity difference and the particle image distortion within the interrogation window. A two dimensional Gaussian fit is used to compensate for the effects of stretching particle images. The working hypothesis is that fluid motion near the interface is ‘quasi-tangential flow’, which is reasonable in most fluid-structure interaction scenarios. The method was validated against the window deformation iterative multi-grid scheme (WIDIM) using synthetic image pairs with different velocity profiles. The method was tested for boundary layer measurements of a supersonic turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate, near a rotating blade and near a flexible flapping flag. This image pre-processing method provides higher spatial resolution than conventional WIDIM and good robustness for measuring velocity profiles near moving interfaces.
Generalization of the photo process window and its application to OPC test pattern design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eisenmann, Hans; Peter, Kai; Strojwas, Andrzej J.

2003-07-01

From the early development phase up to the production phase, test pattern play a key role for microlithography. The requirement for test pattern is to represent the design well and to cover the space of all process conditions, e.g. to investigate the full process window and all other process parameters. This paper shows that the current state-of-the-art test pattern do not address these requirements sufficiently and makes suggestions for a better selection of test pattern. We present a new methodology to analyze an existing layout (e.g. logic library, test pattern or full chip) for critical layout situations which does not need precise process data. We call this method "process space decomposition", because it is aimed at decomposing the process impact to a layout feature into a sum of single independent contributions, the dimensions of the process space. This is a generalization of the classical process window, which examines defocus and exposure dependency of given test pattern, e.g. CD value of dense and isolated lines. In our process space we additionally define the dimensions resist effects, etch effects, mask error and misalignment, which describe the deviation of the printed silicon pattern from its target. We further extend it by the pattern space using a product based layout (library, full chip or synthetic test pattern). The criticality of pattern is defined by their deviation due to aerial image, their sensitivity to the respective dimension or several combinations of these. By exploring the process space for a given design, the method allows to find the most critical patterns independent of specific process parameters. The paper provides examples for different applications of the method: (1) selection of design oriented test pattern for lithography development (2) test pattern reduction in process characterization (3) verification/optimization of printability and performance of post processing procedures (like OPC) (4) creation of a sensitive process monitor.
Long-range non-contact imaging photoplethysmography: cardiac pulse wave sensing at a distance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blackford, Ethan B.; Estepp, Justin R.; Piasecki, Alyssa M.; Bowers, Margaret A.; Klosterman, Samantha L.

2016-03-01

Non-contact, imaging photoplethysmography uses photo-optical sensors to measure variations in light absorption, caused by blood volume pulsations, to assess cardiopulmonary parameters including pulse rate, pulse rate variability, and respiration rate. Recently, researchers have studied the applications and methodology of imaging photoplethysmography. Basic research has examined some of the variables affecting data quality and accuracy of imaging photoplethysmography including signal processing, imager parameters (e.g. frame rate and resolution), lighting conditions, subject motion, and subject skin tone. This technology may be beneficial for long term or continuous monitoring where contact measurements may be harmful (e.g. skin sensitivities) or where imperceptible or unobtrusive measurements are desirable. Using previously validated signal processing methods, we examined the effects of imager-to-subject distance on one-minute, windowed estimates of pulse rate. High-resolution video of 22, stationary participants was collected using an enthusiast-grade, mirrorless, digital camera equipped with a fully-manual, super-telephoto lens at distances of 25, 50, and 100 meters with simultaneous contact measurements of electrocardiography, and fingertip photoplethysmography. By comparison, previous studies have usually been conducted with imager-to-subject distances of up to only a few meters. Mean absolute error for one-minute, windowed, pulse rate estimates (compared to those derived from gold-standard electrocardiography) were 2.0, 4.1, and 10.9 beats per minute at distances of 25, 50, and 100 meters, respectively. Long-range imaging presents several unique challenges among which include decreased, observed light reflectance and smaller regions of interest. Nevertheless, these results demonstrate that accurate pulse rate measurements can be obtained from over long imager-to-participant distances given these constraints.
Genetic Predisposition and Sensory Experience in Language Development: Evidence from Cochlear-Implanted Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coene, Martine; Schauwers, Karen; Gillis, Steven; Rooryck, Johan; Govaerts, Paul J.

2011-01-01

Recent neurobiological studies have advanced the hypothesis that language development is not continuously plastic but is governed by biological constraints that may be modified by experience within a particular time window. This hypothesis is tested based on spontaneous speech data from deaf cochlear-implanted (CI) children with access to…
My First CMC Article Revisited: A Window on Spanish L2 Interlanguage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blake, Robert

2016-01-01

The computer-assisted language learning (CALL) field seems to change overnight with new technological affordances. Blake revisits his 2000 "LLT" article on computer-mediation communication (CMC) in order to reflect on how the field has examined this topic over the past decade or so. While the Interaction Hypothesis continues to guide…
THE EFFECT OF OPENING WINDOWS ON AIR CHANGE RATES IN TWO HOMES

EPA Science Inventory

Over 300 air change rate experiments were completed in two occupied residences: a two-story detached house in Redwood City, CA and a three-story townhouse in Reston, VA. A continuous monitor was used to measure the decay of sulfur hexafluoride tracer gas over periods of 1 to 1...
46 CFR 92.15-15 - Ventilation for crew quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... spaces as are so located that under all ordinary conditions of weather, windows, ports, skylights, etc..., passenger spaces. 92.15-15 Section 92.15-15 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED... quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces. (a) All living spaces shall be adequately ventilated in a...
46 CFR 92.15-15 - Ventilation for crew quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... spaces as are so located that under all ordinary conditions of weather, windows, ports, skylights, etc..., passenger spaces. 92.15-15 Section 92.15-15 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED... quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces. (a) All living spaces shall be adequately ventilated in a...

46 CFR 92.15-15 - Ventilation for crew quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... spaces as are so located that under all ordinary conditions of weather, windows, ports, skylights, etc..., passenger spaces. 92.15-15 Section 92.15-15 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED... quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces. (a) All living spaces shall be adequately ventilated in a...
46 CFR 92.15-15 - Ventilation for crew quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... spaces as are so located that under all ordinary conditions of weather, windows, ports, skylights, etc..., passenger spaces. 92.15-15 Section 92.15-15 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED... quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces. (a) All living spaces shall be adequately ventilated in a...
46 CFR 92.15-15 - Ventilation for crew quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... spaces as are so located that under all ordinary conditions of weather, windows, ports, skylights, etc..., passenger spaces. 92.15-15 Section 92.15-15 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED... quarters and, where provided, passenger spaces. (a) All living spaces shall be adequately ventilated in a...
Low-cost, highly transparent flexible low-e coating film to enable electrochromic windows with increased energy savings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berland, Brian; Hollingsworth, Russell

