Sample records for excessive computing power

  1. Determination of the excess noise of avalanche photodiodes integrated in 0.35-μm CMOS technologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jukić, Tomislav; Brandl, Paul; Zimmermann, Horst

    2018-04-01

    The excess noise of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) integrated in a high-voltage (HV) CMOS process and in a pin-photodiode CMOS process, both with 0.35-μm structure sizes, is described. A precise excess noise measurement technique is applied using a laser source, a spectrum analyzer, a voltage source, a current meter, a cheap transimpedance amplifier, and a personal computer with a MATLAB program. In addition, usage for on-wafer measurements is demonstrated. The measurement technique is verified with a low excess noise APD as a reference device with known ratio k = 0.01 of the impact ionization coefficients. The k-factor of an APD developed in HV CMOS is determined more accurately than known before. In addition, it is shown that the excess noise of the pin-photodiode CMOS APD depends on the optical power for avalanche gains above 35 and that modulation doping can suppress this power dependence. Modulation doping, however, increases the excess noise.

  2. Impact of singular excessive computer game and television exposure on sleep patterns and memory performance of school-aged children.

    PubMed

    Dworak, Markus; Schierl, Thomas; Bruns, Thomas; Strüder, Heiko Klaus

    2007-11-01

    Television and computer game consumption are a powerful influence in the lives of most children. Previous evidence has supported the notion that media exposure could impair a variety of behavioral characteristics. Excessive television viewing and computer game playing have been associated with many psychiatric symptoms, especially emotional and behavioral symptoms, somatic complaints, attention problems such as hyperactivity, and family interaction problems. Nevertheless, there is insufficient knowledge about the relationship between singular excessive media consumption on sleep patterns and linked implications on children. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of singular excessive television and computer game consumption on sleep patterns and memory performance of children. Eleven school-aged children were recruited for this polysomnographic study. Children were exposed to voluntary excessive television and computer game consumption. In the subsequent night, polysomnographic measurements were conducted to measure sleep-architecture and sleep-continuity parameters. In addition, a visual and verbal memory test was conducted before media stimulation and after the subsequent sleeping period to determine visuospatial and verbal memory performance. Only computer game playing resulted in significant reduced amounts of slow-wave sleep as well as significant declines in verbal memory performance. Prolonged sleep-onset latency and more stage 2 sleep were also detected after previous computer game consumption. No effects on rapid eye movement sleep were observed. Television viewing reduced sleep efficiency significantly but did not affect sleep patterns. The results suggest that television and computer game exposure affect children's sleep and deteriorate verbal cognitive performance, which supports the hypothesis of the negative influence of media consumption on children's sleep, learning, and memory.

  3. Thermodynamic properties of a high pressure subcritical UF6/He gas volume (irradiated by an external source)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sterritt, D. E.; Lalos, G. T.; Schneider, R. T.

    1976-01-01

    A computer simulation study concerning a compressed fissioning UF6 gas is presented. The compression is to be achieved by a ballistic piston compressor. Data on UF6 obtained with this compressor were incorporated in the simulation study. As a neutron source to create the fission events in the compressed gas, a fast burst reactor was considered. The conclusion is that it takes a neutron flux in excess of 10 to the 15th power n/sec sq cm to produce measurable increases in pressure and temperature, while a flux in excess of 10 to 19th power n/sq cm sec would probably damage the compressor.

  4. 26 CFR 1.9001-4 - Adjustments required in computing excess-profits credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 13 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Adjustments required in computing excess... Adjustments required in computing excess-profits credit. (a) In general. Subsection (f) of the Act provides adjustments required to be made in computing the excess-profits credit for any taxable year under the Excess...

  5. Heat transfer, thermal stress analysis and the dynamic behaviour of high power RF structures. [MARC and SUPERFISH codes

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

    McKeown, J.; Labrie, J.P.

    1983-08-01

    A general purpose finite element computer code called MARC is used to calculate the temperature distribution and dimensional changes in linear accelerator rf structures. Both steady state and transient behaviour are examined with the computer model. Combining results from MARC with the cavity evaluation computer code SUPERFISH, the static and dynamic behaviour of a structure under power is investigated. Structure cooling is studied to minimize loss in shunt impedance and frequency shifts during high power operation. Results are compared with an experimental test carried out on a cw 805 MHz on-axis coupled structure at an energy gradient of 1.8 MeV/m.more » The model has also been used to compare the performance of on-axis and coaxial structures and has guided the mechanical design of structures suitable for average gradients in excess of 2.0 MeV/m at 2.45 GHz.« less

  6. Robust shot-noise measurement for continuous-variable quantum key distribution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kunz-Jacques, Sébastien; Jouguet, Paul

    2015-02-01

    We study a practical method to measure the shot noise in real time in continuous-variable quantum key distribution systems. The amount of secret key that can be extracted from the raw statistics depends strongly on this quantity since it affects in particular the computation of the excess noise (i.e., noise in excess of the shot noise) added by an eavesdropper on the quantum channel. Some powerful quantum hacking attacks relying on faking the estimated value of the shot noise to hide an intercept and resend strategy were proposed. Here, we provide experimental evidence that our method can defeat the saturation attack and the wavelength attack.

  7. Computer analysis of the negative differential resistance switching phenomenon of double-injection devices

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shieh, Tsay-Jiu

    1989-01-01

    By directly solving the semiconductor differential equations for the double-injection (DI) devices involving two interacting deep levels, the authors studied the negative differential resistance switching characteristic and its relationship with the device dimension, doping level, and dependence on the deep impurity profile. Computer simulation showed that although one can increase the threshold voltage by increasing the device length, the excessive holding voltage that would follow would put this device in a very limited application such as pulse power source. The excessive leakage current in the low conductance state also jeopardizes the attempt to use the device for any practical purpose. Unless there are new materials and deep impurities found that have a great differential hole and electron capture cross sections and a reasonable energy bandgap for low intrinsic carrier concentration, no big improvement in the fate of DI devices is expected in the near future.

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

    X. Zhao, S. Ramakrishnan, J. Lawson, C.Neumeyer, R. Marsala, H. Schneider, Engineering Operations

    NSTX at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) requires sophisticated plasma positioning control system for stable plasma operation. TF magnetic coils and PF magnetic coils provide electromagnetic fields to position and shape the plasma vertically and horizontally respectively. NSTX utilizes twenty six coil power supplies to establish and initiate electromagnetic fields through the coil system for plasma control. A power protection and interlock system is utilized to detect power system faults and protect the TF coils and PF coils against excessive electromechanical forces, overheating, and over current. Upon detecting any fault condition the power system is restricted, and it is eithermore » prevented from initializing or suppressed to de-energize coil power during pulsing. Power fault status is immediately reported to the computer system. This paper describes the design and operation of NSTX's protection and interlocking system and possible future expansion.« less

  9. 7 CFR 3203.4 - Procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GUIDELINES FOR THE TRANSFER OF EXCESS COMPUTERS OR OTHER TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT..., in writing, an authorized official to approve transfers of excess computers or other technical...) Excess computers or other technical equipment must first be internally screened to ensure it is not...

  10. 7 CFR 3203.4 - Procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GUIDELINES FOR THE TRANSFER OF EXCESS COMPUTERS OR OTHER TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT..., in writing, an authorized official to approve transfers of excess computers or other technical...) Excess computers or other technical equipment must first be internally screened to ensure it is not...

  11. The gross energy balance of solar active regions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Evans, K. D.; Pye, J. P.; Hutcheon, R. J.; Gerassimenko, M.; Krieger, A. S.; Davis, J. M.; Vesecky, J. F.

    1977-01-01

    Parker's (1974) model in which sunspots denote regions of increased heat transport from the convection zone is briefly described. The amount of excess mechanically transported power supposed to be delivered to the atmosphere is estimated for a typical active region, and the total radiative power output of the active-region atmosphere is computed. It is found that only a very small fraction (about 0.001) of the sunspot 'missing flux' can be accounted for by radiative emission from the atmosphere above a spot group in the manner suggested by Parker. The power-loss mechanism associated with mass loss to the solar wind is briefly considered and shown not to be sufficient to account for the sunspot missing flux.

  12. 7 CFR 3203.9 - Accountability and recordkeeping.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... recordkeeping. (a) USDA requires all excess computers or other technical equipment received by an eligible... review the reports for accuracy, as well as fair and equitable distribution of the excess computers or... PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GUIDELINES FOR THE TRANSFER OF EXCESS COMPUTERS OR OTHER...

  13. 7 CFR 3203.9 - Accountability and recordkeeping.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... recordkeeping. (a) USDA requires all excess computers or other technical equipment received by an eligible... review the reports for accuracy, as well as fair and equitable distribution of the excess computers or... PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GUIDELINES FOR THE TRANSFER OF EXCESS COMPUTERS OR OTHER...

  14. Rankine engine solar power generation. I - Performance and economic analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gossler, A. A.; Orrock, J. E.

    1981-01-01

    Results of a computer simulation of the performance of a solar flat plate collector powered electrical generation system are presented. The simulation was configured to include locations in New Mexico, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Massachusetts, and considered a water-based heat-transfer fluid collector system with storage. The collectors also powered a Rankine-cycle boiler filled with a low temperature working fluid. The generator was considered to be run only when excess solar heat and full storage would otherwise require heat purging through the collectors. All power was directed into the utility grid. The solar powered generator unit addition was found to be dependent on site location and collector area, and reduced the effective solar cost with collector areas greater than 400-670 sq m. The sites were economically ranked, best to worst: New Mexico, North Dakota, Massachusetts, and Tennessee.

  15. [Excessive computer usage in adolescents--results of a psychometric evaluation].

    PubMed

    Grüsser, Sabine M; Thalemann, Ralf; Albrecht, Ulrike; Thalemann, Carolin N

    2005-03-01

    Excessive computer and video game playing among children is being critically discussed from a pedagogic and public health point of view. To date, no reliable data for this phenomenon in Germany exists. In the present study, the excessive usage of computer and video games is seen as a rewarding behavior which can, due to learning mechanisms, become a prominent and inadequate strategy for children to cope with negative emotions like frustration, uneasiness and fears. In the survey, 323 children ranging in age from 11 to 14 years were asked about their video game playing behavior. Criteria for excessive computer and video game playing were developed in accordance with the criteria for dependency and pathological gambling (DSM-IV, ICD-10). Data show that 9.3% (N = 30) of the children fulfill all criteria for excessive computer and video game playing. Furthermore, these children differ from their class mates with respect to watching television, communication patterns, the ability to concentrate in school lectures and the preferred strategies coping with negative emotions. In accordance with findings in studies about substance-related addiction, data suggest that excessive computer and video game players use their excessive rewarding behavior specifically as an inadequate stress coping strategy.

  16. Method for controlling powertrain pumps

    DOEpatents

    Sime, Karl Andrew; Spohn, Brian L; Demirovic, Besim; Martini, Ryan D; Miller, Jean Marie

    2013-10-22

    A method of controlling a pump supplying a fluid to a transmission includes sensing a requested power and an excess power for a powertrain. The requested power substantially meets the needs of the powertrain, while the excess power is not part of the requested power. The method includes sensing a triggering condition in response to the ability to convert the excess power into heat in the transmission, and determining that an operating temperature of the transmission is below a maximum. The method also includes determining a calibrated baseline and a dissipation command for the pump. The calibrated baseline command is configured to supply the fluid based upon the requested power, and the dissipation command is configured to supply additional fluid and consume the excess power with the pump. The method operates the pump at a combined command, which is equal to the calibrated baseline command plus the dissipation command.

  17. 10 CFR 904.10 - Excess energy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Excess energy. 904.10 Section 904.10 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR THE CHARGES FOR THE SALE OF POWER FROM THE BOULDER CANYON PROJECT Power Marketing § 904.10 Excess energy. (a) If excess Energy is determined by the United States to be available...

  18. 10 CFR 904.10 - Excess energy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Excess energy. 904.10 Section 904.10 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR THE CHARGES FOR THE SALE OF POWER FROM THE BOULDER CANYON PROJECT Power Marketing § 904.10 Excess energy. (a) If excess Energy is determined by the United States to be available...

  19. 10 CFR 904.10 - Excess energy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Excess energy. 904.10 Section 904.10 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR THE CHARGES FOR THE SALE OF POWER FROM THE BOULDER CANYON PROJECT Power Marketing § 904.10 Excess energy. (a) If excess Energy is determined by the United States to be available...

  20. 10 CFR 904.10 - Excess energy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Excess energy. 904.10 Section 904.10 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR THE CHARGES FOR THE SALE OF POWER FROM THE BOULDER CANYON PROJECT Power Marketing § 904.10 Excess energy. (a) If excess Energy is determined by the United States to be available...

  1. 10 CFR 904.10 - Excess energy.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Excess energy. 904.10 Section 904.10 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL REGULATIONS FOR THE CHARGES FOR THE SALE OF POWER FROM THE BOULDER CANYON PROJECT Power Marketing § 904.10 Excess energy. (a) If excess Energy is determined by the United States to be available...

  2. How parents can affect excessive spending of time on screen-based activities.

    PubMed

    Brindova, Daniela; Pavelka, Jan; Ševčikova, Anna; Žežula, Ivan; van Dijk, Jitse P; Reijneveld, Sijmen A; Geckova, Andrea Madarasova

    2014-12-12

    The aim of this study is to explore the association between family-related factors and excessive time spent on screen-based activities among school-aged children. A cross-sectional survey using the methodology of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study was performed in 2013, with data collected from Slovak (n = 258) and Czech (n = 406) 11- and 15-year-old children. The effects of age, gender, availability of a TV or computer in the bedroom, parental rules on time spent watching TV or working on a computer, parental rules on the content of TV programmes and computer work and watching TV together with parents on excessive time spent with screen-based activities were explored using logistic regression models. Two-thirds of respondents watch TV or play computer games at least two hours a day. Older children have a 1.80-times higher chance of excessive TV watching (CI: 1.30-2.51) and a 3.91-times higher chance of excessive computer use (CI: 2.82-5.43) in comparison with younger children. More than half of children have a TV (53%) and a computer (73%) available in their bedroom, which increases the chance of excessive TV watching by 1.59 times (CI: 1.17-2.16) and of computer use by 2.25 times (CI: 1.59-3.20). More than half of parents rarely or never apply rules on the length of TV watching (64%) or time spent on computer work (56%), and their children have a 1.76-times higher chance of excessive TV watching (CI: 1.26-2.46) and a 1.50-times greater chance of excessive computer use (CI: 1.07-2.08). A quarter of children reported that they are used to watching TV together with their parents every day, and these have a 1.84-times higher chance of excessive TV watching (1.25-2.70). Reducing time spent watching TV by applying parental rules or a parental role model might help prevent excessive time spent on screen-based activities.

  3. Human Powered Centrifuge

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mulenburg, Gerald M. (Inventor); Vernikos, Joan (Inventor)

    1997-01-01

    A human powered centrifuge has independently established turntable angular velocity and human power input. A control system allows excess input power to be stored as electric energy in a battery or dissipated as heat through a resistors. In a mechanical embodiment, the excess power is dissipated in a friction brake.

  4. An energy-efficient failure detector for vehicular cloud computing.

    PubMed

    Liu, Jiaxi; Wu, Zhibo; Dong, Jian; Wu, Jin; Wen, Dongxin

    2018-01-01

    Failure detectors are one of the fundamental components for maintaining the high availability of vehicular cloud computing. In vehicular cloud computing, lots of RSUs are deployed along the road to improve the connectivity. Many of them are equipped with solar battery due to the unavailability or excess expense of wired electrical power. So it is important to reduce the battery consumption of RSU. However, the existing failure detection algorithms are not designed to save battery consumption RSU. To solve this problem, a new energy-efficient failure detector 2E-FD has been proposed specifically for vehicular cloud computing. 2E-FD does not only provide acceptable failure detection service, but also saves the battery consumption of RSU. Through the comparative experiments, the results show that our failure detector has better performance in terms of speed, accuracy and battery consumption.

  5. An energy-efficient failure detector for vehicular cloud computing

    PubMed Central

    Liu, Jiaxi; Wu, Zhibo; Wu, Jin; Wen, Dongxin

    2018-01-01

    Failure detectors are one of the fundamental components for maintaining the high availability of vehicular cloud computing. In vehicular cloud computing, lots of RSUs are deployed along the road to improve the connectivity. Many of them are equipped with solar battery due to the unavailability or excess expense of wired electrical power. So it is important to reduce the battery consumption of RSU. However, the existing failure detection algorithms are not designed to save battery consumption RSU. To solve this problem, a new energy-efficient failure detector 2E-FD has been proposed specifically for vehicular cloud computing. 2E-FD does not only provide acceptable failure detection service, but also saves the battery consumption of RSU. Through the comparative experiments, the results show that our failure detector has better performance in terms of speed, accuracy and battery consumption. PMID:29352282

  6. GPU accelerated fuzzy connected image segmentation by using CUDA.

    PubMed

    Zhuge, Ying; Cao, Yong; Miller, Robert W

    2009-01-01

    Image segmentation techniques using fuzzy connectedness principles have shown their effectiveness in segmenting a variety of objects in several large applications in recent years. However, one problem of these algorithms has been their excessive computational requirements when processing large image datasets. Nowadays commodity graphics hardware provides high parallel computing power. In this paper, we present a parallel fuzzy connected image segmentation algorithm on Nvidia's Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) platform for segmenting large medical image data sets. Our experiments based on three data sets with small, medium, and large data size demonstrate the efficiency of the parallel algorithm, which achieves a speed-up factor of 7.2x, 7.3x, and 14.4x, correspondingly, for the three data sets over the sequential implementation of fuzzy connected image segmentation algorithm on CPU.

  7. JANUS: A Compilation System for Balancing Parallelism and Performance in OpenVX

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Omidian, Hossein; Lemieux, Guy G. F.

    2018-04-01

    Embedded systems typically do not have enough on-chip memory for entire an image buffer. Programming systems like OpenCV operate on entire image frames at each step, making them use excessive memory bandwidth and power. In contrast, the paradigm used by OpenVX is much more efficient; it uses image tiling, and the compilation system is allowed to analyze and optimize the operation sequence, specified as a compute graph, before doing any pixel processing. In this work, we are building a compilation system for OpenVX that can analyze and optimize the compute graph to take advantage of parallel resources in many-core systems or FPGAs. Using a database of prewritten OpenVX kernels, it automatically adjusts the image tile size as well as using kernel duplication and coalescing to meet a defined area (resource) target, or to meet a specified throughput target. This allows a single compute graph to target implementations with a wide range of performance needs or capabilities, e.g. from handheld to datacenter, that use minimal resources and power to reach the performance target.

  8. Improved OSC Amtec generator design to meet goals of JPL's candidate Europa Orbiter mission

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

    Schock, A.; Noravian, H.; Or, C.

    1998-07-01

    The preceding paper (Paper IECEC.98.244) described OSC's initial designs of AMTEC (Alkali Metal Thermal-to-Electrical Conversion) power systems, consisting of one or two generators, each with 2, 3, or 4 General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) modules and with 16 refractory AMTEC cells containing 5 Beta Alumina Solid Electrolyte (BASE) tubes; and presented the effect of heat input and voltage output on the generator's BOM evaporator and clad temperatures and on its EOM system efficiency and power output. Comparison of the computed results with JPL's goals for the Europa Orbiter mission showed that all of the initial 16-cell design options yielded eithermore » excessive evaporator and clad temperatures or insufficient EOM power to satisfy the JPL-specified mission goals. The present paper describes modified OSC generator designs with different numbers of AMTEC cells, cell diameters, cell lengths, cell materials, BASE tube lengths, and number of tubes per cell. These efforts succeeded in identifying generator designs with only half the number of AMTEC cells which -- for the same assumptions -- can produce EOM power outputs substantially in excess of JPL's goals for NASA's Europa Orbiter mission while operating well below the prescribed BOM limits on evaporator and clad temperature; and revealed that lowering the emissivity of the generator's housing to raise the cells' condenser temperatures can achieve substantial additional performance improvement. Finally, the paper culminates in programmatic recommendations.« less

  9. Variable soft X-ray excesses in active galactic nuclei from nonthermal electron-positron pair cascades

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zdziarski, Andrzej A.; Coppi, Paolo S.

    1991-01-01

    In the present study of the formation of steep soft X-ray excesses that are superposed on flatter, hard X-ray power-law spectra in nonthermal electron-positron pair cascade sources, the soft excess in pair-cascade AGN models appears as a steep power law superposed on the tail of the UV bump and the flat nonthermal (hard X-ray) power law. The model-parameter space in which an excess in soft X-rays is visible is ascertained, and the time-variability of soft excesses in pair cascade models is examined. It is established that the parameter space in which soft excesses appear encompasses the range of preferred input parameters for a recently development Compton reflection model of UV and X-ray emission from the central engine of an AGN.

  10. GAPIT: genome association and prediction integrated tool.

    PubMed

    Lipka, Alexander E; Tian, Feng; Wang, Qishan; Peiffer, Jason; Li, Meng; Bradbury, Peter J; Gore, Michael A; Buckler, Edward S; Zhang, Zhiwu

    2012-09-15

    Software programs that conduct genome-wide association studies and genomic prediction and selection need to use methodologies that maximize statistical power, provide high prediction accuracy and run in a computationally efficient manner. We developed an R package called Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool (GAPIT) that implements advanced statistical methods including the compressed mixed linear model (CMLM) and CMLM-based genomic prediction and selection. The GAPIT package can handle large datasets in excess of 10 000 individuals and 1 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms with minimal computational time, while providing user-friendly access and concise tables and graphs to interpret results. http://www.maizegenetics.net/GAPIT. zhiwu.zhang@cornell.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

  11. Turbulence modeling of free shear layers for high performance aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sondak, Douglas

    1993-01-01

    In many flowfield computations, accuracy of the turbulence model employed is frequently a limiting factor in the overall accuracy of the computation. This is particularly true for complex flowfields such as those around full aircraft configurations. Free shear layers such as wakes, impinging jets (in V/STOL applications), and mixing layers over cavities are often part of these flowfields. Although flowfields have been computed for full aircraft, the memory and CPU requirements for these computations are often excessive. Additional computer power is required for multidisciplinary computations such as coupled fluid dynamics and conduction heat transfer analysis. Massively parallel computers show promise in alleviating this situation, and the purpose of this effort was to adapt and optimize CFD codes to these new machines. The objective of this research effort was to compute the flowfield and heat transfer for a two-dimensional jet impinging normally on a cool plate. The results of this research effort were summarized in an AIAA paper titled 'Parallel Implementation of the k-epsilon Turbulence Model'. Appendix A contains the full paper.

  12. Simulation of existing gas-fuelled conventional steam power plant using Cycle Tempo

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jamel, M. S.; Abd Rahman, A.; Shamsuddin, A. H.

    2013-06-01

    Simulation of a 200 MW gas-fuelled conventional steam power plant located in Basra, Iraq was carried out. The thermodynamic performance of the considered power plant is estimated by a system simulation. A flow-sheet computer program, "Cycle-Tempo" is used for the study. The plant components and piping systems were considered and described in detail. The simulation results were verified against data gathered from the log sheet obtained from the station during its operation hours and good results were obtained. Operational factors like the stack exhaust temperature and excess air percentage were studied and discussed, as were environmental factors, such as ambient air temperature and water inlet temperature. In addition, detailed exergy losses were illustrated and describe the temperature profiles for the main plant components. The results prompted many suggestions for improvement of the plant performance.

  13. Scheduling quality of precise form sets which consist of tasks of circular type in GRID systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Saak, A. E.; Kureichik, V. V.; Kravchenko, Y. A.

    2018-05-01

    Users’ demand in computer power and rise of technology favour the arrival of Grid systems. The quality of Grid systems’ performance depends on computer and time resources scheduling. Grid systems with a centralized structure of the scheduling system and user’s task are modeled by resource quadrant and re-source rectangle accordingly. A Non-Euclidean heuristic measure, which takes into consideration both the area and the form of an occupied resource region, is used to estimate scheduling quality of heuristic algorithms. The authors use sets, which are induced by the elements of square squaring, as an example of studying the adapt-ability of a level polynomial algorithm with an excess and the one with minimal deviation.

  14. Developing software to use parallel processing effectively. Final report, June-December 1987

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

    Center, J.

    1988-10-01

    This report describes the difficulties involved in writing efficient parallel programs and describes the hardware and software support currently available for generating software that utilizes processing effectively. Historically, the processing rate of single-processor computers has increased by one order of magnitude every five years. However, this pace is slowing since electronic circuitry is coming up against physical barriers. Unfortunately, the complexity of engineering and research problems continues to require ever more processing power (far in excess of the maximum estimated 3 Gflops achievable by single-processor computers). For this reason, parallel-processing architectures are receiving considerable interest, since they offer high performancemore » more cheaply than a single-processor supercomputer, such as the Cray.« less

  15. Execution of parallel algorithms on a heterogeneous multicomputer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Isenstein, Barry S.; Greene, Jonathon

    1995-04-01

    Many aerospace/defense sensing and dual-use applications require high-performance computing, extensive high-bandwidth interconnect and realtime deterministic operation. This paper will describe the architecture of a scalable multicomputer that includes DSP and RISC processors. A single chassis implementation is capable of delivering in excess of 10 GFLOPS of DSP processing power with 2 Gbytes/s of realtime sensor I/O. A software approach to implementing parallel algorithms called the Parallel Application System (PAS) is also presented. An example of applying PAS to a DSP application is shown.

  16. Analysis of Accidents at the Pakistan Research Reactor-1 Using Proposed Mixed-Fuel (HEU and LEU) Core

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

    Bokhari, Ishtiaq H.

    2004-12-15

    The Pakistan Research Reactor-1 (PARR-1) was converted from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel in 1991. The reactor is running successfully, with an upgraded power level of 10 MW. To save money on the purchase of costly fresh LEU fuel elements, the use of less burnt HEU spent fuel elements along with the present LEU fuel elements is being considered. The proposal calls for the HEU fuel elements to be placed near the thermal column to gain the required excess reactivity. In the present study the safety analysis of a proposed mixed-fuel core has been carried outmore » at a calculated steady-state power level of 9.8 MW. Standard computer codes and correlations were employed to compute various parameters. Initiating events in reactivity-induced accidents involve various modes of reactivity insertion, namely, start-up accident, accidental drop of a fuel element on the core, flooding of a beam tube with water, and removal of an in-pile experiment during reactor operation. For each of these transients, time histories of reactor power, energy released, temperature, and reactivity were determined.« less

  17. Excessive computer game playing: evidence for addiction and aggression?

    PubMed

    Grüsser, S M; Thalemann, R; Griffiths, M D

    2007-04-01

    Computer games have become an ever-increasing part of many adolescents' day-to-day lives. Coupled with this phenomenon, reports of excessive gaming (computer game playing) denominated as "computer/video game addiction" have been discussed in the popular press as well as in recent scientific research. The aim of the present study was the investigation of the addictive potential of gaming as well as the relationship between excessive gaming and aggressive attitudes and behavior. A sample comprising of 7069 gamers answered two questionnaires online. Data revealed that 11.9% of participants (840 gamers) fulfilled diagnostic criteria of addiction concerning their gaming behavior, while there is only weak evidence for the assumption that aggressive behavior is interrelated with excessive gaming in general. Results of this study contribute to the assumption that also playing games without monetary reward meets criteria of addiction. Hence, an addictive potential of gaming should be taken into consideration regarding prevention and intervention.

  18. Performance and economic risk evaluation of dispersed solar thermal power systems by Monte Carlo simulation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Manvi, R.; Fujita, T.

    1978-01-01

    A preliminary comparative evaluation of dispersed solar thermal power plants utilizing advanced technologies available in 1985-2000 time frame is under way at JPL. The solar power plants of 50 KWe to 10 MWe size are equipped with two axis tracking parabolic dish concentrator systems operating at temperatures in excess of 1000 F. The energy conversion schemes under consideration include advanced steam, open and closed cycle gas turbines, stirling, and combined cycle. The energy storage systems include advanced batteries, liquid metal, and chemical. This paper outlines a simple methodology for a probabilistic assessment of such systems. Sources of uncertainty in the development of advanced systems are identified, and a computer Monte Carlo simulation is exercised to permit an analysis of the tradeoffs of the risk of failure versus the potential for large gains. Frequency distribution of energy cost for several alternatives are presented.

  19. Flexible superconducting Nb transmission lines on thin film polyimide for quantum computing applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tuckerman, David B.; Hamilton, Michael C.; Reilly, David J.; Bai, Rujun; Hernandez, George A.; Hornibrook, John M.; Sellers, John A.; Ellis, Charles D.

    2016-08-01

    We describe progress and initial results achieved towards the goal of developing integrated multi-conductor arrays of shielded controlled-impedance flexible superconducting transmission lines with ultra-miniature cross sections and wide bandwidths (dc to >10 GHz) over meter-scale lengths. Intended primarily for use in future scaled-up quantum computing systems, such flexible thin-film niobium/polyimide ribbon cables could provide a physically compact and ultra-low thermal conductance alternative to the rapidly increasing number of discrete coaxial cables that are currently used by quantum computing experimentalists to transmit signals between the several low-temperature stages (from ˜4 K down to ˜20 mK) of a dilution refrigerator. We have concluded that these structures are technically feasible to fabricate, and so far they have exhibited acceptable thermo-mechanical reliability. S-parameter results are presented for individual 2-metal layer Nb microstrip structures having 50 Ω characteristic impedance; lengths ranging from 50 to 550 mm were successfully fabricated. Solderable pads at the end terminations allowed testing using conventional rf connectors. Weakly coupled open-circuit microstrip resonators provided a sensitive measure of the overall transmission line loss as a function of frequency, temperature, and power. Two common microelectronic-grade polyimide dielectrics, one conventional and the other photo-definable (PI-2611 and HD-4100, respectively) were compared. Our most striking result, not previously reported to our knowledge, was that the dielectric loss tangents of both polyimides, over frequencies from 1 to 20 GHz, are remarkably low at deep cryogenic temperatures, typically 100× smaller than corresponding room temperature values. This enables fairly long-distance (meter-scale) transmission of microwave signals without excessive attenuation, and also permits usefully high rf power levels to be transmitted without creating excessive dielectric heating. We observed loss tangents as low as 2.2 × 10-5 at 20 mK, although losses increased somewhat at very low rf power levels, similar to the well-known behavior of amorphous inorganic dielectrics such as SiO2. Our fabrication techniques could be extended to more complex structures such as multiconductor cables, embedded microstrip, 3-metal layer stripline or rectangular coax, and integrated attenuators and thermalization structures.

  20. 7 CFR 760.602 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... controlled or selected environments. Brownout means a disruption of electrical or other similar power source..., hail, freeze, tornado, hurricane, typhoon, excessive wind, excessive heat, weather-related saltwater..., such as disease and insect infestation. It does not include brownouts or power failures. Disaster...

  1. A new tool called DISSECT for analysing large genomic data sets using a Big Data approach

    PubMed Central

    Canela-Xandri, Oriol; Law, Andy; Gray, Alan; Woolliams, John A.; Tenesa, Albert

    2015-01-01

    Large-scale genetic and genomic data are increasingly available and the major bottleneck in their analysis is a lack of sufficiently scalable computational tools. To address this problem in the context of complex traits analysis, we present DISSECT. DISSECT is a new and freely available software that is able to exploit the distributed-memory parallel computational architectures of compute clusters, to perform a wide range of genomic and epidemiologic analyses, which currently can only be carried out on reduced sample sizes or under restricted conditions. We demonstrate the usefulness of our new tool by addressing the challenge of predicting phenotypes from genotype data in human populations using mixed-linear model analysis. We analyse simulated traits from 470,000 individuals genotyped for 590,004 SNPs in ∼4 h using the combined computational power of 8,400 processor cores. We find that prediction accuracies in excess of 80% of the theoretical maximum could be achieved with large sample sizes. PMID:26657010

  2. 26 CFR 1.860E-2 - Tax on transfers of residual interests to certain organizations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... excess inclusions. The anticipated excess inclusions are the excess inclusions that are expected to... anticipated excess inclusions must be determined as of the date the residual interest is transferred and must...) Present value computation. The present value of the anticipated excess inclusions is determined by...

  3. Development of a real-time aeroperformance analysis technique for the X-29A advanced technology demonstrator

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ray, R. J.; Hicks, J. W.; Alexander, R. I.

    1988-01-01

    The X-29A advanced technology demonstrator has shown the practicality and advantages of the capability to compute and display, in real time, aeroperformance flight results. This capability includes the calculation of the in-flight measured drag polar, lift curve, and aircraft specific excess power. From these elements many other types of aeroperformance measurements can be computed and analyzed. The technique can be used to give an immediate postmaneuver assessment of data quality and maneuver technique, thus increasing the productivity of a flight program. A key element of this new method was the concurrent development of a real-time in-flight net thrust algorithm, based on the simplified gross thrust method. This net thrust algorithm allows for the direct calculation of total aircraft drag.

  4. 10 CFR 140.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... an application has been filed for a license authorizing operation at: (1) A thermal power level in excess of 10 megawatts; or (2) A thermal power level in excess of 1 megawatt, if the reactor is to... plant means a plant in which the following operations or activities are conducted: (1) Operations for...

  5. 10 CFR 140.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... an application has been filed for a license authorizing operation at: (1) A thermal power level in excess of 10 megawatts; or (2) A thermal power level in excess of 1 megawatt, if the reactor is to... plant means a plant in which the following operations or activities are conducted: (1) Operations for...

  6. 76 FR 28188 - Office of Procurement and Property Management; Guidelines for the Transfer of Excess Computers or...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-16

    ... general, to provide the public the option of submitting information or transacting business electronically... Office of Procurement and Property Management; Guidelines for the Transfer of Excess Computers or Other... Property Management, USDA. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: The Office of Procurement and Property...

  7. β-distribution for Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux in relaxation turbulent boundary layer of compression ramp

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hu, YanChao; Bi, WeiTao; Li, ShiYao; She, ZhenSu

    2017-12-01

    A challenge in the study of turbulent boundary layers (TBLs) is to understand the non-equilibrium relaxation process after sep-aration and reattachment due to shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction. The classical boundary layer theory cannot deal with the strong adverse pressure gradient, and hence, the computational modeling of this process remains inaccurate. Here, we report the direct numerical simulation results of the relaxation TBL behind a compression ramp, which reveal the presence of intense large-scale eddies, with significantly enhanced Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux. A crucial finding is that the wall-normal profiles of the excess Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux obey a β-distribution, which is a product of two power laws with respect to the wall-normal distances from the wall and from the boundary layer edge. In addition, the streamwise decays of the excess Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux also exhibit power laws with respect to the streamwise distance from the corner of the compression ramp. These results suggest that the relaxation TBL obeys the dilation symmetry, which is a specific form of self-organization in this complex non-equilibrium flow. The β-distribution yields important hints for the development of a turbulence model.

  8. Coquina Elementary students enjoy gift of computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1999-01-01

    Children at Coquina Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., 'practice' using a computer keyboard, part of equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Coquina is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. Ksc employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated.

  9. Coquina Elementary students enjoy gift of computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1999-01-01

    Children at Coquina Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., look with curiosity at the wrapped computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Coquina is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. Ksc employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated.

  10. Audubon Elementary students enjoy gift of computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1999-01-01

    Children at Audubon Elementary School, Merritt Island, Fla., eagerly unwrap computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Audubon is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year- long project. Ksc employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated.

  11. Coquina Elementary students enjoy gift of computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1999-01-01

    Children at Coquina Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., eagerly tear into the wrapped computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Coquina is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year- long project. Ksc employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated.

  12. Coquina Elementary students enjoy gift of computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1999-01-01

    Children at Coquina Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., excitedly tear into the wrapped computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Coquina is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. Ksc employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated.

  13. KSC-99pp1227

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1999-10-06

    Children at Audubon Elementary School, Merritt Island, Fla., eagerly unwrap computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Audubon is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

  14. High Performance Power Module for Hall Effect Thrusters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pinero, Luis R.; Peterson, Peter Y.; Bowers, Glen E.

    2002-01-01

    Previous efforts to develop power electronics for Hall thruster systems have targeted the 1 to 5 kW power range and an output voltage of approximately 300 V. New Hall thrusters are being developed for higher power, higher specific impulse, and multi-mode operation. These thrusters require up to 50 kW of power and a discharge voltage in excess of 600 V. Modular power supplies can process more power with higher efficiency at the expense of complexity. A 1 kW discharge power module was designed, built and integrated with a Hall thruster. The breadboard module has a power conversion efficiency in excess of 96 percent and weighs only 0.765 kg. This module will be used to develop a kW, multi-kW, and high voltage power processors.

  15. Developing a Procedure for Segmenting Meshed Heat Networks of Heat Supply Systems without Outflows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tokarev, V. V.

    2018-06-01

    The heat supply systems of cities have, as a rule, a ring structure with the possibility of redistributing the flows. Despite the fact that a ring structure is more reliable than a radial one, the operators of heat networks prefer to use them in normal modes according to the scheme without overflows of the heat carrier between the heat mains. With such a scheme, it is easier to adjust the networks and to detect and locate faults in them. The article proposes a formulation of the heat network segmenting problem. The problem is set in terms of optimization with the heat supply system's excessive hydraulic power used as the optimization criterion. The heat supply system computer model has a hierarchically interconnected multilevel structure. Since iterative calculations are only carried out for the level of trunk heat networks, decomposing the entire system into levels allows the dimensionality of the solved subproblems to be reduced by an order of magnitude. An attempt to solve the problem by fully enumerating possible segmentation versions does not seem to be feasible for systems of really existing sizes. The article suggests a procedure for searching rational segmentation of heat supply networks with limiting the search to versions of dividing the system into segments near the flow convergence nodes with subsequent refining of the solution. The refinement is performed in two stages according to the total excess hydraulic power criterion. At the first stage, the loads are redistributed among the sources. After that, the heat networks are divided into independent fragments, and the possibility of increasing the excess hydraulic power in the obtained fragments is checked by shifting the division places inside a fragment. The proposed procedure has been approbated taking as an example a municipal heat supply system involving six heat mains fed from a common source, 24 loops within the feeding mains plane, and more than 5000 consumers. Application of the proposed segmentation procedure made it possible to find a version with required hydraulic power in the heat supply system on 3% less than the one found using the simultaneous segmentation method.

  16. Influences of optical-spectrum errors on excess relative intensity noise in a fiber-optic gyroscope

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zheng, Yue; Zhang, Chunxi; Li, Lijing

    2018-03-01

    The excess relative intensity noise (RIN) generated from broadband sources degrades the angular-random-walk performance of a fiber-optic gyroscope dramatically. Many methods have been proposed and managed to suppress the excess RIN. However, the properties of the excess RIN under the influences of different optical errors in the fiber-optic gyroscope have not been systematically investigated. Therefore, it is difficult for the existing RIN-suppression methods to achieve the optimal results in practice. In this work, the influences of different optical-spectrum errors on the power spectral density of the excess RIN are theoretically analyzed. In particular, the properties of the excess RIN affected by the raised-cosine-type ripples in the optical spectrum are elaborately investigated. Experimental measurements of the excess RIN corresponding to different optical-spectrum errors are in good agreement with our theoretical analysis, demonstrating its validity. This work provides a comprehensive understanding of the properties of the excess RIN under the influences of different optical-spectrum errors. Potentially, it can be utilized to optimize the configurations of the existing RIN-suppression methods by accurately evaluating the power spectral density of the excess RIN.

  17. A Summary Description of a Computer Program Concept for the Design and Simulation of Solar Pond Electric Power Generation Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1984-01-01

    A solar pond electric power generation subsystem, an electric power transformer and switch yard, a large solar pond, a water treatment plant, and numerous storage and evaporation ponds. Because a solar pond stores thermal energy over a long period of time, plant operation at any point in time is dependent upon past operation and future perceived generation plans. This time or past history factor introduces a new dimension in the design process. The design optimization of a plant must go beyond examination of operational state points and consider the seasonal variations in solar, solar pond energy storage, and desired plant annual duty-cycle profile. Models or design tools will be required to optimize a plant design. These models should be developed in order to include a proper but not excessive level of detail. The model should be targeted to a specific objective and not conceived as a do everything analysis tool, i.e., system design and not gradient-zone stability.

  18. Energy-efficient quantum computing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ikonen, Joni; Salmilehto, Juha; Möttönen, Mikko

    2017-04-01

    In the near future, one of the major challenges in the realization of large-scale quantum computers operating at low temperatures is the management of harmful heat loads owing to thermal conduction of cabling and dissipation at cryogenic components. This naturally raises the question that what are the fundamental limitations of energy consumption in scalable quantum computing. In this work, we derive the greatest lower bound for the gate error induced by a single application of a bosonic drive mode of given energy. Previously, such an error type has been considered to be inversely proportional to the total driving power, but we show that this limitation can be circumvented by introducing a qubit driving scheme which reuses and corrects drive pulses. Specifically, our method serves to reduce the average energy consumption per gate operation without increasing the average gate error. Thus our work shows that precise, scalable control of quantum systems can, in principle, be implemented without the introduction of excessive heat or decoherence.

  19. Combined compressed air storage-low BTU coal gasification power plant

    DOEpatents

    Kartsounes, George T.; Sather, Norman F.

    1979-01-01

    An electrical generating power plant includes a Compressed Air Energy Storage System (CAES) fueled with low BTU coal gas generated in a continuously operating high pressure coal gasifier system. This system is used in coordination with a continuously operating main power generating plant to store excess power generated during off-peak hours from the power generating plant, and to return the stored energy as peak power to the power generating plant when needed. The excess coal gas which is produced by the coal gasifier during off-peak hours is stored in a coal gas reservoir. During peak hours the stored coal gas is combined with the output of the coal gasifier to fuel the gas turbines and ultimately supply electrical power to the base power plant.

  20. Multi-Kilowatt Power Module for High-Power Hall Thrusters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pinero, Luis R.; Bowers, Glen E.

    2005-01-01

    Future NASA missions will require high-performance electric propulsion systems. Hall thrusters are being developed at NASA Glenn for high-power, high-specific impulse operation. These thrusters operate at power levels up to 50 kW of power and discharge voltages in excess of 600 V. A parallel effort is being conducted to develop power electronics for these thrusters that push the technology beyond the 5kW state-of-the-art power level. A 10 kW power module was designed to produce an output of 500 V and 20 A from a nominal 100 V input. Resistive load tests revealed efficiencies in excess of 96 percent. Load current share and phase synchronization circuits were designed and tested that will allow connecting multiple modules in parallel to process higher power.

  1. [Computer games in childhood and adolescence: relations to addictive behavior, ADHD, and aggression].

    PubMed

    Frölich, Jan; Lehmkuhl, Gerd; Döpfner, Manfred

    2009-09-01

    Playing computer games has become one of the main leisure activities in children and adolescents and increasingly replaces traditional playing and interactional activities. There might exist developmental benefits or positive effects of computer games that can be used for educational or therapeutic purposes. More important several studies have well demonstrated that excessive computer game playing is associated with behavior that features all components of non-chemical addiction and the prevalences across all age groups seem to be impressingly high. This overview relies on a Medline research. Its objective is to describe motivational and developmental characteristics attributed to computer games as well as the prevalences of computer playing in children and adolescents to better understand the risks for addictive use. We especially focus on the relations of excessive computer playing with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and aggressive behavior. The results demonstrate that children with ADHD are especially vulnerable to addictive use of computer games due to their neuropsychological profile. Moreover excessive violent computer game playing might be a significant risk variable for aggressive behavior in the presence of personality traits with aggressive cognitions and behavior scripts in the consumers. The increasing clinical meaning of addictive computer games playing urgently necessitates the development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools for clinical practice as well as the cooperation with allied disciplines.

  2. Night sleep electroencephalogram power spectral analysis in excessive daytime sleepiness disorders.

    PubMed

    Reimão, R

    1991-06-01

    A group of 53 patients (40 males, 13 females) with mean age of 49 years, ranging from 30 to 70 years, was evaluated in the following excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) disorders: obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (B4a), periodic movements in sleep (B5a), affective disorder (B2a), functional psychiatric non affective disorder (B2b). We considered all adult patients referred to the Center sequentially with no other distinctions but these three criteria: (a) EDS was the main complaint; (b) right handed; (c) not using psychotropic drugs for two weeks prior to the all-night polysomnography. EEG (C3/A1, C4/A2) samples from 2 to 10 minutes of each stage of the first REM cycle were chosen. The data was recorded simultaneously in magnetic tape and then fed into a computer for power spectral analysis. The percentage of power (PP) in each band calculated in relation to the total EEG power was determined of subsequent sections of 20.4 s for the following frequency bands: delta, theta, alpha and beta. The PP in all EDS patients sample had a tendency to decrease progressively from the slowest to the fastest frequency bands, in every sleep stage. PP distribution in the delta range increased progressively from stage 1 to stage 4; stage REM levels were close to stage 2 levels. In an EDS patients interhemispheric coherence was high in every band and sleep stage. B4a patients sample PP had a tendency to decrease progressively from the slowest to the fastest frequency bands, in every sleep stage; PP distribution in the delta range increased progressively from stage 1 to stage 4; stage REM levels were between stage 1 and stage 2 levels.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  3. Evaluating the Efficacy of the Cloud for Cluster Computation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Knight, David; Shams, Khawaja; Chang, George; Soderstrom, Tom

    2012-01-01

    Computing requirements vary by industry, and it follows that NASA and other research organizations have computing demands that fall outside the mainstream. While cloud computing made rapid inroads for tasks such as powering web applications, performance issues on highly distributed tasks hindered early adoption for scientific computation. One venture to address this problem is Nebula, NASA's homegrown cloud project tasked with delivering science-quality cloud computing resources. However, another industry development is Amazon's high-performance computing (HPC) instances on Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) that promises improved performance for cluster computation. This paper presents results from a series of benchmarks run on Amazon EC2 and discusses the efficacy of current commercial cloud technology for running scientific applications across a cluster. In particular, a 240-core cluster of cloud instances achieved 2 TFLOPS on High-Performance Linpack (HPL) at 70% of theoretical computational performance. The cluster's local network also demonstrated sub-100 ?s inter-process latency with sustained inter-node throughput in excess of 8 Gbps. Beyond HPL, a real-world Hadoop image processing task from NASA's Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP) was run on a 29 instance cluster to process lunar and Martian surface images with sizes on the order of tens of gigapixels. These results demonstrate that while not a rival of dedicated supercomputing clusters, commercial cloud technology is now a feasible option for moderately demanding scientific workloads.

  4. Generalized radiation-field quantization method and the Petermann excess-noise factor

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

    Cheng, Y.-J.; Siegman, A.E.; E.L. Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

    2003-10-01

    We propose a generalized radiation-field quantization formalism, where quantization does not have to be referenced to a set of power-orthogonal eigenmodes as conventionally required. This formalism can be used to directly quantize the true system eigenmodes, which can be non-power-orthogonal due to the open nature of the system or the gain/loss medium involved in the system. We apply this generalized field quantization to the laser linewidth problem, in particular, lasers with non-power-orthogonal oscillation modes, and derive the excess-noise factor in a fully quantum-mechanical framework. We also show that, despite the excess-noise factor for oscillating modes, the total spatially averaged decaymore » rate for the laser atoms remains unchanged.« less

  5. 26 CFR 1.383-2 - Limitations on certain capital losses and excess credits in computing alternative minimum tax...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Limitations on certain capital losses and excess credits in computing alternative minimum tax. [Reserved] 1.383-2 Section 1.383-2 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) INCOME TAX (CONTINUED) INCOME TAXES Insolvency...

  6. [Performance of Electricity Generation and Feasibility of Discontinuous Power Supply of MFC by Using Pretreated Excess Sludge as Fuel].

    PubMed

    Zhao, Yan-hui; Zhao, Yang-guo; Guo, Liang

    2016-03-15

    The feasibility of treating pretreated excess sludge and capacity of supplying continuous power of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were investigated. Two-chamber microbial fuel cells were started up and operated by using thermal pretreated excess sludge as the substrate. Potential fluctuations were achieved by changing the cathode electron acceptor. During the changes of electron acceptor, the operational stability of MFCs was assessed. The results indicated that the MFCs started successfully with oxygen as the cathode electron acceptor and reached 0.24 V after 148 hours. When the cathode electron acceptor was replaced by potassium ferricyanide, MFCs could obtain the maximum output voltage and maximum power density of 0.66 V and 4.21 W · m⁻³, respectively. When the cathode electron acceptor was changed from oxygen to potassium ferricyanide or the MFCs were closed circuit, the output power of MFCs recovered rapidly. In addition, changes of electron acceptor showed no effect on the removal of COD and ammonia nitrogen. Their removal efficiencies approached to 70% and 80%, respectively. This study concluded that MFC could treat the pretreated excess sludge and produce electricity simultaneously with a high power density. The MFC could also achieve discontinuous electricity supply during operation.

  7. Attentional bias in excessive Internet gamers: Experimental investigations using an addiction Stroop and a visual probe.

    PubMed

    Jeromin, Franziska; Nyenhuis, Nele; Barke, Antonia

    2016-03-01

    Background and aims Internet Gaming Disorder is included in the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5 th edition) as a disorder that merits further research. The diagnostic criteria are based on those for Substance Use Disorder and Gambling Disorder. Excessive gamblers and persons with Substance Use Disorder show attentional biases towards stimuli related to their addictions. We investigated whether excessive Internet gamers show a similar attentional bias, by using two established experimental paradigms. Methods We measured reaction times of excessive Internet gamers and non-gamers (N = 51, 23.7 ± 2.7 years) by using an addiction Stroop with computer-related and neutral words, as well as a visual probe with computer-related and neutral pictures. Mixed design analyses of variance with the between-subjects factor group (gamer/non-gamer) and the within-subjects factor stimulus type (computer-related/neutral) were calculated for the reaction times as well as for valence and familiarity ratings of the stimulus material. Results In the addiction Stroop, an interaction for group × word type was found: Only gamers showed longer reaction times to computer-related words compared to neutral words, thus exhibiting an attentional bias. In the visual probe, no differences in reaction time between computer-related and neutral pictures were found in either group, but the gamers were faster overall. Conclusions An attentional bias towards computer-related stimuli was found in excessive Internet gamers, by using an addiction Stroop but not by using a visual probe. A possible explanation for the discrepancy could lie in the fact that the visual probe may have been too easy for the gamers.

  8. Attentional bias in excessive Internet gamers: Experimental investigations using an addiction Stroop and a visual probe

    PubMed Central

    Jeromin, Franziska; Nyenhuis, Nele; Barke, Antonia

    2016-01-01

    Background and aims Internet Gaming Disorder is included in the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th edition) as a disorder that merits further research. The diagnostic criteria are based on those for Substance Use Disorder and Gambling Disorder. Excessive gamblers and persons with Substance Use Disorder show attentional biases towards stimuli related to their addictions. We investigated whether excessive Internet gamers show a similar attentional bias, by using two established experimental paradigms. Methods We measured reaction times of excessive Internet gamers and non-gamers (N = 51, 23.7 ± 2.7 years) by using an addiction Stroop with computer-related and neutral words, as well as a visual probe with computer-related and neutral pictures. Mixed design analyses of variance with the between-subjects factor group (gamer/non-gamer) and the within-subjects factor stimulus type (computer-related/neutral) were calculated for the reaction times as well as for valence and familiarity ratings of the stimulus material. Results In the addiction Stroop, an interaction for group × word type was found: Only gamers showed longer reaction times to computer-related words compared to neutral words, thus exhibiting an attentional bias. In the visual probe, no differences in reaction time between computer-related and neutral pictures were found in either group, but the gamers were faster overall. Conclusions An attentional bias towards computer-related stimuli was found in excessive Internet gamers, by using an addiction Stroop but not by using a visual probe. A possible explanation for the discrepancy could lie in the fact that the visual probe may have been too easy for the gamers. PMID:28092198

  9. Maximization of revenues for power sales from a solid waste resources recovery facility

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

    Not Available

    1991-12-01

    The report discusses the actual implementation of the best alternative in selling electrical power generated by an existing waste-to-energy facility, the Metro-Dade County Resources Recovery Plant. After the plant processes and extracts various products out of the municipal solid waste, it burns it to produce electrical power. The price for buying power to satisfy the internal needs of our Resources Recovery Facility (RRF) is substantially higher than the power price for selling electricity to any other entity. Therefore, without any further analysis, it was decided to first satisfy those internal needs and then export the excess power. Various alternatives weremore » thoroughly explored as to what to do with the excess power. Selling power to the power utilities or utilizing the power in other facilities were the primary options.« less

  10. International Space Station Solar Array Wing On-Orbit Electrical Performance Degradation Measured

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gustafson, Eric D.; Kerslake, Thomas W.

    2004-01-01

    The port-side photovoltaic power module (P6) was activated on the International Space Station in December 2000. P6 provides electrical power to channels 2B and 4B to operate ISS power loads. A P6 is shown in the preceding photograph. This article highlights the work done at the NASA Glenn Research Center to calculate the on-orbit degradation of the P6 solar array wings (SAWs) using on-orbit data from December 2000 to February 2003. During early ISS operations, the 82 strings of photovoltaic cells that make up a SAW can provide much more power than is necessary to meet the demand. To deal with excess power, a sequential shunt unit successively shunts the current from the strings. This shunt current was the parameter chosen for the SAW performance degradation study for the following reasons: (1) it is based on a direct shunt current measurement in the sequential shunt unit, (2) the shunt current has a low temperature dependence that reduces the data correction error from using a computationally derived array temperature, and (3) the SSU shunt current is essentially the same as the SAW short-circuit current on a per-string basis.

