Sample records for conversion zero-if receivers

  1. Simultaneously frequency down-conversion, independent multichannel phase shifting and zero-IF receiving using a phase modulator in a sagnac loop and balanced detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Zihang; Zhao, Shanghong; Li, Xuan; Lin, Tao; Hu, Dapeng

    2018-03-01

    Photonic microwave frequency down-conversion with independent multichannel phase shifting and zero-intermediate frequency (IF) receiving is proposed and demonstrated by simulation. By combined use of a phase modulator (PM) in a sagnac loop and an optical bandpass filter (OBPF), orthogonal polarized carrier suppression single sideband (CS-SSB) signals are obtained. By adjusting the polarization controllers (PCs) to introduce the phase difference in the optical domain and using balanced detection to eliminate the direct current components, the phase of the generated IF signal can be arbitrarily tuned. Besides, the radio frequency (RF) vector signal can be also frequency down-converted to baseband directly by choosing two quadrature channels. In the simulation, high gain and continuously tunable phase shifts over the 360 degree range are verified. Furthermore, 2.5 Gbit/s RF vector signals centered at 10 GHz with different modulation formats are successfully demodulated.

  2. All-optical and broadband microwave fundamental/sub-harmonic I/Q down-converters.

    PubMed

    Gao, Yongsheng; Wen, Aijun; Jiang, Wei; Fan, Yangyu; He, You

    2018-03-19

    Microwave I/Q down-converters are frequently used in image-reject super heterodyne receivers, zero intermediate frequency (zero-IF) receivers, and phase/frequency discriminators. However, due to the electronic bottleneck, conventional microwave I/Q mixers face a serious bandwidth limitation, I/Q imbalance, and even-order distortion. In this paper, photonic microwave fundamental and sub-harmonic I/Q down-converters are presented using a polarization division multiplexing dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (PDM-DPMZM). Thanks to all-optical manipulation, the proposed system features an ultra-wide operating band (7-40 GHz in the fundamental I/Q down-converter, and 10-40 GHz in the sub-harmonic I/Q down-converter) and an excellent I/Q balance (maximum 0.7 dB power imbalance and 1 degree phase imbalance). The conversion gain, noise figure (NF), even-order distortion, and spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) are also improved by LO power optimization and balanced detection. Using the proposed system, a high image rejection ratio is demonstrated for a super heterodyne receiver, and good EVMs over a wide RF power range is demonstrated for a zero-IF receiver. The proposed broadband photonic microwave fundamental and sub-harmonic I/Q down-converters may find potential applications in multi-band satellite, ultra-wideband radar and frequency-agile electronic warfare systems.

  3. 5 Gbps wireless transmission link with an optically pumped uni-traveling carrier photodiode mixer at the receiver.

    PubMed

    Mohammad, Ahmad W; Shams, Haymen; Balakier, Katarzyna; Graham, Chris; Natrella, Michele; Seeds, Alwyn J; Renaud, Cyril C

    2018-02-05

    We report the first demonstration of a uni-traveling carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) used as a 5 Gbps wireless receiver. In this experiment, a 35.1 GHz carrier was electrically modulated with 5 Gbps non-return with zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK) data and transmitted wirelessly over a distance of 1.3 m. At the receiver, a UTC-PD was used as an optically pumped mixer (OPM) to down-convert the received radio frequency (RF) signal to an intermediate frequency (IF) of 11.7 GHz, before it was down-converted to the baseband using an electronic mixer. The recovered data show a clear eye diagram, and a bit error rate (BER) of less than 10 -8 was measured. The conversion loss of the UTC-PD optoelectronic mixer has been measured at 22 dB. The frequency of the local oscillator (LO) used for the UTC-PD is defined by the frequency spacing between the two optical tones, which can be broadly tuneable offering the frequency agility of this photodiode-based receiver.

  4. 12 CFR 217.52 - Simple risk-weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... greater than or equal to −1 (that is, between zero and −1), then E equals the absolute value of RVC. If... this section) by the lowest applicable risk weight in this paragraph (b). (1) Zero percent risk weight... credit exposures receive a zero percent risk weight under § 217.32 may be assigned a zero percent risk...

  5. Low-Power SOI CMOS Transceiver

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fujikawa, Gene (Technical Monitor); Cheruiyot, K.; Cothern, J.; Huang, D.; Singh, S.; Zencir, E.; Dogan, N.

    2003-01-01

    The work aims at developing a low-power Silicon on Insulator Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (SOI CMOS) Transceiver for deep-space communications. RF Receiver must accomplish the following tasks: (a) Select the desired radio channel and reject other radio signals, (b) Amplify the desired radio signal and translate them back to baseband, and (c) Detect and decode the information with Low BER. In order to minimize cost and achieve high level of integration, receiver architecture should use least number of external filters and passive components. It should also consume least amount of power to minimize battery cost, size, and weight. One of the most stringent requirements for deep-space communication is the low-power operation. Our study identified that two candidate architectures listed in the following meet these requirements: (1) Low-IF receiver, (2) Sub-sampling receiver. The low-IF receiver uses minimum number of external components. Compared to Zero-IF (Direct conversion) architecture, it has less severe offset and flicker noise problems. The Sub-sampling receiver amplifies the RF signal and samples it using track-and-hold Subsampling mixer. These architectures provide low-power solution for the short- range communications missions on Mars. Accomplishments to date include: (1) System-level design and simulation of a Double-Differential PSK receiver, (2) Implementation of Honeywell SOI CMOS process design kit (PDK) in Cadence design tools, (3) Design of test circuits to investigate relationships between layout techniques, geometry, and low-frequency noise in SOI CMOS, (4) Model development and verification of on-chip spiral inductors in SOI CMOS process, (5) Design/implementation of low-power low-noise amplifier (LNA) and mixer for low-IF receiver, and (6) Design/implementation of high-gain LNA for sub-sampling receiver. Our initial results show that substantial improvement in power consumption is achieved using SOI CMOS as compared to standard CMOS process. Potential advantages of SOI CMOS for deep-space communication electronics include: (1) Radiation hardness, (2) Low-power operation, and (3) System-on-Chip (SOC) solutions.

  6. 12 CFR 324.52 - Simple risk-weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... greater than or equal to −1 (that is, between zero and −1), then E equals the absolute value of RVC. If...) Zero percent risk weight equity exposures. An equity exposure to a sovereign, the Bank for..., an MDB, and any other entity whose credit exposures receive a zero percent risk weight under § 324.32...

  7. VLBI2010 Receiver Back End Comparison

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Petrachenko, Bill

    2013-01-01

    VLBI2010 requires a receiver back-end to convert analog RF signals from the receiver front end into channelized digital data streams to be recorded or transmitted electronically. The back end functions are typically performed in two steps: conversion of analog RF inputs into IF bands (see Table 2), and conversion of IF bands into channelized digital data streams (see Tables 1a, 1b and 1c). The latter IF systems are now completely digital and generically referred to as digital back ends (DBEs). In Table 2 two RF conversion systems are compared, and in Tables 1a, 1b, and 1c nine DBE systems are compared. Since DBE designs are advancing rapidly, the data in these tables are only guaranteed to be current near the update date of this document.

  8. Graphene integrated circuits: new prospects towards receiver realisation.

    PubMed

    Saeed, Mohamed; Hamed, Ahmed; Wang, Zhenxing; Shaygan, Mehrdad; Neumaier, Daniel; Negra, Renato

    2017-12-21

    This work demonstrates a design approach which enables the fabrication of fully integrated radio frequency (RF) and millimetre-wave frequency direct-conversion graphene receivers by adapting the frontend architecture to exploit the state-of-the-art performance of the recently reported wafer-scale CVD metal-insulator-graphene (MIG) diodes. As a proof-of-concept, we built a fully integrated microwave receiver in the frequency range 2.1-2.7 GHz employing the strong nonlinearity and the high responsivity of MIG diodes to successfully receive and demodulate complex, digitally modulated communication signals at 2.45 GHz. In addition, the fabricated receiver uses zero-biased MIG diodes and consumes zero dc power. With the flexibility to be fabricated on different substrates, the prototype receiver frontend is fabricated on a low-cost, glass substrate utilising a custom-developed MMIC process backend which enables the high performance of passive components. The measured performance of the prototype makes it suitable for Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems for medical and communication applications.

  9. Air Brayton Solar Receiver, phase 1

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zimmerman, D. K.

    1979-01-01

    A six month analysis and conceptual design study of an open cycle Air Brayton Solar Receiver (ABSR) for use on a tracking, parabolic solar concentrator are discussed. The ABSR, which includes a buffer storage system, is designed to provide inlet air to a power conversion unit. Parametric analyses, conceptual design, interface requirements, and production cost estimates are described. The design features were optimized to yield a zero maintenance, low cost, high efficiency concept that will provide a 30 year operational life.

  10. A reprogrammable receiver architecture for wireless signal interception

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yao, Timothy S.

    2003-09-01

    In this paper, a re-programmable receiver architecture, based on software-defined-radio concept, for wireless signal interception is presented. The radio-frequency (RF) signal that the receiver would like to intercept may come from a terrestrial cellular network or communication satellites, which their carrier frequency are in the range from 800 MHz (civilian mobile) to 15 GHz (Ku band). To intercept signals from such a wide range of frequency in these variant communication systems, the traditional way is to deploy multiple receivers to scan and detect the desired signal. This traditional approach is obviously unattractive due to the cost, efficiency, and accuracy. Instead, we propose a universal receiver, which is software-driven and re-configurable, to intercept signals of interest. The software-defined-radio based receiver first intercepts RF energy of wide spectrum (25MHz) through antenna, performs zero-IF down conversion (homodyne architecture) to baseband, and digital channelizes the baseband signal. The channelization module is a bank of high performance digital filters. The bandwidth of the filter bank is programmable according to the wireless communication protocol under watch. In the baseband processing, high-performance digital signal processors carry out the detection process and microprocessors handle the communication protocols. The baseband processing is also re-configurable for different wireless standards and protocol. The advantages of the software-defined-radio architecture over traditional RF receiver make it a favorable technology for the communication signal interception and surveillance.

  11. Commutated automatic gain control system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yost, S. R.

    1982-01-01

    A commutated automatic gain control (AGC) system was designed and built for a prototype Loran C receiver. The receiver uses a microcomputer to control a memory aided phase-locked loop (MAPLL). The microcomputer also controls the input/output, latitude/longitude conversion, and the recently added AGC system. The circuit designed for the AGC is described, and bench and flight test results are presented. The AGC circuit described actually samples starting at a point 40 microseconds after a zero crossing determined by the software lock pulse ultimately generated by a 30 microsecond delay and add network in the receiver front end envelope detector.

  12. All-optical NRZ-to-RZ data format conversion with optically injected laser diode or semiconductor optical amplifier

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Gong-Ru; Chang, Yung-Cheng; Yu, Kun-Chieh

    2006-09-01

    By injecting the optical NRZ data into a Fabry-Perot laser diode (FPLD) synchronously modulated at below threshold condition or a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) gain-depleted with a backward injected clock stream, the all-optical non-return to zero (NRZ) to return-to-zero (RZ) format conversion of a STM-64 date-stream for synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) or an OC-192 data stream for synchronous optical network (SONET) in high-speed fiber-optic communication link can be performed. Without the assistance of any complicated RF electronic circuitry, the output RZ data-stream at bit rate of up to 10 Gbit/s is successfully transformed in the optically NRZ injection-locked FPLD, in which the incoming NRZ data induces gain-switching of the FPLD without DC driving current or at below threshold condition. A power penalty of 1.2 dB is measured after NRZ-to-RZ transformation in the FPLD. Alternatively, the all-optical 10Gbits/s NRZ-to-RZ format conversion can also be demonstrated in a semiconductor optical amplifier under a backward dark-optical-comb injection with its duty-cycle 70%, which is obtained by reshaping from the received data clock at 10 GHz. The incoming optical NRZ data-stream is transformed into a pulsed RZ data-stream with its duty-cycle, rms timing jitter, and conversion gain of 15%, 4ps, and 3dB, respectively. In contrast to the FPLD, the SOA based NRZ-to-RZ converter exhibits an enhanced extinction ratio from 7 to 13 dB, and BER of 10 -13 at -18.5 dBm. In particular, the power penalty of the received RZ data-stream has greatly improved by 5 dB as compared to that obtained from FPLD.

  13. Resonant spin-flavor conversion of supernova neutrinos: Dependence on presupernova models and future prospects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ando, Shin'ichiro; Sato, Katsuhiko

    2003-07-01

    We study the resonant spin-flavor (RSF) conversion of supernova neutrinos, which is induced by the interaction between the nonzero neutrino magnetic moment and the supernova magnetic fields, and its dependence on presupernova models. As the presupernova models, we adopt the latest ones by Woosley, Heger, and Weaver, and, further, models with both solar and zero metallicity are investigated. Since the (1-2Ye) profile of the new presupernova models, which is responsible for the RSF conversion, suddenly drops at the resonance region, the completely adiabatic RSF conversion is not realized, even if μνB0=(10-12μB)(1010 G), where B0 is the strength of the magnetic field at the surface of the iron core. In particular for the model with zero metallicity, the conversion is highly nonadiabatic in the high energy region, reflecting the (1-2Ye) profile of the model. In calculating the flavor conversion, we find that the shock wave propagation, which changes density profiles drastically, is a much more severe problem than it is for the pure Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) conversion case. This is because the RSF effect occurs at a far deeper region than the MSW effect. To avoid the uncertainty concerning the shock propagation, we restrict our discussion to 0.5 s after the core bounce (and for more conservative discussion, 0.25 s), during which the shock wave is not expected to affect the RSF region. We also evaluate the energy spectrum at the Super-Kamiokande detector for various models using the calculated conversion probabilities, and find that it is very difficult to obtain useful information on the supernova metallicities and magnetic fields or on the neutrino magnetic moment from the supernova neutrino observation. Future prospects are also discussed.

  14. Method of achieving ultra-wideband true-time-delay beam steering for active electronically scanned arrays

    DOEpatents

    Loui, Hung; Brock, Billy C.

    2016-10-25

    The various embodiments presented herein relate to beam steering an array antenna by modifying intermediate frequency (IF) waveforms prior to conversion to RF signals. For each channel, a direct digital synthesis (DDS) component can be utilized to generate a waveform or modify amplitude, timing and phase of a waveform relative to another waveform, whereby the generation/modification can be performed prior to the IF input port of a mixer on each channel. A local oscillator (LO) signal can be utilized to commonly drive each of the mixers. After conversion at the RF output port of each of the mixers, each RF signal can be transmitted by a respective antenna element in the antenna array. Initiation of transmission of each RF signal can be performed simultaneously at each antenna. The process can be reversed during receive whereby timing, amplitude, and phase of the received can be modified digitally post ADC conversion.

  15. 78 FR 31945 - Clinical Development Programs for Opioid Conversion; Public Workshop; Request for Comments

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-28

    ... gaps in existing knowledge regarding equianalgesic opioid conversion in clinical practice, to develop a... organization as well as the total number of participants based on space limitations. Registrants will receive... be based on space availability. If registration reaches maximum capacity, FDA will post a notice...

  16. Limits to solar power conversion efficiency with applications to quantum and thermal systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Byvik, C. E.; Buoncristiani, A. M.; Smith, B. T.

    1983-01-01

    An analytical framework is presented that permits examination of the limit to the efficiency of various solar power conversion devices. Thermodynamic limits to solar power efficiency are determined for both quantum and thermal systems, and the results are applied to a variety of devices currently considered for use in space systems. The power conversion efficiency for single-threshold energy quantum systems receiving unconcentrated air mass zero solar radiation is limited to 31 percent. This limit applies to photovoltaic cells directly converting solar radiation, or indirectly, as in the case of a thermophotovoltaic system. Photoelectrochemical cells rely on an additional chemical reaction at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface, which introduces additional second-law demands and a reduction of the solar conversion efficiency. Photochemical systems exhibit even lower possible efficiencies because of their relatively narrow absorption bands. Solar-powered thermal engines in contact with an ambient reservoir at 300 K and operating at maximum power have a peak conversion efficiency of 64 percent, and this occurs for a thermal reservoir at a temperature of 2900 K. The power conversion efficiency of a solar-powered liquid metal magnetohydrodydnamic generator, a solar-powered steam turbine electric generator, and an alkali metal thermoelectric converter is discussed.

  17. A 30-GHz monolithic receiver

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liu, Louis C. T.; Liu, Carol S.; Kessler, Joel R.; Wang, Shing-Kuo; Chang, Ching-Der

    1986-01-01

    Several monolithic integrated circuits have been developed to make a 30-GHz receiver. The receiver components include a low-noise amplifier (LNA), an IF amplifier, a mixer, and a phase shifter. The LNA has a 7-dB noise figure with over 17 dB of associated gain. The IF amplifier has a 13-dB gain with a 30-dB control range. The mixer has a conversion loss of 10.5 dB. The phase shifter has a 180-deg phase shift control and a minimum insertion loss of 1.6 dB.

  18. Laser multiplexing system

    DOEpatents

    Johnson, Steve A.; English, Jr., Ronald Edward; White, Ronald K.

    2001-01-01

    A plurality of copper lasers, as radiant power sources, emits a beam of power carrying radiation. A plurality of fiber injection assemblies receives power from the plurality of copper lasers and injects such power into a plurality of fibers for individually transmitting the received power to a plurality of power-receiving devices. The power-transmitting fibers of the system are so arranged that power is delivered therethrough to each of the power-receiving devices such that, even if a few of the radiant power sources and/or fibers fail, the power supply to any of the power receiving devices will not completely drop to zero but will drop by the same proportionate amount.

  19. Examining the Role of the Principal: Case Study of a High-Poverty, High-Performing Rural Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coleman, Howard D.

    2013-01-01

    Since the inception of high-stakes standardized testing, schools have been labeled as either succeeding or failing based on student standardized assessment performance. If students perform adequately, the building principal receives acknowledgement for being an effective instructional leader. Conversely, if students perform poorly, the principal…

  20. Digital scale converter

    DOEpatents

    Upton, Richard G.

    1978-01-01

    A digital scale converter is provided for binary coded decimal (BCD) conversion. The converter may be programmed to convert a BCD value of a first scale to the equivalent value of a second scale according to a known ratio. The value to be converted is loaded into a first BCD counter and counted down to zero while a second BCD counter registers counts from zero or an offset value depending upon the conversion. Programmable rate multipliers are used to generate pulses at selected rates to the counters for the proper conversion ratio. The value present in the second counter at the time the first counter is counted to the zero count is the equivalent value of the second scale. This value may be read out and displayed on a conventional seven-segment digital display.

  1. Systems and methods for initializing a charging system

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

    Perisic, Milun; Ransonm, Ray M.; Kojouke, Lateef A.

    2017-09-26

    Systems and methods are provided for charging a battery. The system, for example, includes, but is not limited to a first interface configured to receive a voltage from an AC voltage source, a matrix conversion module comprising a plurality of switches electrically connected to the first interface and configured to provide a charging voltage to the battery, and a controller communicatively connected to the matrix conversion module, wherein the controller is configured to: determine a voltage of the battery, determine an angle of the AC voltage source to initiate charging of the battery based upon the voltage of the battery,more » and control the plurality of switches to provide the charging voltage to the battery between the determined angle of the AC voltage source and a subsequent zero-crossing of the AC voltage source.« less

  2. 24 CFR 902.62 - Failure to submit data.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... receive a presumptive rating of failure for its unaudited information and shall receive zero points for... timely submission of audited information does not negate the score of zero received for the unaudited... subindicator(s) shall receive a score of zero for the relevant indicator(s) or subindicator(s) and its overall...

  3. Multi-Rate Acquisition for Dead Time Reduction in Magnetic Resonance Receivers: Application to Imaging With Zero Echo Time.

    PubMed

    Marjanovic, Josip; Weiger, Markus; Reber, Jonas; Brunner, David O; Dietrich, Benjamin E; Wilm, Bertram J; Froidevaux, Romain; Pruessmann, Klaas P

    2018-02-01

    For magnetic resonance imaging of tissues with very short transverse relaxation times, radio-frequency excitation must be immediately followed by data acquisition with fast spatial encoding. In zero-echo-time (ZTE) imaging, excitation is performed while the readout gradient is already on, causing data loss due to an initial dead time. One major dead time contribution is the settling time of the filters involved in signal down-conversion. In this paper, a multi-rate acquisition scheme is proposed to minimize dead time due to filtering. Short filters and high output bandwidth are used initially to minimize settling time. With increasing time since the signal onset, longer filters with better frequency selectivity enable stronger signal decimation. In this way, significant dead time reduction is accomplished at only a slight increase in the overall amount of output data. Multi-rate acquisition was implemented with a two-stage filter cascade in a digital receiver based on a field-programmable gate array. In ZTE imaging in a phantom and in vivo, dead time reduction by multi-rate acquisition is shown to improve image quality and expand the feasible bandwidth while increasing the amount of data collected by only a few percent.

  4. Conversion of microalgae to jet fuel: process design and simulation.

    PubMed

    Wang, Hui-Yuan; Bluck, David; Van Wie, Bernard J

    2014-09-01

    Microalgae's aquatic, non-edible, highly genetically modifiable nature and fast growth rate are considered ideal for biomass conversion to liquid fuels providing promise for future shortages in fossil fuels and for reducing greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions from combustion. We demonstrate adaptability of PRO/II software by simulating a microalgae photo-bio-reactor and thermolysis with fixed conversion isothermal reactors adding a heat exchanger for thermolysis. We model a cooling tower and gas floatation with zero-duty flash drums adding solids removal for floatation. Properties data are from PRO/II's thermodynamic data manager. Hydrotreating is analyzed within PRO/II's case study option, made subject to Jet B fuel constraints, and we determine an optimal 6.8% bioleum bypass ratio, 230°C hydrotreater temperature, and 20:1 bottoms to overhead distillation ratio. Process economic feasibility occurs if cheap CO2, H2O and nutrient resources are available, along with solar energy and energy from byproduct combustion, and hydrotreater H2 from product reforming. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. The 30 GHz communications satellite low noise receiver

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steffek, L. J.; Smith, D. W.

    1983-01-01

    A Ka-band low noise front end in proof of concept (POC) model form for ultimate spaceborne communications receiver deployment was developed. The low noise receiver consists of a 27.5 to 30.0 GHz image enhanced mixer integrated with a 3.7 to 6.2 GHz FET low noise IF amplifier and driven by a self contained 23.8 GHz phase locked local oscillator source. The measured level of receiver performance over the 27.3 to 30.0 GHz RF/3.7 to 6.2 GHz IF band includes 5.5 to 6.5 dB (typ) SSB noise figure, 20.5 + or - 1.5 dB conversion gain and +23 dBm minimum third order two tone intermodulation output intercept point.

  6. Conversion gain and noise of niobium superconducting hot-electron-mixers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ekstrom, Hans; Karasik, Boris S.; Kollberg, Erik L.; Yngvesson, Sigfrid

    1995-01-01

    A study has been done of microwave mixing at 20 GHz using the nonlinear (power dependent) resistance of thin niobium strips in the resistive state. Our experiments give evidence that electron-heating is the main cause of the nonlinear phenomenon. Also a detailed phenomenological theory for the determination of conversion properties is presented. This theory is capable of predicting the frequency-conversion loss rather accurately for arbitrary bias by examining the I-V-characteristic. Knowing the electron temperature relaxation time, and using parameters derived from the I-V-characteristic also allows us to predict the -3 dB IF bandwidth. Experimental results are in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions. The requirements on the mode of operation and on the film parameters for minimizing the conversion loss (and even achieving conversion gain) are discussed in some detail. Our measurements demonstrate an intrinsic conversion loss as low as 1 dB. The maximum IF frequency defined for -3 dB drop in conversion gain, is about 80 MHz. Noise measurements indicate a device output noise temperature of about 50 K and SSB mixer noise temperature below 250 K. This type of mixer is considered very promising for use in low-noise heterodyne receivers at THz frequencies.

  7. On-chip WDM mode-division multiplexing interconnection with optional demodulation function.

    PubMed

    Ye, Mengyuan; Yu, Yu; Chen, Guanyu; Luo, Yuchan; Zhang, Xinliang

    2015-12-14

    We propose and fabricate a wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) compatible and multi-functional mode-division-multiplexing (MDM) integrated circuit, which can perform the mode conversion and multiplexing for the incoming multipath WDM signals, avoiding the wavelength conflict. An phase-to-intensity demodulation function can be optionally applied within the circuit while performing the mode multiplexing. For demonstration, 4 × 10 Gb/s non-return-to-zero differential phase shift keying (NRZ-DPSK) signals are successfully processed, with open and clear eye diagrams. Measured bit error ratio (BER) results show less than 1 dB receive sensitivity variation for three modes and four wavelengths with demodulation. In the case without demodulation, the average power penalties at 4 wavelengths are -1.5, -3 and -3.5 dB for TE₀-TE₀, TE₀-TE₁ and TE₀-TE₂ mode conversions, respectively. The proposed flexible scheme can be used at the interface of long-haul and on-chip communication systems.

  8. Medical male circumcision: How does price affect the risk-profile of take-up?

    PubMed

    Thornton, Rebecca; Godlonton, Susan

    2016-11-01

    The benefit of male circumcision is greatest among men who are most at risk of HIV infection. Encouraging this population of men to get circumcised maximizes the benefit that can be achieved through the scale-up of circumcision programs. This paper examines how the price of circumcision affects the risk profile of men who receive a voluntary medical circumcision. In 2010, 1649 uncircumcised adult men in urban Malawi were interviewed and provided a voucher for a subsidized voluntary medical male circumcision, at randomly assigned prices. Clinical data were collected indicating whether the men in the study received a circumcision. Men who took-up circumcision with a zero-priced voucher were 25 percentage points less likely than those who took-up with a positive-price voucher, to be from a tribe that traditionally circumcises (p=0.101). Zero-priced vouchers also brought in men with more sexual partners in the past year (p=0.075) and past month (p=0.003). None of the men who were most at risk of HIV at baseline (those with multiple partners and who did not use a condom the last time they had sex) received a circumcision if they were offered a positive-priced voucher. Lowering the price to zero increased circumcision take-up to 25% for men of this risk group. The effect of price on take-up was largest among those at highest risk (p=0.096). Reducing the price of circumcision surgery to zero can increase take-up among those who are most at risk of HIV infection. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Definitional mission report: NAPCOR thermal-power-conversion project, Philippines. Export trade information

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

    Not Available

    1991-11-01

    The National Power Corporation (NAPCOR) of Philippines has requested the Trade and Development Program (TDP) to fund a study to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of converting its existing oil and coal fired power plants to natural gas. The decision to undertake the study resulted from preliminary information on a large gas find off the coast of Palawan island. However, a second exploration well has come up dry. Now, the conversion of the existing power plants to natural gas seems very questionable. Even if the proven gas reserves prove to be commercially viable, the gas will not be availablemore » until 1998 or later for utilization. At that time several of NAPCOR's plants would have aged further, the political and economic situation in Philippines could have altered significantly, possibly improved, private power companies might be able to use the gas more efficiently by building state-of-the-art combined cycle power plants which will make more economic sense than converting existing old boilers to natural gas. In addition, most of the existing power equipment was manufactured by Japanese and/or European firms. It makes sense for NAPCOR to solicit services from these firms if it decides to go ahead with the implementation of the power plant conversion project. The potential for any follow on work for U.S. businesses is minimal to zero in the thermal conversion project. Therefore, at this time, TDP funding for the feasibility would be premature and not recommended.« less

  10. Photon energy conversion by near-zero permittivity nonlinear materials

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

    Luk, Ting S.; Sinclair, Michael B.; Campione, Salvatore

    Efficient harmonic light generation can be achieved with ultrathin films by coupling an incident pump wave to an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) mode of the thin film. As an example, efficient third harmonic generation from an indium tin oxide nanofilm (.lamda./42 thick) on a glass substrate for a pump wavelength of 1.4 .mu.m was demonstrated. A conversion efficiency of 3.3.times.10.sup.-6 was achieved by exploiting the field enhancement properties of the ENZ mode with an enhancement factor of 200. This nanoscale frequency conversion method is applicable to other plasmonic materials and reststrahlen materials in proximity of the longitudinal optical phonon frequencies.

  11. 10Gbit/s all-optical NRZ to RZ conversion based on TOAD

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Yumei; Yin, Lina; Zhou, Yunfeng; Liu, Guoming; Wu, Jian; Lin, Jintong

    2006-01-01

    Future network will include wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and optical time division multiplexing (OTDM) technologies. All-optical format conversion between their respective preferable data formats, non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ), may become an important technology. In this paper, 10Gbit/s all-optical NRZ-to-RZ conversion is demonstrated based on terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer (TOAD) using clock all-optically recovered from the NRZ signal for the first time. The clock component is enhanced in an SOA and the pseudo-return-to-zero (PRZ) signal is filtered. The PRZ signal is input into an injection mode-locked fiber ring laser for clock recovery. The recovered clock and the NRZ signal are input into TOAD as pump signal and probe signal, respectively, and format conversion is performed. The quality of the converted RZ signal is determined by that of the recovered clock and the NRZ signal, whereas hardly influenced by gain recovery time of the SOA. In the experimental demonstration, the obtained RZ signal has an extinction ratio of 8.7dB and low pattern dependency. After conversion, the spectrum broadens obviously and shows multimode structure with spectrum interval of 0.08nm, which matches with the bit rate 10Gbit/s. Furthermore, this format conversion method has some tolerance on the pattern dependency of the clock signal.

  12. Demonstration program for Omega receiver prototype microcomputer data processing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lilley, R. W.

    1976-01-01

    The JOLT (TM) commercial microcomputer, based on the MOS Technology 6502 processor chip, for use in Omega navigation system is evaluated. A computer program was prepared in hand-assembled code to demonstrate receiver operation. The processor provides binary processing with interrupts enabled, a carriage return is given to initialize the teleprinter, and a jump is performed to enter the program loop to wait for an interrupt. The program loop operates continuously testing the interrupt flag. The interrupt routine reads the receiver status word and determines whether the current time-slot is the A slot. If so, the interrupt flag, which is also the data index pointer, is reset to zero. The status word is stored in the status buffer. If the time-slot is not A, the interrupt flag/pointer is incremented by one to index the phase and status to the proper buffer words for later use by the print routine.

  13. Progress in integrated-circuit horn antennas for receiver applications. Part 2: A 90 GHz quasi-integrated horn antenna receiver

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ali-Ahmad, Walid Y.; Eleftheriades, George V.; Rebeiz, Gabriel M.

    1992-01-01

    A receiver belonging to the family of integrated planar receivers has been developed at 90 GHz. It consists of a planar Schottky-diode placed at the feed of a dipole-probe suspended inside an integrated horn antenna. The measured planar mixer single-sideband conversion loss at 91.2 GHz (LO) with a 200 MHz IF frequency is 8.3dB plus or minus 0.3dB. The low cost of fabrication and simplicity of this design makes it ideal for millimeter and submillimeter-wave receivers.

  14. Tuning quadratic nonlinear photonic crystal fibers for zero group-velocity mismatch.

    PubMed

    Bache, Morten; Nielsen, Hanne; Laegsgaard, Jesper; Bang, Ole

    2006-06-01

    We consider an index-guiding silica photonic crystal fiber with a triangular hole pattern and a periodically poled quadratic nonlinearity. By tuning the pitch and the relative hole size, second-harmonic generation with zero group-velocity mismatch is found for any fundamental wavelength above 780 nm. The nonlinear strength is optimized when the fundamental has maximum confinement in the core. The conversion bandwidth allows for femtosecond-pulse conversion, and 4%-180%W(-1)cm(-2) relative efficiencies were found.

  15. 75 FR 32666 - Safety Zones; Annual Fireworks Events in the Captain of the Port Detroit Zone

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-09

    ... Events in the Captain of the port Detroit Zone in the Federal Register (75 FR 19304). We received zero.... Discussion of Comments and Changes We received zero comments regarding the proposed rule. There are no...-3520). We received zero comments regarding the proposed rule. Federalism A rule has implications for...

  16. Systems and methods for initializing a charging system

    DOEpatents

    Ransom, Ray M.; Perisic, Milun; Kajouke, Lateef A.

    2014-09-09

    Systems and methods are provided for initiating a charging system. The method, for example, may include, but is not limited to, providing, by the charging system, an incrementally increasing voltage to a battery up to a first predetermined threshold while the energy conversion module has a zero-percent duty cycle, providing, by the charging system, an incrementally increasing voltage to the battery from an initial voltage level of the battery up to a peak voltage of a voltage source while the energy conversion module has a zero-percent duty cycle, and providing, by the charging system, an incrementally increasing voltage to the battery by incrementally increasing the duty cycle of the energy conversion module.

  17. Explicit calculation of the two-loop corrections to the chiral magnetic effect with the NJL model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chu, Kit-fai; Huang, Peng-hui; Liu, Hui

    2018-05-01

    The chiral magnetic effect (CME) is usually believed to not receive higher-order corrections due to the nonrenormalization of the AVV triangle diagram in the framework of quantum field theory. However, the CME-relevant triangle, which is obtained by expanding the current-current correlation, requires zero momentum on the axial vertex and is not equivalent to the general AVV triangle when taking the zero-momentum limit owing to the infrared problem on the axial vertex. Therefore, it is still significant to check if there exists perturbative higher-order corrections to the current-current correlation. In this paper, we explicitly calculate the two-loop corrections of CME within the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with a Chern-Simons term, which ensures a consistent μ5 . The result shows the two-loop corrections to the CME conductivity are zero, which confirms the nonrenomalization of CME conductivity.

  18. Assessing the greenhouse impact of natural gas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cathles, L. M.

    2012-06-01

    The global warming impact of substituting natural gas for coal and oil is currently in debate. We address this question here by comparing the reduction of greenhouse warming that would result from substituting gas for coal and some oil to the reduction which could be achieved by instead substituting zero carbon energy sources. We show that substitution of natural gas reduces global warming by 40% of that which could be attained by the substitution of zero carbon energy sources. At methane leakage rates that are ˜1% of production, which is similar to today's probable leakage rate of ˜1.5% of production, the 40% benefit is realized as gas substitution occurs. For short transitions the leakage rate must be more than 10 to 15% of production for gas substitution not to reduce warming, and for longer transitions the leakage must be much greater. But even if the leakage was so high that the substitution was not of immediate benefit, the 40%-of-zero-carbon benefit would be realized shortly after methane emissions ceased because methane is removed quickly from the atmosphere whereas CO2 is not. The benefits of substitution are unaffected by heat exchange to the ocean. CO2 emissions are the key to anthropogenic climate change, and substituting gas reduces them by 40% of that possible by conversion to zero carbon energy sources. Gas substitution also reduces the rate at which zero carbon energy sources must eventually be introduced.

  19. Extremal entanglement witnesses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hansen, Leif Ove; Hauge, Andreas; Myrheim, Jan; Sollid, Per Øyvind

    2015-02-01

    We present a study of extremal entanglement witnesses on a bipartite composite quantum system. We define the cone of witnesses as the dual of the set of separable density matrices, thus TrΩρ≥0 when Ω is a witness and ρ is a pure product state, ρ=ψψ† with ψ=ϕ⊗χ. The set of witnesses of unit trace is a compact convex set, uniquely defined by its extremal points. The expectation value f(ϕ,χ)=TrΩρ as a function of vectors ϕ and χ is a positive semidefinite biquadratic form. Every zero of f(ϕ,χ) imposes strong real-linear constraints on f and Ω. The real and symmetric Hessian matrix at the zero must be positive semidefinite. Its eigenvectors with zero eigenvalue, if such exist, we call Hessian zeros. A zero of f(ϕ,χ) is quadratic if it has no Hessian zeros, otherwise it is quartic. We call a witness quadratic if it has only quadratic zeros, and quartic if it has at least one quartic zero. A main result we prove is that a witness is extremal if and only if no other witness has the same, or a larger, set of zeros and Hessian zeros. A quadratic extremal witness has a minimum number of isolated zeros depending on dimensions. If a witness is not extremal, then the constraints defined by its zeros and Hessian zeros determine all directions in which we may search for witnesses having more zeros or Hessian zeros. A finite number of iterated searches in random directions, by numerical methods, leads to an extremal witness which is nearly always quadratic and has the minimum number of zeros. We discuss briefly some topics related to extremal witnesses, in particular the relation between the facial structures of the dual sets of witnesses and separable states. We discuss the relation between extremality and optimality of witnesses, and a conjecture of separability of the so-called structural physical approximation (SPA) of an optimal witness. Finally, we discuss how to treat the entanglement witnesses on a complex Hilbert space as a subset of the witnesses on a real Hilbert space.

  20. The 30-GHz monolithic receive module

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sokolov, V.; Geddes, J.; Bauhahn, P.

    1983-01-01

    Key requirements for a 30 GHz GaAs monolithic receive module for spaceborne communication antenna feed array applications include an overall receive module noise figure of 5 dB, a 30 dB RF to IF gain with six levels of intermediate gain control, a five-bit phase shifter, and a maximum power consumption of 250 mW. The RF designs for each of the four submodules (low noise amplifier, some gain control, phase shifter, and RF to IF sub-module) are presented. Except for the phase shifter, high frequency, low noise FETs with sub-half micron gate lengths are employed in the submodules. For the gain control, a two stage dual gate FET amplifier is used. The phase shifter is of the passive switched line type and consists of 5-bits. It uses relatively large gate width FETs (with zero drain to source bias) as the switching elements. A 20 GHz local oscillator buffer amplifier, a FET compatible balanced mixer, and a 5-8 GHz IF amplifier constitute the RF/IF sub-module. Phase shifter fabrication using ion implantation and a self-aligned gate technique is described. Preliminary RF results obtained on such phase shifters are included.

  1. dc analysis and design of zero-voltage-switched multi-resonant converters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tabisz, Wojciech A.; Lee, Fred C.

    Recently introduced multiresonant converters (MRCs) provide zero-voltage switching (ZVS) of both active and passive switches and offer a substantial reduction of transistor voltage stress and an increase of load range, compared to their quasi-resonant converter counterparts. Using the resonant switch concept, a simple, generalized analysis of ZVS MRCs is presented. The conversion ratio and voltage stress characteristics are derived for basic ZVS MRCs, including buck, boost, and buck/boost converters. Based on the analysis, a design procedure that optimizes the selection of resonant elements for maximum conversion efficiency is proposed.

  2. Enhanced third harmonic generation from the epsilon-near-zero modes of ultrathin films

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

    Luk, Ting S.; De Ceglia, Domenico; Liu, Sheng

    We demonstrate, through our experimentation, efficient third harmonic generation from an indium tin oxide nanofilm (λ/42 thick) on a glass substrate for a pump wavelength of 1.4 μm. A conversion efficiency of 3.3 × 10 -6 is achieved by exploiting the field enhancement properties of the epsilon-near-zero mode with an enhancement factor of 200. Furthermore, this nanoscale frequency conversion method is applicable to other plasmonic materials and reststrahlen materials in proximity of the longitudinal optical phonon frequencies.

  3. Enhanced third harmonic generation from the epsilon-near-zero modes of ultrathin films

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

    Luk, Ting S., E-mail: tsluk@sandia.gov; Liu, Sheng; Campione, Salvatore

    We experimentally demonstrate efficient third harmonic generation from an indium tin oxide nanofilm (λ/42 thick) on a glass substrate for a pump wavelength of 1.4 μm. A conversion efficiency of 3.3 × 10{sup −6} is achieved by exploiting the field enhancement properties of the epsilon-near-zero mode with an enhancement factor of 200. This nanoscale frequency conversion method is applicable to other plasmonic materials and reststrahlen materials in proximity of the longitudinal optical phonon frequencies.

  4. Coherent Detection of High-Rate Optical PPM Signals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vilnrotter, Victor; Fernandez, Michela Munoz

    2006-01-01

    A method of coherent detection of high-rate pulse-position modulation (PPM) on a received laser beam has been conceived as a means of reducing the deleterious effects of noise and atmospheric turbulence in free-space optical communication using focal-plane detector array technologies. In comparison with a receiver based on direct detection of the intensity modulation of a PPM signal, a receiver based on the present method of coherent detection performs well at much higher background levels. In principle, the coherent-detection receiver can exhibit quantum-limited performance despite atmospheric turbulence. The key components of such a receiver include standard receiver optics, a laser that serves as a local oscillator, a focal-plane array of photodetectors, and a signal-processing and data-acquisition assembly needed to sample the focal-plane fields and reconstruct the pulsed signal prior to detection. The received PPM-modulated laser beam and the local-oscillator beam are focused onto the photodetector array, where they are mixed in the detection process. The two lasers are of the same or nearly the same frequency. If the two lasers are of different frequencies, then the coherent detection process is characterized as heterodyne and, using traditional heterodyne-detection terminology, the difference between the two laser frequencies is denoted the intermediate frequency (IF). If the two laser beams are of the same frequency and remain aligned in phase, then the coherent detection process is characterized as homodyne (essentially, heterodyne detection at zero IF). As a result of the inherent squaring operation of each photodetector, the output current includes an IF component that contains the signal modulation. The amplitude of the IF component is proportional to the product of the local-oscillator signal amplitude and the PPM signal amplitude. Hence, by using a sufficiently strong local-oscillator signal, one can make the PPM-modulated IF signal strong enough to overcome thermal noise in the receiver circuits: this is what makes it possible to achieve near-quantum-limited detection in the presence of strong background. Following quantum-limited coherent detection, the outputs of the individual photodetectors are automatically aligned in phase by use of one or more adaptive array compensation algorithms [e.g., the least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm]. Then the outputs are combined and the resulting signal is processed to extract the high-rate information, as though the PPM signal were received by a single photodetector. In a continuing series of experiments to test this method (see Fig. 1), the local oscillator has a wavelength of 1,064 nm, and another laser is used as a signal transmitter at a slightly different wavelength to establish an IF of about 6 MHz. There are 16 photodetectors in a 4 4 focal-plane array; the detector outputs are digitized at a sampling rate of 25 MHz, and the signals in digital form are combined by use of the LMS algorithm. Convergence of the adaptive combining algorithm in the presence of simulated atmospheric turbulence for optical PPM signals has already been demonstrated in the laboratory; the combined output is shown in Fig. 2(a), and Fig. 2(b) shows the behavior of the phase of the combining weights as a function of time (or samples). We observe that the phase of the weights has a sawtooth shape due to the continuously changing phase in the down-converted output, which is not exactly at zero frequency. Detailed performance analysis of this coherent free-space optical communication system in the presence of simulated atmospheric turbulence is currently under way.

  5. Zero-Power Radio Device.

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

    Brocato, Robert W.

    This report describes an unpowered radio receiver capable of detecting and responding to weak signals transmit ted from comparatively long distances . This radio receiver offers key advantages over a short range zero - power radio receiver previously described in SAND2004 - 4610, A Zero - Power Radio Receiver . The device described here can be fabricated as an integrated circuit for use in portable wireless devices, as a wake - up circuit, or a s a stand - alone receiver operating in conjunction with identification decoders or other electroni cs. It builds on key sub - components developed atmore » Sandia National Laboratories over many years. It uses surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter technology. It uses custom component design to enable the efficient use of small aperture antennas. This device uses a key component, the pyroelectric demodulator , covered by Sandia owned U.S. Patent 7397301, Pyroelectric Demodulating Detector [1] . This device is also described in Sandia owned U.S. Patent 97266446, Zero Power Receiver [2].« less

  6. 40 CFR 86.540-90 - Exhaust sample analysis.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ..., if appropriate, NOX: (1) Zero the analyzers and obtain a stable zero reading. Recheck after tests. (2... actual concentrations on chart. (3) Check zeros; repeat the procedure in paragraphs (a) (1) and (2) of... appropriate, NOX. concentrations of samples. (6) Check zero and span points. If difference is greater than 2...

  7. Programmable Oscillator

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Quirk, Kevin J.; Patawaran, Ferze D.; Nguyen, Danh H.; Lee, Clement G.; Nguyen, Huy

    2011-01-01

    A programmable oscillator is a frequency synthesizer with an output phase that tracks an arbitrary function. An offset, phase-locked loop circuit is used in combination with an error control feedback loop to precisely control the output phase of the oscillator. To down-convert the received signal, several stages of mixing may be employed with the compensation for the time-base distortion of the carrier occurring at any one of those stages. In the Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR), the compensation occurs in the mixing from an intermediate frequency (IF), whose value is dependent on the station and band, to a common IF used in the final stage of down-conversion to baseband. The programmable oscillator (PO) is used in the final stage of down-conversion to generate the IF, along with a time-varying phase component that matches the time-base distortion of the carrier, thus removing it from the final down-converted signal.

  8. 39 CFR 121.1 - First-Class Mail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... First-Class Mail® pieces properly accepted before the day-zero Critical Entry Time at origin, the..., if that mail is accepted before the day-zero Critical Entry Time at origin, if sufficient customer... domestic First-Class Mail pieces properly accepted before the day-zero Critical Entry Time at origin if a 1...

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

    Agrawal, P.D.; Butt, N.M.; Sarma, K.R.

    This report covers a preliminary conceptual design and economic evaluation of a commercial scale plant capable of converting high-sulfur bituminous caking coal to a high-Btu pipeline quality SNG. The plant, which has a rated capacity of 250 Billion Btu per day SNG, is based on Cities Service/Rockwell hydrogasification technology. Two cases of plant design were examined to produce cost estimates accurate to +-25% in 1979 dollars. The base case, designed for moderate production of liquids (5.8% conversion of carbon to liquid product), has a cost of SNG of $4.43/MMBtu using the utility financing method (UFM) and $6.42/MMBtu using the discountedmore » cash flow method (DCFM) of financing. The alternate case, zero liquids production, has gas costs of $5.00 (UFM) and $6.96 (DCFM). Further tests by Rockwell have indicated that 11.4% carbon conversion to liquid products (99% benzene) is possible. If the plant is scaled up to produce the same amoung of SNG with this increased yield of liquid, and if the value of the benzene produced is estimated to be $0.90 per gallon, the costs of gas for this case are $4.38/MMBtu (UFM) and $6,48/MMBtu (DCFM). If the value of benzene is taken as $2.00 per gallon, these costs become $3.14/MMBtu (UFM) and $5.23/MMBtu (DCFM). The economic assumptions involved in these calculations are detailed.« less

  10. Standing timber coefficients for Indiana walnut log production.

    Treesearch

    James E. Blyth; Edwin Kallio; John C. Callahan

    1969-01-01

    If the volume of walnut veneer logs and saw logs received at processing plants from Indiana forests is known, conversion factors developed in this paper can be used to determine how much timber was cut to provide these logs and the kinds of timber that were cut (sawtimber, cull trees, trees on nonforest land, etc.).

  11. Young Children Prefer and Remember Satisfying Explanations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Frazier, Brandy N.; Gelman, Susan A.; Wellman, Henry M.

    2016-01-01

    Research with preschool children has shown that explanations are important to them in that they actively seek explanations in their conversations with adults. But what sorts of explanations do they prefer, and what, if anything, do young children learn from the explanations they receive? Following a preliminary study with adults (N = 67) to…

  12. Twofold spin-triplet pairing states and tunneling conductance in ferromagnet/ferromagnet/iron pnictide superconductor heterojunctions

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

    Yang, X.; Tao, Y.C., E-mail: yctao88@163.com; Dong, Z.C.

    By applying an extended eight-component Bogoliubov–de Gennes equation, we study theoretically the tunneling conductance in clean ferromagnet/ferromagnet/iron pnictide superconductor (FM/FM/iron-based SC) heterojunctions. Under the condition of noncollinear magnetizations, twofold novel Andreev reflections exist due to the existence of two bands in the SC, in which the incident electron and the two Andreev-reflected holes, belonging to the same spin subband, form twofold spin-triplet pairing states near the FM/iron-based SC interface. It is shown that the conversions of the conductance not only between the zero-bias peak and valley at zero energy but also between the peaks and dips at two gap energiesmore » are strongly dependent on both the interband coupling strength in the SC and the spin polarization in the FM. The qualitative differences from tunneling into a conventional s-wave SC are also presented, which may help with experimentally probing and identifying the antiphase s-wave pairing symmetry in the iron-based SC. -- Highlights: •An eight-component Bogoliubov–de Gennes (BDG) equation. •Twofold novel ARs and twofold usual ARs. •Conversions of conductance between the zero-bias peak and valley at zero energy. •Conversions of conductance between peaks and dips at two gap energies. •The importance of the interband coupling strength in the SC.« less

  13. Testing the Grandchildren's Received Affection Scale using Affection Exchange Theory.

    PubMed

    Mansson, Daniel H

    2013-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to test the Grandchildren's Received Affection Scale (GRAS) using Affection Exchange Theory (Floyd, 2006). In accordance with Affection Exchange Theory, it was hypothesized that grandchildren's scores on the Trait Affection Received Scale (i.e., the extent to which individuals by nature receive affection) would be related significantly and positively to their reports of received affection from their grandparents (i.e., their scores on the GRAS). Additionally, a research question was asked to explore if grandchildren's received affection from their grandparents is dependent on their grandparent's biological sex or lineage (i.e., maternal vs paternal). Thus, young adult grandchildren (N = 422) completed the GRAS and the Trait Affection Received Scale. The results of zero-order Pearson correlational analyses provided support for the hypothesis, whereas the results of MANOVAs tests only partially support extant grandparent-grandchild theory and research. These findings broaden the scope of Affection Exchange Theory and also bolster the GRAS's utility in future grandparent-grandchild affectionate communication research.

  14. Development of digital sideband separating down-conversion for Yuan-Tseh Lee Array

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Chao-Te; Kubo, Derek; Cheng, Jen-Chieh; Kuroda, John; Srinivasan, Ranjani; Ho, Solomon; Guzzino, Kim; Chen, Ming-Tang

    2016-07-01

    This report presents a down-conversion method involving digital sideband separation for the Yuan-Tseh Lee Array (YTLA) to double the processing bandwidth. The receiver consists of a MMIC HEMT LNA front end operating at a wavelength of 3 mm, and sub-harmonic mixers that output signals at intermediate frequencies (IFs) of 2-18 GHz. The sideband separation scheme involves an analog 90° hybrid followed by two mixers that provide down-conversion of the IF signal to a pair of in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signals in baseband. The I and Q baseband signals are digitized using 5 Giga sample per second (Gsps) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). A second hybrid is digitally implemented using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to produce two sidebands, each with a bandwidth of 1.6 GHz. The 2 x 1.6 GHz band can be tuned to cover any 3.6 GHz window within the aforementioned IF range of the array. Sideband rejection ratios (SRRs) above 20 dB can be obtained across the 3.6 GHz bandwidth by equalizing the power and delay between the I and Q baseband signals. Furthermore, SRRs above 30 dB can be achieved when calibration is applied.