Five Quads of energy are lost through windows annually in the U.S. Low-e coatings are increasingly employed to reduce the wasted energy. Most commonly, the low-e coating is an oxide material applied directly to the glass at high temperature. With over 100,000,000 existing homes, a retrofit product is crucial to achieve widespread energy savings. Low-e films, i.e. coatings on polymeric substrates, are now also available to meet this need. However, the traditional oxide materials and process is incompatible with low temperature plastics. Alternate high performing low-e films typically incorporate materials that limit visible transmission to 35% or less. Further, themore » cost is high. The objective of this award was to develop a retrofit, integrated low-e/electrochromic window film to dramatically reduce energy lost through windows. While field testing of state-of-the-art electrochromic (EC) windows show the energy savings are maximized if a low-e coating is used in conjunction with the EC, available low-e films have a low visible transmission (~70% or less) that limits the achievable clear state and therefore, appearance and energy savings potential. Comprehensive energy savings models were completed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). A parametric approach was used to project energy usage for windows with a large range of low-e properties across all U.S. climate zones, without limiting the study to materials that had already been produced commercially or made in a lab. The model enables projection of energy savings for low-e films as well as integrated low-e/EC products. This project developed a novel low-e film, optimized for compatibility with EC windows, using low temperature, high deposition rate processes for the growth of low-e coatings on plastic films by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Silica films with good density and optical properties were demonstrated at deposition rates as high as 130Å/sec. A simple bi-layer low-e stack of silica and a transparent conductive oxide demonstrated 90% visible transmission with high thermal infrared reflectivity characteristic of conventional low-e coatings. A slightly more complex stack provided high solar infrared reflection without sacrificing visible transmission or thermal infrared reflection. Successful completion of the effort produced a prototype integrated low-e, dynamic window film with characterized energy saving potential. Cost modeling for the passive bi-layer, low-e film projects a manufacturing cost of ~$0.50/ft2 for a plant with 10M ft2/yr capacity. The novel thin film processes developed here enable high deposition rate (low cost), optical quality oxide coatings at low temperatures. When combined with engineered materials, ITN’s coating will result in low-cost, low-e films that reflect a high degree of infrared radiation without substantially reducing the visible transmission. The resultant window film will improve the U-value and achieve SHGC improvements over bare glass. The new low-e coating will be particularly attractive when combined with an electrochromic film. Low-e coating design guided by energy savings modeling allows customization of the product for different climate zones.« less
Laser welding of polymers: phenomenological model for a quick and reliable process quality estimation considering beam shape influences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timpe, Nathalie F.; Stuch, Julia; Scholl, Marcus; Russek, Ulrich A.

2016-03-01

This contribution presents a phenomenological, analytical model for laser welding of polymers which is suited for a quick process quality estimation for the practitioner. Besides material properties of the polymer and processing parameters like welding pressure, feed rate and laser power the model is based on a simple few parameter description of the size and shape of the laser power density distribution (PDD) in the processing zone. The model allows an estimation of the weld seam tensile strength. It is based on energy balance considerations within a thin sheet with the thickness of the optical penetration depth on the surface of the absorbing welding partner. The joining process itself is modelled by a phenomenological approach. The model reproduces the experimentally known process windows for the main process parameters correctly. Using the parameters describing the shape of the laser PDD the critical dependence of the process windows on the PDD shape will be predicted and compared with experiments. The adaption of the model to other laser manufacturing processes where the PDD influence can be modelled comparably will be discussed.
A sliding windows approach to analyse the evolution of bank shares in the European Union

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, Paulo; Dionísio, Andreia; Guedes, Everaldo Freitas; Zebende, Gilney Figueira

2018-01-01

Both sub-prime and Eurozone debt crisis problems caused severe financial crisis, which affected European markets in general, but particularly the banking sector. The continuous devaluation of bank shares in the financial sector caused a great decrease in market capitalization, and in citizen and investor confidence. Panic among investors led them to sell shares, while other agents took the opportunity to buy them. Therefore, the study of bank shares is important, particularly of their efficiency. In this paper, adopting a sliding windows detrended fluctuation approach, we analyse the efficiency concept dynamically with 63 European banks (both in and outside the Eurozone). The main results show that the crisis had an effect on changing the efficiency pattern.
Probabilistic objective functions for sensor management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahler, Ronald P. S.; Zajic, Tim R.

2004-08-01

This paper continues the investigation of a foundational and yet potentially practical basis for control-theoretic sensor management, using a comprehensive, intuitive, system-level Bayesian paradigm based on finite-set statistics (FISST). In this paper we report our most recent progress, focusing on multistep look-ahead -- i.e., allocation of sensor resources throughout an entire future time-window. We determine future sensor states in the time-window using a "probabilistically natural" sensor management objective function, the posterior expected number of targets (PENT). This objective function is constructed using a new "maxi-PIMS" optimization strategy that hedges against unknowable future observation-collections. PENT is used in conjuction with approximate multitarget filters: the probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter or the multi-hypothesis correlator (MHC) filter.
The Windows to the Universe Project: Using the Internet to Support K-12 Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardiner, L.; Johnson, R.; Bergman, J.; Russell, R.; Genyuk, J.; La Grave, M.

2003-12-01

The World Wide Web can be a powerful tool for reaching the public as well as students and teachers around the world, supporting both formal and informal science education. The Windows to the Universe Project, initiated in 1995, provides a case study of approaches for the use of the web to support earth and space science education and literacy efforts. Through the use of innovative approaches such as easy to use design, multi-level content, and science concepts presented in a broader background context that includes connections to culture and the humanities, Windows to the Universe is an accessible format for individuals of various ages and learning styles. A large global audience regularly uses the web site to learn about earth and space science as well as related humanities content such as myths from around the world. User surveys show that the site has over 4 millions users per year, 65 percent of which are K-12 teachers and students. Approximately 46 percent of users access the site once per week or more. Recently, we have had the opportunity to expand our efforts while we continue to update existing content based on new scientific findings and events. Earth science content on Windows to the Universe is currently growing with a new geology section and development efforts are underway to expand our space weather content with a new curriculum. Educational games allow users to learn about space in a playful context, and an online journaling tool further integrates literacy into the learning experience. In addition, we are currently translating the entire Windows to the Universe web site into Spanish. We have included educators in the project as co-designers from its inception, and by aggressively utilizing and providing professional development opportunities for teachers, the web site is now used in thousands of classrooms around the world. In the past year we have continued to support K-12 educators by adding to our suite of classroom activities and leading professional development workshops and short courses. Core funding for the project is provided from the NASA Office of Space Science Information Technology Research Program, the NASA Earth Science Enterprise Education Program, and the National Science Foundation.
Continuous recording and interobserver agreement algorithms reported in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (1995-2005).