  11. Iliac screw fixation using computer-assisted computer tomographic image guidance: technical note.

    PubMed

    Shin, John H; Hoh, Daniel J; Kalfas, Iain H

    2012-03-01

    Iliac screw fixation is a powerful tool used by spine surgeons to achieve fusion across the lumbosacral junction for a number of indications, including deformity, tumor, and pseudarthrosis. Complications associated with screw placement are related to blind trajectory selection and excessive soft tissue dissection. To describe the technique of iliac screw fixation using computed tomographic (CT)-based image guidance. Intraoperative registration and verification of anatomic landmarks are performed with the use of a preoperatively acquired CT of the lumbosacral spine. With the navigation probe, the ideal starting point for screw placement is selected while visualizing the intended trajectory and target on a computer screen. Once the starting point is selected and marked with a burr, a drill guide is docked within this point and the navigation probe re-inserted, confirming the trajectory. The probe is then removed and the high-speed drill reinserted within the drill guide. Drilling is performed to a depth measured on the computer screen and a screw is placed. Confirmation of accurate placement of iliac screws can be performed with standard radiographs. CT-guided navigation allows for 3-dimensional visualization of the pelvis and minimizes complications associated with soft-tissue dissection and breach of the ilium during screw placement.

  12. KSC-99pp1225

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1999-10-06

    Children at Coquina Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., excitedly tear into the wrapped computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Coquina is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

  13. KSC-99pp1224

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1999-10-06

    Children at Coquina Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., eagerly tear into the wrapped computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Coquina is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

  14. KSC-99pp1222

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1999-10-06

    Children at Coquina Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., look with curiosity at the wrapped computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Coquina is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

  15. KSC-99pp1223

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1999-10-06

    Children at Coquina Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., "practice" using a computer keyboard, part of equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Coquina is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

  16. SCS-CN based time-distributed sediment yield model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tyagi, J. V.; Mishra, S. K.; Singh, Ranvir; Singh, V. P.

    2008-05-01

    SummaryA sediment yield model is developed to estimate the temporal rates of sediment yield from rainfall events on natural watersheds. The model utilizes the SCS-CN based infiltration model for computation of rainfall-excess rate, and the SCS-CN-inspired proportionality concept for computation of sediment-excess. For computation of sedimentographs, the sediment-excess is routed to the watershed outlet using a single linear reservoir technique. Analytical development of the model shows the ratio of the potential maximum erosion (A) to the potential maximum retention (S) of the SCS-CN method is constant for a watershed. The model is calibrated and validated on a number of events using the data of seven watersheds from India and the USA. Representative values of the A/S ratio computed for the watersheds from calibration are used for the validation of the model. The encouraging results of the proposed simple four parameter model exhibit its potential in field application.

  17. Cold dark matter confronts the cosmic microwave background - Large-angular-scale anisotropies in Omega sub 0 + lambda 1 models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gorski, Krzysztof M.; Silk, Joseph; Vittorio, Nicola

    1992-01-01

    A new technique is used to compute the correlation function for large-angle cosmic microwave background anisotropies resulting from both the space and time variations in the gravitational potential in flat, vacuum-dominated, cold dark matter cosmological models. Such models with Omega sub 0 of about 0.2, fit the excess power, relative to the standard cold dark matter model, observed in the large-scale galaxy distribution and allow a high value for the Hubble constant. The low order multipoles and quadrupole anisotropy that are potentially observable by COBE and other ongoing experiments should definitively test these models.

  18. Fusion for Space Propulsion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thio, Y. C. Francis; Schmidt, George R.; Santarius, John F.; Turchi, Peter J.; Siemon, Richard E.; Rodgers, Stephen L. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    The need for fusion propulsion for interplanetary flights is discussed. For a propulsion system, there are three important system attributes: (1) The absolute amount of energy available, (2) the propellant exhaust velocity, and (3) the jet power per unit mass of the propulsion system (specific power). For efficient and affordable human exploration of the solar system, propellant exhaust velocity in excess of 100 km/s and specific power in excess of 10 kW/kg are required. Chemical combustion obviously cannot meet the requirement in propellant exhaust velocity. Nuclear fission processes typically result in producing energy in the form of heat that needs to be manipulated at temperatures limited by materials to about 2,800 K. Using the fission energy to heat a low atomic weight propellant produces propellant velocity of the order of 10 kinds. Alternatively the fission energy can be converted into electricity that is used to accelerate particles to high exhaust velocity. However, the necessary power conversion and conditioning equipment greatly increases the mass of the propulsion system. Fundamental considerations in waste heat rejection and power conditioning in a fission electric propulsion system place a limit on its jet specific power to the order of about 0.2 kW/kg. If fusion can be developed for propulsion, it appears to have the best of all worlds - it can provide the largest absolute amount of energy, the propellant exhaust velocity (> 100 km/s), and the high specific jet power (> 10 kW/kg). An intermediate step towards fusion propulsion might be a bimodal system in which a fission reactor is used to provide some of the energy to drive a fusion propulsion unit. There are similarities as well as differences between applying fusion to propulsion and to terrestrial electrical power generation. The similarities are the underlying plasma and fusion physics, the enabling component technologies, the computational and the diagnostics capabilities. These physics and engineering capabilities have been demonstrated for a fusion reactor gain (Q) of the order of unity (TFTR: 0.25, JET: 0.65, JT-60: Q(sub eq) approx. 1.25). These technological advances made it compelling for considering fusion for propulsion.

  19. Sunglasses, the European directive and the European standard.

    PubMed

    Dain, Stephen John; Ngo, Thi Phuong Thao; Cheng, Brian Barry; Hu, Angel; Teh, Adrian Ghim Boon; Tseng, Jane; Vu, Nam

    2010-05-01

    The Optics and Radiometry Laboratory (ORLAB) provides a testing service for the Australian sunglass industry to assist its compliance with the mandatory Consumer Product Safety Standard. In doing so, a number of sunglasses carrying the CE mark (in effect a claim of compliance with the European Union Personal Protective Equipment Directive) have been tested. Since there is no mandatory testing in Europe (the sunglass industry is deemed self regulating), evaluating their performance will give an insight into compliance with the Directive. Consecutive submissions to ORLAB over a period of 18 months were examined for CE marked sunglasses. The results for 646 CE marked pairs of sunglasses tested during 2003 and first half 2004 were examined and evaluated for compliance with EN 1836 (the European sunglass standard) on the basis of refractive power, prismatic power, transmittance (visible, UV and coloration) and polarization. A total of 17.3% failed EN 1836 and 3.3% were borderline (i.e. within our uncertainties of measurement of the requirement). The failures comprised: 0.9% lens defect; 12.5% polarization alignment error; 2.7% excessive vertical prism; 22.3% excessive horizontal prism; 27.7% excessive spherical power; 14.3% excessive cylindrical power; 1.8% excessive UV transmittance; and 23.2% transmittance difference between lenses (always gradient tints). With up to 20% non-compliance, self regulation is not working particularly well in providing the public with complying sunglasses.

  20. Research on design feasibility of high-power light-weight dc-to-dc converters for space power applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilson, T. G.

    1981-01-01

    Utilizing knowledge gained from past experience with experimental current-or-voltage step-up dc-to-dc converter power stages operating at output powers up to and in excess of 2 kW, a new experimental current-or-voltage step-up power stage using paralleled bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) as the controlled power switch, was constructed during the current reporting period. The major motivation behind the construction of this new experimental power stage was to improve the circuit layout so as to reduce the effects of stray circuit parasitic inductances resulting from excess circuit lead lengths and circuit loops, and to take advantage of the layout improvements which could be made when some recently-available power components, particularly power diodes and polypropylene filter capacitors, were incorporated into the design.

  1. The calculated effect of trailing-edge flaps on the take-off of flying boats

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Parkinson, J E; Bell, J W

    1934-01-01

    The results of take-off calculations are given for an application of simple trailing-edge flaps to two hypothetical flying boats, one having medium wing and power loading and consequently considerable excess of thrust over total resistance during the take-off run, the other having high wing and power loading and a very low excess thrust. For these seaplanes the effect of downward flap settings was: (1) to increase the total resistance below the stalling speed, (2) to decrease the get-away speed, (3) to improve the take-off performance of the seaplane having considerable excess thrust, and (4) to hinder the take-off of the seaplane having low excess thrust. It is indicated that flaps would allow a decrease in the high angles of wing setting necessary with most seaplanes, provided that the excess thrust is not too low.

  2. Final Results from the BIMA CMB Anisotropy Survey and Search for Signature of the SZ Effect

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dawson, K. S.; Holzapfel, W. L.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Joy, M.; LaRoque, S. J.

    2006-01-01

    We report the final results of our study of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with the BIMA array. Over 1000 hours of observation were dedicated to this project exploring CMB anisotropy on scales between 1' and 2' in eighteen 6'.6 FWHM fields. In the analysis of the CMB power spectrum, the visibility data is divided into two bins corresponding to different angular scales. Modeling the observed excess power as a flat band of average multipole l(sub eff)= 5237, we find deltaT(sup 2)(sub 1) = 220(sup +140)(sub -120) mu K(sup 2) at 68% confidence and deltaT(sup 2)(sub 1) greater than 0 muK(sup 2) with 94.7% confidence. In a second band with average multipole of l(sub eff) = 8748, we find deltaT(sup 2)(sub 2) consistent with zero, and an upper limit 880 muK(sup 2) at 95% confidence. An extensive series of tests and supplemental observations with the VLA provide strong evidence against systematic errors or radio point sources being the source of the observed excess power. The dominant source of anisotropy on these scales is expected to arise from the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect in a population of distant galaxy clusters. If the excess power is due to the SZ effect, we can place constraints on the normalization of the matter power spectrum sigma(sub 8) = 1.03(sup +0.20)(sub -0.29) at 68% confidence. The distribution of pixel fluxes in the BIMA images are found to be consistent with simulated observations of the expected SZ background and rule out instrumental noise or radio sources as the source of the observed excess power with similar confidence to the detection of excess power. Follow-up optical observations to search for galaxy over-densities anti-correlated with flux in the BIMA images, as might be expected from the SZ effect, proved to be inconclusive.

  3. The excesses of care: a matter of understanding the asymmetry of power.

    PubMed

    Delmar, Charlotte

    2012-10-01

    The aim of the article is to illustrate concrete problems in the asymmetrical nurse-patient power relationship. It is an ethical demand that the nurse is faced with the challenges that the power in the relation is administered so that the patient's room for action is expanded and trust maintained. It is an essential message in care philosophy, but in clinical practice, success is not always achievable. A hidden and more or less unconscious restriction of the patient's room for action may result in the excesses of care. Three selected aspects: dependence, trust, and power described by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup and the Norwegian nursing philosopher Kari Martinsen's care philosophy has inspired this empirically based examination of some current barriers in the asymmetrical nurse-patient relationship. On the basis of qualitative interviews with six patients and six nurses, the research thus provides an identifying and problem-exploratory examination of some current obstacles in which the handling of trust and power reflects the excesses of care. The findings develop three themes. 'Being a burden' acknowledges that the balance of power will always tip to the nurse's advantage. The second theme, 'Doing only what's absolutely necessary', shows how a fixation with 'technicalism' creates a distance between people that may constrain the patient's room for action. The last theme is concerning the nurse's ability to navigate between closeness and distance is essential in avoiding 'the excesses of care', paternalism, and overprotectiveness. A situation in which distance takes the upper hand and care turns into paternalism. A different situation would arise if the nurse's emotions became sentimental or intimate with the result that closeness gets the upper hand. To avoid a harmful exercise of power and the excesses of care, the findings have demonstrated that a relationship-based caring is a demand for situation-specific sensitive attention skills. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  4. Optimal design study of high efficiency indium phosphide space solar cells

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jain, Raj K.; Flood, Dennis J.

    1990-01-01

    Recently indium phosphide solar cells have achieved beginning of life AMO efficiencies in excess of 19 pct. at 25 C. The high efficiency prospects along with superb radiation tolerance make indium phosphide a leading material for space power requirements. To achieve cost effectiveness, practical cell efficiencies have to be raised to near theoretical limits and thin film indium phosphide cells need to be developed. The optimal design study is described of high efficiency indium phosphide solar cells for space power applications using the PC-1D computer program. It is shown that cells with efficiencies over 22 pct. AMO at 25 C could be fabricated by achieving proper material and process parameters. It is observed that further improvements in cell material and process parameters could lead to experimental cell efficiencies near theoretical limits. The effect of various emitter and base parameters on cell performance was studied.

  5. Terabytes to Megabytes: Data Reduction Onsite for Remote Limited Bandwidth Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hirsch, M.

    2016-12-01

    Inexpensive, battery-powerable embedded computer systems such as the Intel Edison and Raspberry Pi have inspired makers of all ages to create and deploy sensor systems. Geoscientists are also leveraging such inexpensive embedded computers for solar-powered or other low-resource utilization systems for ionospheric observation. We have developed OpenCV-based machine vision algorithms to reduce terabytes per night of high-speed aurora video data down to megabytes of data to aid in automated sifting and retention of high-value data from the mountains of less interesting data. Given prohibitively expensive data connections in many parts of the world, such techniques may be generalizable to more than just the auroral video and passive FM radar implemented so far. After the automated algorithm decides which data to keep, automated upload and distribution techniques are relevant to avoid excessive delay and consumption of researcher time. Open-source collaborative software development enables data audiences from experts through citizen enthusiasts to access the data and make exciting plots. Open software and data aids in cross-disciplinary collaboration opportunities, STEM outreach and increasing public awareness of the contributions each geoscience data collection system makes.

  6. South Lake Elementary students enjoy gift of computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1999-01-01

    Nancy Nichols, principal of South Lake Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., joins students in teacher Michelle Butler's sixth grade class who are unwrapping computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. South Lake is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. Ksc employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated.

  7. Cambridge Elementary students enjoy gift of computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1999-01-01

    Children at Cambridge Elementary School, Cocoa, Fla., eagerly unwrap computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Cambridge is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. Behind the children is Jim Thurston, a school volunteer and retired employee of USBI, who shared in the project. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. Ksc employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated.

  8. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-5 - Fee schedules.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... until such Force account work exceeds, in the aggregate, 20 percent of the base. Excessive use of Force..., appropriate fee reductions for such excessive Force account labor shall be computed as follows: (1) Determine... following adjustments shall be made to the Schedule fee amounts for complexity levels, excessive...

  9. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-5 - Fee schedules.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... until such Force account work exceeds, in the aggregate, 20 percent of the base. Excessive use of Force..., appropriate fee reductions for such excessive Force account labor shall be computed as follows: (1) Determine... following adjustments shall be made to the Schedule fee amounts for complexity levels, excessive...

  10. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-5 - Fee schedules.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... until such Force account work exceeds, in the aggregate, 20 percent of the base. Excessive use of Force..., appropriate fee reductions for such excessive Force account labor shall be computed as follows: (1) Determine... following adjustments shall be made to the Schedule fee amounts for complexity levels, excessive...

  11. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-5 - Fee schedules.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... until such Force account work exceeds, in the aggregate, 20 percent of the base. Excessive use of Force..., appropriate fee reductions for such excessive Force account labor shall be computed as follows: (1) Determine... following adjustments shall be made to the Schedule fee amounts for complexity levels, excessive...

  12. 48 CFR 915.404-4-71-5 - Fee schedules.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... until such Force account work exceeds, in the aggregate, 20 percent of the base. Excessive use of Force..., appropriate fee reductions for such excessive Force account labor shall be computed as follows: (1) Determine... following adjustments shall be made to the Schedule fee amounts for complexity levels, excessive...

  13. KSC-99pp1226

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1999-10-06

    Nancy Nichols, principal of South Lake Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., joins students in teacher Michelle Butler's sixth grade class who are unwrapping computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. South Lake is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

  14. Percutaneous Biopsy and Radiofrequency Ablation of Osteoid Osteoma with Excess Reactive New Bone Formation and Cortical Thickening Using a Battery-Powered Drill for Access: A Technical Note

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

    Filippiadis, D., E-mail: dfilippiadis@yahoo.gr; Gkizas, C., E-mail: chgkizas@gmail.com; Kostantos, C., E-mail: drkarpen@yahoo.gr

    PurposeTo report our experience with the use of a battery-powered drill in biopsy and radiofrequency ablation of osteoid osteoma with excess reactive new bone formation. The battery-powered drill enables obtaining the sample while drilling.Materials and MethodsDuring the last 18 months, 14 patients suffering from painful osteoid osteoma with excess reactive new bone formation underwent CT-guided biopsy and radiofrequency ablation. In order to assess and sample the nidus of the osteoid osteoma, a battery-powered drill was used. Biopsy was performed in all cases. Then, coaxially, a radiofrequency electrode was inserted and ablation was performed with osteoid osteoma protocol. Procedure time (i.e., drillingmore » including local anesthesia), amount of scans, technical and clinical success, and the results of biopsy are reported.ResultsAccess to the nidus through the excess reactive new bone formation was feasible in all cases. Median procedure time was 50.5 min. Histologic verification of osteoid osteoma was performed in all cases. Radiofrequency electrode was coaxially inserted within the nidus and ablation was successfully performed in all lesions. Median amount CT scans, performed to control correct positioning of the drill and precise electrode placement within the nidus was 11. There were no complications or material failure reported in our study.ConclusionsThe use of battery-powered drill facilitates access to the osteoid osteoma nidus in cases where excess reactive new bone formation is present. Biopsy needle can be used for channel creation during the access offering at the same time the possibility to extract bone samples.« less

  15. MBSSAS: A code for the computation of margules parameters and equilibrium relations in binary solid-solution aqueous-solution systems

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Glynn, P.D.

    1991-01-01

    The computer code MBSSAS uses two-parameter Margules-type excess-free-energy of mixing equations to calculate thermodynamic equilibrium, pure-phase saturation, and stoichiometric saturation states in binary solid-solution aqueous-solution (SSAS) systems. Lippmann phase diagrams, Roozeboom diagrams, and distribution-coefficient diagrams can be constructed from the output data files, and also can be displayed by MBSSAS (on IBM-PC compatible computers). MBSSAS also will calculate accessory information, such as the location of miscibility gaps, spinodal gaps, critical-mixing points, alyotropic extrema, Henry's law solid-phase activity coefficients, and limiting distribution coefficients. Alternatively, MBSSAS can use such information (instead of the Margules, Guggenheim, or Thompson and Waldbaum excess-free-energy parameters) to calculate the appropriate excess-free-energy of mixing equation for any given SSAS system. ?? 1991.

  16. Comparing Neuromorphic Solutions in Action: Implementing a Bio-Inspired Solution to a Benchmark Classification Task on Three Parallel-Computing Platforms

    PubMed Central

    Diamond, Alan; Nowotny, Thomas; Schmuker, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Neuromorphic computing employs models of neuronal circuits to solve computing problems. Neuromorphic hardware systems are now becoming more widely available and “neuromorphic algorithms” are being developed. As they are maturing toward deployment in general research environments, it becomes important to assess and compare them in the context of the applications they are meant to solve. This should encompass not just task performance, but also ease of implementation, speed of processing, scalability, and power efficiency. Here, we report our practical experience of implementing a bio-inspired, spiking network for multivariate classification on three different platforms: the hybrid digital/analog Spikey system, the digital spike-based SpiNNaker system, and GeNN, a meta-compiler for parallel GPU hardware. We assess performance using a standard hand-written digit classification task. We found that whilst a different implementation approach was required for each platform, classification performances remained in line. This suggests that all three implementations were able to exercise the model's ability to solve the task rather than exposing inherent platform limits, although differences emerged when capacity was approached. With respect to execution speed and power consumption, we found that for each platform a large fraction of the computing time was spent outside of the neuromorphic device, on the host machine. Time was spent in a range of combinations of preparing the model, encoding suitable input spiking data, shifting data, and decoding spike-encoded results. This is also where a large proportion of the total power was consumed, most markedly for the SpiNNaker and Spikey systems. We conclude that the simulation efficiency advantage of the assessed specialized hardware systems is easily lost in excessive host-device communication, or non-neuronal parts of the computation. These results emphasize the need to optimize the host-device communication architecture for scalability, maximum throughput, and minimum latency. Moreover, our results indicate that special attention should be paid to minimize host-device communication when designing and implementing networks for efficient neuromorphic computing. PMID:26778950

  17. Muscular development and lean body weight in body builders and weight lifters.

    PubMed

    Katch, V L; Katch, F I; Moffatt, R; Gittleson, M

    1980-01-01

    The extent of extreme muscular development in 39 males identified as body builders (N = 18), power weight lifters (N = 13), and Olympic weight lifters (N = 8) were studied. Body composition and anthropometric data, including calculations of pre-excess muscle body weight (scale weight minus excess muscle) were obtained. The lean body weight and percent fats of the subjects were: body builders = 74.6 kg, 9.3%; power weight lifters = 73.3 kg, 9.1%; and Olympic weight lifters = 68.2 kg, 10.8%. No group differences were present in frame size, percent fat, lean body weight, skinfolds, and diameter measurements. The only group differences were for the shoulders, chest, biceps relaxed and flexed, and forearm girths. In each case the body builders were larger. Calculations of excess muscle by the Behnke method revealed that the body builders had 15.6 kg excess muscle, power weight lifters 14.8 kg, and Olympic weight lifters 13.1 kg. Somatographic comparisons revealed only slight differences between the groups, while differences with reference man were substantial.

  18. Exploiting excess sharing: a more powerful test of linkage for affected sib pairs than the transmission/disequilibrium test.

    PubMed Central

    Wicks, J

    2000-01-01

    The transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) is a popular, simple, and powerful test of linkage, which can be used to analyze data consisting of transmissions to the affected members of families with any kind pedigree structure, including affected sib pairs (ASPs). Although it is based on the preferential transmission of a particular marker allele across families, it is not a valid test of association for ASPs. Martin et al. devised a similar statistic for ASPs, Tsp, which is also based on preferential transmission of a marker allele but which is a valid test of both linkage and association for ASPs. It is, however, less powerful than the TDT as a test of linkage for ASPs. What I show is that the differences between the TDT and Tsp are due to the fact that, although both statistics are based on preferential transmission of a marker allele, the TDT also exploits excess sharing in identity-by-descent transmissions to ASPs. Furthermore, I show that both of these statistics are members of a family of "TDT-like" statistics for ASPs. The statistics in this family are based on preferential transmission but also, to varying extents, exploit excess sharing. From this family of statistics, we see that, although the TDT exploits excess sharing to some extent, it is possible to do so to a greater extent-and thus produce a more powerful test of linkage, for ASPs, than is provided by the TDT. Power simulations conducted under a number of disease models are used to verify that the most powerful member of this family of TDT-like statistics is more powerful than the TDT for ASPs. PMID:10788332

  19. Exploiting excess sharing: a more powerful test of linkage for affected sib pairs than the transmission/disequilibrium test.

    PubMed

    Wicks, J

    2000-06-01

    The transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) is a popular, simple, and powerful test of linkage, which can be used to analyze data consisting of transmissions to the affected members of families with any kind pedigree structure, including affected sib pairs (ASPs). Although it is based on the preferential transmission of a particular marker allele across families, it is not a valid test of association for ASPs. Martin et al. devised a similar statistic for ASPs, Tsp, which is also based on preferential transmission of a marker allele but which is a valid test of both linkage and association for ASPs. It is, however, less powerful than the TDT as a test of linkage for ASPs. What I show is that the differences between the TDT and Tsp are due to the fact that, although both statistics are based on preferential transmission of a marker allele, the TDT also exploits excess sharing in identity-by-descent transmissions to ASPs. Furthermore, I show that both of these statistics are members of a family of "TDT-like" statistics for ASPs. The statistics in this family are based on preferential transmission but also, to varying extents, exploit excess sharing. From this family of statistics, we see that, although the TDT exploits excess sharing to some extent, it is possible to do so to a greater extent-and thus produce a more powerful test of linkage, for ASPs, than is provided by the TDT. Power simulations conducted under a number of disease models are used to verify that the most powerful member of this family of TDT-like statistics is more powerful than the TDT for ASPs.

  20. KSC-99pp1228

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1999-10-06

    Children at Cambridge Elementary School, Cocoa, Fla., eagerly unwrap computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Cambridge is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. Behind the children is Jim Thurston, a school volunteer and retired employee of USBI, who shared in the project. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

  1. 29 CFR 1918.53 - Cargo winches.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... control levers operate with excessive friction or excessive play. (c) Double gear winches or other winches... left unattended, control levers shall be placed in the neutral position and the power shall be shut off...

  2. Power function decay of hydraulic conductivity for a TOPMODEL-based infiltration routine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Jun; Endreny, Theodore A.; Hassett, James M.

    2006-11-01

    TOPMODEL rainfall-runoff hydrologic concepts are based on soil saturation processes, where soil controls on hydrograph recession have been represented by linear, exponential, and power function decay with soil depth. Although these decay formulations have been incorporated into baseflow decay and topographic index computations, only the linear and exponential forms have been incorporated into infiltration subroutines. This study develops a power function formulation of the Green and Ampt infiltration equation for the case where the power n = 1 and 2. This new function was created to represent field measurements in the New York City, USA, Ward Pound Ridge drinking water supply area, and provide support for similar sites reported by other researchers. Derivation of the power-function-based Green and Ampt model begins with the Green and Ampt formulation used by Beven in deriving an exponential decay model. Differences between the linear, exponential, and power function infiltration scenarios are sensitive to the relative difference between rainfall rates and hydraulic conductivity. Using a low-frequency 30 min design storm with 4.8 cm h-1 rain, the n = 2 power function formulation allows for a faster decay of infiltration and more rapid generation of runoff. Infiltration excess runoff is rare in most forested watersheds, and advantages of the power function infiltration routine may primarily include replication of field-observed processes in urbanized areas and numerical consistency with power function decay of baseflow and topographic index distributions. Equation development is presented within a TOPMODEL-based Ward Pound Ridge rainfall-runoff simulation. Copyright

  3. Study of thermodynamic and transport properties of binary liquid mixture of diesel with biodiesel at 298.15K

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suthar, Shyam Sunder; Purohit, Suresh

    2018-05-01

    Properties of diesel and biodiesel (produced from corn oil) are used. Densities and viscosities of binary mixture of diesel with biodiesel (produced from corn oil) have been computed by using liquid binary mixture law over the entire range of compositions at T=298.15K and atmospheric pressure. From the computed values of density and viscosities, viscosity deviation (Δη), the excess molar volume (VE) and excess Gibbs energy of activation of viscous flow (ΔG#E) have been calculated. The results of excess volume, excess Gibbs energy of activation of viscous flow and viscosity deviation have been fitted to Redlich -Kister models to estimate the binary coefficients. The results are communicated in terms of the molecular interactions and the best suited composition has been found.

  4. All sky Northern Hemisphere 10(15) EV gamma-ray survey

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Baltrusaitis, R. M.; Cassiday, G. L.; Cooper, R.; Elbert, J. W.; Gerhardy, P. R.; Loh, E. C.; Mizumoto, Y.; Sokolsky, P.; Sommers, P.; Steck, D.

    1985-01-01

    Flux limits in the range 10 to the minus 13th power-10 to the minus 12 power/sq cm/s have been obtained by observing Cerenkov flashes from small air showers. During 1983, a 3.5 sigma excess of showers was observed during the phase interval 0.2 to 0.3 of the 4.8h period of Cygnus X-3, but no excess was found in 1984 observations.

  5. Thinking outside the box: effects of modes larger than the survey on matter power spectrum covariance

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

    Putter, Roland de; Wagner, Christian; Verde, Licia

    2012-04-01

    Accurate power spectrum (or correlation function) covariance matrices are a crucial requirement for cosmological parameter estimation from large scale structure surveys. In order to minimize reliance on computationally expensive mock catalogs, it is important to have a solid analytic understanding of the different components that make up a covariance matrix. Considering the matter power spectrum covariance matrix, it has recently been found that there is a potentially dominant effect on mildly non-linear scales due to power in modes of size equal to and larger than the survey volume. This beat coupling effect has been derived analytically in perturbation theory andmore » while it has been tested with simulations, some questions remain unanswered. Moreover, there is an additional effect of these large modes, which has so far not been included in analytic studies, namely the effect on the estimated average density which enters the power spectrum estimate. In this article, we work out analytic, perturbation theory based expressions including both the beat coupling and this local average effect and we show that while, when isolated, beat coupling indeed causes large excess covariance in agreement with the literature, in a realistic scenario this is compensated almost entirely by the local average effect, leaving only ∼ 10% of the excess. We test our analytic expressions by comparison to a suite of large N-body simulations, using both full simulation boxes and subboxes thereof to study cases without beat coupling, with beat coupling and with both beat coupling and the local average effect. For the variances, we find excellent agreement with the analytic expressions for k < 0.2 hMpc{sup −1} at z = 0.5, while the correlation coefficients agree to beyond k = 0.4 hMpc{sup −1}. As expected, the range of agreement increases towards higher redshift and decreases slightly towards z = 0. We finish by including the large-mode effects in a full covariance matrix description for arbitrary survey geometry and confirming its validity using simulations. This may be useful as a stepping stone towards building an actual galaxy (or other tracer's) power spectrum covariance matrix.« less

  6. Soft X-ray excess in the Coma cluster from a Cosmic Axion Background

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

    Angus, Stephen; Conlon, Joseph P.; Marsh, M.C. David

    2014-09-01

    We show that the soft X-ray excess in the Coma cluster can be explained by a cosmic background of relativistic axion-like particles (ALPs) converting into photons in the cluster magnetic field. We provide a detailed self-contained review of the cluster soft X-ray excess, the proposed astrophysical explanations and the problems they face, and explain how a 0.1- 1 keV axion background naturally arises at reheating in many string theory models of the early universe. We study the morphology of the soft excess by numerically propagating axions through stochastic, multi-scale magnetic field models that are consistent with observations of Faraday rotation measuresmore » from Coma. By comparing to ROSAT observations of the 0.2- 0.4 keV soft excess, we find that the overall excess luminosity is easily reproduced for g{sub aγγ} ∼ 2 × 10{sup -13} Ge {sup -1}. The resulting morphology is highly sensitive to the magnetic field power spectrum. For Gaussian magnetic field models, the observed soft excess morphology prefers magnetic field spectra with most power in coherence lengths on O(3 kpc) scales over those with most power on O(12 kpc) scales. Within this scenario, we bound the mean energy of the axion background to 50 eV∼< ( E{sub a} ) ∼< 250 eV, the axion mass to m{sub a} ∼< 10{sup -12} eV, and derive a lower bound on the axion-photon coupling g{sub aγγ} ∼> √(0.5/Δ N{sub eff}) 1.4 × 10{sup -13} Ge {sup -1}.« less

  7. Matching of energetic, mechanic and control characteristics of positioning actuator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Y Nosova, N.; Misyurin, S. Yu; Kreinin, G. V.

    2017-12-01

    The problem of preliminary choice of parameters of the automated drive power channel is discussed. The drive of the mechatronic complex divides into two main units - power and control. The first determines the energy capabilities and, as a rule, the overall dimensions of the complex. The sufficient capacity of the power unit is a necessary condition for successful solution of control tasks without excessive complication of the control system structure. Preliminary selection of parameters is carried out based on the condition of providing the necessary drive power. The proposed approach is based on: a research of a sufficiently developed but not excessive dynamic model of the power block with the help of a conditional test control system; a transition to a normalized model with the formation of similarity criteria; constructing the synthesis procedure.

  8. Insomnia symptoms among Greek adolescent students with excessive computer use

    PubMed Central

    Siomos, K E; Braimiotis, D; Floros, G D; Dafoulis, V; Angelopoulos, N V

    2010-01-01

    Background: The aim of the present study is to assess the intensity of computer use and insomnia epidemiology among Greek adolescents, to examine any possible age and gender differences and to investigate whether excessive computer use is a risk factor for developing insomnia symptoms. Patients and Methods: Cross-sectional study of a stratified sample of 2195 high school students. Demographic data were recorded and two specific questionnaires were used, the Adolescent Computer Addiction Test (ACAT) and the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Results: Females scored higher than males on insomnia complaints but lower on computer use and addiction. A dosemediated effect of computer use on insomnia complaints was recorded. Computer use had a larger effect size than sex on insomnia complaints. Duration of computer use was longer for those adolescents classified as suffering from insomnia compared to those who were not. Conclusions: Computer use can be a significant cause of insomnia complaints in an adolescent population regardless of whether the individual is classified as addicted or not. PMID:20981171

  9. Pre-development conditions to assess the impact of growth in an urbanizing watershed in Northern Virginia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, Saurav; Godrej, Adil N.; Grizzard, Thomas J.

    2016-09-01

    Pre-development conditions are an easily understood state to which watershed nonpoint nutrient reduction targets may be referenced. Using the pre-development baseline, a "developed-excess" measure may be computed for changes due to anthropogenic development. Developed-excess is independent of many geographical, physical, and hydrological characteristics of the region and after normalization by area may be used for comparison among various sub-sets of the watershed, such as jurisdictions or land use types. We have demonstrated this method by computing pre-development nitrogen and phosphorus loads entering the Occoquan Reservoir from its tributary watershed in Northern Virginia. The pre-development loads in this study were computed using the calibrated water quality models for the period 2002-2007. Current forest land was used as a surrogate for pre-development land use conditions for the watershed and developed-excess was estimated for fluvial loads of Total Inorganic Nitrogen (TIN) and Orthophosphate-Phosphorus (OP) by subtracting simulated predevelopment loads from observed loads. It was observed that within the study period (2002-2007), the average annual developed-excess represented about 30% of the TIN and OP average annual loads exported to the reservoir. Comparison of the two disturbed land use types, urban and agricultural, showed that urban land uses exported significantly more excess nonpoint nutrient load per unit area than agricultural land uses.

  10. The soft X-ray excess in Einstein quasar spectra

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Masnou, J. L.; Wilkes, B. J.; Elvis, M.; Mcdowell, J. C.; Arnaud, K. A.

    1992-01-01

    An SNR-limited subsample of 14 quasars from the Wilkes and Elvis (1987) sample is presently investigated for low-energy excess above a high-energy power law in the X-ray spectra obtained by the Einstein Imaging Proportional Counter. A significant excess that is 1-6 times as strong as the high-energy component at 0.2 keV is noted in eight of the 14 objects. In the case of 3C273, multiple observations show the excess to be variable.

  11. Spring 2014 Internship Diffuser Data Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Laigaie, Robert T.; Ryan, Harry M.

    2014-01-01

    J-2X engine testing on the A-2 test stand at the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) has recently concluded. As part of that test campaign, the engine was operated at lower power levels in support of expanding the use of J-2X to other missions. However, the A-2 diffuser was not designed for engine testing at the proposed low power levels. To evaluate the risk of damage to the diffuser, computer simulations were created of the rocket engine exhaust plume inside the 50ft long, water-cooled, altitude-simulating diffuser. The simulations predicted that low power level testing would cause the plume to oscillate in the lower sections of the diffuser. This can possibly cause excessive vibrations, stress, and heat transfer from the plume to the diffuser walls. To understand and assess the performance of the diffuser during low power level engine testing, nine accelerometers and four strain gages were installed around the outer surface of the diffuser. The added instrumentation also allowed for the verification of the rocket exhaust plume computational model. Prior to engine hot-fire testing, a diffuser water-flow test was conducted to verify the proper operation of the newly installed instrumentation. Subsequently, two J-2X engine hot-fire tests were completed. Hot-Fire Test 1 was 11.5 seconds in duration, and accelerometer and strain data verified that the rocket engine plume oscillated in the lower sections of the diffuser. The accelerometers showed very different results dependent upon location. The diffuser consists of four sections, with Section 1 being closest to the engine nozzle and Section 4 being farthest from the engine nozzle. Section 1 accelerometers showed increased amplitudes at startup and shutdown, but low amplitudes while the diffuser was started. Section 3 accelerometers showed the opposite results with near zero G amplitudes prior to and after diffuser start and peak amplitudes to +/- 100G while the diffuser was started. Hot-Fire Test 1 strain gages showed different data dependent on section. Section 1 strains were small, and were in the range of 50 to 150 microstrain, which would result in stresses from 1.45 to 4.35 ksi. The yield stress of the material, A-285 Grade C Steel, is 29.7 ksi. Section 4 strain gages showed much higher values with strains peaking at 1600 microstrain. This strain corresponds to a stress of 46.41 ksi, which is in excess of the yield stress, but below the ultimate stress of 55 to 75 ksi. The decreased accelerations and strain in Section 1, and the increased accelerations and strain in Sections 3 and 4 verified the computer simulation prediction of increased plume oscillations in the lower sections of the diffuser. Hot-Fire Test 2 ran for a duration of 125 seconds. The engine operated at a slightly higher power level than Hot-Fire Test 1 for the initial 35 seconds of the test. After 35 seconds the power level was lowered to Hot-Fire Test 1 levels. The acceleration and strain data for Hot-Fire Test 2 was similar during the initial part of the test. However, just prior to the engine being lowered to the Hot-Fire Test 1 power level, the strain gage data in Section 4 showed a large decrease to strains near zero microstrain from their peak at 1500 microstrain. Future work includes further strain and acceleration data analysis and evaluation.

  12. 77 FR 26660 - Guidelines for the Transfer of Excess Computers or Other Technical Equipment Pursuant to Section...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-07

    ....usda.gov . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A. Background A proposed rule was published in the Federal.... Computers or other technical equipment means central processing units, laptops, desktops, computer mouses...

  13. [Computer game addiction: a psychopathological symptom complex in adolescence].

    PubMed

    Wölfling, Klaus; Thalemann, Ralf; Grüsser-Sinopoli, Sabine M

    2008-07-01

    Cases of excessive computer gaming are increasingly reported by practitioners in the psychiatric field. Since there is no standardized definition of this symptom complex, the aim of this study is to access excessive computer gaming in German adolescents as an addictive disorder and its potential negative consequences. Psychopathological computer gaming behavior was diagnosed by applying the adapted diagnostic criteria of substance-related-addictions as defined by the ICD-10. At the same time demographic variables, state of clinical anxiety and underlying cognitive mechanisms were analyzed. 6.3 % of the 221 participating pupils - mostly boys with a low educational background - fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of a behavioral addiction. Clinically diagnosed adolescents exhibited limited cognitive flexibility and were identified to utilize computer gaming as a mood management strategy. These results can be interpreted as a first hint for a prevalence estimation of psychopathological computer gaming in German adolescents.

  14. Analysis of Emergency Diesel Generators Failure Incidents in Nuclear Power Plants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hunt, Ronderio LaDavis

    In early years of operation, emergency diesel generators have had a minimal rate of demand failures. Emergency diesel generators are designed to operate as a backup when the main source of electricity has been disrupted. As of late, EDGs (emergency diesel generators) have been failing at NPPs (nuclear power plants) around the United States causing either station blackouts or loss of onsite and offsite power. These failures occurred from a specific type called demand failures. This thesis evaluated the current problem that raised concern in the nuclear industry which was averaging 1 EDG demand failure/year in 1997 to having an excessive event of 4 EDG demand failure year which occurred in 2011. To determine the next occurrence of the extreme event and possible cause to an event of such happening, two analyses were conducted, the statistical and root cause analysis. Considering the statistical analysis in which an extreme event probability approach was applied to determine the next occurrence year of an excessive event as well as, the probability of that excessive event occurring. Using the root cause analysis in which the potential causes of the excessive event occurred by evaluating, the EDG manufacturers, aging, policy changes/ maintenance practices and failure components. The root cause analysis investigated the correlation between demand failure data and historical data. Final results from the statistical analysis showed expectations of an excessive event occurring in a fixed range of probability and a wider range of probability from the extreme event probability approach. The root-cause analysis of the demand failure data followed historical statistics for the EDG manufacturer, aging and policy changes/ maintenance practices but, indicated a possible cause regarding the excessive event with the failure components. Conclusions showed the next excessive demand failure year, prediction of the probability and the next occurrence year of such failures, with an acceptable confidence level, was difficult but, it was likely that this type of failure will not be a 100 year event. It was noticeable to see that the majority of the EDG demand failures occurred within the main components as of 2005. The overall analysis of this study provided from percentages, indicated that it would be appropriate to make the statement that the excessive event was caused by the overall age (wear and tear) of the Emergency Diesel Generators in Nuclear Power Plants. Future Work will be to better determine the return period of the excessive event once the occurrence has happened for a second time by implementing the extreme event probability approach.

  15. X-Ray Spectral Study of AGN Sources Content in Some Deep Extragalactic XMM-Newton Fields

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hassan, M. A.; Korany, B. A.; Misra, R.; Issa, I. A. M.; Ahmed, M. K.; Abdel-Salam, F. A.

    2012-06-01

    We undertake a spectral study of a sample of bright X-ray sources taken from six XMM-Newton fields at high galactic latitudes, where AGN are the most populous class. These six fields were chosen such that the observation had an exposure time more than 60 ksec, had data from the EPIC-pn detector in the full-Frame mode and lying at high galactic latitude | b|>25°. The analysis started by fitting the spectra of all sources with an absorbed power-law model, and then we fitted all the spectra with an absorbed power-law with a low energy black-body component model.The sources for which we added a black body gave an F-test probability of 0.01 or less (i.e. at 99% confidence level), were recognized as sources that display soft excess. We perform a comparative analysis of soft excess spectral parameters with respect to the underlying power-law one for sources that satisfy this criterion. Those sources, that do not show evidence for a soft excess, based on the F-test probability at a 99% confidence level, were also fitted with the absorbed power-law with a low energy black-body component model with the black-body temperature fixed at 0.1 and 0.2 keV. We establish upper limits on the soft excess flux for those sources at these two temperatures. Finally we have made use of Aladdin interactive sky atlas and matching with NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) to identify the X-ray sources in our sample. For those sources which are identified in the NED catalogue, we make a comparative study of the soft excess phenomenon for different types of systems.

  16. 10 CFR Appendix I to Part 504 - Procedures for the Computation of the Real Cost of Capital

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    .... Government 13-week Treasury Bills, B=The “beta” coefficient—the relationship between the excess return on common stock and the excess return on the S&P 500 composite index, and R m=The mean excess return on the... statements of firms, and investment bankers. (2) The predicted nominal cost of debt (R d) may be estimated by...

  17. Memristive Ion Channel-Doped Biomembranes as Synaptic Mimics.

    PubMed

    Najem, Joseph S; Taylor, Graham J; Weiss, Ryan J; Hasan, Md Sakib; Rose, Garrett; Schuman, Catherine D; Belianinov, Alex; Collier, C Patrick; Sarles, Stephen A

    2018-05-22

    Solid-state neuromorphic systems based on transistors or memristors have yet to achieve the interconnectivity, performance, and energy efficiency of the brain due to excessive noise, undesirable material properties, and nonbiological switching mechanisms. Here we demonstrate that an alamethicin-doped, synthetic biomembrane exhibits memristive behavior, emulates key synaptic functions including paired-pulse facilitation and depression, and enables learning and computing. Unlike state-of-the-art devices, our two-terminal, biomolecular memristor features similar structure (biomembrane), switching mechanism (ion channels), and ionic transport modality as biological synapses while operating at considerably lower power. The reversible and volatile voltage-driven insertion of alamethicin peptides into an insulating lipid bilayer creates conductive pathways that exhibit pinched current-voltage hysteresis at potentials above their insertion threshold. Moreover, the synapse-like dynamic properties of the biomolecular memristor allow for simplified learning circuit implementations. Low-power memristive devices based on stimuli-responsive biomolecules represent a major advance toward implementation of full synaptic functionality in neuromorphic hardware.

  18. Test results of the Chrysler upgraded automotive gas turbine engine: Initial design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Horvath, D.; Ribble, G. H., Jr.; Warren, E. L.; Wood, J. C.

    1981-01-01

    The upgraded engine as built to the original design was deficient in power and had excessive specific fuel consumption. A high instrumented version of the engine was tested to identify the sources of the engine problems. Analysis of the data shows the major problems to be low compressor and power turbine efficiency and excessive interstage duct losses. In addition, high HC and CO emission were measured at idle, and high NOx emissions at high energy speeds.

  19. A helicopter handling-qualities study of the effects of engine response characteristics, height-control dynamics, and excess power on nap-of-the-Earth operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Corliss, L. D.

    1982-01-01

    The helicopter configuration with an rpm-governed gas-turbine engine was examined. A wide range of engine response time, vehicle damping and sensitivity, and excess power levels was studied. The data are compared with the existing handling-qualities specifications, MIL-F-83300 and AGARD 577, and in general show a need for higher minimums when performing such NOE maneuvers as a dolphin and bob-up task.

  20. Grid-Tied Photovoltaic Power System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Eichenberg, Dennis J.

    2011-01-01

    A grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) power system is connected directly to the utility distribution grid. Facility power can be obtained from the utility system as normal. The PV system is synchronized with the utility system to provide power for the facility, and excess power is provided to the utility. Operating costs of a PV power system are low compared to conventional power technologies. This method can displace the highest-cost electricity during times of peak demand in most climatic regions, and thus reduce grid loading. Net metering is often used, in which independent power producers such as PV power systems are connected to the utility grid via the customers main service panels and meters. When the PV power system is generating more power than required at that location, the excess power is provided to the utility grid. The customer pays the net of the power purchased when the on-site power demand is greater than the onsite power production, and the excess power is returned to the utility grid. Power generated by the PV system reduces utility demand, and the surplus power aids the community. Modern PV panels are readily available, reliable, efficient, and economical, with a life expectancy of at least 25 years. Modern electronics have been the enabling technology behind grid-tied power systems, making them safe, reliable, efficient, and economical with a life expectancy equal to the modern PV panels. The grid-tied PV power system was successfully designed and developed, and this served to validate the basic principles developed, and the theoretical work that was performed. Grid-tied PV power systems are reliable, maintenance- free, long-life power systems, and are of significant value to NASA and the community. Of particular value are the analytical tools and capabilities that have been successfully developed. Performance predictions can be made confidently for grid-tied PV systems of various scales. The work was done under the NASA Hybrid Power Management (HPM) Program, which is the integration of diverse power devices in an optimal configuration for space and terrestrial applications.

  1. Validity and extension of the SCS-CN method for computing infiltration and rainfall-excess rates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mishra, Surendra Kumar; Singh, Vijay P.

    2004-12-01

    A criterion is developed for determining the validity of the Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) method. According to this criterion, the existing SCS-CN method is found to be applicable when the potential maximum retention, S, is less than or equal to twice the total rainfall amount. The criterion is tested using published data of two watersheds. Separating the steady infiltration from capillary infiltration, the method is extended for predicting infiltration and rainfall-excess rates. The extended SCS-CN method is tested using 55 sets of laboratory infiltration data on soils varying from Plainfield sand to Yolo light clay, and the computed and observed infiltration and rainfall-excess rates are found to be in good agreement.

  2. Integrated underground gas storage of CO2 and CH4 for renewable energy storage for a test case in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kühn, Michael; Li, Qi; Nakaten, Natalie, Christine; Kempka, Thomas

    2017-04-01

    Integration and further development of the energy supply system in China is a major challenge for the years to come. Part of the strategy is the implementation of a low carbon energy system based on carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS). The innovative idea presented here is based on an extension of the power-to-gas-to-power (PGP) technology by establishing a closed carbon dioxide cycle [1]. Thereto, hydrogen generated from excess renewable energy is transformed into methane for combustion in a combined cycle gas power plant. To comply with the fluctuating energy demand, carbon dioxide produced during methane combustion and required for the methanation process as well as excess methane are temporarily stored in two underground reservoirs located close to each other [2]. Consequently, renewable energy generation units can be operated even if energy demand is below consumption, while stored energy can be fed into the grid as energy demand exceeds production [3]. We studied a show case for Xinjiang in China [4] to determine the energy demand of the entire process chain based on numerical computer simulations for the operation of the CO2 and CH4 storage reservoirs, and to ascertain the pressure regimes present in the storage formations during the injection and production phases of the annual cycle. [1] Streibel M., Nakaten N., Kempka T., Kühn M. (2013) Analysis of an integrated carbon cycle for storage of renewables. Energy Procedia 40, 202-211. doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2013.08.024. [2] Kühn M., Streibel M., Nakaten N.C., Kempka T. (2014) Integrated Underground Gas Storage of CO2 and CH4 to Decarbonise the "Power-to-gas-to-gas-to-power" Technology. Energy Procedia 59, 9-15. doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2014.10.342 [3] Kühn M., Nakaten N.C., Streibel M., Kempka T. (2014) CO2 Geological Storage and Utilization for a Carbon Neutral "Power-to-gas-to-power" Cycle to Even Out Fluctuations of Renewable Energy Provision. Energy Procedia 63, 8044-8049. doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.841 [4] Li Q., Chen Z.A., Zhang J.T., Liu L.C., Li X.C., Jia L. (2016) Positioning and Revision of CCUS Technology Development in China. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 46, 282-293. doi: 10.1016/j.ijggc.2015.02.024

  3. Zero side force volute development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Anderson, P. G.; Franz, R. J.; Farmer, R. C.; Chen, Y. S.

    1995-01-01

    Collector scrolls on high performance centrifugal pumps are currently designed with methods which are based on very approximate flowfield models. Such design practices result in some volute configurations causing excessive side loads even at design flowrates. The purpose of this study was to develop and verify computational design tools which may be used to optimize volute configurations with respect to avoiding excessive loads on the bearings. The new design methodology consisted of a volute grid generation module and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) module to describe the volute geometry and predict the radial forces for a given flow condition, respectively. Initially, the CFD module was used to predict the impeller and the volute flowfields simultaneously; however, the required computation time was found to be excessive for parametric design studies. A second computational procedure was developed which utilized an analytical impeller flowfield model and an ordinary differential equation to describe the impeller/volute coupling obtained from the literature, Adkins & Brennen (1988). The second procedure resulted in 20 to 30 fold increase in computational speed for an analysis. The volute design analysis was validated by postulating a volute geometry, constructing a volute to this configuration, and measuring the steady radial forces over a range of flow coefficients. Excellent agreement between model predictions and observed pump operation prove the computational impeller/volute pump model to be a valuable design tool. Further applications are recommended to fully establish the benefits of this new methodology.

  4. Power throttling of collections of computing elements

    DOEpatents

    Bellofatto, Ralph E [Ridgefield, CT; Coteus, Paul W [Yorktown Heights, NY; Crumley, Paul G [Yorktown Heights, NY; Gara, Alan G [Mount Kidsco, NY; Giampapa, Mark E [Irvington, NY; Gooding,; Thomas, M [Rochester, MN; Haring, Rudolf A [Cortlandt Manor, NY; Megerian, Mark G [Rochester, MN; Ohmacht, Martin [Yorktown Heights, NY; Reed, Don D [Mantorville, MN; Swetz, Richard A [Mahopac, NY; Takken, Todd [Brewster, NY

    2011-08-16

    An apparatus and method for controlling power usage in a computer includes a plurality of computers communicating with a local control device, and a power source supplying power to the local control device and the computer. A plurality of sensors communicate with the computer for ascertaining power usage of the computer, and a system control device communicates with the computer for controlling power usage of the computer.

  5. Exercise-associated Excessive Dynamic Airway Collapse in Military Personnel.

    PubMed

    Weinstein, Daniel J; Hull, James E; Ritchie, Brittany L; Hayes, Jackie A; Morris, Michael J

    2016-09-01

    Evaluation of military personnel for exertional dyspnea can present a diagnostic challenge, given multiple unique factors that include wide variation in military deployment. Initial consideration is given to common disorders such as asthma, exercise-induced bronchospasm, and inducible laryngeal obstruction. Excessive dynamic airway collapse has not been reported previously as a cause of dyspnea in these individuals. To describe the clinical and imaging characteristics of military personnel with exertional dyspnea who were found to have excessive dynamic collapse of large airways during exercise. After deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq, 240 active U.S. military personnel underwent a standardized evaluation to determine the etiology of persistent dyspnea on exertion. Study procedures included full pulmonary function testing, impulse oscillometry, exhaled nitric oxide measurement, methacholine challenge testing, exercise laryngoscopy, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Imaging included high-resolution computed tomography with inspiratory and expiratory views. Selected individuals underwent further imaging with dynamic computed tomography. A total of five men and one woman were identified as having exercise-associated excessive dynamic airway collapse on the basis of the following criteria: (1) exertional dyspnea without resting symptoms, (2) focal expiratory wheezing during exercise, (3) functional collapse of the large airways during bronchoscopy, (4) expiratory computed tomographic imaging showing narrowing of a large airway, and (5) absence of underlying apparent pathology in small airways or pulmonary parenchyma. Identification of focal expiratory wheezing correlated with bronchoscopic and imaging findings. Among 240 military personnel evaluated after presenting with postdeployment exertional dyspnea, a combination of symptoms, auscultatory findings, imaging, and visualization of the airways by bronchoscopy identified six individuals with excessive dynamic central airway collapse as the sole apparent cause of dyspnea. Exercise-associated excessive dynamic airway collapse should be considered in the differential diagnosis of exertional dyspnea.