  15. 31 CFR 363.133 - What happens to my zero-percent certificate of indebtedness if the offering is terminated by the...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false What happens to my zero-percent... TREASURY BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT REGULATIONS GOVERNING SECURITIES HELD IN TREASURYDIRECT Zero-Percent Certificate of Indebtedness General § 363.133 What happens to my zero-percent certificate of indebtedness if...

  16. 31 CFR 363.133 - What happens to my zero-percent certificate of indebtedness if the offering is terminated by the...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false What happens to my zero-percent... TREASURY BUREAU OF THE FISCAL SERVICE REGULATIONS GOVERNING SECURITIES HELD IN TREASURYDIRECT Zero-Percent Certificate of Indebtedness General § 363.133 What happens to my zero-percent certificate of indebtedness if...

  17. 31 CFR 363.133 - What happens to my zero-percent certificate of indebtedness if the offering is terminated by the...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false What happens to my zero-percent... TREASURY BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT REGULATIONS GOVERNING SECURITIES HELD IN TREASURYDIRECT Zero-Percent Certificate of Indebtedness General § 363.133 What happens to my zero-percent certificate of indebtedness if...

  18. 31 CFR 363.133 - What happens to my zero-percent certificate of indebtedness if the offering is terminated by the...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false What happens to my zero-percent... TREASURY BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT REGULATIONS GOVERNING SECURITIES HELD IN TREASURYDIRECT Zero-Percent Certificate of Indebtedness General § 363.133 What happens to my zero-percent certificate of indebtedness if...

  19. Toward a Pedagogy of Linguistic Diversity: Understanding African American Linguistic Practices and Programmatic Learning Goals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perryman-Clark, Staci M.

    2012-01-01

    The relationship between cultural diversity, linguistic diversity, and composition has been a topic that has received much attention in rhetoric and composition's disciplinary conversations, even if current pedagogical practices used to address these matters lag behind in progress. In this essay, the author focuses on how to address linguistic…

  20. Word-Level Nominalization in Choctaw.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haag, Marcia

    1994-01-01

    This work discusses the limits of conversion, or zero-derivation, as a nominalization process in the Choctaw language. It demonstrates that Choctaw relies on zero derivation for many nominalizations, but that this is a process occurring in the lexicon and therefore not a word formation rule. It also asserts that there is one reliable lexeme-level…

  1. The influence of the uplink noise on the performance of satellite data transmission systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dewal, Vrinda P.

    The problem of transmission of binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulated digital data through a bandlimited nonlinear satellite channel in the presence of uplink, downlink Gaussian noise and intersymbol interface is examined. The satellite transponder is represented by a zero memory bandpass nonlinearity, with AM/AM conversion. The proposed optimum linear receiver structure consists of tapped-delay lines followed by a decision device. The linear receiver is designed to minimize the mean square error that is a function of the intersymbol interface, the uplink and the downlink noise. The minimum mean square error equalizer (MMSE) is derived using the Wiener-Kolmogorov theory. In this receiver, the decision about the transmitted signal is made by taking into account the received sequence of present sample, and the interfering past and future samples, which represent the intersymbol interference (ISI). Illustrative examples of the receiver structures are considered for the nonlinear channels with a symmetrical and asymmetrical frequency responses of the transmitter filter. The transponder nonlinearity is simulated by a polynomial using only the first and the third orders terms. A computer simulation determines the tap gain coefficients of the MMSE equalizer that adapt to the various uplink and downlink noise levels. The performance of the MMSE equalizer is evaluated in terms of an estimate of the average probability of error.

  2. Fast-to-Alfvén Mode Conversion in the Presence of Ambipolar Diffusion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cally, Paul S.; Khomenko, Elena

    2018-03-01

    It is known that fast magnetohydrodynamic waves partially convert to upward and/or downward propagating Alfvén waves in a stratified atmosphere where Alfvén speed increases with height. This happens around the fast wave reflection height, where the fast wave’s horizontal phase speed equals the Alfvén speed (in a low-β plasma). Typically, this takes place in the mid to upper solar chromosphere for low-frequency waves in the few-millihertz band. However, this region is weakly ionized and thus susceptible to nonideal MHD processes. In this article, we explore how ambipolar diffusion in a zero-β plasma affects fast waves injected from below. Classical ambipolar diffusion is far too weak to have any significant influence at these low frequencies, but if enhanced by turbulence (in the quiet-Sun chromosphere but not in sunspot umbrae) or the production of sufficiently small-scale structure, can substantially absorb waves for turbulent ambipolar Reynolds numbers of around 20 or less. In that case, it is found that the mode conversion process is not qualitatively altered from the ideal case, though conversion to Alfvén waves is reduced because the fast wave flux reaching the conversion region is degraded. It is also found that any upward propagating Alfvén waves generated in this process are almost immune to further ambipolar attenuation, thereby reducing local ambipolar heating compared to cases without mode conversion. In that sense, mode conversion provides a form of “Alfvén cooling.”

  3. Climate Golden Age or Greenhouse Gas Dark Age Legacy?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carter, P.

    2016-12-01

    Relying on the IPCC Assessments, this paper assesses legacy from total committed global warming over centuries, correlated with comprehensive projected impacts. Socio-economic inertia, climate system inertia, atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, amplifying feedback emissions, and unmasking of cooling aerosols are determinants. Stabilization of global temperature (and ocean acidification for CO2) requires emissions of "long lived greenhouse gases" to be "about zero," including feedbacks. "The feedback … is positive" this century; many large feedback sources tend to be self- and inter-reinforcing. Only timely total conversion of all fossil fuel power to clean, virtually zero-carbon renewable power can achieve virtual zero carbon emissions. This results in multiple, increasing benefits for the entire world population of today's and all future generations, as laid out here. Conversions of methane- and nitrous oxide-emitting sources have large benefits. Without timely conversion to virtual zero emissions, the global climate and ocean disruptions are predicted to become progressively more severe and practically irreversible. "Continued emission of greenhouse gases will increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems." Crop yields in all main food-producing regions are projected to decline progressively with rising temperature (as proxy to multiple adverse effects) (AR5). Ocean heating, acidification, and de-oxygenation are projected to increase under all scenarios, as is species extinction. The legacy for humanity depends on reducing long-lived global emissions fast enough to virtual zero. Today's surface warming with unprecedented and accelerating atmospheric GHG concentrations requires an immediate response. The only IPCC scenario to possibly meet this and not exceed 2ºC by and after 2100 is the best-case RCP2.6, which requires CO2 eq. emissions to peak right away and decline at the latest by 2020.

  4. Casbar User’s Guide

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-11-01

    investigating intermediate bal- listics, and can alternatively be used as a general compressible flow solver. Casbar supports user- customised types of...gas density in kg/m3 • u: is x-velocity of the gas in m/s • v: is y-velocity of the gas in m/s • mf: is a list of component mass fractions. The values...condition for each grain type even if that condition is None. When the program receives None it will put zero mass of that grain type in the flow condition

  5. Design and implementation of a low-power SOI CMOS receiver

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zencir, Ertan

    There is a strong demand for wireless communications in civilian and military applications, and space explorations. This work attempts to implement a low-power, high-performance fully-integrated receiver for deep space communications using Silicon on Insulator (SOI) CMOS technology. Design and implementation of a UHF low-IF receiver front-end in a 0.35-mum SOI CMOS technology are presented. Problems and challenges in implementing a highly integrated receiver at UHF are identified. Low-IF architecture, suitable for low-power design, has been adopted to mitigate the noise at the baseband. Design issues of the receiver building blocks including single-ended and differential LNA's, passive and active mixers, and variable gain/bandwidth complex filters are discussed. The receiver is designed to have a variable conversion gain of more than 100 dB with a 70 dB image rejection and a power dissipation of 45 mW from a 2.5-V supply. Design and measured performance of the LNA's, and the mixer are presented. Measurement results of RF front-end blocks including a single-ended LNA, a differential LNA, and a double-balanced mixer demonstrate the low power realizability of RF front-end circuits in SOI CMOS technology. We also report on the design and simulation of the image-rejecting complex IF filter and the full receiver circuit. Gain, noise, and linearity performance of the receiver components prove the viability of fully integrated low-power receivers in SOI CMOS technology.

  6. Gamma-ray dose from an overhead plume

    DOE PAGES

    McNaughton, Michael W.; Gillis, Jessica McDonnel; Ruedig, Elizabeth; ...

    2017-05-01

    Standard plume models can underestimate the gamma-ray dose when most of the radioactive material is above the heads of the receptors. Typically, a model is used to calculate the air concentration at the height of the receptor, and the dose is calculated by multiplying the air concentration by a concentration-to-dose conversion factor. Models indicate that if the plume is emitted from a stack during stable atmospheric conditions, the lower edges of the plume may not reach the ground, in which case both the ground-level concentration and the dose are usually reported as zero. However, in such cases, the dose frommore » overhead gamma-emitting radionuclides may be substantial. Such underestimates could impact decision making in emergency situations. The Monte Carlo N-Particle code, MCNP, was used to calculate the overhead shine dose and to compare with standard plume models. At long distances and during unstable atmospheric conditions, the MCNP results agree with the standard models. As a result, at short distances, where many models calculate zero, the true dose (as modeled by MCNP) can be estimated with simple equations.« less

  7. 160-Gb/s all-optical phase-transparent wavelength conversion through cascaded SFG-DFG in a broadband linear-chirped PPLN waveguide.

    PubMed

    Lu, Guo-Wei; Shinada, Satoshi; Furukawa, Hideaki; Wada, Naoya; Miyazaki, Tetsuya; Ito, Hiromasa

    2010-03-15

    We experimentally demonstrated ultra-fast phase-transparent wavelength conversion using cascaded sum- and difference-frequency generation (cSFG-DFG) in linear-chirped periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN). Error-free wavelength conversion of a 160-Gb/s return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying (RZ-DPSK) signal was successfully achieved. Thanks to the enhanced conversion bandwidth in the PPLN with linear-chirped periods, no optical equalizer was required to compensate the spectrum distortion after conversion, unlike a previous demonstration of 160-Gb/s RZ on-off keying (OOK) using fixed-period PPLN.

  8. An Extremely Wide Bandwidth, Low Noise SIS Heterodyne Receiver Design for Millimeter and Submillimeter Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zmuidzinas, J.

    2004-01-01

    Our group has designed a heterodyne submillimeter receiver that offers a very wide IF bandwidth of 12 GHz, while still maintaining a low noise temperature. The 180-300 GHz double-sideband design uses a single SI5 device excited by a full bandwidth, fixed-tuned waveguide probe on a silicon substrate. The IF output frequency (limited by the MMIC low noise IF preamplifier) is 6-18 GHz. providing an instantaneous RF bandwidth of 24 GHz (double-sideband). Intensive simulations predict that the junction will achieve a conversion loss better than 1-2 dB and a mixer noise temperature of less than 20 K across the band (twice the quantum limit). The single sideband receiver noise temperature goal is 70 K. The wide instantaneous bandwidth and low noise will result in an instrument capable of a variety of important astrophysical and environmental observations beyond the capabilities of current instruments. Lab testing of the receiver will begin this summer, and first light on the CSO should be in the Spring of 2003. At the CSO, we plan to use receiver with WASP2, a wideband spectrometer, to search for spectral lines from SCUBA sources. This approach should allow us to rapidly develop a catalog of redshifts for these objects.

  9. A space-based combined thermophotovoltaic electric generator and gas laser solar energy conversion system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yesil, Oktay

    1989-01-01

    This paper describes a spaceborne energy conversion system consisting of a thermophotovoltaic electric generator and a gas laser. As a power source for the converson, the system utilizes an intermediate blackbody cavity heated to a temperature of 2000-2400 K by concentrated solar radiation. A double-layer solar cell of GaAs and Si forms a cylindrical surface concentric to this blackbody cavity, receiving the blackbody radiation and converting it into electricity with cell conversion efficiency of 50 percent or more. If the blackbody cavity encloses a laser medium, the blackbody radiation can also be used to simultaneously pump a lasing gas. The feasibility of blackbody optical pumping at 4.3 microns in a CO2-He gas mixture was experimentally demonstrated.

  10. 40 CFR 89.323 - NDIR analyzer calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... curve. Develop a calibration curve for each range used as follows: (1) Zero the analyzer. (2) Span the... zero response. If it has changed more than 0.5 percent of full scale, repeat the steps given in... coefficients. If any range is within 2 percent of being linear a linear calibration may be used. Include zero...

  11. 40 CFR 89.323 - NDIR analyzer calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... curve. Develop a calibration curve for each range used as follows: (1) Zero the analyzer. (2) Span the... zero response. If it has changed more than 0.5 percent of full scale, repeat the steps given in... coefficients. If any range is within 2 percent of being linear a linear calibration may be used. Include zero...

  12. 40 CFR 89.323 - NDIR analyzer calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... curve. Develop a calibration curve for each range used as follows: (1) Zero the analyzer. (2) Span the... zero response. If it has changed more than 0.5 percent of full scale, repeat the steps given in... coefficients. If any range is within 2 percent of being linear a linear calibration may be used. Include zero...

  13. 40 CFR 89.323 - NDIR analyzer calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... curve. Develop a calibration curve for each range used as follows: (1) Zero the analyzer. (2) Span the... zero response. If it has changed more than 0.5 percent of full scale, repeat the steps given in... coefficients. If any range is within 2 percent of being linear a linear calibration may be used. Include zero...

  14. Simulation and analysis of OOK-to-BPSK format conversion based on gain-transparent SOA used as optical phase-modulator.

    PubMed

    Hong, Wei; Huang, Dexiu; Zhang, Xinliang; Zhu, Guangxi

    2007-12-24

    All-optical on-off keying (OOK) to binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation format conversion based on gain-transparent semiconductor optical amplifier (GT-SOA) is simulated and analyzed, where GT-SOA is used as an all-optical phase-modulator (PM). Numerical simulation of the phase modulation effect of GT-SOA is performed using a wideband dynamic model of GT-SOA and the quality of the BPSK signal is evaluated using the differential-phase-Q factor. Performance improvement by holding light injection is analyzed and non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) modulation formats of the OOK signal are considered.

  15. Passive seismic imaging based on seismic interferometry: method and its application to image the structure around the 2013 Mw6.6 Lushan earthquake

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gu, N.; Zhang, H.

    2017-12-01

    Seismic imaging of fault zones generally involves seismic velocity tomography using first arrival times or full waveforms from earthquakes occurring around the fault zones. However, in most cases seismic velocity tomography only gives smooth image of the fault zone structure. To get high-resolution structure of the fault zones, seismic migration using active seismic data needs to be used. But it is generally too expensive to conduct active seismic surveys, even for 2D. Here we propose to apply the passive seismic imaging method based on seismic interferometry to image fault zone detailed structures. Seismic interferometry generally refers to the construction of new seismic records for virtual sources and receivers by cross correlating and stacking the seismic records on physical receivers from physical sources. In this study, we utilize seismic waveforms recorded on surface seismic stations for each earthquake to construct zero-offset seismic record at each earthquake location as if there was a virtual receiver at each earthquake location. We have applied this method to image the fault zone structure around the 2013 Mw6.6 Lushan earthquake. After the occurrence of the mainshock, a 29-station temporary array is installed to monitor aftershocks. In this study, we first select aftershocks along several vertical cross sections approximately normal to the fault strike. Then we create several zero-offset seismic reflection sections by seismic interferometry with seismic waveforms from aftershocks around each section. Finally we migrate these zero-offset sections to create seismic structures around the fault zones. From these migration images, we can clearly identify strong reflectors, which correspond to major reverse fault where the mainshock occurs. This application shows that it is possible to image detailed fault zone structures with passive seismic sources.

  16. Effects of positive end-expiratory pressure and 30% inspired oxygen on pulmonary mechanics and atelectasis in cats undergoing non-bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage.

    PubMed

    Bernhard, Christa; Masseau, Isabelle; Dodam, John; Outi, Hilton; Krumme, Stacy; Bishop, Kaitlin; Graham, Amber; Reinero, Carol

    2017-06-01

    Objectives The objective of this study was to determine if modification of inspired oxygen concentration or positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) would alter bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)-induced changes in pulmonary mechanics or atelectasis, as measured using ventilator-acquired pulmonary mechanics and thoracic CT. Methods Six experimentally asthmatic cats underwent anesthesia and non-bronchoscopic BAL, each under four randomized treatment conditions: 100% oxygen, zero PEEP; 30% oxygen, zero PEEP; 100% oxygen, PEEP 2 cmH 2 O; and 30% oxygen, PEEP 2 cmH 2 O. Pulse oximetry was used to estimate oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ). Ventilator-acquired pulmonary mechanics and thoracic CT scans were collected prior to BAL and at 1, 5 and 15 mins post-BAL. Results While receiving 100% oxygen, no cat had SpO 2 <91%. Some cats receiving 30% oxygen had decreased saturation immediately post-BAL (mean ± SD 70.8 ± 31%), but 6/8 of these had SpO 2 >90% by 1 min later. There was a significant increase in airway resistance and a decrease in lung compliance following BAL, but there was no significant difference between treatment groups. Cats receiving no PEEP and 30% oxygen conserved better aeration of the lung parenchyma in BAL-sampled areas than those receiving no PEEP and 100% oxygen. Conclusions and relevance Alterations in pulmonary mechanics or atelectasis may not be reflected by SpO 2 following BAL. The use of 30% inspired oxygen concentration failed to show any significant improvement in pulmonary mechanics but did diminish atelectasis. In some cats, it was also associated with desaturation of hemoglobin. The use of PEEP in this study did not show any effect on our outcome parameters. Further studies using higher PEEP (5-10 cmH 2 O) and intermediate inspired oxygen concentration (40-60%) are warranted to determine if they would confer clinical benefit in cats undergoing diagnostic BAL.

  17. Establishing a Common Definition for Zero Energy Buildings: Time to Move the Market

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

    Peterson, Kent; Torcellini, Paul; Taylor, Cody

    To change the current paradigm from buildings being consumers of energy to producers of energy requires a common language to facilitate market transformation. Common definitions help create market movement by sharing concepts across market actors. While the term 'zero energy buildings' has been in the marketplace for over 20 years, no common definition had been established. US DOE, last year, embarked on a process to evaluate current definitions and solicit industry input to formulate a common definition and nomenclature for zero energy buildings. This definition uses commonly available site measurements and national conversion factors to define zero energy buildings onmore » a source energy basis for a variety of boundary conditions including building, portfolio, campus, and community. Issues addressed include multiple fuel types, cogeneration, and renewable energy certificates. This paper describes the process used to arrive at the definition, looks at methods of calculating site to source energy conversions, and how boundary decisions affect a robust and stable definition that can be used to direct programs and policies for many years to come. This stability is critical to move building investments towards buildings that produce as much energy as they consume.« less

  18. Climate Impact and Economic Feasibility of Solar Thermochemical Jet Fuel Production.

    PubMed

    Falter, Christoph; Batteiger, Valentin; Sizmann, Andreas

    2016-01-05

    Solar thermochemistry presents a promising option for the efficient conversion of H2O and CO2 into liquid hydrocarbon fuels using concentrated solar energy. To explore the potential of this fuel production pathway, the climate impact and economic performance are analyzed. Key drivers for the economic and ecological performance are thermochemical energy conversion efficiency, the level of solar irradiation, operation and maintenance, and the initial investment in the fuel production plant. For the baseline case of a solar tower concentrator with CO2 capture from air, jet fuel production costs of 2.23 €/L and life cycle greenhouse gas (LC GHG) emissions of 0.49 kgCO2-equiv/L are estimated. Capturing CO2 from a natural gas combined cycle power plant instead of the air reduces the production costs by 15% but leads to LC GHG emissions higher than that of conventional jet fuel. Favorable assumptions for all involved process steps (30% thermochemical energy conversion efficiency, 3000 kWh/(m(2) a) solar irradiation, low CO2 and heliostat costs) result in jet fuel production costs of 1.28 €/L at LC GHG emissions close to zero. Even lower production costs may be achieved if the commercial value of oxygen as a byproduct is considered.

  19. Molecular and Metabolic Adaptations of Lactococcus lactis at Near-Zero Growth Rates

    PubMed Central

    Ercan, Onur; Wels, Michiel; Smid, Eddy J.

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes the molecular and metabolic adaptations of Lactococcus lactis during the transition from a growing to a near-zero growth state by using carbon-limited retentostat cultivation. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that metabolic patterns shifted between lactic- and mixed-acid fermentations during retentostat cultivation, which appeared to be controlled at the level of transcription of the corresponding pyruvate dissipation-encoding genes. During retentostat cultivation, cells continued to consume several amino acids but also produced specific amino acids, which may derive from the conversion of glycolytic intermediates. We identify a novel motif containing CTGTCAG in the upstream regions of several genes related to amino acid conversion, which we propose to be the target site for CodY in L. lactis KF147. Finally, under extremely low carbon availability, carbon catabolite repression was progressively relieved and alternative catabolic functions were found to be highly expressed, which was confirmed by enhanced initial acidification rates on various sugars in cells obtained from near-zero-growth cultures. The present integrated transcriptome and metabolite (amino acids and previously reported fermentation end products) study provides molecular understanding of the adaptation of L. lactis to conditions supporting low growth rates and expands our earlier analysis of the quantitative physiology of this bacterium at near-zero growth rates toward gene regulation patterns involved in zero-growth adaptation. PMID:25344239

  20. Targeting Net Zero Energy at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay: Preprint

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

    Burman, K.; Kandt, A.; Lisell, L.

    2012-05-01

    This paper summarizes the results of an NREL assessment of Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), Kaneohe Bay to appraise the potential of achieving net zero energy status through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and hydrogen vehicle integration. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Defense's U.S. Pacific Command partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to assess opportunities for increasing energy security through renewable energy and energy efficiency at Hawaii military installations. DOE selected Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), Kaneohe Bay, to receive technical support for net zero energy assessment and planning funded through the Hawaiimore » Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI). NREL performed a comprehensive assessment to appraise the potential of MCBH Kaneohe Bay to achieve net zero energy status through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and hydrogen vehicle integration. This paper summarizes the results of the assessment and provides energy recommendations. The analysis shows that MCBH Kaneohe Bay has the potential to make significant progress toward becoming a net zero installation. Wind, solar photovoltaics, solar hot water, and hydrogen production were assessed, as well as energy efficiency technologies. Deploying wind turbines is the most cost-effective energy production measure. If the identified energy projects and savings measures are implemented, the base will achieve a 96% site Btu reduction and a 99% source Btu reduction. Using excess wind and solar energy to produce hydrogen for a fleet and fuel cells could significantly reduce energy use and potentially bring MCBH Kaneohe Bay to net zero. Further analysis with an environmental impact and interconnection study will need to be completed. By achieving net zero status, the base will set an example for other military installations, provide environmental benefits, reduce costs, increase energy security, and exceed its energy goals and mandates.« less

  1. Conversion of Questionnaire Data

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

    Powell, Danny H; Elwood Jr, Robert H

    During the survey, respondents are asked to provide qualitative answers (well, adequate, needs improvement) on how well material control and accountability (MC&A) functions are being performed. These responses can be used to develop failure probabilities for basic events performed during routine operation of the MC&A systems. The failure frequencies for individual events may be used to estimate total system effectiveness using a fault tree in a probabilistic risk analysis (PRA). Numeric risk values are required for the PRA fault tree calculations that are performed to evaluate system effectiveness. So, the performance ratings in the questionnaire must be converted to relativemore » risk values for all of the basic MC&A tasks performed in the facility. If a specific material protection, control, and accountability (MPC&A) task is being performed at the 'perfect' level, the task is considered to have a near zero risk of failure. If the task is performed at a less than perfect level, the deficiency in performance represents some risk of failure for the event. As the degree of deficiency in performance increases, the risk of failure increases. If a task that should be performed is not being performed, that task is in a state of failure. The failure probabilities of all basic events contribute to the total system risk. Conversion of questionnaire MPC&A system performance data to numeric values is a separate function from the process of completing the questionnaire. When specific questions in the questionnaire are answered, the focus is on correctly assessing and reporting, in an adjectival manner, the actual performance of the related MC&A function. Prior to conversion, consideration should not be given to the numeric value that will be assigned during the conversion process. In the conversion process, adjectival responses to questions on system performance are quantified based on a log normal scale typically used in human error analysis (see A.D. Swain and H.E. Guttmann, 'Handbook of Human Reliability Analysis with Emphasis on Nuclear Power Plant Applications,' NUREG/CR-1278). This conversion produces the basic event risk of failure values required for the fault tree calculations. The fault tree is a deductive logic structure that corresponds to the operational nuclear MC&A system at a nuclear facility. The conventional Delphi process is a time-honored approach commonly used in the risk assessment field to extract numerical values for the failure rates of actions or activities when statistically significant data is absent.« less

  2. Numerical calculation of phase-matching properties in photonic crystal fibers with three and four zero-dispersion wavelengths.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Xingtao; Liu, Xiaoxu; Wang, Shutao; Wang, Wei; Han, Ying; Liu, Zhaolun; Li, Shuguang; Hou, Lantian

    2015-10-19

    Photonic crystal fibers with three and four zero-dispersion wavelengths are presented through special design of the structural parameters, in which the closing to zero and ultra-flattened dispersion can be obtained. The unique phase-matching properties of the fibers with three and four zero-dispersion wavelengths are analyzed. Variation of the phase-matching wavelengths with the pump wavelengths, pump powers, dispersion properties, and fiber structural parameters is analyzed. The presence of three and four zero-dispersion wavelengths can realize wavelength conversion of optical soliton between two anomalous dispersion regions, generate six phase-matching sidebands through four-wave mixing and create more new photon pairs, which can be used for the study of supercontinuum generation, optical switches and quantum optics.

  3. Resonant absorption of electromagnetic waves in transition anisotropic media.

    PubMed

    Kim, Kihong

    2017-11-27

    We study the mode conversion and resonant absorption phenomena occurring in a slab of a stratified anisotropic medium, optical axes of which are tilted with respect to the direction of inhomogeneity, using the invariant imbedding theory of wave propagation. When the tilt angle is zero, mode conversion occurs if the longitudinal component of the permittivity tensor, which is the one in the direction of inhomogeneity in the non-tilted case, varies from positive to negative values within the medium, while the transverse component plays no role. When the tilt angle is nonzero, the wave transmission and absorption show an asymmetry under the sign change of the incident angle in a range of the tilt angle, while the reflection is always symmetric. We calculate the reflectance, the transmittance and the absorptance for several configurations of the permittivity tensor and find that resonant absorption is greatly enhanced when the medium from the incident surface to the resonance region is hyperbolic than when it is elliptic. For certain configurations, the transmittance and absorptance curves display sharp peaks at some incident angles determined by the tilt angle.

  4. Power selective optical filter devices and optical systems using same

    DOEpatents

    Koplow, Jeffrey P

    2014-10-07

    In an embodiment, a power selective optical filter device includes an input polarizer for selectively transmitting an input signal. The device includes a wave-plate structure positioned to receive the input signal, which includes at least one substantially zero-order, zero-wave plate. The zero-order, zero-wave plate is configured to alter a polarization state of the input signal passing in a manner that depends on the power of the input signal. The zero-order, zero-wave plate includes an entry and exit wave plate each having a fast axis, with the fast axes oriented substantially perpendicular to each other. Each entry wave plate is oriented relative to a transmission axis of the input polarizer at a respective angle. An output polarizer is positioned to receive a signal output from the wave-plate structure and selectively transmits the signal based on the polarization state.

  5. Binary-Signal Recovery

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Griebeler, Elmer L.

    2011-01-01

    Binary communication through long cables, opto-isolators, isolating transformers, or repeaters can become distorted in characteristic ways. The usual solution is to slow the communication rate, change to a different method, or improve the communication media. It would help if the characteristic distortions could be accommodated at the receiving end to ease the communication problem. The distortions come from loss of the high-frequency content, which adds slopes to the transitions from ones to zeroes and zeroes to ones. This weakens the definition of the ones and zeroes in the time domain. The other major distortion is the reduction of low frequency, which causes the voltage that defines the ones or zeroes to drift out of recognizable range. This development describes a method for recovering a binary data stream from a signal that has been subjected to a loss of both higher-frequency content and low-frequency content that is essential to define the difference between ones and zeroes. The method makes use of the frequency structure of the waveform created by the data stream, and then enhances the characteristics related to the data to reconstruct the binary switching pattern. A major issue is simplicity. The approach taken here is to take the first derivative of the signal and then feed it to a hysteresis switch. This is equivalent in practice to using a non-resonant band pass filter feeding a Schmitt trigger. Obviously, the derivative signal needs to be offset to halfway between the thresholds of the hysteresis switch, and amplified so that the derivatives reliably exceed the thresholds. A transition from a zero to a one is the most substantial, fastest plus movement of voltage, and therefore will create the largest plus first derivative pulse. Since the quiet state of the derivative is sitting between the hysteresis thresholds, the plus pulse exceeds the plus threshold, switching the hysteresis switch plus, which re-establishes the data zero to one transition, except now at the logic levels of the receiving circuit. Similarly, a transition from a one to a zero will be the most substantial and fastest minus movement of voltage and therefore will create the largest minus first derivative pulse. The minus pulse exceeds the minus threshold, switching the hysteresis switch minus, which re-establishes the data one to zero transition. This innovation has a large increase in tolerance for the degradation of the binary pattern of ones and zeroes, and can reject the introduction of noise in the form of low frequencies that can cause the voltage pattern to drift up or down, and also higher frequencies that are beyond the recognizable content in the binary transitions.

  6. All-optical NRZ wavelength conversion based on a single hybrid III-V/Si SOA and optical filtering.

    PubMed

    Wu, Yingchen; Huang, Qiangsheng; Keyvaninia, Shahram; Katumba, Andrew; Zhang, Jing; Xie, Weiqiang; Morthier, Geert; He, Jian-Jun; Roelkens, Gunther

    2016-09-05

    We demonstrate all-optical wavelength conversion (AOWC) of non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signal based on cross-gain modulation in a single heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-silicon semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with an optical bandpass filter. The SOA is 500 μm long and consumes less than 250 mW electrical power. We experimentally demonstrate 12.5 Gb/s and 40 Gb/s AOWC for both wavelength up and down conversion.

  7. 76 FR 70784 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-15

    ... further that if the result is zero, the Baseline Participation Ratio shall be deemed to be 0.485% (when... that if the result is zero for either month, the Baseline Participation Ratio shall be deemed to be 0... Added Liquidity amount shall be deemed zero.'' Under the revised program, NASDAQ will pay a credit of $0...

  8. Noise and Sonic Boom Impact Technology. Initial Development of an Assessment System for Aircraft Noise (ASAN). Volume 3. Technical Description

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-06-01

    field width, it will be padded on the left (or right, if the left adjustment indicator has been given) to make up the field width. The padding character...is blank (space) normally, and zero if the field width was specified with a leading zero (this zero does not imply an octal field width). 25 " a...unsigned octal notation (without a leading zero ). ’x The argument is coverted to unsigned hexadecimal notation (without a leading Ox). * u The argument is

  9. New preemptive scheduling for OBS networks considering cascaded wavelength conversion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, Xingbo; Bassiouni, Mostafa A.; Li, Guifang

    2009-05-01

    In this paper we introduce a new preemptive scheduling technique for next generation optical burst-switched networks considering the impact of cascaded wavelength conversions. It has been shown that when optical bursts are transmitted all optically from source to destination, each wavelength conversion performed along the lightpath may cause certain signal-to-noise deterioration. If the distortion of the signal quality becomes significant enough, the receiver would not be able to recover the original data. Accordingly, subject to this practical impediment, we improve a recently proposed fair channel scheduling algorithm to deal with the fairness problem and aim at burst loss reduction simultaneously in optical burst switching. In our scheme, the dynamic priority associated with each burst is based on a constraint threshold and the number of already conducted wavelength conversions among other factors for this burst. When contention occurs, a new arriving superior burst may preempt another scheduled one according to their priorities. Extensive simulation results have shown that the proposed scheme further improves fairness and achieves burst loss reduction as well.

  10. 26 CFR 1.732-2 - Special partnership basis of distributed property.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ...). The basis of the unrealized receivables in C's hands would be $100 (zero plus $100, one-half of C's...,300 for the inventory items ($500 plus $800) and $200 for the unrealized receivables (zero plus $200... basis adjustments, plus $500 common partnership basis, the amount allocated to inventory items and...

  11. Adaptive Window Zero-Crossing-Based Instantaneous Frequency Estimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sekhar, S. Chandra; Sreenivas, TV

    2004-12-01

    We address the problem of estimating instantaneous frequency (IF) of a real-valued constant amplitude time-varying sinusoid. Estimation of polynomial IF is formulated using the zero-crossings of the signal. We propose an algorithm to estimate nonpolynomial IF by local approximation using a low-order polynomial, over a short segment of the signal. This involves the choice of window length to minimize the mean square error (MSE). The optimal window length found by directly minimizing the MSE is a function of the higher-order derivatives of the IF which are not available a priori. However, an optimum solution is formulated using an adaptive window technique based on the concept of intersection of confidence intervals. The adaptive algorithm enables minimum MSE-IF (MMSE-IF) estimation without requiring a priori information about the IF. Simulation results show that the adaptive window zero-crossing-based IF estimation method is superior to fixed window methods and is also better than adaptive spectrogram and adaptive Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD)-based IF estimators for different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

  12. A warning to MDs: If you want to keep calls confidential, hang up the cordless phone

    PubMed Central

    Mouzar, Mary

    1995-01-01

    Medical professionals who use cordless telephones in the home or office may jeopardize both patient confidentiality and their personal privacy. A lengthy investigation revealed that many doctors are unaware that anyone with a radio-frequency scanner or tuneable very-high-frequency receiver can eavesdrop on conversations with patients, colleagues and business and financial advisers — anyone they talk to on a cordless phone. Imagesp1486-a

  13. Integrated Cost Analysis Teams: How ICATs Support Better Buying Power 2.0

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-06-01

    and its procuring contracting officer ( PCO ) with a supportable and sustainable starting position for negotiation. The ICAT can deliver full pricing...proposals as well, arming the PCO with an all-encompassing report. Requesting DCMA assistance is straightforward. The cus- tomer receives a proposal in...any level of support needed to assist the PCO . Conversely, if the schedule is the determining factor, the ICAT can tailor the scope to meet the

  14. Origin of the low-frequency internal friction background of gold

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baur, J.; Benoit, W.

    1986-11-01

    The internal friction (IF) background of gold is studied in the kHz frequency range. Systematic measurements of IF as a function of frequency, strain amplitude, and temperature show that the IF is due to the superposition of two contributions: the thermoelastic effect and a dislocation effect. The thermoelastic effect is responsible for the IF background observed when the strain amplitude tends to zero. It is the only contribution to the IF background which is strain amplitude independent. On the contrary, the dislocation effect contributes only to the strain amplitude-dependent IF background. This effect is proportional to the strain amplitude. In particular, it is zero when the strain amplitude tends to zero. Furthermore, the dislocation contribution is frequency independent. The experimental results show that the dislocation effect cannot be explained by a viscous damping of dislocation motion, but must be related to an hysteretic and athermal motion of dislocations.

  15. Impact of thermal energy storage properties on solar dynamic space power conversion system mass

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Juhasz, Albert J.; Coles-Hamilton, Carolyn E.; Lacy, Dovie E.

    1987-01-01

    A 16 parameter solar concentrator/heat receiver mass model is used in conjunction with Stirling and Brayton Power Conversion System (PCS) performance and mass computer codes to determine the effect of thermal energy storage (TES) material property changes on overall PCS mass as a function of steady state electrical power output. Included in the PCS mass model are component masses as a function of thermal power for: concentrator, heat receiver, heat exchangers (source unless integral with heat receiver, heat sink, regenerator), heat engine units with optional parallel redundancy, power conditioning and control (PC and C), PC and C radiator, main radiator, and structure. Critical TES properties are: melting temperature, heat of fusion, density of the liquid phase, and the ratio of solid-to-liquid density. Preliminary results indicate that even though overalll system efficiency increases with TES melting temperature up to 1400 K for concentrator surface accuracies of 1 mrad or better, reductions in the overall system mass beyond that achievable with lithium fluoride (LiF) can be accomplished only if the heat of fusion is at least 800 kJ/kg and the liquid density is comparable to that of LiF (1880 kg/cu m.

  16. Impact of thermal energy storage properties on solar dynamic space power conversion system mass

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Juhasz, Albert J.; Coles-Hamilton, Carolyn E.; Lacy, Dovie E.

    1987-01-01

    A 16 parameter solar concentrator/heat receiver mass model is used in conjunction with Stirling and Brayton Power Conversion System (PCS) performance and mass computer codes to determine the effect of thermal energy storage (TES) material property changes on overall PCS mass as a function of steady state electrical power output. Included in the PCS mass model are component masses as a function of thermal power for: concentrator, heat receiver, heat exchangers (source unless integral with heat receiver, heat sink, regenerator), heat engine units with optional parallel redundancy, power conditioning and control (PC and C), PC and C radiator, main radiator, and structure. Critical TES properties are: melting temperature, heat of fusion, density of the liquid phase, and the ratio of solid-to-liquid density. Preliminary results indicate that even though overall system efficiency increases with TES melting temperature up to 1400 K for concentrator surface accuracies of 1 mrad or better, reductions in the overall system mass beyond that achievable with lithium fluoride (LiF) can be accomplished only if the heat of fusion is at least 800 kJ/kg and the liquid density is comparable to that of LiF (1800 kg/cu m).

  17. 40 CFR 90.315 - Analyzer initial calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... specifications in § 90.316(b). (c) Zero setting and calibration. Using purified synthetic air (or nitrogen), set the CO, CO2, NOX. and HC analyzers at zero. Connect the appropriate calibrating gases to the analyzers...) Rechecking of zero setting. Recheck the zero setting and, if necessary, repeat the procedure described in...

  18. 40 CFR 90.315 - Analyzer initial calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... specifications in § 90.316(b). (c) Zero setting and calibration. Using purified synthetic air (or nitrogen), set the CO, CO2, NOX. and HC analyzers at zero. Connect the appropriate calibrating gases to the analyzers...) Rechecking of zero setting. Recheck the zero setting and, if necessary, repeat the procedure described in...

  19. 40 CFR 90.315 - Analyzer initial calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... specifications in § 90.316(b). (c) Zero setting and calibration. Using purified synthetic air (or nitrogen), set the CO, CO2, NOX. and HC analyzers at zero. Connect the appropriate calibrating gases to the analyzers...) Rechecking of zero setting. Recheck the zero setting and, if necessary, repeat the procedure described in...

  20. 40 CFR 90.315 - Analyzer initial calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... specifications in § 90.316(b). (c) Zero setting and calibration. Using purified synthetic air (or nitrogen), set the CO, CO2, NOX. and HC analyzers at zero. Connect the appropriate calibrating gases to the analyzers...) Rechecking of zero setting. Recheck the zero setting and, if necessary, repeat the procedure described in...

  1. 40 CFR 90.315 - Analyzer initial calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... specifications in § 90.316(b). (c) Zero setting and calibration. Using purified synthetic air (or nitrogen), set the CO, CO2, NOX. and HC analyzers at zero. Connect the appropriate calibrating gases to the analyzers...) Rechecking of zero setting. Recheck the zero setting and, if necessary, repeat the procedure described in...

  2. 40 CFR 86.140-94 - Exhaust sample analysis.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ...-cycle and methanol-fueled, natural gas-fueled and liquefied petroleum gas-fueled (if non-heated FID option is used) diesel vehicle HC: (1) Zero the analyzers and obtain a stable zero reading. Recheck after...: (1) Zero HFID analyzer and obtain a stable zero reading. (2) Introduce span gas and set instrument...

  3. 40 CFR 86.140-94 - Exhaust sample analysis.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ...-cycle and methanol-fueled, natural gas-fueled and liquefied petroleum gas-fueled (if non-heated FID option is used) diesel vehicle HC: (1) Zero the analyzers and obtain a stable zero reading. Recheck after...: (1) Zero HFID analyzer and obtain a stable zero reading. (2) Introduce span gas and set instrument...

  4. A Comparison of Zero-Profile Devices and Artificial Cervical Disks in Patients With 2 Noncontiguous Levels of Cervical Spondylosis.

    PubMed

    Qizhi, Sun; Lei, Sun; Peijia, Li; Hanping, Zhao; Hongwei, Hu; Junsheng, Chen; Jianmin, Li

    2016-03-01

    A prospective randomized and controlled study of 30 patients with 2 noncontiguous levels of cervical spondylosis. To compare the clinical outcome between zero-profile devices and artificial cervical disks for noncontiguous cervical spondylosis. Noncontiguous cervical spondylosis is an especial degenerative disease of the cervical spine. Some controversy exists over the choice of surgical procedure and fusion levels for it because of the viewpoint that the stress at levels adjacent to a fusion mass will increase. The increased stress will lead to the adjacent segment degeneration (ASD). According to the viewpoint, the intermediate segment will bear more stress after both superior and inferior segments' fusion. Cervical disk arthroplasty is an alternative to fusion because of its motion-preserving. Few comparative studies have been conducted on arthrodesis with zero-prolife devices and arthroplasty with artificial cervical disks for noncontiguous cervical spondylosis. Thirty patients with 2 noncontiguous levels of cervical spondylosis were enrolled and assigned to either group A (receiving arthroplasty using artificial cervical disks) and group Z (receiving arthrodesis using zero-profile devices). The clinical outcomes were assessed by the mean operative time, blood loss, Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score, Neck Dysfunction Index (NDI), cervical lordosis, fusion rate, and complications. The mean follow-up was 32.4 months. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in the blood loss, JOA score, NDI score, and cervical lordosis except operative time. The mean operative time of group A was shorter than that of group Z. Both the 2 groups demonstrated a significant increase in JOA score, NDI score, and cervical lordosis. The fusion rate was 100% at 12 months postoperatively in group Z. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in complications except the ASD. Three patients had radiologic ASD at the final follow-up in group Z, and none in group A. Both zero-prolife devices and artificial cervical disks are generally effective and safe in the treatment of 2 noncontiguous levels of cervical spondylosis. However, in view of occurrence of the radiologic ASD and operative time, we prefer to artificial cervical disks if indications are well controlled.

  5. Adolescent Girls’ Communication with “Mothers” About Topical Microbicides

    PubMed Central

    Sunder, Punita K.; Ramos, Stephanie; Short, Mary B.; Rosenthal, Susan L.

    2007-01-01

    Study Objective Topical microbicides, a female-initiated method to protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy, will only be effective if found acceptable. Mothers may have an influence on acceptability and use among adolescent girls. The current study examined the communication between girls and mothers to understand the potential predictors and nature of conversations regarding surrogate microbicide products. Design Sexually experienced girls, 14 to 21 years, were recruited for a 6-month study examining microbicide acceptability. During face-to-face interviews, qualitative data were collected regarding communication between girls and mothers. Two independent raters coded the responses, which were organized into themes. Themes were interpreted according to the conceptual understanding of mother-daughter communication. Results Fifty percent of the 171 girls with codable responses had a conversation with their mother. Higher levels of indirect parental monitoring were related to being more likely to have a conversation. Concrete events related to the study (i.e. receiving phone call from the researcher, having an appointment, or seeing the product) or inquiries by mothers appeared to promote conversation. Barriers to conversation included the private nature of the information and relationship issues between the mother and daughter. Conversations often addressed issues related to girls’ participation in the study, although some conversations included global issues related to sexuality. Conclusions Girls may talk to their mothers about new products for STI prevention, and such conversations may provide opportunities to promote use. PMID:17174825

  6. Adolescent girls' communication with "mothers" about topical microbicides.

    PubMed

    Sunder, Punita K; Ramos, Stephanie; Short, Mary B; Rosenthal, Susan L

    2006-12-01

    Topical microbicides, a female-initiated method to protect against sexually transmitted infections (STI) and pregnancy, will only be effective if found acceptable. Mothers may have an influence on acceptability and use among adolescent girls. The current study examined the communication between girls and mothers to understand the potential predictors and nature of conversations regarding surrogate microbicide products. Sexually experienced girls, 14 to 21 years, were recruited for a 6-month study examining microbicide acceptability. During face-to-face interviews, qualitative data were collected regarding communication between girls and mothers. Two independent raters coded the responses, which were organized into themes. Themes were interpreted according to the conceptual understanding of mother-daughter communication. Fifty percent of the 171 girls with codable responses had a conversation with their mother. Higher levels of indirect parental monitoring were related to being more likely to have a conversation. Concrete events related to the study (i.e. receiving phone call from the researcher, having an appointment, or seeing the product) or inquiries by mothers appeared to promote conversation. Barriers to conversation included the private nature of the information and relationship issues between the mother and daughter. Conversations often addressed issues related to girls' participation in the study, although some conversations included global issues related to sexuality. Girls may talk to their mothers about new products for STI prevention, and such conversations may provide opportunities to promote use.

  7. Aspiration-based coevolution of link weight promotes cooperation in the spatial prisoner's dilemma game

    PubMed Central

    Shen, Chen; Chu, Chen; Shi, Lei

    2018-01-01

    In this article, we propose an aspiration-based coevolution of link weight, and explore how this set-up affects the evolution of cooperation in the spatial prisoner's dilemma game. In particular, an individual will increase the weight of its link to its neighbours only if the payoff received via this interaction exceeds a pre-defined aspiration. Conversely, if the received payoff is below this aspiration, the link weight with the corresponding neighbour will decrease. Our results show that an appropriate aspiration level leads to a high-cooperation plateau, whereas too high or too low aspiration will impede the evolution of cooperation. We explain these findings with a comprehensive analysis of transition points and with a systematic analysis of typical configuration patterns. The presented results provide further theoretical insights with regards to the impact of different aspiration levels on cooperation in human societies. PMID:29892454

  8. Aspiration-based coevolution of link weight promotes cooperation in the spatial prisoner's dilemma game

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shen, Chen; Chu, Chen; Shi, Lei; Perc, Matjaž; Wang, Zhen

    2018-05-01

    In this article, we propose an aspiration-based coevolution of link weight, and explore how this set-up affects the evolution of cooperation in the spatial prisoner's dilemma game. In particular, an individual will increase the weight of its link to its neighbours only if the payoff received via this interaction exceeds a pre-defined aspiration. Conversely, if the received payoff is below this aspiration, the link weight with the corresponding neighbour will decrease. Our results show that an appropriate aspiration level leads to a high-cooperation plateau, whereas too high or too low aspiration will impede the evolution of cooperation. We explain these findings with a comprehensive analysis of transition points and with a systematic analysis of typical configuration patterns. The presented results provide further theoretical insights with regards to the impact of different aspiration levels on cooperation in human societies.

  9. Receiver Functions From Regional and Near-Teleseismic P Waves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Park, J.; Levin, V.

    2001-05-01

    P waves from regional-distance earthquakes are complex and reverberatory, as would be expected from a combination of head waves, post-critical crustal reflections and shallow-incident P from the upper mantle. Although developed to analyze steeply-incident teleseismic P waves, receiver function analysis can also retrieve information about crustal structure from regional and near-teleseismic P. Using a new method to estimate receiver functions, based on multiple-taper spectral analysis, regional-distance RFs for GSN stations RAYN and ANTO show broad agreement with teleseismic RFs. At RAYN the moveout of the Moho-converted Ps phase, relative to direct P, follows well the predictions of the IASP91 earth model. The Moho-converted Ps phase shows complexity associated with the transition-zone triplication near Δ =20o and constant delay (zero moveout) as Δ -> 0, consistent with conversion from Pn. Similar behavior is seen for ANTO for events that arrive from the west. For eastern backazimuths the ANTO RFs show features whose moveout is negative as Δ -> 0. This moveout is poorly fit by reverberations in flat layers or by direct scattering from a dipping interface, but is consistent with a topographic scatterer 20--30 km eastward of the ANTO site. Regional receiver functions may therefore be useful in judging whether teleseismic RFs at a particular station are suitable candidates for a 1-D velocity structure inversion. Synthetic seismograms of regional P phases, computed with a locked-mode reflectivity approach, confirm broad features of the RAYN and ANTO regional receiver functions.

  10. How the Army Meter Data Management System (MDMS) Can Help on the Path to Net Zero

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-05-10

    NY) • Meets DoD cyber-security requirements – Received Authority to Operate from Army NETCOM effective 23 April 2010 – Received Certificate of...How MDMS supports Net Zero Goals (cont) 4. Measure Production/Consumption balance a. Only way to demonstrate position on glide path to Net Zero 5...2010001D To 8 Aug 2010 00 00 En•l’iY f*ttk COnWtnptlon J96S9U81’ WII FillCilftl .. Totol , ......... ~ Metert - Met el\\ r;’l £1Htr1< 1....-J G.n

  11. Digital Front End for Wide-Band VLBI Science Receiver

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jongeling, Andre; Sigman, Elliott; Navarro, Robert; Goodhart, Charles; Rogstad, Steve; Chandra, Kumar; Finley, Sue; Trinh, Joseph; Soriano, Melissa; White, Les; hide

    2006-01-01

    An upgrade to the very-long-baseline-interferometry (VLBI) science receiver (VSR) a radio receiver used in NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) is currently being implemented. The current VSR samples standard DSN intermediate- frequency (IF) signals at 256 MHz and after digital down-conversion records data from up to four 16-MHz baseband channels. Currently, IF signals are limited to the 265-to-375-MHz range, and recording rates are limited to less than 80 Mbps. The new digital front end, denoted the Wideband VSR, provides improvements to enable the receiver to process wider bandwidth signals and accommodate more data channels for recording. The Wideband VSR utilizes state-of-the-art commercial analog-to-digital converter and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) integrated circuits, and fiber-optic connections in a custom architecture. It accepts IF signals from 100 to 600 MHz, sampling the signal at 1.28 GHz. The sample data are sent to a digital processing module, using a fiber-optic link for isolation. The digital processing module includes boards designed around an Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) industry-standard backplane. Digital signal processing implemented in FPGAs down-convert the data signals in up to 16 baseband channels with programmable bandwidths from 1 kHz to 16 MHz. Baseband samples are transmitted to a computer via multiple Ethernet connections allowing recording to disk at rates of up to 1 Gbps.

  12. Structure of hadron resonances with a nearby zero of the amplitude

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kamiya, Yuki; Hyodo, Tetsuo

    2018-03-01

    We discuss the relation between the analytic structure of the scattering amplitude and the origin of an eigenstate represented by a pole of the amplitude. If the eigenstate is not dynamically generated by the interaction in the channel of interest, the residue of the pole vanishes in the zero coupling limit. Based on the topological nature of the phase of the scattering amplitude, we show that the pole must encounter with the Castillejo-Dalitz-Dyson (CDD) zero in this limit. It is concluded that the dynamical component of the eigenstate is small if a CDD zero exists near the eigenstate pole. We show that the line shape of the resonance is distorted from the Breit-Wigner form as an observable consequence of the nearby CDD zero. Finally, studying the positions of poles and CDD zeros of the K ¯ N -π Σ amplitude, we discuss the origin of the eigenstates in the Λ (1405 ) region.