PubMed

Mudford, Oliver C; Taylor, Sarah Ann; Martin, Neil T

2009-01-01

We reviewed all research articles in 10 recent volumes of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA): Vol. 28(3), 1995, through Vol. 38(2), 2005. Continuous recording was used in the majority (55%) of the 168 articles reporting data on free-operant human behaviors. Three methods for reporting interobserver agreement (exact agreement, block-by-block agreement, and time-window analysis) were employed in more than 10 of the articles that reported continuous recording. Having identified these currently popular agreement computation algorithms, we explain them to assist researchers, software writers, and other consumers of JABA articles.
Mechanical Characterization of ZnSe Windows for Use With the Flow Enclosure Accommodating Novel Investigations in Combustion of Solids (FEANICS) Module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salem, Jonathan A.

2006-01-01

Mechanical and physical properties of ZnSe windows to be used with the FEANICS (Flow Enclosure Accommodating Novel Investigations in Combustion of Solids) experiments were measured in order to determine design allowables. The average Young s modulus, Poisson's ratio, equibiaxial fracture strength, flaw size, grain size, Knoop hardness, Vicker s hardness, and branching constant were 74.3 +/- 0.1 GPa, 0.31, 57.8 +/- 6.5 MPa, 21 +/- 4 mm, 43 +/- 9 microns, 0.97 +/- 0.02 GPa, 0.97 +/- 0.02 GPa, and 1.0 +/- 0.1 MPa(square root of)m, respectively. The properties of current ZnSe made by chemical vapor deposition are in good agreement with those measured in the 1970 s. The hardness of CVD ZnSe windows is about one-twentieth of the sapphire window being replaced, and about one-sixth of that of window glass. Thus the ZnSe window must be handled with great care. The large grain size relative to the inherent crack size implies the need to use single crystal crack growth properties in the design process. In order to determine the local failure stresses in one of the test specimens, a solution for the stresses between the support ring and the edge of a circular plate load between concentric rings was derived
A batch sliding window method for local singularity mapping and its application for geochemical anomaly identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Fan; Chen, Zhijun; Chen, Jianguo; Zhou, Yongzhang

2016-05-01

In this study, a novel batch sliding window (BSW) based singularity mapping approach was proposed. Compared to the traditional sliding window (SW) technique with disadvantages of the empirical predetermination of a fixed maximum window size and outliers sensitivity of least-squares (LS) linear regression method, the BSW based singularity mapping approach can automatically determine the optimal size of the largest window for each estimated position, and utilizes robust linear regression (RLR) which is insensitive to outlier values. In the case study, tin geochemical data in Gejiu, Yunnan, have been processed by BSW based singularity mapping approach. The results show that the BSW approach can improve the accuracy of the calculation of singularity exponent values due to the determination of the optimal maximum window size. The utilization of RLR method in the BSW approach can smoothen the distribution of singularity index values with few or even without much high fluctuate values looking like noise points that usually make a singularity map much roughly and discontinuously. Furthermore, the student's t-statistic diagram indicates a strong spatial correlation between high geochemical anomaly and known tin polymetallic deposits. The target areas within high tin geochemical anomaly could probably have much higher potential for the exploration of new tin polymetallic deposits than other areas, particularly for the areas that show strong tin geochemical anomalies whereas no tin polymetallic deposits have been found in them.
Parameters effective on estimating a nonstationary mixed-phase wavelet using cumulant matching approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vosoughi, Ehsan; Javaherian, Abdolrahim

2018-01-01

Seismic inversion is a process performed to remove the effects of propagated wavelets in order to recover the acoustic impedance. To obtain valid velocity and density values related to subsurface layers through the inversion process, it is highly essential to perform reliable wavelet estimation such as cumulant matching approach. For this purpose, the seismic data were windowed in this work in such a way that two consecutive windows were only one sample apart. Also, we did not consider any fixed wavelet for any window and let the phase of each wavelet rotate in each sample in the window. Comparing the fourth order cumulant of the whitened trace and fourth-order moment of the all-pass operator in each window generated a cost function that should be minimized with a non-linear optimization method. In this regard, parameters effective on the estimation of the nonstationary mixed-phase wavelets were tested over the created nonstationary seismic trace at 0.82 s and 1.6 s. Besides, we compared the consequences of each parameter on estimated wavelets at two mentioned times. The parameters studied in this work are window length, taper type, the number of iteration, signal-to-noise ratio, bandwidth to central frequency ratio, and Q factor. The results show that applying the optimum values of the effective parameters, the average correlation of the estimated mixed-phase wavelets with the original ones is about 87%. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed approach was examined on a synthetic nonstationary seismic section with variable Q factor values alongside the time and offset axis. Eventually, the cumulant matching method was applied on a cross line of the migrated data from a 3D data set of an oilfield in the Persian Gulf. Also, the effect of the wrong Q estimation on the estimated mixed-phase wavelet was considered on the real data set. It is concluded that the accuracy of the estimated wavelet relied on the estimated Q and more than 10% error in the estimated value of Q is acceptable. Eventually, an 88% correlation was found between the estimated mixed-phase wavelets and the original ones for three horizons. The estimated wavelets applied to the data and the result of deconvolution processes was presented.
Launch COLA Gap Analysis for Protection of the International Space Station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenkin, Alan B.; McVey, John P.; Peterson, Glenn E.; Sorge, Marlon E.

2013-08-01

For launch missions in general, a collision avoidance (COLA) gap exists between the end of the time interval covered by standard launch COLA screening and the time that other spacecraft can clear a collision with the newly launched objects. To address this issue for the International Space Station (ISS), a COLA gap analysis process has been developed. The first part of the process, nodal separation analysis, identifies launch dates and launch window opportunities when the orbit traces of a launched object and the ISS could cross during the COLA gap. The second and newest part of the analysis process, Monte Carlo conjunction probability analysis, is performed closer to the launch dates of concern to reopen some of the launch window opportunities that would be closed by nodal separation analysis alone. Both parts of the process are described and demonstrated on sample missions.
Analysis of the times involved in processing and communication in a lower limb simulation system controlled by SEMG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Profumieri, A.; Bonell, C.; Catalfamo, P.; Cherniz, A.

2016-04-01

Virtual reality has been proposed for different applications, including the evaluation of new control strategies and training protocols for upper limb prostheses and for the study of new rehabilitation programs. In this study, a lower limb simulation environment commanded by surface electromyography signals is evaluated. The time delays generated by the acquisition and processing stages for the signals that would command the knee joint, were measured and different acquisition windows were analysed. The subjective perception of the quality of simulation was also evaluated when extra delays were added to the process. The results showed that the acquisition window is responsible for the longest delay. Also, the basic implemented processes allowed for the acquisition of three signal channels for commanding the simulation. Finally, the communication between different applications is arguably efficient, although it depends on the amount of data to be sent.
Hybrid zone studies: An interdisciplinary approach for the analysis of evolutionary processes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scribner, Kim T.