  6. Ethical implications of excessive cluster sizes in cluster randomised trials.

    PubMed

    Hemming, Karla; Taljaard, Monica; Forbes, Gordon; Eldridge, Sandra M; Weijer, Charles

    2018-02-20

    The cluster randomised trial (CRT) is commonly used in healthcare research. It is the gold-standard study design for evaluating healthcare policy interventions. A key characteristic of this design is that as more participants are included, in a fixed number of clusters, the increase in achievable power will level off. CRTs with cluster sizes that exceed the point of levelling-off will have excessive numbers of participants, even if they do not achieve nominal levels of power. Excessively large cluster sizes may have ethical implications due to exposing trial participants unnecessarily to the burdens of both participating in the trial and the potential risks of harm associated with the intervention. We explore these issues through the use of two case studies. Where data are routinely collected, available at minimum cost and the intervention poses low risk, the ethical implications of excessively large cluster sizes are likely to be low (case study 1). However, to maximise the social benefit of the study, identification of excessive cluster sizes can allow for prespecified and fully powered secondary analyses. In the second case study, while there is no burden through trial participation (because the outcome data are routinely collected and non-identifiable), the intervention might be considered to pose some indirect risk to patients and risks to the healthcare workers. In this case study it is therefore important that the inclusion of excessively large cluster sizes is justifiable on other grounds (perhaps to show sustainability). In any randomised controlled trial, including evaluations of health policy interventions, it is important to minimise the burdens and risks to participants. Funders, researchers and research ethics committees should be aware of the ethical issues of excessively large cluster sizes in cluster trials. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  7. Computer simulation of production from geopressured-geothermal aquifers. Project 61025 annual report, October 1, 1978-September 30, 1979

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

    Rogers, L.A.

    1980-06-01

    In the Department of Energy test of the Edna Delcambre No. 1 well for recovery of natural gas from geopressured-geothermal brine, part of the test producted gas in excess of the amount that could be dissolved in the brine. Where this excess gas originated was unknown and several theories were proposed to explain the source. This annual report describes IGT's work to match the observed gas/water production with computer simulation. Two different theoretical models were calculated in detail using available reservoir simulators. One model considered the excess gas to be dispersed as small bubbles in pores. The other model consideredmore » the excess gas as a nearby free gas cap above the aquifer. Reservoir engineering analysis of the flow test data was used to determine the basic reservoir characteristics. The computer studies revealed that the dispersed gas model gave characteristically the wrong shape for plots of gas/water ratio, and no reasonable match of the calculated values could be made to the experimental results. The free gas cap model gave characteristically better shapes to the gas/water ratio plots if the initial edge of the free gas was only about 400 feet from the well. Because there were two other wells at approximately this distance (Delcambre No. 4 and No. 4A wells) which had a history of down-hole blowouts and mechanical problems, it appears that the source of the excess free gas is from a separate horizon which connected to the Delcambre No. 1 sand via these nearby wells. This conclusion is corroborated by the changes in gas composition when the excess gas occurs and the geological studies which indicate the nearest free gas cap to be several thousand feet away. The occurrence of this excess free gas can thus be explained by known reservoir characteristics, and no new model for gas entrapment or production is needed.« less

  8. Galaxy power-spectrum responses and redshift-space super-sample effect

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Yin; Schmittfull, Marcel; Seljak, Uroš

    2018-02-01

    As a major source of cosmological information, galaxy clustering is susceptible to long-wavelength density and tidal fluctuations. These long modes modulate the growth and expansion rate of local structures, shifting them in both amplitude and scale. These effects are often named the growth and dilation effects, respectively. In particular the dilation shifts the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak and breaks the assumption of the Alcock-Paczynski (AP) test. This cannot be removed with reconstruction techniques because the effect originates from long modes outside the survey. In redshift space, the long modes generate a large-scale radial peculiar velocity that affects the redshift-space distortion (RSD) signal. We compute the redshift-space response functions of the galaxy power spectrum to long density and tidal modes at leading order in perturbation theory, including both the growth and dilation terms. We validate these response functions against measurements from simulated galaxy mock catalogs. As one application, long density and tidal modes beyond the scale of a survey correlate various observables leading to an excess error known as the super-sample covariance, and thus weaken their constraining power. We quantify the super-sample effect on BAO, AP, and RSD measurements, and study its impact on current and future surveys.

  9. Error processing and response inhibition in excessive computer game players: an event-related potential study.

    PubMed

    Littel, Marianne; van den Berg, Ivo; Luijten, Maartje; van Rooij, Antonius J; Keemink, Lianne; Franken, Ingmar H A

    2012-09-01

    Excessive computer gaming has recently been proposed as a possible pathological illness. However, research on this topic is still in its infancy and underlying neurobiological mechanisms have not yet been identified. The determination of underlying mechanisms of excessive gaming might be useful for the identification of those at risk, a better understanding of the behavior and the development of interventions. Excessive gaming has been often compared with pathological gambling and substance use disorder. Both disorders are characterized by high levels of impulsivity, which incorporates deficits in error processing and response inhibition. The present study aimed to investigate error processing and response inhibition in excessive gamers and controls using a Go/NoGo paradigm combined with event-related potential recordings. Results indicated that excessive gamers show reduced error-related negativity amplitudes in response to incorrect trials relative to correct trials, implying poor error processing in this population. Furthermore, excessive gamers display higher levels of self-reported impulsivity as well as more impulsive responding as reflected by less behavioral inhibition on the Go/NoGo task. The present study indicates that excessive gaming partly parallels impulse control and substance use disorders regarding impulsivity measured on the self-reported, behavioral and electrophysiological level. Although the present study does not allow drawing firm conclusions on causality, it might be that trait impulsivity, poor error processing and diminished behavioral response inhibition underlie the excessive gaming patterns observed in certain individuals. They might be less sensitive to negative consequences of gaming and therefore continue their behavior despite adverse consequences. © 2012 The Authors, Addiction Biology © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.

  10. An excess noise measurement system for weak responsivity avalanche photodiodes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qiao, Liang; Dimler, Simon J.; Baharuddin, Aina N. A. P.; Green, James E.; David, John P. R.

    2018-06-01

    A system for measuring, with reduced photocurrent, the excess noise associated with the gain in avalanche photodiodes (APDs), using a transimpedance amplifier front-end and based on phase-sensitive detection is described. The system can reliably measure the excess noise power of devices, even when the un-multiplied photocurrent is low (~10 nA). This is more than one order of magnitude better than previously reported systems and represents a significantly better noise signal to noise ratio. This improvement in performance has been achieved by increasing the value of the feedback resistor and reducing the op-amp bandwidth. The ability to characterise APD performance with such low photocurrents enables the use of low power light sources such as light emitting diode rather than lasers to investigate the APD noise performance.

  11. Sunrayce 93: The hottest new sport on campus. Technical report

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

    Not Available

    1994-05-01

    The solar powered electric vehicle race began in Arlington, Texas on June 20, 1993 and finished 7 days later in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thirty four teams from Universities across the United States and Puerto Rico completed the race out of thirty six entries. The race demonstrated the viability of sunlight powered vehicles as the better average daily speeds were in excess of 50 miles an hour. Even in the rain, most average speeds were in excess of 15 miles an hour. Analyzed results, photographs, and project details are included. (GHH)

  12. Physico-chemical properties of binary mixtures of aliphatic and aromatic solvents at 313 K on acoustical data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dahire, S. L.; Morey, Y. C.; Agrawal, P. S.

    2015-12-01

    Density (ρ), viscosity (η), and ultrasonic velocity ( U) of binary mixtures of aliphatic solvents like dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) with aromatic solvents viz. chlorobenzene (CB), bromobenzene (BB), and nitrobenzene (NB) have been determined at 313 K. These parameters were used to calculate the adiabatic compressibility (β), intermolecular free length ( L f), molar volume ( V m), and acoustic impedance ( Z). From the experimental data excess molar volume ( V m E ), excess intermolecular free length ( L f E )), excess adiabatic compressibility (βE), and excess acoustic impedance ( Z E) have been computed. The excess values were correlated using Redlich-Kister polynomial equation to obtain their coefficients and standard deviations (σ).

  13. Search for ultra high energy gamma-rays from various sources

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dzikowski, T.; Gawin, J.; Grochalska, B.; Korejwo, J.; Wdowczyk, J.

    1985-01-01

    The hypothesis that there exists an excess of showers from the Galactic plane on the level 1 to 2% at energies just above 10 to the 16th power eV is explored. The excess shower from the Galactic plane seems to be very similar in properties to excess showers from the point sources/flat spectrum, deficit of low energy muons. Those facts suggest that the excess from the Galactic plane are probably due to summing up of the contribution from individual point sources. That in turn suggest that those sources are rather numerous.

  14. Large eddy simulation for predicting turbulent heat transfer in gas turbines

    PubMed Central

    Tafti, Danesh K.; He, Long; Nagendra, K.

    2014-01-01

    Blade cooling technology will play a critical role in the next generation of propulsion and power generation gas turbines. Accurate prediction of blade metal temperature can avoid the use of excessive compressed bypass air and allow higher turbine inlet temperature, increasing fuel efficiency and decreasing emissions. Large eddy simulation (LES) has been established to predict heat transfer coefficients with good accuracy under various non-canonical flows, but is still limited to relatively simple geometries and low Reynolds numbers. It is envisioned that the projected increase in computational power combined with a drop in price-to-performance ratio will make system-level simulations using LES in complex blade geometries at engine conditions accessible to the design process in the coming one to two decades. In making this possible, two key challenges are addressed in this paper: working with complex intricate blade geometries and simulating high-Reynolds-number (Re) flows. It is proposed to use the immersed boundary method (IBM) combined with LES wall functions. A ribbed duct at Re=20 000 is simulated using the IBM, and a two-pass ribbed duct is simulated at Re=100 000 with and without rotation (rotation number Ro=0.2) using LES with wall functions. The results validate that the IBM is a viable alternative to body-conforming grids and that LES with wall functions reproduces experimental results at a much lower computational cost. PMID:25024418

  15. 47 CFR 69.157 - Line port costs in excess of basic, analog service.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Line port costs in excess of basic, analog service. 69.157 Section 69.157 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES (CONTINUED) ACCESS CHARGES Computation of Charges for Price Cap Local Exchange Carriers...

  16. The Effects of Pathological Gaming on Aggressive Behavior

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lemmens, Jeroen S.; Valkenburg, Patti M.; Peter, Jochen

    2011-01-01

    Studies have shown that pathological involvement with computer or video games is related to excessive gaming binges and aggressive behavior. Our aims for this study were to longitudinally examine if pathological gaming leads to increasingly excessive gaming habits, and how pathological gaming may cause an increase in physical aggression. For this…

  17. Profiling an application for power consumption during execution on a compute node

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J; Blocksome, Michael A; Peters, Amanda E; Ratterman, Joseph D; Smith, Brian E

    2013-09-17

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for profiling an application for power consumption during execution on a compute node that include: receiving an application for execution on a compute node; identifying a hardware power consumption profile for the compute node, the hardware power consumption profile specifying power consumption for compute node hardware during performance of various processing operations; determining a power consumption profile for the application in dependence upon the application and the hardware power consumption profile for the compute node; and reporting the power consumption profile for the application.

  18. Examining Computer Gaming Addiction in Terms of Different Variables

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kurt, Adile Askim; Dogan, Ezgi; Erdogmus, Yasemin Kahyaoglu; Emiroglu, Bulent Gursel

    2018-01-01

    The computer gaming addiction is one of the newer concepts that young generations face and can be defined as the excessive and problematic use of computer games leading to social and/or emotional problems. The purpose of this study is to analyse through variables the computer gaming addiction levels of secondary school students. The research was…

  19. Evaluation of Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler to Measure Discharge at New York Power Authority's Niagara Power Project, Niagara Falls, New York

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Zajd, Henry J.

    2007-01-01

    The need for accurate real-time discharge in the International Niagara River hydro power system requires reliable, accurate and reproducible data. The U.S. Geological Survey has been widely using Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) to accurately measure discharge in riverine channels since the mid-1990s. The use of the ADCP to measure discharge has remained largely untested at hydroelectric-generation facilities such as the New York Power Authority's (NYPA) Niagara Power Project in Niagara Falls, N.Y. This facility has a large, engineered diversion channel with the capacity of high volume discharges in excess of 100,000 cubic feet per second (ft3/s). Facilities such as this could benefit from the use of an ADCP, if the ADCP discharge measurements prove to be more time effective and accurate than those obtained from the flow-calculation techniques that are currently used. Measurements of diversion flow by an ADCP in the 'Pant Leg' diversion channel at the Niagara Power Project were made on November 6, 7, and 8, 2006, and compared favorably (within 1 percent) with those obtained concurrently by a conventional Price-AA current-meter measurement during one of the ADCP measurement sessions. The mean discharge recorded during each 2-hour individual ADCP measurement session compared favorably with (3.5 to 6.8 percent greater than) the discharge values computed by the flow-calculation method presently in use by NYPA. The use of ADCP technology to measure discharge could ultimately permit increased power-generation efficiency at the NYPA Niagara Falls Power Project by providing improved predictions of the amount of water (and thus the power output) available.

  20. Excess noise in gain-guided amplifiers

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

    Deutsch, I.H.; Garrison, J.C.; Wright, E.M.

    1991-06-01

    A second-quantized theory of the radiation field is used to study the origin of the excess noise observed in gain-guided amplifiers. We find that the reduction of the signal-to-noise ratio is a function of the length of the amplifier, and thus the enhancement of the noise is a propagation effect arising from longitudinally inhomogeneous gain of the noise rather than from an excess of local spontaneous emission. We confirm this conclusion by showing that the microscopic rate of spontaneous emission into a given non-power-orthogonal cavity mode is not enhanced by the Petermann factor. In addition, we illustrate the difficulties associatedmore » with photon statistics for this and other open systems by showing that no acceptable family of photon-number operators corresponds to a set of non-power-orthogonal cavity modes.« less

  1. Crowdsourcing: Global search and the twisted roles of consumers and producers.

    PubMed

    Bauer, Robert M; Gegenhuber, Thomas

    2015-09-01

    Crowdsourcing spreads and morphs quickly, shaping areas as diverse as creating, organizing, and sharing knowledge; producing digital artifacts; providing services involving tangible assets; or monitoring and evaluating. Crowdsourcing as sourcing by means of 'global search' yields four types of values for sourcing actors: creative expertise, critical items, execution capacity, and bargaining power. It accesses cheap excess capacities at the work realm's margins, channeling them toward production. Provision and utilization of excess capacities rationalize society while intimately connecting to a broader societal trend twisting consumers' and producers' roles: leading toward 'working consumers' and 'consuming producers' and shifting power toward the latter. Similarly, marketers using crowdsourcing's look and feel to camouflage traditional approaches to bringing consumers under control preserve producer power.

  2. 14 CFR 23.203 - Turning flight and accelerated turning stalls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... use of the flight controls, but without increasing power and without— (1) Excessive loss of altitude...-to-weight ratio at 75 percent of maximum continuous power results in extreme nose-up attitudes, the...

  3. 14 CFR 23.203 - Turning flight and accelerated turning stalls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... use of the flight controls, but without increasing power and without— (1) Excessive loss of altitude...-to-weight ratio at 75 percent of maximum continuous power results in extreme nose-up attitudes, the...

  4. 47 CFR 80.862 - Proof of capacity.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... test over a prescribed period of time, when supplying power at the voltage required for normal and... contiuously for 6 hours can be established by measuring the fuel consumption for 1 hour when supplying power... the main or reserve power supply must have an excessive temperature rise, nor must the specific...

  5. 47 CFR 80.862 - Proof of capacity.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... test over a prescribed period of time, when supplying power at the voltage required for normal and... contiuously for 6 hours can be established by measuring the fuel consumption for 1 hour when supplying power... the main or reserve power supply must have an excessive temperature rise, nor must the specific...

  6. Quantification of the reactions in heat storage systems in the Malm aquifer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ueckert, Martina; Baumann, Thomas

    2017-04-01

    Combined heat and power plants (CHP) are efficient and environmentally friendly because excess heat produced during power generation is used for heating purposes. While the power demand remains rather constant throughout the year, the heat demand shows seasonal variations. In a worst-case scenario, the heat production in winter is not sufficient, and the power production in summer has to be ramped down because the excess heat cannot be released to the environment. Therefore, storage of excess heat of CHP is highly beneficial from an economic and an ecological point of view. Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) is considered as a promising technology for energy storage. In a typical setting, water from an aquifer is produced, heated up by excess heat from the CHP and injected through a second borehole back into the aquifer. The carbonate rocks of the upper Jurrasic in the Molasse Basin seem to be promising sites for aquifer heat storage because of their high transmissivity combined with a typical geological setting with tight caprock. However, reactions in the aquifer cannot be neglected and may become the limiting process of the whole operation. While there have been several studies performed in clastic aquifers and for temperatures below 100°C, the knowledge about high injection temperatures and storage into a carbonatic aquifer matrix is still limited. Within a research project funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs and the BMW Group, the storage and recuperation of excess heat energy into the Bavarian Malm aquifer with flow rates of 15 L/s and temperatures of up to 110°C was investigated. The addition of {CO_2} was used to prevent precipitations. Data from the field site was backed up by autoclave experiments and used to verify a conceptional hydrogeochemical model with PhreeqC for the heat storage operation. The model allows to parametrize the operation and to predict possible reactions in the aquifer.

  7. Profiling an application for power consumption during execution on a plurality of compute nodes

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J.; Blocksome, Michael A.; Peters, Amanda E.; Ratterman, Joseph D.; Smith, Brian E.

    2012-08-21

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for profiling an application for power consumption during execution on a compute node that include: receiving an application for execution on a compute node; identifying a hardware power consumption profile for the compute node, the hardware power consumption profile specifying power consumption for compute node hardware during performance of various processing operations; determining a power consumption profile for the application in dependence upon the application and the hardware power consumption profile for the compute node; and reporting the power consumption profile for the application.

  8. Modeling The Most Luminous Supernova Associated with a Gamma-Ray Burst, SN 2011kl

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Shan-Qin; Cano, Zach; Wang, Ling-Jun; Zheng, WeiKang; Dai, Zi-Gao; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Liu, Liang-Duan

    2017-12-01

    We study the most luminous known supernova (SN) associated with a gamma-ray burst (GRB), SN 2011kl. The photospheric velocity of SN 2011kl around peak brightness is 21,000 ± 7000 km s-1. Owing to different assumptions related to the light-curve (LC) evolution (broken or unbroken power-law function) of the optical afterglow of GRB 111209A, different techniques for the LC decomposition, and different methods (with or without a near-infrared contribution), three groups derived three different bolometric LCs for SN 2011kl. Previous studies have shown that the LCs without an early-time excess preferred a magnetar model, a magnetar+56Ni model, or a white dwarf tidal disruption event model rather than the radioactive heating model. On the other hand, the LC shows an early-time excess and dip that cannot be reproduced by the aforementioned models, and hence the blue-supergiant model was proposed to explain it. Here, we reinvestigate the energy sources powering SN 2011kl. We find that the two LCs without the early-time excess of SN 2011kl can be explained by the magnetar+56Ni model, and the LC showing the early excess can be explained by the magnetar+56Ni model taking into account the cooling emission from the shock-heated envelope of the SN progenitor, demonstrating that this SN might primarily be powered by a nascent magnetar.

  9. Integrating Residential Photovoltaics With Power Lines

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Borden, C. S.

    1985-01-01

    Report finds rooftop solar-cell arrays feed excess power to electric-utility grid for fee are potentially attractive large-scale application of photovoltaic technology. Presents assessment of breakeven costs of these arrays under variety of technological and economic assumptions.

  10. Weld-Bead Shaver

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Guirguis, Kamal; Price, Daniel S.

    1990-01-01

    Hand-held power tool shaves excess metal from inside circumference of welded duct. Removes excess metal deposited by penetration of tungsten/inert-gas weld or by spatter from electron-beam weld. Produces smooth transition across joint. Easier to use and not prone to overshaving. Also cuts faster, removing 35 in. (89 cm) of weld bead per hour.

  11. A Proposed Multisite Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial of Neurofeedback for ADHD: Need, Rationale, and Strategy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kerson, Cynthia

    2013-01-01

    Objective: Additional treatments with persisting benefit are needed for ADHD. Because ADHD often shows excessive theta electroencephalogram (EEG) power, low beta, and excessive theta-beta ratio (TBR), a promising treatment is neurofeedback (NF) downtraining TBR. Although several nonblind randomized clinical trials (RCTs) show a medium-large…

  12. 78 FR 43761 - Airworthiness Directives; Bombardier, Inc. Airplanes

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-22

    ... free-play check for excessive free-play of the shaft swaged bearing installed in the tailstock end of each elevator power control unit (PCU), and replacing any PCU on which the bearing exceeds allowable... condition. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct excessive free-play of the swaged bearings, which...

  13. 14C content in vegetation in the vicinities of Brazilian nuclear power reactors.

    PubMed

    Dias, Cíntia Melazo; Santos, Roberto Ventura; Stenström, Kristina; Nícoli, Iêda Gomes; Skog, Göran; da Silveira Corrêa, Rosangela

    2008-07-01

    (14)C specific activities were measured in grass samples collected around Brazilian nuclear power reactors. The specific activity values varied between 227 and 299 Bq/kg C. Except for two samples which showed (14)C specific activities 22% above background values, half of the samples showed background specific activities, and the other half had a (14)C excess of 1-18%. The highest specific activities were found close to the nuclear power plants and along the main wind directions (NE and NNE). The activity values were found to decrease with increasing distance from the reactors. The unexpectedly high (14)C excess values found in two samples were related to the local topography, which favors (14)C accumulation and limits the dispersion of the plume. The results indicate a clear (14)C anthropogenic signal within 5 km around the nuclear power plants which is most prominent along northeastwards, the prevailing wind direction.

  14. Structural predictor for nonlinear sheared dynamics in simple glass-forming liquids

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ingebrigtsen, Trond S.; Tanaka, Hajime

    2018-01-01

    Glass-forming liquids subjected to sufficiently strong shear universally exhibit striking nonlinear behavior; for example, a power-law decrease of the viscosity with increasing shear rate. This phenomenon has attracted considerable attention over the years from both fundamental and applicational viewpoints. However, the out-of-equilibrium and nonlinear nature of sheared fluids have made theoretical understanding of this phenomenon very challenging and thus slower to progress. We find here that the structural relaxation time as a function of the two-body excess entropy, calculated for the extensional axis of the shear flow, collapses onto the corresponding equilibrium curve for a wide range of pair potentials ranging from harsh repulsive to soft and finite. This two-body excess entropy collapse provides a powerful approach to predicting the dynamics of nonequilibrium liquids from their equilibrium counterparts. Furthermore, the two-body excess entropy scaling suggests that sheared dynamics is controlled purely by the liquid structure captured in the form of the two-body excess entropy along the extensional direction, shedding light on the perplexing mechanism behind shear thinning.

  15. Structural predictor for nonlinear sheared dynamics in simple glass-forming liquids.

    PubMed

    Ingebrigtsen, Trond S; Tanaka, Hajime

    2018-01-02

    Glass-forming liquids subjected to sufficiently strong shear universally exhibit striking nonlinear behavior; for example, a power-law decrease of the viscosity with increasing shear rate. This phenomenon has attracted considerable attention over the years from both fundamental and applicational viewpoints. However, the out-of-equilibrium and nonlinear nature of sheared fluids have made theoretical understanding of this phenomenon very challenging and thus slower to progress. We find here that the structural relaxation time as a function of the two-body excess entropy, calculated for the extensional axis of the shear flow, collapses onto the corresponding equilibrium curve for a wide range of pair potentials ranging from harsh repulsive to soft and finite. This two-body excess entropy collapse provides a powerful approach to predicting the dynamics of nonequilibrium liquids from their equilibrium counterparts. Furthermore, the two-body excess entropy scaling suggests that sheared dynamics is controlled purely by the liquid structure captured in the form of the two-body excess entropy along the extensional direction, shedding light on the perplexing mechanism behind shear thinning.

  16. Future Power Production by LENR with Thin-Film Electrodes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miley, George H.; Hora, Heinz; Lipson, Andrei; Luo, Nie; Shrestha, P. Joshi

    2007-03-01

    PdD cluster reaction theory was recently proposed to explain a wide range of Low energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) experiments. If understood and optimized, cluster reactions could lead to a revolutionary new power source of nuclear energy. The route is two-fold. First, the excess heat must be obtained reproducibly and over extended run times. Second, the percentage of excess must be significantly (order of magnitude or more) higher than the 20-50% typically today. The thin film methods described here have proven to be quite reproducible, e.g. providing excess heat of 20-30% in nine consecutive runs of several weeks each. However, mechanical separation of the films occurs over long runs due to the severe mechanical stresses created.. Techniques to overcome these problems are possible using graded bonding techniques similar to that used in high temperature solid oxide fuel cells. Thus the remaining key issue is to increase the excess heat. The cluster model provides import insight into this. G. H. Miley, H. Hora, et al., 233rd Amer Chem Soc Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007.

  17. New 5 Kilowatt Free-Piston Stirling Space Converter Developments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brandhorst, Henry W.

    2007-01-01

    NASA has recently funded development of a 5 kW (or greater) free-piston Stirling conversion system for reactor power systems. A nominal 5 kW converter allows two of these units to be dynamically balanced. A group of three dual-convertor combinations would yield the desired 30 kW. The status of this program will be presented. Goals include a specific power in excess of 140 W/kg at the converter level, lifetime in excess of five years and AC output. The initial step is the design and development of a nominal 5 kW per cylinder Stirling converter assembly (SCA) which will serve as a prototype of one or more SCAs that will make up the final 30 kW Stirling Converter Power System. Assumed requirements for this new converter for lunar fission power systems will be presented. The primary objective of this development effort will be to demonstrate a 5 kW SCA that can be tested to validate the viability of Stirling technology for space fission surface power systems.

  18. New 5 Kilowatt Free-Piston Stirling Space Convertor Developments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Brandhorst, Henry W.

    2007-01-01

    NASA has recently funded development of a 5 kW (or greater) free-piston Stirling conversion system for reactor power systems. A nominal 5 kW convertor allows two of these units to be dynamically balanced. A group of three dual-convertor combinations would yield the desired 30 kW. The status of this program will be presented. Goals include a specific power in excess of 140 W/kg at the convertor level, lifetime in excess of five years and AC output. The initial step is the design and development of a nominal 5 kW per cylinder Stirling convertor assembly (SCA) which will serve as a prototype of one or more SCAs that will make up the final 30 kW Stirling Convertor Power System. Assumed requirements for this new convertor for lunar fission power systems will be presented. The primary objective of this development effort will be to demonstrate a 5 kW SCA that can be tested to validate the viability of Stirling technology for space fission surface power systems.

  19. The Anisotropy of the Microwave Background to l = 3500: Deep Field Observations with the Cosmic Background Imager

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mason, B. S.; Pearson, T. J.; Readhead, A. C. S.; Shepherd, M. C.; Sievers, J.; Udomprasert, P. S.; Cartwright, J. K.; Farmer, A. J.; Padin, S.; Myers, S. T.; hide

    2002-01-01

    We report measurements of anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation over the multipole range l approximately 200 (right arrow) 3500 with the Cosmic Background Imager based on deep observations of three fields. These results confirm the drop in power with increasing l first reported in earlier measurements with this instrument, and extend the observations of this decline in power out to l approximately 2000. The decline in power is consistent with the predicted damping of primary anisotropies. At larger multipoles, l = 2000-3500, the power is 3.1 sigma greater than standard models for intrinsic microwave background anisotropy in this multipole range, and 3.5 sigma greater than zero. This excess power is not consistent with expected levels of residual radio source contamination but, for sigma 8 is approximately greater than 1, is consistent with predicted levels due to a secondary Sunyaev-Zeldovich anisotropy. Further observations are necessary to confirm the level of this excess and, if confirmed, determine its origin.

  20. Robust Likelihoods for Inflationary Gravitational Waves from Maps of Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Switzer, Eric Ryan; Watts, Duncan J.

    2016-01-01

    The B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background provides a unique window into tensor perturbations from inflationary gravitational waves. Survey effects complicate the estimation and description of the power spectrum on the largest angular scales. The pixel-space likelihood yields parameter distributions without the power spectrum as an intermediate step, but it does not have the large suite of tests available to power spectral methods. Searches for primordial B-modes must rigorously reject and rule out contamination. Many forms of contamination vary or are uncorrelated across epochs, frequencies, surveys, or other data treatment subsets. The cross power and the power spectrum of the difference of subset maps provide approaches to reject and isolate excess variance. We develop an analogous joint pixel-space likelihood. Contamination not modeled in the likelihood produces parameter-dependent bias and complicates the interpretation of the difference map. We describe a null test that consistently weights the difference map. Excess variance should either be explicitly modeled in the covariance or be removed through reprocessing the data.

  1. Atomistic calculations of interface elastic properties in noncoherent metallic bilayers

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

    Mi Changwen; Jun, Sukky; Kouris, Demitris A.

    2008-02-15

    The paper describes theoretical and computational studies associated with the interface elastic properties of noncoherent metallic bicrystals. Analytical forms of interface energy, interface stresses, and interface elastic constants are derived in terms of interatomic potential functions. Embedded-atom method potentials are then incorporated into the model to compute these excess thermodynamics variables, using energy minimization in a parallel computing environment. The proposed model is validated by calculating surface thermodynamic variables and comparing them with preexisting data. Next, the interface elastic properties of several fcc-fcc bicrystals are computed. The excess energies and stresses of interfaces are smaller than those on free surfacesmore » of the same crystal orientations. In addition, no negative values of interface stresses are observed. Current results can be applied to various heterogeneous materials where interfaces assume a prominent role in the systems' mechanical behavior.« less

  2. Reducing power consumption during execution of an application on a plurality of compute nodes

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J.; Blocksome, Michael A.; Peters, Amanda E.; Ratterman, Joseph D.; Smith, Brian E.

    2013-09-10

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for reducing power consumption during execution of an application on a plurality of compute nodes that include: powering up, during compute node initialization, only a portion of computer memory of the compute node, including configuring an operating system for the compute node in the powered up portion of computer memory; receiving, by the operating system, an instruction to load an application for execution; allocating, by the operating system, additional portions of computer memory to the application for use during execution; powering up the additional portions of computer memory allocated for use by the application during execution; and loading, by the operating system, the application into the powered up additional portions of computer memory.

  3. Replication of the Apparent Excess Heat Effect in a Light Water-Potassium Carbonate-Nickel Electrolytic Cell

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Niedra, Janis M.; Myers, Ira T.; Fralick, Gustave C.; Baldwin, Richard S.

    1996-01-01

    Replication of experiments claiming to demonstrate excess heat production in light water-Ni-K2CO3 electrolytic cells was found to produce an apparent excess heat of 11 W maximum, for 60 W electrical power into the cell. Power gains range from 1.06 to 1.68. The cell was operated at four different dc current levels plus one pulsed current run at 1 Hz, 10% duty cycle. The 28 liter cell used in these verification tests was on loan from a private corporation whose own tests with similar cells are documented to produce 50 W steady excess heat for a continuous period exceeding hundreds of days. The apparent excess heat can not be readily explained either in terms of nonlinearity of the cell's thermal conductance at a low temperature differential or by thermoelectric heat pumping. However, the present data do admit efficient recombination of dissolved hydrogen-oxygen as an ordinary explanation. Calorimetry methods and heat balance calculations for the verification tests are described. Considering the large magnitude of benefit if this effect is found to be a genuine new energy source, a more thorough investigation of evolved heat in the nickel-hydrogen system in both electrolytic and gaseous loading cells remains warranted.

  4. A single network adaptive critic (SNAC) architecture for optimal control synthesis for a class of nonlinear systems.

    PubMed

    Padhi, Radhakant; Unnikrishnan, Nishant; Wang, Xiaohua; Balakrishnan, S N

    2006-12-01

    Even though dynamic programming offers an optimal control solution in a state feedback form, the method is overwhelmed by computational and storage requirements. Approximate dynamic programming implemented with an Adaptive Critic (AC) neural network structure has evolved as a powerful alternative technique that obviates the need for excessive computations and storage requirements in solving optimal control problems. In this paper, an improvement to the AC architecture, called the "Single Network Adaptive Critic (SNAC)" is presented. This approach is applicable to a wide class of nonlinear systems where the optimal control (stationary) equation can be explicitly expressed in terms of the state and costate variables. The selection of this terminology is guided by the fact that it eliminates the use of one neural network (namely the action network) that is part of a typical dual network AC setup. As a consequence, the SNAC architecture offers three potential advantages: a simpler architecture, lesser computational load and elimination of the approximation error associated with the eliminated network. In order to demonstrate these benefits and the control synthesis technique using SNAC, two problems have been solved with the AC and SNAC approaches and their computational performances are compared. One of these problems is a real-life Micro-Electro-Mechanical-system (MEMS) problem, which demonstrates that the SNAC technique is applicable to complex engineering systems.

  5. Climate change impact on wave energy in the Persian Gulf

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kamranzad, Bahareh; Etemad-Shahidi, Amir; Chegini, Vahid; Yeganeh-Bakhtiary, Abbas

    2015-06-01

    Excessive usage of fossil fuels and high emission of greenhouse gases have increased the earth's temperature, and consequently have changed the patterns of natural phenomena such as wind speed, wave height, etc. Renewable energy resources are ideal alternatives to reduce the negative effects of increasing greenhouse gases emission and climate change. However, these energy sources are also sensitive to changing climate. In this study, the effect of climate change on wave energy in the Persian Gulf is investigated. For this purpose, future wind data obtained from CGCM3.1 model were downscaled using a hybrid approach and modification factors were computed based on local wind data (ECMWF) and applied to control and future CGCM3.1 wind data. Downscaled wind data was used to generate the wave characteristics in the future based on A2, B1, and A1B scenarios, while ECMWF wind field was used to generate the wave characteristics in the control period. The results of these two 30-yearly wave modelings using SWAN model showed that the average wave power changes slightly in the future. Assessment of wave power spatial distribution showed that the reduction of the average wave power is more in the middle parts of the Persian Gulf. Investigation of wave power distribution in two coastal stations (Boushehr and Assalouyeh ports) indicated that the annual wave energy will decrease in both stations while the wave power distribution for different intervals of significant wave height and peak period will also change in Assalouyeh according to all scenarios.

  6. Improving the Computational Effort of Set-Inversion-Based Prandial Insulin Delivery for Its Integration in Insulin Pumps

    PubMed Central

    León-Vargas, Fabian; Calm, Remei; Bondia, Jorge; Vehí, Josep

    2012-01-01

    Objective Set-inversion-based prandial insulin delivery is a new model-based bolus advisor for postprandial glucose control in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). It automatically coordinates the values of basal–bolus insulin to be infused during the postprandial period so as to achieve some predefined control objectives. However, the method requires an excessive computation time to compute the solution set of feasible insulin profiles, which impedes its integration into an insulin pump. In this work, a new algorithm is presented, which reduces computation time significantly and enables the integration of this new bolus advisor into current processing features of smart insulin pumps. Methods A new strategy was implemented that focused on finding the combined basal–bolus solution of interest rather than an extensive search of the feasible set of solutions. Analysis of interval simulations, inclusion of physiological assumptions, and search domain contractions were used. Data from six real patients with T1DM were used to compare the performance between the optimized and the conventional computations. Results In all cases, the optimized version yielded the basal–bolus combination recommended by the conventional method and in only 0.032% of the computation time. Simulations show that the mean number of iterations for the optimized computation requires approximately 3.59 s at 20 MHz processing power, in line with current features of smart pumps. Conclusions A computationally efficient method for basal–bolus coordination in postprandial glucose control has been presented and tested. The results indicate that an embedded algorithm within smart insulin pumps is now feasible. Nonetheless, we acknowledge that a clinical trial will be needed in order to justify this claim. PMID:23294789

  7. Quelling Cabin Noise in Turboprop Aircraft via Active Control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kincaid, Rex K.; Laba, Keith E.; Padula, Sharon L.

    1997-01-01

    Cabin noise in turboprop aircraft causes passenger discomfort, airframe fatigue, and employee scheduling constraints due to OSHA standards for exposure to high levels of noise. The noise levels in the cabins of turboprop aircraft are typically 10 to 30 decibels louder than commercial jet noise levels. However. unlike jet noise the turboprop noise spectrum is dominated by a few low frequency tones. Active structural acoustic control is a method in which the control inputs (used to reduce interior noise) are applied directly to a vibrating structural acoustic system. The control concept modeled in this work is the application of in-plane force inputs to piezoceramic patches bonded to the wall of a vibrating cylinder. The goal is to determine the force inputs and locations for the piezoceramic actuators so that: (1) the interior noise is effectively damped; (2) the level of vibration of the cylinder shell is not increased; and (3) the power requirements needed to drive the actuators are not excessive. Computational experiments for data taken from a computer generated model and from a laboratory test article at NASA Langley Research Center are provided.

  8. A Numerical Model for Two-Plasmon-Decay Hot-Electron Production and Mitigation in Direct-Drive Implosions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Myatt, J. F.; Shaw, J. G.; Solodov, A. A.; Maximov, A. V.; Short, R. W.; Seka, W.; Follett, R. K.; Edgell, D. H.; Froula, D. H.; Goncharov, V. N.

    2015-11-01

    Hot-electron preheat, caused by laser-plasma instabilities, can impair the performance of inertial confinement fusion implosions. It is therefore imperative to understand processes that can generate hot electrons and to design mitigation strategies should preheat be found to be excessive at the ignition scale (laser-plasma interactions do not follow hydrodynamic scaling). For this purpose, a new 3-D model [laser-plasma simulation environment (LPSE)] has been constructed that computes hot-electron generation in direct-drive plasmas based on the assumption that two-plasmon decay is the dominant, hot-electron-producing instability. It uses an established model of TPD-driven turbulence together with a new GPU based hybrid particle method of hot-electron production. The time-dependent hot-electron power, total energy, and energy spectrum are computed and compared with data from recent OMEGA implosion experiments that have sought to mitigate TPD by the use of multilayered (mid- Z) ablators. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944.

  9. Study of Jet-Propulsion System Comprising Blower, Burner, and Nozzle

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hall, Eldon W

    1944-01-01

    A study was made of the performance of a jet-propulsion system composed of an engine-driven blower, a combustion chamber, and a discharge nozzle. A simplified analysis is made of this system for the purpose of showing in concise form the effect of the important design variables and operating conditions on jet thrust, thrust horsepower, and fuel consumption. Curves are presented that permit a rapid evaluation of the performance of this system for a range of operating conditions. The performance for an illustrative case of a power plant of the type under consideration id discussed in detail. It is shown that for a given airplane velocity the jet thrust horsepower depends mainly on the blower power and the amount of fuel burned in the jet; the higher the thrust horsepower is for a given blower power, the higher the fuel consumption per thrust horsepower. Within limits the amount of air pumped has only a secondary effect on the thrust horsepower and efficiency. A lower limit on air flow for a given fuel flow occurs where the combustion-chamber temperature becomes excessive on the basis of the strength of the structure. As the air-flow rate is increased, an upper limit is reached where, for a given blower power, fuel-flow rate, and combustion-chamber size, further increase in air flow causes a decrease in power and efficiency. This decrease in power is caused by excessive velocity through the combustion chamber, attended by an excessive pressure drop caused by momentum changes occurring during combustion.

  10. 14 CFR 23.203 - Turning flight and accelerated turning stalls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... use of the flight controls, but without increasing power and without— (1) Excessive loss of altitude... permissible speed or allowable limit load factor. (c) Compliance with the requirements of this section must be.../speedbrakes: Retracted and extended unless they have no measureable effect at low speeds. (5) Power: (i) Power...

  11. 14 CFR 23.203 - Turning flight and accelerated turning stalls.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... use of the flight controls, but without increasing power and without— (1) Excessive loss of altitude... permissible speed or allowable limit load factor. (c) Compliance with the requirements of this section must be.../speedbrakes: Retracted and extended unless they have no measureable effect at low speeds. (5) Power: (i) Power...

  12. Transient Simulation of the Multi-SERTTA Experiment with MAMMOTH

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

    Ortensi, Javier; Baker, Benjamin; Wang, Yaqi

    This work details the MAMMOTH reactor physics simulations of the Static Environment Rodlet Transient Test Apparatus (SERTTA) conducted at Idaho National Laboratory in FY-2017. TREAT static-environment experiment vehicles are being developed to enable transient testing of Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) type fuel specimens, including fuel concepts with enhanced accident tolerance (Accident Tolerant Fuels, ATF). The MAMMOTH simulations include point reactor kinetics as well as spatial dynamics for a temperature-limited transient. The strongly coupled multi-physics solutions of the neutron flux and temperature fields are second order accurate both in the spatial and temporal domains. MAMMOTH produces pellet stack powers that are within 1.5% of the Monte Carlo reference solutions. Some discrepancies between the MCNP model used in the design of the flux collars and the Serpent/MAMMOTH models lead to higher power and energy deposition values in Multi-SERTTA unit 1. The TREAT core results compare well with the safety case computed with point reactor kinetics in RELAP5-3D. The reactor period is 44 msec, which corresponds to a reactivity insertion of 2.685% delta k/kmore » $. The peak core power in the spatial dynamics simulation is 431 MW, which the point kinetics model over-predicts by 12%. The pulse width at half the maximum power is 0.177 sec. Subtle transient effects are apparent at the beginning insertion in the experimental samples due to the control rod removal. Additional difference due to transient effects are observed in the sample powers and enthalpy. The time dependence of the power coupling factor (PCF) is calculated for the various fuel stacks of the Multi-SERTTA vehicle. Sample temperatures in excess of 3100 K, the melting point UO$$_2$$, are computed with the adiabatic heat transfer model. The planned shaped-transient might introduce additional effects that cannot be predicted with PRK models. Future modeling will be focused on the shaped-transient by improving the control rod models in MAMMOTH and adding the BISON thermo-elastic models and thermal-fluids heat transfer.« less

  13. Validation of High-Fidelity Reactor Physics Models for Support of the KJRR Experimental Campaign in the Advanced Test Reactor

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

    Nigg, David W.; Nielsen, Joseph W.; Norman, Daren R.

    The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is currently in the process of qualifying a Low-Enriched Uranium fuel element design for the new Ki-Jang Research Reactor (KJRR). As part of this effort, a prototype KJRR fuel element was irradiated for several operating cycles in the Northeast Flux Trap of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory. The KJRR fuel element contained a very large quantity of fissile material (618g 235U) in comparison with historical ATR experiment standards (<1g 235U), and its presence in the ATR flux trap was expected to create a neutronic configuration that would be wellmore » outside of the approved validation envelope for the reactor physics analysis methods used to support ATR operations. Accordingly it was necessary, prior to high-power irradiation of the KJRR fuel element in the ATR, to conduct an extensive set of new low-power physics measurements with the KJRR fuel element installed in the ATR Critical Facility (ATRC), a companion facility to the ATR that is located in an immediately adjacent building, sharing the same fuel handling and storage canal. The new measurements had the objective of expanding the validation envelope for the computational reactor physics tools used to support ATR operations and safety analysis to include the planned KJRR irradiation in the ATR and similar experiments that are anticipated in the future. The computational and experimental results demonstrated that the neutronic behavior of the KJRR fuel element in the ATRC is well-understood, both in terms of its general effects on core excess reactivity and fission power distributions, its effects on the calibration of the core lobe power measurement system, as well as in terms of its own internal fission rate distribution and total fission power per unit ATRC core power. Taken as a whole, these results have significantly extended the ATR physics validation envelope, thereby enabling an entire new class of irradiation experiments.« less

  14. Dark Matter interpretation of low energy IceCube MESE excess

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

    Chianese, M.; Miele, G.; Morisi, S., E-mail: chianese@na.infn.it, E-mail: miele@na.infn.it, E-mail: stefano.morisi@na.infn.it

    2017-01-01

    The 2-years MESE IceCube events show a slightly excess in the energy range 10–100 TeV with a maximum local statistical significance of 2.3σ, once a hard astrophysical power-law is assumed. A spectral index smaller than 2.2 is indeed suggested by multi-messenger studies related to p - p sources and by the recent IceCube analysis regarding 6-years up-going muon neutrinos. In the present paper, we propose a two-components scenario where the extraterrestrial neutrinos are explained in terms of an astrophysical power-law and a Dark Matter signal. We consider both decaying and annihilating Dark Matter candidates with different final states (quarks andmore » leptons) and different halo density profiles. We perform a likelihood-ratio analysis that provides a statistical significance up to 3.9σ for a Dark Matter interpretation of the IceCube low energy excess.« less

  15. Excessive daytime sleepiness does not correlate with sympathetic nervous system activation and arterial stiffening in patients with mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea: A proof-of-principle study.

    PubMed

    Bisogni, Valeria; Pengo, Martino F; Drakatos, Panagis; Maiolino, Giuseppe; Kent, Brian; Rossitto, Giacomo; Steier, Joerg; Rossi, Gian Paolo

    2017-06-01

    Increased arterial stiffness and sympathetic nervous system activity, independent markers of cardiovascular risk, are common in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnoea, who have excessive daytime sleepiness. Among patients with mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea, however, it remains unknown whether arterial stiffness and/or increased sympathetic nervous system activity correlate with excessive daytime sleepiness. We measured heart rate variability, as an index of autonomic nervous system activity, and arterial stiffness index, as a marker of vascular damage and cardiovascular risk, in 56 men aged 18 to 75years, with mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea, and matched into two groups, "sleepy" (Epworth Sleepiness Scale≥10) and "non-sleepy" (Epworth Sleepiness Scale<10). We found no association of excessive daytime sleepiness with sympathetic nervous system activation (very low frequency power 18,947±11,207ms 2 vs 15,893±8,272ms 2 , p=0.28; low frequency (LH) power 17,753±8,441ms 2 vs 15,414±5,666ms 2 , p=0.26; high frequency (HF) power 7,527±1,979ms 2 vs 8,257±3,416ms 2 , p=0.36; LF/HF ratio 3.04±1.37 vs 2.55±1.01, p=0.15) and mean arterial stiffness index (6.97±0.83 vs 7.26±0.66, p=0.18) in mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea patients. Symptoms of excessive daytime sleepiness are not associated with sympathetic nervous system activation and arterial stiffness in male subjects with mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. DUST AND GAS IN THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS FROM THE HERITAGE HERSCHEL KEY PROJECT. I. DUST PROPERTIES AND INSIGHTS INTO THE ORIGIN OF THE SUBMILLIMETER EXCESS EMISSION

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

    Gordon, Karl D.; Roman-Duval, Julia; Meixner, Margaret

    The dust properties in the Large and Small Magellanic clouds (LMC/SMC) are studied using the HERITAGE Herschel Key Project photometric data in five bands from 100 to 500 μm. Three simple models of dust emission were fit to the observations: a single temperature blackbody modified by a power-law emissivity (SMBB), a single temperature blackbody modified by a broken power-law emissivity (BEMBB), and two blackbodies with different temperatures, both modified by the same power-law emissivity (TTMBB). Using these models, we investigate the origin of the submillimeter excess, defined as the submillimeter emission above that expected from SMBB models fit to observations <200more » μm. We find that the BEMBB model produces the lowest fit residuals with pixel-averaged 500 μm submillimeter excesses of 27% and 43% for the LMC and SMC, respectively. Adopting gas masses from previous works, the gas-to-dust ratios calculated from our fitting results show that the TTMBB fits require significantly more dust than are available even if all the metals present in the interstellar medium (ISM) were condensed into dust. This indicates that the submillimeter excess is more likely to be due to emissivity variations than a second population of colder dust. We derive integrated dust masses of (7.3 ± 1.7) × 10{sup 5} and (8.3 ± 2.1) × 10{sup 4} M {sub ☉} for the LMC and SMC, respectively. We find significant correlations between the submillimeter excess and other dust properties; further work is needed to determine the relative contributions of fitting noise and ISM physics to the correlations.« less

  17. Crowdsourcing: Global search and the twisted roles of consumers and producers

    PubMed Central

    Bauer, Robert M.; Gegenhuber, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Crowdsourcing spreads and morphs quickly, shaping areas as diverse as creating, organizing, and sharing knowledge; producing digital artifacts; providing services involving tangible assets; or monitoring and evaluating. Crowdsourcing as sourcing by means of ‘global search’ yields four types of values for sourcing actors: creative expertise, critical items, execution capacity, and bargaining power. It accesses cheap excess capacities at the work realm’s margins, channeling them toward production. Provision and utilization of excess capacities rationalize society while intimately connecting to a broader societal trend twisting consumers’ and producers’ roles: leading toward ‘working consumers’ and ‘consuming producers’ and shifting power toward the latter. Similarly, marketers using crowdsourcing’s look and feel to camouflage traditional approaches to bringing consumers under control preserve producer power. PMID:27524930

  18. On the averaging area for incident power density for human exposure limits at frequencies over 6 GHz

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hashimoto, Yota; Hirata, Akimasa; Morimoto, Ryota; Aonuma, Shinta; Laakso, Ilkka; Jokela, Kari; Foster, Kenneth R.

    2017-04-01

    Incident power density is used as the dosimetric quantity to specify the restrictions on human exposure to electromagnetic fields at frequencies above 3 or 10 GHz in order to prevent excessive temperature elevation at the body surface. However, international standards and guidelines have different definitions for the size of the area over which the power density should be averaged. This study reports computational evaluation of the relationship between the size of the area over which incident power density is averaged and the local peak temperature elevation in a multi-layer model simulating a human body. Three wave sources are considered in the frequency range from 3 to 300 GHz: an ideal beam, a half-wave dipole antenna, and an antenna array. 1D analysis shows that averaging area of 20 mm  ×  20 mm is a good measure to correlate with the local peak temperature elevation when the field distribution is nearly uniform in that area. The averaging area is different from recommendations in the current international standards/guidelines, and not dependent on the frequency. For a non-uniform field distribution, such as a beam with small diameter, the incident power density should be compensated by multiplying a factor that can be derived from the ratio of the effective beam area to the averaging area. The findings in the present study suggest that the relationship obtained using the 1D approximation is applicable for deriving the relationship between the incident power density and the local temperature elevation.

  19. Reducing power consumption during execution of an application on a plurality of compute nodes

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J [Rochester, MN; Blocksome, Michael A [Rochester, MN; Peters, Amanda E [Rochester, MN; Ratterman, Joseph D [Rochester, MN; Smith, Brian E [Rochester, MN

    2012-06-05

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for reducing power consumption during execution of an application on a plurality of compute nodes that include: executing, by each compute node, an application, the application including power consumption directives corresponding to one or more portions of the application; identifying, by each compute node, the power consumption directives included within the application during execution of the portions of the application corresponding to those identified power consumption directives; and reducing power, by each compute node, to one or more components of that compute node according to the identified power consumption directives during execution of the portions of the application corresponding to those identified power consumption directives.

  20. Propulsion and Power Generation Capabilities of a Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) Fusion System for Future Military Aerospace Vehicles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Knecht, Sean D.; Thomas, Robert E.; Mead, Franklin B.; Miley, George H.; Froning, David

    2006-01-01

    The objective of this study was to perform a parametric evaluation of the performance and interface characteristics of a dense plasma focus (DPF) fusion system in support of a USAF advanced military aerospace vehicle concept study. This vehicle is an aerospace plane that combines clean ``aneutronic'' dense plasma focus (DPF) fusion power and propulsion technology, with advanced ``lifting body''-like airframe configurations utilizing air-breathing MHD propulsion and power technology within a reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle. The applied approach was to evaluate the fusion system details (geometry, power, T/W, system mass, etc.) of a baseline p-11B DPF propulsion device with Q = 3.0 and thruster efficiency, ɛprop = 90% for a range of thrust, Isp and capacitor specific energy values. The baseline details were then kept constant and the values of Q and ɛprop were varied to evaluate excess power generation for communication systems, pulsed-train plasmoid weapons, ultrahigh-power lasers, and gravity devices. Thrust values were varied between 100 kN and 1,000 kN with Isp of 1,500 s and 2,000 s, while capacitor specific energy was varied from 1 - 15 kJ/kg. Q was varied from 3.0 to 6.0, resulting in gigawatts of excess power. Thruster efficiency was varied from 0.9 to 1.0, resulting in hundreds of megawatts of excess power. Resulting system masses were on the order of 10's to 100's of metric tons with thrust-to-weight ratios ranging from 2.1 to 44.1, depending on capacitor specific energy. Such a high thrust/high Isp system with a high power generation capability would allow military versatility in sub-orbital space, as early as 2025, and beyond as early as 2050. This paper presents the results that coincide with a total system mass between 15 and 20 metric tons.

  1. Propulsion and Power Generation Capabilities of a Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) Fusion System for Future Military Aerospace Vehicles

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

    Knecht, Sean D.; Mead, Franklin B.; Thomas, Robert E.

    2006-01-20

    The objective of this study was to perform a parametric evaluation of the performance and interface characteristics of a dense plasma focus (DPF) fusion system in support of a USAF advanced military aerospace vehicle concept study. This vehicle is an aerospace plane that combines clean 'aneutronic' dense plasma focus (DPF) fusion power and propulsion technology, with advanced 'lifting body'-like airframe configurations utilizing air-breathing MHD propulsion and power technology within a reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle. The applied approach was to evaluate the fusion system details (geometry, power, T/W, system mass, etc.) of a baseline p-11B DPF propulsion device with Q =more » 3.0 and thruster efficiency, {eta}prop = 90% for a range of thrust, Isp and capacitor specific energy values. The baseline details were then kept constant and the values of Q and {eta}prop were varied to evaluate excess power generation for communication systems, pulsed-train plasmoid weapons, ultrahigh-power lasers, and gravity devices. Thrust values were varied between 100 kN and 1,000 kN with Isp of 1,500 s and 2,000 s, while capacitor specific energy was varied from 1 - 15 kJ/kg. Q was varied from 3.0 to 6.0, resulting in gigawatts of excess power. Thruster efficiency was varied from 0.9 to 1.0, resulting in hundreds of megawatts of excess power. Resulting system masses were on the order of 10's to 100's of metric tons with thrust-to-weight ratios ranging from 2.1 to 44.1, depending on capacitor specific energy. Such a high thrust/high Isp system with a high power generation capability would allow military versatility in sub-orbital space, as early as 2025, and beyond as early as 2050. This paper presents the results that coincide with a total system mass between 15 and 20 metric tons.« less

  2. Application of Semi Active Control Techniques to the Damping Suppression Problem of Solar Sail Booms

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Adetona, O.; Keel, L. H.; Whorton, M. S.