  13. 75 FR 33824 - Pharmaceutical Products and Chemical Intermediates, Fourth Review: Advice Concerning the Addition...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-15

    ... production of pharmaceuticals (pharmaceuticals zero-for-zero initiative) and to conduct periodic reviews to... eliminated duties on additional pharmaceutical items. The USTR indicated that participants in the zero- for-zero initiative are conducting a fourth review to determine if products can be added to the initiative...

  14. An Extremely Wide Bandwidth, Low-Noise SIS Heterodyne Receiver Design for Millimeter and Submillimeter Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sumner, Matthew; Blain, Andrew; Harris, Andrew; Hu, Robert; Rice, Frank; LeDuc, H. G.; Weinreb, Sander; Zmuidzinas, Jonas

    2002-01-01

    Millimeter and submillimeter heterodyne receivers using state-of-the-art SIS detectors are capable of extremely large instantaneous bandwidths with noise temperatures within a few Kelvin of the quantum limit. We present the design for a broadband, sensitive, heterodyne spectrometer under development for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). The 180-300 GHz double-sideband design uses a single SIS device excited by a full bandwidth, fixed-tuned waveguide probe on a silicon substrate. The IF output frequency (limited by the MMIC low noise IF preamplifier) is 6-18 GHz, providing an instantaneous RF bandwidth of 24 GHz (double-sideband). The SIS mixer conversion loss should be no more than 1-2 dB with mixer noise temperatures across the band within 10 K of the quantum limit. The single-sideband receiver noise temperature goal is 70 K. The wide instantaneous bandwidth and low noise will result in an instrument capable of a variety of important astrophysical observations beyond the capabilities of current instruments. Lab testing of the receiver will begin in the summer of 2002, and the first use on the CSO should occur in the spring of 2003.

  15. Poynting vector analysis for wireless power transfer between magnetically coupled coils with different loads.

    PubMed

    Guo, Yunsheng; Li, Jiansheng; Hou, Xiaojuan; Lv, Xiaolong; Liang, Hao; Zhou, Ji; Wu, Hongya

    2017-04-07

    Wireless power transfer is a nonradiative type of transmission that is performed in the near-field region. In this region, the electromagnetic fields that are produced by both the transmitting and receiving coils are evanescent fields, which should not transmit energy. This then raises the question of how the energy can be transferred. Here we describe a theoretical study of the two evanescent field distributions at different terminal loads. It is shown that the essential principle of wireless energy transfer is the superposition of the two evanescent fields, and the resulting superimposed field is mediated through the terminal load. If the terminal load is either capacitive or inductive, then the superimposed field cannot transfer the energy because its Poynting vector is zero; in contrast, if the load is resistive, energy can then be conveyed from the transmitting coil to the receiving coil. The simulation results for the magnetic field distributions and the time-domain current waveforms agree very well with the results of the theoretical analysis. This work thus provides a comprehensive understanding of the energy transfer mechanism involved in the magnetic resonant coupling system.

  16. 12 CFR 3.52 - Simple risk-weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... this paragraph (b). (1) Zero percent risk weight equity exposures. An equity exposure to a sovereign... International Monetary Fund, an MDB, and any other entity whose credit exposures receive a zero percent risk weight under § 3.32 may be assigned a zero percent risk weight. (2) 20 percent risk weight equity...

  17. Effective preemptive scheduling scheme for optical burst-switched networks with cascaded wavelength conversion consideration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, Xingbo

    2010-03-01

    We introduce a new preemptive scheduling technique for next-generation optical burst switching (OBS) networks considering the impact of cascaded wavelength conversions. It has been shown that when optical bursts are transmitted all optically from source to destination, each wavelength conversion performed along the lightpath may cause certain signal-to-noise deterioration. If the distortion of the signal quality becomes significant enough, the receiver would not be able to recover the original data. Accordingly, subject to this practical impediment, we improve a recently proposed fair channel scheduling algorithm to deal with the fairness problem and aim at burst loss reduction simultaneously in OBS environments. In our scheme, the dynamic priority associated with each burst is based on a constraint threshold and the number of already conducted wavelength conversions among other factors for this burst. When contention occurs, a new arriving superior burst may preempt another scheduled one according to their priorities. Extensive simulation results have shown that the proposed scheme further improves fairness and achieves burst loss reduction as well.

  18. 20 CFR 345.303 - Computation of rate.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... a percentage rate, and then round such rate to the nearest 100th of one percent. If the rate so computed is zero or less than zero, the percentage rate will be deemed zero at this point; (5) Step 5. Add...

  19. 12 CFR 3.152 - Simple risk weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... applicable risk weight in this section. (1) Zero percent risk weight equity exposures. An equity exposure to... assigned a zero percent risk weight. (2) 20 percent risk weight equity exposures. An equity exposure to a... equals zero. If RVC is negative and greater than or equal to -1 (that is, between zero and -1), then E...

  20. Multiple description distributed image coding with side information for mobile wireless transmission

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Min; Song, Daewon; Chen, Chang Wen

    2005-03-01

    Multiple description coding (MDC) is a source coding technique that involves coding the source information into multiple descriptions, and then transmitting them over different channels in packet network or error-prone wireless environment to achieve graceful degradation if parts of descriptions are lost at the receiver. In this paper, we proposed a multiple description distributed wavelet zero tree image coding system for mobile wireless transmission. We provide two innovations to achieve an excellent error resilient capability. First, when MDC is applied to wavelet subband based image coding, it is possible to introduce correlation between the descriptions in each subband. We consider using such a correlation as well as potentially error corrupted description as side information in the decoding to formulate the MDC decoding as a Wyner Ziv decoding problem. If only part of descriptions is lost, however, their correlation information is still available, the proposed Wyner Ziv decoder can recover the description by using the correlation information and the error corrupted description as side information. Secondly, in each description, single bitstream wavelet zero tree coding is very vulnerable to the channel errors. The first bit error may cause the decoder to discard all subsequent bits whether or not the subsequent bits are correctly received. Therefore, we integrate the multiple description scalar quantization (MDSQ) with the multiple wavelet tree image coding method to reduce error propagation. We first group wavelet coefficients into multiple trees according to parent-child relationship and then code them separately by SPIHT algorithm to form multiple bitstreams. Such decomposition is able to reduce error propagation and therefore improve the error correcting capability of Wyner Ziv decoder. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme not only exhibits an excellent error resilient performance but also demonstrates graceful degradation over the packet loss rate.

  1. State-plane analysis of zero-voltage-switching resonant dc/dc power converters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kazimierczuk, Marian K.; Morse, William D.

    The state-plane analysis technique for the zero-voltage-switching resonant dc/dc power converter family of topologies, namely the buck, boost, buck-boost, and Cuk converters is established. The state plane provides a compression of information that allows the designer to uniquely examine the nonlinear dynamics of resonant converter operation. Utilizing the state plane, resonant converter modes of operation are examined and the switching frequencies are derived for the boundaries between these modes, including the boundary of energy conversion.

  2. Multi-pulse multi-delay (MPMD) multiple access modulation for UWB

    DOEpatents

    Dowla, Farid U.; Nekoogar, Faranak

    2007-03-20

    A new modulation scheme in UWB communications is introduced. This modulation technique utilizes multiple orthogonal transmitted-reference pulses for UWB channelization. The proposed UWB receiver samples the second order statistical function at both zero and non-zero lags and matches the samples to stored second order statistical functions, thus sampling and matching the shape of second order statistical functions rather than just the shape of the received pulses.

  3. 40 CFR 60.2770 - What information must I include in my annual report?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... and Compliance Times for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units Model Rule... inoperative, except for zero (low-level) and high-level checks. (3) The date, time, and duration that each... of control if any of the following occur. (1) The zero (low-level), mid-level (if applicable), or...

  4. 40 CFR 60.2770 - What information must I include in my annual report?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... and Compliance Times for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units that Commenced... inoperative, except for zero (low-level) and high-level checks. (3) The date, time, and duration that each... of control if any of the following occur. (1) The zero (low-level), mid-level (if applicable), or...

  5. 76 FR 16234 - Prompt Corrective Action; Amended Definition of Low-Risk Assets

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-23

    ... guaranteed by NCUA. Assets in this category receive a risk-weighting of zero for regulatory capital purposes... not apply a risk-weighting of zero even when an investment carries no credit risk. The ``Low-risk assets'' risk portfolio, in contrast, does apply a risk- weighting of zero, but the NGNs did not fall...

  6. A survey of noninteractive zero knowledge proof system and its applications.

    PubMed

    Wu, Huixin; Wang, Feng

    2014-01-01

    Zero knowledge proof system which has received extensive attention since it was proposed is an important branch of cryptography and computational complexity theory. Thereinto, noninteractive zero knowledge proof system contains only one message sent by the prover to the verifier. It is widely used in the construction of various types of cryptographic protocols and cryptographic algorithms because of its good privacy, authentication, and lower interactive complexity. This paper reviews and analyzes the basic principles of noninteractive zero knowledge proof system, and summarizes the research progress achieved by noninteractive zero knowledge proof system on the following aspects: the definition and related models of noninteractive zero knowledge proof system, noninteractive zero knowledge proof system of NP problems, noninteractive statistical and perfect zero knowledge, the connection between noninteractive zero knowledge proof system, interactive zero knowledge proof system, and zap, and the specific applications of noninteractive zero knowledge proof system. This paper also points out the future research directions.

  7. Trait Perception Accuracy and Acquaintance Within Groups: Tracking Accuracy Development.

    PubMed

    Brown, Jill A; Bernieri, Frank

    2017-05-01

    Previous work on trait perception has evaluated accuracy at discrete stages of relationships (e.g., strangers, best friends). A relatively limited body of literature has investigated changes in accuracy as acquaintance within a dyad or group increases. Small groups of initially unacquainted individuals spent more than 30 hr participating in a wide range of activities designed to represent common interpersonal contexts (e.g., eating, traveling). We calculated how accurately each participant judged others in their group on the big five traits across three distinct points within the acquaintance process: zero acquaintance, after a getting-to-know-you conversation, and after 10 weeks of interaction and activity. Judgments of all five traits exhibited accuracy above chance levels after 10 weeks. An examination of the trait rating stability revealed that much of the revision in judgments occurred not over the course of the 10-week relationship as suspected, but between zero acquaintance and the getting-to-know-you conversation.

  8. 29 CFR 4206.3 - Credit against liability for a subsequent withdrawal.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... withdrawal liability in an amount greater than or equal to zero, determined in accordance with this part. If the credit determined under §§ 4206.4 through 4206.9 is less than zero, the amount of the credit shall equal zero. ...

  9. 29 CFR 4206.3 - Credit against liability for a subsequent withdrawal.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... withdrawal liability in an amount greater than or equal to zero, determined in accordance with this part. If the credit determined under §§ 4206.4 through 4206.9 is less than zero, the amount of the credit shall equal zero. ...

  10. 29 CFR 4206.3 - Credit against liability for a subsequent withdrawal.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... withdrawal liability in an amount greater than or equal to zero, determined in accordance with this part. If the credit determined under §§ 4206.4 through 4206.9 is less than zero, the amount of the credit shall equal zero. ...

  11. 29 CFR 4206.3 - Credit against liability for a subsequent withdrawal.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... withdrawal liability in an amount greater than or equal to zero, determined in accordance with this part. If the credit determined under §§ 4206.4 through 4206.9 is less than zero, the amount of the credit shall equal zero. ...

  12. 29 CFR 4206.3 - Credit against liability for a subsequent withdrawal.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... withdrawal liability in an amount greater than or equal to zero, determined in accordance with this part. If the credit determined under §§ 4206.4 through 4206.9 is less than zero, the amount of the credit shall equal zero. ...

  13. 50 MHz-10 GHz low-power resistive feedback current-reuse mixer with inductive peaking for cognitive radio receiver.

    PubMed

    Vitee, Nandini; Ramiah, Harikrishnan; Chong, Wei-Keat; Tan, Gim-Heng; Kanesan, Jeevan; Reza, Ahmed Wasif

    2014-01-01

    A low-power wideband mixer is designed and implemented in 0.13 µm standard CMOS technology based on resistive feedback current-reuse (RFCR) configuration for the application of cognitive radio receiver. The proposed RFCR architecture incorporates an inductive peaking technique to compensate for gain roll-off at high frequency while enhancing the bandwidth. A complementary current-reuse technique is used between transconductance and IF stages to boost the conversion gain without additional power consumption by reusing the DC bias current of the LO stage. This downconversion double-balanced mixer exhibits a high and flat conversion gain (CG) of 14.9 ± 1.4 dB and a noise figure (NF) better than 12.8 dB. The maximum input 1-dB compression point (P1dB) and maximum input third-order intercept point (IIP3) are -13.6 dBm and -4.5 dBm, respectively, over the desired frequency ranging from 50 MHz to 10 GHz. The proposed circuit operates down to a supply headroom of 1 V with a low-power consumption of 3.5 mW.

  14. Space-based laser-driven MHD generator: Feasibility study

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Choi, S. H.

    1986-01-01

    The feasibility of a laser-driven MHD generator, as a candidate receiver for a space-based laser power transmission system, was investigated. On the basis of reasonable parameters obtained in the literature, a model of the laser-driven MHD generator was developed with the assumptions of a steady, turbulent, two-dimensional flow. These assumptions were based on the continuous and steady generation of plasmas by the exposure of the continuous wave laser beam thus inducing a steady back pressure that enables the medium to flow steadily. The model considered here took the turbulent nature of plasmas into account in the two-dimensional geometry of the generator. For these conditions with the plasma parameters defining the thermal conductivity, viscosity, electrical conductivity for the plasma flow, a generator efficiency of 53.3% was calculated. If turbulent effects and nonequilibrium ionization are taken into account, the efficiency is 43.2%. The study shows that the laser-driven MHD system has potential as a laser power receiver for space applications because of its high energy conversion efficiency, high energy density and relatively simple mechanism as compared to other energy conversion cycles.

  15. 12 CFR 32.9 - Credit exposure arising from derivative and securities financing transactions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... current credit exposure by the mark-to-market value of the derivative contract. If the mark-to-market value is positive, then the current credit exposure equals that mark-to-market value. If the mark to market value is zero or negative, than the current credit exposure is zero. (C) Calculation of potential...

  16. 12 CFR 32.9 - Credit exposure arising from derivative and securities financing transactions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... current credit exposure by the mark-to-market value of the derivative contract. If the mark-to-market value is positive, then the current credit exposure equals that mark-to-market value. If the mark to market value is zero or negative, than the current credit exposure is zero. (C) Calculation of potential...

  17. Does communication partner training improve the conversation skills of speech-language pathology students when interacting with people with aphasia?

    PubMed

    Finch, Emma; Cameron, Ashley; Fleming, Jennifer; Lethlean, Jennifer; Hudson, Kyla; McPhail, Steven

    2017-07-01

    Aphasia is a common consequence of stroke. Despite receiving specialised training in communication, speech-language pathology students may lack confidence when communicating with People with Aphasia (PWA). This paper reports data from secondary outcome measures from a randomised controlled trial. The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of communication partner training on the communication skills of speech-language pathology students during conversations with PWA. Thirty-eight speech-language pathology students were randomly allocated to trained and untrained groups. The first group received a lecture about communication strategies for communicating with PWA then participated in a conversation with PWA (Trained group), while the second group of students participated in a conversation with the PWA without receiving the lecture (Untrained group). The conversations between the groups were analysed according to the Measure of skill in Supported Conversation (MSC) scales, Measure of Participation in Conversation (MPC) scales, types of strategies used in conversation, and the occurrence and repair of conversation breakdowns. The trained group received significantly higher MSC Revealing Competence scores, used significantly more props, and introduced significantly more new ideas into the conversation than the untrained group. The trained group also used more gesture and writing to facilitate the conversation, however, the difference was not significant. There was no significant difference between the groups according to MSC Acknowledging Competence scores, MPC Interaction or Transaction scores, or in the number of interruptions, minor or major conversation breakdowns, or in the success of strategies initiated to repair the conversation breakdowns. Speech-language pathology students may benefit from participation in communication partner training programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Measuring Inhomogeneities In Thermocouple Wires

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burkett, Cecil G., Jr.; West, James W.; Crum, James R.

    1993-01-01

    Spools rotated to pull thermocouple wires through liquid nitrogen, while output voltage of thermocouple recorded on strip chart. Wires exposed to severe temperature gradients, amounting to overall change of 200 degrees C, where they enter and leave liquid nitrogen. If wires homogeneous, net output voltage zero. If inhomogeneity passes through liquid-nitrogen/air interface, resulting deviation of output voltage from zero seen immediately on strip chart. If inhomogeneity greater than allowable, reels stopped temporarily so inhomogeneity tagged before wound onto takeup reel.

  19. 78 FR 67112 - Fresh Garlic From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results of New Shipper Review of...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-08

    ... is above de minimis, we will calculate importer-specific ad valorem duty assessment rate based on the...- average dumping margin is zero or de minimis, or an importer-specific assessment rate is zero or de... final results of this review (except, if the rate is zero or de minimis, then zero cash deposit will be...

  20. Mid-infrared Raman amplification and wavelength conversion in dispersion engineered silicon-on-sapphire waveguides

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Zhaolu; Liu, Hongjun; Huang, Nan; Sun, Qibing; Li, Xuefeng

    2014-01-01

    Raman amplification based on stimulated Stokes Raman scattering (SSRS) and wavelength conversion based on coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) are theoretically investigated in silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) waveguides in the mid-infrared (IR) region. When the linear phase mismatch Δk is close to zero, the Stokes gain and conversion efficiency drop down quickly due to the effect of parametric gain suppression when the Stokes-pump input ratio is sufficiently large. The Stokes gain increases with the increase of Δk, whereas efficient wavelength conversion needs appropriate Δk under different pump intensities. The conversion efficiency at exact linear phase matching (Δk = 0) is smaller than that at optimal linear phase mismatch by a factor of about 28 dB when the pump intensity is 2 GW cm-2.

  1. Substrate reactivity as a function of the extent of reaction in the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose

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

    Desai, S.G.; Converse, A.O.

    1997-12-20

    In an effort to better understand the role of the substrate in the rapid fall off in the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose with conversion, substrate reactivity was measured as a function of conversion. These measurements were made by interrupting the hydrolysis of pretreated wood at various degrees of conversion; and, after boiling and washing, restarting the hydrolysis in fresh butter with fresh enzyme. The comparison of the restart rate per enzyme adsorbed with the initial rate per enzyme adsorbed, both extrapolated back to zero conversion, provides a measurement of the substrate reactivity without the complications of product inhibitionmore » or cellulase inactivation. The results indicate that the substrate reactivity falls only modestly as conversion increases. However, the restart rate is still higher than the rate of the uninterrupted hydrolysis, particularly at high conversion. Hence the authors conclude that the loss of substrate reactivity is not the principal cause for the long residence time required for complete conversion.« less

  2. 39 CFR 121.2 - Periodicals.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... standard is applied to Periodicals pieces properly accepted before the day-zero Critical Entry Time (CET... Periodicals pieces properly accepted before the day-zero CET and merged with First-Class Mail pieces for... properly accepted before the day-zero CET if: the origin and destination are separately in Puerto Rico and...

  3. 39 CFR 121.2 - Periodicals.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... standard is applied to Periodicals pieces properly accepted before the day-zero Critical Entry Time (CET... Periodicals pieces properly accepted before the day-zero CET and merged with First-Class Mail pieces for... properly accepted before the day-zero CET if: the origin and destination are separately in Puerto Rico and...

  4. Teacher Perceptions of Division by Zero

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Quinn, Robert J.; Lamberg, Teruni D.; Perrin, John R.

    2008-01-01

    Dividing by zero can be confusing for students at all levels. If teachers are to provide clear and understandable explanations of this topic, they must possess a strong conceptual understanding of it themselves. In this article, the authors present qualitative data on fourth- through eighth-grade teachers' perceptions of division by zero. They…

  5. Joint Test Project Report of Combat Air Support Target Acquisition Program. SEEKVAL. Project IA2. Direct Visual Imagery Experiments.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1975-01-01

    Mission Zero Briefing Information ... ....... 1-A-8 Mission Zero Preflight Taped Coiments . . . 1-A-lO Mission Zero Inflight Events and Commentary . l-A...acquisitions between MAR and the target and zero range for non-acquisitions. AA 1 ... , ; "~...,, X0 ..o", xix S w...target from 35,000 feet to zero feet at nadir. If the inter-target interval was less than 35,000 feet, the device started counting on the new target

  6. Numerical Field Model Simulation of Fire and Heat Transfer in a Rectangular Compartment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-09-01

    zero . However, due to the approximation inherent in the numerical scheme, we will be satisfied if S,, tends toward zero as determined by comparison... zero , the appropriate coefficient (A) corresponding to that boundary is also set equal to zero . After the local pressure correction (P’) is determined...chamber just prior to starting the fire. It is assumed that the air is uni- formly at rest, thus all components of velocity are set equal to zero

  7. Proceedings of the Army Conference on Application of Artificial Intelligence to Battlefield Information Management Held at White Oak, Maryland on April 20, 21, and 22, 1983.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-01-31

    following more general scheme is used: (IF (IF p ...a ..) L R) = (IF p...(IF a I r)...) * for every largest subexpression not containing an IF symbol...SHELLCREATE ’CONS IT ’iJSTP ’CAR CDR) ’IT T) ’(NIL NIL) (SHELLCREATE PADD I ’( ZERO ) ’PNUMBERP bSUB 1) -. ,HLL REA XA 02 ’(3ZERO) .;,:,"" .’:, (PNMBEP X )) ((ZE... generally taken a signal processing approach while Al researchers have attempted to apply domain specific knowledge to the scene. Again, there have been

  8. Secondary and compound concentrators for parabolic dish solar thermal power systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jaffe, L. D.; Poon, P. T.

    1981-01-01

    A secondary optical element may be added to a parabolic dish solar concentrator to increase the geometric concentration ratio attainable at a given intercept factor. This secondary may be a Fresnel lens or a mirror, such as a compound elliptic concentrator or a hyperbolic trumpet. At a fixed intercept factor, higher overall geometric concentration may be obtainable with a long focal length primary and a suitable secondary matched to it. Use of a secondary to increase the geometric concentration ratio is more likely to e worthwhile if the receiver temperature is high and if errors in the primary are large. Folding the optical path with a secondary may reduce cost by locating the receiver and power conversion equipment closer to the ground and by eliminating the heavy structure needed to support this equipment at the primary focus. Promising folded-path configurations include the Ritchey-Chretien and perhaps some three element geometries. Folding the optical path may be most useful in systems that provide process heat.

  9. Maritime Mobile Force Protection (MMFP) Program

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-05-28

    to draw or write on the screen.  Thin design has a starting weight of 4.65lbs.  Capture handwriting : scrawl onscreen with the included dockable...Will say “Past CPA” if CPA has already occurred. Range at CPA DDD Yards Range at Closest Point of Approach to HVU Closing Speed DDD knots Speed of...closing to HVU, if greater than or equal to zero. Will say “Opening” if the closing speed is less than zero. Data Source Radar, AIS, Correlated Source

  10. Broadband mode conversion via gradient index metamaterials

    PubMed Central

    Wang, HaiXiao; Xu, YaDong; Genevet, Patrice; Jiang, Jian-Hua; Chen, HuanYang

    2016-01-01

    We propose a design for broadband waveguide mode conversion based on gradient index metamaterials (GIMs). Numerical simulations demonstrate that the zeroth order of transverse magnetic mode or the first order of transverse electric mode (TM0/TE1) can be converted into the first order of transverse magnetic mode or the second order of transverse electric mode (TM1/TE2) for a broadband of frequencies. As an application, an asymmetric propagation is achieved by integrating zero index metamaterials inside the GIM waveguide. PMID:27098456

  11. Carbon nanotube/polymer composite coated tapered fiber for four wave mixing based wavelength conversion.

    PubMed

    Xu, Bo; Omura, Mika; Takiguchi, Masato; Martinez, Amos; Ishigure, Takaaki; Yamashita, Shinji; Kuga, Takahiro

    2013-02-11

    In this paper, we demonstrate a nonlinear optical device based on a fiber taper coated with a carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer composite. Using this device, four wave mixing (FWM) based wavelength conversion of 10 Gb/s Non-return-to-zero signal is achieved. In addition, we investigate wavelength tuning, two photon absorption and estimate the effective nonlinear coefficient of the CNTs embedded in the tapered fiber to be 1816.8 W(-1)km(-1).

  12. Multiagent MINICAMS Performance and Dependability Evaluation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-05-17

    obtain 1000 ml/min. 12 The recorder cables were connected from the recorder to tte MINICAMS, and the recorder was zeroed on each channel. The NCR ard...v.d.c.: FPD photomultiplier . 1400 + 51 TIMES sec.: Purge 0 - 120 Sample F r’ -𔃻,- Desorb 0 - 30 Columr - 79 T ’i ect 120 - 130 Tniel , FPD zero 5...Aqents GB ad X" TUBE Tena’< GC for Agent HD V-G conversion pads were installed abcve the inlet _heci ., *.,q fcr VX analyses. Injections for YX were

  13. A Survey of Noninteractive Zero Knowledge Proof System and Its Applications

    PubMed Central

    Wu, Huixin; Wang, Feng

    2014-01-01

    Zero knowledge proof system which has received extensive attention since it was proposed is an important branch of cryptography and computational complexity theory. Thereinto, noninteractive zero knowledge proof system contains only one message sent by the prover to the verifier. It is widely used in the construction of various types of cryptographic protocols and cryptographic algorithms because of its good privacy, authentication, and lower interactive complexity. This paper reviews and analyzes the basic principles of noninteractive zero knowledge proof system, and summarizes the research progress achieved by noninteractive zero knowledge proof system on the following aspects: the definition and related models of noninteractive zero knowledge proof system, noninteractive zero knowledge proof system of NP problems, noninteractive statistical and perfect zero knowledge, the connection between noninteractive zero knowledge proof system, interactive zero knowledge proof system, and zap, and the specific applications of noninteractive zero knowledge proof system. This paper also points out the future research directions. PMID:24883407

  14. Measuring Low-PRF Pulsed Signals with a Standard HP 8510B Vector Network Analyzer Within Milliseconds (Het Meten van Lage-PRF Gepulste Signalen met een Standaard HP 8510B Vector Network Analyzer Binnen Enkele Milliseconden)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-08-01

    reference signal 25 5 A METHOD FOR MEASURING LOW-PRF PULSED SIGNALS 28 5.1 Using a NWA with a smaller BPF 28 5.2 Using the HP 8510B external trigger...2nd LO 11Q 3MHz BPF lOkHz BPF Fig. 4: Receiver block diagram The receiver is a double conversion superheterodyne with a 10 kHz wide BandPass Filter... BPF ) in the second IF. This 10 kHz filter is the component that dictates how the HP 8510B responds to pulsed signals. For the pulsed-RF test signal

  15. 40 CFR 91.321 - NDIR analyzer calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... curve for each range used as follows: (1) Zero the analyzer. (2) Span the analyzer to give a response of approximately 90 percent of full-scale chart deflection. (3) Recheck the zero response. If it has changed more... the form of equation (1) or (2). Include zero as a data point. Compensation for known impurities in...

  16. 40 CFR 90.321 - NDIR analyzer calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... curve. Develop a calibration curve for each range used as follows: (1) Zero the analyzer. (2) Span the... zero response. If it has changed more than 0.5 percent of full scale, repeat the steps given in... the form of the following equation (1) or (2). Include zero as a data point. Compensation for known...

  17. 12 CFR 324.152 - Simple risk weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... (that is, between zero and -1), then E equals the absolute value of RVC. If RVC is negative and less... the lowest applicable risk weight in this section. (1) Zero percent risk weight equity exposures. An....131(d)(2) is assigned a zero percent risk weight. (2) 20 percent risk weight equity exposures. An...

  18. Development of a Small Thermoelectric Generators Prototype for Energy Harvesting from Low Temperature Waste Heat at Industrial Plant.

    PubMed

    Chiarotti, Ugo; Moroli, Valerio; Menchetti, Fernando; Piancaldini, Roberto; Bianco, Loris; Viotto, Alberto; Baracchini, Giulia; Gaspardo, Daniele; Nazzi, Fabio; Curti, Maurizio; Gabriele, Massimiliano

    2017-03-01

    A 39-W thermoelectric generator prototype has been realized and then installed in industrial plant for on-line trials. The prototype was developed as an energy harvesting demonstrator using low temperature cooling water waste heat as energy source. The objective of the research program is to measure the actual performances of this kind of device working with industrial water below 90 °C, as hot source, and fresh water at a temperature of about 15 °C, as cold sink. The article shows the first results of the research program. It was verified, under the tested operative conditions, that the produced electric power exceeds the energy required to pump the water from the hot source and cold sink to the thermoelectric generator unit if they are located at a distance not exceeding 50 m and the electric energy conversion efficiency is 0.33%. It was calculated that increasing the distance of the hot source and cold sink to the thermoelectric generator unit to 100 m the produced electric energy equals the energy required for water pumping, while reducing the distance of the hot source and cold sink to zero meters the developed unit produces an electric energy conversion efficiency of 0.61%.

  19. Majorana zero modes in the hopping-modulated one-dimensional p-wave superconducting model.

    PubMed

    Gao, Yi; Zhou, Tao; Huang, Huaixiang; Huang, Ran

    2015-11-20

    We investigate the one-dimensional p-wave superconducting model with periodically modulated hopping and show that under time-reversal symmetry, the number of the Majorana zero modes (MZMs) strongly depends on the modulation period. If the modulation period is odd, there can be at most one MZM. However if the period is even, the number of the MZMs can be zero, one and two. In addition, the MZMs will disappear as the chemical potential varies. We derive the condition for the existence of the MZMs and show that the topological properties in this model are dramatically different from the one with periodically modulated potential.

  20. 14 CFR 23.343 - Design fuel loads.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... zero fuel to the selected maximum fuel load. (b) If fuel is carried in the wings, the maximum allowable weight of the airplane without any fuel in the wing tank(s) must be established as “maximum zero wing... part and— (1) The structure must be designed to withstand a condition of zero fuel in the wing at limit...

  1. 31 CFR 363.40 - How are payments of principal and interest made?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... maturity. We will purchase a zero-percent certificate of indebtedness in your TreasuryDirect ® account...) Payment to your TreasuryDirect account to purchase a zero-percent certificate of indebtedness. (2) You may.... (See § 363.210.) (3) If we are unable to deliver a payment, we will use the payment to purchase a zero...

  2. 31 CFR 363.40 - How are payments of principal and interest made?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... maturity. We will purchase a zero-percent certificate of indebtedness in your TreasuryDirect ® account...) Payment to your TreasuryDirect account to purchase a zero-percent certificate of indebtedness. (2) You may.... (See § 363.210.) (3) If we are unable to deliver a payment, we will use the payment to purchase a zero...

  3. 14 CFR 23.343 - Design fuel loads.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... zero fuel to the selected maximum fuel load. (b) If fuel is carried in the wings, the maximum allowable weight of the airplane without any fuel in the wing tank(s) must be established as “maximum zero wing... part and— (1) The structure must be designed to withstand a condition of zero fuel in the wing at limit...

  4. 14 CFR 23.343 - Design fuel loads.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... zero fuel to the selected maximum fuel load. (b) If fuel is carried in the wings, the maximum allowable weight of the airplane without any fuel in the wing tank(s) must be established as “maximum zero wing... part and— (1) The structure must be designed to withstand a condition of zero fuel in the wing at limit...

  5. 31 CFR 363.40 - How are payments of principal and interest made?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... maturity. We will purchase a zero-percent certificate of indebtedness in your TreasuryDirect ® account...) Payment to your TreasuryDirect account to purchase a zero-percent certificate of indebtedness. (2) You may.... (See § 363.210.) (3) If we are unable to deliver a payment, we will use the payment to purchase a zero...

  6. 14 CFR 23.343 - Design fuel loads.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... zero fuel to the selected maximum fuel load. (b) If fuel is carried in the wings, the maximum allowable weight of the airplane without any fuel in the wing tank(s) must be established as “maximum zero wing... part and— (1) The structure must be designed to withstand a condition of zero fuel in the wing at limit...

  7. Adaptation of the Electra Radio to Support Multiple Receive Channels

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Satorius, Edgar H.; Shah, Biren N.; Bruvold, Kristoffer N.; Bell, David J.

    2011-01-01

    Proposed future Mars missions plan communication between multiple assets (rovers). This paper presents the results of a study carried out to assess the potential adaptation of the Electra radio to a multi-channel transceiver. The basic concept is a Frequency Division multiplexing (FDM) communications scheme wherein different receiver architectures are examined. Options considered include: (1) multiple IF slices, A/D and FPGAs each programmed with an Electra baseband modem; (2) common IF but multiple A/Ds and FPGAs and (3) common IF, single A/D and single or multiple FPGAs programmed to accommodate the FDM signals. These options represent the usual tradeoff between analog and digital complexity. Given the space application, a common IF is preferable; however, multiple users present dynamic range challenges (e.g., near-far constraints) that would favor multiple IF slices (Option 1). Vice versa, with a common IF and multiple A/Ds (Option 2), individual AGC control of the A/Ds would be an important consideration. Option 3 would require a common AGC control strategy and would entail multiple digital down conversion paths within the FPGA. In this paper, both FDM parameters as well as the different Electra design options will be examined. In particular, signal channel spacing as a function of user data rates and transmit powers will be evaluated. In addition, tradeoffs between the different Electra design options will be presented with the ultimate goal of defining an augmented Electra radio architecture for potential future missions.

  8. Bidirectional converter for high-efficiency fuel cell powertrain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fardoun, Abbas A.; Ismail, Esam H.; Sabzali, Ahmad J.; Al-Saffar, Mustafa A.

    2014-03-01

    In this paper, a new wide conversion ratio step-up and step-down converter is presented. The proposed converter is derived from the conventional Single Ended Primary Inductor Converter (SEPIC) topology and it is integrated with a capacitor-diode voltage multiplier, which offers a simple structure, reduced electromagnetic interference (EMI), and reduced semiconductors' voltage stresses. Other advantages include: continuous input and output current, extended step-up and step-down voltage conversion ratio without extreme low or high duty-cycle, simple control circuitry, and near-zero input and output ripple currents compared to other converter topologies. The low charging/discharging current ripple and wide gain features result in a longer life-span and lower cost of the energy storage battery system. In addition, the "near-zero" ripple capability improves the fuel cell durability. Theoretical analysis results obtained with the proposed structure are compared with other bi-direction converter topologies. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed bi-directional converter.

  9. Three-photon excitation source at 1250 nm generated in a dual zero dispersion wavelength nonlinear fiber

    DOE PAGES

    Domingue, Scott R.; Bartels, Randy A.

    2014-12-04

    Here, we demonstrate 1250 nm pulses generated in dual-zero dispersion photonic crystal fiber capable of three-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy. The total power conversion efficiency from the 28 fs seed pulse centered at 1075 nm to pulses at 1250 nm, including coupling losses from the nonlinear fiber, is 35%, with up to 67% power conversion efficiency of the fiber coupled light. Frequency-resolved optical gating measurements characterize 1250 nm pulses at 0.6 nJ and 2 nJ, illustrating the change in nonlinear spectral phase accumulation with pulse energy even for nonlinear fiber lengths < 50 mm. The 0.6 nJ pulse has a 26more » fs duration and is the shortest nonlinear fiber derived 1250 nm pulse yet reported (to the best of our knowledge). The short pulse durations and energies make these pulses a viable route to producing light at 1250 nm for multiphoton microscopy, which we we demonstrate here, via a three-photon excitation fluorescence microscope.« less

  10. Pulse-excited, auto-zeroing multiple channel data transmission system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fasching, G. E.

    1985-02-01

    A multiple channel data transmission system is provided in which signals from a plurality of pulse operated transducers and a corresponding plurality of pulse operated signal processor channels are multiplexed for single channel FM transmission to a receiving station. The transducers and corresponding channel amplifiers are powered by pulsing the dc battery power to these devices to conserve energy and battery size for long-term data transmission from remote or inaccessible locations. Auto zeroing of the signal channel amplifiers to compensate for drift associated with temperature changes, battery decay, component aging, etc., in each channel is accomplished by means of a unique auto zero feature which between signal pulses holds a zero correction voltage on an integrating capacitor coupled to the corresponding channel amplifier output. Pseudo-continuous outputs for each channel are achieved by pulsed sample-and-hold circuits which are updated at the pulsed operation rate. The sample-and-hold outputs are multiplexed into an FM/FM transmitter for transmission to an FM receiver station for demultiplexing and storage in separate channel recorders.

  11. Pulse-excited, auto-zeroing multiple channel data transmission system

    DOEpatents

    Fasching, G.E.

    1985-02-22

    A multiple channel data transmission system is provided in which signals from a plurality of pulse operated transducers and a corresponding plurality of pulse operated signal processor channels are multiplexed for single channel FM transmission to a receiving station. The transducers and corresponding channel amplifiers are powered by pulsing the dc battery power to these devices to conserve energy and battery size for long-term data transmission from remote or inaccessible locations. Auto zeroing of the signal channel amplifiers to compensate for drift associated with temperature changes, battery decay, component aging, etc., in each channel is accomplished by means of a unique auto zero feature which between signal pulses holds a zero correction voltage on an integrating capacitor coupled to the corresponding channel amplifier output. Pseudo-continuous outputs for each channel are achieved by pulsed sample-and-hold circuits which are updated at the pulsed operation rate. The sample-and-hold outputs are multiplexed into an FM/FM transmitter for transmission to an FM receiver station for demultiplexing and storage in separate channel recorders.

  12. Pulse-excited, auto-zeroing multiple channel data transmission system

    DOEpatents

    Fasching, George E.

    1987-01-01

    A multiple channel data transmission system is provided in which signals from a plurality of pulse operated transducers and a corresponding plurality of pulse operated signal processor channels are multiplexed for single channel FM transmission to a receiving station. The transducers and corresponding channel amplifiers are powered by pulsing the dc battery power to these devices to conserve energy and battery size for long-term data transmission from remote or inaccessible locations. Auto zeroing of the signal channel amplifiers to compensate for drift associated with temperature changes, battery decay, component aging, etc., in each channel is accomplished by means of a unique auto zero feature which between signal pulses holds a zero correction voltage on an integrating capacitor coupled to the corresponding channel amplifier output. Pseudo-continuous outputs for each channel are achieved by pulsed sample-and-hold circuits which are updated at the pulsed operation rate. The sample-and-hold outputs are multiplexed into an FM/FM transmitter for transmission to an FM receiver station for demultiplexing and storage in separate channel recorders.

  13. Wave-plate structures, power selective optical filter devices, and optical systems using same

    DOEpatents

    Koplow, Jeffrey P [San Ramon, CA

    2012-07-03

    In an embodiment, an optical filter device includes an input polarizer for selectively transmitting an input signal. The device includes a wave-plate structure positioned to receive the input signal, which includes first and second substantially zero-order, zero-wave plates arranged in series with and oriented at an angle relative to each other. The first and second zero-wave plates are configured to alter a polarization state of the input signal passing in a manner that depends on the power of the input signal. Each zero-wave plate includes an entry and exit wave plate each having a fast axis, with the fast axes oriented substantially perpendicular to each other. Each entry wave plate is oriented relative to a transmission axis of the input polarizer at a respective angle. An output polarizer is positioned to receive a signal output from the wave-plate structure and selectively transmits the signal based on the polarization state.

  14. Gas ultrasonic flow rate measurement through genetic-ant colony optimization based on the ultrasonic pulse received signal model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hou, Huirang; Zheng, Dandan; Nie, Laixiao

    2015-04-01

    For gas ultrasonic flowmeters, the signals received by ultrasonic sensors are susceptible to noise interference. If signals are mingled with noise, a large error in flow measurement can be caused by triggering mistakenly using the traditional double-threshold method. To solve this problem, genetic-ant colony optimization (GACO) based on the ultrasonic pulse received signal model is proposed. Furthermore, in consideration of the real-time performance of the flow measurement system, the improvement of processing only the first three cycles of the received signals rather than the whole signal is proposed. Simulation results show that the GACO algorithm has the best estimation accuracy and ant-noise ability compared with the genetic algorithm, ant colony optimization, double-threshold and enveloped zero-crossing. Local convergence doesn’t appear with the GACO algorithm until -10 dB. For the GACO algorithm, the converging accuracy and converging speed and the amount of computation are further improved when using the first three cycles (called GACO-3cycles). Experimental results involving actual received signals show that the accuracy of single-gas ultrasonic flow rate measurement can reach 0.5% with GACO-3 cycles, which is better than with the double-threshold method.

  15. 31 CFR 356.13 - When must I report my net long position and how do I calculate it?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... auctioned you must report a zero. (iii) the total of your bids and your net long position in the security... blank) or report your net long position. (2) Also, if you have more than one bid in an auction and you must report either your net long position or a zero, you must report that figure only once. Finally, if...

  16. Third law of thermodynamics as a key test of generalized entropies.

    PubMed

    Bento, E P; Viswanathan, G M; da Luz, M G E; Silva, R

    2015-02-01

    The laws of thermodynamics constrain the formulation of statistical mechanics at the microscopic level. The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy must vanish at absolute zero temperature for systems with nondegenerate ground states in equilibrium. Conversely, the entropy can vanish only at absolute zero temperature. Here we ask whether or not generalized entropies satisfy this fundamental property. We propose a direct analytical procedure to test if a generalized entropy satisfies the third law, assuming only very general assumptions for the entropy S and energy U of an arbitrary N-level classical system. Mathematically, the method relies on exact calculation of β=dS/dU in terms of the microstate probabilities p(i). To illustrate this approach, we present exact results for the two best known generalizations of statistical mechanics. Specifically, we study the Kaniadakis entropy S(κ), which is additive, and the Tsallis entropy S(q), which is nonadditive. We show that the Kaniadakis entropy correctly satisfies the third law only for -1<κ<+1, thereby shedding light on why κ is conventionally restricted to this interval. Surprisingly, however, the Tsallis entropy violates the third law for q<1. Finally, we give a concrete example of the power of our proposed method by applying it to a paradigmatic system: the one-dimensional ferromagnetic Ising model with nearest-neighbor interactions.

  17. Metal-Insulator Transition in Nanoparticle Solids: Insights from Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations

    DOE PAGES

    Qu, Luman; Vörös, Márton; Zimanyi, Gergely T.

    2017-08-01

    Progress has been rapid in increasing the efficiency of energy conversion in nanoparticles. However, extraction of the photo-generated charge carriers remains challenging. Encouragingly, the charge mobility has been improved recently by driving nanoparticle (NP) films across the metal-insulator transition (MIT). To simulate MIT in NP films, we developed a hierarchical Kinetic Monte Carlo transport model. Electrons transfer between neighboring NPs via activated hopping when the NP energies differ by more than an overlap energy, but transfer by a non-activated quantum delocalization, if the NP energies are closer than the overlap energy. As the overlap energy increases, emerging percolating clusters supportmore » a metallic transport across the entire film. We simulated the evolution of the temperature-dependent electron mobility. We analyzed our data in terms of two candidate models of the MIT: (a) as a Quantum Critical Transition, signaled by an effective gap going to zero; and (b) as a Quantum Percolation Transition, where a sample-spanning metallic percolation path is formed as the fraction of the hopping bonds in the transport paths is going to zero. We found that the Quantum Percolation Transition theory provides a better description of the MIT. We also observed an anomalously low gap region next to the MIT. We discuss the relevance of our results in the light of recent experimental measurements.« less

  18. Metal-Insulator Transition in Nanoparticle Solids: Insights from Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations

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

    Qu, Luman; Vörös, Márton; Zimanyi, Gergely T.

    Progress has been rapid in increasing the efficiency of energy conversion in nanoparticles. However, extraction of the photo-generated charge carriers remains challenging. Encouragingly, the charge mobility has been improved recently by driving nanoparticle (NP) films across the metal-insulator transition (MIT). To simulate MIT in NP films, we developed a hierarchical Kinetic Monte Carlo transport model. Electrons transfer between neighboring NPs via activated hopping when the NP energies differ by more than an overlap energy, but transfer by a non-activated quantum delocalization, if the NP energies are closer than the overlap energy. As the overlap energy increases, emerging percolating clusters supportmore » a metallic transport across the entire film. We simulated the evolution of the temperature-dependent electron mobility. We analyzed our data in terms of two candidate models of the MIT: (a) as a Quantum Critical Transition, signaled by an effective gap going to zero; and (b) as a Quantum Percolation Transition, where a sample-spanning metallic percolation path is formed as the fraction of the hopping bonds in the transport paths is going to zero. We found that the Quantum Percolation Transition theory provides a better description of the MIT. We also observed an anomalously low gap region next to the MIT. We discuss the relevance of our results in the light of recent experimental measurements.« less

  19. Triad's new market strategy: a threat to community hospitals.

    PubMed

    Horning, Beth

    2004-01-01

    Faced with unprecedented financial pressures, many nonprofit hospitals today contemplate hooking up with large corporations and converting to for-profit status. In the deals that result, the talk is largely about stock value and the interests of investors. The larger public-interest question of how the conversion will affect the health of community members often receives short shift. Most recently, Triad, an HCA spin-off, has emerged as a major player in the market for faltering nonprofits, zeroing in on institutions all the way from Alaska to North Carolina, and this has advocates worried, because the company can be singularly insensitive to community health care needs. But Triad is also remarkably adept at winning public favor. In this States of Health, we'll look at the broader public policy questions raised by such corporate health ventures, questions that point to the need for stronger oversight and regulatory mechanisms to assure that the public interest is protected in our increasingly market-driven health system.

  20. A wideband current-commutating passive mixer for multi-standard receivers in a 0.18 μm CMOS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuan, Bao; Xiangning, Fan; Wei, Li; Zhigong, Wang

    2013-01-01

    This paper reports a wideband passive mixer for direct conversion multi-standard receivers. A brief comparison between current-commutating passive mixers and active mixers is presented. The effect of source and load impedance on the linearity of a mixer is analyzed. Specially, the impact of the input impedance of the transimpedance amplifier (TIA), which acts as the load impedance of a mixer, is investigated in detail. The analysis is verified by a passive mixer implemented with 0.18 μm CMOS technology. The circuit is inductorless and can operate over a broad frequency range. On wafer measurements show that, with radio frequency (RF) ranges from 700 MHz to 2.3 GHz, the mixer achieves 21 dB of conversion voltage gain with a -1 dB intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of 10 MHz. The measured IIP3 is 9 dBm and the measured double-sideband noise figure (NF) is 10.6 dB at 10 MHz output. The chip occupies an area of 0.19 mm2 and drains a current of 5.5 mA from a 1.8 V supply.

  1. Analytic model for ultrasound energy receivers and their optimal electric loads II: Experimental validation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gorostiaga, M.; Wapler, M. C.; Wallrabe, U.

    2017-10-01

    In this paper, we verify the two optimal electric load concepts based on the zero reflection condition and on the power maximization approach for ultrasound energy receivers. We test a high loss 1-3 composite transducer, and find that the measurements agree very well with the predictions of the analytic model for plate transducers that we have developed previously. Additionally, we also confirm that the power maximization and zero reflection loads are very different when the losses in the receiver are high. Finally, we compare the optimal load predictions by the KLM and the analytic models with frequency dependent attenuation to evaluate the influence of the viscosity.

  2. Analytic model for ultrasound energy receivers and their optimal electric loads

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gorostiaga, M.; Wapler, M. C.; Wallrabe, U.

    2017-08-01

    In this paper, we present an analytic model for thickness resonating plate ultrasound energy receivers, which we have derived from the piezoelectric and the wave equations and, in which we have included dielectric, viscosity and acoustic attenuation losses. Afterwards, we explore the optimal electric load predictions by the zero reflection and power maximization approaches present in the literature with different acoustic boundary conditions, and discuss their limitations. To validate our model, we compared our expressions with the KLM model solved numerically with very good agreement. Finally, we discuss the differences between the zero reflection and power maximization optimal electric loads, which start to differ as losses in the receiver increase.

  3. 5 CFR 892.401 - Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal Government? 892.401 Section 892.401 Administrative... § 892.401 Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal...

  4. 5 CFR 892.401 - Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal Government? 892.401 Section 892.401 Administrative... § 892.401 Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal...

  5. 5 CFR 892.401 - Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal Government? 892.401 Section 892.401 Administrative... § 892.401 Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal...

  6. 5 CFR 892.401 - Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal Government? 892.401 Section 892.401 Administrative... § 892.401 Am I eligible for premium conversion if I retire and then come back to work for the Federal...

  7. A new fifth parameter for transverse isotropy III: reflection and transmission coefficients

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kawakatsu, Hitoshi

    2018-04-01

    The effect of the newly defined fifth parameter, ηκ, of transverse anisotropy to the reflection and transmission coefficients, especially for P-to-S and S-to-P conversion coefficients, is examined. While ηκ systematically affects the P-to-S and S-to-P conversions, in the incidence angle range of the practical interest of receiver function studies, the effect may be asymmetric in a sense that P-wave receiver function is affected more than S-receiver function in terms of amplitude. This asymmetry may help resolving ηκ via extensive receiver function analysis. It is also found that P-wave anisotropy significantly influences P-to-S and S-to-P conversion coefficients that complicates the interpretation of receiver functions, because, for isotropic media, we typically attribute the primary receiver function signals to S-wave velocity changes but not to P-wave changes.

  8. Large enhancement of interface second-harmonic generation near the zero-n(-) gap of a negative-index Bragg grating.

    PubMed

    D'Aguanno, Giuseppe; Mattiucci, Nadia; Bloemer, Mark J; Scalora, Michael

    2006-03-01

    We predict a large enhancement of interface second-harmonic generation near the zero-n(-) gap of a Bragg grating made of alternating layers of negative- and positive-index materials. Field localization and coherent oscillations of the nonlinear dipoles located at the structure's interfaces conspire to yield conversion efficiencies at least an order of magnitude greater than those achievable in the same length of nonlinear, phase-matched bulk material. These findings thus point to a new class of second-harmonic-generation devices made of standard centrosymmetric materials.

  9. 40 CFR 72.91 - Phase I unit adjusted utilization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... sales is less than or equal to zero, then percentage change in dispatch system sales shall be treated as zero only for purposes of paragraph (a)(3)(iii) of this section. (D) If the result of the formula for “shift to sulfur-free generator” is less than or equal to zero, then “shift to sulfur-free generator” is...