1994-01-01

There has been considerable debate in the ecological and evolutionary literature over the relative importance and rate by which microevolutionary processes operating at the population level result in separation and differentiation of lineages and populations, and ultimately in speciation. Our understanding of evolutionary processes have need greatly enhances through the study of hybridization and hybrid zones. Indeed, hybrid zones have been described as “natural laboratories” (Barton, N. H., and G .M. Hewitt, 189. Adaptation, speciation, and hybrid zones. Nature 341:497-503) or as “windows on the evolutionary processes” (Harrison, R. G. 1990. Hybrid zones: windows on the evolutionary process. Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology 7:69-128). Hybrid zones greatly facilitate analyses of evolutionary dynamics because differences in factors such as mating preference, fertility, and viability are likely to be magnified, making the consequences easier to document over short periods of time.
Converging Intracranial Markers of Conscious Access

PubMed Central

Gaillard, Raphaël; Dehaene, Stanislas; Adam, Claude; Clémenceau, Stéphane; Hasboun, Dominique; Baulac, Michel; Cohen, Laurent; Naccache, Lionel

2009-01-01

We compared conscious and nonconscious processing of briefly flashed words using a visual masking procedure while recording intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) in ten patients. Nonconscious processing of masked words was observed in multiple cortical areas, mostly within an early time window (<300 ms), accompanied by induced gamma-band activity, but without coherent long-distance neural activity, suggesting a quickly dissipating feedforward wave. In contrast, conscious processing of unmasked words was characterized by the convergence of four distinct neurophysiological markers: sustained voltage changes, particularly in prefrontal cortex, large increases in spectral power in the gamma band, increases in long-distance phase synchrony in the beta range, and increases in long-range Granger causality. We argue that all of those measures provide distinct windows into the same distributed state of conscious processing. These results have a direct impact on current theoretical discussions concerning the neural correlates of conscious access. PMID:19296722
An anticipative escape system for vehicles in water crashes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Chuanliang; Wang, Jiawei; Yin, Qi; Zhu, Yantao; Yang, Jiawei; Liao, Mengdi; Yang, Liming

2017-07-01

In this article, it designs an escape system for vehicles in water crashes. The structure mainly contains sensors, control organs and actuating mechanism for both doors and windows. Sensors judge whether the vehicle falls into water or is in the falling process. The actuating mechanism accepts the signal delivered by the control organs, then open the electronic central lock on doors and meanwhile lower the window. The water escape system is able to anticipate drowning situations for vehicles and controls both doors and windows in such an emergency. Under the premise of doors staying in an undamaged state, it is for sure that people in the vehicle can open the door while drowning in the water and safely escape.
Fermentation process tracking through enhanced spectral calibration modeling.

PubMed

Triadaphillou, Sophia; Martin, Elaine; Montague, Gary; Norden, Alison; Jeffkins, Paul; Stimpson, Sarah

2007-06-15

The FDA process analytical technology (PAT) initiative will materialize in a significant increase in the number of installations of spectroscopic instrumentation. However, to attain the greatest benefit from the data generated, there is a need for calibration procedures that extract the maximum information content. For example, in fermentation processes, the interpretation of the resulting spectra is challenging as a consequence of the large number of wavelengths recorded, the underlying correlation structure that is evident between the wavelengths and the impact of the measurement environment. Approaches to the development of calibration models have been based on the application of partial least squares (PLS) either to the full spectral signature or to a subset of wavelengths. This paper presents a new approach to calibration modeling that combines a wavelength selection procedure, spectral window selection (SWS), where windows of wavelengths are automatically selected which are subsequently used as the basis of the calibration model. However, due to the non-uniqueness of the windows selected when the algorithm is executed repeatedly, multiple models are constructed and these are then combined using stacking thereby increasing the robustness of the final calibration model. The methodology is applied to data generated during the monitoring of broth concentrations in an industrial fermentation process from on-line near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectrometers. It is shown that the proposed calibration modeling procedure outperforms traditional calibration procedures, as well as enabling the identification of the critical regions of the spectra with regard to the fermentation process.
Multi-alternative decision-making with non-stationary inputs.

PubMed

Nunes, Luana F; Gurney, Kevin

2016-08-01

One of the most widely implemented models for multi-alternative decision-making is the multihypothesis sequential probability ratio test (MSPRT). It is asymptotically optimal, straightforward to implement, and has found application in modelling biological decision-making. However, the MSPRT is limited in application to discrete ('trial-based'), non-time-varying scenarios. By contrast, real world situations will be continuous and entail stimulus non-stationarity. In these circumstances, decision-making mechanisms (like the MSPRT) which work by accumulating evidence, must be able to discard outdated evidence which becomes progressively irrelevant. To address this issue, we introduce a new decision mechanism by augmenting the MSPRT with a rectangular integration window and a transparent decision boundary. This allows selection and de-selection of options as their evidence changes dynamically. Performance was enhanced by adapting the window size to problem difficulty. Further, we present an alternative windowing method which exponentially decays evidence and does not significantly degrade performance, while greatly reducing the memory resources necessary. The methods presented have proven successful at allowing for the MSPRT algorithm to function in a non-stationary environment.
A Dual-Responsive Nanocomposite toward Climate-Adaptable Solar Modulation for Energy-Saving Smart Windows.

PubMed

Lee, Heng Yeong; Cai, Yufeng; Bi, Shuguang; Liang, Yen Nan; Song, Yujie; Hu, Xiao Matthew

2017-02-22

In this work, a novel fully autonomous photothermotropic material made by hybridization of the poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogel and antimony-tin oxide (ATO) is presented. In this photothermotropic system, the near-infrared (NIR)-absorbing ATO acts as nanoheater to induce the optical switching of the hydrogel. Such a new passive smart window is characterized by excellent NIR shielding, a photothermally activated switching mechanism, enhanced response speed, and solar modulation ability. Systems with 0, 5, 10, and 15 atom % Sb-doped ATO in PNIPAM were investigated, and it was found that a PNIPAM/ATO nanocomposite is able to be photothermally activated. The 10 atom % Sb-doped PNIPAM/ATO exhibits the best response speed and solar modulation ability. Different film thicknesses and ATO contents will affect the response rate and solar modulation ability. Structural stability tests at 15 cycles under continuous exposure to solar irradiation at 1 sun intensity demonstrated the performance stability of such a photothermotropic system. We conclude that such a novel photothermotropic hybrid can be used as a new generation of autonomous passive smart windows for climate-adaptable solar modulation.

Frequency of open windows in motor vehicles under varying temperature conditions: a videotape survey in Central North Carolina during 2001.