    2007-01-01

    Solar sails provide a propellant free form for space propulsion. These are large flat surfaces that generate thrust when they are impacted by light. When attached to a space vehicle, the thrust generated can propel the space vehicle to great distances at significant speeds. For optimal performance the sail must be kept from excessive vibration. Active control techniques can provide the best performance. However, they require an external power-source that may create significant parasitic mass to the solar sail. However, solar sails require low mass for optimal performance. Secondly, active control techniques typically require a good system model to ensure stability and performance. However, the accuracy of solar sail models validated on earth for a space environment is questionable. An alternative approach is passive vibration techniques. These do not require an external power supply, and do not destabilize the system. A third alternative is referred to as semi-active control. This approach tries to get the best of both active and passive control, while avoiding their pitfalls. In semi-active control, an active control law is designed for the system, and passive control techniques are used to implement it. As a result, no external power supply is needed so the system is not destabilize-able. Though it typically underperforms active control techniques, it has been shown to out-perform passive control approaches and can be unobtrusively installed on a solar sail boom. Motivated by this, the objective of this research is to study the suitability of a Piezoelectric (PZT) patch actuator/sensor based semi-active control system for the vibration suppression problem of solar sail booms. Accordingly, we develop a suitable mathematical and computer model for such studies and demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach with computer simulations.

  3. Eliminating Health Disparities in the African American Population: The Interface of Culture, Gender, and Power

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Airhihenbuwa, Collins O.; Liburd, Leandris

    2006-01-01

    Since the release of former Secretary Margaret Heckler's "Secretary's Task Force Report on Black and Minority Health" more than two decades ago, excess death from chronic diseases and other conditions between African Americans and Whites have increased. The conclusion of that report emphasized excess death and thus clinical care, paying…

  4. Compressed air energy storage system

    DOEpatents

    Ahrens, F.W.; Kartsounes, G.T.

    An internal combustion reciprocating engine is operable as a compressor during slack demand periods utilizing excess power from a power grid to charge air into an air storage reservoir and as an expander during peak demand periods to feed power into the power grid utilizing air obtained from the air storage reservoir together with combustion reciprocating engine is operated at high pressure and a low pressure turbine and compressor are also employed for air compression and power generation.

  5. 7 CFR 226.22 - Procurement standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ..., all contracts awarded by institutions in excess of $2,500 which involve the employment of mechanics or...). Under section 103 of the Act, each contractor shall be required to compute the wages of every mechanic... a rate of not less than 11/2 times the basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 8 hours...

  6. Excessive Use of Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games: A Pilot Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hussain, Zaheer; Griffiths, Mark D.

    2009-01-01

    Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are one of the most interesting innovations in the area of online computer gaming. This pilot study set out to examine the psychological and social effects of online gaming using an online questionnaire with particular reference to excessive and "dependent" online gaming. A self-selecting…

  7. Electronic ripple indicator

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davidson, J. K.; Houck, W. H.

    1971-01-01

    Electronic circuit for monitoring excessive ripple voltage on dc power lines senses voltage variations from few millivolts to maximum of 10 volts rms. Instrument is used wherever power supply fluctuations might endanger system operations or damage equipment. Device is inexpensive and easily packaged in small chassis.

  8. Higher-order cumulants and spectral kurtosis for early detection of subterranean termites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de la Rosa, Juan José González; Moreno Muñoz, Antonio

    2008-02-01

    This paper deals with termite detection in non-favorable SNR scenarios via signal processing using higher-order statistics. The results could be extrapolated to all impulse-like insect emissions; the situation involves non-destructive termite detection. Fourth-order cumulants in time and frequency domains enhance the detection and complete the characterization of termite emissions, non-Gaussian in essence. Sliding higher-order cumulants offer distinctive time instances, as a complement to the sliding variance, which only reveal power excesses in the signal; even for low-amplitude impulses. The spectral kurtosis reveals non-Gaussian characteristics (the peakedness of the probability density function) associated to these non-stationary measurements, specially in the near ultrasound frequency band. Contrasted estimators have been used to compute the higher-order statistics. The inedited findings are shown via graphical examples.

  9. Dynamic Simulation on the Installation Process of HGIS in Transformer Substation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Tao; Li, Shaohua; Wang, Hu; Che, Deyong; Qi, Guangcai; Yao, Jianfeng; Zhang, Qingzhe

    The technological requirements of Hypid Gas Insulated Switchgear (HGIS) installation in transformer substation is high and the control points of quality is excessive. Most of the engineers and technicians in the construction enterprises are not familiar with equipments of HGIS. In order to solve these problem, equipments of HGIS is modeled on the computer by SolidWorks software. Installation process of civil foundation and closed-type equipments is optimized dynamically with virtual assemble technology. Announcements and application work are composited into animation file. Skills of modeling and simulation is tidied classify as well. The result of the visual dynamic simulation can instruct the actual construction process of HGIS to a certain degree and can promote reasonable construction planning and management. It can also improve the method and quality of staff training for electric power construction enterprises.

  10. Logistical and Analytical Approach to a Failure Aboard the International Space Station

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    McDanels, Seve; Wright, M. Clara; Salazar, Victoria; Lubas, David; Tucker, Bryan

    2009-01-01

    The starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) from the International Space Station (ISS) began exhibiting off-nominal electrical demands and vibration. Examination by spacewalking astronauts revealed metallic debris contaminating the system and damage to the outboard race of the SARJ. Samples of the contamination were returned to Earth and analyzed. Excessive friction caused the nitride region of the 15-5 PH stainless steel race to spall, generating the debris and damaging the race surface. Excessive vibration and excess power was required to operate the system as a result.

  11. Music therapy in the age of enlightenment.

    PubMed

    Rorke, M A

    2001-01-01

    As music therapists continue to discover more about the therapeutic powers of music, it is interesting now and then to look to the past in order to seek the roots of our contemporary practices. In this regard, the writings of eighteenth-century physicians are pivotal in the development of music therapy, for it was these individuals who first began to depend greatly upon scientific experimentation and observation to formulate their procedures. Representative of this stage in the history of music therapy are the findings of the renowned London physician Richard Brocklesby, the only doctor to write a treatise on music therapy in eighteenth-century England. The subjects treated by Brocklesby in his Reflections on the Power of Music (1749) include his musical remedies for the excesses of various emotions-particularly fear, excessive joy, and excessive sadness. He also discusses his musical remedies for diseases of the mind recognized in the eighteenth century-delirium, frenzy, melancholia, and maniacal cases. He considers music as well an aid to the elderly and to pregnant women. In short, Brocklesby provides a lively account of the curative powers of music as viewed in the mid-eighteenth century by an excellent medical mind.

  12. Reducing power consumption while synchronizing a plurality of compute nodes during execution of a parallel application

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J [Rochester, MN; Blocksome, Michael A [Rochester, MN; Peters, Amanda A [Rochester, MN; Ratterman, Joseph D [Rochester, MN; Smith, Brian E [Rochester, MN

    2012-01-10

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for reducing power consumption while synchronizing a plurality of compute nodes during execution of a parallel application that include: beginning, by each compute node, performance of a blocking operation specified by the parallel application, each compute node beginning the blocking operation asynchronously with respect to the other compute nodes; reducing, for each compute node, power to one or more hardware components of that compute node in response to that compute node beginning the performance of the blocking operation; and restoring, for each compute node, the power to the hardware components having power reduced in response to all of the compute nodes beginning the performance of the blocking operation.

  13. Reducing power consumption while synchronizing a plurality of compute nodes during execution of a parallel application

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J [Rochester, MN; Blocksome, Michael A [Rochester, MN; Peters, Amanda E [Cambridge, MA; Ratterman, Joseph D [Rochester, MN; Smith, Brian E [Rochester, MN

    2012-04-17

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for reducing power consumption while synchronizing a plurality of compute nodes during execution of a parallel application that include: beginning, by each compute node, performance of a blocking operation specified by the parallel application, each compute node beginning the blocking operation asynchronously with respect to the other compute nodes; reducing, for each compute node, power to one or more hardware components of that compute node in response to that compute node beginning the performance of the blocking operation; and restoring, for each compute node, the power to the hardware components having power reduced in response to all of the compute nodes beginning the performance of the blocking operation.

  14. Sorption Phase of Supercritical CO2 in Silica Aerogel: Experiments and Mesoscale Computer Simulations

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

    Rother, Gernot; Vlcek, Lukas; Gruszkiewicz, Miroslaw

    2014-01-01

    Adsorption of supercritical CO2 in nanoporous silica aerogel was investigated by a combination of experiments and molecular-level computer modeling. High-pressure gravimetric and vibrating tube densimetry techniques were used to measure the mean pore fluid density and excess sorption at 35 C and 50 C and pressures of 0-200 bar. Densification of the pore fluid was observed at bulk fluid densities below 0.7 g/cm3. Far above the bulk fluid density, near-zero sorption or weak depletion effects were measured, while broad excess sorption maxima form in the vicinity of the bulk critical density region. The CO2 sorption properties are very similar formore » two aerogels with different bulk densities of 0.1 g/cm3 and 0.2 g/cm3, respectively. The spatial distribution of the confined supercritical fluid was analyzed in terms of sorption- and bulk-phase densities by means of the Adsorbed Phase Model (APM), which used data from gravimetric sorption and small-angle neutron scattering experiments. To gain more detailed insight into supercritical fluid sorption, large-scale lattice gas GCMC simulations were utilized and tuned to resemble the experimental excess sorption data. The computed three-dimensional pore fluid density distributions show that the observed maximum of the excess sorption near the critical density originates from large density fluctuations pinned to the pore walls. At this maximum, the size of these fluctuations is comparable to the prevailing pore sizes.« less

  15. Ab initio calculation of excess properties of La{sub 1−x}(Ln,An){sub x}PO{sub 4} solid solutions

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

    Li, Yan; JARA High-Performance Computing, Schinkelstrasse 2, 52062 Aachen; Kowalski, Piotr M., E-mail: p.kowalski@fz-juelich.de

    2014-12-15

    We used ab initio computational approach to predict the excess enthalpy of mixing and the corresponding regular/subregular model parameters for La{sub 1−x}Ln{sub x}PO{sub 4} (Ln=Ce,…, Tb) and La{sub 1−x}An{sub x}PO{sub 4} (An=Pu, Am and Cm) monazite-type solid solutions. We found that the regular model interaction parameter W computed for La{sub 1−x}Ln{sub x}PO{sub 4} solid solutions matches the few existing experimental data. Within the lanthanide series W increases quadratically with the volume mismatch between LaPO{sub 4} and LnPO{sub 4} endmembers (ΔV=V{sub LaPO{sub 4}}−V{sub LnPO{sub 4}}), so that W(kJ/mol)=0.618(ΔV(cm{sup 3}/mol)){sup 2}. We demonstrate that this relationship also fits the interaction parameters computedmore » for La{sub 1−x}An{sub x}PO{sub 4} solid solutions. This shows that lanthanides can be used as surrogates for investigation of the thermodynamic mixing properties of actinide-bearing solid solutions. - Highlights: • The excess enthalpies of mixing for monazite-type solid solutions are computed. • The excess enthalpies increase with the endmembers volume mismatch. • The relationship derived for lanthanides is transferable to La{sub 1−x}An{sub x}PO{sub 4} systems.« less

  16. Inherent Conservatism in Deterministic Quasi-Static Structural Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Verderaime, V.

    1997-01-01

    The cause of the long-suspected excessive conservatism in the prevailing structural deterministic safety factor has been identified as an inherent violation of the error propagation laws when reducing statistical data to deterministic values and then combining them algebraically through successive structural computational processes. These errors are restricted to the applied stress computations, and because mean and variations of the tolerance limit format are added, the errors are positive, serially cumulative, and excessively conservative. Reliability methods circumvent these errors and provide more efficient and uniform safe structures. The document is a tutorial on the deficiencies and nature of the current safety factor and of its improvement and transition to absolute reliability.

  17. Power control system and method

    DOEpatents

    Steigerwald, Robert Louis [Burnt Hills, NY; Anderson, Todd Alan [Niskayuna, NY

    2008-02-19

    A power system includes an energy harvesting device, a battery coupled to the energy harvesting device, and a circuit coupled to the energy harvesting device and the battery. The circuit is adapted to deliver power to a load by providing power generated by the energy harvesting device to the load without delivering excess power to the battery and to supplement the power generated by the energy harvesting device with power from the battery if the power generated by the energy harvesting device is insufficient to fully power the load. A method of operating the power system is also provided.

  18. Power control system and method

    DOEpatents

    Steigerwald, Robert Louis; Anderson, Todd Alan

    2006-11-07

    A power system includes an energy harvesting device, a battery coupled to the energy harvesting device, and a circuit coupled to the energy harvesting device and the battery. The circuit is adapted to deliver power to a load by providing power generated by the energy harvesting device to the load without delivering excess power to the battery and to supplement the power generated by the energy harvesting device with power from the battery if the power generated by the energy harvesting device is insufficient to fully power the load. A method of operating the power system is also provided.

  19. An assessment of the ICE6G_C(VM5a) glacial isostatic adjustment model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Purcell, A.; Tregoning, P.; Dehecq, A.

    2016-05-01

    The recent release of the next-generation global ice history model, ICE6G_C(VM5a), is likely to be of interest to a wide range of disciplines including oceanography (sea level studies), space gravity (mass balance studies), glaciology, and, of course, geodynamics (Earth rheology studies). In this paper we make an assessment of some aspects of the ICE6G_C(VM5a) model and show that the published present-day radial uplift rates are too high along the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula (by ˜8.6 mm/yr) and beneath the Ross Ice Shelf (by ˜5 mm/yr). Furthermore, the published spherical harmonic coefficients—which are meant to represent the dimensionless present-day changes due to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA)—contain excessive power for degree ≥90, do not agree with physical expectations and do not represent accurately the ICE6G_C(VM5a) model. We show that the excessive power in the high-degree terms produces erroneous uplift rates when the empirical relationship of Purcell et al. (2011) is applied, but when correct Stokes coefficients are used, the empirical relationship produces excellent agreement with the fully rigorous computation of the radial velocity field, subject to the caveats first noted by Purcell et al. (2011). Using the Australian National University (ANU) groups CALSEA software package, we recompute the present-day GIA signal for the ice thickness history and Earth rheology used by Peltier et al. (2015) and provide dimensionless Stokes coefficients that can be used to correct satellite altimetry observations for GIA over oceans and by the space gravity community to separate GIA and present-day mass balance change signals. We denote the new data sets as ICE6G_ANU.

  20. 7 CFR 3203.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... described in paragraph (1) of this definition. Computers or other technical equipment means central... 7 Agriculture 15 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Definitions. 3203.3 Section 3203.3 Agriculture..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GUIDELINES FOR THE TRANSFER OF EXCESS COMPUTERS OR OTHER TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT...

  1. High-power 0.87-micron channel substrate planar lasers for spaceborne communications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Connolly, J. C.; Stewart, T. R.; Gilbert, D. B.; Slavin, S. E.; Carlin, D. B.

    1988-01-01

    High-power single-mode channeled-substrate planar AlGaAs diode lasers are being developed for reliable high-power operation for use as sources in spaceborne optical communication systems. The CSP laser structure has been optimized for operation at an emission wavelength of 870 nm. Such devices have exhibited output powers in excess of 80 mW CW at an operating temperature of 80 C.

  2. Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer attitude control electronics box design and performance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chamberlin, K.; Clagett, C.; Correll, T.; Gruner, T.; Quinn, T.; Shiflett, L.; Schnurr, R.; Wennersten, M.; Frederick, M.; Fox, S. M.

    1993-01-01

    The attitude Control Electronics (ACE) Box is the center of the Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) for the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) satellite. This unit is the single point interface for all of the Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) related sensors and actuators. Commands and telemetry between the SAMPEX flight computer and the ACE Box are routed via a MIL-STD-1773 bus interface, through the use of an 80C85 processor. The ACE Box consists of the flowing electronic elements: power supply, momentum wheel driver, electromagnet driver, coarse sun sensor interface, digital sun sensor interface, magnetometer interface, and satellite computer interface. In addition, the ACE Box also contains an independent Safehold electronics package capable of keeping the satellite pitch axis pointing towards the sun. The ACE Box has dimensions of 24 x 31 x 8 cm, a mass of 4.3 kg, and an average power consumption of 10.5 W. This set of electronics was completely designed, developed, integrated, and tested by personnel at NASA GSFC. SAMPEX was launched on July 3, 1992, and the initial attitude acquisition was successfully accomplished via the analog Safehold electronics in the ACE Box. This acquisition scenario removed the excess body rates via magnetic control and precessed the satellite pitch axis to within 10 deg of the sun line. The performance of the SAMPEX ACS in general and the ACE Box in particular has been quite satisfactory.

  3. Large eddy simulation for predicting turbulent heat transfer in gas turbines.

    PubMed

    Tafti, Danesh K; He, Long; Nagendra, K

    2014-08-13

    Blade cooling technology will play a critical role in the next generation of propulsion and power generation gas turbines. Accurate prediction of blade metal temperature can avoid the use of excessive compressed bypass air and allow higher turbine inlet temperature, increasing fuel efficiency and decreasing emissions. Large eddy simulation (LES) has been established to predict heat transfer coefficients with good accuracy under various non-canonical flows, but is still limited to relatively simple geometries and low Reynolds numbers. It is envisioned that the projected increase in computational power combined with a drop in price-to-performance ratio will make system-level simulations using LES in complex blade geometries at engine conditions accessible to the design process in the coming one to two decades. In making this possible, two key challenges are addressed in this paper: working with complex intricate blade geometries and simulating high-Reynolds-number (Re) flows. It is proposed to use the immersed boundary method (IBM) combined with LES wall functions. A ribbed duct at Re=20 000 is simulated using the IBM, and a two-pass ribbed duct is simulated at Re=100 000 with and without rotation (rotation number Ro=0.2) using LES with wall functions. The results validate that the IBM is a viable alternative to body-conforming grids and that LES with wall functions reproduces experimental results at a much lower computational cost. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  4. Improved Thermal-Switch Disks Protect Batteries

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Darcy, Eric; Bragg, Bobby

    1990-01-01

    Improved thermal-switch disks help protect electrical batteries against high currents like those due to short circuits or high demands for power in circuits supplied by batteries. Protects batteries against excessive temperatures. Centered by insulating fiberglass washer. Contains conductive polymer that undergoes abrupt increase in electrical resistance when excessive current raises its temperature above specific point. After cooling, polymer reverts to low resistance. Disks reusable.

  5. THE NANOGRAV NINE-YEAR DATA SET: EXCESS NOISE IN MILLISECOND PULSAR ARRIVAL TIMES

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

    Lam, M. T.; Jones, M. L.; McLaughlin, M. A.

    Gravitational wave (GW) astronomy using a pulsar timing array requires high-quality millisecond pulsars (MSPs), correctable interstellar propagation delays, and high-precision measurements of pulse times of arrival. Here we identify noise in timing residuals that exceeds that predicted for arrival time estimation for MSPs observed by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves. We characterize the excess noise using variance and structure function analyses. We find that 26 out of 37 pulsars show inconsistencies with a white-noise-only model based on the short timescale analysis of each pulsar, and we demonstrate that the excess noise has a red power spectrum formore » 15 pulsars. We also decompose the excess noise into chromatic (radio-frequency-dependent) and achromatic components. Associating the achromatic red-noise component with spin noise and including additional power-spectrum-based estimates from the literature, we estimate a scaling law in terms of spin parameters (frequency and frequency derivative) and data-span length and compare it to the scaling law of Shannon and Cordes. We briefly discuss our results in terms of detection of GWs at nanohertz frequencies.« less

  6. 10 CFR Appendix B to Subpart D of... - Contract Provisions

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... in excess of $100,000 for construction and other purposes that involve the employment of mechanics or... 5). Under Section 102 of the Act, each contractor is required to compute the wages of every mechanic... basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in the work week. Section 107 of the Act is...

  7. 10 CFR Appendix B to Subpart D of... - Contract Provisions

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... in excess of $100,000 for construction and other purposes that involve the employment of mechanics or... 5). Under Section 102 of the Act, each contractor is required to compute the wages of every mechanic... basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in the work week. Section 107 of the Act is...

  8. 10 CFR Appendix B to Subpart D of... - Contract Provisions

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... in excess of $100,000 for construction and other purposes that involve the employment of mechanics or... 5). Under Section 102 of the Act, each contractor is required to compute the wages of every mechanic... basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in the work week. Section 107 of the Act is...

  9. 10 CFR Appendix B to Subpart D of... - Contract Provisions

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... in excess of $100,000 for construction and other purposes that involve the employment of mechanics or... 5). Under Section 102 of the Act, each contractor is required to compute the wages of every mechanic... basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in the work week. Section 107 of the Act is...

  10. 26 CFR 1.860E-1 - Treatment of taxable income of a residual interest holder in excess of daily accruals.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... equals the product of the present value of the anticipated excess inclusions and the highest rate of tax... sufficient to satisfy the accrued taxes. (3) Computations. The present value of the expected future... formula test if the present value of the anticipated tax liabilities associated with holding the residual...

  11. 26 CFR 1.860E-1 - Treatment of taxable income of a residual interest holder in excess of daily accruals.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... equals the product of the present value of the anticipated excess inclusions and the highest rate of tax... sufficient to satisfy the accrued taxes. (3) Computations. The present value of the expected future... formula test if the present value of the anticipated tax liabilities associated with holding the residual...

  12. 26 CFR 1.860E-1 - Treatment of taxable income of a residual interest holder in excess of daily accruals.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... equals the product of the present value of the anticipated excess inclusions and the highest rate of tax... sufficient to satisfy the accrued taxes. (3) Computations. The present value of the expected future... formula test if the present value of the anticipated tax liabilities associated with holding the residual...

  13. 26 CFR 1.860E-1 - Treatment of taxable income of a residual interest holder in excess of daily accruals.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... equals the product of the present value of the anticipated excess inclusions and the highest rate of tax... sufficient to satisfy the accrued taxes. (3) Computations. The present value of the expected future... formula test if the present value of the anticipated tax liabilities associated with holding the residual...

  14. 26 CFR 1.860E-1 - Treatment of taxable income of a residual interest holder in excess of daily accruals.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... equals the product of the present value of the anticipated excess inclusions and the highest rate of tax... sufficient to satisfy the accrued taxes. (3) Computations. The present value of the expected future... formula test if the present value of the anticipated tax liabilities associated with holding the residual...

  15. Phosphorus Transport in Rivers.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1978-11-01

    be attributed to excessive nutrient inputs to the lake. These nutrients sti- mulate the phytoplankton (algae) growth which yields excess growth. The...phosphorus in relation to the restoration of Lake Erie. The various computational techniques presented herein aid in the understanding of total...as caused by the absorption on clay materials and by assimilation by periphyton . Other investigators have found correlations between flow and other

  16. Associations between parental rules, style of communication and children's screen time.

    PubMed

    Bjelland, Mona; Soenens, Bart; Bere, Elling; Kovács, Éva; Lien, Nanna; Maes, Lea; Manios, Yannis; Moschonis, George; te Velde, Saskia J

    2015-10-01

    Research suggests an inverse association between parental rules and screen time in pre-adolescents, and that parents' style of communication with their children is related to the children's time spent watching TV. The aims of this study were to examine associations of parental rules and parental style of communication with children's screen time and perceived excessive screen time in five European countries. UP4FUN was a multi-centre, cluster randomised controlled trial with pre- and post-test measurements in each of five countries; Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Norway. Questionnaires were completed by the children at school and the parent questionnaire was brought home. Three structural equation models were tested based on measures of screen time and parental style of communication from the pre-test questionnaires. Of the 152 schools invited, 62 (41 %) schools agreed to participate. In total 3325 children (average age 11.2 years and 51 % girls) and 3038 parents (81 % mothers) completed the pre-test questionnaire. The average TV/DVD times across the countries were between 1.5 and 1.8 h/day, while less time was used for computer/games console (0.9-1.4 h/day). The children's perceived parental style of communication was quite consistent for TV/DVD and computer/games console. The presence of rules was significantly associated with less time watching TV/DVD and use of computer/games console time. Moreover, the use of an autonomy-supportive style was negatively related to both time watching TV/DVD and use of computer/games console time. The use of a controlling style was related positively to perceived excessive time used on TV/DVD and excessive time used on computer/games console. With a few exceptions, results were similar across the five countries. This study suggests that an autonomy-supportive style of communicating rules for TV/DVD or computer/ games console use is negatively related to children's time watching TV/DVD and use of computer/games console time. In contrast, a controlling style is associated with more screen time and with more perceived excessive screen time in particular. Longitudinal research is needed to further examine effects of parental style of communication on children's screen time as well as possible reciprocal effects. International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Register, registration number: ISRCTN34562078 . Date applied29/07/2011, Date assigned11/10/2011.

  17. Progress in High Power Free-Piston Stirling Convertor Development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Brandhorst, Henry W., Jr.; Kirby, Raymond L.; Chapman, Peter A.; Walter, Thomas J.

    2008-01-01

    The U.S. Space Exploration Policy has established a vision for human exploration of the moon and Mars. One option for power for future outposts on the lunar and Martian surfaces is a nuclear reactor coupled with a free-piston Stirling convertor at a power level of 30-40 kWe. A 25 kW convertor was developed in the 1990s under the SP-100 program. This system consisted of two 12.5 kWe engines connected at their hot ends and mounted in tandem to cancel vibration. Recently, NASA began a new project with Auburn University to develop a 5 kWe, single convertor for use in such a possible lunar power system. Goals of this development program include a specific power in excess of 140 We/kg at the convertor level, lifetime in excess of five years and a control system that will safely manage the convertors in case of an emergency. Foster-Miller, Inc. is developing the 5 kWe Stirling Convertor Assembly. The characteristics of the design along with progress in developing the system will be described.

  18. Progress in High Power Free-Piston Stirling Convertor Development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brandhorst, Henry W., Jr.; Kirby, Raymond L.; Chapman, Peter A.; Walter, Thomas J.

    2008-09-01

    The U.S. Space Exploration Policy has established a vision for human exploration of the moon and Mars. One option for power for future outposts on the lunar and Martian surfaces is a nuclear reactor coupled with a free-piston Stirling convertor at a power level of 30-40 kWe. A 25 kW convertor was developed in the 1990s under the SP-100 program. This system consisted of two 12.5 kWe engines connected at their hot ends and mounted in tandem to cancel vibration. Recently, NASA began a new project with Auburn University to develop a 5 kWe, single convertor for use in such a possible lunar power system. Goals of this development program include a specific power in excess of 140 We/kg at the convertor level, lifetime in excess of five years and a control system that will safely manage the convertors in case of an emergency. Foster-Miller, Inc. is developing the 5 kWe Stirling Convertor Assembly. The characteristics of the design along with progress in developing the system will be described.

  19. Gas-core reactor power transient analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kascak, A. F.

    1972-01-01

    The gas core reactor is a proposed device which features high temperatures. It has applications in high specific impulse space missions, and possibly in low thermal pollution MHD power plants. The nuclear fuel is a ball of uranium plasma radiating thermal photons as opposed to gamma rays. This thermal energy is picked up before it reaches the solid cavity liner by an inflowing seeded propellant stream and convected out through a rocket nozzle. A wall-burnout condition will exist if there is not enough flow of propellant to convect the energy back into the cavity. A reactor must therefore operate with a certain amount of excess propellant flow. Due to the thermal inertia of the flowing propellant, the reactor can undergo power transients in excess of the steady-state wall burnout power for short periods of time. The objective of this study was to determine how long the wall burnout power could be exceeded without burning out the cavity liner. The model used in the heat-transfer calculation was one-dimensional, and thermal radiation was assumed to be a diffusion process.

  20. Global burden of cancer attributable to high body-mass index in 2012: a population-based study

    PubMed Central

    Byrnes, Graham; Renehan, Prof Andrew G; Stevens, Gretchen A; Ezzati, Prof Majid; Ferlay, Jacques; Miranda, J. Jaime; Romieu, Isabelle; Dikshit, Rajesh; Forman, David; Soerjomataram, Isabelle

    2015-01-01

    Background Excess body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased risk of cancer. To inform public health policyand future research, we estimated the global burden of cancer attributable to excess BMI. Methods Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were derived using relative risks and BMI estimates in adults by age, sex and country. Assuming a10-year lag-period, PAFs were calculated using BMI estimates in 2002. GLOBOCAN2012 was used to compute numbers of new cancer cases attributable to excess BMI. In an alternative scenario, we computed the proportion of potentially avoidable cancers assuming that populations maintained their BMI-level observed in 1982. Secondary analyses were performed to test the model and estimate the impactof hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and smoking. Findings Worldwide, we estimated that 481,000 or 3·6% of all new cancer cases in 2012 were attributable to excess BMI. PAFs were greater in women compared with men (5·4% versus 1·9%). The burden was concentrated in countries with very high and high human development index (HDI, PAF: 5·3% and 4·8%) compared with countries with moderate and low HDI (PAF: 1·6% and 1·0%). Corpus uteri, post-menopausal breast and colon cancers accounted for approximately two-thirds (64%) of excess BMI attributable cancers. One fourth (~118,000) of all cases related to excess BMI in 2012 could be attributed to the rising BMI since 1982. Interpretation These findings further underpin the need for a global effort to abate the rising trends in population-level excess weight. Assuming that the relationship between excess BMI and cancer is causal and the current pattern of population weight gain continues, this will likely augment the future burden of cancer. Funding World Cancer Research Fund, Marie Currie Fellowship, the National Health and Medical Research Council Australia and US NIH. PMID:25467404

  1. Institutional violence and humanization in health: notes to debate.

    PubMed

    Azeredo, Yuri Nishijima; Schraiber, Lilia Blima

    2017-09-01

    This paper starts from humanization policies and the academic debate around them to reflect about institutional violence inside health services. Based on research on scientific publications in Collective Health, it was observed that violence in relationships between health professionals and users - which is at the core of the humanization's debate - is conceptualized as an excessive power in exercise of professional authority. Using Hannah Arendt thinking as theoretical contributions regarding the concepts of 'authority', 'power' and 'violence', our objective is to define and rethink these phenomena. Melting these reflections with the history of institutionalization of health in Brazil, and especially the changes in medical work during the twentieth century, we conclude that the problem of institutional violence on health services is not based on excess of authority and power of professionals, but rather in its opposite. When there is a vacuum of professional authority, and relationships between people do not happen through power relations, there is space for the phenomenon of violence.

  2. Budget-based power consumption for application execution on a plurality of compute nodes

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J; Blocksome, Michael A; Peters, Amanda E; Ratterman, Joseph D; Smith, Brian E

    2013-02-05

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for budget-based power consumption for application execution on a plurality of compute nodes that include: assigning an execution priority to each of one or more applications; executing, on the plurality of compute nodes, the applications according to the execution priorities assigned to the applications at an initial power level provided to the compute nodes until a predetermined power consumption threshold is reached; and applying, upon reaching the predetermined power consumption threshold, one or more power conservation actions to reduce power consumption of the plurality of compute nodes during execution of the applications.

  3. Budget-based power consumption for application execution on a plurality of compute nodes

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J; Inglett, Todd A; Ratterman, Joseph D

    2012-10-23

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for budget-based power consumption for application execution on a plurality of compute nodes that include: assigning an execution priority to each of one or more applications; executing, on the plurality of compute nodes, the applications according to the execution priorities assigned to the applications at an initial power level provided to the compute nodes until a predetermined power consumption threshold is reached; and applying, upon reaching the predetermined power consumption threshold, one or more power conservation actions to reduce power consumption of the plurality of compute nodes during execution of the applications.

  4. System Design Techniques for Reducing the Power Requirements of Advanced life Support Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Finn, Cory; Levri, Julie; Pawlowski, Chris; Crawford, Sekou; Luna, Bernadette (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    The high power requirement associated with overall operation of regenerative life support systems is a critical Z:p technological challenge. Optimization of individual processors alone will not be sufficient to produce an optimized system. System studies must be used in order to improve the overall efficiency of life support systems. Current research efforts at NASA Ames Research Center are aimed at developing approaches for reducing system power and energy usage in advanced life support systems. System energy integration and energy reuse techniques are being applied to advanced life support, in addition to advanced control methods for efficient distribution of power and thermal resources. An overview of current results of this work will be presented. The development of integrated system designs that reuse waste heat from sources such as crop lighting and solid waste processing systems will reduce overall power and cooling requirements. Using an energy integration technique known as Pinch analysis, system heat exchange designs are being developed that match hot and cold streams according to specific design principles. For various designs, the potential savings for power, heating and cooling are being identified and quantified. The use of state-of-the-art control methods for distribution of resources, such as system cooling water or electrical power, will also reduce overall power and cooling requirements. Control algorithms are being developed which dynamically adjust the use of system resources by the various subsystems and components in order to achieve an overall goal, such as smoothing of power usage and/or heat rejection profiles, while maintaining adequate reserves of food, water, oxygen, and other consumables, and preventing excessive build-up of waste materials. Reductions in the peak loading of the power and thermal systems will lead to lower overall requirements. Computer simulation models are being used to test various control system designs.

  5. Circuits Protect Against Incorrect Power Connections

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Delombard, Richard

    1992-01-01

    Simple circuits prevent application of incorrectly polarized or excessive voltages. Connected temporarily or permanently at power-connecting terminals. Devised to protect electrical and electronic equipment installed in spacecraft and subjected to variety of tests in different facilities prior to installation. Basic concept of protective circuits also applied easily to many kinds of electrical and electronic equipment that must be protected against incorrect power connections.

  6. 29 CFR 794.123 - Method of computing annual volume of sales.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Method of computing annual volume of sales. 794.123 Section... of Sales § 794.123 Method of computing annual volume of sales. (a) Where the enterprise, during the... gross volume of sales in excess of the amount specified in the statute, it is plain that its annual...

  7. Energy storage and thermal control system design status. [for space station power supplies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Simons, Stephen N.; Willhoite, Bryan C.; Van Ommering, Gert

    1989-01-01

    The Space Station Freedom electric power system (EPS) will initially rely on photovoltaics for power generation and Ni/H2 batteries for electrical energy storage. The current design for the development status of two major subsystems in the PV Power Module is discussed. The energy storage subsystem comprised of high capacity Ni/H2 batteries and the single-phase thermal control system that rejects the excess heat generated by the batteries and other components associated with power generation andstorage is described.

  8. Compressed air energy storage system

    DOEpatents

    Ahrens, Frederick W.; Kartsounes, George T.

    1981-01-01

    An internal combustion reciprocating engine is operable as a compressor during slack demand periods utilizing excess power from a power grid to charge air into an air storage reservoir and as an expander during peak demand periods to feed power into the power grid utilizing air obtained from the air storage reservoir together with combustible fuel. Preferably the internal combustion reciprocating engine is operated at high pressure and a low pressure turbine and compressor are also employed for air compression and power generation.

  9. Augmenting reality in Direct View Optical (DVO) overlay applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hogan, Tim; Edwards, Tim

    2014-06-01

    The integration of overlay displays into rifle scopes can transform precision Direct View Optical (DVO) sights into intelligent interactive fire-control systems. Overlay displays can provide ballistic solutions within the sight for dramatically improved targeting, can fuse sensor video to extend targeting into nighttime or dirty battlefield conditions, and can overlay complex situational awareness information over the real-world scene. High brightness overlay solutions for dismounted soldier applications have previously been hindered by excessive power consumption, weight and bulk making them unsuitable for man-portable, battery powered applications. This paper describes the advancements and capabilities of a high brightness, ultra-low power text and graphics overlay display module developed specifically for integration into DVO weapon sight applications. Central to the overlay display module was the development of a new general purpose low power graphics controller and dual-path display driver electronics. The graphics controller interface is a simple 2-wire RS-232 serial interface compatible with existing weapon systems such as the IBEAM ballistic computer and the RULR and STORM laser rangefinders (LRF). The module features include multiple graphics layers, user configurable fonts and icons, and parameterized vector rendering, making it suitable for general purpose DVO overlay applications. The module is configured for graphics-only operation for daytime use and overlays graphics with video for nighttime applications. The miniature footprint and ultra-low power consumption of the module enables a new generation of intelligent DVO systems and has been implemented for resolutions from VGA to SXGA, in monochrome and color, and in graphics applications with and without sensor video.

  10. 14 CFR 23.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... actuated after engine power loss, can move the propeller blades toward the feather position to reduce... General § 23.937 Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems. (a) Turbopropeller-powered airplane propeller-drag... normal or emergency operation results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was...

  11. 14 CFR 23.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... actuated after engine power loss, can move the propeller blades toward the feather position to reduce... General § 23.937 Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems. (a) Turbopropeller-powered airplane propeller-drag... normal or emergency operation results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was...

  12. 14 CFR 23.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... actuated after engine power loss, can move the propeller blades toward the feather position to reduce... General § 23.937 Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems. (a) Turbopropeller-powered airplane propeller-drag... normal or emergency operation results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was...

  13. 14 CFR 23.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... actuated after engine power loss, can move the propeller blades toward the feather position to reduce... General § 23.937 Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems. (a) Turbopropeller-powered airplane propeller-drag... normal or emergency operation results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was...

  14. 14 CFR 23.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... actuated after engine power loss, can move the propeller blades toward the feather position to reduce... General § 23.937 Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems. (a) Turbopropeller-powered airplane propeller-drag... normal or emergency operation results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was...

  15. Steps to reconcile inflationary tensor and scalar spectra

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miranda, Vinícius; Hu, Wayne; Adshead, Peter

    2014-05-01

    The recent BICEP2 B-mode polarization determination of an inflationary tensor-scalar ratio r=0.2-0.05+0.07 is in tension with simple scale-free models of inflation due to a lack of a corresponding low multipole excess in the temperature power spectrum which places a limit of r0.002<0.11 (95% C.L.) on such models. Single-field inflationary models that reconcile these two observations, even those where the tilt runs substantially, introduce a scale into the scalar power spectrum. To cancel the tensor excess, and simultaneously remove the excess already present without tensors, ideally the model should introduce this scale as a relatively sharp transition in the tensor-scalar ratio around the horizon at recombination. We consider models which generate such a step in this quantity and find that they can improve the joint fit to the temperature and polarization data by up to 2ΔlnL≈-14 without changing cosmological parameters. Precision E-mode polarization measurements should be able to test this explanation.

  16. Proposed Construction of Boulder Seismic Station Monitoring Sites, Boulder, Wyoming. Environmental Assessment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-02-01

    power battery box and controllers, WiFi radio, network switch, vault seismometers, infrasonic digitizers, and excess cabling. In addition to the...installed around the boreholes. Immediately upon completion, each site will be cleared of all unused equipment, debris, materials, and trash . All...controllers, WiFi radio, network switch, vault seismometers, infrasonic digitizers, and excess cabling. In addition to the permanent infrastructure listed

  17. 75 FR 61459 - Idaho Power Company and Milner Dam, Inc.; Notice of Application for Amendment of License and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-05

    ... irrigation demands, is between 10,000 and 12,500 cfs. Powerhouse operation will resume when inflow in excess of irrigation demand is greater than 12,500 cfs and utilize for generation any flows in excess of 12,500 cfs. The licensees are required by article 417 to provide a communication network used to predict...

  18. On the ''excess spontaneous emission factor'' in gainguided laser amplifiers

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

    Haus, H.A.; Kawakami, S.

    1985-01-01

    Petermann computed an ''excess spontaneous emission factor'' for gain-guided laser. In this paper, the authors investigate further the role of this factor. Such a factor also appears in the treatment of thermodynamic equilibrium in an attenuating medium-a seeming paradox. Further investigation shows that the excess spontaneous emission excitation at thermal equilibrium is cancelled by the excitations in the other modes which are correlated with that in the fundamental mode. In a medium with gain, cancellation also occurs in a short amplifier in which there is no gain discrimination among modes. The ''excess spontaneous emission factor'' is fully present only inmore » a system in which the different higher order modes have an appreciably smaller gain than the lowest order mode, a high gain amplifier. An analysis of the signal-tonoise ratio of a high gain amplifier reveals that the excess noise factor can be fully compensated by proper input excitation by a lens arrangement. The lens arrangement provides the signal with an ''excess gain'' factor. An ''excess gain'' factor is also present when a thermal source is used.« less

  19. Fluctuation conductivity effects on thermoelectric power of granular Bi/sub 1. 75/Pb/sub 0. 25/Ca/sub 2/Sr/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 10/ superconductor

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

    Laurent, C.; Patapis, S.K.; Luo, H.L.

    1989-04-10

    The authors report precise measurements of the thermoelectric power (TEP) of granular superconducting Bi/sub 1.75/Pb/sub 0.25/Ca/sub 2/Sr/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 10/. The TEP is strictly linear at high temperature. Superconductivity fluctuations set in at about 140 K. From the temperature derivative of the excess TEP (with respect to a straight line at ''high temperature''), the critical behavior is obtained in the mean field regime, and is found identical to that of the temperature derivative of the excess electrical resistivity.

  20. Molecular interactions and structures in ethylene glycol-ethanol and ethylene glycol-water solutions at 303 K on densities, viscosities, and refractive indices data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deosarkar, S. D.; Ghatbandhe, A. S.

    2014-01-01

    Molecular interactions and structural fittings in binary ethylene glycol + ethanol (EGE, x EG = 0.4111-0.0418) and ethylene glycol + water (EGW, x EG = 0.1771-0.0133) mixtures were studied through the measurement of densities (ρ), viscosities (η), and refractive indices ( n D ) at 303.15 K. Excess viscosities (η E ), molar volumes ( V m ), excess molar volumes ( V {/m E }), and molar retractions ( R M ) of the both binary systems were computed from measured properties. The measured and computed properties have been used to understand the molecular interactions in unlike solvents and structural fittings in these binary mixtures.

  1. Computer program grade 2 for the design and analysis of heat-pipe wicks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Eninger, J. E.; Edwards, D. K.

    1976-01-01

    This user's manual describes the revised version of the computer program GRADE(1), which designs and analyzes heat pipes with graded porosity fibrous slab wicks. The revisions are: (1) automatic calculation of the minimum condenser-end stress that will not result in an excess-liquid puddle or a liquid slug in the vapor space; (2) numerical solution of the equations describing flow in the circumferential grooves to assess the burnout criterion; (3) calculation of the contribution of excess liquid in fillets and puddles to the heat-transport; (4) calculation of the effect of partial saturation on the wick performance; and (5) calculation of the effect of vapor flow, which includes viscousinertial interactions.

  2. Description of a MIL-STD-1553B Data Bus Ada Driver for the LeRC EPS Testbed

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mackin, Michael A.

    1995-01-01

    This document describes the software designed to provide communication between control computers in the NASA Lewis Research Center Electrical Power System Testbed using MIL-STD-1553B. The software drivers are coded in the Ada programming language and were developed on a MSDOS-based computer workstation. The Electrical Power System (EPS) Testbed is a reduced-scale prototype space station electrical power system. The power system manages and distributes electrical power from the sources (batteries or photovoltaic arrays) to the end-user loads. The electrical system primary operates at 120 volts DC, and the secondary system operates at 28 volts DC. The devices which direct the flow of electrical power are controlled by a network of six control computers. Data and control messages are passed between the computers using the MIL-STD-1553B network. One of the computers, the Power Management Controller (PMC), controls the primary power distribution and another, the Load Management Controller (LMC), controls the secondary power distribution. Each of these computers communicates with two other computers which act as subsidiary controllers. These subsidiary controllers are, in turn, connected to the devices which directly control the flow of electrical power.

  3. 14CO2 dispersion around two PWR nuclear power plants in Brazil.

    PubMed

    Dias, Cíntia Melazo; Stenström, Kristina; Bacelar Leão, Igor Luiz; Santos, Roberto Ventura; Nícoli, Iêda Gomes; Skog, Göran; Ekström, Peter; da Silveira Corrêa, Rosangela

    2009-07-01

    Atmospheric air samples were taken within 3 km from power plants encompassing five different distances and wind directions. Samples were taken between 2002 and 2005 aiming to evaluate the environmental (14)C enrichment due to the operation of Brazilian nuclear power plants. The sampling system consisted of a pump connected to a trapping column filled with a 3M NaOH solution. The trapped CO(2) was analyzed for (14)C by using a single stage accelerator mass spectrometry (SSAMS). All sampling sites revealed measurable (14)C excess values. The maximum excesses were of 15 and 14 mBq/m(3) for sampling sites placed at NE of the power plants, which is the main wind direction in the area. The mean excesses values were 12 mBq/m(3) to the NE direction, 8 mBq/m(3) to the E, 10 mBq/m(3) to the N, 8 mBq/m(3) to the WNW and 7 mBq/m(3) to the W direction (increasing distances from NE to W). Compared to other Light Water Reactors (LWR) data, these means' values are significantly higher than the average worldwide reported value of 3 mBq/m(3). Available data indicate that the observed values are not related to (14)C emission by the power plants vent stack. Other factors, such as topography, seem to have an important role because it affects wind dispersion thus favoring (14)C accumulation in the sampled area. Moreover, the high elevations around the power plants enhance the chances to measure high values of (14)C since the plume can be intercepted before it is drawn to the ground. Modeling of the plume has shown that its dispersion does not follow a Gaussian model and that agreement between atmospheric CO(2) and vegetation (14)C activities occurs only for sampling sites placed at NE of the power plants.

  4. Supercomputer requirements for selected disciplines important to aerospace

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Peterson, Victor L.; Kim, John; Holst, Terry L.; Deiwert, George S.; Cooper, David M.; Watson, Andrew B.; Bailey, F. Ron

    1989-01-01

    Speed and memory requirements placed on supercomputers by five different disciplines important to aerospace are discussed and compared with the capabilities of various existing computers and those projected to be available before the end of this century. The disciplines chosen for consideration are turbulence physics, aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics, chemistry, and human vision modeling. Example results for problems illustrative of those currently being solved in each of the disciplines are presented and discussed. Limitations imposed on physical modeling and geometrical complexity by the need to obtain solutions in practical amounts of time are identified. Computational challenges for the future, for which either some or all of the current limitations are removed, are described. Meeting some of the challenges will require computer speeds in excess of exaflop/s (10 to the 18th flop/s) and memories in excess of petawords (10 to the 15th words).

  5. Ultrasonic and spectral studies on charge transfer complexes of anisole and certain aromatic amines

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rajesh, R.; Raj Muhamed, R.; Justin Adaikala Baskar, A.; Kannappan, V.

    2016-10-01

    Stability constants of two complexes of anisole with aniline and N-methylaniline (NMA) are determined from the measured ultrasonic velocity in n-hexane medium at four different temperatures. Acoustic and excess thermo acoustic parameters [excess ultrasonic velocity (uE), excess molar volume (VE), excess internal pressure (πiE)] are reported for these systems at four different temperatures. The trend in acoustic and excess parameters with concentration in the two systems establishes the formation of hydrogen bonded complexes between anisole and the two amines. Thermodynamic properties are computed for the two complexes from the variation in K with temperature. The formation of these complexes is also established by UV spectral method and their spectral characteristics and stability constants are determined. K values of these complexes obtained by ultrasonic and UV spectroscopic techniques agree well. Aniline forms more stable complex than N-methylaniline with anisole in n-hexane medium.

  6. Altered cardiorespiratory coupling in young male adults with excessive online gaming.

    PubMed

    Chang, Jae Seung; Kim, Eun Young; Jung, Dooyoung; Jeong, Seong Hoon; Kim, Yeni; Roh, Myoung-Sun; Ahn, Yong Min; Hahm, Bong-Jin

    2015-09-01

    This study aimed to investigate changes in heart rate variability and cardiorespiratory coupling in male college students with problematic Internet use (PIU) excessive gaming type during action video game play to assess the relationship between PIU tendency and central autonomic regulation. Electrocardiograms and respiration were simultaneously recorded from 22 male participants with excessive online gaming and 22 controls during action video game play. Sample entropy (SampEn) was computed to assess autonomic regularity, and cross-SampEn was calculated to quantify autonomic coordination. During video game play, reduced cardiorespiratory coupling (CRC) was observed in individuals with PIU excessive gaming type compared with controls, implicating central autonomic dysregulation. The PIU tendency was associated with the severity of autonomic dysregulation. These findings indicate impaired CRC in PIU excessive gaming type, which may reflect alterations of central inhibitory control over autonomic responses to pleasurable online stimuli. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. 77 FR 32887 - Airworthiness Directives; Burkhart GROB Luft- und Raumfahrt GmbH Powered Sailplanes

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-06-04

    ... Airworthiness Directives; Burkhart GROB Luft- und Raumfahrt GmbH Powered Sailplanes AGENCY: Federal Aviation... seaside and therefore exposed to a salty environment, causing the excessive corrosion. This condition, if... Programs,'' describes in more detail the scope of the Agency's authority. We are issuing this rulemaking...

  8. 77 FR 71729 - Airworthiness Directives; Bombardier, Inc. Airplanes

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-12-04

    ... Bombardier, Inc. Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes. The existing AD currently requires a free-play check for excessive free-play of the shaft swaged bearing installed in the tailstock end of each elevator power... reports have been received on the elevator power control units (PCUs) where the shaft (tailstock) swaged...

  9. Neurofeedback Treatment in Autism. Preliminary Findings in Behavioral, Cognitive, and Neurophysiological Functioning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kouijzer, Mirjam E. J.; van Schie, Hein T.; de Moor, Jan M. H.; Gerrits, Berrie J. L.; Buitelaar, Jan K.

    2010-01-01

    Effects of neurofeedback treatment were investigated in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Sixty percent of the participants in the treatment group successfully reduced excessive theta power during neurofeedback treatment. Reduction of theta power was confirmed by pre- and post-QEEG measures. Parents of participants in the…

  10. Method for reducing fuel cell output voltage to permit low power operation

    DOEpatents

    Reiser, Carl A.; Landau, Michael B.

    1980-01-01

    Fuel cell performance is degraded by recycling a portion of the cathode exhaust through the cells and, if necessary, also reducing the total air flow to the cells for the purpose of permitting operation below a power level which would otherwise result in excessive voltage.

  11. Measuring the Power Spectrum with Peculiar Velocities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Macaulay, Edward; Feldman, H. A.; Ferreira, P. G.; Jaffe, A. H.; Agarwal, S.; Hudson, M. J.; Watkins, R.

    2012-01-01

    The peculiar velocities of galaxies are an inherently valuable cosmological probe, providing an unbiased estimate of the distribution of matter on scales much larger than the depth of the survey. Much research interest has been motivated by the high dipole moment of our local peculiar velocity field, which suggests a large scale excess in the matter power spectrum, and can appear to be in some tension with the LCDM model. We use a composite catalogue of 4,537 peculiar velocity measurements with a characteristic depth of 33 h-1 Mpc to estimate the matter power spectrum. We compare the constraints with this method, directly studying the full peculiar velocity catalogue, to results from Macaulay et al. (2011), studying minimum variance moments of the velocity field, as calculated by Watkins, Feldman & Hudson (2009) and Feldman, Watkins & Hudson (2010). We find good agreement with the LCDM model on scales of k > 0.01 h Mpc-1. We find an excess of power on scales of k < 0.01 h Mpc-1, although with a 1 sigma uncertainty which includes the LCDM model. We find that the uncertainty in the excess at these scales is larger than an alternative result studying only moments of the velocity field, which is due to the minimum variance weights used to calculate the moments. At small scales, we are able to clearly discriminate between linear and nonlinear clustering in simulated peculiar velocity catalogues, and find some evidence (although less clear) for linear clustering in the real peculiar velocity data.

  12. Power spectrum estimation from peculiar velocity catalogues

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Macaulay, E.; Feldman, H. A.; Ferreira, P. G.; Jaffe, A. H.; Agarwal, S.; Hudson, M. J.; Watkins, R.

    2012-09-01

    The peculiar velocities of galaxies are an inherently valuable cosmological probe, providing an unbiased estimate of the distribution of matter on scales much larger than the depth of the survey. Much research interest has been motivated by the high dipole moment of our local peculiar velocity field, which suggests a large-scale excess in the matter power spectrum and can appear to be in some tension with the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. We use a composite catalogue of 4537 peculiar velocity measurements with a characteristic depth of 33 h-1 Mpc to estimate the matter power spectrum. We compare the constraints with this method, directly studying the full peculiar velocity catalogue, to results by Macaulay et al., studying minimum variance moments of the velocity field, as calculated by Feldman, Watkins & Hudson. We find good agreement with the ΛCDM model on scales of k > 0.01 h Mpc-1. We find an excess of power on scales of k < 0.01 h Mpc-1 with a 1σ uncertainty which includes the ΛCDM model. We find that the uncertainty in excess at these scales is larger than an alternative result studying only moments of the velocity field, which is due to the minimum variance weights used to calculate the moments. At small scales, we are able to clearly discriminate between linear and non-linear clustering in simulated peculiar velocity catalogues and find some evidence (although less clear) for linear clustering in the real peculiar velocity data.