  10. 12 CFR 217.152 - Simple risk weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... than or equal to -1 (that is, between zero and -1), then E equals the absolute value of RVC. If RVC is... this section. (1) Zero percent risk weight equity exposures. An equity exposure to an entity whose credit exposures are exempt from the 0.03 percent PD floor in § 217.131(d)(2) is assigned a zero percent...

  11. 40 CFR 72.91 - Phase I unit adjusted utilization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... sales is less than or equal to zero, then percentage change in dispatch system sales shall be treated as zero only for purposes of paragraph (a)(3)(iii) of this section. (D) If the result of the formula for “shift to sulfur-free generator” is less than or equal to zero, then “shift to sulfur-free generator” is...

  12. 40 CFR 72.91 - Phase I unit adjusted utilization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... sales is less than or equal to zero, then percentage change in dispatch system sales shall be treated as zero only for purposes of paragraph (a)(3)(iii) of this section. (D) If the result of the formula for “shift to sulfur-free generator” is less than or equal to zero, then “shift to sulfur-free generator” is...

  13. 40 CFR 72.91 - Phase I unit adjusted utilization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... sales is less than or equal to zero, then percentage change in dispatch system sales shall be treated as zero only for purposes of paragraph (a)(3)(iii) of this section. (D) If the result of the formula for “shift to sulfur-free generator” is less than or equal to zero, then “shift to sulfur-free generator” is...

  14. 40 CFR 72.91 - Phase I unit adjusted utilization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... sales is less than or equal to zero, then percentage change in dispatch system sales shall be treated as zero only for purposes of paragraph (a)(3)(iii) of this section. (D) If the result of the formula for “shift to sulfur-free generator” is less than or equal to zero, then “shift to sulfur-free generator” is...

  15. Ergodicity, configurational entropy and free energy in pigment solutions and plant photosystems: influence of excited state lifetime.

    PubMed

    Jennings, Robert C; Zucchelli, Giuseppe

    2014-01-01

    We examine ergodicity and configurational entropy for a dilute pigment solution and for a suspension of plant photosystem particles in which both ground and excited state pigments are present. It is concluded that the pigment solution, due to the extreme brevity of the excited state lifetime, is non-ergodic and the configurational entropy approaches zero. Conversely, due to the rapid energy transfer among pigments, each photosystem is ergodic and the configurational entropy is positive. This decreases the free energy of the single photosystem pigment array by a small amount. On the other hand, the suspension of photosystems is non-ergodic and the configurational entropy approaches zero. The overall configurational entropy which, in principle, includes contributions from both the single excited photosystems and the suspension which contains excited photosystems, also approaches zero. Thus the configurational entropy upon photon absorption by either a pigment solution or a suspension of photosystem particles is approximately zero. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Optical data packet synchronization and multiplexing using a tunable optical delay based on wavelength conversion and inter-channel chromatic dispersion.

    PubMed

    Fazal, Irfan; Yilmaz, Omer; Nuccio, Scott; Zhang, Bo; Willner, Alan E; Langrock, Carsten; Fejer, Martin M

    2007-08-20

    10 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) on-off keyed (OOK) optical data packets are synchronized and time-multiplexed using a 26-ns tunable all-optical delay line. The delay element is based on wavelength conversion in periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguides, inter-channel chromatic dispersion in dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) and intra-channel dispersion compensation with a chirped fiber Bragg grating (FBG). Delay reconfiguration time is measured to be less than 300 ps.

  17. 76 FR 15233 - Proposed Modification to Regulation Concerning the Revocation of Antidumping and Countervailing...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-21

    ... an antidumping or countervailing duty order with respect to individual exporters or producers based on those individual exporters or producers having received antidumping margins of zero for three consecutive years, or countervailing duty rates of zero for five consecutive years. DATES: To be assured of...

  18. Special Pyrheliometer Shroud Development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dennison, E. W.

    1984-01-01

    To insure that the insolation values accurately represent the input power to a power conversion unit the field of view (FOV) of the concentrator aperture and the insolation radiometer must be the same. The calculations, implementation, and results of this approach are covered. Three instruments were used to measure the insolation: an Eppley Normal Incidence Radiometer (NIP) and two versions of the kendall cavity radiometer. The shrouds used to limit the FOV of the radiometers were designed to simulate the FOV of the PDC-1 concentrater with the cold water cavity calorimeter. This technique of matching the FOV of an insolation radiometer to the FOV of a specific concentrater and receiver aperture appears to be both practical and effective. The efficiency of a power conversion unit will be too low if the insolation is measured with a radiometer which has a FOV which is larger than the FOV of the concentrator.

  19. 47 CFR 87.145 - Acceptability of transmitters for licensing.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... square error which assumes zero error for the received ground earth station signal and includes the AES transmit/receive frequency reference error and the AES automatic frequency control residual errors.) The...

  20. 47 CFR 87.145 - Acceptability of transmitters for licensing.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... square error which assumes zero error for the received ground earth station signal and includes the AES transmit/receive frequency reference error and the AES automatic frequency control residual errors.) The...

  1. 47 CFR 87.145 - Acceptability of transmitters for licensing.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... square error which assumes zero error for the received ground earth station signal and includes the AES transmit/receive frequency reference error and the AES automatic frequency control residual errors.) The...

  2. 47 CFR 87.145 - Acceptability of transmitters for licensing.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... square error which assumes zero error for the received ground earth station signal and includes the AES transmit/receive frequency reference error and the AES automatic frequency control residual errors.) The...

  3. Zero Tolerance: Moving the Conversation Forward

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Evans, Katherine R.; Lester, Jessica Nina

    2012-01-01

    Special educators frequently teach students with a variety of diagnostic labels, including autism and oppositional defiant disorder. Some of these diagnoses point to the presence of challenging behaviors that might be viewed as threatening and disruptive. Teachers working with these students must make daily choices in how they approach such…

  4. Socialization and Language for Students with Hearing Impairments.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beattie, Rod G.

    1998-01-01

    Addresses the importance of teaching students with hearing impairments zero-order pragmatic-language competencies (PLCs), those communicative and interactive behaviors necessary in everyday social situations to avoid being seen as deviant. Among PLCs are taking turns, initiating or adding to a conversation, and making repairs when necessary. Many…

  5. Methodology affects measures of phosphorus availability in growing broilers: Effects of calcium feeding strategy and dietary adaptation period length on true ileal phosphorus digestibility and predicted endogenous phosphorus losses1.

    PubMed

    Perryman, K R; Masey O'Neill, H V; Bedford, M R; Dozier, W A

    2017-03-01

    An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of Ca feeding strategy and dietary adaptation period length (DAPL) on the apparent ileal P digestibility (AIPD) and apparent ileal myo-inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6 hexakis dihydrogen phosphate (IP6) hydrolysis (AIIP6H) of corn titration diets. Nine hundred sixty Ross × Ross 708 male broiler chicks were placed into 80 battery cages. Broilers received a common starter diet until 18 d of age and then were fed one of 10 experimental treatments from 19 to 21 d of age. Nine diets were formulated to evaluate 5 corn inclusion concentrations (15, 30, 45, 60, or 75%) and 2 Ca feeding strategies (fixed at 0.35% or 1.4:1 Ca:P) after 3 DAPL (zero, 24, and 48 h). As a control for DAPL, one treatment group received the common starter diet for the duration of the experiment. Broilers consuming the control diet had higher (P < 0.001) BW gain and feed intake than broilers fed the corn titration diets. Apparent ileal P digestibility of the control diet was affected (P = 0.038) by DAPL. For diets formulated with a 1.4:1 Ca:P ratio, negative linear effects (P < 0.05) on AIPD and AIIP6H were observed with increasing corn. Conversely, for diets formulated with 0.35% Ca, positive linear effects (P < 0.05) were measured for AIPD after a 48 DAPL while no linear or quadratic effects (P > 0.05) were measured for AIPD or AIIP6H for other DAPL. Broilers fed diets formulated with 1.4:1 Ca:P had variable (P < 0.05) true ileal P digestibility (TIPD; 32.2, 15.1, and 35.4%) and negative endogenous P losses (EPL; -190, -499, and -262 mg/kg DM intake) for zero, 24, and 48 h DAPL, respectively. Conversely, TIPD values (41.2, 39.1, and 47.3%) were similar (P > 0.05) and EPL were positive (102, 197, and 154 mg/kg DM intake), regardless of DAPL, for broilers fed diets formulated with 0.35% Ca. These data demonstrated that formulating diets with a 1.4:1 Ca:P ratio affected AIPD of the titration diets, shifting the regression line and predicted negative EPL and an underestimation of TIPD. © 2016 Poultry Science Association Inc.

  6. Steady bound electromagnetic eigenstate arises in a homogeneous isotropic linear metamaterial with zero-real-part-of-impedance and nonzero-imaginary-part-of-wave-vector

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Jiangwei; Dai, Yuyao; Yan, Lin; Zhao, Huimin

    2018-04-01

    In this paper, we shall demonstrate theoretically that steady bound electromagnetic eigenstate can arise in an infinite homogeneous isotropic linear metamaterial with zero-real-part-of-impedance and nonzero-imaginary-part-of-wave-vector, which is partly attributed to that, here, nonzero-imaginary-part-of-wave-vector is not involved with energy losses or gain. Altering value of real-part-of-impedance of the metamaterial, the bound electromagnetic eigenstate may become to be a progressive wave. Our work may be useful to further understand energy conversion and conservation properties of electromagnetic wave in the dispersive and absorptive medium and provides a feasible route to stop, store and release electromagnetic wave (light) conveniently by using metamaterial with near-zero-real-part-of-impedance.

  7. 77 FR 10584 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Amex LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-22

    ... Sell Imbalance to bring the imbalance quantity as close to zero as possible. The Exchange proposes to... price to be obtained is not lower than the last sale if the last sale was a ``plus'' or ``zero plus... sale was a ``minus'' or ``zero minus'' tick. The purpose of a Sell Plus order is to ensure that a...

  8. 40 CFR 91.120 - Compliance with Family Emission Limits over useful life.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... the deterioration factor supplied by the manufacturer is less than zero, it is zero for the purposes.... However, if the deterioration factor supplied by the manufacturer is less than one, it is one for the...

  9. 20 CFR 725.539 - More than one reduction event.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... first reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of the State or Federal benefits, and the remainder of the benefit for such month, if any, is then reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of excess...

  10. 20 CFR 725.539 - More than one reduction event.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... first reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of the State or Federal benefits, and the remainder of the benefit for such month, if any, is then reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of excess...

  11. 20 CFR 725.539 - More than one reduction event.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... first reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of the State or Federal benefits, and the remainder of the benefit for such month, if any, is then reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of excess...

  12. Does motivational interviewing counseling time influence HIV-positive persons' self-efficacy to practice safer sex?

    PubMed

    Chariyeva, Zulfiya; Golin, Carol E; Earp, Jo Anne; Suchindran, Chirayath

    2012-04-01

    This study examined the impact of motivational interviewing (MI) counseling time on self-efficacy to practice safer sex for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In 4 month intervals we followed a cohort of 490 PLWHA for 12 months. We conducted hierarchical linear regression models to examine changes in safer sex self-efficacy when participants received zero, low to moderate (5-131 min) and high (132-320 min) doses of MI time. We conducted a similar analysis using number of counseling sessions as the predictor variable. Participants with low to moderate doses of MI counseling had 0.26 higher self-efficacy scores than participants with zero MI time (p=0.01). Also, they had 0.26 lower self-efficacy scores than participants with high amounts of MI time (p=0.04). Participants with high doses of MI had a 0.5 higher self-efficacy score than participants with zero amount of MI time (p<0.0001). Participants who received 3-4 counseling sessions had 0.41 greater self-efficacy scores than participants who did not receive any sessions (p<0.0001) but did not differ from participants receiving 1-2 sessions. MI time is a key to enhancing safer sex self-efficacy among PLWHA. Safer sex self-efficacy improves the more MI counseling time and sessions PLWHA receive. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Dirac cones induced by accidental degeneracy in photonic crystals and zero-refractive-index materials.

    PubMed

    Huang, Xueqin; Lai, Yun; Hang, Zhi Hong; Zheng, Huihuo; Chan, C T

    2011-05-29

    A zero-refractive-index metamaterial is one in which waves do not experience any spatial phase change, and such a peculiar material has many interesting wave-manipulating properties. These materials can in principle be realized using man-made composites comprising metallic resonators or chiral inclusions, but metallic components have losses that compromise functionality at high frequencies. It would be highly desirable if we could achieve a zero refractive index using dielectrics alone. Here, we show that by employing accidental degeneracy, dielectric photonic crystals can be designed and fabricated that exhibit Dirac cone dispersion at the centre of the Brillouin zone at a finite frequency. In addition to many interesting properties intrinsic to a Dirac cone dispersion, we can use effective medium theory to relate the photonic crystal to a material with effectively zero permittivity and permeability. We then numerically and experimentally demonstrate in the microwave regime that such dielectric photonic crystals with reasonable dielectric constants manipulate waves as if they had near-zero refractive indices at and near the Dirac point frequency.

  14. Laboratory Production of Biofuels and Biochemicals from a Rapeseed Oil through Catalytic Cracking Conversion.

    PubMed

    Ng, Siauw H; Shi, Yu; Heshka, Nicole E; Zhang, Yi; Little, Edward

    2016-09-02

    The work is based on a reported study which investigates the processability of canola oil (bio-feed) in the presence of bitumen-derived heavy gas oil (HGO) for production of transportation fuels through a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) route. Cracking experiments are performed with a fully automated reaction unit at a fixed weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 8 hr(-1), 490-530 °C, and catalyst/oil ratios of 4-12 g/g. When a feed is in contact with catalyst in the fluid-bed reactor, cracking takes place generating gaseous, liquid, and solid products. The vapor produced is condensed and collected in a liquid receiver at -15 °C. The non-condensable effluent is first directed to a vessel and is sent, after homogenization, to an on-line gas chromatograph (GC) for refinery gas analysis. The coke deposited on the catalyst is determined in situ by burning the spent catalyst in air at high temperatures. Levels of CO2 are measured quantitatively via an infrared (IR) cell, and are converted to coke yield. Liquid samples in the receivers are analyzed by GC for simulated distillation to determine the amounts in different boiling ranges, i.e., IBP-221 °C (gasoline), 221-343 °C (light cycle oil), and 343 °C+ (heavy cycle oil). Cracking of a feed containing canola oil generates water, which appears at the bottom of a liquid receiver and on its inner wall. Recovery of water on the wall is achieved through washing with methanol followed by Karl Fischer titration for water content. Basic results reported include conversion (the portion of the feed converted to gas and liquid product with a boiling point below 221 °C, coke, and water, if present) and yields of dry gas (H2-C2's, CO, and CO2), liquefied petroleum gas (C3-C4), gasoline, light cycle oil, heavy cycle oil, coke, and water, if present.

  15. Waste Load Allocation for Conservative Substances to Protect Aquatic Organisms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hutcheson, M. R.

    1992-01-01

    A waste load allocation process is developed to determine the maximum effluent concentration of a conservative substance that will not harm fish and wildlife propagation. If this concentration is not exceeded in the effluent, the acute toxicity criterion will not be violated in the receiving stream, and the chronic criterion will not be exceeded in the zone of passage, defined in many state water quality standards to allow the movement of aquatic organisms past a discharge. Considerable simplification of the concentration equation, which is the heart of any waste load allocation, is achieved because it is based on the concentration in the receiving stream when the concentration gradient on the zone of passage boundary is zero. Consequently, the expression obtained for effluent concentration is independent of source location or stream morphology. Only five independent variables, which are routinely available to regulatory agencies, are required to perform this allocation. It aids in developing permit limits which are protective without being unduly restrictive or requiring large expenditures of money and manpower on field investigations.

  16. Zero-mode waveguides

    DOEpatents

    Levene, Michael J.; Korlach, Jonas; Turner, Stephen W.; Craighead, Harold G.; Webb, Watt W.

    2007-02-20

    The present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for analysis of an analyte. The method involves providing a zero-mode waveguide which includes a cladding surrounding a core where the cladding is configured to preclude propagation of electromagnetic energy of a frequency less than a cutoff frequency longitudinally through the core of the zero-mode waveguide. The analyte is positioned in the core of the zero-mode waveguide and is then subjected, in the core of the zero-mode waveguide, to activating electromagnetic radiation of a frequency less than the cut-off frequency under conditions effective to permit analysis of the analyte in an effective observation volume which is more compact than if the analysis were carried out in the absence of the zero-mode waveguide.

  17. Research of intelligent bus coin box

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xin, Shihao

    2017-03-01

    In the energy-saving emission reduction of the social context, in response to low-carbon travel, buses become the majority of people choose. We have designed this sorting machine for the present situation that the bus company has received a large amount of mixed zero coins and employed a large amount of manpower to sort out and lower the efficiency. Its function is to separate the coins and notes mixed, and the coins sort storage, the display shows the value of the received coins, so that the whole mechanized inventory classification, reduce the cost of clearing up and improve the efficiency of zero cash recycling, use Simple mechanical principles for classification, to be efficient, accurate and practical. Really meet the current city bus companies, commerce and banking and other industries in order to zero notes, zero coins in the actual demand. The size and specification of this machine are designed according to the size of the bus coin box. It is suitable for almost all buses. It can be installed in the coin box directly, real-time sorting and real-time counting. The difficulty of clearing change.

  18. Conversation and Object Manipulation Influence Children's Learning in a Museum.

    PubMed

    Jant, Erin A; Haden, Catherine A; Uttal, David H; Babcock, Elizabeth

    2014-01-01

    The effects of parent-child conversation and object manipulation on children's learning, transfer of knowledge, and memory were examined in two museum exhibits and conversations recorded at home. Seventy-eight children (Mage  = 4.9) and their parents were randomly assigned to receive conversation cards featuring elaborative questions about exhibit objects, the physical objects themselves, both, or neither, before their exhibit visits. Dyads who received the cards engaged in more elaborative talk and joint nonverbal activities with objects in the first exhibit than those who did not. Dyads who received objects engaged in the most parent-child joint talk. Results also illustrate transfer of information across exhibits and from museum to home. Implications for understanding mechanisms of informal learning and transfer are discussed. © 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  19. Prevention of HIV-1 Infection with Early Antiretroviral Therapy: Treatment as -

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gilada, Ishwar; Gilada, T.

    2014-07-01

    There are 34.2 million living with HIV/AIDS globally according to the UNAIDS. The incidence is 2.5 million new infections every year. Out of the 24.8 million patients eligible for antiretroviral treatment, only 8 million are actually receiving it. Nearly 1.7 million people (4658 per day) die of the disease every year i.e., 4658/day, making HIV/AIDS a planetary emergency. The most disturbing fact is that more than 50% of the infected people do not reveal their HIV status to their sexual partners. The UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-moon suggested "3 Zeros"--Zero Infection, Zero Stigma, Zero AIDS-deaths in 2008...

  20. 77 FR 10581 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; New York Stock Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-22

    ... quantity as close to zero as possible. The Exchange proposes to amend Rule 123C(4)(a)(vi) to add that LOC... ``plus'' or ``zero plus'' tick, and is not lower than the last sale plus the minimal fractional change in the stock if the last sale was a ``minus'' or ``zero minus'' tick. The purpose of a Sell Plus order is...

  1. An Active Z Gravity Compensation System

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-07-01

    is necessary to convert the modified digital controller back into continuous time, assuming a zero -order hold for output, and using the Padd ...most likely higher frequency pole- zero pairs introduced by the motor and torque servo, these are generally non-oscillatory, and small in amplitude...on the output of the PI control. The detection scheme is the following: if the output of the fuzzy controller has remained zero (static system) for

  2. Structural zeroes and zero-inflated models.

    PubMed

    He, Hua; Tang, Wan; Wang, Wenjuan; Crits-Christoph, Paul

    2014-08-01

    In psychosocial and behavioral studies count outcomes recording the frequencies of the occurrence of some health or behavior outcomes (such as the number of unprotected sexual behaviors during a period of time) often contain a preponderance of zeroes because of the presence of 'structural zeroes' that occur when some subjects are not at risk for the behavior of interest. Unlike random zeroes (responses that can be greater than zero, but are zero due to sampling variability), structural zeroes are usually very different, both statistically and clinically. False interpretations of results and study findings may result if differences in the two types of zeroes are ignored. However, in practice, the status of the structural zeroes is often not observed and this latent nature complicates the data analysis. In this article, we focus on one model, the zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression model that is commonly used to address zero-inflated data. We first give a brief overview of the issues of structural zeroes and the ZIP model. We then given an illustration of ZIP with data from a study on HIV-risk sexual behaviors among adolescent girls. Sample codes in SAS and Stata are also included to help perform and explain ZIP analyses.

  3. Topic Continuity in Informal Conversations between Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morris-Adams, Muna

    2013-01-01

    Topic management by non-native speakers (NNSs) during informal conversations has received comparatively little attention from researchers, and receives surprisingly little attention in second language learning and teaching. This article reports on one of the topic management strategies employed by international students during informal, social…

  4. Design and Test of a 65nm CMOS Front-End with Zero Dead Time for Next Generation Pixel Detectors

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

    Gaioni, L.; Braga, D.; Christian, D.

    This work is concerned with the experimental characterization of a synchronous analog processor with zero dead time developed in a 65 nm CMOS technology, conceived for pixel detectors at the HL-LHC experiment upgrades. It includes a low noise, fast charge sensitive amplifier with detector leakage compensation circuit, and a compact, single ended comparator able to correctly process hits belonging to two consecutive bunch crossing periods. A 2-bit Flash ADC is exploited for digital conversion immediately after the preamplifier. A description of the circuits integrated in the front-end processor and the initial characterization results are provided

  5. Resonant snubber inverter

    DOEpatents

    Lai, Jih-Sheng; Young, Sr., Robert W.; Chen, Daoshen; Scudiere, Matthew B.; Ott, Jr., George W.; White, Clifford P.; McKeever, John W.

    1997-01-01

    A resonant, snubber-based, soft switching, inverter circuit achieves lossless switching during dc-to-ac power conversion and power conditioning with minimum component count and size. Current is supplied to the resonant snubber branches solely by the main inverter switches. Component count and size are reduced by use of a single semiconductor switch in the resonant snubber branches. Component count is also reduced by maximizing the use of stray capacitances of the main switches as parallel resonant capacitors. Resonance charging and discharging of the parallel capacitances allows lossless, zero voltage switching. In one embodiment, circuit component size and count are minimized while achieving lossless, zero voltage switching within a three-phase inverter.

  6. Resonant snubber inverter

    DOEpatents

    Lai, J.S.; Young, R.W. Sr.; Chen, D.; Scudiere, M.B.; Ott, G.W. Jr.; White, C.P.; McKeever, J.W.

    1997-06-24

    A resonant, snubber-based, soft switching, inverter circuit achieves lossless switching during dc-to-ac power conversion and power conditioning with minimum component count and size. Current is supplied to the resonant snubber branches solely by the main inverter switches. Component count and size are reduced by use of a single semiconductor switch in the resonant snubber branches. Component count is also reduced by maximizing the use of stray capacitances of the main switches as parallel resonant capacitors. Resonance charging and discharging of the parallel capacitances allows lossless, zero voltage switching. In one embodiment, circuit component size and count are minimized while achieving lossless, zero voltage switching within a three-phase inverter. 14 figs.

  7. Electric field poling induced self-biased converse magnetoelectric response in PMN-PT/NiFe2O4 nanocomposites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ahlawat, Anju; Satapathy, S.; Deshmukh, Pratik; Shirolkar, M. M.; Sinha, A. K.; Karnal, A. K.

    2017-12-01

    In this letter, studies on structural transitions and the effect of electric field poling on magnetoelectric (ME) properties in 0.65Pb (Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.35PbTiO3 (PMN-PT)/NiFe2O4 (NFO) nanocomposites are reported. The composite illustrates dramatic changes in the NFO crystal structure across ferroelectric transition temperature [Curie temperature (Tc) ˜ 450 K] of PMN-PT, while pure NFO does not exhibit any structural change in the temperature range (300 K-650 K). Synchrotron based X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the splitting of NFO peaks across the Tc of PMN-PT in the PMN-PT/NFO composite. Consequently, the anomalies are observed in temperature dependent magnetization of the NFO phase at the Tc of PMN-PT, establishing ME coupling in the PMN-PT/NFO composite. Furthermore, the composite exhibits drastic modification in ME coupling under electrically poled and unpoled conditions. A large self-biased ME effect characterized by non-zero ME response at zero Hbias was observed in electrically poled composites, which was not observed in unpoled PMN-PT/NFO. These results propose an alternative mechanism for intrinsic converse ME effects. The maximum magnetoelectric output was doubled after electrical poling. The observed self-biased converse magnetoelectric effect at room temperature provides potential applications in electrically controlled memory devices and magnetic flux control devices.

  8. 31 CFR 356.20 - How does the Treasury determine auction awards?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... and bond issues. We set the interest rate at a 1/8 of one percent increment. If a Treasury inflation-protected securities auction results in a negative or zero yield, the interest rate will be set at zero, and...

  9. Effect of thread shape on screw stress concentration by photoelastic measurements

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

    Dragoni, E.

    1994-11-01

    The screw stress concentration for six nut-bolt connections embodying three different thread profiles and two nut shapes is measured photoelastically. Buttress (nearly zero flank angle), trapezoidal (15-deg flank angle), and triangular (30-deg flank angle) thread forms are examined in combination with standard and lip-type nuts. The effect of the thread profile on the screw stress concentration appears to be dependent upon the kind of nut considered. If the fastening incorporates a standard nut, the buttress thread is stronger than the triangular one, which, in turn, behaves better than the trapezoidal contour. The improvement is roughly a 20% reduction in themore » stress concentration factor from the trapezoidal to the buttress thread. In the case of lip nut, conversely, this tendency is somewhat reversed, with the trapezoidal thread performing slightly (but not decidedly) better than the other two shapes. Finally, averaged over all three thread forms, the lip nut exhibits a stress concentration factor which is about 50% lower than that of the standard nut.« less

  10. The Study of 0.34 THz Monolithically Integrated Fourth Subharmonic Mixer Using Planar Schottky Barrier Diode

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tong, Xiaodong; Li, Qian; An, Ning; Wang, Wenjie; Deng, Xiaodong; Zhang, Liang; Liu, Haitao; Zeng, Jianping; Li, Zhiqiang; Tang, Hailing; Xiong, Yong-Zhong

    2015-11-01

    A planar Schottky barrier diode with the designed Schottky contact area of approximately 3 μm2 is developed on gallium arsenide (GaAs) material. The measurements of the developed planar Schottky barrier diode indicate that the zero-biased junction capacitance Cj0 is 11.0 fF, the parasitic series resistance RS is 3.0 Ω, and the cut off frequency fT is 4.8 THz. A monolithically integrated fourth subharmonic mixer with this diode operating at the radio frequency (RF) signal frequency of 0.34 THz with the chip area of 0.6 mm2 is implemented. The intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth is from DC to 40 GHz. The local oscillator (LO) bandwidth is 37 GHz from 60 to 97 GHz. The RF bandwidth is determined by the bandwidth of the on chip antenna, which is 28 GHz from 322 to 350 GHz. The measurements of the mixer demonstrated a conversion loss of approximately 51 dB.

  11. The Geomagnetic Field During a Reversal

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heirtzler, James R.

    2003-01-01

    By modifying the IGRF it is possible to learn what may happen to the geomagnetic field during a geomagnetic reversal. If the entire IGRF reverses then the declination and inclination only reverse when the field strength is zero. If only the dipole component of the IGRF reverses a large geomagnetic field remains when the dipole component is zero and he direction of the field at the end of the reversal is not exactly reversed from the directions at the beginning of the reversal.

  12. Receiver functions from west Antarctica; crust and mantle properties from POLENET

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aster, R. C.; Chaput, J. A.; Hansen, S. E.; Nyblade, A.; Wiens, D. A.; Huerta, A. D.; Wilson, T. J.; Anandakrishnan, S.

    2011-12-01

    We use receiver functions to extract crustal thickness and mantle transition zone depths across a wide extent of West Antarctica and the Transantarctic mountains using POLENET data, including recently recovered data from a 14-station West Antarctic Rift Zone transect. An adaptive approach for generating and analyzing P-receiver functions over ice sheets and sedimentary basins (similar to Winberry and Anandakrishnan, 2004) is applied using an extended time multitaper deconvolution algorithm and forward modeling synthetic seismogram fitting. We model P-S receiver functions via a layer stripping methodology (beginning with the ice sheet, if present), and fit increasingly longer sections of synthetic receiver functions to model the multiples observed in the data derived receiver functions. We additionally calculate S-P receiver functions, which provide complementary structural constraints, to generate consistent common conversion point stacks to image crustal and upper mantle discontinuities under West Antarctica. Crust throughout West Antarctica is generally thin (23-29 km; comparable to the U.S. Basin and Range) with relative thickening under the Marie Byrd Land volcanic province (to 32 km) and the Transantarctic Mountains. All constrained west Antarctic crust is substantially thicker than that in the vicinity of Ross Island, where crust as thin as 17 km is inferred in the Terror Rift region.

  13. A randomized controlled trial of cognitive behavioral therapy for individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis.

    PubMed

    Addington, Jean; Epstein, Irvin; Liu, Lu; French, Paul; Boydell, Katherine M; Zipursky, Robert B

    2011-01-01

    There has been increasing interest in early detection during the prodromal phase of a psychotic disorder. To date a few treatment studies have been published with some promising results for both pharmacological treatments, using second generation antipsychotics, and psychological interventions, mainly cognitive behavioral therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine first if cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was more effective in reducing the rates of conversion compared to a supportive therapy and secondly whether those who received CBT had improved symptoms compared to those who received supportive therapy. Fifty-one individuals at clinical high risk of developing psychosis were randomized to CBT or a supportive therapy for up to 6 months. The sample was assessed at 6, 12 and 18 months post baseline on attenuated positive symptoms, negative symptoms, depression, anxiety and social functioning. Conversions to psychosis only occurred in the group who received supportive therapy although the difference was not significant. Both groups improved in attenuated positive symptoms, depression and anxiety and neither improved in social functioning and negative symptoms. There were no differences between the two treatment groups. However, the improvement in attenuated positive symptoms was more rapid for the CBT group. There are limitations of this trial and potential explanations for the lack of differences. However, both the results of this study and the possible explanations have significant implications for early detection and intervention in the pre-psychotic phase and for designing future treatments. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Implementation of a wireless ECG acquisition SoC for IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) applications.

    PubMed

    Wang, Liang-Hung; Chen, Tsung-Yen; Lin, Kuang-Hao; Fang, Qiang; Lee, Shuenn-Yuh

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a wireless biosignal acquisition system-on-a-chip (WBSA-SoC) specialized for electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring. The proposed system consists of three subsystems, namely, 1) the ECG acquisition node, 2) the protocol for standard IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee system, and 3) the RF transmitter circuits. The ZigBee protocol is adopted for wireless communication to achieve high integration, applicability, and portability. A fully integrated CMOS RF front end containing a quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator and a 2.4-GHz low-IF (i.e., zero-IF) transmitter is employed to transmit ECG signals through wireless communication. The low-power WBSA-SoC is implemented by the TSMC 0.18-μm standard CMOS process. An ARM-based displayer with FPGA demodulation and an RF receiver with analog-to-digital mixed-mode circuits are constructed as verification platform to demonstrate the wireless ECG acquisition system. Measurement results on the human body show that the proposed SoC can effectively acquire ECG signals.

  15. A 0.13µm CMOS Bluetooth EDR Transceiver with High Sensitivity over Wide Temperature Range and Immunity to Process Variation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Agawa, Kenichi; Ishizuka, Shinichiro; Majima, Hideaki; Kobayashi, Hiroyuki; Koizumi, Masayuki; Nagano, Takeshi; Arai, Makoto; Shimizu, Yutaka; Maki, Asuka; Urakawa, Go; Terada, Tadashi; Itoh, Nobuyuki; Hamada, Mototsugu; Fujii, Fumie; Kato, Tadamasa; Yoshitomi, Sadayuki; Otsuka, Nobuaki

    A 2.4GHz 0.13µm CMOS transceiver LSI, supporting Bluetooth V2.1 + enhanced data rate (EDR) standard, has achieved a high reception sensitivity and high-quality transmission signals between -40°C and +90°C. A low-IF receiver and direct-conversion transmitter architecture are employed. A temperature compensated receiver chain including a low-noise amplifier accomplishes a sensitivity of -90dBm at frequency shift keying modulation even in the worst environmental condition. Design optimization of phase noise in a local oscillator and linearity of a power amplifier improves transmission signals and enables them to meet Bluetooth radio specifications. Fabrication in scaled 0.13µm CMOS and operation at a low supply voltage of 1.5V result in small area and low power consumption.

  16. Rectenna session: Micro aspects. [energy conversion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gutmann, R. J.

    1980-01-01

    Two micro aspects of the rectenna design are addressed: evaluation of the degradation in net rectenna RF to DC conversion efficiency due to power density variations across the rectenna (power combining analysis) and design of Yagi-Uda receiving elements to reduce rectenna cost by decreasing the number of conversion circuits (directional receiving elements). The first of these micro aspects involves resolving a fundamental question of efficiency potential with a rectenna, while the second involves a design modification with a large potential cost saving.

  17. Toxicity of zero-valent iron nanoparticles to a trichloroethylene-degrading groundwater microbial community.

    PubMed

    Zabetakis, Kara M; Niño de Guzmán, Gabriela T; Torrents, Alba; Yarwood, Stephanie

    2015-01-01

    The microbiological impact of zero-valent iron used in the remediation of groundwater was investigated by exposing a trichloroethylene-degrading anaerobic microbial community to two types of iron nanoparticles. Changes in total bacterial and archaeal population numbers were analyzed using qPCR and were compared to results from a blank and negative control to assess for microbial toxicity. Additionally, the results were compared to those of samples exposed to silver nanoparticles and iron filings in an attempt to discern the source of toxicity. Statistical analysis revealed that the three different iron treatments were equally toxic to the total bacteria and archaea populations, as compared with the controls. Conversely, the silver nanoparticles had a limited statistical impact when compared to the controls and increased the microbial populations in some instances. Therefore, the findings suggest that zero-valent iron toxicity does not result from a unique nanoparticle-based effect.

  18. 76 FR 10429 - Petition for Exemption; Summary of Petition Received

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-24

    ... information was submitted via phone conversation and in letter form. The petitioner had a conversation with.... Both the Record of Conversation from the phone call and the information submitted by letter are...

  19. Zero-mode clad waveguides for performing spectroscopy with confined effective observation volumes

    DOEpatents

    Levene, Michael J.; Korlach, Jonas; Turner, Stephen W.; Craighead, Harold G.; Webb, Watt W.

    2005-07-12

    The present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for analysis of an analyte. The method involves providing a zero-mode waveguide which includes a cladding surrounding a core where the cladding is configured to preclude propagation of electromagnetic energy of a frequency less than a cutoff frequency longitudinally through the core of the zero-mode waveguide. The analyte is positioned in the core of the zero-mode waveguide and is then subjected, in the core of the zero-mode waveguide, to activating electromagnetic radiation of a frequency less than the cut-off frequency under conditions effective to permit analysis of the analyte in an effective observation volume which is more compact than if the analysis were carried out in the absence of the zero-mode waveguide.

  20. Adaptative synchronization in multi-output fractional-order complex dynamical networks and secure communications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mata-Machuca, Juan L.; Aguilar-López, Ricardo

    2018-01-01

    This work deals with the adaptative synchronization of complex dynamical networks with fractional-order nodes and its application in secure communications employing chaotic parameter modulation. The complex network is composed of multiple fractional-order systems with mismatch parameters and the coupling functions are given to realize the network synchronization. We introduce a fractional algebraic synchronizability condition (FASC) and a fractional algebraic identifiability condition (FAIC) which are used to know if the synchronization and parameters estimation problems can be solved. To overcome these problems, an adaptative synchronization methodology is designed; the strategy consists in proposing multiple receiver systems which tend to follow asymptotically the uncertain transmitters systems. The coupling functions and parameters of the receiver systems are adjusted continually according to a convenient sigmoid-like adaptative controller (SLAC), until the measurable output errors converge to zero, hence, synchronization between transmitter and receivers is achieved and message signals are recovered. Indeed, the stability analysis of the synchronization error is based on the fractional Lyapunov direct method. Finally, numerical results corroborate the satisfactory performance of the proposed scheme by means of the synchronization of a complex network consisting of several fractional-order unified chaotic systems.

  1. General Conversion for Obtaining Strongly Existentially Unforgeable Signatures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teranishi, Isamu; Oyama, Takuro; Ogata, Wakaha

    We say that a signature scheme is strongly existentially unforgeable (SEU) if no adversary, given message/signature pairs adaptively, can generate a signature on a new message or a new signature on a previously signed message. We propose a general and efficient conversion in the standard model that transforms a secure signature scheme to SEU signature scheme. In order to construct that conversion, we use a chameleon commitment scheme. Here a chameleon commitment scheme is a variant of commitment scheme such that one can change the committed value after publishing the commitment if one knows the secret key. We define the chosen message security notion for the chameleon commitment scheme, and show that the signature scheme transformed by our proposed conversion satisfies the SEU property if the chameleon commitment scheme is chosen message secure. By modifying the proposed conversion, we also give a general and efficient conversion in the random oracle model, that transforms a secure signature scheme into a SEU signature scheme. This second conversion also uses a chameleon commitment scheme but only requires the key only attack security for it.

  2. The architecture design of a 2mW 18-bit high speed weight voltage type DAC based on dual weight resistance chain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qixing, Chen; Qiyu, Luo

    2013-03-01

    At present, the architecture of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) in essence is based on the weight current, and the average value of its D/A signal current increases in geometric series according to its digital signal bits increase, which is 2n-1 times of its least weight current. But for a dual weight resistance chain type DAC, by using the weight voltage manner to D/A conversion, the D/A signal current is fixed to chain current Icha; it is only 1/2n-1 order of magnitude of the average signal current value of the weight current type DAC. Its principle is: n pairs dual weight resistances form a resistance chain, which ensures the constancy of the chain current; if digital signals control the total weight resistance from the output point to the zero potential point, that could directly control the total weight voltage of the output point, so that the digital signals directly turn into a sum of the weight voltage signals; thus the following goals are realized: (1) the total current is less than 200 μA (2) the total power consumption is less than 2 mW; (3) an 18-bit conversion can be realized by adopting a multi-grade structure; (4) the chip area is one order of magnitude smaller than the subsection current-steering type DAC; (5) the error depends only on the error of the unit resistance, so it is smaller than the error of the subsection current-steering type DAC; (6) the conversion time is only one action time of switch on or off, so its speed is not lower than the present DAC.

  3. 7 CFR 1450.214 - Annual payments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... biofuels as defined by 40 CFR 80.1401; (ii) By 10 percent if the eligible crop is delivered to a biomass conversion facility for conversion to advanced biofuels; (iii) By 25 percent if the eligible crop is..., or advanced biofuels; (2) If the producer violates a term of the contract; or (3) In other...

  4. 7 CFR 1450.214 - Annual payments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... biofuels as defined by 40 CFR 80.1401; (ii) By 10 percent if the eligible crop is delivered to a biomass conversion facility for conversion to advanced biofuels; (iii) By 25 percent if the eligible crop is..., or advanced biofuels; (2) If the producer violates a term of the contract; or (3) In other...

  5. 7 CFR 1450.214 - Annual payments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... biofuels as defined by 40 CFR 80.1401; (ii) By 10 percent if the eligible crop is delivered to a biomass conversion facility for conversion to advanced biofuels; (iii) By 25 percent if the eligible crop is..., or advanced biofuels; (2) If the producer violates a term of the contract; or (3) In other...

  6. 7 CFR 1450.214 - Annual payments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... biofuels as defined by 40 CFR 80.1401; (ii) By 10 percent if the eligible crop is delivered to a biomass conversion facility for conversion to advanced biofuels; (iii) By 25 percent if the eligible crop is..., or advanced biofuels; (2) If the producer violates a term of the contract; or (3) In other...

  7. 7 CFR 46.33 - Conversion of funds.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Conversion of funds. 46.33 Section 46.33 Agriculture... THAN RULES OF PRACTICE) UNDER THE PERISHABLE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES ACT, 1930 Conversion of Funds § 46.33 Conversion of funds. Any licensee who collects or receives funds for or on behalf of another...

  8. 7 CFR 46.33 - Conversion of funds.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conversion of funds. 46.33 Section 46.33 Agriculture... THAN RULES OF PRACTICE) UNDER THE PERISHABLE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES ACT, 1930 Conversion of Funds § 46.33 Conversion of funds. Any licensee who collects or receives funds for or on behalf of another...

  9. Photonic zero mode in a non-Hermitian photonic lattice.

    PubMed

    Pan, Mingsen; Zhao, Han; Miao, Pei; Longhi, Stefano; Feng, Liang

    2018-04-03

    Zero-energy particles (such as Majorana fermions) are newly predicted quasiparticles and are expected to play an important role in fault-tolerant quantum computation. In conventional Hermitian quantum systems, however, such zero states are vulnerable and even become vanishing if couplings with surroundings are of the same topological nature. Here we demonstrate a robust photonic zero mode sustained by a spatial non-Hermitian phase transition in a parity-time (PT) symmetric lattice, despite the same topological order across the entire system. The non-Hermitian-enhanced topological protection ensures the reemergence of the zero mode at the phase transition interface when the two semi-lattices under different PT phases are decoupled effectively in their real spectra. Residing at the midgap level of the PT symmetric spectrum, the zero mode is topologically protected against topological disorder. We experimentally validated the robustness of the zero-energy mode by ultrafast heterodyne measurements of light transport dynamics in a silicon waveguide lattice.

  10. Zero drift of intraventricular and subdural intracranial pressure monitoring systems.

    PubMed

    Chen, Li; Du, Hang-gen; Yin, Li-chun; He, Min; Zhang, Guo-jun; Tian, Yong; Wang, Cheng; Hao, Bi-lie; Li, Hong-yu

    2013-01-01

    To assess zero drift of intraventricular and subdural intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring systems. A prospective study was conducted in patients who received Codman ICP monitoring in the neurosurgical department from January 2010 to December 2011. According to the location of sensors, the patients were categorized into two groups: intraventricular group and subdural group. Zero drift between the two groups and its association with the duration of ICP monitor were analyzed. Totally, 22 patients undergoing intraventricular ICP monitoring and 27 receiving subdural ICP monitoring were enrolled. There was no significant difference in duration of ICP monitoring, zero drift value and its absolute value between intraventricular and subdural groups (5.38 d+/-2.58 d vs 4.58 d+/-2.24 d, 0.77 mm Hg+/-2.18 mm Hg vs 1.03 mm Hg+/-2.06 mm Hg, 1.68 mm Hg+/-1.55 mm Hg vs 1.70 mm Hg+/-1.53 mm Hg, respectively; all P larger than 0.05). Absolute value of zero drift in both groups significantly rose with the increased duration of ICP monitoring (P less than 0.05) while zero drift value did not. Moreover, daily absolute value in the intraventricular group was significantly smaller than that in the subdural group (0.27 mm Hg+/-0.32 mm Hg vs 0.29 mm Hg+/-0.18 mm Hg, P less than 0.05). This study demonstrates that absolute value of zero drift significantly correlates with duration of both intraventricular and subdural ICP monitoring. Due to the smaller daily absolute value, ICP values recorded from intraventricular system may be more reliable than those from subdural system.

  11. Activation of zero-error classical capacity in low-dimensional quantum systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Park, Jeonghoon; Heo, Jun

    2018-06-01

    Channel capacities of quantum channels can be nonadditive even if one of two quantum channels has no channel capacity. We call this phenomenon activation of the channel capacity. In this paper, we show that when we use a quantum channel on a qubit system, only a noiseless qubit channel can generate the activation of the zero-error classical capacity. In particular, we show that the zero-error classical capacity of two quantum channels on qubit systems cannot be activated. Furthermore, we present a class of examples showing the activation of the zero-error classical capacity in low-dimensional systems.

  12. Method and apparatus for determining viscosity

    DOEpatents

    Chu, Benjamin; Dhadwal, Harbans S.

    1990-01-01

    A capillary viscometer is provided which includes a fiber-optic probe and a phototransistor which produces an output signal as a liquid meniscus falls through the field of view of a detecting fiber bundle. An analog circuit is employed for receiving the signal and starting or stopping a digital counter in response thereto. The circuit includes first and second differentiators and a zero detection portion for detecting zero value outputs from the second differentiator. The counter is started or stopped upon the generation of a triggering pulse at the time such zero value is detected.

  13. Breaking the Silence: Time to Talk About Race and Racism.

    PubMed

    Acosta, David; Ackerman-Barger, Kupiri

    2017-03-01

    Recent events in the United States have catalyzed the need for all educators to begin paying attention to and discovering ways to dialogue about race. No longer can health professions (HP) educators ignore or avoid these difficult conversations. HP students are now demanding them. Cultural sensitivity and unconscious bias training are not enough. Good will and good intentions are not enough. Current faculty development paradigms are no longer sufficient to meet the educational challenges of delving into issues of race, power, privilege, identity, and social justice.Engaging in such conversations, however, can be overwhelmingly stressful for untrained faculty. The authors argue that before any curriculum on race and racism can be developed for HP students, and before faculty members can begin facilitating conversations about race and racism, faculty must receive proper training through intense and introspective faculty development. Training should cover how best to engage in, sustain, and deepen interracial dialogue on difficult topics such as race and racism within academic health centers (AHCs). If such faculty development training-in how to conduct interracial dialogues on race, racism, oppression, and the invisibility of privilege-is made standard at all AHCs, HP educators might be poised to actualize the real benefits of open dialogue and change.

  14. Combining natural language processing and network analysis to examine how advocacy organizations stimulate conversation on social media.

    PubMed

    Bail, Christopher Andrew

    2016-10-18

    Social media sites are rapidly becoming one of the most important forums for public deliberation about advocacy issues. However, social scientists have not explained why some advocacy organizations produce social media messages that inspire far-ranging conversation among social media users, whereas the vast majority of them receive little or no attention. I argue that advocacy organizations are more likely to inspire comments from new social media audiences if they create "cultural bridges," or produce messages that combine conversational themes within an advocacy field that are seldom discussed together. I use natural language processing, network analysis, and a social media application to analyze how cultural bridges shaped public discourse about autism spectrum disorders on Facebook over the course of 1.5 years, controlling for various characteristics of advocacy organizations, their social media audiences, and the broader social context in which they interact. I show that organizations that create substantial cultural bridges provoke 2.52 times more comments about their messages from new social media users than those that do not, controlling for these factors. This study thus offers a theory of cultural messaging and public deliberation and computational techniques for text analysis and application-based survey research.

  15. Effect of reactivity loss on apparent reaction order of burning char particles

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

    Murphy, Jeffrey J.; Shaddix, Christopher R.

    Considerable debate still exists in the char combustion community over the expected and observed reaction orders of carbon reacting with oxygen. In particular, very low values of the reaction order (approaching zero) are commonly observed in char combustion experiments. These observations appear to conflict with porous catalyst theory as first expressed by Thiele, which suggests that the apparent reaction order must be greater than 0.5. In this work, we propose that this conflict may be resolved by considering the decrease in char reactivity with burnout due to ash effects, thermal annealing, or other phenomena. Specifically, the influence of ash dilutionmore » of the available surface area on the apparent reaction order is explored. Equations describing the ash dilution effect are combined with a model for particle burnout based on single-film nth-order Arrhenius char combustion and yield an analytical expression for the effective reaction order. When this expression is applied for experimental conditions reflecting combustion of individual pulverized coal particles in an entrained flow reactor, the apparent reaction order is shown to be lower than the inherent char matrix reaction order, even for negligible extents of char conversion. As char conversion proceeds and approaches completion, the apparent reaction order drops precipitously past zero to negative values. Conversely, the inclusion of the ash dilution model has little effect on the char conversion profile or char particle temperature until significant burnout has occurred. Taken together, these results suggest that the common experimental observation of low apparent reaction orders during char combustion is a consequence of the lack of explicit modeling of the decrease in char reactivity with burnout. (author)« less

  16. A Converse of Fermat's Little Theorem

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruckman, P. S.

    2007-01-01

    As the name of the paper implies, a converse of Fermat's Little Theorem (FLT) is stated and proved. FLT states the following: if p is any prime, and x any integer, then x[superscript p] [equivalent to] x (mod p). There is already a well-known converse of FLT, known as Lehmer's Theorem, which is as follows: if x is an integer coprime with m, such…

  17. Superconducting terahertz mixer using a transition-edge microbolometer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prober, D. E.

    1993-01-01

    We present a new device concept for a mixer element for THz frequencies. This uses a superconducting transition-edge microbridge biased at the center of its superconducting transition near 4.2 K. It is fed from an antenna or waveguide structure. Power from a local oscillator and an RF signal produce a temperature and resulting resistance variation at the difference frequency. The new aspect is the use of a very short bridge in which rapid (less than 0.1 ns) outdiffusion of hot electrons occurs. This gives large intermediate frequency (IF) response. The mixer offers about 4 GHz IF bandwidth, about 80 ohm RF resistive impedance, good match to the IF amplifier, and requires only 1-20 nW of local oscillator power. The upper RF frequency is determined by antenna or waveguide properties. Predicted mixer conversion efficiency is 1/8, and predicted double-sideband receiver noise temperatures are 260 and 90 K for transition widths of 0.1 and 0.5 Tc, respectively.

  18. Monostatic lidar/radar invisibility using coated spheres.

    PubMed

    Zhai, Peng-Wang; You, Yu; Kattawar, George W; Yang, Ping

    2008-02-04

    The Lorenz-Mie theory is revisited to explicitly include materials whose permeability is different from unity. The expansion coefficients of the scattered field are given for light scattering by both homogeneous and coated spheres. It is shown that the backscatter is exactly zero if the impedance of the spherical particles is equal to the intrinsic impedance of the surrounding medium. If spherical particles are sufficiently large, the zero backscatter can be explained as impedance matching using the asymptotic expression for the radar backscattering cross section. In the case of a coated sphere, the shell can be regarded as a cloak if the product of the thickness and the imaginary part of the refractive index of the outer shell is large.

  19. 40 CFR 86.540-90 - Exhaust sample analysis.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ..., gasoline-fueled, natural gas-fueled, liquefied petroleum gas-fueled and methanol-fueled motorcycle HC and, if appropriate, NOX: (1) Zero the analyzers and obtain a stable zero reading. Recheck after tests. (2... CH3OH (methanol-fueled vehicles), introduce test samples into the gas chromatograph and measure the...