PubMed

Long, Tom; Johnson, Ted; Ollison, Will

2004-07-01

Air pollution exposures in the motor vehicle cabin are significantly affected by air exchange rate, a function of vehicle speed, window position, vent status, fan speed, and air conditioning use. A pilot study conducted in Houston, Texas, during September 2000 demonstrated that useful information concerning the position of windows, sunroofs, and convertible tops as a function of temperature and vehicle speed could be obtained through the use of video recorders. To obtain similar data representing a wide range of temperature and traffic conditions, a follow-up study was conducted in and around Chapel Hill, North Carolina at five sites representing a central business district, an arterial road, a low-income commercial district, an interstate highway, and a rural road. Each site permitted an elevated view of vehicles as they proceeded through a turn, thereby exposing all windows to the stationary camcorder. A total of 32 videotaping sessions were conducted between February and October 2001, in which temperature varied from 41 degrees F to 93 degrees F and average vehicle speed varied from 21 to 77 mph. The resulting video tapes were processed to create a vehicle-specific database that included site location, date, time, vehicle type, vehicle color, vehicle age, window configuration, number of windows in each of three position categories (fully open, partially open, and closed), meteorological factors, and vehicle speed. Of the 4715 vehicles included in the database, 1905 (40.4%) were labeled as "open," indicating a window, sunroof, or convertible top was fully or partially open. Stepwise linear regression analyses indicated that "open" window status was affected by wind speed, relative humidity, vehicle speed, cloud cover, apparent temperature, day of week, time of day, vehicle type, vehicle age, vehicle color, number of windows, sunroofs, location, and air quality season. Open windows tended to occur less frequently when relative humidity was high, apparent temperature (a parameter incorporating wind chill and heat index) was below 50 degrees F, or the vehicle was relatively new. Although the effects of the identified parameters were relatively weak, they are statistically significant and should be considered by researchers attempting to model vehicle air exchange rates.
Methodological and experimental study of the relationship between displacement rate of landslide and GNSS strategy for deformation monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giordan, Daniele; Piras, Marco; Allasia, Paolo; Dabove, Paolo

2016-04-01

The use of GNSS for landslide monitoring is not a novelty. In the field of large slope instabilities, where the phenomena are usually wide and the use of complex monitoring networks is needed, often a continuous monitoring is required. In this case, the installed GNSS solution is composed by a dual frequency receiver, with a solar power and with a radio connection to a ground station, where the measurement sessions of the rovers are collected and processed. The management of the collected data is the most critical aspect because the approach, which is commonly used, assumes a fixed position of the GNSS antenna during the acquisition time window. When the landslide is active, the position shift of the point can be considered insignificant for the low displacement rate, but together with the increase of the velocity, the GNSS time series processing becomes a crucial aspect to obtain reliable and enough accurate measurements. Starting from real case studies as the Italian large slope instabilities of Montaguto (Avellino, Italy) and Mont de La Saxe (Courmayeur, Italy), we focused on the presence of different kinematic domains with dissimilar displacement behaviors and velocities. In particular, the range of velocities registered during the main active periods ranges from several millimeters/day up to several meters/day, so the strategy for the GNSS processing data must be very different. Methodology for data acquisition (continuous or windowed) and its duration, type of receivers and antenna used (single or dual frequency, GPS or GNSS, mass market or geodetic), data processing strategies (i.e. single epoch, kinematic), and eventually GNSS network services are fundamental factors, which may favor one or another solution, according to time, economy and infrastructure readiness in the field. In the greater part of these studies, the choices were made based on the experience of responsible in the similar conditions. Starting from the behavior of real cases previously cited, this work investigates a relationship between methodology and capability for displacement detection. Using a dedicated slide which allows to define a micrometric displacement, several tests have been carried out at Politecnico of Torino, where different receivers-antenna combinations (from geodetic to mass market) and displacement strategies have been considered. Furthermore, data processing has been realized by means of different software (commercial and FOS) and different kinds of solution. The results of this experimental activity evidenced that it is possible to define a correlation between the GNSS acquisition strategy and the velocity range of the monitored landslide, which could be now coupled with the landslide velocity scale proposed by Cruden & Varnes. In this way, it is possible to optimize costs for monitoring activities and to allow a "smart" use of GNSS technologies for monitoring.
Process Window for Direct Recycling of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene and High-Impact Polystyrene from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste.

PubMed

Vazquez, Yamila V; Barbosa, Silvia E

2017-01-01

The aim of this paper is to assess recycling process window of ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene) and HIPS (High impact Polystyrene) from WEEE (waste from electrical and electronic equipment) through a final properties/structure screening study on their blends. Main motivation is to evaluate which amount of one plastic WEEE can be included into the other at least keeping their properties. In this sense, a wider margin of error during sorting could be admitted to obtain recycling materials with similar technological application of recycled ABS and HIPS by themselves. Results are discussed in terms of final blend structure, focusing in the interaction, within blends, of copolymers phases and fillers presents in WEEE. The comparative analysis of mechanical performance and morphology of HIPS/ABS blends indicates that the addition of 50wt% HIPS to ABS even improves 50% the elongation at break maintaining the strength. On the opposite, HIPS maintains its properties with 20wt% of ABS added. This study allows enlarging composition process window of recycling plastic WEEE for similar applications. This could be a sustainable way to improve benefit of e-scrap with low costs and easy processability. In consequence, social interest in the recycling of this kind of plastic scrap could be encourage from either ecological or economical points of view. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Vacuum encapsulated, high temperature diamond amplified cathode capsule and method for making same

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rao, Triveni; Walsh, Josh; Gangone, Elizabeth

2015-12-29

A vacuum encapsulated, hermetically sealed cathode capsule for generating an electron beam of secondary electrons, which generally includes a cathode element having a primary emission surface adapted to emit primary electrons, an annular insulating spacer, a diamond window element comprising a diamond material and having a secondary emission surface adapted to emit secondary electrons in response to primary electrons impinging on the diamond window element, a first high-temperature solder weld disposed between the diamond window element and the annular insulating spacer and a second high-temperature solder weld disposed between the annular insulating spacer and the cathode element. The cathode capsulemore » is formed by a high temperature weld process under vacuum such that the first solder weld forms a hermetical seal between the diamond window element and the annular insulating spacer and the second solder weld forms a hermetical seal between the annular spacer and the cathode element whereby a vacuum encapsulated chamber is formed within the capsule.« less
Vacuum encapsulated hermetically sealed diamond amplified cathode capsule and method for making same

DOEpatents

Rao, Triveni; Walsh, John; Gangone, Elizabeth

2014-12-30

A vacuum encapsulated, hermetically sealed cathode capsule for generating an electron beam of secondary electrons, which generally includes a cathode element having a primary emission surface adapted to emit primary electrons, an annular insulating spacer, a diamond window element comprising a diamond material and having a secondary emission surface adapted to emit secondary electrons in response to primary electrons impinging on the diamond window element, a first cold-weld ring disposed between the cathode element and the annular insulating spacer and a second cold-weld ring disposed between the annular insulating spacer and the diamond window element. The cathode capsule is formed by a vacuum cold-weld process such that the first cold-weld ring forms a hermetical seal between the cathode element and the annular insulating spacer and the second cold-weld ring forms a hermetical seal between the annular spacer and the diamond window element whereby a vacuum encapsulated chamber is formed within the capsule.
Timing anthropogenic stressors to mitigate their impact on marine ecosystem resilience.