  13. 75 FR 16171 - Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of Modification of Existing Computer Matching Program Between the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-31

    ... program for the purpose of income verifications and computer matching. DATES: Effective Date: The... additional verification to identify inappropriate (excess or insufficient) rental assistance, and perhaps... Act, the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, and the Quality...

  14. Fiber optic configurations for local area networks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nassehi, M. M.; Tobagi, F. A.; Marhic, M. E.

    1985-01-01

    A number of fiber optic configurations for a new class of demand assignment multiple-access local area networks requiring a physical ordering among stations are proposed. In such networks, the data transmission and linear-ordering functions may be distinguished and be provided by separate data and control subnetworks. The configurations proposed for the data subnetwork are based on the linear, star, and tree topologies. To provide the linear-ordering function, the control subnetwork must always have a linear unidirectional bus structure. Due to the reciprocity and excess loss of optical couplers, the number of stations that can be accommodated on a linear fiber optic bus is severely limited. Two techniques are proposed to overcome this limitation. For each of the data and control subnetwork configurations, the maximum number of stations as a function of the power margin, for both reciprocal and nonreciprocal couplers, is computed.

  15. The isostatic state of the lunar Apennines and regional surroundings

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ferrari, A. J.; Sjogren, W. L.; Phillips, R. J.; Nelson, D. L.

    1978-01-01

    High-resolution gravity and topography data taken over the Apennine Mountains have been used to compute their isostatic state. Results show that the Apennines are uncompensated; thus this state implies that the lunar crust and upper mantle have been strong enough over 3.9 b.y. to support the load exerted by this topographic excess. The Apennines produce a maximum shear stress of 60 bars at a depth of 60 km. A lower bound on the lunar crustal viscosity of 10 to the 27th power P is calculated on the basis of the assumption of a 10% relaxation over 3.9 b.y. Studies of a broad negative regional anomaly located between Maria Serenitatis and Imbrium necessitate a locally thicker crust to satisfy the observed data. This anomaly may have been produced by a lateral transport of crustal material from beneath the giant impact basins as a result of rebound at the crust-mantle interface.

  16. NASA Lewis Helps Company With New Single-Engine Business Turbojet

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1998-01-01

    Century Aerospace Corporation, a small company in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is developing a six-seat aircraft powered by a single turbofan engine for general aviation. The company had completed a preliminary design of the jet but needed analyses and testing to proceed with detailed design and subsequent fabrication of a prototype aircraft. NASA Lewis Research Center used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses to ferret out areas of excessive curvature in the inlet where separation might occur. A preliminary look at the results indicated very good inlet performance; and additional calculations, performed with vortex generators installed in the inlet, led to even better results. When it was initially determined that the airflow distortion pattern at the compressor face fell outside of the limits set by the engine manufacturer, the Lewis team studied possible solutions, selected the best, and provided recommendations. CFD results for the inlet system were so good that wind tunnel tests were unnecessary.

  17. Coherent dynamics of a telecom-wavelength entangled photon source.

    PubMed

    Ward, M B; Dean, M C; Stevenson, R M; Bennett, A J; Ellis, D J P; Cooper, K; Farrer, I; Nicoll, C A; Ritchie, D A; Shields, A J

    2014-01-01

    Quantum networks can interconnect remote quantum information processors, allowing interaction between different architectures and increasing net computational power. Fibre-optic telecommunications technology offers a practical platform for routing weakly interacting photonic qubits, allowing quantum correlations and entanglement to be established between distant nodes. Although entangled photons have been produced at telecommunications wavelengths using spontaneous parametric downconversion in nonlinear media, as system complexity increases their inherent excess photon generation will become limiting. Here we demonstrate entangled photon pair generation from a semiconductor quantum dot at a telecommunications wavelength. Emitted photons are intrinsically anti-bunched and violate Bell's inequality by 17 standard deviations High-visibility oscillations of the biphoton polarization reveal the time evolution of the emitted state with exceptional clarity, exposing long coherence times. Furthermore, we introduce a method to evaluate the fidelity to a time-evolving Bell state, revealing entanglement between photons emitted up to 5 ns apart, exceeding the exciton lifetime.

  18. Solar powered actuator with continuously variable auxiliary power control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nola, F. J. (Inventor)

    1984-01-01

    A solar powered system is disclosed in which a load such as a compressor is driven by a main induction motor powered by a solar array. An auxiliary motor shares the load with the solar powered motor in proportion to the amount of sunlight available, is provided with a power factor controller for controlling voltage applied to the auxiliary motor in accordance with the loading on that motor. In one embodiment, when sufficient power is available from the solar cell, the auxiliary motor is driven as a generator by excess power from the main motor so as to return electrical energy to the power company utility lines.

  19. On the Origin of the Soft X-ray excess in radio quiet AGN

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Petrucci, P.; Ursini, F.; Cappi, M.; Bianchi, S.; Matt, G.; De Rosa, A.; Malzac, J.; Henri, G.

    2016-06-01

    Known since the 80s, the origin of the soft X-ray (< 2 keV) emission in excess to the high energy (2-10 keV) power law extrapolation, the so-called soft X-ray excess, is still highly debated. Two models are commonly discussed: relativistically blurred ionized reflection or thermal comptonisation. In some objects the observation of UV-soft X-ray correlation and the absence of clear signature of relativistic broadening, suggests comptonization as the dominant process. We successfully tested this hypothesis during the 2009 broad band monitoring campaign of Mkn 509. The deduced properties of the comptonizing plasma suggest a warm (˜1 keV), moderately thick (tau˜10-20) corona covering a large part of the accretion disk. Interestingly, the disc-corona energetics agree with a passive accretion disc, most of the accretion power being released in the warm corona. In this talk I will present the results obtained applying the same method to a sample of objects selected to have: a) 3 XMM observations b) at least 3 OM filters in use and c) a low (<1.e22 cm-2) neutral absorption. They all agree with a powerful warm corona above a passive or almost passive accretion disk. I will discuss the methodology and the important implications of the results.

  20. Comparison of Photovoltaic Energy Systems for the Solar Village

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-08-01

    power -point-trackIng ( MPPT ) for the array. It also Includes AC and DC contactors, an isolation transformer, and a control system that fully automates...the day when the array is producing power , the battery controller uses excess array power , not needed for household use , to recharge the batteries. As...alone design) The battery controller used Is the Balance of System Specialists, Inc. Power Control Series model *8104820 rated at 48 volt, 20 amp. This

  1. Origins of sharp cosmic-ray electron structures and the DAMPE excess

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Xian-Jun; Wu, Yue-Liang; Zhang, Wei-Hong; Zhou, Yu-Feng

    2018-05-01

    Nearby sources may contribute to cosmic-ray electron (CRE) structures at high energies. Recently, the first DAMPE results on the CRE flux hinted at a narrow excess at energy ˜1.4 TeV . We show that in general a spectral structure with a narrow width appears in two scenarios. The first is spectrum broadening for the continuous sources with a δ -function-like injection spectrum. In this scenario, a finite width can develop after propagation through the Galaxy, which can reveal the distance of the source. Well-motivated sources include minispikes and subhalos formed by dark matter (DM) particles χs which annihilate directly into e+e- pairs. The second is phase-space shrinking for burstlike sources with a power-law-like injection spectrum. The spectrum after propagation can shrink at a cooling-related cutoff energy and form a sharp spectral peak. The peak can be more prominent due to the energy-dependent diffusion. In this scenario, the width of the excess constrains both the power index and the distance of the source. Possible such sources are pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) and supernova remnants (SNRs). We analysis the DAMPE excess and find that the continuous DM sources should be fairly close within ˜0.3 kpc , and the annihilation cross sections are close to the thermal value. For the burstlike source, the narrow width of the excess suggests that the injection spectrum must be hard with power index significantly less than two, the distance is within ˜(3 - 4 ) kpc , and the age of the source is ˜0.16 Myr . In both scenarios, large anisotropies in the CRE flux are predicted. We identify possible candidates of minispike and PWN sources in the current Fermi-LAT 3FGL and ATNF catalog, respectively. The diffuse γ -rays from these sources can be well below the Galactic diffuse γ -ray backgrounds and less constrained by the Fermi-LAT data, if they are located at the low Galactic latitude regions.

  2. "Using Power Tables to Compute Statistical Power in Multilevel Experimental Designs"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Konstantopoulos, Spyros

    2009-01-01

    Power computations for one-level experimental designs that assume simple random samples are greatly facilitated by power tables such as those presented in Cohen's book about statistical power analysis. However, in education and the social sciences experimental designs have naturally nested structures and multilevel models are needed to compute the…

  3. In Vivo Simulator for Microwave Treatment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Arndt, G. Dickey (Inventor); Carl, James R. (Inventor); Raffoul, George W. (Inventor); Karasack, Vincent G. (Inventor); Pacifico, Antonio (Inventor); Pieper, Carl F. (Inventor)

    2001-01-01

    Method and apparatus are provided for propagating microwave energy into heart tissues to produce a desired temperature profile therein at tissue depths sufficient for thermally ablating arrhythmogenic cardiac tissue to treat ventricular tachycardia and other arrhythmias while preventing excessive heating of surrounding tissues, organs, and blood. A wide bandwidth double-disk antenna is effective for this purpose over a bandwidth of about 6 GHz. A computer simulation provides initial screening capabilities for an antenna such as antenna. frequency, power level, and power application duration. The simulation also allows optimization of techniques for specific patients or conditions. In operation, microwave energy between about 1 GHz and 12 GHz is applied to monopole microwave radiator having a surface wave limiter. A test setup provides physical testing of microwave radiators to determine the temperature profile created in actual heart tissue or ersatz heart tissue. Saline solution pumped over the heart tissue with a peristaltic pump simulates blood flow. Optical temperature sensors disposed at various tissue depths within the heart tissue detect the temperature profile without creating any electromagnetic interference. The method may be used to produce a desired temperature profile in other body tissues reachable by catheter such as tumors and the like.

  4. Transcatheter Antenna For Microwave Treatment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Arndt, G. Dickey (Inventor); Carl, James R. (Inventor); Raffoul, George W. (Inventor); Karasack, Vincent G. (Inventor); Pacifico, Antonio (Inventor); Pieper, Carl F. (Inventor)

    2000-01-01

    Method and apparatus are provided for propagating microwave energy into heart tissues to produce a desired temperature profile therein at tissue depths sufficient for thermally ablating arrhythmogenic cardiac tissue to treat ventricular tachycardia and other arrhythmias while preventing excessive heating of surrounding tissues, organs, and blood. A wide bandwidth double-disk antenna is effective for this purpose over a bandwidth of about six gigahertz. A computer simulation provides initial screening capabilities for an antenna such as antenna, frequency, power level, and power application duration. The simulation also allows optimization of techniques for specific patients or conditions. In operation, microwave energy between about 1 Gigahertz and 12 Gigahertz is applied to monopole microwave radiation having a surface wave limiter. A test setup provides physical testing of microwave radiators to determine the temperature profile created in actual heart tissue or ersatz heart tissue. Saline solution pumped over the heart tissue with a peristaltic pump simulates blood flow. Optical temperature sensors disposed at various tissue depths within the heart tissue detect the temperature profile without creating any electromagnetic interference. The method may he used to produce a desired temperature profile in other body tissues reachable by catheter such as tumors and the like.

  5. Microwave Treatment for Cardiac Arrhythmias

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Arndt, G. Dickey (Inventor); Carl, James R. (Inventor); Raffoul, George W. (Inventor); Pacifico, Antonio (Inventor)

    1999-01-01

    Method and apparatus are provided for propagating microwave energy into heart tissues to produce a desired temperature profile therein at tissue depths sufficient for thermally ablating arrhythmogenic cardiac tissue to treat ventricular tachycardia and other arrhythmias while preventing excessive heating of surrounding tissues, organs, and blood. A wide bandwidth double-disk antenna is effective for this purpose over a bandwidth of about six gigahertz. A computer simulation provides initial screening capabilities for an antenna such as antenna, frequency, power level, and power application duration. The simulation also allows optimization of techniques for specific patients or conditions. In operation, microwave energy between about 1 Gigahertz and 12 Gigahertz is applied to monopole microwave radiator having a surface wave limiter. A test setup provides physical testing of microwave radiators to determine the temperature profile created in actual heart tissue or ersatz heart tissue. Saline solution pumped over the heart tissue with a peristaltic pump simulates blood flow. Optical temperature sensors disposed at various tissue depths within the heart tissue detect the temperature profile without creating any electromagnetic interference. The method may be used to produce a desired temperature profile in other body tissues reachable by catheter such as tumors and the like.

  6. KSC-2011-7894

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-11-17

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, spacecraft technicians in the Vertical Integration Facility prepare to install the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission on the Curiosity rover. The MMRTG is enclosed in a protective mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: Department of Energy/Idaho National Laboratory

  7. Performance Assessment of the Commercial CFD Software for the Prediction of the Reactor Internal Flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Gong Hee; Bang, Young Seok; Woo, Sweng Woong; Kim, Do Hyeong; Kang, Min Ku

    2014-06-01

    As the computer hardware technology develops the license applicants for nuclear power plant use the commercial CFD software with the aim of reducing the excessive conservatism associated with using simplified and conservative analysis tools. Even if some of CFD software developer and its user think that a state of the art CFD software can be used to solve reasonably at least the single-phase nuclear reactor problems, there is still limitation and uncertainty in the calculation result. From a regulatory perspective, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) is presently conducting the performance assessment of the commercial CFD software for nuclear reactor problems. In this study, in order to examine the validity of the results of 1/5 scaled APR+ (Advanced Power Reactor Plus) flow distribution tests and the applicability of CFD in the analysis of reactor internal flow, the simulation was conducted with the two commercial CFD software (ANSYS CFX V.14 and FLUENT V.14) among the numerous commercial CFD software and was compared with the measurement. In addition, what needs to be improved in CFD for the accurate simulation of reactor core inlet flow was discussed.

  8. Benchmarking multimedia performance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zandi, Ahmad; Sudharsanan, Subramania I.

    1998-03-01

    With the introduction of faster processors and special instruction sets tailored to multimedia, a number of exciting applications are now feasible on the desktops. Among these is the DVD playback consisting, among other things, of MPEG-2 video and Dolby digital audio or MPEG-2 audio. Other multimedia applications such as video conferencing and speech recognition are also becoming popular on computer systems. In view of this tremendous interest in multimedia, a group of major computer companies have formed, Multimedia Benchmarks Committee as part of Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. to address the performance issues of multimedia applications. The approach is multi-tiered with three tiers of fidelity from minimal to full compliant. In each case the fidelity of the bitstream reconstruction as well as quality of the video or audio output are measured and the system is classified accordingly. At the next step the performance of the system is measured. In many multimedia applications such as the DVD playback the application needs to be run at a specific rate. In this case the measurement of the excess processing power, makes all the difference. All these make a system level, application based, multimedia benchmark very challenging. Several ideas and methodologies for each aspect of the problems will be presented and analyzed.

  9. A Computational Study on Porosity Evolution in Parts Produced by Selective Laser Melting

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tan, J. L.; Tang, C.; Wong, C. H.

    2018-06-01

    Selective laser melting (SLM) is a powder-bed additive manufacturing process that uses laser to melt powders, layer by layer to generate a functional 3D part. There are many different parameters, such as laser power, scanning speed, and layer thickness, which play a role in determining the quality of the printed part. These parameters contribute to the energy density applied on the powder bed. Defects arise when insufficient or excess energy density is applied. A common defect in these cases is the presence of porosity. This paper studies the formation of porosities when inappropriate energy densities are used. A computational model was developed to simulate the melting and solidification process of SS316L powders in the SLM process. Three different sets of process parameters were used to produce 800-µm-long melt tracks, and the characteristics of the porosities were analyzed. It was found that when low energy density parameters were used, the pores were found to be irregular in shapes and were located near the top surface of the powder bed. However, when high energy density parameters were used, the pores were either elliptical or spherical in shapes and were usually located near the bottom of the keyholes.

  10. Universality of market superstatistics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Denys, Mateusz; Gubiec, Tomasz; Kutner, Ryszard; Jagielski, Maciej; Stanley, H. Eugene

    2016-10-01

    We use a key concept of the continuous-time random walk formalism, i.e., continuous and fluctuating interevent times in which mutual dependence is taken into account, to model market fluctuation data when traders experience excessive (or superthreshold) losses or excessive (or superthreshold) profits. We analytically derive a class of "superstatistics" that accurately model empirical market activity data supplied by Bogachev, Ludescher, Tsallis, and Bunde that exhibit transition thresholds. We measure the interevent times between excessive losses and excessive profits and use the mean interevent discrete (or step) time as a control variable to derive a universal description of empirical data collapse. Our dominant superstatistic value is a power-law corrected by the lower incomplete gamma function, which asymptotically tends toward robustness but initially gives an exponential. We find that the scaling shape exponent that drives our superstatistics subordinates itself and a "superscaling" configuration emerges. Thanks to the Weibull copula function, our approach reproduces the empirically proven dependence between successive interevent times. We also use the approach to calculate a dynamic risk function and hence the dynamic VaR, which is significant in financial risk analysis. Our results indicate that there is a functional (but not literal) balance between excessive profits and excessive losses that can be described using the same body of superstatistics but different calibration values and driving parameters. We also extend our original approach to cover empirical seismic activity data (e.g., given by Corral), the interevent times of which range from minutes to years. Superpositioned superstatistics is another class of superstatistics that protects power-law behavior both for short- and long-time behaviors. These behaviors describe well the collapse of seismic activity data and capture so-called volatility clustering phenomena.

  11. Proposal for grid computing for nuclear applications

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

    Idris, Faridah Mohamad; Ismail, Saaidi; Haris, Mohd Fauzi B.

    2014-02-12

    The use of computer clusters for computational sciences including computational physics is vital as it provides computing power to crunch big numbers at a faster rate. In compute intensive applications that requires high resolution such as Monte Carlo simulation, the use of computer clusters in a grid form that supplies computational power to any nodes within the grid that needs computing power, has now become a necessity. In this paper, we described how the clusters running on a specific application could use resources within the grid, to run the applications to speed up the computing process.

  12. Excess electrons in methanol clusters: Beyond the one-electron picture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pohl, Gábor; Mones, Letif; Turi, László

    2016-10-01

    We performed a series of comparative quantum chemical calculations on various size negatively charged methanol clusters, ("separators=" CH 3 OH ) n - . The clusters are examined in their optimized geometries (n = 2-4), and in geometries taken from mixed quantum-classical molecular dynamics simulations at finite temperature (n = 2-128). These latter structures model potential electron binding sites in methanol clusters and in bulk methanol. In particular, we compute the vertical detachment energy (VDE) of an excess electron from increasing size methanol cluster anions using quantum chemical computations at various levels of theory including a one-electron pseudopotential model, several density functional theory (DFT) based methods, MP2 and coupled-cluster CCSD(T) calculations. The results suggest that at least four methanol molecules are needed to bind an excess electron on a hydrogen bonded methanol chain in a dipole bound state. Larger methanol clusters are able to form stronger interactions with an excess electron. The two simulated excess electron binding motifs in methanol clusters, interior and surface states, correlate well with distinct, experimentally found VDE tendencies with size. Interior states in a solvent cavity are stabilized significantly stronger than electron states on cluster surfaces. Although we find that all the examined quantum chemistry methods more or less overestimate the strength of the experimental excess electron stabilization, MP2, LC-BLYP, and BHandHLYP methods with diffuse basis sets provide a significantly better estimate of the VDE than traditional DFT methods (BLYP, B3LYP, X3LYP, PBE0). A comparison to the better performing many electron methods indicates that the examined one-electron pseudopotential can be reasonably used in simulations for systems of larger size.

  13. Excess electrons in methanol clusters: Beyond the one-electron picture.

    PubMed

    Pohl, Gábor; Mones, Letif; Turi, László

    2016-10-28

    We performed a series of comparative quantum chemical calculations on various size negatively charged methanol clusters, CH 3 OH n - . The clusters are examined in their optimized geometries (n = 2-4), and in geometries taken from mixed quantum-classical molecular dynamics simulations at finite temperature (n = 2-128). These latter structures model potential electron binding sites in methanol clusters and in bulk methanol. In particular, we compute the vertical detachment energy (VDE) of an excess electron from increasing size methanol cluster anions using quantum chemical computations at various levels of theory including a one-electron pseudopotential model, several density functional theory (DFT) based methods, MP2 and coupled-cluster CCSD(T) calculations. The results suggest that at least four methanol molecules are needed to bind an excess electron on a hydrogen bonded methanol chain in a dipole bound state. Larger methanol clusters are able to form stronger interactions with an excess electron. The two simulated excess electron binding motifs in methanol clusters, interior and surface states, correlate well with distinct, experimentally found VDE tendencies with size. Interior states in a solvent cavity are stabilized significantly stronger than electron states on cluster surfaces. Although we find that all the examined quantum chemistry methods more or less overestimate the strength of the experimental excess electron stabilization, MP2, LC-BLYP, and BHandHLYP methods with diffuse basis sets provide a significantly better estimate of the VDE than traditional DFT methods (BLYP, B3LYP, X3LYP, PBE0). A comparison to the better performing many electron methods indicates that the examined one-electron pseudopotential can be reasonably used in simulations for systems of larger size.

  14. WE-EF-303-10: Single- Detector Proton Radiography as a Portal Imaging Equivalent for Proton Therapy

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

    Doolan, P; Bentefour, E; Testa, M

    2015-06-15

    Purpose: In proton therapy, patient alignment is of critical importance due to the sensitivity of the proton range to tissue heterogeneities. Traditionally proton radiography is used for verification of the water-equivalent path length (WEPL), which dictates the depth protons reach. In this work we propose its use for alignment. Additionally, many new proton centers have cone-beam computed tomography in place of beamline X-ray imaging and so proton radiography offers a unique patient alignment verification similar to portal imaging in photon therapy. Method: Proton radiographs of a CIRS head phantom were acquired using the Beam Imaging System (BIS) (IBA, Louvain-la-Neuve) inmore » a horizontal beamline. A scattered beam was produced using a small, dedicated, range modulator (RM) wheel fabricated out of aluminum. The RM wheel was rotated slowly (20 sec/rev) using a stepper motor to compensate for the frame rate of the BIS (120 ms). Dose rate functions (DRFs) over two RM wheel rotations were acquired. Calibration was made with known thicknesses of homogeneous solid water. For each pixel the time width, skewness and kurtosis of the DRFs were computed. The time width was used to compute the object WEPL. In the heterogeneous phantom, the excess skewness and excess kurtosis (i.e. difference from homogeneous cases) were computed and assessed for suitability for patient set up. Results: The technique allowed for the simultaneous production of images that can be used for WEPL verification, showing few internal details, and excess skewness and kurtosis images that can be used for soft tissue alignment. These latter images highlight areas where range mixing has occurred, correlating with phantom heterogeneities. Conclusion: The excess skewness and kurtosis images contain details that are not visible in the WET images. These images, unique to the time-resolved proton radiographic method, could be used for patient set up according to soft tissues.« less

  15. Design and assembly of an 8 tesla whole-body MR scanner.

    PubMed

    Robitaille, P M; Warner, R; Jagadeesh, J; Abduljalil, A M; Kangarlu, A; Burgess, R E; Yu, Y; Yang, L; Zhu, H; Jiang, Z; Bailey, R E; Chung, W; Somawiharja, Y; Feynan, P; Rayner, D L

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to describe the design and construction of an 8 T/80 cm whole-body MRI system operating at 340 MHz. The 8 T/80 cm magnet was constructed from 414 km of niobium titanium superconducting wire. The winding of this wire on four aluminum formers resulted in a total inductance of 4,155 H. Gradient subsystems included either a body gradient or a head gradient along with a removable shim insert. The magnet and gradient subsystems were interfaced to two spectrometers. These provided the control of the gradient amplifiers and the two sets of four RF power amplifiers. The latter provide in excess of 8 kW of RF power from 10 to 140 MHz and 10 kW of RF power from 245 to 345 MHz. A dedicated computer-controlled patient table was designed and assembled. The entire system is located in a clinical setting, facilitating patient-based studies. The 8 T/80 cm magnet was energized without complication and achieved persistent operation using 198.9 A of current, thereby storing 81.5 MJ of magnetic energy. Exceptional performance was observed for nearly all components both in isolation and when combined within the complete system. An 8 T/80 cm MRI system has been assembled. The magnet subsystem is extremely stable and is characterized by good homogeneity and acceptable boil-off rates.

  16. Two Regimes of Turbulent Fragmentation and the Stellar Initial Mass Function from Primordial to Present-Day Star Formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Padoan, Paolo; Nordlund, Åke; Kritsuk, Alexei G.; Norman, Michael L.; Li, Pak Shing

    2007-06-01

    The Padoan and Nordlund model of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is derived from low-order statistics of supersonic turbulence, neglecting gravity (e.g., gravitational fragmentation, accretion, and merging). In this work, the predictions of that model are tested using the largest numerical experiments of supersonic hydrodynamic (HD) and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence to date (~10003 computational zones) and three different codes (Enzo, Zeus, and the Stagger code). The model predicts a power-law distribution for large masses, related to the turbulence-energy power-spectrum slope and the shock-jump conditions. This power-law mass distribution is confirmed by the numerical experiments. The model also predicts a sharp difference between the HD and MHD regimes, which is recovered in the experiments as well, implying that the magnetic field, even below energy equipartition on the large scale, is a crucial component of the process of turbulent fragmentation. These results suggest that the stellar IMF of primordial stars may differ from that in later epochs of star formation, due to differences in both gas temperature and magnetic field strength. In particular, we find that the IMF of primordial stars born in turbulent clouds may be narrowly peaked around a mass of order 10 Msolar, as long as the column density of such clouds is not much in excess of 1022 cm-2.

  17. A computationally identified compound antagonizes excess FGF-23 signaling in renal tubules and a mouse model of hypophosphatemia

    DOE PAGES

    Xiao, Zhousheng; Riccardi, Demian; Velazquez, Hector A.; ...

    2016-11-22

    Fibroblast growth factor–23 (FGF-23) interacts with a binary receptor complex composed of α-Klotho (α-KL) and FGF receptors (FGFRs) to regulate phosphate and vitamin D metabolism in the kidney. Excess FGF-23 production, which causes hypophosphatemia, is genetically inherited or occurs with chronic kidney disease. Among other symptoms, hypophosphatemia causes vitamin D deficiency and the bone-softening disorder rickets. Current therapeutics that target the receptor complex have limited utility clinically. In this paper, using a computationally driven, structure-based, ensemble docking and virtual high-throughput screening approach, we identified four novel compounds predicted to selectively inhibit FGF-23–induced activation of the FGFR/α-KL complex. Additional modeling andmore » functional analysis found that Zinc13407541 bound to FGF-23 and disrupted its interaction with the FGFR1/α-KL complex; experiments in a heterologous cell expression system showed that Zinc13407541 selectivity inhibited α-KL–dependent FGF-23 signaling. Zinc13407541 also inhibited FGF-23 signaling in isolated renal tubules ex vivo and partially reversed the hypophosphatemic effects of excess FGF-23 in a mouse model. Finally, these chemical probes provide a platform to develop lead compounds to treat disorders caused by excess FGF-23.« less

  18. A computationally identified compound antagonizes excess FGF-23 signaling in renal tubules and a mouse model of hypophosphatemia.

    PubMed

    Xiao, Zhousheng; Riccardi, Demian; Velazquez, Hector A; Chin, Ai L; Yates, Charles R; Carrick, Jesse D; Smith, Jeremy C; Baudry, Jerome; Quarles, L Darryl

    2016-11-22

    Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) interacts with a binary receptor complex composed of α-Klotho (α-KL) and FGF receptors (FGFRs) to regulate phosphate and vitamin D metabolism in the kidney. Excess FGF-23 production, which causes hypophosphatemia, is genetically inherited or occurs with chronic kidney disease. Among other symptoms, hypophosphatemia causes vitamin D deficiency and the bone-softening disorder rickets. Current therapeutics that target the receptor complex have limited utility clinically. Using a computationally driven, structure-based, ensemble docking and virtual high-throughput screening approach, we identified four novel compounds predicted to selectively inhibit FGF-23-induced activation of the FGFR/α-KL complex. Additional modeling and functional analysis found that Zinc13407541 bound to FGF-23 and disrupted its interaction with the FGFR1/α-KL complex; experiments in a heterologous cell expression system showed that Zinc13407541 selectivity inhibited α-KL-dependent FGF-23 signaling. Zinc13407541 also inhibited FGF-23 signaling in isolated renal tubules ex vivo and partially reversed the hypophosphatemic effects of excess FGF-23 in a mouse model. These chemical probes provide a platform to develop lead compounds to treat disorders caused by excess FGF-23. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  19. A computationally identified compound antagonizes excess FGF-23 signaling in renal tubules and a mouse model of hypophosphatemia

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

    Xiao, Zhousheng; Riccardi, Demian; Velazquez, Hector A.

    Fibroblast growth factor–23 (FGF-23) interacts with a binary receptor complex composed of α-Klotho (α-KL) and FGF receptors (FGFRs) to regulate phosphate and vitamin D metabolism in the kidney. Excess FGF-23 production, which causes hypophosphatemia, is genetically inherited or occurs with chronic kidney disease. Among other symptoms, hypophosphatemia causes vitamin D deficiency and the bone-softening disorder rickets. Current therapeutics that target the receptor complex have limited utility clinically. In this paper, using a computationally driven, structure-based, ensemble docking and virtual high-throughput screening approach, we identified four novel compounds predicted to selectively inhibit FGF-23–induced activation of the FGFR/α-KL complex. Additional modeling andmore » functional analysis found that Zinc13407541 bound to FGF-23 and disrupted its interaction with the FGFR1/α-KL complex; experiments in a heterologous cell expression system showed that Zinc13407541 selectivity inhibited α-KL–dependent FGF-23 signaling. Zinc13407541 also inhibited FGF-23 signaling in isolated renal tubules ex vivo and partially reversed the hypophosphatemic effects of excess FGF-23 in a mouse model. Finally, these chemical probes provide a platform to develop lead compounds to treat disorders caused by excess FGF-23.« less

  20. Broadband spectral study of the jet-disc emission in the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0323+342

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghosh, Ritesh; Dewangan, Gulab C.; Mallick, Labani; Raychaudhuri, Biplab

    2018-06-01

    We present a broadband spectral study of the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0323+342 based on multi-epoch observations performed with NuSTAR on 2014 March 15, and two simultaneous observations performed with Suzaku and Swift on 2009 July 26 and 2013 March 1. We found the presence of a strong soft X-ray excess emission, a broad but weak Fe line and hard X-ray excess emission. We used the blurred reflection (relxill) and the intrinsic disc Comptonization (optxagnf), two physically motivated models, to describe the broadband spectra and to disentangle the disk/corona and jet emission. The relxill model is mainly constrained by the strong soft X-ray excess although the model failed to predict this excess when fitted above 3{keV} and extrapolated to lower energies. The joint spectral analysis of the three datasets above 3{keV} with this model resulted in a high black hole spin (a > 0.9) and moderate reflection fraction R ˜ 0.5. The optxagnf model fitted to the two simultaneous datasets resulted in an excess emission in the UV band. The simultaneous UV-to-hard X-ray spectra of 1H 0323+342 are best described by a model consisting of a primary X-ray power-law continuum with Γ ˜ 1.8, a blurred reflection component with R ˜ 0.5, Comptonised disk emission as the soft X-ray excess, optical/UV emission from a standard accretion disk around a black hole of mass ˜107M⊙ and a steep power law (Γ ˜ 3 - 3.5) component, most likely the jet emission in the UV band. The fractional RMS variability spectra suggest that both the soft excess and the powerlaw component are variable in nature.

  1. Radiation Power as Function of Current in Wall-stabilized AC Arc of Water-cooled Vortex Type with Small Caliber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Iwao, Toru; Naito, Yuto; Shimizu, Yuta; Yamamoto, Shinji

    2016-10-01

    The problem of an emergency large-scale lighting with the high-intensity discharge (HID) lamp is the lack of radiation intensity because of inappropriate energy balance. Some researchers have researched that the radiation power depended on the arc temperature increases with increasing the current. However, the heat loss and the erosion of the electrode as well as the radiation power increases with increasing the current excessively. AC current replaces alternately the cathode and the anode. Thus, it is possible to avoid the concentration of the heat transfer to the anode. Moreover, the lamp efficiency decreases with increasing the current excessively because of ultra violet rays increment. It is necessary to control the temperature distribution with controlling the current and radius. In this paper, the radiation power as a function of the current in the wall-stabilized AC arc of water-cooled vortex type with small caliber was measured. As a result, the radiation power increased with increasing the current and appropriate wall radius. The radiation of AC arc is smaller than it of DC arc. And, the erosion of electrode decreases.

  2. Energy storage and thermal control system design status

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Simons, Stephen N.; Willhoite, Bryan C.; Vanommering, Gert

    1989-01-01

    The Space Station Freedom electric power system (EPS) will initially rely on photovoltaics for power generation and Ni/H2 batteries for electrical energy storage. The current design for and the development status of two major subsystems in the PV Power Module is discussed. The energy storage subsystem comprised of high capacity Ni/H2 batteries and the single-phase thermal control system that rejects the excess heat generated by the batteries and other components associated with power generation and storage is described.

  3. Photovoltaic energy converter as a chipscale high efficiency power source for implanted active microelectronic devices.

    PubMed

    Hwang, N-J; Patterson, W R; Song, Y-K; Atay, T; Nurmikko, A V

    2004-01-01

    We report the development of a microscale photovoltaic energy converter which has been designed and implemented to deliver power to CMOS-based microelectronic chips. The design targets the delivery of voltages on the order of 3V with power levels in excess of 10 mW. The geometry of the prototype device, which has been fabricated and tested, is specifically designed for coupling to an optical fiber, to facilitate remote power delivery in implantable component environment.

  4. 14 CFR 23.1091 - Air induction system.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... and their accessories must supply the air required by that engine and auxiliary power unit and their... cowling if the emergence of backfire flames will result in a hazard. (3) The supplying of air to the engine through the alternate air intake system may not result in a loss of excessive power in addition to...

  5. 75 FR 15430 - Notice of Public Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-29

    ... respondents; 409,048 responses. Estimated Time Per Response: .033 hours Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping... previous estimates. Section 90.215 requires station licensees to measure the carrier frequency, output power, and modulation of each transmitter authorized to operate with power in excess of two watts when...

  6. Design of Excess 3 to BCD code converter using electro-optic effect of Mach-Zehnder Interferometers for efficient data transmission

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, Santosh; Chanderkanta; Amphawan, Angela

    2016-04-01

    Excess 3 code is one of the most important codes used for efficient data storage and transmission. It is a non-weighted code and also known as self complimenting code. In this paper, a four bit optical Excess 3 to BCD code converter is proposed using electro-optic effect inside lithium-niobate based Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs). The MZI structures have powerful capability to switching an optical input signal to a desired output port. The paper constitutes a mathematical description of the proposed device and thereafter simulation using MATLAB. The study is verified using beam propagation method (BPM).

  7. Computer Power: Part 1: Distribution of Power (and Communications).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Price, Bennett J.

    1988-01-01

    Discussion of the distribution of power to personal computers and computer terminals addresses options such as extension cords, perimeter raceways, and interior raceways. Sidebars explain: (1) the National Electrical Code; (2) volts, amps, and watts; (3) transformers, circuit breakers, and circuits; and (4) power vs. data wiring. (MES)

  8. 47 CFR 15.102 - CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... computers. 15.102 Section 15.102 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL RADIO FREQUENCY DEVICES Unintentional Radiators § 15.102 CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers. (a... modifications that must be made to a personal computer, peripheral device, CPU board or power supply during...

  9. 47 CFR 15.102 - CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... computers. 15.102 Section 15.102 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL RADIO FREQUENCY DEVICES Unintentional Radiators § 15.102 CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers. (a... modifications that must be made to a personal computer, peripheral device, CPU board or power supply during...

  10. 47 CFR 15.102 - CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... computers. 15.102 Section 15.102 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL RADIO FREQUENCY DEVICES Unintentional Radiators § 15.102 CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers. (a... modifications that must be made to a personal computer, peripheral device, CPU board or power supply during...

  11. 47 CFR 15.102 - CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... computers. 15.102 Section 15.102 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL RADIO FREQUENCY DEVICES Unintentional Radiators § 15.102 CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers. (a... modifications that must be made to a personal computer, peripheral device, CPU board or power supply during...

  12. 47 CFR 15.102 - CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... computers. 15.102 Section 15.102 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL RADIO FREQUENCY DEVICES Unintentional Radiators § 15.102 CPU boards and power supplies used in personal computers. (a... modifications that must be made to a personal computer, peripheral device, CPU board or power supply during...

  13. An investigation of the use of discharge valves and an intake control for improving the performance of N.A.C.A. Roots type supercharger

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schey, Oscar W; Wilson, Ernest E

    1929-01-01

    This report presents the results of an analytical investigation on the practicability of using mechanically operated discharge valves in conjunction with a manually operated intake control for improving the performance of N. A. C. A. Roots type superchargers. These valves, which may be either of the oscillating or rotating type, are placed in the discharge opening of the supercharger and are so shaped and synchronized with the supercharger impellers that they do not open until the air has been compressed to the delivery pressure. The intake control limits the quantity of air compressed to engine requirements by permitting the excess air to escape from the compression chamber before compression begins. The percentage power saving and the actual horsepower saved were computed for altitudes from 0 to 20,000 feet. These computations are based on the pressure-volume cards for the conventional and the modified roots type superchargers and on the results of laboratory tests of the conventional type. The use of discharge valves shows a power saving of approximately 26 per cent at a critical altitude of 20,000 feet. In addition, these valves reduce the amplitude of the discharge pulsations and increase the volumetric efficiency. With slow-speed roots blowers operating at high-pressure differences even better results would be expected. For aircraft engine superchargers operating at high speeds these discharge valves increase the performance as above, but have the disadvantages of increasing the weight and of adding a high-speed mechanism to a simple machine. (author)

  14. Prevalence of excessive screen time and associated factors in adolescents

    PubMed Central

    de Lucena, Joana Marcela Sales; Cheng, Luanna Alexandra; Cavalcante, Thaísa Leite Mafaldo; da Silva, Vanessa Araújo; de Farias, José Cazuza

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To determine the prevalence of excessive screen time and to analyze associated factors among adolescents. Methods: This was a cross-sectional school-based epidemiological study with 2874 high school adolescents with age 14-19 years (57.8% female) from public and private schools in the city of João Pessoa, PB, Northeast Brazil. Excessive screen time was defined as watching television and playing video games or using the computer for more than 2 h/day. The associated factors analyzed were: sociodemographic (gender, age, economic class, and skin color), physical activity and nutritional status of adolescents. Results: The prevalence of excessive screen time was 79.5% (95%CI 78.1-81.1) and it was higher in males (84.3%) compared to females (76.1%; p<0.001). In multivariate analysis, adolescent males, those aged 14-15 year old and the highest economic class had higher chances of exposure to excessive screen time. The level of physical activity and nutritional status of adolescents were not associated with excessive screen time. Conclusions: The prevalence of excessive screen time was high and varied according to sociodemographic characteristics of adolescents. It is necessary to develop interventions to reduce the excessive screen time among adolescents, particularly in subgroups with higher exposure. PMID:26298661

  15. Information as Power: An Anthology of Selected United States Army War College Student Papers. Volume 6

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-05-01

    Doing stuff” doesn’t sell well without the “so what.” Quickly seizing this fact one skeptic caustically derided, 73Information Effects in the...operations (IO) programs. The Committee has serious concerns about…the significant amount of funding being spent on these programs....The Committee...When assessing operations, JFCs [joint force commanders] and staff’s should avoid excessive analysis. Excessive time and energy spent developing

  16. Measuring excess free energies of self-assembled membrane structures.

    PubMed

    Norizoe, Yuki; Daoulas, Kostas Ch; Müller, Marcus

    2010-01-01

    Using computer simulation of a solvent-free, coarse-grained model for amphiphilic membranes, we study the excess free energy of hourglass-shaped connections (i.e., stalks) between two apposed bilayer membranes. In order to calculate the free energy by simulation in the canonical ensemble, we reversibly transfer two apposed bilayers into a configuration with a stalk in three steps. First, we gradually replace the intermolecular interactions by an external, ordering field. The latter is chosen such that the structure of the non-interacting system in this field closely resembles the structure of the original, interacting system in the absence of the external field. The absence of structural changes along this path suggests that it is reversible; a fact which is confirmed by expanded-ensemble simulations. Second, the external, ordering field is changed as to transform the non-interacting system from the apposed bilayer structure to two-bilayers connected by a stalk. The final external field is chosen such that the structure of the non-interacting system resembles the structure of the stalk in the interacting system without a field. On the third branch of the transformation path, we reversibly replace the external, ordering field by non-bonded interactions. Using expanded-ensemble techniques, the free energy change along this reversible path can be obtained with an accuracy of 10(-3)k(B)T per molecule in the n VT-ensemble. Calculating the chemical potential, we obtain the free energy of a stalk in the grandcanonical ensemble, and employing semi-grandcanonical techniques, we calculate the change of the excess free energy upon altering the molecular architecture. This computational strategy can be applied to compute the free energy of self-assembled phases in lipid and copolymer systems, and the excess free energy of defects or interfaces.

  17. 78 FR 47804 - Verification, Validation, Reviews, and Audits for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-06

    ..., ``Configuration Management Plans for Digital Computer Software used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants... Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory..., Reviews, and Audits for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants.'' This...

  18. Upper Limits on the 21 cm Epoch of Reionization Power Spectrum from One Night with LOFAR

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Patil, A. H.; Yatawatta, S.; Koopmans, L. V. E.; de Bruyn, A. G.; Brentjens, M. A.; Zaroubi, S.; Asad, K. M. B.; Hatef, M.; Jelić, V.; Mevius, M.; Offringa, A. R.; Pandey, V. N.; Vedantham, H.; Abdalla, F. B.; Brouw, W. N.; Chapman, E.; Ciardi, B.; Gehlot, B. K.; Ghosh, A.; Harker, G.; Iliev, I. T.; Kakiichi, K.; Majumdar, S.; Mellema, G.; Silva, M. B.; Schaye, J.; Vrbanec, D.; Wijnholds, S. J.

    2017-03-01

    We present the first limits on the Epoch of Reionization 21 cm H I power spectra, in the redshift range z = 7.9-10.6, using the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) High-Band Antenna (HBA). In total, 13.0 hr of data were used from observations centered on the North Celestial Pole. After subtraction of the sky model and the noise bias, we detect a non-zero {{{Δ }}}{{I}}2={(56+/- 13{mK})}2 (1-σ) excess variance and a best 2-σ upper limit of {{{Δ }}}212< {(79.6{mK})}2 at k = 0.053 h cMpc-1 in the range z = 9.6-10.6. The excess variance decreases when optimizing the smoothness of the direction- and frequency-dependent gain calibration, and with increasing the completeness of the sky model. It is likely caused by (I) residual side-lobe noise on calibration baselines, (II) leverage due to nonlinear effects, (III) noise and ionosphere-induced gain errors, or a combination thereof. Further analyses of the excess variance will be discussed in forthcoming publications.

  19. Harmonic voltage excess problem test and analysis in UHV and EHV grid particular operation mode

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lv, Zhenhua; Shi, Mingming; Fei, Juntao

    2018-02-01

    The test and analysis of the power quality of some 1000kV UHV transmission lines and 500kV EHV transmission lines is carried out. It is found that there is harmonic voltage excess problems when the power supply of the UHV and EHV voltage line is single-ended or single-loop, the problem basically disappeared after the operation mode change, different operating conditions, the harmonic current has not been greatly affected, indicating that the harmonic voltage changes mainly caused by the system harmonic impedance. With the analysis of MATLAB Simulink system model, it can be seen that there are specific harmonic voltage excess in the system under the specific operating mode, which results in serious distortion of the specific harmonic voltage. Since such phenomena are found in 500kV and 1000kV systems, it is suggested that the test evaluation work should be done under the typical mode of operation in 500kV, 1000kV Planning and construction process to prevent the occurrence of serious distortion and the regional harmonic current monitoring and suppression work should be done.

  20. Excess thermodynamics of mixtures involving xenon and light linear alkanes by computer simulation.

    PubMed

    Carvalho, A J Palace; Ramalho, J P Prates; Martins, Luís F G

    2007-06-14

    Excess molar enthalpies and excess molar volumes as a function of composition for liquid mixtures of xenon + ethane (at 161.40 K), xenon + propane (at 161.40 K) and xenon + n-butane (at 182.34 K) have been obtained by Monte Carlo computer simulations and compared with available experimental data. Simulation conditions were chosen to closely match those of the corresponding experimental results. The TraPPE-UA force field was selected among other force fields to model all the alkanes studied, whereas the one-center Lennard-Jones potential from Bohn et al. was used for xenon. The calculated H(m)(E) and V(m)(E) for all systems are negative, increasing in magnitude as the alkane chain length increases. The results for these systems were compared with experimental data and with other theoretical calculations using the SAFT approach. An excellent agreement between simulation and experimental results was found for xenon + ethane system, whereas for the remaining two systems, some deviations that become progressively more significant as the alkane chain length increases were observed.

  1. Step free energies at faceted solid surfaces: Theory and atomistic calculations for steps on the Cu(111) surface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Freitas, Rodrigo; Frolov, Timofey; Asta, Mark

    2017-04-01

    A theory for the thermodynamic properties of steps on faceted crystalline surfaces is presented. The formalism leads to the definition of step excess quantities, including an excess step stress that is the step analogy of surface stress. The approach is used to develop a relationship between the temperature dependence of the step free energy (γst) and step excess quantities for energy and stress that can be readily calculated by atomistic simulations. We demonstrate the application of this formalism in thermodynamic-integration (TI) calculations of the step free energy, based on molecular-dynamics simulations, considering <110 > steps on the {111 } surface of a classical potential model for elemental Cu. In this application we employ the Frenkel-Ladd approach to compute the reference value of γst for the TI calculations. Calculated results for excess energy and stress show relatively weak temperature dependencies up to a homologous temperature of approximately 0.6, above which these quantities increase strongly and the step stress becomes more isotropic. From the calculated excess quantities we compute γst over the temperature range from zero up to the melting point (Tm). We find that γst remains finite up to Tm, indicating the absence of a roughening temperature for this {111 } surface facet, but decreases by roughly fifty percent from the zero-temperature value. The strongest temperature dependence occurs above homologous temperatures of approximately 0.6, where the step becomes configurationally disordered due to the formation of point defects and appreciable capillary fluctuations.

  2. Excess spontaneous emission in non-Hermitian optical systems. I. Laser amplifiers

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

    Siegman, A.E.

    1989-02-01

    Petermann first predicted in 1979 the existence of an excess-spontaneous-emission factor in gain-guided semiconductor lasers. We show that an excess spontaneous emission of this type, and also a correlation between the spontaneous emission into different cavity modes, will in fact be present in all open-sided laser resonators or optical lens guides. These properties arise from the non-self-adjoint or non-power-orthogonal nature of the optical resonator modes. The spontaneous-emission rate is only slightly enhanced in stable-resonator or index-guided structures, but can become very much larger than normal in gain-guided or geometrically unstable structures. Optical resonators or lens guides that have an excessmore » noise emission necessarily also exhibit an ''excess initial-mode excitation factor'' for externally injected signals. As a result, the excess spontaneous emission can be balanced out and the usual quantum-noise limit recovered in laser amplifiers and in injection-seeded laser oscillators, but not in free-running laser oscillators.« less

  3. Self-powered wireless sensor networks for telemedicine applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Polk, Todd William

    Technology advances in wireless sensor networks have made it possible for these tiny systems to enter the realm of ubiquitous or pervasive computing which has been forecast for several years. These nodes, or motes as they are known, typically run off of battery power and when used sparingly can operate in excess of one year. When requirements necessitate higher usage, battery monitoring and replacement becomes a major issue. Large systems can quickly become cost prohibitive. To combat this issue, researchers have looked to energy harvesting to power these motes. However, this research has mainly centered on outdoor solar harvesting to take advantage of higher energy levels provided by the sun. Indoor harvesting has been presented in the past as not feasible. In this dissertation, we present a system that utilizes energy harvested from overhead fluorescent lights to power the infrastructure (routing) nodes of an indoor telemedicine based wireless network. The limitations of indoor harvesting are exploited and leveraged through creative hardware design. A unique message routing protocol has been developed to control these routing nodes and allow continual operation. Standard medical devices have been interfaced to the system to allow wireless transmission of patient data to a central collection point where the data is organized, stored and presented to the user via a graphical user interface (GUI). The range of the system has been extended by interfacing a cellular modem to the system to allow two-way communication between the GUI and a remote healthcare provider. Extensive physical testing has been done to determine the robustness of the system, and the boundary conditions for extremely large networks were tested via simulation.

  4. Would-Be Solar Electric Homeowners Sought For Project

    Science.gov Websites

    photovoltaic power systems connected to local utility grids. A grid-tied rooftop photovoltaic system consists . Excess electricity may be sold back to the utility. At night, or when additional power is needed, the utilities, will assess the market potential and practicality of home photovoltaic systems. The utilities

  5. Computation of unsteady turbomachinery flows: Part 2—LES and hybrids

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tucker, P. G.

    2011-10-01

    The choice of turbulence model can have a strong impact on results for many turbomachinery zones. Palliative corrections to them and also transition modeling can have a further profound solution impact. The spectral gaps necessary for theoretically valid URANS solutions are also lacking in certain turbomachinery zones. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) alleviates the serious area of turbulence modeling uncertainty but with an extreme increase in computational cost. However, there seems a lack of validation data to explore in depth the performance of LES and thus strategies to refine it. LES best practices are needed. Although LES is, obviously, much less model dependent than RANS, grids currently used for more practical simulations are clearly insufficiently fine for the LES model and numerical schemes not to be playing an excessively strong role. Very few turbomachinery simulations make use of properly constructed, correlated turbulence inflow. Even if this is attempted, most measurement sets are incomplete and lack an adequate basis for modeling this inflow. Gas turbines are highly complex coupled systems and hence inflow and outflow boundary condition specification needs to go beyond just synthesizing turbulent structures and preventing their reflection. Despite the strong limitations of the dissipative Smagorinsky model, it still sees the most wide spread use, generally, in excessively dissipative flow solvers. Monotone Integrated LES (MILES) related approaches, hybrid LES-RANS and more advanced LES models seem to have an equal but subservient frequency of use in turbomachinery applications. Clearly the introduction of a RANS layer can have a substantial accuracy penalty. However, it does allow LES to be rationally used, albeit in a diluted sense for industrial applications. The Reynolds numbers found in turbomachinery are substantial. However, in certain areas evidence suggests they will not be enough to ensure a long inertial subrange and hence the use of standard LES modeling practices. Despite the excessively coarse grids used in much of the LES work reviewed, with essentially RANS based codes, meaningful results are often gained. This can perhaps be attributed to the choice of cases, these being ones for which RANS modeling gives extremely poor performance. It is a concern that for practical turbomachinery LES studies grid densities used tend to have an Reynolds number scaling to a strong negative power.

  6. Automatic finite element generators

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wang, P. S.

    1984-01-01

    The design and implementation of a software system for generating finite elements and related computations are described. Exact symbolic computational techniques are employed to derive strain-displacement matrices and element stiffness matrices. Methods for dealing with the excessive growth of symbolic expressions are discussed. Automatic FORTRAN code generation is described with emphasis on improving the efficiency of the resultant code.

  7. Eliminating health disparities in the African American population: the interface of culture, gender, and power.

    PubMed

    Airhihenbuwa, Collins O; Liburd, Leandris

    2006-08-01

    Since the release of former Secretary Margaret Heckler's Secretary's Task Force Report on Black and Minority Health more than two decades ago, excess death from chronic diseases and other conditions between African Americans and Whites have increased. The conclusion of that report emphasized excess death and thus clinical care, paying little attention to the sociocultural environment and its effects on risk of disease. The authors of this article contend that eliminating health disparities between the African American and White populations in the United States requires a focus on improving the social environment of African Americans. They examine the interface of culture, gender, and power and how those are central to analysis of the root causes of health disparities. The REACH 2010 project of the Centers for Disease Control offers examples on how a coalition of community and research organizations can infuse community interventions with informed considerations of culture, gender, and power to eliminate health disparities.

  8. Bounds on the power of proofs and advice in general physical theories.

    PubMed

    Lee, Ciarán M; Hoban, Matty J

    2016-06-01

    Quantum theory presents us with the tools for computational and communication advantages over classical theory. One approach to uncovering the source of these advantages is to determine how computation and communication power vary as quantum theory is replaced by other operationally defined theories from a broad framework of such theories. Such investigations may reveal some of the key physical features required for powerful computation and communication. In this paper, we investigate how simple physical principles bound the power of two different computational paradigms which combine computation and communication in a non-trivial fashion: computation with advice and interactive proof systems. We show that the existence of non-trivial dynamics in a theory implies a bound on the power of computation with advice. Moreover, we provide an explicit example of a theory with no non-trivial dynamics in which the power of computation with advice is unbounded. Finally, we show that the power of simple interactive proof systems in theories where local measurements suffice for tomography is non-trivially bounded. This result provides a proof that [Formula: see text] is contained in [Formula: see text], which does not make use of any uniquely quantum structure-such as the fact that observables correspond to self-adjoint operators-and thus may be of independent interest.