  20. 40 CFR 86.540-90 - Exhaust sample analysis.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., gasoline-fueled, natural gas-fueled, liquefied petroleum gas-fueled and methanol-fueled motorcycle HC and, if appropriate, NOX: (1) Zero the analyzers and obtain a stable zero reading. Recheck after tests. (2... CH3OH (methanol-fueled vehicles), introduce test samples into the gas chromatograph and measure the...

  1. 45 CFR 158.232 - Calculating the credibility adjustment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... experience is zero. (2) The base credibility factor for partially credible experience is determined based on... adjustment for an MLR based on partially credible experience is zero if both of the following conditions are... deductible factor is based on the average per person deductible of policies whose experience is included in...

  2. Gasification: A Cornerstone Technology

    ScienceCinema

    Gary Stiegel

    2017-12-09

    NETL is a leader in the science and technology of gasification - a process for the conversion of carbon-based materials such as coal into synthesis gas (syngas) that can be used to produce clean electrical energy, transportation fuels, and chemicals efficiently and cost-effectively using domestic fuel resources. Gasification is a cornerstone technology of 21st century zero emissions powerplants

  3. Using Critical Policy Analysis to Examine Competing Discourses in Zero Tolerance Legislation: Do We Really Want to Leave No Child Behind?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kennedy-Lewis, Brianna L.

    2014-01-01

    The increasing use of zero tolerance discipline policies in the USA has led to a "discipline gap," in which minoritized students receive harsher and more frequent suspensions and expulsions than their peers from dominant cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Though disciplinary decisions are made by educators at the school level,…

  4. ZeroCal: Automatic MAC Protocol Calibration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meier, Andreas; Woehrle, Matthias; Zimmerling, Marco; Thiele, Lothar

    Sensor network MAC protocols are typically configured for an intended deployment scenario once and for all at compile time. This approach, however, leads to suboptimal performance if the network conditions deviate from the expectations. We present ZeroCal, a distributed algorithm that allows nodes to dynamically adapt to variations in traffic volume. Using ZeroCal, each node autonomously configures its MAC protocol at runtime, thereby trying to reduce the maximum energy consumption among all nodes. While the algorithm is readily usable for any asynchronous low-power listening or low-power probing protocol, we validate and demonstrate the effectiveness of ZeroCal on X-MAC. Extensive testbed experiments and simulations indicate that ZeroCal quickly adapts to traffic variations. We further show that ZeroCal extends network lifetime by 50% compared to an optimal configuration with identical and static MAC parameters at all nodes.

  5. A random matrix approach to credit risk.

    PubMed

    Münnix, Michael C; Schäfer, Rudi; Guhr, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    We estimate generic statistical properties of a structural credit risk model by considering an ensemble of correlation matrices. This ensemble is set up by Random Matrix Theory. We demonstrate analytically that the presence of correlations severely limits the effect of diversification in a credit portfolio if the correlations are not identically zero. The existence of correlations alters the tails of the loss distribution considerably, even if their average is zero. Under the assumption of randomly fluctuating correlations, a lower bound for the estimation of the loss distribution is provided.

  6. A Random Matrix Approach to Credit Risk

    PubMed Central

    Guhr, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    We estimate generic statistical properties of a structural credit risk model by considering an ensemble of correlation matrices. This ensemble is set up by Random Matrix Theory. We demonstrate analytically that the presence of correlations severely limits the effect of diversification in a credit portfolio if the correlations are not identically zero. The existence of correlations alters the tails of the loss distribution considerably, even if their average is zero. Under the assumption of randomly fluctuating correlations, a lower bound for the estimation of the loss distribution is provided. PMID:24853864

  7. Demand Controlled Economizer Cycles: A Direct Digital Control Scheme for Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Systems,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-05-01

    Control Ignored any error of 1/10th degree or less. This was done by setting the error term E and the integral sum PREINT to zero If then absolute value of...signs of two errors jeq tdiff if equal, jump clr @preint else zero integal sum tdiff mov @diff,rl fetch absolute value of OAT-RAT ci rl,25 is...includes a heating coil and thermostatic control to maintain the air in this path at an elevated temperature, typically around 80 degrees Farenheit (80 F

  8. Zero-power receiver

    DOEpatents

    Brocato, Robert W.

    2016-10-04

    An unpowered signal receiver and a method for signal reception detects and responds to very weak signals using pyroelectric devices as impedance transformers and/or demodulators. In some embodiments, surface acoustic wave devices (SAW) are also used. Illustrative embodiments include satellite and long distance terrestrial communications applications.

  9. Waveguides for performing enzymatic reactions

    DOEpatents

    Levene; Michael J. , Korlach; Jonas , Turner; Stephen W. , Craighead; Harold G. , Webb; Watt W.

    2007-11-06

    The present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for analysis of an analyte. The method involves providing a zero-mode waveguide which includes a cladding surrounding a core where the cladding is configured to preclude propagation of electromagnetic energy of a frequency less than a cutoff frequency longitudinally through the core of the zero-mode waveguide. The analyte is positioned in the core of the zero-mode waveguide and is then subjected, in the core of the zero-mode wave guide, to activating electromagnetic radiation of a frequency less than the cut-off frequency under conditions effective to permit analysis of the analyte in an effective observation volume which is more compact than if the analysis were carried out in the absence of the zero-mode waveguide.

  10. Solar power conversion system with directionally- and spectrally-selective properties based on a reflective cavity

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

    Boriskina, Svetlana; Kraemer, Daniel; McEnaney, Kenneth

    Solar power conversion system. The system includes a cavity formed within an enclosure having highly specularly reflecting in the IR spectrum inside walls, the enclosure having an opening to receive solar radiation. An absorber is positioned within the cavity for receiving the solar radiation resulting in heating of the absorber structure. In a preferred embodiment, the system further contains an energy conversion and storage devices thermally-linked to the absorber by heat conduction, convection, far-field or near-field thermal radiation.

  11. An ultra-low-power RF transceiver for WBANs in medical applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qi, Zhang; Xiaofei, Kuang; Nanjian, Wu

    2011-06-01

    A 2.4 GHz ultra-low-power RF transceiver with a 900 MHz auxiliary wake-up link for wireless body area networks (WBANs) in medical applications is presented. The RF transceiver with an asymmetric architecture is proposed to achieve high energy efficiency according to the asymmetric communication in WBANs. The transceiver consists of a main receiver (RX) with an ultra-low-power free-running ring oscillator and a high speed main transmitter (TX) with fast lock-in PLL. A passive wake-up receiver (WuRx) for wake-up function with a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) CMOS rectifier is designed to offer the sensor node the capability of work-on-demand with zero standby power. The chip is implemented in a 0.18 μm CMOS process. Its core area is 1.6 mm2. The main RX achieves a sensitivity of -55 dBm at a 100 kbps OOK data rate while consuming just 210 μA current from the 1 V power supply. The main TX achieves +3 dBm output power with a 4 Mbps/500 kbps/200 kbps data rate for OOK/4 FSK/2 FSK modulation and dissipates 3.25 mA/6.5 mA/6.5 mA current from a 1.8 V power supply. The minimum detectable RF input energy for the wake-up RX is -15 dBm and the PCE is more than 25%.

  12. A soft-switching coupled inductor bidirectional DC-DC converter with high-conversion ratio

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chao, Kuei-Hsiang; Jheng, Yi-Cing

    2018-01-01

    A soft-switching bidirectional DC-DC converter is presented herein as a way to improve the conversion efficiency of a photovoltaic (PV) system. Adoption of coupled inductors enables the presented converter not only to provide a high-conversion ratio but also to suppress the transient surge voltage via the release of the energy stored in leakage flux of the coupled inductors, and the cost can kept down consequently. A combined use of a switching mechanism and an auxiliary resonant branch enables the converter to successfully perform zero-voltage switching operations on the main switches and improves the efficiency accordingly. It was testified by experiments that our proposed converter works relatively efficiently in full-load working range. Additionally, the framework of the converter intended for testifying has high-conversion ratio. The results of a test, where a generating system using PV module array coupled with batteries as energy storage device was used as the low-voltage input side, and DC link was used as high-voltage side, demonstrated our proposed converter framework with high-conversion ratio on both high-voltage and low-voltage sides.

  13. Topological view of quantum tunneling coherent destruction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bernardini, Alex E.; Chinaglia, Mariana

    2017-08-01

    Quantum tunneling of the ground and first excited states in a quantum superposition driven by a novel analytical configuration of a double-well (DW) potential is investigated. Symmetric and asymmetric potentials are considered as to support quantum mechanical zero mode and first excited state analytical solutions. Reporting about a symmetry breaking that supports the quantum conversion of a zero-mode stable vacuum into an unstable tachyonic quantum state, two inequivalent topological scenarios are supposed to drive stable tunneling and coherent tunneling destruction respectively. A complete prospect of the Wigner function dynamics, vector field fluxes and the time dependence of stagnation points is obtained for the analytical potentials that support stable and tachyonic modes.

  14. Simulations of sonic boom ray tube area fluctuations for propagation through atmospheric turbulence including caustics via a Monte Carlo method

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sparrow, Victor W.; Pierce, Allan D.

    1992-01-01

    A theory which gives statistical predictions for how often sonic booms propagating through the earth's turbulent boundary layer will encounter caustics, given the spectral properties of the atmospheric turbulence, is outlined. The theory is simple but approximately accounts for the variation of ray tube areas along ray paths. This theory predicts that the variation of ray tube areas is determined by the product of two similar area factors, psi (x) and phi (x), each satisfying a generic harmonic oscillator equation. If an area factor increases the peak acoustic pressure decreases, and if the factor decreases the peak acoustic pressure increases. Additionally, if an area factor decreases to zero and becomes negative, the ray has propagated through a caustic, which contributes a phase change of 90 degrees to the wave. Thus, it is clear that the number of times that a sonic boom wave passes through a caustic should be related to the distorted boom waveform received on the ground. Examples are given based on a characterization of atmospheric turbulence due to the structure function of Tatarski as modified by Crow.

  15. 24 CFR 884.123 - Conversions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Conversions. 884.123 Section 884... RENTAL HOUSING PROJECTS Applicability, Scope and Basic Policies § 884.123 Conversions. (a) Conversion of... and an appropriate PHA to agree, if they are willing, to a conversion of any such project to a Private...

  16. 5 CFR 317.302 - Conversion procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Conversion procedures. 317.302 Section... IN THE SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE Conversion to the Senior Executive Service § 317.302 Conversion... pursuant to § 317.305(b)(4) or § 317.306(b)(4); If the employee is offered conversion, the notice shall...

  17. 5 CFR 317.302 - Conversion procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conversion procedures. 317.302 Section... IN THE SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE Conversion to the Senior Executive Service § 317.302 Conversion... pursuant to § 317.305(b)(4) or § 317.306(b)(4); If the employee is offered conversion, the notice shall...

  18. 24 CFR 884.123 - Conversions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Conversions. 884.123 Section 884... RENTAL HOUSING PROJECTS Applicability, Scope and Basic Policies § 884.123 Conversions. (a) Conversion of... and an appropriate PHA to agree, if they are willing, to a conversion of any such project to a Private...

  19. Multi Reflection of Lamb Wave Emission in an Acoustic Waveguide Sensor

    PubMed Central

    Schmitt, Martin; Olfert, Sergei; Rautenberg, Jens; Lindner, Gerhard; Henning, Bernd; Reindl, Leonhard Michael

    2013-01-01

    Recently, an acoustic waveguide sensor based on multiple mode conversion of surface acoustic waves at the solid—liquid interfaces has been introduced for the concentration measurement of binary and ternary mixtures, liquid level sensing, investigation of spatial inhomogenities or bubble detection. In this contribution the sound wave propagation within this acoustic waveguide sensor is visualized by Schlieren imaging for continuous and burst operation the first time. In the acoustic waveguide the antisymmetrical zero order Lamb wave mode is excited by a single phase transducer of 1 MHz on thin glass plates of 1 mm thickness. By contact to the investigated liquid Lamb waves propagating on the first plate emit pressure waves into the adjacent liquid, which excites Lamb waves on the second plate, what again causes pressure waves traveling inside the liquid back to the first plate and so on. The Schlieren images prove this multi reflection within the acoustic waveguide, which confirms former considerations and calculations based on the receiver signal. With this knowledge the sensor concepts with the acoustic waveguide sensor can be interpreted in a better manner. PMID:23447010

  20. Multi reflection of Lamb wave emission in an acoustic waveguide sensor.

    PubMed

    Schmitt, Martin; Olfert, Sergei; Rautenberg, Jens; Lindner, Gerhard; Henning, Bernd; Reindl, Leonhard Michael

    2013-02-27

    Recently, an acoustic waveguide sensor based on multiple mode conversion of surface acoustic waves at the solid-liquid interfaces has been introduced for the concentration measurement of binary and ternary mixtures, liquid level sensing, investigation of spatial inhomogenities or bubble detection. In this contribution the sound wave propagation within this acoustic waveguide sensor is visualized by Schlieren imaging for continuous and burst operation the first time. In the acoustic waveguide the antisymmetrical zero order Lamb wave mode is excited by a single phase transducer of 1 MHz on thin glass plates of 1 mm thickness. By contact to the investigated liquid Lamb waves propagating on the first plate emit pressure waves into the adjacent liquid, which excites Lamb waves on the second plate, what again causes pressure waves traveling inside the liquid back to the first plate and so on. The Schlieren images prove this multi reflection within the acoustic waveguide, which confirms former considerations and calculations based on the receiver signal. With this knowledge the sensor concepts with the acoustic waveguide sensor can be interpreted in a better manner.

  1. BeiDou inter-satellite-type bias evaluation and calibration for mixed receiver attitude determination.

    PubMed

    Nadarajah, Nandakumaran; Teunissen, Peter J G; Raziq, Noor

    2013-07-22

    The Chinese BeiDou system (BDS), having different types of satellites, is an important addition to the ever growing system of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). It consists of Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, Inclined Geosynchronous Satellite Orbit (IGSO) satellites and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. This paper investigates the receiver-dependent bias between these satellite types, for which we coined the name "inter-satellite-type bias" (ISTB), and its impact on mixed receiver attitude determination. Assuming different receiver types may have different delays/biases for different satellite types, we model the differential ISTBs among three BeiDou satellite types and investigate their existence and their impact on mixed receiver attitude determination. Our analyses using the real data sets from Curtin's GNSS array consisting of different types of BeiDou enabled receivers and series of zero-baseline experiments with BeiDou-enabled receivers reveal the existence of non-zero ISTBs between different BeiDou satellite types. We then analyse the impact of these biases on BeiDou-only attitude determination using the constrained (C-)LAMBDA method, which exploits the knowledge of baseline length. Results demonstrate that these biases could seriously affect the integer ambiguity resolution for attitude determination using mixed receiver types and that a priori correction of these biases will dramatically improve the success rate.

  2. The pH-dependent Structures of the Manganese Binding Sites in Oxalate Decarboxylase as Revealed by High-Field Electron Paramagnetic Resonance

    PubMed Central

    Tabares, Leandro C.; Gätjens, Jessica; Hureau, Christelle; Burrell, Matthew R.; Bowater, Laura; Pecoraro, Vincent L.; Bornemann, Stephen; Un, Sun

    2009-01-01

    A high-field electron paramagnetic resonance (HFEPR) study of oxalate decarboxylase (OxdC) is reported. OxdC breaks down oxalate to carbon dioxide and formate and possesses two distinct manganese(II) binding sites, referred to as site-1 and -2. The Mn(II) zero-field interaction was used to probe the electronic state of the metal ion and to examine chemical/mechanistic roles of each of the Mn(II) centers. High magnetic-fields were exploited not only to resolve the two sites, but also to measure accurately the Mn(II) zero-field parameters of each of the sites. The spectra exhibited surprisingly complex behavior as a function of pH. Six different species were identified based on their zero-field interactions, two corresponding to site-1 and four states to site-2. The assignments were verified using a mutant that only affected site-1. The speciation data determined from the HFEPR spectra for site -2 was consistent with a simple triprotic equilibrium model, while the pH dependence of site-1 could be described by a single pKa. This pH dependence was independent of the presence of the His-tag and of whether the preparations contained 1.2 or 1.6 Mn per subunit. Possible structures of the six species are proposed based on spectroscopic data from model complexes and existing protein crystallographic structures obtained at pH 8 are discussed. Although site-1 has been identified as the active site and no role has been assigned to site-2, the pronounced changes in the electronic structure of the latter and its pH behavior, which also matches the pH-dependent activity of this enzyme, suggests that even if the conversion of oxalate to formate is carried out at site-1, site-2 likely plays a catalytically relevant role. PMID:19505123

  3. Information for Consumers about Alternative Fuel Conversions

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Here are some factors to be aware of if you are considering fuel conversion, including background information on fuel conversion, instructions for demonstrating compliance, and other related information.

  4. Image restoration consequences of the lack of a two variable fundamental theorem of algebra

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kreznar, J. E.

    1977-01-01

    It has been shown that, at least for one pair of otherwise attractive spaces of images and operators, singular convolution operators do not necessarily have nonsingular neighbors. This result is a nuisance in image restoration. It is suggested that this difficulty might be overcome if the following three conditions are satisfied: (1) a weaker constraint than absolute summability can be identified for useful operators: (2) if the z-transform of an operator has at most a finite number of zeros on the unit torus, then the inverse z-transform formula yields an inverse operator meeting the weaker constraint: and (3) operators whose z-transforms are zero in a set of real, closed curves on the unit torus have neighbors which are zero in only a finite set of points on the unit torus.

  5. Energy conversion modeling of the intrinsic persistent luminescence of solids via energy transfer paths between transition levels.

    PubMed

    Huang, Bolong; Sun, Mingzi

    2017-04-05

    An energy conversion model has been established for the intrinsic persistent luminescence in solids related to the native point defect levels, formations, and transitions. In this study, we showed how the recombination of charge carriers between different defect levels along the zero phonon line (ZPL) can lead to energy conversions supporting the intrinsic persistent phosphorescence in solids. This suggests that the key driving force for this optical phenomenon is the pair of electrons hopping between different charged defects with negative-U eff . Such a negative correlation energy will provide a sustainable energy source for electron-holes to further recombine in a new cycle with a specific quantum yield. This will help us to understand the intrinsic persistent luminescence with respect to native point defect levels as well as the correlations of electronics and energetics.

  6. Older Adults Can Suppress Unwanted Memories When Given an Appropriate Strategy

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    Memory suppression refers to the ability to exclude distracting memories from conscious awareness, and this ability can be assessed with the think/no-think paradigm. Recent research with older adults has provided evidence suggesting both intact and deficient memory suppression. The present studies seek to understand the conditions contributing to older adults’ ability to suppress memories voluntarily. We report 2 experiments indicating that the specificity of the think/no-think task instructions contributes to older adults’ suppression success: When older adults receive open-ended instructions that require them to develop a retrieval suppression strategy on their own, they show diminished memory suppression compared with younger adults. Conversely, when older adults receive focused instructions directing them to a strategy thought to better isolate inhibitory control, they show suppression-induced forgetting similar to that exhibited by younger adults. Younger adults demonstrate memory suppression regardless of the specificity of the instructions given, suggesting that the ability to select a successful suppression strategy spontaneously may be compromised in older adults. If so, this deficit may be associated with diminished control over unwanted memories in naturalistic settings if impeded strategy development reduces the successful deployment of inhibitory control. PMID:25602491

  7. Can quantum coherent solar cells break detailed balance?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kirk, Alexander P.

    2015-07-01

    Carefully engineered coherent quantum states have been proposed as a design attribute that is hypothesized to enable solar photovoltaic cells to break the detailed balance (or radiative) limit of power conversion efficiency by possibly causing radiative recombination to be suppressed. However, in full compliance with the principles of statistical mechanics and the laws of thermodynamics, specially prepared coherent quantum states do not allow a solar photovoltaic cell—a quantum threshold energy conversion device—to exceed the detailed balance limit of power conversion efficiency. At the condition given by steady-state open circuit operation with zero nonradiative recombination, the photon absorption rate (or carrier photogeneration rate) must balance the photon emission rate (or carrier radiative recombination rate) thus ensuring that detailed balance prevails. Quantum state transitions, entropy-generating hot carrier relaxation, and photon absorption and emission rate balancing are employed holistically and self-consistently along with calculations of current density, voltage, and power conversion efficiency to explain why detailed balance may not be violated in solar photovoltaic cells.

  8. Energy conversion in isothermal nonlinear irreversible processes - struggling for higher efficiency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ebeling, W.; Feistel, R.

    2017-06-01

    First we discuss some early work of Ulrike Feudel on structure formation in nonlinear reactions including ions and the efficiency of the conversion of chemical into electrical energy. Then we give some survey about isothermal energy conversion from chemical to higher forms of energy like mechanical, electrical and ecological energy. Isothermal means here that there are no temperature gradients within the model systems. We consider examples of energy conversion in several natural processes and in some devices like fuel cells. Further, as an example, we study analytically the dynamics and efficiency of a simple "active circuit" converting chemical into electrical energy and driving currents which is roughly modeling fuel cells. Finally we investigate an analogous ecological system of Lotka-Volterra type consisting of an "active species" consuming some passive "chemical food". We show analytically for both these models that the efficiency increases with the load, reaches values higher then 50 percent in a narrow regime of optimal load and goes beyond some maximal load abruptly to zero.

  9. Zero-Valent Metallic Treatment System and Its Application for Removal and Remediation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (Pcbs)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clausen, Christian A. (Inventor); Geiger, Cherie L. (Inventor); Quinn, Jacqueline W. (Inventor); Brooks, Kathleen B. (Inventor)

    2012-01-01

    PCBs are removed from contaminated media using a treatment system including zero-valent metal particles and an organic hydrogen donating solvent. The treatment system may include a weak acid in order to eliminate the need for a coating of catalytic noble metal on the zero-valent metal particles. If catalyzed zero-valent metal particles are used, the treatment system may include an organic hydrogen donating solvent that is a non-water solvent. The treatment system may be provided as a "paste-like" system that is preferably applied to natural media and ex-situ structures to eliminate PCBs.

  10. Acute acetaminophen overdose is associated with dose-dependent hypokalaemia: a prospective study of 331 patients.

    PubMed

    Waring, W Stephen; Stephen, Alexandra F L; Malkowska, Aleks M; Robinson, Oliver D G

    2008-03-01

    Hypokalaemia is a recognized complication of acute acetaminophen overdose. It is unclear whether this might be a pharmacological effect of acetaminophen, or due to association with confounding factors. The present study sought to better characterize the relationship between acetaminophen concentrations and risk of hypokalaemia. A prospective study of patients received N-acetylcysteine treatment within 15 hr of acute acetaminophen ingestion. Serum potassium concentrations were determined before and after N-acetylcysteine. Serum acetaminophen concentrations were used to indicate overall drug exposure by comparison to the Rumack-Matthew nomogram. Hypokalaemia was pre-defined by serum concentrations <3.5 mmol/l, and groups compared by Mann-Whitney tests. There were 331 patients. Median (95% confidence interval) fall in serum potassium concentration after N-acetylcysteine was 0.05 mmol/l (-0.11-0.30 mmol/l) if acetaminophen concentrations were below the 'high-risk' treatment line, 0.30 mmol/l (0.17-0.40 mmol/l) if between the 'high-risk' and 'normal' treatment lines (P = 0.0358), and 0.40 mmol/l (0.20-0.50 mmol/l) if above the 'normal' treatment line (P = 0.0136). A receiver operating characteristic showed that high acetaminophen concentrations were predictive of hypokalaemia (P = 0.0001 versus zero discriminatory line), and 4 hr acetaminophen concentration >156 mmol/l gave 81% sensitivity and 48% specificity. The risk of hypokalaemia after acute acetaminophen overdose depends on the extent of acetaminophen exposure, irrespective of N-acetylcysteine administration and independent of whether vomiting occurred. Acetaminophen appears to cause concentration-dependent hypokalaemia after overdose, and the pharmacological basis requires further consideration.

  11. 12 CFR 563b.505 - May my directors, officers, and their associates freely trade shares?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... your outstanding stock, and may purchase stock through any of your management or employee stock benefit..., DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY CONVERSIONS FROM MUTUAL TO STOCK FORM Standard Conversions Post-Conversion § 563b... certificate of stock that a director or officer purchases during the conversion or receives in connection with...

  12. Conversation and Object Manipulation Influence Children's Learning in a Museum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jant, Erin A.; Haden, Catherine A.; Uttal, David H.; Babcock, Elizabeth

    2014-01-01

    The effects of parent-child conversation and object manipulation on children's learning, transfer of knowledge, and memory were examined in two museum exhibits and conversations recorded at home. Seventy-eight children (M[subscript age] = 4.9) and their parents were randomly assigned to receive conversation cards featuring elaborative…

  13. Improving the Comprehensibility of a Simulated Technical Manual.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-06-20

    dilithium-controlled matter- antimatter conversion system. If you place the power switch Si in the A position, the phaser system gets power. If the indicator...ship’s on-board dilithium-controlled matter- antimatter -plasmation dielectric energy accumulator does not have a Normal Operation Indicator on the J-4...standard energon conversion cycle, whereby power generated by the ship’s matter- antimatter conversion system is converted to a 60-gigavolt phase

  14. From Zero Tolerance to a Culture of Care

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cassidy, Wanda

    2005-01-01

    Zero tolerance policies stem from the culture of fear that pervades many schools today--fear of violence, bullying, and unruly behaviour. The code of conduct is clearly spelled out and if students disobey, the retribution is swift--usually suspension or expulsion. The rules are designed to apply equally to everyone, irrespective of age, gender,…

  15. 40 CFR 90.316 - Hydrocarbon analyzer calibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ...) Recheck the zero response. If it has changed by more than ±one percent of full scale, repeat the test. (6... operating adjustment using the appropriate fuel (see § 90.312) and purified synthetic air or zero-grade nitrogen. (2) Use of one of the following procedures is required for FID or HFID optimization: (i) The...

  16. 24 CFR 982.608 - Congregate housing: Voucher housing assistance payment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... the zero-bedroom payment standard amount on the PHA payment standard schedule. For a family residing in congregate housing in an exception area, the payment standard is the HUD-approved zero-bedroom... one-bedroom payment standard amount. (b) If there is a live-in aide, the live-in aide must be counted...

  17. 40 CFR 60.2110 - What operating limits must I meet and by when?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units Emission Limitations and Operating Limits... zero to a level equivalent to at least two times your allowable emission limit. If your PM CPMS is an... of reading PM concentration from zero to a level equivalent to two times your allowable emission...

  18. 40 CFR 60.2210 - What information must I include in my annual report?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... Performance for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units Recordkeeping and Reporting § 60.2210... was inoperative, except for zero (low-level) and high-level checks. (3) The date, time, and duration.... (1) The zero (low-level), mid-level (if applicable), or high-level calibration drift exceeds two...

  19. 7 CFR 1427.1207 - Payment rate.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ..., or if none of the LFQ, LFQc, or LFQf is available, the payment rate shall be zero and shall remain zero unless and until sufficient USPFE prices or the LFQ again becomes available, the USPFE, USPFEc, or..., shall be based on a percentage of the basic rate for baled lint, as specified in the ELS Cotton Domestic...

  20. A Schrödinger equation for solving the Bender-Brody-Müller conjecture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moxley, Frederick Ira

    2017-11-01

    The Hamiltonian of a quantum mechanical system has an affiliated spectrum. If this spectrum is the sequence of prime numbers, a connection between quantum mechanics and the nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function can be made. In this case, the Riemann zeta function is analogous to chaotic quantum systems, as the harmonic oscillator is for integrable quantum systems. Such quantum Riemann zeta function analogies have led to the Bender-Brody-Müller (BBM) conjecture, which involves a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian that maps to the zeros of the Riemann zeta function. If the BBM Hamiltonian can be shown to be Hermitian, then the Riemann Hypothesis follows. As such, herein we perform a symmetrization procedure of the BBM Hamiltonian to obtain a unique Hermitian Hamiltonian that maps to the zeros of the analytic continuation of the Riemann zeta function, and discuss the eigenvalues of the results. Moreover, a second quantization of the resulting Schrödinger equation is performed, and a convergent solution for the nontrivial zeros of the analytic continuation of the Riemann zeta function is obtained. Finally, the Hilbert-Pólya conjecture is discussed, and it is heuristically shown that the real part of every nontrivial zero of the Riemann zeta function converges at σ = 1/2.

  1. Random one-of-N selector

    DOEpatents

    Kronberg, J.W.

    1993-04-20

    An apparatus for selecting at random one item of N items on the average comprising counter and reset elements for counting repeatedly between zero and N, a number selected by the user, a circuit for activating and deactivating the counter, a comparator to determine if the counter stopped at a count of zero, an output to indicate an item has been selected when the count is zero or not selected if the count is not zero. Randomness is provided by having the counter cycle very often while varying the relatively longer duration between activation and deactivation of the count. The passive circuit components of the activating/deactivating circuit and those of the counter are selected for the sensitivity of their response to variations in temperature and other physical characteristics of the environment so that the response time of the circuitry varies. Additionally, the items themselves, which may be people, may vary in shape or the time they press a pushbutton, so that, for example, an ultrasonic beam broken by the item or person passing through it will add to the duration of the count and thus to the randomness of the selection.

  2. Random one-of-N selector

    DOEpatents

    Kronberg, James W.

    1993-01-01

    An apparatus for selecting at random one item of N items on the average comprising counter and reset elements for counting repeatedly between zero and N, a number selected by the user, a circuit for activating and deactivating the counter, a comparator to determine if the counter stopped at a count of zero, an output to indicate an item has been selected when the count is zero or not selected if the count is not zero. Randomness is provided by having the counter cycle very often while varying the relatively longer duration between activation and deactivation of the count. The passive circuit components of the activating/deactivating circuit and those of the counter are selected for the sensitivity of their response to variations in temperature and other physical characteristics of the environment so that the response time of the circuitry varies. Additionally, the items themselves, which may be people, may vary in shape or the time they press a pushbutton, so that, for example, an ultrasonic beam broken by the item or person passing through it will add to the duration of the count and thus to the randomness of the selection.

  3. Quantum rewinding via phase estimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tabia, Gelo Noel

    2015-03-01

    In cryptography, the notion of a zero-knowledge proof was introduced by Goldwasser, Micali, and Rackoff. An interactive proof system is said to be zero-knowledge if any verifier interacting with an honest prover learns nothing beyond the validity of the statement being proven. With recent advances in quantum information technologies, it has become interesting to ask if classical zero-knowledge proof systems remain secure against adversaries with quantum computers. The standard approach to show the zero-knowledge property involves constructing a simulator for a malicious verifier that can be rewinded to a previous step when the simulation fails. In the quantum setting, the simulator can be described by a quantum circuit that takes an arbitrary quantum state as auxiliary input but rewinding becomes a nontrivial issue. Watrous proposed a quantum rewinding technique in the case where the simulation's success probability is independent of the auxiliary input. Here I present a more general quantum rewinding scheme that employs the quantum phase estimation algorithm. This work was funded by institutional research grant IUT2-1 from the Estonian Research Council and by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund.

  4. 78 FR 44620 - Reports, Forms and Record Keeping Requirements; Agency Information Collection Activity Under OMB...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-24

    ... zero hours and zero costs. Number of Respondents: We estimate that there will be no more than one per... our experience to date, we estimate that no more than one (1) person per year would be subject to this collection of information, and we do not anticipate receiving more than one report a year from any particular...

  5. Service user experiences of REFOCUS: a process evaluation of a pro-recovery complex intervention.

    PubMed

    Wallace, Genevieve; Bird, Victoria; Leamy, Mary; Bacon, Faye; Le Boutillier, Clair; Janosik, Monika; MacPherson, Rob; Williams, Julie; Slade, Mike

    2016-09-01

    Policy is increasingly focused on implementing a recovery-orientation within mental health services, yet the subjective experience of individuals receiving a pro-recovery intervention is under-studied. The aim of this study was to explore the service user experience of receiving a complex, pro-recovery intervention (REFOCUS), which aimed to encourage the use of recovery-supporting tools and support recovery-promoting relationships. Interviews (n = 24) and two focus groups (n = 13) were conducted as part of a process evaluation and included a purposive sample of service users who received the complex, pro-recovery intervention within the REFOCUS randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN02507940). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Participants reported that the intervention supported the development of an open and collaborative relationship with staff, with new conversations around values, strengths and goals. This was experienced as hope-inspiring and empowering. However, others described how the recovery tools were used without context, meaning participants were unclear of their purpose and did not see their benefit. During the interviews, some individuals struggled to report any new tasks or conversations occurring during the intervention. Recovery-supporting tools can support the development of a recovery-promoting relationship, which can contribute to positive outcomes for individuals. The tools should be used in a collaborative and flexible manner. Information exchanged around values, strengths and goals should be used in care-planning. As some service users struggled to report their experience of the intervention, alternative evaluation approaches need to be considered if the service user experience is to be fully captured.

  6. Waveguides for performing spectroscopy with confined effective observation volumes

    DOEpatents

    Levene, Michael J.; Korlach, Jonas; Turner, Stephen W.; Craighead, Harold G.; Webb, Watt W.

    2006-03-14

    The present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for analysis of an analyte. The method involves providing a zero-mode waveguide which includes a cladding surrounding a core where the cladding is configured to preclude propagation of electromagnetic energy of a frequency less than a cutoff frequency longitudinally through the core of the zero-mode waveguide. The analyte is positioned in the core of the zero-mode waveguide and is then subjected, in the core of the zero-mode waveguide, to activating electromagnetic radiation of a frequency less than the cut-off frequency under conditions effective to permit analysis of the analyte in an effective observation volume which is more compact than if the analysis were carried out in the absence of the zero-mode waveguide.

  7. Explaining the harmonic sequence paradox.

    PubMed

    Schmidt, Ulrich; Zimper, Alexander

    2012-05-01

    According to the harmonic sequence paradox, an expected utility decision maker's willingness to pay for a gamble whose expected payoffs evolve according to the harmonic series is finite if and only if his marginal utility of additional income becomes zero for rather low payoff levels. Since the assumption of zero marginal utility is implausible for finite payoff levels, expected utility theory - as well as its standard generalizations such as cumulative prospect theory - are apparently unable to explain a finite willingness to pay. This paper presents first an experimental study of the harmonic sequence paradox. Additionally, it demonstrates that the theoretical argument of the harmonic sequence paradox only applies to time-patient decision makers, whereas the paradox is easily avoided if time-impatience is introduced. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

  8. The potential to build current natural gas infrastructure to accommodate the future conversion to near-zero transportation technology : a research report from the National Center for Sustainable Transportation.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-03-01

    The emergence of natural gas as an abundant, inexpensive fuel in the United States has highlighted the possibility that natural gas could play a significant role in the transition to low carbon fuels. Natural gas is often cited as a bridge to l...

  9. Colluvial legacies of millennial landscape change on individual hillsides, place-based investigation in the western Pyrenees Mountains

    Treesearch

    D.S. Leigh; T.L. Gragson; M.R. Coughlan

    2015-01-01

    We detect transition to agropastoral land use in a mountain landscape by radiocarbon dating physical signatures (sedimentation rates, charcoal concentrations, magnetic susceptibility) of conversion from native forest to pasture contained within colluvial stratigraphic sections. Focus is on two study sites located on toeslopes directly beneath zero-order hollows...

  10. Realizing InGaN monolithic solar-photoelectrochemical cells for artificial photosynthesis

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

    Dahal, R.; Pantha, B. N.; Li, J.

    2014-04-07

    InGaN alloys are very promising for solar water splitting because they have direct bandgaps that cover almost the whole solar spectrum. The demonstration of direct solar-to-fuel conversion without external bias with the sunlight being the only energy input would pave the way for realizing photoelectrochemical (PEC) production of hydrogen by using InGaN. A monolithic solar-PEC cell based on InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells capable to directly generate hydrogen gas under zero bias via solar water splitting is reported. Under the irradiation by a simulated sunlight (1-sun with 100 mW/cm{sup 2}), a 1.5% solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency has been achieved under zero bias,more » setting a fresh benchmark of employing III-nitrides for artificial photosynthesis. Time dependent hydrogen gas production photocurrent measured over a prolonged period (measured for 7 days) revealed an excellent chemical stability of InGaN in aqueous solution of hydrobromic acid. The results provide insights into the architecture design of using InGaN for artificial photosynthesis to provide usable clean fuel (hydrogen gas) with the sunlight being the only energy input.« less

  11. Maintaining ecosystem services through continued livestock production on California rangelands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barry, S.; Becchetti, T.

    2015-12-01

    Nearly 40% of California is rangeland comprising the largest land type in California and providing forage for livestock, primarily beef cattle. In addition to forage, rangelands provide a host of ecosystem systems services, including habitat for common and endangered species, fire fuels management, pollination services, clean water, viewsheds, and carbon sequestration. Published research has documented that most of these ecosystem services are positively impacted by managed livestock grazing and rancher stewardship. Ranchers typically do not receive any monetary reimbursement for their stewardship in providing these ecosystem services to the public. Markets have been difficult to establish with limited ability to adequately monitor and measure services provided. At the same time, rangelands have been experiencing rapid conversion to urbanization and more profitable and intensive forms of agriculture such as almond and walnut orchards. To prevent further conversion of rangelands and the loss of the services they provide, there needs to be a mechanism to identify and compensate landowners for the value of all products and services being received from rangelands. This paper considers two methods (opportunity cost and avoided cost) to determine the value of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) for rangelands. PES can raise the value of rangelands, making them more competitive financially. Real estate values and University of California Cooperative Extension Cost Studies, were used to demonstrate the difference in value (lost opportunity cost) between the primary products of rangelands (livestock production) and the products of the converted rangelands (almond and walnut orchards). Avoided costs for vegetation management and habitat creation and maintenance were used to establish the value of managed grazing. If conversion is to be slowed or stopped and managed grazing promoted to protect the ecosystem services rangelands provide, this value could be compensated through PES

  12. Theoretical constraints in the design of multivariable control systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rynaski, E. G.; Mook, D. Joseph; Depena, Juan

    1991-01-01

    The research being performed under NASA Grant NAG1-1361 involves a more clear understanding and definition of the constraints involved in the pole-zero placement or assignment process for multiple input, multiple output systems. Complete state feedback to more than a single controller under conditions of complete controllability and observability is redundant if pole placement alone is the design objective. The additional feedback gains, above and beyond those required for pole placement can be used for eignevalue assignment or zero placement of individual closed loop transfer functions. Because both poles and zeros of individual closed loop transfer functions strongly affect the dynamic response to a pilot command input, the pole-zero placement problem is important. When fewer controllers than degrees of freedom of motion are available, complete design freedom is not possible, the transmission zeros constrain the regions of possible pole-zero placement. The effect of transmission zero constraints on the design possibilities, selection of transmission zeros and the avoidance of producing non-minimum phase transfer functions is the subject of the research being performed under this grant.

  13. Note: Ultrasonic gas flowmeter based on optimized time-of-flight algorithms

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

    Wang, X. F.; Tang, Z. A.

    2011-04-15

    A new digital signal processor based single path ultrasonic gas flowmeter is designed, constructed, and experimentally tested. To achieve high accuracy measurements, an optimized ultrasound driven method of incorporation of the amplitude modulation and the phase modulation of the transmit-receive technique is used to stimulate the transmitter. Based on the regularities among the received envelope zero-crossings, different received signal's signal-to-noise ratio situations are discriminated and optional time-of-flight algorithms are applied to take flow rate calculations. Experimental results from the dry calibration indicate that the designed flowmeter prototype can meet the zero-flow verification test requirements of the American Gas Association Reportmore » No. 9. Furthermore, the results derived from the flow calibration prove that the proposed flowmeter prototype can measure flow rate accurately in the practical experiments, and the nominal accuracies after FWME adjustment are lower than 0.8% throughout the calibration range.« less

  14. Zero-profile integrated plate and spacer device reduces rate of adjacent-level ossification development and dysphagia compared to ACDF with plating and cage system.

    PubMed

    Yang, Haisong; Chen, Deyu; Wang, Xinwei; Yang, Lili; He, Hailong; Yuan, Wen

    2015-06-01

    Retrospective case-control study. To compare the safety and efficacy of the Zero-profile (Zero-p) integrated plate and spacer device to that of an anterior cervical plate and cage in patients undergoing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Anterior cervical plating system has provided good results, including higher fusion rate and improved alignment since its use. However, adjacent-level ossification development (ALOD) and dysphagia have been usually reported associating with plates. This was a retrospective control study. Sixty-two patients with cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy were treated with an anterior plate and cage or Zero-p implant between January 2011 and December 2011. The mean follow-up was 33.1 months in the plate and cage group and 30.6 months in Zero-p group. Patient demographics, operative details and complications were reviewed. The clinical outcomes were evaluated using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores and JOA recovery rate before and after operations. Incidence of cephalad and caudal ALOD on the lateral radiographs was studied at preoperation, immediate postoperation and last follow-up. Incidence of dysphagia was also recorded after operation according to Bazaz-Yoo dysphagia index. Thirty-two patients received an anterior plate and cage and 30 received the Zero-p implant. There were no statistical differences in patient demographics, operative details between the two groups. The JOA scores significantly increased compared with preoperational measurements in both groups (p < 0.05), but the JOA recovery rate was similar (72.2 % for plate and cage group and 77.0 % for Zero-p group, p > 0.05). ALOD occurred in 12 (18.8 %) of the 64 cephalad and caudal adjacent segments in plate with cage group, and only 1 (1.6 %) of 63 adjacent levels (including three noncontiguous cases) presented with ALOD in Zero-p group. The difference was significant (p < 0.01). The incidence of dysphagia in the Zero-p group was lower compared with that in the plate with cage group, and the symptom duration was much shorter (p < 0.01). Both groups had no adverse events associated with the implant or implant surgery. The Zero-profile implant is safe and efficacious after ACDF. It can reduce the rate of adjacent-level ossification development and dysphagia compared to anterior plate and cage.

  15. 40 CFR 85.535 - Liability, recordkeeping, and end of year reporting.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., if we learn that your actions fall short of full compliance with applicable requirements we may... calendar year intermediate age conversions, outside useful life conversions, and the same conversion model...

  16. It Starts with a Conversation. Community Colleges Need to Follow Conversations toward What Donors Want to Accomplish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finkel, Ed

    2017-01-01

    In 2015 while higher educational institutions received $40 billion in gifts, community colleges only received about 1.5 percent of that amount--despite the fact that they account for about half of students at any one time, according to an estimate provided by the Council for Aid to Education, which maintains data on educational giving. The reason…

  17. Dynamical signature of localization-delocalization transition in a one-dimensional incommensurate lattice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Chao; Wang, Yucheng; Wang, Pei; Gao, Xianlong; Chen, Shu

    2017-05-01

    We investigate the quench dynamics of a one-dimensional incommensurate lattice described by the Aubry-André model by a sudden change of the strength of incommensurate potential Δ and unveil that the dynamical signature of localization-delocalization transition can be characterized by the occurrence of zero points in the Loschmidt echo. For the quench process with quenching taking place between two limits of Δ =0 and Δ =∞ , we give analytical expressions of the Loschmidt echo, which indicate the existence of a series of zero points in the Loschmidt echo. For a general quench process, we calculate the Loschmidt echo numerically and analyze its statistical behavior. Our results show that if both the initial and post-quench Hamiltonian are in extended phase or localized phase, Loschmidt echo will always be greater than a positive number; however if they locate in different phases, Loschmidt echo can reach nearby zero at some time intervals.

  18. Middeck zero-gravity dynamics experiment - Comparison of ground and flight test data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Crawley, Edward F.; Barlow, Mark S.; Van Schoor, Marthinus C.; Masters, Brett; Bicos, Andrew S.

    1992-01-01

    An analytic and experimental study of the changes in the modal parameters of space structural test articles from one- to zero-gravity is presented. Deployable, erectable, and rotary modules was assembled to form three one- and two-dimensional structures, in which variations in bracing wire and rotary joint preload could be introduced. The structures were modeled as if hanging from a suspension system in one gravity, and unconstrained, as if free floating in zero-gravity. The analysis is compared with ground experimental measurements, made on a spring/wire suspension system with a nominal plunge frequency of one Hertz, and with measurements made on the Shuttle middeck. The degree of change in linear modal parameters as well as the change in nonlinear nature of the response is examined. Trends in modal parameters are presented as a function of force amplitude, joint preload, and ambient gravity level.

  19. On the zero-Rossby limit for the primitive equations of the atmosphere*

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Gui-Qiang; Zhang, Ping

    2001-09-01

    The zero-Rossby limit for the primitive equations governing atmospheric motions is analysed. The limit is important in geophysics for large-scale models (cf Lions 1996 Int. Conf. IAM 95 (Hamburg 1995) (Math. Res. vol 87) (Berlin: Akademie) pp 177-212) and is in the level of the zero relaxation limit for nonlinear partial differential equations (cf Chen et al 1994 Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 47 787-830). It is proved that, if the initial data appropriately approximate data of geostrophic type, the corresponding solutions of the simplified primitive equations approximate the solutions of the quasigeostrophic equations with order ɛ accuracy as the Rossby number ɛ goes to zero.

  20. A role for high frequency superconducting devices in free space power transmission systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Christian, Jose L., Jr.; Cull, Ronald C.

    1988-01-01

    Major advances in space power technology are being made in photovoltaic, solar thermal, and nuclear systems. Despite these advances, the power systems required by the energy and power intensive mission of the future will be massive due to the large collecting surfaces, large thermal management systems, and heavy shielding. Reducing this mass on board the space vehicle can result in significant benefits because of the high cost of transporting and moving mass about in space. An approach to this problem is beaming the power from a point where the massiveness of the power plant is not such a major concern. The viability of such an approach was already investigated. Efficient microwave power beam transmission at 2.45 GHz was demonstrated over short range. Higher frequencies are desired for efficient transmission over several hundred or thousand kilometers in space. Superconducting DC-RF conversion as well as RF-DC conversion offers exciting possibilities. Multivoltage power conditioning for multicavity high power RF tubes could be eliminated since only low voltages are required for Josephson junctions. Small, high efficiency receivers may be possible using the reverse Josephson effects. A conceptual receiving antenna design using superconducting devices to determine possible system operating efficiency is assessed. If realized, these preliminary assessments indicate a role for superconducting devices in millimeter and submillimeter free space power transmission systems.

  1. 40 CFR 86.884-12 - Test run.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... zero and span settings of the smokemeter. (If a recorder is used, a chart speed of approximately one... collection, it shall be run at a minimum chart speed of one inch per minute during the idle mode and... zero and full scale response may be rechecked and reset during the idle mode of each test sequence. (v...

  2. 40 CFR 60.2210 - What information must I include in my annual report?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... Performance for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units for Which Construction Is Commenced..., time, and duration that each CMS was inoperative, except for zero (low-level) and high-level checks. (3... procedure in 40 CFR part 60, appendix F of this part, as if any of the following occur. (1) The zero (low...

  3. 40 CFR 60.2210 - What information must I include in my annual report?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... Performance for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units for Which Construction Is Commenced..., time, and duration that each CMS was inoperative, except for zero (low-level) and high-level checks. (3... procedure in 40 CFR part 60, appendix F of this part, as if any of the following occur. (1) The zero (low...

  4. Localization enhanced and degraded topological order in interacting p -wave wires

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kells, G.; Moran, N.; Meidan, D.

    2018-02-01

    We numerically study the effect of disorder on the stability of the many-body zero mode in a Kitaev chain with local interactions. Our numerical procedure allows us to resolve the position space and multiparticle structure of the zero modes, as well as providing estimates for the mean energy splitting between pairs of states of opposite fermion parity, over the full many-body spectrum. We find that the parameter space of a clean system can be divided into regions where interaction induced decay transitions are suppressed (region I) and where they are not (region II). In region I we observe that disorder has an adverse effect on the zero mode, which extends further into the bulk and is accompanied by an increased energy splitting between pairs of states of opposite parity. Conversely region II sees a more intricate effect of disorder, showing an enhancement of localization at the system's end accompanied by a reduction in the mean pairwise energy splitting. We discuss our results in the context of the many-body localization (MBL). We show that while the mechanism that drives the MBL transition also contributes to the fock-space localization of the many-body zero modes, measures that characterize the degree of MBL do not necessarily correlate with an enhancement of the zero mode or an improved stability of the topological region.

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

    Torcellini, Paul A.; Bonnema, Eric; Goldwasser, David

    Building energy consumption can only be measured at the site or at the point of utility interconnection with a building. Often, to evaluate the total energy impact, this site-based energy consumption is translated into source energy, that is, the energy at the point of fuel extraction. Consistent with this approach, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) definition of zero energy buildings uses source energy as the metric to account for energy losses from the extraction, transformation, and delivery of energy. Other organizations, as well, use source energy to characterize the energy impacts. Four methods of making the conversion from sitemore » energy to source energy were investigated in the context of the DOE definition of zero energy buildings. These methods were evaluated based on three guiding principles--improve energy efficiency, reduce and stabilize power demand, and use power from nonrenewable energy sources as efficiently as possible. This study examines relative trends between strategies as they are implemented on very low-energy buildings to achieve zero energy. A typical office building was modeled and variations to this model performed. The photovoltaic output that was required to create a zero energy building was calculated. Trends were examined with these variations to study the impacts of the calculation method on the building's ability to achieve zero energy status. The paper will highlight the different methods and give conclusions on the advantages and disadvantages of the methods studied.« less

  6. Delta connected resonant snubber circuit

    DOEpatents

    Lai, J.S.; Peng, F.Z.; Young, R.W. Sr.; Ott, G.W. Jr.

    1998-01-20

    A delta connected, resonant snubber-based, soft switching, inverter circuit achieves lossless switching during dc-to-ac power conversion and power conditioning with minimum component count and size. Current is supplied to the resonant snubber branches solely by the dc supply voltage through the main inverter switches and the auxiliary switches. Component count and size are reduced by use of a single semiconductor switch in the resonant snubber branches. Component count is also reduced by maximizing the use of stray capacitances of the main switches as parallel resonant capacitors. Resonance charging and discharging of the parallel capacitances allows lossless, zero voltage switching. In one embodiment, circuit component size and count are minimized while achieving lossless, zero voltage switching within a three-phase inverter. 36 figs.

  7. Delta connected resonant snubber circuit

    DOEpatents

    Lai, Jih-Sheng; Peng, Fang Zheng; Young, Sr., Robert W.; Ott, Jr., George W.