PubMed

Wu, Paul Pao-Yen; Mengersen, Kerrie; McMahon, Kathryn; Kendrick, Gary A; Chartrand, Kathryn; York, Paul H; Rasheed, Michael A; Caley, M Julian

2017-11-02

Better mitigation of anthropogenic stressors on marine ecosystems is urgently needed to address increasing biodiversity losses worldwide. We explore opportunities for stressor mitigation using whole-of-systems modelling of ecological resilience, accounting for complex interactions between stressors, their timing and duration, background environmental conditions and biological processes. We then search for ecological windows, times when stressors minimally impact ecological resilience, defined here as risk, recovery and resistance. We show for 28 globally distributed seagrass meadows that stressor scheduling that exploits ecological windows for dredging campaigns can achieve up to a fourfold reduction in recovery time and 35% reduction in extinction risk. Although the timing and length of windows vary among sites to some degree, global trends indicate favourable windows in autumn and winter. Our results demonstrate that resilience is dynamic with respect to space, time and stressors, varying most strongly with: (i) the life history of the seagrass genus and (ii) the duration and timing of the impacting stress.
9th Annual Science and Engineering Technology Conference

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-17

Disks Composite Technology Titanium Aluminides Processing Microstructure Properties Curve Generator Go-Forward: Integrated Materials & Process Models...Initiatives Current DPA/T3s: Atomic Layer Deposition Hermetic Coatings: ...domestic ALD for electronic components; transition to fabrication process ...Production windows estim • Process capability fully established >Production specifications in place >Supply chain established •All necessary property
Influence of inductive heating on microstructure and material properties in roll forming processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guk, Anna; Kunke, Andreas; Kräusel, Verena; Landgrebe, Dirk

2017-10-01

The increasing demand for sheet metal parts and profiles with enhanced mechanical properties by using high and ultra-high-strength (UHS) steels for the automotive industry must be covered by increasing flexibility of tools and machines. This can be achieved by applying innovative technologies such as roll forming with integrated inductive heating. This process is similar to indirect press hardening and can be used for the production of hardened profiles and profiles with graded properties in longitudinal and traverse direction. The advantage is that the production of hardened components takes place in a continuous process and the integration of heating and quenching units in the profiling system increases flexibility, accompanied by shortening of the entire process chain and minimizing the springback risk. The features of the mentioned process consists of the combination of inhomogeneous strain distribution over the stripe width by roll forming and inhomogeneity of microstructure by accelerated inductive heating to austenitizing temperature. Therefore, these two features have a direct influence on the mechanical properties of the material during forming and hardening. The aim of this work is the investigation of the influence of heating rates on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties to determine the process window. The results showed that heating rate should be set at 110 K/s for economic integration of inductive heating into the roll forming process.
Clinical Applications of a CT Window Blending Algorithm: RADIO (Relative Attenuation-Dependent Image Overlay).

PubMed

Mandell, Jacob C; Khurana, Bharti; Folio, Les R; Hyun, Hyewon; Smith, Stacy E; Dunne, Ruth M; Andriole, Katherine P

2017-06-01

A methodology is described using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Extendscript to process DICOM images with a Relative Attenuation-Dependent Image Overlay (RADIO) algorithm to visualize the full dynamic range of CT in one view, without requiring a change in window and level settings. The potential clinical uses for such an algorithm are described in a pictorial overview, including applications in emergency radiology, oncologic imaging, and nuclear medicine and molecular imaging.
Combining Temporal and Spectral Information with Spatial Mapping to Identify Differences between Phonological and Semantic Networks: A Magnetoencephalographic Approach

PubMed Central

McNab, Fiona; Hillebrand, Arjan; Swithenby, Stephen J.; Rippon, Gina

2012-01-01

Early, lesion-based models of language processing suggested that semantic and phonological processes are associated with distinct temporal and parietal regions respectively, with frontal areas more indirectly involved. Contemporary spatial brain mapping techniques have not supported such clear-cut segregation, with strong evidence of activation in left temporal areas by both processes and disputed evidence of involvement of frontal areas in both processes. We suggest that combining spatial information with temporal and spectral data may allow a closer scrutiny of the differential involvement of closely overlapping cortical areas in language processing. Using beamforming techniques to analyze magnetoencephalography data, we localized the neuronal substrates underlying primed responses to nouns requiring either phonological or semantic processing, and examined the associated measures of time and frequency in those areas where activation was common to both tasks. Power changes in the beta (14–30 Hz) and gamma (30–50 Hz) frequency bands were analyzed in pre-selected time windows of 350–550 and 500–700 ms In left temporal regions, both tasks elicited power changes in the same time window (350–550 ms), but with different spectral characteristics, low beta (14–20 Hz) for the phonological task and high beta (20–30 Hz) for the semantic task. In frontal areas (BA10), both tasks elicited power changes in the gamma band (30–50 Hz), but in different time windows, 500–700 ms for the phonological task and 350–550 ms for the semantic task. In the left inferior parietal area (BA40), both tasks elicited changes in the 20–30 Hz beta frequency band but in different time windows, 350–550 ms for the phonological task and 500–700 ms for the semantic task. Our findings suggest that, where spatial measures may indicate overlapping areas of involvement, additional beamforming techniques can demonstrate differential activation in time and frequency domains. PMID:22908001
Quantitative study of the opticocarotid and carotid-oculomotor windows for the interpeduncular fossa, before and after internal carotid artery mobilization and posterior communicating division.

PubMed

Kim, Young-Don; Elhadi, Ali M; Mendes, George A C; Maramreddy, Naveen; Agrawal, Abhishek; Kalb, Samuel; Nakaji, Peter; Spetzler, Robert F; Preul, Mark C

2015-03-01

The management of basilar apex (BX) aneurysms remains problematic. We quantified the surgical exposure of the BX through the opticocarotid window (OCW) and the carotid-oculomotor window (COW), before and after mobilization of the internal carotid artery and division of the posterior communicating artery (PCoA). Eleven silicone-injected cadaveric heads were dissected bilaterally. The surgical dissection was divided into 4 major steps: (1) supraorbital modified orbitozygomatic craniotomy, (2) mobilization of the internal carotid artery after drilling out the anterior clinoid process intradurally and cutting the distal dural ring, (3) drilling out the posterior clinoid process and dorsum sellae, and (4) dividing the PCoA from the posterior third portion of the vessel. A frameless navigation system was used to quantify the surgical exposure area of the BX through the OCW and COW. The total surgical area increased significantly from steps 1 to 4 (P < .001) in both OCW and COW groups. Overall, there was a larger total surgical area obtained in the COW compared with the OCW (P = .010). ICA mobilization increased the surgical area for temporary (P < .001) and permanent (P < .003) clip application in both windows. The division of PCoA significantly increased the overall surgical area for permanent clip application (P < .003). Compared with the OCW, the COW had a significantly increased change in the area for permanent clip application in the low-lying group (P = .03). When approaching the BX via the pterion route, the appropriate surgical step and window should be selected according to characteristics of the PCoA and height of the BX.
Integrating speech in time depends on temporal expectancies and attention.