  9. Generating optimal control simulations of musculoskeletal movement using OpenSim and MATLAB.

    PubMed

    Lee, Leng-Feng; Umberger, Brian R

    2016-01-01

    Computer modeling, simulation and optimization are powerful tools that have seen increased use in biomechanics research. Dynamic optimizations can be categorized as either data-tracking or predictive problems. The data-tracking approach has been used extensively to address human movement problems of clinical relevance. The predictive approach also holds great promise, but has seen limited use in clinical applications. Enhanced software tools would facilitate the application of predictive musculoskeletal simulations to clinically-relevant research. The open-source software OpenSim provides tools for generating tracking simulations but not predictive simulations. However, OpenSim includes an extensive application programming interface that permits extending its capabilities with scripting languages such as MATLAB. In the work presented here, we combine the computational tools provided by MATLAB with the musculoskeletal modeling capabilities of OpenSim to create a framework for generating predictive simulations of musculoskeletal movement based on direct collocation optimal control techniques. In many cases, the direct collocation approach can be used to solve optimal control problems considerably faster than traditional shooting methods. Cyclical and discrete movement problems were solved using a simple 1 degree of freedom musculoskeletal model and a model of the human lower limb, respectively. The problems could be solved in reasonable amounts of time (several seconds to 1-2 hours) using the open-source IPOPT solver. The problems could also be solved using the fmincon solver that is included with MATLAB, but the computation times were excessively long for all but the smallest of problems. The performance advantage for IPOPT was derived primarily by exploiting sparsity in the constraints Jacobian. The framework presented here provides a powerful and flexible approach for generating optimal control simulations of musculoskeletal movement using OpenSim and MATLAB. This should allow researchers to more readily use predictive simulation as a tool to address clinical conditions that limit human mobility.

  10. Generating optimal control simulations of musculoskeletal movement using OpenSim and MATLAB

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Leng-Feng

    2016-01-01

    Computer modeling, simulation and optimization are powerful tools that have seen increased use in biomechanics research. Dynamic optimizations can be categorized as either data-tracking or predictive problems. The data-tracking approach has been used extensively to address human movement problems of clinical relevance. The predictive approach also holds great promise, but has seen limited use in clinical applications. Enhanced software tools would facilitate the application of predictive musculoskeletal simulations to clinically-relevant research. The open-source software OpenSim provides tools for generating tracking simulations but not predictive simulations. However, OpenSim includes an extensive application programming interface that permits extending its capabilities with scripting languages such as MATLAB. In the work presented here, we combine the computational tools provided by MATLAB with the musculoskeletal modeling capabilities of OpenSim to create a framework for generating predictive simulations of musculoskeletal movement based on direct collocation optimal control techniques. In many cases, the direct collocation approach can be used to solve optimal control problems considerably faster than traditional shooting methods. Cyclical and discrete movement problems were solved using a simple 1 degree of freedom musculoskeletal model and a model of the human lower limb, respectively. The problems could be solved in reasonable amounts of time (several seconds to 1–2 hours) using the open-source IPOPT solver. The problems could also be solved using the fmincon solver that is included with MATLAB, but the computation times were excessively long for all but the smallest of problems. The performance advantage for IPOPT was derived primarily by exploiting sparsity in the constraints Jacobian. The framework presented here provides a powerful and flexible approach for generating optimal control simulations of musculoskeletal movement using OpenSim and MATLAB. This should allow researchers to more readily use predictive simulation as a tool to address clinical conditions that limit human mobility. PMID:26835184

  11. Development and Testing of a Prototype Grid-Tied Photovoltaic Power System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Eichenberg, Dennis J.

    2009-01-01

    The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed and tested a prototype 2 kW DC grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) power system at the Center. The PV system has generated in excess of 6700 kWh since operation commenced in July 2006. The PV system is providing power to the GRC grid for use by all. Operation of the prototype PV system has been completely trouble free. A grid-tied PV power system is connected directly to the utility distribution grid. Facility power can be obtained from the utility system as normal. The PV system is synchronized with the utility system to provide power for the facility, and excess power is provided to the utility. The project transfers space technology to terrestrial use via nontraditional partners. GRC personnel glean valuable experience with PV power systems that are directly applicable to various space power systems, and provide valuable space program test data. PV power systems help to reduce harmful emissions and reduce the Nation s dependence on fossil fuels. Power generated by the PV system reduces the GRC utility demand, and the surplus power aids the community. Present global energy concerns reinforce the need for the development of alternative energy systems. Modern PV panels are readily available, reliable, efficient, and economical with a life expectancy of at least 25 years. Modern electronics has been the enabling technology behind grid-tied power systems, making them safe, reliable, efficient, and economical with a life expectancy of at least 25 years. Based upon the success of the prototype PV system, additional PV power system expansion at GRC is under consideration. The prototype grid-tied PV power system was successfully designed and developed which served to validate the basic principles described, and the theoretical work that was performed. The report concludes that grid-tied photovoltaic power systems are reliable, maintenance free, long life power systems, and are of significant value to NASA and the community.

  12. Prevalence of headache in adolescents and association with use of computer and videogames.

    PubMed

    Xavier, Michelle Katherine Andrade; Pitangui, Ana Carolina Rodarti; Silva, Georgia Rodrigues Reis; Oliveira, Valéria Mayaly Alves de; Beltrão, Natália Barros; Araújo, Rodrigo Cappato de

    2015-11-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of headache in adolescents and its association with excessive use of electronic devices and games. The sample comprised 954 adolescents of both sexes (14 to 19 years) who answered a questionnaire about use of computers and electronic games, presence of headache and physical activity. The binary and multinomial logistic regression, with significance level of 5% was used for inferential analysis. The prevalence of headache was 80.6%. The excessive use of electronics devices proved to be a risk factor (OR = 1.21) for headache. Subjects aged between 14 and 16 years were less likely to report headache (OR = 0.64). Regarding classification, 17.9% of adolescents had tension-type headache, 19.3% had migraine and 43.4% other types of headache. The adolescents aged form 14 to 16 years had lower chance (OR ≤ 0.68) to report the tension-type headache and other types of headache. The excessive use of digital equipment, electronic games and attending the third year of high school proved to be risk factors for migraine-type development (OR ≥ 1.84). There was a high prevalence of headache in adolescents and high-time use of electronic devices. We observed an association between excessive use of electronic devices and the presence of headache, and this habit is considered a risk factor, especially for the development of migraine-type.

  13. A Modeling Framework for Optimal Computational Resource Allocation Estimation: Considering the Trade-offs between Physical Resolutions, Uncertainty and Computational Costs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moslehi, M.; de Barros, F.; Rajagopal, R.

    2014-12-01

    Hydrogeological models that represent flow and transport in subsurface domains are usually large-scale with excessive computational complexity and uncertain characteristics. Uncertainty quantification for predicting flow and transport in heterogeneous formations often entails utilizing a numerical Monte Carlo framework, which repeatedly simulates the model according to a random field representing hydrogeological characteristics of the field. The physical resolution (e.g. grid resolution associated with the physical space) for the simulation is customarily chosen based on recommendations in the literature, independent of the number of Monte Carlo realizations. This practice may lead to either excessive computational burden or inaccurate solutions. We propose an optimization-based methodology that considers the trade-off between the following conflicting objectives: time associated with computational costs, statistical convergence of the model predictions and physical errors corresponding to numerical grid resolution. In this research, we optimally allocate computational resources by developing a modeling framework for the overall error based on a joint statistical and numerical analysis and optimizing the error model subject to a given computational constraint. The derived expression for the overall error explicitly takes into account the joint dependence between the discretization error of the physical space and the statistical error associated with Monte Carlo realizations. The accuracy of the proposed framework is verified in this study by applying it to several computationally extensive examples. Having this framework at hand aims hydrogeologists to achieve the optimum physical and statistical resolutions to minimize the error with a given computational budget. Moreover, the influence of the available computational resources and the geometric properties of the contaminant source zone on the optimum resolutions are investigated. We conclude that the computational cost associated with optimal allocation can be substantially reduced compared with prevalent recommendations in the literature.

  14. Pulse width modulated push-pull driven parallel resonant converter with active free-wheel

    DOEpatents

    Reass, William A.; Schrank, Louis

    2004-06-22

    An apparatus and method for high frequency alternating power generation to control kilowatts of supplied power in microseconds. The present invention includes a means for energy storage, push-pull switching means, control electronics, transformer means, resonant circuitry and means for excess energy recovery, all in electrical communication. A push-pull circuit works synchronously with a force commutated free-wheel transistor to provide current pulses to a transformer. A change in the conduction angle of the push-pull circuit changes the amount of energy coupled into the transformer's secondary oscillating circuit, thereby altering the induced secondary resonating voltage. At the end of each pulse, the force commutated free-wheel transistor causes residual excess energy in the primary circuit to be transmitted back to the storage capacitor for later use.

  15. ACTS Battery and Solar Array Assembly On-Orbit Measured Performance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hilderman, Don R.

    2005-01-01

    The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) is a NASA experimental communications satellite system designed to demonstrate on-orbit Ka-band communications and switching technologies that will be used by NASA and the commercial sector in the 21st century. The ACTS was launched on September 12, 1993, and has performed over 10 years of successful experimental operations. The purpose of this report is to describe the ACTS power subsystem and the ACTS solar array and battery assemblies located within the power subsystem and then to document on-orbit measured performance from launch to mission end on April 28, 2004. Solar array and battery performance data is presented, and respective conclusions are drawn. The total solar array power available to the spacecraft was measured each year at the same time, and battery voltage performance was measured twice per year at the same times during peak solar eclipse. At the highest spacecraft power demand, the ACTS uses approximately 1113 W of electrical power during the low-burstrate experiment to operate all six satellite subsystems. After 10 years of on-orbit operation, solar array available output power normal to the Sun measured 1508 W, which represents 395 W of excess margin. The ACTS batteries have successfully supported the ACTS experiment program for over 10 years and operated in excess of 900 charge and discharge cycles through 21 eclipse seasons.

  16. Simulation of the novel compact structure of an interferometric biosensor based on multimode interference waveguides

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xhoxhi, Moisi; Dudia, Alma; Ymeti, Aurel

    2017-05-01

    We propose the novel structure of an interferometric biosensor based on multimode interference (MMI) waveguides. We present the design of the biosensor using eigenmode expansion (EME) method in accordance with the requirements and standards of today's photonic technology. The MMI structures with a 90 nm Si3N4 core are used as power splitters with 5 outputs. The 5 high-resolution images at the end of the multimode region show high power balance. We analyze the coupling efficiency of the laser source with the structure, the excess loss and power imbalance for different compact MMI waveguides with widths ranging from 45 μm to 15 μm. For a laser source with a tolerance of +/-1mm in linearization we could achieve a coupling efficiency of 52%. MMI waveguides with tapered channels show excess loss values under 0.5 dB and power imbalance values under 0.08 dB. In addition, we show that for a 10 nm deviation of the source wavelength from its optimal value and for a 10 μm deviation of the MMI length from its optimal value, the performance of the MMI waveguides remains acceptable. Finally, we analyze the power budget of the whole biosensor structure and show that it is sufficient for the proper operation of this device.

  17. Energy Efficiency Challenges of 5G Small Cell Networks.

    PubMed

    Ge, Xiaohu; Yang, Jing; Gharavi, Hamid; Sun, Yang

    2017-05-01

    The deployment of a large number of small cells poses new challenges to energy efficiency, which has often been ignored in fifth generation (5G) cellular networks. While massive multiple-input multiple outputs (MIMO) will reduce the transmission power at the expense of higher computational cost, the question remains as to which computation or transmission power is more important in the energy efficiency of 5G small cell networks. Thus, the main objective in this paper is to investigate the computation power based on the Landauer principle. Simulation results reveal that more than 50% of the energy is consumed by the computation power at 5G small cell base stations (BSs). Moreover, the computation power of 5G small cell BS can approach 800 watt when the massive MIMO (e.g., 128 antennas) is deployed to transmit high volume traffic. This clearly indicates that computation power optimization can play a major role in the energy efficiency of small cell networks.

  18. Energy Efficiency Challenges of 5G Small Cell Networks

    PubMed Central

    Ge, Xiaohu; Yang, Jing; Gharavi, Hamid; Sun, Yang

    2017-01-01

    The deployment of a large number of small cells poses new challenges to energy efficiency, which has often been ignored in fifth generation (5G) cellular networks. While massive multiple-input multiple outputs (MIMO) will reduce the transmission power at the expense of higher computational cost, the question remains as to which computation or transmission power is more important in the energy efficiency of 5G small cell networks. Thus, the main objective in this paper is to investigate the computation power based on the Landauer principle. Simulation results reveal that more than 50% of the energy is consumed by the computation power at 5G small cell base stations (BSs). Moreover, the computation power of 5G small cell BS can approach 800 watt when the massive MIMO (e.g., 128 antennas) is deployed to transmit high volume traffic. This clearly indicates that computation power optimization can play a major role in the energy efficiency of small cell networks. PMID:28757670

  19. 77 FR 16925 - Medical Devices; Neurological Devices; Classification of the Near Infrared Brain Hematoma Detector

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-23

    ... Mitigation measures Excessive laser power Electrical safety and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC... should validate electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), electrical safety, and battery characteristics; (4...

  20. Energy Use and Power Levels in New Monitors and Personal Computers

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

    Roberson, Judy A.; Homan, Gregory K.; Mahajan, Akshay

    2002-07-23

    Our research was conducted in support of the EPA ENERGY STAR Office Equipment program, whose goal is to reduce the amount of electricity consumed by office equipment in the U.S. The most energy-efficient models in each office equipment category are eligible for the ENERGY STAR label, which consumers can use to identify and select efficient products. As the efficiency of each category improves over time, the ENERGY STAR criteria need to be revised accordingly. The purpose of this study was to provide reliable data on the energy consumption of the newest personal computers and monitors that the EPA can usemore » to evaluate revisions to current ENERGY STAR criteria as well as to improve the accuracy of ENERGY STAR program savings estimates. We report the results of measuring the power consumption and power management capabilities of a sample of new monitors and computers. These results will be used to improve estimates of program energy savings and carbon emission reductions, and to inform rev isions of the ENERGY STAR criteria for these products. Our sample consists of 35 monitors and 26 computers manufactured between July 2000 and October 2001; it includes cathode ray tube (CRT) and liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors, Macintosh and Intel-architecture computers, desktop and laptop computers, and integrated computer systems, in which power consumption of the computer and monitor cannot be measured separately. For each machine we measured power consumption when off, on, and in each low-power level. We identify trends in and opportunities to reduce power consumption in new personal computers and monitors. Our results include a trend among monitor manufacturers to provide a single very low low-power level, well below the current ENERGY STAR criteria for sleep power consumption. These very low sleep power results mean that energy consumed when monitors are off or in active use has become more important in terms of contribution to the overall unit energy consumption (UEC). Cur rent ENERGY STAR monitor and computer criteria do not specify off or on power, but our results suggest opportunities for saving energy in these modes. Also, significant differences between CRT and LCD technology, and between field-measured and manufacturer-reported power levels reveal the need for standard methods and metrics for measuring and comparing monitor power consumption.« less

  1. A method for estimating peak and time of peak streamflow from excess rainfall for 10- to 640-acre watersheds in the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Asquith, William H.; Cleveland, Theodore G.; Roussel, Meghan C.

    2011-01-01

    Estimates of peak and time of peak streamflow for small watersheds (less than about 640 acres) in a suburban to urban, low-slope setting are needed for drainage design that is cost-effective and risk-mitigated. During 2007-10, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Harris County Flood Control District and the Texas Department of Transportation, developed a method to estimate peak and time of peak streamflow from excess rainfall for 10- to 640-acre watersheds in the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area. To develop the method, 24 watersheds in the study area with drainage areas less than about 3.5 square miles (2,240 acres) and with concomitant rainfall and runoff data were selected. The method is based on conjunctive analysis of rainfall and runoff data in the context of the unit hydrograph method and the rational method. For the unit hydrograph analysis, a gamma distribution model of unit hydrograph shape (a gamma unit hydrograph) was chosen and parameters estimated through matching of modeled peak and time of peak streamflow to observed values on a storm-by-storm basis. Watershed mean or watershed-specific values of peak and time to peak ("time to peak" is a parameter of the gamma unit hydrograph and is distinct from "time of peak") of the gamma unit hydrograph were computed. Two regression equations to estimate peak and time to peak of the gamma unit hydrograph that are based on watershed characteristics of drainage area and basin-development factor (BDF) were developed. For the rational method analysis, a lag time (time-R), volumetric runoff coefficient, and runoff coefficient were computed on a storm-by-storm basis. Watershed-specific values of these three metrics were computed. A regression equation to estimate time-R based on drainage area and BDF was developed. Overall arithmetic means of volumetric runoff coefficient (0.41 dimensionless) and runoff coefficient (0.25 dimensionless) for the 24 watersheds were used to express the rational method in terms of excess rainfall (the excess rational method). Both the unit hydrograph method and excess rational method are shown to provide similar estimates of peak and time of peak streamflow. The results from the two methods can be combined by using arithmetic means. A nomograph is provided that shows the respective relations between the arithmetic-mean peak and time of peak streamflow to drainage areas ranging from 10 to 640 acres. The nomograph also shows the respective relations for selected BDF ranging from undeveloped to fully developed conditions. The nomograph represents the peak streamflow for 1 inch of excess rainfall based on drainage area and BDF; the peak streamflow for design storms from the nomograph can be multiplied by the excess rainfall to estimate peak streamflow. Time of peak streamflow is readily obtained from the nomograph. Therefore, given excess rainfall values derived from watershed-loss models, which are beyond the scope of this report, the nomograph represents a method for estimating peak and time of peak streamflow for applicable watersheds in the Houston metropolitan area. Lastly, analysis of the relative influence of BDF on peak streamflow is provided, and the results indicate a 0:04log10 cubic feet per second change of peak streamflow per positive unit of change in BDF. This relative change can be used to adjust peak streamflow from the method or other hydrologic methods for a given BDF to other BDF values; example computations are provided.

  2. [Prevalence of excessive screen time and associated factors in adolescents].

    PubMed

    de Lucena, Joana Marcela Sales; Cheng, Luanna Alexandra; Cavalcante, Thaísa Leite Mafaldo; da Silva, Vanessa Araújo; de Farias Júnior, José Cazuza

    2015-12-01

    To determine the prevalence of excessive screen time and to analyze associated factors among adolescents. This was a cross-sectional school-based epidemiological study with 2,874 high school adolescents with age 14-19 years (57.8% female) from public and private schools in the city of João Pessoa, PB, Northeast Brazil. Excessive screen time was defined as watching television and playing video games or using the computer for more than two hours per day. The associated factors analyzed were: sociodemographic (gender, age, economic class, and skin color), physical activity and nutritional status of adolescents. The prevalence of excessive screen time was 79.5% (95%CI: 78.1-81.1) and it was higher in males (84.3%) compared to females (76.1%; p<0,001). In multivariate analysis, adolescent males, aged 14-15 years old, of higher economic classes had higher chances of exposure to excessive screen time. The level of physical activity and nutritional status of adolescents were not associated with excessive screen time. The prevalence of excessive screen time was high and varied according to sociodemographic characteristics of adolescents. It is necessary to develop interventions to reduce the excessive screen time among adolescents, particularly in subgroups with higher exposure. Copyright © 2015 Sociedade de Pediatria de São Paulo. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  3. Beam and Plasma Physics Research

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-06-01

    La di~raDy in high power microwave computations and thi-ory and high energy plasma computations and theory. The HPM computations concentrated on...2.1 REPORT INDEX 7 2.2 TASK AREA 2: HIGH-POWER RF EMISSION AND CHARGED- PARTICLE BEAM PHYSICS COMPUTATION , MODELING AND THEORY 10 2.2.1 Subtask 02-01...Vulnerability of Space Assets 22 2.2.6 Subtask 02-06, Microwave Computer Program Enhancements 22 2.2.7 Subtask 02-07, High-Power Microwave Transvertron Design 23

  4. 3-D Electromagnetic field analysis of wireless power transfer system using K computer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kawase, Yoshihiro; Yamaguchi, Tadashi; Murashita, Masaya; Tsukada, Shota; Ota, Tomohiro; Yamamoto, Takeshi

    2018-05-01

    We analyze the electromagnetic field of a wireless power transfer system using the 3-D parallel finite element method on K computer, which is a super computer in Japan. It is clarified that the electromagnetic field of the wireless power transfer system can be analyzed in a practical time using the parallel computation on K computer, moreover, the accuracy of the loss calculation becomes better as the mesh division of the shield becomes fine.

  5. The Dark Side of Internet Use: Two Longitudinal Studies of Excessive Internet Use, Depressive Symptoms, School Burnout and Engagement Among Finnish Early and Late Adolescents.

    PubMed

    Salmela-Aro, Katariina; Upadyaya, Katja; Hakkarainen, Kai; Lonka, Kirsti; Alho, Kimmo

    2017-02-01

    Recent research shows an increased concern with well-being at school and potential problems associated with students' use of socio-digital technologies, i.e., the mobile devices, computers, social media, and the Internet. Simultaneously with supporting creative social activities, socio-digital participation may also lead to compulsive and addictive behavioral patterns affecting both general and school-related mental health problems. Using two longitudinal data waves gathered among 1702 (53 % female) early (age 12-14) and 1636 (64 % female) late (age 16-18) Finnish adolescents, we examined cross-lagged paths between excessive internet use, school engagement and burnout, and depressive symptoms. Structural equation modeling revealed reciprocal cross-lagged paths between excessive internet use and school burnout among both adolescent groups: school burnout predicted later excessive internet use and excessive internet use predicted later school burnout. Reciprocal paths between school burnout and depressive symptoms were also found. Girls typically suffered more than boys from depressive symptoms and, in late adolescence, school burnout. Boys, in turn, more typically suffered from excessive internet use. These results show that, among adolescents, excessive internet use can be a cause of school burnout that can later spill over to depressive symptoms.

  6. Stoichiometric control of lead chalcogenide nanocrystal solids to enhance their electronic and optoelectronic device performance.

    PubMed

    Oh, Soong Ju; Berry, Nathaniel E; Choi, Ji-Hyuk; Gaulding, E Ashley; Paik, Taejong; Hong, Sung-Hoon; Murray, Christopher B; Kagan, Cherie R

    2013-03-26

    We investigate the effects of stoichiometric imbalance on the electronic properties of lead chalcogenide nanocrystal films by introducing excess lead (Pb) or selenium (Se) through thermal evaporation. Hall-effect and capacitance-voltage measurements show that the carrier type, concentration, and Fermi level in nanocrystal solids may be precisely controlled through their stoichiometry. By manipulating only the stoichiometry of the nanocrystal solids, we engineer the characteristics of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Lead chalcogenide nanocrystal field-effect transistors (FETs) are fabricated at room temperature to form ambipolar, unipolar n-type, and unipolar p-type semiconducting channels as-prepared and with excess Pb and Se, respectively. Introducing excess Pb forms nanocrystal FETs with electron mobilities of 10 cm(2)/(V s), which is an order of magnitude higher than previously reported in lead chalcogenide nanocrystal devices. Adding excess Se to semiconductor nanocrystal solids in PbSe Schottky solar cells enhances the power conversion efficiency.

  7. Computer program analyzes and monitors electrical power systems (POSIMO)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jaeger, K.

    1972-01-01

    Requirements to monitor and/or simulate electric power distribution, power balance, and charge budget are discussed. Computer program to analyze power system and generate set of characteristic power system data is described. Application to status indicators to denote different exclusive conditions is presented.

  8. Long-term health experience of jet engine manufacturing workers: IX. further investigation of general mortality patterns in relation to workplace exposures.

    PubMed

    Youk, Ada O; Marsh, Gary M; Buchanich, Jeanine M; Downing, Sarah; Kennedy, Kathleen J; Esmen, Nurtan A; Hancock, Roger P; Lacey, Steven E

    2013-06-01

    To evaluate mortality rates among a cohort of jet engine manufacturing workers. Subjects were 222,123 workers employed from 1952 to 2001. Vital status was determined through 2004 for 99% of subjects and cause of death for 95% of 68,317 deaths. We computed standardized mortality ratios and modeled internal cohort rates. Mortality excesses reported initially no longer met the criteria for further investigation. We found two chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-related mortality excesses that met the criteria in two of eight study plants. At the total cohort level, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-related categories were not related to any factors or occupational exposures considered. A full evaluation of these excesses was limited by lack of data on smoking history. Occupational exposures received outside of work or uncontrolled positive confounding by smoking cannot be ruled out as reasons for these excesses.

  9. Systems analysis of the space shuttle. [communication systems, computer systems, and power distribution

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schilling, D. L.; Oh, S. J.; Thau, F.

    1975-01-01

    Developments in communications systems, computer systems, and power distribution systems for the space shuttle are described. The use of high speed delta modulation for bit rate compression in the transmission of television signals is discussed. Simultaneous Multiprocessor Organization, an approach to computer organization, is presented. Methods of computer simulation and automatic malfunction detection for the shuttle power distribution system are also described.

  10. Evaluation of reinitialization-free nonvolatile computer systems for energy-harvesting Internet of things applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Onizawa, Naoya; Tamakoshi, Akira; Hanyu, Takahiro

    2017-08-01

    In this paper, reinitialization-free nonvolatile computer systems are designed and evaluated for energy-harvesting Internet of things (IoT) applications. In energy-harvesting applications, as power supplies generated from renewable power sources cause frequent power failures, data processed need to be backed up when power failures occur. Unless data are safely backed up before power supplies diminish, reinitialization processes are required when power supplies are recovered, which results in low energy efficiencies and slow operations. Using nonvolatile devices in processors and memories can realize a faster backup than a conventional volatile computer system, leading to a higher energy efficiency. To evaluate the energy efficiency upon frequent power failures, typical computer systems including processors and memories are designed using 90 nm CMOS or CMOS/magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) technologies. Nonvolatile ARM Cortex-M0 processors with 4 kB MRAMs are evaluated using a typical computing benchmark program, Dhrystone, which shows a few order-of-magnitude reductions in energy in comparison with a volatile processor with SRAM.

  11. Balancing computation and communication power in power constrained clusters

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

    Piga, Leonardo; Paul, Indrani; Huang, Wei

    Systems, apparatuses, and methods for balancing computation and communication power in power constrained environments. A data processing cluster with a plurality of compute nodes may perform parallel processing of a workload in a power constrained environment. Nodes that finish tasks early may be power-gated based on one or more conditions. In some scenarios, a node may predict a wait duration and go into a reduced power consumption state if the wait duration is predicted to be greater than a threshold. The power saved by power-gating one or more nodes may be reassigned for use by other nodes. A cluster agentmore » may be configured to reassign the unused power to the active nodes to expedite workload processing.« less

  12. Diffraction-limited, 300-kW peak-power pulses from a coiled multimode fiber amplifier

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    di Teodoro, Fabio; Koplow, Jeffrey P.; Moore, Sean W.; Kliner, Dahv A. V.

    2002-04-01

    We report a multimode, double-clad, Yb-doped fiber amplifier that produces diffraction-limited, 0.8-ns pulses with energies of 255 μJ and peak powers in excess of 300 kW at a repetition rate of ~8 kHz. Single-transverse-mode operation was obtained by bend-loss-induced mode filtering of the gain fiber.

  13. Why Do Scholars Use Powerpoint the Way They Do?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hertz, Brigitte; van Woerkum, Cees; Kerkhof, Peter

    2015-01-01

    PowerPoint has received much criticism regarding excessive use of text and the lack of contact with the audience. Why presenters use PowerPoint in this way has not been studied so far. Our study using interviews with beginning and advanced presenters shows that some use the program as a speaking note and as a means to draw the attention away from…

  14. System studies on space plane powered by scram/LACE propulsion system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maita, Masataka; Miyajima, Hiroshi; Mori, Takashige

    1992-12-01

    Japan's NAL has undertaken concept-development studies for hypersonic technologies-integrating SSTO spaceplane configurations. Attention is presently given to the scramjet/liquefied air cycle engine (LACE). While the scramjet powers the vehicle begining at Mach 5, the LACE is used above Mach 12 on the basis of excess hydrogen fuel consumption; the Mach 20 orbital speed is thereby gained.

  15. Thorium Fuel Utilization Analysis on Small Long Life Reactor for Different Coolant Types

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Permana, Sidik

    2017-07-01

    A small power reactor and long operation which can be deployed for less population and remote area has been proposed by the IAEA as a small and medium reactor (SMR) program. Beside uranium utilization, it can be used also thorium fuel resources for SMR as a part of optimalization of nuclear fuel as a “partner” fuel with uranium fuel. A small long-life reactor based on thorium fuel cycle for several reactor coolant types and several power output has been evaluated in the present study for 10 years period of reactor operation. Several key parameters are used to evaluate its effect to the reactor performances such as reactor criticality, excess reactivity, reactor burnup achievement and power density profile. Water-cooled types give higher criticality than liquid metal coolants. Liquid metal coolant for fast reactor system gives less criticality especially at beginning of cycle (BOC), which shows liquid metal coolant system obtains almost stable criticality condition. Liquid metal coolants are relatively less excess reactivity to maintain longer reactor operation than water coolants. In addition, liquid metal coolant gives higher achievable burnup than water coolant types as well as higher power density for liquid metal coolants.

  16. Extremely Luminous Far-infrared Sources (ELFS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Harwit, Martin; Houck, James R.; Soifer, B. Thomas; Palumbo, Giorgio G. C.

    1987-01-01

    The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) survey uncovered a class of Extremely Luminous Far Infrared Sources (ELFS), exhibiting luminosities up to and occasionally exceeding 10 to the 12th power L sub 0. Arguments are presented to show that sources with luminosities L equal to or greater than 3 x 10 to the 10th power L sub 0 may represent gas rich galaxies in collision. The more conventional explanation of these sources as sites of extremely active star formation fails to explain the observed low optical luminosities of ELFS as well as their high infrared excess. In contrast, a collisional model heats gas to a temperature of approx. 10 to the 6th power K where cooling takes place in the extreme ultraviolet. The UV is absorbed by dust and converted into far infrared radiation (FIR) without generation of appreciable optical luminosity. Gas recombination as it cools generates a Lyman alpha photon only once for every two extreme ultraviolet approx. 50eV photons emitted by the 10 to the 6th power gas. That accounts for the high infrared excess. Finally, the model also is able to explain the observed luminosity distribution of ELFS as well as many other traits.

  17. Real-time strap pressure sensor system for powered exoskeletons.

    PubMed

    Tamez-Duque, Jesús; Cobian-Ugalde, Rebeca; Kilicarslan, Atilla; Venkatakrishnan, Anusha; Soto, Rogelio; Contreras-Vidal, Jose Luis

    2015-02-16

    Assistive and rehabilitative powered exoskeletons for spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke subjects have recently reached the clinic. Proper tension and joint alignment are critical to ensuring safety. Challenges still exist in adjustment and fitting, with most current systems depending on personnel experience for appropriate individual fastening. Paraplegia and tetraplegia patients using these devices have impaired sensation and cannot signal if straps are uncomfortable or painful. Excessive pressure and blood-flow restriction can lead to skin ulcers, necrotic tissue and infections. Tension must be just enough to prevent slipping and maintain posture. Research in pressure dynamics is extensive for wheelchairs and mattresses, but little research has been done on exoskeleton straps. We present a system to monitor pressure exerted by physical human-machine interfaces and provide data about levels of skin/body pressure in fastening straps. The system consists of sensing arrays, signal processing hardware with wireless transmission, and an interactive GUI. For validation, a lower-body powered exoskeleton carrying the full weight of users was used. Experimental trials were conducted with one SCI and one able-bodied subject. The system can help prevent skin injuries related to excessive pressure in mobility-impaired patients using powered exoskeletons, supporting functionality, independence and better overall quality of life.

  18. 7 CFR 2.93 - Director, Office of Procurement and Property Management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... agricultural sciences, related to establishing and implementing Federal biobased procurement and voluntary... available to organizations excess or surplus computers or other technical equipment of the Department for...

  19. 7 CFR 2.93 - Director, Office of Procurement and Property Management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... agricultural sciences, related to establishing and implementing Federal biobased procurement and voluntary... available to organizations excess or surplus computers or other technical equipment of the Department for...

  20. 7 CFR 2.93 - Director, Office of Procurement and Property Management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... agricultural sciences, related to establishing and implementing Federal biobased procurement and voluntary... available to organizations excess or surplus computers or other technical equipment of the Department for...

  1. 7 CFR 2.93 - Director, Office of Procurement and Property Management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... agricultural sciences, related to establishing and implementing Federal biobased procurement and voluntary... available to organizations excess or surplus computers or other technical equipment of the Department for...

  2. Position-insensitive long range inductive power transfer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kwan, Christopher H.; Lawson, James; Yates, David C.; Mitcheson, Paul D.

    2014-11-01

    This paper presents results of an improved inductive wireless power transfer system for reliable long range powering of sensors with milliwatt-level consumption. An ultra-low power flyback impedance emulator operating in open loop is used to present the optimal load to the receiver's resonant tank. Transmitter power modulation is implemented in order to maintain constant receiver power and to prevent damage to the receiver electronics caused by excessive received voltage. Received power is steady up to 3 m at around 30 mW. The receiver electronics and feedback system consumes 3.1 mW and so with a transmitter input power of 163.3 W the receiver becomes power neutral at 4.75 m. Such an IPT system can provide a reliable alternative to energy harvesters for supplying power concurrently to multiple remote sensors.

  3. 26 CFR 54.4972-1 - Tax on excess contributions to plans benefiting self-employed individuals.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ...) and this paragraph for the 1978 taxable year is $15,000, computed as follows: the difference between... paragraph for the 1980 taxable year is $5,000, computed as follows: the difference between (A) $25,000, the...)(4) and this paragraph for 1976 is $10,000 (the difference between (A) $40,000, the amount...

  4. Use of large-scale atmospheric energetics for understanding the dynamics of contrasting Indian summer monsoon rainfall in different years

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dutta, Somenath; Narkhedkar, Sanjay G.; Mukhopadhyay, Parthasarathi; Yadav, Mamta; Sunitha Devi

    2018-06-01

    An attempt has been made to understand the dynamics of contrasting Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) in different years during 1979-2017, from large-scale atmospheric energetics aspects. Daily values of eddy and zonal available potential energy (APE), their generation, eddy and zonal kinetic energy (KE), conversions of zonal KE and eddy APE to eddy KE, and conversions of zonal APE to zonal KE and eddy APE were computed over the region bounded by 65°E-95°E and 5°N-35°N during the period 1 May to 30 September for 39 years (1979-2017), using daily ECMWF reanalyzed atmospheric data at 0.125° × 0.125° resolution (3 components of wind and temperature). ISMR was classified into three categories, viz., deficient and below normal, normal and above normal and excess. The daily anomaly of these energetics parameters in each of these years was computed using jackknife method and then the composite of the daily anomalies of these parameters constructed for the years with the above-mentioned three categories of ISMR. The following salient features emerge from this study: Analysis of composite anomaly shows that in case of excess and above normal (below normal and deficient) ISMR, C(A Z , K Z) was less (more) than normal. In case of excess and above normal (below normal and deficient) ISMR, C(A E , K E) was more (less) than normal. Broadly, C(A Z , A E) was more than normal in the years with deficient and below normal ISMR, whereas it was less than normal for years with excess and above normal ISMR. Broadly, G(A Z) was below normal for the years with above normal and excess ISMR, whereas it was above normal for the years with below normal and deficient ISMR. Total kinetic energy and total conversion to eddy kinetic energy was above normal for the years with above normal and excess ISMR.

  5. Microwave Treatment for Cardiac Arrhythmias

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hernandez-Moya, Sonia

    2009-01-01

    NASA seeks to transfer the NASA developed microwave ablation technology, designed for the treatment of ventricular tachycardia (irregular heart beat), to industry. After a heart attack, many cells surrounding the resulting scar continue to live but are abnormal electrically; they may conduct impulses unusually slowly or fire when they would typically be silent. These diseased areas might disturb smooth signaling by forming a reentrant circuit in the muscle. The objective of microwave ablation is to heat and kill these diseased cells to restore appropriate electrical activity in the heart. This technology is a method and apparatus that provides for propagating microwave energy into heart tissues to produce a desired temperature profile therein at tissue depths sufficient for thermally ablating arrhythmogenic cardiac tissue while preventing excessive heating of surrounding tissues, organs, and blood. A wide bandwidth double-disk antenna is effective for this purpose over a bandwidth of about six gigahertz. A computer simulation provides initial screening capabilities for an antenna such as antenna, frequency, power level, and power application duration. The simulation also allows optimization of techniques for specific patients or conditions. In comparison with other methods that involve direct-current pulses or radio frequencies below 1 GHz, this method may prove more effective in treating ventricular tachycardia. This is because the present method provides for greater control of the location, cross-sectional area, and depth of a lesion via selection of the location and design of the antenna and the choice of microwave power and frequency.

  6. Improved heat recovery and high-temperature clean-up for coal-gas fired combustion turbines

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

    Barthelemy, N.M.; Lynn, S.

    1991-07-01

    This study investigates the performance of an Improved Heat Recovery Method (IHRM) applied to a coal-gas fired power-generating system using a high-temperature clean-up. This heat recovery process has been described by Higdon and Lynn (1990). The IHRM is an integrated heat-recovery network that significantly increases the thermal efficiency of a gas turbine in the generation of electric power. Its main feature is to recover both low- and high-temperature heat reclaimed from various gas streams by means of evaporating heated water into combustion air in an air saturation unit. This unit is a packed column where compressed air flows countercurrently tomore » the heated water prior to being sent to the combustor, where it is mixed with coal-gas and burned. The high water content of the air stream thus obtained reduces the amount of excess air required to control the firing temperature of the combustor, which in turn lowers the total work of compression and results in a high thermal efficiency. Three designs of the IHRM were developed to accommodate three different gasifying process. The performances of those designs were evaluated and compared using computer simulations. The efficiencies obtained with the IHRM are substantially higher those yielded by other heat-recovery technologies using the same gasifying processes. The study also revealed that the IHRM compares advantageously to most advanced power-generation technologies currently available or tested commercially. 13 refs., 34 figs., 10 tabs.« less

  7. Multifluid geo-energy systems: Using geologic CO 2 storage for geothermal energy production and grid-scale energy storage in sedimentary basins

    DOE PAGES

    Buscheck, Thomas A.; Bielicki, Jeffrey M.; Edmunds, Thomas A.; ...

    2016-05-05

    We present an approach that uses the huge fluid and thermal storage capacity of the subsurface, together with geologic carbon dioxide (CO 2) storage, to harvest, store, and dispatch energy from subsurface (geothermal) and surface (solar, nuclear, fossil) thermal resources, as well as excess energy on electric grids. Captured CO 2 is injected into saline aquifers to store pressure, generate artesian flow of brine, and provide a supplemental working fluid for efficient heat extraction and power conversion. Concentric rings of injection and production wells create a hydraulic mound to store pressure, CO 2, and thermal energy. This energy storage canmore » take excess power from the grid and excess/waste thermal energy, and dispatch that energy when it is demanded and thus enable higher penetration of variable renewable energy technologies (e.g., wind, solar). CO 2 stored in the subsurface functions as a cushion gas to provide enormous pressure-storage capacity and displace large quantities of brine, some of which can be treated for a variety of beneficial uses. Geothermal power and energy-storage applications may generate enough revenues to compensate for CO 2 capture costs. While our approach can use nitrogen (N 2), in addition to CO 2, as a supplemental fluid, and store thermal energy, this study focuses using CO 2 for geothermal energy production and grid-scale energy storage. We conduct a techno-economic assessment to determine the levelized cost of electricity of using this approach to generate geothermal power. We present a reservoir pressure-management strategy that diverts a small portion of the produced brine for beneficial consumptive use to reduce the pumping cost of fluid recirculation, while reducing the risk of seismicity, caprock fracture, and CO 2 leakage.« less

  8. System-wide power management control via clock distribution network

    DOEpatents

    Coteus, Paul W.; Gara, Alan; Gooding, Thomas M.; Haring, Rudolf A.; Kopcsay, Gerard V.; Liebsch, Thomas A.; Reed, Don D.

    2015-05-19

    An apparatus, method and computer program product for automatically controlling power dissipation of a parallel computing system that includes a plurality of processors. A computing device issues a command to the parallel computing system. A clock pulse-width modulator encodes the command in a system clock signal to be distributed to the plurality of processors. The plurality of processors in the parallel computing system receive the system clock signal including the encoded command, and adjusts power dissipation according to the encoded command.

  9. Reducing power consumption while performing collective operations on a plurality of compute nodes

    DOEpatents

    Archer, Charles J [Rochester, MN; Blocksome, Michael A [Rochester, MN; Peters, Amanda E [Rochester, MN; Ratterman, Joseph D [Rochester, MN; Smith, Brian E [Rochester, MN

    2011-10-18

    Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for reducing power consumption while performing collective operations on a plurality of compute nodes that include: receiving, by each compute node, instructions to perform a type of collective operation; selecting, by each compute node from a plurality of collective operations for the collective operation type, a particular collective operation in dependence upon power consumption characteristics for each of the plurality of collective operations; and executing, by each compute node, the selected collective operation.

  10. Correlates of video games playing among adolescents in an Islamic country

    PubMed Central

    2010-01-01

    Background No study has ever explored the prevalence and correlates of video game playing among children in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This study describes patterns and correlates of excessive video game use in a random sample of middle-school students in Iran. Specifically, we examine the relationship between video game playing and psychological well-being, aggressive behaviors, and adolescents' perceived threat of video-computer game playing. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed with a random sample of 444 adolescents recruited from eight middle schools. A self-administered, anonymous questionnaire covered socio-demographics, video gaming behaviors, mental health status, self-reported aggressive behaviors, and perceived side effects of video game playing. Results Overall, participants spent an average of 6.3 hours per week playing video games. Moreover, 47% of participants reported that they had played one or more intensely violent games. Non-gamers reported suffering poorer mental health compared to excessive gamers. Both non-gamers and excessive gamers overall reported suffering poorer mental health compared to low or moderate players. Participants who initiated gaming at younger ages were more likely to score poorer in mental health measures. Participants' self-reported aggressive behaviors were associated with length of gaming. Boys, but not girls, who reported playing video games excessively showed more aggressive behaviors. A multiple binary logistic regression shows that when controlling for other variables, older students, those who perceived less serious side effects of video gaming, and those who have personal computers, were more likely to report that they had played video games excessively. Conclusion Our data show a curvilinear relationship between video game playing and mental health outcomes, with "moderate" gamers faring best and "excessive" gamers showing mild increases in problematic behaviors. Interestingly, "non-gamers" clearly show the worst outcomes. Therefore, both children and parents of non-game players should be updated about the positive impact of moderate video gaming. Educational interventions should also be designed to educate adolescents and their parents of the possible harmful impact of excessive video game playing on their health and psychosocial functioning. PMID:20507610

  11. Correlates of video games playing among adolescents in an Islamic country.

    PubMed

    Allahverdipour, Hamid; Bazargan, Mohsen; Farhadinasab, Abdollah; Moeini, Babak

    2010-05-27

    No study has ever explored the prevalence and correlates of video game playing among children in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This study describes patterns and correlates of excessive video game use in a random sample of middle-school students in Iran. Specifically, we examine the relationship between video game playing and psychological well-being, aggressive behaviors, and adolescents' perceived threat of video-computer game playing. This cross-sectional study was performed with a random sample of 444 adolescents recruited from eight middle schools. A self-administered, anonymous questionnaire covered socio-demographics, video gaming behaviors, mental health status, self-reported aggressive behaviors, and perceived side effects of video game playing. Overall, participants spent an average of 6.3 hours per week playing video games. Moreover, 47% of participants reported that they had played one or more intensely violent games. Non-gamers reported suffering poorer mental health compared to excessive gamers. Both non-gamers and excessive gamers overall reported suffering poorer mental health compared to low or moderate players. Participants who initiated gaming at younger ages were more likely to score poorer in mental health measures. Participants' self-reported aggressive behaviors were associated with length of gaming. Boys, but not girls, who reported playing video games excessively showed more aggressive behaviors. A multiple binary logistic regression shows that when controlling for other variables, older students, those who perceived less serious side effects of video gaming, and those who have personal computers, were more likely to report that they had played video games excessively. Our data show a curvilinear relationship between video game playing and mental health outcomes, with "moderate" gamers faring best and "excessive" gamers showing mild increases in problematic behaviors. Interestingly, "non-gamers" clearly show the worst outcomes. Therefore, both children and parents of non-game players should be updated about the positive impact of moderate video gaming. Educational interventions should also be designed to educate adolescents and their parents of the possible harmful impact of excessive video game playing on their health and psychosocial functioning.

  12. Dust and Gas in the Magellanic Clouds from the Heritage Herschel Key Project. I. Dust Properties and Insights into the Origin of the Submm (Submillimeter) Excess Emission

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gordon, Karl D.; Roman-Duval, Julia; Bot, Caroline; Meixner, Margaret; Babler, Brian; Bernard, Jean-Philippe; Bolatto, Alberto; Boyer, Martha L.; Clayton, Geoffrey C.; Engelbracht, Charles; hide

    2014-01-01

    The dust properties in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are studied using the HERITAGE Herschel Key Project photometric data in five bands from 100 to 500 micromillimeters. Three simple models of dust emission were fit to the observations: a single temperature blackbody modified by a powerlaw emissivity (SMBB), a single temperature blackbody modified by a broken power-law emissivity (BEMBB), and two blackbodies with different temperatures, both modified by the same power-law emissivity (TTMBB). Using these models we investigate the origin of the submillimeter excess; defined as the submillimeter (submm) emission above that expected from SMBB models fit to observations < 200 micromillimeters. We find that the BEMBB model produces the lowest fit residuals with pixel-averaged 500 micromillimeters submillimeter excesses of 27% and 43% for the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, respectively. Adopting gas masses from previous works, the gas-to-dust ratios calculated from our fitting results show that the TTMBB fits require significantly more dust than are available even if all the metals present in the interstellar medium (ISM) were condensed into dust. This indicates that the submillimeter excess is more likely to be due to emissivity variations than a second population of colder dust. We derive integrated dust masses of (7.3 plus or minus 1.7) x 10 (sup 5) and (8.3 plus or minus 2.1) x 10 (sup 4) solar masses for the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, respectively. We find significant correlations between the submillimeter excess and other dust properties; further work is needed to determine the relative contributions of fitting noise and ISM physics to the correlations.

  13. Conditional screening for ultra-high dimensional covariates with survival outcomes

    PubMed Central

    Hong, Hyokyoung G.; Li, Yi

    2017-01-01

    Identifying important biomarkers that are predictive for cancer patients’ prognosis is key in gaining better insights into the biological influences on the disease and has become a critical component of precision medicine. The emergence of large-scale biomedical survival studies, which typically involve excessive number of biomarkers, has brought high demand in designing efficient screening tools for selecting predictive biomarkers. The vast amount of biomarkers defies any existing variable selection methods via regularization. The recently developed variable screening methods, though powerful in many practical setting, fail to incorporate prior information on the importance of each biomarker and are less powerful in detecting marginally weak while jointly important signals. We propose a new conditional screening method for survival outcome data by computing the marginal contribution of each biomarker given priorily known biological information. This is based on the premise that some biomarkers are known to be associated with disease outcomes a priori. Our method possesses sure screening properties and a vanishing false selection rate. The utility of the proposal is further confirmed with extensive simulation studies and analysis of a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma dataset. We are pleased to dedicate this work to Jack Kalbfleisch, who has made instrumental contributions to the development of modern methods of analyzing survival data. PMID:27933468

  14. Half-Heusler Alloys as Promising Thermoelectric Materials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Page, Alexander A.

    This thesis describes Ph.D. research on the half-Heusler class of thermoelectric materials. Half-Heusler alloys are a versatile class of materials that have been studied for use in photovoltaics, phase change memory, and thermoelectric power generation. With respect to thermoelectric power generation, new approaches were recently developed in order to improve the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, of half-Heusler alloys. Two of the strategies discussed in this work are adding excess Ni within MNiSn (M = Ti, Zr, or Hf) compounds to form full-Heusler nanostructures and using isoelectronic substitution of Ti, Zr, and Hf in MNiSn compounds to create microscale grain boundaries. This work uses computational simulations based on density functional theory, combined with the cluster expansion method, to predict the stable phases of pseudo-binary and pseudo-ternary composition systems. Statistical mechanics methods were used to calculate temperature-composition phase diagrams that relate the equilibrium phases. It is shown that full-Heusler nanostructures are predicted to remain stable even at high temperatures, and the microscale grain boundaries observed in (Ti,Zr,Hf)NiSn materials are found to be thermodynamically unstable at equilibrium. A new strategy of combining MNiSn materials with ZrNiPb has also recently emerged, and theoretical and experimental work show that a solid solution of the two materials is stable.

  15. Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers: the applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morgan, Robert A.; Lehman, John A.; Hibbs-Brenner, Mary K.; Liu, Yue; Bristow, Julian P. G.

    1997-05-01

    In this paper, we focus on how vertical-cavity surface- emitting lasers (VCSELs) and arrays have led to many feasible advanced technological applications. Their intrinsic characteristics, performance, and producibility offer substantial advantages over alternative sources. Demonstrated performance of `commercial-grade' VCSELs include low operating powers (< 2 V, mAs), high speeds (3 dB BWs > 15 GHz), and high temperature operating ranges (10 K to 400 K and -55 degree(s)C to 125 degree(s)C, and T > 200 degree(s)C). Moreover, their robustness is manifest by high reliability in excess of 107 hours mean time between failures at room temperature and tenfold improvement over existing rad-hard LEDs. Hence, even these `commercial-grade' VCSELs offer potential within cryogenic and avionics/military or space environments. We have also demonstrated submilliamp ITH, stable, single-mode VCSELs utilized within bias-free 1-Gbit/s data links. These low- power VCSELs may also serve in applications from printers to low-cost atomic clocks. The greatest near-term VCSEL applications are upgrades to low-cost LEDs and high-grade copper wire in data links and sensors. Exploiting their surface-emitting geometry, VCSELs are also compatible with established multichip module packaging. Hence VCSELs and VCSEL arrays are ideal components for interconnect-intensive processing applications between and within computing systems.

  16. KSC-2011-7896

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-11-17

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is uncovered during preparations to install it on MSL's Curiosity rover. The mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," is suspended above the generator as it is lifted off the MMRTG's support base. The cage protects the MMRTG during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: Department of Energy/Idaho National Laboratory

  17. KSC-2011-7895

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-11-17

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, spacecraft technicians guide the mesh container protecting the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission as a crane lifts it from around the generator. The container, known as the "gorilla cage," protects the MMRTG during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. Next, the MMRTG will be installed on MSL's Curiosity rover. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: Department of Energy/Idaho National Laboratory

  18. KSC-2011-6716

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-13

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission rests on its support base in the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida following the MMRTG fit check on the Curiosity rover in the high bay. In the background, at right, is the mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects the MMRTG during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

  19. Bedload transport associated with high stream power, Jordan River, Israel

    PubMed Central

    Inbar, Moshe; Schick, Asher P.

    1979-01-01

    During a flood of a magnitude that recurs once in 100 years, boulders up to 1700 mm in size were transported in the Jordan and Meshushim Rivers, northern Israel. Bedload discharge rates were estimated for periods of 3-72 hr of peak flow by a combination of hydrologic and geomorphic methods. Bedload transport rate is proportional to unit stream power in excess of that necessary for initial motion, raised to the power 3/2, as has been shown for data on other rivers. PMID:16592661

  20. Self-diffusion coefficients and shear viscosity of inverse power fluids: from hard- to soft-spheres.

    PubMed

    Heyes, D M; Brańka, A C

    2008-07-21

    Molecular dynamics computer simulation has been used to compute the self-diffusion coefficient, D, and shear viscosity, eta(s), of soft-sphere fluids, in which the particles interact through the soft-sphere or inverse power pair potential, phi(r) = epsilon(sigma/r)(n), where n measures the steepness or stiffness of the potential, and epsilon and sigma are a characteristic energy and distance, respectively. The simulations were carried out on monodisperse systems for a range of n values from the hard-sphere (n --> infinity) limit down to n = 4, and up to densities in excess of the fluid-solid co-existence value. A new analytical procedure is proposed which reproduces the transport coefficients at high densities, and can be used to extrapolate the data to densities higher than accurately accessible by simulation or experiment, and tending to the glass transition. This formula, DX(c-1) proportional, variant A/X + B, where c is an adjustable parameter, and X is either the packing fraction or the pressure, is a development of one proposed by Dymond. In the expression, -A/B is the value of X at the ideal glass transition (i.e., where D and eta(s)(-1) --> 0). Estimated values are presented for the packing fraction and the pressure at the glass transition for n values between the hard and soft particle limits. The above expression is also shown to reproduce the high density viscosity data of supercritical argon, krypton and nitrogen. Fits to the soft-sphere simulation transport coefficients close to solid-fluid co-existence are also made using the analytic form, ln(D) = alpha(X)X, and n-dependence of the alpha(X) is presented (X is either the packing fraction or the pressure).