    1998-01-01

    A delta connected, resonant snubber-based, soft switching, inverter circuit achieves lossless switching during dc-to-ac power conversion and power conditioning with minimum component count and size. Current is supplied to the resonant snubber branches solely by the dc supply voltage through the main inverter switches and the auxiliary switches. Component count and size are reduced by use of a single semiconductor switch in the resonant snubber branches. Component count is also reduced by maximizing the use of stray capacitances of the main switches as parallel resonant capacitors. Resonance charging and discharging of the parallel capacitances allows lossless, zero voltage switching. In one embodiment, circuit component size and count are minimized while achieving lossless, zero voltage switching within a three-phase inverter.

  8. Zero-bias photocurrent in ferromagnetic topological insulator.

    PubMed

    Ogawa, N; Yoshimi, R; Yasuda, K; Tsukazaki, A; Kawasaki, M; Tokura, Y

    2016-07-20

    Magnetic interactions in topological insulators cause essential modifications in the originally mass-less surface states. They offer a mass gap at the Dirac point and/or largely deform the energy dispersion, providing a new path towards exotic physics and applications to realize dissipation-less electronics. The nonequilibrium electron dynamics at these modified Dirac states unveil additional functions, such as highly efficient photon to spin-current conversion. Here we demonstrate the generation of large zero-bias photocurrent in magnetic topological insulator thin films on mid-infrared photoexcitation, pointing to the controllable band asymmetry in the momentum space. The photocurrent spectra with a maximal response to the intra-Dirac-band excitations can be a sensitive measure for the correlation between Dirac electrons and magnetic moments.

  9. A zero-voltage-switched three-phase interleaved buck converter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hsieh, Yao-Ching; Huang, Bing-Siang; Lin, Jing-Yuan; Pham, Phu Hieu; Chen, Po-Hao; Chiu, Huang-Jen

    2018-04-01

    This paper proposes a three-phase interleaved buck converter which is composed of three identical paralleled buck converters. The proposed solution has three shunt inductors connected between each other of three basic buck conversion units. With the help of the shunt inductors, the MOSFET parasitic capacitances will resonate to achieve zero-voltage-switching. Furthermore, the decreasing rate of the current through the free-wheeling diodes is limited, and therefore, their reverse-recovery losses can be minimised. The active power switches are controlled by interleaved pulse-width modulation signals to reduce the input and output current ripples. Therefore, the filtering capacitances on the input and output sides can be reduced. The power efficiency is measured to be as high as 98% in experiment with a prototype circuit.

  10. 5 CFR 837.702 - Offset from supplemental survivor annuity.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ...) based on the service of an individual who performed CSRS-Offset service, if the survivor annuitant is... any provision of the Social Security Act, even if reduced to zero, entitlement to that benefit is not...

  11. Computer Algorithms for Measurement Control and Signal Processing of Transient Scattering Signatures

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-09-01

    CURVE * C Y2 IS THE BACKGROUND CURVE * C NSHIF IS THE NUMBER OF POINT TO SHIFT * C SET IS THE SUM OF THE POINT TO SHIFT * C IN ORDER TO ZERO PADDING ...reduces the spec- tral content in both the low and high frequency regimes. If the threshold is set to zero , a "naive’ deconvolution results. This provides...side of equation 5.2 was close to zero , so it can be neglected. As a result, the expected power is equal to the variance. The signal plus noise power

  12. BeiDou Inter-Satellite-Type Bias Evaluation and Calibration for Mixed Receiver Attitude Determination

    PubMed Central

    Nadarajah, Nandakumaran; Teunissen, Peter J. G.; Raziq, Noor

    2013-01-01

    The Chinese BeiDou system (BDS), having different types of satellites, is an important addition to the ever growing system of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). It consists of Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, Inclined Geosynchronous Satellite Orbit (IGSO) satellites and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. This paper investigates the receiver-dependent bias between these satellite types, for which we coined the name “inter-satellite-type bias” (ISTB), and its impact on mixed receiver attitude determination. Assuming different receiver types may have different delays/biases for different satellite types, we model the differential ISTBs among three BeiDou satellite types and investigate their existence and their impact on mixed receiver attitude determination. Our analyses using the real data sets from Curtin's GNSS array consisting of different types of BeiDou enabled receivers and series of zero-baseline experiments with BeiDou-enabled receivers reveal the existence of non-zero ISTBs between different BeiDou satellite types. We then analyse the impact of these biases on BeiDou-only attitude determination using the constrained (C-)LAMBDA method, which exploits the knowledge of baseline length. Results demonstrate that these biases could seriously affect the integer ambiguity resolution for attitude determination using mixed receiver types and that a priori correction of these biases will dramatically improve the success rate. PMID:23881141

  13. Segregated tandem filter for enhanced conversion efficiency in a thermophotovoltaic energy conversion system

    DOEpatents

    Brown, Edward J.; Baldasaro, Paul F.; Dziendziel, Randolph J.

    1997-01-01

    A filter system to transmit short wavelength radiation and reflect long wavelength radiation for a thermophotovoltaic energy conversion cell comprises an optically transparent substrate segregation layer with at least one coherent wavelength in optical thickness; a dielectric interference filter deposited on one side of the substrate segregation layer, the interference filter being disposed toward the source of radiation, the interference filter including a plurality of alternating layers of high and low optical index materials adapted to change from transmitting to reflecting at a nominal wavelength .lambda..sub.IF approximately equal to the bandgap wavelength .lambda..sub.g of the thermophotovoltaic cell, the interference filter being adapted to transmit incident radiation from about 0.5.lambda..sub.IF to .lambda..sub.IF and reflect from .lambda..sub.IF to about 2.lambda..sub.IF ; and a high mobility plasma filter deposited on the opposite side of the substrate segregation layer, the plasma filter being adapted to start to become reflecting at a wavelength of about 1.5.lambda..sub.IF.

  14. Coherence properties of spontaneous parametric down-conversion pumped by a multi-mode cw diode laser.

    PubMed

    Kwon, Osung; Ra, Young-Sik; Kim, Yoon-Ho

    2009-07-20

    Coherence properties of the photon pair generated via spontaneous parametric down-conversion pumped by a multi-mode cw diode laser are studied with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Each photon of the pair enters a different input port of the interferometer and the biphoton coherence properties are studied with a two-photon detector placed at one output port. When the photon pair simultaneously enters the interferometer, periodic recurrence of the biphoton de Broglie wave packet is observed, closely resembling the coherence properties of the pump diode laser. With non-zero delays between the photons at the input ports, biphoton interference exhibits the same periodic recurrence but the wave packet shapes are shown to be dependent on both the input delay as well as the interferometer delay. These properties could be useful for building engineered entangled photon sources based on diode laser-pumped spontaneous parametric down-conversion.

  15. Methane-Powered Vehicles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1982-01-01

    Liquid methane is beginning to become an energy alternative to expensive oil as a power source for automotive vehicles. Methane is the principal component of natural gas, costs less than half as much as gasoline, and its emissions are a lot cleaner than from gasoline or diesel engines. Beech Aircraft Corporation's Boulder Division has designed and is producing a system for converting cars and trucks to liquid methane operation. Liquid methane (LM) is a cryogenic fuel which must be stored at a temperature of 260 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The LM system includes an 18 gallon fuel tank in the trunk and simple "under the hood" carburetor conversion equipment. Optional twin-fuel system allows operator to use either LM or gasoline fuel. Boulder Division has started deliveries for 25 vehicle conversions and is furnishing a liquid methane refueling station. Beech is providing instruction for Northwest Natural Gas, for conversion of methane to liquid state.

  16. Rotational state modification and fast ortho-para conversion of H2 trapped within the highly anisotropic potential of Pd(210)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ohno, S.; Ivanov, D.; Ogura, S.; Wilde, M.; Arguelles, E. F.; Diño, W. A.; Kasai, H.; Fukutani, K.

    2018-02-01

    The rotational state and ortho-para conversion of H2 on a Pd(210) surface is investigated with rotational-state-selective temperature-programmed desorption (RS-TPD) and theoretical calculations. The isotope dependence of TPD shows a higher desorption energy for D2 than that for H2, which is ascribed to the rotational and zero-point vibrational energies. The RS-TPD data show that the desorption energy of H2(J =1 ) (J : rotational quantum number) is higher than that of H2(J =0 ). This is due to the orientationally anisotropic potential confining the adsorbed H2, which is in agreement with theoretical calculations. Furthermore, the H2 desorption intensity ratio in J =1 and J =0 indicates fast ortho-para conversion in the adsorption state, which we estimate to be of the order of 1 s.

  17. Propagation and Linear Mode Conversion of Magnetosonic and Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves in the Radiation Belts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horne, R. B.; Yoshizumi, M.

    2017-12-01

    Magnetosonic waves and electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves are important for electron acceleration and loss from the radiation belts. It is generally understood that these waves are generated by unstable ion distributions that form during geomagnetically disturbed times. Here we show that magnetosonic waves could be a source of EMIC waves as a result of propagation and a process of linear mode conversion. The converse is also possible. We present ray tracing to show how magnetosonic (EMIC) waves launched with large (small) wave normal angles can reach a location where the wave normal angle is zero and the wave frequency equals the so-called cross-over frequency whereupon energy can be converted from one mode to another without attenuation. While EMIC waves could be a source of magnetosonic waves below the cross-over frequency magnetosonic waves could be a source of hydrogen band waves but not helium band waves.

  18. Conversion of PCDP Dialogs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bork, Alfred M.

    An introduction to the problems involved in conversion of computer dialogues from one computer language to another is presented. Conversion of individual dialogues by complete rewriting is straightforward, if tedious. To make a general conversion of a large group of heterogeneous dialogue material from one language to another at one step is more…

  19. 36 CFR 72.72 - Conversion requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Conversion requirements. 72... Conversion requirements. (a) Background and legal requirements. The UPARR program has made funds available... converted to other than public recreation uses. A conversion will only be approved if it is found to be in...

  20. 36 CFR 72.72 - Conversion requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Conversion requirements. 72... Conversion requirements. (a) Background and legal requirements. The UPARR program has made funds available... converted to other than public recreation uses. A conversion will only be approved if it is found to be in...

  1. Design and demonstration of ultra-fast W-band photonic transmitter-mixer and detectors for 25 Gbits/sec error-free wireless linking.

    PubMed

    Chen, Nan-Wei; Shi, Jin-Wei; Tsai, Hsuan-Ju; Wun, Jhih-Min; Kuo, Fong-Ming; Hesler, Jeffery; Crowe, Thomas W; Bowers, John E

    2012-09-10

    A 25 Gbits/s error-free on-off-keying (OOK) wireless link between an ultra high-speed W-band photonic transmitter-mixer (PTM) and a fast W-band envelope detector is demonstrated. At the transmission end, the high-speed PTM is developed with an active near-ballistic uni-traveling carrier photodiode (NBUTC-PD) integrated with broadband front-end circuitry via the flip-chip bonding technique. Compared to our previous work, the wireless data rate is significantly increased through the improvement on the bandwidth of the front-end circuitry together with the reduction of the intermediate-frequency (IF) driving voltage of the active NBUTC-PD. The demonstrated PTM has a record-wide IF modulation (DC-25 GHz) and optical-to-electrical fractional bandwidths (68-128 GHz, ~67%). At the receiver end, the demodulation is realized with an ultra-fast W-band envelope detector built with a zero-bias Schottky barrier diode with a record wide video bandwidth (37 GHz) and excellent sensitivity. The demonstrated PTM is expected to find applications in multi-gigabit short-range wireless communication.

  2. The Removal of Terrestrial Dissolved Organic Matter in Coastal Regions by Photo-Flocculation Process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abdulla, H. A.; Mopper, K.

    2015-12-01

    The fate of terrestrial dissolved organic matter (tDOM) as it moves to open ocean was the focus of many studies for the last three decades, most of these studies were focused on three major removal processes: 1) Photochemical mineralization of tDOM (conversion to inorganic forms); 2) Microbial oxidation; and 3) Mixing-induced flocculation. Based on recent estimations, the combination of theses removal processes accounts for ~20-35% of the loss of tDOM in estuaries and coastal regions; which is far from closing the gap between the riverine fluxes of tDOM and the amount of tDOM detected in the open ocean. In a preliminary experiment to determine if photo-flocculation indeed occurs at pH values and ionic strengths found in estuaries. A 0.1-μm filtered riverine was diluted 1:1 with artificial seawater and MilliQ water to yield final salinities ranging from 0 - 15; the pH of the saline samples was ranged from 6-8. Photo-flocculation was observed for all salinities, with particles organic carbon (POC) values ranged from 3.2 to 8.5% of the original DOC. Interestingly, the composition of the Photo-flocculated particles in the saline samples was markedly different from the zero salinity samples as shown in their FT-IR spectra. The photo-flocculated particles that formed in the saline samples appear to be rich in carbohydrate and amide functionalities (protein-like), while containing insignificant deprotonated carboxylate. While the flocs that formed in freshwater (salinity zero) are richer in deprotonated carboxyl groups, and relatively depleted in carbohydrate functionality.

  3. I wept for four years and when I stopped I was blind.

    PubMed

    Hustvedt, S

    2014-10-01

    The conversion phenomena of hysteria were the subject of intense study in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, after which work on the subject went into decline. The patients are still with us, however, and I cite an epidemic of hysterical blindness among Cambodian refugees living in the U.S. as a poignant example. Since the advent of brain imaging technology, conversion hysteria has been receiving renewed attention. In this paper, I suggest that examining the ideas about hysteria from the past, especially those of Charcot and Janet are fertile areas of study, including the illness and its relation to hypnosis, shock, suggestion, and dissociation theory. I also address the role of the imaginary and the imagination in the illness and critique the implicit dualist model used in most brain imaging studies that distorts the integration of psyche and soma. I summon Merleau-Ponty's body-subject, infant research on intersubjectivity, and Vittorio Gallese's "embodied simulation" as possible windows onto the problem of hysterical conversion, and finally I suggest that along with imaging studies, more dynamic narrative strategies should be used if we hope to understand the metamorphoses, mimesis, and powerful emotions that all play a part in this mysterious disease. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  4. Combining natural language processing and network analysis to examine how advocacy organizations stimulate conversation on social media

    PubMed Central

    Bail, Christopher Andrew

    2016-01-01

    Social media sites are rapidly becoming one of the most important forums for public deliberation about advocacy issues. However, social scientists have not explained why some advocacy organizations produce social media messages that inspire far-ranging conversation among social media users, whereas the vast majority of them receive little or no attention. I argue that advocacy organizations are more likely to inspire comments from new social media audiences if they create “cultural bridges,” or produce messages that combine conversational themes within an advocacy field that are seldom discussed together. I use natural language processing, network analysis, and a social media application to analyze how cultural bridges shaped public discourse about autism spectrum disorders on Facebook over the course of 1.5 years, controlling for various characteristics of advocacy organizations, their social media audiences, and the broader social context in which they interact. I show that organizations that create substantial cultural bridges provoke 2.52 times more comments about their messages from new social media users than those that do not, controlling for these factors. This study thus offers a theory of cultural messaging and public deliberation and computational techniques for text analysis and application-based survey research. PMID:27694580

  5. Carbon-based electrocatalysts for advanced energy conversion and storage

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Jintao; Xia, Zhenhai; Dai, Liming

    2015-01-01

    Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) play curial roles in electrochemical energy conversion and storage, including fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Having rich multidimensional nanoarchitectures [for example, zero-dimensional (0D) fullerenes, 1D carbon nanotubes, 2D graphene, and 3D graphite] with tunable electronic and surface characteristics, various carbon nanomaterials have been demonstrated to act as efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for ORR and OER in fuel cells and batteries. We present a critical review on the recent advances in carbon-based metal-free catalysts for fuel cells and metal-air batteries, and discuss the perspectives and challenges in this rapidly developing field of practical significance. PMID:26601241

  6. How much do direct livestock emissions actually contribute to global warming?

    PubMed

    Reisinger, Andy; Clark, Harry

    2018-04-01

    Agriculture directly contributes about 10%-12% of current global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from livestock. However, such percentage estimates are based on global warming potentials (GWPs), which do not measure the actual warming caused by emissions and ignore the fact that methane does not accumulate in the atmosphere in the same way as CO 2 . Here, we employ a simple carbon cycle-climate model, historical estimates and future projections of livestock emissions to infer the fraction of actual warming that is attributable to direct livestock non-CO 2 emissions now and in future, and to CO 2 from pasture conversions, without relying on GWPs. We find that direct livestock non-CO 2 emissions caused about 19% of the total modelled warming of 0.81°C from all anthropogenic sources in 2010. CO 2 from pasture conversions contributed at least another 0.03°C, bringing the warming directly attributable to livestock to 23% of the total warming in 2010. The significance of direct livestock emissions to future warming depends strongly on global actions to reduce emissions from other sectors. Direct non-CO 2 livestock emissions would contribute only about 5% of the warming in 2100 if emissions from other sectors increase unabated, but could constitute as much as 18% (0.27°C) of the warming in 2100 if global CO 2 emissions from other sectors are reduced to near or below zero by 2100, consistent with the goal of limiting warming to well below 2°C. These estimates constitute a lower bound since indirect emissions linked to livestock feed production and supply chains were not included. Our estimates demonstrate that expanding the mitigation potential and realizing substantial reductions of direct livestock non-CO 2 emissions through demand and supply side measures can make an important contribution to achieve the stringent mitigation goals set out in the Paris Agreement, including by increasing the carbon budget consistent with the 1.5°C goal. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Plasma technology - a novel solution for CO2 conversion?

    PubMed

    Snoeckx, Ramses; Bogaerts, Annemie

    2017-10-02

    CO 2 conversion into value-added chemicals and fuels is considered as one of the great challenges of the 21st century. Due to the limitations of the traditional thermal approaches, several novel technologies are being developed. One promising approach in this field, which has received little attention to date, is plasma technology. Its advantages include mild operating conditions, easy upscaling, and gas activation by energetic electrons instead of heat. This allows thermodynamically difficult reactions, such as CO 2 splitting and the dry reformation of methane, to occur with reasonable energy cost. In this review, after exploring the traditional thermal approaches, we have provided a brief overview of the fierce competition between various novel approaches in a quest to find the most effective and efficient CO 2 conversion technology. This is needed to critically assess whether plasma technology can be successful in an already crowded arena. The following questions need to be answered in this regard: are there key advantages to using plasma technology over other novel approaches, and if so, what is the flip side to the use of this technology? Can plasma technology be successful on its own, or can synergies be achieved by combining it with other technologies? To answer these specific questions and to evaluate the potentials and limitations of plasma technology in general, this review presents the current state-of-the-art and a critical assessment of plasma-based CO 2 conversion, as well as the future challenges for its practical implementation.

  8. Temporal framing and the hidden-zero effect: rate-dependent outcomes on delay discounting.

    PubMed

    Naudé, Gideon P; Kaplan, Brent A; Reed, Derek D; Henley, Amy J; DiGennaro Reed, Florence D

    2018-05-01

    Recent research suggests that presenting time intervals as units (e.g., days) or as specific dates, can modulate the degree to which humans discount delayed outcomes. Another framing effect involves explicitly stating that choosing a smaller-sooner reward is mutually exclusive to receiving a larger-later reward, thus presenting choices as an extended sequence. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 201) recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire in a 2 (delay framing) by 2 (zero framing) design. Regression suggested a main effect of delay, but not zero, framing after accounting for other demographic variables and manipulations. We observed a rate-dependent effect for the date-framing group, such that those with initially steep discounting exhibited greater sensitivity to the manipulation than those with initially shallow discounting. Subsequent analyses suggest these effects cannot be explained by regression to the mean. Experiment 2 addressed the possibility that the null effect of zero framing was due to within-subject exposure to the hidden- and explicit-zero conditions. A new Amazon Mechanical Turk sample completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire in either hidden- or explicit-zero formats. Analyses revealed a main effect of reward magnitude, but not zero framing, suggesting potential limitations to the generality of the hidden-zero effect. © 2018 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

  9. Comparative study of clinical and radiological outcomes of a zero-profile device concerning reduced postoperative Dysphagia after single level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.

    PubMed

    Son, Doo Kyung; Son, Dong Wuk; Kim, Ho Sang; Sung, Soon Ki; Lee, Sang Weon; Song, Geun Sung

    2014-08-01

    This study analyzed clinical and radiological outcomes of a zero-profile anchored spacer (Zero-P) and conventional cage-plate (CCP) for single level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) to compare the incidence and difference of postoperative dysphagia with both devices. We retrospectively reviewed our experiences of single level ACDF with the CCP and Zero-P. From January 2011 to December 2013, 48 patients who had single level herniated intervertebral disc were operated on using ACDF, with CCP in 27 patients and Zero-P in 21 patients. Patients who received more than double-level ACDF or combined circumferential fusion were excluded. Age, operation time, estimated blood loss (EBL), pre-operative modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scores, post-operative mJOA scores, achieved mJOA scores and recovery rate of mJOA scores were assessed. Prevertebral soft tissue thickness and postoperative dysphagia were analyzed on the day of surgery, and 2 weeks and 6 months postoperatively. The Zero-P group showed same or favorable clinical and radiological outcomes compared with the CCP group. Postoperative dysphagia was significantly low in the Zero-P group. Application of Zero-P may achieve favorable outcomes and reduce postoperative dysphagia in single level ACDF.

  10. Absolute or relative? A comparative analysis of the relationship between poverty and mortality.

    PubMed

    Fritzell, Johan; Rehnberg, Johan; Bacchus Hertzman, Jennie; Blomgren, Jenni

    2015-01-01

    We aimed to examine the cross-national and cross-temporal association between poverty and mortality, in particular differentiating the impact of absolute and relative poverty. We employed pooled cross-sectional time series analysis. Our measure of relative poverty was based upon the standard 60% of median income. The measure of absolute, or fixed, poverty was based upon the US poverty threshold. Our analyses were conducted on data for 30 countries between 1978 and 2010, a total of 149 data points. We separately studied infant, child, and adult mortality. Our findings highlight the importance of relative poverty for mortality. Especially for infant and child mortality, we found that our estimates of fixed poverty is close to zero either in the crude models, or when adjusting for gross domestic product. Conversely, the relative poverty estimates increased when adjusting for confounders. Our results seemed robust to a number of sensitivity tests. If we agree that risk of death is important, the public policy implication of our findings is that relative poverty, which has close associations to overall inequality, should be a major concern also among rich countries.

  11. Issues and opportunities in space photovoltaics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Francis, Robert W.; Somerville, W. A.; Flood, Dennis J.

    1988-01-01

    Space power sources are becoming a central focus for determining man's potential and schedule for exploring and utilizing the benefits of space. The ability to search, probe, survey, and communicate throughout the universe will depend on providing adequate power to the instruments to do these jobs. Power requirements for space platforms are increasing and will continue to increase into the 21st century. Photovoltaics have been a dependable power source for space for the last 30 years and have served as the primary source of power on virtually all DOD and NASA satellites. The performance of silicon (Si) solar cells has increased from 10 percent air mass zero (AM0) solar energy conversion efficiency in the early 60's to almost 15 percent on today's spacecraft. Some technologists even think that the potential for solar photovoltaics has reached a plateau. However, present and near-future Air Force and NASA requirements show needs that, if the problems are looked upon as opportunities, can elevate the photovoltaic power source scientist and array structure engineer into the next technological photovoltaic growth curve.

  12. Microwave birefringent metamaterials for polarization conversion based on spoof surface plasmon polariton modes

    PubMed Central

    Li, Yongfeng; Zhang, Jieqiu; Ma, Hua; Wang, Jiafu; Pang, Yongqiang; Feng, Dayi; Xu, Zhuo; Qu, Shaobo

    2016-01-01

    We propose the design of wideband birefringent metamaterials based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs). Spatial k-dispersion design of SSPP modes in metamaterials is adopted to achieve high-efficiency transmission of electromagnetic waves through the metamaterial layer. By anisotropic design, the transmission phase accumulation in metamaterials can be independently modulated for x- and y-polarized components of incident waves. Since the dispersion curve of SSPPs is nonlinear, frequency-dependent phase differences can be obtained between the two orthogonal components of transmitted waves. As an example, we demonstrate a microwave birefringent metamaterials composed of fishbone structures. The full-polarization-state conversions on the zero-longitude line of Poincaré sphere can be fulfilled twice in 6–20 GHz for both linearly polarized (LP) and circularly polarized (CP) waves incidence. Besides, at a given frequency, the full-polarization-state conversion can be achieved by changing the polarization angle of the incident LP waves. Both the simulation and experiment results verify the high-efficiency polarization conversion functions of the birefringent metamaterial, including circular-to-circular, circular-to-linear(linear-to-circular), linear-to-linear polarization conversions. PMID:27698443

  13. Reviews

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2006-05-01

    WE RECOMMEND Colour mixer This equipment offers a great way to demonstrate colour mixing. Semiconductor laser and modulated receiver unit A simple way to demonstrate the modulation of laser beams. Project: Zero Gravity This two-DVD set discusses the topic of weightlessness in space. Lascells materials hardness tester This well made tool gives reproducible results quickly. The practical guide to Man-Powered Bullets Build your own armoury with this rather eccentric guide. Lenz’s Law demonstration A cheap, cheerful and fun way to test Lenz’s Law. WORTH A LOOK Eye Tricks Take a trip down memory lane with this magic-eye book. Elementary Climate Physics An authoritative textbook on the physics of Earth’s climate. Representing Electrons This rather heavyweight book looks at the philosophy of physics. WEB WATCH If you want to inject some innovative ideas into your teaching of forces then look no further.

  14. 12 CFR Appendix C to Part 325 - Risk-Based Capital for State Non-Member Banks: Market Risk

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... instrument is a covered debt instrument that is subject to a non-zero specific risk capital charge. (A) For... indices. (iii) A bank must multiply the absolute value of the current market value of each net long or... conversion. (iii)(A) A bank must multiply the absolute value of the current market value of each net long or...

  15. Improved gastrointestinal symptom burden after conversion from mycophenolate mofetil to enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium in kidney transplanted children.

    PubMed

    Pape, Lars; Ahlenstiel, Thurid; Kreuzer, Martin; Ehrich, Jochen H H

    2008-09-01

    It has been shown in adult kidney transplant recipients that a conversion from MMF to EC-MPS significantly reduced the GI related symptom burden. No such study exists on children with GI problems while receiving MMF therapy. Ten paediatric kidney transplant recipients (mean age 14.5 yr, s.d. 4.5) receiving triple immunosuppression (Cyclosporin A or Tacrolimus + MMF + Prednisolone) with severe GI symptoms were converted to an equimolar dose of EC-MPS. The GSRS was completed before and at four wk after the switch, and GFR was determined for a mean period of six months. Values were compared by the paired t-test. Mean GSRS improved significantly after the switch to EC-MPS in all but one patient, from 2.1 (s.d. 0.9) to 1.1 (s.d. 0.6). The differences could be found in all four subscales. Graft function did not change after conversion to EC-MPS. In children with moderate or severe GI symptoms while receiving MMF, conversion to EC-MPS led to significantly reduced GI symptoms.

  16. Effecting a broadcast with an allreduce operation on a parallel computer

    DOEpatents

    Almasi, Gheorghe; Archer, Charles J.; Ratterman, Joseph D.; Smith, Brian E.

    2010-11-02

    A parallel computer comprises a plurality of compute nodes organized into at least one operational group for collective parallel operations. Each compute node is assigned a unique rank and is coupled for data communications through a global combining network. One compute node is assigned to be a logical root. A send buffer and a receive buffer is configured. Each element of a contribution of the logical root in the send buffer is contributed. One or more zeros corresponding to a size of the element are injected. An allreduce operation with a bitwise OR using the element and the injected zeros is performed. And the result for the allreduce operation is determined and stored in each receive buffer.

  17. Reducing Preconception Risks Among African American Women with Conversational Agent Technology.

    PubMed

    Jack, Brian; Bickmore, Timothy; Hempstead, Megan; Yinusa-Nyahkoon, Leanne; Sadikova, Ekaterina; Mitchell, Suzanne; Gardiner, Paula; Adigun, Fatima; Penti, Brian; Schulman, Daniel; Damus, Karla

    2015-01-01

    Systems and tools are needed to identify and mitigate preconception health (PCH) risks, particularly for African American (AA) women, given persistent health disparities. We developed and tested "Gabby," an online preconception conversational agent system. One hundred nongravid AA women 18-34 years of age were screened for over 100 PCH risks and randomized to the Gabby or control group. The Gabby group interacted with the system for up to six months; the control group received a letter indicating their health risks with a recommendation to talk with their clinician. The numbers, proportions, and types of risks were compared between groups. There were 23.7 (SD 5.9) risks identified per participant. Eighty-five percent (77 of 91) provided 6 month follow up data. The Gabby group had greater reductions in the number (8.3 vs. 5.5 risks, P < .05) and the proportion (27.8% vs 20.5%, P < 0.01) of risks compared to controls. The Gabby group averaged 63.7 minutes of interaction time. Seventy-eight percent reported that it "was easy to talk to Gabby" and 64% used information from Gabby to improve their health. Gabby was significantly associated with preconception risk reduction. More research is needed to determine if Gabby can benefit higher risk populations and if risk reduction is clinically significant. © Copyright 2015 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

  18. Do conversations with virtual avatars increase feelings of social anxiety?

    PubMed

    Powers, Mark B; Briceno, Nicole F; Gresham, Robert; Jouriles, Ernest N; Emmelkamp, Paul M G; Smits, Jasper A J

    2013-05-01

    Virtual reality (VR) technology provides a way to conduct exposure therapy with patients with social anxiety. However, the primary limitation of current technology is that the operator is limited to pre-programed avatars that cannot be controlled to interact/converse with the patient in real time. The current study piloted new technology allowing the operator to directly control the avatar (including speaking) during VR conversations. Using an incomplete repeated measures (VR vs. in vivo conversation) design and random starting order with rotation counterbalancing, participants (N = 26) provided ratings of fear and presence during both VR and in vivo conversations. Results showed that VR conversation successfully elevated fear ratings relative to baseline (d = 2.29). Participants also rated their fear higher during VR conversation than during in vivo conversation (d = 0.85). However, in vivo conversation was rated as more realistic than VR conversation (d = 0.74). No participants dropped out and 100% completed both VR and in vivo conversations. Qualitative participant comments suggested that the VR conversations would be more realistic if they did not meet the actor/operator and if they were not in the same room as the participant. Overall, the data suggest that the novel technology allowing real time interaction/conversation in VR may prove useful for the treatment of social anxiety in future studies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Memory Training for Older Adults with Low Education: Mental Images versus Categorization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    da Silva, Henrique Salmazo; Yassuda, Monica Sanches

    2009-01-01

    This study aimed to describe the benefits of memory training for older adults with low education. Twenty-nine healthy older adults with zero to two years of formal education participated. Sixteen participants received training based on categorization (categorization group = CATG) and 13 received training based on mental images (imagery…

  20. Simplified OMEGA receivers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burhans, R. W.

    1974-01-01

    The details are presented of methods for providing OMEGA navigational information including the receiver problem at the antenna and informational display and housekeeping systems based on some 4 bit data processing concepts. Topics discussed include the problem of limiters, zero crossing detectors, signal envelopes, internal timing circuits, phase counters, lane position displays, signal integrators, and software mapping problems.

  1. 24 CFR 902.62 - Failure to submit data.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Failure to submit data. 902.62... DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC HOUSING ASSESSMENT SYSTEM PHAS Scoring § 902.62 Failure to submit data. (a) Failure to... receive a presumptive rating of failure for its unaudited information and shall receive zero points for...

  2. 24 CFR 902.62 - Failure to submit data.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Failure to submit data. 902.62... DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC HOUSING ASSESSMENT SYSTEM PHAS Scoring § 902.62 Failure to submit data. (a) Failure to... receive a presumptive rating of failure for its unaudited information and shall receive zero points for...

  3. 24 CFR 902.62 - Failure to submit data.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Failure to submit data. 902.62... DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC HOUSING ASSESSMENT SYSTEM PHAS Scoring § 902.62 Failure to submit data. (a) Failure to... receive a presumptive rating of failure for its unaudited information and shall receive zero points for...

  4. 24 CFR 990.190 - Other formula expenses (add-ons).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... operating subsidy is determined to be zero based on the formula is still eligible to receive operating... formula expenses (add-ons). In addition to calculating operating subsidy based on the PEL and UEL, a PHA's... receive an amount for PILOT in accordance with section 6(d) of the 1937 Act, based on its cooperation...

  5. 24 CFR 990.190 - Other formula expenses (add-ons).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... operating subsidy is determined to be zero based on the formula is still eligible to receive operating... formula expenses (add-ons). In addition to calculating operating subsidy based on the PEL and UEL, a PHA's... receive an amount for PILOT in accordance with section 6(d) of the 1937 Act, based on its cooperation...

  6. Industrial conversion costs from oil and gas to alternative fuels

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

    Askari, H.; Reichert, A.T.

    1977-01-01

    From a national standpoint, many questions can be raised on conversion -- whether mandatory or through taxation. 1) Why is it necessary to intervene in the market since price increases will act to allocate available fuels. The desire to reduce dependence on imported oil and gas may be an overriding constraint -- an unproven proposition; some believe that price increases would not have a significant positive impact on output -- a position without a great deal of economic or geological foundation; and the President, for obvious reasons, did not want to force households into conversion nor did he want tomore » propose deregulation which, in the short run, may increase prices directly to consumers but it would be politically more palatable to pass on energy price increase through industry; though astute politically, the economic merit of such a decision is very questionable. 2) Is the cutback of oil and gas consumption being targeted into the least critical area of national need, namely industry. 3) From the national perspective, is conversion desirable as compared to continued dependence on foreign oil for existing plants, with non-petroleum fuel sources for new plants and new residential dwellings. If conversion costs are prohibitive, then it may be ruled out. If conversion costs are low but the real cost of using coal or electricity far exceeds the economic risk of OPEC price increases or embargoes, then again conversion may be ruled out. In short, even if conversion costs are low, it is far from obvious that conversion is desirable. In this paper, the question of conversion cost and its regional implications is examined in detail.« less

  7. Pulsed laser illumination of photovoltaic cells

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yater, Jane A.; Lowe, Roland A.; Jenkins, Phillip P.; Landis, Geoffrey A.

    1995-01-01

    In future space missions, free electron lasers (FEL) may be used to illuminate photovoltaic receivers to provide remote power. Both the radio-frequency (RF) and induction FEL produce pulsed rather than continuous output. In this work we investigate cell response to pulsed laser light which simulates the RF FEL format. The results indicate that if the pulse repetition is high, cell efficiencies are only slightly reduced compared to constant illumination at the same wavelength. The frequency response of the cells is weak, with both voltage and current outputs essentially dc in nature. Comparison with previous experiments indicates that the RF FEL pulse format yields more efficient photovoltaic conversion than does an induction FEL format.

  8. Pulsed laser illumination of photovoltaic cells

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yater, Jane A.; Lowe, Roland A.; Jenkins, Phillip P.; Landis, Geoffrey A.

    1994-01-01

    In future space missions, free electron lasers (FEL) may be used to illuminate photovoltaic array receivers to provide remote power. Both the radio-frequency (RF) and induction FEL provide FEL produce pulsed rather than continuous output. In this work we investigate cell response to pulsed laser light which simulates the RF FEL format. The results indicate that if the pulse repetition is high, cell efficiencies are only slightly reduced compared to constant illumination at the same wavelength. The frequency response of the cells is weak, with both voltage and current outputs essentially dc in nature. Comparison with previous experiments indicates that the RF FEL pulse format yields more efficient photovoltaic conversion than does an induction FEL pulse format.

  9. Model Selection for the Multiple Model Adaptive Algorithm for In-Flight Simulation.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-12-01

    of the two models, while the other model was given a probability of approximately zero. If the probabilties were exactly one and zero for the...Figures 6-103 through 6-107. From Figure 6-103, it can be seen that the probabilty of the model associated with the 10,000 ft, 0.35 Mach flight con

  10. 78 FR 12273 - Highly Migratory Species; 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-22

    ... other times. Similarly, they could harpoon a swordfish if one were spotted during a tuna trip. A zero-to.... One of the items contained in the ANPR was the potential establishment of a new commercial permit to... relatively low swordfish retention limits (zero to six fish) that are being considered for a new permit and...

  11. 40 CFR 60.2210 - What information must I include in my annual report?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... Performance for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units Recordkeeping and Reporting § 60.2210..., time, and duration that each CMS was inoperative, except for zero (low-level) and high-level checks. (3... procedure in 40 CFR part 60, appendix F of this part, as if any of the following occur. (1) The zero (low...

  12. 40 CFR 92.120 - NDIR analyzer calibration and checks.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ....120 NDIR analyzer calibration and checks. (a) NDIR water rejection ratio check. (1) Zero and span the analyzer on the lowest range that will be used. (2) Introduce a saturated mixture of water and zero gas at...) in absolute units in Pascal. Gauges G3 and G4 may be used if the values are converted to the correct...

  13. 40 CFR 92.120 - NDIR analyzer calibration and checks.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ....120 NDIR analyzer calibration and checks. (a) NDIR water rejection ratio check. (1) Zero and span the analyzer on the lowest range that will be used. (2) Introduce a saturated mixture of water and zero gas at...) in absolute units in Pascal. Gauges G3 and G4 may be used if the values are converted to the correct...

  14. 40 CFR 92.120 - NDIR analyzer calibration and checks.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ....120 NDIR analyzer calibration and checks. (a) NDIR water rejection ratio check. (1) Zero and span the analyzer on the lowest range that will be used. (2) Introduce a saturated mixture of water and zero gas at...) in absolute units in Pascal. Gauges G3 and G4 may be used if the values are converted to the correct...

  15. 40 CFR 92.120 - NDIR analyzer calibration and checks.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ....120 NDIR analyzer calibration and checks. (a) NDIR water rejection ratio check. (1) Zero and span the analyzer on the lowest range that will be used. (2) Introduce a saturated mixture of water and zero gas at...) in absolute units in Pascal. Gauges G3 and G4 may be used if the values are converted to the correct...

  16. 40 CFR 92.120 - NDIR analyzer calibration and checks.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ....120 NDIR analyzer calibration and checks. (a) NDIR water rejection ratio check. (1) Zero and span the analyzer on the lowest range that will be used. (2) Introduce a saturated mixture of water and zero gas at...) in absolute units in Pascal. Gauges G3 and G4 may be used if the values are converted to the correct...

  17. 12 CFR 702.302 - Net worth categories for new credit unions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... three and one-half percent (3.5%); (5) Minimally capitalized if it has a net worth ratio of zero percent... less than zero percent (0%) (e.g., a deficit in retained earnings). ER29NO02.071 (d) Reclassification based on supervisory criteria other than net worth. Subject to § 702.102(b) and (c), the NCUA Board may...

  18. 26 CFR 1.904-4 - Separate application of section 904 with respect to certain categories of income.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... States person that would otherwise be passive income shall not be treated as passive income if the income... application of this paragraph (c), income that would otherwise be passive income is determined to be high... this paragraph (c), passive income is zero or less than zero, any taxes imposed on the passive income...

  19. On the mean and variance of the writhe of random polygons.

    PubMed

    Portillo, J; Diao, Y; Scharein, R; Arsuaga, J; Vazquez, M

    We here address two problems concerning the writhe of random polygons. First, we study the behavior of the mean writhe as a function length. Second, we study the variance of the writhe. Suppose that we are dealing with a set of random polygons with the same length and knot type, which could be the model of some circular DNA with the same topological property. In general, a simple way of detecting chirality of this knot type is to compute the mean writhe of the polygons; if the mean writhe is non-zero then the knot is chiral. How accurate is this method? For example, if for a specific knot type K the mean writhe decreased to zero as the length of the polygons increased, then this method would be limited in the case of long polygons. Furthermore, we conjecture that the sign of the mean writhe is a topological invariant of chiral knots. This sign appears to be the same as that of an "ideal" conformation of the knot. We provide numerical evidence to support these claims, and we propose a new nomenclature of knots based on the sign of their expected writhes. This nomenclature can be of particular interest to applied scientists. The second part of our study focuses on the variance of the writhe, a problem that has not received much attention in the past. In this case, we focused on the equilateral random polygons. We give numerical as well as analytical evidence to show that the variance of the writhe of equilateral random polygons (of length n ) behaves as a linear function of the length of the equilateral random polygon.

  20. On the mean and variance of the writhe of random polygons

    PubMed Central

    Portillo, J.; Diao, Y.; Scharein, R.; Arsuaga, J.; Vazquez, M.

    2013-01-01

    We here address two problems concerning the writhe of random polygons. First, we study the behavior of the mean writhe as a function length. Second, we study the variance of the writhe. Suppose that we are dealing with a set of random polygons with the same length and knot type, which could be the model of some circular DNA with the same topological property. In general, a simple way of detecting chirality of this knot type is to compute the mean writhe of the polygons; if the mean writhe is non-zero then the knot is chiral. How accurate is this method? For example, if for a specific knot type K the mean writhe decreased to zero as the length of the polygons increased, then this method would be limited in the case of long polygons. Furthermore, we conjecture that the sign of the mean writhe is a topological invariant of chiral knots. This sign appears to be the same as that of an “ideal” conformation of the knot. We provide numerical evidence to support these claims, and we propose a new nomenclature of knots based on the sign of their expected writhes. This nomenclature can be of particular interest to applied scientists. The second part of our study focuses on the variance of the writhe, a problem that has not received much attention in the past. In this case, we focused on the equilateral random polygons. We give numerical as well as analytical evidence to show that the variance of the writhe of equilateral random polygons (of length n) behaves as a linear function of the length of the equilateral random polygon. PMID:25685182

  1. Terrestrial Applications of Zero Boil-Off Cryogen Storage

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Salerno, L. J.; Gaby, J.; Hastings, L.; Johnson, R.; Kittel, P.; Marquardt, E.; Plachta, D.; Arnold, James O. (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    Storing cryogenic propellants with zero boil off (ZBO) using a combination of active (cryocoolers) and passive technologies has recently received a great deal of attention for applications such as future long-term space missions. This paper will examine a variety of potential near-term terrestrial applications for ZBO and, where appropriate, provide a rough order of magnitude cost benefit of implementing ZBO technology. NASA's Space Shuttle power system uses supercritical propellant tanks, which are filled several days before launch. If the launch does not occur within 48-96 hours, the tanks must be drained and refilled, further delaying the launch. By implementing ZBO, boil off could be eliminated and pad hold time extended. At the launch site, vented liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage dewars lose 1200-1600 gal/day through boiloff. Implementing ZBO would eliminate this, saving $300,000-$400,000 per year. Similarly, overland trucking of LH2 from the supplier to the launch site via roadable dewars results in a cryogen loss of ten percent per tanker (1500 gal/tanker). Providing a cryocooler on board the rig would prevent this loss. Previous work investigating variable density insulation found that a 50% reduction in evaporation from a 6000 gallon dewar would save $5000 per year. For a 20 year dewar lifetime, the payback period would be less than two years. Similar benefits could be realized at other storage facilities across the nation. Within the superconductivity community, there is skepticism about using coolers, based upon reliability concerns. By providing a cooler on the dewar, lifetime could be extended while retaining fail-safe capability. If the cooler failed, it would merely lower the storage life of the dewar.

  2. Penetrating transmission zeros in the design of robust servomechanism systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wang, S. H.; Davison, E. J.

    1981-01-01

    In the design of a robust servomechanism system, it is well known that the system cannot track a reference signal whose frequency coincides with the transmission zeros of the system. This paper proposes a new design method for overcoming this difficulty. The controller to be used employs a sampler and holding device with exponential decay. It is shown that the transmission zeros of the discretized system can be shifted by changing the rate of the exponential decay of the holding device. Thus, it is possible to design a robust controller for the discretized system to track any reference signal of given frequency, even if the given frequency coincides with the transmission zeros of the original continuous-time system.

  3. Anticipated and zero-lag synchronization in motifs of delay-coupled systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mirasso, Claudio R.; Carelli, Pedro V.; Pereira, Tiago; Matias, Fernanda S.; Copelli, Mauro

    2017-11-01

    Anticipated and zero-lag synchronization have been observed in different scientific fields. In the brain, they might play a fundamental role in information processing, temporal coding and spatial attention. Recent numerical work on anticipated and zero-lag synchronization studied the role of delays. However, an analytical understanding of the conditions for these phenomena remains elusive. In this paper, we study both phenomena in systems with small delays. By performing a phase reduction and studying phase locked solutions, we uncover the functional relation between the delay, excitation and inhibition for the onset of anticipated synchronization in a sender-receiver-interneuron motif. In the case of zero-lag synchronization in a chain motif, we determine the stability conditions. These analytical solutions provide an excellent prediction of the phase-locked regimes of Hodgkin-Huxley models and Roessler oscillators.

  4. 2D Covalent Metals: A New Materials Domain of Electrochemical CO2 Conversion with Broken Scaling Relationship.

    PubMed

    Shin, Hyeyoung; Ha, Yoonhoo; Kim, Hyungjun

    2016-10-04

    Toward a sustainable carbon cycle, electrochemical conversion of CO 2 into valuable fuels has drawn much attention. However, sluggish kinetics and a substantial overpotential, originating from the strong correlation between the adsorption energies of intermediates and products, are key obstacles of electrochemical CO 2 conversion. Here we show that 2D covalent metals with a zero band gap can overcome the intrinsic limitation of conventional metals and metal alloys and thereby substantially decrease the overpotential for CO 2 reduction because of their covalent characteristics. From first-principles-based high-throughput screening results on 61 2D covalent metals, we find that the strong correlation between the adsorption energies of COOH and CO can be entirely broken. This leads to the computational design of CO 2 -to-CO and CO 2 -to-CH 4 conversion catalysts in addition to hydrogen-evolution-reaction catalysts. Toward efficient electrochemical catalysts for CO 2 reduction, this work suggests a new materials domain having two contradictory properties in a single material: covalent nature and electrical conductance.

  5. Subclinical Primary Psychopathy, but Not Physical Formidability or Attractiveness, Predicts Conversational Dominance in a Zero-Acquaintance Situation

    PubMed Central

    Manson, Joseph H.; Gervais, Matthew M.; Fessler, Daniel M. T.; Kline, Michelle A.

    2014-01-01

    The determinants of conversational dominance are not well understood. We used videotaped triadic interactions among unacquainted same-sex American college students to test predictions drawn from the theoretical distinction between dominance and prestige as modes of human status competition. Specifically, we investigated the effects of physical formidability, facial attractiveness, social status, and self-reported subclinical psychopathy on quantitative (proportion of words produced), participatory (interruptions produced and sustained), and sequential (topic control) dominance. No measure of physical formidability or attractiveness was associated with any form of conversational dominance, suggesting that the characteristics of our study population or experimental frame may have moderated their role in dominance dynamics. Primary psychopathy was positively associated with quantitative dominance and (marginally) overall triad talkativeness, and negatively associated (in men) with affect word use, whereas secondary psychopathy was unrelated to conversational dominance. The two psychopathy factors had significant opposing effects on quantitative dominance in a multivariate model. These latter findings suggest that glibness in primary psychopathy may function to elicit exploitable information from others in a relationally mobile society. PMID:25426962

  6. Characterization and modeling of microstructured chalcogenide fibers for efficient mid-infrared wavelength conversion.

    PubMed

    Xing, Sida; Grassani, Davide; Kharitonov, Svyatoslav; Billat, Adrien; Brès, Camille-Sophie

    2016-05-02

    We experimentally demonstrate wavelength conversion in the 2 µm region by four-wave mixing in an AsSe and a GeAsSe chalcogenide photonic crystal fibers. A maximum conversion efficiency of -25.4 dB is measured for 112 mW of coupled continuous wave pump in a 27 cm long fiber. We estimate the dispersion parameters and the nonlinear refractive indexes of the chalcogenide PCFs, establishing a good agreement with the values expected from simulations. The different fiber geometries and glass compositions are compared in terms of performance, showing that GeAsSe is a more suited candidate for nonlinear optics at 2 µm. Building from the fitted parameters we then propose a new tapered GeAsSe PCF geometry to tailor the waveguide dispersion and lower the zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) closer to the 2 µm pump wavelength. Numerical simulations shows that the new design allows both an increased conversion efficiency and bandwidth, and the generation of idler waves further in the mid-IR regions, by tuning the pump wavelength in the vicinity of the fiber ZDW.

  7. Subclinical primary psychopathy, but not physical formidability or attractiveness, predicts conversational dominance in a zero-acquaintance situation.

    PubMed

    Manson, Joseph H; Gervais, Matthew M; Fessler, Daniel M T; Kline, Michelle A

    2014-01-01

    The determinants of conversational dominance are not well understood. We used videotaped triadic interactions among unacquainted same-sex American college students to test predictions drawn from the theoretical distinction between dominance and prestige as modes of human status competition. Specifically, we investigated the effects of physical formidability, facial attractiveness, social status, and self-reported subclinical psychopathy on quantitative (proportion of words produced), participatory (interruptions produced and sustained), and sequential (topic control) dominance. No measure of physical formidability or attractiveness was associated with any form of conversational dominance, suggesting that the characteristics of our study population or experimental frame may have moderated their role in dominance dynamics. Primary psychopathy was positively associated with quantitative dominance and (marginally) overall triad talkativeness, and negatively associated (in men) with affect word use, whereas secondary psychopathy was unrelated to conversational dominance. The two psychopathy factors had significant opposing effects on quantitative dominance in a multivariate model. These latter findings suggest that glibness in primary psychopathy may function to elicit exploitable information from others in a relationally mobile society.

  8. Strong Converse Exponents for a Quantum Channel Discrimination Problem and Quantum-Feedback-Assisted Communication

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cooney, Tom; Mosonyi, Milán; Wilde, Mark M.

    2016-06-01

    This paper studies the difficulty of discriminating between an arbitrary quantum channel and a "replacer" channel that discards its input and replaces it with a fixed state. The results obtained here generalize those known in the theory of quantum hypothesis testing for binary state discrimination. We show that, in this particular setting, the most general adaptive discrimination strategies provide no asymptotic advantage over non-adaptive tensor-power strategies. This conclusion follows by proving a quantum Stein's lemma for this channel discrimination setting, showing that a constant bound on the Type I error leads to the Type II error decreasing to zero exponentially quickly at a rate determined by the maximum relative entropy registered between the channels. The strong converse part of the lemma states that any attempt to make the Type II error decay to zero at a rate faster than the channel relative entropy implies that the Type I error necessarily converges to one. We then refine this latter result by identifying the optimal strong converse exponent for this task. As a consequence of these results, we can establish a strong converse theorem for the quantum-feedback-assisted capacity of a channel, sharpening a result due to Bowen. Furthermore, our channel discrimination result demonstrates the asymptotic optimality of a non-adaptive tensor-power strategy in the setting of quantum illumination, as was used in prior work on the topic. The sandwiched Rényi relative entropy is a key tool in our analysis. Finally, by combining our results with recent results of Hayashi and Tomamichel, we find a novel operational interpretation of the mutual information of a quantum channel {mathcal{N}} as the optimal Type II error exponent when discriminating between a large number of independent instances of {mathcal{N}} and an arbitrary "worst-case" replacer channel chosen from the set of all replacer channels.