PubMed

Scharinger, Mathias; Steinberg, Johanna; Tavano, Alessandro

2017-08-01

Sensory information that unfolds in time, such as in speech perception, relies on efficient chunking mechanisms in order to yield optimally-sized units for further processing. Whether or not two successive acoustic events receive a one-unit or a two-unit interpretation seems to depend on the fit between their temporal extent and a stipulated temporal window of integration. However, there is ongoing debate on how flexible this temporal window of integration should be, especially for the processing of speech sounds. Furthermore, there is no direct evidence of whether attention may modulate the temporal constraints on the integration window. For this reason, we here examine how different word durations, which lead to different temporal separations of sound onsets, interact with attention. In an Electroencephalography (EEG) study, participants actively and passively listened to words where word-final consonants were occasionally omitted. Words had either a natural duration or were artificially prolonged in order to increase the separation of speech sound onsets. Omission responses to incomplete speech input, originating in left temporal cortex, decreased when the critical speech sound was separated from previous sounds by more than 250 msec, i.e., when the separation was larger than the stipulated temporal window of integration (125-150 msec). Attention, on the other hand, only increased omission responses for stimuli with natural durations. We complemented the event-related potential (ERP) analyses by a frequency-domain analysis on the stimulus presentation rate. Notably, the power of stimulation frequency showed the same duration and attention effects than the omission responses. We interpret these findings on the background of existing research on temporal integration windows and further suggest that our findings may be accounted for within the framework of predictive coding. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Processing and review interface for strong motion data (PRISM) software, version 1.0.0—Methodology and automated processing

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones, Jeanne; Kalkan, Erol; Stephens, Christopher

2017-02-23

A continually increasing number of high-quality digital strong-motion records from stations of the National Strong-Motion Project (NSMP) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as well as data from regional seismic networks within the United States, call for automated processing of strong-motion records with human review limited to selected significant or flagged records. The NSMP has developed the Processing and Review Interface for Strong Motion data (PRISM) software to meet this need. In combination with the Advanced National Seismic System Quake Monitoring System (AQMS), PRISM automates the processing of strong-motion records. When used without AQMS, PRISM provides batch-processing capabilities. The PRISM version 1.0.0 is platform independent (coded in Java), open source, and does not depend on any closed-source or proprietary software. The software consists of two major components: a record processing engine and a review tool that has a graphical user interface (GUI) to manually review, edit, and process records. To facilitate use by non-NSMP earthquake engineers and scientists, PRISM (both its processing engine and review tool) is easy to install and run as a stand-alone system on common operating systems such as Linux, OS X, and Windows. PRISM was designed to be flexible and extensible in order to accommodate new processing techniques. This report provides a thorough description and examples of the record processing features supported by PRISM. All the computing features of PRISM have been thoroughly tested.
Landmark Detection in Orbital Images Using Salience Histograms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagstaff, Kiri L.; Panetta, Julian; Schorghofer, Norbert; Greeley, Ronald; PendletonHoffer, Mary; bunte, Melissa

2010-01-01

NASA's planetary missions have collected, and continue to collect, massive volumes of orbital imagery. The volume is such that it is difficult to manually review all of the data and determine its significance. As a result, images are indexed and searchable by location and date but generally not by their content. A new automated method analyzes images and identifies "landmarks," or visually salient features such as gullies, craters, dust devil tracks, and the like. This technique uses a statistical measure of salience derived from information theory, so it is not associated with any specific landmark type. It identifies regions that are unusual or that stand out from their surroundings, so the resulting landmarks are context-sensitive areas that can be used to recognize the same area when it is encountered again. A machine learning classifier is used to identify the type of each discovered landmark. Using a specified window size, an intensity histogram is computed for each such window within the larger image (sliding the window across the image). Next, a salience map is computed that specifies, for each pixel, the salience of the window centered at that pixel. The salience map is thresholded to identify landmark contours (polygons) using the upper quartile of salience values. Descriptive attributes are extracted for each landmark polygon: size, perimeter, mean intensity, standard deviation of intensity, and shape features derived from an ellipse fit.
Accounting for nonmonotonic precursor duration effects with gain reduction in the temporal window model.

PubMed

Roverud, Elin; Strickland, Elizabeth A

2014-03-01

The mechanisms of forward masking are not clearly understood. The temporal window model (TWM) proposes that masking occurs via a neural mechanism that integrates within a temporal window. The medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR), a sound-evoked reflex that reduces cochlear amplifier gain, may also contribute to forward masking if the preceding sound reduces gain for the signal. Psychophysical evidence of gain reduction can be observed using a growth of masking (GOM) paradigm with an off-frequency forward masker and a precursor. The basilar membrane input/output (I/O) function is estimated from the GOM function, and the I/O function gain is reduced by the precursor. In this study, the effect of precursor duration on this gain reduction effect was examined for on- and off-frequency precursors. With on-frequency precursors, thresholds increased with increasing precursor duration, then decreased (rolled over) for longer durations. Thresholds with off-frequency precursors continued to increase with increasing precursor duration. These results are not consistent with solely neural masking, but may reflect gain reduction that selectively affects on-frequency stimuli. The TWM was modified to include history-dependent gain reduction to simulate the MOCR, called the temporal window model-gain reduction (TWM-GR). The TWM-GR predicted rollover and the differences with on- and off-frequency precursors whereas the TWM did not.
Child and adolescent injury as a result of falls from buildings and structures

PubMed Central

Pressley, J; Barlow, B

2005-01-01

Design and setting: The Health Care Cost and Utilization Project (KID-HCUP) was used to produce national estimates of hospital admissions due to falls from buildings in the US. Areas of New York with and without window guard legislation were identified through the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS). Subjects: Children and adolescents aged 0–18 years. Interventions: Legislation based window fall prevention programme with enforcement. Main outcome measures: Hospitalization for injury as a result of falls from buildings and structures in areas with and without enforced mandatory window guard legislation. Results: New York City has a higher proportion of the population residing in multifamily dwellings with 10 or more units compared with the nation (53.8% v 12.6%, p<0.0001), but the incidence of injury resulting from falls from buildings is nearly half that observed in the US. For young children, warm weather risks begin earlier and extend later than previously reported. Incidence in very young minority children is nearly twice that of whites. Nearly 90% of children aged 0–4 years fall at home, but the proportion decreases linearly with age. Conclusions: Window guards are associated with reduced injury resulting from falls from buildings and should be mandated in multifamily dwellings where small children reside. Prevention programmes for young children should be initiated in early spring and continued through fall. PMID:16203834
Hydrocarbon Reservoir Prediction Using Bi-Gaussian S Transform Based Time-Frequency Analysis Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Z.; Chen, Y.; Liu, Y.; Liu, W.; Zhang, G.