  1. Impacts of spatial resolution and representation of flow connectivity on large-scale simulation of floods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mateo, Cherry May R.; Yamazaki, Dai; Kim, Hyungjun; Champathong, Adisorn; Vaze, Jai; Oki, Taikan

    2017-10-01

    Global-scale river models (GRMs) are core tools for providing consistent estimates of global flood hazard, especially in data-scarce regions. Due to former limitations in computational power and input datasets, most GRMs have been developed to use simplified representations of flow physics and run at coarse spatial resolutions. With increasing computational power and improved datasets, the application of GRMs to finer resolutions is becoming a reality. To support development in this direction, the suitability of GRMs for application to finer resolutions needs to be assessed. This study investigates the impacts of spatial resolution and flow connectivity representation on the predictive capability of a GRM, CaMa-Flood, in simulating the 2011 extreme flood in Thailand. Analyses show that when single downstream connectivity (SDC) is assumed, simulation results deteriorate with finer spatial resolution; Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficients decreased by more than 50 % between simulation results at 10 km resolution and 1 km resolution. When multiple downstream connectivity (MDC) is represented, simulation results slightly improve with finer spatial resolution. The SDC simulations result in excessive backflows on very flat floodplains due to the restrictive flow directions at finer resolutions. MDC channels attenuated these effects by maintaining flow connectivity and flow capacity between floodplains in varying spatial resolutions. While a regional-scale flood was chosen as a test case, these findings should be universal and may have significant impacts on large- to global-scale simulations, especially in regions where mega deltas exist.These results demonstrate that a GRM can be used for higher resolution simulations of large-scale floods, provided that MDC in rivers and floodplains is adequately represented in the model structure.

  2. A study on the impact of high penetration distributed generation inverters on grid operation and stability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gu, Fei; Brouwer, Jack; Samuelsen, Scott

    2013-09-01

    Recent advances in inverter technology have enabled ancillary services such as volt/VAR regulation, SCADA communications, and active power filtering. Smart inverters can not only provide real power, but can be controlled to use excess capacity to provide reactive power compensation, power flow control, and active power filtering without supplementary inverter hardware. A transient level inverter model based on the Solectria 7700 inverter is developed and used to assess these control strategies using field data from an existing branch circuit containing two Amonix 68kW CPV-7700 systems installed at the University of California, Irvine.

  3. Development of high frequency low weight power magnetics for aerospace power systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schwarze, G. E.

    1984-01-01

    A dominant design consideration in the development of space type power mangetic devices is the application of reliable thermal control methods to prevent device failure which is due to excessive temperature rises and hot temperatures in critical areas. The resultant design must also yield low weight, high efficiency, high reliability and maintainability, and long life. The weight savings and high efficiency that results by going to high frequency and unique thermal control techniques is demonstrated by the development of a 25 kVA, 20 kHz space type transformer under the power magnetics technology program. Work in the area of power rotary transformer is also discussed.

  4. Wireless power charging using point of load controlled high frequency power converters

    DOEpatents

    Miller, John M.; Campbell, Steven L.; Chambon, Paul H.; Seiber, Larry E.; White, Clifford P.

    2015-10-13

    An apparatus for wirelessly charging a battery of an electric vehicle is provided with a point of load control. The apparatus includes a base unit for generating a direct current (DC) voltage. The base unit is regulated by a power level controller. One or more point of load converters can be connected to the base unit by a conductor, with each point of load converter comprising a control signal generator that transmits a signal to the power level controller. The output power level of the DC voltage provided by the base unit is controlled by power level controller such that the power level is sufficient to power all active load converters when commanded to do so by any of the active controllers, without generating excessive power that may be otherwise wasted.

  5. Concept Developed for an Implanted Stimulated Muscle-Powered Piezoelectric Generator

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lewandowski, Beth; Kilgore, Kevin; Ercegovic, David; Gustafson, Kenneth

    2005-01-01

    Implanted electronic devices are typically powered by batteries or transcutaneous power transmission. Batteries must be replaced or recharged, and transcutaneous power sources burden the patient or subject with external equipment prone to failure. A completely self-sustaining implanted power source would alleviate these limitations. Skeletal muscle provides an available autologous power source containing native chemical energy that produces power in excess of the requirements for muscle activation by motor nerve stimulation. A concept has been developed to convert stimulated skeletal muscle power into electrical energy (see the preceding illustration). We propose to connect a piezoelectric generator between a muscle tendon and bone. Electrically stimulated muscle contractions would exert force on the piezoelectric generator, charging a storage circuit that would be used to power the stimulator and other devices.

  6. 14 CFR 25.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ...-drag limiting systems. Turbopropeller power airplane propeller-drag limiting systems must be designed... results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was designed under § 25.367. Failure of...

  7. 14 CFR 25.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ...-drag limiting systems. Turbopropeller power airplane propeller-drag limiting systems must be designed... results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was designed under § 25.367. Failure of...

  8. 14 CFR 25.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ...-drag limiting systems. Turbopropeller power airplane propeller-drag limiting systems must be designed... results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was designed under § 25.367. Failure of...

  9. 14 CFR 25.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ...-drag limiting systems. Turbopropeller power airplane propeller-drag limiting systems must be designed... results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was designed under § 25.367. Failure of...

  10. 14 CFR 25.937 - Turbopropeller-drag limiting systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ...-drag limiting systems. Turbopropeller power airplane propeller-drag limiting systems must be designed... results in propeller drag in excess of that for which the airplane was designed under § 25.367. Failure of...

  11. 29 CFR 1918.65 - Mechanically powered vehicles used aboard vessels.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... protect the operator, when seated, against injury from contact with a projecting overhead hazard. (2... excessive deflection, a load applied horizontally at the operator's shoulder level equal to the drawbar pull...

  12. 29 CFR 1918.65 - Mechanically powered vehicles used aboard vessels.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... protect the operator, when seated, against injury from contact with a projecting overhead hazard. (2... excessive deflection, a load applied horizontally at the operator's shoulder level equal to the drawbar pull...

  13. 29 CFR 1918.65 - Mechanically powered vehicles used aboard vessels.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... protect the operator, when seated, against injury from contact with a projecting overhead hazard. (2... excessive deflection, a load applied horizontally at the operator's shoulder level equal to the drawbar pull...

  14. Monte Carlo based statistical power analysis for mediation models: methods and software.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Zhiyong

    2014-12-01

    The existing literature on statistical power analysis for mediation models often assumes data normality and is based on a less powerful Sobel test instead of the more powerful bootstrap test. This study proposes to estimate statistical power to detect mediation effects on the basis of the bootstrap method through Monte Carlo simulation. Nonnormal data with excessive skewness and kurtosis are allowed in the proposed method. A free R package called bmem is developed to conduct the power analysis discussed in this study. Four examples, including a simple mediation model, a multiple-mediator model with a latent mediator, a multiple-group mediation model, and a longitudinal mediation model, are provided to illustrate the proposed method.

  15. High Power Hall Thrusters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jankovsky, Robert; Tverdokhlebov, Sergery; Manzella, David

    1999-01-01

    The development of Hall thrusters with powers ranging from tens of kilowatts to in excess of one hundred kilowatts is considered based on renewed interest in high power. high thrust electric propulsion applications. An approach to develop such thrusters based on previous experience is discussed. It is shown that the previous experimental data taken with thrusters of 10 kW input power and less can be used. Potential mass savings due to the design of high power Hall thrusters are discussed. Both xenon and alternate thruster propellant are considered, as are technological issues that will challenge the design of high power Hall thrusters. Finally, the implications of such a development effort with regard to ground testing and spacecraft intecrati'on issues are discussed.

  16. Novel Active Combustion Control Valve

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Caspermeyer, Matt

    2014-01-01

    This project presents an innovative solution for active combustion control. Relative to the state of the art, this concept provides frequency modulation (greater than 1,000 Hz) in combination with high-amplitude modulation (in excess of 30 percent flow) and can be adapted to a large range of fuel injector sizes. Existing valves often have low flow modulation strength. To achieve higher flow modulation requires excessively large valves or too much electrical power to be practical. This active combustion control valve (ACCV) has high-frequency and -amplitude modulation, consumes low electrical power, is closely coupled with the fuel injector for modulation strength, and is practical in size and weight. By mitigating combustion instabilities at higher frequencies than have been previously achieved (approximately 1,000 Hz), this new technology enables gas turbines to run at operating points that produce lower emissions and higher performance.

  17. Optimal system sizing in grid-connected photovoltaic applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Simoens, H. M.; Baert, D. H.; de Mey, G.

    A costs/benefits analysis for optimizing the combination of photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries and an inverter for grid interconnected systems at a 500 W/day Belgian residence is presented. It is assumed that some power purchases from the grid will always be necessary, and that excess PV power can be fed into the grid. A minimal value for the cost divided by the performance is defined for economic optimization. Shortages and excesses are calculated for PV panels of 0.5-10 kWp output, with consideration given to the advantages of a battery back-up. The minimal economic value is found to increase with the magnitude of PV output, and an inverter should never be rated at more than half the array maximum output. A maximum panel size for the Belgian residence is projected to be 6 kWp.

  18. Surpassing Mt. Everest: extreme flight performance of alpine bumble-bees.

    PubMed

    Dillon, Michael E; Dudley, Robert

    2014-02-01

    Animal flight at altitude involves substantial aerodynamic and physiological challenges. Hovering at high elevations is particularly demanding from the dual perspectives of lift and power output; nevertheless, some volant insects reside and fly at elevations in excess of 4000 m. Here, we demonstrate that alpine bumble-bees possess substantial aerodynamic reserves, and can sustain hovering flight under hypobaria at effective elevations in excess of 9000 m, i.e. higher than Mt. Everest. Modulation of stroke amplitude and not wingbeat frequency is the primary means of compensation for overcoming the aerodynamic challenge. The presence of such excess capacity in a high-altitude bumble-bee is surprising and suggests intermittent behavioural demands for extreme flight performance supplemental to routine foraging.

  19. An Excess Broadband Noise Observed with Overexpanded Jets

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zaman, K.B.M.Q.; Bridges, James E.; Brown, C.A.

    2009-01-01

    Results of an experiment on the characteristics of an excess noise occurring with convergent-divergent (C-D) nozzles in the overexpanded regime are presented in this paper. Data are obtained with five C-D nozzles and a convergent nozzle, all having the same exit diameter. The results clearly establish that the C-D nozzles are noisier in the low Mach number range of the overexpanded regime. This is evidenced from the directivity patterns as well as overall radiated sound power calculations. The excess noise is broadband in nature and is found to be more pronounced with nozzles having a larger half-angle of the divergent section. It appears to occur when a shock resides within the divergent section and results from random unsteady motion of the shock.

  20. Optimal fault-tolerant control strategy of a solid oxide fuel cell system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Xiaojuan; Gao, Danhui

    2017-10-01

    For solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) development, load tracking, heat management, air excess ratio constraint, high efficiency, low cost and fault diagnosis are six key issues. However, no literature studies the control techniques combining optimization and fault diagnosis for the SOFC system. An optimal fault-tolerant control strategy is presented in this paper, which involves four parts: a fault diagnosis module, a switching module, two backup optimizers and a controller loop. The fault diagnosis part is presented to identify the SOFC current fault type, and the switching module is used to select the appropriate backup optimizer based on the diagnosis result. NSGA-II and TOPSIS are employed to design the two backup optimizers under normal and air compressor fault states. PID algorithm is proposed to design the control loop, which includes a power tracking controller, an anode inlet temperature controller, a cathode inlet temperature controller and an air excess ratio controller. The simulation results show the proposed optimal fault-tolerant control method can track the power, temperature and air excess ratio at the desired values, simultaneously achieving the maximum efficiency and the minimum unit cost in the case of SOFC normal and even in the air compressor fault.

  1. Preliminary design study of small long life boiling water reactor (BWR) with tight lattice thorium nitride fuel

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

    Trianti, Nuri, E-mail: nuri.trianti@gmail.com, E-mail: szaki@fi.itba.c.id; Su'ud, Zaki, E-mail: nuri.trianti@gmail.com, E-mail: szaki@fi.itba.c.id; Arif, Idam, E-mail: nuri.trianti@gmail.com, E-mail: szaki@fi.itba.c.id

    2014-09-30

    Neutronic performance of small long-life boiling water reactors (BWR) with thorium nitride based fuel has been performed. A recent study conducted on BWR in tight lattice environments (with a lower moderator percentage) produces small power reactor which has some specifications, i.e. 10 years operation time, power density of 19.1 watt/cc and maximum excess reactivity of about 4%. This excess reactivity value is smaller than standard reactivity of conventional BWR. The use of hexagonal geometry on the fuel cell of BWR provides a substantial effect on the criticality of the reactor to obtain a longer operating time. Supported by a tightmore » concept lattice where the volume fraction of the fuel is greater than the moderator and fuel, Thorium Nitride give good results for fuel cell design on small long life BWR. The excess reactivity of the reactor can be reduced with the addition of gadolinium as burnable poisons. Therefore the hexagonal tight lattice fuel cell design of small long life BWR that has a criticality more than 20 years of operating time has been obtained.« less

  2. Theoretical study of the composition pulling effect in InGaN metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy growth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Inatomi, Yuya; Kangawa, Yoshihiro; Ito, Tomonori; Suski, Tadeusz; Kumagai, Yoshinao; Kakimoto, Koichi; Koukitu, Akinori

    2017-07-01

    The composition pulling effect in metalorganic vapor-phase InGaN epitaxy was theoretically investigated by thermodynamic analysis. The excess energies of biaxial-strained In x Ga1- x N were numerically calculated using empirical interatomic potentials considering different situations: (i) coherent growth on GaN(0001), (ii) coherent growth on In0.2Ga0.8N(0001), and (iii) bulk growth. Using the excess energies, the excess chemical potentials of InN and GaN alloys were computed. Our results show that compressive strain suppresses In incorporation, whereas tensile strain promotes it. Moreover, assuming chemical equilibrium, the relationship between the solid composition and the growth conditions was predicted. The results successfully reproduced the typical composition pulling effect.

  3. Effect of Surface Excess Energy Transport on the Rupture of an Evaporating Film

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luo, Yan; Zhou, Jianqiu; Yang, Xia; Liu, Rong

    2018-05-01

    In most of existing works on the instabilities of an evaporating film, the energy boundary condition only takes into account contributions of the evaporation latent heat and the heat conduction in the liquid. We use a new generalized energy boundary condition at the evaporating liquid-vapor interface, in which the contribution of the transport of the Gibbs excess energy is included. We have derived the long-wave equations in which the thickness of film and the interfacial temperature are coupled to describe the dynamics of an evaporating thin film. The results of our computation show that the transport of the Gibbs excess internal energy delay the rupture of thin films due to van de Waals force, evaporating effect and vapor recoil.

  4. Research and Development on the Storage Ring Vacuum System for the APS Upgrade Project

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

    Stillwell, B.; Brajuskovic, B.; Carter, J.

    A number of research and development activities are underway at Argonne National Laboratory to build confidence in the designs for the storage ring vacuum system required for the Advanced Photon Source Up-grade project (APS-U) [1]. The predominant technical risks are: excessive residual gas pressures during operation; insufficient beam position monitor stability; excessive beam impedance; excessive heating by induced electrical surface currents; and insufficient operational reliability. Present efforts to mitigate these risks include: building and evaluating mockup assemblies; performing mechanical testing of chamber weld joints; developing computational tools; investigating design alternatives; and performing electrical bench measurements. Status of these activities andmore » some of what has been learned to date will be shared.« less

  5. Temperature of maximum density and excess thermodynamics of aqueous mixtures of methanol

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

    González-Salgado, D.; Zemánková, K.; Noya, E. G.

    In this work, we present a study of representative excess thermodynamic properties of aqueous mixtures of methanol over the complete concentration range, based on extensive computer simulation calculations. In addition to test various existing united atom model potentials, we have developed a new force-field which accurately reproduces the excess thermodynamics of this system. Moreover, we have paid particular attention to the behavior of the temperature of maximum density (TMD) in dilute methanol mixtures. The presence of a temperature of maximum density is one of the essential anomalies exhibited by water. This anomalous behavior is modified in a non-monotonous fashion bymore » the presence of fully miscible solutes that partly disrupt the hydrogen bond network of water, such as methanol (and other short chain alcohols). In order to obtain a better insight into the phenomenology of the changes in the TMD of water induced by small amounts of methanol, we have performed a new series of experimental measurements and computer simulations using various force fields. We observe that none of the force-fields tested capture the non-monotonous concentration dependence of the TMD for highly diluted methanol solutions.« less

  6. Prediction of mesothelioma and lung cancer in a cohort of asbestos exposed workers.

    PubMed

    Gasparrini, Antonio; Pizzo, Anna Maria; Gorini, Giuseppe; Seniori Costantini, Adele; Silvestri, Stefano; Ciapini, Cesare; Innocenti, Andrea; Berry, Geoffrey

    2008-01-01

    Several papers have reported state-wide projections of mesothelioma deaths, but few have computed these predictions in selected exposed groups. To predict the future deaths attributable to asbestos in a cohort of railway rolling stock workers. The future mortality of the 1,146 living workers has been computed in term of individual probability of dying for three different risks: baseline mortality, lung cancer excess, mesothelioma mortality. Lung cancer mortality attributable to asbestos was calculated assuming the excess risk as stable or with a decrease after a period of time since first exposure. Mesothelioma mortality was based on cumulative exposure and time since first exposure, with the inclusion of a term for clearance of asbestos fibres from the lung. The most likely range of the number of deaths attributable to asbestos in the period 2005-2050 was 15-30 for excess of lung cancer, and 23-35 for mesothelioma. This study provides predictions of asbestos-related mortality even in a selected cohort of exposed subjects, using previous knowledge about exposure-response relationship. The inclusion of individual information in the projection model helps reduce misclassification and improves the results. The method could be extended in other selected cohorts.

  7. Protons in non-ionic aqueous reverse micelles.

    PubMed

    Rodriguez, Javier; Martí, Jordi; Guàrdia, Elvira; Laria, Daniel

    2007-05-03

    Using molecular dynamics techniques, we investigate the solvation of an excess proton within an aqueous reverse micelle in vacuo, with the neutral surfactant diethylene glycol monodecyl ether [CH3(CH2)11(OC2H4)2OH]. The simulation experiments were performed using a multistate empirical valence bond Hamiltonian model. Our results show that the stable solvation environments for the excess proton are located in the water-surfactant interface and that its first solvation shell is composed exclusively by water molecules. The relative prevalence of Eigen- versus Zundel-like solvation structures is investigated; compared to bulk results, Zundel-like structures in micelles become somewhat more stable. Characteristic times for the proton translocation jumps have been computed using population relaxation time correlation functions. The micellar rate for proton transfer is approximately 40x smaller than that found in bulk water at ambient conditions. Differences in the computed rates are examined in terms of the hydrogen-bond connectivity involving the first solvation shell of the excess charge with the rest of the micellar environment. Simulation results would indicate that proton transfers are correlated with rare episodes during which the HB connectivity between the first and second solvation shells suffers profound modifications.

  8. Wavelength-dependent excess permittivity as indicator of kerosene in diesel oil.

    PubMed

    Kanyathare, Boniphace; Peiponen, Kai-Erik

    2018-04-20

    Adulteration of diesel oil by kerosene is a serious problem because of air pollution resulting from car exhaust gases. The objective of this study was to develop a relatively simple optical measurement and data analysis method to screen low-adulterated diesel oils. For this purpose, we introduce the utilization of refractive index measurement with a refractometer, scanning of visible-near-infrared transmittance, transmittance data inversion using the singly subtractive Kramers-Kronig relation, and exploitation of so-called wavelength-dependent relative excess permittivity. It is shown for three different diesel oil grades, adulterated with kerosene, that the excess permittivity is a powerful measure for screening fake diesel oils. The excess relative permittivity of such binary mixtures also reveals hidden spectral fingerprints that are neither visible in dispersion data alone nor in spectral transmittance measurements alone. We believe that the excess permittivity data are useful in the case of screening adulteration of diesel oil by kerosene and can further be explored for practical sensing solutions, e.g., in quality inspection of diesel oils in refineries.

  9. Emission from small dust particles in diffuse and molecular cloud medium

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bernard, J. P.; Desert, X.

    1990-01-01

    Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) observations of the whole galaxy has shown that long wavelength emission (100 and 60 micron bands) can be explained by thermal emission from big grains (approx 0.1 micron) radiating at their equilibrium temperature when heated by the InterStellar Radiation Field (ISRF). This conclusion has been confirmed by continuum sub-millimeter observations of the galactic plane made by the EMILIE experiment at 870 microns (Pajot et al. 1986). Nevertheless, shorter wavelength observations like 12 and 25 micron IRAS bands, show an emission from the galactic plane in excess with the long wavelength measurements which can only be explained by a much hotter particles population. Because dust at equilibrium cannot easily reach high temperatures required to explain this excess, this component is thought to be composed of very small dust grains or big molecules encompassing thermal fluctuations. Researchers present here a numerical model that computes emission, from Near Infrared Radiation (NIR) to Sub-mm wavelengths, from a non-homogeneous spherical cloud heated by the ISRF. This model fully takes into account the heating of dust by multi-photon processes and back-heating of dust in the Visual/Infrared Radiation (VIS-IR) so that it is likely to describe correctly emission from molecular clouds up to large A sub v and emission from dust experiencing temperature fluctuations. The dust is a three component mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, very small grains, and classical big grains with independent size distributions (cut-off and power law index) and abundances.

  10. Towards a 3D modelling of the microwave photo-induced load in CPW technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gary, Rene; Arnould, Jean-Daniel; Vilcot, Anne

    2005-09-01

    The optical control study works on both the optical and the microwave behaviours of the plasma photo-induced in the semiconductor enlightened by a laser beam. The presented study is based on the necessity to be able to foresee the microwave response of CPW microwave devices versus different optical powers and different kinds of optical fibers, single-mode or multimode. The optical part has been achieved analytically by solving the diffusion equation of photo-induced carriers using the Hankel transform in 3-Dimensions. The added value of this technique is its precision and fastness. For the electromagnetic part we have chosen to use CST Microwave Studio software, which solves numerically Maxwell's equations with a Finite Integration Technique (FIT). For this aim we have had to model the photo-induced load using the locally changed conductivity directly depending of the excess carriers distribution. In the final paper, the first part will deal with the analytical computation of the photo-induced excess carrier in silicon substrate using the Hankel transform under permanent enlightening. Then the explanation of the model will be based on the need of a 3-Dimension model that may be described in an electromagnetic software. Finally simulation results of simple CPW devices as stub will be compared to measurements. In conclusion, we will show that the model is suitable for designing more complex devices and that it can be simplified in case of low precision needs.

  11. Mechanism study on pressure fluctuation of pump-turbine runner with large blade lean angle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yulin, Fan; Xuhe, Wang; Baoshan, Zhu; Dongyue, Zhou; Xijun, Zhou

    2016-11-01

    Excessive pressure fluctuations in the vaneless space can cause mechanical vibration and even mechanical failures in pump-turbine operation. Mechanism studies on the pressure fluctuations and optimization design of blade geometry to reduce the pressure fluctuations have important significance in industrial production. In the present paper, two pump-turbine runners with big positive and negative blade lean angle were designed by using a multiobjective design strategy. Model test showed that the runner with negative blade lean angle not only had better power performance, but also had lower pressure fluctuation than the runner with positive blade lean angle. In order to figure out the mechanism of pressure fluctuation reduction in the vaneless;jik8space, full passage model for both runners were built and transient CFD computations were conducted to simulate the flow states inside the channel. Detailed flow field analyses indicated that the difference of low-pressure area in the trailing edge of blade pressure side were the main causes of pressure fluctuation reduction in the vaneless space.

  12. Can the Site-Frequency Spectrum Distinguish Exponential Population Growth from Multiple-Merger Coalescents?

    PubMed Central

    Eldon, Bjarki; Birkner, Matthias; Blath, Jochen; Freund, Fabian

    2015-01-01

    The ability of the site-frequency spectrum (SFS) to reflect the particularities of gene genealogies exhibiting multiple mergers of ancestral lines as opposed to those obtained in the presence of population growth is our focus. An excess of singletons is a well-known characteristic of both population growth and multiple mergers. Other aspects of the SFS, in particular, the weight of the right tail, are, however, affected in specific ways by the two model classes. Using an approximate likelihood method and minimum-distance statistics, our estimates of statistical power indicate that exponential and algebraic growth can indeed be distinguished from multiple-merger coalescents, even for moderate sample sizes, if the number of segregating sites is high enough. A normalized version of the SFS (nSFS) is also used as a summary statistic in an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) approach. The results give further positive evidence as to the general eligibility of the SFS to distinguish between the different histories. PMID:25575536

  13. Radio-frequency power-assisted performance improvement of a magnetohydrodynamic power generator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murakami, Tomoyuki; Okuno, Yoshihiro; Yamasaki, Hiroyuki

    2005-12-01

    We describe a radio-frequency (rf) electromagnetic-field-assisted magnetohydrodynamic power generation experiment, where an inductively coupled rf field (13.56MHz, 5.2kW) is continuously supplied to the disk generator. The rf power assists the precise plasma ignition, by which the otherwise irregular plasma behavior was stabilized. The rf heating suppresses the ionization instability in the plasma behavior and homogenizes the nonuniformity of the plasma structures. The power-generating performance is significantly improved with the aid of the rf power under wide seeding conditions: insufficient, optimum, and excessive seed fractions. The increment of the enthalpy extraction ratio of around 2% is significantly greater than the fraction of the net rf power, that is, 0.16%, to the thermal input.

  14. Anisotropy of cosmic rays above 10(14) eV

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wdowczyk, J.; Wolfendale, A. W.

    1985-01-01

    A survey is made of the anisotropy of cosmic rays at energies above 10 to the 14th power eV. It is concluded that cosmic gamma-rays may have an effect in the range 10 to the 14 power - 10 to the 16th power eV, above which protons dominate. Evidence is presented for an excess in the general direction of the Galactic plane which grows with increasing energy until about 10 to the 19th power eV, indicating a Galactic origin for these particles. At higher energies an Extragalactic origin is indicated.

  15. High-Voltage Polymers for High-Power Supercapacitors. Version 1

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-05-30

    affect the supercapacitor’s performance. Subsequently, our efforts focused on fabricating polymers with high oxidation potentials to increase the power...including spin activation with out significant modifications. Electroactive polymers such as polythiophene, polyacetylene, or polyaniline can be...potentials in excess of 2 V for facile polymerization. In the present case, the triaryl ammine functionality of 2 and 3 is oxidized at the low

  16. The Effects of Varying Ankle Foot Orthosis Stiffness on Gait in Children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy Who Walk with Excessive Knee Flexion

    PubMed Central

    Kerkum, Yvette L.; Buizer, Annemieke I.; van den Noort, Josien C.; Becher, Jules G.; Harlaar, Jaap; Brehm, Merel-Anne

    2015-01-01

    Introduction Rigid Ankle-Foot Orthoses (AFOs) are commonly prescribed to counteract excessive knee flexion during the stance phase of gait in children with cerebral palsy (CP). While rigid AFOs may normalize knee kinematics and kinetics effectively, it has the disadvantage of impeding push-off power. A spring-like AFO may enhance push-off power, which may come at the cost of reducing the knee flexion less effectively. Optimizing this trade-off between enhancing push-off power and normalizing knee flexion in stance is expected to maximize gait efficiency. This study investigated the effects of varying AFO stiffness on gait biomechanics and efficiency in children with CP who walk with excessive knee flexion in stance. Fifteen children with spastic CP (11 boys, 10±2 years) were prescribed with a ventral shell spring-hinged AFO (vAFO). The hinge was set into a rigid, or spring-like setting, using both a stiff and flexible performance. At baseline (i.e. shoes-only) and for each vAFO, a 3D-gait analysis and 6-minute walk test with breath-gas analysis were performed at comfortable speed. Lower limb joint kinematics and kinetics were calculated. From the 6-minute walk test, walking speed and the net energy cost were determined. A generalized estimation equation (p<0.05) was used to analyze the effects of different conditions. Compared to shoes-only, all vAFOs improved the knee angle and net moment similarly. Ankle power generation and work were preserved only by the spring-like vAFOs. All vAFOs decreased the net energy cost compared to shoes-only, but no differences were found between vAFOs, showing that the effects of spring-like vAFOs to promote push-off power did not lead to greater reductions in walking energy cost. These findings suggest that, in this specific group of children with spastic CP, the vAFO stiffness that maximizes gait efficiency is primarily determined by its effect on knee kinematics and kinetics rather than by its effect on push-off power. Trial Registration Dutch Trial Register NTR3418 PMID:26600039

  17. The Effects of Varying Ankle Foot Orthosis Stiffness on Gait in Children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy Who Walk with Excessive Knee Flexion.

    PubMed

    Kerkum, Yvette L; Buizer, Annemieke I; van den Noort, Josien C; Becher, Jules G; Harlaar, Jaap; Brehm, Merel-Anne

    2015-01-01

    Rigid Ankle-Foot Orthoses (AFOs) are commonly prescribed to counteract excessive knee flexion during the stance phase of gait in children with cerebral palsy (CP). While rigid AFOs may normalize knee kinematics and kinetics effectively, it has the disadvantage of impeding push-off power. A spring-like AFO may enhance push-off power, which may come at the cost of reducing the knee flexion less effectively. Optimizing this trade-off between enhancing push-off power and normalizing knee flexion in stance is expected to maximize gait efficiency. This study investigated the effects of varying AFO stiffness on gait biomechanics and efficiency in children with CP who walk with excessive knee flexion in stance. Fifteen children with spastic CP (11 boys, 10±2 years) were prescribed with a ventral shell spring-hinged AFO (vAFO). The hinge was set into a rigid, or spring-like setting, using both a stiff and flexible performance. At baseline (i.e. shoes-only) and for each vAFO, a 3D-gait analysis and 6-minute walk test with breath-gas analysis were performed at comfortable speed. Lower limb joint kinematics and kinetics were calculated. From the 6-minute walk test, walking speed and the net energy cost were determined. A generalized estimation equation (p<0.05) was used to analyze the effects of different conditions. Compared to shoes-only, all vAFOs improved the knee angle and net moment similarly. Ankle power generation and work were preserved only by the spring-like vAFOs. All vAFOs decreased the net energy cost compared to shoes-only, but no differences were found between vAFOs, showing that the effects of spring-like vAFOs to promote push-off power did not lead to greater reductions in walking energy cost. These findings suggest that, in this specific group of children with spastic CP, the vAFO stiffness that maximizes gait efficiency is primarily determined by its effect on knee kinematics and kinetics rather than by its effect on push-off power. Dutch Trial Register NTR3418.

  18. Algorithm-Based Fault Tolerance Integrated with Replication

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Some, Raphael; Rennels, David

    2008-01-01

    In a proposed approach to programming and utilization of commercial off-the-shelf computing equipment, a combination of algorithm-based fault tolerance (ABFT) and replication would be utilized to obtain high degrees of fault tolerance without incurring excessive costs. The basic idea of the proposed approach is to integrate ABFT with replication such that the algorithmic portions of computations would be protected by ABFT, and the logical portions by replication. ABFT is an extremely efficient, inexpensive, high-coverage technique for detecting and mitigating faults in computer systems used for algorithmic computations, but does not protect against errors in logical operations surrounding algorithms.

  19. Computer analysis of railcar vibrations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vlaminck, R. R.

    1975-01-01

    Computer models and techniques for calculating railcar vibrations are discussed along with criteria for vehicle ride optimization. The effect on vibration of car body structural dynamics, suspension system parameters, vehicle geometry, and wheel and rail excitation are presented. Ride quality vibration data collected on the state-of-the-art car and standard light rail vehicle is compared to computer predictions. The results show that computer analysis of the vehicle can be performed for relatively low cost in short periods of time. The analysis permits optimization of the design as it progresses and minimizes the possibility of excessive vibration on production vehicles.

  20. TV Watching and Computer Use in U.S. Youth Aged 12-15, 2012. NCHS Data Brief. Number 157

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Herrick, Kirsten A.; Fakhouri, Tala H. I.; Carlson, Susan A.; Fulton, Janet E.

    2014-01-01

    Excessive screen-time behaviors, such as using a computer and watching TV, for more than 2 hours daily have been linked with elevated blood pressure, elevated serum cholesterol, and being overweight or obese among youth. Additionally, screen-time behavior established in adolescence has been shown to track into adulthood. The National Heart, Lung,…

  1. LOOKING FOR GRANULATION AND PERIODICITY IMPRINTS IN THE SUNSPOT TIME SERIES

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

    Lopes, Ilídio; Silva, Hugo G., E-mail: ilidio.lopes@tecnico.ulisboa.pt, E-mail: hgsilva@uevora.pt

    2015-05-10

    The sunspot activity is the end result of the cyclic destruction and regeneration of magnetic fields by the dynamo action. We propose a new method to analyze the daily sunspot areas data recorded since 1874. By computing the power spectral density of daily data series using the Mexican hat wavelet, we found a power spectrum with a well-defined shape, characterized by three features. The first term is the 22 yr solar magnetic cycle, estimated in our work to be 18.43 yr. The second term is related to the daily volatility of sunspots. This term is most likely produced by themore » turbulent motions linked to the solar granulation. The last term corresponds to a periodic source associated with the solar magnetic activity, for which the maximum power spectral density occurs at 22.67 days. This value is part of the 22–27 day periodicity region that shows an above-average intensity in the power spectra. The origin of this 22.67 day periodic process is not clearly identified, and there is a possibility that it can be produced by convective flows inside the star. The study clearly shows a north–south asymmetry. The 18.43 yr periodical source is correlated between the two hemispheres, but the 22.67 day one is not correlated. It is shown that toward the large timescales an excess occurs in the northern hemisphere, especially near the previous two periodic sources. To further investigate the 22.67 day periodicity, we made a Lomb–Scargle spectral analysis. The study suggests that this periodicity is distinct from others found nearby.« less

  2. Excessive computer game playing among Norwegian adults: self-reported consequences of playing and association with mental health problems.

    PubMed

    Wenzel, H G; Bakken, I J; Johansson, A; Götestam, K G; Øren, Anita

    2009-12-01

    Computer games are the most advanced form of gaming. For most people, the playing is an uncomplicated leisure activity; however, for a minority the gaming becomes excessive and is associated with negative consequences. The aim of the present study was to investigate computer game-playing behaviour in the general adult Norwegian population, and to explore mental health problems and self-reported consequences of playing. The survey includes 3,405 adults 16 to 74 years old (Norway 2007, response rate 35.3%). Overall, 65.5% of the respondents reported having ever played computer games (16-29 years, 93.9%; 30-39 years, 85.0%; 40-59 years, 56.2%; 60-74 years, 25.7%). Among 2,170 players, 89.8% reported playing less than 1 hr. as a daily average over the last month, 5.0% played 1-2 hr. daily, 3.1% played 2-4 hr. daily, and 2.2% reported playing > 4 hr. daily. The strongest risk factor for playing > 4 hr. daily was being an online player, followed by male gender, and single marital status. Reported negative consequences of computer game playing increased strongly with average daily playing time. Furthermore, prevalence of self-reported sleeping problems, depression, suicide ideations, anxiety, obsessions/ compulsions, and alcohol/substance abuse increased with increasing playing time. This study showed that adult populations should also be included in research on computer game-playing behaviour and its consequences.

  3. Soft X-ray spectral features in the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC4051

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mihara, Tatehiro; Matsuoka, Masaru; Mushotzky, Richard F.; Kunieda, Hideyo; Otani, Chiko; Miyamoto, Sigenori; Yamauchi, Makoto

    1994-01-01

    We report ASCA observations of NGC 4051 during the PV phase. The time averaged X-ray spectrum is not well fit by a simple power law with an iron K-emission line and shows significant absorption-edge features most probably due to O VII and O VIII and a strong soft excess. This is the first direct measurement of edges in the spectrum of this object and confirms that the X-ray spectrum of NGC 4051 is modified by a 'warm' absorbing gas. The best fit underlying power law index in the 0.4-10 keV band is 1.88. A power law modified by a warm absorber model can partly explain the apparent soft excess and qualitatively fit the SIS spectrum. However, the addition of a black body of kT approx. = 0.1 keV improves the fit considerably. The 90% upper limit on the width of the iron line is 460 eV full width at half maximum (FWHM). Applying the fluorescent iron line model from an accretion disk gives an upper limit of 20 deg for the inclination of the disk.

  4. Air and water cooled modulator

    DOEpatents

    Birx, Daniel L.; Arnold, Phillip A.; Ball, Don G.; Cook, Edward G.

    1995-01-01

    A compact high power magnetic compression apparatus and method for delivering high voltage pulses of short duration at a high repetition rate and high peak power output which does not require the use of environmentally unacceptable fluids such as chlorofluorocarbons either as a dielectric or as a coolant, and which discharges very little waste heat into the surrounding air. A first magnetic switch has cooling channels formed therethrough to facilitate the removal of excess heat. The first magnetic switch is mounted on a printed circuit board. A pulse transformer comprised of a plurality of discrete electrically insulated and magnetically coupled units is also mounted on said printed board and is electrically coupled to the first magnetic switch. The pulse transformer also has cooling means attached thereto for removing heat from the pulse transformer. A second magnetic switch also having cooling means for removing excess heat is electrically coupled to the pulse transformer. Thus, the present invention is able to provide high voltage pulses of short duration at a high repetition rate and high peak power output without the use of environmentally unacceptable fluids and without discharging significant waste heat into the surrounding air.

  5. GPS synchronized power system phase angle measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wilson, Robert E.; Sterlina, Patrick S.

    1994-09-01

    This paper discusses the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) synchronized equipment for the measurement and analysis of key power system quantities. Two GPS synchronized phasor measurement units (PMU) were installed before testing. It was indicated that PMUs recorded the dynamic response of the power system phase angles when the northern California power grid was excited by the artificial short circuits. Power system planning engineers perform detailed computer generated simulations of the dynamic response of the power system to naturally occurring short circuits. The computer simulations use models of transmission lines, transformers, circuit breakers, and other high voltage components. This work will compare computer simulations of the same event with field measurement.

  6. Reconfigurable Computing for Computational Science: A New Focus in High Performance Computing

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-11-01

    in the past decade. Researchers are regularly employing the power of large computing systems and parallel processing to tackle larger and more...complex problems in all of the physical sciences. For the past decade or so, most of this growth in computing power has been “free” with increased...the scientific computing community as a means to continued growth in computing capability. This paper offers a glimpse of the hardware and

  7. Early UV emission from disc-originated matter (DOM) in Type Ia supernovae in the double-degenerate scenario

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Levanon, Naveh; Soker, Noam

    2017-09-01

    We show that the blue and UV excess emission in the first few days of some Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) can be accounted in the double-degenerate (DD) scenario by the collision of the SN ejecta with circumstellar matter that was blown by the accretion disc formed during the merger process of the two white dwarfs (WDs). We assume that in cases of excess early light, the disc blows the circumstellar matter, that we term disc-originated matter (DOM), hours to days before explosion. To perform our analysis, we first provide a model-based definition for early excess light, replacing the definition of excess light relative to a power-law fit to the rising luminosity. We then examine the light curves of the SNe Ia iPTF14atg and SN 2012cg, and find that the collision of the ejecta with a DOM in the frame of the DD scenario can account for their early excess emission. Thus, early excess light does not necessarily imply the presence of a stellar companion in the frame of the single-degenerate scenario. Our findings further increase the variety of phenomena that the DD scenario can account for, and emphasize the need to consider all different SN Ia scenarios when interpreting observations.

  8. Computer Power. Part 2: Electrical Power Problems and Their Amelioration.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Price, Bennett J.

    1989-01-01

    Describes electrical power problems that affect computer users, including spikes, sags, outages, noise, frequency variations, and static electricity. Ways in which these problems may be diagnosed and cured are discussed. Sidebars consider transformers; power distribution units; surge currents/linear and non-linear loads; and sizing the power…

  9. PREPARING FOR EXASCALE: ORNL Leadership Computing Application Requirements and Strategy

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

    Joubert, Wayne; Kothe, Douglas B; Nam, Hai Ah

    2009-12-01

    In 2009 the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS), elicited petascale computational science requirements from leading computational scientists in the international science community. This effort targeted science teams whose projects received large computer allocation awards on OLCF systems. A clear finding of this process was that in order to reach their science goals over the next several years, multiple projects will require computational resources in excess of an order of magnitude more powerful than those currently available. Additionally, for themore » longer term, next-generation science will require computing platforms of exascale capability in order to reach DOE science objectives over the next decade. It is generally recognized that achieving exascale in the proposed time frame will require disruptive changes in computer hardware and software. Processor hardware will become necessarily heterogeneous and will include accelerator technologies. Software must undergo the concomitant changes needed to extract the available performance from this heterogeneous hardware. This disruption portends to be substantial, not unlike the change to the message passing paradigm in the computational science community over 20 years ago. Since technological disruptions take time to assimilate, we must aggressively embark on this course of change now, to insure that science applications and their underlying programming models are mature and ready when exascale computing arrives. This includes initiation of application readiness efforts to adapt existing codes to heterogeneous architectures, support of relevant software tools, and procurement of next-generation hardware testbeds for porting and testing codes. The 2009 OLCF requirements process identified numerous actions necessary to meet this challenge: (1) Hardware capabilities must be advanced on multiple fronts, including peak flops, node memory capacity, interconnect latency, interconnect bandwidth, and memory bandwidth. (2) Effective parallel programming interfaces must be developed to exploit the power of emerging hardware. (3) Science application teams must now begin to adapt and reformulate application codes to the new hardware and software, typified by hierarchical and disparate layers of compute, memory and concurrency. (4) Algorithm research must be realigned to exploit this hierarchy. (5) When possible, mathematical libraries must be used to encapsulate the required operations in an efficient and useful way. (6) Software tools must be developed to make the new hardware more usable. (7) Science application software must be improved to cope with the increasing complexity of computing systems. (8) Data management efforts must be readied for the larger quantities of data generated by larger, more accurate science models. Requirements elicitation, analysis, validation, and management comprise a difficult and inexact process, particularly in periods of technological change. Nonetheless, the OLCF requirements modeling process is becoming increasingly quantitative and actionable, as the process becomes more developed and mature, and the process this year has identified clear and concrete steps to be taken. This report discloses (1) the fundamental science case driving the need for the next generation of computer hardware, (2) application usage trends that illustrate the science need, (3) application performance characteristics that drive the need for increased hardware capabilities, (4) resource and process requirements that make the development and deployment of science applications on next-generation hardware successful, and (5) summary recommendations for the required next steps within the computer and computational science communities.« less

  10. Computational Power of Symmetry-Protected Topological Phases.

    PubMed

    Stephen, David T; Wang, Dong-Sheng; Prakash, Abhishodh; Wei, Tzu-Chieh; Raussendorf, Robert

    2017-07-07

    We consider ground states of quantum spin chains with symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order as resources for measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC). We show that, for a wide range of SPT phases, the computational power of ground states is uniform throughout each phase. This computational power, defined as the Lie group of executable gates in MBQC, is determined by the same algebraic information that labels the SPT phase itself. We prove that these Lie groups always contain a full set of single-qubit gates, thereby affirming the long-standing conjecture that general SPT phases can serve as computationally useful phases of matter.

  11. Computational Power of Symmetry-Protected Topological Phases

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stephen, David T.; Wang, Dong-Sheng; Prakash, Abhishodh; Wei, Tzu-Chieh; Raussendorf, Robert

    2017-07-01

    We consider ground states of quantum spin chains with symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order as resources for measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC). We show that, for a wide range of SPT phases, the computational power of ground states is uniform throughout each phase. This computational power, defined as the Lie group of executable gates in MBQC, is determined by the same algebraic information that labels the SPT phase itself. We prove that these Lie groups always contain a full set of single-qubit gates, thereby affirming the long-standing conjecture that general SPT phases can serve as computationally useful phases of matter.

  12. Voltage Controller

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1997-01-01

    Power Efficiency Corporation, specifically formed to manufacture and develop products from NASA technology, has a license to a three-phase power factor controller originally developed by Frank Nola, an engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center. Power Efficiency and two major distributors, Performance Control and Edison Power Technologies, use the electronic control boards to assemble three different motor controllers: Power Commander, Performance Controller, and Energy Master. The company Power Factor Controller reduces excessive energy waste in AC induction motors. It is used in industries and applications where motors operate under variable loads, including elevators and escalators, machine tools, intake and exhaust fans, oil wells, conveyors, pumps, die casting, and compressors. Customer lists include companies such as May Department Stores, Caesars Atlantic City, Ford Motors, and American Axle.

  13. 14 CFR 33.63 - Vibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AIRCRAFT AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: AIRCRAFT ENGINES Design and Construction; Turbine Aircraft Engines § 33.63 Vibration. Each engine... range of rotational speeds and power/thrust, without inducing excessive stress in any engine part...

  14. 14 CFR 33.63 - Vibration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AIRCRAFT AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: AIRCRAFT ENGINES Design and Construction; Turbine Aircraft Engines § 33.63 Vibration. Each engine... range of rotational speeds and power/thrust, without inducing excessive stress in any engine part...

  15. Energy Storage Systems as a Compliment to Wind Power

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sieling, Jared D.; Niederriter, C. F.; Berg, D. A.

    2006-12-01

    As Gustavus Adolphus College prepares to install two wind turbines on campus, we are faced with the question of what to do with the excess electricity that is generated. Since the College pays a substantial demand charge, it would seem fiscally responsible to store the energy and use it for peak shaving, instead of selling it to the power company at their avoided cost. We analyzed six currently available systems: hydrogen energy storage, flywheels, pumped hydroelectric storage, battery storage, compressed air storage, and superconducting magnetic energy storage, for energy and financial suitability. Potential wind turbine production is compared to consumption to determine the energy deficit or excess, which is fed into a model for each of the storage systems. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of the storage systems and their suitability for energy storage and peak shaving in this situation.

  16. Observation of an excess of cosmic ray muons of energies 2 TeV from the direction of Cygnus X-3

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Battistoni, G.; Bellotti, E.; Bloise, C.; Bologna, G.; Campana, P.; Castagnoli, C.; Castellina, A.; Chiarella, V.; Ciocio, A.; Cundy, D.

    1985-01-01

    A high flux of muons from the Cygnus X-3 direction has been observed in NUSEX experiment at depths greater than 4600 hg/sq cm s.r. The excess muons show the 4.8 hour modulation in arrival time typical of this source. A study of this modulation was done in order to find the best value of the period and of the period derivative. The muon flux underground from NUSEX and SOUDAN (1800 hg/sq cm) experiments are used to determine the energy spectrum at sea level. The shape and the absolute intensities are found similar to those attributed to gamma rays responsible for production of air showers detected in direction of Cygnus X-3 in the energy range 10 to the 12th power to 10 to the 15th power eV.

  17. Emulating a million machines to investigate botnets.

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

    Rudish, Donald W.

    2010-06-01

    Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California are creating what is in effect a vast digital petridish able to hold one million operating systems at once in an effort to study the behavior of rogue programs known as botnets. Botnets are used extensively by malicious computer hackers to steal computing power fron Internet-connected computers. The hackers harness the stolen resources into a scattered but powerful computer that can be used to send spam, execute phishing, scams or steal digital information. These remote-controlled 'distributed computers' are difficult to observe and track. Botnets may take over parts of tens of thousandsmore » or in some cases even millions of computers, making them among the world's most powerful computers for some applications.« less

  18. Systems and methods for distributing power using photovoltaic resources and a shifting battery system

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

    Mammoli, Andrea A.; Lavrova, Olga; Arellano, Brian

    The present invention is an apparatus and method for delivering energy using a renewable resource. The method includes providing a photovoltaic energy source and applying energy storage to the photovoltaic energy source via a battery storage unit. The energy output from the photovoltaic energy source and the battery system is controlled using a battery control system. The battery control system predicts peak load, develops a schedule that includes when to begin discharging power and when to stop discharging power, shifts power to the battery storage unit when excess power is available, and prioritizes the functionality of the battery storage unitmore » and the photovoltaic energy source.« less

  19. The Effect of Power Protection Equipment on Explosion Hazards and on the Reliability of Power Supply to Longwall Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boron, Sergiusz

    2017-06-01

    Operational safety of electrical machines and equipment depends, inter alia, on the hazards resulting from their use and on the scope of applied protective measures. The use of insufficient protection against existing hazards leads to reduced operational safety, particularly under fault conditions. On the other hand, excessive (in relation to existing hazards) level of protection may compromise the reliability of power supply. This paper analyses the explosion hazard created by earth faults in longwall power supply systems and evaluates existing protection equipment from the viewpoint of its protective performance, particularly in the context of explosion hazards, and also assesses its effect on the reliability of power supply.

  20. Protective Socket For Integrated Circuits

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilkinson, Chris; Henegar, Greg

    1988-01-01

    Socket for intergrated circuits (IC's) protects from excessive voltages and currents or from application of voltages and currents in wrong sequence during insertion or removal. Contains built-in switch that opens as IC removed, disconnecting leads from signals and power. Also protects other components on circuit board from transients produced by insertion and removal of IC. Makes unnecessary to turn off power to entire circuit board so other circuits on board continue to function.

  1. Josephson junction microwave modulators for qubit control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Naaman, O.; Strong, J. A.; Ferguson, D. G.; Egan, J.; Bailey, N.; Hinkey, R. T.

    2017-02-01

    We demonstrate Josephson junction based double-balanced mixer and phase shifter circuits operating at 6-10 GHz and integrate these components to implement both a monolithic amplitude/phase vector modulator and an I/Q quadrature mixer. The devices are actuated by flux signals, dissipate no power on chip, exhibit input saturation powers in excess of 1 nW, and provide cryogenic microwave modulation solutions for integrated control of superconducting qubits.

  2. Calibration of Complex Subsurface Reaction Models Using a Surrogate-Model Approach

    EPA Science Inventory

    Application of model assessment techniques to complex subsurface reaction models involves numerous difficulties, including non-trivial model selection, parameter non-uniqueness, and excessive computational burden. To overcome these difficulties, this study introduces SAMM (Simult...

  3. The Wide-area Energy Management System Phase 2 Final Report

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

    Lu, Ning; Makarov, Yuri V.; Weimar, Mark R.

    2010-08-31

    The higher penetration of intermittent generation resources (including wind and solar generation) in the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and California Independent System Operator (CAISO) balancing authorities (BAs) raises issue of requiring expensive additional fast grid balancing services in response to additional intermittency and fast up and down power ramps in the electric supply system. The overall goal of the wide-area energy management system (WAEMS) project is to develop the principles, algorithms, market integration rules, a functional design, and a technical specification for an energy storage system to help cope with unexpected rapid changes in renewable generation power output. The resultingmore » system will store excess energy, control dispatchable load and distributed generation, and utilize inter-area exchange of the excess energy between the California ISO and Bonneville Power Administration control areas. A further goal is to provide a cost-benefit analysis and develop a business model for an investment-based practical deployment of such a system. There are two tasks in Phase 2 of the WAEMS project: the flywheel field tests and the battery evaluation. Two final reports, the Wide-area Energy Management System Phase 2 Flywheel Field Tests Final Report and the Wide-area Energy Storage and Management System Battery Storage Evaluation, were written to summarize the results of the two tasks.« less

  4. Real-Time Strap Pressure Sensor System for Powered Exoskeletons

    PubMed Central

    Tamez-Duque, Jesús; Cobian-Ugalde, Rebeca; Kilicarslan, Atilla; Venkatakrishnan, Anusha; Soto, Rogelio; Contreras-Vidal, Jose Luis

    2015-01-01

    Assistive and rehabilitative powered exoskeletons for spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke subjects have recently reached the clinic. Proper tension and joint alignment are critical to ensuring safety. Challenges still exist in adjustment and fitting, with most current systems depending on personnel experience for appropriate individual fastening. Paraplegia and tetraplegia patients using these devices have impaired sensation and cannot signal if straps are uncomfortable or painful. Excessive pressure and blood-flow restriction can lead to skin ulcers, necrotic tissue and infections. Tension must be just enough to prevent slipping and maintain posture. Research in pressure dynamics is extensive for wheelchairs and mattresses, but little research has been done on exoskeleton straps. We present a system to monitor pressure exerted by physical human-machine interfaces and provide data about levels of skin/body pressure in fastening straps. The system consists of sensing arrays, signal processing hardware with wireless transmission, and an interactive GUI. For validation, a lower-body powered exoskeleton carrying the full weight of users was used. Experimental trials were conducted with one SCI and one able-bodied subject. The system can help prevent skin injuries related to excessive pressure in mobility-impaired patients using powered exoskeletons, supporting functionality, independence and better overall quality of life. PMID:25690551

  5. Food and processing residues in California: resource assessment and potential for power generation.

    PubMed

    Matteson, Gary C; Jenkins, B M

    2007-11-01

    The California agricultural industry produces more than 350 commodities with a combined yearly value in excess of $28 billion. The processing of many of these crops results in the production of residue streams, and the food processing industry faces increasing regulatory pressure to reduce environmental impacts and provide for sustainable management and use. Surveys of food and other processing and waste management sectors combined with published state data yield a total resource in excess of 4 million metric tons of dry matter, with nearly half of this likely to be available for utilization. About two-thirds of the available resource is produced as high-moisture residues that could support 134 MWe of power generation by anaerobic digestion and other conversion techniques. The other third is generated as low-moisture materials, many of which are already employed as fuel in direct combustion biomass power plants. The cost of energy conversion remains high for biochemical systems, with tipping or disposal fees of the order of $30-50Mg(-1) required to align power costs with current market prices. Identifying ways to reduce capital and operating costs of energy conversion, extending operating seasons to increase capacity factors through centralizing facilities, combining resource streams, and monetizing environmental benefits remain important goals for restructuring food and processing waste management in the state.