  9. Treatment of Bartter syndrome. Unsolved issue.

    PubMed

    Nascimento, Carla Lessa Pena; Garcia, Cecilia Lopes; Schvartsman, Benita Galassi Soares; Vaisbich, Maria Helena

    2014-01-01

    To describe the results of a long-term follow-up of Bartter syndrome patients treated with different drugs. Patients were diagnosed according to clinical and laboratory data. Treatment protocol was potassium supplementation, sodium, spironolactone, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Patients who developed proteinuria were converted to angiotensin conversion enzyme inhibitor. The variables evaluated for each drug were Z-score for weight and stature, proteinuria, creatinine clearance, gastrointestinal complaints, amount of potassium supplementation, serum potassium and bicarbonate levels, and findings of upper digestive endoscopy. 20 patients were included. Follow-up was 10.1 ± 5.2 years. 17 patients received indomethacin for 5.9 ± 5.3 years; 19 received celecoxib, median of 35 months; and five received enalapril, median of 23 months. During indomethacin, a statistically significant increase was observed in the Z-score for stature and weight, without a change in the creatinine clearance. Seven of 17 patients had gastrointestinal symptoms, and upper digestive endoscopy evidenced gastritis in three patients and gastric ulcer in four patients. During celecoxib use, a significant increase was detected in the Z-score for stature and weight and a reduction of hyperfiltration; seven patients presented gastrointestinal symptoms, and upper digestive endoscopy evidenced mild gastritis in three. During enalapril use, no significant changes were observed in the Z-score for stature, weight and creatinine clearance. The conversion to enalapril resulted in a significant reduction in proteinuria. The authors suggest starting the treatment with celecoxib, and replacing by ACEi if necessary, monitoring the renal function. The safety and efficacy of celecoxib need to be assessed in larger controlled studies. Copyright © 2014 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  10. Effect of chiral symmetry on chaotic scattering from Majorana zero modes.

    PubMed

    Schomerus, H; Marciani, M; Beenakker, C W J

    2015-04-24

    In many of the experimental systems that may host Majorana zero modes, a so-called chiral symmetry exists that protects overlapping zero modes from splitting up. This symmetry is operative in a superconducting nanowire that is narrower than the spin-orbit scattering length, and at the Dirac point of a superconductor-topological insulator heterostructure. Here we show that chiral symmetry strongly modifies the dynamical and spectral properties of a chaotic scatterer, even if it binds only a single zero mode. These properties are quantified by the Wigner-Smith time-delay matrix Q=-iℏS^{†}dS/dE, the Hermitian energy derivative of the scattering matrix, related to the density of states by ρ=(2πℏ)^{-1}TrQ. We compute the probability distribution of Q and ρ, dependent on the number ν of Majorana zero modes, in the chiral ensembles of random-matrix theory. Chiral symmetry is essential for a significant ν dependence.

  11. Feasibility and acceptability of insecticide-treated plastic sheeting (ITPS) for vector control in Papua New Guinea

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing insecticide-treated plastic sheeting (ITPS) as a malaria control intervention in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Methods ZeroVector® ITPS was installed in 40 homes across four study sites representing a cross section of malaria transmission risk and housing style. Structured questionnaires were completed at the time of ITPS installation (n=40) and at four weeks post installation (n=40) with the household head. Similarly, group interviews with the male and/or female household heads were completed at installation (n=5) and four-week follow-up (n=4). Results ZeroVector® ITPS was successfully installed in a range of homes employing traditional and/or modern building materials in PNG. The ITPS installations remained intact over the course of the four-week trial period and were highly acceptable to both male and female household heads. No dissatisfaction with the ITPS product was reported at four-week follow-up; however, the installation process was time consuming, participants reported a reduction in mosquito net use following ITPS installation and many participants expressed concern about the longevity of ITPS over the longer term. Conclusion ZeroVector® ITPS installation is feasible and highly acceptable in a diverse range of PNG contexts and is likely to be favourably received as a vector control intervention if accessible en masse. A longer-term evaluation is required before firm policy or public health decisions can be made regarding the potential application of ITPS in the national malaria control programme. The positive study findings suggest a longer-term evaluation of this promising malaria control intervention warrants consideration. PMID:23046535

  12. Feasibility and acceptability of insecticide-treated plastic sheeting (ITPS) for vector control in Papua New Guinea.

    PubMed

    Pulford, Justin; Tandrapah, Anthony; Atkinson, Jo-An; Kaupa, Brown; Russell, Tanya; Hetzel, Manuel W

    2012-10-09

    This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing insecticide-treated plastic sheeting (ITPS) as a malaria control intervention in Papua New Guinea (PNG). ZeroVector® ITPS was installed in 40 homes across four study sites representing a cross section of malaria transmission risk and housing style. Structured questionnaires were completed at the time of ITPS installation (n=40) and at four weeks post installation (n=40) with the household head. Similarly, group interviews with the male and/or female household heads were completed at installation (n=5) and four-week follow-up (n=4). ZeroVector® ITPS was successfully installed in a range of homes employing traditional and/or modern building materials in PNG. The ITPS installations remained intact over the course of the four-week trial period and were highly acceptable to both male and female household heads. No dissatisfaction with the ITPS product was reported at four-week follow-up; however, the installation process was time consuming, participants reported a reduction in mosquito net use following ITPS installation and many participants expressed concern about the longevity of ITPS over the longer term. ZeroVector® ITPS installation is feasible and highly acceptable in a diverse range of PNG contexts and is likely to be favourably received as a vector control intervention if accessible en masse. A longer-term evaluation is required before firm policy or public health decisions can be made regarding the potential application of ITPS in the national malaria control programme. The positive study findings suggest a longer-term evaluation of this promising malaria control intervention warrants consideration.

  13. 27 CFR 19.722 - Conversion between metric and U.S. units.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Conversion between metric... General § 19.722 Conversion between metric and U.S. units. When liters are converted to wine gallons, the...: (a) If the conversion from liters to U.S. units is made before multiplying by the number of cases...

  14. 24 CFR 251.3 - Case-by-case conversion to full insurance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Case-by-case conversion to full... § 251.3 Case-by-case conversion to full insurance. Upon the request of a coinsuring lender, the... conversion would be less costly to HUD than if the Mortgage remained coinsured; (d) The lender has paid HUD...

  15. 27 CFR 31.161 - Conversion between metric and U.S. units.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Conversion between metric... Wholesale Dealers' Records and Reports § 31.161 Conversion between metric and U.S. units. When liters are... number of cases to be converted, as follows: (a) If the conversion from liters to U.S. units is made...

  16. Special involuntary conversion situations involving timberland

    Treesearch

    William C. Siegal

    2001-01-01

    If standing timber is destroyed or stolen, or if forest land is condemned for public use, the owner may be entitled to take a deduction on his or her income tax return. These types of losses are called involuntary conversions. In previous National Woodlands articles I've discussed in detail casualty losses, which represent the major type of timber involuntary...

  17. A Conversation on Zero Net Energy Buildings

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

    Eley, Charles; Gupta, Smita; Torcellini, Paul

    The submitted Roundtable discussion covers zero net energy (ZNE) buildings and their expansion into the market as a more widely adopted approach for various building types and sizes. However, the market is still small, and this discussion brings together distinguished researchers, designers, policy makers, and program administrations to represent the key factors making ZNE building more widespread and mainstream from a broad perspective, including governments, utilities, energy-efficiency research institutes, and building owners. This roundtable was conducted by the ASHRAE Journal with Bing Liu, P.E., Member ASHRAE, Charles Eley, FAIA, P.E., Member ASHRAE; Smita Gupta, Itron; Cathy Higgins, New Buildings Institute;more » Jessica Iplikci, Energy Trust of Oregon; Jon McHugh, P.E., Member ASHRAE; Michael Rosenberg, Member ASHRAE; and Paul Torcellini, Ph.D., P.E., NREL.« less

  18. Intermittent fasting induces hypothalamic modifications resulting in low feeding efficiency, low body mass and overeating.

    PubMed

    Chausse, Bruno; Solon, Carina; Caldeira da Silva, Camille C; Masselli Dos Reis, Ivan G; Manchado-Gobatto, Fúlvia B; Gobatto, Claudio A; Velloso, Licio A; Kowaltowski, Alicia J

    2014-07-01

    Intermittent fasting (IF) is an often-used intervention to decrease body mass. In male Sprague-Dawley rats, 24 hour cycles of IF result in light caloric restriction, reduced body mass gain, and significant decreases in the efficiency of energy conversion. Here, we study the metabolic effects of IF in order to uncover mechanisms involved in this lower energy conversion efficiency. After 3 weeks, IF animals displayed overeating during fed periods and lower body mass, accompanied by alterations in energy-related tissue mass. The lower efficiency of energy use was not due to uncoupling of muscle mitochondria. Enhanced lipid oxidation was observed during fasting days, whereas fed days were accompanied by higher metabolic rates. Furthermore, an increased expression of orexigenic neurotransmitters AGRP and NPY in the hypothalamus of IF animals was found, even on feeding days, which could explain the overeating pattern. Together, these effects provide a mechanistic explanation for the lower efficiency of energy conversion observed. Overall, we find that IF promotes changes in hypothalamic function that explain differences in body mass and caloric intake.

  19. Segregated tandem filter for enhanced conversion efficiency in a thermophotovoltaic energy conversion system

    DOEpatents

    Brown, E.J.; Baldasaro, P.F.; Dziendziel, R.J.

    1997-12-23

    A filter system to transmit short wavelength radiation and reflect long wavelength radiation for a thermophotovoltaic energy conversion cell comprises an optically transparent substrate segregation layer with at least one coherent wavelength in optical thickness; a dielectric interference filter deposited on one side of the substrate segregation layer, the interference filter being disposed toward the source of radiation, the interference filter including a plurality of alternating layers of high and low optical index materials adapted to change from transmitting to reflecting at a nominal wavelength {lambda}{sub IF} approximately equal to the bandgap wavelength {lambda}{sub g} of the thermophotovoltaic cell, the interference filter being adapted to transmit incident radiation from about 0.5{lambda}{sub IF} to {lambda}{sub IF} and reflect from {lambda}{sub IF} to about 2{lambda}{sub IF}; and a high mobility plasma filter deposited on the opposite side of the substrate segregation layer, the plasma filter being adapted to start to become reflecting at a wavelength of about 1.5{lambda}{sub IF}. 10 figs.

  20. A fast and zero-biased photodetector based on GaTe-InSe vertical 2D p-n heterojunction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, W.; Jin, Z.; Yuan, J.; Zhang, J.; Jia, S.; Dong, L.; Yoon, J.; Zhou, L.; Vajtai, R.; Tour, J. M.; Ajayan, P. M.; Hu, P.; Lou, J.

    2018-04-01

    p-n junctions serve as the building blocks for fundamental semiconductor devices, such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photodetectors. With recent studies unveiling the excellent optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, they are considered to be superb candidates for high performance p-n junctions. Here, we fabricate a vertical GaTe-InSe van der Waals (vdWs) p-n heterojunction by a PDMS-assisted transfer technique without etching. The fabricated p-n heterojunction shows gate-tunable current-rectifying behavior with a rectification factor reaching 1000. In addition, it features fast photodetection under zero bias as well as a high power conversion efficiency (PCE). Under 405 nm laser excitation, the zero-biased photodetector shows a high responsivity of 13.8 mA W-1 as well as a high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 4.2%. Long-term stability is also observed and a response time of 20 µs is achieved due to stable and fast carrier transit through the built-in electric field in the depletion region. Fast and efficient charge separation in the vertical 2D p-n junction paves the way for developing 2D photodetectors with zero dark current, high speed and low power consumption.

  1. Technologies, Multitasking, and Driving: Attending to and Preparing for a Mobile Phone Conversation in a Car

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haddington, Pentti; Rauniomaa, Mirka

    2011-01-01

    This article investigates mobile phone calls initiated or received by drivers and passengers in cars and focuses on the participants' actions before the telephone conversation proper. Drawing on video-recorded data of real driving situations, and building on conversation analysis and multimodal interaction analysis, this article discusses how…

  2. Implementation elements for conversion of general-purpose freeway lane into high-occupancy-vehicle lane

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    Conversion of a general-purpose freeway into a high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lane is an alternative to infrastructure addition for HOV system implementation. Research indicates that lane conversion is feasible technically if sufficient HOV usage and m...

  3. Peer Production in the U.S. Navy: Enlisting Coase’s Penguin

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-12-01

    REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) N/A 10. SPONSORING/ MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY...the personal value, Va, received will then be zero . It is no longer the responsibility of a manager to assign an agent nor does the market need to...then the agent may choose to participate. Since R may be positive with zero or even negative monetary compensation, it is possible to fully

  4. Improved High/Low Junction Silicon Solar Cell

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Neugroschel, A.; Pao, S. C.; Lindholm, F. A.; Fossum, J. G.

    1986-01-01

    Method developed to raise value of open-circuit voltage in silicon solar cells by incorporating high/low junction in cell emitter. Power-conversion efficiency of low-resistivity silicon solar cell considerably less than maximum theoretical value mainly because open-circuit voltage is smaller than simple p/n junction theory predicts. With this method, air-mass-zero opencircuit voltage increased from 600 mV level to approximately 650 mV.

  5. A Family of Ellipse Methods for Solving Non-Linear Equations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gupta, K. C.; Kanwar, V.; Kumar, Sanjeev

    2009-01-01

    This note presents a method for the numerical approximation of simple zeros of a non-linear equation in one variable. In order to do so, the method uses an ellipse rather than a tangent approach. The main advantage of our method is that it does not fail even if the derivative of the function is either zero or very small in the vicinity of the…

  6. Signals of Opportunity Navigation Using Wi-Fi Signals

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-03-24

    Identifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 MVM Mean Value Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 SDM Scaled Differential...the mean value ( MVM ) and scaled differential (SDM) methods. An error was logged if the UI 60 correlation algorithm identified a packet index that did...Notable from this graph is that a window of 50 packets appears to provide zero errors for MVM and near zero errors for SDM. Also notable is that a

  7. An integrated nonlinear optical loop mirror in silicon photonics for all-optical signal processing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Zifei; Glesk, Ivan; Chen, Lawrence R.

    2018-02-01

    The nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) has been studied for several decades and has attracted considerable attention for applications in high data rate optical communications and all-optical signal processing. The majority of NOLM research has focused on silica fiber-based implementations. While various fiber designs have been considered to increase the nonlinearity and manage dispersion, several meters to hundreds of meters of fiber are still required. On the other hand, there is increasing interest in developing photonic integrated circuits for realizing signal processing functions. In this paper, we realize the first-ever passive integrated NOLM in silicon photonics and demonstrate its application for all-optical signal processing. In particular, we show wavelength conversion of 10 Gb/s return-to-zero on-off keying (RZ-OOK) signals over a wavelength range of 30 nm with error-free operation and a power penalty of less than 2.5 dB, we achieve error-free nonreturn to zero (NRZ)-to-RZ modulation format conversion at 10 Gb/s also with a power penalty of less than 2.8 dB, and we obtain error-free all-optical time-division demultiplexing of a 40 Gb/s RZ-OOK data signal into its 10 Gb/s tributary channels with a maximum power penalty of 3.5 dB.

  8. Trajectories of Delinquency from Age 14 to 23 in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Sample

    PubMed Central

    Murphy, Debra A.; Brecht, Mary-Lynn; Huang, David; Herbeck, Diane M.

    2012-01-01

    This study utilized data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to investigate risk trajectories for delinquency and factors associated with different trajectories, particularly substance use. The sample (N = 8,984) was 49% female. A group-based trajectory model was applied, which identified four distinct trajectories for both males and females: (1) a High group with delinquency rates consistently higher than other groups, with some decrease across the age range; (2) a Decreased group, beginning at high levels with substantial decrease to near zero; (3) a Moderate group experiencing some decline but remaining at moderate rates of delinquency through most of the age range; and (4) a consistently Low group, having low rates of delinquency declining to near zero by mid- to late-teens. The Low group was distinguished by several protective factors, including higher rates of maternal authoritative parenting style, possible lower acculturation (higher rates of non-English spoken at home), higher rates of religious activity, later substance use initiation, lower rates of early delinquent activity, less early experience with neighborhood or personal violence, and higher rates of perceiving penalty for wrongdoing. Conversely, the High group was characterized by several vulnerability factors—essentially the converse of the protective factors above. PMID:23105164

  9. High efficiency light source using solid-state emitter and down-conversion material

    DOEpatents

    Narendran, Nadarajah; Gu, Yimin; Freyssinier, Jean Paul

    2010-10-26

    A light emitting apparatus includes a source of light for emitting light; a down conversion material receiving the emitted light, and converting the emitted light into transmitted light and backward transmitted light; and an optic device configured to receive the backward transmitted light and transfer the backward transmitted light outside of the optic device. The source of light is a semiconductor light emitting diode, a laser diode (LD), or a resonant cavity light emitting diode (RCLED). The down conversion material includes one of phosphor or other material for absorbing light in one spectral region and emitting light in another spectral region. The optic device, or lens, includes light transmissive material.

  10. Delamanid for multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis.

    PubMed

    Gler, Maria Tarcela; Skripconoka, Vija; Sanchez-Garavito, Epifanio; Xiao, Heping; Cabrera-Rivero, Jose L; Vargas-Vasquez, Dante E; Gao, Mengqiu; Awad, Mohamed; Park, Seung-Kyu; Shim, Tae Sun; Suh, Gee Young; Danilovits, Manfred; Ogata, Hideo; Kurve, Anu; Chang, Joon; Suzuki, Katsuhiro; Tupasi, Thelma; Koh, Won-Jung; Seaworth, Barbara; Geiter, Lawrence J; Wells, Charles D

    2012-06-07

    Delamanid (OPC-67683), a nitro-dihydro-imidazooxazole derivative, is a new antituberculosis medication that inhibits mycolic acid synthesis and has shown potent in vitro and in vivo activity against drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this randomized, placebo-controlled, multinational clinical trial, we assigned 481 patients (nearly all of whom were negative for the human immunodeficiency virus) with pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis to receive delamanid, at a dose of 100 mg twice daily (161 patients) or 200 mg twice daily (160 patients), or placebo (160 patients) for 2 months in combination with a background drug regimen developed according to World Health Organization guidelines. Sputum cultures were assessed weekly with the use of both liquid broth and solid medium; sputum-culture conversion was defined as a series of five or more consecutive cultures that were negative for growth of M. tuberculosis. The primary efficacy end point was the proportion of patients with sputum-culture conversion in liquid broth medium at 2 months. Among patients who received a background drug regimen plus 100 mg of delamanid twice daily, 45.4% had sputum-culture conversion in liquid broth at 2 months, as compared with 29.6% of patients who received a background drug regimen plus placebo (P=0.008). Likewise, as compared with the placebo group, the group that received the background drug regimen plus 200 mg of delamanid twice daily had a higher proportion of patients with sputum-culture conversion (41.9%, P=0.04). The findings were similar with assessment of sputum-culture conversion in solid medium. Most adverse events were mild to moderate in severity and were evenly distributed across groups. Although no clinical events due to QT prolongation on electrocardiography were observed, QT prolongation was reported significantly more frequently in the groups that received delamanid. Delamanid was associated with an increase in sputum-culture conversion at 2 months among patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. This finding suggests that delamanid could enhance treatment options for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. (Funded by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00685360.).

  11. Rectenna session: Micro aspects

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gutmann, R. J.

    1980-01-01

    Two micro aspects of rectenna design are discussed: evaluation of the degradation in net rectenna RF to DC conversion efficiency due to power density variations across the rectenna (power combining analysis) and design of Yagi-Uda receiving elements to reduce rectenna cost by decreasing the number of conversion circuits (directional receiving elements). The first of these involves resolving a fundamental question of efficiency potential with a rectenna, while the second involves a design modification with a large potential cost saving.

  12. Vehicle to wireless power transfer coupling coil alignment sensor

    DOEpatents

    Miller, John M.; Chambon, Paul H.; Jones, Perry T.; White, Clifford P.

    2016-02-16

    A non-contacting position sensing apparatus includes at least one vehicle-mounted receiver coil that is configured to detect a net flux null when the vehicle is optimally aligned relative to the primary coil in the charging device. Each of the at least one vehicle-mounted receiver coil includes a clockwise winding loop and a counterclockwise winding loop that are substantially symmetrically configured and serially connected to each other. When the non-contacting position sensing apparatus is located directly above the primary coil of the charging device, the electromotive forces from the clockwise winding loop and the counterclockwise region cancel out to provide a zero electromotive force, i.e., a zero voltage reading across the coil that includes the clockwise winding loop and the counterclockwise winding loop.

  13. Skylab

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1972-08-21

    Rockford, Illinois high school student, Vincent Converse, discussed his proposed Skylab experiment with Dr. Robert Head (right) and Gene Greshman of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). His experiment, “Zero Gravity Mass Measurement” used a simple leaf spring with the mass to be weighed attached to the end. The electronic package oscillated the spring at a specific rate and the results were recorded electronically. Converse was among 25 winners of a contest in which some 3,500 high school students proposed experiments for the following year’s Skylab mission. Of the 25 students, 6 did not see their experiments conducted on Skylab because the experiments were not compatible with Skylab hardware and timelines. Of the 19 remaining, 11 experiments required the manufacture of equipment, such as that of Converse’s experiment.

  14. Optimization of carrier multiplication for more effcient solar cells: the case of Sn quantum dots.

    PubMed

    Allan, Guy; Delerue, Christophe

    2011-09-27

    We present calculations of impact ionization rates, carrier multiplication yields, and solar-power conversion efficiencies in solar cells based on quantum dots (QDs) of a semimetal, α-Sn. Using these results and previous ones on PbSe and PbS QDs, we discuss a strategy to select QDs with the highest carrier multiplication rate for more efficient solar cells. We suggest using QDs of materials with a close to zero band gap and a high multiplicity of the bands in order to favor the relaxation of photoexcited carriers by impact ionization. Even in that case, the improvement of the maximum solar-power conversion efficiency appears to be a challenging task. © 2011 American Chemical Society

  15. Can zero-hour cortical biopsy predict early graft outcomes after living donor renal transplantation?

    PubMed

    Rathore, Ranjeet Singh; Mehta, Nisarg; Mehta, Sony Bhaskar; Babu, Manas; Bansal, Devesh; Pillai, Biju S; Sam, Mohan P; Krishnamoorthy, Hariharan

    2017-11-01

    The aim of this study was to identify relevance of subclinical pathological findings in the kidneys of living donors and correlate these with early graft renal function. This was a prospective study on 84 living donor kidney transplant recipients over a period of two years. In all the donors, cortical wedge biopsy was taken and sent for assessment of glomerular, mesangial, and tubule status. The graft function of patients with normal histology was compared with those of abnormal histological findings at one, three, and six months, and one year post-surgery. Most abnormal histological findings were of mild degree. Glomerulosclerosis (GS, 25%), interstitial fibrosis (IF, 13%), acute tubular necrosis (ATN 5%), and focal tubal atrophy (FTA, 5%) were the commonly observed pathological findings in zero-hour biopsies. Only those donors who had histological changes of IF and ATN showed progressive deterioration of renal function at one month, three months, six months, and one year post-transplantation. In donors with other histological changes, no significant effect on graft function was observed. Zero-hour cortical biopsy gave us an idea of the general status of the donor kidney and presence or absence of subclinical pathological lesions. A mild degree of subclinical and pathological findings on zero-hour biopsy did not affect early graft renal function in living donor kidney transplantation. Zero-hour cortical biopsy could also help in discriminating donor-derived lesions from de novo alterations in the kidney that could happen subsequently.

  16. Conversion of Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine Abstract Presentations to Manuscript Publications

    PubMed Central

    Manuck, Tracy A.; Barbour, Kelli; Janicki, Lindsay; Blackwell, Sean C.; Berghella, Vincenzo

    2015-01-01

    Objective To evaluate the rate of conversion of Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Annual Meeting abstract presentations to full manuscript publications over time. Methods Full manuscript publications corresponding to all SMFM oral abstracts 2003–2010 inclusive, and SMFM poster abstracts in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 were manually searched in PubMed. An abstract was considered to ‘match’ a full publication if the abstract and publication titles as well as main methods and results were similar and the abstract first author was a publication author. In cases of uncertainty, the abstract-publication match was reviewed by a second physician researcher. Time to publication, publication rates over time, and publication rates among US vs. non-US authors were examined. PMID numbers were also collected to determine if >1 abstract contributed to a manuscript. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank-sum, ANOVA, t-test, and logistic regression. Results 3,281 abstracts presented at SMFM over the study period, including 629 orals (63 main plenary, 64 fellows plenary, 502 concurrent), were reviewed. 1,780/3,281 (54.3%) were published, generating 1,582 unique publications. Oral abstracts had a consistently higher rate of conversion to publications vs. posters (77.1% vs. 48.8%, p<0.001). The median time to publication was 19 (IQR 9–36) months, and was significantly shorter for orals vs. posters (11 vs. 21 months, p<0.001). Over the study period, rates of publication of orals remained constant, but rates of publication of posters were lower in 2007 and 2009 compared to 2003 and 2005. Publications related to SMFM abstracts were published in 194 different journals, most commonly AJOG (39.8%), Obstet Gynecol (9.7%), and J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med (6.5%). Publication rates were higher if the abstract’s first author was affiliated with a non-US institution (64.8% vs. 51.1%, p<0.001) and if the abstract received an award (82.7% vs. 53.3%, p<0.001). In regression models, oral presentation at SMFM, first author affiliation with a non-US institution, submission for AJOG SMFM special issue, and year of abstract presentation at SMFM were associated with full manuscript publication. Conclusions Between 2003 and 2010, full manuscript publication rates of SMFM abstracts were high and consistent, and time to publication decreased/improved across the study period for oral presentations. PMID:25981850

  17. Momentum dependence of the topological susceptibility and its derivative at zero momentum with overlap fermions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koma, Y.

    The derivative of the topological susceptibility at zero momentum is responsible for the validity of the Witten-Veneziano formula for the η mass, and also for the resolution of the EMC pro- ton spin problem. We investigate the momentum dependence of the topological susceptibility and its derivative at zero momentum using lattice QCD simulations with overlap fermions within quenched approximation. We expose the role of the low-lying Dirac eigenmodes for the topolog- ical charge density, and find the negative value for the derivative. While the sign of the derivative is consistent with the QCD sum rule in pure Yang-Mills theory, the absolute value becomes larger if only the contribution from the zero modes and the low-lying eigenmodes is taken into account.

  18. Tunable Transmission and Deterministic Interface states in Double-zero-index Acoustic Metamaterials.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Wei; Yang, Yuting; Tao, Zhi; Hang, Zhi Hong

    2018-04-20

    Following the seminal work by Dubois et al. (Nat. Commun. 8, 14871 (2017)), we study a double-zero-index acoustic metamaterial with triangular lattice. By varying the height and diameter of air scatterers inside a parallel-plate acoustic waveguide, acoustic dispersion of the first-order waveguide mode can be manipulated and various interesting properties are explored. With accidental degeneracy of monopolar and dipolar modes, we numerically prove the double-zero-index properties of this novel acoustic metamaterial. Acoustic waveguides with tunable and asymmetric transmission are realized with this double-zero-index acoustic metamaterial embedded. Band inversion occurs if the bulk acoustic band diagram of this acoustic metamaterial is tuned. Deterministic interface states are found to exist on the interface between two acoustic metamaterials with inverted band diagrams.

  19. Image display device in digital TV

    DOEpatents

    Choi, Seung Jong [Seoul, KR

    2006-07-18

    Disclosed is an image display device in a digital TV that is capable of carrying out the conversion into various kinds of resolution by using single bit map data in the digital TV. The image display device includes: a data processing part for executing bit map conversion, compression, restoration and format-conversion for text data; a memory for storing the bit map data obtained according to the bit map conversion and compression in the data processing part and image data inputted from an arbitrary receiving part, the receiving part receiving one of digital image data and analog image data; an image outputting part for reading the image data from the memory; and a display processing part for mixing the image data read from the image outputting part and the bit map data converted in format from the a data processing part. Therefore, the image display device according to the present invention can convert text data in such a manner as to correspond with various resolution, carry out the compression for bit map data, thereby reducing the memory space, and support text data of an HTML format, thereby providing the image with the text data of various shapes.

  20. Conversing about Citrus Greening: Extension's Role in Educating about Genetic Modification Science as a Solution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ruth, Taylor K.; Lamm, Alexa J.; Rumble, Joy N.; Ellis, Jason D.

    2017-01-01

    Extension agents across the nation will need to facilitate difficult conversations with the public if genetic modification (GM) science is used to combat citrus greening disease. This study used the innovation characteristics described by Rogers to explore if using GM science as a solution to citrus greening had diffused amongst US residents. An…

  1. The Effect of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation of Sympathetic Ganglions and Acupuncture Points on Distal Blood Flow.

    PubMed

    Kamali, Fahimeh; Mirkhani, Hossein; Nematollahi, Ahmadreza; Heidari, Saeed; Moosavi, Elahesadat; Mohamadi, Marzieh

    2017-04-01

    Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a widely-practiced method to increase blood flow in clinical practice. The best location for stimulation to achieve optimal blood flow has not yet been determined. We compared the effect of TENS application at sympathetic ganglions and acupuncture points on blood flow in the foot of healthy individuals. Seventy-five healthy individuals were randomly assigned to three groups. The first group received cutaneous electrical stimulation at the thoracolumbar sympathetic ganglions. The second group received stimulation at acupuncture points. The third group received stimulation in the mid-calf area as a control group. Blood flow was recorded at time zero as baseline and every 3 minutes after baseline during stimulation, with a laser Doppler flow-meter. Individuals who received sympathetic ganglion stimulation showed significantly greater blood flow than those receiving acupuncture point stimulation or those in the control group (p<0.001). Data analysis revealed that blood flow at different times during stimulation increased significantly from time zero in each group. Therefore, the application of low-frequency TENS at the thoracolumbar sympathetic ganglions was more effective in increasing peripheral blood circulation than stimulation at acupuncture points. Copyright © 2017 Medical Association of Pharmacopuncture Institute. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Intravenous to oral conversion of fluoroquinolones: knowledge versus clinical practice patterns.

    PubMed

    Conort, Ornella; Gabardi, Steven; Didier, Marie-Pauline; Hazebroucq, Georges; Cariou, Alain

    2002-04-01

    To assess the knowledge of prescribers regarding intravenous to oral conversions of fluoroquinolones, the frequency and time until conversion, and to compare prescriber knowledge with the data collected concerning the reasons stated for continuation of intravenous fluoroquinolones. Prospective chart review and questionnaire. Large teaching hospital in Paris, France. Fifty-one males and females. Data were collected on in-patients receiving intravenous fluoroquinolone for at least three days and hospitalized in one of six in-patient units. Patients receiving intravenous fluoroquinolone for less than three days were excluded. A questionnaire to assess the awareness of a potential conversion was distributed to those practitioners who had patients reviewed during the data-collection phase. The questionnaire revealed the ten most common reasons for continuing intravenous administration for more than three days. However, the physicians agreed that most patients should be converted as soon as possible. Practice patterns differed, with only 17 of 51 patients actually converted to oral therapy. In theory, the clinicians were aware of when to perform the conversion. However, in practice, the frequency of conversion was lower than optimum. Changes in clinical practice are needed to decrease the costs of intravenous therapy, without jeopardizing quality of care.

  3. Solar thermal electricity generation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gasemagha, Khairy Ramadan

    1993-01-01

    This report presents the results of modeling the thermal performance and economic feasibility of large (utility scale) and small solar thermal power plants for electricity generation. A number of solar concepts for power systems applications have been investigated. Each concept has been analyzed over a range of plant power ratings from 1 MW(sub e) to 300 MW(sub e) and over a range of capacity factors from a no-storage case (capacity factor of about 0.25 to 0.30) up to intermediate load capacity factors in the range of 0.46 to 0.60. The solar plant's economic viability is investigated by examining the effect of various parameters on the plant costs (both capital and O & M) and the levelized energy costs (LEC). The cost components are reported in six categories: collectors, energy transport, energy storage, energy conversion, balance of plant, and indirect/contingency costs. Concentrator and receiver costs are included in the collector category. Thermal and electric energy transport costs are included in the energy transport category. Costs for the thermal or electric storage are included in the energy storage category; energy conversion costs are included in the energy conversion category. The balance of plant cost category comprises the structures, land, service facilities, power conditioning, instrumentation and controls, and spare part costs. The indirect/contingency category consists of the indirect construction and the contingency costs. The concepts included in the study are (1) molten salt cavity central receiver with salt storage (PFCR/R-C-Salt); (2) molten salt external central receiver with salt storage (PFCR/R-E-Salt); (3) sodium external central receiver with sodium storage (PFCR/RE-Na); (4) sodium external central receiver with salt storage (PFCR/R-E-Na/Salt); (5) water/steam external central receiver with oil/rock storage (PFCR/R-E-W/S); (6) parabolic dish with stirling engine conversion and lead acid battery storage (PFDR/SLAB); (7) parabolic dish with stirling engine conversion and redox advanced battery storage (PFDR/S-RAB); and (8) parabolic trough with oil/rock storage (LFDR/R-HT-45). Key annual efficiency and economic results of the study are highlighted in tabular format for plant sizes and capacity factor that resulted in the lowest LEC over the analysis range.

  4. 12 CFR 3.4 - Reservation of authority.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... risk weight for any asset or the credit equivalent amount or credit conversion factor for any off..., if no risk weight, credit equivalent amount, or credit conversion factor is specifically assigned, the OCC may assign any risk weight, credit equivalent amount, or credit conversion factor that the OCC...

  5. Chapter 13: Water and Forests

    Treesearch

    Graeme Lockaby; Chelsea Nagy; James M. Vose; Chelcy R. Ford; Ge Sun; Steve McNulty; Pete Caldwell; Erika Cohen; Jennifer Moore Meyers

    2011-01-01

    Forest conversion to agriculture or urban use consistently causes increased discharge, peak flow, and velocity of streams. Subregional differences in hydrologic responses to urbanization are substantial. Sediment, water chemistry indices, pathogens, and other substances often become more concentrated after forest conversion. If the conversion is to an urban use, the...

  6. Magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetotail: Energy conversion and its earthward-tailward asymmetry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lu, San; Pritchett, P. L.; Angelopoulos, V.; Artemyev, A. V.

    2018-01-01

    Magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process, releases magnetic energy and converts it to particle energy, by accelerating and heating ions and electrons. This energy conversion plays an important role in the Earth's magnetotail. A two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation is performed to study such a conversion in a magnetotail topology, one with a nonzero Bz, and the energy conversion is found to be more efficient in the earthward outflow than in the tailward outflow. Such earthward-tailward asymmetry is manifested not only in j .E but also in Poynting flux, Hall electromagnetic fields, bulk kinetic energy flux, enthalpy flux, heat flux, bulk acceleration, heating, and suprathermal particle energization, all of which are more prevalent on the earthward side. Such asymmetries are consistent with spacecraft observations reported in the literature. Our study shows that in the magnetotail, most of the energy converted by reconnection flows predominantly toward the Earth and has the potential of being geoeffective, rather than being expelled to the solar wind by the tailward flow. The energy conversion asymmetry arises from the presence of the non-zero normal magnetic field, the stronger lobe magnetic field, and the stronger cross-tail current earthward of the reconnection site in the pre-reconnecting thin current sheet.

  7. Gene Conversion Violates the Stepwise Mutation Model for Microsatellites in Y-Chromosomal Palindromic Repeats

    PubMed Central

    Balaresque, Patricia; King, Turi E; Parkin, Emma J; Heyer, Evelyne; Carvalho-Silva, Denise; Kraaijenbrink, Thirsa; de Knijff, Peter; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Jobling, Mark A

    2014-01-01

    The male-specific region of the human Y chromosome (MSY) contains eight large inverted repeats (palindromes), in which high-sequence similarity between repeat arms is maintained by gene conversion. These palindromes also harbor microsatellites, considered to evolve via a stepwise mutation model (SMM). Here, we ask whether gene conversion between palindrome microsatellites contributes to their mutational dynamics. First, we study the duplicated tetranucleotide microsatellite DYS385a,b lying in palindrome P4. We show, by comparing observed data with simulated data under a SMM within haplogroups, that observed heteroallelic combinations in which the modal repeat number difference between copies was large, can give rise to homoallelic combinations with zero-repeats difference, equivalent to many single-step mutations. These are unlikely to be generated under a strict SMM, suggesting the action of gene conversion. Second, we show that the intercopy repeat number difference for a large set of duplicated microsatellites in all palindromes in the MSY reference sequence is significantly reduced compared with that for nonpalindrome-duplicated microsatellites, suggesting that the former are characterized by unusual evolutionary dynamics. These observations indicate that gene conversion violates the SMM for microsatellites in palindromes, homogenizing copies within individual Y chromosomes, but increasing overall haplotype diversity among chromosomes within related groups. PMID:24610746

  8. Universal Pin Electronics.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1982-11-03

    define the maximum count for the pattern defined by the first 3 bits. Since there are 11 bits involved it is possible to define patterns up to 2048 ...applied to the UUT directly through the driver for any count up to 2048 . Any one of the 7 clocks may be selected under program control and applied to any...one ievel for the driver ( VDI ), the logic zero level for the driver (VDO), the logic one level for the receiver (VRl), and the logic zero level for the

  9. Precision manometer gauge

    DOEpatents

    McPherson, Malcolm J.; Bellman, Robert A.

    1984-01-01

    A precision manometer gauge which locates a zero height and a measured height of liquid using an open tube in communication with a reservoir adapted to receive the pressure to be measured. The open tube has a reference section carried on a positioning plate which is moved vertically with machine tool precision. Double scales are provided to read the height of the positioning plate accurately, the reference section being inclined for accurate meniscus adjustment, and means being provided to accurately locate a zero or reference position.

  10. Precision manometer gauge

    DOEpatents

    McPherson, M.J.; Bellman, R.A.

    1982-09-27

    A precision manometer gauge which locates a zero height and a measured height of liquid using an open tube in communication with a reservoir adapted to receive the pressure to be measured. The open tube has a reference section carried on a positioning plate which is moved vertically with machine tool precision. Double scales are provided to read the height of the positioning plate accurately, the reference section being inclined for accurate meniscus adjustment, and means being provided to accurately locate a zero or reference position.

  11. ROCView: prototype software for data collection in jackknife alternative free-response receiver operating characteristic analysis

    PubMed Central

    Thompson, J; Hogg, P; Thompson, S; Manning, D; Szczepura, K

    2012-01-01

    ROCView has been developed as an image display and response capture (IDRC) solution to image display and consistent recording of reader responses in relation to the free-response receiver operating characteristic paradigm. A web-based solution to IDRC for observer response studies allows observations to be completed from any location, assuming that display performance and viewing conditions are consistent with the study being completed. The simplistic functionality of the software allows observations to be completed without supervision. ROCView can display images from multiple modalities, in a randomised order if required. Following registration, observers are prompted to begin their image evaluation. All data are recorded via mouse clicks, one to localise (mark) and one to score confidence (rate) using either an ordinal or continuous rating scale. Up to nine “mark-rating” pairs can be made per image. Unmarked images are given a default score of zero. Upon completion of the study, both true-positive and false-positive reports can be downloaded and adapted for analysis. ROCView has the potential to be a useful tool in the assessment of modality performance difference for a range of imaging methods. PMID:22573294

  12. Seismic Data Preparation Procedures

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1977-10-20

    H. Swindell, and D. Sun. I’ I,,. - - _ _ _ _ - - I I j TABLE OF CONTENTS I SECTION TITLE PAGE ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv F I. INTRODUCTION I...followed by 4 bits of zero padding Bit 0 = 1 if i n s t rument 1 is bad Bit 1 = 1 if i n s t rumen t 2 is bad Bit ?. 1 if i n s t rument 3 is

  13. Slowness based CCP stacking technique in suppressing crustal multiples

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guan, Z.; Niu, F.

    2016-12-01

    Common-conversion-point (CCP) stacking of receiver function is a widely used technique to image velocity discontinuities in the mantle, such as the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) in the upper mantle, the 410-km and the 660-km discontinuities in the mantle transition zone. In a layered medium, a teleseismic record can be considered as the summation of the direct arrival and a series of conversions and reflections at boundaries below the station. Receiver functions are an attempt to approximate a Green's function associated with structure beneath the receiver by deconvolving one component of a teleseismic signal from another to remove source signals from seismograms. The CCP technique assumes that receiver functions composed solely of P to S conversions at velocity boundaries, whose depths can be mapped out through their arrival times. The multiple reflections at shallow boundaries with large velocity contrasts, such as the base of unconsolidated sediments and the Moho, can pose significant challenges to the accuracy of CCP imaging. In principle, the P to S conversions and multiples originated from deep and shallow boundaries arrive at a seismic station with incident angles that are, respectively, smaller and larger than that of the direct P wave. Therefore the corresponding slowness can be used to isolate the conversions from multiples, allowing for minimizing multiple-induced artifacts. We developed a refined CCP stacking method that uses relative slowness as a weighting factor to suppress the multiples. We performed extensive numerical tests with synthetic data to seek the best weighting scheme and to verify the robustness of the images. We applied the refined technique to the NECESSArray data, and found that the complicated low velocity structures in the depth range of 200-400 km shown in the CCP images of previous studies are mostly artifacts resulted from crustal multiples.

  14. Solving the Pallet Loading Problem

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-01-01

    solution M = N(X,Y,a,b) there must be at least one unit column with zero waste because W(M,X,Y,a,b) < X + a and therefore W(M 0,X + a, Y,a,b) < X + a for M0...P M + By. Any such unit column with zero waste must be covered with H-boxes because this corresponds to the only perfect Y-partition. If there is a

  15. Marginal regression models for clustered count data based on zero-inflated Conway-Maxwell-Poisson distribution with applications.

    PubMed

    Choo-Wosoba, Hyoyoung; Levy, Steven M; Datta, Somnath

    2016-06-01

    Community water fluoridation is an important public health measure to prevent dental caries, but it continues to be somewhat controversial. The Iowa Fluoride Study (IFS) is a longitudinal study on a cohort of Iowa children that began in 1991. The main purposes of this study (http://www.dentistry.uiowa.edu/preventive-fluoride-study) were to quantify fluoride exposures from both dietary and nondietary sources and to associate longitudinal fluoride exposures with dental fluorosis (spots on teeth) and dental caries (cavities). We analyze a subset of the IFS data by a marginal regression model with a zero-inflated version of the Conway-Maxwell-Poisson distribution for count data exhibiting excessive zeros and a wide range of dispersion patterns. In general, we introduce two estimation methods for fitting a ZICMP marginal regression model. Finite sample behaviors of the estimators and the resulting confidence intervals are studied using extensive simulation studies. We apply our methodologies to the dental caries data. Our novel modeling incorporating zero inflation, clustering, and overdispersion sheds some new light on the effect of community water fluoridation and other factors. We also include a second application of our methodology to a genomic (next-generation sequencing) dataset that exhibits underdispersion. © 2015, The International Biometric Society.

  16. 12 CFR 563b.360 - Are my officers, directors, and their associates eligible account holders?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ..., DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY CONVERSIONS FROM MUTUAL TO STOCK FORM Standard Conversions Offers and Sales of..., or his or her associate receives subscription rights based on increased deposits in the year before...

  17. Converting from Transdermal to Buccal Formulations of Buprenorphine: A Pharmacokinetic Meta-Model Simulation in Healthy Volunteers.

    PubMed

    Priestley, Tony; Chappa, Arvind K; Mould, Diane R; Upton, Richard N; Shusterman, Neil; Passik, Steven; Tormo, Vicente J; Camper, Stephen

    2017-09-29

     To develop a model to predict buprenorphine plasma concentrations during transition from transdermal to buccal administration.  Population pharmacokinetic model-based meta-analysis of published data.  A model-based meta-analysis of available buprenorphine pharmacokinetic data in healthy adults, extracted as aggregate (mean) data from published literature, was performed to explore potential conversion from transdermal to buccal buprenorphine. The time course of mean buprenorphine plasma concentrations following application of transdermal patch or buccal film was digitized from available literature, and a meta-model was developed using specific pharmacokinetic parameters (e.g., absorption rate, apparent clearance, and volumes of distribution) derived from analysis of pharmacokinetic data for intravenously, transdermally, and buccally administered buprenorphine.  Data from six studies were included in this analysis. The final transdermal absorption model employed a zero-order input rate that was scaled to reflect a nominal patch delivery rate and time after patch application (with decline in rate over time). The transdermal absorption rate constant became zero following patch removal. Buccal absorption was a first-order process with a time lag and bioavailability term. Simulations of conversion from transdermal 20 mcg/h and 10 mcg/h to buccal administration suggest that transition can be made rapidly (beginning 12 hours after patch removal) using the recommended buccal formulation titration increments (75-150 mcg) and schedule (every four days) described in the product labeling.  Computer modeling and simulations using a meta-model built from data extracted from publications suggest that rapid and straightforward conversion from transdermal to buccal buprenorphine is feasible. © 2017 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  18. Residual Effects of Fertilization History Increase Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Zero-N Controls: Implications for Estimating Fertilizer-Induced Emission Factors.

    PubMed

    LaHue, Gabriel T; van Kessel, Chris; Linquist, Bruce A; Adviento-Borbe, Maria Arlene; Fonte, Steven J

    2016-09-01

    Agricultural N fertilization is the dominant driver of increasing atmospheric nitrous oxide (NO) concentrations over the past half-century, yet there is considerable uncertainty in estimates of NO emissions from agriculture. Such estimates are typically based on the amount of N applied and a fertilizer-induced emission factor (EF), which is calculated as the difference in emissions between a fertilized plot and a zero-N control plot divided by the amount of N applied. A fertilizer-induced EF of 1% is currently recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) based on several studies analyzing published field measurements of NO emissions. Although many zero-N control plots used in these measurements received historical N applications, the potential for a residual impact of these inputs on NO emissions has been largely ignored and remains poorly understood. To address this issue, we compared NO emissions under laboratory conditions from soils sampled within zero-N control plots that had historically received N inputs versus soils from plots that had no N inputs for 20 yr. Historical N fertilization of zero-N control plots increased initial NO emissions by roughly one order of magnitude on average relative to historically unfertilized control plots. Higher NO emissions were positively correlated with extractable N and potentially mineralizable N. This finding suggests that accounting for fertilization history may help reduce the uncertainty associated with the IPCC fertilizer-induced EF and more accurately estimate the contribution of fertilizer N to agricultural NO emissions, although further research to demonstrate this relationship in the field is needed. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  19. An Idea for Generating Diversity Conversations: Physics Jeopardy and the Future Faces of Physics Kit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rand, Kendra; White, Gary

    2008-10-01

    Is there a way to engage typical physics undergraduates in a conversation about under-represented groups in physics that doesn't result in rolled-eyes or fingers-in-the-ears? The Society of Physics Students (SPS) has begun an experiment using a jeopardy-like game at physics meetings in an attempt to generate conversations about diversity. The physics jeopardy game is part of a "Future Faces of Physics" kit that includes a variety of materials that are of interest to those wanting to address under-represented audiences in physics, such as video clips exhibiting common physics words in sign language, tactile representations of the lunar surface for blind students, guidelines regarding lab procedures for the wheel-chair bound, and the book, Einstein on Race and Racism with a challenge letter directed at SPS chapters from the authors. While attempts to assess the impact of the game are modest, we report anecdotally some of the qualitative features seen in the discussions when the game is played. We also strive to indulge in a few physics jeopardy game moments to give a sense of how the game works. If you are hosting a meeting, large or small, and would like to receive this kit for use at your meeting, notify Kendra Rand, SPS Program Coordinator at krand@aip.org.

  20. Improvements to the design process for a real-time passive millimeter-wave imager to be used for base security and helicopter navigation in degraded visual environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anderton, Rupert N.; Cameron, Colin D.; Burnett, James G.; Güell, Jeff J.; Sanders-Reed, John N.

    2014-06-01

    This paper discusses the design of an improved passive millimeter wave imaging system intended to be used for base security in degraded visual environments. The discussion starts with the selection of the optimum frequency band. The trade-offs between requirements on detection, recognition and identification ranges and optical aperture are discussed with reference to the Johnson Criteria. It is shown that these requirements also affect image sampling, receiver numbers and noise temperature, frame rate, field of view, focusing requirements and mechanisms, and tolerance budgets. The effect of image quality degradation is evaluated and a single testable metric is derived that best describes the effects of degradation on meeting the requirements. The discussion is extended to tolerance budgeting constraints if significant degradation is to be avoided, including surface roughness, receiver position errors and scan conversion errors. Although the reflective twist-polarization imager design proposed is potentially relatively low cost and high performance, there is a significant problem with obscuration of the beam by the receiver array. Methods of modeling this accurately and thus designing for best performance are given.

  1. The nodal count {0,1,2,3,…} implies the graph is a tree

    PubMed Central

    Band, Ram

    2014-01-01

    Sturm's oscillation theorem states that the nth eigenfunction of a Sturm–Liouville operator on the interval has n−1 zeros (nodes) (Sturm 1836 J. Math. Pures Appl. 1, 106–186; 373–444). This result was generalized for all metric tree graphs (Pokornyĭ et al. 1996 Mat. Zametki 60, 468–470 (doi:10.1007/BF02320380); Schapotschnikow 2006 Waves Random Complex Media 16, 167–178 (doi:10.1080/1745530600702535)) and an analogous theorem was proved for discrete tree graphs (Berkolaiko 2007 Commun. Math. Phys. 278, 803–819 (doi:10.1007/S00220-007-0391-3); Dhar & Ramaswamy 1985 Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 1346–1349 (doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.1346); Fiedler 1975 Czechoslovak Math. J. 25, 607–618). We prove the converse theorems for both discrete and metric graphs. Namely if for all n, the nth eigenfunction of the graph has n−1 zeros, then the graph is a tree. Our proofs use a recently obtained connection between the graph's nodal count and the magnetic stability of its eigenvalues (Berkolaiko 2013 Anal. PDE 6, 1213–1233 (doi:10.2140/apde.2013.6.1213); Berkolaiko & Weyand 2014 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 372, 20120522 (doi:10.1098/rsta.2012.0522); Colin de Verdière 2013 Anal. PDE 6, 1235–1242 (doi:10.2140/apde.2013.6.1235)). In the course of the proof, we show that it is not possible for all (or even almost all, in the metric case) the eigenvalues to exhibit a diamagnetic behaviour. In addition, we develop a notion of ‘discretized’ versions of a metric graph and prove that their nodal counts are related to those of the metric graph. PMID:24344337

  2. Numerical radius and zero pattern of matrices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nikiforov, Vladimir

    2008-01-01

    Let A be an n×n complex matrix and r be the maximum size of its principal submatrices with no off-diagonal zero entries. Suppose A has zero main diagonal and x is a unit n-vector. Then, letting ||A|| be the Frobenius norm of A, we show that2[less-than-or-equals, slant](1-1/2r-1/2n)||A||2. This inequality is tight within an additive term O(rn-2). If the matrix A is Hermitian, then2[less-than-or-equals, slant](1-1/r)||A||2. This inequality is sharp; moreover, it implies the Turán theorem for graphs.