2015-12-01

Among those hydrocarbon reservoir detection techniques, the time-frequency analysis based approach is one of the most widely used approaches because of its straightforward indication of low-frequency anomalies from the time-frequency maps, that is to say, the low-frequency bright spots usually indicate the potential hydrocarbon reservoirs. The time-frequency analysis based approach is easy to implement, and more importantly, is usually of high fidelity in reservoir prediction, compared with the state-of-the-art approaches, and thus is of great interest to petroleum geologists, geophysicists, and reservoir engineers. The S transform has been frequently used in obtaining the time-frequency maps because of its better performance in controlling the compromise between the time and frequency resolutions than the alternatives, such as the short-time Fourier transform, Gabor transform, and continuous wavelet transform. The window function used in the majority of previous S transform applications is the symmetric Gaussian window. However, one problem with the symmetric Gaussian window is the degradation of time resolution in the time-frequency map due to the long front taper. In our study, a bi-Gaussian S transform that substitutes the symmetric Gaussian window with an asymmetry bi-Gaussian window is proposed to analyze the multi-channel seismic data in order to predict hydrocarbon reservoirs. The bi-Gaussian window introduces asymmetry in the resultant time-frequency spectrum, with time resolution better in the front direction, as compared with the back direction. It is the first time that the bi-Gaussian S transform is used for analyzing multi-channel post-stack seismic data in order to predict hydrocarbon reservoirs since its invention in 2003. The superiority of the bi-Gaussian S transform over traditional S transform is tested on a real land seismic data example. The performance shows that the enhanced temporal resolution can help us depict more clearly the edge of the hydrocarbon reservoir, especially when the thickness of the reservoir is small (such as the thin beds).
Object permanence in young infants: further evidence.

PubMed

Baillargeon, R; DeVos, J

1991-12-01

Recent evidence suggests that 4.5- and even 3.5-month-old infants realize that objects continue to exist when hidden. The goal of the present experiments was to obtain converging evidence of object permanence in young infants. Experiments were conducted using paradigms previously used to demonstrate object permanence in 5.5-month-old infants and 6.5-month-old infants. In one experiment, 3.5-month-old infants watched a short or a tall carrot slide along a track. The track's center was hidden by a screen with a large window in its upper half. The short carrot was shorter than the window's lower edge and so did not appear in the window when passing behind the screen; the tall carrot was taller than the window's lower edge and hence should have appeared in the window but did not. The infants looked reliably longer at the tall than at the short carrot event, suggesting that they (a) represented the existence, height, and trajectory of each carrot behind the screen and (b) expected the tall carrot to appear in the screen window and were surprised that it did not. Control trials supported this interpretation. In another experiment, 4.0-month-old infants saw a toy car roll along a track that was partly hidden by a screen. A large toy mouse was placed behind the screen, either on top or in back of the track. The female infants looked reliably longer when the mouse stood on top as opposed to in back of the track, suggesting that they (a) represented the existence and trajectory of the car behind the screen, (b) represented the existence and location of the mouse behind the screen, and (c) were surprised to see the car reappear from behind the screen when the mouse stood in its path. A second experiment supported this interpretation. The results of these experiments provide further evidence that infants aged 3.5 months and older are able to represent and to reason about hidden objects.
Applying a visual language for image processing as a graphical teaching tool in medical imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birchman, James J.; Tanimoto, Steven L.; Rowberg, Alan H.; Choi, Hyung-Sik; Kim, Yongmin

1992-05-01

Typical user interaction in image processing is with command line entries, pull-down menus, or text menu selections from a list, and as such is not generally graphical in nature. Although applying these interactive methods to construct more sophisticated algorithms from a series of simple image processing steps may be clear to engineers and programmers, it may not be clear to clinicians. A solution to this problem is to implement a visual programming language using visual representations to express image processing algorithms. Visual representations promote a more natural and rapid understanding of image processing algorithms by providing more visual insight into what the algorithms do than the interactive methods mentioned above can provide. Individuals accustomed to dealing with images will be more likely to understand an algorithm that is represented visually. This is especially true of referring physicians, such as surgeons in an intensive care unit. With the increasing acceptance of picture archiving and communications system (PACS) workstations and the trend toward increasing clinical use of image processing, referring physicians will need to learn more sophisticated concepts than simply image access and display. If the procedures that they perform commonly, such as window width and window level adjustment and image enhancement using unsharp masking, are depicted visually in an interactive environment, it will be easier for them to learn and apply these concepts. The software described in this paper is a visual programming language for imaging processing which has been implemented on the NeXT computer using NeXTstep user interface development tools and other tools in an object-oriented environment. The concept is based upon the description of a visual language titled `Visualization of Vision Algorithms' (VIVA). Iconic representations of simple image processing steps are placed into a workbench screen and connected together into a dataflow path by the user. As the user creates and edits a dataflow path, more complex algorithms can be built on the screen. Once the algorithm is built, it can be executed, its results can be reviewed, and operator parameters can be interactively adjusted until an optimized output is produced. The optimized algorithm can then be saved and added to the system as a new operator. This system has been evaluated as a graphical teaching tool for window width and window level adjustment, image enhancement using unsharp masking, and other techniques.
Egg storage duration and hatch window affect gene expression of nutrient transporters and intestine morphological parameters of early hatched broiler chicks.

PubMed

Yalcin, S; Gursel, I; Bilgen, G; Izzetoglu, G T; Horuluoglu, B H; Gucluer, G

2016-05-01

In recent years, researchers have given emphasis on the differences in physiological parameters between early and late hatched chicks within a hatch window. Considering the importance of intestine development in newly hatched chicks, however, changes in gene expression of nutrient transporters in the jejunum of early hatched chicks within a hatch window have not been studied yet. This study was conducted to determine the effects of egg storage duration before incubation and hatch window on intestinal development and expression of PepT1 (H+-dependent peptide transporter) and SGLT1 (sodium-glucose co-transporter) genes in the jejunum of early hatched broiler chicks within a 30 h of hatch window. A total of 1218 eggs obtained from 38-week-old Ross 308 broiler breeder flocks were stored for 3 (ES3) or 14 days (ES14) and incubated at the same conditions. Eggs were checked between 475 and 480 h of incubation and 40 chicks from each egg storage duration were weighed; chick length and rectal temperature were measured. The chicks were sampled to evaluate morphological parameters and PepT1 and SGLT1 expression. The remaining chicks that hatched between 475 and 480 h were placed back in the incubator and the same measurements were conducted with those chicks at the end of hatch window at 510 h of incubation. Chick length, chick dry matter content, rectal temperature and weight of small intestine segments increased, whereas chick weight decreased during the hatch window. The increase in the jejunum length and villus width and area during the hatch window were higher for ES3 than ES14 chicks. PepT1 expression was higher for ES3 chicks compared with ES14. There was a 10.2 and 17.6-fold increase in PepT1 and SGLT1 expression of ES3 chicks at the end of hatch window, whereas it was only 2.3 and 3.3-fold, respectively, for ES14 chicks. These results suggested that egg storage duration affected development of early hatched chicks during 30 h of hatch window. It can be concluded that the ES14 chicks would be less efficiently adapted to absorption process for carbohydrates and protein than those from ES3 at the end of the hatch window.

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