  6. Computationally Aided Absolute Stereochemical Determination of Enantioenriched Amines.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Jun; Gholami, Hadi; Ding, Xinliang; Chun, Minji; Vasileiou, Chrysoula; Nehira, Tatsuo; Borhan, Babak

    2017-03-17

    A simple and efficient protocol for sensing the absolute stereochemistry and enantiomeric excess of chiral monoamines is reported. Preparation of the sample requires a single-step reaction of the 1,1'-(bromomethylene)dinaphthalene (BDN) with the chiral amine. Analysis of the exciton coupled circular dichroism generated from the BDN-derivatized chiral amine sample, along with comparison to conformational analysis performed computationally, yields the absolute stereochemistry of the parent chiral monoamine.

  7. Power Efficient Hardware Architecture of SHA-1 Algorithm for Trusted Mobile Computing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Mooseop; Ryou, Jaecheol

    The Trusted Mobile Platform (TMP) is developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), which is an industry standard body to enhance the security of the mobile computing environment. The built-in SHA-1 engine in TMP is one of the most important circuit blocks and contributes the performance of the whole platform because it is used as key primitives supporting platform integrity and command authentication. Mobile platforms have very stringent limitations with respect to available power, physical circuit area, and cost. Therefore special architecture and design methods for low power SHA-1 circuit are required. In this paper, we present a novel and efficient hardware architecture of low power SHA-1 design for TMP. Our low power SHA-1 hardware can compute 512-bit data block using less than 7,000 gates and has a power consumption about 1.1 mA on a 0.25μm CMOS process.

  8. Network, system, and status software enhancements for the autonomously managed electrical power system breadboard. Volume 2: Protocol specification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mckee, James W.

    1990-01-01

    This volume (2 of 4) contains the specification, structured flow charts, and code listing for the protocol. The purpose of an autonomous power system on a spacecraft is to relieve humans from having to continuously monitor and control the generation, storage, and distribution of power in the craft. This implies that algorithms will have been developed to monitor and control the power system. The power system will contain computers on which the algorithms run. There should be one control computer system that makes the high level decisions and sends commands to and receive data from the other distributed computers. This will require a communications network and an efficient protocol by which the computers will communicate. One of the major requirements on the protocol is that it be real time because of the need to control the power elements.

  9. Modelling reverse characteristics of power LEDs with thermal phenomena taken into account

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ptak, Przemysław; Górecki, Krzysztof

    2016-01-01

    This paper refers to modelling characteristics of power LEDs with a particular reference to thermal phenomena. Special attention is paid to modelling characteristics of the circuit protecting the considered device against the excessive value of the reverse voltage and to the description of the temperature influence on optical power. The network form of the worked out model is presented and some results of experimental verification of this model for the selected diodes operating at different cooling conditions are described. The very good agreement between the calculated and measured characteristics is obtained.

  10. Development and validation of a computational model to study the effect of foot constraint on ankle injury due to external rotation.

    PubMed

    Wei, Feng; Hunley, Stanley C; Powell, John W; Haut, Roger C

    2011-02-01

    Recent studies, using two different manners of foot constraint, potted and taped, document altered failure characteristics in the human cadaver ankle under controlled external rotation of the foot. The posterior talofibular ligament (PTaFL) was commonly injured when the foot was constrained in potting material, while the frequency of deltoid ligament injury was higher for the taped foot. In this study an existing multibody computational modeling approach was validated to include the influence of foot constraint, determine the kinematics of the joint under external foot rotation, and consequently obtain strains in various ligaments. It was hypothesized that the location of ankle injury due to excessive levels of external foot rotation is a function of foot constraint. The results from this model simulation supported this hypothesis and helped to explain the mechanisms of injury in the cadaver experiments. An excessive external foot rotation might generate a PTaFL injury for a rigid foot constraint, and an anterior deltoid ligament injury for a pliant foot constraint. The computational models may be further developed and modified to simulate the human response for different shoe designs, as well as on various athletic shoe-surface interfaces, so as to provide a computational basis for optimizing athletic performance with minimal injury risk.

  11. Excess current experiment on YBCO tape conductor with metal stabilized layer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tasaki, Kenji; Yazawa, Takashi; Ono, Michitaka; Kuriyama, Toru

    2006-06-01

    Excess current experiments were performed using YBCO tape conductors with a metal stabilized layer on the superconducting layer. The purpose of this research is to obtain the stable criteria of energy dissipation when YBCO tape is forced to flow excess current higher than its critical current. This situation should be considered in power applications. In the experiments short-length samples were immersed in liquid nitrogen and several cycles of 50Hz sinusoidal current were supplied to the samples by an induction voltage regulator. The critical current of the samples was about 110 A. With pulse length as long as 60 ms, YBCO tapes were able to be energized up to twelve times as the critical current without electrical or mechanical deformation. Prior to the excess current experiments, temperature dependency of resistance of the sample was measured so that the temperature rise was estimated by the generated resistance. It is found that YBCO tapes with a copper stabilized layer can be transiently heated to over 400K without degradation.

  12. Integration of SPS with utility system networks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kaupang, B. M.

    1980-01-01

    The integration of Satellite Power System (SPS) power in electric utility power systems is discussed. Specifically, the nature of the power output variations from the spacecraft to the rectenna, the operational characteristics of the rectenna power, and the impacts on the electric utility system from utilizing SPS power to serve part of the system load are treated. It is concluded that if RF beam control is an acceptable method for power control, and that the site distribution of SPS rectennas do not cause a very high local penetration (40 to 50%), SPS may be integrated into electric utility system with a few negative impacts. Increased regulating duty on the conventional generation, and a potential impact on system reliability for SPS penetration in excess of about 25% appear to be two areas of concern.

  13. Properties of Blazar Jets Defined by an Economy of Power

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Petropoulou, Maria; Dermer, Charles D.

    2016-07-01

    The absolute power of a relativistic black hole jet includes the power in the magnetic field, the leptons, the hadrons, and the radiated photons. A power analysis of a relativistic radio/γ-ray blazar jet leads to bifurcated leptonic synchrotron-Compton (LSC) and leptohadronic synchrotron (LHS) solutions that minimize the total jet power. Higher Doppler factors with increasing peak synchrotron frequency are implied in the LSC model. Strong magnetic fields {B}\\prime ≳ 100 {{G}} are found for the LHS model with variability times ≲ {10}3 {{s}}, in accord with highly magnetized, reconnection-driven jet models. Proton synchrotron models of ≳ 100 {GeV} blazar radiation can have sub-Eddington absolute jet powers, but models of dominant GeV radiation in flat spectrum radio quasars require excessive power.

  14. A Review: Radiographic Iodinated Contrast Media-Induced Thyroid Dysfunction

    PubMed Central

    Leung, Angela M.; Braverman, Lewis E.; Brent, Gregory A.; Pearce, Elizabeth N.

    2015-01-01

    Context: Thyroid hormone production is dependent on adequate iodine intake. Excess iodine is generally well-tolerated, but thyroid dysfunction can occur in susceptible individuals after excess iodine exposure. Radiological iodinated contrast media represent an increasingly common source of excess iodine. Objective: This review will discuss the thyroidal response after acute exposure to excess iodine; contrast iodine-induced thyroid dysfunction; risks of iodine-induced thyroid dysfunction in vulnerable populations, such as the fetus, neonate, and patients with impaired renal function; and recommendations for the assessment and treatment of contrast iodine-induced thyroid dysfunction. Methods: Data for this review were identified by searching PubMed, Google Scholar, and references from relevant articles from 1948 to 2014. Conclusions: With the increase in the use of computed tomography scans in the United States, there is increasing risk of contrast-induced thyroid dysfunction. Patients at risk of developing iodine-induced thyroid dysfunction should be closely monitored after receiving iodinated contrast media and should be treated as needed. PMID:25375985

  15. Changing computing paradigms towards power efficiency

    PubMed Central

    Klavík, Pavel; Malossi, A. Cristiano I.; Bekas, Costas; Curioni, Alessandro

    2014-01-01

    Power awareness is fast becoming immensely important in computing, ranging from the traditional high-performance computing applications to the new generation of data centric workloads. In this work, we describe our efforts towards a power-efficient computing paradigm that combines low- and high-precision arithmetic. We showcase our ideas for the widely used kernel of solving systems of linear equations that finds numerous applications in scientific and engineering disciplines as well as in large-scale data analytics, statistics and machine learning. Towards this goal, we developed tools for the seamless power profiling of applications at a fine-grain level. In addition, we verify here previous work on post-FLOPS/W metrics and show that these can shed much more light in the power/energy profile of important applications. PMID:24842033

  16. Grid regulation services for energy storage devices based on grid frequency

    DOEpatents

    Pratt, Richard M; Hammerstrom, Donald J; Kintner-Meyer, Michael C.W.; Tuffner, Francis K

    2013-07-02

    Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for charging and discharging an energy storage device connected to an electrical power distribution system. In one exemplary embodiment, a controller monitors electrical characteristics of an electrical power distribution system and provides an output to a bi-directional charger causing the charger to charge or discharge an energy storage device (e.g., a battery in a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV)). The controller can help stabilize the electrical power distribution system by increasing the charging rate when there is excess power in the electrical power distribution system (e.g., when the frequency of an AC power grid exceeds an average value), or by discharging power from the energy storage device to stabilize the grid when there is a shortage of power in the electrical power distribution system (e.g., when the frequency of an AC power grid is below an average value).

  17. Grid regulation services for energy storage devices based on grid frequency

    DOEpatents

    Pratt, Richard M.; Hammerstrom, Donald J.; Kintner-Meyer, Michael C. W.; Tuffner, Francis K.

    2017-09-05

    Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for charging and discharging an energy storage device connected to an electrical power distribution system. In one exemplary embodiment, a controller monitors electrical characteristics of an electrical power distribution system and provides an output to a bi-directional charger causing the charger to charge or discharge an energy storage device (e.g., a battery in a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV)). The controller can help stabilize the electrical power distribution system by increasing the charging rate when there is excess power in the electrical power distribution system (e.g., when the frequency of an AC power grid exceeds an average value), or by discharging power from the energy storage device to stabilize the grid when there is a shortage of power in the electrical power distribution system (e.g., when the frequency of an AC power grid is below an average value).

  18. Grid regulation services for energy storage devices based on grid frequency

    DOEpatents

    Pratt, Richard M; Hammerstrom, Donald J; Kintner-Meyer, Michael C.W.; Tuffner, Francis K

    2014-04-15

    Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for charging and discharging an energy storage device connected to an electrical power distribution system. In one exemplary embodiment, a controller monitors electrical characteristics of an electrical power distribution system and provides an output to a bi-directional charger causing the charger to charge or discharge an energy storage device (e.g., a battery in a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV)). The controller can help stabilize the electrical power distribution system by increasing the charging rate when there is excess power in the electrical power distribution system (e.g., when the frequency of an AC power grid exceeds an average value), or by discharging power from the energy storage device to stabilize the grid when there is a shortage of power in the electrical power distribution system (e.g., when the frequency of an AC power grid is below an average value).

  19. Use of Helium Production to Screen Glow Discharges for Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Passell, Thomas O.

    2011-03-01

    My working hypothesis of the conditions required to observe low energy nuclear reactions (LENR) follows: 1) High fluxes of deuterium atoms through interfaces of grains of metals that readily accommodate movement of hydrogen atoms interstitially is the driving variable that produces the widely observed episodes of excess heat above the total of all input energy. 2) This deuterium atom flux has been most often achieved at high electrochemical current densities on highly deuterium-loaded palladium cathodes but is clearly possible in other experimental arrangements in which the metal is interfacing gaseous deuterium, as in an electrical glow discharge. 3) Since the excess heat episodes must be producing the product(s) of some nuclear fusion reaction(s) screening of options may be easier with measurement of those ``ashes'' than the observance of the excess heat. 4) All but a few of the exothermic fusion reactions known among the first 5 elements produce He-4. Hence helium-4 appearance in an experiment may be the most efficient indicator of some fusion reaction without commitment on which reaction is occurring. This set of hypotheses led me to produce a series of sealed tubes of wire electrodes of metals known to absorb hydrogen and operate them for 100 days at the 1 watt power level using deuterium gas pressures of ~ 100 torr powered by 40 Khz AC power supplies. Observation of helium will be by measurement of helium optical emission lines through the glass envelope surrounding the discharge. The results of the first 18 months of this effort will be described.

  20. Teach Graphic Design Basics with PowerPoint

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lazaros, Edward J.; Spotts, Thomas H.

    2007-01-01

    While PowerPoint is generally regarded as simply software for creating slide presentations, it includes often overlooked--but powerful--drawing tools. Because it is part of the Microsoft Office package, PowerPoint comes preloaded on many computers and thus is already available in many classrooms. Since most computers are not preloaded with good…

  1. Modeling and Analysis of Power Processing Systems. [use of a digital computer for designing power plants

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fegley, K. A.; Hayden, J. H.; Rehmann, D. W.

    1974-01-01

    The feasibility of formulating a methodology for the modeling and analysis of aerospace electrical power processing systems is investigated. It is shown that a digital computer may be used in an interactive mode for the design, modeling, analysis, and comparison of power processing systems.

  2. Coax-to-channelised coplanar waveguide in-phase N-way, radial power divider

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Simons, R. N.; Ponchak, G. E.

    1990-01-01

    A novel nonplanar, wideband power divider which makes use of a coax-to-CCPW transition is demonstrated. The transition utilizes a coaxial transformer whose outer conductor is slotted along the length for RF power division and also for exciting the CCPWs in equal amplitude and phase at the radial junction. The measured (8-16 GHz) excess insertion loss at the output ports is 0.5 dB for a four-way divider. The amplitude and phase balance are within 0.5 dB and 5 deg, respectively. The power divider should find applications in the feed network of phased arrays.

  3. A Refined Sample of Lyman Excess H II Regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marshall, Brandon; Kerton, C. R.

    2018-05-01

    A large number (67) of the compact/ultra-compact H II regions identified in the CORNISH catalogue were determined to be powered by a Lyman continuum flux in excess of what was expected given their corresponding luminosity. In this study we attempt to reasonably explain away this Lyman excess phenomenon in as many of the 67 H II regions as possible through a variety of observational and astrophysical means including new luminosity estimates, new Herschel photometry, new distance determinations, the use of different models for dust and ionized gas covering factors, and the use of different stellar calibrations. This phenomenon has been observed before; however, the objects shown to exhibit this behavior in the literature have decidedly different physical properties than the regions in our sample, and thus the origin of the excess is not the same. We find that the excess can be reproduced using OB stellar atmosphere models that have been slightly modified in the extreme ultraviolet. Though the exact mechanism producing the excess is still uncertain, we do find that a scaled up magnetospheric accretion model, often used to explain similar emission from T Tauri stars, is unable to match our observations. Our results suggest that the Lyman excess may be associated with younger H II regions, and that it is more commonly found in early B-type stars. Our refined sample of 24 Lyman excess H II regions provides an ideal sample for comparative studies with regular H II regions, and can act as the basis for the further detailed study of individual regions.

  4. Heterotic computing: exploiting hybrid computational devices.

    PubMed

    Kendon, Viv; Sebald, Angelika; Stepney, Susan

    2015-07-28

    Current computational theory deals almost exclusively with single models: classical, neural, analogue, quantum, etc. In practice, researchers use ad hoc combinations, realizing only recently that they can be fundamentally more powerful than the individual parts. A Theo Murphy meeting brought together theorists and practitioners of various types of computing, to engage in combining the individual strengths to produce powerful new heterotic devices. 'Heterotic computing' is defined as a combination of two or more computational systems such that they provide an advantage over either substrate used separately. This post-meeting collection of articles provides a wide-ranging survey of the state of the art in diverse computational paradigms, together with reflections on their future combination into powerful and practical applications. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  5. Molecular Gibbs Surface Excess and CO2-Hydrate Density Determine the Strong Temperature- and Pressure-Dependent Supercritical CO2-Brine Interfacial Tension.

    PubMed

    Ji, Jiayuan; Zhao, Lingling; Tao, Lu; Lin, Shangchao

    2017-06-29

    In CO 2 geological storage, the interfacial tension (IFT) between supercritical CO 2 and brine is critical for the storage capacitance design to prevent CO 2 leakage. IFT relies not only on the interfacial molecule properties but also on the environmental conditions at different storage sites. In this paper, supercritical CO 2 -NaCl solution systems are modeled at 343-373 K and 6-35 MPa under the salinity of 1.89 mol/L using molecular dynamics simulations. After computing and comparing the molecular density profile across the interface, the atomic radial distribution function, the molecular orientation distribution, the molecular Gibbs surface excess (derived from the molecular density profile), and the CO 2 -hydrate number density under the above environmental conditions, we confirm that only the molecular Gibbs surface excess of CO 2 molecules and the CO 2 -hydrate number density correlate strongly with the temperature- and pressure-dependent IFTs. We also compute the populations of two distinct CO 2 -hydrate structures (T-type and H-type) and attribute the observed dependence of IFTs to the dominance of the more stable, surfactant-like T-type CO 2 -hydrates at the interface. On the basis of these new molecular mechanisms behind IFT variations, this study could guide the rational design of suitable injecting environmental pressure and temperature conditions. We believe that the above two molecular-level metrics (Gibbs surface excess and hydrate number density) are of great fundamental importance for understanding the supercritical CO 2 -water interface and engineering applications in geological CO 2 storage.

  6. Enabling MPEG-2 video playback in embedded systems through improved data cache efficiency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Soderquist, Peter; Leeser, Miriam E.

    1999-01-01

    Digital video decoding, enabled by the MPEG-2 Video standard, is an important future application for embedded systems, particularly PDAs and other information appliances. Many such system require portability and wireless communication capabilities, and thus face severe limitations in size and power consumption. This places a premium on integration and efficiency, and favors software solutions for video functionality over specialized hardware. The processors in most embedded system currently lack the computational power needed to perform video decoding, but a related and equally important problem is the required data bandwidth, and the need to cost-effectively insure adequate data supply. MPEG data sets are very large, and generate significant amounts of excess memory traffic for standard data caches, up to 100 times the amount required for decoding. Meanwhile, cost and power limitations restrict cache sizes in embedded systems. Some systems, including many media processors, eliminate caches in favor of memories under direct, painstaking software control in the manner of digital signal processors. Yet MPEG data has locality which caches can exploit if properly optimized, providing fast, flexible, and automatic data supply. We propose a set of enhancements which target the specific needs of the heterogeneous types within the MPEG decoder working set. These optimizations significantly improve the efficiency of small caches, reducing cache-memory traffic by almost 70 percent, and can make an enhanced 4 KB cache perform better than a standard 1 MB cache. This performance improvement can enable high-resolution, full frame rate video playback in cheaper, smaller system than woudl otherwise be possible.

  7. Modeling and Analysis of Power Processing Systems (MAPPS). Volume 1: Technical report

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lee, F. C.; Rahman, S.; Carter, R. A.; Wu, C. H.; Yu, Y.; Chang, R.

    1980-01-01

    Computer aided design and analysis techniques were applied to power processing equipment. Topics covered include: (1) discrete time domain analysis of switching regulators for performance analysis; (2) design optimization of power converters using augmented Lagrangian penalty function technique; (3) investigation of current-injected multiloop controlled switching regulators; and (4) application of optimization for Navy VSTOL energy power system. The generation of the mathematical models and the development and application of computer aided design techniques to solve the different mathematical models are discussed. Recommendations are made for future work that would enhance the application of the computer aided design techniques for power processing systems.

  8. Expression Templates for Truncated Power Series

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cary, John R.; Shasharina, Svetlana G.

    1997-05-01

    Truncated power series are used extensively in accelerator transport modeling for rapid tracking and analysis of nonlinearity. Such mathematical objects are naturally represented computationally as objects in C++. This is more intuitive and produces more transparent code through operator overloading. However, C++ object use often comes with a computational speed loss due, e.g., to the creation of temporaries. We have developed a subset of truncated power series expression templates(http://monet.uwaterloo.ca/blitz/). Such expression templates use the powerful template processing facility of C++ to combine complicated expressions into series operations that exectute more rapidly. We compare computational speeds with existing truncated power series libraries.

  9. Systems and methods for rapid processing and storage of data

    DOEpatents

    Stalzer, Mark A.

    2017-01-24

    Systems and methods of building massively parallel computing systems using low power computing complexes in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. A massively parallel computing system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention includes at least one Solid State Blade configured to communicate via a high performance network fabric. In addition, each Solid State Blade includes a processor configured to communicate with a plurality of low power computing complexes interconnected by a router, and each low power computing complex includes at least one general processing core, an accelerator, an I/O interface, and cache memory and is configured to communicate with non-volatile solid state memory.

  10. Effect of dissolved oxygen level of water on ultrasonic power measured using calorimetry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Uchida, Takeyoshi; Yoshioka, Masahiro; Horiuchi, Ryuzo

    2018-07-01

    Ultrasonic therapeutic equipment, which exposes the human body to high-power ultrasound, is used in clinical practice to treat cancer. However, the safety of high-power ultrasound has been questioned because the equipment affects not only cancer cells but also normal cells. To evaluate the safety of ultrasound, it is necessary to accurately measure the ultrasonic power of the equipment. This is because ultrasonic power is a key quantity related to the thermal hazard of ultrasound. However, precise techniques for measuring ultrasonic power in excess of 15 W are yet to be established. We have been studying calorimetry as a precise measurement technique. In this study, we investigated the effect of the dissolved oxygen (DO) level of water on ultrasonic power by calorimetry. The results show that the measured ultrasonic power differed significantly between water samples of different DO levels. This difference in ultrasonic power arose from acoustic cavitation.

  11. PsbS is required for systemic acquired acclimation and post-excess-light-stress optimization of chlorophyll fluorescence decay times in Arabidopsis

    PubMed Central

    Ciszak, Kamil; Kulasek, Milena; Barczak, Anna; Grzelak, Justyna; Maćkowski, Sebastian; Karpiński, Stanisław

    2015-01-01

    Systemic acquired acclimation (SAA) is an important light acclimatory mechanism that depends on the global adjustments of non-photochemical quenching and chloroplast retrograde signaling. As the exact regulation of these processes is not known, we measured time-resolved fluorescence of chlorophyll a in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves exposed to excess light, in leaves undergoing SAA, and in leaves after excess light episode. We compare the behavior induced in wild-type plants with null mutant of non-photochemical quenching (npq4–1). The wild type rosettes exhibit a small reduction of fluorescence decay times in leaves directly exposed to excess light and in leaves undergoing SAA in ambient low light. However in npq4–1 exposition to excess light results in much faster fluorescence decay, which is insensitive to excitation power. At the same time npq4–1 leaves undergoing SAA displayed intermediate fluorescence decay. The npq4–1 plants also lost the ability to optimize florescence decay, and thus chlorophyll a dynamics up to 2 h after excess light episode. The fluorescence decay dynamics in both WT and npq4–1 can be described by a set of 3 maximum decay times. Based on the results, we concluded that functional PsbS is required for optimization of absorbed photon fate and optimal light acclimatory responses such as SAA or after excess light stress. PMID:25654166

  12. A dc model for power switching transistors suitable for computer-aided design and analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilson, P. M.; George, R. T., Jr.; Owen, H. A., Jr.; Wilson, T. G.

    1979-01-01

    The proposed dc model for bipolar junction power switching transistors is based on measurements which may be made with standard laboratory equipment. Those nonlinearities which are of importance to power electronics design are emphasized. Measurements procedures are discussed in detail. A model formulation adapted for use with a computer program is presented, and a comparison between actual and computer-generated results is made.

  13. Changing computing paradigms towards power efficiency.

    PubMed

    Klavík, Pavel; Malossi, A Cristiano I; Bekas, Costas; Curioni, Alessandro

    2014-06-28

    Power awareness is fast becoming immensely important in computing, ranging from the traditional high-performance computing applications to the new generation of data centric workloads. In this work, we describe our efforts towards a power-efficient computing paradigm that combines low- and high-precision arithmetic. We showcase our ideas for the widely used kernel of solving systems of linear equations that finds numerous applications in scientific and engineering disciplines as well as in large-scale data analytics, statistics and machine learning. Towards this goal, we developed tools for the seamless power profiling of applications at a fine-grain level. In addition, we verify here previous work on post-FLOPS/W metrics and show that these can shed much more light in the power/energy profile of important applications. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  14. Development of new S-band SLED for PAL-XFEL Linac

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Joo, Youngdo; Park, Yongjung; Heo, Hoon; Heo, Jinyul; Park, Sung-Soo; Kim, Sang-Hee; Kim, Kwang-Hoon; Kang, Heung-Sik; Lee, Heung-Soo; Noh, Sungju; Oh, Kyoungmin

    2017-01-01

    In order to achieve beam acceleration to the beam energy of 10 GeV at the end of its 716 m-long linear accelerator (Linac), the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free Electron Laser (PAL-XFEL) is going to operate the Stanford Linear Accelerator Energy Doubler (SLED) at the maximum klystron output peak power of 80 MW, with a pulse length of 4 μs, and at a repetition rate of 60 Hz. The original SLED that had been used in Pohang Light Source-II (PLS-II) can no longer sustain such a high-power operation because excessive radiation caused by RF breakdown has been frequently detected even at the lower klystron peak power during the PLS-II operation. Therefore, a new SLED is designed by modifying both the 3-dB power hybrid and the waveguide-cavity coupling structure of the original SLED where the excessive radiation has been mainly detected. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation in the CST Microwave Studio shows that the new SLED has a peak electric field and a surface current lower than those of the original SLED at the same level of the RF input peak power, which would secure stable high-power operation. All of the 42 SLEDs in the PAL-XFEL Linac are newly fabricated and installed. During the RF conditioning of the PAL-XFEL Linac, no significant vacuum and radiation issue was found in the new SLEDs. Finally, the accelerated electron beam energy of 10 GeV obtained at the end of the PAL-XFEL Linac verified that the RF performance of the new SLED is stable.

  15. Asteroseismology of 16,000 Kepler Red Giants: Global Oscillation Parameters, Masses, and Radii

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Jie; Huber, Daniel; Bedding, Timothy R.; Stello, Dennis; Hon, Marc; Murphy, Simon J.; Khanna, Shourya

    2018-06-01

    The Kepler mission has provided exquisite data to perform an ensemble asteroseismic analysis on evolved stars. In this work we systematically characterize solar-like oscillations and granulation for 16,094 oscillating red giants, using end-of-mission long-cadence data. We produced a homogeneous catalog of the frequency of maximum power (typical uncertainty {σ }{ν \\max }=1.6 % ), the mean large frequency separation ({σ }{{Δ }ν }=0.6 % ), oscillation amplitude ({σ }{{A}}=4.7 % ), granulation power ({σ }gran}=8.6 % ), power excess width ({σ }width}=8.8 % ), seismically derived stellar mass ({σ }{{M}}=7.8 % ), radius ({σ }{{R}}=2.9 % ), and thus surface gravity ({σ }logg}=0.01 dex). Thanks to the large red giant sample, we confirm that red-giant-branch (RGB) and helium-core-burning (HeB) stars collectively differ in the distribution of oscillation amplitude, granulation power, and width of power excess, which is mainly due to the mass difference. The distribution of oscillation amplitudes shows an extremely sharp upper edge at fixed {ν }\\max , which might hold clues for understanding the excitation and damping mechanisms of the oscillation modes. We find that both oscillation amplitude and granulation power depend on metallicity, causing a spread of 15% in oscillation amplitudes and a spread of 25% in granulation power from [Fe/H] = ‑0.7 to 0.5 dex. Our asteroseismic stellar properties can be used as reliable distance indicators and age proxies for mapping and dating galactic stellar populations observed by Kepler. They will also provide an excellent opportunity to test asteroseismology using Gaia parallaxes, and lift degeneracies in deriving atmospheric parameters in large spectroscopic surveys such as APOGEE and LAMOST.

  16. Durability Testing of Additively Manufactured High Power Microwave Structures

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-10-29

    the aluminum anode, generating microwave powers in excess of 150 MW. After 100 shots on each structure, neither anode showed any signs of...with an average instantaneous peak total efficiency of 27% ± 10%. After 100 shots on each structure, neither anode showed any signs of...uniform axial magnetic field, which was varied on a per- shot basis from 0.13 to 0.31 T. A #304 stainless steel vacuum chamber housed the magnetron

  17. Inelastic tunnel diodes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Anderson, L. M. (Inventor)

    1984-01-01

    Power is extracted from plasmons, photons, or other guided electromagnetic waves at infrared to midultraviolet frequencies by inelastic tunneling in metal-insulator-semiconductor-metal diodes. Inelastic tunneling produces power by absorbing plasmons to pump electrons to higher potential. Specifically, an electron from a semiconductor layer absorbs a plasmon and simultaneously tunnels across an insulator into metal layer which is at higher potential. The diode voltage determines the fraction of energy extracted from the plasmons; any excess is lost to heat.

  18. Linking Logistics and Operations: A Case Study of World War II Air Power

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-01-01

    Weapon System Evaluation Group, 1951, p. 30). The logistic innovation greatly extended the time that combat ships could remain on station and...presented. This Note was produced under the Project AIR FORCE Resource Management and System Acquisition Program in the project "Combat Support C3 Needs...maintenance workload data suggest either unacceptable system performance or excessive costs. The predictive power of these models is so poor as to

  19. Development and Evaluation of the Diagnostic Power for a Computer-Based Two-Tier Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Jing-Wen

    2016-01-01

    This study adopted a quasi-experimental design with follow-up interview to develop a computer-based two-tier assessment (CBA) regarding the science topic of electric circuits and to evaluate the diagnostic power of the assessment. Three assessment formats (i.e., paper-and-pencil, static computer-based, and dynamic computer-based tests) using…

  20. A General Application Computer-Assisted Instruction System for Microcomputers.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-09-01

    question pages. Variable branching is allowed from question pages depending on student answer input. Lesson size (i.e., number of vi 15511P11’P,6i 1111 kcj5...stocks, maldistribution of stocks, and accumulation and disposal of excess stocks. [ 10 :Appendix, 1]. These deficiencies also indicate a loss of...operations. 1- 10 II. Literature Review The computer is incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Man is unbelievably slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. The

  1. Multiwavelength Observations of the Powerful Gamma-ray Quasar PKS 1510-089: Clues on the Jet Composition

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

    Kataoka, J.; Madejski, G.; Sikora, M.

    2007-09-28

    We present the results from a multiwavelength campaign conducted in August 2006 of the powerful {gamma}-ray quasar PKS 1510--089 (z = 0.361). This campaign commenced with a deep Suzaku observation lasting three days for a total exposure time of 120 ks, and continued with Swift monitoring over 18 days. Besides Swift observations, which sampled the optical/UV flux in all 6 UVOT filters as well as the X-ray spectrum in the 0.3--10 keV energy range, the campaign included ground-based optical and radio data, and yielded a quasi-simultaneous broad-band spectral energy distribution from 109 Hz to 1019 Hz. Thanks to its lowmore » instrumental background, the Suzaku observation provided a high S/N X-ray spectrum, which is well represented by an extremely hard power-law with photon index {Gamma}{approx_equal}1.2, augmented by a soft component apparent below 1 keV, which is well described by a black-body model with temperature kT {approx_equal}0.2 keV. Monitoring by Suzaku revealed temporal variability which is different between the low and high energy bands, again suggesting the presence of a second, variable component in addition to the primary power-law emission. We model the broadband spectrum of PKS 1510--089 assuming that the high energy spectral component results from Comptonization of infrared radiation produced by hot dust located in the surrounding molecular torus. In the adopted internal shock scenario, the derived model parameters imply that the power of the jet is dominated by protons but with a number of electrons/positrons exceeding a number of protons by a factor {approx} 10. We also find that inhomogeneities responsible for the shock formation, prior to the collision may produce bulk-Compton radiation which can explain the observed soft X-ray excess and possible excess at {approx} 18 keV. We note, however, that the bulk-Compton interpretation is not unique, and the observed soft excess could arise as well via some other processes discussed briefly in the text.« less

  2. Sodium Ion Diffusion in Nasicon (Na3Zr2Si2PO12) Solid Electrolytes: Effects of Excess Sodium.

    PubMed

    Park, Heetaek; Jung, Keeyoung; Nezafati, Marjan; Kim, Chang-Soo; Kang, Byoungwoo

    2016-10-04

    The Na superionic conductor (aka Nasicon, Na 1+x Zr 2 Si x P 3-x O 12 , where 0 ≤ x ≤ 3) is one of the promising solid electrolyte materials used in advanced molten Na-based secondary batteries that typically operate at high temperature (over ∼270 °C). Nasicon provides a 3D diffusion network allowing the transport of the active Na-ion species (i.e., ionic conductor) while blocking the conduction of electrons (i.e., electronic insulator) between the anode and cathode compartments of cells. In this work, the standard Nasicon (Na 3 Zr 2 Si 2 PO 12 , bare sample) and 10 at% Na-excess Nasicon (Na 3.3 Zr 2 Si 2 PO 12 , Na-excess sample) solid electrolytes were synthesized using a solid-state sintering technique to elucidate the Na diffusion mechanism (i.e., grain diffusion or grain boundary diffusion) and the impacts of adding excess Na at relatively low and high temperatures. The structural, thermal, and ionic transport characterizations were conducted using various experimental tools including X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In addition, an ab initio atomistic modeling study was carried out to computationally examine the detailed microstructures of Nasicon materials, as well as to support the experimental observations. Through this combination work comprising experimental and computational investigations, we show that the predominant mechanisms of Na-ion transport in the Nasicon structure are the grain boundary and the grain diffusion at low and high temperatures, respectively. Also, it was found that adding 10 at% excess Na could give rise to a substantial increase in the total conductivity (e.g., ∼1.2 × 10 -1 S/cm at 300 °C) of Nasicon electrolytes resulting from the enlargement of the bottleneck areas in the Na diffusion channels of polycrystalline grains.

  3. SELECTION AND CALIBRATION OF SUBSURFACE REACTIVE TRANSPORT MODELS USING A SURROGATE-MODEL APPROACH

    EPA Science Inventory

    While standard techniques for uncertainty analysis have been successfully applied to groundwater flow models, extension to reactive transport is frustrated by numerous difficulties, including excessive computational burden and parameter non-uniqueness. This research introduces a...

  4. Energy Saving in DC Electric Railways by Battery Substation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sugimoto, Takeshi

    New rolling vehicles used in dc electric railways are of the regenerative type. At less busy time a part of regenerative power is not used for powering vehicles, and canceled by changed air brake. Recently, significant attention has been paid to the development of secondary batteries for hybrid and electric motorcars. The use of this battery enables reduction in electric power consumption. Because we can charge excess regenerative power and use for powering vehicles after. Before the fact we compared the actual and simulated effective coefficient of regenerative energy, we confirmed the suitability of the simulation model. In this simulation, we studied the energy-saving effect of the battery substations and determined the battery capacity at which maximum power saving is achieved. We found that the power consumption could be reduced remarkably by using a 15-20kWh battery substation.

  5. Benchmark Evaluation of Start-Up and Zero-Power Measurements at the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor

    DOE PAGES

    Bess, John D.; Fujimoto, Nozomu

    2014-10-09

    Benchmark models were developed to evaluate six cold-critical and two warm-critical, zero-power measurements of the HTTR. Additional measurements of a fully-loaded subcritical configuration, core excess reactivity, shutdown margins, six isothermal temperature coefficients, and axial reaction-rate distributions were also evaluated as acceptable benchmark experiments. Insufficient information is publicly available to develop finely-detailed models of the HTTR as much of the design information is still proprietary. However, the uncertainties in the benchmark models are judged to be of sufficient magnitude to encompass any biases and bias uncertainties incurred through the simplification process used to develop the benchmark models. Dominant uncertainties in themore » experimental keff for all core configurations come from uncertainties in the impurity content of the various graphite blocks that comprise the HTTR. Monte Carlo calculations of keff are between approximately 0.9 % and 2.7 % greater than the benchmark values. Reevaluation of the HTTR models as additional information becomes available could improve the quality of this benchmark and possibly reduce the computational biases. High-quality characterization of graphite impurities would significantly improve the quality of the HTTR benchmark assessment. Simulation of the other reactor physics measurements are in good agreement with the benchmark experiment values. The complete benchmark evaluation details are available in the 2014 edition of the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments.« less

  6. KSC-2011-6680

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-12

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a forklift positions the protective mesh container enclosing the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission onto the floor of the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The container, known as the "gorilla cage," protects the MMRTG and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. In the PHSF, the MMRTG temporarily will be installed on the MSL rover, Curiosity, for a fit check but will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

  7. KSC-2011-6727

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a forklift lifts the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission into the MMRTG trailer. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is being moved to the RTG storage facility following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  8. KSC-2011-6667

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-12

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the high bay of the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is enclosed in a protective mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," for transport to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The cage protects the MMRTG and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. In the PHSF, the MMRTG temporarily will be installed on the MSL rover, Curiosity, for a fit check but will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

  9. KSC-2011-6722

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, t he multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission awaits transport to the RTG storage facility. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG was in the PHSF for a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  10. KSC-2011-6726

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift transfers the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission from the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the MMRTG trailer. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is being moved to the RTG storage facility following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the PHSF. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  11. KSC-2011-6682

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-12

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the protective mesh container enclosing the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is lifted from around the MMRTG. The container, known as the "gorilla cage," protects the MMRTG during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. In the PHSF, the MMRTG temporarily will be installed on the MSL rover, Curiosity, for a fit check but will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

  12. KSC-2011-6735

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift moves the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission into the high bay of the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is returning to the RTGF following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  13. KSC-2011-6652

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-06-30

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers reconnect the coolant hoses to the shipping cask enclosing the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission upon its arrival in the high bay of the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Coolant flows through the hoses to dissipate any excess heat generated by the MMRTG. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

  14. KSC-2011-6734

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift moves the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission from the MMRTG trailer to the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is returning to the RTGF following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  15. KSC-2011-6725

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift carrying the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission backs away from the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is being moved to the RTG storage facility following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the PHSF. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  16. KSC-2011-6736

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Department of Energy workers park the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission in the high bay of the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is returning to the RTGF following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  17. KSC-2011-6679

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-12

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a forklift carries the protective mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," enclosing the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission into the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The cage protects the MMRTG and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. In the PHSF, the MMRTG temporarily will be installed on the MSL rover, Curiosity, for a fit check but will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

  18. KSC-2011-6743

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the high bay of the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the mesh container enclosing the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is lifted from around the MMRTG. The container, known as the "gorilla cage," protects the MMRTG during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The cage is being removed following the return of the MMRTG to the RTGF from a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  19. KSC-2011-6666

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-06-30

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, with guide rods still installed on its support base, has been uncovered on the high bay floor. The MMRTG no longer needs supplemental cooling since any excess heat generated can dissipate into the air in the high bay. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

  20. KSC-2011-6721

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift approaches the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission awaits transport to the RTG storage facility. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG was in the PHSF for a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  1. KSC-2011-6704

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-12

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the high bay of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is installed onto the aft of the Curiosity rover for a fit check. In view are the MMRTG's cooling fins which function like the radiator on a car and will reflect any excess heat generated by the MMRTG to prevent interference with the rover's electronics. Next, the MMRTG will be removed and later installed on the rover for launch at the pad. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

  2. KSC-2011-6723

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift moves into position to lift the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission from the floor of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) airlock at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is being transported to the RTG storage facility following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the PHSF. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  3. KSC-2011-6733

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is lifted from the MMRTG trailer at the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is returning to the RTGF following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  4. KSC-2011-6703

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-12

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the high bay of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is installed onto the aft of the Curiosity rover for a fit check. In view are the MMRTG's cooling fins which function like the radiator on a car and will reflect any excess heat generated by the MMRTG to prevent interference with the rover's electronics. Next, the MMRTG will be removed and later installed on the rover for launch at the pad. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

  5. KSC-2011-6717

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-13

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Department of Energy employees prepare the support base of the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission for installation of the mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage." The cage, in the background at right, protects the MMRTG during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. Transport of the MMRTG to the RTG storage facility follows the completion of the MMRTG fit check on the Curiosity rover. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

  6. KSC-2011-6665

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-06-30

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the high bay of the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the external and internal protective layers of the shipping cask are lifted away from the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. The MMRTG no longer needs supplemental cooling since any excess heat generated can dissipate into the air in the high bay. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

  7. KSC-2011-6646

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-06-30

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, enclosed in a shipping cask in the MMRTG trailer, arrives at the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During transport, coolant flows through hoses connected to the cask to dissipate any excess heat generated by the MMRTG. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

  8. KSC-2011-6724

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift moves into position to lift the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission from the floor of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) airlock at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is being moved to the RTG storage facility following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the PHSF. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  9. KSC-2011-6681

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-12

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the protective mesh container enclosing the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is lifted from around the MMRTG. The container, known as the "gorilla cage," protects the MMRTG during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. In the PHSF, the MMRTG temporarily will be installed on the MSL rover, Curiosity, for a fit check but will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

  10. KSC-2011-6728

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a forklift lifts the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission into the MMRTG trailer. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is being moved to the RTG storage facility following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  11. KSC-2011-6675

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-12

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Outside the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, enclosed in the protective mesh container known as the "gorilla cage," is strapped down inside the MMRTG trailer for transport to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The cage protects the MMRTG and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. In the PHSF, the MMRTG temporarily will be installed on the MSL rover, Curiosity, for a fit check but will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

  12. KSC-2011-6729

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-14

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way to secure the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission in the MMRTG trailer. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is being moved to the RTG storage facility following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is targeted for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

  13. EDITORIAL: Plasma Surface Interactions for Fusion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2006-05-01

    Because plasma-boundary physics encompasses some of the most important unresolved issues for both the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project and future fusion power reactors, there is a strong interest in the fusion community for better understanding and characterization of plasma wall interactions. Chemical and physical sputtering cause the erosion of the limiters/divertor plates and vacuum vessel walls (made of C, Be and W, for example) and degrade fusion performance by diluting the fusion fuel and excessively cooling the core, while carbon redeposition could produce long-term in-vessel tritium retention, degrading the superior thermo-mechanical properties of the carbon materials. Mixed plasma-facing materials are proposed, requiring optimization for different power and particle flux characteristics. Knowledge of material properties as well as characteristics of the plasma material interaction are prerequisites for such optimizations. Computational power will soon reach hundreds of teraflops, so that theoretical and plasma science expertise can be matched with new experimental capabilities in order to mount a strong response to these challenges. To begin to address such questions, a Workshop on New Directions for Advanced Computer Simulations and Experiments in Fusion-Related Plasma Surface Interactions for Fusion (PSIF) was held at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 21 to 23 March, 2005. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together researchers in fusion related plasma wall interactions in order to address these topics and to identify the most needed and promising directions for study, to exchange opinions on the present depth of knowledge of surface properties for the main fusion-related materials, e.g., C, Be and W, especially for sputtering, reflection, and deuterium (tritium) retention properties. The goal was to suggest the most important next steps needed for such basic computational and experimental work to be facilitated by researchers in fusion, material, and physical sciences. Representatives from many fusion research laboratories attended, and 25 talks were given, the majority of them making up the content of these Workshop proceedings. The presentations of all talks and further information on the Workshop are available at http://www-cfadc.phy.ornl.gov/psif/home.html. The workshop talks dealt with identification of needs from the perspective of integrated fusion simulation and ITER design, recent developments and perspectives on computation of plasma-facing surface properties using the current and expected new generation of computation capability, and with the status of dedicated laboratory experiments which characterize the underlying processes of PSIF. The Workshop summary and conclusions are being published in Nuclear Fusion 45 (2005). We are indebted to Lynda Saddiq and Fay Ownby, secretaries in the Physics Division of ORNL, whose special efforts, devotion, and expertise made possible both the Workshop and these Proceedings. J T Hogan, P S Krstic and F W Meyer Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6372, USA

  14. A new approach for data acquisition at the JPL space simulators

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fisher, Terry C.

    1992-01-01

    In 1990, a personal computer based data acquisition system was put into service for the Space Simulators and Environmental Test Laboratory at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The new system replaced an outdated minicomputer system which had been in use since 1980. This new data acquisition system was designed and built by JPL for the specific task of acquiring thermal test data in support of space simulation and thermal vacuum testing at JPL. The data acquisition system was designed using powerful personal computers and local-area-network (LAN) technology. Reliability, expandability, and maintainability were some of the most important criteria in the design of the data system and in the selection of hardware and software components. The data acquisition system is used to record both test chamber operational data and thermal data from the unit under test. Tests are conducted in numerous small thermal vacuum chambers and in the large solar simulator and range in size from individual components using only 2 or 3 thermocouples to entire planetary spacecraft requiring in excess of 1200 channels of test data. The system supports several of these tests running concurrently. The previous data system is described along with reasons for its replacement, the types of data acquired, the new data system, and the benefits obtained from the new system including information on tests performed to date.

  15. Multiferroic nanomagnetic logic: Hybrid spintronics-straintronic paradigm for ultra-low energy computing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Salehi Fashami, Mohammad

    Excessive energy dissipation in CMOS devices during switching is the primary threat to continued downscaling of computing devices in accordance with Moore's law. In the quest for alternatives to traditional transistor based electronics, nanomagnet-based computing [1, 2] is emerging as an attractive alternative since: (i) nanomagnets are intrinsically more energy-efficient than transistors due to the correlated switching of spins [3], and (ii) unlike transistors, magnets have no leakage and hence have no standby power dissipation. However, large energy dissipation in the clocking circuit appears to be a barrier to the realization of ultra low power logic devices with such nanomagnets. To alleviate this issue, we propose the use of a hybrid spintronics-straintronics or straintronic nanomagnetic logic (SML) paradigm. This uses a piezoelectric layer elastically coupled to an elliptically shaped magnetostrictive nanomagnetic layer for both logic [4-6] and memory [7-8] and other information processing [9-10] applications that could potentially be 2-3 orders of magnitude more energy efficient than current CMOS based devices. This dissertation focuses on studying the feasibility, performance and reliability of such nanomagnetic logic circuits by simulating the nanoscale magnetization dynamics of dipole coupled nanomagnets clocked by stress. Specifically, the topics addressed are: 1. Theoretical study of multiferroic nanomagnetic arrays laid out in specific geometric patterns to implement a "logic wire" for unidirectional information propagation and a universal logic gate [4-6]. 2. Monte Carlo simulations of the magnetization trajectories in a simple system of dipole coupled nanomagnets and NAND gate described by the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equations simulated in the presence of random thermal noise to understand the dynamics switching error [11, 12] in such devices. 3. Arriving at a lower bound for energy dissipation as a function of switching error [13] for a practical nanomagnetic logic scheme. 4. Clocking of nanomagnetic logic with surface acoustic waves (SAW) to drastically decrease the lithographic burden needed to contact each multiferroic nanomagnet while maintaining pipelined information processing. 5. Nanomagnets with four (or higher states) implemented with shape engineering. Two types of magnet that encode four states: (i) diamond, and (ii) concave nanomagnets are studied for coherence of the switching process.

  16. Material from the Internal Surface of Squid Axon Exhibits Excess Noise

    PubMed Central

    Fishman, Harvey M.

    1981-01-01

    A fluid material from a squid (Loligo pealei) axon was isolated by mechanical application of two types of microcapillary (1-3-μm Diam) to the internal surface of intact and cut-axon preparations. Current noise in the isolated material exceeded thermal levels and power spectra were 1/f in form in the frequency range 1.25-500 Hz with voltage-dependent intensities that were unrelated to specific ion channels. Whether conduction in this material is a significant source of excess noise during axon conduction remains to be determined. Nevertheless, a source of excess noise external to or within an ion channel may not be properly represented solely as an additive term to the spectrum of ion channel noise; a deconvolution of these spectral components may be required for modeling purposes. PMID:6266542

  17. Modeling Chilled-Water Storage System Components for Coupling to a Small Modular Reactor in a Nuclear Hybrid Energy System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Misenheimer, Corey Thomas

    The intermittency of wind and solar power puts strain on electric grids, often forcing carbonbased and nuclear sources of energy to operate in a load-follow mode. Operating nuclear reactors in a load-follow fashion is undesirable due to the associated thermal and mechanical stresses placed on the fuel and other reactor components. Various Thermal Energy Storage (TES) elements and ancillary energy applications can be coupled to nuclear (or renewable) power sources to help absorb grid instabilities caused by daily electric demand changes and renewable intermittency, thereby forming the basis of a candidate Nuclear Hybrid Energy System (NHES). During the warmer months of the year in many parts of the country, facility air-conditioning loads are significant contributors to the increase in the daily peak electric demand. Previous research demonstrated that a stratified chilled-water storage tank can displace peak cooling loads to off-peak hours. Based on these findings, the objective of this work is to evaluate the prospect of using a stratified chilled-water storage tank as a potential TES reservoir for a nuclear reactor in a NHES. This is accomplished by developing time-dependent models of chilled-water system components, including absorption chillers, cooling towers, a storage tank, and facility cooling loads appropriate for a large office space or college campus, as a callable FORTRAN subroutine. The resulting TES model is coupled to a high-fidelity mPower-sized Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Simulator, with the goal of utilizing excess reactor capacity to operate several sizable chillers in order to keep reactor power constant. Chilled-water production via single effect, lithium bromide (LiBr) absorption chillers is primarily examined in this study, although the use of electric chillers is briefly explored. Absorption chillers use hot water or low-pressure steam to drive an absorption-refrigeration cycle. The mathematical framework for a high-fidelity dynamic absorption chiller model is presented. The transient FORTRAN model is grounded on time-dependent mass, species, and energy conservation equations. Due to the vast computational costs of the high-fidelity model, a low-fidelity absorption chiller model is formulated and calibrated to mimic the behavior of the high-fidelity model. Stratified chilled-water storage tank performance is characterized using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The geometry employed in the CFD model represents a 5-million-gallon storage tank currently in use at a North Carolina college campus. Simulation results reveal the laminar numerical model most closely aligns with actual tank charging and discharging data. A subsequent parametric study corroborates storage tank behavior documented throughout literature and industry. Two absorption chiller configurations are considered. The first involves bypassing lowpressure steam from the low-pressure turbine to absorption chillers during periods of excess reactor capacity in order to keep reactor power constant. Simulation results show steam conditions downstream of the turbine control valves are a strong function of turbine load, and absorption chiller performance is hindered by reduced turbine impulse pressures at reduced turbine demands. A more suitable configuration entails integrating the absorption chillers into a flash vessel system that is thermally coupled to a sensible heat storage system. The sensible heat storage system is able to maintain reactor thermal output constant at 100% and match turbine output with several different electric demand profiles. High-pressure condensate in the sensible heat storage system is dropped across a let-down orifice and flashed in an ideal separator. Generated steam is sent to a bank of absorption chillers. Simulation results show enough steam is available during periods of reduced turbine demand to power four large absorption chillers to charge a 5-million-gallon stratified chilled-water storage tank, which is used to offset cooling loads in an adjacent facility. The coupled TES systems operating in conjunction with an SMR comprise the foundation of a tightly coupled NHES.

  18. DET/MPS - The GSFC Energy Balance Programs

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jagielski, J. M.

    1994-01-01

    Direct Energy Transfer (DET) and MultiMission Spacecraft Modular Power System (MPS) computer programs perform mathematical modeling and simulation to aid in design and analysis of DET and MPS spacecraft power system performance in order to determine energy balance of subsystem. DET spacecraft power system feeds output of solar photovoltaic array and nickel cadmium batteries directly to spacecraft bus. MPS system, Standard Power Regulator Unit (SPRU) utilized to operate array at array's peak power point. DET and MPS perform minute-by-minute simulation of performance of power system. Results of simulation focus mainly on output of solar array and characteristics of batteries. Both packages limited in terms of orbital mechanics, they have sufficient capability to calculate data on eclipses and performance of arrays for circular or near-circular orbits. DET and MPS written in FORTRAN-77 with some VAX FORTRAN-type extensions. Both available in three versions: GSC-13374, for DEC VAX-series computers running VMS. GSC-13443, for UNIX-based computers. GSC-13444, for Apple Macintosh computers.

  19. DAMPE electron-positron excess in leptophilic Z' model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghorbani, Karim; Ghorbani, Parsa Hossein

    2018-05-01

    Recently the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) has reported an excess in the electron-positron flux of the cosmic rays which is interpreted as a dark matter particle with the mass about 1.5 TeV. We come up with a leptophilic Z' scenario including a Dirac fermion dark matter candidate which beside explaining the observed DAMPE excess, is able to pass various experimental/observational constraints including the relic density value from the WMAP/Planck, the invisible Higgs decay bound at the LHC, the LEP bounds in electron-positron scattering, the muon anomalous magnetic moment constraint, Fermi-LAT data, and finally the direct detection experiment limits from the XENON1t/LUX. By computing the electron-positron flux produced from a dark matter with the mass about 1.5 TeV we show that the model predicts the peak observed by the DAMPE.

  20. Using 3D infrared imaging to calibrate and refine computational fluid dynamic modeling for large computer and data centers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stockton, Gregory R.

    2011-05-01

    Over the last 10 years, very large government, military, and commercial computer and data center operators have spent millions of dollars trying to optimally cool data centers as each rack has begun to consume as much as 10 times more power than just a few years ago. In fact, the maximum amount of data computation in a computer center is becoming limited by the amount of available power, space and cooling capacity at some data centers. Tens of millions of dollars and megawatts of power are being annually spent to keep data centers cool. The cooling and air flows dynamically change away from any predicted 3-D computational fluid dynamic modeling during construction and as time goes by, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the actual cooling rapidly departs even farther from predicted models. By using 3-D infrared (IR) thermal mapping and other techniques to calibrate and refine the computational fluid dynamic modeling and make appropriate corrections and repairs, the required power for data centers can be dramatically reduced which reduces costs and also improves reliability.

Top