  3. Target loads of atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen deposition for protection of acid sensitive aquatic resources in the Adirondack Mountains, New York

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sullivan, T.J.; Cosby, B.J.; Driscoll, C.T.; McDonnell, T.C.; Herlihy, A.T.; Burns, Douglas A.

    2012-01-01

    The dynamic watershed acid-base chemistry model of acidification of groundwater in catchments (MAGIC) was used to calculate target loads (TLs) of atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen deposition expected to be protective of aquatic health in lakes in the Adirondack ecoregion of New York. The TLs were calculated for two future dates (2050 and 2100) and three levels of protection against lake acidification (acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) of 0, 20, and 50 eq L -1). Regional sulfur and nitrogen deposition estimates were combined with TLs to calculate exceedances. Target load results, and associated exceedances, were extrapolated to the regional population of Adirondack lakes. About 30% of Adirondack lakes had simulated TL of sulfur deposition less than 50 meq m -2 yr to protect lake ANC to 50 eq L -1. About 600 Adirondack lakes receive ambient sulfur deposition that is above this TL, in some cases by more than a factor of 2. Some critical criteria threshold values were simulated to be unobtainable in some lakes even if sulfur deposition was to be decreased to zero and held at zero until the specified endpoint year. We also summarize important lessons for the use of target loads in the management of acid-impacted aquatic ecosystems, such as those in North America, Europe, and Asia. Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union.

  4. Analysis of STAT laboratory turnaround times before and after conversion of the hospital information system.

    PubMed

    Lowe, Gary R; Griffin, Yolanda; Hart, Michael D

    2014-08-01

    Modern electronic health record systems (EHRS) reportedly offer advantages including improved quality, error prevention, cost reduction, and increased efficiency. This project reviewed the impact on specimen turnaround times (TAT) and percent compliance for specimens processed in a STAT laboratory after implementation of an upgraded EHRS. Before EHRS implementation, laboratory personnel received instruction and training for specimen processing. One laboratory member per shift received additional training. TAT and percent compliance data sampling occurred 4 times monthly for 13 months post-conversion and were compared with the mean of data collected for 3 months pre-conversion. Percent compliance was gauged using a benchmark of reporting 95% of all specimens within 7 min from receipt. Control charts were constructed for TAT and percent compliance with control limits set at 2 SD and applied continuously through the data collection period. TAT recovered to pre-conversion levels by the 6th month post-conversion. Percent compliance consistently returned to pre-conversion levels by the 10th month post-conversion. Statistical analyses revealed the TAT were significantly longer for 3 months post-conversion (P < .001) compared with pre-conversion levels. Statistical significance was not observed for subsequent groups. Percent compliance results were significantly lower for 6 months post-conversion (P < .001). Statistical significance was not observed for subsequent groups. Extensive efforts were made to train and prepare personnel for challenges expected after the EHRS upgrade. Specific causes identified with the upgraded EHRS included multiple issues involving personnel and the EHRS. These data suggest that system and user issues contributed to delays in returning to pre-conversion TAT and percent compliance levels following the upgrade in the EHRS.

  5. Purely organic electroluminescent material realizing 100% conversion from electricity to light

    PubMed Central

    Kaji, Hironori; Suzuki, Hajime; Fukushima, Tatsuya; Shizu, Katsuyuki; Suzuki, Katsuaki; Kubo, Shosei; Komino, Takeshi; Oiwa, Hajime; Suzuki, Furitsu; Wakamiya, Atsushi; Murata, Yasujiro; Adachi, Chihaya

    2015-01-01

    Efficient organic light-emitting diodes have been developed using emitters containing rare metals, such as platinum and iridium complexes. However, there is an urgent need to develop emitters composed of more abundant materials. Here we show a thermally activated delayed fluorescence material for organic light-emitting diodes, which realizes both approximately 100% photoluminescence quantum yield and approximately 100% up-conversion of the triplet to singlet excited state. The material contains electron-donating diphenylaminocarbazole and electron-accepting triphenyltriazine moieties. The typical trade-off between effective emission and triplet-to-singlet up-conversion is overcome by fine-tuning the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital distributions. The nearly zero singlet–triplet energy gap, smaller than the thermal energy at room temperature, results in an organic light-emitting diode with external quantum efficiency of 29.6%. An external quantum efficiency of 41.5% is obtained when using an out-coupling sheet. The external quantum efficiency is 30.7% even at a high luminance of 3,000 cd m−2. PMID:26477390

  6. Thermodynamic limits to the efficiency of solar energy conversion by quantum devices

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Buoncristiani, A. M.; Byvik, C. E.; Smith, B. T.

    1981-01-01

    The second law of thermodynamics imposes a strict limitation to the energy converted from direct solar radiation to useful work by a quantum device. This limitation requires that the amount of energy converted to useful work (energy in any form other than heat) can be no greater than the change in free energy of the radiation fields. Futhermore, in any real energy conversion device, not all of this available free energy in the radiation field can be converted to work because of basic limitations inherent in the device itself. A thermodynamic analysis of solar energy conversion by a completely general prototypical quantum device is presented. This device is completely described by two parameters, its operating temperature T sub R and the energy threshold of its absorption spectrum. An expression for the maximum thermodynamic efficiency of a quantum solar converter was derived in terms of these two parameters and the incident radiation spectrum. Efficiency curves for assumed solar spectral irradiance corresponding to air mass zero and air mass 1.5 are presented.

  7. Inverting Quasi-Resonant Switched-Capacitor Bidirectional Converter and Its Application to Battery Equalization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Yuang-Shung; Chiu, Yin-Yuan; Cheng, Ming-Wang; Ko, Yi-Pin; Hsiao, Sung-Hsin

    The proposed quasi-resonant (QR) zero current switching (ZCS) switched-capacitor (SC) converter is a new type of bidirectional power flow control conversion scheme. The proposed converter is able to provide voltage conversion ratios from -3/-{1 \\over 3} (triple-mode/trisection-mode) to -n/-{1 \\over n} (-n-mode/-{1 \\over n}-mode) by adding a different number of switched-capacitors and power MOSFET switches with a small series connected resonant inductor for forward and reverse power flow control schemes. It possesses the advantages of low switching losses and current stress in this QR ZCS SC converter. The principle of operation, theoretical analysis of the proposed triple-mode/trisection-mode bidirectional power conversion scheme is described in detail with circuit model analysis. Simulation and experimental studies are carried out to verify the performance of the proposed inverting type ZCS SC QR bidirectional converter. The proposed converters can be applied to battery equalization for battery management system (BMS).

  8. On the Relationship Between Schottky Barrier Capacitance and Mixer Performance at Cryogenic Temperatures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Romanofsky, Robert R.

    1996-01-01

    The flat-band voltage is the Schottky junction voltage required to shrink the depletion width to zero. At cryogenic temperatures, mixer diodes are generally biased and/or pumped beyond the flat-band condition to minimize conversion loss and noise figure. This occurs despite the presumed sharp increase in junction capacitance near flat-band, which should instead limit mixer performance. Past moderate forward bias, the diode C-V relationship is difficult to measure. A simple analytic expression for C(V) is usually used to model and predict mixer performance. This letter provides experimental data on C(V) at 77 K based on a microwave measurement and modeling technique. Data is also provided on the conversion loss of a singly balanced mixer optimized for 77 K operation. The connection between junction capacitance, flat-band potential, and conversion loss is examined. It is shown that the analytic expression greatly overestimates the junction capacitance that occurs as flat-band is approached.

  9. Separation and conversion dynamics of nuclear-spin isomers of gaseous methanol

    PubMed Central

    Sun, Zhen-Dong; Ge, Meihua; Zheng, Yujun

    2015-01-01

    All symmetrical molecules with non-zero nuclear spin exist in nature as nuclear-spin isomers (NSIs). However, owing to the lack of experimental information, knowledge is rare about interconversions of NSIs of gaseous molecules with torsional symmetry. Here we report our separation and conversion observations on NSI-torsion-specific transition systems of gaseous methanol from a light-induced drift experiment involving partially spatial separation of the ortho and para isomers. We find that vibrationally excited molecules of the methanol spin isomer have a smaller collision cross-section than their ground-state counterparts. Interconversion of the enriched ortho isomer with the para isomer, which is generally considered improbable, has been quantitatively studied by sensitive detections of the spectral intensities. Rather counterintuitively, this reveals that the interconversion is inhibited with increasing pressure. Our results suggest that the spin conversion mechanism in methanol is via a quantum relaxation process with the quantum Zeno effect induced by molecular collisions. PMID:25880882

  10. Statistical Time Series Models of Pilot Control with Applications to Instrument Discrimination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Altschul, R. E.; Nagel, P. M.; Oliver, F.

    1984-01-01

    A general description of the methodology used in obtaining the transfer function models and verification of model fidelity, frequency domain plots of the modeled transfer functions, numerical results obtained from an analysis of poles and zeroes obtained from z plane to s-plane conversions of the transfer functions, and the results of a study on the sequential introduction of other variables, both exogenous and endogenous into the loop are contained.

  11. Megawatt-Scale Power Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation Testing of a Power Conversion Module for Naval Applications

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-06-21

    problem was detected . Protection elements were implemented to trigger on over- voltage , over-current, over/under-frequency, and zero-sequence voltage ...power hardware in the loop simulation of distribution networks with photovoltaic generation,” International Journal of Renewable Energy Research...source modules were intended to support both emulation of a representative gas turbine generator set, as well as a flexible, controllable voltage source

  12. Advanced electrical power, distribution and control for the Space Transportation System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hansen, Irving G.; Brandhorst, Henry W., Jr.

    1990-08-01

    High frequency power distribution and management is a technology ready state of development. As such, a system employs the fewest power conversion steps, and employs zero current switching for those steps. It results in the most efficiency, and lowest total parts system count when equivalent systems are compared. The operating voltage and frequency are application specific trade off parameters. However, a 20 kHz Hertz system is suitable for wide range systems.

  13. Advanced electrical power, distribution and control for the Space Transportation System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hansen, Irving G.; Brandhorst, Henry W., Jr.

    1990-01-01

    High frequency power distribution and management is a technology ready state of development. As such, a system employs the fewest power conversion steps, and employs zero current switching for those steps. It results in the most efficiency, and lowest total parts system count when equivalent systems are compared. The operating voltage and frequency are application specific trade off parameters. However, a 20 kHz Hertz system is suitable for wide range systems.

  14. The Role of Learners' Field Dependence and Gender on the Effects of Conversational versus Non-Conversational Narrations in Multimedia Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wei, Liew Tze; Su-Mae, Tan; Wi, Tay Nuo

    2014-01-01

    The main objective of this study was to ascertain if the effectiveness of conversational narrations and non-conversational narrations in multimedia environment will be mediated by learners' field dependence and gender. 53 participants (25 field dependent and 28 field independent subjects) were randomly divided to interact with either one of…

  15. 78 FR 13401 - Bank 360, Beresford, South Dakota; Approval of Conversion Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-27

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of the Comptroller of the Currency [OCC Charter Number 705919] Bank 360, Beresford, South Dakota; Approval of Conversion Application Notice is hereby given that on... under Mutual to Stock Conversion Applications. If you have any questions, please call OCC Licensing...

  16. 5 CFR 892.203 - When will my premium conversion begin?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false When will my premium conversion begin? 892.203 Section 892.203 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL... PREMIUMS Eligibility and Participation § 892.203 When will my premium conversion begin? If you are newly...

  17. 5 CFR 892.203 - When will my premium conversion begin?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false When will my premium conversion begin? 892.203 Section 892.203 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL... PREMIUMS Eligibility and Participation § 892.203 When will my premium conversion begin? If you are newly...

  18. An Analysis of Past Surgical Infection Society Award Recipients.

    PubMed

    Claridge, Jeffrey A; Banerjee, Aman; Zosa, Brenda M; Hydo, Lynn J; Lipsett, Pamela A; Barie, Philip S

    2016-06-01

    The Surgical Infection Society (SIS) through its foundation (FDTN) confers awards to individuals who demonstrate interest in researching infection in the surgical setting. We sought to characterize the research output from prior award recipients and determine the impact of these awards on the individual and the SIS. The SIS website was queried for the names of all past award recipients. A MEDLINE search of the recipients was performed. Total number of publications and publications in the society's journal, Surgical Infections (SI), were identified. Gender and leadership positions within SIS were determined. Meeting attendance and participation were assessed. Donations by scholarship recipient to the FDTN were evaluated. Between 1984 and 2012, 116 individuals received an SIS award or scholarship. Of these, 72% were male. There were 101 scholarships awarded, totaling nearly $3 million. Of the 19 new Junior Faculty Scholarships awarded, four were to consecutive recipients (CR). There were 11 clinical evaluative award scholarships awarded, three to CR. There were 100 Resident/Fellow scholarships awarded, and of these, 22 were awarded to CR. Past recipients had multiple publications (median total publications = 27; interquartile range (IQR): Nine to 62) and published multiple papers on the topic for which they received an award (median two; IQR: Zero to four). Recipients did not publish in SI (median SI publications = zero; IQR: Zero to one). There was no substantial difference in the number of publications by gender. Multiple awards (MA) were conferred to 26 (22%) individuals. Six (5.1%) assumed an executive position within SIS, two (1.7%) became SIS president. Those who received MA were more likely to serve as an officer than those who only received one award (15% vs. 2%, p = 0.02). Scholarships have a large benefit for individual recipients; however, the benefit to the society remains harder to quantify.

  19. [When a patient falls (asleep) and can't get up: conversion disorder - paraplegia following general anesthesia].

    PubMed

    Mason, Chawla LaToya

    This case report describes the rare occurrence of paraplegia caused by conversion disorder in a woman who received general anesthesia for breast surgery. A 46-year-old healthy woman received general anesthesia for excision of a left breast fibroepithelial lesion. In the post-anesthesia care unit, she reported bilateral loss of both sensation and motor function below the knees. Physical signs and symptoms did not correlate with any anatomical or neurological patterns; imaging revealed no abnormalities. Psychiatric consultation was performed wherein familial stressor circumstances were identified, leading to diagnosis and management of conversion disorder. Conversion disorder is characterized by alteration of physical function due to expression of an underlying psychological ailment. Its diagnosis requires thorough evaluation including appropriate workup to exclude organic causes. The meshing together of anesthesiology and psychiatry - as demonstrated by this case report - offers an opportunity to highlight important information pertaining to the definition, diagnosis, and management of conversion disorder as it may be encountered in the postanesthesia recovery period. Copyright © 2015 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  20. Phase II study of chemoselection with docetaxel plus cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil induction chemotherapy and subsequent conversion surgery for locally advanced unresectable oesophageal cancer.

    PubMed

    Yokota, Tomoya; Kato, Ken; Hamamoto, Yasuo; Tsubosa, Yasuhiro; Ogawa, Hirofumi; Ito, Yoshinori; Hara, Hiroki; Ura, Takashi; Kojima, Takashi; Chin, Keisho; Hironaka, Shuichi; Kii, Takayuki; Kojima, Yasushi; Akutsu, Yasunori; Matsushita, Hisayuki; Kawakami, Kentaro; Mori, Keita; Nagai, Yushi; Asami, Chika; Kitagawa, Yuko

    2016-11-22

    The standard treatment for locally advanced unresectable squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oesophagus is chemoradiation with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (CF-RT). This multicentre phase II trial assessed the safety and efficacy of chemoselection with docetaxel plus cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) induction chemotherapy (ICT) and subsequent conversion surgery (CS) for initially unresectable locally advanced SCC of the oesophagus. Patients with clinical T4 and/or unresectable supraclavicular lymph node metastasis were eligible. Treatment started with three cycles of DCF-ICT, followed by CS if resectable, or by CF-RT if unresectable. The resectability was re-evaluated at 30-40 Gy of CF-RT, followed by CS if resectable, or by completion of 60 Gy of CF-RT. If resectable after CF-RT, CS was performed. The primary end point was 1-year overall survival (OS). From April 2013 to July 2014, 48 patients were enrolled. CS was performed in 41.7% (n=20), including DCF-CS (n=18), DCF-CF-RT40Gy-CS (n=1), and DCF-CF-RT60Gy-CS (n=1). R0 resection was confirmed in 19 patients (39.6%). Grade ⩾3 postoperative complications included one event each of recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, lung infection, wound infection, pulmonary fistula, and dysphagia; but no serious postoperative complications were observed in patients undergoing CS. Clinical complete response after CF-RT was confirmed in 4 patients (8.3%). The estimated 1-year OS was 67.9% and lower limit of 80% confidence interval was 59.7%. There was one treatment-related death in patient receiving DCF-CF-RT60Gy. Chemoselection with DCF-ICT followed by CS as a multidisciplinary treatment strategy showed promising signs of tolerability and efficacy in patients with locally advanced unresectable SCC of the oesophagus.

  1. Phase II study of chemoselection with docetaxel plus cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil induction chemotherapy and subsequent conversion surgery for locally advanced unresectable oesophageal cancer

    PubMed Central

    Yokota, Tomoya; Kato, Ken; Hamamoto, Yasuo; Tsubosa, Yasuhiro; Ogawa, Hirofumi; Ito, Yoshinori; Hara, Hiroki; Ura, Takashi; Kojima, Takashi; Chin, Keisho; Hironaka, Shuichi; Kii, Takayuki; Kojima, Yasushi; Akutsu, Yasunori; Matsushita, Hisayuki; Kawakami, Kentaro; Mori, Keita; Nagai, Yushi; Asami, Chika; Kitagawa, Yuko

    2016-01-01

    Background: The standard treatment for locally advanced unresectable squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oesophagus is chemoradiation with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (CF-RT). This multicentre phase II trial assessed the safety and efficacy of chemoselection with docetaxel plus cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) induction chemotherapy (ICT) and subsequent conversion surgery (CS) for initially unresectable locally advanced SCC of the oesophagus. Methods: Patients with clinical T4 and/or unresectable supraclavicular lymph node metastasis were eligible. Treatment started with three cycles of DCF-ICT, followed by CS if resectable, or by CF-RT if unresectable. The resectability was re-evaluated at 30–40 Gy of CF-RT, followed by CS if resectable, or by completion of 60 Gy of CF-RT. If resectable after CF-RT, CS was performed. The primary end point was 1-year overall survival (OS). Results: From April 2013 to July 2014, 48 patients were enrolled. CS was performed in 41.7% (n=20), including DCF-CS (n=18), DCF-CF-RT40Gy-CS (n=1), and DCF-CF-RT60Gy-CS (n=1). R0 resection was confirmed in 19 patients (39.6%). Grade ⩾3 postoperative complications included one event each of recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, lung infection, wound infection, pulmonary fistula, and dysphagia; but no serious postoperative complications were observed in patients undergoing CS. Clinical complete response after CF-RT was confirmed in 4 patients (8.3%). The estimated 1-year OS was 67.9% and lower limit of 80% confidence interval was 59.7%. There was one treatment-related death in patient receiving DCF-CF-RT60Gy. Conclusions: Chemoselection with DCF-ICT followed by CS as a multidisciplinary treatment strategy showed promising signs of tolerability and efficacy in patients with locally advanced unresectable SCC of the oesophagus. PMID:27811857

  2. Multi-functional optical signal processing using optical spectrum control circuit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hayashi, Shuhei; Ikeda, Tatsuhiko; Mizuno, Takayuki; Takahashi, Hiroshi; Tsuda, Hiroyuki

    2015-02-01

    Processing ultra-fast optical signals without optical/electronic conversion is in demand and time-to-space conversion has been proposed as an effective solution. We have designed and fabricated an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) based optical spectrum control circuit (OSCC) using silica planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology. This device is composed of an AWG, tunable phase shifters and a mirror. The principle of signal processing is to spatially decompose the signal's frequency components by using the AWG. Then, the phase of each frequency component is controlled by the tunable phase shifters. Finally, the light is reflected back to the AWG by the mirror and synthesized. Amplitude of each frequency component can be controlled by distributing the power to high diffraction order light. The spectral controlling range of the OSCC is 100 GHz and its resolution is 1.67 GHz. This paper describes equipping the OSCC with optical coded division multiplex (OCDM) encoder/decoder functionality. The encoding principle is to apply certain phase patterns to the signal's frequency components and intentionally disperse the signal. The decoding principle is also to apply certain phase patterns to the frequency components at the receiving side. If the applied phase pattern compensates the intentional dispersion, the waveform is regenerated, but if the pattern is not appropriate, the waveform remains dispersed. We also propose an arbitrary filter function by exploiting the OSCC's amplitude and phase control attributes. For example, a filtered optical signal transmitted through multiple optical nodes that use the wavelength multiplexer/demultiplexer can be equalized.

  3. Flight representative positive isolation disconnect

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rosener, A. A.; Jonkoniec, T. G.

    1977-01-01

    Resolutions were developed for each problem encountered and a tradeoff analysis was performed to select a final configuration for a flight representative PID (Positive Isolation Disconnect) that is reduced in size and comparable in weight and pressure drop to the developmental PID. A 6.35 mm (1/4-inch) line size PID was fabricated and tested. The flight representative PID consists of two coupled disconnect halves, each capable of fluid isolation with essentially zero clearance between them for zero leakage upon disconnect half disengagement. An interlocking foolproofing technique prevents uncoupling of disconnect halves prior to fluid isolation. Future development efforts for the Space Shuttle subsystems that would benefit from the use of the positive isolation disconnect are also recommended. Customary units were utilized for principal measurements and calculations with conversion factors being inserted in equations to convert the results to the international system of units.

  4. Coupling the Gaussian Free Fields with Free and with Zero Boundary Conditions via Common Level Lines

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qian, Wei; Werner, Wendelin

    2018-06-01

    We point out a new simple way to couple the Gaussian Free Field (GFF) with free boundary conditions in a two-dimensional domain with the GFF with zero boundary conditions in the same domain: Starting from the latter, one just has to sample at random all the signs of the height gaps on its boundary-touching zero-level lines (these signs are alternating for the zero-boundary GFF) in order to obtain a free boundary GFF. Constructions and couplings of the free boundary GFF and its level lines via soups of reflected Brownian loops and their clusters are also discussed. Such considerations show for instance that in a domain with an axis of symmetry, if one looks at the overlay of a single usual Conformal Loop Ensemble CLE3 with its own symmetric image, one obtains the CLE4-type collection of level lines of a GFF with mixed zero/free boundary conditions in the half-domain.

  5. Adaptive Dynamic Programming for Discrete-Time Zero-Sum Games.

    PubMed

    Wei, Qinglai; Liu, Derong; Lin, Qiao; Song, Ruizhuo

    2018-04-01

    In this paper, a novel adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) algorithm, called "iterative zero-sum ADP algorithm," is developed to solve infinite-horizon discrete-time two-player zero-sum games of nonlinear systems. The present iterative zero-sum ADP algorithm permits arbitrary positive semidefinite functions to initialize the upper and lower iterations. A novel convergence analysis is developed to guarantee the upper and lower iterative value functions to converge to the upper and lower optimums, respectively. When the saddle-point equilibrium exists, it is emphasized that both the upper and lower iterative value functions are proved to converge to the optimal solution of the zero-sum game, where the existence criteria of the saddle-point equilibrium are not required. If the saddle-point equilibrium does not exist, the upper and lower optimal performance index functions are obtained, respectively, where the upper and lower performance index functions are proved to be not equivalent. Finally, simulation results and comparisons are shown to illustrate the performance of the present method.

  6. Zero absolute vorticity: insight from experiments in rotating laminar plane Couette flow.

    PubMed

    Suryadi, Alexandre; Segalini, Antonio; Alfredsson, P Henrik

    2014-03-01

    For pressure-driven turbulent channel flows undergoing spanwise system rotation, it has been observed that the absolute vorticity, i.e., the sum of the averaged spanwise flow vorticity and system rotation, tends to zero in the central region of the channel. This observation has so far eluded a convincing theoretical explanation, despite experimental and numerical evidence reported in the literature. Here we show experimentally that three-dimensional laminar structures in plane Couette flow, which appear under anticyclonic system rotation, give the same effect, namely, that the absolute vorticity tends to zero if the rotation rate is high enough. It is shown that this is equivalent to a local Richardson number of approximately zero, which would indicate a stable condition. We also offer an explanation based on Kelvin's circulation theorem to demonstrate that the absolute vorticity should remain constant and approximately equal to zero in the central region of the channel when going from the nonrotating fully turbulent state to any state with sufficiently high rotation.

  7. Value-based purchasing and hospital acquired conditions: are we seeing improvement?

    PubMed

    Spaulding, Aaron; Zhao, Mei; Haley, D Rob

    2014-12-01

    To determine if the Value-Based Purchasing Performance Scoring system correlates with hospital acquired condition quality indicators. This study utilizes the following secondary data sources: the American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Value-Based Purchasing and Hospital Acquired Conditions databases. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to examine the effect of CMS total performance score on counts of hospital acquired conditions. Hospital structure variables including size, ownership, teaching status, payer mix, case mix, and location were utilized as control variables. The secondary data sources were merged into a single database using Stata 10. Total performance scores, which are used to determine if hospitals should receive incentive money, do not correlate well with quality outcome in the form of hospital acquired conditions. Value-based purchasing does not appear to correlate with improved quality and patient safety as indicated by Hospital Acquired Condition (HAC) scores. This leads us to believe that either the total performance score does not measure what it should, or the quality outcome measurements do not reflect the quality of the total performance scores measure. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Welfare effects of reduced milk production associated with Johne's disease on Johne's-positive versus Johne's-negative dairy operations.

    PubMed

    Losinger, Willard C

    2006-08-01

    An examination of the economic impacts of reduced milk production associated with Johne's disease on Johne's-positive and Johne's-negative dairy operations indicated that, if Johne's disease had not existed in US dairy cows in 1996, then the economic surplus of Johne's-negative operations would have been $600 million+/-$530 million lower, while the economic surplus of Johne's-positive operations would have been higher by $28 million+/-$79 million, which was not significantly different from zero. The data available for projecting changes in surplus were not sufficiently precise to allow an exact statement on whether Johne's-positive operations would have been better or worse off economically, in terms of the value received for producing more milk if they had not been affected by Johne's disease. The changes in producer surplus, based upon eliminating specific epidemiological risk factors for Johne's disease, were disaggregated between Johne's-positive dairy operations exposed to the risk factor and all other US dairy operations. Eliminating the risk factor of having any cows not born on the operation would have had a significant positive effect on the economic surplus of Johne's-positive operations that had any cows not born on the operation.

  9. Executing a gather operation on a parallel computer

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J [Rochester, MN; Ratterman, Joseph D [Rochester, MN

    2012-03-20

    Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are disclosed for executing a gather operation on a parallel computer according to embodiments of the present invention. Embodiments include configuring, by the logical root, a result buffer or the logical root, the result buffer having positions, each position corresponding to a ranked node in the operational group and for storing contribution data gathered from that ranked node. Embodiments also include repeatedly for each position in the result buffer: determining, by each compute node of an operational group, whether the current position in the result buffer corresponds with the rank of the compute node, if the current position in the result buffer corresponds with the rank of the compute node, contributing, by that compute node, the compute node's contribution data, if the current position in the result buffer does not correspond with the rank of the compute node, contributing, by that compute node, a value of zero for the contribution data, and storing, by the logical root in the current position in the result buffer, results of a bitwise OR operation of all the contribution data by all compute nodes of the operational group for the current position, the results received through the global combining network.

  10. Helicopter Controllability

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-09-01

    106 3. Program CC Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) of Hawthorne, CA., develops and markets PC control system analysis and design software including...is marketed in Palo Alto, Ca., by Applied i and can be used for both linear and non- linear control system analysis. Using TUTSIM involves developing...gravity centroid ( ucg ) can be calculated as 112 n m pi - 2 zi acg n i (7-5) where pi = poles zi = zeroes n = number of poles m = number of zeroes If K

  11. A low complexity, low spur digital IF conversion circuit for high-fidelity GNSS signal playback

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Su, Fei; Ying, Rendong

    2016-01-01

    A low complexity high efficiency and low spur digital intermediate frequency (IF) conversion circuit is discussed in the paper. This circuit is key element in high-fidelity GNSS signal playback instrument. We analyze the spur performance of a finite state machine (FSM) based numerically controlled oscillators (NCO), by optimization of the control algorithm, a FSM based NCO with 3 quantization stage can achieves 65dB SFDR in the range of the seventh harmonic. Compare with traditional lookup table based NCO design with the same Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) performance, the logic resource require to implemented the NCO is reduced to 1/3. The proposed design method can be extended to the IF conversion system with good SFDR in the range of higher harmonic components by increasing the quantization stage.

  12. On performance of parametric and distribution-free models for zero-inflated and over-dispersed count responses.

    PubMed

    Tang, Wan; Lu, Naiji; Chen, Tian; Wang, Wenjuan; Gunzler, Douglas David; Han, Yu; Tu, Xin M

    2015-10-30

    Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) and negative binomial (ZINB) models are widely used to model zero-inflated count responses. These models extend the Poisson and negative binomial (NB) to address excessive zeros in the count response. By adding a degenerate distribution centered at 0 and interpreting it as describing a non-risk group in the population, the ZIP (ZINB) models a two-component population mixture. As in applications of Poisson and NB, the key difference between ZIP and ZINB is the allowance for overdispersion by the ZINB in its NB component in modeling the count response for the at-risk group. Overdispersion arising in practice too often does not follow the NB, and applications of ZINB to such data yield invalid inference. If sources of overdispersion are known, other parametric models may be used to directly model the overdispersion. Such models too are subject to assumed distributions. Further, this approach may not be applicable if information about the sources of overdispersion is unavailable. In this paper, we propose a distribution-free alternative and compare its performance with these popular parametric models as well as a moment-based approach proposed by Yu et al. [Statistics in Medicine 2013; 32: 2390-2405]. Like the generalized estimating equations, the proposed approach requires no elaborate distribution assumptions. Compared with the approach of Yu et al., it is more robust to overdispersed zero-inflated responses. We illustrate our approach with both simulated and real study data. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  13. 49 CFR 171.10 - Units of measure.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... measure in this subchapter are expressed using the International System of Units (“SI” or metric). Where... abbreviated. (c) Conversion values. (1) Conversion values are provided in the following table and are based on values provided in ASTM E 380, “Standard for Metric Practice”. (2) If an exact conversion is needed, the...

  14. 49 CFR 171.10 - Units of measure.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... measure in this subchapter are expressed using the International System of Units (“SI” or metric). Where... abbreviated. (c) Conversion values. (1) Conversion values are provided in the following table and are based on values provided in ASTM E 380, “Standard for Metric Practice”. (2) If an exact conversion is needed, the...

  15. 49 CFR 171.10 - Units of measure.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... measure in this subchapter are expressed using the International System of Units (“SI” or metric). Where... abbreviated. (c) Conversion values. (1) Conversion values are provided in the following table and are based on values provided in ASTM E 380, “Standard for Metric Practice”. (2) If an exact conversion is needed, the...

  16. 49 CFR 171.10 - Units of measure.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... measure in this subchapter are expressed using the International System of Units (“SI” or metric). Where... abbreviated. (c) Conversion values. (1) Conversion values are provided in the following table and are based on values provided in ASTM E 380, “Standard for Metric Practice”. (2) If an exact conversion is needed, the...

  17. 49 CFR 171.10 - Units of measure.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... measure in this subchapter are expressed using the International System of Units (“SI” or metric). Where... abbreviated. (c) Conversion values. (1) Conversion values are provided in the following table and are based on values provided in ASTM E 380, “Standard for Metric Practice”. (2) If an exact conversion is needed, the...

  18. 40 CFR 1065.378 - NO2-to-NO converter conversion verification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false NO2-to-NO converter conversion verification. 1065.378 Section 1065.378 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Measurements § 1065.378 NO2-to-NO converter conversion verification. (a) Scope and frequency. If you use an...

  19. Modular off-axis solar concentrator

    DOEpatents

    Plesniak, Adam P; Hall, John C

    2015-01-27

    A solar concentrator including a housing defining a vertical axis and including a receiving wall connected to a reflecting wall to define an internal volume and an opening into the internal volume, wherein the reflecting wall defines at least one primary optical element, and wherein at least a portion of the reflecting wall includes a layer of reflective material, the housing further including a cover connected to the receiving wall and the reflecting wall to seal the opening, and at least one receiver mounted on the receiving wall such that a vertical axis of the receiver is disposed at a non-zero angle relative to the vertical axis of the housing, the receiver including at least one photovoltaic cell.

  20. Direct adaptive control of wind energy conversion systems using Gaussian networks.

    PubMed

    Mayosky, M A; Cancelo, I E

    1999-01-01

    Grid connected wind energy conversion systems (WECS) present interesting control demands, due to the intrinsic nonlinear characteristics of windmills and electric generators. In this paper a direct adaptive control strategy for WECS control is proposed. It is based on the combination of two control actions: a radial basis zfunction network-based adaptive controller, which drives the tracking error to zero with user specified dynamics, and a supervisory controller, based on crude bounds of the system's nonlinearities. The supervisory controller fires when the finite neural-network approximation properties cannot be guaranteed. The form of the supervisor control and the adaptation law for the neural controller are derived from a Lyapunov analysis of stability. The results are applied to a typical turbine/generator pair, showing the feasibility of the proposed solution.

  1. Enclosed, off-axis solar concentrator

    DOEpatents

    Benitez, Pablo; Grip, Robert E; Minano, Juan C; Narayanan, Authi A; Plesniak, Adam; Schwartz, Joel A

    2013-11-26

    A solar concentrator including a housing having receiving wall, a reflecting wall and at least two end walls, the receiving, reflecting and end walls defining a three-dimensional volume having an inlet, wherein a vertical axis of the housing is generally perpendicular to the inlet, a receiver mounted on the receiving wall of the housing, the receiver including at least one photovoltaic cell, wherein a vertical axis of the receiver is disposed at a non-zero angle relative to the vertical axis of the housing, at least one clip disposed on the reflecting wall an optical element received within the three-dimensional volume, the optical element including at least one tab, the tab being engaged by the clip to align the optical element with the receiver, and a window received over the inlet to enclose the housing.

  2. Randomized controlled trial of zinc and vitamin A as co-adjuvants for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.

    PubMed

    Lawson, Lovett; Thacher, Tom D; Yassin, Mohammed A; Onuoha, Ndubusi A; Usman, Auwal; Emenyonu, Nnamdi E; Shenkin, Alan; Davies, Peter D O; Cuevas, Luis E

    2010-12-01

    To assess the efficacy of weekly zinc or zinc plus retinol as adjuncts for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.   Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 350 patients >15 years old with smear-positive tuberculosis in Nigeria (ISRCTN36636609). In addition to antituberculous treatment, patients were randomly allocated to weekly supplements of zinc (90 mg), zinc plus retinol (5000 IU) or placebos for 6 months. Primary outcomes were time to sputum smear conversion and resolution of radiographic abnormalities. After 8 weeks of treatment, 68% had achieved sputum smear conversion, and the median conversion time was 6.5 weeks. Hazard ratios (HR, 95%CI) for sputum conversion relative to the placebo group were not significant for zinc (1.07, 0.92-1.29) or zinc plus retinol (0.89, 0.76-1.07). Significant predictors of time to sputum conversion were lung abnormality score, sputum smear grade, age and serum C-reactive protein. HIV co-infection and gender were not independent predictors of time to sputum conversion. There were no significant differences between supplement groups in clinical, radiological or laboratory outcomes at 2 months or 6 months. There were 9, 9 and 2 deaths in patients receiving zinc, zinc plus retinol or placebos, respectively. Mortality in those who received zinc (HR 1.71, 0.88-3.58) or zinc plus retinol (HR 1.54, 0.78-3.26) did not differ significantly from those who received placebos. Most deaths occurred in patients co-infected with HIV.   Supplementation with zinc or zinc plus retinol did not lead to better outcomes than placebos, and caution is warranted regarding routine micronutrient supplementation, particularly in patients co-infected with HIV. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  3. Group Key Agreement Efficient in Communication

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2003-10-14

    Selected Areas in Communications, 17(9), September 1999. [13] David Chaum . Zero-knowledge undeniable signatures . In I.B. Damgard, editor, Advances in...sender with some sufficiently strong public key signature method such as DSA or RSA (and using a long-term private key).1 All receivers are required...to verify signatures on all received messages and check the aforementioned fields. Consequently, our security model is different from some recent

  4. Use of a Zero-Profile Device for Contiguous 2-Level Anterior Cervical Diskectomy and Fusion: Comparison with Cage with Plate Construct.

    PubMed

    Yun, Dong-Ju; Lee, Sang-Jin; Park, Sang-Joon; Oh, Hyeong Seok; Lee, Young Jae; Oh, Hyun Min; Lee, Sang-Ho

    2017-01-01

    A new zero-profile, standalone device (Zero P) was recently developed and has shown a lower incidence rate of complications and competitive clinical outcomes compared with anterior cervical cage with plate construct (CP) in single and multilevel anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion (ACDF). However, there is still concern whether Zero P is appropriate for multilevel ACDF. In addition, there have been few reports of contiguous 2-level ACDF used in conjunction with Zero P. We reviewed contiguous 2-level ACDF performed from December 2006 to February 2015. A total of 63 patients met inclusion criteria for the study (CP group = 32 cases; Zero P group = 31 cases). All preoperative and postoperative clinical and radiologic parameters were recorded. These parameters were compared between both groups. The postoperative change of Cobb S over time in the Zero P group was significantly different from that in the CP group. The maintenance of Cobb S in the Zero P group was better than that in the CP group (P < 0.05). The maintenance of anterior intervertebral disk height (IDH) at postoperative assessment for the Zero P group was significantly better than that in the CP group (P < 0.05). Within-group comparison of the postoperative change of anterior and posterior IDH over time revealed that the anterior IDH was significantly lower than the posterior IDH in the Zero P group (P < 0.05). For 2-level contiguous ACDF, the use of a zero-profile device has the capacity to show compatible outcomes in correction and maintenance of segmental angle if the anterior titanium alloy plate is properly positioned at the anterior vertebral line. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Abatement of trichloroethylene using DBD plasma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vesali-Naseh, M.; Xu, S.; Xu, L.; Khodadadi, A.; Mortazavi, Y.; Ostrikov, K.

    2014-08-01

    Dielectric barrier discharge plasma was used to oxidize trichloroethylene (TCE) in 21% of O2 in carriers of N2 and He. The degradation products of TCE were analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. TCE was decomposed completely at optimum energy density of 260 and 300 J/l for He and N2, respectively and its conversion followed zero order reaction. The TCE removal efficiency is decreased in humid air due to interception of reactive intermediates by OH radicals.

  6. Pilot production and testing of high efficiency wraparound contact solar cells

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gillanders, M.

    1981-01-01

    Modifications were made to the process sequence until a device capable of high performance and satisfactory processing yields could be fabricated on a production line. Pilot production resulted in a 2 x 4 cm screen printed dielectric wraparound contact solar cell with average 28 C, Air Mass Zero (AMO) conversion efficiencies of 14.2% and reasonable process yields. This high performance was obtained with two different back contact configurations, making the device acceptable for many applications.

  7. Radiated microwave power transmission system efficiency measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dickinson, R. M.; Brown, W. C.

    1975-01-01

    The measured and calculated results from determining the operating efficiencies of a laboratory version of a system for transporting electric power from one point to another via a wireless free space radiated microwave beam are reported. The system's overall end-to-end efficiency as well as intermediated conversion efficiencies were measured. The maximum achieved end-to-end dc-to-ac system efficiency was 54.18% with a probable error of + or - 0.94%. The dc-to-RF conversion efficiency was measured to be 68.87% + or - 1.0% and the RF-to-dc conversion efficiency was 78.67 + or - 1.1%. Under these conditions a dc power of 495.62 + or - 3.57 W was received with a free space transmitter antenna receiver antenna separation of 170.2 cm (67 in).

  8. Signaling cascades modulate the speed of signal propagation through space.

    PubMed

    Govern, Christopher C; Chakraborty, Arup K

    2009-01-01

    Cells are not mixed bags of signaling molecules. As a consequence, signals must travel from their origin to distal locations. Much is understood about the purely diffusive propagation of signals through space. Many signals, however, propagate via signaling cascades. Here, we show that, depending on their kinetics, cascades speed up or slow down the propagation of signals through space, relative to pure diffusion. We modeled simple cascades operating under different limits of Michaelis-Menten kinetics using deterministic reaction-diffusion equations. Cascades operating far from enzyme saturation speed up signal propagation; the second mobile species moves more quickly than the first through space, on average. The enhanced speed is due to more efficient serial activation of a downstream signaling module (by the signaling molecule immediately upstream in the cascade) at points distal from the signaling origin, compared to locations closer to the source. Conversely, cascades operating under saturated kinetics, which exhibit zero-order ultrasensitivity, can slow down signals, ultimately localizing them to regions around the origin. Signal speed modulation may be a fundamental function of cascades, affecting the ability of signals to penetrate within a cell, to cross-react with other signals, and to activate distant targets. In particular, enhanced speeds provide a way to increase signal penetration into a cell without needing to flood the cell with large numbers of active signaling molecules; conversely, diminished speeds in zero-order ultrasensitive cascades facilitate strong, but localized, signaling.

  9. Basic and applied research related to the technology of space energy conversion systems, 1982 - 1983

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hertzberg, A.

    1983-01-01

    Topics on solar energy conversion concepts and applications are discussed. An overview of the current status and future utilization of radiation receivers for electrical energy generation, liquid droplet radiation systems, and liquid droplet heat exchangers is presented.

  10. Proceedings of the First Semiannual Distributed Receiver Program Review

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1980-01-01

    Point focus and line focus distributed receiver solar thermal technology for the production of electric power and of industrial process heat is addressed. Concentrator, receiver, and power conversion development are covered along with hardware tests and evaluation. Mass production costing, parabolic dish applications, and trough and bowl systems are included.

  11. Ambiguity in determining financial capability of SSI and SSDI beneficiaries with psychiatric disabilities.

    PubMed

    Lazar, Christina M; Black, Anne C; McMahon, Thomas J; O'Shea, Kevin; Rosen, Marc I

    2015-03-01

    The liberty of individuals who receive Social Security disability payments is constrained if they are judged incapable of managing their payments and are assigned a payee or conservator to manage benefit payments on their behalf. Conversely, beneficiaries' well-being may be compromised if they misspend money that they need to survive. Several studies have shown that determinations of financial capability are made inconsistently and that capability guidelines appear to be applied inconsistently. This article describes ambiguities that remained for individuals even after a comprehensive assessment of financial capability was conducted by independent assessors. Trained, experienced assessors rated the financial capability of 118 individuals in intensive outpatient or inpatient psychiatric facilities who received Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income. Ten individuals' cases were determined to be difficult to judge. Six sources of ambiguity were identified by case review: distinguishing incapability from the challenges of navigating poverty, the amount of nonessential spending that indicates incapability, the amount of spending on harmful things that indicates incapability, how to consider intermittent periods of capability and incapability, the relative weighting of past behavior and future plans to change, and discrepancies between different sources of information. The cases raise fundamental questions about how to define and identify financial incapability, but they also illustrate how detailed consideration of beneficiaries' living situations and decision making can inform the difficult dichotomous decision about capability.

  12. Modeling and control of flexible space structures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wie, B.; Bryson, A. E., Jr.

    1981-01-01

    The effects of actuator and sensor locations on transfer function zeros are investigated, using uniform bars and beams as generic models of flexible space structures. It is shown how finite element codes may be used directly to calculate transfer function zeros. The impulse response predicted by finite-dimensional models is compared with the exact impulse response predicted by the infinite dimensional models. It is shown that some flexible structures behave as if there were a direct transmission between actuator and sensor (equal numbers of zeros and poles in the transfer function). Finally, natural damping models for a vibrating beam are investigated since natural damping has a strong influence on the appropriate active control logic for a flexible structure.

  13. 47 CFR 69.609 - End User Common Line hypothetical net balances.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false End User Common Line hypothetical net balances... net balances. (a) If the company does not participate in the association tariff for such element, the hypothetical net balance shall be zero. (b) If the company does participate in the association tariff for such...

  14. 47 CFR 69.609 - End User Common Line hypothetical net balances.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false End User Common Line hypothetical net balances... net balances. (a) If the company does not participate in the association tariff for such element, the hypothetical net balance shall be zero. (b) If the company does participate in the association tariff for such...

  15. Comment on "Heterodyne Lidar Returns in the Turbulent Atmosphere: Performance Evaluation of Simulated Systems"

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Frehlich, Rod; Kavaya, Michael J.

    2000-01-01

    The explanation for the difference between simulation and the zero-order theory for heterodyne lidar returns in a turbulent atmosphere proposed by Belmonte and Rye is incorrect. The theoretical expansion is not developed under a square- law-structure function approximation (random wedge atmosphere). Agreement between the simulations and the zero-order term of the theoretical expansion is produced for the limit of statistically independent paths (bi-static operation with large transmitter-receiver separation) when the simulations correctly include the large-scale gradients of the turbulent atmosphere.

  16. Lee-Yang zero analysis for the study of QCD phase structure

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

    Ejiri, Shinji

    2006-03-01

    We comment on the Lee-Yang zero analysis for the study of the phase structure of QCD at high temperature and baryon number density by Monte-Carlo simulations. We find that the sign problem for nonzero density QCD induces a serious problem in the finite volume scaling analysis of the Lee-Yang zeros for the investigation of the order of the phase transition. If the sign problem occurs at large volume, the Lee-Yang zeros will always approach the real axis of the complex parameter plane in the thermodynamic limit. This implies that a scaling behavior which would suggest a crossover transition will notmore » be obtained. To clarify this problem, we discuss the Lee-Yang zero analysis for SU(3) pure gauge theory as a simple example without the sign problem, and then consider the case of nonzero density QCD. It is suggested that the distribution of the Lee-Yang zeros in the complex parameter space obtained by each simulation could be more important information for the investigation of the critical endpoint in the (T,{mu}{sub q}) plane than the finite volume scaling behavior.« less

  17. Predicting the Effects of Longitudinal Variables on Cost and Schedule Performance

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-03-01

    budget so that as cost growth occurs, it can be absorbed (Moore, 2003:2). This number padding is very tempting since it relieves the program...presence of a value, zero was entered for the missing variables because without any value assigned, the analysis software would ignore all data for the...program in question, reducing the already small dataset. Second, if we considered the variable in isolation, we removed the zero and left the field

  18. The house of the future

    ScienceCinema

    None

    2017-12-09

    Learn what it will take to create tomorrow's net-zero energy home as scientists reveal the secrets of cool roofs, smart windows, and computer-driven energy control systems. The net-zero energy home: Scientists are working to make tomorrow's homes more than just energy efficient -- they want them to be zero energy. Iain Walker, a scientist in the Lab's Energy Performance of Buildings Group, will discuss what it takes to develop net-zero energy houses that generate as much energy as they use through highly aggressive energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy generation. Talking back to the grid: Imagine programming your house to use less energy if the electricity grid is full or price are high. Mary Ann Piette, deputy director of Berkeley Lab's building technology department and director of the Lab's Demand Response Research Center, will discuss how new technologies are enabling buildings to listen to the grid and automatically change their thermostat settings or lighting loads, among other demands, in response to fluctuating electricity prices. The networked (and energy efficient) house: In the future, your home's lights, climate control devices, computers, windows, and appliances could be controlled via a sophisticated digital network. If it's plugged in, it'll be connected. Bruce Nordman, an energy scientist in Berkeley Lab's Energy End-Use Forecasting group, will discuss how he and other scientists are working to ensure these networks help homeowners save energy.

  19. Force of resistance to pipeline pulling in plane and volumetrically curved wells

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Toropov, V. S.; Toropov, S. Yu; Toropov, E. S.

    2018-05-01

    A method has been developed for calculating the component of the pulling force of a pipeline, arising from the well curvature in one or several planes, with the assumption that the pipeline is ballasted by filling with water or otherwise until zero buoyancy in the drilling mud is reached. This paper shows that when calculating this force, one can neglect the effect of sections with zero curvature. In the other case, if buoyancy of the pipeline is other than zero, the resistance force in the curvilinear sections should be calculated taking into account the difference between the normal components of the buoyancy force and weight. In the paper, it is proved that without taking into account resistance forces from the viscosity of the drilling mud, if buoyancy of the pipeline is zero, the total resistance force is independent of the length of the pipe and is determined by the angle equal to the sum of the entry angle and the exit angle of the pipeline to the day surface. For the case of the well curvature in several planes, it is proposed to perform the calculation of such volumetrically curved well by the central angle of the well profile. Analytical dependences are obtained that allow calculating the pulling force for well profiles with a variable curvature radius, i.e. at different angles of deviation between the drill pipes along the well profile.

  20. The house of the future

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

    None

    Learn what it will take to create tomorrow's net-zero energy home as scientists reveal the secrets of cool roofs, smart windows, and computer-driven energy control systems. The net-zero energy home: Scientists are working to make tomorrow's homes more than just energy efficient -- they want them to be zero energy. Iain Walker, a scientist in the Lab's Energy Performance of Buildings Group, will discuss what it takes to develop net-zero energy houses that generate as much energy as they use through highly aggressive energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy generation. Talking back to the grid: Imagine programming your house tomore » use less energy if the electricity grid is full or price are high. Mary Ann Piette, deputy director of Berkeley Lab's building technology department and director of the Lab's Demand Response Research Center, will discuss how new technologies are enabling buildings to listen to the grid and automatically change their thermostat settings or lighting loads, among other demands, in response to fluctuating electricity prices. The networked (and energy efficient) house: In the future, your home's lights, climate control devices, computers, windows, and appliances could be controlled via a sophisticated digital network. If it's plugged in, it'll be connected. Bruce Nordman, an energy scientist in Berkeley Lab's Energy End-Use Forecasting group, will discuss how he and other scientists are working to ensure these networks help homeowners save energy.« less

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